vol. 14 • issue 106 rni no. mahen/2007/21778 ......the dynamic daily newspaper of navi...

The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of Navi Mumbai

Sunday, 11 October 2020

VOL. 14 • ISSUE 106 RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. No. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE

Pages 8 • Price 2www.newsband.in

By Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

The crime branch of Navi Mumbai Po-

lice has seized a stock of banned gutkha worth about Rs 36 lakh that was being brought from Gujarat to be sold in the satellite city. Four per-sons have been arrested and three vehicles have been seized in the oper-ation, said Police Com-missioner Bipin Kumar Singh.

The crime branch had received informa-tion that some persons are bringing a large stock of banned gutkha

in three vehicles near Hotel Silver Key in Ma-hape MIDC. According-ly, N B Kolhatkar, Se-nior Inspector of Police, anti-narcotics squad and Senior Inspector of Po-

lice, Crime Branch and his team had jointly set a trap near Hotel Silver Key in Mahape MIDC on Thursday afternoon.

Gutkha worth Rs 36 lakh seized

NMMC installs under-ground garbage bins

NMMC has always implemented various innovative and environ-ment friendly concepts, especially with regards to sanitation. Taking a step further, the civic body, as pilot project, has built underground garbage bins at two places through CSR funds by L & T Ltd, Sea-woods…

(More on page 3) Koparkhairane resi-

dents demand upgra-dation of gardenThe residents of

Koparkhairane have al-leged negligence of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) towards garden and jog-ging track in Sector 11, Koparkhairane…

(More on page 3)Covid-19: Ten test positive in UranOn Friday (October

09), 10 patients tested positive for Covid-19, taking the tally to 1953 in Uran taluka. Of these, 1735 have been cured and discharged. 117 corona positive patients are undergoing treat-ment and 101 corona positive patients have died till date, said Uran Tehsildar Bhausaheb Andhare.

1450 high-tech CCTV cameras to be installed in city by October, 2021

CONTINUED ON PAGE... 7



Pranab Jyoti Bhuyan Navi Mumbai

If everything goes as per plan, the Navi

Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NNMC) will finish the task of in-stalling 1450 high-tech CCTV cameras across the city by October, next year. The civic body is in the process of install-ing the cameras with a budget of Rs 140 crore.

Presently there are 267 CCTV cam-eras installed at different places in the city. The c o n d i t i o n of many of these cam-eras is not so good. All these cameras will also be replaced with the new ones, a se-nior officer said.

“We have already started the tendering process of this project and the contract will be rewarded to one of the contractors soon. We are confident of finish-ing the task in one year. Thus, we can say that the city of Navi Mumbai will be under the sur-veillance of high-tech CCTV cameras by Oc-tober, next year,” said Surendra Patil, city en-gineer of NMMC.

According to Patil, the contractor who will receive the contract, will also be responsible for the maintenance of the cameras for the next five years. There will be no separate contract for the

maintenance.“At present, the ex-

isting 267 cameras are being monitored from a command centre at the police commissioner’s office at CBD Belapur. But now we have de-cided to start two sepa-rate command centres. While the first one will be at the police com-missioner’s office, the

second one will be at the NMMC headquarters,” he further said.

The NMMC officials said that they will take guidance of the Navi Mumbai police in terms of identifying the places for installing the new cameras.

“We had installed the existing 267 cameras in 2012. From that expe-rience we can say that the new cameras will be

Crime Branch of Navi Mumbai Police intercepted three vehicles coming from Gujarat to Navi Mumbai

By: Abhitash D. SinghNavi Mumbai

The realty market has been badly impact-

ed by the Covid 19 pan-demic. Navi Mumbai realty market which was doing better be-fore the lockdown is now facing a sharp decline in housing sales. The sales of property have reg-istered a sharp dip in the developing nodes like Ulwe, say the real estate brokers.

“Around 90 percent of the real estate bro-kers have closed their business as there are more or less no custom-

ers for either purchasing or for looking a house for rent. As many peo-ple have lost their jobs and some have got pay cuts of 20-30 percent,

buying a house is not a priority for many. The real estate brokers are facing a tough time. All are waiting for the new normalcy so that they

can once again start concentrating on the business,” says Mahesh Ghate, a real estate bro-ker from Nerul.

However Ghate says

that as the realty prices have come down, it is the right time for the aspiring home buyers to

Covid 19: Realty market adversely hit

Housing sales in developing nodes like Ulwe decline sharply

2 Sunday, 11 October 2020

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ATTENTION READERS: While every effort is made to check the genuineness of party/parties inserting ads in this paper, we cannot be held responsible for the truthfulness of its contents. The publishers, Editor and/or the staff cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage due to transactions that they may en-ter into guided by the ads.

By Chandrashekhar Hendve, Kharghar

For the last few weeks, the residents of Kharghar, Kamothe, Kalamboli

and Taloja areas have been witnessing foul smell at night. The residents al-lege that the smell is due to pollution from Taloja MIDC.

To discuss the issue, a meeting was held at Utkarsh Hall, Sector12, Kharghar. In the meeting social orga-nizations and citizens (elected repre-sentatives), who have worked on this issue before, were present. During the meeting the following resolutions were passed and it was decided to hold the next meeting on 18th October, 2020.1) To bring together the organizations

and citizens who have previously worked against pollution in the Kharghar, Kamothe, Kalamboli and Taloja municipal area.

2) Bringing together correspondence from previous agitations

3) To set up Anti-Pollution Struggle Committee to work against pollu-tion.

4) To build organizational structure for the next movement

5) Determining the direction of move-ment

6) To make a list of companies that create pollution, if possible, by sci-entifically studying what exactly causes pollution.

By Crime Reporter, Navi Mumbai

Two persons were killed and one injured in two separate accidents

in the jurisdiction of Turbhe MIDC police station on Thursday afternoon. Turbhe MIDC police have arrested the tanker driver in one of the accidents.

