TIMES CITY * THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010 4

‘Mangrovesnear Dahisarwill die soon’

Viju B | TNN

Mumbai: The latest report bythe committee appointed bythe Mumbai suburban collec-tor exposes the massive de-struction of mangroves atDahisar adjoining Gorai creek.

The report (a copy ofwhich is with TOI) notes thatthe land holder of surveynumber 344 carried out largescale destruction of man-groves and obstructed thenatural flow of salt water inthe mangrove area. Due tothis, the vegetation and man-groves here will die soon, thereport stated.

On Monday, Union minis-ter Jairam Ramesh had saidthat the ministry of envi-ronment and forests (MoEF)had written to the state chiefminister, Ashok Chavan, ask-ing the government to takeaction against violators.

The report was compiledby a six-member team com-prising senior forest andcivic officials who visited thearea following complaintsfrom residents. It was ob-served that debris was beingdumped all along the bundportion. “The bund was con-structed by digging out themud for the surroundingcreek filled with mangroves,’’the report said.

The report also observedthat that the land holder hadsubmitted the completion re-port, but the bund was beingfilled the help of donkeys. Asenior official said thatthough permission was giv-en only for repairing bunds,

the land holder had extend-ed the bunds and dumped de-bris over mangroves in grossviolation of the Bombay highcourt order.

“The Borivali-Dahisarstretch has seen one of thebiggest encroachments in re-cent times, with hundreds ofacres of mangroves destroyedon the banks of Vasai creek,’’said Harish Pandey, member,IC Colony New Link Road

Residents’ Forum.There are around 1,200

acres of mangroves adjoin-ing the Gorai creek, of whichhundreds of acres have dis-appeared due to encroach-ments. “Massive filling isseen along the boundary ofsurvey number 344. The ex-isting bund has beenwidened up to about 8-9 m.The mangroves along thebund were buried under thedebris,’’ the report said.

The report noted that cul-verts and gates have blockedthe entry of tidal water in theplot and there was no provi-sion given to these gates toregulate the entry of water.

BMC gets toughon litterbugsSharad Vyas | TNN

Mumbai: Over two weeksafter the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC) announced to crackthe whip and penalise citi-zens and commercial shopowners found clogging nul-lahs meant to carry rain-water into the sea, the civicclean-up drive has nowgathered momentum.

Taking the issue of keep-ing nullahs free of blockagesseriously, the BMC teamshave fined over 146 industri-al units as well as individu-als for throwing rubbish intothe nullahs in the last 12days. The collective fineamount stands at Rs 1.35lakh, said officials.

“Of these, at least 12were individuals who werecaught and fined for throw-ing waste into the drains inthe eastern suburbs; thedrives were carried out byour teams in the mornings,’’said a senior civic officialin-charge of the drive.

In his announcement onJune 12, municipal comms-sioner Swadheen Kshatriyahad said that the BMC hadhad enough. “No matter howmuch we clean the drains,people keep throwing wasteinto them every day,’’ Ksha-triya had said.

Most of the action tookplace in eastern suburbs; atKurla, Nehru Nagar, Chun-

abhatti, MbPT nullah atWadala, Laxmi Nagar nullahat Ghatkopar, Nahur nullah,Usha Nagar nullah atBhandup, Mulund nullah,and Mithi river near KalpanaTalkies and Kranti Nagar,the officials said.

Deputy municipal com-missioner (special) R Bhos-ale said individuals and of-fenders were fined between

Rs 100 and Rs 5,000 by the spe-cial squad formed for thedrive. Two special squadshave been formed to keep aneye on spots notorious forclogged drains.

The BMC spends over Rs 50 crore to clean, widen anddesilt 2,000-km of drains to en-sure they are cleared beforethe monsoon. While it pun-ishes contractors and officialsfor slow progress of desiltingwork, never before has it de-cided to punish people throw-ing waste into the drains.

Rupali Mukherjee | TNN

Mumbai: In one of the largeststudies conducted so far,Glaxo’s anti-diabetes pillrosiglitazone (Avandia) re-ported an increasing evidenceof heart risk, strokes anddeath, fuelling a debate on thishotly-contested drug, world-wide and in India, and raisingquestions on whether it shouldbe banned by regulators.

The issue assumes signifi-cance in India as rosiglitazoneis a widely-prescribed diabetesdrug, marketed by at least 10companies, including Torrent,Dr Reddy’s, Cipla and Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) India.

Avandia has been under thescanner over the last threeyears, when one of the first stud-ies reported that it increasedheart attack risk in diabetics,after which the US Food andDrug Administration (FDA) is-sued a safety alert. Subse-quently, the drug was marketedwith a ‘black box warning’ .

The latest study commis-sioned by the FDA, and pub-lished in the Journal of Amer-ican Medical Association(JAMA) observed 2,27,571Medicare beneficiaries aged65 years or older, who initiat-ed treatment with rosiglita-zone or a related drug, piogli-

tazone, from July 2006 to June2009, and who underwent fol-low-up for up to three years.

