The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of Navi Mumbai

Tuesday, 6 October 2020

VOL. 14 • ISSUE 101 RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. No. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE

Pages 8 • Price 2www.newsband.in

By Abhitash D. SinghNavi Mumbai

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corpora-

tion (NMMC) has col-lected fine to the tune of Rs 35 lakh from people who violated the lock-down norms set up by the civic body. Fines have been collected from both individuals and shop owners for not fol-lowing Covid 19 norms like spitting in public, not wearing masks and also not following social distancing norms.

The civic body has fixed fines for flouting various Covid 19 norms.

The fine for spitting in

Covid 19: Fine of Rs. 35 lakhs collected for not observing norms

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra

inauguratedA dream come true

and an overwhelming feel-ing of joy and enthusiasm was the general feeling when the beautiful and large Bharatiya Vidya Bha-van’s Navi Mumbai Ken-dra, at sector 30 A, near Vashi station was inaugu-rated on Saturday, October 2, 2020…

(More on page 3)

Gang of 7 arrested for looting citizens

Sanpada police have managed to nab a gang of seven persons who robbed two people and assaulted them at around midnight. The investigation has re-vealed that three college students are members of the gang and two of them are minor. According to the investigation, the gang had committed four robberies in Sanpada and APMC ar-eas on September 30 and two in Nerul on the same day

(More on page 4)

Covid-19: Seven test positive in Uran taluka

On Sunday (October 4), 7 people tested positive for Covid-19, taking the tally to 1909 in Uran taluka. Of these, 1644 have been cured and discharged. 168 corona positive patients are undergoing treatment and 97 corona positive patients have died till date, said Uran Tehsildar Bhau-saheb Andhare.

CCTV cameras installed for protecting mangroves lying defunct since five months

CONTINUED ON PAGE... 3

CONTINUED ON PAGE... 2

CONTINUED ON PAGE... 6

By Pranab Jyoti BhuyanNavi Mumbai

In an effort to protect the mangroves, the

forest department had installed two CCTV cameras along the Sion-Panvel highway at Vashi in December, 2018. However, both the cameras have been ly-ing defunct since the last five months.

The area where the cameras were installed, had been used as dumping ground by some unidenti-fied people for the past sev-eral years. The culprits would come at night, dump debris there and run away within a few minutes. Hundreds of mangroves were affect-ed in that area because of that menace. After the installation of the CCTV cameras, no one dared to dump debris there. Now since the cameras are not working, it has be-come a challenge for the forest officials to protect the mangroves again.

DS Kukre, range for-est officer of Navi Mum-bai mangrove cell said, “The data collecting machine of the cameras got defunct around six months ago and hence the cameras are not

serving any purpose at present. We have got the machine repaired and will reinstall it soon.”

When asked why it took so long to fix the issue, Kukre said, “Ac-tually we do not have any structure to keep the

machine at that site. For a long time, it was kept at the office of the Vashi toll naka, and was con-nected to the cameras using long cables. Now we have decided to de-velop a small concrete structure for keeping the

The cameras had been installed by the forest department along the Sion-Panvel

Highway at Vashi in December, 2018Pranab Jyoti BhuyanNavi Mumbai

A number of open manholes near the

bus depot, outside Vashi railway station, have been posing threat to the daily commuters for the past several months. If requisite actions are not taken at the earli-est, these manholes will cause major accidents in that area, say the citi-zens.

A few sewage lines which connect the Vashi station to the main road, run through that open space near the bus de-pot. The covers of those sewage lines got broken at several places a few

months ago. However, the authorities con-cerned have been turn-ing a blind eye to the issue.

Nirmala Shinde, a daily commuter said, “These manholes are

very big and two to three persons may fall down in one of them at the same time. At present due to the restrictions imposed by the Railways, the city residents are now

Open death traps near Vashi bus depot

The manholes near Vashi bus depot are lying open for the past several months and are posing threat to the commuters

Citizens have been fined for not wearing masks, spitting in public and not following social distancing

2 Tuesday, 6 October 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 : contact@newsband.in 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 contents. The publishers, Editor and/or the staff cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage due to transactions that they may en-ter into guided by the ads.

By Abhitash D.SinghNavi Mumbai

The Indo-American Chamber of Com-

merce (IACC) bestowed the lifetime achieve-ment award to Indian business icon Ratan

Tata, as part of their recent global leader-ship awards. Tata, who grew the revenues for India's largest conglom-erate, The Tata Group to nearly a $100 billion by 2011-12, remains an influential industrialist, philanthropist and hu-manitarian to the day.

The IACC leader-ship bestowed the IACC Lifetime and Global Excellence Awards to Tata at a closed-door meeting, owing to the ongoing COVID crisis. Tata, who has accepted fewer awards over the last few years, received the hon-our as he believed that these awards inspire future global leaders and strengthen bilateral economic ties between India and the USA. They do so by fostering a sense of achievement and cooperation and highlighting leaders and go-getters from both Indian and Ameri-can businesses.

"We believe Mr Tata was the first Indian to recognise and tap

the potential of the US market. Under his leadership, the TATA group had transformed into the largest Indian employer in the USA in a matter of three decades", said Naushad

Panjwani, Regional President, West India Council, IACC.

The Group is deeply entrenched in multiple industries globally, from heavy steel (TATA Steel), automobiles (TATA Motors), ITES (TATA Consultancy Services), among others. After he retired from the helm of the Group, Ratan Tata remains an influential mentor to multiple Indian start-ups.

Mr. Tata is also known for a sense of philanthropy, which he built into all businesses within the Tata Group and his individual pursuits. The Group has established many re-search, educational and cultural institutions. For these endeavours,

it has also received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Meanwhile, the man has actively sup-ported endeavours in medicine, education and rural develop-

ment. Specifically, he is acknowledged for his work with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales to develop capacitive de-ionisation to improve the quality of water in areas facing challenges in the water supply.

