Cops step in to clear the roads

Taking serious note of the traffic congestion and large scale violation of traffic rules across city, the Navi Mumbai police have decided to impose restrictions on vehicle parking in the satellite city.
Parking restrictions will come in force at Kharghar, Belapur and Sanpada where people are facing problems due to illegal parking. A notification to this effect has been issued and the restrictions will come into force from May 1.
"After a survey conducted in these areas, it was decided to impose restrictions to streamline the traffic," ACP (Traffic) Shrikant Dhivare said. There is an urgent need to streamline traffic near Bank of India Square, Navrang Circle, Gokhale High School, Kharghar Police Scorner and Shilp Square in Kharghar, Radhakrishna Hotel, Mahesh Hotel, Ashvith Hotel, Croma Electronics to Killa Junction, Total Car Mall in Sector 15, Belapur and Sanpada signal to Annapurna Square. "We have decided to implement P1 P2 system of parking in Kharghar. The entire area would be no parking zone for medium and heavy vehicles," Dhivare said.
The commercial vehicles supplying goods to business establishments on the road will be allowed parking between 10 pm and 8 am, while P1 P2 parking system would be in force from 8 am to 10 pm everyday. Similar restrictions would be imposed on roads in Sector 15, Belapur.
"It has been observed that people going to APMC market from Sanpada station face severe problems due to heavy vehicles parked along the road. With an objective to solve the issue, the entire stretch of the road has been converted into no parking zone from 6 am to 10 am and 6 pm to 8 pm," Dhivare said. Many trucks are illegally parked along the road for loading and unloading and minor repairs. This leads to traffic congestion, Dhivare added.

Ambulance service on Eastern Express highway

The Mumbai traffic police launched a dedicated ambulance service on Eastern Express Highway on Thursday. This highway is Mumbai’s most accident-prone stretch, claiming 190 lives in 2009.

Installed with a Global Positioning System (GPS), the ambulance will be stationed at Vikhroli Bridge so that it can answer distress calls from the stretch towards Vashi as well as Thane.

“The ambulance is equipped with four beds, an oxygen tank and facilities regular ambulances don’t have,” said Sanjay Barve, joint commissioner of traffic police. “There will also be a paramedic on board.”

The service is supported by Ziquitza Health Care Ltd. The number for the service is 1298 or 9820200180.

Mumbai's Eastern Freeway Update

Mumbai’s first twin traffic tunnel is coming up at the foot of a hill at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Workers are toiling to complete the project before December end. The twin tunnels are approximately 500 metres each. They are 17-metre wide and 10-metre in height and will have four carriageways in each tunnel. Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Ratnakar Gaikwad, said the twin tunnel is part of the four-lane Eastern Freeway Project which starts near P D’Mello Road and will go on to the Mumbai Port Trust road before joining the Eastern Express Highway via the Anik Panjrapole Link Road near Wadala. MMRDA officials said the cost of the twin tunnels will amount to Rs 54 crore while the Anik Panjrapole Link Road will cost Rs 221 crore. The cost of the entire Eastern Expressway will come to Rs 531 crore. The officials said the project’s second phase will link the Anik Panjrapole Link Road with Ghatkopar, making access for the people who live in the eastern suburbs easier. Joint metropolitan commissioner, Ashwini Bhide, said the land for the project has been acquired from the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and BARC. “The MMRDA had to re-route the HPCL aviation fuel pipeline and a new boundary wall was built for the BARC land.’’ Bhide said the freeway has two of its sections built as an elevated bridge. It has 7 km of its roadway through the Mumbai Port Trust land as an overhead bridge. A 3-km elevated section at the Ghatkopar end has been planned. “Once completed, the 21-km Eastern Freeway Project will make the commute easier for people who travel between south Mumbai and the eastern suburbs,’’ she said.

Sexy Sameera troubled by Mumbai Police

The incident happened two days ago when hot babe sameera reddy ran into trouble with the Mumbai Traffic cops while she was driving through Santa Cruz airport. Sameera was driving on the highway and was caught by Traffic cop for talking to someone on mobile while driving.

