SunCorp - yeh_hai_mumbai_meri_jaan

The Reuse of Refuse

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:00:00 +0300

Individual Households, Housing Societies And Green Groups Across Mumbai Are Making Compost Out Of Garbage.

She picks up the loose end of her sari, wraps it tightly around her waist, hoists a bag containing the smelliest rubbish and empties the waste into a huge brick pit stamped with an auspicious vermilion swastika. She then whips out a bottle and sprays an organic liquid on the waste to make the stench vanish.
    She is Vandana, a rag-picker, who is now an important part of a silent revolution sweeping through the city;
it includes many individual households, housing societies and green organisations. These groups, working separately in different areas of the city, are now doing their bit for the environment by recycling garbage and making compost out of it. Vandana has an important role to play; she is one of the foot-soldiers of this revolution after being trained in the process of composting for sustainable zero-waste management.
    What these households and housing societies are doing ensures there is no dearth of manure for people who contribute to the greening of Mumbai. But the unasked-for service has a bigger meaning for the BMC; it helps the civic agency, which faces an acute shortage of land to dispose of waste.
    The silent movement now encompasses housing societies like Dariya Mahal on Nepeansea Road, Pestom Sagar in Chembur and various buildings in Khar, Santa Cruz, Marine Drive and Worli, where residents have taken it upon themselves to ensure that the garbage they produce is not dumped mindlessly; and, in most cases, it’s the housewives who have assumed this responsibility.
    Residents, in some cases, recycle the waste to produce organic manure themselves to make their gardens self-sustainable; in others, rag-pickers are outsourced from NGOs like FORCE or community-based organisations like Stree Ratna Prerna Mandal to segregate the waste and produce compost that is then either sold or given away free.
    Take, for instance, Dariya Mahal in the heart of South Mumbai. Residents have set up a waste-management committee, appointed V Bhatwaregakar the convener to oversee the execution and have created a compost pit in their garden. Five enthusiastic housewives made door-to-door visits to the around-120 households in the A wing of the society to raise awareness. “We even made powerpoint presentations, addressed the ladies’ club of our building and delivered circulars to each home,’’ volunteer Nalini Chugani said. But not everyone in the building has complied as the domestic help, who normally handles garbage, may not have been instructed properly in each home. Chugani would, at one point, supervise the collection of garbage herself and ensure that it was segregated at the household itself. And rag-picker Fazlu from FORCE, who is paid a monthly salary of Rs 1,500 by the society, sorts out the garbage that is not segregated at homes.
    The waste does not attract flies and doesn’t smell at all because of the use of lime. The manure that is produced is used to maintain the building garden and the remaining, locked up in the society office, is either sold or given away to those interested in gardening.
    Rag-picker Rajshri, who recycles garbage at Geetanjali Envirotech at Vile Parle, says she loves her job. It is an open space converted into a small-scale composting site by Dahisar resident Ragini Jain. Rajshri and three others collect garbage on a daily basis from nearby buildings and recycle it. Every kilogram of the manure produced from the waste is sold for Rs 4. Rajshri doesn’t use cowdung and lime for composting but uses an organic liquid called GE Culture to induce decomposition. Scooping powder-like manure from a gunny sack, which smells like pure earth, Rajshri points to a four-foot tree that is only a year old. “Trees grow fast and become healthy with this manure,’’ she smiled. Kishore Kumar, who supervises Rajshri and the three others, says his family initially thought he was a fool for having chosen this job but has now realised how this is also a profitable business.
    Thirty-seven-year-old Dayanand Jadhav, whose community-based organisation — the Stree Ratna Prerna Mandal — has been the recipient of the prestigious Urban Edge award for green initiatives, said there was some resistance to waste management. “We tend to believe that garbage is something to be looked down on. There is no problem as long as it’s in your house but, the minute it is packed in a bag, it becomes intolerable,’’ he said. The organisation, which has around 42 volunteers who are mostly rag-pickers, provides them masks and gloves to motivate them.
WHAT IS COMPOST?
Compost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertiliser and soil-conditioner that is produced after the breakdown of biodegradable organic matter.
HOW IS IT PRODUCED?
Compost can be produced by the use of bacteria or earthworms (the second method is called vermicomposting). YOU CAN ALSO DO IT Making compost from garbage is an easy enough process that can be done even on your balcony
COMPOST FROM BACTERIA
    You will have to place a layer that will act as the base for the process; this base can be anything, ranging from an alumimium sheet to even a glass top.
    Now place the wet garbage on this bedding, which has to be sprayed with an organic liquid called GE Culture or vermiculture microbes that are available in the market to facilitate decomposition; alternatively, you can even use cowdung.
    You will have to churn the waste with a spade at least thrice a day and top it with a layer of dry leaves (but this is not necessary if you use cowdung). Add fresh garbage on the top daily.
    There will be no smell and no flies if you are using the spray; you may also use lime to keep away the flies.
The compost will be ready in 25 to 60 days.
    You will have to extract the powder-like manure with a sieve (with bigger holes than the type used in the kitchen); this manure will be the topmost layer of the compost system. COMPOST FROM EARTHWORMS (VERMICOMPOSTING)
    You will have to put the worms on the bedding (of whatever nonbiodegradable material like metal or glass) and then put the garbage on top.
    The worms then start decomposing the organic matter from the bottom, moving upwards to the newer feed.
The manure is believed to be ready when the worms deposit their own waste on the top layer.
You will have to remove the manure in a similar process (described above).

