Tuesday, December 31, 2013

road repair scam,mum Bai


Contractors bid 52% below road repair base price



MUMBAI: Contractors have yet again bid abysmally low—52% below the BMC's base price—for tenders to level roads dug by underground utility owners. Civic officials said that such low bidding will affect quality of work.

According to BMC data, all the seven contractors, one for each zone, have bid lesser than the BMC's asking rate. They have quoted 45.74% to 52.12% below the base price. The BMC has set aside Rs 20 crore for the work i each zone. It had earlier planned to ask utility owners to reinstate roads after completing their work. But last monsoon, the BMC had a tough time getting them to restore the roads. Hence, it has decided to appoint contractors to fill the trenches and reinstate roads. The proposal will be tabled for approval at the civic standing committee on Friday.
  1. BMC allots Rs 1,200 crore for road repairs this year - Indian Express

    www.indianexpress.com/news/bmc-allots-rs...road-repairs.../1108311/
    Apr 27, 2013 - ... Rahul Gandhi tears into Maharashtra govt for rejecting Adarsh scam report ... They will also be able to call bids for road repairs costing up to Rs 20 ... Rane at the meeting in Konkan Bhawan in Navi Mumbai on Thursday ...

  2. Crores spent, but no respite from potholes in Mumbai | NDTV.com

    www.ndtv.com › Cities
    Jul 11, 2013 - An early monsoon has exposed the poor quality of repairs with huge potholes on major ... But the state of Mumbai's roads speak otherwise. .... @ndtv Kerala solar scam: blockade outside Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's ...

Rs100 crore repair scam: Contractors get MHADA help - Mumbai ...

www.dnaindia.com › Mumbai
... tenders of cessed buildings. - Mumbai - dna. ... Rs100 crore repair scam: Contractors get MHADA help. Saturday, Apr 21, 2012, 9:00 IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA .... Bandra locals protest against road widening. Important events in ...
  1. Civic chief orders inquiry into Rs 10 crore pothole repair scam ...

    www.mumbaimirror.com › Mumbai
    Dec 13, 2013 - A day after Mumbai Mirror exposed a pothole repair scam in which road contractors fleeced the BMC by inflating the size of potholes assigned ...

  2. Oppn demands probe in pothole scam - Mumbai Mirror

    www.mumbaimirror.com › Mumbai
    Dec 21, 2013 - A day after Mumbai Mirror exposed the pothole repair scam in which road contractors fleeced BMC by inflating the size of potholes assigned to ...

  3. Pot-hole in your wallet - Mumbai Mirror

    www.mumbaimirror.com › Mumbai
    Dec 12, 2013 - The scam points to the involvement of BMC employees too, as the size ... Once a pothole was reported, the concerned road engineer assigned it to a contractor. ... For calculating the cost of repairing a pothole, the craters were ...

  4. Contractors uploaded same photo for different potholes - Mumbai ...

    www.mumbaimirror.com › Mumbai
    Dec 18, 2013 - Several contractors used the same pic of one repaired pothole, while ... the BMC's Roads Department, into the Rs 10 crore pothole size scam...

    SCAMSLEAK: Road Scam Of BMC: CRATER MUMBAI

    scamsleak.blogspot.com/2012/12/road-scam-of-bmc-crater-mumbai.html
    Dec 25, 2012 - In the report, the CAG rips apart the BMC and its roads department, which has faced intense public scrutiny for permitting poor road repair and ...

  5. Road Construction Scam: Latest News, Videos, Photos | Times of India

    timesofindia.indiatimes.com › Topics
    See Road Construction Scam Latest News, Photos, Biography, Videos

BMC spent Rs 8cr on road repairs that were 'free' - Mumbai Mirror

www.mumbaimirror.com › Mumbai
Oct 22, 2013 - The city administration squandered Rs 8.44 crore of taxpayers' money by hiring a contractor to repair a stretch of SV Road even though the ...

