Redevelopment Frenzy

The Redevelopment craze that was seen late during 2006-07 has returned. With the Indian markets doing better compared to the rest of the world, with the recession on the wane, money market is buzzing.

Though the scam tainted congress has pulled back the rally, it is clear that people are confident int he the way they look at the future trend.

Developers have been striking deals with the societies who were waiting for the past 2 years. Apart from Prabha building near the school which was the first to be redeveloped way back in 2006, which was due to the building sinking & declared structurally weak.

Many buildings on 60feet road, some on 90 feet road, ahev already been done and are looking  great with the new structure.

In Garodia , Ankur building near Varsha ground has already been demolished & work begun . One more which was near the police ground has already come up & look neat. Buzz is that  New Vasant Apartments has finalised their deal, which has been done through the proper Directive of the Cooperative Housing   Commissioner has now put in to place. This Directive has been in since January 2009 , wherein the entire process make is more transparent & developers are selected thought tender process.

The entire process is now monitored by the registrar of cooperative society, it give the members of the society complete control of the asset & each and every member can have a say in every step before they give their Final Consent.

Redevelopment is needed in Garodia Nagar but the members and developers should keep in mind the  infrastructure which should be able to cope with additional flats being made. Over 40 years and still Garodia Nagar is struggling with sewage water drains, rain water flooding, garbage disposal, water problems.

As many more buildings have jumped the queue to take advantage, developers have become choosy, also many  so called builders / developers who were never heard of have been offering higher benefits compared to the reputed / experienced ones. 

Societies should be aware and take note and check their background and do lot of research as to the genuinety of these builders. Many front companies for politicians, goons are taking advantage of this, which can make life miserable for the societies in case they get caught up with them.

In all societies should be careful in the process , united as one to ward off any hostile situations which can crop up. Greed and infighting will only help the other parties and  this will only hurt their own prospects.

Court Directs P G Garodia School to Refund tuition fees

In a recent order, the consumer court has asked  GARODIA ACADEMY school in Ghatkopar to return the money taken in advance against tuition fees along with the interest and compensation for two years to the parents who moved their children out of the institute before the commencement of the academic year.

Nehal Desai, parent of Riwa, 6, and Heer, 4, won the case against Garodia’s Academy, a pre-school coaching institute. Desai had paid Rs15,000 as half-yearly advance fee for senior KG for Riwa andRs29,000 against an annual fee for Heer’s lower KG. Both the amounts were paid in March-April 2007 for the academic year beginning June 2007. 

However, in May, Desai, for some reason, had to change schools. The school refused to refund the entire money when the parents asked for the same. A couple of letters to the principal later, the school returned the deposit money without disbursing the cheque for the advance fees. After repeated attempts, the parent moved the consumer court with the help of a relative, Prakash Seth, and won the case.

“The so-called good schools exploit the improper proportion between the number of students and the number of good schools. I hope this judgement will come as a breather against such malpractices of city schools,” said Seth. The court not only asked the school to return the fee amount along with slapping an interest of 9% since the court case was filed. The court has also imposed a compensation of Rs5,000.

According to Brian Fernandes, a representative of the school management, parents go around hunting among three to four schools. Once they secure admission to one school, they pay off the fees and continue with their search. “Despite that, in genuine cases, we have returned the fee. We have also produced the document to the court. In the present instance, we have returned the amount that parents paid as a deposit.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_refund-tuition-fees-court-directs-ghatkopar-school_1448277 

Sports, cultural complex at Ghatkopar

WIll this really Happen. Lions Club is one such place yet it is all but used for wedding and parties for the rich and famous members of the Club.

Article in Afternoon Despatch Courier

In an effort to boost sports and culture, a recreational complex for citizens will soon be thrown open at Ghatkopar’s Garodia Nagar. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between two non-profit organisations, Micro Tech Global Foundation (MTGF) and Rasika Ranjani Sabha (RRS) yesterday at the complex.

Both the organisations work for charitable purposes covering culture, sports, education, health and other welfare activities for the general public.

The complex will house several facilities such as a yoga centre, library, recreation hall, programme centre and indoor sports. A walking track as well as a parking lot will also be provided at the complex.

RRS, a cultural organisation in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs, founded in 1971, propagates fine arts and cultural activities and has been conducting education and training classes for Bharat Natyam, vocal music and instrumental music. With the MOU, RRS now intends to expand its scope in sports and health as well.

