Metro News.

No news on the metro. But something related to my efforts in reporting the Matro news.

Mr Akhilesh, PRO, Nagpur Metro had sent two of his reporters to interview me when I had told him of my interest in Metro. Never saw or knew what happened to that interview.

Then one afternoon he rang to check if I had any objection to meet Tejswi Mehata a reporter with a local newspaper. I of course had no objection, except that we normally go out for an evening walk around 5- 5:15PM and she should be with us before that time.

As we were about to go out received a call. It was Tejswi Mehata asking me that she has been all over the Jalvihar colony and can not find our house. I realised that while giving directions to Akhikesh I had forgotten to mention that there are two Jal Vihar colonies. A & B. We were in Jal Vihar A colony, West of Ring Road. JalVihar B colony is East of ring road. I explained how to reach our house.

Stood in the balcony waiting for the arrival of two-wheeler. After some time spotted a tired-looking youngster walking, looking at the houses, she spotted our name board and came up.

During chit chat came to know that she was doing a course in Mass Communication, in Journalism and Public relation. Still to get her Diploma/Degree. Had arrived in Nagpur only a couple of days back. To gain experience / do an internship.

Told her of my interest in Nagpur Metro. Answered her questions. Gave her a link to my album History Nagpur Metro - "Hingna T Junction - to - Sitla Mata Temple Crossing".

Before she left told her no one was likely to publish a piece on how an old fellow spends his time.

She was pretty confident it will see the light of the day.

She sent me snapshot of what she had written and published in Dainik Bhaskar dated 17 December 2018. For someone so young and new to the field she seems to have done a good job. The editorial Staff seemed happy with her effort.

 

My letter to all three e-mail ids of Editor ,Htavada.

Sir.
NMC installed garbage bins for for dry and wet garbage some time back. Intention being that citizens drop the garbage in the bins rather than through it all over. NMC would than collect the garbage from the bins and empty them to receive further inflow of garbage. Sensible citizens started putting garbage in the bins. So far so good.
But our great NMC has worked hard and long to acquire reputation as most inefficient organisation. They are living up to their reputation.
Garbage bins are full. Never been emptied. Even sensible citizens are forced to throw the garbage in vicinity of the bins.
God save my Nagpur, because NMC refuses to wake up.

My ltter to Editor : Whither Swatch Bharat - Swatch Nagpur.

Sir.

I believe MNC can impose stiff to very stiff fines on those littering or throwing garbage in public places. 

Seeing garbage strewn all over the city one wonders why the provision of imposing stiff fines is not being imposed. Or is it that the offenders are going scotfree due to some other considerations.

A picture is worth thousand words. Here are two thousand words.

Ring Road. Adhyapak Layout turning.

 Location google map 21.11163, 79.032107. 

PM Velankar 

Break Rule - Lose Licence.

My latest letter to Editor.

Sir,
Apropos today's news item Break Rule - Lose Licence.
It is most unfortunate that it has taken more than 12000 deaths, 20000 plus injuries and almost 39000 accidents to wake up the authorities to from their 'Kumbhkarniya' slumber.
It is as if these authorities while using the road for their daily commute in the city had their eyes closed and never noticed blatant traffic violations.
If traffic police and other law enforcement authorities could not catch all these violators up till now how are they  going to catch them to suspend their licences.
I feel suspending licence will not be of much use. In fact,  it will add one additional violation, that of driving without licence :-).
I feel remedy is to impose and strictly implement system of deterrent fines. Say a minimum of ₹2000. Rules should also be amended so that certain percentage of fines collected are officially credited in the monthly pay packet of the Policeman collecting the fines. This incentive, I am sure will work like magic in bringing down traffic violations.
PM velankar 

Metro News.

there has been no metro news on my blog or Facebook page for more then a month.
On my return to Nagpur, I have resumed my walk. I find that civil work on Metro in my stretch is complete. Now the work is going on at track level where I have no access.