The Waterways Project

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:30:00 +0200

Water Transport Plan Looks Like Taking Off A Decade After Invitation Of Global Tender

After a decade’s delay, the Rs-1300-crore water transport project on the west coast — which will connect Nariman Point and Borivli — is all set to take off following chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s intervention. “There has been an inordinate delay in implementing the project but, after Deshmukh’s recent review meeting, we expect it to go ahead in a timebound manner. The chief minister himself will monitor its progress on a regular basis,’’ a senior official told TOI on Thursday.
Way back in 1998, when BJP leader Nitin Gadkari was the state public works department minister, a global tender for the water transport project was floated. But the actual tender was allotted only in 2003. It then took more than two years to obtain an environmental clearance for the project as the project involved major constructions on the shore and in the sea; all this added to the delay.

    The Satyagiri Shipping Corporation-led consortium, headed by Nitin Joshi, too, is now hopeful of obtaining an early clearance from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, headed by senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh. “We submitted a fresh proposal to MSRDC as one of the consortium members moved out and three new ones were added. We are sure the new proposal will be cleared soon,’’ Joshi told TOI on Thursday. The dream plan includes, besides more than a dozen hovercraft with a sitting capacity of 100 each, a special marine ambulance on the Nariman Point-Borivli route. “It’s a new concept. It will help a patient reach any hospital in the suburbs from Nariman Point in 20 to 50 minutes,’’ Joshi said. There were initially five members, including Joshi’s own company, in the consortium. But one of the members dropped out and three new members joined it later. “We want complete transparency in our transactions. We, therefore, immediately informed the MSRDC on the new composition of the consortium,’’ he added.
    Joshi said Nariman Point would be connected to Borivli via Bandra, Juhu, Versova and Malad. “The total distance will be covered in 50 minutes and it will take less than 20 minutes to reach Bandra from Nariman Point. So far as fares are concerned, though we are undecided, we expect that it will be nearly Rs 50 for the distance between Nariman Point and Bandra,’’ he said.
    Joshi was hopeful that completion of the project would take less than two years after the receipt of the letter from the government and the allotment of land for the stations. “The land will be utilised for providing basic infrastructure and amenities for the passengers,’’ Joshi said.
    PWD minister and MSRDC chairman Anil Deshmukh confirmed that his government received a revised proposal from Satyagiri. “The consortium has apparently been recomposed and we are examining the financial status of the new members. Credit-rating agency Crisis has been appointed for studying the proposal,’’ Deshmukh said.

Mumbai Metro is Running Late

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:00:00 +0200

The very first phase of Mumbai Metro, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar link, may be delayed if the authorities cannot get around a speedbreaker that has come in the form of problems in acquiring a 30-acre plot of land at Versova. That land is needed for a carshed, a very important component of the project.
    The seriousness with which the authorities are treating the problem shows what is at stake. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) joint commissioner Milind Mhaiskar said all efforts were being made to get the land for the project. And Mumbai Metro One director Krishna Maheshwari said that the team was looking at contingency plans to start work on the Metro if the land was not acquired and allotted soon. “We are looking at alternatives to ensure that work begins soon,’’ he said. Mumbai Metro One is the special-purpose vehicle floated for constructing the Metro Rail project; it comprises the MMRDA, Reliance Energy Limited and Connex of France as joint-venture parteners.
    The car-yard is needed for parking the rakes as well as undertaking repairs and maintenance work on them. A second yard for the rail link has been earmarked at Ghatkopar.
    The Mumbai Metro project was inaugrated with much fanfare in June 2006 and the project was awarded to the Mumbai Metro One Consortium on a buildoperate-own-transfer (BOOT) basis. But work — which was supposed to begin after the monsoon — was yet to start because of the problem the authorities were facing in acquiring the 30 acres of land at Versova, officials admitted on Tuesday. The land in question is now under litigation and efforts are on to sort things out.

