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Smokes of death? |
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More Pains |
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 Decisions and Implementations
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The GAP widening day by day:
Perform or perish. It was the warning given to the new Ministers who
took the oath of office after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
formed the government in New Delhi a couple of weeks before. Alarmed
by the rising expectations, the Prime Minister even unveiled a
100-day roadmap for his ministerial colleagues and issued them with...Read
Full
 SSA Funds in Malegaon
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Whose purpose are they
actually
serving?:
Instead most of these funds are either lapsed and lay unused or if
at all they are used, due to improper planning and rampant
corruption, fail in bringing the desired results. This is what had
seemingly happened with the massive amount of the fund that came to Malegaon through Serva Siksha Abhiyan...Read
Full
 Such things happen only in Malegaon-Denied
the
wages,
teachers
are forced to work in
powerloom factories during the night:
The life has become a hell for more than 1000 families here in
Malegaon as the local civic body is persistently failing in paying
its share...Read
Full
 A Living Hell:
Established in 1863 Malegaon Municipal Council till a decade ago was regarded as one of the richest Council
in Maharashtra. It was so prosperous that when Nashik and Malegaon
both were Municipal Councils, it used to lend Nashik Municipal
Council the funds needed for the monthly payments....Read
Full
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Malegaon:
Mausam River that originates from the historic Saler and
Mulher mountains divides Malegaon-the Muslim dominated textile
city in North Maharashtra in two parts. While the western part of
the city is having Hindus as its majority inhabitant, the eastern
part has the Muslims in numbers. It is here in the eastern part that
the things are messed up resulting in a situation that is worsening
with an alarming pace today. Surrounded by thousands of small and
big powerloom factories, sizing units and plastic industries, the
eastern part of the city is so ghettoized that it has an estimated
60,000 people per square kilometer as against 20,000, the normal.
Incidentally it is the eastern part of the city that generates the
major share of revenue for the civic body. Yet when it comes to
providing the basic amenities and a healthy environment it is this
area which is neglected the most and meted to all sort of injustice
and irregularities by the civic body. The existence of plastic
factories and sizing units in and around the locality is only adding
to the woes of the natives.
Blessings though these factories might be for their owners. But for
the people living in this part they have become disgusting to say
the least. For, the large quantity of plastic-wastes used by these
factories is contaminating the environment in the entire area with
poisonous gases. In last two years, the complaints are lodged with
every government department including the Maharashtra Pollution
Control Board (MPCB) but barring few routine and formal procedures
no concrete action has been taken so far. The inept attitude of the
administration has only encouraged the owners who are using all sort
of hazardous materials in their factories despite receiving the
so-called notices issued by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board
(MPCB).
“You don’t need anyone to tell about the pollution level and badly
polluted atmosphere in the area if you are entering the town from
the east.
The
low-height chimneys with visible leakages and excessive utilization
of plastic-waste purchased on through-away prices in these factories
resulting in the emission of poisonous gases are all so pronounced
that
I
was just wondering if I needed to complain for such an obvious
thing”, sarcastically says Dr. Saeed Farani, whose Faran Hospital is
among the few in the city that always comes to the rescue of the
people in case of a calamity. Dr. Farni shot a letter to the
Minister of Health and Family Welfare (Govt. of Maharashtra) and
requested for an appropriate action.”But they don’t seem to be even
bothered about the patients particularly the women patients and
newly born babies who are terribly affected by the poisonous gases
emanating from these factories”, he says.
After their repeated pleas with the owners of these factories and
various complaints lodged with the concerned departments failed in
producing any results, the natives finally moved to the Maharashtra
Pollution Control Board (MPCB) on February 2, 2007 and pleaded for
an immediate action against the culprits. Along with the MPCB,
copies of the complaint were also forwarded to almost every
government office in the town and at the district headquarter
including the Collector and Superintendent of Police. “However
neither the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) nor any other
department came to our rescue”, informs Yusuf Abdullah, a prominent
Tax Consultant.
RTI
- The Savior but situation ceases to change
After waiting for any action from the Maharashtra Pollution Control
Board (MPCB) for a little more than a year, Yusuf Abdullah filed an
application under Right to Information Act (RTI) on February 12,
2008 and demanded to know from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB)
about the actions taken on their complaint. The RTI application did
not go unanswered. The MPCB officers, led by Field Officer Ashok
Kare and equipped with Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Instruments,
at last raided the sizing units and plastic factories on March 13,
2008 and found the air pollution in the area, as complained by the
resident, at alarmingly high level. They also found the hazardous
materials being used in these factories.
“However”, Yusuf Abdullah says, “They did not take any preemptive
action even after finding the hazardous materials. They just took
the sizing owners’ signatures on a form and let them go away without
any warnings.”
But
Ashok Kare, who had led the raids in Malegaon, denied allowing
anyone was left unpunished. “The whole matter is still under process
and actions would be taken once it is complete”, he had said when we
spoke to him after the raids before adding, “We have already issued
show-cause notices to the sizing owners on March 24 and sought their
reply in ten days.”
On
their part, the sizing owners while admitting that they are using
the plastic waste purchased from the plastic factories in the
boilers instead of wood, declined to agree that they are doing so to
save the money and at the cost of innocent life. “It is not true
that we use these materials because they are cheap. Most of the time
we don’t get the timber for the boilers in time hence we opt for
them”, a sizing owner says on the condition of anonymity.
As
the claims and counter-claims go on and on, for the people in the
area after the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) issued the
show cause notices to the owners, the condition instead of improving
has deteriorated even further. Contacting the MPCB Regional Office
in Nashik to know what exactly is the final decision it has taken to
control the pollution level in Malegaon reveals that Ashok Kare, the
Field Officer who was at the forefront of the matter in Malegaon, is
transferred to Aurangabad and the MPCB is yet to take any final
decision on these notices. At the local level, the Municipal
Commissioner is away in Mumbai and other senior officers refuse to
comment anything over the matter.
The
result is that the owners are enjoying the free run thanks to the
huge cash that is changing the hands and the helpless natives are
considering shifting to some other parts in the city for their
safety.
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A Masjid,
A Mandir and Me: Malegaon, a town in India with more than 70%
Muslim population has always been considered as a communally sensitive
place....
The Power of Reading: 
'I see my role as offering the voices of the silenced majority of
Muslims in America and around the world',
Zafar Shaikh-
The
Men Inspired by Debacles:
Born
in UP, Educated in Arunachal, Cracked UPSC while doing Ph. D in
Delhi: 
Skilled
Hands converting couplets 
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