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Mumbai Discussions II

699K views 4K replies 302 participants last post by  dreadathecontrols 
#1 ·
Mumbai's roads are commuters' nightmare

Last night there was a traffic jam on Peddar Road at 9.30pm. If you go in the south to north direction of central business district to residential suburbs, the rush-hour would begin at 6 and start easing off in South Mumbai around 8pm. This was not so long ago. Now it starts off at 5.30. And if the traffic is crawling even at 9.30 on Peddar Road, the clogged traffic is not likely to ease off
in Juhu/Andheri till 10.30. Soon that will become 11pm.

Mumbai adds over 100,000 (one lakh) to its vehicle population every year. This rapid ‘birth rate’ has seen the city’s vehicles go up in numbers from an estimated 50,000 in 1951 to over 1.7 million now. The break-up is 530,000 cars, 920,000 two wheelers, 63,000 taxis and 110,000 auto-rickshaws. In the same period, Mumbai’s road length increased from 777 km to 1930 km. In percentage terms, the road length went up by 250%, which doesn’t seen so bad till you see that in the same period, the vehicle population went up by 3700%!

You don’t have to be a traffic expert to look at these figures and say that there can only be two solutions to the problem: the first, reduce the growth in the number of vehicles. The second, increase road length as quickly as possible.

If only it were so easy! You can’t reduce the growth of cars for the simple reason that in a democracy no one can curb any citizen’s right to buy what he wants. You could discourage it by upping taxes and duties but the automobile sector does play an important role in the economy of a country, so a government overburdens it at its own peril.


That leaves only one option: building roads, lengthwise and breadth wise, as quickly as possible. That needs money, and even more than money, the organisational and political will which has so sadly been lacking so far. How long has the Peddar Road flyover taken to get off the ground? Apparently it’s been waiting for environmental clearance for the last few years!

One of the reasons that low priority is given to road infrastructure by governments is because it is seen as a problem of the affluent and not of the aam aadmi. Yes, car owners suffer due to poor traffic infrastructure, but their discomfort is infinitely less than for those who travel in crowded and sweaty buses and trains.

The real solution, as we all know, is for the city’s train system to become world class. London’s Underground is the shining example: because it is so good, the city imposes a huge charge on cars driven into the city centre. And because the train and bus services are so comprehensive, London can make do with only 20,000 cabs, an unbelievably small number when compared to our figure of 63,000 taxis and 110,000 auto-rickshaws — a massive number of vehicles-for-hire which further clog our roads whether they are plying passengers or waiting for them.

A small digression here. London has so very few taxis even though it has no official restriction on them. This is for two reasons. The first is that each licensed driver of a black cab must have exhaustive and intimate knowledge of each and every street and square of the city, a knowledge so deep that it can take two years to assimilate. Secondly, London’s black cabs have to be of certain dimensions and specifications and so far only three manufactures have been able to combine the comfort and
engineering required.

Reduce the number of taxis and autos drastically, remove the taxi stands on main roads, prohibit double parking anywhere, make buses stop near the pavement and not in the middle of the road… and see the difference it makes to traffic flow even with the present road length and present vehicle population.

Ultimately, this will not be enough. A comprehensive public transport system must be in place, otherwise we will soon spend all our waking hours stuck in the middle of Mumbai roads.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_mumbai-s-roads-are-commuters-nightmare_1361835
 
#165 ·
Rs 7,000-cr plan on cards for Aarey tourism zone

This article is a few days old...but worth posting...
Hoping it does not result in a complete land grab....

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...or-Aarey-tourism-zone/articleshow/6202935.cms

MUMBAI: The verdant, 3,162-acre Aarey Milk Colony could soon become more accessible and attractive to the public, with the state's dairy development department working on an ambitious Rs 7,000-crore plan to develop an entertainment zone, dairy institute, aquarium, biodiversAAREY.TIMd other attractions at one of Mumbai's most important green lungs.

