top of page

By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Thackerays’ ‘Taandav’ for trees, tigers

AI generated image Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray launched a sharp attack on the government for the systematic degradation of the state’s environment under the garb of development, even as the climate change poses a direct threat to the environment, economy, agriculture, public health and the future of both rural and urban centres. Questioning the state government’s claims of having planted millions of trees, he rued how the World Environment Day has been...

Thackerays’ ‘Taandav’ for trees, tigers

AI generated image Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray launched a sharp attack on the government for the systematic degradation of the state’s environment under the garb of development, even as the climate change poses a direct threat to the environment, economy, agriculture, public health and the future of both rural and urban centres. Questioning the state government’s claims of having planted millions of trees, he rued how the World Environment Day has been reduced to an annual ritual of tree-planting drives and clicking selfies for social media, though 90 pc of the saplings don’t survive even a day. “Only the government knows where those trees really are,” said Raj sternly. He recalled a "Blueprint of Maharashtra’s Development" he had proposed in 2015, in which he advocated how development without environmental sensitivity is hollow. Justifying, he said that the consequences are visible where roads, bridges and infrastructure projects are hailed as achievements, but even a short spell of rainfall can paralyze entire cities. Referring to recent reports on farmers returning from the fields after 10 am due to the scorching heat, Raj said that the worsening climate crisis has become an everyday reality. Citing official statistics, Raj claimed that extreme heat has caused productivity losses of nearly USD 159 billion and slashing of 160 billion work-hours annually in recent years. He mentioned the World Bank estimates that India’s GDP could plummet by 2.5-4.5 pc while 57 pc of the country’s districts sheltering 76 pc of the population stare at serious climate-related crises. Taking a swipe, he said while the governments boast about growth figures and economical rankings, they are silent on the staggering costs of environmental destruction. He questioned the development model “whether flooded cities, washed-away crops and unbearable summers” genuinely indicate progress. Claiming that Maharashtra was increasingly becoming unliveable for upto 8 months in a year, he said excessive monsoon rains disrupt rural life and urban floods cripple cities, while extreme heat make normal life a torture in summers in both urban-rural areas. Targeting the Centre, Raj alleged that nearly 173,984 hectares of forest lands were diverted in the past 11 years for mining and infrastructure projects to benefit the PM’s single favourite Adani Group. He said that these lands amount to 1,730 sqkm, or equivalent to the area of 16 Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) that is spread over barely 104 sqkm. Dissolve state wildlife board: Aaditya Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray has accused the Maharashtra government for issuing a permit to carry out mining activity in the sensitive tiger corridor between the Tadoba-Andhari and Indravati sanctuaries housing the big striped cats. In a strongly-worded letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Member-Secretary Sanjay Kumar, Thackeray sought his immediate personal intervention, sacking the Maharashtra State Board for Wild-Life (SBWL), revoking the permit, and probe against the Chief Wildlife Warden & Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) M. Srinivasa Reddy for the alleged lacunae. Aditya’s two-pager says the permit has been granted for “scientific exploration and excavation/systematic recovery of low-grade iron ore in existing mines in villages Hedri, Bande, Parsalgondi and Round Parsalgondi, in the Etapalli taluka of Gadchiroli district”. Last January, Aditya – MLA from Worli – had first raised the issue saying that the proposed mine would create only 120 jobs, including 32 permanent, and the estimated output is pegged at 1.1 million tons in a year. Referring to two letters of Reddy – on April 28 and May 21 – the SS (UBT) leader claimed that in communications to the state government, the PCCF had changed his stance on the issue. Aditya said that in the first letter, Reddy had effectively opposed the government plans for mining activity but in the second letter, he took a somersault, ostensibly due to government pressures or some commercial interests, “the U-turn is disgraceful and detrimental to India’s national interest” – and this abrupt shift in stance must be investigated thoroughly. In view of the contrary stance of the PCCF Reddy, entrusted with protecting the wildlife but failing to defend the NTCA and NBWL, point to serious malfunctioning of the SBWL, and hence it must be dissolved, besides reviewing all its decisions in the past three years, particularly those pertaining to hazardous activities in sensitive areas, demanded Aditya. 444 tigers roam in 11,000 sq.km As per the Status of Tiger Report (2002), and the Maharashtra Economic Survey 2025-2026, the state boasts of 444 tigers prowling in the wild along with other menacing creatures. The state’s total protected wildlife network of 88 Notified Areas of National Parks, Sanctuaries, and Conservation Reserves - including 6 dedicated to the striped big cats – is spread over 11,092 sq. kms as per current data.

Free library for commuters on Western Railway

Cricketer AB De Villiers inaugurates 'Library Junction', a first' of its kind reading corner, at Churchgate Railway Station, on Friday. | Pic: Bhushan Koyande
Cricketer AB De Villiers inaugurates 'Library Junction', a first' of its kind reading corner, at Churchgate Railway Station, on Friday. | Pic: Bhushan Koyande

Mumbai: The train commuters can have leisure time reading books at Churchgate Station as western railway started the library junction which will be the first of its kind in Mumbai. The initiative was taken by The Project Mumbai, an NGO known for public service. Now, the passengers can kill the travel time by reading books such as ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ by Amish Tripathi, ‘The Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khalid Hosseini, ‘The White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga, ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak and many more.

 

Currently, the library is home to 1200 books among which a section is given to children’s books, thrillers, fiction, non-fiction, magazines, romance, and so on. The books will be in four languages at present. It will have books in Hindi, English, Marathi and Gujarati. These books were all donated by ‘The Project Mumbai’, who has been collecting books for the public and the underprivileged. The genres will keep changing over time. If there is a Marathi literature week, then they will have a large number of Marathi books. In future the community project, although in a small space, will also be open to book launches.


Anyone who wishes to take books needs to give their basic information such as name, phone number and address. The book will be lent for two weeks and the person will get a reminder if not returned on time. There are no library cards to be issued. 


The purpose of the library is to inculcate and revive reading habits amongst people of Mumbai and make reading accessible to all. This initiative has an environmental angle also. The infrastructure built in red and stands as a post is made of recycled plastic bottles by ‘Jyoti Organisation’. 


The Library Junction was inaugurated by the South African cricketer AB de Villiers. He even donated two copies of his signed autobiography AB.


The location of the Library Junction is strategically chosen at the Churchgate station so that the commuters have more ease in getting books to read. There will be two librarians with different shifts who look after the books and the books will be locked in the cupboard when there is no one to supervise. The library will be closed only on Sundays. The books were collected from libraries, institutions and people. 


Pankaj Singh, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Central Division, said, “At times we see the media and electronic media like mobile phones occupy a lot of time. But books are lovely. It is a personal passion of mine. The initiative is by the community and the structure is also made of recycled plastic. We will refurbish the beautiful furniture. We can have genre-specific months like a month for thrillers or biographies and so on.”


When asked whether the project will also help increase readers, Singh said. “Yes, I hope this will help revive reading and there are so many book lovers in the city. We even have a children’s section where we have comics, graphic novels, and young adult books.”


The initiative was implemented after months of preparations. NGO will be building more such libraries at locations like metros stations in Mumbai.

Comments

bottom of page