Mayor to move to bungalow in zoo
Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar’s home will soon be shifted to a bungalow on the premises of the Jijamata Zoo. Mahadeshar’s bungalow in Dadar needs to be vacated to be able to begin work on its conversion into a memorial for Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.
The party was initially opposed to shifting the Mayor’s residence to the Zoo premises. However, after realising that the work on the memorial would be delayed if he didn’t move out, the party has consented.
Tough action for Clean Mumbai
Slogans of ‘Clean Mumbai’ have been heard for the past three decades. Newer versions of the original slogan – Clean Mumbai Green Mumbai –given by erstwhile Mayor Chhagan Bhujbal, keep coming up every five years but nothing seems to have changed in the city. Under the latest such scheme “Clean-Up” marshals were appointed by the BMC.
The marshals were given the right to penalise citizens found spitting, defecating or littering in public. However, recently the BMC had to change the rules of the scheme to incorporate fines for the marshals after number of extortion complaints against marshals went up. The scheme that was started in 2007 had to be shut down in 2011 after similar growth in complaints.
Faster access to Elephanta caves
Mumbai’s iconic tourist spot of Elephanta caves on the Gharapuri Island will soon be easier to acces from the city. Work on a ropeway between the island and the Mumbai Port, planned by the Mumbai port trust (MbPT), is likely to begin soon. On completion, it would take the tourists only 14 minutes to reach the caves, where currently it takes about an hour. Earlier this year, the island, that had been living in darkness for the past 70 years was connected to the electric grid. With availability of electricity on the island the ropeway project has got a boost.
No monkey business
Mumbai houses an entire national park within its municipal limits because of which, human-animal conflict is not new to the city. So far, these conflicts were largelky limited to the areas on the periphery of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Off late however, such incidents have started spreading to other areas of the city. In the past seven months, forest officials have caught and caged 61 monkeys from within the city’s municipal area.
A majority of these monkeys were found in the the ‘non-green’ areas of central Mumbai. Non-domesticated monkeys have been reported entering the city’s residential areas in search of food causing consternation. Several monkeys have also been reported injured during efforts to catch them. The forest department has advised that that firecrackers can shoo the monkeys away.