During last year and half since the time work started, foot path along northern wall of DGCA grounds on Hingna Road Started getting damaged. Incidentally with continuous uninterrupted length of almost 1 KM ( 997.7 mtrs) this must be the longest continuous uninterrupted footpath in Nagpur.

With increasing damage to the footpath due to on going work, eventually it's full length was damaged, destroyed. The very existence of 1 KM long footpath simply vanished. At one time things were so bad that walking became unsafe and I had to change my route. Later even though footpath remained non existentant but walking was possible. 
Now the good news is that with completion of civil work Metro people have started reconstruction of the foot path. From the looks of it about 40 odd meters of it has been done. They have done beautiful job. Lot of thought seems to have gone in the design of new footpath. There are niches near metro station where autos and cars can stop to drop off or pick up passengers. Idea being when the venicles stop on niche, road remains clear and smooth flow of traffic is not affected.
Here are the photos of newly constructed footpath and portion still to be done.

New footpath. Niche for car.

New footpath. Niche for auto parking.  

Footpath still to be done-up.

Pigeon Man of Singapore.

Continued with my morning walk in Singapore as well. Route followed by me was use Mayer Road underpass to reach East Coast Park. Follow the path up to Park Land Green . Use the underpass to go to Marine Parade follow road east then on to Mountbatten Road to crescent street to Makina. Almost the same distance as my normal walk about 4.5 KM.
Walk along the East Coast Park was refreshing and fantastically rejuvenating. Beautiful scenery and beautiful sunrises if Horizon was clear.

Sunrise. East Coast Park.

It was amazing to see the number of people of all ages from age group of 60/ 70 plus,middle ages to teens, jogging, walking, doing aerobic exercises and work outs generally seen by me in Kung Fu / Karate movies. Even kids 7/8 years are Merrily cycling, along with their parents.
Almost every day lots and lots of pigeons foraging around the beach near Area B of East coast Park.

One day I saw an old man walking along the beach. Pigeons foraging all over the beach started flying around that old man and following him. The way pigeons were following him, reminded me of the story of Pied Piper of Hamelin. He want slightly beyond the jetty and sat on haunches. Opened the plastic bag he was carrying and started scattering some thing around.  

Old man and the pigeons

           

The pigeons were all over him and the whatever feed he had strewn. Once in a while he was caressing pigeons close to him. The pigeons did not seem to mind him.

One day I approached him. On my approach the pigeons fluttered but did not flyaway but settled down close by. May be they understood that I meant no harm. Spoke to him.  

I saw that what he was feeding was not birdseed of any kind but bread slices. In answers to my enquiry He informed me he wanted to come every day but could only manage it when he had free mornings. Still tried to come as frequently as possible. Had been feeding them for quite some time. Initially the number of pigeons were quite less and only two loafs were sufficient. Gradually the number increased and now even five loaves were barely sufficient. 

Asked his name . He told me. Could no get it so asked him again, he told me . Could not get it and said please say again, he told me yet again. This happened couple of more times. Then I felt too ashamed to ask the same question for the fifth time. Never got his name so I shall simply call him "Pigeon Man of Singapore."

         

Pigeon Man of Singapore.

NMC and Demolition Drives.

My letter to Editor The Hitavada.
NMC and the demolition drives.
Once in a while when the authorities wake up from there slumber demolition of one odd unauthorised structure , out of existing thousands, is undertaken.
There has been spurt in demolition drive in recent past. This, thanks to Honourable High Court repeatedly giving stern warnings to authorities to demolish unauthorised places of worship . Not only because they are / were unauthorised but such structure encroached on public land. Quite often they intruded on the footpath / road and generally obstructed smooth flow of traffic and nuisance to public.
In all demolitions modus operandiis is same.
Authorities approach the structure with powerful machines and bulldozerss. Using brute force the bulldozers bulldoze their way in the structure. Without any apparent system bring down and reduce the structure to a terribly shoddy mess and heaps of rubble. The resulting mess of this rubble spill over dimensions of the the original structure itself and become even bigger obstacle then earlier structure. See attached photos.
A little application of mind would dictate that after the structure is demolished , The eye sore and rubble left after demolition is removed, Site is restored to its original neat and tidy state. Apparently the authorities either do not have mind or if they have, they do not apply it to their jobs.
I would very sincerely and humbly request the Honourable Courts that the order for demolition also to include a codicil
" After the demolition authorities WILL REMOVE all the rubble and RESTORE the site to a NEAT & TIDy state"

PM velankar

Going berserk with my letters to editors.