Sameera answered him saying that she was singing song while listening to music on the phone. Police informed that she still broke the law and should pay for it. When Sameera agreed to pay, Police refused to write the receipt for same.

sameera reddy almost made a big mess out there and a traffic jam was on the cards. When some of the public recognized the heroine, cops tried to escape from the situation and Sameera was saved with out loosing a penny.

Airoli traffic to be diverted

Police officials take action after DNA Navi Mumbai raises issue
Taking serious note of the traffic congestion at Airoli, the city traffic police have decided to divert all the heavy vehicles plying on the road. Apart from this traffic wardens would be deployed in the area to control the traffic.
The vehicular traffic to and from Navi Mumbai via Airoli has been badly hit by the ongoing concretisation work of the road that began three days back. As a result it took around one-hour to reach Airoli Naka from The T-junction during rush hours since the entire traffic has been diverted to one side of the road. The work is likely to continue till the end of May.
After getting information about the bottleneck created in the area, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Shrikant Dhivare visited the spot and decided to take remedial measures to ease the traffic congestion.
"We had received information about acute traffic congestion in the area. The situation would be really critical during rush hours as thousands of vehicles would reach the spot at the same time," Dhivare said. City traffic police officials had a meeting with their counterparts in the civic body and also the representatives of Mahavir Road and Infrastructure Private Limited, which is building the road on Thursday evening to find out solution to the problem.
"We have now decided to divert all heavy vehicles passing through the area. Those coming from Mumbai would have to take left turn from T-junction and those coming from Belapur will be diverted to Thane via the Airoli flyover near Rabale police station," Dhivare said.
The decision that was implemented from Friday morning and the results were visible immediately as the vehicular movement during rush hour was considerably smooth.
Apart from the diversion of heavy vehicles, permanent barricades will be installed on the side of the road which is now open for traffic. "This will further help in regulating the traffic as the barricades will help in linear movement of vehicles. It has also been decided to deploy traffic wardens in the area," Dhivare said. As per the decisions taken in the meeting, the contractor will provide traffic wardens who will be deployed in the area to control the traffic round the clock. "The entire stretch of the road will be converted into no parking zone to further ease the traffic congestion due to vehicle parked there," Dhivare said.

Akshay rides bike to beat traffic

Akshay Kumar was scheduled to do a promotional shoot in Juhu, Mumbai. But his film shoot near Bhayander, on the outskirts of Mumbai, got delayed and he was running late. Reaching Juhu at the allotted time by car would’ve been an impossible task since it was peak traffic time. As Akshay is very particular about punctuality, he asked his assistant to get him a motorcycle. In classic khiladi style, Akshay put his helmet on and zoomed off his bike all the way to Juhu. And yes, he did manage to reach bang on time.

IPL final a nightmare for traffic cops

Tight security cordon will be in place for Apr 25 tie
With chances of Mumbai Indians making it to the finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) looking bright, the traffic wing of the Navi Mumbai police is gearing up to handle a lot of crowd and traffic on April 25, the day final match will be played at the DY Patil stadium in Nerul.
"If Mumbai Indians make it to the finals, we would definitely have a huge number of people coming here to witness the match. The bandobast and the security for the finals will be different from what we had during the other IPL matches. We will be reshuffling the staff. The deployment of police personnel for the final match will be more then. Special attention will be given to the parking system. The Amra Marg near the service road, which has so far not been used for parking will be put to use this time. Special spots have also been identified wherein more security will be provided. However, the decision on the security measures to be adopted for the final match will be taken soon," ACP (Traffic) Shrikant Dhivare said.
Additional force from State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) would also be pressed into service at the stadium during the match. Police personnel would be deployed at all the entry and exit points, apart from armed, unarmed personnel along with those in uniform and civil dress, at all the strategic points all over the stadium. Police officials will keep a tab on the situation with the help of close circuit television cameras installed all over the stadium, confirmed an official from traffic department.
We are preparing keeping in mind the huge traffic flow from Mumbai that would come to witness the show if Mumbai Indians make it to the finals.