Justifying his plans for the dairy tourism zone, dairy development minister Nitin Raut told TOI, "Every day, I receive `requests' (read: pressure) to apportion land for various purposes. So the only way to protect this open space now is to allow the public to access it.'' Raut was speaking just a few hours after mentioning his makeover plan in the legislative assembly on Thursday.

According to the plan, various features would be developed on 500 acres of the vast green expanse. Consultants Urban Pundit have proposed that on around 350 acres the natural biodiversity of the region could be preserved, essentially creating a mini-jungle that Mumbaikars could walk through. Another 100 acres would be an entertainment zone, complete with a roller-coaster, merry-go-round, Bollywood-style studio and so on. This section would generate revenue to help maintain the zone. A dairy institute would be set up on 25 acres for students to get training in various dairy activities. Visitors would be able to see how milk and other dairy products are produced. Students would sell the products at kiosks. There would also be a model adivasi settlement, an underground aquarium (using a natural pond), parks and open spaces. However, a zoo, long discussed in plans for Aarey, is not part of the project.

The dairy development department's plan would need the state cabinet's nod to become a reality. The blueprint aims to protect the natural biodiversity as well as allow people to enjoy one of Mumbai's most scenic places, Raut said.

The 3,162-acre expanse covers areas in Goregaon (E), Jogeshwari (E) and Andheri (E). It rests at the southern tip of the Borivli national park. Environmentalists have long held that the national park and Aarey are the only important open spaces left in the city.

There are also plans to resettle people who live in the colony. Raut said 180 acres of Aarey are either home to adivasis who live in 27 padas or slumdwellers who are encroachers. They would be rehoused on 33.24 acres of the colony under the SRA scheme.

Some environmentalists have shown cautious enthusiasm towards the tourism plan. Neera Punj, convenor of Citispace, said that on the face of it the proposal is a fantastic idea. "Aarey is a no-development zone (NDZ) and the plan is according to what is allowed in an NDZ. It would be perfect if the land is brought into the public domain. However, the state should ensure transparency throughout. That is the only way to gain the public's support,'' she said.

However, environmentalist Rishi Agarwal was more cynical. There have been similar grand ideas in the past, but land was only parcelled off to developers, he said. "The government was to allow only a golf course near Aarey, but today there is an entire township. Similarly, Fantasyland at Andheri (E) is now a housing complex. Past experiences make one uncomfortable and suspicious,'' he said. Agarwal said the state must also do an Environment Impact Assessment before carrying out development and make the report public. "There are too many vested interests, so the state must keep it transparent and not act hastily,'' he said.

Raut said they have already received queries from Universal Studios, USA-which has developed theme parks and entertainment zones in the US, Japan and Spain-and Genting Island, Malaysia. "The financial aspects are still to be worked out,'' he said.

Elsewhere, Singapore has turned its water bodies into recreation spaces and made them accessible to the public, the idea being that people then feel a sense of ownership and treasure the assets.
 
#174 ·
:doh:

World's tallest tower project in trouble

MUMBAI: The ambitious project by real estate firm Lodha Developers to construct the world’s tallest residential building in Mumbai rising to 117 floors seems to running into roadblocks.
First, it was the negative remarks by the Indian Meteorological Departments (IMD) and now the Shiv Sena has planned to launch a campaign against the project.
Sena leaders from areas around Lower Parel where the skyscraper is proposed to come said that over 10,000 residents from areas in Worli, Senapati Bapat Marg and Lower Parel has already signed a memorandum denouncing the project as it will strain the already stressed infrastructure and public amenities like potable water.
Sena corporater Sunil Shinde said that people around the area in Lower Parel were against the project as they feared that essential resources like water would be diverted to the high rise apartments.
“We have just begun and over 10,000 people have signed a memorandum. We are looking at an overwhelming response and then we will petition the state government, not to allow this project. If they want to built a high rise let them do it at areas near Mumbai, but not here where the resources are already stressed beyond limits,” he said.
 