He has been ac-knowledged as Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by the Indian government, alongside knighthood and similar honours from the British Em-pire, Japan and France. He also holds honorary citizenship in Singapore and has been acknowl-edged for lifetime con-tributions by the Indian National Academy of Engineering and Ernst & Young.

Ratan Tata felicitated with Lifetime Achievement Award

Award bestowed by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce

machine near the cam-eras itself. It will take us fifteen to twenty days to complete it and the cam-eras will be operational just after that.”

“The first camera installed there has ad-vanced technologies and it keeps rotating in every five seconds. Thus it can cover 360 degree picture of the area. The second one is a normal one. Both the cameras operate through solar power,” he further said.

According to the state mangrove cell, there are 1,471 hectare of mangrove forests in government-owned

land in Navi Mumbai, which are protected by the law.

After a public inter-est litigation (PIL) was filed by Bombay Envi-ronment Action Group, an NGO in Mumbai, in 2005, the Bombay high court had banned the de-struction of mangroves across the state and con-struction within 50m of them. After environ-ment group Vanashakti filed another PIL, the HC banned all reclama-tion and construction on wetlands in 2014.

The High Court in 2010 said that no non-forest activity can be permitted in the areas where mangroves grow, even if such areas have

not been yet declared as 'protected forests'. The HC stated that in any case, even if a mangrove area hasn't been noti-fied, "no non-forest ac-tivity shall be permitted throughout the state.”

BN Kumar, an en-vironment activist and director of Nature Con-nect (an online platform to focus on environment care) said, “The forest department should not have taken that much time to fix the issue. Secondly, the area along the Sion-Panvel high-way is a huge one and only two cameras are not sufficient to cover it properly. They should think of installing some more cameras there.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CCTV CAMERAS INSTALLED...

By Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

Burglars broke into a locked house in Sec-

tor 3, CBD Belapur at midnight on Sunday and stole gold jewellery and cash worth around Rs 9 lakh. CBD police have registered a case against the burglars.

Pardar Gajanan Bhan-dare (44) lives with his family and works in Pune newspaper. Bhandare's father was staying with his younger brother at Kamothe and Bhan-dare had gone to Ka-mothe with his family on Sunday morning to visit his father. On Sunday night he stayed at his brother's house. Meanwhile, thieves broke into Bhandare's locked house and entered

the house. After that, the thieves stole jewellery and cash amounting to Rs 9 lakh from the cup-board. The theft came to light when Bhandare

family came back home on Monday morning.

Bhandare then rushed to the CBD police station and lodged

a complaint.

Thieves break into house; loot jewellery and cash worth Rs 9 lakh

By Ashok Dhamija, Panvel

Northern Railway in coordination with Southern Railway has decid-

ed to augment extra coach on a tem-porary basis on Train no. 02283 Er-nakulam Jn. – H. Nizamuddin Duranto

Weekly Special via Konkan Railway route on Tuesday 6th October, 2020 ex. Ernakulam Jn. Halts en-route includes Kozhikkode, Mangalore Jn, Madgaon, Ratnagiri, Panvel Jn and Vasai Road, Vadodara Jn, Ratlam Jn and Kota Jn.

Temporary augmentation of Duranto weekly special via KR rroute

3Tuesday, 6 October 2020

By: Crime Reporter, Navi Mumbai

Two robbers, claiming to be police, grabbed a gold chain worth Rs

70,000 from the neck of a senior citi-zen living in Sanpada area and fled on a motorcycle. Nerul police have regis-tered a case against the two robbers.

The complainant, Ramesh Dhondu Kadam, 65, stays with his family in Sanpada Sector-11A. He went to the market on his two-wheeler in Juinagar Sector-24A on Tuesday afternoon. As

he was returning home from the mar-ket, two men on a motorcycle behind him stopped Ramesh Kadam, saying that they were policemen.

They then asked Ramesh Kadam to put on his helmet and as he was about to leave, the robber sitting behind him grabbed Ramesh Kadam's gold chain worth Rs 70,000 from his neck and fled. After this incident, Ramesh Ka-dam reached Nerul police station and lodged a complaint.

By Staff Reporter, Navi Mumbai

The residents living near the Karave gas crematorium have asked the

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to stop cremation at the gas crematorium. The resident say that a large amount of smoke spreads in the houses along with stench.

Prior to the formation of CIDCO, cremations were con-ducted in rural cem-eteries in Navi Mum-bai. Over time, as the population of Navi Mumbai in-creased, the urban area grew and the cemeteries outside the village were accommodated in urban ar-eas. Navi Mumbai Munici-pal Corporation has set up cemeteries in various parts of the city (CIDCO nodes) for the cremation.

The old crematorium at Karave was included in Nerul Sector-36 and 48 developed by CIDCO. In view of the inconvenience caused to the locals dur-ing cremation, the NMMC initially decided to set up a diesel crematorium here. But, for some reason, the decision was taken to set up a gas crematorium in collaboration with Mahanagar Gas Company instead of a diesel cremato-rium, which started a year ago.

Meanwhile, a diesel crematorium was also built by the municipality near the municipal central cemetery at Turbhe. However, the diesel cremato-rium has been closed for the last sev-eral years. It is being said that the die-

sel crematorium at Turbhe is not being used for cremation as the citizens are more focused on the traditional way of cremating the deceased.

Meanwhile, the residents have started protesting against the gas cre-matorium, which was started at Kar-ave-Seawoods a year ago. They say that due to this there is strong stench

in the area. The number of people cremated in gas crema-toriums was also low due to the em-phasis of the citizens on tradit ional cremation. H o w e v e r ,

currently, as the number of patients dying due to coro-na infection has increased significantly in the city, gas crematorium is being ex-tensively used at Karave.

