Thane Mail

New (3rd) TMT depot, 791 services with 22 buses, 228 crew?

2013-03-12T08:58:00.001+05:30

Thane City may just manage to have a somewhat improved local bus service with some progress reported in getting a new bus depot in Anandnagar on Ghodbunder Road.

From this depot on a seven-acre site, 22 Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) buses would operate 791 trips, Pudhari reported today.

The bus routes which could improve are routes 54 Thane-Kasarvadavli, 62Thane-Bhrahmand / Dattachapada, 121-Mulund Kelkar College - Brahmand, 51 Thane - Waghbil, 52 Thane- Patlipada, 65 Thane-Koknipada / Tikkujiniwadi, 53, Thane - Owla.

The date from when these operations would commence has not been mentioned. As many as 228 TMT staffers are in the process of being transpfered from Vitava and Wagle Estate depots, the newspaper said. Anandnagar would be TMT's third depot.

This should have been in operation at least a year ago but despite budgetary provision of Rs 37 lakh in 2010, the work order to get the depot ready was delayed - no work orders were issued and now, double is to be spent on the same work.

TMC's 'misleading claims'

2013-02-15T08:32:00.003+05:30

Thane Municipal Corporation has misled JNRUM that "reforms" agreed upon to get funds under JNURM have been completed but they were not, leading to withholding of funds, Maharashtra Times reported today.

The reforms including introduction if e-governance, 24x7 water supply, garbage disposal, acceptable level of transport system etc. The JNURM has not bought the claims, the newspaper said.

Bus stop or vegetable shop?

2013-02-14T07:28:00.002+05:30

In some places, the bus stops have become vegetable stalls. The waiting commuter has to find another spot and the bus stop several feet away, and yet, the civic administration is helpless, according to a report in Pudhari today.

A TMC official was quoted as saying the women who sell vegetables just pick up their baskets and run when they sight a civic team.

The newspaper has cited a bus stop at Jamblinaka and has printed a picture at the end of the report.

Crematoria: Not clerks, but security guards do the work

2013-02-14T07:23:00.002+05:30

Sanitary staff and security guards are doing the tasks meant to be carried out by clerks in 35 crematoria in Thane City, according to an official status report filed by the Births and Deaths Department with Thane Municipal Corporation's Standing Committee, according to Pudhari today.

The earliner posts on this subject can be read here, and also here.

The work relates mainly to death certificates.

How money is drained...

2013-02-14T07:11:00.001+05:30

If an underground drain bursts or even now overflows in your neighbourhood, it is quite possible due to poor equipment, poor execution and the contractors-officials greed which also inflated the costs and yet slipped into time overruns, according to a report in Maharashtra Times yesterday.

1,100 autos yet to get e-meters

2013-02-14T06:59:00.005+05:30

Over 1,100 autorickshaws continue to ply on Thane City streets without converting to electronic meters and the police are on the look out for them, Dainik Saamana reported today.

Thane has 28,343 autorickshaws and the deadline to change over to electronic meters from mechanical ones which were prone to rigging was January 15.

Demolish or face notices, High Court tells politicians

2013-02-13T15:41:00.004+05:30

Bombay High Court has told local heads of the political parties which have illegal, obstructive structures as their offices in Thane City to demolish them in two days or face the prospect of their party chiefs getting notices, Indian Express reported today.

This follows a public interest litigation initiated by a Thane City resident, Ajit Savagave.

Maharashtra Times reported that the Thane Municipal Corporation told the court that even before their personnel and police reached a spot to demolish such structures, someone from the police tipped off the political offices leading to opposition to the civic body's work.

MMRDA to focus on Thane

2013-02-13T15:36:00.000+05:30

Thane appears set to receive more attention that it has from the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Authority (MMRDA) so far, according to a report in the Hindustan Times today but it did not specify whehter Thane meant the city or the several cities in Thane district.

There has been a demand that because MMRDA's focus on Mumbai and neglect of Thane, for a Thane Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (TMRDA) which end the step-motherly treatment to the fast-paced urbanization.

Thane district has several cities and towns, the corporation urban spaces being Thane City, Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Bhiwandi Nizampur. Some dozen and more smaller municipal council towns also are within it.

Some previous posts on this blog can be read here, here, and here.

Now, edging into summer

2013-02-12T09:06:00.001+05:30

Thane City is now getting into the embrace of summer.

According to a weather summary by Envirocon, the maximum temperature between 9 am on 11 February and 9 am on 12 February was 35.8 degrees centigrade and the minimum 24.3.

Days only have some slight nip, no more.