#176 · (Edited)
Honestly , big buildings eating up water is a valid concern . We are so gaga over tall buildings i which we will never be able to live anyways , that such concerns no longer matter to us . In Borivali , such skyscrapers/malls have been mushrooming in previously quaint middle class localities. Even a single such building increases the rates of the surrounding areas bringing in a sort of gentrification of the suburb.
Water reservoirs providing Mumbai are already under strain . Just because the Shiv Sena picks up the isssue , we do not have to rubbish it altogether.
 
#177 ·
it has 300 flats.

and has a water harvesting system.


All the issue off water will stop when they actually relay the pipes which bring water.

Mumbai has plenty of water resources. Its just that the distribution system is way old and has a lot of leaks.BMC cant be blamed cause it is way strapped on funds.

The centre needs to pump in more funds.

Anyways, my flat in Mulund is getting 24 hour tap water as of now. So i dont think that Parel should have any issues with water.

If it does then this just proves Mulund > Sobo. :p
 
#178 ·
+1

Honestly, they need to fix the other sources of water leakage before zeroing in on skyscrapers
1. illegal constructions + slums
2. outdated pipes and leaks in pipes du(e to encroachments...

It is housing 300 flats in a reasonably small space. It has water harvesting system and is reasonably self contained.

BMC earns lot more tax on such buildings which they should use to invest in better water distribution systems...
 
#181 ·
and for the record,

with the projects planned at Pinjpal etc Mumbai MMR's population swells to 50 million there still will be enough natural resources of water.


Dont forget Mumbai is on the extremely high rainfall receiving Konkan belt. We are not in the same geographic place as Delhi or Chennai.
 
#184 ·
^^ let us not ignore the fact that most of this water comes at the expense of people around the reservoirs themselves .

If people of Parel , Worli feel anxious about the rapid development in their neighborhood , they are fair to express those worries. I think it would be unfair if the skyscrapers are assured 24 * 7 water at the expense of neighboring Chawls.
 
#191 ·
there are still lots of large industrial units/estates in bombay

water is also consumed by offices

water is also consumed for public spaces like gardens, roads, etc

water is also consumed by hotels/restaurants/kitchens, etc

water is also used by the construction industry

there are a million uses for water. to simply multiply a city's population by the expected usage by a person at home is pointless
 
#194 ·
^
i cant see what you have posted


anyways these are the water resources of mumbai

http://www.bcpt.org.in/webadmin/publications/pubimages/watersupply.pdf

and from what I know the cities water demand as a total is 2950mlpd

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mcgm-confident-of-mumbai-s-water-demand-till-june-15_1364002

Despite three pipelines bursting in the past two days, Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai(MCGM) is confident of meeting city's water supply demand of 2950 mld per day till July 15.
which works out to

2950/16 million residents of mumbai and thane or about 184 litres per capita per day
 
#197 ·
why r we trying to prove our point?... why can't we rely on the sources that say Mmbai is short of purified water... be it home or otherwise... i completely agree that we cannot compare our home use with the entire population... I take a shower bath for 20 minutes each three different times in a day... there goes my quota of water... also that iit or someone is studying possibility of purifying sea water at the moment... n that unlike regulations in the western countries, most buildings in SoBo get the same water for all household purposes... there is no clear distinction between purified and recycled water... at some point in time, it may get necessary to segregate the two... but for now they shud have the builders pay more to the BMC to accomodate for newer ways to purify and distribute... however reality cud well be some "under the table" transactions to assure continuous supply of water... Indians will never change...
 
#198 · (Edited)
A rare case where fight for open spaces over commerical exploitation

This thing has been in the news for a few days now if anybody has been reading the newspapers .First mumbai mirror caught on it and then hindustan times.