PIL against ban on two-wheelers on JJ Flyover

Trashing the traffic police for banning two-wheelers on the J J flyover, since April 1, a PIL was filed before the Bombay High Court today, seeking quashing of the order which is “depriving the twowheeler riders the benefit of saving precious travel time and fuel.” The police should keep a watch on errant motorists and ensure upkeep of the signboards and devices on the flyover to prevent accidents, the PIL says.

The petition filed by Salim Shaikh of the NGO Impact, through lawyer Mubin Solkar, says that until May 2001 - when the 2.4 km-long flyover was inaugurated - the congested Mohammad Ali Road replete with narrow lanes was notorious for its round-the-clock traffic. “Motorists would take almost 35-40 minutes to cover the stretch. The government found constructing the flyover to be the only solution to resolve the daily traffic snarls,” the petition states, adding that the flyover shrunk the 35 minute-travel time to five minutes even during peak hours.

Referring to the traffic police statistics of 31 fatal accidents having occurred in the last five years, 23 of which involved two-wheelers, the petition attributes it to several factors like rash driving by both two-wheeler and four-wheeler motorists, and also the police’s failure in safeguarding the flyover. The petition elaborates, “Instead of this ban, the police should initiate effective measures like reinstalling latest safety gadgetry like cat-eyes, speed regulators, highpowered reflectors, warning boards etc.” Calling the banning decision ‘wholly arbitrary, illegal and in violation of basic rights of two-wheeler riders’, the petition says that the police is only trying to use a short-cut to escape from its basic duty of ensuring accidentfree commuting on the flyover.

Solkar said, “ The police must undertake serious traffic safety measures and step up vigil to ensure all rules are followed. Also, like on Bandra-Worli Sea Link, the police here should install proper signboards, fresh cat-eyes, which get stolen from J J flyover and never get replaced. For instance, three cm-thick speed arresters are put in a zig-zag manner on the BWSL, while on J J flyover they are one cm-thick and are put in a straight line. Obviously, bikers cheat these arresters on J J, by maneouvring their way out.” The petition also points out that one of the drastic fallouts of the ban has been an increase in fuel consumption by motorists, as what consumed 62.5 ml of petrol for a flyover commute now takes around 500 ml of petrol to cover the same stretch below the flyover.

Coming up: Endless delays for Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road

Mumbai: Here’s a piece of bad news for several Mumbaikars seeking better east-west connectivity in the city. After facing numerous hurdles for six long years, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) still faces a situation of stalemate for its ambitious Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) project.

The World Bank (WB) sponsored project, which is expected to ease traffic woes while traveling between the western and eastern suburbs, is stuck as the MMRDA is yet to acquire land required for its completion.

Even World Bank officials, on their recent trip to reviewMumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), had expressed concerns over delay in the SCLR project.

During their meeting, the WB officials had specifically brought up discussions aboutSCLR and had snubbed MMRDA officials over the delay.

Following the meeting with WB, the MMRDA seems to have woken up and requested the state government to issue a notification for the land acquisition. The state government on its part, just a couple of days back, issued a notification for acquiring the two plots at Kurla, which have delayed the project. The notification has given a month’s time for suggestions and objections to be made for the acquisition process.

According to a press statement issued by MMRDA, the two plots in Kurla measuring a total of 5,100 square metres (CTS No.408A measuring 347.5 square metres and CTS No.450/1 to 40 measuring 4,789 square metres) are to be acquired by the authority for construction of SCLR.

When questioned about why the MMRDA has not acquired the plots in the last six years, the authority spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said a lot of efforts were made to persuade the occupants of the plots to vacate them for building the SCLR. “We tried our best to go ahead through talks with the occupants.

However, since the deadlock could not be resolved, we had to request the state government to issue a notification through its urban development department (UDD) for acquisition,” said Kawathkar. “The acquisition is proposed in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 32 of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 1974 (Mah.IV of 1975).”