    Maheshwari was confident that the issue would be settled and that alternatives could be tried out so that no major delay took place. “Looking for alternatives has become necessary as the contracts for civil work, rolling stock, signalling equipment and several other issues related to construction are ready and will be issued once the green signal on the land is obtained,’’ Maheshwari explained. MMRDA officials pointed out that all other major components of the work were on schedule. The ground survey has been done and plans for shifting the utilities have also been finalised; 3,500 project-affected persons have also been rehabiliated. The corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar is now being cleared of obstacles. “There are some structures on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route at Subhash Nagar (near Asalpha) which are yet to be moved but this is not a major problem,’’ an official said.
    The MMRDA has unveiled plans to rehabilitate shopkeepers, being displaced near Andheri station, in a shopping mall situated nearby. Most of them have accepted the offer to shift.
ON TRACK
The ground survey and survey for shifting of utilities have been completed on time.
Around 3,500 project-affected persons have been rehabilitated along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor.
A detailed project report has also been completed on schedule, claim officials.
There has been no delay in getting approvals from the government of Maharashtra.
THE ROADBLOCK: GETTING LAND FOR A CARSHED
    30 acres of land at Versova was earmarked for the carshed.
    But the proposal ran into problems during acquisition of land as it was under a private owner and fell within the purview of the Urban Land Ceiling Regulations Act. Insiders say the land is owned by a big builder.

NOISY NIGHTS

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:10:00 +0200

While Festival Gets Softer On The Ears, No Heed Is Paid To 10pm Noise Deadline.

This Diwali was a quieter festival as compared to previous years with people preferring to use light-based, noiseless crackers. However, in most parts of Mumbai and the suburbs, the 10pm deadline was broken, a survey has revealed.
    The Supreme Court has disallowed the bursting of all noisy crackers after 10pm. Even pre-10pm rules were not adhered to, said noise pollution activists and residents. Before 10pm, crackers of upto 65 dB can be lit in residential areas and 45 dB in silent zones. Fireworks of upto 120 dB, which manufacturers have permission to make, can only be lit in open grounds.
    Whether it was Bandra, Worli or Borivali, noisy crackers could be heard after 10pm, leading to several complaints from residents to the police control room. The survey by the NGO Awaaz has shown that at around 10.55pm on Friday a reading of 120 dB was recorded at Nariman Point near Hotel Oberoi. Near Sena Bhavan, Dadar, 115 dB was recorded at around 11.30pm.
    At Pali Hill, Bandra (West), a predominantly residential area, crackers were heard upto 2.30 on Saturday morning, the survey revealed. At Kantwadi Road, Bandra, crackers were burst after 10 pm despite complaints from residents to police.
    Several residents were unhappy that the law wasn’t properly enforced. “We don’t know about decibel levels, but the sounds from crackers were really annoying and we didn’t see any policemen doing checks,’’ said Yogesh Datare from Kalina.
    “We could not sleep till late midnight. The police were not patrolling in the area and even after we called up the police chowky they did not turn up for
    over an hour,’’
    complained Supriya Patel, of Little Flower society at IC Colony, Borivali.
    Senior citizens and hospital patients can face severe problems during indiscriminate bursting of crackers. A reading of 105 dB was taken at Jaslok Hospital, a silence zone, at 9.45pm.
    Children too faced difficulty. “My child was waking up in shock every now and then when a cracker burst. We made a mistake of staying back in Mumbai during Diwali,’’ said Ashish Digvijakar, a resident of Mhada colony, Goregoan.
    High post-10pm noise was also detected at Marine Drive near the Police Gymnkhana, Girgaum Chowaptty and Dadar. At Worli Sea-face the noise was comparatively low (100 dB), but it was heightened by the burning of plastic and thermocole, the survey said.

    Sumaira Abdulali, founder president of Awaaaz, said, “The state has failed to inform people about the ban on noisy fireworks after 10pm. People are now aware of the adverse effects of noisy crackers, but they are sill confused about the deadline.’’ However, an interesting positive trend involves housing societies collectively bursting crackers, thus reducing the number of fireworks used. In areas like Shivaji Park, Andheri and Dahisar, housing societies opted for such celebrations. At Ashiward housing society, Dahisar, members collected a fund to burst crackers. “Such community celebrations, especially outside silence or residential zones, should be encouraged,’’ Abdulali said. “The state can also organise laser shows and other cultural events during the festival to reduce sound and air pollution.’’
    A DIFFERENT DIWALI
    About 4,000 followers of Mumbai-based spiritual group, Srimad Rajchandra Ashram, gathered at the remnants of a palace in Dharampur in Gujarat to celebrate Diwali in a unique way.
    The group, which is inspired by Jain philosophy, celebrated Diwali, keeping the basic Jain ideals of ahimsa (non-violence) and jayna (altruism) in mind. “Diwali is the festival of light and we were uplifted from spiritual darkness,’’ said Komal Shah, a member of Jivanarpit (youth wing of Srimad Rajchandra Ashram) and a student.
    Srimad Rajchandra Ashram believes that festivals should be free of ritualism. “Diwali is a festival to rejoice the victory of good over evil. We performed a bhav yagna (sacrifice of ill feelings) and we destroyed our negative energy in an imaginary holy fire,’’ said Shah, a student.
    “Crackers is forbidden at the ashram as it is a form of hinsa (violence),’’ said Shah. The Dharampur palace is lit with diyas instead of electricity, which “causes hinsa to insects’’. Jivanarpit uses the occasion to collect funds for the Jivadaya trust that provides for animals. “It is our duty to extend charity to animals,’’ said 65-year-old Vasumati Shah.