Ganesh Talghale (22) died in an ac-cident near the Nelco Company circle at around 1.30 pm on Thursday. Ga-nesh, who lived in Ambedkar Nagar, Rabale worked for a tea company in Turbhe MIDC. On Thursday after-noon, Ganesh was going on a motor-cycle to deposit the company's money in the bank. While he was heading towards Nelco Circle, he was hit by a tanker heading towards Bhiwandi from Turbhe MIDC. Ganesh came un-der the wheels of the tanker and died on the spot. Police arrested the tanker driver.

Radhesham Dinanath Sahani (35) was killed in another accident on Shil-

phata-Mahape road at around 3 pm. Radhyesham, a resident of Palwa City in Dombivali, and his relative Virendra Sahani, 30, were coming to Mahape on a Honda Shine motorcycle from Dombivali on Thursday afternoon for work. Virendra was riding a motor-cycle, while Radhyesham was sitting behind him. As he approached the Thakur Compound garage in Mahape, his motorcycle hit a pedestrian. Both Radhyesham and Virendra fell down. At the same time, a bus coming from behind hit Radhesham on the head. As a result, Radhesham was seriously in-jured and died shortly afterwards.

The Turbhe MIDC police have reg-istered a case against Virendra Sahani, who was injured in the accident, as the investigation revealed that the accident took place due to the careless driving of the motorcyclist. However, the po-lice said that he has not been arrested yet as he was injured in the accident.

Citizens meet to discuss air pollution issue

Two killed, one injured in a two-wheeler accident at Turbhe MIDC area

By Ashok DhamijaMumbai

With a view of forthcoming fes-

tive season, Central Railway (CR) will run three more pairs of fully reserved Special Trains within the State of Maharashtra to and fro from Mumbai w.e.f. Sunday 11 October, 2020. The details are as under:

A) Mumbai-Latur Superfast Special (Four Days a Week)

Train no. 02207 Su-perfast Special train will leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ter-minus (CSMT), Mum-bai from 11th October, 2020 at 21.00 hrs o¬n every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and Sunday till further advice and arrive Latur next day at 6.30 hrs. On its return journey Train no. 02208 Superfast Special will leave Latur at 22.30 hrs from 12th October, 2020 o¬n ev-ery Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday till further advice and arrive at CSMT, Mum-bai the next day at 07.55 hrs. The above Super-fast Special will include O¬ne First AC cum AC-2 Tier, O¬ne AC-2 Tier, Two AC-3 Tier, Eight Second Sleeper Class and Six Second Class Seating coaches. Halts en-route includes Dadar, Thane, Kalyan Jn, Karjat, Pune Jn, Daund Jn, Kurduvadi, Barsi Town and Us-manabad stations.

B) Mumbai- Hazur Sahib Nanded Daily Special

Train no. 01141 Spe-cial will depart Chha-trapati Shivaji Maha-raj Terminus (CSMT), Mumbai from 11th October, 2020 till fur-ther advice and arrive at Hazur Sahib Nanded

next day. On its return journey Train no. 01142 Special will depart Ha-zur Sahib Nanded from 12th October, 2020 till further advice and ar-rive at CSMT, Mumbai next day. The above Special will include O¬ne First AC cum AC-2 Tier, O¬ne AC-2 Tier cum AC-3 Tier, Two AC-3 Tier, Ten Second Sleeper Class

and Four Second Class Seating coaches. Halts en-route includes Da-dar, Thane, Kalyan, Igatpuri, Nashik Road, Lasalgaon, Manmad, Nagarsol, Rotegaon, L a s u r, Au r a ng a b a d , Jalna, Partur, Selu, Parbhani and Purna sta-tions.

C) Mumbai-Kol-hapur Daily Special

Train no. 01029 Special train will leave Chhatrapati Shivaji Ma-haraj Terminus (CSMT), Mumbai at 08.40 hrs from 13th October, 2020 till further advice and arrive Kolhapur same day at 20.25 hrs. On its return journey Train no. 01030 Special train will leave Kol-hapur at 08.05 hrs from

12th October, 2020 till further advice and ar-rive at CSMT Mumbai the same day at 20.05 hrs. The above Special will include O¬ne AC-3 Tier, Two AC Chair Car, Two Second Sleeper Class and Ten Second Class Seating coaches. Halts en-route includes Dadar, Thane, Kalyan Jn, Neral, Lonavala, Talegaon, Chinchvad,

Khadki, Shivajinagar, Pune Jn, Jejuri, Nira, Lonand, Wathar, Satara, Koregaon, Rahimat-pur, Masur, Shirravde, Karad, Kirloskarvadi, Bhilavdi,Sangli, Miraj Jn, Jayasingpur, Hatka-nagale and Rukadi sta-tions.

Bookings for above Special trains have commenced and can be made at all Reser-vation Centres and on website: www.irctc.co.in. Only passengers having confirmed tick-ets will be permitted to board these special trains. Passengers are advised to adhere to all norms, SOPs related to COVID19 during the boarding, travel and at destination.

CR To Run Additional Special Intrastate Trains Within Maharashtra To & Fro From Mumbai

CR to run 3 pairs of Special trains in Maharashtra to and fro from Mumbai.

3Sunday, 11 October 2020

Pranab Jyoti Bhuyan, Navi Mumbai

Even as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided

to install as many as 1450 high-tech CCTV cameras across the city, they have no plans to bring to the bungalows of their commissioner and mayor under the surveillance of such cameras until now.

While the commissioner’s bunga-low is located at Nerul, the may-or’s bungalow is at Parsik hill at CBD Belapur.

In August, last year some un-identified people sneaked into the commissioner’s bungalow and stole a laptop and mobile phone. The bungalow was then occupied by the former commissioner Ramaswamy N.

After the theft Ramaswamy N had said, “CCTV cameras were not installed in the bungalow as we had never antici-pated such an incident. I have now re-quested the civic body to do something

about it.”Fourteen months on, but nothing

has been done in this direction.DS Chabukswar, deputy municipal

commissioner of NMMC (admin) said, “I am not aware of this matter. The en-gineering department will be able to say something.”