For the last six months, the smoke and stench from the cemetery have been a nuisance to the people of the area. Local corpo-rator Vinod Mhatre, for-mer deputy mayor Ashok Gawde, former corporator Bharat Jadhav and Shashi-kant Bhoir asserted that the gas crematorium at Karave

poses grave health hazard to the peo-ple living in the vicinity. Also, demand has been made to the NMMC to move the gas crematorium from the urban colony.

Meanwhile, NMMC Deputy Com-missioner Dadasaheb Chabukaswar said that the NMMC has decided to stop cremation at the gas crematorium at Karave in view of the protests of the citizens.

Claiming to be police, two men loot senior citizens

Citizens oppose cremation at Karave gas crematorium stating health reasons

By Dr. Veena AdigeNavi Mumbai

A dream come true and an overwhelm-

ing feeling of joy and en-thusiasm was the general feeling when the beautiful and large Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra, at sector 30 A, near Vashi station was inaugurated on Saturday, October 2, 2020. Shri I R Khandwala, Hon Treasurer and Trustee of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan inaugurated the Kendra by planting a tree and lighting the lamp. The committee members and others also lit lamps on the occasion. The func-tion started with Shri Ramchandra, Chairperson of the Kendra welcom-ing the guests and the limited audi-ence (in keeping with the corona norms). This was followed by Shri Harish Aiyer, Hon Secretary present-ing a brief history of the Kendra and outlining the future plans. The Kendra was designed by architect Shri Sopan Prabhu and brought to fruition by Shri Ramchandra. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Veena Adige.

Seated on the dais were Shri Abhay Vedpathak and Shri Jagdish Lakhani besides Shri I R Khandwala and Shri Ramchandra.

The Bhavanites eagerly expressed their innermost feelings during the emotional inauguration.

“A historical event in the journey of Navi Mumbai Kendra which will facilitate blossoming of Kendra activ-ities benefitting the residents of Navi Mumbai,” said Chairperson Shri Ram-chandra.

Dr A K Sengupta predicted that this Kendra is destined to become a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the galaxy of Bhavan’s institutions.

“I have been associated with the Navi Mumbai Kendra since the late 1990s. Working with the Kendra has

made me appreciate the vast contribu-tion of Bhavans in preserving the cul-ture and history of India,” said Dr Shan-ta Belavadi, a long time Bhavanite.

Shri Swaminathan, former chair-person, gave the credit for the Ken-dra to Shri Harish Aiyar for overcom-ing hurdles and finally succeeding. Aparna and Rajshree, sincere devoted Bhavanites called the inauguration a historical event and declared that they would strive to make the Kendra suc-cessful through educational, social and cultural activities which will benefit the people of Navi Mumbai.

Shri Bighna Nayak, Shri Krishna-kant Thakre, Shri Dhagat, committee members and bhavanites expressed their happiness at the inauguration of the Kendra.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was start-ed by Shri K M Munshi in 1938 under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi for socio cultural and educational activi-ties. Bhavan has more than 90 kend-ras, schools, colleges all over India and has centres in London, New York, Sydney, Singapore and other places.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Navi Mumbai Kendra inaugurated

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

OPEN DEATH TRAPS NEAR...

heavily dependent on the buses. Thousands of people travel from this bus depot to different places of Navi Mum-bai, Mumbai, and Thane every day. Because of these manholes, it has become very risky to walk around the depot. The matter becomes more serious when there is rainfall and the vis-ibility is poor.”

Rajendra Bhoir, an-other commuter said,

“Anyone who comes to this area for the first time, will understand the seriousness of this issue. We don’t know why the authorities are not tak-ing any action? We hope they are not waiting for a major accident to take place here.”

According to the railway officials, the said area belongs to the City and Industrial De-velopment Corporation (Cidco) and hence the town planning agency is responsible for covering the manholes.

AN Singh, manager of Vashi station said, “It is true that both the rail-way as well as the bus commuters may meet with accidents because of the open manholes. However, since that area does not belong to us, we cannot do anything about it.”

Vijay Kankariya, ex-ecutive engineer of Ci-dco said, “We are aware of the open manholes near the bus depot. All open manholes in that area will be covered in the next few days.”

4 Tuesday, 6 October 2020

The world is fighting this pan-demic of the Corona virus and till now there is no respite. Neither any vaccine nor any medicine is till now produced to combat this virus. So it is required that we should know about the virus and what precautions should be taken by everyone. Let us first revise our knowledge that what is the 2019 coronavirus? We already know that in early 2020, a new virus began generating headlines all over the world because of the horrors it spread. Its origins have been traced to a food market in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and from there, it’s reached countries as distant as the United States and the Philippines. The virus was officially named SARS-CoV-2 and it has been respon-sible for millions of infections glob-ally, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. The disease caused by an infection with SARS-CoV-2 is called COVID-19, which stands for corona-virus disease 2019 and the world is totally gripped in its claws.

The scenario is grim but we should not lose hope because if we know some facts and precautions, by following these we can be saved from contacting any infection. The real-ity is that doctors are learning new things about this virus every day. So far, we know that COVID-19 may not initially cause any symptoms for some people and you may carry the virus for 2 days or up to 2 weeks before you notice symptoms. So you should know about some common symptoms that have been specifically linked to COVID-19 and these are:• shortness of breath• a cough that gets more severe over

time

• a low-grade fever that gradually increases in temperature

• fatigueSome times there are some less

common symptoms like:• chills• repeated shaking with chills• sore throat• headache• muscle aches and pains• loss of taste• loss of smell

