OFF THE RECORD review on some of the headlines….
Aarey: Have to thank Maharshtra Government for reserving the 600 acres of land at Aarey as forest & protecting the lungs of Mumbai. But, don’t know why have this habit of questioning everything this Government is doing…So dug & found something…surely, some questions need to be answered by the Government. To begin with, What happens to the metro car shed? I heard you are in process of shifting. Obviously, it has too! So, those who don’t know already a huge amount of money has been spent on the construction of this shed and now the construction is nearly 40% complete, I’m told. If this is shifted all this money used for construction goes down the drain, isn’t it? And whose money is this? The investors right? And who pays the interest on this? The Government right? From where does the Government pay interest? From Common man’s pocket right (taxes)? Hmmm…. By the way, The Metro 6 line that was promised by the MMRDA/MMRCL to be functional at the end of December 2021, again the project is indefinitely delayed as now there is no location finalised for the car shed, which is the end point of any line. Read somewhere yesterday, MMRDA is staring at the deposits to fund their projects. Now again the interest MMRDA is paying will again rise and again common man will be punished. And why all this? So that the Thackeray Government has something to show, isn’t it? Again the next headache is that of finding of suitable location for construction for another car shed. Again heard the Government is eyeing a private land near Oshiwara (Pahadi Goregaon) so obviously the cost of land acquisition will be huge. Then again the TDR worth crores will have to be given to some AB. I don’t understand, even after High Court and the Supreme Court has given a tight slap on face of Government by rejecting the plea to shift the shed, why all this exercise? To save our lungs, but broke our hipbone! To sum up, The Govt should enlighten us on the following :
A. Cost incurred till date in the car shed at Aarey.
B. Cost of acquisition of the private land at Pahadi Goregaon.
C. Cost in delay and over runs in Metro line 6, which was to commence end 2021.
D. Metro line 6 was planned keeping car shed in mind. Alignment of the Metro line was done keeping car shed location in mind. Now if car shed is changing what happens to the alignment ?
E. Who pays for increase in project cost.
2. IPS transfers: Mostly had written and all came out to be true. But surprising was shunting of Rashmi Shukla & keeping Deven Bharti on hold. No one in the Police Establishment Board since at least last 10 years has the guts to keep this man away. Neither in the Devendra Fadnavis government nor in this government. Then how did it happen? Sources say, since CM Uddhav Thackeray is on a spree of appointing OSD’s / Advisors (At first, ex CS Ajoy Mehta, Ex Divisional Comm of Pune Deepak Mhaisekar being the latest), he might consider an IPS too, to be his eyes & ears in the Police Department. Earlier, all this was done only by one person…Never ever Uddhav Thackeray needed an army of advisors, when he had one & only Milind Narvekar with him! Only God knows, why times have changed? So all those who are expecting any kind of ‘happiness’, mind you, he might become more powerful than before in the coming days due to his ‘friendly’ & ‘can do anything for the boss’ nature. But…& this is a big BUT, don’t forget Sitaram Kunte is here and he is here to stay. He immediately solved the long pending issue of transfers, as soon as he was appointed full time “ACS-Home” & proved his mettle. Bharti sahab, yet a lot of dust to be dusted, off your shoulders!😊
3. Tv9: One of our own Journo Pandurang Raikar’s death shook the entire fraternity. He died because he did not get an ambulance & oxygen on time in Pune. So the IAS officers of Pune Corporation who are shouting on top of their voices throughout social media about their achievements, just SHUT UP!! Anyway, Raikar has gone, and so has the image of TV9 in our eyes. A message is being viral on WhatsApp & even if I don’t believe in such gossips, a little questionnaire, I’m sure, Umesh Kumavat & Gang won’t be uncomfortable to answer, isn’t it ? A. Is it True Tv9 office was made like a jail & for two months of initial lockdown no one was allowed to go in and out of office? B. Is it true a desk Roshan Dias also has expired in TV9 due to Corona & he wasn’t allowed to go to home even after he complained about being unwell. C. Is it true a certain Gajanan Kadam, Manik Munde & Shamit Sinha are allowed to work from home just because they are management? D.Why did the likes of Tulsidas Bhoite & Sachin Parab left TV9? & finally, E. What has TV9 done for Raikar & Dias families?
Kangana Ye tune Kya Kiya: All your efforts of dragging Bollywood & stealing the daylights out of superstars by exposing the drug cartel all went in vain when you grabbed your phone yesterday & sat on Twitter. I agree, certain elements in Mumbai are of the Pak mentality, but even today, Mumbai is still a better place. In fact you gave a chance to otherwise “done nothing for marathi manus” party like Shivsena (it was a pride for all Marathi’s till Hon’ble Balasaheb was there) a chance to rise their head and do what best they do, create panic…Now hope they won’t create panic for the investigation agencies by their morchas & all. I had tweeted earlier, do whatsoever, PM Modi has intervened now. He has put all 3 best agencies of the country in Mumbai. They won’t go empty handed from here. SSR’s death case investigation was just the trigger they were waiting for….BCCI is done & dusted, mind you…It’s Bollywood next…!!
Vikrant Hemant Joshi
