Demands increasing to cease the minister quota in MHADA scheme

No response for the elected representatives quota in the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) lottery have fumed the housing activists of the city and they have now demanded scrapping of the quota and the same should be made available to general public.

MHADA had kept 78 flats reserved under the elected representatives quota that includes the current or former MPs, MLAs and MLCs, however only 14 flats received 30 applicants, while 64 flats remained unsold.

Out of that two leaders have won two houses so they would be forfeiting one house each thus leading to a surplus of 66 flats and raising questions on the reserved quota for them. Housing activists of the city have expressed their displeasure over the same claiming that the city is in desperate need of affordable housing and such reservations should be done away with.

"There is no need to have a special quota for the elected representatives and it should be scrapped immediately and also is any member of the family of an MP, MLA or MLC has a flat in the city, their application should be disqualified" said social activist Medha Patkar. Some activists have also targeted the increasing assets of the MPs and MLAs and hence demanded that they don't require any cheap house as they could afford expensive houses as well.

"The elected representatives do not deserve any special quota as most of them already have flats, even if not in their names but in the name of their kin" said Krishnaraj Rao, an RTI activist. He has alleged that they are already being given many privileges and pampered by the government. " I have came across a research that showed 400- 500% increase in assets between the time of two elections, hence they don't need an affordable house" added Rao.

Meanwhile MHADA would be consulting their legal department, as there is no clear directive in the MHADA Act, 1976 about what should be done in such a scenario.

MHADA lottery winners eligibility to be thoroughly examined

The 3849 lucky winners of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) lottery houses will now have to wait for the eligibility test to make sure their dreams of having an affordable home in the city come true. The banks would now be sending letters to the winners and the winners would have to submit the required documents between July 15 and July 30.

"As soon as the winners submit the documents to the bank, the bank would submit the same to MHADA and we will scrutinize it further and the final list would be returned to the bank," said Amarjit Manhas, chairman, Mumbai board, MHADA. Once the eligibility is proved the winners of the readymade flats would have to deposit pay the entire amount in 90 days.

The time period would be extended by another 45 days, however after that the application would be disqualified if he is not able to pay. While for the people who have won under construction houses, the payment would be done in installments.

The applicant would have to pay 10 per cent of the total amount after winning the flat, pay 40 per cent after the concrete construction of the home is ready, pay 25 per cent after the entire project is complete and pay 25 per cent final installment while taking the possession.

While for the losers the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) would be returned within a week by the electronic clearance system. The bank will have to take the permission from the Reserve Bank of India and then they will return the amount.

Patnaik keeps his men on a leash !

Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik is refurbishing the public image of the city police force and has strongly warned his policemen to keep away from politicking and working at cross- purposes.

At a marathon meeting with officers of the rank of senior inspector of police and above which lasted for over seven hours on Sunday last, he said that he would not tolerate mischief- mongers and policemen involved in criminal activities.

He further warned that " I will not tolerate indiscipline from policemen and police officers working against the interest of the city force and other fellow police officers in the force.

Don't attempt to play any kind of mischief with me as I will initiate strict action against mischief- mongers and dismiss them from the force if they are found to be guilty of flouting service rules." Apparently, the warning was issued to senior police officials to keep away from jeopardising the policing work and improving performance levels by bringing in accountability in the city force at all levels.

Since he took over as city police chief, Patnaik has been tightening the functioning of the force from the Joint Commissioner of Police rank to below. Last Friday and Saturday, he had a series of meetings with all the Additional Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police, where he took stock of the detection rate in their jurisdiction.

The rise in the number of chain- snatching cases, house- breaking and dacoities in the last three months was discussed threadbare at these meetings and Patnaik drew out a plan to revive the local information network at the police station level and involve the constabulary in crime detection.

Last week, Patnaik had got the wireless department to rectify the Global Position System of combat and patrol vehicles, which was malfunctioning, to enhance the strike capacity and intercept criminals fleeing in stolen getaway vehicles after committing a crime.

Poor feedback on Fee Act regulation !

The Maharashtra Government Regulation of Collection of Fees by Schools Act has received only 450 suggestions from people across the state. The fee Act was kept open on the government website to seek suggestions and opinions regarding fee regulation in schools. The act is under the scrutiny of a committee, which will take a decision on its application in the forthcoming week, as informed by the education department.

Dinkar Patil has been assigned as the deputy director of the committee. Currently, the state education department has received 450 suggestions from people associated with the education department. Many of the suggestions, which have been repeated, will be scrutinised by the committee, which has been framed by the government.