BMC wins Dahisar plots in race against time

At 4 pm on Tuesday, Mumbai district collector Nirmal Deshmukh signed on the papers that will help the civic body acquire two Dahisar plots of 23,000 sq ft and 42,840 sq ft, reserved for gardens. This marked the end of a five-month battle over the prime plots which were on the verge of being commercially exploited for residential towers.

It was a nail-biting 48 hours for civic officials driving this process, as they had to ensure that the collector’s signature was inked on the land acquisition documents before offices closed down on Tuesday evening. Any delay would have meant that the plots would go back to their private owner – V K Lal Investments Private Limited. The investment company had made public its intention to build residential/commercial complexes on the two plots.



The proposal tabled on the floor of general body meeting of the corporation on Monday was passed by the House and the civic officers had just one day on hand to complete the nitty-gritty. Every little procedure was speeded up and every department mobilised to acquire every single document on Monday evening.

On Tuesday morning, two teams were dispatched in different directions for the necessary signatures on the final land acquisition documents. One team reached the office of collector (suburban), Bandra sharp at 10 am and worked on the document related to land acquisition. The other team headed towards old secretariat near Elphinstone College to complete the formalities with the revenue department.

Both the teams worked on the details and discussed the issue with the officials from the collector’s office till 3.30-4 pm. The files were finally brought up before Nirmal Deshmukh at 4 pm.

“After going through the detailed brief by the civic officials on the Dahisar Plots issue, I signed the land acquisition documents. We have done this keeping the larger public interest in mind,” said Deshmukh after signing the documents.

Corporator Rajendra Chaube said, “The plots were reserved for gardens and we have finally acquired the land. Civic officials from the development plan department worked very hard to complete the formalities and all the credit goes to them.”



http://mumbaimirror.com/article/2/20100804201008040942167637953ecf0/BMC-wins-Dahisar-plots-in-race-against-time.html
 
#199 ·
How Mayor tried to stall the proposal

Mayor Shraddha Jadhav finally had no option but to pass the proposal of purchase notices Urgent Business (UB) on Monday, after delaying the same for 30 meetings. The proposal which was tabled in February was not taken into consideration in any of the five meetings held last month.


The proposal was again mooted by Congress corporator Rajendra Chaube in March under UB. When a proposal comes under UB it has to be passed within 90 days. If not, the proposal gets lapsed and cannot come back on the board again for a month.

“Since March, the mayor has been shelving the UB as much as possible and was successful in a way as the proposal lapsed in May. Every time she would stop taking proposals under UB just before the proposals of purchase notices. I put up the proposal again in July as the last day of purchase notice was due on August 4, 2010,” said Chaube.

On July 29, the last meeting of the month, the mayor decided to hold a discussion on malaria outbreak in the city. “I could not raise the issue since malaria was also a matter of concern. But when Congress corporator Upendra Doshi, a member of Improvements Committee, raised the issue while discussing malaria, he also alleged that the purchase notice proposals were deliberately not taken up and that he smacks of corruption,” said the corporator.

On July 29, mayor passed the proposal of Dahisar west, then stopped there and took up other issues. “I had only one day on Aug 2 to get the proposals passed. This time the proposals were passed after a heated discussion over the purchase notices for acquiring land,” Chaube said.

http://mumbaimirror.com/article/2/2010080420100804040343165e876adc9/How-Mayor-tried-to-stall-the-proposal.html
 
#201 · (Edited)
^^ that is because the open space has been taken over by the slums.now if everything goes well majority of the portion will be for garden , the rest will be for rehabilitation for the slum people and roads. The parbhat nagar one will be easier to manage since the encroachment on that lands are basically illegal chawls.
 
#202 ·
SO half the plot will go for rehabilitation if they ask for the same place :)
If the land was meant for open spaces they should have compounded the area and never allow any slum to come up there in the first place by doing periodic inspection of all open spaces across the city.

Now if the people refuse to rehabilitate in the some other place then what ?
 
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