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THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI/NAVI MUMBAI SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2017 9TIMES NAVI MUMBAI
Navi Mumbai: The nomina-tion for the Navi MumbaiMunicipal Corporation’s(NMMC) Mayor and deputyMayor was filed on Friday.
The process was not be-reft of last minute surprisesand brought into forefrontthe undercurrents ofpolitical parties.
Putting an end to the spe-culation of difference bet-ween the Nationalist Cong-ress Party (NCP) and Cong-ress alliance was the filing of nomination for deputy May-or by Congress corporatorMandakini Mhatre, wife offormer deputy Mayor Rama-kant Mhatre, along withNCP corporator J D Sutarfor the Mayor.
“If there was any doubt
about the alliance, then itshould now be addressed foronce and for all as nomina-tion forms were filled toget-her by both the parties,” said NCP corporator Ra-vindra Ithape.
Sutar was one of the ex-pected candidates for thepost reserved for the OBC ca-tegory. NCP had remainedtight-lipped about the candi-dature from the beginning.“Sutar’s selection appears toa caucus as he shares a goodequation even with the oppo-sition which is a quality re-quired to conduct the gene-ral body meetings. This also
explains the reason for thesudden change from Sena as well,” said a veteranjournalist and residentVishwarath Nayar.
Even as Airoli corpora-tor and leader of oppositionVijay Chowghule was pro-jected as Sena’s contenderfor the Mayoral post on Fri-day, the form was finally fil-led by Sanpada corporatorSomnath Vaskar.
“Since I was not using mymiddle name as mentionedin the caste certificate it leadto some issue with the Kon-kan commisisoner. It was de-cided to field another candi-date,” said Chowghule.
Sena nominated corpo-rator Dwarkanath Bhoir forthe post of deputy Mayor.Party insiders said, the turnof events had to do with thediscord going on betweenBJP and Sena at the statethereby affecting its alliancein Navi Mumbai. In absenceof BJP’s support, it was nextto impossible for Sena to ac-quire the figure of 57 votes.
Accordingly, on Novem-ber 9, BJP is stated to not casttheir vote.
Simmering tension in-ternally with Congress toobecame obvious with the fi-ling of candidature for depu-ty Mayor by Vaijayanti Bha-gat thereby acting against party’s order.
“It was always believedthat she will be nominated,but at the last minute chang-es were made. Therefore toexpress our protest the no-mination was made,” said a supporter.
Nomination forNMMC Mayorelections filed
HIGHLIGHT: LAST MINUTESURPRISES SPRING UP
Navi Mumbai: The NationalGreen Tribunal has for thethird time rescheduled thehearing to November 14 inthe petition filed by a city re-sident asking for end to quar-rying in the Parsik hill.
The tribunal was suppo-sed to meet today for final he-aring on Friday, November 3,but now has it has been post-pone to November 14 as thenext date. MPCB, regional of-
ficer, Anil Mohekar, who wasin Pune for the hearing toldTOI, “The tribunal did notmeet and now has been fixedfor November 14.”
Major parties to the casewho have filed affidavits areCidco, NMMC, Thane collec-tor, MPCB, Mines and Geolo-gy department. The two sta-
ke holders in the city, Cidco,NMMC and the regionalMPCB office have given cau-tious replies in the case withenvironment and rules andregulations as the major fo-cus.
Quarry owners and cont-ractors in Mumbai want con-tinuance. The hills and the
stone crushers have gone si-lent since April 1, 2017 becau-se of a stringent order issuedby the Thane collector to themines and geology depart-ment not to collect royalty ofquarrying and the end pro-duct in view of the petitionbefore the tribunal.
President of Navi Mum-bai quarry owners associa-tion, Namdeo Thakur said,“Not paying the royalty ma-kes the business illegalwhich is why we decided tosuspend all activities.”
MoEF has given quarrypermission for 20 years till2026, but Cidco rules permit-ted granting of leaserights for 10 years thatlapsed in September end2016.
While Cidco gave third ex-tension lease extension inthe new fiscal, and asked qu-arry owners to obtain greencertificate, Thane collector,who grants the mining rightsdecided to stop collection ofroyalty in view of the case be-fore NGT.
The Public Relation Co-uncil of India (PRCI) hadstarted a signature campaigncalled – ‘I am Parsik, I am dy-ing’ to save the Parsik Hills.The signature campaign hasbeen supported by four NGOs— Shree Ekavira, Awaaz Fo-undation, Watchdog Founda-tion and Vanashakti.
No Activity SeenIn Parsik Since
April 1, 2017
Parsik quarrying: NGT once againreschedules hearing date to Nov 14
Petition filed in March 2017
Final hearing slated for August 28
Rescheduled to October 4
Further rescheduled to November 14
Cidco, NMMC & regional MPCB office have given cautious replies
Quarry owners and contractors in Mumbai want continuance for quarrying at Parsik Hill
Signature campaign initiated by the Public relation council of India was supported by 4 NGOs
AN ENDLESS WAIT...
Navi Mumbai: In a day-longdemolition drive on Friday,nine illegal temples werebrought down by Cidco inKalamboli and Roadpali.
The squad deployed byShivraj Patil, chief control-ler of unauthorised const-ruction (CCUC), Cidco, con-ducted the drive with heavypolice protection. The drivewas in compliance with aBombay high court order toraze all illegal shrines thathave cropped up after Sep-tember 2009.
There was some resistan-ce from locals. Around 100cops were deployed to assistthe Cidco team. “We have tar-
geted sector 4 of Kalamboliwhich has most illegal temp-les,” a Cidco official said.
Cidco has to submit acompliance report in thehigh court by November 17.The drive was resumed twomonths after the festivals asthere were not enough poli-cemen to provide protectionfor the drives.
Cidco razes 9 illegal shrinesin Kalamboli, Roadpali
B B Nayak
BULLDOZED
K C Singh
AQI 0-50 GOOD
Minimal impact
51-100 SATISFACTORY
Minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people
101-200 MODERATE
Breathing discomfort to the people with lungs, heart diseases
201-300 POOR
Breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure
301-400 VERY POOR
Respiratory illness on prolonged exposure
401-500 SEVERE
Affects healthy people
THE AIR YOU BREATHE
Source | CPCB - MoEF
SATISFACTORY0 500
Air Quality Index (AQI) range and what it means
Nov 3AQI
85