Metro to link old, new airports

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:55:00 +0200

A Metro rail link is being planned between the upcoming airport at Panvel and the old domestic and international terminals for the benefit of flyers and commuters.

MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said the new link, planned by Cidco and his agency, would run along the second line of the Metro’s Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd route. “There will be a new link from Mankhurd to the Navi Mumbai airport, a distance of 20 km,’’ he said.

MMRDA officials said the extra 20 km would be planned as a separate project and the survey for it might be done by RITES. These will be combined at a later stage. This is being done as planning for the Metro’s Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd line is almost complete, said officials.
    A small link has already been planned from Santa Cruz airport to Bandra-Kurla Complex to meet the Metro line. This will allow passengers to alight at the terminal and go directly to the Panvel airport.
    While the financial details are yet to worked out, the extra bill could run up to Rs 1,200 crore-Rs 1,500 crore, officials said. Gaikwad said Cidco was keen on having a Metro link between the two airports so that passengers could swiftly move from one to another. Officials said the link would help both Indian and foreign passengers move to other domestic destinations from Santa Cruz. “Most international airports around the world have Metro stations close to them for easy movement of passengers,’’ said one of them.
    The new Metro line will increase the MMRDA’s scope of work. The agency is already going ahead with execution of the first two lines of the first phase of Mumbai Metro. The first line of the Metro will run along the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route, a distance of 15 km.

How Green Will Our New Zoo Be?

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:55:00 +0200

The Zoo Is Ready For A Grand Make-Over. But The Plan Has Raised Concerns Over What’s Going To Happen To The Trees ?

You could call this the last inventory of Jijamata Udyan in its present form as the Byculla zoo will, in all probability, never be the same again. The zoo, popularly known as Rani Baug, is now awaiting the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)’s goahead for a complete make-over, a modernisation project that will cost Rs 433 crore.
    The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which owns the zoo, is upbeat at the make-over prospects. It has been at the receiving end of activists’ ire for the “poor condition of captive animals’’ and the make-over, officials hope, will finally transform the zoo into a “world-class’’ one.
    But the master plans conceived by a consortium of Thai-based designers and US-based consultants — which propose to have 3-D theatre, staff quarters, a parking lot, allocated areas for
animals from different continents and a night safari — have tree-lovers in the city worried.
    Rani Baug was built in 1861 as a botanical park by the Agro-Horticultural Society of Western India.
    Slowly, over the years, animals were included and it became the Mumbai region’s only zoo.
    But critics would say the zoo is still in that state; with its somewhat sad animals and rare plants, it would enthuse a student of botany more than it would a student of zoology.
    However, despite the criticism the zoo has drawn for its treatment of animals, Rani Baug — with its green landscape within the urban sprawl — is a good getaway from the city within the city.
    There are 3,371 trees of 280 different species on the 53-acre campus and some of them are rare; Amherstia nobilis or the tree of heaven, for instance, is one of the only couple of specimens the city has.
    In fact, a grand rain tree welcomes 8,000 visitors every day.
    And, at a cost of only Rs 5, the place provides book-lovers a quiet environment and children — who grow up in small flats — a chance to get close to nature.
    The zoo, say officials, is also a tourist spot for those from other parts of Maharashtra and also for those from outside the state.
    “Indians have a tendency to look for a chidiyaghar whenever they are in a particular city. Rani Baug is our chidiyaghar,’’ said naturalist J C Punetha, state director of WWF.
    But Jijamata Udyan does not only lure only human beings; birds and butterflies, too, are drawn to it. Common jay and common palmfly are only two of the butterflies that flutter around. Birds like the purple sunbird, the night heron, the magpie robin, the brownheaded barbet and the golden oriole are some that come here.
    Around 1,000 bats share the place because of the thick dark cover it provides.
    All this may not be disturbed by the make-over plans but naturalists are not so sure about the fate of many of the zoo’s trees. Though additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev insists the make-over will not involve cutting down trees, the Save Rani Baug Botanical Garden Action Committee is not convinced.
    Katie Bagli of the committee points out that 63 per cent of the zoo area is green cover whereas animal enclosures occupy only 18 per cent. The remaining 19 per cent comprises monuments and pathways. “If the green cover stays as it is, it means the BMC will work on the other 18 per cent (35,000 square metres). But the BMC will be spending Rs 433 crore and it works out to an expense of Rs 1.23 lakh per square metre. Is that possible?’’ she asks, alleging the BMC was planning to have a “synthetic amusement park’’.
    Rajeev, however, says that the BMC is in the process of getting seven acres from an adjoining plot. “We will be developing the green area as well but without chopping trees. We have hired international consultants who are among the best in the world because there are many challenges involved. The themes will be developed around the trees.’’
    He pointed out that the 3-D theatre was next to the entrance of the zoo near Bhau Daji Lad Museum. The underground parking will be under the existing parking lot but will have a garden above.
    The staff quarters will be in the nursery area at the periphery of the zoo. Nandkumar Naik of Friends of Trees says that he would want the place to be as it is. “Improve the condition of animals by all means but not at the cost of trees,’’ Naik says.
    THE INVENTORY
AREA: 53 acres (.21 square kms) ANIMALS: 200 (26 species) BIRDS: 450 (45 species) REPTILES: 8 TREES: 3771 (280 species) VISITORS: 25 lakh a year
    THE HISTORY
The zoo at Byculla actually started as a botanical garden called Victoria Gardens in 1861; it used to be called Rani Baug in Hindi (after Queen Victoria). It was later named Jijamata Udyan after Shivaji’s mother. THE MAKE-OVER PLANS
    COST OF MAKE-OVER: Rs 443 crore
    TIME NEEDED: 4 years
    ADDITIONAL AREA: 7 acres
    NEW ANIMALS
There are plans to get 25 more species of animals, including orangutans and baboons.
    OLD PLANTS
The BMC denies any plan to cut down on the number of trees but activists say it will not be possible for the BMC to retain every tree (given its plans); what has invited ire is the plan to have an artificial baobab tree.
    A THEATRE
There are plans to have a 3-dimension theatre where there will be shows related to flora and fauna.
    PARKING AREA
An underground car-parking area will be able to accommodate 100 vehicles; there will be a garden above that.
    NIGHT SAFARI
The make-over plans include a night safari.

