Panvel: miles to go

Panvel’s story began when the Dhootpapeshwar Trust floated by a manufacturer of ayurvedic medicines donated land to Kanya Arogya Mandir, a playground for women in 1923-24, a charitable hospital andLawn Tennis Courts.

Land prices in Panvel skyrocketed with the development of Navi Mumbai, a new urban centre, just across. And the charitable trust connived to repossess and sell the donated land for huge commercial gains. Manik Nagar comprising 200 apartments replaced the playing ground, Godrej Arcade replaced the hospital and private apartments were erected on the tennis courts without space even for a table tennis table. With tax exemptions claimed for the donated property never having been refunded, connivance of authorities concerned is suspected.

Individual property owners too became prey to this lure. And the last two decades saw new sprawling edifices replacing small old structures. Even the house where the first revolutionary freedom fighter Vasudeo Balwant Phadke’s wife stayed was not spared. The Yakub Beg Trust, owners of property worth about Rs 75 crore, is also liquidating the trust land for little trustworthy considerations.

“The rat race to dispose off lands for a quick buck has led toovernight mushrooming of apartments. And the municipal council was caught on the wrong foot when it realised that the drinking water pipeline and the nine-inch drainage pipe were inadequate,” Dr Gandhi points out. This led to low pressure water supply and the choking up of drains. The stagnant drains, as a result, became breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“The CIDCO storm water drain in New Panvel is filled with stagnant filth, garbage and water all year round, providing fertile ground for mosquitoes. Earlier, malaria was seasonal but now it’s rampant,” remarks Dr Mrs M R Inamdar of Shreyas Hospital in New Panvel. According to Dr Sudhir Patil of Terna hospital, over 50 per cent patients reporting with fever are suffering from malaria. He, too, blames it on the lack of sanitation.

Established in 1852, one of the oldest municipal councils in the country, the first notification to convert PMC into corporation with the inclusion of 17 villages from ONGC colony, Kalundre to Taloja, was published in 1991 andhas been in cold storage since. With 40 private hospitals in Panvel, there is not a single well-equipped government hospital. The only hospital with just one doctor, ill-maintained building and few patients symbolises the apathy.

“There’s a threat of an an epidemic if the drains are not restructured and uncontrolled constructions curbed immediately,” warns Vijay Lokhande, president of Panvel Industrial Cooperative estate.

And as far as drinking water is concerned, “The municipal council prepared a plan for augmenting water supply in 1966 at an estimated cost of Rs 35 lakh, which found state government approval only last year with the revised cost escalated of Rs 23.70 crore. This scheme — including increasing the Gadeshwar dam capacity, new pipelines, three elevated reservoirs and the Godbole Gate to increase catchment capacity — will solve all drinking water problems after its completion by 2001,” Prakash Patil, administration officer of the municipal council assured.

Till then the municipalitywill continue supplying water by private tankers. However, residents allege malpractice in the supply and billing worth several lakhs every month. But that’s not the end of it. Beyond Sector 13 of New Panvel, on Matheran Road, lies Sukhapur where Sunshine Builders and others are constructing hundreds of apartments with no piped water connections. These buildings have to make do with bore-well water, which has high saline content. “Most residents cart drinking water in cans everyday from CIDCO township almost a km away,” a housewife informed, on anonymity.Dr Prabhakar Gopinath Gandhi — a medical practitioner in Panvel for 32 years and an untiring, committed social activist — holds the Panvel Municipal Corporation responsible for its major woes. He has another major problem to point out: “Some of the village ponds — developed centuries ago as catchment, flood control and ecology preservation measure — were reclaimed by builders.” The historical Wadala Pond in front of Ballaleshwar temple, built duringthe Peshwa era and gifted to the Bapat family instead of being preserved as a heritage site, is one of such ponds which is grossly neglected and abused.

Laxman Walekar, founder-editor of the oldest local Marathi weekly Kille Raigad and a retired employee of PMC remarks: “Before the dazzle of Navi Mumbai struck, there was public welfare in the air. Today, effortless income rules the roost.” Not agreeing, Prakash Patil outlines PMC’s shopping complex, pay-and-use public toilets, beautified traffic islands and bus service between Panvel and New Panvel as some of the major projects in the offing.

However, Manohar Rege, vice-president of Gharkul Sanghatana, appeals for more urgent measures like scrapping zoning system in assessment of property tax, speeding up the formation of a municipal corporation, repair and widening of roads, affordable and good medical care facilities and adequate water supply. As Panvel woes shows no signs of abating, development continues to take giant strides in the form of aproposed airport, the largest railway terminal in the continent and Disneyland. For all this, the formation of a municipal corporation appears to be the only hope.

Pointers

Panvel’s problems outnumber the number of people living here. While P. R. Hendre, president of Gharkul Sanghatana, calls for beautification and maintenance of ponds, Yuvraj K. Patil, New Panvel branch manager of Abhyudaya Co-op. Bank, feels the urgent need for a traffic signal at the New Panvel crossing on Sion-Panvel Highway. Then there’s fireman A D Borade who demands adequate staff in the fire-brigade department. “While the requirement is 22 people in each of the three shifts, we have only 12,” he opines.

While railway commuters want increased frequency and foot overbridge to cross over to New Panvel, others complain about inadequate bus service and unmetered autorickshaws. A B Karveer, chief of CIDCO’s railway projects, however, has assured a foot overbridge before April 1999.

About 78 units of Panvel Co-op IndustrialEstate (PCIE) are distressed that despite paying development charges for plan approval to CIDCO and all other taxes to PMC, there are no approach roads. “Police refuse to patrol the place at night as a result, thus causing thefts. Despite the collector’s instruction, Mr Aziz Shaikh, the chief executive officer of PMC, is not showing any urgency in the matter,” PCIE president Vijay Lokhande alleged.