vol. 14 • issue 137 rni no. mahen/2007/21778 postal …the dynamic daily newspaper of navi mumbai...

The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of Navi Mumbai

Thursday, 19 November 2020

VOL. 14 • ISSUE 137 RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. No. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE

Pages 8 • Price 2www.newsband.in

By Pranab Jyoti BhuyanNavi Mumbai

After much delay, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has started the construction of the Airoli fire station from this month. The Rs 16.68 crore proj-ect will be ready by early 2022, a senior officer said.

The old premises of the fire station was in a very bad shape for the past several years and hence the civic body had decided to demolish that and de-velop a new construction in 2018. However, they took a long time to com-

plete the tendering pro-cess. Even after that they could not start the project on time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Girish Gumsate,

executive engineer of NMMC said, “Even as we were ready to start the project earlier this year, we had to wait for

almost eight months be-cause of the pandemic. The work at the site was finally started two weeks ago. However, we were unable to continue with it

for long as many people went on leave during Di-wali. Once all of them are

Rs 17 crore Airoli fire station to be ready in 2022

993 cases of traffic violation

at Kalamboli since November 13The area of Ka-

lamboli has seen the highest number of traffic violations during this Diwali. Between November 13 and 18, the traffic department has pe-nalized 993 motorists for violating different rules in that area…

(More on page 3)

8 motorcycles burnt in UranMora Marine Po-

lice Station as regis-tered a case against unidentified person for burning motor-cycles. The incident took place on Mon-day night near Mangir Dev slum in Bhawra on Uran-Mora road in Uran taluka…

(More on page 3)

Major fire erupts at Uncle

Smriti Apartment A major fire

erupted in Uncle Smriti apartment, a five-storey building behind the bakery in Ghansoli village in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday morn-ing. The fire caused severe damage to the flats on the first and second floors of the building. Also, 10 to 12 motorcycles parked in the park-ing lot on the ground floor were gutted…

(More on page 5)

JNPT to develop mangrove park at Uran

CONTINUED ON PAGE... 3



Navi Mumbai

In a significant devel-opment, India’s larg-est container port JNPT, which has been accused of destroying thousands of mangroves, has de-

cided to develop a Man-grove and Ecology Park in Uran.

The Park, which will be developed at a cost of Rs 5 crores in phase-1 as a tourist destination, comes after months of campaign for it by en-vironmental group Nat-Connect Foundation which had taken up the mangrove destruction

case with the then Ports Minister Nitin Gadkari and the Maharashtra Government.

“We had discussed the issue in January 2019 with the then Konkan

Divisional Commis-sioner Jagdish Patil who agreed in principle and made it part of his agen-da,” said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation.

The High Court ap-pointed Mangrove Pro-tection and Conservation Committee took it up at

Months of campaign by NatConnect fructifies

By Abhitash D.SinghNavi Mumbai

The railway commut-ers can now heave a sigh of relief as the Cen-tral Railway has given green signal for starting eight special local train services from Kharko-par to Belapur & Nerul on its suburban route from Friday, November 20.

Earlier CR was run-ning 1572 trains on cen-tral routes. An addition of eight special local train services will take the total to 1580 trains. Under ‘Mission Begin Again’ local train servic-

es were restarted from June 15, 2020. Due to Covid-19 pandemic the local train services were

halted by the ministry of railways from March 25, 2020.

Even though the CR announced the resump-tion of local train servic-

es from 15th June, 2020 the service of Kharko-par-Belapur-Nerul line that is the fourth cor-

ridor, was not initiated which irked many resi-dents of Ulwe.

Speaking with the

Local train services from Kharkopar to Nerul & Belapur

to commence from FridayResidents of Ulwe happy with the decision

2 Thursday, 19 November 2020

Printed and owned by Kailash Shankarlalji Gindodia Published by Shiv Kailash Gindodia Editor: Varda Sharma Printed at Siddhakala Print Media & Publications Pvt. Ltd. Plot No. W-230, T.T.C. Ind. Area, MIDC, Khairane, Navi Mumbai – 400 710 and published at 1313/1314, 13th Floor, Real Tech Park, Plot No. 39/2,

Sec. 30A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400 703. • RNI No. MAHENG2007/21778 • Postal Regn. No. NMB/154/2014-16/Vashi MDG Post Office • ABC Certificte No. 133/2106 Phone : 2087 0513 / 2781 5380 e-mail : [email protected] website : www.newsband.in

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 con-tents. The publishers, Editor and/or the staff cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage due to transactions that they may enter into guided by the ads.

By Abhitash D.Singh, Navi Mumbai

Although the state govern-ment has given green signal to start movie theatres in the state from November 5, 2020 with 50 percent capacity, the multiplexes in the satellite city are not oper-ating to that capacity. The rea-son cited is financial losses. The multiplexes in Navi Mumbai too, which has 25 screens in six multi-plexes, have not started operation fully.

Kumar Mohan, a senior media person associated with the film in-dustry from last 40 years said, "It is good that the state government has allowed the movie theatres to reopen from 5th November in Maharashtra. But the decision was sudden. Lots of multiplexes

owners are still struggling to get the logistics in place, besides a new revenue model based on the government's 50 percent seat cri-terion."

