Proposed Kalamboli-Kamothe creek bridge still on paper

PANVEL: Earlier this week, a Panvel resident Dol Bahadur Saru’s daughter died after she was bitten by a stray dog at Khutari village. But this is just one of the many incidents that show how Panvel is still plagued by the stray dog menace.

According to data available with the Cidco’s health department, between August 2013 and March 2015, around 3,500 people have been administered anti-rabies vaccines after being bitten by stray dogs.

The City and Industrial and Development Cor poration (Cidco) has spent around Rs36 lakh on sterlisation of stray dogs in Panvel taluka last year. Despite these measures, locals continue to be bitten. Unfortunately, the zilla parishad, too, has failed to take any action to curb the menace, said Vishal Sawant, a local activist.

“Despite drafting a policy on anti- rabies vaccine, the zilla parishad has not yet implemented it. There is also shortage of sterilisation centres in taluka to reduce population of stray dogs,” said Sawant.

Cidco officials said they are doing their best to control the situation.

Panvel t ehsildar, Pawan Chandak, said, “It is a serious issue and we are trying our best to resolve it. But to resolve this menace, we would require the zilla parishad officials to be proactively involved. We are following up on the matter with them.”

Sawant said, “As per a survey conducted by the Raigad zilla parishad last year, there were 8,000 stray dogs in Panvel taluka. But these so-called animal lovers have contributed to increasing the stray dog population in the taluka.”

A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said, “The animal lovers offer eatables to stray dogs. After the stray dogs disappear, they approach the local police station asking them to locate the missing stray dogs. If officials of the police station fail to locate the stray dogs, the animal lovers approach the police commissioner for the same.” Members of the Jain community take out a procession on Mahavir Jayanti from the Jain mandir in Vashi’s Sector 9 to Gaondevi Mandir in Vashi’s Sector 11 on Thursday. KALAMBOLI: The City Industrial and Development Corporation’s ( Cidco) proposal to build the Kalamboli- Kamothe creek bridge is yet to see the light of day.

Cidco officials, however, said that the project is under study and steps to ensure its effective implementation will be taken soon.

Kiran Phanase, Cidco’s administrator in Kalamboli, said, “Currently, we are working out the technical aspects of the proposed Kamothe- Kalamboli creek bridge. The construction of the creek bridge will be taken up, once all the necessary formalities are completed.”

In a move to make commuting between Kalamboli and Kamothe convenient, the planning agency had proposed to build the creek bridge that would connect Kalamboli police headquarters to Kamothe.

Presently, motorists heading to Kamothe from Kalamboli have to take a turn at Shiv Sena Shakha in Kalamboli. The long route costs them both time and The Kalamboli creek over which Cidco has proposed to build the bridge. money.

To ensure that the project materialises, social activist Atmaram Kadam has decided to launch a signature campaign to garner support for the project.

“Once the KalamboliKamothe creek bridge is built, residents from Kalamboli can reach Kamothe within minutes. The creek bridge will save people’s precious time and money,” said Kadam.

According to Kadam, “Cidco has proposed to build the creek bridge connecting Kalamboli police headquarters to Kamothe along time ago. But the project is only on paper owing to the lackadaisical attitude of the planning agency to ensure its execution.”

The project if it materialises will help the NMMT start bus services to and fro Kalamboli and Kamothe.

In fact, the NMMT had carried out a survey of the route to start the bus service. However, it could not do so because of the lack of adequate space for buses to ply. VASHI: The APMC police on Wednesday arrested two men, for allegedly cheating a 24-year-old man of Rs6.50 lakh by promising him a job in Dubai.

According to the police, the complainant, Vikranjit Singh, a resident of Kopar Khairane, had got in touch with the accused — identified as Pawan Shukla, 22, a native Uttar Pradesh and Jayhar Rathod, 23, a native of Gujarat —in November last year, when he was desperately searching for a job.

“The accused told him that he could easily get a job in Dubai if he was ready to pay Rs6.50 lakh for the visa the air tickets. Not suspecting any foul play, Singh paid them the money within a few days,” said an officer from APMC police station.

“But five months later, when there was still no progress on the job front, Singh started inquiring about it. The accused eventually stopped receiving his phone calls and went into hiding,” he said.

“It was then that Singh registered a complaint with the police following which we arrested the duo from Kalyan on Wednesday,” added the officer.

The accused have been booked under sections 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“Several advertisements that offer jobs overseas appear in newspapers daily. People apply blindly for those jobs and become victims of fake recruitment agencies. Before approaching any agency, one should do good research about the company,” said another police officer, requesting anonymity.

BACHCHAN KUMAR