The activities are expected to start immediately and the organisers intend to provide the facilities, which are open to all either at subsidized cost or free of cost.

http://www.afternoondc.in/city-news/sports-cultural-complex-at-ghatkopar/article_8343

Locals see red over prostitute-robbers in Ghatkopar

Manthan K Mehta | TNN   (Article from Times of India - (11/7/2010)

Mumbai: People residing near the station in Ghatkopar (W) are a harried lot.Lanes adjoining the station as well as the Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College have long been infamous for prostitutes.

 

Now,to add to the residents woes, sex workers emboldened by lack of police action have turned to robbing vulnerable passers-by.

Prostitutes have become bolder.They accost pedestrians and force them to part with their belongings, Ketan Solanki,a social worker,said.

Following a spate of such incidents,Solanki joined forces with a bunch of people to gather evidence against the sex workers.We complained to the police and confronted them with evidence in the form of video recordings.But the police are yet to take action, said Solanki.

They mostly target unknown faces to avoid confrontation with the locals, Solanki said.

Pune-resident Satish Jadhav (name changed) had a bitter experience during his visit to the area in April.I was on my way to a relatives place when some prostitutes forcibly took away Rs 3,000 from me, said Jadhav.

Some of the victims managed to get back their valuables,but only after locals intervened.Nitin Kamte,a resident of the area,said,In many cases,the prostitutes returned some,if not all,of the cash they had taken from the victim.However,they are reluctant to hand over the money in front of the police.

Amit Kulkarni (name changed),a marketing executive,said,The prostitutes took away a US$ 5 note from my wallet.When locals confronted the sex workers,they returned the money.

Solanki claimed that the sex workers even assault those who refuse to part with their belongings.

RM Vhatkar,DCP (zone VII),said,The residents can contact me if their complaint is not being registered by the local police. 

 

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=9&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=12-07-2010&pubname=&edname=&articleid=Ar00901&format=&publabel=TOI 

Fire in Presidential towers Opposite R City Mall Ghatkopar

A friend sent this photo clicked as he was passing this site.

Toxic fumes from Deonar Dump killing many in Ghatkopar & Chembur

The BMC planned the closure of the ground more than a decade after the Smoke Affected Residents Forum (SARF) moved court against the BMC for not curbing the menace of the dumping ground.

When the BMC failed to comply with the court's directives, SARF, in 2008, filed a contempt case against the civic chief, calling the dumping ground's continued existence a violation of human rights.

The Deonar dumping ground singly accommodates the entire waste of Mumbai and has already exceeded its limit, especially after two other dumping grounds were recently shut down also for being overburdened.

A stunning 8000 tonnes of waste is brought to the Deonar dumping ground everyday — that's the entire volume of waste that Mumbai generates in a day.

Dr Neelam Rane who is also a resident at Chembur says, "It's been 13 long years and the BMC have not followed its affidavit, they have done nothing."

Dr. Kumar Doshi ENT specialist who reside in Garodia Nagar and practices in Ghatkopar says that " cases of Asthma, Bronchitis, COPD has seen such an upsurge that even the text books of medicines don't show such a rapid rise, we are seeing so many cases, and now we are seeing fatalities, every winter if you just see the BMC dead registry and you will see more and more deaths due to respiratory causes".

Watch the 2008 NDTV news clip on the protests by the SARF to shut the dumping ground.

Both the bureaucrats and elected representatives are responsible for playing with citizens’ lives , the recently elected MP Sanjay Dina Patil had promised that he will ensure the timely and systematic closure of the site, but like all election gimmicks nothing much has been achieved.

We the residents of Chembur , Ghatkopar & those effected area are to be blamed more for this mess, as Dr. Sandeep Rane says " the residents want to suffer, dont' want to take action or come together for the cause, all they do is talk in some hushed manner & go home".

Honestly this is the fact, residents have to unite & stand up against the BMC & government. Take the case of two other dumping grounds at Malad and Gorai that were shut down 3 years ago long after exceeding their capacity and after some strong protests from the residents there.

The TOXIC fumes are slowly killing the new born, i personally know 3 kids who are suffering from sever asthma and many more residents from respiratory problems.

Request all the residents to come together to fight this menace and also help by practising proper Dry Wet garbage disposal methods.

Delayed sewer plan will drain Garodia Nagar Ghatkopar locals of Rs 2.95 cr

The Con game of BMC 

Article that came in the Times of India - Mumbai April 26, 2010

Mumbai: Residents of Garodia Nagar in Ghatkopar are upset with the BMC,which has asked them to pay Rs 2.95 crore within 15 days for the revamp of the drainage system in the area.The people alleged that the civic body had pushed back the project as a result of which the cost had escalated and so they were being compelled to pay such a high amount.