Our Vanishing Heritage

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:05:00 +0200

HERITAGE BUILDINGS: GOVERNMENT’S BLIND SPOT, OWNERS’ HEADACHE

Several Countries Protect Their Architectural Heritage By Giving Tax Relief And Financial Aid To Owners Of Old Property

Owners of heritage properties in Florida are eligible for a tax freeze for upto a decade after a restoration project.

Heritage properties in some German cities are taxed at 40 per cent of their value or, in some cases, even exempted from payment of tax depending on their maintenance cost and restoration expenditure.

Turkey has property tax exemption for heritage buildings.

France gives owners of heritage properties 50 per cent tax credit for maintenance and restoration.
And, in Salzburg and Graz in Austria, a Historic Town Centre Preservation Fund gives grants to landlords having properties in certain protection zones in town centres.

Governments across the world may be thinking of new ways to protect their countries’ architectural heritage but, in Mumbai, a combination of state policies and lack of financial assistance have actually encouraged builders to pull down grade-III heritage buildings. TOI, over the past four days, has reported how Mumbai has been steadily losing its architectural heritage in old residential enclaves.
Heritage conservationists say they cannot blame the proprietors for selling off their old properties. Neither the state government nor the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has any economic incentive for landlords of bungalows, mansions and cottages having heritage value, making it more lucrative for them to sell or redevelop their properties with the help of builders.
    In 1992, three years before the city’s heritage regulations came into force, a panel of experts appointed by the state urban development department suggested that a combination of restrictive legislation — preventing the destruction of such buildings — and financial incentives (to encourage upkeep and improvements) would offer conservation a lifeline.
    “The justification for financial assistance to property owners is based on two considerations: the loss of potential market value of the property because of restrictions on development and the inhibiting effects of the Rent Control Act which deprive owners of the financial means to support the property,’’ the committee on conservation of heritage buildings and precincts noted.
    The report recommended decontrolling rent, tax relief, grants and loans and transfer of development rights as measures to “stimulate conservation’’.
    “But these provisions were not incorporated when the heritage regulations were finalised in 1995,’’ conservation architect Pankaj Joshi told TOI on Wednesday.
    But other global cities, which Mumbai’s administrators want to emulate from time to time, have systems in place to protect and conserve heritage properties, including those owned by private landlords.
    Rules in Shanghai include supplementary penalties, ranging from fines to criminal and legal responsibility, for people who fail to protect their heritage properties.
    “The owners or users of heritage properties in Shanghai have to take the responsibility of protecting them. The local government gives political or financial support for their maintenance and has set up heritage protection funds that are sourced from government budgets, personal or organisational donations and publicowned heritage property renting benefits,’’ a Shanghai government official said.
    Architect Anne Warr, one of the founding members of the voluntary group Save Shanghai Heritage, said: “The Shanghai abattoirs — fascinating buildings from the 1930s — have been leased to a company for use as a ‘creative centre’. The leasing company has architects to design the work but the expenses are paid by the local government, which holds the lease.’’
    Warr added: “The Shanghai municipal government has been busy over the last decade setting in place
legislation and guidelines to protect the city’s heritage. They are fasttracking, as much as possible, the work that has taken many other cities decades to achieve. There is still much to be done, of course, and the municipal government realises that protection of the city’s heritage is much more than just listing places and putting plaques on buildings.’’
    Cornell University’s Historic Preservation Planning Programme director Michael Tomlan told TOI: “There are federal, state and local laws in the United States and national, county and local laws in the United Kingdom. Local officials, spurred by citizens and advocacy groups, can issue citations for lack of maintenance and this should be done in Mumbai, too. The property can be taken away from its owners by a court order in extreme cases.’’
    Both direct and indirect tax benefits were provided as incentives to the property owner or the lessee in some cases.
    “Selling a heritage property that has been improved in this fashion generally carries financial penalties; one cannot ‘flip’ the property for profit after using financial incentives,’’ he observed.
    There were several studies demonstrating the economic benefits (in tourist dollars) of historic preservation efforts, he added.
    The UK government’s statutory adviser on historic environment, English Heritage, can give grants to heritage buildings listed grade I or II; the grants can range between 40 and 60 per cent of the costs.