The committee will decide upon incorporating a handful of suggestions, which will help in creating a strong foundation for the act before its implementation. It has been estimated that the committee will submit the report to the education department within a week's time. The members of the education department will later discuss the report presented by the committee.

People associated with the education department had criticised the act stating that it has several loopholes in it. The act does not highlight the problem of capitation fees charged by schools while admitting the child in the school.

Schools under the name of capitation fees extract exorbitant fees from parents, which needs to be brought under the scanner through the medium of this Act. Also the act also lacks to underline the importance of a parents teachers Association, which acts as a medium to resolve the problems of parents and schools. Moreover the act states that the school has the authority to frame a committee of their own for the PTA association which again paves way for schools to choose people who are in favour of the school informed a few educationists.

Coach of Panvel- bound local derails near Belapur

Local train services on the Harbour line of Central Railway (CR) were terribly affected following the derailment of a Panvel- bound train at 10.40 am on Wednesday. A total of 12 Dn & 13 Up suburban services were cancelled, as a result, and 40 shuttle services run in splits between CST- Nerul and Belapur- Panvel instead.

The train ( PL- 53) left CST at 9.30 am and chugged upto Sea Woods Darave station seamlessly. However, shortly after it left the station, the fourth coach (a general compartment) on the Panvel- end of the train derailed between Sea Woods and Belapur stations, blocking the entire Dn Harbour line traffic on this section. The repercussion was such; that trains scheduled to run end to end (from CST to Panvel, as also from Vashi to Panvel) had to be stopped for more than five hours.

Stating that restoration work was immediately started by rushing required equipment to the site by a special vehicle via road, CR spokespersons said, " The derailed coach was rerailed at 12.45 pm and the affected train was removed from service ten minutes later.

After the repairs to the track, first train went to Belapur at 1.35 pm." Suburban services in both directions on the Harbour route, especially the Dn direction in Nerul- Belapur section were affected. The 12 Dn & 13 Up suburban services were cancelled as a result, and 40 Shuttle services were run separately between CST- Nerul and between Belapur- Panvel with the help of two rakes.

After plying these special trains to cater to the commuting crowds until all necessary checks and repairs were carried out, they started plying regular services at 4.10 pm on the Harbour line.

This is the third derailment incident reported in the west zone of the railways and the first on the city's suburban route, of the year.

Builders, activists at crossroads

The announcements made in the Union budget for the housing sector has also received a mixed response from public housing sector officials and realty industry experts in Mumbai. While the limit on housing loan was increased from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh the rate of interest on the loans was decreased by 1 per cent while the loan amounts have been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

The State housing officials feel this would facilitate in creating solutions for the housing problems, not only in the city but entire the country. " I think the budget would solve the housing problems of the people to a very large extent as the provision of increasing the bank loan amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and increasing the loan limit from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, and fulfil the dreams of many home seekers" said Amarjit Singh Manhas, chairman of the Mumbai board of MHADA. The housing activists are also satisfied with the budget as they feel many people from the lower income groups could avail of the benefit of the new provision.

"The announcement of increasing the limit on loan amount would help many people who are interested in purchasing small and cheap houses," said housing activist Ramesh Prabhu.

However, some builders feel that the housing sector has been neglected completely by the budget. While there was no exemption given to the builders who undertake rental housing project, the agricultural sector is being pampered with electoral tinged sops. " In today's date there are no houses available for Rs 15 lakhs and hence there is no point in reducing the interest rate by 1 percent. There is also a provision for of Rs 3,75, 000 crores for agricultural sector which is an electoral politics gimmick. Had the State made a similar monetary allocation for the housing sector, it would have solved all the housing issues" said Anand Gupta, President Builders Association of India.

Maharashtra Chamber of Housing and Industry (MCHI) was satisfied with the reduction of interest rates but felt that some demands raised by them were not met. " The members of the MCHI were expecting the restoration of 80 IB of income tax in respect of residential units measuring less than 1,500 sq ft area, easy accessibility of funds for project execution, permission of External Borrowing (ECB) for funding of real estate projects, granting a infrastructure status to all the redevelopment project and withdrawal of service tax on real estate, however none of these demands have been addressed in the budget," said Sunil Mantri, President, MCHI.

Hostile Jaitapur villagers heckle CM, ministers

An unprecedented crowd of 10,000 project- affected villagers gathered at Madban on Saturday morning, demanding outright cancellation of the Jaitapur nuclear power project. At the receiving end were chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and an array of ministers and party functonaries, who tried their best to impress upon the hostile villagers the goodness of clean power and gains of development.

