MNS to 'clean up' Mumbai, article 3 :)

MUMBAI: After politicians got into Mumbai clean up drive in the backdrop of rising Malaria cases, MNS chief Raj Thackeray also asked his party men to take up the responsibility of cleaning the metropolis.
Raj today directed his partymen to clean the city with the help of civic officials and local people.
"Wherever you find garbage, clean it to control the diseases," he said.
He made it clear that this was not a publicity stunt. "Many (political leaders) have published their photographs cleaning Mumbai but it was a publicity stunt," he added.
He also warned his party men against their involvement helping in proliferation of slums.
"Slums and migrants are responsible for diseases. Slum areas where migrants live are unhygienic," he charged.
Raj also pointed that private land are free from slums but land belonging to the state government, centre and BMC are encroached.
"Corporators and government officials are responsible for this and you should control it," he told his party activists.

article 2, read it ppl :)

Dhobi Ghat, popular tourist spot, new look, civic administration, BMC Posted: Mon Mar 28 2011, 03:07 hrs Mumbai:

The iconic Dhobi Ghat in Mahalaxmi, a popular tourist spot for foreigners visiting Mumbai, will soon don a new look. While the civic administration has begun the revamp of the century-old washing and drying area spread over a 23-acre plot to provide better facilities for the launderers, the BMC is also planning to build a viewing gallery for tourists in the second phase of restoration.
“In the first phase, roofs will be built over the sheds of the kilns,” said Nutan Prakash Ghotge, municipal architect. “Most of the bhattis are in a dilapidated condition and we are putting new roofs and repairing the sheds. Earlier, the roofs were made of cement tiles and asbestos, but we will now use colourful tiles,” said another official.
The BMC has, however, decided to retain the British era flooring of the Dhobi Ghat because of its historical significance. “The plan to renovate Dhobi Ghat is primarily to provide better conditions for the washermen,” said BMC City Engineer D M Phase. The Rs 2.4-crore project, mooted in 2006, is expected to be completed in about two years.

Recent article, Quite interesting :)

Mumbai residents clean up Juhu beach after Ganpati Visarjan

Published: Monday, Sep 12, 2011, 22:57
With the ten-day long festival of Ganesh Chaturthi coming to an
end on Sunday with Ganpati Visarjan, scores of residents and college students gathered at the Juhu beach here today and actively participated in the clean-up drive.
Mumbai Congress President Kripashankar Singh, who also participated in the cleaning drive, expressed his gratitude to the environmentally conscious residents who had participated in the campaign.
"This was initiated by Sunil Dutt (veteran Bollywood actor and politician) and her daughter Priya Dutt, who is a lawmaker and she is carrying forward the tradition. We all, the Environment cell of Mumbai congress, youth congress and the college students are
spreading the awareness," said Singh.
"You can see that members of Municipal Corporation have just provided JCB and trucks for picking up and collecting the debris. Everybody, all young and old, Parikshit Sahni son of Balraj Sahni and a renowned Bollywood actor, has also supported the drive. So, I express my gratitude to everybody who has come on Juhu beach and has participated in this cleaning campaign," he added.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Priya Dutt Priya Dutt also expressed happiness at the fact that people were becoming aware of the importance of environment and its impact on the lives of people.
"Awareness about cleaning has spread widely. We feel happy to see that people have started believing how we can keep our environment clean and how does it affect us. This is why, it's good that the drive is going well and has spread extensively," she said.
Various Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), politicians and residents also joined the students in this cleaning up initiative.
The annual festival of ''Vinayaka Chaturthi'' as per Hindu almanac falls between the months of August and September.
It marks the birthday of Lord Ganesha as numerous rituals are performed while a colourful statue of the portly Hindu god marks the event.
The festival concludes with the Visarjan (immersion) of idols. The immersion of the idols signifies that the deity returns to their abode after being the guest of the devotees on the occasion of Ganesha Utsav and as such many devout families bid emotional farewell to Lord Ganesha.
For the past few years, civic authorities of the city have been requesting the devotees to dump Ganesh''s idols, made of toxic and non-soluble material, in dustbins kept specifically for the purpose so that it could be easily disposed off later.
Most of the debris comprise of flowers, plastic bags, garlands and sweet offerings made to the Hindu god by hundreds of devotees.

Ways to Stop Littering

As public attention to the state of our environment remains front and center--and will likely stay that way for the next few decades--stopping littering should be a new priority among law makers in local communities and on up the political ladder. In 2009, a survey revealed that 75 percent of Americans admitted to littering in the last five years. While laws with fines already prohibit littering, more can be done to deter people from throwing any piece of trash--this includes cigarette butts--on the ground.

1. Bigger Penalties

   • While there are already fines associated with littering, the fines could be steeper, hitting offenders directly where it hurts them the most. Perhaps $5 - $10 per ounce of garbage littered, on top of the offense of littering itself, which will carry a hefty fine. A class could be required for littering offenders--just as defensive driving can be required after moving violations--forcing people to learn what littering does, how often people litter and why. Fines could double for people who don't take this class.

   More Trash Cans

   • While there are a good number of trash cans in major cities, there should be twice as many, targeted in locations where trash cans are needed, like outside restaurants and stores where people gather and collect little pieces of trash. Perhaps the nearby businesses could pay a nominal fee for their regular upkeep and emptying. Trash cans should be big and covered but easy to deposit things inside, so that they don't smell, but aren't overflowing with garbage.

