THANE CIVIC SCHOOL LOSES PLAYGROUND; PARENTS BEGIN RELAY PROTEST

THANE: Parents of students from Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) school number 126 and 32 at Hajuri are on a hunger strike against the civic body for using the land beside the school to set up command and control room.

The land was the students’ playground for almost 20 years. As the plot belongs to TMC, it will be used to set up a control room for CCTV cameras across the city.

“The plot is owned by TMC. It is not a designated playground. Asitwasempty, civicschoolchildren would use it to play. We have an approval to set up a command and control room,” said Manish Joshi, assistant municipal commissioner, TMC.

Five parents take turns to protest outside the TMC office at Panchpakhadi. The protest started on December 23 and will go on till TMC responds.

“Weusedtousethegroundfor all important events of the school. It is important to have a playground for students’ mental and physical growth. Hence, we are fighting for it,” said Firoz Pathan, parent of a 10-year-old boy studying in the Hajuri civic school.

The school premises at Hajuri has Urdu and Marathi medium schools.

“Withthedecliningnumberof Marathi-medium schools, the civic body should focus on providing facilities so that students are encouraged. Taking hasty decisions may reduce student count,” said Sana Sheikh, teacher at TMC Urdu school.

Earlier this month, students had staged a march in which around 80 students protested for losing the playground.

KALYAN: After all efforts to repair pothole-filled roads in the city failed, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) is planning to asphalt roads using plastic.

The method, experts said, is effective and results in durable, pothole-free roads.

“The civic body will take up the use of plastic in asphalt road on temporary basis first. If it works and makes a difference all the contractors in the city will be further asked to make sure they mix plastic in the asphalting process,” said a KDMC official, who did not wish to be named.

With this the civic body also aims at reducing the dumping of plastic wastes on road and nullahs in the city.

“The plastic will be collected and then instead of dumping them in Adharwadi dumping ground will be used to add in the asphalt mixture used for the roads,” added the officer.

Recently, the civic body organised a workshop on how to use plastic to asphalt roads. The experts from Rudra Environmental Solutions spoke about the process and also how it is beneficial for environment as well as improving roads in the city.

KDMC has plans to use plastic in asphalting only one road now.

“Several NGOs associated with us which will help us in getting the plastic to mix with the asphalt material. We have a segregation shed at Umbarde from where we can get the plastic,” said the officer.

Earlier in October, former KDMC corporator Nitin Nikam, along with 10 workers, filled 13 potholes in the city using PET plastic on Wednesday.

The experiment was carried out at the Kolsewadi autorickshaw stand in the Ganeshwadi ward, Kalyan (East) with

KDMC’s permission.

KDMCcommissionerGovind Bodke and other officials also visited the spot and agreed to use plastic in asphalting of roads.

Roads are in a bad condition for the past two to three years with several fatal accidents taking place because of pathetic roads. There has been strong demand to have better roads however apart from the regular methods the civic body did not take up any new methods to make the roads safer claims commuters.

“There are several ways to have better roads but in Kalyan and Dombivli the officials use the same old method to fill the potholes which don’t even last for a month. The F-Cabin road in Kalyan, which is a major connecting points develops potholes every now and then even after it is asphalted. This means there are some loopholes in the work done,” said Feroz Khan, 38, a commuter who takes the road to connect to Ulhasnagar fromKalyan. He said, “Crossing the F-Cabin road is a nightmare as the vehicles move slowly because of potholes.”

Last year, five people died in accidents because of bad roads andpothole-riddledroadsinKalyan. Residents and commuters protested, demanding the civic body to improve the condition of roads.

This year, the civic body initiated with mastic asphalting on SubhashbridgeinKalyanforthe first time. After the asphalting, the bridge did not develop a single pothole, said officials.

“Subhash bridge, the link between Kalyan and Ulhasnagar, used to develop potholes during monsoon. For the first time, I was amazed to see that the bridge smooth without potholes,” said Abhinay Verma, 30, a commuter who travel from the bridge to go from Kalyan west to east.

Rudra Environmental Solutions has agreed to build a 200500 metre road with the use of plastic in Kalyan, said officials. The civic officials also claimed that the work will save around Rs35,000 per square metres.

“Several types of plastic including bottles, plastic bags, and also those plastic which is more than 50 microns can be used for the work. Around 5% of plastic during asphalting a road will ensure durability of the road,” said KDMC official.

TMC WILL USE THE LAND TO SET UP A COMMAND AND CONTROL ROOM TO MONITOR CCTV CAMERAS ACROSS THE CITY