These symptoms may become more severe in some people and it is the time to call for medical help if you have any of the fol-lowing symptoms:• trouble breathing• blue lips or face• persistent pain or

pressure in the chest• confusion• excessive drowsi-

nessNow we should

know how the virus spreads and it is said that Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they first develop in animals before being transmit-ted to humans. For the virus to be transmit-ted from animals to humans, a person has to come into close con-tact with an animal that carries the infection and once the virus devel-ops in people, coronaviruses can be transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets, when you cough, sneeze, or talk .The viral material hangs out in these droplets and can be breathed into the respira-tory tract where the virus can then lead to an infection and becomes threatening .If you touch your mouth, nose, or eyes after touching a surface or object that has the virus on it you may get infected . Researchers believe that the virus may have been

passed from bats to another animal and then transmitted to humans but it is not supported by concrete facts .The person at high risk for contract-ing SARS-CoV-2 is one who comes into contact with someone infected , especially if he has been exposed to their saliva or been near them when they’ve coughed, sneezed, or talked. Older adults and people with certain health conditions like ,diabetes ,heart conditions ,kidney disease ,pulmo-nary disease , have a higher risk for severe complications if they contract the virus.

How the diagnosis is made in the case of infection? COVID-19 can be diagnosed by using a blood, saliva, or tissue sample. However, most tests use a cotton swab to retrieve a sample from the inside of your nostrils and nowadays this method is more in use..

What should you do if you feel Covid symptoms? You should talk to your doctor right away if you think you have COVID-19 or you notice symptoms and follow his advice. And it is a known fact that there is currently no treatment specifically

approved for COVID-19, and no cure for an infection, although treatments and vaccines are currently under study. The therapies which are cur-rently used are:• antiviral or retroviral medica-

tions• breathing support, such as me-

chanical ventilation• steroids to reduce lung swelling• blood plasma transfusions

There are some possible com-plications like a type of pneumonia that’s been called 2019 novel coro-navirus-infected pneumonia (NCIP), acute respiratory distress syn-drome (ARDS), irregular heart rate (arrhythmia),cardiovascular shock, heart damage or heart attack. So, the best way to prevent the transmis-sion of infection is to avoid or limit contact with people who are show-ing symptoms of COVID-19 or any respiratory infection and you should practice good hygiene and physical distancing to prevent bacteria and viruses from being transmitted. You should also wash your hands fre-quently for at least 20 seconds at a time with warm water and soap. And don’t touch your face, eyes, nose, or mouth when your hands are dirty. You should not go out if you’re feeling sick or have any cold or flu symptoms and stay at least 6 feet away from people. And If you’re out in a public setting where it’s difficult to follow physical distancing guidelines, you should wear a cloth face mask that covers your mouth and nose .It’s crit-ical to keep the mask clean. Wash it after each time you use it and avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes when you remove it. You should al-ways remember that wearing a mask isn’t a replacement for other pre-ventive measures, such as frequent handwashing and practicing physical distancing. Be safe and stay home, only go out if necessary.

CORONA AND tHE NECEssARy AwARENEss

By: Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

Sanpada police have managed to nab a gang of seven persons who robbed two people and as-

saulted them at around midnight. The investigation has revealed that three college students are members of the gang and two of them are minor. According to the investigation, the gang had committed four rob-beries in Sanpada and APMC areas on September 30 and two in Nerul on the same day. Nerul police have now arrested the youths and a thorough investiga-tion is being carried out.

The arrested are Sachin Laxman Kale (21), Ven-katesh Vijay Chavan (21), Vishal Vinod Kolhe (20),

Bonnie Shankar Salunkhe (21), Siddhant Praveen More (18) and two other accomplices. All of them are from Shirvane and Shivaji Nagar areas of Nerul and Siddhant More and two minor are studying in college. On September 30, at around 2 am, the gang had beaten up Nandkumar Date and his two friends, who were traveling from Panvel to Mumbai in an Ertiga car, under the Sanpada flyover.

They robbed cash and mobile phone and fled in a rickshaw. After the incident, Nandkumar informed the Sanpada police about the incident and gave the number of the rickshaw.

According to the Sanpada Police Station, while searching for the rickshaw used in the case, they lo-

cated the accused. When the police arrested the ac-cused and interrogated them further, they confessed to beating Nandkumar Date and two of his friends under the Sanpada flyover and robbing them. Ac-cordingly, 5 youths were arrested.

The other two minors were produced in the juve-nile court, said senior police inspector Vikas Ramu-gade. Ramugade also said that there are three col-lege youths in the gang and two of them are minor. The investigation revealed that the gang had carried out 1 looting in APMC area and 2 in Nerul area on the same day. Therefore, Nerul police have arrested these youths for further investigation, said Ramu-gade.

Gang of 7 arrested for looting citizens

5Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Although somewhere in 2000 when it was realised that the plastic pol-lution had played havoc with the environment balance, the government had initially banned the use of plastic bags of less than 20 micron and later banned the plastic bags of less than 50 micron. However, in reality the ban remained only on the paper and was not implemented, in prac-tice, as was expected. As a result of this the plastic bags continued to be used extensively by majority of people including the educated ones. This shows we are still not much conscious towards importance of en-vironment balance. It's now high time to make all out efforts to prevent further onslaught on the environment. For that we all need to say no to

the plastic bags forever and patronise only the cloth or jute bags, basket or paper bags, in our day to day life, in order to maintain the environment balance.