The assistant assessor and collector,N ward,served the demand notice to the Garodia Nagar Welfare Federation (GNWF) recently,asking them to collect the amount from all the housing societies.In its notice,the civic body said the consolidated amount of Rs 2,95,34,178 was being sought as the residents share1 /3rd of the costfor the laying of a sewerage in the area.

The residents moved court after a series of inspections by civic officials confirmed that the drains in Garodia Nagar were dysfunctional,which led to the spilling of the waste into the precincts of a few other buildings.In August,2004,as an interim arrangement to reconstruct the drains,the Bombay high court directed the BMC to collect the residents share.

GNWF secretary G T Jadeja said,In December 2004,following our correspondence,the BMC informed us that the total cost of the project will be Rs 3.19 crore.Since then,we have been asking them to show us the break-up of the amount to be shared by housing societies.

Now,after all these years,they suddenly want nearly Rs 3 crore,almost equivalent to the entire project cost,going by the 2004 rates. Residents said they were being forced to shell out extra because the BMC took so much time.Had the work started in 2004,the residents would have had to pay only Rs 1 crore as their share, Jadeja said.Owing to the BMCs delay,the project cost has now increased to around Rs 9 crore.Why should the residents bear the brunt when the civic body itself pushed back the date.

There are 155 housing societies in the locality,of which 131 are affiliated to the GNWF.KVR Warrier,another member of the federation said,Each society will have to pay something between Rs 70,000 and Rs 3 lakh,depending on the size of their plot.My housing society,with 30 members,has been asked to pay Rs 2,25,000.

Jadeja said the court had pointed out that the 1/3rd share was an interim arrangement and in the final order it would be determined who would have to bear the entire cost.He added,The BMC has carried out similar projects with money from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission fund.They should do the same for this project.

B Shirshat,local corporator,however,said,The residents need not pay any amount as the sewage problem has been sorted out. Disagreeing with Shirshat,Jadeja said,The problem still persists as the sewage from several societies still runs into the stormwater drains,which are covered and cannot be seen from outside. Additional municipal commissioner Anil Diggikar said,I am not aware of the issue. 

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=5&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=26-04-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

Biggest Furniture / Furnishing etc .Home Town at Kanjurmarg Signal

Last weekend went to the biggest  Furniture / Furnishing mall at Kanjurmarg Signal called
HOME TOWN 247 Park   of the Future group.

having seen the advertisement in the local newspaper decided to visit as i needed a good comfortable chair for the computer table.

I searched the internet & their website but was disappointed , the location map &  nor the Home Town website was not there.

The only landmark was near IIT Powai given in the advertisement , also a friend who had visited the place had mentioned that it has a huge logo/ signage & that you cannot miss it on the main LBS road.


On reaching the signal , asked a rickshaw driver and he correctly guided us to the lcoation.

It is closer to the  main signal of Kanjurmarg junction. If you drive through the LBS marg from Ghatkopar station its is 8 minutes from R City Mall but on the right side of the road. You will not miss as the more famous signage is 247 Park & Home Town

It is huge & you get to see lot of options & designs, right from nut bolts to bathroom, kitchen, living room garden material , furniture ,you name it is there . It is based on the US HOME DEPOT format, and has the similar name.

So if you are doing up a new house or your current place, this is a must visit mall. The reason is plain simple, in a single store you can get everything.

Only Negative -Inhouse Home Town cafe exorbitantly Priced
The only negative is the Food court as there is none . They have their in house Home Town cafe which has sandwiches & muffins ALL are exorbitantly Priced & the sitting is very cramped with very few seats. The best solution is to go out or from within go to the FoodBazaar & have the snacks there which is MUCH better and reasonably priced.

Do visit if you want to see all the new stuff & the layout designs.

Ration Card Verification Problems

The Terrorists attack on Mumbai & other cities has made one thing clear that there is no mechanism to track outsiders within the city & India.

The only resident identification till now is the Ration Card or the Passport. The Pan card & the Election card is another scam which less said the better.

So to strengthen system to some extent & know the true number of household & the number of people Maharashtra Government had initiated a program for verification of thr Ration card. 

But the Congress led Maharashtra Government has failed again & again in doing so. AAm Admi is made to run from pillar to post only to be left high  & dry sweating and shelling more money in return for nothing.

The ration Card fiasco is on such thing, yes its needed to weed out the bogus card holders, but the manner in which the process is undertaken is sheer torture to say the the least.

