'NMMT will be the best transport body by Dec'

If Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) authorities are to be believed, by December this year, the civic transport system will be one among the best. NMMT plans to revamp its services by adding 450 new buses and 67 routes in city. The new services include places from Mumbai, Thane, Uran, Kalyan and Dombivili. Apart from these, NMMT also plans to increase the present frequency by plying a bus in every 15 minutes on all the routes in and out of the city.
"Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), we will get 150 new buses, and another 300 buses will hit the road under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. Most of the new buses will be introduced on new routes. Our aim is to provide a bus in every 15 minutes on all routes," Sasi Damodaran, one of the members of transport committee, said.
Damodaran said that NMMT has also decided to provide its services to at least three lakh more commuters. "Navi Mumbai has a population of 21 lakh people. As of now, we provide services to only 2.5 lakh people daily. By January 2010, we plan to provide services to at least five lakh people," added Damodaran. At present there are 269 fleets operational on 39 routes.
NMMT also plans to add more buses to its AC service by introducing 20 Volvo and 10 Ashok Leyland buses. These buses will have Global Positioning System (GPS), Public Information System (PIS) and LED system.
Meanwhile, commuters are happy that finally NMMT is making a complete revamp in the services and say that it will help the NMMT to serve better.

4 years old Ananya all set to enter the Guinness book of world record

Today, we introduce you to a classical dancer Ananya Kurup who is all set to get her name entered in the Guinness Book of World Record. But what is so different about this classical dancer from others. Ananya Kurup is just a four year old girl who is being termed as the youngest classical dancer. We bring you few glimpses of her performance.

Gracious, elegant and swift dance movements. Ananya Kurup is a cute little four year old but what she possess is a talent to dance. A Junior KG student of Presentation Convent School, Nerul, Ananya started dancing when she was just a baby and literally one year old. Her first performance was at the Ayyappa Temple in CBD. We met her in one of her recent performances where an excited Ananya danced away to glory in a jam packed auditorium.

To get a glimpse of this little wonder, Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik and well known actor R. Chandran along with her well wishers were present. She was dancing on the beat and rhythm of her Guru Sushma Gopinath and team. Speaking about Ananya, her dance teacher Sushma Gopinath said that while students learn at the age of 5 and get ready for arangetrum at 10 Annanya completed all these stages before hitting the stage.

Talent runs in the family as Annanya's mother, Pravitha is also a dancer by profession. Identifying her daughter’s talent, she took her along while teaching dance to her students. Ananya soon caught up. Ananya’s mother today is definitely a proud one today. An impressed Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik said that for Bharatnatyam one needs high degree of integrity and confidence, which this girl possesses. He further spoke on the other achievers who have added glory to the city.

Film actor R. Chandran even stated that Ananya could become the cultural ambassador of the country. Possessing an innate talent, for Ananya sky is the limit!!

NMMC floats tender for skywalk in Airoli

The much awaited skywalk at Airoli, the first of its kind in the twin city, would be coming up in the next 15 months, according to NMMC sources. The civic body administration has floated a tender to the tune of Rs 2.8 crore for the project which is likely to be commenced after the state election.
The circle is a connecting point of sectors 5, 14, 15, 8, 9 and 10 of Airoli and Diwa village, and the construction of a skywalk at this spot will provide the pedestrians an easy and comfortable walk to the bus stops and back to their home" he revealed
Residents were demanding a Foot-over Bridge (FOB) across the Aioli-Mulund highway near Garam Masala Hotel at sector-10 in order to avert the risk of crossing the crowded highway. Said former municipal corporator Rohini Ghadge, "During my stint as the corporator, I had asked NMMC to construct a FOB at sector-10 to prevent the road accidents due to the negligent road crossing.
In the absence of a foot over bridge the school children are directly crossing the road. A formal request was also made to the traffic police to prevent the road crossing, but no action has been taken in the five years," she complained.
Traffic cops had suggested a subway at sector-10 to ease the problems of road crossing.
A foot over bridge at sector 10 will serve only a limited segment of people while a skywalk may be beneficial to a large section of people staying at Diwa-Koliwada, sectors 8, 9, 10, 14 and 15 of Airoli.
The skywalk is planned in such a way that it will be accessible to all pedestrians coming from the different directions, "Traffic police had suggested us to take feasible measures to streamline pedestrian movements on the highway to avert all road mishaps as a result of the road crossing.
We have considered many options including the construction of FOB, flyovers and subways as suggested by the locals and traffic cops. Subways are costly and time consuming whereas the skywalk is economically feasible and could be completed in a reasonable time. Hence a skywalk has been decided at Diwa-Koliwada circle to ease the problems of road crossing," informed the official