Two welcome news items in two days.

Sir,

Yesterday, 31 Aug18, : Police booked 740 students for traffic violations.

Today, 01Sept18 : NMC to follow Indore Model.

Both good beginnings.

Majority will agree that with more police personnel many tines 740 traffic violators would have been brought to book.

This does not belittle police achievement. It is a good begining

However to make a noticeable difference, drive against traffic defaulters must cover wider areas, must be sustained and followed vigorously.

If not done there is little hope of improvement.

Visible presence of traffic police will also have salutary effect.They, the traffic police are conspicuous by their absence at most of the crossing.

PM Velankar.

Incouraged by fantastic support by Editorial staff of City Line suppliment, who published all three out of three letters. Sent a suggestion to whom it may concern
Sir,
It was heartening to read in City Line dated 01Sept18 that NMC is going to follow Indore model for cleanliness. 
Just having 500 vehicles three shifts spread over 24 hours and 7000 sanitation workers, a sincere and diligent contractor,(if such a creature exists), may not be of much help.
Human nature being what it is and as the saying goes "old habits die hard", majority of incorrigible Nagpurians will make sure things do not improve.
In addition to infrastructure, what Indore administrators ensured was a very strict regime of imposing and collecting hefty fines from defaulters. In rare cases collective fines to a locality were resorted to when blame for garbage could nor be apportioned and no one owned up for the mess.
Once the lesson was learnt the heard way, all the infrastructure did achieve wonders.
Concerned authorities should have also learnt about this while visiting Indore.
PM Velankar

My letter to Editor, Hitavada.

Lawless and irresponsible driving has assumed alarming proportions. Asawari Shenoilikar has raised the issue non too soon. She has blamed the reckless youngsters, parents, Metro authorities and rightly so. She left out authorities responsible to ensure that rules are strictly followed, who are the biggest culprits. News items have appeared informing us that 2000 odd e-chalans have been issued. There is an undertone of "a job well done". The way people of Nagpur, young, middle aged and old alike, flout the traffic rules,jumping red light, drive in the wrong lane,no helmet, three on a two wheeler, with cctv cameras every where, 2000 e-challans should be raised EVERY hour and followed scrupulously.

 I am confident if Traffic police comes out of their slumber, things Will improve. 

Metro News.
Work on salb laying for rail bed in full swing.
Concrete slurry being pourded for slab on which rails will be laid.

CLEAN NAGPUR.
Empty plots and plots without known ownership make for ideal garbage dump for lazy and civic sense lacking people of Nagpur. 
One such plot of latter type is situated behind Anusaya Mangal Karyalaya. Once few tons of garbage is collected,the stench and fear of deceases become overwhelming, the same people who had contributed in creating the situation complain. Corporation JCB machine comes and clears the garbage. One such cleaning was done couple of days back. Within a day garbage has started piling up again. Attached photos speak louder than words.
In Indore of 2015/16 such a sight would have resulted in collective fines on ALL THE HOUSEHOLDS IN LINE OF SIGHT OF THAT SPOT. Such fines have made Indore cleanest city in INDIA, TWO YEARS RUNNING.
ANY thinking on making NAGPUR a clean city ???