A senior official from the Mul-tiplex Association of India on the condition of anonymity said, "For us it will take a few more weeks to get all the 745 screens in the

state to start screening. We need to re-hire the staff as well as come up with a new economic model. While 575 are inside 150 mul-tiplexes, the remaining 170 are single screens."

Some owners from the movie theatres in the city on the con-dition of anonymity informed, "If we open the theatres without working out a financial model, then we would incur more losses than during the lockdown period. As of now, there are no films like Hollywood or Bollywood making it to the theatres and the reason we need some time. It has become very necessary to decide on con-tent and revenue models that can survive in the new normal till full seating capacity is allowed."

Multiplexes in the satellite city still working out logistics The state government has allowed the theatres to open with

50% capacity; Multiplex owners think the decision was sudden

its meeting in February 2019 and asked JNPT to pursue it.

The Park will come up at Belpada and will be developed by the For-est development Corpo-ration of Maharashtra, it is learnt.

The baseline sur-vey of birds at the pro-posed Navi Mumbai International Airport by BNHS shows Belpada is located in the south-west direction of the proposed NMIA adja-cent to speedy services container yard, and next to JNPT toll plaza. This site is reachable from Panvel-JNPT road, at about 2-3 kilometres

from Jasai village.The area of the wet-

land is about 50 hectare which was measured us-ing Google Earth appli-cation. It is surrounded by grassland and shrub land on South-west, South-east and North-east sides, and a bound-ary wall of the container yard on the North-west side. Once a part of coastal mudflat, this site is now isolated from the sea, and has become an inland wetland that gets completely dry in the summer months, BNHS report says.

The state mangrove cell will play an advi-sory role in the proposed mangrove park, Chief Conservator of Forests Virendra Tiwari con-

firmed.Kumar expressed his

happiness that the park will see the light of the day soon. Another envi-ronmentalist Nandaku-mar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan, apprehended that the mangrove park could be a hogwash as JNPT con-tinues to damage man-groves in its projects. The latest in the series is the burial of mangroves off NH348 where about 20 acres of sea plans have been buried by truckloads of earth and debris.

There has been a widespread destruc-tion of mangroves and wetlands due to various infrastructure projects, including NMSEZ and

JNPT SEZ in the recent past and in many places free flow of tidal water has been blocked. The water channels must be opened and mangroves be allowed to sprout on their own, Kumar point-ed out.

NatConnect called for reversing the man-grove loss by creating a mangrove park either in JNPT or in JNPT SEZ, creating water channels cutting through the rec-lamation and allow free flow of sea water which will facilitate growth of mangroves, develop mini-tourism, man-grove, flamingo rides for the entertainment of those working in the SEZ and maintaining proper security.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE...1

JNPT TO DEVELOP MANGROVE PARK...


RS 17 CRORE AIROLI FIRE STATION TO...

back, the work will pro-ceed in full swing. At this moment we can say that, the new fire station will be ready by early 2022.”

According to Gu-maste, the project will have two parts. “The first part will include a three

storied building for the office and a shade for accommodating six fire engines. The second part will be an eight storied building which will have official quarters of the employees.”

Apart from Airoli, this fire station will also cover the neighbouring Digha and some parts

of Ghansoli. It will also attend calls from the MIDC areas if the situa-tion demands.

Manish Malhotra, a resident of Airoli said, “We had heard that the NMMC would recon-struct the fire station almost three years ago. But they have started do-ing something only two

weeks ago. We hope they will take it seriously and finish it on time.

Presently, the NMMC has five fire stations at Vashi, Nerul, CBD Be-lapur, Airoli and Kopar Khairane. Last year the fire department also hired over 200 employees for filling up different vacant posts.

3Thursday, 19 November 2020

By Chandrashekhar Hendve, Turbhe

On the occasion of Diwali, Arham Yuva Seva Group distributed sweets to people at Turbhe slum and Cancer patients at Bharat Seva Sangh Ashram, Vashi.

This NGO gathers fund by visiting door to door and collecting old news-papers and selling them at reasonable rate. The collected fund is used in var-ious humanitarian projects.

On 8th November, 2020 the Group distributed 51,000 sweet boxes across India. Being a part of this major cause Arham Yuva Group of Koparkhairne

distributed sweets to people at Turbhe slum area and to Cancer patients at Bharat Seva Sangh Ashram, Vashi. 200 boxes were distributed in Navi Mumbai.

This social cause was done in the memory of Pujya Gurudev Shree Na-rendra Muni Maharaj saheb and Ma Swami Pujya Jay- Vijaya Ji Maha-satiji.

Members who participated in the programme were: Urvi Mehta; Shailen Mehta

Nayan Sanghavi; Dhaval Mehta; Komal Mehta and Raksha Momaya.

Arham Yuva Seva Group distributes sweets in Turbhe slum

Panvel

The annual general meeting of Panvel Taluka Press Sangharsh Samithi was held at the Government Rest House in Panvel under the chair-manship of Sunil Potdar, Senior Jour-nalist and Advisor to the Committee. A new executive was elected for the year 2020 to 2021. Ratnakar Patil, edi-tor of the weekly Shiv Samrat news-paper, was elected unopposed as the

Chairman of the working committee, while Sanjay Kadam, a journalist, was elected as the chairman and Kewal Ma-hadik, the editor-in-chief of Kon-kan Sandhya, was elected as the vice-chair-man. Leader's representative Ravindra Gaikwad, Arya Prahar's editor Sudhir Patil as joint secretary, Haresh Sathe of Rampra-har elected as treasurer and Anil Kurghode, editor of Panvel Vaibhav were elected as co-treasurers.

