The Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) spends almost half of the cess collected from tenants living in old buildings on paying the salaries of its employees, Maharashtra Minister of State for Housing Ravindra Waikar said.

The MBRRB works under Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA).

Waikar said that the cess collected from tenants living in dilapidated buildings should only be spent on the repairs and reconstructions of such buildings.

“The collection for the MBRRB is done by the Mumbai civic body and should be used for fresh repairs of dilapidated buildings only.

“Around Rs. 40 crore is collected by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), 40 crore is given by the state government. Along with this, Rs. 10 crore is given by the MCGM and MHADA each. Thus, the Board gets Rs. 100 crore each year,” the minister said.

Waikar said he kept receiving complaints of shoddy repair work being done by the MBRRB and on investigation into the reasons, he found that the Board did not have sufficient funds to carry out its work.

“I was receiving complaints that repairing work was not being properly done by the board. I then found out this was happening because the Board did not have sufficient funds. Upon further inquiries, it came to light that almost half of the Board’s money was being spent on employees’ salaries,” he said.

“This is gross injustice to people who live in dilapidated buildings. Money is being spent on purposes other than for which it meant for last many years. MHADA officials should be payed by MHADA itself and not a Board that works under it. According to law, money collected for repairs should be used for the purpose,” he added.

Waikar said that he has instructed MHADA officials to stop paying employees from the cess collected by the MBRRB.

The MBRRB was formed in 1971 with an aim to do repairs and reconstruction of old and dilapidated cessed buildings in Mumbai. The megapolis has over 14,000 such buildings that pose threat to those who reside in them.

A random count of various species of birds would be taken up by city-based Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) on November 15 for which it has sought active participation of bird enthusiasts.

The compilation of results of the counting task, being taken up to commemorate the birth anniversary of noted ornithologist late Dr. Salim Ali, known as the ‘bird man of India’, is likely to take about a month, a BNHS official said.

The ‘Salim Ali Bird Count’ is organised by BNHS in partnership with Bird Count India, a collective group of many organisations across the country working towards documenting and monitoring birds.

“The bird count (task) is open to all common people and amateurs. As bird enthusiasts, they can count the birds by observing them from their balconies or windows, or wherever they like or is possible, for at least 15 minutes and preferably over an hour,” assistant director (education and communication), BNHS, Atul Sathe said.

“When they are done with the counting, they should note down the details of their observations, complete lists of all species spotted, and then upload all the information on the ‘ebirds’ website from where our society will download, analyse and circulate the findings,” said Sathe.

One can visit multiple locations during a day, but must maintain and upload separate bird lists and count for each location, he said.

When asked how accurate or authentic would this bird count be, Sathe said it is a kind of random survey that would ensure larger participation from the people in rural and urban areas, farms, mountains, jungles and seashores.

“Whenever a large number of people take part in an initiative, many hidden facts are unfolded and this is what we want to repeat in this massive survey. Though we have presence in almost three fourths part of the country, it is also true that our associates cannot reach every place where birds can reach,” he said.

Notably, eight birds from India have become more vulnerable to extinction in just last year, as revealed in the latest ‘red list’ of species nearing extinction prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

BNHS is one of the largest NGOs in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.

Many prominent naturalists, including ornithologist Salim Ali, have been associated with it.

Barely a week after spearheading a ‘March for India’ against writers returning awards, actor Anupam Kher launched an attack on writer Arundhati Roy, saying that she should give up her Booker Prize rather than returning the National Award she received.

“Why doesn’t Arundhati Roy give up her Man Booker Prize instead of the award for her best screenplay? Booker Prize is an international prize and as an ambassador of world peace, she should have given up that award citing Syrian crisis

Kher, who was at the forefront of protest against ‘Award Wapsi’ by writers and filmmakers, also charged them with sullying the image of the country. “The intolerance campaign has tarnished the image of the country. Writers like Arundhati Roy are unfathomable to layman/woman and we shouldn’t forget that she made statements like Kashmir should go with Pakistan,” Kher said.

Kher said that even foreign media is biased in reporting about India and they posed queries only on intolerance.

“The BBC interview was a selective one about intolerance. Foreign media chooses what suits them. I raised my concern in the interview and I think it’s not aired,” Kher said, adding that the New York Times and The Economist have highlighted intolerance instead of the development aspects of India.

“International media has headlines like ‘India no more a tolerant country’. The intolerance level in those countries may be higher than India,” he added.

On the raging controversy over Tipu Sultan in Karnataka, Kher said actor Girish Karnad shouldn’t have made comments about renaming Bangalore airport, replacing name of 16th century city founder Kempe Gowda with Tipu.

“Karnad is a senior actor and I feel that he shouldn’t have made comments (for) which he had to apologise later,” the actor said.

“I met the prime minister after the march. The writers, who returned the awards, never asked for an audience with the PM. Poet Munnawar Rana who returned the award said on TV that he wanted to meet the PM. The PMO got in touch with him, but he never responded,” said Kher. Hitting out at film director Dibakar Banerjee, who returned his National Aaward, Kher said that Banerjee has misled people.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) was the first civic body in the country to launch the revolutionary initiative of ‘smart traffic signal’ in 2008 which change from red-amber-green depending on the traffic flow in any direction, an official said on Friday.

The plan to convert the entire traffic signal system in the city comprising 335 ‘conventional signals’, and another 166 ‘flashing beacon lights’ to smart signals is underway at a fast pace and will be implemented soon, the MCGM official said.

“The smart signals remain green for longer duration in the direction in which there is heavy traffic to enable faster clearance of vehicles and prevent traffic snarls,” said the official.

Of the network of 590 signals on roads and junctions, the smart signals are working very well at 255 locations since 2008, and have been fitted with sophisticated automatic equipment and a majority are the long-lasting LED lights which have resulted in significant savings in electricity bills.

The initiative to install Adaptive Road Traffic Signal System or smart signals was launched in 2008 with the first one at Girgaum, near the Harkisondas Hospital junction in south Mumbai, under the Mumbai Area Traffic Control Project (MATCP).

The equipment includes Vehicle Detection Camera or CCTVs installed at junctions which monitor and count the number of vehicles proceeding to a particular direction and provide live feeds or computer feeds where the relevant software analyses the data to keep the signals ‘green’ for a longer period depending on the traffic flow.

The MCGM installed the smart signals as per traffic department norms and covers the maintenance and running costs in collaboration with the Mumbai Traffic Police.

The entire smart signal network is being monitored at the Traffic Police Headquarters, Worli.

An important aspect is that information about breakdown of any particular signal or the complementary equipment is relayed directly to the traffic police headquarters enabling quick repairs to prevent traffic jams.