A senior officer from the engineer-ing department said, “We have not

received any pro-posal of installing CCTV cameras at the said bun-galows and hence we cannot do something on our own.”

Pankaj Lad, an activist from Nerul said, “The NMMC is not

lagging behind in resources for install-ing CCTV cameras in their commis-sioner and the mayor’s bungalow. It is interesting that they are not planning to install such cameras at these two bun-galows even after a theft taking place in one of them. We hope there is no politi-cal conspiracy behind this.”

By Crime Reporter, Navi Mumbai

Two people pretending to be em-ployed in CISF duped a person of

Rs 75,000 under the pretext of selling Royal Enfield bullets through OLX. Panvel city police has registered a case against the unidentified people under the IT Act.

The victim, Salim Durrani Abbas, 43, a resident of Panvel, wanted to buy a second-hand Royal Enfield bul-let. While searching the OLX's online site on September 30 he noticed that a person named Vishwanath Tup-ke wanted to sell a Bul-let Classic 350.

Salim liked the bullet and approached Tupke, who told him that was an employee of CISF and acquired Salim's trust by sending a CISF ID card named Vinayak Yashwant to Salim's WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, on Oc-tober 4, a man named Praveen Kumar contact-ed Salim and said that the bullet was dispatched to Ahmedabad and he would get it by noon.

Tupke then asked him to send Rs 5,300 to Maganlal Kori's account. Accordingly, Salim transferred the amount through net banking. In the meantime, both Vinayak and Pravin Kumar demanded additional money and cheated Salim of Rs 75,000.

Realizing he was cheated Salim filed a complaint with Panvel City Po-lice Station against accused Vinayak Tupke and Pravin Kumar, who have been booked under the IT Act.

Bungalows of NMMC Commissioner, Mayor not to be under CCTV surveillance

A man duped of Rs. 75,000Two men pretending to be employed in CISF duped the person under the pretext of selling Royal Enfield bullets through OLX

By Meena R. Prashant Navi Mumbai

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corpo-

ration (NMMC) has always implemented various innovative and environment friendly concepts, especially with regards to sani-tation. Taking a step further, the civic body, as pilot project, has built underground gar-bage bins at two places through CSR funds by L & T Ltd, Seawoods.

The underground garbage bins have been set up near Shribam-andev Bhuyari Marg along Palm Beach Marg and near Ganesh Talav. The inauguration of the underground bins was held recently. On this occasion, Deputy Commissioner of Solid Waste Management

Dr. Babasaheb Rajale, officer Chandrakant Tayde, former corpora-tor Vinod Mhatre, L&T Company Project Head Akash Khatri, Abhay Kamathankar, Bhavesh Sejpal, Akhil Palherkar and other dignitaries were present.

NMMC has the rep-utation of being a clean, beautiful city. This ini-tiative will help the city look more beautiful, said Deputy Commis-sioner of Solid Waste Management Dr. Baba-saheb Rajale. He fur-ther said that the third underground bin will be placed in Karave.

This underground garbage bin has two parts, one for the wet waste and dry waste with a small lid on the top so that the trash can be disposed-off. “To

ensure that the people do not have to touch the lids of the bins, foot pressing system have been kept. When a per-son presses the foot press the lid will open and once the foot is re-moved the lid will close. The two separate waste bins are of 1.1 cubic meters each. After the arrival of Refuse Com-pactor for transporting waste, these wastes will be lifted by hydraulic system and the waste will be transported through the compactor”, said Rajale.

The civic body has been ranked third among the cleanest cit-ies in the country in the nationwide 'Clean Survey 2020'. The civic body has initiated 'Clean Survey 2021' on Mahat-ma Gandhi Jayanti.

NMMC installs underground garbage bins Based on pilot project the civic body aims

to make the city look for beautiful

By Chandrashekar Hendve Koparkhairane

The residents of Ko-parkhairane have

alleged neg-ligence of the Navi Mum-bai Municipal C o r p o r a t i o n (NMMC) to-wards garden and jogging track in Sec-tor 11, Ko-parkhairane.

The fitness e n t h u s i a s t s

point out that the bins kept near the garden is always overflowing, due to which, there not

only is foul stench but the menace of stray animals has increased manifold.

“While the civic body has been promot-ing clean and green city, they are not pay-ing attention to the overflowing garbage issue. Secondly, the electricity boxes on many poles are lying open which is danger-ous”, said a resident.

Koparkhairane residents demand upgradation of garden



This year, Na-varatri is be-

ing celebrated from 17th October to 24th October. Due to the lockdown im-posed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as some other re-strictions, celebrating Na-varatri festival, as usual, will be restricted in some places this year. At such a time, the question in the minds of many is 'How to celebrate Navaratri festival?' Some useful aspects and view-points for them are given by Chetan Rajhans, Spokesper-son, Sanatan Sanstha.

Question : What to do if it is not possible to go to the temple of Goddess during Navaratri and perform Oti ritual (Ritual of offering a sari and/or a blouse piece to a Goddess or a married lady, a ritual in Maharash-tra, India) ?

Answer : If it is not pos-sible to go to the temple of the Goddess during Navaratri for this purpose, then the ritual should be performed at home. The sari offered to the Goddess as Oti can be used as prasad (A devotional of-

fering made to a De-ity).

Question : What to do if it is not pos-sible to celebrate Lalita Panchami ?

Answer : The Goddess in the house should be worshipped with bhav (Spiritual

emotion) that Lalita Devi is being worshipped.

Question : What should be done if it is not possible to perform religious rituals such as ghatasthapana and malabandhan due to un-availability of grains, flow-ers or material for worship?

Answer : There is a dif-ference in the cereals used for ghatasthapana or the reli-gious rituals to be performed during Navaratri, in each of the States. Navaratri festi-val is a part of the tradition of Kula (Family) or kulachar (Religious rituals that have been followed over genera-tions in a family). If due to constraints of adverse times, it is not possible to perform the ritual of ghatasthapana or malabandhan as usual, the rituals should be performed as much as possible by us-ing the available means. All other rituals should be per-

formed mentally.Question : How to per-

form kumarika-pujan? (Ritualistic worship of a virgin)

Answer : If there is a ku-marika at home, she should be worshipped. If it is not possible to invite girls to the house for worship due to restrictions, instead of kumarika-pujan, offer some amount to a religious institu-tion which works for a wor-thy religious cause.

