Slums are a major worry to honest citizens

Slums are creating lots of problems for citizens of Borivli Dahisar West.

Creating air pollution

Stealing our water

Destroying oxygen producing mangroves

Blocking traffic

Organic Farmer’s Market

We would like to inform you of another wholesome development!

The Organic Farmer’s Market takes place every Sunday, beginning March 21st, 2010 from 10am-5pm. Nilgiri Garden, Bandra Hindu Association, Linking Road, Bandra (W).

South-West of National College Opposite The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Call Megha +9198211 42700; Email farmersmarket@kavitamukhi.com or visit www.kavitamukhi.com

"Our goal", says Mukhi, "is to support the farmers, to help them get the right price for their produce so they are able to make a healthy living, and so the next generation will want to become farmers. We have to encourage other areas in the country to do the same. If we do not support and encourage the farmer, they will sell their land and move to the cities and there will be no food for your children to eat. This is not a joke. This is real. This is the inevitability we face."

Read more: Tradition reborn at Mumbai's first organic Farmers' Market | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/shop/organic-farmers-market-bandra-680366?hpt=C2#ixzz0jGWt0nXk

Read more: Tradition reborn at Mumbai's first organic Farmers' Market | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/shop/organic-farmers-market-bandra-680366?hpt=C2#ixzz0jGWWOtOR

Where does Mumbai's water go?

In the past 7 years, the Intelligence Bureau has

warned twice of terror threats to Mumbai’s water network.

Civic body claims the network is secure, but here’s what HT and New Link Road

found: encroachments, theft and no guards for miles on end

The New Link Road has a underground 36 inch line running along it which supplies water to Borivali West and Dahisar West.

Between I C Colony and Dahisar there exist a huge slum by the name of Ganpat Patil Nagar on the New Link Road.

This slum consist of about 6000 to 7000 illegal slums which have been erected by reclaiming the mangroves and falls under CRZ-1.

The New Link Road Residents Forum has filed a PIL against the inaction of all concerned authorities to stop this encroachments and are bracing immense health , hygiene civic and safety hazards on account of this encroachments which has political backing.

We have been cosistently filing complaints of alleged water theft by the slumlords and unsocial elements who indulge in puncturing the MCGM lines laid under the link road. The complaints to this effect have been forwarded to the R-North Ward office of the MCGM and the DMC Ashok Khaire at his Kandivili office.

Availability of water thro this water mafia only encourages futher encroachments and this mafia has the blessings of the politicians.

The consequences of this water theft is being faced by the honest tax paying citizen of Borivali and Dahisar who often face water cuts and shortages and inconsistent supplies.

Whereas the mafia charges Rs.300 to Rs 500 per shanty and supplies this stolen water by diverting it thro a tunnel / nullah under the Link Road to across the slums via heliflex pipes which are smartly buried underground to avoid detection and each of the 14 gullies of the Ganpat Patil Nagar has such diverted heliflex lines where water is being collected in the night from 9.30 pm to 2.00 am past midnight. As expected, as the water is collected via heliflex pipes which do not have taps enormous amount of water is wasted daily only by the way of spillage. The number of punctures that have been repaired today are 13 in number of 2 inch each.This amounts to more than an astronomical 8 to 10 lacs litres of water per day.

As a corrective action the MCGM has decided to give the said stretch of main line, which is about 2 metre long , a additional coat of thichk M S sheet which would make it very difficult to puncture and also cover it with a thick layer of RCC which would virtually make it impossible to have access to the main line.

For your information a housing society has a 1 or 11/4 inch line which supplies approximately 50000 to 55000 of litre per day.

Consider the theft from 13 2 inch lines of double the width and also no obstruction of a ferrol or twsist and turns os pipes as in housing societies where flow is not straight.

No wonder more than 250 autorickshaws parked are being washed illegaly everyday by this MCGM water for as good as free.

Although the MCGM repairs it regularly the lines are punctured the very next day by the water mafia.

This is just a brief of the tragedy of our system and inability of our authorities to apprehend and convict the offenders .

Attached are some photo for your reference.

PIL action TIME

We have filed a PIL for the removal of the slums on mangrove land in Borivli with the High Court and had mentioned about the water and electricity thefts taking place here.

We had also filed several complaints in this regard with the MCGM.

for information.

We have taken up several imp issues which were ignored all these years by the politicians, ngo's , authorities and citizen as well.

Milk adulteration

We the residents of New Link Road were informed by someone that milk adulteration goes on in Borivli in certain places. We met the informer and went around at 3 AM one day in early March 2010 to see for ourselves what was happening.
What we saw made us resolve that we have to act fast.
We wrote a letter to the FDA giving them some details. They called us up and we arranged a meeting at their Bandra office. We planned a date and time for the surprise raid.
On that planned day we woke up at 3 AM, and met the FDA team at 3 45 AM. We divided into 5 teams and raced to the places we had seen to bust the milk adulteration racket. The CNN Lokmat TV crew were in attendance too.
We caught five people and handed them over to MHB and Borivli Police stn, as they were from different parts of Borivli.
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/sredir?uname=NewLinkRoad&target=ALBUM&id=5450540275924242609&authkey=Gv1sRgCJrw-_SPxMeuaQ&feat=email
Surpisingly, on 24th March 2010 we spotted one of the same people on his cycle and nabbed him, and also two other people with tampered milk packets.
See below: Mumbai Mirror
Alert Dahisar residents bust milk adulteration racket - once again
Just five days after the New Link Road Residents Forum helped FDA bust one racket, they played no mean a part in helping police nab three delivery boys indulging in a similar scam
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/2/20100325201003250250588897069a756/Alert-Dahisar-residents-bust-milk-adulteration-racket--once-again.html#ftr2

How to detect milk bag adulteration is shown in this photo.