A total of 8,667 heart at-tacks, strokes, heart failureand deaths were observed dur-ing the study period. Patientswho were prescribed rosigli-tazone reported 6% more heartattacks as compared to those

on pioglitazone; 27% morestrokes; 25% more heart fail-ure and 14% more deaths.

Dr David Graham of theFDA, the study’s lead author,said the results are alarming.

Dr Anoop Misra of FortisHospitals, Delhi, said, “In viewof repeated and decisive data,rosiglitazone has no place inthe management of diabetes.In India, this drug should bebanned due to less than ade-quate knowledge of adverse ef-fects by general practitionersin remote areas, and poorly in-formed patients.’’

A GSK India official declinedto speak on the issue, while thedrug controller general was notavailable for comment.

The JAMA study was re-leased two weeks before a cru-cial US FDA advisory panelmeets to decide on the medi-cine’s future.

In India, the drug is morepopular in towns, and widelyprescribed in an estimated 20-30% of diabetics.

Popular diabetes drug raisesrisk of heart attack: Study

WORK IN PROGRESS: Work in full swing to connect the Metro corridor to the central railway andthe skywalk near Ghatkopar station

THE BIG CONNECT‘State law must change inkeeping with RTE Act’

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: Here’s a glaring in-consistency in the law. TheGovernment of India’s Rightof Children to Free and Com-pulsory Education Act (popu-larly known as the Right to Ed-ucation Act) bars schools fromfailing kids till Std VIII. How-ever, the state government’sSecondary School (SS) Codesays that “a pupil who failstwice consecutively is liableto be asked to change schools’’.

According to education-ists, the SS Code is regressiveand should be amended sothat Maharashtra’s laws arein tune with the central gov-ernment Act.

State director of education,M R Kadam, said that theRight To Education Act, anAct of Parliament signed bythe president, supersedes theexisting laws.

“This RTE Act has comeinto effect in 2010. The SS Codeis an older law. Those parts ofthe code, which are notaligned to the Right to Edu-cation Act will not be appli-cable,’’ Kadam added.

Arundhati Chavan, presi-dent of the PTA United Fo-rum, said that it was imper-ative that the governmentamend the code so that it isin sync with the Right to Ed-ucation Act.

“The SS code allows aschool to throw out studentswho have been failed for twoyears in a row. Many schoolshave used this clause to expelstudents. So it is importantthat the government changeearlier laws. It is not enoughthat the government issues

GRs announcing new laws,’’she added.

While the code is applica-ble to both aided as well as un-aided schools, Chavan pointsto the fact that private unaid-ed schools usually ignore theSS Code in relation to fee reg-ulation and teachers’ salaries.However, they follow it for ex-pelling kids who have failedtwo years in a row.

Dr Harish Shetty, presidentof the Counsellor’s Associa-tion of India, who has been ac-tively involved with schools,says that the code is, by andlarge, overly authoritative andtakes a ‘top-down’ approachtowards education.

“The SS code is not child-centric, violates the Right toEducation Act and should beamended immediately,’’ addsShetty. “The code is outdatedand heavily favours schoolsover students. Failure, likefever, needs to be diagnosedearly on by schools so thatthey can be put on the rightcourse,’ he added. Accordingto him, it is the responsibili-ty of the school to find out whya child fails.

The issue assumessignificance in Indiaas rosiglitazone is awidely-prescribeddiabetes drug,marketed by at least10 companies

Prashant Nakwe

The SecondarySchool Code

allows a school tothrow out studentswho have failed for twoyears in a row. Manyschools have used thisto expel students. It isimportant that thegovernment changeearlier laws.Arundhati Chavan | PRESIDENT,PTA UNITED FORUM

The BMC has a monsoontarget of removing

4,12,542 cubic metres of siltfrom 2,92,751 m of nullahlength in the city. The BMChas been claiming that atlast count it had finishedmost of the work and metthe monsoon target

Cleaning upclogged nullahs

Panel Report Points To MassiveDestruction At Gorai Creek

CHOKED UP: Debris is beingdumped on bunds, destroyingmangroves at Gorai creek

Simit Bhagat | TNN

Mumbai: For the first time inMaharashtra, wildlife re-searchers working with forestofficials were able to track aleopard’s extraordinary 120-odd km journey from MalshejGhat in the Pune District to theSanjay Gandhi National Park(SGNP) in Borivli. The leopard,named Ajoba, took fourmonths to cover the terrain,and did not shy away fromcrossing railway tracks, high-ways, and pockets of civilisa-tion, said researchers of Pro-ject Waghoba who are study-ing the man-animal conflict inthe Pune and Nashik districts.

