postal regn. no. nmb/154/2020-22/vashi mdg post office ... · navi mumbai: re-sponding to a series...

RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. NO. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE

The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of

PAGES 12 • PRICE ` 2

Navi Mumbai

VOL. 13 • ISSUE 267March

2020SUNDAY

15

NEWS INBRIEF

Schools,Collegesto remainclosed tillMarch 31st

The Department of PublicHealth, Government of

Maharashtra underPrevention of DiseaseAct, 1897 and with an

aim to prevent the spreadof corona virus (Covid19) have asked all the

government and privateeducational institutions,kindergartens, collegesand vocational training

centers in all themunicipalities, municipali-

ties and municipalpanchayat areas ofMaharashtra state toremain closed till 31st

March, 2020. The NaviMumbai Municipal

Commissioner, Annasa-heb Misal has issued

orders for the implemen-tation of the same in

NMMC’s jurisdiction.However, the examina-

tions for Class X, XII andUniversity will be held atthe prescribed timetableas per the government

directive. It has also beensuggested to school

management to ensurethat the sick students donot come in contact withother students during this

period.

By Abhitash D.Singh

NAVI MUMBAI: TheCity & Industrial De-velopment Corporation(CIDCO) and NaviMumbai MunicipalCorporation (NMMC) inview of the outbreak ofCovid-19 (Coronavirus),have stopped the bio-metric attendance of all

Coronavirus:CIDCO and NMMC stopbiometric attendancetill 31st March, 2020

Steps taken as precautionary

measure to prevent contamination

the officers and employ-ees.

It may be recalledthat the then NMMCCommissioner Dr. N.Ramaswami had Intro-duced biometric atten-dance for all the civicbody officers and em-

Contd. on pg. 5

Various infra projectsat JNPT inaugurated

Minister of State Shipping and Chemicals

and Fertilizers inaugurated projects

By Dinesh Pawar

URAN: MansukhMandaviya, Hon’bleMinister of State, Ship-ping (IndependentCharge) and Chemicals& Fertilizers, inaugu-rated various infra-structure projects atJawaharlal Nehru PortTrust on 14th March,2020.

The Union Ministerinaugurated Mobile X-Ray Container Scannerfacility of JNPCT. Thedesigned throughput forthe new Mobile Con-tainer Scanner is 20containers per hour.This will help in scan-ning the containers in-side the Terminal pre-mises thus security

agencies will have ad-vantage to take appro-priate action before thecontainer is allowed toexit. Trade will be ben-efitted with this initia-tive as DPD containerscan be allowed directlyfrom the Port after ex-amining the same with

Contd. on pg. 5

CM responds to greens’ pleafor Talawe flamingo sanctuary

Asks UD, Environment department to act

NAVI MUMBAI: Re-sponding to a series ofpleas from city basedenvironmentalists todeclare the Talawe wet-

land as flamingo sanc-tuary, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray hasasked the Urban Devel-opment and Environ-

ment departments toact on the suggestion.

The green groups

Contd. on pg. 2

Sunday, 15 March 2020www.newsband.in | [email protected] 2

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AUCTION NOTICEAS IS WHERE IS BASIS”and on “NO COMPLAINT BASIS”White House Villa Co-op Hsg Soc Ltd (hereinafter referred as “Society”) address Plot No.10,Sector 19, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706 intends to disposed-off condemned material as is where is basisthrough auction.

SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMME

The auction will be taken place on the dates mentioned at 10.30 a.m. in the Society Campus, Plot No.10,Sector 19, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706 Tel No. 9819243294The above referred dates for respective Auction are liable to be postponed to the next working day in caseof any un-scheduled unforeseen Holiday / Bandh or for any administrative reason,etc.Interested bidders may attend the auction of the condemned material on the scheduled date and timementioned as given below. Bidders have to give their Offer in a Sealed Envelope along with Initial OfferAmount of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) to the Society.The condemned material can be inspected on any working day between 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.Successful bidder has to pay the full payment as per the bid within three working days from the date ofintimation of such confirmed Acceptance, as per his bid less the CMD deposited earlier, to “Society”,failingto pay the required full payment will lead to the forfeiture of the CMD deposited and such bidder will bebarred from taking part in the future auctions / tender sales. “Society”shall have the right to auction the un-delivered material immediately in the next auction without any intimation to the successful bidder and thebid money deposited by the bidder shall be forfeited.Goods are sold on “AS IS WHERE IS BASIS WHATEVER IT IS” and on “NO COMPLAINT BASIS”. Thegoods are sold on the assumption that the bidders have inspected the same and known what they arebuying. The doctrine of Caveat emptor will apply. No complaint will be entertained after the auction isknocked down.Costs towards compliance of statutory regulations, such as obtaining permission from concerned /appropriate authorities, if any, to borne solely by the successful Bidder.For White house Villa Co-operative housing society limited. Sd/-

(Gayasuddin Shaikh)Secretary

Sr. No. Name of Condemned material to be Auctioned Date and time for Auction

Place : Navi Mumbai.Date : 15/03/2020

1. EIGHT GSM ANTENNA- Each approx. 8 x 8 having weight ofapprox. 80 kgs

24.03.2020At 10.30 a.m.