Weather summary

Period	11-02-2013 at 09:01 am To 12-02-2013 at 09:01 am
Day rainfall	0.00 mm
High temperature	35.80 ° C at 02:35 PM
Low temperature	24.30 ° C at 07:35 AM
High humidity	68.00 % at 07:50 AM
Low humidity	34.00 % at 02:00 PM
Year rainfall	0.00 mm

Source: http://www.envirocon.in/

38 crematoria in Thane, almost all in bad shape

2013-02-12T07:55:00.000+05:30

Though Thane City has 37 cremation grounds, it is not easy to go through a funeral in most of them, according to a report in Pudhari today. Most of them are just of no use.

Of the 37, 20 do not have water supply, 15 have no electricity, 34 are not cleaned, and 16 do not have pyres which are in bad repair, it said.

In as many as 34, the clerk who notes down details for the death certificate are not available. In 29, housekeeping staff are not even employed.

In many, firewood and kerosene are just not available.

Given these numbers, it is possible there are some which are afflicted by all the four concerns miking a funeral there impossible.

An assessment report by the Thane Municipal Crporation also revealed that the only one that apparently passes muster is the crematorium in Jawaharbaug.

Comment:

Loksatta had a similar report to which this blog had provided a guide in November 2012. The outcome: an assessment report, no improvement. Another report in May last year in Thane Plus spoke of a new crematorium on Ghodbunder Road.

These are not even an inconvenience to the dead; it is a huge issue to the kith and kin

JNRUM work: higher than approved costs

2013-02-12T07:29:00.001+05:30

Tenders higher by almost a third of the budgeted costs for work, thereafter increases allowed for inflation, marks the working of the Thane Municipal Corporation, according to a report in Maharashtra Times.

These relate mostly to Centrally-funded Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) projects and according to the newspaper, a substantial part of the xos escalation is being met by the TMC's own funds.

The sums involved, it says, is around Rs 1,100 cr

2 escalators by 'month-end' at Thane Station

2013-02-11T20:06:00.001+05:30

Two escalators to the newly-built wide foot overbridge in Thane Station is to be installed by month-end, Mumbai Mirror reported today.

These would be for platforms 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, the newspaper said, quoting Central Railway officials.

They have already been received by the CR and installation would commence.

Plans to install 100 of them in several stations across the country were announced in the 2010 Railway Budget but getting it done has been delayed, reasons not explained.

These two escalators would only be 'climb-up' for now due to financial constraints, the newspaper said. That it, you would need to use the steps or the ramp that exists to come down from the foo overbridge.

BEST's Thane services are loss-making

2013-02-11T12:48:00.003+05:30

BEST's bus services that link Thane City to several locations in Mumbai are useful and well-patronized but operating them is adding to their losses, Pudhari reported today. One cause is the toll they need to pay when plying between the two cities.

Now kids can ride boats by themselves

2013-02-11T12:48:00.002+05:30

Now, children can ride their own scooter-boats in a fenced off area of Masunda Lake, according to a report in Pudhari today. The picture explains it all.

Rs 44 cr lost in 4,314 burglaries

2013-02-11T08:58:00.001+05:30

Burglaries - 4.314
Detected - 1,638
Value of burgled items - Rs 4,43,14,708
Recovered - Rs 11,48,917
Period - one year 2012
Area - Thane City and it satellites in the jurisdiction of Thane Police Commissioner covering about nine million residents..

This statistics has been provided by Pudhari today. The paper says people are 'scared'.

Comment:

The police have to answer for the poor detection and recovery. But the residents - do they take proper care to ensure their buildings are secure? Time for housing societies to ponder and act.

AS 302 now upto Ghatkopar, not Mahim

2013-02-11T08:43:00.003+05:30

BEST has changed to route of AS-302 plying between Mahim Depot and Cadbury Junction, Thane, to Ghatkopar Depot and Cadbury Junction from March 1, Pudhari reported.

Eight other routes within Mumbai and between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai have also been modified, it said.

'Thane City messed up by poor governance'

2013-02-11T08:21:00.000+05:30

Thane City, home to 72 per cent 'illegal' structures - slums, buildings - is a 'poster' of poor governance and all ills that it triggers, Times of India reported today.

Politicians get the blame - rightly so - and the city, a now a 'bedroom' for others, is 'automobile-dependent' due to poor planning and plots meant for public benefit have been gobbled up even as the city administration remains 'ineffective".

And how even a year after the elections to the Thane Municipal Corporation, the political parties - Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena keep playing politics, keep visiting the courts and leave the city's issues unattended is clear from this report in the Maharashtra Times.