New executive of Panvel Taluka Press Sangharsh Samiti announced

Ratnakar Patil appointed as Chairman of the committee and Mahadik as Vice Chairman

By Pranab Jyoti BhuyanNavi Mumbai

The area of Kalamboli has seen the highest number of traffic viola-tions during this Diwali. Between November 13 and 18, the traffic de-partment has penalized 993 motorists for violat-ing different rules in that area.

“Kalamboli is one of the busiest areas of Navi Mumbai that houses a huge number of com-mercial centers. Hun-dreds of vehicles come to this area from nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Port

Trust (JNPT). This apart, people from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai go to Panvel, Pen, Pune, Goa and other areas through this junction only. This is one of the reasons why this area has the highest number of traffic viola-tion cases,” said Arun Patil, assistant commis-sioner of police (traffic).

“We deployed our officials at that area before Diwali and su-pervised the nakaban-dis till Wednesday. The offenders had to pay fine from Rs 2,000 to 5,000 depending on the

amount of alcohol they consumed. We collect-ed around Rs1.30 lakh fine from the motorists who violated the traffic norms,” he said.

A huge number of revellers come to Navi Mumbai for joy rides from Panvel and Pen during Diwali. “Because of heavy bandobast, now less number of people come towards Vashi and Palm Beach Road from Panvel. Most of the rev-ellers come up to Be-lapur from that side and go back in the morning,” another officer said.

993 cases of traffic violation at Kalamboli since November 13

By Vikram GaikwadNavi Mumbai

Sudhir Ghagas was elected unopposed as the state president of the Maharashtra Shik-shan Kranti Sangha-tana, founded by former teacher MLA Ramnath Mote, at an online gen-eral meeting held on November 17. MLA

Niranjan Davkhare is the chief advisor of this organization

Former MLA Ram-nath Mote has been the President of Shikshan Kranti Sanghatana since its inception. Due to his death on 23rd August, the post of President was lying vacant. Su-dhir Ghagas was unani-

mously elected to the vacant post at a general meeting chaired by State Vice President, Ramesh Jadhav.

MLA Niranjan Davkhare said that the organization has a repu-tation as an organization that solves the problems of the teachers.

By Dinesh Pawar, Uran

Mora Marine Police Station as reg-istered a case against unidentified person for burning motorcycles. The incident took place on Monday night near Mangir Dev slum in Bhawra on Uran-Mora road in Uran taluka.

According to the information given by the police sources, the incident took place on Monday (November 16) at midnight. The motor-bikes parked at Bhawra were set on fire. The es-timated cost is Rs. one lakh 62 thousand.

A case has been registered at Mora Ma-rine Police Station un-der Crime Register 26 \ 2020, Bhadvi 435, 427.

Assistant Inspector of Police PA Deshmukh

is conducting further in-vestigations under the guidance of Sandeepan Shinde, Senior Inspector of Police, Mora Marine Police Station.

Sudhir Ghagas elected unopposed as the State President of Shikshan Kranti Sanghatana

8 motorcycles burnt in Uran


LOCAL TRAIN SERVICES FROM KHARKOPAR TO...

Newsband correspon-dent Central Railway Public Relationship Officer A. K. Singh in-formed, "The railway officials have taken the decision to start eight special suburban servic-es from Friday Novem-ber 20. Four trains will ply between Kharkopar-Nerul and four will ply between Kharkopar-Be-lapur. The central rail-way has also released

the time table for the same."

Singh added, "The local train services from Nerul to Kharkopar will be at 8:45 am and 5:45 pm respectively while from Belapur it will be at 9:32am and 6:32 pm. The services from Kharkopar to Nerul will be at 9:15 am and 6:15 pm while from Kharko-par to Belapur it will at 10 am and 7 pm."

"The services will be available to the essential service providers and to

those who are recognised by the state government and ministry of railways to travel by local train as per Covid-19 rules. All the passengers who are not allowed in the lo-cal trains have been ap-pealed not to rush to the station unnecessarily. Also all the passengers have to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) laid down by the state gov-ernment for Covid-19 while traveling in train," informed Singh.


Adolescence is a very special milestone in every child's life. It is a phase of psychologi-cal and social transi-tion between childhood and adulthood. In other words we can also call it a Teenage. This period brings a lot of curios-ity and confusion in children's life. There are various changes that are majorly noticeable in children dur-ing this period.

This transitional period is very sensitive. The children look for their own identity, they try to and love to be independent. They try to take their own decisions, though they are not experienced about them and they are not very good at it.

During this struggling phase that involves a lot of physical changes, hor-monal changes and mental tur-moil in a chil-dren's life, chil-dren need to be shown a right direction. The children tend to face difficulties in making choices related to many fields like choosing their friends, academic fields, adopt-ing certain habits etc.

Most of the teenagers initially tend to have a self centred approach for life, which usually changes with time. Children going through this period focus more on themselves. They believe that everyone is no-ticing them or that they are being judged at every step. Their priority changes for a temporary period of time. What becomes more important for the children is their own interests like their physical appearance, their own emotional priorities, attraction towards the opposite gender, a little lesser involvement in family and more influence of the outer world.

