Mumbai Port Trust snippets

The Mumbai Port Trust is constructing two offshore container berths and an offshore terminal and received permission from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority for it on April 20.

The Mumbai Port Trust had told the government that there was no reclamation required and that it was an extension of earlier projects wherein two docks were filled up. Earlier, concerns were expressed on the effect on flamingos.

The Mumbai Port Trust has already completed two berths and approach trestle, capital dredging for berth pocket, filling of Princess and Victoria dock, rail container depot, approach channel and turning circle dredging, and birth pocket. Now, the Mumbai Port Trust wants procurement of cargo handling equipment, container yard, and capital dredging in the approach channel. The Mumbai Port Trust claimed that it was only filling old dock basins.

The union shipping ministry is developing the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and expanding it. At the same time, much export of cars and other material happens from offshore container terminal located off Ferry Wharf.

Mumbai has a natural harbour, but over a period of time, a lot of silt has accumulated there. Since the Mumbai Port Trust and the union shipping ministry wanted to have bigger ships coming in, they buried the Princess and Victoria docks and also constructed a terminal inside the sea connected with the road on stilts. The new permission is a part of the expansion.

7 naval ships deployed for shipment of oxygen

In support of the nation’s fight against Covid-19 and as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu II’, seven Indian Naval ships – Kolkata, Kochi, Talwar, Tabar, Trikand, Jalashwa and Airavat – have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various countries.

INS Kolkata and INS Talwar, mission deployed in the Persian Gulf, were the first batch of ships that were immediately diverted for the task and entered port of Manama, Bahrain on April 30.

INS Talwar, with 40 MT liquid medical oxygen embarked, is headed back home.

INS Kolkata has proceeded to Doha, Qatar for embarking medical supplies and will subsequently head to Kuwait for embarking liquid oxygen tanks.

Similarly, on the eastern seaboard, INS Airavat, too, has been diverted for the task, while INS Jalashwa, which played a key role during Operation Samudra Setu last year was pulled out of maintenance, readied and sailed out to augment the effort.

INS Airavat is scheduled to enter Singapore for embarking liquid oxygen tanks and INS Jalashwa is standing by in the region to embark medical stores at short notice. The second batch of ships comprising Kochi, Trikand and Tabar mission deployed in Arabian Sea have also been diverted to join the national effort.

From the Southern Naval Command, the Landing Ship Tank INS Shardul is being readied to join the Operation within 48 hours.

Indian Navy also has the surge capability to deploy more ships when the need arises to further nation’s fight against Covid-19.

It may be recalled that Operation Samudra Setu was launched last year by the Navy and around 4,000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries, amidst Covid-19 outbreak, were successfully repatriated back to India.

Somewhere in Mumbai....

If you find flowers blooming on a vacant piece of land along the tracks on the suburban section of Central Railway’s Mumbai Division, don’t be surprised. This is exactly what the CR is planning in association with Nashik’s Sahyadri Farms all along the tracks.

This initiative is aimed at beautifying and keeping the tracks clean, besides protecting the unused land from encroachers. After a preliminary survey, it was decided that the pilot project would be implemented between Parel and Dadar, said a senior Central Railway official. The CR officials and Sahyadri Farms are giving final touches to the plan to use the unused railway land for growing flowers.

“The sight of garbage and overflowing drains along railway tracks adds to the woes of passengers. Besides being an eyesore, garbage or debris along the tracks is a health and safety hazard,” said the officer.

This garbage is generally dumped by people who live in slums close to the tracks. Though the CR has erected stone masonry and RCC boundary wall almost parallel to tracks right from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Thane and CSMT to Mankhurd, still the garbage dumping is rampant. The boundary wall is frequently damaged for littering the tracks. The muck is also generated by railways’ maintenance of tracks like deep screening and shallow screening of track ballast, said the officer. Besides slum dwellers, the train passengers also contribute to littering by throwing empty packets of food items, tea cups, water bottles and other things. It is a herculean task for railways to collect and dispose of this garbage, he said.

