Inside Navi
Mumbai
By Dinesh
Kamath
MLA Sandeep Naik is a big name in Navi Mumbai. He is
occupying the post of MLA owing to the excellent service he rendered to the
people of his constituency which is Airoli. He has not ceased to contribute
towards developing his constituency even after he has become MLA. There are
some MLAs who after winning the election forget all the promises that they had
made before the election. But Sandeep Naik is not one of those types. He is
honest, ambitious and very enterprising. He always has the development of Navi
Mumbai in mind when he is addressing at the Maharashtra Legislative
Assembly. He comes up with some problem
or the other that Navi Mumbai, and particularly his constituency, faces.
Just recently he was having a discussion with Town
Planning Department and he grabbed this opportunity to appeal to Mumbai
Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to grant a loan of Rs 750 crore to
lay a foundation to the industrial belts located within Navi Mumbai. This was
indeed a great move on the part of Naik.
MMRDA appears to be partial. It is showing a step
motherly attitude towards Navi Mumbai. I say this because when it comes to
providing loans, MMRDA goes out of the way to grant loans to municipal corporations
of Mumbai and Pune but it coolly singles out or sidelines Navi Mumbai. Why? Why
is MMRDA treating Navi Mumbai like that? Navi Mumbai is in fact always in need
of a loan which could help Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to lay a
strong foundation to the vast industrial belts that it possesses. Industrial
regions like I.T., Pharmacity, MIDC and others will benefit enormously if only
MMRDA cares to grant a decent loan to NMMC. NMMC requires the amount stipulated
by MLA Sandeep Naik to provide the above-mentioned regions facilities like
concrete roads, power, utility service duct, footpath, street lamps etc. Hence
MMRDA should not hesitate to offer a loan of Rs 750 crore to NMMC authorities since
they have a genuine need of that amount.
The thing is Sandeep Naik had been making this
demand since last two and a half years. Yet MMRDA has not cared to fulfill this
demand. Who are the sufferers because of MMRDA’s we-don’t-care attitude?
Naturally it is the people of Navi Mumbai who have to pay the price owing to
MMRDA’s negligent attitude. NMMC is badly in need of funds to develop the
industries in the city. This lack of fund has resulted in the industrial belts
not possessing strong foundation and owing to this both the businesses and
daily revenue are badly affected. Sandeep Naik was bold enough to make an
appeal directly to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan whom he requested that
MMRDA be directed to provide a loan of Rs 750 crore to NMMC. Since the demand
is made directly to CM himself there are lots of chances of MMRDA fulfilling
this long-pending demand and that too urgently.
The thing is residents living near the city's
industrial zone, especially the Sanpada, Turbhe, Koparkhairane and Airoli
areas, get disturbed by pungent breezes wafting into their homes. The air
pollution becomes rather unbearable late at night when some of the chemical
units emit gases. Most of the time the residents are forced to keep their
windows totally shut at night, even if it gets suffocating. The option is to
inhale hazardous gases. In the winter season the air gets particularly noxious
as pollutants take longer to disperse in that season. This causes children's
eyes to burn.
There are close to 4,500 industrial units in an area
of 25.4 sq km in the MIDC TTC (Trans Thane Creek) zone. Many of these units
deal with hazardous chemicals like ammonia, sulphur and nitrous oxides. There
was a time when there was a dangerous leak of ammonia gas in the Pawane region
at Turbhe, which affected 55 locals who were rushed to hospital. Since these
regions fall within or in the vicinity of the constituency of MLA Sandeep Naik,
the pathetic plight of the people over there must have prompted him to make an
appeal for loan.
People of
Navi Mumbai tend to blame NMMC for neglecting the industrial regions. But NMMC
has its own problems. If organizations like MMRDA don’t cooperate with NMMC,
what can NMMC do? For any development work, the basic thing that is needed is
the funds. From where can NMMC produce the funds required to give tremendous boost
to city’s industries? Either the state government or organizations like MMRDA
should come forward to provide the required funds to NMMC. Unless and until
that happens NMMC cannot proceed in the matter of laying a strong foundation to
the industrial belts lying within its jurisdiction.
But now that MLA Sandeep Naik has made a direct
appeal to CM and also told MMRDA in many words about NMMC’s urgent need of
funds, it appears that MMRDA will certainly do the needful. So, let’s hope for
the best!
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