However, the acquisition process is expected to be tough and long-drawn as one of the two plots (CTS No.450/1 to 40) has many occupants on it. Moreover, after acquiring the plots, if any of the occupants move court, the project may end up getting further delayed.

Traffic police ban two-wheelers on JJ flyover

You will not be able to ride a motorcycle on the JJ Flyover from Friday. The traffic police have banned two-wheelers on the stretch indefinitely to ensure road safety after a steady increase of fatal accidents on the flyover.

The annual report compiled by the Mumbai Traffic police that Hindustan Times has accessed, states that in the last five years, of the 2,474 road accidents across the city, 335 involved two-wheelers, killing more than 71 people, including the riders. On JJ Flyover, 31 people were killed and 66 injured in the past five years with 90 per cent of these being two-wheeler riders.

Nandkumar Chougule, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said the spate of recent accidents on the stretch has prompted the traffic police to take this action.

A 19-year-old MBBS student died after he rammed his speeding motorcycle on the flyover’s divider on March 23, the police had identified three major spots where majority accidents occurred. “The ban is for an indefinite period to secure the two-wheeler riders as well as other vehicles from accidents,” said Chougule.

The traffic police observed that at late nights when the traffic is less, several motorcyclists speed on the flyover. When contacted, Ashok Takalkar, assistant commissioner of police, traffic, said that there are several stretches in the city such as Marine Drive, bandstand, reclamation, the Bandra-Worli sealink and the JJ Flyover, where bikers race leading to accidents.

In March, the JJ flyover has seen three fatal accidents involving two-wheeler riders. Two suffered injuries after they met with an accident at the same spot. “Turn at Mandvi Telephone Exchange is the most accident prone. We have taken this decision to see whether this helps in reducing the accidents at the flyover,” said Chougule.

“We observed that most accidents take place near three sharp turns on the flyover. Speed arresters will be placed just before these turns just as we have done on the sea link," added Chaugule.

Speed arresters are speed-reducing devices that include thick thermoplastic paints which force motorists to slow down.

City traffic cops slam brakes on speeding bikers, motorists

After a pre-dawn raid at Palm Beach Marg where motorcycle enthusiasts organised weekend races at dawn to satiate their need for speed, the Navi Mumbai traffic police along with Dy RTO Vashi, nabbed four youngsters on charges of rash and negligent driving on Sunday. "Acting on a tip-off, the policemen reached there only to find out that some youngsters were riding bikes at a breakneck speed," RTO officials said.

Some got wind of the raid and fled away while the four who were arrested, were handed over to the RTO Vashi after confiscating their documents. They hailed from Andheri, Ghatkopar and Thane. Apart from the four bikers, traffic police booked 33 persons for over-speeding and rash driving.

"Most of the boys belong to the 19-24 age group. They come from well-to-do families. The police released three bikes and seized one motorbike for not possessing valid documents," said API Sunii G Gawali (Turbhe) unit. "We had been searching for them. The group had been getting together for the last few weeks. We got our hands on them finally when they arrived on Sunday morning," said Srikhant Y Dhivare, the ACP (traffic).

He informed, they had received complaints from residents of PBM, Nerul, CBD and Sanpada about the nuisance that the racing enthusiasts would cause at odd hours. Hundreds of youngsters, better known as the Dhoom biker gangs ever since they inspired the eponymous Bollywood hit, participate in the contests, which include performing dangerous stunts and are held on a deserted stretch.

"We have received numerous complaints from frightened people in the recent past of this menace from youths. They race and drive recklessly on busy roads during day and nights. Of late, teens have taken to carrying out stunts on roads, which is extremely risky for themselves and people. This must stop," SPI R Chavan, CBD traffic division told TNM.

Action against the errant bikers will be equally quick, say police. The moment a biker is found speeding, the police picket ahead will be intimated immediately, and the youth stopped. Buying children two-wheelers for convenience and letting them loose on roads are two different things, say cops."