Are only the rich allowed to party and celebrate ?" Thadani questioned.

comment:- ist of jan:2014 all MumBai police will be sleeping after night duty
who will look after the citizens?the minister in charge of police has not even recruited for vacancies in the  police force
will he again take a car and run away to his village ?if anything happens?as it happened after terrorist attack 

Naxal-hit states yet to fill 94,800 vacancies in police force | Business ...

www.business-standard.com/.../naxal-hit-states-yet-to-fill-94-800-vacanc...
Sanjay Jog | Mumbai. February 23, 2011 Last Updated at 00:40 IST. Naxal-hit states yet to fill 94,800 vacancies in police force ... official, who did not want to be quoted, told Business Standard: “Huge vacancies in the administrative set-up and ...

90 posts lying vacant in state police force - Indian Express

www.indianexpress.com/news/90-posts-lying...police-force/1006882/
Sep 24, 2012 - While the Pune Police and the Navi Mumbai Police have no vacant posts ... The state CID has six SP level posts which are yet to be filled.

Mumbai needs 1,000 more coastal cops - Hindustan Times

www.hindustantimes.com › India-newsMumbai
Jul 30, 2013 - The Mumbai Sagari police station, formed after 26/11, has a sanctioned ... Sources said that a few vacancies were filled up in these police stations ... Firms in Maharashtra could be punished for no sexual offence panels ...

Exclusive: India's elite anti-terror force-NSG pays for Centre's laxity ...

indiatoday.intoday.in › IndiaNorth
Apr 19, 2013 - ... these vacancies may be filled by the officers of Central Armed Police ... The manpower crunch has its origin in the Army and the CAPFs not ... The sudden expansion of the NSG, with new hubs in Mumbai, ... It is learnt that government is writing to state police forces to send volunteers to the NSG and to fill ...

MumBai's first escalator[1970] and next[2014]




Mumbai's oldest escalator foot overbridge at Girgaum Chowpatty gone in 36 hours

Monday, Aug 12, 2013, 7:01 IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Civic officials oversee the demolition of the foot overbridge at Girgaum Chowpatty on Sunday.
Civic officials oversee the demolition of the foot overbridge at Girgaum Chowpatty on Sunday. - Hemant Padalkar/DNA
The city’s oldest escalator foot overbridge (FOB) at Girgaum Chowpatty was brought down partially by Sunday morning.

The remaining portion will be demolished by Monday.

Civic officials have planned the demolition of the bridge over two consecutive days, beginning Saturday, between 10pm and 6am, and traffic on the road has been diverted to other roads.

dna on August 8 had reported about the traffic police giving its go-ahead to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to carry out the demolition of the FOB. “We demolished the portion of the FOB above the road on Saturday night. The part with the staircase will be demolished tonight (Sunday night to Monday morning),” said SO Kori, chief of BMC’s bridges department.

Kori added that although the BMC had decided to demolish this FOB, it is yet to take a decision on whether to replace it with another one or construct a subway as has been suggested by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

The reconstruction of the FOB is part of the BMC’s plan to review and rework the city’s 261 bridges that include road overbridges, skywalks and foot overbridges.

Civic officials said the FOB was built in 1953 by the Patel Trust and the escalator, which was installed in the 1970s, is believed to be the first in India in a public place.

“To demolish the bridge, we are using the same technique that was used to bring down the Lalbaug flyover in 2009,” said a senior official. He added that a combi crusher is being used for the demolition as it operates with minimum noise.

Saturday, December 21, 2013



Cricketers reach the ground on a mini bus in the ‘30s.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

planning to re-route a couple of night flights originally scheduled for Mumbai airport to Kolhapur


AAI planning flexible use of Kolhapur airport


KOLHAPUR: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is considering introduction of night landing facilities at Kolhapur airport, a facility that can bring in additional air services to the city.

The AAI is preparing a plan to use the airport for parking a couple of aircraft to reduce the congestion at Mumbai and Pune airports, said officials associated with the development.

"We are working over ways to see if there can be multiple use of the Kolhapur airport. We are planning to re-route a couple of night flights originally scheduled for Mumbai airport to Kolhapur. The flights will reach Mumbai and then carry Kolhapur-bound passengers to the city at night. The plane will be parked in Kolhapur and it will leave the airport next morning with Mumbai-bound passengers," said an official, who however did not wish to be identified.

Officials said the plan "is tentative but viable" as the flyers from Kolhapur can have a continuous service immediately. "We are waiting for the licence to commence the operation. Once we receive the licence, we can undertake work such as expansion of the airstrip. However, our immediate focus will be to complete the night landing facility," an official said.

