Dinesh Kamath's news 'CIDCO allots plots to NMMC for construction of parking areas; But NMMC to use these plots for other purposes' that was published in Newsband

CIDCO allots plots to NMMC for construction of parking areas

But NMMC to use these plots for other purposes

By Dinesh Kamath

(Above) CIDCO

(Above) NMMC

NAVI MUMBAI: The authorities of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) are busy chalking out the various ways in which it can use some plots that have been allotted to the civic body by City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). They are seriously considering the idea of converting some of these plots into open ground for the benefit of city residents.

CIDCO has allotted some plots to Navi Mumbai solely for converting them into parking lots. But the civic body officials say that it is not possible to convert some of these plots into parking lots. Hence the question that arises now is whether these plots can be used for other purposes which will benefit the residents. While discussing over this issue someone raised the idea of converting these plots into an open space for city residents to use it for recreation. A NMMC official said that it would be necessary to ask CIDCO authorities whether it permits to allow these plots which are allotted for parking spaces to be used for other purposes which are beneficial to public. Probably CIDCO might not raise any objection and might permit NMMC to use these spaces the way they want, said the official.

NMMC will do some ground work before deciding the purpose for which a plot should be used. The NMMC officials will interact with the people of the area where the plot exists and find out their requirements. Only after that it will be decided as to how the plot should be used.

“There are some areas where playground or open space for recreation are badly needed. In such areas NMMC is planning to come up with open ‘maidans’,” said an NMMC official.

CIDCO did allot many plots to NMMC for purpose of construction parking areas but if the area and location are not suitable for building parking area, then naturally the plots should be used for some other purposes which will benefit the residents of the area where the plots are located. 

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Need of fair pricing and quality service' that was published in Newsband

Need of fair pricing and quality service

The Metro railway service has been launched in Mumbai at last. However, there is a row over fares between the State government and Reliance Infrastructure, the latter holding the majority share in this public-private partnership project. The outcome of this dispute will be determined by the courts.

The 11.4-km elevated Mumbai Metro line has improved connectivity and reduced travel time for thousands of passengers. But Reliance Infrastructure has fixed the fare at Rs.40. The government has opposed this.

Increasing the use of public transport does relieve road congestion, reduces pollution and cuts fuel consumption. But fares should be affordable, particularly to the large number of lower-income group users.

Mumbai is an overpopulated city with thousands of migrants coming in almost every year. State government and Reliance should have both negotiated their financial issues before inauguration of the metro. The government should understand that public transport has to be comfortable and affordable rather than being unnecessarily expensive.

The delay in land allotments and inflation by means of macro economic factors contributed to the cost escalation of the project which in a way the government must also be held responsible. So there is no surprise that a company like Reliance Infra is claiming for revising the fares as it affects their profitability. The government must try to explore alternative finance options so that maximum benefit can be reaped out of similar projects which offer efficient and timely service at affordable cost to the public.

Metro is a mass public transport system and no Mercedes; the project is meant for people who cannot afford. If the government and or its private partner is at fault in the escalation they should bear the burden; not the public. Find out who messed it up and fix them.

All this mess demonstrates dominance of private organization in role of fixing fare without considering government views and pubic concern about increased fares.

Public-Private partnership is much needed for infrastructural projects as a viable source of funding. The private partnership encourages more and more public projects to be realized where there is a shortage of funding from the institutional bodies. Here, the private companies which are interested into the project enter into contractual agreement for implementation of the project and sharing the income post-implementation. This is the time when government should scrutinise the contract on the basis of operational and other overhead costs. It should ensure that the projected cost is not overrun and project delay is minimised. The agreement should clearly indicate the income to be shared between the private and the public companies and the rights of increasing the fare should be with government in consultation with private company which is funding the project. If the project is completed in stipulated time, the project cost would also be in limit and in-turn, the fares would be reasonable.

Never forget that the urban future lies in promoting good public transport, and its success depends on fair pricing and quality service.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Auto passengers heave a sigh of relief' that was published in Newsband

Auto passengers heave a sigh of relief

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: It is found that in the recent times that autorickshaws outside Vashi station are being parked in a disciplined manner, thanks to the efforts put in by the traffic police department.  Policemen are kept on duty there all the time to keep a watch on erring auto drivers. These policemen are managing the situation absolutely efficiently.

There were times in the past when many who commuted on autorickshaws would constantly complain about the rude behaviours by the autodrivers. These drivers would park their vehicles in a most undisciplined manner thus causing untold harassment to the auto passengers. The constant complaints about these drivers pouring into the Vashi police station at last made the police authorities to take stern steps which would end this menace caused by the drivers once and for all. Since past few days it was found that efficient police staff are being stationed outside Vashi railway station at the parking areas and they monitor the situation very strictly and with great skill. This has made the auto commuters feel very relieved and there have been hardly any complaint coming from them ever since this stern step has been taken by the police authorities.

There is a need for more policemen to be deployed at this auto stand but the police authorities are waiting for the road works at Sino-Panvel highway to end after which they will manage to do complete justice to the commuters who feel harassed at the auto stand outside Vashi railway station.