Aadhaar and chaos

2013-02-10T18:08:00.000+05:30

Getting Aadhaar Cards - the unique identity card - has not been easy in Thaane district which includes Thane City, and the troubles include getting the forms to fill, DNA reported on Saturday.

There is a rush, there are whimsical officials and there are delays, it pointed out. It said officials admitted that the system was chaotic.

TMT plans to add 71 buses

2013-02-09T07:29:00.000+05:30

Thane Municipal Transport has sent a request for the purchase of 71 new buses with JNURM funds to improve its services.

As against a requirement of 600 buses on the basis of a bus for every one lakh population, Thane has only 313 of which only 213-220 operate, Pudhari reported today.

Loksatta reported a mention in the TMT budget of buses operating to a "London pattern" without saying what it was. (electronic link not available).

TMT, in its annual budget, has proposed that 128 buses scrapped so far should either be sold or retro-fitted to optimise the fleet which henceforth could be using CNG as fuel.

Issue of smart cards for tickets is also approved.

More importantly, a toll-free number, 1800 22 9901 has been set up for complaints.

TV set top boxes - March 31 is deadline

2013-02-08T08:52:00.002+05:30

March 31 this year is the deadline for installing digital set top boxes for television in Thane City, Dainik Saamana reported today. After that, viewing programmes with the existing set tops will not be possible. The city has some 1.5 lakh television sets which would need to convert by then or miss the programmes.

Centre likely to clean-up Thane lakes

2013-02-08T08:45:00.002+05:30

The few lakes which have not been cleaned up or rejuvenated in Thane City may likely get some assistance from the Centre to be attended to according Loksatta today, following a visit to such lakes by the Secretary to Department of Environment, Shashi Shekhar.

Of the 45 lakes, the civic body has dealt with 24 and another 11 need attention but funds are scarce, the newspaper reported.

Planning body on lines of MMRDA for Thane?

2013-02-07T21:05:00.000+05:30

Congress politicians appear to be working quietly towards the setting up of a Thane Metropolitan Regional Authority on the lines of the Mumbai's metropolitan body, Loksatta reported today.

If done, it would mean limiting the MMRDA's jurisdiction to Mumbai and perhaps areas in Raigad, taking away a huge slice for the new body.

Politics alone appears to be the trigger since Thane district which has the highest number of civic bodies - Mira-Bhayander, Thane City, Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Kalyan-Dombivli, and Ulhasnagar besides a few civic councils; Navi Mumbai's one half is in Thane district.

The idea is to boost political ambitions by having a new body by which stimulate interest in Congress, the newspaper hinted.

There have been demands earlier too for a TMRDA since MMRDA focuses primarily on Mumbai which anyhow has a stronger civic body than any in Thane district.

This blog, breaking away from its norm of only providing links to significant news for Thane City readers had advocated a separate planning body for Thane district to make urban life better, had written an opinion piece on November 11, 2011; in newspapers it would have been an editorial.

TMC dumps garbage on farmer's 10 acre land

2013-02-07T18:49:00.002+05:30

Thane Municipal Corporation has been told by a farmer of a village close to Diva to stop dumping of garbage on his ten acre field.

The farmer, Sukhdev Undrya Patil, quoted by Dainik Saamana, has issued a legal notice saying that between ten to 20 tonnes was being dumped on his land making it impossible to farm.

This has been going on for the past two years but he had ignored it due to a family squabble which held his attention. Complaints to officials drew no response, he said.

The land is in Sabe near the Diva Shil Road.

Thane Municipal Corporation does not have a dumping ground to dispose of its solid waste and scatters them wherever it can.

Dust down by 32% . Really?

2013-02-07T18:36:00.000+05:30

Thane City is supposed to have registered a 32 per cent drop in air pollution due to dust according to an official report cited by Pudhari today.

The reasons mentioned are concrete and asphalt roads and "green footpaths" (whatever they are). In this regard Thane City is said to be better than Pune and Nashik.

Comment:

There is no mention of dust abatement in areas along Ghodbunder Road where long days of construction activity leaves residents of buildings around gasping. In October 2011 (see this post) the TMC had announced that water sprinklers was mandatory for dust abatement at construction sites failing which a fine of Rs 15,000 per day was to be imposed. This is nowhere the practice - installation of sprinklers or fines - across the city.

Readers are requested to share their experience of constructions sites.

40% Thane policemen "unwell"

2013-02-07T18:20:00.003+05:30

Nearly 40 per cent of police personnel are "unwell" at any given time, according to a report in Pudhari today. Most of them are in their forties and above, and their complaints include diabetes.