In the initial stages of the adoles-cence period, the children tend to get very nervous and confused. Their confusion should not be let loose as they are not in a position to take their own decisions and may take a wrong path if not guided properly. They may fall in trap of bad com-pany and bad habits. Parents are the best guides for them. Parental guidance plays the most crucial role

here.● Children should

be given a friendly and loving environment. Parents should create an atmosphere of an open communication at home. This helps the parents to know what's going on in their child's

life and mind. If at all it seems that the child is diverting from the path, the parents can correct the child then and there itself.

● Teenagers should not be over restricted. They should be given their own space. Independence in appropriate accordance to the age should be ensured.

● Children tend to be more ag-gressive and quick in reac-tions during this particular period. It is important for the parents to teach the chil-

dren to think before acting.

● Parents should teach the

children to be r e spons ib le

for their be-longings. Children should be given responsibilities related to home chores as well. They should be giv-en liberty to make their own choices in certain spheres.

● It is very important to keep in mind, the self-respect of a teenager. So the words and actions while deal-ing with them should be very care-fully chosen.

● A friendly bond between the parents and the children will help the child to gain trust and confidence in parents. They will be able to un-derstand that the parents are the best and the safest people to talk to, in the tough situations of life. This in turn will refrain the children to ap-proach the outsiders or their own friends which are less mature too.

The most important factor in this transition phase is the parent and child bond. There is a great need of an open communication and un-derstanding between the parent and a Child. Parent's positive involve-ment, positive talks and their quality time with their teenage kids can pre-vent the small challenges of a teen-age life from becoming the bigger problems.

The MiNd diArY

Adolescence : A unique but sensitive transition!

By Kamna Walecha

By Ashok DhamijaNavi Mumbai

Mumbai City FC are among the six Indian Super League (ISL) clubs who have successfully secured the Asian Football Confed-eration (AFC) and the All India Football Fed-eration (AIFF) National licences for the 2020-21 season. The islanders who have made Navi Mumbai as their train-ing base for the past couple of years along with FC Goa, ATK Mohun Bagan FC, Ben-galuru FC, Jamshedpur FC and Chennaiyin FC will be eligible to take part in various conti-nental tournaments of the likes AFC Cham-pions League and AFC Cup based on their performance in the na-tional competition - ISL which will be staged behind closed doors at three venues in Goa in the face of Covid-19 pandemic.

Odisha FC, North-East United FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Hyderabad FC and debutants Sport-ing Club East Bengal however couldn’t clear the five mandatory li-censing criteria (Sport-

ing, Infrastructure, Personnel and Admin-istrative, Legal and Fi-nancial), which were considerably relaxed by the AFC in the face of the current pandemic situation which includ-ed grassroots, youth development and club development programs, medical support ser-vices, security, coaches among others.

“These clubs can now either prefer an Appeal to the Club Li-censing Appeals Body of AIFF against the decision of the Club Licensing Committee (First Instance Body)

decision within the stipulated time or can apply for an Exemption to the Club Licensing Committee within the stipulated time so as to participate in National Club Competitions in-cluding ISL in the cur-rent season. In addition, the decision on the club licensing application of 8 I-League clubs will be taken soon.” said a statement from AIFF.

By Ashok Dhamija, Mumbai

Veteran professional football coach Bi-mal Ghosh with a vast experience of over 25 years is all set to launch a football academy ‘Wings Mumbai Heroes Academy’ in the west-ern suburbs of Mumbai once the state govern-ment releases the SOP for resuming football activities as part of its new unlock procedures. The same will be open to all boys and girls from ages five years and above. The training ses-sions will be conducted in two sessions (morn-ing and evening) from Monday to Friday.

Ghosh who is cur-rently settled in Nagpur and is the founder and head coach of Nagpur FC has enjoyed a suc-cessful stint as Head Coach of local giants Air

India and Navi Mumbai based Mumbai Tigers in recent times, In his new ventures he will be assisted by Paresh Shivalkar, an AFC 'B' License holder and a

former Maharashtra player and has the sup-port of a couple of foot-ball enthusiasts which includes Navi Mumbai based MDFA Hon. Trea-surer Udayan Banerjee, Founder of SP Football Academy Sunil Poojari in addition to Rayan Roy, Ranvir Singh and

Leeladhar Bhangera.Three-time Maha-

rashtra state football team coach who is the recipient of the National Football League 'Best Coach' award on his

new initiative shared “I cannot confirm the exact date for the launch of the academy. But from our side everything, in-cluding all the planning, scheduling and the train-ing programmes are fin-alised. We are only wait-ing for clearance from the state government."

Mumbai City FC secure the AFC and National licences for the 2020-21 season

ex-state coach Bimal Ghosh to launch new football academy for boys and girls

For representational purpose only.


By Chandrashekhar Hendve, Navi Mumbai

Under the leadership of Con-gress District Secretary Vidya Bhandekar, women who have recov-ered from Corona disease in Juinagar-Nerul area were given a sari-choli, coconut as Oati (a tradition). Vidya Bhandekar informed that the pro-gram was the brain child of Ravin-dra Sawant, Navi Mumbai President

of INTAC and spokesperson of Navi Mumbai District Congress. Speaking further she said, Oati is a very impor-tant culture in Maharashtra.