Ravikant Shridhar Tawde, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai

Environment consciousness is a way of treating the natural world ie. the plants, trees, animals, and insects with respect. On this planet the Creator has given space for each of us to live and grow peacefully. The trees, inspects and animals are all made for the Humans benefit. Let’s just imagine when we go to some hill stations, how the place, the trees and the climate make us happy and relaxed. The children jump in joy when they see butterflies or some animals or the flowers. Individuals, with our intelligence, are required to directly relate and get engaged with the natural world. As humans grow, their needs are growing and we are feeling the need for more space to create the infrastructure for our

luxuries. Our Natural resources are being used at a rapid rate and large areas of forest, seas, water bodies are being converted for human use. People tend to consume lots of petrol for their vehicles which is instrumental for increasing global warming. The authorities, who themselves under pressure to increase the infrastructure, are destroying large numbers of trees, forest and seas for roads and bridges and other developments. We simply are not conscious about this and demand more and more infrastructure. By behaving responsibly, the environment and the natural resources it provides will not be depleted or destroyed permanently and shall be avail-able for human use for a very long time to come. The time has come to connect ourselves to our environment or else it will be too late. So let's stop this environmental abuse and instead work to give our future generation a Planet, which if not better than what we inherited but atleast a Planet which is safe and habitable to them. Dr. Pratap Mudaliar, Social Worker, Vashi

Our Earth is currently facing a lot of environmental concerns, but unfor-tunately none of us would like to be conscious towards it. It seems that protecting Environment is not on our list of life priorities. The environmen-tal problems like global warming, acid rain, air pollution, urban sprawl, waste disposal, ozone layer depletion, water pollution, climate change and many more are affecting each one of us on this planet but we sim-ply ignore it feeling it may last till our lifetime. Over the last few decades, the exploitation of our planet and the degradation of our environment has gone up at an alarming rate. As human actions have been not in favour of protecting this planet, the world has seen natural disasters striking us more often in the form of flash floods, earthquakes, blizzards, tsunamis, and cyclones. We have to stop the abuse of the Environment and be more caring, passionate and conscious to-wards it. Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution and to live with all the beings be it Trees, Animals, Insects, Water Bodies, Soil or also humans. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans. So be let’s be conscious and save our Environment.

Kavita Mudaliar, Teacher, Vashi

HOW CONSCIOUS ARE WE TOWARDS ENVIRONMENT?How conscious are we towards the Environment? The common answer to this question that will come in everybody's mind is "Not at all con-scious”. Everybody from the masses to the authorities to the planners, are all ignoring the Environment. Forest lands are destroyed in the name of development, seas are encroached to build bridges or reclaimed for buildings, mangroves are cut rampantly and air is just being polluted by every Industry in the country. We all just want to pass on the responsibility to some other person while the environment is getting irrevocably damaged day after day. This is a very dangerous situation facing the Earth. Somebody once said pre-

serve land because they have stopped making it. But we are abusing the land and the precious environmental supports that dwell on it. If this continues, shall we not come across a day when trees, pure water sources, animals, insects and mountains shall remain only on a photograph? These five megatrends form a major global threat for the Planet and must be solved at the earliest if the world is to remain a supportive habitat for humans and other species. They are Air Pollution, Deforestation, Species Extinction, Soil degradation and overpopulation. We all understand these problems and each one of us has a fair understanding of the solutions. But the answer lies in addressing them sooner than later.We need to remember that we have only One Earth not multiples like our clothes, homes, cars or any other luxurious products. Hence let’s become conscious about this fact and work to protect our Earth. Remember to ‘Treat the Earth with Heart So the World doesn't fall apart’.

Yash Reddy, Student, Nerul

QUESTION FOR NEXT WEEK

YOUR VIEWS ON THE TOLL TAX BEING HIKED BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT

Readers desirous of contributing in this column may send their views along with their passport size picture and address to contact@newsband.in

NAVI MUMBAIKARS SPEAK

Trees are important to our life as food and water. Life becomes very difficult without trees or we can say that life would be finished because trees are the most important aspect that give us healthy and wealthy life. Saving trees from being cut down is the important social awareness and have been included in the student’s life through studies. Due to the absence of trees in many localities, the atmosphere contains dust parti-cles, which cause breathing problems, lung diseases and allergies such as bronchitis, etc. The solution to this problem is to plant more trees and make the atmosphere clean and healthy instead of cutting them down.

Jubel D'Cruz, Dombivili, Mumbai

By: Crime Reporter, Navi Mumbai

A wave of outrage has erupted across the country after a Dalit girl from

Hathras in Uttar Pradesh was gang-raped and murdered by upper castes. In addition, a person named Om Yadav has created a video that creates animosity against the Dalit community and also expresses contempt and hatred towards Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Con-stitution. He has deliberately put the video on social media. Panvel taluka police has registered a case against the person named Om Yadav under the IT Act and other sections including atroc-ity.

Om Yadav, the accused in the case, has made a one-and-a-half-minute vid-eo in which he has humiliated people

from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and defamed people from that community.

Similarly, Om Yadav has also disre-spected Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and expressed contempt and hatred against the Constitution. Accused Om Yadav has also created animosity among the people of other castes by saying that it is right for the people to observe untouch-ability with the people of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes through this video.

After the video came to the notice of lawyer Amit Kataranavare, who lives in Panvel, he went to the Panvel taluka po-lice station and handed over the video of Om Yadav to the police. A complaint has also been lodged in this regard.

Police launch search for person who made video that created animosity against people belonging

to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled TribesBy Chandrashekhar HendveNavi Mumbai

In a country where the goddess is wor-

shiped, some beastly men tortured and murdered and killed an innocent girl. Maharashtra Pradesh Mahila Congress spokes-person Neela Limaye, condemned the heinous crime. Scindia Ghodke of Navi Mumbai Congress, former president Pooja Dhotre, Nizam Ali, Mahesh Bhange, Suraj Desai, Tukaram Kadam, Som-nath Barve, Panvel Congress vice president Shashikala Singh, Afridi Sheikh, Anis Rahmani, Roshan Thom-

as, Aarti Kumawat, Taslima Sayyed, Stephen Ghod, Surendra Ghodke, Abid Mansoori, Nawaz Syed, Irrfan Khan, Sohail Sheikh, Hashim Sheikh and Youth Congress office bearers were present.

youth Congress pays homage to UP rape victim

6 Tuesday, 6 October 2020

EditorialISSUE: 101 6 OCTOBER, 2020

Rising vehicular population By Ashok Dhamija

In view of the rising number

of cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Athletics Fed-eration of In-dia (AFI) has decided not to conduct the Se-nior National Championships this year which along with Indi-an Grand Prix events and the Federa-tion Cup are a benchmark for Olympic qualifying events.

