CCTV footage help Police make some headway

The BMC continued to face wrath after a two-year-old infant was stolen from civic-run VN Desai hospital in Vile Parle on Friday. On Monday, a delegation from Mumbai Mahila Agadhi led by Shaina NC, a BJP national executive member, accused the civic body of negligence and met additional municipal commissioner Ashish Kumar Singh to submit a document comprising seven pointers to augment the security in all civic hospitals. “The BMC should address the issue urgently and nab the gang involved,” said Shaina NC. “It should work in tandem with the police to deal with the problem holistically.” An infant was stolen from Sion hospital in 2009, and incidents of babies getting swapped were reported from Sion and Nair hospitals in 2007 and 2010. The BMC denied there were any no loopholes. “It is a case of negligence on behalf of the parents, and not a security lapse,” said Singh.

 “On the lines of railway announcements, we intend to play audio messages in hospitals alerting people to beware of suspicious persons in the premises and urging them to report the same to hospital staff or authorities,” Dr Sanjay Oak, medical director (civic hospitals), told media. “We plan to put up pictorial alerts displaying dos and don’ts on the issue.”  All counters for paperwork will be set up near the outpatients department on a single floor, to avoid such thefts, he said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon deploy 200 women guards in all civic hospitals. The Standing Committee of the BMC last week gave its nod for deploying 200 women guards at major civic and peripheral hospitals in the city, Manisha Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner, said. “Shaina NC, member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive, led a delegation to the office of Ashish Kumar Singh, additional municipal commissioner, on Monday and demanded that security measures at civic hospitals should be more stringent. She also demanded that visiting hours should be restricted and that hospitals should provide parents and their baby matching rubber bands for easy identification.

The police are questioning residents of nearby localities to find out whether they had seen any woman with an unknown child. “We suspect that a woman who was being coerced to deliver a (boy) child could be instrumental in the kidnapping,” said an officer from Vakola police station. The police are also exploring involvement of beggar gangs. Thanks to the CCTV cameras installed at VN Desai Hospital, Santacruz (East), the Vakola police have been able to identify the woman who kidnapped two-month-old Ayush Mishra on Friday. Police said the woman had been seen at the hospital for two days before she kidnapped the child. “We have footage of the woman while she was entering the hospital around 10.30 am. It is the only footage in which her face is clearly visible,” said an investigating officer, requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Investigators said that they did not have footage where she interacted with Ayush’s grandmother, as some cameras were non-functional. “Also, the woman had covered her face while leaving the hospital premises,” the officer added. Hospital employees told the Vakola police that they had seen the woman visiting the hospital for at least two days before the kidnapping. Anil Kharade, senior police inspector at Vakola police station, said, “Sketches of the accused are being made with the help of CCTV footage, and on the basis of the description by Ayush’s grandmother.”

Sunita, felicitated during a Dandiya programme at Dhobighat

Sunita, Asst. Editor, 'SANTACRUZ PATRIKA'  being felicitated during a Navratri 'Dandia' programme. Also seated is Shri Kripashankar Singh, Chief of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee...

Will Suresh Thakur be appointed as Corporator?