Vidya Bhandekar, Shevanta More, Mangala Bagde, Sarika Akunsh Dhonde, Shweta Sushant Lambe, Mri-nali Bagde, Anita Gargude, Poonam Kamble and others participated in the programme.

Women who have recovered from Covid 19 felicitated

By Chandrashekhar HendveNavi Mumbai

Jasmine Accessories Young India Com-pany workers received their 3 months’ sal-ary due after the Navi Mumbai vice-president of the Hind Bharatiya General Kamgar Sena, Pradip Waghmare, and other office-bearers

met the officers of the company.

Navi Mumbai Vice President of Hind Bharatiya General Kamgar Sena Pradip Waghmare assured the workers that he would get 100% of their sal-ary. After discussion, all the outstanding dues and current month's

salary were transferred to the bank accounts of all the workers. The workers thanked the founder president of Hind Bharatiya General Kamgar Sena, labour leader Nilesh Paradkar and Maharashtra gener-al secretary Ghanshyam Naik for crediting their salaries during Diwali.

Workers get pending salaries

By Sumit RenoseNavi Mumbai

A major fire erupted in Uncle Smriti apartment, a five-storey

building behind the bakery in Ghansoli vil-lage in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday morn-ing. The fire caused severe damage to the flats on the first and

second floors of the building. Also 10 to 12 motorcycles parked in the parking lot on the ground floor were

gutted. The fire was brought under control with the help of neigh-bours and fire fighters. Luckily no casualty has been reported. It is suspected that some

miscreants may have done it deliberately.

At 3:15 a.m. a fire broke out in the mo-torcycle parking lot on

the ground floor of the building. The fire spread on the first floor to the house of Ganesh Sakpal, a social worker and later it spread on the second floor of the building.

Major fire erupted at Uncle Smriti Apartment on Wednesday


In the backdrop of Covid 19, the state government as well as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) had urged the citizens to only use sparklers and green firecrack-ers on the day of Diwali but the Navi Mumbaikars violated the norms and used both rockets as well bombs dur-ing the festival.

Earlier ahead of Diwali, Maharash-tra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that they will not be banning the firecrackers in the state but the citizens themselves should avoid the usage of bombs & rockets which could be dan-gerous during the pandemic.

NMMC Chief Abhijit Bangar and Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh appealed to all the residents to celebrate safe Diwali and asked them to avoid usage of bombs and rockets but it was violated. Now the activists from the city are waiting for the action on those who violated the state government guidelines.

Speaking with the Newsband cor-respondent NMMC Chief Abhijit Bangar informed, "The civic body had appealed to all the citizens of Navi Mumbai to avoid the usage of fire-crackers, bombs and rockets. Several times ahead of Diwali, through vari-ous mediums including social media, we asked the citizens to cooperate

with us. Even the public are very much aware about the coronavirus and they also know that the dangerous virus is still there but they themselves are not following the guidelines set by the state government as well as the civic body."

Bipin Kumar Singh, Navi Mumbai Police Chief said, "We had appealed to all the citizens not to use any ex-plosives which can be more dangerous during the festival and pandemic. We didn't impose strict policing thinking that the citizens will themselves fol-low the state government guidelines during the pandemic but they did not follow it. We will initiate strict ac-tion against all those who violated the rules.”

Satyanand Pandey, Environmental-ist and Activist from Ulwe Sector-17 said, "Even after appeals from the state government and local bodies from the city many people in Ulwe and across the Navi Mumbai used both bombs and rockets in large numbers. Due to explosives there was lots of pollu-tion in Navi Mumbai from the day of Diwali on 14th November, 2020 till now. People should have themselves followed the discipline. Police and lo-cal bodies should initiate strict action against all those who were involved in usage of firecrackers and bombs and rockets for celebrating Diwali during the pandemic."

Navi Mumbaikars violated norms during diwaliBombs & rockets were used; Government had given permission for only sparklers and green firecrackers


EditorialISSUE: 137 19 NOVEMBER, 2020

In the past few years the vehicu-lar population in Navi Mumbai has grown manifold. The modes of transport have multiplied and the vehicular density is increasing ex-ponentially with every passing year. However the quality and quantity of the road network and traffic control aids have not kept pace with the de-mand. The traffic discipline has de-teriorated and there seems to be no respect for the traffic rules and the traffic authorities. Rather the young generation seems to enjoy flouting the traffic rules and seems to take pride in driving fast but rash imi-tating Bollywood movies. Many of them take pride in driving vehicles even before they attain the manda-tory qualifying age of 18 years, to be eligible to possess a driving license. They do not have even the slightest inkling that by their behavior they are not only playing with their lives, but are also putting to risk the lives of other commuters. It is very un-fortunate that the statistics for the road accidents are increasing at an alarming pace, matching the pace at which the people are driving these modern machines.

While a number of factors are re-sponsible for road accidents, prime reasons are blatant flouting of traffic rules and most importantly primi-tive and inadequate traffic control aids. Traffic signals are effective means of regulating traffic. How-ever if these are installed before proper survey, they can become a nuisance for the motorists and pe-destrians alike. In Navi Mumbai the authorities seem to have installed traffic signals haphazardly without carrying out a proper survey of the traffic. The diversions are also made without proper planning.