They organise these races for fun. Money is not rolling in these races," said an RTO Official. When contacted, deputy RTO Bharat Kalaskar was not available.The same rule would apply to car drivers. No more speeding and getting away with it for anybody. "Girls and women will be charged for negligent driving or speeding and could face the same action as the youths," informed DCP (HQ) N D Chavan. For children above 18 years, a case under the relevant IPC section will be filed immediately. His licence will be cancelled and his vehicle seized.

Milan Subway’s last brush with waterlogging?

It has the dubious distinction of being the most-avoidable-stretch during monsoons. And though the monsoons are barely two months away, Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has only now got approval from the Railways for the Rs 41-crore Milan Subway Road Over Bridge (ROB).

With the permission coming in so late, Milan Subway’s problems are not likely to get resolved any time soon. Every year the subway gets flooded during the rains and high tides, and once work on the ROB begins, it could lead to a perpetual traffic grid lock in what is already one of the most congested traffic spots.

This Rs 41-crore flyover had been planned by MMRDA to ease traffic flow and free the stretch from water logging. The 700 metre-long, two-lane flyover above the subway will begin near Milan Mall in Santacruz (W) and end on the service road near the highway on the eastern side. It will also have a provision of an under-pass below Western

Express Highway to carry vehicular traffic to Bandra and beyond.

According to MMRDA officials, the plan got delayed due to rehabilitation of people affected by the project and delays in obtaining various permissions.

“We have finally got permissions from Railways and the work is on. We are likely to complete construction by July or August end this year,” assured MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar. He also said that the road has been widened and piling work is going on so that during the monsoons there is no digging work at the site that could hamper traffic flow.

Residents in the neighbourhood, however, are wary of the project. “The way they have commenced the project is very scary. There seems to be no order or supervision, people cannot cross the road and there are huge traffic jams already. We are expecting the worst during the monsoons,” says V Iyer, a resident who added that the local Advanced Locality Management will soon be meeting traffic and civic authorities to understand how they plan to manage the situation.

While admitting that the project will inconvenience people this monsoon, local MLA Krishna Hegde defended it, “This will be a landmark bridge and solve the traffic problem once and for all. We have solved rehabilitation issues and the bridge should be ready by the year end. People can be reassured that this will be the last monsoon of problems at Milan Subway.”

Interestingly the Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) SS Gupta, clarified to Mumbai Mirror, “We gave all the clearances six months ago, so there cannot be any delays ascribed to Western Railway.”

King's Circle flyover to be extended

In an innovative move—perhaps the first of its kind in the state—the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to merge the more than 25-year-old Aurora flyover with the upcoming King's Circle flyover, which will run between the Ramnarain Ruia College and the Maheshwari Udyan.

This will delay the commissioning of the south-bound segment of the King's Circle flyover by five to six months. The north-bound lanes are expected to open in July-August, while the south-bound lanes will open in January-February 2011.

While the earlier 1,200-metre King's Circle flyover was costing Rs 68 crore, the new 1,500-metre flyover—with the merged 300-metre Aurora flyover—will cost Rs 71 crore. MMRDA officials said if they had to build an entirely new 300-metre segment, they would have had to spend Rs 7 to 8 crore and not just Rs 3 crore.

Officials said the King's Circle flyover will reduce travel time for motorists by 15 to 20 minutes for north- and south-bound traffic during the peak hours.

The Aurora flyover runs over Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road and the intersection of the same road with Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. It is near the King's Circle railway bridge.

"Two lanes of the three-lane, south-bound Aurora flyover will merge with the upcoming King's Circle flyover. The remaining south-bound lane of the Aurora flyover will exit to Ambedkar Road. The north-bound lanes of the flyover will be completely new," said a senior MMRDA official.

"The two north-bound lanes of the King's Circle flyover are being built adjacent to the Aurora flyover. These two north-bound lanes will have exits and entrances at the point the south-bound lanes are merged," said the official.

"Such a flyover merger has been rarely done in the country," said an official working on the project. He said the surface of the lower roadway would be raised accordingly so that the levels of the merged flyovers were the same.