Question : What to do if it is not possible to perform Bhondla, playing Garba or blowing Ghagari ?

Answer: The main pur-pose of Bhondla, playing Garba or blowing Ghagari is to keep awake as a part of worshipping Goddess. If it is not possible to perform this religious act, the God-dess should be worshipped by chanting the name of the

Kuladevata (Goddess of the family) or by reciting reli-gious texts or singing bhajans (Devotional songs).

Question : How to cel-ebrate Dussehra?

Answer : The weapons and means of subsistence that are available at home and are being worshipped every year should be worshipped. If it is not possible to exchange apta (Mountain ebony tree) leaves with each other, these leaves should be offered only to God.

Viewpoints1. If any vrat (Vowed re-

ligious observation), a cel-ebration of the festival or a religious ritual as per family tradition could not be com-pleted or some deficiency was left in the karma, ac-cording to the karmakanda sadhana (Spiritual practice of rites, rituals and obser-vances performed in the ac-

companiment of recitation of mantras mentioned in the Vedas and strict abiding by the rules therein) during the year due to adverse times, they should perform the vrat, the celebration of festival or religious rituals with more enthusiasm next year.

2. The coronavirus pan-demic has triggered the ad-verse times. According to the Seer Saints and Astrolo-gers, severe adverse times will continue for another 2-3 years. During this time, it will not be possible to per-form religious rituals prop-erly as usual. In such a case, chant more and more instead of performing karmakanda sadhana. The main purpose of any religious ritual or celebration of the festival or observing vrat is to increase one's sattvikta by remember-ing God. Therefore, every-one should try to perform spiritual practice according to the times to increase their own Sattva component. De-tailed information on spiri-tual practice required as per times is given in the Sana-tan's Spiritual texts. It is also available on Sanatan San-stha's website www.sanatan.org.

How to celebrate Navaratri in adverse times caused by the coronavirus pandemic

Chetan Rajhans

Mumbai: Rizzle, the best short video-creation app, will pre-miere “Aakhiri Dinner”, an exclu-sive web-series under the banner of RSeries made by No Filter, a Mumbai-based ad agency. The se-ries will star popular YouTubers, Angry Prash and Funcho who play gamers that are devastated by the PUBG ban. The series is an antici-pated one, given the popularity of both app and creators.

Aakhri Dinner is part of RSer-ies - an initiative by Rizzle that is giving a platform to amateur and aspiring filmmakers, produc-ers, directors, and anyone who wants to create their own short web-series, talk shows, standup comedy videos, etc in the vertical video space. Rizzle had previously released other RSeries content like Humm Tumm which gar-nered 3.5+ million views.

No Filter will be releasing more binge-worthy comedy content on Riz-zle in the form of minute-long sketches

that will have you hooked to the app. In the near future, Rizzle aims to be-come the prime hub for vertical series of all genres and languages.

With its constantly growing user base, Rizzle aims to make vertical content creations accessible to every-one. As part of this, Rizzle has also launched RStudios, absolutely free dance and acting classes available for everyone.

Rizzle premieres the much-awaited web series "Aakhri Dinner"

Currently, due to the coronavirus pan-

demic, it is not possible for all people to attend satsangs and discourses. At such times, to guide people about perform-ing spiritual practice by staying at home, Sanatan Sanstha has organised a

series of 'online spiritual practice discourses' on the theme ‘Importance of Spirituality in con-text of blissful life ad-verse times'. This online discourse will be held

on 11th, 18th and 24th October 2020, in 9 lan-guages namely Marathi, Hindi, English, Guja-rati, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali.

Sanatan Sanstha organises series of online spiritual practice discourses

The discourses will be conducted in 9 languages on the topic ‘Importance of spirituality blissful life’

By Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

A 20-year-old girl working as an as-

sistant sonographer was allegedly molested by a doctor at a reputed pri-vate hospital in Vashi. The doctor Amol She-wale has been arrested by Vashi police on the

charges of molestation.The 20-year-old

went to work as usual on Thursday. The young woman was in a PPE kit. However, Dr. Amol Shewale said that the zip of the PPE kit worn by the victim was open and made obscene jokes with her. The frightened

young woman reached her house and informed her family about the in-cident. She then lodged a complaint at Vashi police station. Based on this complaint, the police have arrested Dr. Amol Shewale by filing a case of molestation against him.

Doctor arrested for molesting assistantThe victim worked as assistant sonographer


The recent story of IDFC First

Bank MD and CEO V Vaidyanathan gift-ing shares worth Rs. 30 lakhs to his for-mer teacher who had lent him a sum of Rs. 500 that he needed to travel for an interview, touched my heart. It is not the value of the gift, but the feeling of grati-tude that was expressed through this thoughtful gesture, which makes one realize that we have all not yet succumbed to self-centeredness. While there are numer-ous people who do not even acknowledge or appreciate what others have done for them, who do not share their good fortune even with their immediate family members, we still have people like Vaidyana-than who went through the trouble to locate his teacher and return with interest multiplied many times over, the amount that his teacher had lent him in time of need.