Last time they had the process to make all ration cards computerised with all the database & a smart card to be given, for 4 months people were given notice to complete the process & if they did not rush to the nearest Ration office the cards would be canceled.

6 months after the entire process got over the plan was canceled by the Maharashtra Government (Congress - Vilasrao Deshmukh)

Not wanting to be fall prey again & the mad frenzy of standing in the heat & being treated like cattle , I had avoided going. But like a true Mumbaikars wanting to see the city which is the only home for ages be safe & peaceful , i rushed to the ration shop before the Feb 15th last date.

On reaching, the lady at the shop after going through the register informed me that the card was canceled, asking her why it was so without giving an intimation of the same to me , i was told that she had no idea & that many cards were canceled & have to be renewed.

Came to know that the Ration shop owner Mr. Gupta was no more & now his son was handling the shop, he was curtious & he wrote a note and told me to rush to the ration office at Pant Nagar & meet the officer Mr Patil.

On reaching the Ration Card office, it was sad to see that even after Independence, the Old ration office  was still the same, the small dingy, dusty, full of torn tattered files, paper lying all across, the cancer causing asbestos sheet as roof & the dark , dimly lit office.

Anyway went in to the Window 1 for the form, was told by lady (as though doing a big favour on me & the citizens) to show the note to the officer, rushed to the table, there the officer was busy as usal on his phone & after a good 15 minutes he looked up at the clock , with the time ticking to 5 pm the time to close the office he started his work, after much standing he asked what was the matter .

On showing the note written by the Ration Shop owner (Mr Guptas Son), he pointed me to a person and said go there (its the usual way of all Goverment offices / Municipality Office) rushed to a old guy who then took his own sweet time to find the register (God only knows how those register survive the handling & the conditions of storing them, this in Country which makes Computereised system world over & is known to have the best of brains & technical capabilities).

The register out, he looked into it & confirmed that it was canclled ( heavens only know swhat transpired them to take such a decision without an intimation ), so move to the same officer who after some 10 minutes wrote some note & said to come again next day to fill up the forms & complete the process.

Day 1 eneded with one assurance that the card will be renewed. Following day went in to collect the form, & for some reason they have a only forms printed in Marathi. Even though i know Marathi to read & wirte I did not want to take the chance of being rejected after standing in line.

The next best thing is the FORM FILLING GUY ( yes there is a person who is only assisgned to fill the forms , & his charges Rs 10/- per form ) so did the same , got into line window no 4, the lady after much time wasting checked it & said she  needed some more photocopies of the ration card. So off i went to the the photocpies , after the lady checked she gave a receipt & said to come next week to complete the process.

After a week , when i went to present the receipt , the lady was not present & in her place another lady , she saw the note & said that it was not to be presented now , it was dated for next month & only after the Inspector has come to the resident for verification the process will be completed.

Here i'm waiting for the end of the month & the inspector to make sure that the Ration card is renewed & verified.

The complete process has made me agnry & frustrated again, a whole of 3 days were wasted for no fault on my part, true honest citizens have to suffer all this while the aliens, illegals, scamsters , who are aptly taken care with lot of bribes with the full knowledge of the political parties have nothing to bother about.

The Shiv Sena being in control of the BMC does not even blink, when their officers allow the UP / Bihari's to put up hawking carts & construct illegal shop on the foot path & grab government land as long as they get their share of bribe (monthly / weekly/ yearly , running into crores ).

Hopefully with the biggest Census ever taken in the history of mankind will start next week by the Govt Of India , which will be under the UIAD project. Hopefully this will end the mutliple & useless identification system which is still a bane for the goverment  well as the people of India.

R Odeon Cinemax Ghatkopar East Wednesday Dhamaka Rs 50/- any show , Movie

The Cinemax theater at Ghatkopar (R Odeon) has done a good marketing move, their Wednesdays Dhamaka offer is a real winner, where moviegoers can pay only Rs 50/- and watch any movie / show timing .

This is real steal considering that avg show charges are Rs 120/- and above as the show timing progress into the evenings. Now with this offer the theater is doing brisk business on Wednesdays.

Mostly college students, big families and other who rather prefer not to see movies at high prices have also started to walk into to see at this Rs 50/- rate.

The funda being that many hindi movies don't last more than 3 days in theaters , this is because of the silly story lines & awful quality many people consider it to be wise enough to see them on the TV after a month as they can watch iot free of cost albeit with a little advertisement annoyance.