The police authorities, in fact, are planning to deploy policemen at this sensitive spot in two shifts in order to increase the efficiency of the policemen who are stationed at Vashi auto stand. The auto drivers are at last brought under control by the police authorities by adopting such drastic tactics like stationing most efficient policemen to keep a watch on these drivers. In fact, just the sight of these policemen is found to be enough to force the auto drivers to behave in a disciplined manner and refrain from parking their vehicles haphazardly. The main thing is that the commuters who travel by autos are found to be heaving a sigh of relief at last. 

Video: Journalist Dinesh Kamath interviewed by Foreign Correspondent James White

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Stop neonatal deaths' that was published in Newsband

Stop neonatal deaths

India leads in neonatal (0-27 days of age) deaths. Of the three million neonatal deaths globally in 2012, some 779,000 were in India. According to a 2012 WHO report, India is one of the 10 countries with an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 preterm births, as in 2010. The high number of preterm births is one of the reasons for the very high numbers of newborn deaths in the country — preterm births cause about 50 per cent of neonatal mortality.

Many deliveries still take place at home at some places in India. Also, the lack of well-trained healthcare workers and well-equipped healthcare centres has proved to be a “barrier” to improving newborn survival. There is, hence, an urgent need to improve the quality of care. What must be borne in mind is that many of the initiatives taken to save neonates’ lives would also help in reducing maternal mortality. With 50,000 deaths, India has the highest maternal mortality in the world.

Every government talks about maternal and medical cure but none of them provide appropriate facilities for birth. It’s not enough to talk and make policies. There is need to work out the ideas on paper and implement them. Neonatal death is a very serious issue that India faces. We have 60% percent of India still living in villages which are far away from the basic need of maternal facilities. Government must pay some attention towards rural areas and should provide at least minimum required facility for controlling this situation.

Poverty is the vital cause for the neonatal deaths. Due to poverty pregnant women are unable to take nutritional food during pregnant period. The new government should provide nutritional food and medical care to the pregnant women.

Modi government needs to pay attention to the neo-natal death issues and develop new policies to solve the issue. Given that the lack of well-equipped healthcare centres has proved to be an obstacle to improving newborn survival there is an ominous need to increase the number of well-trained birth attendants particularly in villages. 

The NDA regime has taken a vital decision to improve drinking water availability and proper sanitation for everybody. This initiative will help bring a lot of change. Next, proper healthcare is must. In some states, there is a serious dearth of doctors. There is dearth of doctors in the hospitals and where doctors are present, they are not well trained or equipped. The only way to improve healthcare is to encourage cheap private healthcare which is being provided by some hospital chains. They need to be encouraged and equipped sufficiently.

What we need is investment by public sector in medical colleges and attached hospitals and allied medical institutions. Since these colleges will be administered by public sector companies their standard will be better than Government colleges and hospitals. This is another way to improve the healthcare in our country.  

Dinesh Kamath's news 'MSEDCL and NMMC hurry up to complete the pre-monsoon works' that was published in Newsband

MSEDCL and NMMC hurry up to complete the pre-monsoon works

By Dinesh Kamath

(Above) Pre-monsoon work in progress

NAVI MUMBAI: Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has been doing a great job by working on distribution panel (DP) boxes, feeders, transformers as a part of pre-monsoon preparation. Its staff also has already done lot of pruning of tree branches and replacing of cables so that there will be no problem this monsoon.

MSEDCL has focused particularly on chronic spots like where there are overhead wires and in the process tried to ensure that there will be no stoppage of power supply in case it starts raining all of a sudden. Also earthing problems are looked into to prevent short circuit during the rains. They are also checking the conductors and DP boxes. It appears that MSEDCL this time is not displaying a lax attitude and this has pleased many residents of the city. The staff of MSEDCL is determined to see to it that there is no occurrence of mishaps during this rainy season and they are all prepared to tackle any emergency situation.

The engineering department of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is also very active this year. They have been hurrying with their road repairing works and trying to complete them before the heavy rains start pouring in the city. Asphalting of quite many roads are completed. NMMC has been paying more attention to the roads in the MIDC region.

There are some roads within the city with trenches, owing to the digging work undertaken for laying water and sewage pipes. NMMC is in a hurry to complete the repairing of these roads before the heavy showers. NMMC will have to hurry up in completing the concretization works of important traffic junctions since these are the areas which get most affected during heavy rains. The workers are finding it extremely tough to fill all the potholes which exist in big number here. Concretization is more difficult than asphalting and requires that traffic be diverted and hence consumes a lot of time.  

Both MSEDCL and NMMC seems to be almost prepared to face the monsoon and they are sure that this time the residents of the city will face less water logging as compared to the past. 

Dinesh Kamath's news 'NMMC to go digital?' that was published in Newsband

NMMC to go digital?

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The civic body authorities want to go digital. They are fed up of excessive paper works and would like to adopt modern methods. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) plans to let corporators and department heads use tablets, and let the software module replace papers. The sample of this software is being studied by the secretary who will then suggest the necessary changes required to be made in this software.

Instead of using papers and pens to do the recording works, the NMMC officials will be taught to do the documentation work online. The tablets will ensure that work is uninterrupted. Very soon, the NMMC officials will be able to do preparation of agendas, work proposals, intimation of meetings at the click of buttons, thanks to the sophisticated software that is being specially designed for their benefit.