Adequate street lighting, smooth

riding surface, properly functioning of traffic control aids, traffic mark-ings are some of the ways of reduc-ing road accidents. Since a large number of accidents involve pe-destrians, it is necessary to devote attention towards their safety. An adequately designed and encroach-ment free pedestrian pathways are essential for segregating the vehicu-lar and pedestrian traffic and they can provide the much desired sense of safety and protection to the pe-destrians. Special attention should be given towards lighting pedestri-an cross walks and junctions.

An effective way of controlling and curbing accidents is the strict implementation and enforcement of traffic rules. The driving license should be issued only after rigorous examination process. While helmets should be made compulsory to the riders of two wheelers and fastening of seat belts should be made manda-tory for the drivers of four wheel-ers. By imposing other legislative measures like introducing fines for flouting rules, imprisonment or endorsement on licenses for reck-less driving, road accidents can be minimized. The other field which needs immediate attention is traffic planning. It is today a very special-ized field and cannot be designed by thumb rules as is being done to-day by the authorities. It needs un-derstanding of the subject besides studying the traffic behaviour and the psychology of the commuters in a particular region / city. So there is immediate need to have the traffic study carried out by professionals and long term planning done with futuristic approach, for Navi Mum-bai, to optimize the infrastructure and to have easy and speedier and safe commuting.

Planning traffic- Not by thumb rulesBy Ashok Dhamija, Navi Mumbai

In today’s modern world where many people lead a sedentary life-style there is a common belief that supplements, vitamins and complementary nu-tritional products play a key role in ensuring a healthy lifestyle rather than eating a good diet and enough exercise. The fact that essential compo-nents present in our diet comprising of plenty of fruits, leafy vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds etc. and the positive influence they have on our body have been well documented, the fear of contracting Coronavirus over the past few months has made people extra cautious of their health. In this regard they would do anything to safeguard themselves from this in-fection and resort to excessive intake of immunity boosters that can have a negative impact on our body!

Dr Sujata Chakravarti, General Physician (MD - Family Medicine), Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi-A Fortis Network Hospital who is also a certi-fied in Diabetes and Thyroid disorder Management, with over a decade total experience shares her valuable views on the theme ‘Self-supplementing with vitamins and immunity boost-ing pills - Know the side effects” with Newsband readers, in order to clear myths among the masses actually who go overboard with them and that in turn can cause various unwanted health issues while interacting with ex-isting medications. The excerpts are as below:

While people are still using home remedies to safeguard themselves from COVID19; a large number of people are self-supplementing with Vitamin C & D supplements to boost their immunity. The point that we all are missing out is, excessive intake of immunity boosters can have a nega-tive impact on our body!

Vitamin C & D have received ex-tensive attention in the past couple of months, since the emergence of the novel Coronavirus. The rise in consumption of these pills is purely based on the fact that boosting your

immunity can reduce the risk of being infected. While this is partially true, it doesn’t mean that pumping in im-munity boosters is the solution to stay

safe. Proper intake of Vi-tamins through a healthy diet and prescribed sup-plements is of prime im-portance.

The fear of contract-ing the infection and ap-prehension of hospital-ization, has led people to adopt the practice of self-supplementing with immunity boosting pills, potions and homemade concoctions, without re-alising its impact. The fear of infection, social

separation, familial distancing, and shame has set off alarms for many. This has drawn people’s attention to-wards online drug stores, which have become an easy route for individuals to buy medication without prescrip-tion.

The practice and habit of self-med-ication for every small health problem can lead to dangerous consequences. Medicines like pain management drugs, cough syrups, laxatives, anti-biotics, anti-allergy medicines, vita-mins etc. which are over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, can be acquired easily without any prescription. However, what we do not realize is that opting for self-medication makes us prone to

allergies, resistance, drug-dependence, and even addiction.

Consuming pills might help in build-ing your immunity but what we don’t understand is that it is not free from side-effects. At times, a patient would be prescribed supple-ments for a specific issue and self-med-icating might have

adverse impact. This is because a supplement may act differently when consumed in combination. The main problem with self-supplementation is that we do not know the intensity of the supplement. This means we often underestimate its strength and com-position. Self-supplementation as a habit can permanently damage one’s health, sometimes even leading to premature death. Hence, consulting a qualified doctor is essential and ben-eficial before consuming any medica-tion.

excess self-supplements, vitamins and immunity boosting pills harmful to health

dr Sujata Chakravarti, General Physician

(Md - Family Medicine)

Samvedana Charitable Organization Panvel distributed diwali faral in Adivasi Pada.


By Ashok DhamijaCBD Belapur

Konkan Railway in coordination with South Western Rail-way has decided to run Train No. 07339 / 07340 Yesvantpur - Vasco-Da-Gama - Yesvant-pur Daily Special Express with Nor-mal Fare, with ef-fect from Tuesday 17th November, 2020 ex. Vasco Da Gama and 18th November, 2020 ex. Yesvantpur until further advice. It is fur-ther stated that Train no. 07340 will run on the same path, timing & stoppage as per existing Train No. 17310 & Train no 07339 will run on the same path, timing &

stoppage as per existing Train No. 17309. Details are as under :

Train no. 07340 Vasco-Da-Gama - Yes-vantpur Daily Spe-cial Express will leave from Vasco-Da-Gama at 21:20 hrs from 17th

November 2020 until further advice. Train will reach Yesvantpur at 12:30 hrs on the next day. On its return jour-ney Train no. 07339 Yesvantpur - Vasco Da Gama Daily Special Express will leave from

Yesvantpur at 14:30 hrs from 18th November 2020 until further ad-vice. Train will reach Vasco Da Gama at 06:00 hrs on the next day.