The story began a year agowhen Ajoba was rescued froma well in Alephata near thePune-Nashik Highway by for-est officials. Researchers fromProject Waghoba fitted it witha collar that had a tracking de-vice, and released the ani-

mal near Malshej Ghat.Though the experi-

ment took place in 2009, itwas only this week that theresearchers released theirfindings. “By following Ajo-ba’s movements, we discov-ered that leopards do not al-

ways shy away fromareas inhabited byhumans,’’ said VidyaAthreya, wildlife bi-ologist and in-chargeof the projectWaghoba. “Thoughthere is no continu-ous forest corridorbetween Malshej

Ghat and SGNP, it cov-ered great distances.”

Over a period offour months, Ajoba—be-

lieved to be around four

to five years old—crossed therailway station at Kasara andheaded to Tansa and Tun-gareshwar sanctuaries. Whenit reached Nagla Block, thenorthern part of SGNP, Ajobaremained there for two months.

One night, it even swamacross the Vasai creek, andcrossed the busy GhodbunderRoad to enter the main area ofSGNP. “During its stay at NaglaBlock, the leopard went to theresidential Vasai industrialarea, but did not attack hu-

mans,’’ said Athreya. It washunting stray dogs.

This is the first time inMaharashtra that researcherswere able to track the ani-mal’s movements. The track-ing device malfunctioned af-ter Ajoba crossed Vasai creek,and researchers have failedto make contact with it. “Butthe information we havesheds new light on leopardmovement. It also helps usidentify biological hotspots,”said researchers.

‘Translocating leopards not the best solution’Simit Bhagat | TNN

Mumbai: Ajoba was not the only leopard to betracked. Researchers and forest officials also fit-ted a tracking device on a female leopard, Sita,who had strayed into a village near her naturalhabitat at Surghana in the western part ofNashik. Sita was released at Jawahar, nearly 50km away from her home. One of the goals of theproject was to study the effect of translocationof leopards to unknown habitats, a practice thatis commonly followed in India. Based on Sita’smovements—she was pregnant at the time—re-searchers believe that translocation may not bethe best solution to the man-animal conflict.

The findings of the year study have been

well-received by many wildlife activists. KrishnaTiwari, the project officer of the City ForestsDepartment (BNHS) said: “It is a good initia-tive that gives insights into leopards and their

travel patterns. Such initiatives should be en-couraged and the forest department shouldlaunch a similar study for animals at the San-jay Gandhi National Park.’’

While weaning her cubs, Sita remained atJawahar. “She was pregnant at the time, andher movements were therefore restricted.From the information we gathered from near-by villagers, we know that Sita remained inJawahar for four months,’’ said wildlife biol-ogist Vidya Athreya who was in-charge of Pro-ject Waghoba. Interestingly, after four months,once Sita’s cubs were able to walk longer dis-tances, she returned to her home at Surghana,validating researchers’ views on the impor-tance of releasing rescued animals to their

own and known territories.Around three to four years ago, leopard at-

tacks on humans in and around Sanjay Gand-hi National Park, made headlines. What wasnot widely known, though, was that many ofthe leopards had been translocated to the na-tional park from other parts of Maharashtra.Tiwari said, “One of the prime reasons for theseattacks was translocation of leopards. So suchpractices should be stopped.’’

Anand Pendharkar, wildlife biologist and di-rector of the NGO Sprouts, said: “It is essentialthat researchers carry out such studies on thisendangered animal. It gives us an insight intowhat should and should not be done while re-leasing leopards into the wild.’’

� The leopard called Ajobawho was rescued last yearand fitted with a trackingdevice, travelled around 120km in 20 days from the foothills of Malshej Ghat to theSanjay Gandhi NationalPark in Borivli

� Though Ajoba began hisjourney in May 2009, the ini-tial findings of the researchteam was released only ear-ly this week

� Ajoba crossed MalshejGhat, Ajoba Peak, Ratangad,Kasara Railway Station,Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary,Wada, TungareshwarWildlife Sanctuary, Navghar,Vasai Industrial area andNagla Block in Sanjay Gand-hi National Park

� When forest officials andresearchers of Project Wagho-ba rescued the leopard theyattached a collar with a track-ing device around its neck

� The collar had a Global Po-sitioning System (GPS) andGlobal System for MobileCommunication (GSM). Thereadings of the leopard’s posi-tion were stored in the collarand transmitted via SMS tothe server whenever the ani-mal reached an area that hadmobile connectivity

� The device costs around Rs 2 lakh and has been im-ported from Germany

� The tracking device, how-ever, malfunctioned after fourmonths. Ajoba was last seenat the National Park in 2009

For First Time InMaha, Leopard’s120-Km Trek ToMumbai WasTracked

SPOTTED: Ajoba’s trek fromMalshej Ghat to national park

National Park

Navghar TungareshwarWildlife Sanctuary

near Vajreshwari

Wada

TansaWildlifeSanctuary

KasaraRailwayStation

Ratangad

NASHIK

Ajoba Peak

Malshej Ghat

Shirasd

A LONGJOURNEY

FOLLOWINGTHE SPOTS

Mahesh Benkar

LIVING FREE: Ajoba was rescued near the Pune-Nashik Highway, and fitted with a tracking device

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