It was about three years ago that we elected 227 corporators to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Of the 227 seats, 74 were reserved for candidates from backward or scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The candidates had to provide a caste certificate as proof of their caste. The caste certificate is obtained typically from the collector's office, which comes under the revenue department and not under the social welfare department. The caste certificates are scrutinized by the Scrutiny Department for their validity after the BMC elections are over. This process takes several months. Of the 74 winning reserved candidates, the caste verification committee found 17 to be false. That is, almost one-fourth of all winners had a false certificate. If this statistic is extrapolated to the whole state (which has a population of about four crore potential caste certificate seekers), then we may have more than one crore fake certificates. This sounds similar to the case of Andhra Pradesh, which found out that based on the number of ration cards issued, 85 per cent of the state was below the poverty line.
The 17 affected candidates, fearing that their elections may be set aside, or claiming that their certificates were not really fake, moved court to prevent the election authorities from declaring their certificates as fake. This process took several months, or years, finally until which time the term of the BMC corporator may end. So a court decision after that is pointless.
In July, 2010, the disqualification of Shiv Sena corporator Pravin Devhare in ward no.185 by the Bombay High Court came as a blow to the saffron party in the Hindu-dominated area. The court instead appointed MNS candidate Prakash Patankar as the corporator. Devhare, one of the 17 corporators who were accused of submitting fake caste certificates during the civic elections of 2007, had challenged the case in the Bombay High Court. He had sought a stay on the findings of the scrutiny committee that found the certificates fake. However, the High Court disqualified Devhare’s nomination and appointed Patankar who had secured the second highest number of votes — 909 votes short of Devhare’s 9,800. As the matter was going on in court, that particular ward did not have a corporator for the past three years. .Similarly, the fate of Mahadeshwar Pandurang, Shiv Sena (accused of submitting fake caste certificates) and Suresh Thakur, Congress has been in the courts for more than three years. Mahadeshwar Pandurang who was declared winner was challenged by Suresh Thakur in the Courts. After fighting a long-drawn legal battle in courts challenging Mahadeshwar Pandurang’s fake caste identity the matter has finally reached the tip of the ice-berg. Suresh Thakur while speaking to Santacruz Patrika clarified and said, “Caste certificates of Vaishyawani and Kulwant Wani under OBC has been dismissed by the High Court and orders passed to remove from OBC.” He further added, “Mahadeshwar Pandurang had appealed for a stay but the HC pronounced an order dismissing the caste certificate of Mahadeshwar.” “Though after a long wait I am delighted but let’s wait for the final outcome which in most probability will be pronounced shortly,” concluded the delighted Suresh Thakur. However, while speaking to Santacruz Patrika, Mahadeshwar Pandurang clarified and said, “The HC came to a conclusion that the GR of 1995, 96 and circular of 2008 issued by the government was not proper and correct and accordingly the case was squashed.” I have done no wrong and submitted my caste certificates of Vaishyawani as per order. But if the court does not treat it as correct I have no say and have to respect the HC order. My elder brother and my son have got validity as Vaishyawani by the government and why I have been discriminated. The Court order is final and I have respect for the order,” added Mahadeshwar.Further, when questioned on the next course of action he replied, “The alternative is to move the Supreme Court. But since I have no money and my ill health doesn’t permit, I leave it to the decision of the Court. The final decision in the Small Cause Court will put an end to the long drawn battle”Finally, Mahadeshwar said that the order of the HC of dismissing Vaishyawani from OBC is not a good decision. What will be the fate of employees employed under this category? What will be the fate of Medical, Engineering and various students who have taken admission as Vaishyawani under OBC? The order has put everyone’s fate at stake.

Infant stolen from V.N.Desai Hospital

Less than two years after a poor couple's son was abducted from the civic-run Sion Hospital. A two-month-old boy was abducted from V.N.Desai Hospital, Santacruz when his mother brought him for a routine polio dose. As per CCTV grabs from the Hospital show a burqa-clad woman walking away with the infant, Ayush Mishra around 11am. Only her green eyes are visible in the footage as the woman did not lift her veil even once, police officials said. As of now, a case of abduction has been registered against the unidentified woman under Section 363 of the IPC. Ayush was amongst a pair of twins born to Vakola residents Pooja and Avdesh Mishra from Uttar Pradesh.

Around 10.30am Pooja Mishra, 19, had taken her twins — a girl and a boy — for immunisation to the hospital along and her mother-in-law Shyama Mishra, 62, accompanied them. It is learnt that Pooja took Kumkum to the second floor of the hospital for vaccination, and left her son with his grandmother on the ground floor. A police officer said: “Shyama noticed a burqa-clad woman roaming around and talking to everyone, giving an impression that she knew them well. This woman came to her and said Pooja had called for Ayush for the polio drop.” Shyama said she did not suspect her and gave her the baby.

“The horror unfolded when Pooja returned and her mother-in-law narrated the story. A shocked Pooja revealed she had not sent anyone to get the boy,” the officer added. DCP Satyanarayan Chaudhary said both the women frantically searched the entire hospital for the child. “Subsequently, they informed the hospital authorities and the police,” Chaudhary added. The twins were born in the hospital on August 14 and Pooja had been taking gynaecological treatment at the hospital for over a year. Ayush, is the son of 19-year-old Pooja Mishra, a resident of Hanuman Tekdi, Gate No 1, Santacruz (E). Pooja had got doubly lucky on August 14 when she delivered him and a daughter, Kumkum.