During the last six months, when we have learnt the art of self-re-liance, and become at-ma-nirbhar out of com-pulsion rather than out of choice, most of us have also learnt to feel grateful for the luxu-ries we have, and value those who make our lives easier, productive

and more meaningful. For those of us who could outsource our domestic work to help-ers, we can now recog-nize the physical labour that goes into keeping a house clean and wash-ing the seemingly nev-er-ending piles of dish-es. For those of us who enjoyed ordering fancy dishes in a restaurant, we can now understand the skills, time and ef-fort it takes to churn out an exotic and delicious meal and present it in a way that it looks ap-petising. For those of us who could comfort-ably sit in the backseat of our cars and remain oblivious to the traf-

fic on the road because we had a driver or a cab to take us around, we can now appreciate the pressure of driving on a road where break-ing traffic rules is more commonplace than fol-lowing them. For those of us who did not step out of our houses for months, we can now be grateful for the fresh air we breathe, the freedom to move around at our own free will, for tech-nology that allowed us to stay in touch with our loved ones despite not being able to meet them, for simply being

alive and healthy.Most of us are

guilty of taking people, comforts and nature for granted. It is only when these little gifts and luxuries are taken away from us, that we can value what we have. Perhaps this is one more lesson that Covid has taught us – gratitude; a lesson that we must pass down to future generations. Per-haps it is time to show that gratitude- not nec-essarily in material or tangible terms. We do not have to give a mon-etary gift to those who have helped us, but we can at least express our gratitude in words and

actions. Words have greater power than we imagine, and yet cost nothing. Gratitude is the expression of an emo-tion, an expression that can bring immense joy and happiness to those who may even have forgotten what they have done for us. It is time to remind them of the difference they have made to our lives…

The writer is Associate Profes-

sor, Indira Institute of Business Management,

Consultant, Indian School of Management and Entrepreneurship

Gratitude is an Attitude

By Dr. Monica Khanna By: Dr. Vandana Mahajani

Vivekananda said “Each soul is po-

tentially divine” what he meant by saying this was that each one of us is capable to lifting ourselves up to make our life purposeful to humanity. This was pos-sible because power re-sides in the atman and it lies within us. Unfortu-nately, we are not aware of its presence.

S o n a m Wangchuk is the name we are familiar with now. It was only after watching the movie ‘3 idi-ots’ that this engineer be-come a popular face. Just like any other engineer Sonam could have passed out from his engineering college and picked up a well paying job. But not Sonam. His life has taken a direction that is now making our people hap-pier.

Sonam was born in 1966 in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. He had no education till the age of nine. Later at Sri-nagar he faced the prob-lem of language. Despite father’s wishes he en-rolled at NIT, Srinagar to study mechanical engi-

neering.The passion to inno-

vate came early to him. He loved solving puzzles. Real life puzzles needed real workable solutions. And it was possible to do so. It needed tremen-dous love and passion. He realised the joy of invent-ing early, first for him-self, then for his society and now for the earth at large.

His earlier experi-ences of learning lead him to form the student’s education and cultural movement of Ladakh (SECMOL). This meant

working in the education sector. He wanted to bring reforms in the education system so that it allowed students to enjoy the pro-cess of education.

He is a great innova-tor and worked on giv-ing solar energy systems in his own areas to solve the problem of energy in his region. He has built several passive solar mud buildings in Ladakh, Sik-kim and Nepal.

His project called the Ice Stupa has won him laurels in India and abroad. The stupa saves water from ice in win-ters and supplies it in the

months of April and May to farmers for irrigation.

Today the government consults him on all proj-ects related to education and environment in the region. That is the kind of position he has created for himself

For all his path break-ing achievements in mak-ing life easier for his people he has received numerous awards. He was awarded the Ra-man Magsaysay award in 2018. Sonam’s life is truly inspirational.

Swami Vivekananda said that if our acts benefit

the society then they are the noblest endeavours. He said life was all about sacrifice, selfless ser-vice and living or others by avoiding distractions from unwanted things.

“All the power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in yourself. Stand up and express the divin-ity within you.”Sonam Wangchuk is doing ex-actly that.

Dr Vandana Mahajani is Nagar pramukh,

Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari,

Navi Mumbai branch

All the power is within you

Pointing out further issues another resident said, “The cover of a gutter which was placed recently is missing due to which the gutter is lying open again. This is very dangerous as

one can fall in the open manhole. Apart from that, work of laying pipeline is going on the garden. However, there is no mention of the time of completion by the contractor”.

Speaking with News-band correspondent, Koparkhairane ward

officer Ashok Madhavi said, “The work is be-ing undertaken in the garden. However, it is compulsory for the con-tractor to display a work board about what kind of work is going on and when it will be finished, I will inform our officer to look into this issue.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

KOPARKHAIRANE RESIDENTS DEMAND...


1450 HIGH-TECH CCTV CAMERAS TO BE...

installed at all entry and exit points of the city, the main roads such as Palm Beach road, Thane-Be-lapur road, Sion-Panvel highway and at the im-portant junctions. A se-ries of meetings will be held with the police and the traffic department for deciding the loca-tion of the cameras,”

another official from the engineering department said.

“The quality of the existing cameras are not so good and hence they are not capable of providing good visu-als. Therefore, we have decided to install high-tech cameras this time,” he further said.

The traffic officials said that the new cam-eras will be helpful in

various ways.Sunil Lokhande, dep-

uty commissioner of po-lice (traffic) said, “Since the number of cameras is high, they will be able to cover maximum areas in the city. The cameras will also help the police in detecting crimes and road accidents. It will also be easier to catch hold of the culprits, who run away after commit-ting a crime in the city.”


EditorialISSUE: 106 11 OCTOBER, 2020

Undoubtedly, Cricket has become the craze in the country and more

and more youngsters desire to take up this sport. However, along with crick-et, there is also a need to encourage other sports as well.

It is unfortunate that while all of us are familiar with the names of al-most all the cricket players, most of us struggle with our memory when asked to name players of other sports. Not many remember that in Shooting, Gagan Narang won four Gold med-als in Common Wealth Games2010 or Indian World Champion wrestler Sushil Kumar has won the gold medal in FILA 2010 World Wrestling Cham-pionships or Leander Paes has won Olympic bronze medals in Tennis.

