October 2018 > A MonthlyNewsletter > For private circulation only

Action for good Governance & Networking in

Forward This To All - And All Forward - Together Why must not have an elevated

Metro 6 Pamela Cheema Editorial he atmosphere in the Metro 2A and Metro 7 lines are 2A, cross the rail Gardens under flyovers Trecreation room of Evita b e i n g co n st r u c te d , t h e tracks and proceed onwards to building in the Hiranandani the JVLR! At Infiniti Mall the ith the success of the government has decided to c o m p l e x a t P o w a i o n height of the piers of Metro 6 first garden (MMJ construct an elevated Metro 6 W September 8 was sombre. The will be 25m while that of Metro June 2016) under Kings Circle line which will begin at Swami audience listened intently to 2A will be 13.6m! Also, the Tulpule Flyover, BMC has Samarth Nagar in Lokhandwala the presentation being given by Metro 6 will cross over Metro identified 23 more flyovers and chug on to . When Mr Nitin Killawala, Director, line 7 at the western express for the initiative. Thus, lush constructed on the JVLR, the Group Seven Architects and highway. green parks are likely to soon elevated Metro 6 will convert Planners Pvt. Ltd. about the Instead, there can be an replace the dusty parking lots this wide arterial corridor into a state government's latest plan narrow road! underground Metro 6 which to build an elevated Metro 6 Mr Killawala pointed out that c o u l d b e g i n f r o m t h e from the Lokhandwala complex “the ground along this corridor underground Metro 3 station of in the to is undulating. The fall or rise of Naka, take a right turn to Vikhroli in the . the ground is very steep, more Saki Vihar, move to Chandivali, Protecting Despite the population of the than the permissible gradient go behind the Hiranandani Members' Interests western and eastern suburbs in a Metro line. In general, the complex, then come out In Housing increasing by more than 3.5 height of piers in this corridor behind the Hiranandani Societies under many of city's flyovers. times, with employment will be in the 16m to 22m range hospital and reach LBS Marg Shyama Kulkarni The beautification under opportunities in the western as the Metro will pass along or under the hillock behind the the flyovers will solve the suburbs increasing by more cross a number of flyovers.” Hiranandani Gardens. This issues of illegal parking under than 10 times and in the Further, there are many sharp route will also pass through a the space below flyovers. eastern suburbs by more than curves along this corridor. This c a t c h m e n t a r e a o f a n The response to Kings 6.5 times, (in the island city will necessitate provisions for overwhelmingly larger number Circle's 'under-flyover employment opportunities curves in the Metro alignment of passengers than the JVLR g a r d e n ' h a s b e e n have increased only 2 times) too which will slow down the route of the elevated Metro. tremendous, with around 300 the state government's plans Metro and also lead to high The state government needs locals utilising the space for for improving transportation by maintenance of the tracks. to create transport systems their morning and evening only elevated Metro lines has Even more astonishing is that which are expandable in the walks daily, on the stretch m i r e d t h e c i t y i n a n when the line reaches the future and do not destroy from Maheswari Udyan to unbelievable mess. Infiniti Mall junction in irrevocably our environment Jain Mandir. MMJ Consider this. Even as the it will jump above Metro line and the quality of our lives.MMJ

and national election watch Western regional consultations on members from diverse states in India. The panelists were electoral and political reforms Pamela Cheema exceedingly well-informed with h e A s s o c i a t i o n f o r electoral and political reforms Coordinator for JANPATH and independent views and TDemocratic Reforms (ADR) a t t h e A h m e d a b a d MAGP) opened the session, discussed their opinions along with Gujarat Election Management Association in with introductory remarks on without fear or favour. W a t c h o r g a n i s e d a Ahmedabad on September 17, the grave issues under debate In the session on electoral meticulously planned western 2018. by Mag. Gen. Anil Verma (Head reforms, Contd. on Page 4 regional consultation for This conference was held to ADR). discuss the issue of The panelists electoral malpractices, i n c l u d e d electoral bonds and e x p e r t s , increasing opacity in j o u r n a l i s t s , elections as well as in speakers from u r b a n a n d l o c a l n o n - p r o f i t governance. Ms Pankti organizations, Jog (Gujarat State g o v e r n m e n t Coordinator for GEW b o d i e s , e x - a n d A d v o c a c y b u re a u c rat s , 2 Mumbai Meri Jaan October 2018 Swachha Mumbai Abhiyaan Mumbai Colleges get eco-friendly housing society adopts Shreya Bhandary stellar composting practices everal Mumbai colleges are Snow veering towards being he Lokmanya Nagar Co- 500kg of manure, which is used e co - f r i e n d l y. A m i d t h e Toperative Housing Society to nurture over 300 plants and Shyama Kulkarni implementation of various eco- in Matunga (West) has been a 1,500 sq.ft garden. The friendly rules and regulations, processing its