“The Hospital has CCTV cameras all over and 24/7 guards on duty. But the incident happened in the OPD where we get about 1,000 patients a day. It is an extremely chaotic situation and we were not even told in time enough for our security to nab the woman.” said the hospital superintendent to the media. The Vakola police launched a massive combing operation in neighbouring colonies as the woman had probably kept a watch on the infant and his mother. Nursing homes will also be scanned. Hearing the shocking incident Pooja was taken ill and was admitted to the same hospital. Shashikant Wadekar, dean of the hospital, said: “The family informed us very late. We immediately closed the gates and searched for the woman. But CCTV footage showed she had left the premises already.”

Navratri and Dandia Raas comes to an end in grandeur…

Youth dancing to glory in a Navratri Garba organised at Dhobighat, Vakola

Navratri Festival, which is celebrated at the beginning of Autumn in Mumbai, represents a celebration of the Goddess Durga, the manifestation of the Deity in the form of Shakti or energy/power. Navaratri is a nine day festival that honors the Mother Goddess in all her manifestations, including Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. It's a festival full of worship and dance. The festival culminates with Dussehra, the victory of good over evil, on the tenth day. Navaratri is celebrated with nine nights of dancing. The traditional dances of Gujarat, known as garba and dandiya raas, are performed in circles with dancers dressed up in colorful clothes. Small, decorated sticks called dandiyas are used in the dandiya raas. In Mumbai, dancing takes over stadiums and clubs throughout the city. While some of it has retained a traditional flavor, the introduction of disco dandiya has given Mumbai's Navaratri celebrations a glamorous and modern twist. Over the course of the nine days, the Mother Goddess is worshiped in her various forms. Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Each goddess is worshiped for three days in turn, starting with Durga who destroys negative tendencies. Next is Lakshmi who bestows good virtues and fortune, and last is Saraswati, who instills wisdom and spiritual knowledge. The worship, accompanied by fasting, takes place in the mornings. Evenings are for feasting and dancing. Nowadays, people unleash their dancing to a fusion of remixed beats and loud Hindi pop music.

“Slum dwellers are our Gods”

The road leading to Hotel Grand Hyatt is day-by-day shrinking in size with illegal encroachers enjoying a field day at the cost of the tax-payers? The road beginning from Vakola Pipeline to Ashok Nagar has become a vote-bank for illegal encroachment. Little is the Shiv Sena corporator Sanjay Potnis nor Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh doing anything to curb the encroachers. While speaking to Santacruz Patrika, a resident stated, “With the road shrinking and traffic moving at heavy speed we have absolutely no space left to walk and in grave danger of risking our lives. We had approached the corporator but he did not heed to our demands.” Further, the rag-pickers near Shastri Nursing Home have been offered an alternative accommodation. But, a few of them have rented out their alternative accommodation and encroached upon the land. It was yesterday that at midnight an autorickshaw coming from Hotel Grand Hyatt at a fast speed rammed into the huts thereby destroying them. While speaking to Santacruz Patrika one of the families said, “Since we all had gone to have food served by the nearby Navratri Mandal, no one was in the huts. Otherwise 3-4 children would have been crushed to death.”

It's agonizing to witness the ongoing deterioration, decomposition, shredding of the social fabric and hurtling of Mumbai to it's slow but sure death, thanks to the exponential growth in the number of slum dwellers and other encroachers. This is having a grave effect upon on every aspect of living of its legitimate residents due to the consequence of usurpation of a large number of compulsory open spaces like the footpaths, playgrounds, recreational grounds, railway, other government lands etc. It would be shocking to know that all of this occurs in gross violation of a slew of laws and regulations of the land.