Along with cricket, there is a need to encourage players of other sports too. Athletes from US perform well as they are given wide coverage by me-dia and broadcasting units irrespec-tive of how many viewers are present to watch them perform. The profit and money should not always be the cri-teria. Giving media exposure to the budding athletes boosts their morale and performance. Additionally, the Government should keep an eye on the biggest medal prospects and pro-vide good coaching to them. Private broadcasting companies should take help from sports authorities to cover certain sports which are unfamiliar in the country. It is equally important to give financial assistance like intro-ducing pension policies and offering government jobs to all the talented sportsperson of all the games. Rarely do we hear of a cricketer living in poverty- thanks to the policies tabled by BCCI for cricketers due to which they do not have to deal with short-age of debts in their playing period or post retirement. Unfortunately, that is not the fate of most of the players of other sports who fail to get even the sponsors. They only live normal life when they are in the playing period and struggle post their retirement.

Leagues should be introduced for different sports to help in nurtur-ing more champion players. A sports like Kabaddi, for instance, which was just familiar in rural India is now a vital part of Indian sports- thanks to Pro Kabaddi which was sponsored & broadcasted by Star Sports in the earlier part. Hockey was also a de-pleting sport in India but Hockey India League gave it a new lifeline. Likewise, with the introduction of ISL, football too is seeing positive improvement and India is now ranked under 100 after 2 decades in football.

In a fast-growing economy like India, there is a tremendous poten-tial for the sports sector to develop and achieve the status of an indus-try. India, now hosts the Indian Pre-mier League (cricket), Hockey India League, Indian Super League (foot-ball), Pro Kabbadi League and Indian Badminton League, all of which have aided in the growth of the sports sec-tor. If sport is recognised as an indus-try, it can generate a large number of employment opportunities in the form of the apparel and equipment sector, sports medicine, sports tourism and other sport-related sectors. The In-dian government must also invest in technological advances such as sports analytics to assist in coaching profes-sional athletes. It must also provide wearables, sensors, and nutrition as per the requirement of the sport and the sportsperson.

India being the second most popu-lated country in the world, has the ability to churn out athletes who can put us on the global map in terms of sports, other than cricket. Play-ers from different sports are already making the country proud with their splendid performances. By providing them with good facilities, monetary assistance, world class infrastructure, India will have a huge medal tally in all the sports. What Indian sports need is the support of the Government and its People.

There are more sports other than Cricket

The performing arts fraternity is

among the most affected due to the traumatic pandemic. With no shows or performances, it has become extremely difficult for artists to make a living. Although some organisations have come forward to support, the situation is still grim and a matter of great concern. Lately

during this period some of the veterans in the field of arts left for their heavenly abode, I would like to express my reverence to these great souls, by briefly enlisting their outstand-ing contribution to the society.

Veteran dansuese Amala Shankar was the wife of the legendary dancer Uday Shankar, who placed Indian dance on the interna-tional platform. Amala lived a long and com-plete life, very few are fortunate to touch the century. Amala was also the leading dancer in all the productions. Uday Shankar introduced a unique style of dancing that was based on Kath-akali, Bharata Natyam, folk dances and other styles that was known as the Uday Shankar style, which is captivating, a fine combination of both grace and vibrancy Uday Shankar's film "Kalpana" is fine testi-mony of his craftsman-ship. showmanship and creative excellence, the legacy moves forward

with her daughter Ma-mata and son Ananda Shankar.

Dr Kapila Vatsyayan is among the most respected art historian, scholar and writer India has ever produced. Her contribution towards the upliftment of varied art forms is tremendous. Kapila was particu-larly applauded for

her multi-disciplinary approach towards the art forms and her broad based analysis of the varied arts, both performing and visual. Kapila was married to the great Hindi poet Dr Sachidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan "Ageya" but later they got separated. Kapila adorned varied designations on the na-tional and international platforms

Guru Rajee Narayan was among the foremost teachers of Bharata Natyam in Mumbai, she had estab-lished her own dance academy along with her talented son Shyam Sundar and produced several dancers, many of them are profession-als today. Rajee had a sound knowledge of Carnatic music and produced and composed her own compositions which was published in the book format known as "Nritya Geeta Mala", among other publi-cations. Among her popular disciples are Jayashree Rao, Anu-pama Sury etc.

Saroj Khan was the topmost choreogra-pher of Hindi cinema, she started her career as a teenager and assisted her mentor Sohanlal, who was a top choreographer at that time. Saroj Khan revolutionised the bol-lywood style of dancing and was also greatly instrumental in provid-

ing due recognition to choreographers with awards, which was not there. The numbers par-ticularly choreographed for Madhuri Dixit and Sreedevi were great hits. Winner of national and filmfare awards, I was privileged to meet her in Bangalore when she was invited as a guest for the silver jubilee of Nirupama and Rajendra's Abhi-nava dance academy. S.P.Balasubramaniam has rendered thousands of songs for south Indian and Hindi films, the most popular being "Ek Duje Ke Liye"for Kamala Hasan and "Maine Pyar Kiya" for Salman Khan. His commendable and soul stirring voice will al-ways be re-membered. Winner of several awards, he was was also known as music composer and a won-derful human being. his sister S.P.Sailaja is also a well known play-back singer, the legacy moves forward with his son S.P.Charan and daughter Pallavi.

A tribute to great souls

Guru Vijay Shanker

At around 1 pm, three vehicles, Eicher Tempo, Bolero Pickup, and Echo Van, arrived at the spot. On suspicion, the police seized the vehicles and inspected them. Vimal Pan masala and tobacco (Gutkha) worth about Rs 36 lakh were found in the three vehicles.

The police arrested four persons including the driver of the vehi-cle and confiscated the stock of gutkha. Among the arrested are Jiten-dra Kartik Chandra Das (26), Akhaya Bud-dhadev Khanda (22), Priyavrat Abhaykumar Das (29) and Munna Shri Janardan Yadav (28), all residents of Ko-parkhairane. Prelimi-

nary investigation has revealed that the four had brought the gutkha from Gujarat. Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh said that further investigation is underway. He also said that the racket of smug-gling of banned gutkha along with narcotics would be completely destroyed in Navi Mum-bai.


GUTKHA wORTH RS 36 LAKH SEIzED...


By Indrani Basu

A global mental health emergency has arisen due to Coronavirus

pandemic, say the Mental Health ex-perts. This dreaded disease, they say, has impacted the mental health of the population world -wide.