entire organic secretary of the society, including the recent ban on waste within the society Yashwant Joshi, said that “We p l a s t i c b y t h e s t a t e produce clean energy which premises since January, thus started segregating waste in government, a city college is can supplement a part of its s a v i n g t h e m u n i c i p a l the society in 2016. Last July, getting ready to officially energy consumption. corporation the cost of the BMC sent us a notice asking become a zero-waste campus. “Environmentally friendly transporting waste to landfills. us to treat waste at source.” Organic waste comprises of RD National College, , methods are the only way to The society consulted several fruit and vegetable wastes, has already implemented save the environment and we experts before implementing seeds, leaves, egg shells, coffee various methods of recycling need to start these lessons in the waste disposal system. grounds (including paper the waste generated on our classrooms. When our Shekhar Vaidya, the chairman filters), tea bags, used paper campus. In the coming students then venture forth of the society, said that it took napkins, meat and dairy wastes fortnight, the college is likely to into society they will encourage them some time to adjust to and corncobs. It also consists of ask the municipal corporation more people to think this way,” the new process but the MMJ horticultural waste such as to stop sending clean-up vans said Sobhana Vasudevan, residents responded well. “In leaves, weeds, branches, twigs, Clean-Up In Partnership With The BMC to collect garbage from the principal of RA Podar College. August 2017 we began with hay and sawdust. Built in 1947, institute. The college moves all the waste mechanical compost drums the society with 148 units in 10 “Our dry waste goes directly from its canteen into a compost and broke the waste down buildings (each consisting of to a BMC authorised agency for pit and thereafter it is used as using vermiculture and five stories), treats its daily recycling. The wet waste, manure for the garden. “We sawdust. After a two-month output of 25kg of organic waste especially from the canteen, have a cleanliness brigade trial, we decided to use an i n a u t o m a t i c t u m b l e r goes into the vermicompost consisting of students who not automated version of the same machines. pit. We also use the compost only survey the college but also technique. Our house keeping tumbler for cooked waste from conduct campaigns outside the The society inaugurated its staff was trained to use the the canteen,” said principal college to reach out to waste disposal project on machine,” said Vaidya. Dinesh Panjwani. neighbouring societies about Republic Day and since then The secretary noted that He added that in another two the importance of solid waste has treated over 5,000kg of every 15 days the society weeks, the college will explore management,” she added. MMJ organic waste and produced generates around 45 kg of every possible avenue to St. Peters Road compost. “While 90% is used ensure that all generated waste R D National College institutes SWM internship Before After within the society, the is either recycled or turned into h e s o l i d w a s t e includes cooked food by the remaining is sold to society compost on the college m a n a g e m e n t ( S W M ) T tumbler method and uncooked members. Since the results are premises itself. internship established by R D Garden Waste Project in H/West food with the help of the vermi- fantastic, other societies have A host of colleges affiliated to National College in Bandra is composting unit installed on been visiting us to understand Ward the University of Mumbai (MU) run by the Departments of the college campus, which is the benefits of composting.” Lillian Pais with inputs from Prakash Gohil, Junior Officer H/West Ward h a v e i n t r o d u c e d Botany, Zoology and the NSS maintained by the students environmentally friendly unit of the college. The purpose who are interns under the Tanaji Laxman Ghagh, changes on their campuses and of this programme is to adopt a SWM programme. Every assistant head supervisor, solid these include rain water zero garbage policy by morning, uncooked waste is waste management at the harvesting, installing solar fGarollodenwi Wngas tet hShre eddingthre eMachine basic collected, weighed and placed BMCChapel poin Rtoaded out thaChapelt “citiz Roadens panels, setting up compost pits policies of 'reuse, recycle and in the composting unit. Every are underBefor ea misconceptionAfter that etc. reduce'. It works as follows: evening leftovers are collected it was our notice that led to D G Ruparel College, 1. A waste segregation from the canteen to be mixed in their efforts. We issued a letter Matunga, was one of the first awareness drive (dry and wet) the tumbler compost unit on for awareness but the response educational institutes in has been done by SWM the campus has been great. Contd on Page 3 Mumbai to harvest rainwater in internship students. Separate 3. All paper waste is given for Waste Management Exhibition on Wheels a residential building on their dry and wet waste bins have shredding and recycling to a find out if there is any wastage campus, way back in 2008. been installed by the institution BMC authorised agency. The of natural resources and to find Similarly the Welingkar at 11 strategic locations in the recycled paper stationary is solutions. Institute of Management college. E-waste bins have been reused in the college Thus R D National College installed a biogas unit two years installed in all the laboratories 4. A waste water energy audit is helps its interns to learn the ago. It uses the wet waste and offices. also conducted by the students intricacies of solid waste generated in the cafeteria to 2. Composting wet waste with the help of an agency to management techniques. MMJ