As may be recalled AFI on 28 Au-gust had decided to defer the season, which was earlier scheduled to com-mence from 12 September in view of the global health crisis and the national governing body of athletics or its affili-ated association has not held any com-petition so far this season. Following the Union Home Ministry Unlock 4 guidelines late in 29 August which al-lowed sporting activities to be permit-ted in non-containment areas* across the country from 21 September with a limit of 100 persons. AFI will organ-ise a two day National Throws Open Championships in Patiala, Punjab on 26-27 October for seniors in addition to few Zonal events in November in-cluding the 32nd West Zone Junior Athletics Championships 2020 in Ma-

harashtra along with the Nation-al Youth (U-18) Championships in Vijaywada in December latter this year.

Commenting on the decision to cancel the pre-mier Olympic qualifying event and redraw the C o m p e t i t i o n Calendar Adille

J Sumariwalla, AFI President, said, “AFI is duty bound to provide com-petitions to our athletes but due to the prevailing circumstances we have to take care of the safety of our athletes .The Competition Calendar was re-drawn keeping in mind the rise in the COVID-19 cases across the country, now it has been again prepared push-ing most of the competitions towards the end of this year and the beginning of the next year, which will be crucial for Olympics qualification for a num-ber of athletes. Our first competition will be for throwers in October end,”.

The former 100m Olympic sprint-er however reiterated that the coach-ing camps for the elite athletes are in progress at NIS Patiala, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, and that AFI is likely to add more athletes in the camps for the future competi-tions.

AFI reschedules domestic calendar in view of the COVID-19 pandemic

Senior National Championships cancelled

AFI will conduct few zonal events in November including the 32nd West Zone Junior Athletics Championships (File Photo)

As per the recent statistics, the automobile sales in Mumbai are

likely to cross 40 lakh before the end of the financial year. Presently, the figures stand at 39 lakh. While this may appear to be a positive sign and a reflection that the sales are picking up, but it is also indicative of the fact that the public transport system is not upto the mark.

Public transport is a barometer indicating extent of development of a city. The public transport modes in Navi Mumbai- whether NMMT, BEST, ST or local trains- none have expanded proportionately to the increase in demand on account of large-scale development in Navi Mumbai during the last decade. A major fallout of this lack of vision is increased number of personalized and hired modes of transportation, which itself has its adverse effects. The traffic density and traffic vol-umes have increased tremendously without corresponding increase in arterial infrastructure and there-fore the transport system is liter-ally creaking under pressure. There is an increase in traffic jams and more recently, the availability of parking spaces has reduced drasti-cally especially during peak hours. The environment is also victim as huge amount of exhaust is being

released by the increased volumes of vehicles. Another major impact of increased volume and density of vehicles is increase in traffic indisci-pline and consequent accidents.

Unfortunately, NMMT has not fared well on the expectations of the residents of Navi Mumbai. This is particularly unfortunate as a good public transport system contributes a lot by way of providing cheaper transport, reduction in vehicle popu-lation and consequent reduction in traffic congestion and accidents and last but not the least in preserving the environment. It can also solve the problem of parking space. Be-cause of its poor vision and improp-er management, NMMT is grossly deficient in quality and quantity of service. Many of the nodes of Navi Mumbai are not being catered to and frequency is erratic and the service is absolutely unreliable.

Public transport is the responsi-bility of the State. More investment needs to be made by the State in this sector, if these services have to be made efficient with an aim to cater the increased demand. Also, im-proved NMMT shall not only com-pliment the services being provided by railways, BEST and ST, but shall also become the indicator of devel-opment of the city of Navi Mumbai.

By: Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

In yet another case of cyber theft, a woman

living in Nerul area has been duped of Rs 4 lakh from her bank account. Nerul police have registered a case under the IT Act against the accused in the case.

The complainant, Nadira Nisar Khan, 26, lives with her parents in Sector 21, Nerul. In 2015, her father opened a savings account in her name at the State Bank India, at Nerul branch. He then started depositing a small amount in the account for her wedding. As

a result, Rs 5 lakh 3 thousand was deposited in Nadira's savings ac-count. However, during the lockdown period, in July, some cyber criminals obtained com-plete information about Nadira's bank account and her digital banking records and withdrew Rs 4 lakh from her bank account online. After Nadira withdrew Rs 200 from her ATM card on September 7, she came to know that she had only Rs 1 lakh left in her bank account.

She then went to the branch with her father and brother to find out that someone had

withdrawn Rs 4 lakh from her bank account online through internet banking between July 15 and September 1. It is learnt that during the lockdown period, when such a large amount of money was transacted from Nadira's bank account, none of these transactions were re-ported through SMS on Nadira's mobile.

The family rushed to the Nerul police station and logged a compliant. Accordingly, the police have registered a case under the IT Act against the unidentified accused for fraud and have started investigation.

Cyberthief: Rs 4 lakh swept from woman’s bank account CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

COVID 19: FINE OF RS. 35 LAKHS...

public is Rs. 1000 and for not wearing mask is Rs.500 whereas for not maintaining social dis-tancing norms the fine is Rs. 200 from the in-dividuals and from the shop owners and the business establishments it is Rs. 2000.

Abhijit Bangar, NMMC Commissioner while speaking with the Newsband correspon-dent said, “Under Mis-sion Begin Again” we gave relaxations to the citizens as well as shop-owners and businesses and we thought that they would be strictly follow-ing all the norms and regulations set up by the NMMC. However,

many citizens and also shop-owners as well as business establishments are not following the rules and regulations strictly. Hence, we have started imposing fines on them. The civic body till date has collected the fines to the tune of Rs. 35,50,950 from the violators.”