World Mental Health Day falls on October 10. The day was first observed by the World Federation for Mental Health in 1992.

On this occasion the Federation shared, “The world is experiencing an unprecedented global health emer-gency due to COVID-19 that has had an impact on the mental health of millions of people. We know that the levels of anxiety, fear, isolation, social distancing and restrictions, uncertain-ty and emotional distress have become widespread as the world struggles to bring the virus under control and to find solutions.”

During this pandemic, there is an increase in number of suicide cases, suicidal attempts and other psycho-logical problems due to mental health disorder. “The first and foremost reason is anxiety and anxiety related stress. This anxiety is more of neuro-logical than psychological,” informed Dr. Varun Ghildiyal, Consultant Psy-chiatrist at NMMC and MGM Hospi-tal and Nodal officer for Covid 19 in Navi Mumbai.

“Covid’ 19- the word itself creates a fear among the population. Every person whether old or young, is facing stress mainly with constant thought ‘If I get Covid 19 what will happen’? The uncertainty about the disease and its consequences play havoc in the mind of the people. Secondly, ‘lockdown’ has led to job uncertainty, pay cut,

slowdown in market, loss in business, family pressure and moreover physical isolation from outer world. These are the factors causing stress and slowly effect mental health which often leads to different mental disorder,” he adds.

“Fear, worry, and stress are nor-mal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is important that we look after our men-tal, as well as our physical, health,” stresses World Health Organisation.

“Adapting to the New Normal, facing new realities, constant wear-ing of mask when one moves outside, regular hand sanitization, maintaining distances also creates mental stress among many people,” shared a coun-sellor from CBD.

Dr. Ghildiyal said, “The only solu-tion is to stop thinking about the dis-ease. Rather keep yourself busy with some hobby, utilising your time play-ing some interesting game, listening to music or watching movie in your lei-sure. Mindfulness is something which will help you understanding yourself better and dealing with anxiety that comes along with Covid.”

Similarly Vashi based Yoga Guru Neelam Gupta advised to do Pranaya-ma and meditation daily. “Stay calm while sitting in a relaxed position for few minutes, take deep breath and exhale. Do this exercise daily for 3-4 times. Make it a regular habit to strengthen your mental health,” she stresses.

Covid 19 and its impact on Mental Health

By Ashok Dhamija, Navi Mumbai

Central Railway (CR) will operate Mega Block o¬n its Mumbai Di-

vision Suburban sections (Harbour and Main lines) for carrying out mainte-nance works which are es-sential for its infrastructure UPkeep and safety on Sun-day 11 October, 2020. The schedule is as follows:

A) Vashi - Kurla UP and DN Harbour lines

From: 09.45 am to 3.05 pm

UP Harbour line Special services for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Mumbai leaving Panvel from 09.45 am to 02.15 pm and DN Harbour line Special services to Vashi /Panvel leaving CSMT, Mumbai from 09.45 am to 2.30 pm will remain

suspended. However, Special services will run between CSMT – Kurla sta-tions and between Vashi - Panvel sta-tions during the block period.

B) Matunga - Mulund UP and DN Main Slow lines

From: 10.00 am to 3.00 pm

Special services o¬n DN Slow line leaving Chhatrapati Shivaji Maha-raj Terminus from 9.30 am to 2.40 pm will be diverted o¬n DN Fast line between Matunga and Mulund sta-tions, halting as per respec-tive scheduled halts, further reverted on DN Slow line

from Mulund. Essential service passengers are re-

quested to bear with the Railway Admin-istration for the inconvenience caused.

CR Mega block todayNo direct connectivity between Vashi/Panvel and CSMT

By Chandrashekhar Hendve, Navi Mumbai “We will take a positive deci-

sion regarding the various pending demands of the independent officials of the three power companies namely MSEDCL, Mahatransport and Mah-anirmiti,’ assured the Minister of En-ergy Dr. Nitin Raut.

A delegation of Union Presi-dent Sunil Pathak, General Secretary Manoj Thaware, Union Secretary San-jay Khade, Joint Secretary Dhairyashil Gaikwad, Ganesh Bodhare, Aurang-abad Circle Vice President Pranesh Shirsat met Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut in Mumbai and discussed various issues pending for many years.

The delegation demanded the irreg-ularities in the posts of senior manager (human resources) and senior man-

ager (finance and accounts) should be rectified. The important posts of chief general manager (human resources) and chief general manager (informa-tion technology) which have been vacant for two years should be filled immediately through promotion. Va-cancies should be filled immediately by the pending promotion panel of independent officers. Various posts of accounts in the payments and revenue department of the team office should be sanctioned anew. internal audit de-partment should be started in MSED-CL as before.

Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut as-sured the delegation that positive de-cisions would be taken in this regard, informed Union Secretary Sanjay Khade.

Delegation meets Minister of Energy to discuss various problems

Candle march was organized by Chhatrabharati Vidyarthi Sanghatana Navi Mumbai and Maitri Group Panvel condemning the heinous Hathras rape case (By: Chandrashekhar Hendve)


COVID 19: REALTy MARKET...

buy property.Vikrant Bhandari, a

real estate agent from Ulwe said, “Those who were aspiring or think-ing of buying homes in the new financial year by taking home loan are badly affected. They had hoped that the housing loans will come down. But many had not anticipated that their pay cycle too will get affected. Hence,

now many are not sure if they would be able to afford the monthly EMIs.”

Bhandari further said, “While all the sec-tors have been badly af-fected by the pandemic but the real estate sector has been hit the hardest. The Navi Mumbai real estate market appears to have come to a halt and there is uncertainty over project completion dates.”

“Many developers were optimistic after

Union Finance Minis-ter Nirmala Sitharaman took major steps to con-tain the fallout but there are many factors which are beyond her control. Lack of available man-power at construction sites during lockdown is a major challenge. As of now, the realty sector in Navi Mumbai along with Ulwe which has a number of ongoing proj-ects, is waiting for the right time” said Sumit Chaubey a developer from Navi Mumbai.