NMMT to double Volvos on Mumbai-bound routes

Considering the inconveniencies faced by commuters heading from the satellite city to Mumbai, Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) is pressing into services six more buses on the busy route soon.
"NMMT had planned for pressing into service 30 buses on Navi Mumbai-Mumbai route. Five Volvo buses of the fleet were rolled down to Bandra in July while six more Volvos will soon hit the roads,"
"The remaining buses will make it to the roads step by step till the end of the year or next year. Ten buses will run on the CBD-Belapur route, while NMMT will have as many buses heading to Mumbai airport and the rest of the lot will travel between Navi Mumbai and Dadar in the next few days," he said.
Papalkar added, "Twenty of the 30 buses which NMMT will receive are Volvo buses, while the remaining are AC buses from Ashok Leyland. The buses will have Global Positioning System (GPS), Public Information System (PIS) and LED system for better services to the people. Of which, LED system will be soon installed in the buses, while GPS and PIS systems can wait till December or January since the installation of the two technologies involve satellite-related issues."
"Besides, the more number of vehicles added to the services will also reduce the time gap between two buses to Mumbai and the commuters need not wait for 40-45 minutes like earlier," he added.
Talking about the bus service between Kalamboli and Bandra instead of Belapur and Bandra, the official said, "As of now the buses will run between Belapur and Bandra. After surveying the situation and response, we will take decision on initiating such facility from Kalamboli instead of Belapur."
NMMT has been contemplating on running 10 buses from Kalamboli bus stop near Mahatma Gandhi Mission's (MGM) Hospital to Bandra to provide its services to as many city commuters as possible without much hike in the ticket prices. NMMT has been sanctioned 150 new buses by Central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Civic body's artificial ponds proved useful

NMMC's initiative to encourage immersion of Ganesh idols in the three artificial ponds erected this year at Kopri, Vashi and Shiravane is a welcome move. The efforts taken by the civic officials for the environmental-friendly initiative need to be appreciated. The encouraging response is very evident from figures released by the NMMC of immersion in these artificial ponds. In order to encourage such switch over, NMMC has rightly located the artificial ponds close to the existing traditional immersion ponds.
It was in last year that the civic body made a small beginning on a trial basis in this environmental-friendly direction by erecting a sole artificial pond at Kopri. The basic idea behind the initiative is to preserve natural lakes and ponds and prevent environmental degradation. NMMC should also appeal to the public through media to patronise the artificial ponds in large numbers to make the initiative a bigger success.
Tradition-bound villagers and even city folk may not switch over to the new set-up immediately. But, the progressive and educated people concerned about the environment have welcomed the option and preferred the same. The encouraging response has shown that the trend is catching up. It is worthy to note that the political class has supported the cause.
NMMC should be congratulated to encourage and facilitate smooth immersion at the civic artificial ponds. It has put lifeguards on duty. We understand that after the immersions are over, civic body has to collect the idols and transport the same to immerse them deep in the creek waters. But, they should take utmost care to observe religious sentiment and sanctity, while doing so.
Traditional ponds are at the heart of village community life. So being the main stakeholders, they will be at the receiving end of the mercy of the environmental degradation of these water bodies.
Year-after-year, NMMC entails heavy expenditure to clean the traditional village ponds, which get polluted as well as choked due to idol immersions. All such needless civic expenditure as well as environmental degradation is very much avertable, if people switch over to artificial ponds for idol immersion.
The announcement by civic engineer that NMMC will set up such artificial ponds in all nodes of Navi Mumbai next year should be welcomed whole-hearted and people should support the initiative taken by the NMMC with their cooperation in the larger interest of the environmental cause.

NMMC's eco-visarjan gets good response

With the increasing awareness about environment, more number of Navi Mumbaikars are now opting for eco-friendly ways of immersing Ganesh idols. On the last day of immersion, thousands of Ganpati idols will be immersed in the artificial ponds.
Sumati Shende, a resident of Sanpada, said, "It is a small contribution which we can make to save the environment. When the civic body has made the arrangement of artificial lake, we should make use of it."
At the same time, one of the city residents felt that the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) should have replicated the Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) counter system. "My sister resides in Thane city and TMC has opened a counter where city residents give away the idol for immersion at the counter. The new system has been well-received there.
Meanwhile, residents from many parts of the city have demanded more artificial lakes so that the natural lakes can be protected. Prasad Raut, resident of Vashi said, "With an artificial lake in place, we can save the natural lakes from the hazardous chemicals and Plaster of Paris."
Considering the extent of environment pollution caused owing to the immersion of Ganesh idols made of PoP, NMMC had made provision of artificial ponds to be used by devotees. In addition to the artificial pond at Kopri, this year the Corporation has made similar provision at sector 6 Vashi and Chincholi pond at Shiravane.