Bangar further add-ed, “We have appealed all the citizens that the way they supported us in ‘My City My Re-sponsibility’ campaign which aimed at keep-ing the city clean and helped the city secure 3rd rank in nationwide cleanliness drive, in the similar way they should support us in ‘My Fam-ily My Responsibility’ campaign and help us

in bringing down the coronavirus cases and in breaking the chain of coronavirus. All the citi-zens should strictly fol-low the guidelines set up by the civic body instead of giving fines. We don’t encourage the citizens to pay fines.”

Fine worth Rs. 26,000 were collected from 26 persons for spitting in the public place. 3424 people were caught for not wearing masks and the fine col-lected from them was Rs. 16,48,650.

2242 persons in-cluding shop-owners and businessmen were caught for not main-taining social distance and Rs.18,76,300 in the form of fines were col-lected from them.

7Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Serves: 6Ingredients: • Cap-

sicum 2 medium size • Carrots 1 medium size • Cabbage half or 1 cup • Noodles 1 packet • Boiling water for noo-dles • Salt to taste • Oil 1 tbsp • Garlic 1 tbsp (chopped) • Spring onion bulbs 1/4th cup (sliced) • Spring on-ion greens 1/4th cup (chopped) • Salt and pepper to taste • Soy sauce 1 tbsp • Chilli oil 1 tbsp • Spring onion greens 1 tbsp (chopped) • Vinegar 1 tsp

Method:• Cut the capsicum

in juliennes, that means length wise strips.

• Peel the carrots, trim if the head and tip and further cut them

into juliennes.• Take off one layer

of cabbage, cut the base and cut them in toc shreds.

• Boil water in a wok, add salt and oil, add the noodles and boil for 6-7 minutes. Do not overcook.

• Strain the noodles and rinse it with cold water or with tap run-ning water, pour few drops of oil and mix with noodles to avoid it from sticking to each other.

• Set a wok on me-dium heat, add oil, garlic and spring on-ion bulbs, sauté it for a minute.

• Add the spring onion greens, shredded cabbage, julienned car-rots, capsicum and sug-ar, mix well and sauté it for 2-3 minutes.

• Add the boiled noodles, salt and pep-per to taste, soy sauce, chilli oil and some

freshly chopped spring onion greens, mix and toss well for 3-5 min-utes. Add vinegar and toss well once again.

• Your veg hakka noodles is ready to be served, serve hot with schezwan sauce.Nidhi Agarwal is the founder of ‘Cake N Bake’ and can be contacted on 7017625598 for orders

Recipe: Veg. Hakka Noodles

By Nidhi Agarwal

By Abhitash D.Singh, Navi Mumbai

With an aim to introduce quality education in the civic body run

schools, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is planning to introduce globally accepted curricu-lum in two civic schools. The proposal which is in still in its infancy, will be sent to the state government for the fi-nal approval, said a senior NMMC of-ficial.

Earlier the Maharashtra government had decided to set up the Maharashtra International Education Board and had started 100 schools in the state. These schools will start imparting education soon.

A senior NMMC official informed, "To begin with, the civic body is plan-ning to introduce the international cur-riculum in two of its civic schools. The process of selecting the two schools is go-ing on. Soon after choosing the schools the proposal will be forwarded to the state government for final approval."

He further added, "The aim is to train the students for International examination like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Such type of initiative will help the students in expanding their

horizon globally."NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Ban-

gar said, "The former Commissioner of NMMC, Dr. N Ramaswamy had taken many initiatives to improve the quality of education in the city. He opined that quality education will help in making the students become good citizens. His initiatives will be taken forward. We are continuously conducting teachers training program for effective teaching methods."

Bangar added, "We are also in a planning stage to conduct education excursions for the civic school stu-dents outside Navi Mumbai too. The excursions outside the city for prima-ry schools were conducted within the NMMC jurisdiction. But now we are planning to take the students to various places in Mumbai and also its periph-eral areas."

Anuj Pandey, Educationist from Nerul informed, "It is good to hear that the NMMC is coming up with a very genuine initiative where the students of two civic schools initially will be imparted education International cur-riculum. This will definitely boost the enthusiasm of students as well as their parents."

NMMC to impart globally accepted quality education in two civic schools

The initiative will help students to expand their horizon globally

By Crime ReporterNavi Mumbai

Republican Party of India Youth Wing

has demanded narco-test of police and medi-cal officers involved in Hathras case investiga-tion. The youth wing of RPI in Navi Mumbai has also demanded im-mediate arrest of the ac-cused who are trying to cover up the scandal.

“After the victim died during the treat-ment, the police cre-mated the body of the victim despite the op-position of her family. Therefore, the role of the police and the local administration in this whole process seems to be questionable,” said a member of the youth wing of RPI, Navi Mumbai.

RPI's Navi Mumbai Youth Front President Vijay Kamble, IT Cell's Maharashtra State Gen-eral Secretary Sachin Katare, Navi Mumbai Vice President Tilak Jadhav and a delegation of other activists have submitted a letter to the Navi Mumbai Police and have requested it to be sent on their behalf to the President of India.

RPI supporters demand narco-test of police and medical officers involved

in Hathras case investigation

By Ashok DhamijaNavi Mumbai

Candidates who wish to seek ad-

mission to the Under-graduate Architectural courses, or BArch courses, in the Indian Institutes of Technol-ogy (IIT) at Bhubane-swar, Kharagpur and Roorkee will have to complete the formality of registra-tion for the upcoming JEE Advanced

Architecture Aptitude Test 2020 by today, Tuesday 6th October, 2020. Interested can-didates will have to use their JEE Advanced registration numbers, dates of birth and mo-bile numbers at upload the same on jeeadv.ac.in. To be conducted by IIT Delhi the same

is scheduled to be held on Thursday 8th October,2020.