The above Special will comprise of One

AC-2 Tier, Two AC-3 Tier, Eleven Sleeper Class and Five Second Class Seating and Two SLR Coaches. Res-ervation Bookings for above AC Spe-

cial have commenced at all Computerised Reservation Centres and on IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in. Only passengers having con-firmed tickets will be permitted to board these Special trains.

Kr to run fully reserved additional special trains on Vasco-da-Gama – Yesvantpur route

For representational purpose only

By Chandrashekhar Hendve, Khargar

Ish Foundation and the Arya Samaj of Kharghar and Nerul celebrated Diwali by distributing sky lanterns and blankets to the tribal families at Phanaswadi Pada on Kharghar Hill.

Arya Samaj office bearers Naren-dra Patel, Bhairubhai Chaudhary, Amit

Kapoor, Vijay Gulati, Kailash Shastri , Surjit Singh, Sunita Cuttack, Ila Di-wani, Damayanti, Rekha Sharma, Ish Foundation President Kirti were pres-ent on the occasion. Members of Ish Foundation, Lions Club Kamothe and Arya Samaj worked hard to make the event a success.

ish Foundation and Arya Samaj in Kharghar and Nerul distribute lanterns and blankets in tribal areas


In a shocking develop-ment, the state energy minister, Nitin Raut on Tuesday 17th November, 2020 announced that the state government will not be able to provide any relaxation or waiver of inflated power bills that the consumers had received after the lock-down. This announce-ment has not gone down well with the residents, who were hoping for a relief.

Arun Shetty, a resi-dent of Nerul while speaking with the News-band correspondent said, "Earlier Nitin Raut him-self, after several com-plaints from the citizens from the state including Navi Mumbai, had given assurance that the deci-sion related to high elec-tricity bills will be taken soon and a waiver is like-ly. But on Tuesday, while in-teracting with the me-dia, he said there is no possibility of any relax-ation. We feel cheated."

Bharat Babar, a resi-dent of Koperkhairane said, "Me and many peo-ple from my area did not pay the inflated electric-ity bill hoping that the state government will

give re-laxation due to lockdown. Many people have lost their jobs and few have not got their salaries too. The decision of the state government to not provide relaxation on the inflated electricity

bills is shocking.” Sachin Pingle, a

resident of Ulwe Sector-17 said, "How can one believe the minis-ter's words? The common man is facing all the brunt in the fight between the state government and the central government. Earlier energy minister Nitin Raut had as-sured to give relaxation on electricity bills, but now he has taken a complete U-turn and says that this is not possible. How can the poor man pay the bill if his bill is more than Rs. 20,000?"

Nitin Raut while justifying his decision

of not giving any re-laxation or waiver on inflated electricity bills to the consumers said, "The state government will not be able to pro-vide any relaxation to the inflated power bills that the consumers re-ceived after the lock-down. All the electricity consumers in the state will have to pay the full amount as per readings in the bill. Even Mahavi-taran is also a consumer and it buys electricity from other sources. The corporation is currently facing a deficit of Rs 69,000 crore and hence it is impossible to incur further losses. We, from our side, tried our level best to provide the ben-efits to the consumers but unfortunately we did not get any help from the centre."

Earlier after the con-sumers received inflated electricity bills, there were many pro-tests in the state including Navi Mumbai. The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Mem-ber of Legislative As-sembly from Airoli Con-stituency Ganesh Naik too came on the road and protested against the Mahavitaran outside their office in Vashi.

energy Minister Nitin raut says waiver of electricity bills not possible

Residents unhappy with the decision

By Chandrashekhar HendveAiroli

Advocate Reven-dra Patil, a former member of Airoli Ward Committee, Navi Mum-bai and Vaishali Patil, Shiv Sena Airoli divi-sion women's organizer, honoured sanitation em-ployees of the municipal

corporation in wards 10 and 11 on the occasion of Diwali. The event was held at the Shiv Sena branch at Airoli Naka. Vaishali Patil felicitated the female as well as male employees by giv-ing sanitizers and gifts.

Shiv Sena branch chief Dinesh Kasare,

sub-branch chief Suren-dra Deshmukh, Shiv Sena consumer protec-tion ward chief Bha-vani Shankar Yogi, sub-branch chief Deepak Jangam, group chief T. Sanjay and sub-branch chief Mallesh Bhutale were present on the oc-casion.

Shiv Sena, Airoli division felicitates sanitation workers on diwali

Pereira, owner of Plaza hotel, dies

Dinesh Pawar, Uran

Retired vice admiral John Thomas Goslin Pereira, Indian Navy's former chief of materials, owner of Plaza Hotel in Nagaon, Uran ta-luka, died while undergoing treatment at Naval Ashwini Hospital in Mumbai. He was 99.