   Smoking Bans

   • Smoking bans help to curb littering in certain areas, as people won't smoke cigarettes there and carelessly leave their butts on the ground. Cigarette butts take 12 years to fully biodegrade, which means they pile up significantly if left in one particular area, poisoning the ground and the area around it. Smokers also often create more garbage when it comes to the cigarette pack itself--empty cardboard or paper packs, cellophane on the packs--so keeping them and their practices out of the area will help to reduce littering in general.

Stop littering one of our national treasures

I take great pleasure in writing this article that should have been written long ago by myself or even by someone else to identify the significance of keeping our prestigious No. 63 beach, an international natural tourism attraction pristine clean by drawing the line and advocating, “Do not litter our precious beach anymore.”
In order to do so, I am taking the opportunity in this article to identify how we could prevent dumping of waste in public places of great concern like the beach. One of my ideas for now is to let the public be aware that the beach belongs to all of us and we should cherish what we are so fortunate to have and treat it with care by taking all of our trash back home after having a lovely, refreshing day of picnicking and partying on the beach. You will have to dispose of your trash when you get home, in your private area, in a garbage bag in a barrel in front your home ready to get picked up by the garbage truck, or take it to your nearby dumpsite for disposal. Hopefully, the spot you choose to dispose your trash is a non-residential area so that it doesn’t create pollution, stench or health hazards in that area as well. Whatever you bring to the beach, please take back home with you so we could maintain a clean, healthy and beautiful environment. Walk with a bag: black plastic, garbage or even the re-usable rice ones and pile your garbage into this then park it in a corner of your trunk and dispose of it when you reach home in your trash collection bin.
People have to learn to take ownership of their trash that they leave on the beach. It belongs to you and don’t spread it around for everyone to meet an untidy surrounding of scenic beauty.  This unfortunate practice has been going on for years now and has really got to my nerves and no one seems to care or to say anything about this or teach the public what to do.
I am tired along with my family to see people’s sanitary cups, plates, glass bottles and plastic ones too etc. being scattered along the beach and blown in all directions with the Atlantic winds causing a filthy atmosphere instead of a spotlessly clean one.
Dumping on our 63 Beach is wrong and shouldn’t happen! Even in public places along the roadside and frequently visited areas we see clogged drains with empty plastic bottles and this nonsense should abruptly stop, with reference to my last article on littering dated August 20, 2010.
Do we want to chase and scare away tourists when they see the condition of the beach with shards of glass strewn along the sand caused by broken bottles that could cut one’s feet, puncture your car or bicycle tyre and are seen as dangerous obstacles along our pretty path in life? Don’t we want to encourage our visitors to stay and watch the sunrise on 63 Beach, walk along the clean, golden brown sand and wade in the navy blue river waters, have fun and frolic in the sun then relax on a lay-back chair on the beach absorbing the re-invigorating Atlantic breeze cruising over the land seemingly hesitant to depart from such a pleasant milieu?
We must be able to feel a positive ambience, something that is advocated in clean air according to the Chinese Sheng Fue. With this feeling you can breathe clean air and good actions will come out of you and around you. Parents, I am surprised how some of you come and litter our magnificent beach and do hope you will stop and teach your children who are out of school and on vacation to dispose of solid waste in the proper way.

Article By Michael Barber, renonmed author

STOP LITTERING!

by Michael Barber

Every ten seconds people litter in the world!  Also, sewage still gets dumped in the Atlantic Ocean...that is killing a lot of fish, sea turtles, coral and sea life. The o-zone is made up of layers, and each layer protects us from the sun. The more we litter, the more o-zone we destroy.  So, that means the sun gets to us easier and we get burned easier.  Right now there are really bad holes in the ozone that are causing Brazil's people to get really bad sunburns. If you want to stop killing animals, destroying the ozone, dumping sewage into the Atlantic Ocean, and destroying the environment for the animals...Stop Littering!

Perfect City... Ideology

My "Perfect" City

I. Utilities

The city I propose as a perfect city, would be as close to an ecocity as possible, although have some differences.   For example, for electrical needs, I would suggest the city have a solar power plant, but on those desperate times, energy would be bought from other electrical plants from nearby towns or states.
                      Water purification and a wastewater treatment plants would be necessary in order to provide the citizens and visitors with clean healthy water. To prevent flooding, this city was built on flood plains.
Solid waste pickup services will exist, preventing litter and garbage accumulations. Large fines will be issued if improper garbage and recycling activities are noticed and reported. Almost everything will be recyclable and taken to nearby cities to their recycling plants. Garbage will also be sent out to a nearby dump.

II.   Transportation

For people tomove around the city I've come up with several ideas. Electric cars would create less pollution than gas cars so those would highly be encouraged. More encouraged than that would be bikes, walking, and a city trolley system. Certain streets would be blocked off from cars, allowing only city trolleys and bikes through. Also, some streets would be narrower and bike paths would be mandatory along any new street that is built and in front of any new home. Motorboats and wave runners would be prohibited in the lake and river, but a ferry would be present for commuting purposes. Paddleboats would be popular in the lakes and river. Walking and biking would be the most influenced form of transportation. Neighborhood stores would be encouraged, promoting bike and walk transportation. No mass transportation systems will be found running through the city.

III. Density of Homes

Understandably, some people enjoy large lawns. For every 1 home that is built on an acre property, 2 homes have to be built on ½ acre property. The homes will be made out of eco-friendly materials causing no harm to the atmosphere, being acquainted by impeccable sewage systems