Navi Mumbai

The information obtained through RTI it is re-

vealed that NMSEZ has ille-gally started landfill at Panje wetland through a local con-tractor while damaging the Pagote and Bhendkhal wet-lands in Uran region across Mumbai harbour, say the Environmentalists.

The official records ob-tained from the State Man-grove Cell by NGO Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan clearly show that NMSEZ has also been responsible for chop-ping mangroves over three acres at Pagote, it is learnt.

“The information assumes significance as NMSEZ has always been in a denial mode that it has not done any environmental harm,” said Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan.

The Pratishtan and an-other environment group NatConnect Foundation had earlier lodged complaints with the Bombay High Court-appointed Mangrove Protection and Conserva-tion Committee at whose instance the Raigad district administration conducted an

on-the-spot inspection of all the three sites.

In view of these records, the green groups have re-quested State Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray to quickly declare Panje as a Bird Sanctuary as a World Migratory Birds Day gift to the people.

The inspection reports, as submitted by Raigad col-lector, confirmed the damage and they even filed police cases (FIRs) against NMSEZ in Pagote and Bhendkhal cases and a dumper truck driver at Panje.

The reports said inquiries at Panje showed that NM-SEZ employed a local con-tractor to do the landfill. The truck driver did not have the royalty permit, as required

to bring the soil, the inspec-tion report said. “This amply proves that the landfill was being carried out illegally,” said Pawar.

NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said, “Our complaints stand vindi-cated and it is for the man-grove cell, the government and the mangrove committee to take appropriate action.”

The Mangrove committee chairman and Konkan Di-visional commissioner An-nasaheb Misal declared that stern action would be taken against those who destroy mangroves and wetlands.

“We have once again written to the Mangrove Committee with these offi-cial records,” Kumar said.

The official report to the

Mangrove Cell shows that the Regional Forest Officer said as many as 5,333 man-grove saplings will have to be planted to compensate the damage at Pagote. But since the land is privately owned by NMSEZ, the government agency could not do the plan-tation, the RFO said.

As regards the complaint against land grab at Belpada wetland, the reports did con-firm the unauthorized landfill.

The officials have in-formed the Mangrove Cell that CIDCO has put up sign boards at Bhendkhal and Belpada warning against unauthorized landfill and dumping of debris.

The district administra-tion said it has to be ascer-tained from the Environment

Department of Belpada and Panje whether the water bodies are notified as wet-lands. The Environmental groups, however, argued that this question should nor arise at least as regards Pan-je since the MCZMA has al-ready submitted an affidavit to Bombay High Court that the area falls under CRZ-1 and the Mangrove Commit-tee itself has asked CIDCO

to preserve it as it has all the characteristics of a wetland.

SEAP and NatConnect have reminded Aditya Thack-eray that he has tweeted vow-ing to protect Mumbai’s bio-diversity and requested him to act to save Panje as a Bird Sanctuary and help promote eco-tourism as well.

The environment depart-ment has also confirmed that the CIDCO-built sluice gates NMSEZ’s massive com-pound wall at Panje wetland were without any official permission. Hence the envi-ronmentalists have written to the Chief Minister calling for demolishing the illegal structures and facilitating free flow of inter-tidal water to the wetland.

By Chandrashekhar HendveMumbai

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ud-

dhav Thackeray while addressing the media said that the Ma-harashtra Public Service Commis-sion has decided to postpone the State Service ex-amination which was scheduled to be held on Sunday, October 11, 2020.

Chief Minister Thackeray said that in the back-drop of Covid 19 schools, colleges, and study classes in the state have been closed. The

examination has been post-poned considering the situation as well as suggestions from vari-ous students. The re-vised schedule of the

examination will be an-nounced separately by the State Ser-vice Com-

mission. All the candi-dates who have been given an admission let-ter in the examination of 11th October 2020 will be able to appear for the

examination on the revised date. The date of calculation of age limit as per advertisement will remain the same as on April 1, 2020.

Chairman of Maratha Reserva-tion Cabinet Sub-Committee Ashok Chavan, Water Resources Jayant Patil, Transport

Minister Anil Parab, MP Anil Desai were present on the occasion.

State governmentpostpones MPSC exam Current eligible candidates will be able to sit for the exam

on the new date - Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray

Pranab Jyoti Bhuyan, Navi Mumbai

The residents of Nerul are miffed as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Cor-

poration (NMMC) has not provided them with sufficient fire stations.

Presently, the Nerul node has only one fire station, which is located at sector, 19 A. According to the resi-dents one fire station is not enough to cover the entire node.

Nirmali Shinde, a resi-dent of Nerul said, "Nerul is the biggest residential area in Navi Mumbai and its population is also fast increasing. The existing fire station is located at one cor-ner of it. When a fire breaks out, the fire tenders take a lot of time to reach that spot. At times, the fire tenders reach the spot only when everything is gutted in the fire."

"This is actually a matter of seri-ous concern. NMMC is capable of starting one more fire station in this area. Unfortunately, they are not pay-ing due attention to it. They should take the matter into consideration and

do something about it as early as pos-sible," she said.

Siddhesh Mane, another resi-dent said, "When a housing society or a building does not renew its fire NOC, the NMMC takes different pu-nitive measures including cutting off the water and electricity connections. When they are so strict on their part,

they should also provide the desired services to the city residents."

Presently, the NMMC has five fire stations at Vashi, Nerul, CBD Belapur, Airoli and Kopar Khairane. Last year the fire depart-ment also hired over 200 employees for filling up dif-

ferent vacant posts.Purushottam Jadhav, in-charge of

the fire department said, "We already have plans to start one more fire sta-tion at Nerul. However, that project is still at planning stage and nothing has been finalised yet. It will take us a few years to start that proposed fire station."

Nerul residents demand one more fire station in their area

RTI confirms illegal landfill

vol. 14 • issue 106 rni no. mahen/2007/21778 ......the dynamic daily newspaper of navi...

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