None of the law-makers or the law-enforcers seem to have ever given a serious thought to the after effects of the burgeoning population of unauthorised occupiers of our public land which in reality were mandated for providing amenities for the welfare of the law-abiding and tax-paying residents of the city – like smooth running of railways, buses and other vehicles, expansion of government offices, construction of public schools, hospitals and Courts, providing playgrounds, recreational grounds, gardens etc. Alas, none of our so called "public servants" (read elected representatives and administrators) have given a thought to this injustice. They have seldom, if ever, thought beyond their own narrow and short-sighted policies of promoting and pampering their vote- banks by aiding / abetting or protection of the illegal encroachers and deriving pecuniary gains or enhancing their career. At the most (and that too under public pressure) they take action, albeit cursorily and in a half-hearted manner to soothe the ruffled feathers. What's more, once in a while even when some honest and duty conscious officers have sought to diligently clear the encroachers, they have had to contend with insults, obstacles, transfers and punishment postings as penalty for implementing the laws. One factor that has led to the romance of the politicians and the slum-dwellers is that the latter are being promptly given the voting rights

The dismayed Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court had denounced this trend by stating "The promise of free land, at the tax- payers' cost, in place of a jhuggi, is a proposal which attracts more land grabbers. Rewarding an encroacher on public land with a free alternative site is like giving reward to a pick-pocket." Thus, the end result is that a major chunk of the hard-earned tax payers' money collected from the true residents of Mumbai are utilized to provide amenities like housing, electricity, health-care, drainage lines, water supply etc to the slum dwellers. On the other hand the lawful residents are left with a bitter taste in their mouths – apathy from their elected representatives to their problems, usurpation of open spaces, air and noise pollution, breakdown of civic infrastructure, unhygienic conditions, spread of serious diseases like malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera and even sexually transmitted diseases like HIV / AIDS, lack of space for pedestrians, traffic congestion, increase in number of unauthorized hawkers, lack of car-parking space, a dearth of green lungs in the vicinity and increase in security threats to the residents.

An ex-Maharashtra CM had grandly announced to the party workers that "Slum dwellers are our Gods". No wonders every politician worth his salt is seen prostrating before slum dwellers prior to elections. What better could be expected from our politicians when they are out to exploit the weaknesses of the migrants and illegal slum dwellers and convert it into the currency needed to come back to power – votes. The Maharashtra Government had passed the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance and Redevelopment) Act 1971 to protect the encroachers. But then never was it thought fit to give it a permanent deadline. Thus, almost every subsequent government have gone about extending the deadline beginning from 1975 to 1980 and finally to 1995. The promise given in the Congress-NCP-RPI manifesto on 1.10.2004 by the Chief Minister, with an eye on the slum vote-bank, promises extension of the slum regularization date from 1.1.1995 to 1.1.2000 if voted to power. Have our "elected representatives" forgotten that they are chosen to provide law & order and better quality of life to the lawful residents of the city? Don't they realize that the decisions that they take sitting in the Assembly should benefit every true resident and should never be supportive of a law-breaker? Where will this madness end? Every right-minded citizen should oppose this move of the Government to appease the illegal residents at the cost of well-being of the city if they care to have better quality of life for themselves and for posterity. One hopes that such regressive and irrational policies are reneged by the powers-that-be and better sense prevails in the larger public interest.

Hansaji’s birthday celebrated at Yoga Institute

Smt. Hansaji Jayadeva Yogendra celebrated her 63^rd birthday at the Yoga Institute with pomp and glory. Hansaji after her marriage to the Director of the Yoga Institute Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra, was instrumental in making radical changes in the functioning of the Institute. Hansaji is at present the Director of the Institute and the President of the International Board of Yoga. She is perhaps best known throughout the nation as the charming lady who is a yoga expert. Her charismatic personality has reflected in her talks, which she gives at the Yoga Institute with her husband Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra, the Director of the Institute and during various functions in Mumbai, around the country and the world. Hansaji has also authored many Yoga books and featured in several cassettes.

She was recognized for her contribution to Women’s Health through the award presented by SPARC. She has been selected as “Women of the year 2000” by the American Biographical Institute, USA for her outstanding accomplishment and the noble example she has set for her peers and the entire country. She is a much sought after National and International speaker. She has conducted several seminars and lecture tours in India and in Europe, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Hongkong and USA. She is the embodiment of Indian womanhood and an inspiration to all who visit the Yoga Institute.

Her birthday was celebrated with students of the Institute performing a wonderful skit. Also the chief guest for the function Smt. Pratibha Naithani also delivered a wonderful address to the huge gathering on the topic “Need of the Hour”.