MMJ Mumbai Meri Jaan October 2018 3 Cleanliness through collaboration Powai delegation protests about metro 6 Willie Shirshat to MP Poonam Mahajan djoining the IC Church at Vincent, Principal of the St Pamela Cheema ABorivali is a triangular plot Francis Hotel Management which belongs to the St College, the Director of IT d e l e g a t i o n o f Franciscan Brothers. The plot Engineering and the Principal Ar e s i d e n t s f r o m was neglected and over a of the Xavier Institute of IT Powai met the MP of our period of years became a Engineering. Twenty student constituency, Poonam dumping ground. Some of the volunteers also participated in Mahajan, to protest parishioners complained about the drive. The BMC also pitched vehemently against the the health hazards of the plot in with 20 conservancy elevated Metro 6. Ms so a JAAG member, Elias Pinto workers. The corporator, Harish Mahajan carefully heard members of the delegation, she and I informed the Franciscan Chedda, along with his the presentations and was noncommittal about the Brothers, the proprietors of the colleagues, also helped in t h e d e m a n d f o r a n project. Surprisingly, she plot. cleaning up this unsightly plot. underground metro. mentioned that she had no The BMC was aware of the The plot was thus retrieved The delegation represented information about Metro 6! problem but due to legal with the collaborative efforts of strongly that the draft plan of Ms Mahajan offered to constraints were unable to the NGO, Concerned Citizens, Metro 6 displayed a lack of facilitate the appointment of clean up the private property. JAAG members of the NGO thought in the planning of such the delegation with Mr Pravin We discussed this problematic HELP, the BMC and the a crucial project. Darade of MMRDA for further issue with the ward no. 8 corporator. While Ms Mahajan politely MMJ consultations. corporator of our ward, Mr heard the grievances of the MMJ Harish Chedda, who was willing Police interactive to clean up the property. meet in Borivli In collaboration with the solid Willie Shirshat w a s t e m a n a g e m e n t department of the BMC, a c l e a n l i n e s s d r i v e w a s undertaken with Brother Matunga housing society MMJ Contd. from Page 2 Not only are they treating their wet waste completely, they are also slowly moving towards a zero waste model as dry waste is being collected and treated by Shrikant Soman, AGNI RN Coordinator, met with Asstt. Municipal us. Only a fraction of their Commissioner, Ms Sandhya Nandekar, along with the school waste is going to the city children of the Ryan Christian School for Environment Campaign landfills .” BMC's environment status AGNI Ward Coordinators report 2016-17 showed that 73% of the city's waste was organic, 17% was sand, earth G N I J A A G R / N o r t h Aorganised a Public Police and stone, 4% was recyclables, Interaction at Borvili. Among 3% was dry waste, and 3% was those present were Spritual plastic. Residents must Director Fr Alban Dsouza, Sr. compost waste as it curtails Inspector Mr Pandit Thackeray, pollution in the area, reduces Inspector Vijay Kandalgoakar (PRO), Inspector Tejashre the carbon footprint, decreases Shinde, Inspector Vijay dependency on garbage trucks, Khandalgoakar. which in turn reduces traffic The working of police station MMJ congestion, helps sandy soil was explained. retain water and nutrients, Inspector Tejashre said Police are educating school children suppresses diseases, harmful on child abuse. Stree Dakshata p e s t s a n d e n c o u r a g e s is for Women's Empowerment. community activity. MMJ Sr Insp Pandit Thackeray informed that Police station Shrikant Soman for the works round the clock for donation of Rs.1,000/= maintaining peace & harmony in the neighbourhood. MMJ 4 Mumbai Meri Jaan October 2018 Electoral and political reforms Poorly organised TVC zone 6 on-site Contd. from Page 1 Professor governance”. He mentioned inspection Pamela Cheema Jagdeep Chhokar (Founder- how the 74th Amendment Trustee ADR) stated that voters passed 25 years ago, was not h e T V C c o m m i t t e e hawkers asking for the reason at the grassroots level were being implemented in letter Torganised an on-site for my objections. The Nodal intimidated and threatened. and spirit. He also indicated inspection of sites for vendors Officer, Mr Navneet More, also Professor Suresh Chandra how the Municipal Corporation zone 6 on September 29, 2018. sought the reason for my Mehta (former chief minister of is not autonomous as the The inspection was very poorly objections. G u j a r a t a n d m e m b e r, Commissioner, appointed by organised by the BMC. We were then asked to Prabuddha Nagarik Manch) the state government, can