    It also has a heritage economic regeneration scheme which may provide grants for private owners of grade-II buildings, in notified conservation areas, for certain type of works.
    Financial help is available in Scotland through the Historic Buildings Repair Grants Scheme for private owners to meet the cost of high-quality repairs.
    Historic Scotland, a local government agency, claims to have given grants totalling £ 48 million between 1999 and 2004 for assisting repair jobs.
    “Owners must insure and maintain the building and allow some access to visitors,’’ the agency said.
    Mumbai-based conservation architect David Cardoz gave the example of incentives available for citizens in Singapore.
    “They are given tax breaks if their private gardens, touching the road, are kept visually open to the public. Such innovative methods could be adopted here in Mumbai for those living in or owning heritage properties,’’ he said.

Parsi Enclave

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0200

Mancherji Joshi’s marble bust at the entrance to the world’s largest Parsi enclave underscores the conflict between the modern and the traditional. The memorial to a man who founded a colony of mansions and stately apartments in Dadar is flanked by a structure covered all over with concrete pillars to raise its height; behind is a shabby, lowslung building with the vernacular look of the 1930s. One represents the manner in which houses have changed over years in keeping with market demands and government regulations, the other is a remnant of a bygone age when a house bore the seal of its owner’s personality.

Zervin Baam (21), a medical student and resident of the redeveloped complex, belongs to a third generation of settlers at the Dadar Parsi colony. He seems a tad removed from the furious debate among his elderly neighbours on ways to preserve the colony’s architectural grain.
    Baam takes pride in the fact that the precinct’s been cleaned up in recent years—the best example of it is the beautification of the Five Gardens, which encircle Art Deco homes in the neighbourhood—but he does not quite endorse the views of conservationists. “I don’t think highrises replacing bungalows have made the colony a more crowded place. Most of the flats might not even be occupied,’’ he says.
    The Dadar colony was founded in the 1920s by Mancherji Joshi who rallied around his community to develop a large swathe of land on the outskirts of the city. Encouraged by concessional pricing of plots, Parsi elders banded together to raise a settlement of two-storey buildings ringed by green and open spaces. Built in Deccan basalt and adorned with filigree on the windows and ornate balustrades, the style is a mixture of things that hark back to both European and native influences. “These were, in fact, the first apartment homes in India,’’ says urban designer and architect Prasad Shetty. “They are low-rise, low density buildings, which blended various styles. A Rajasthani balcony here, a Gothic cornice there, a bit of Art Deco thrown in.’’
    Its distinct ghetto character,
seen to represent a key aspect of Mumbai’s cultural mosaic, has won the Dadar Parsi colony the status of a ‘protected’ heritage precinct. In practice, the tag means little. The place, with its wide roads and open gardens, has been drawing hordes of developers. Most of them are busy forging deals with landlords of decaying structures of World War I vintage. Despite the protection conferred by the state, owners can sell or pull down the structures under a rule that allows redevelopment of pre-1940 tenanted buildings.
    Seated in a vaulted apartment of a 1919 building, former municipal corporator Rustom Tirandaz tries to capture the changes around him amid a game of solitaire. “As long as Parsi Colony was Parsi colony, everything was hunky dory. Now Parsis have gone broke and they are selling out to outsiders keen to commercially exploit the tranquility and peace of the area,’’ he says, adjusting his skull cap.
    On Jame Jamshed Marg, one of the main arteries to the area, every second building is now either a highrise or an old edifice with extra floors piled on. Some of the bigger projects like Western Court (which houses prominent Parsis, including actor Boman Irani) have been undertaken by builders within the community. But given high real estate rates and the fact that tenants pay low rent under archaic laws, the landlords say they are left with little choice but to raze these magnificent brick-and-stone edifices.
    In the process, the conservation movement has taken a severe hammering: nearly 50 out of the 225 two- or threestorey structures in the borough have been redeveloped, to the dismay of heritage lovers. “The state government needs to take a relook at the laws before it’s too late. This loophole that allows heritage properties to be pulled down needs to change,’’ says conservation architect Vikas Dilawari. “There have to be some checks in place to ensure that the redevelopment is in keeping with the overall character of the precinct.’’
    Dilawari is referring to the suggestions made time and again by groups of architects, historians and conservationists. They exist in the form of draft proposals that have been gathering dust with the state’s urban development department, a wing directly under the control of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. But that’s another story.