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2781 5380


Navi Mumbai

Despite a series of complaints to all concerned authorities the fire on mangroves at Ulwe near the make-shift helipad does not seem to stop, say the environmentalists. The sea plants were set afire again on Tuesday eve-ning and envi-ronment lover S h u b h a n g i Tirodkar drew the attention of the authori-ties.

This area ought to be a high security zone as it is adjacent to the Navi Mumbai International Airport, Tirodkar said and won-dered as to how anyone can enter the area and indulge in this arson?

This has been recur-

ring at regular intervals, said B N Kumar, direc-tor of NatConnect Foun-dation, and said, “the game plan seems to be simple: burn the man-groves, make the area look like a dry patch and then reclaim it.”

Lush green man-

groves do not catch fire. Hence the miscreants deposit hay on the plants and then set it afire.

Prima facie, it ap-pears like hay burning,

but the nefarious plan is to destroy the man-groves, Kumar said.

“We have drawn the attention of all the au-thorities from CIDCO to the forest department to the Mangrove Com-mittee,” he said and expressed the shock

that the fires have not stopped.

The mangrove area is under CIDCO which is yet to transfer it to the forest department.

Mangroves at Ulwe on fire againNo action despite repeated complaints, say greens

By Pranab Jyoti Bhuyan, Navi Mumbai

At a time when the health depart-ment of the Navi Mumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (NMMC) claims to have checked and destroyed hundreds of the mosquito breeding grounds in the city, the mosquitos are still a men-ace near the Vashi mini seashore.

The local residents of the areas claim that because of the mosquitos, they cannot spend even half-an-hour in that area, in the evening.

Shraddha Kadam, a resident of Vashi said, “I used to go to the area of mini seashore with my kids at least twice a week. However, because of the mosquitoes, I stopped going there now. That area is so beautiful that I feel like going there every day. But I cannot risk my own and my kids’ health for that.”

Nilesh Mane, another resident of

Vashi said, “The NMMC might have destroyed many breeding grounds across the city, but they have miles to go to make city mosquito free. Fumi-gation work is rarely done in this area and we cannot walk here properly be-cause of the mosquitoes.”

“Vashi mini seashore is just op-posite the NMMC hospital. So, the civic body should first clean their own neighbourhood before sending people to other places,” he further said.

A senior health officer from NMMC wishing not to be named said, “There are mangroves on the other side of the seashore. That area falls in the jurisdiction and does not belong to us. Mosquitoes come mostly from the mangroves in the evening. Therefore, we cannot do much about it. Still we will see if we can do something in the areas that come in our jurisdiction.”

Mosquito menace at Vashi mini seashore

By Chandrashekhar Hendve Navi Mumbai

A scheme has been launched from this year to provide financial assistance to candidates belonging to the Sched-uled Tribes who are preparing for the Central Public Service Commis-sion (UPSC) Main Examination and Interview. Under this scheme, can-didates preparing for the exam will be given a month-ly stipend of Rs 12,000 and a total of Rs 26,000 for the purchase of books, said Adv. K.C. Padvi, Minister for Tribal Development. He said the launch of the scheme was to increase the number of students from Scheduled Tribes appearing in the admin-istrative service as well

as in the examinations of the Central Public Service Commission.

Under this scheme, a total of 50 candidates from Scheduled Tribes will be provided finan-

cial assistance: 25 can-didates who have passed the pre-examination of UPSC and are preparing for the main examina-tion and 25 candidates who have passed the main examination and are preparing for the in-

terview.The scheme will be

implemented from the year 2020-21 and the students will be selected through tribal research and training institutes

and the money will be credited directly to their bank ac-counts, informed the minister.

The decision has been taken to increase the partic-ipation of students from Scheduled Tribes in the Cen-tral Public Service C o m m i s s i o n ' s Civil Service Com-petitive Examina-

tions. The scheme will definitely benefit the youth belonging to the Scheduled Tribes who are deprived of com-petitive examinations due to lack of financial assistance, stressed Mr. Padvi.

Students preparing for UPSC main exams and interview from Scheduled Tribes will get financial assistance: Minister Adv. K.C. Padvi

By Crime Reporter Navi Mumbai

A private luxury bus heading from Kol-hapur to Ulhasnagar collided at the entry of the subway at Taloja phata on Sion-Panvel road injuring 17 passen-gers. The incident hap-pened at around 6 am on Wednesday. All the injured were admitted to MGM Hospital for treatment. The condi-tion of eight passengers, including the driver, is critical, police said.

The private bus was traveling from Kolhapur to Ulhasnagar via Navi Mumbai. When the bus reached Taloja phata on Sion-Panvel route around 6 am, the driver lost control of the bus. As a result, the bus col-lided with the subway near the road. As a re-sult, 17 passengers in-cluding the driver of the

bus were injured. The condition of

eight passengers, in-cluding the bus driver, who was injured in the accident, is critical, po-lice said. Underpasses

have been constructed at various places on the Sion-Panvel highway for commuters. At Talo-ja phata, near the Pu-

rushartha petrol pump, a partial subway has also been constructed on the side of the road. The bus collided head-on with the underpass in the ear-ly hours of the morning,

police said. The accident has been registered at Kamothe police station and further investigation is underway.

17 passengers including driver injured in a major accident on Sion-Panvel road at Kamothe

Eight in critical condition

vol. 14 • issue 137 rni no. mahen/2007/21778 postal …the dynamic daily newspaper of navi mumbai...

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