“The stink from adjacent drains in which sewer is connected by hutment dwellers poses a two-fold problem. First the percolated water causes mud pumping and damage to tracks. Second, the labourers are reluctant to work at such locations adding to further damage and deterioration of track besides creating unsafe conditions,” said the officer.

The railway staff and unions often protest asking why the workers should be subjected to such unhealthy working conditions.

The railways tried to mitigate the problem by launching the innovative ‘Grow More Food’ scheme, under which vacant land is given to the serving railway employees for growing vegetables for a nominal licence fee. The scheme has been abolished in other parts of India but allowed to continue in Mumbai Division only to protect railway land from encroachments and abuse of garbage dumping.

Railways’ licence agreement stipulated that the cultivator has to source potable water from a well or bore well. Many NGOs have expressed concerns about the quality of water being used for cultivation of vegetables. It is alleged that the drain water is used for cultivation, rendering the vegetables unsuitable for human consumption.

“Whenever it is noticed by authorities that water other than potable water has been used, such licenses are cancelled. Railways’ prime intention is to protect vulnerable railway land from encroachments and also reduce the nuisance of garbage dumping,” said a senior officer of CR.

“Keeping in mind all these issues, the idea of floriculture in place of vegetable cultivation was mooted by CR’s Mumbai Division. We are finalising an agreement with the Sahyadri Farms to start this project between Dadar and Parel on a pilot basis. If we succeed, the project will be gradually extended to other areas of Mumbai division,” said the CR officer.

“Railways have more than 100 acres of vacant land which can be used for floriculture or cultivation of non-edible farm products. It will be a visual treat to passengers and one of its kind in India. Railways are open to all organisations or NGO which are interested in developing vacant railway land. This is just a beginning. We require more to make the railway land garbage free,” he said.

“Under this pilot project, Sahyadri Farms is planning to help railway trackside area management contractors for flower production instead of growing vegetables in the trackside area,” said Vilas Shinde, chairman, Sahyadri Farms.

Flowers planned under this project are roses, marigold, chrysanthemum, and a few seasonal flowers. This pilot project will be implemented on a four-acre planting area along the tracks between Parel and Dadar.

“Sahyadri Farms’ team is planning to supply planting material along with drip irrigation system, fertiliser, agronomy support, training, and sales support to contractors as a CSR activity. We as a farmer community are really happy to contribute to such unique urban projects with the help of railway authorities,” Shinde said. Sahyadri Farmers Producer Co Ltd, widely known as Sahyadri Farms, based at Mohadi, Nashik is an organisation owned by one hundred farmers who manage a 25,000-acre growing area. More than 10,000 horticulture farmers are associated with it.

April 2021: GST Mop-up at a Record ₹1.41 Lakh Crore

Goods and services tax collections hit a record monthly high of ₹1.41 lakh crore in April, pointing to a recovering economy before the Covid-19 pandemic exploded. April GST collections, for transactions in the previous month, are 14% higher than the ₹1.24 lakh crore collected in March, according to official data. This is the seventh successive month collections have crossed ₹1 lakh crore.

The improvement came despite the second wave of Covid-19 affecting several parts of the country and was indicative of the resilience of Indian businesses, the finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday. “These are clear indicators of sustained economic recovery during this period,” the ministry said.

Experts said the collections could decline going ahead as the pandemic surge has led to closures in many states. “The all-time high collections which relate to supplies made in March 2021 could now give way to muted collections in the coming months due to the lower economic activities in April,” said MS Mani, senior director at Deloitte India.

April revenue comprised central GST of ₹27,837 crore, state GST of ₹35,621 crore, integrated GST of ₹68,481 crore and compensation cess of ₹9,445 crore. After IGST settlements by the Centre, states received a total ₹58,377 crore in April while the Centre collected ₹57,022 crore.

Comparable data for April 2020 is not available due to the nationwide lockdown at the time.