Land Mafia Erodes Bandra’s Beauty

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:45:00 +0200

With its slew of restaurants, trendy lounge bars and glitzy shopping malls, Bandra (west) may seem to be light years away from the badlands of Bihar. Yet, behind the ostentatious facade of this prime western suburb is the growing civic lawlessness, which has resulted in gross violations of basic town planning norms and a gradual destruction of traditional heritage enclaves here.

Over the past decade, citizen activists and old time residents of Bandra have consistently complained about the thriving nexus between the BMC and the land mafia (supported by some politicians) that has led to haphazard development in this once peaceful suburb.
    Multi-storeyed shopping centres have mysteriously sprung up without the mandatory setback space on congested roads and highrise apartment blocks have been allowed to come up dangerously close to century-old bungalows in protected gaothans (village) like Ranwar. In Pali village—a proposed heritage precinct—a cement-concrete building has blatantly encroached upon part of the narrow lane and touches the street electric pole.
    On Turner Road (now renamed Guru Nanak Marg) itself, about eight graceful bungalows have disappeared in the last 10 years. One of the grandest and spacious mansion to be sold here belonged to the family of erstwhile billiards champion Michael Ferreira. It gave way to a swanky residential tower.
    Elsewhere in Bandra, there are stories about families living in cottages being bullied and threatened to move out by unscrupulous builders. Many feel that the several cases of senior citizens found murdered inside their huge bungalows in Bandra-Khar are attributed to the land mafia. “There are gangsters masquerading as political activists in Bandra, who are into this racket,’’ said one resident.
    “Rules are for fools,’’ laughed Neil Pereira, sitting inside his quaint150-year-old bungalow in the ancient Pali village, now surrounded by what can only be described as highrise monstrosities. A fire brigade engine or an ambulance can never hope to enter this precinct. “Complaints to the local BMC office never evoke any response. It is only now with the Right to Information Act that we manage to get some feeble reaction,’’ he said.
    The East Indian Residents Association of Pali Gaothan recently wrote to the heritage committee chairman Sharad Upasani, “This whole area is now being rapaciously overdeveloped by completely unscrupulous and politically-connected builders. They are acquiring properties under all kinds of pretext and bringing down beautiful bungalows to build multi-storeyed monstrosities in our tiny lanes. We ask your help in preserving our gaothan and declare it as a heritage precinct.’’
    Early this year, some Pali village residents along with prominent citizens filed a public interest litigation in the
Bombay high court against illegal construction activity, which is a “conspiracy among the owner/builder and officials of the BMC and other competent authorities’’.
    “The petitioners state that some of the lanes of the gaothan are so narrow that two people cannot walk side by side. Notwithstanding the same, concrete buildings with elevator shafts and balconies have suddenly come up...despite municipal officials knowing about the said constructions, nothing is being done by them, and all this construction is being carried out under their nose and presumably with their permission and support.’’
    Like Pali, Ranwar is one of the original 24 hamlets of Bandra going back to the early 1700s. But unabated construction over the past decade-and-a-half has seen several of the old-style bungalows with red Mangalore tiles on the roof being pulled down. A couple of years ago, Vincent D’Cruz (name changed on request) finally decided to move out of his bungalow in Ranwar after a building came up in front of his property.
    “This trend is inevitable given the cost of real estate. There is monetary coercion on local residents to sell their ancestral property. Today, Ranwar is surrounded by multi-storeyed structures,’’ he said.
    What used to be a peaceful enclave has now turned into a nightmare due to vehicular congestion after the traffic police opened up a tiny Ranwar lane into a main thoroughfare that leads to Bandra Reclamation. “Imagine, it is difficult
to even cross the street,’’ added D’Cruz. Locals observed that 20% of the 600 old houses in Ranwar have been razed over the last 10 to 15 years.
    “Life in gaothans is all about identity, a scale of life which was easier and a good sense of belonging. This essence should not go away even if outsiders come into heritage precincts like Ranwar. But today one tends to get lost among the high rises that have been proliferating in these areas,’’ said heritage architect David Cardoz. But Cardoz explained that anything old does not necessarily mean beautiful. “Development is inevitable. But it is mindless development, which mainly means high rise, high tech and big money, to which old Bandra is losing out to,’’ he added.