JEE Advanced AAt 2020 registration ends today

By Dinesh Pawar, Uran

Uran Taluka Consumer Co-operative Society (Limited) Dronagiri Bazar

is organizing a mega blood donation camp on Sunday (October 11) from 10 am to 3 pm at Dronagiri Bazar, Ganu Sadan, in front of Police Line, Uran Nagaon Road. The camp is being or-

ganised for the second time in collabo-ration with NMMC Blood Bank, Vashi.

For name registration, please con-tact Uran Taluka Consumer Co-op-erative Society (Limited) Dronagiri Bazar President Mahendra Mhatre - 9969228509, Secretary - Ashok Tandel - 9969228095.

Dronagiri Bazaar to organize a mega blood donation camp at Uran

8 Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Sayee Haresh Tandel, Std. 7DAV Public School, Sec. 48, Nerul

By Abhitash D.SinghNavi Mumbai

On Saturday 3rd Oc-tober, 2020 the Li-

ons Club of New Bombay CBD, Lions Club of Ulwe Gems, ‘Humlog-We The People’ along with the City and Industrial De-velopment Corporation (CIDCO) and local fish-ermen group organized a beach clean-up drive at Ulwe beach. The main objective and focus was to clean the beach area and demonstrate measures for plastic waste management and spread awareness about its adverse effect on health, environment and aquatic life. Over 50 participants took part in the drive and collected more than 60 gunny bags full of plastics, glass bottles, bev-erage cans, thermocol, slip-pers, etc.

Speaking about the initia-tive Pramod Dabrase, Director at the Centre for Sustainable Environment and Develop-ment Initiative LLP (CSEDI) said, “This is a modest begin-ning to make our beaches and Ulwe a cleaner and people friendly node. In the days to come more such initiatives and awareness drives are planned to take this endeavor ahead. Realizing social and environmental commitments many organisations and like-minded people came together

and helped in organ-ising the event."

Dabrase further added, "Our coastal areas and beaches are becoming dirti-er day by day due to indiscriminate lit-tering from all cor-ners and continued use and unthought-ful dumping of plas-tic waste including polythene bags, pet water bottles, wrap-pers of chocolate, chips, fishing ac-tivities etc. and other waste. This is adding a very large quantity of plastic waste into the oceans – which is causing deadly impact on fishes and other marine life. It is esti-mated that, by 2050, oceans will contain at least 937 mil-lion tonnes of plastic and 895 million tonnes of fish - more plastics than fish. Daily over 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated in India,

of which only about 60% is recycled and 40% (over 6000 tonnes) is disposed unsafely into drains, streams, dumping grounds ultimately finding its way into oceans. Plastics leach out toxins, polluting the soil and water resources, open burning generates toxic carcinogenic compounds.”

"Problems associated with plastic are multi-fold and have established links with cancers, infertility, ag-

gravated heart at-tacks. Adding to the problem is the new and unavoidable cat-egory of COVID re-lated plastic waste, including disposable masks, hand gloves, PPE kits etc. which has increased the quantities of plas-tic waste multi-fold. The Mumbai metro-politan region gener-ates about 4 tonnes per day of COVID waste, which can be

infectious and therefore has a risk of spreading disease.

It cannot even be recy-cled and has a rampant rate of mixing with other waste types, coupled with a very weak collection & disposal system. This has created ad-ditional and new unknown challenges," informed Dab-rase.

During the clean-up drive the following activities were

taken up:1. Cleaning up the beach area by involving members and volunteers.2. Awareness creation among citizens and visi-tors about overall clean-liness, plastic waste management and clean beaches.3. Installing permanent hoardings for awareness and to maintain cleanli-ness all the time.Speaking about the initia-

tive the CIDCO Chief Health Officer Dr. S M Bawaskar said, "Such type of efforts, demonstrations and partici-pation by citizen organisa-tions is a welcome step and is appreciated by CIDCO at all stages. Unique and innovative initiatives are required for the success of waste management interventions in cities."

The project has been con-ceptualized and implement-ed under the leadership of Pramod Dabrase. Members of Lions including Samina Mirza, Milind Patil, Ashwani Jachak, Hemant Lonkar, Ni-tin Kumbhar, Punam vale-cha, Humlog Team including Sanjeev Narvekar, Sanjay Badkar, Chandrakant Chaud-hary, Mohan Wagh, Man-ish Harle, Amit Patil, Sumit Ghosh and others including the members from the fishing community were present dur-ing the event.

Ulwekar's & few concerned organisations clean-up Ulwe's beachThe objective was to clean the beach area and also spread awareness among masses on cleanliness

By Chandrashekhar HendveNavi Mumbai

The Vashi Deputy Regional Transport

Office (RTO) will be auc-tioning over 349 vehicles it has confiscated due to non-payment of motor taxes. A public auction of the vehicle intercepted by the Navi Mumbai Dy RTO flying Squad will be held on October 6 at 1 pm.

Dy RTO Officer Hemangini Patil has appealed to the inter-ested citizens to be present at the test ground of the DY Regional Transport Office, Sector 19, Vashi.

Using the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Tax Act 1959 and Motor Vehicle Act 1988 the of-

ficers of the RTO flying Squad have confiscated the vehicles. The confis-cated vehicles have been kept at APMC market Sector 19 in the RTO testing ground and will be auctioned.

Dy RTO officer He-mangini Patil said “Navi Mumbai RTO has decided to hold a public auction of 349 vehicles intercepted

by the RTO flying squad using the provisions of Maharashtra Land Revenue Act, 1966. Inter-ested bidders should participate

in the auction. Information about the terms, conditions and deposit of

the auction is available in the DY RTO of-fice Vashi.”

Deputy RTO to auction confiscated vehicles