Shivaji memorial just 15 mins away?

MUMBAI :The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) is planning to build a jetty near the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) at Nariman Point to reduce the travel time to the proposed mid-sea Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial from an hour to around 15 minutes.

Currently, all ferries set sail from the Gateway of India.

The memorial is around 19-22km from the Gateway, as ferries gave to take a roundabout route. “However, a jetty near NCPA will reduce the distance to around 4.8km,” said Vikram Kumar, the chief executive officer, MMB.

The MMB plans to reclaim four acres of land near NCPA to build the jetty for ferries to the memorial at an estimated cost of around ₹250 crore. The memorial is 1.2km from Raj Bhavan and 3.6km from Girgaum Chowpatty. A jetty near NCPA would also help decongest

the anchorage at Gateway of India, MMB officials said. “Once the memorial is ready, a lot of tourists are expected to visit it.

An additional jetty will help take the load off the anchorage. Apart from ferries to the memorial, we can also use the jetty for services to Alibaug and the Konkan area,” said a senior MMB official who did not wish to be named.

CONTINUED ON P 10 MUMBAI : In 2008, when heavilyarmed Pakistani terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Vishnu Dattaram Zende, then a suburban railway announcer, was in a tiny announcer’s booth in the station and used the public announcement system to guide people to safety.

“Nobody prepares you for such a situation. No training helps. It was an instant reaction,” said Zende, now promoted as a suburban railway guard.

The announcer’s booth is above the station master’s office, offering Zende an overview of the station.

“I saw the men walking with guns … to the suburban railway section and firing indiscriminately. They were throwing hand-grenades. This is when I realised it was a terrorist attack,” Zende told HT. Immediately, Zende announced in Hindi and Marathi that passengers should exit the station from the rear end of the terminus, guiding them away from Kasab and Ismail and towards safety — even as he guided the terrorists' attention towards himself. Ten years after the horrific attack that left hundreds dead and exposed gaping holes in Mumbai’s security system, HT takes look at the heroes who fought back, the lives lost and the steps taken to make the city safer.

››FULL REPORT, P5