The state government had in August this year handed over the airport at Ujalaiwadi from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to the AAI. Ashok Patil, the regional officer of MIDC, Kolhapur, said the formalities for the transer have been completed and at present the airport is with AAI.

"We have informally discussed several plans to revive the air service to Kolhapur. We have given some suggestions. However, it is AAI's mandate now to go for the feasible solutions," said Patil, adding that night landing and extension of airstrip would be the AAI's first priority. There are other plans on the radar, he said.

Business experts feel that the lack of airport has become the hurdle for the further growth of Kolhapur. New industries and sectors like information and technology are based on the connectivity, experts said.

"Cities developed in past two decades by exploring opportunities made available through air connectivity. Kolhapur has infrastructure and talent. It also has good data connectivity; but lags behind in air connectivity. The advantage of geographical location of this city can be utilized once the airport starts operating," said Kulbhushan Birnale, president of the Converse International Network, an institute working as networking platform for industries.

Lack of an airport in Kolhapur was a major drawback for the growth of the industrial sector in the region. Industrial units at Kagal MIDC, many of them with a turnover of over Rs 50 crore, have collaboration with multinational companies. Foreign delegates, who regularly visit Kagal, have to travel by air till Pune or Mumbai and then take the road route to reach Kolhapur. The airport in Kolhapur will help them reach the city faster and in turn increase the business engagements.

Industrialists are hopeful that the pending demand will materialize soon and the city will have more flights.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Film StillPadma Devi :
The Color Queen Film India,
December 1937



Monday, December 2, 2013


Given space crunch, is landfill in sea the answer?



MUMBAI: Should Mumbai consider an offshore landfill given the space crunch in the city and the strong opposition to dumping grounds from residents who live in their vicinity? Some experts believe in the idea, while others think it is a misstep.

Dr Ir Frans HM van de Ven of the Netherlands-based institute Deltares, which conducts applied research in the field of water, subsurface and infrastructure, said the state should tap into the unutilised sea. "The Not In My Backyard sentiment to landfills is very strong around the world. Mumbai should utilise its sea for creating recreation parks and surface water reservoirs. Since land is in short supply, it could even consider an island for a landfill." He was in the city recently for the mega-city conference organised by the NGO Mumbai First and the state government.

Singapore's only landfill site is located on the Semakau islands; it is filled mainly with ash produced from the country's incineration plants. A similar proposal was made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 2003, but the idea was shot down.

Mumbai Transformation Support Unit officials said the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011, is so stringent that it would not allow an offshore landfill.

Environmentalists in the city feel that instead of building dumping grounds in the sea, Mumbai's authorities should consider a zero garbage policy. "It is happening in cities across the world, be it New York or Paris. Landfills are no longer accepted as a solution to waste problems," said environmentalist Rishi Agarwal.

MSRDC plans coastal road from Versova to Virar | Property Pulse ...

content.magicbricks.com › Property NewsMumbai real estate news
Aug 25, 2011 - Mumbai In a fresh amendment to the city's road plans, the proposed 10-km ... MSRDC has estimated the cost of the 54-km Versova-Virar coastal road to be around Rs 4,000 crore. ..... Affordable housing: Rs 20 lakh homes.





















------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               














































 
 

Radiation expert to take stock of cell tower sites

MUMBAI: Radiation specialist Michael Repacholi will take stock of a few cell tower sites in the city on Monday and interact with medical experts on their effect on health.

Repacholi, who headed the radiation task force at the World Health Organisation (WHO), is visiting the city at a time when activists have been alleging health hazards from mobile towers. While activists like Prakash Munshi say that the presence of cell towers pose health risks to the citizens, Cellular Operators Association of India refutes this claim.

COAI director-general Rajan S Mathews claimed that despite cellular operators following all the norms laid down by WHO and the government of India, certain "misconceptions" were being propagated about cellphones and mobile towers.

On Monday, Repacholi will release a book on mobile phones and radiation. Repacholi was a founding member and chaired the International Non-Ionizing Radiation Committee. He was also coordinator of the radiation and environmental health unit of the WHO and headed the International Advisory Committee of the EMF (electro-magnetic field) project of the WHO till 2006.