Angry villagers led by Vaishali Patil and Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi had already started sloganeering and distributing pamphlets against the project. They asked for revocation of punitive cases against villagers even as Chavan, accompanied by Industries Minister Narayan Rane, Forests and Rehabilitation minister Patangrao Kadam, MPCC chief Manikrao Thackeray, MP Nilesh Rane and a host of MPCC functionaries and MLAs arrived at the venue.

Janhit Seva Manch's Pravin Gavankar, who was invited on the dais, declared that all those assembled were locals and no outsiders were present. He expressed strong opposition to the project blaming NPCIL officers of misleading the villagers.

He also demanded that the government return the villagers' land " obtained by force." Amjad Borkar, representing the Macchikar Kruti Samiti expressed concerns regarding the hot and extra saline water released from the project. He also pointed out that neither NEERI nor the government carried out any surveys. He deamanded, " If in the future, goods produced in Jaitapur are branded ' radiation affected', would the government guarantee them a fair price?" and asked for scrapping of the project.

Another activist Dr. Milind Desai in his aggressive response said though the porject was to the tune over one lakh crore rupees, the government was only offereing Rs. 15 crore and this is a shame. He was by interrupted rudely by Rane. Shiv Sena MLA Rahan Salvi was also asked to step down the dais after he said that he did not trust the government.

Party spokesperson Hussain Dalwai and Mminister Patangrao Kadam tried to pursuade the villagers to see the development vision in the plan. Rane said the villagers' demeanour of slogans and opposition was unbecoming of a typical Konkanee and said this was an insult to the whole cabinet. He said those who were misleading the villagers clandestinely were coming to Mantralaya to ask for personal favours.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan asserted himself saying he knew more about the subject than most. He underlined the pressing need for power by emphaszing on the deficit saying, " Even today 50 per cent of India's households went without power." He also condemned the villagers who boycotted the open house on Jaitapur in Mumbai a few months ago.

He said such a huge investment would not happen again. The money spent is so huge that it would create many institutions, many jobs and change the economy. The plan for a press conference later at the state guest house went haywire as the CM spoke to reporters at the project site itself before taking off for Mumbai.

NTC transfers prime govt land to builder

In a shocking development, the National Textile Corporation (NTC) has been found to have transferred 6 hectare government land that was on lease. The state government has taken a decision to stop all allotment of FSI to NTC unless they pay up a fine of Rs. 38 crore.

A six- hectare stretch of land in the vicinity of Worli's New Hind Mill had been given on lease to NTC. This land has been now sold to a private developer for a much bigger price. It has been revealed that the NTC has done this without taking any permission from the state government. The NTC was supposed to take permission from the government by paying up Rs 38 crore.

However, this was not done. Till such time as the NTC does not pay up this money, no new FSI should be given to it.

This was decided in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, NTC Chairman Milta, Rita Menon and Joint CEO Gulati, chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad, senior officers and Nanded municipal commissioner.

The Chaityabhoomi land issue was also discussed at this meeting. Of the 12 acre land in Hindu mill, the NTC has given 4 acres for Chaityabhoomi. Outplans for remaining 8 acres are being finalised. Plans for six acres out of this have been submitted. NTC officers said that the remaining plans will be submitted by the 15th of March. The CM also directed construction of a museum in Sector 5.

The NTC owns a textile mill at Nanded. Approximately 600 families stay in the vicinity of this mill. It was decided that they should be rehabilitated by the local body. An extra FSI of 2.5 has been granted for the same.

Curtain goes up on Goan theatre in Mumbai !

The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It is so much like life - Arthur Miller, American playwright. For most connoisseurs, Goa is a destination of fun, feni and frolic, but few are aware of the rich culture of the sunshine state which is such a draw with holidaymakers.

As such, the culture and tradition of Goa is arguably best showcased by its traditional theatre or (tiatr), a unique form of entertainment which carries a social message interspersed with melodrama and comedy. Goa has a (tiatr) or a theatre academy where artistes are trained in Kantar (singing), dancing, acting and other attributes required for a success.

A good storyline, attractive songs with pleasing music and comedy form the basic structure of the Tiatr. The other aspects such as stage, sets, light effects, background music, acting etc form part and parcel of good direction.

The songs - Kantaram - sung between the Pordhes (scenes) of the tiatr are equally responsible for the success of the tiatr. Mumbai has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Goan theatre groups like Prince Jacob, Rose Ferns and Menino De Bandar as a sizeable part of Goa resides in Mumbai itself.