veto The inspection, which was proceed to Kailash Complex spoke boldly and fearlessly what has been passed by the supposed to begin at 11 a.m. near S ward. We waited for an about the need to concentrate corporation. began almost an hour late. No hour and a half in the afternoon on the root of electoral In the session on political proper arrangements were heat for the rest of the malpractices to curb this evil. reforms, Dr Rohit Shukla, made for transport. A BMC committee to turn up and then He pointed out that one of the ( P r e s i d e n t , D r u s h t i truck was arranged by the were told that their arrival was major reasons that the Election Foundation) criticised the Nodal Officer, Mr Navneet delayed by a massive argument Commission is crippled is electoral bonds introduced by More, in which the TVC between the shopkeepers and shortage of manpower and the the government and termed it members were supposed to sit! the BMC! We then proceeded fa c t t h a t t h e E l e c t i o n a retrogressive step. He A lady committee member of a to Bhanushali Lane back in Commission is powerless to wondered whether we in India hawker's union and I refused to where 200 residents punish defaulting political wanted a presidential or sit in the truck and thereafter were waiting for the TVC parties and politicians. parliamentary system and travelled by auto rickshaw to committee! Sharad Kumar, AGNI Trustee, pointed out that in the guise of the proposed sites! Their vociferous protests 'stability' India was One of the first sites we forced the Nodal Officer to veering towards visited was Amrut Nagar in declare that no hawkers would the presidential Ghatkopar where pitches were be placed on their lane! system. He quoted being painted on the footpath The other roads which were t h e r e n o w n e d outside residential societies chosen for an inspection were e c o n o m i s t , and shops. When I objected not visited due to the late hour. Amartya Sen, who pointing out that the painting A completely disorganised TVC has opined that should be deferred till we had inspection conducted in a wherever you want given our recommendations, I casual ad-hoc manner! MMJ q u i c k g r o w t h , was surrounded by aggressive follow a system of oppression! one of the panelists, presented Plastic makes way for saplings On the issue of simultaneous Yesha Kotak a paper on “Urban and Rural elections, Professor Jagdeep n the wake of 's Varde College. They intend to Board of Trustees Chhokar stated unambiguously Istate-wide ban on a variety of conduct similar drives at that it would strike at the roots plastics, a group of volunteers housing colonies, where they Chairman & Managing Trustee of democracy in the country. He have been encouraging citizens will distribute both indoor and D. M. Sukthankar Mumbai Meri Jaan is pointed out that one of the to exchange their plastic waste outdoor plant saplings. “I gave Convenor reasons given for holding for plant saplings. 33 bags to the group today also available as an e- Gerson da Cunha simultaneous elections is that because I wanted to add to the The volunteer organization, edition. Trustees there would be “no communal collection of around 25 floral Angolichi Goli, along with two Those interested in Capt. Joe Lobo riots. Then don't have elections plants that I have in my Dinesh Ahir other groups, Vasundhara getting e-edition may at all,” he said bluntly. He noted b a l c o n y,” s a i d A m e y a Sharad Kumar Green Club and Nirbhaya Shyama Kulkarni that another reason given for Deorukhaar, a student of DG send an email to Group, have facilitated the h o l d i n g s i m u l t a n e o u s Ruparel. [email protected] planting of 242 saplings across Editorial Board elections“ is that otherwise , and Matunga. Asmita Gokhale, founder, giving their email ids. - development will stall. But if Sharad Kumar [Editor] “In exchange for five plastic Nirbhaya Group said that it was Editor Shrikant Soman [Asstt. Editor] there is development going on bags, we give them one sapling. necessary to get rid of plastic Gerson daCunha at all, why will it stall? The fact Shyama Kulkarni It is their responsibility to look completely rather than of the matter is that politicians Pamela Cheema after the plant and help it recycling it, pointing out that Email: [email protected] do not work for four years and https://sites.google.com/site/agn grow,” said Tushar Warang, due to the dumping of plastic in nine months. Then they try and Published by volunteer, Angolichi Goli. the sea and other water bodies, work for the last three months AGNI it is ending up as trash on the Chadha Bldg. 1st Flr, Plot No. 95, to impress the voters!” As of now, the group has beaches. (W), Mumbai - 400031 Professor Chhokar gave the collected 1,544 plastic bags [email protected] Her organisation is currently closing remarks at the through three collection drives Ph: 2416 5956 facilitating the transfer of www.agnimumbai.in conclusion of the session. He which took place across three plastic bags to GD Environment noted that such consultations c o l l e g e s i n t h e c i t y — Printed at Pvt Ltd, Pirangaut, where it will Audumber Press, Wadala were necessary for a positive Ramnarain Ruia College, DG be converted into fuel oil. future. MMJ Ruparel College and Patkar- MMJ