Our Vanishing Heritage

noreply@blogspirit.com (SunCorp) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:20:00 +0200

‘SAVE KHOTACHIWADI FROM BUILDERS’

For almost seven decades, Lynette and Bosco Fernandes have led a charmed life, impervious to the cacophonic din of the busy Girgaum Road just metres away from their front door. To live in a sprawling cottage built almost 150 years ago in the heart of the city is something most Mumbaikars could only dream of.
    Yet, on a cloudy Friday evening, Bosco, sitting in the large dinning room, ruefully declared, “Ten years from now there will be no Khotachiwadi.’’ His wife didn’t quite agree with such a drastic prognosis, but she did add, “Every day, during the morning rosary, some of us ladies pray, ‘God, save Khotachiwadi from the builders’.’’
    Khotachiwadi was originally founded in the late 18th century by a Pathare Prabhu named Khot, who sold plots of land to local East Indian families from Vasai, Salsette and the north Konkan. Now, its residents include Goan and Mangalorean Catholics, Maharashtrian Hindus and more recently, a steady influx of Gujaratis and Marwaris.
    Today, the quaint enclave is one of the few heritage neighbourhoods that still stand, albeit crumbling at the edges. Its trove of old, mainly vernacular and Portuguese-style houses earned it the status of a heritage precinct in 1995. However, it has not remained immune from the epidemic of redevelopment that has engulfed the entire city.
    Bungalows, tiled roof houses and cottages have been systematically torn down and replaced by hideous cement and concrete buildings (The place also boasts a Hotel Girgaum Palace).
    In June 2007, civic chief Jairaj Phathak claimed, “...it be seen that no heritage regulations are violated for allowing redevelopment/reconstruction in the Khotachiwadi heritage precinct.’’ He was replying to a query by Sharad Upasani, chairman of the Mumbai heritage and conservation committee, who had forwarded an appeal by Khotachiwadi residents to save the heritage properties in the area.
    Conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah said that although most of the cottages are listed as grade III heritage structures, they do not enjoy any protection from demolition since they are all categorised as cessed properties. “Rules allow cessed structures to be pulled down for redevelopment,’’ she said.
    There were as many as 64 bungalows here. Today, there are just about half of them remaining. The Khotachiwadi Welfare and Heritage Trust, comprising concerned residents, has a litany of complaints for the heritage committee. “No 1 Khotachiwadi was the first to go, which was a heritage building in good condition. Recently, No 29B was sold and destroyed. The modus operandi of the builder is to first remove the tiles and old windows and leave the elements to wreck the wooden structure. After one or two monsoons, they plead that the structure is irreparable and so get permission to demolish these grade III structures and construct seven-storey buildings with deep basements,’’ they said in a recent letter to chairman Upasani.
    No 35 (Dias House), a heritage building, is also rumoured to be sold to the same developer who purchased No 29B. Residents alleged the developer is now negotiating to purchase Himkar Nivas, another heritage structure. “We have also heard that a combined property having five buildings, comprising house No 36, a ground plus two structure, three other ground plus one buildings, and a ground floor (all wooden structures) has been bought over in the core area of this
heritage precinct and will be demolished in the same fashion,’’ said the trust.
    The doctor couple of Rakesh and Henal Shah, who bought a ramshackle 1860s cottage and painstakingly restored it to its original state over a decade ago, said senior citizens are compelled to live in their sprawling houses all alone after their children migrated abroad or moved to other parts of the city. “They cannot maintain such huge properties. So,the only option for them is to sell,’’ said Rakesh Shah. Maintaining the old wooden beams, the problem of underground water seeping into the walls, and treating the wood for termites could be both tedious and expensive. He observed that there have been many changes here, especially in the past three years. “The new residents have little respect for heritage. They do not maintain the facade, and instal plywood doors and marble floors.”
    In May 2005, residents organised a Khotachiwadi festival with ethnic food stalls and art exhibitions to raise money to maintain the properties. “We did not succeed,’’ said Henal Shah sadly.
    Meanwhile, Bosco Fernandes, now 70, has the final word: “There is no way we are moving out of here and staying in matchbox sized flats.’’