Most Goans in Mumbai own ancestral houses in Goa and proceed there in their vacations to keep in touch with their home state. Little wonder then that when such a group comes to Mumbai it draws packed houses with most Goans making it a point to watch the plays. Recently, this writer, also a thoroughbred Goan, had the proud privilege of watching such a play at Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagraha at Vile Parle.

Entitled ' Bhurgim Tim, Bavlim Nhoi' in Goan Konkani (They are Children, not Dolls), it was presented by a heavyweight tiatrist/ producer Rose Ferns.

It was a three- hour musical extravaganza with a social message that children have to be nurtured by parents and not neglected. If neglected, they become a menace to society as the play proceeded to show. It had a child actor (Cameroun) brilliantly portraying the role of a son gone astray because of parental neglect. Thrown out of school, Cameroun courts the girl next door (Shanaya) at a very young age and then becomes a drug peddler. When Shanaya tries to reform Cameroun, he pushes her down a cliff and kills her.

Later, Cameroun is arrested for her murder and the play ends with him blaming his mother for not being there to correct him for his faults and spending her time in politics. Other plays such as '100 Vorssa' produced by Menino De Bandar, ' Dog Bhau', ' Phator', ' Aiz Aum Phalan Tum' produced by star producer Prince Jacob have also been box office hits.

Timeless classic preserved for posterity

This is the time at which the hands of a 40- year- old quartz clock stopped on the horrifying night of 26/ 11. Stating that this timepiece is a reminder of the spine- chilling terror as well as the spirit of Mumbai, the Central Railway administration has this unclassified exhibit locked away safely in one of its characteristic- green cupboards, to be added to the museum-cum-memorial that is to come up at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

" Of the many bullets fired from Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail guns, one went through the window pane of the ground floor office across the taxi stand and another went through the wall of the floor above.

While in the former case, the bullet went past the clock and lodged itself into the wall crossing two wooden partitions, the one on the first floor went past three wooden wall partitions; through the deputy chief electrical engineer's ( Dy. CEE) and into a stone wall on the other end," a railway employee who works in the DRM building that house the cabins of the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Sr DCM) and Dy. CEE, told Neuz Daze, reliving the day when Kasab and his accomplice entered CST from the mainline side of the station.

Even as the bullets were extracted by the Ballistic Forensics experts, as evidence, the timepiece - originally on the wall of the office of the Sr. DCM - was left hanging in the same state for about a year until it was taken into the custody of the signalling and telecom (S&T) department.

A senior official from Central Railway told Neus Daze, " At first, many thought that the bullet marks on the walls and artefacts, if any, should be kept intact as a reminder to the incident. But that would have been blob as the CST building would look shabby and decrepit. So when we came to know of a bullet- ridden clock piece, we decided it was a perfect article to be preserved as a memento. In tact with the broken glass pieces, the now priceless clock with a 3-cm cavity will be put up at the 26/ 11 memorial museum when ready. Although a sad memory, we hope people reminisce it to get strength and resolve to fight terror."

Hapless bar owners seek salvation from police raids !

An association of orchestra bar and pub owners comprising over 1000 members facing monetary problems following the unprecedented raids by the Mumbai Police, have asked media persons to provide some salvation from the ruthless action that is being taken. The representatives of this association alleged that 'illegal action' had been taken by police, between February 18 to 20 to improve their recently tarnished image.

Speaking to media persons, president Sudhakar Shetty, of the Association Hotel And Restaurant (AHAR), claimed, " The police are interfering with matters of the excise department.

Why are these raids being conducted all of a sudden. There may be five per cent of owners who run illegal business who we condemn." " The raids are conducted on the basis of draconian laws which is very difficult for us to follow given the increasing customers at bars, hence, violations occur." If Shetty has to be believed, then in the past six days around 218 legitimate bar have suffered losses of Rs 12 crore and are automatically forced to shut down due to the raids.

Speaking to Neuz Daze, Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Rajnish Seth, said, " The raids are made within the frame of law and we have booked them according to the violations pertaining to police licensing." Deputy Commissioner of police, operations, Rajkumar Vhatkar, said, " The men were booked under the Bombay Police Act sections 110,117 and 131. It means that we booked them for indecent behaviour in public, for exceeding the time limit, for employing more people then granted by a permit.