The King's Circle flyover starts at Ruia College and was to end at Maheshwari Udyan, but with the merger it will now end close to King's Circle railway bridge.

Because of the Aurora flyover, no signal was needed at the junction of Kidwai Road and Ambedkar Road, which facilitates the movement of traffic towards Wadala, Char Rasta, VJTI, Matunga and Bhau Daji Road.
The flyover itself facilitates the movement of south-bound traffic on Ambedkar Road. Presently, north-bound traffic uses Ambedkar Road.

Engineers at the construction site said they would have to first complete the new north-bound section of the King's Circle flyover before taking up the work of merging the south-bound lanes.

A small portion of the north-bound lanes would be reserved for south-bound traffic until the merger is completed. "This will help us do the merger without creating hurdles for south-bound traffic.

British Council brings ‘MyLibrary’ to Powai

Powai - 11 April 10

Reading pleasure redefined; just select choicest books online, to be home-delivered

We live in exciting times. India is Arising, the Sensex is on another bull run and the Mumbai Indians are top of the IPL. The heat is in, and not just because the Summer temperatures are soaring Maximum City is on the move.

The pace of change in Mumbai has been electrifying over the last few years, driven by the turbo-charged economic take-off. A new generation of opportunity rich and time poor young professionals has come up, demanding more facilities and outlets for down-time and leisure. Result: malls and multiplexes, clubs and cafes springing up, like mushrooms after rain, in neighbourhoods throughout the city.

So, the city has decentralised. No longer is all the action down in the South now there is plenty happening out in the 'burbs, be it Bandra or Juhu, Andheri or Powai. Just as well, given the twin challenges of Mumbai's traffic chaos and woeful public transport. Why travel to Colaba or Fort to go clubbing or catch the latest movie, when it's all available just down the road?

This generation is also ambitious and hungry to learn for their career progression , but also for their ever more sophisticated life-style. As India learns how to walk confidently on the world stage, so desi culture in Mumbai is becoming cool and cosmopolitan. And there are new opportunities coming up to meet this kind of demand too.

One great new offer is coming from the British Council. For the past 60 years the British Council has given rising stars and emerging leaders valuable opportunities for study and personal development at its Library in Nariman Point. Most of Mumbai's current leaders spent time at British Council Library during their formative years and remain proud of their association with the best library in town.

And now this grand old institution has re-invented itself to meet the demands of the changed city. A couple of months ago the British Council Library re-launched itself in a whole new avatar: MyLibrary.

MyLibrary is a new concept which invites you to browse an on-line catalogue, place orders for the books you want on-line, and then have them delivered to your home or office. You can keep the books as long as you like (no late fees!) and then have them picked up from you. So you get to access the British Council's unique collection of 22,000 books without having to travel to Nariman Point (or anywhere!). And it's not only traditional books!

You also get access to over 40,000 e-books, a collection of specialist material ideally set up for study and research. Additionally there are rich resources for improving your English, loads of information about study opportunities in UK and a fast track for setting up your IELTS test all at your convenience with no hassle.

by Tarini Awatramani 12 April, 2010 share add to favorites print email Wonderful wheels at the Mumbai Vintage Car Rally Read more: Wonderful wheels

Neither fast nor furious, over a hundred vintage and classic cars rolled out on Mumbai’s roads this Sunday. The Mumbai Vintage Car Rally is an annual affair organized by the Western Indian Automobile Association, where proud owners polish and grease their retired wheels for one grand exhibition at Horniman Circle.

Amongst the parade of shiny relics were custom made cars such as the Bentley Drop Head Coupe of the Maharaja of Mysore and Jawaharlal Nehru’s two-seater Mercedes Benz 190 SL. As a DNA article reports, Mumbai's police commissioner D Sivanandhan himself flagged off the rally in a Chrysler Windsor.

A welcome reprieve from regular Mumbai traffic, the rally is more than just an opportunity for owners to show off their envy-inducing wheels. For the hundreds that gather along the streets to watch them roll by it is a chance to glimpse a pre-independent India when the only cars on the roads were imported ones.