Following sent to Editor The Hitavada. Let us see what happens.
We have just returned from a trip to Indore.
Had heard that Indore is a very clean city. Considering that it was declared number one CLEANEST city in India consecutively for the last two years, calling it a "clean city" is understatement of the century.
In my 76 years of life,minus earliest 5 odd years when I did not know any thing about any thing, I have never seen any city, town, village and what have you, SOOOOOOOO clean, litter & garbage free.
ANOTHER achievement of equal significance, not a SINGLE COW OR ANIMAL OF ANY TYPE on the road hindering traffic or become an accident potential.
It was wonderful experience.
Heightened civic sense is the most welcome fall out of this, 3 to 4 years of "Clean Indore" campaign, is that every resident of that city is justifiably proud of his city. He does not litter or throws around garbage himself, but also checks fellow citizens from doing so.
This magical change was brought about by ruthless enforcement of the rules about fines for littering or throwing garbage. Defaulters were fined ₹ 500 to 1000 for every transgression, without fear or favour.
Simultaneously provisions were made for door to door garbage collection. People quickly learnt the valuable lesson. By the time Indore had won number ONE clean city for the second year it had become a habit. People of Indore want to make it a hat-trick.
WHY OH WHY my Nagpur can not be a clean city. Garbage and 'animals on road' free city.
Will powers be, ruthlessly enforce the rule about fines for littering/garbage disposable to bring about the change.

BUREAUCRACY - NON APPLICATION OF MIND - CLASSIC EXAMPLE.

Plants are dead. Dirty & Dusty,Desolate divider.

Plants are dead. Dirty & Dusty,Desolate divider.

After BJP govt came to power and Nagpur was selected to be made a smart city large scale mega infrastructure projects were launched.

Concretisng almost all the roads was one such mega infrastructure project. The dividers on quite a few roads were sufficiently wide to be planted with saplings. 

Full marks to those involved, for including planting of saplings on these concreted road dividers  and maintenance of the same for few months in the tender documents / contract.

As concreting work of a section was completed including planting of six rows of saplings, it presented a beautiful picture and made one proud to be a Nagpurian.  

Sadly, once the contracted period of plant maintenance was over and watering of plants was stopped, gradually the plants all died. The dividers now look dusty,dirty and desolate. 

Non application of mind : No thought was given to type of saplings to be planted.

Application of mind and little use of commonsense would have dictated selection of hardy , tenacious and hard to kill plants with least amount of watering and maintenance. Chafa and bougainvillea are just two examples. These plants would have survived after maintenance during contracted period was over.

Non application of mind : No thought was given and No plans were made to keep watering and maintaining these plants on which lot of public money was spent.

A standard tam plate be made for tendering contracts of mega projects which MUST include lessons learnt from each such project / event.

Letter to Editor.

After a long long time sent off this :

Dear sir,

Your esteemed news paper if in the forefront of highlighting issues fo public interest. I feel this issue needs to be highlighted by your paper   

This post is for NAGPUR MUNICIPAL CORP ? NIT.

This is the photo of Street lights Along the ring road from Hingna T point to Wardha road.

These street lights were installed just couple of years back after completion on concrete road. With new plants on the divider, new streetlights of contemporary design the new road looked world class.

The plants have all died due to poor maintenance and and lack of water.

The street lights are still good, they still have the contemporary look .

Then WHY are they being replaced with, may be similar looking new street lights. Replacement light poles can be seen lying on the divider. 

There is a well known adage "don't mend,if not broke"

Then,

Why are we wasting public money 

 Yours sincerely,

PM Velankar.

MORNING WALK : VIGNETTES.3.

MORNING WALK : VIGNETTES.

Having come to the conclucion that people have taken to morning walk due to health coinsciances,I was now free to enjoy my walk,looke around, see new faces and breath relativeky less pollluted morning air.

Number of ladies seen during the walk appeared more than the number of men.This, when it is consided that there would be housewives as well as working women as well at morning walk,came a a bit of surprise.Consider even housewives have plenty of workload doing household chores and looking after the house.Working women have not only housework they also have to be away 9 to5 at their working places.One really feels like saying hats of ladies working hard not only at making a house a home and looking after the health of family members, but also not neglecting yown health.