Anyway kudos to the Cinemax team and with opening of the other 2 screens we do hope to see more English movies lined up as many here are more keen to see English (Avatar an example).

So if you want to see a movie do see it on A WEDNESDAY .

New Road from Garodia Nagar to Eastern Express Highway

A new connecting road to the Eastern Express Highway was laid and quietly opened for traffic about a month ago.

This road is parallel to the EEH which connects the 90ft road (which we used to call as Driving school road as about 20 yrs ago this was used by driving school enterprises to train newbies) . The 90ft road starting from the Police Qtrs, Police colony adjoining Vallabh baug lane end where the Maharashtra State police Stadium is built. Leading upto the bridge over the nallah (gutter) joining Garodia Nagar / Nath Pai Nagar to Pestom Sagar.

The New road is built over the waste land swamp which is running parallel to the highway & connects at the end of this bridge. The earlier service road , right at the start of Pushpa Vihar Hotel to the EEH was just a temporary walkway made by the many people who used to stay in Kamraj Nagar. Slowly this road was encroached upon by the vegetable sellers which has now become a big but illegal market for the poor people.

There were attempts made to make this service road a permanent road with many politicians using it as bait for garnering votes, but the local RTO & due to the fact that many people had lost their lives crossing the EEH, and vehicular accidents it was only tarred for walking purpose. The road was used nevertheless by the people and car , rickshaw drivers as a short cut.

The 90ft service road (not to be confused with the other 90ft road which starts from Meghraj Hotel signal to Shivaji Technical school,) has many new buildings on either side, the complex being called Sudha Park, & is now made of concrete. Rickshaw Drivers Unions have  been using this road without proper permission for parking more than 200 Rickshaws on either side of the road.

The nuisance created by the rickshaw drivers is less said the better , most of them using the walls of the nearby buildings for urinating, spitting paan residue, washing their clothes and repairing their vehicles. This has created lot of hardships for the residential people mostly ladies who are subjected to eve teasing & constant stares of these drivers & vagabonds. Walking has become a nightmare on this junction as cars come from all directions and also the BEST Bus 404.


Squatters  have made the bridge , swamp opposite the Holy Family School, Rerhi Bunder road  their homes, they squat all over the place , some segregating garbage , leaving trash not useful to them on the roads. With urine & shit all over the place walking the bridge , road becomes difficult ,coupled with  the new problem of the vehicles, which virtually makes this area a death trap.

Hope the Local Corporator / MLA / MP along with BMC , Local police & RTO make some arrangements to ease the problems faced by the little children & people who walk on this road soon.

Garodia Nagar road Tar work (Dambar)

The New Year began with some good news, the road resurfacing with tar in Garodia Nagar. This again is not for the entire colony only the main route, that is from Police Chowky (Devang bldg) to Sati Kripa shopping center & further down to Mamta Hospital.

The question that arises is what is the point of putting tar on the surface area, whereby it has increased the height of the road to such an extent that most of the building compound level is much lower which will aggravate the water logging in the buildings. It was earlier brought to the notice of the corporator that any future road work has to be done keeping in mind that the level of the road is always at par or little lower from the buildings compound floor. So to see the work walked to a nearby building and clicked the photographs



The work is shoddy, without proper supervision or logical understanding as to how it should be done. The sand smoothing of the road is very badly done & i am quite sure with the first rains the surface will be damaged. The slope for the water to flow to the drain holes is also not done properly, the gutter holes are blocked with tar & this will keep water on the roads rather than draining it.

All through a very shoddy work, which really make us realise that this is again election gimmick.

Garden Opposite Garodia Palace
The garden opposite Garodia Palace was being relaid with new tiles & walkway , new compound walls, planting of new saplings and beautification. It has been days now but does not look like the work is completely over , this again is shoddy work to say the least, though the walls have been painted appreciating Mr Prakash Mehta for his help.

6o feet road

Walking the other day on 6o feet road , felt sorry to see the mess that has been made with the new paver block work of the best road that Ghatkopar east had. The paver blocks have been put in such clumsy & uneven way that one now has to be looking down all the time while walking & tripping over couple of times is for sure. Spare a thought for the senior citizens & also little children with vehicles passing by at high speed.

Overall the Ghatkopar East PWD work of the BMC is not being monitired nor the citizens have even bothered to take a stand against the wasteful manner in which the BMC is blowing away the tax payers money.

This then is the story of Ghatkopar East, where not many are ready to raise a stand & question authorities or their chosen candidate (MP / MLA / Corporator).