Measures to increase compliance and check evasion have also boosted collections. Closer monitoring against fake billing, deep data analytics using information from multiple sources such as GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration have contributed to steady increase in tax revenue, the finance ministry said. “The continuing focus on improving compliance and the steps taken to curb evasion appear to be significantly improving GST collections,” Mani said.

At 40%, positivity rate in Goa highest in country

Goa’s sub-par contact tracing and limited testing in April has seen India’s tiniest state report the highest positivity rate in the country. The steep curve of Goa’s Covid indicators not only show rapid disease spread, but also reveals the state government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the pandemic.

At 40.5%, Goa’s weekly positivity rate remains the highest in the country, far ahead of larger states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. A few days ago, the daily positivity rate stood at 51%, and epidemiologists and doctors said the data shows that one in every two persons getting tested has been infected by the virus. On Saturday, of the 5,897 swab samples tested, 2,303 were positive.

For first time, tiger spotted in W Ghats’ reserve

The forest department has spotted a tiger for the first time in one the conservation reserves along the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. Seven forest ranges were declared CRs in December last year.

Forest officials said the sighting of a tiger is of major significance as it highlights the purpose for which the forest ranges were declared CRs. A few days ago, a cattle kill was reported to the forest department following which over half-a-dozen cameras were installed at the site.

On Wednesday, one of the cameras recorded a male tiger with its kill. Clement Ben, chief forest conservator of Kolhapur, said, “Before declaration of the conservation reserve, we too had heard about the presence of a tiger in the region and had tried several times to get evidence. This time, we succeeded in getting photographic evidence. The CRs serves as a migration corridor for many wild animals and need to be protected to ensure their population increases.”

In December last year, the state wildlife board headed by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had given the CR tag to the seven ranges — Amboli-Dodamarg, Chandgad, Ajara-Bhudargad, Gaganbawda, Panhalagad, Vishalgad and Jor-Jambhali — along the Western Ghats. These CRs now connect the protected forest areas such as Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary and Tillari Wildlife Sanctuary that are already protected.

“We are installing cameras at several places. We expect the tiger to move up to the Chandoli forest range. We have issued alerts to local people to immediately contact us in case of any conflict with the tiger,” Ben said, adding that disclosing the location where the animal was spotted was not ethical as it could invite poachers.

Greater Mumbai: Maha’s largest urban cluster

The Greater Mumbai urban agglomeration is the largest in Maharashtra with eight urban local bodies.

On Friday, the state urban development department released the list of urban local bodies in Maharashtra based on their population as million-plus cities and non-million-plus cities as per recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission. The classification is mandatory to access funds for improving air quality, improving, water, solid waste management and sanitation in the 50 million-plus urban agglomerations.

The report of the 15th Finance Commission was tabled in Parliament in February. As per the report, funds are to be allocated to urban local bodies based upon the category in which they are placed. The Centre has budgeted Rs 38,196 crore for 50 million-plus population urban agglomerations, and Rs 82,859 crore for the non-million ULBs. The funds are to be used exclusively for developing infrastructure and providing services to citizens. Salaries cannot be paid from these funds.

The Greater Mumbai agglomeration has eight ULBs with million plus population, Pune agglomeration five, Nashik three, Nagpur and Aurangabad two each, and Vasai-Virar has been classified separately as a city. All other towns/urban local councils/panchayats in Maharashtra have been classified as non-million plus cities.

Excluding Mumbai, whose financial budget for 2021-22 is over Rs 39,000 crore, these funds would enhance the financial capabilities of the other municipalities, especially the smaller ones, to build capacity. For the smaller urban local bodies, the 15th Finance Commission funds could constitute as much as 25% of their annual budget, said officials. To ensure transparency and accountability on how funds are utilised, the 15th Finance Commission mandates public disclosure of two kinds of information: financial information, such as annual budgets, audited annual accounts and details of contractor payments, and outcomes/performance of the infrastructure and services developed. It also mandates the strengthening of the state finance commission and tabling of action-taken reports in the state legislature.