Also, on February 18, two women were arrested under Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act (PITA) from one of the bars." According to an official, arrests were also made, " when we caught men serving alcohol outside the ' permit room (bar)' in another room (restaurant)." The recent raids are not a part of a sudden drive. In the last three months, 28 bars were raided. Amongst these, licenses of three bars were permanently cancelled, licenses of 19 bars was suspended ( for a period between 5 to 60 days).

The raids were made after a news channel began showing clips of the alleged violations, resulting in Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Dayal ordering a crackdown on bars, said an official.

Autofares set to rise again in Mumbai

Auto-rickshaws from Thane and Kalyan are all set to hike their fare as they are not satisfied with the recent fare hike from Rs 11 to Rs 14.

Thane Region Rickshaw Taxi Union has demanded a further hike in minimum tariff to Rs 16. The union members are of the view that there are no compressed natural gas ( CNG) fuelling stations in Kalyan, thereby the auto- rickshaws have to run on petrol, the price of which is touching sky.

"In Mumbai and even Thane city, auto- rickshaws run on CNG. While here in Kalyan, we have no choice but to use petrol to run the vehicle," informed Prakash Pendkar, President of this mahasang. He further added, " Petrol costs Rs 64.69 per litre in Kalyan whereas CNG is available at Rs 32.41 per kilogram.

" The difference in fuel cost comes to around Rs 32.28.

This is the only reason why we have been demanding hike in the minimum fare to Rs 16." Since two months the price of petrol has increased by Rs 7. But all this while there was no hike in the auto rickshaw fare.

" But now it has become difficult to survive with the existing tariff," said Prashant adav, an auto rickshaw driver.

Meanwhile, the union have also raised the share auto rickshaw pricing issue.

In Mumbai the tariff is calculated actual meter reading cost plus 33 per cent divided by three is the share auto price per seat.

MHADA widens growth ambit

The Mumbai board of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) would be including four new provisions in their annual budget that would be announced in the board meeting on Friday as per its chairman. " The board members have proposed four new provisions to be included in the MHADA budget and it is up to the authority to accept it" said Amarjit Manhas, chairman, Mumbai board.

The budget amount would be Rs 4,000 crore with a deficit of Rs 300 crore from the previous year. Last year the budgetary provision were made for Rs 2,000 crore. The cent percent increase in the budget amount is the results of additional works that MHADA would be carrying out this year.

MHADA has also been receiving revenue through rents and passing redevelopment proposals throughout the year resulting in an increased provision. The other sources of income are from lease of lands that MHADA gives to other agencies to use.

On September 2010, the board had passed a resolution that MHADA would be redeveloping their colonies.

Another major decision would be the bill that would be passed by MHADA that will enable it to blacklist builders who have not completed the redevelopment work after vacating the residents. As expected the major amounts would be reserved for the construction of houses in MHADA colonies as well as transit camps and houses for mill workers.

The other new concepts would be slum redevelopment by MHADA and construction of gardens.

Not just laptops, corporators demand proper software too

For the corporators of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ( BMC), all things should seem pictureperfect before they can actually begin with their work.

Not content with the laptops and official email ids given by the civic body, they have now demanded software that will provide them all the data and information about their respective wards so that they can work in a better way.

According to the BMC sources, lot of corporators are complaining about the lack of necessary statistics of on- going development works in their wards. Details like population of the ward, provision of budget for various works, important locations, water supply, flood prone areas etc. are essential for their knowledge, they say.

Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu, who is also a BMC house leader, has asked the civic information technology ( IT) department the need of such software, which will have all these details, for the corporators. " While carrying out civic works in our wards, we often require such information and every time we have to keep asking civic officials for the details.

If this data is readily available in our laptops, it will be very convenient for us," he said.

Officials of the IT department are still mulling over the software proposal as the past experience of the corporators about use of laptops has not been very encouraging.

The BMC, in 2009, had provided all the 227 corporators a Sony Vaio laptop with the intention of reducing the paper work and providing civic agendas on their computers. Two months ago, the civic body also gave them personal email ids. However, leave alone logging in, majority of the corporators are not even using the laptops, said an official.

Standing committee chairman Rahul Shevale said, " It's true that the corporators have been given laptops and the civic body had even organized a computer training programme for them to learn the know- how of computers.

But the SAP software, which the BMC uses to connect all its system, is not yet installed in their laptops. Also the lack of necessary software is also hampering them from using the laptops." We are discussing the software issue with the corporators about their requirements and how it can be developed, said an official.

However, he admitted that the software can be useful for the corporators for carrying out development works in their wards.