2. MICROWAVE ANTENNA:-Six dish antennas of diameter 0.6 to 1.2mwith support structure-mast or tower varying from 1.5m to 10m.

24.03.2020At 10.30 a.m.

3. EQUIPMENT SHELTER having internal dimension of 4Mx2.5m internaldimension having Weight approximately 1.5 to 2 tons having provisionfor two earthing connections to ground and one lighting arrestor.

24.03.2020At 10.30 a.m.

By Chandrashekhar Hendve

NERUL: Studentsfrom Sai Sports Acade-my, Nerul displayedtheir martial art skillsat Karate colours beltexamination held re-cently by Sai SportsMartial Arts Associa-tion at S. S. HighSchool & Jr. College,Nerul.

70 students partici-pated in the examina-tion. The successfulstudents were con-ferred with Yellow, Or-ange, Green, Blue, Pur-ple, Brow belts, Black

Consultant /Head ofSecurity and vigilance, JasmineSameer Bagban werepresent.

The students fromSai Sports Academypresented SilambamStick Rolling, Stickfight and Karate. Thestudents are trained bySai Sports Martial ArtsAssociation Presidentand Chief ExaminerSensai Manisha Patneand Secretary SensaiAmar Patne.

Students from Sai Sports Academy shine in Karate colours belt examination

Belt as per theirranks.

The chief guest onthis occasion was

Sanjay Kangane, In-spector, State ExciseMumbai Suburban.Shihan Virendra Agar-

wal president & Exam-iner, ISKO, DanishAga, Co-founder SkyEducation, Vasant

Dhoble, PSI, Mumbai,Security & e-security

had complained to theChief Minister that thewetland, destination tothousands of flamingosand other migratorybirds, has been underthe threat of burial asCIDCO has planned agolf course on it.

In fact, StateEnvironment MinisterAditya Thackeray hadalready asked CIDCOon January 27 toexplore the idea ofdeclaring the site as aFlamingo Sanctuaryand protect it. Butthere has been noaction on the proposalas yet. “We are happythat the Chief Minis-ter has responded toour mail and we lookforward to somepositive steps towardssaving the wetland,”said B N Kumar,director of NGONatConect Founda-tion.

CM has markedthe response to NitinKareer, PrincipalSecretary – UrbanDevelopment-1 andAnil Diggikar, Princi-pal Secretary, Envi-ronment, it is learnt.

“Wetlands, as youmay be aware areessential for coastalcities like ours as theysupport whole lot ofbio-diversity and act

as natural floodcontrol mechanism,”Kumar wrote to CM.“The burial of wet-lands in Uran andother parts of MMRhas caused floodsduring the lastmonsoon,” he pointedout.

Bombay HighCourt has alreadystruck down the golfcourse plan andCIDCO challenged the

ruling in the SupremeCourt. Despite the factthat the case ispending, a privatebuilder hacked over700 trees in thevicinity of the Talawewetland which formedpart of the entireresidential-cum-golfcourse project, envi-ronmentalists argued.

CIDCO, howeverclaimed that therewas no court order

violation.“It will be a real

tragedy if CIDCO isallowed to go aheadwith its plan. Theexisting CIDCO golfcourse at Kharghar,close to Talawe, hasno takers and creationof another suchfacility is not onlywaste of money butdestruction of bio-diversity,” Kumarsaid.

CM respondsto greens...

Contd. from pg. 1


I have changed my name from VARSHA SAKHARAMKADLAK to VARSHA ANIL KHARAT as per MaharashtraGovernment Gazette Reg No. M-19171057 dated5-11 March 2020.

CHANGE OF NAME

Women’s self-defense workshop held in Nerul


NERUL: On the oc-casion of World Wom-en’s Day, a free self-de-fense training work-shop for women’s wasorganized by the Sai

Three persons killed inthree separate accidents

By Crime Reporter

NAVI MUMBAI: Threepersons were killed inthree separate acci-dents in Uran area inthe last 24 hours. Threeunidentified vehicledrivers are abscondingafter the accident.

Vidhan Eknath Pa-til, 33, died on Dighode-Veshvi road in Uran onWednesday, March 11at around 9 pm. He wasfatally knocked downby an unknown vehicleon Dighode-Veshviroad.

Anil Vilas Gadade,26, was killed in thesecond accident nearpetrol pump in Jasai ataround 11 am. Gadadewas on his way fromUran to Gawanapattiat around 11pm. Hewas approaching the

petrol pump in Jasai,when an unknown ve-hicle hit him. Due tothe impact, he wasthrown off 8 feet awayfrom his motorcycle anddied on the spot.

In the third acci-dent that took place onMarch 12, SumaneshMomanti Chakraborty,30, a resident of Nerul,was on his way fromNerul by Scooty ataround 9am on Thurs-day. As his scootypassed from the newKarl Bridge towardsDastan Ghat, an un-known vehicle hit hisscooty in front of AlfaraLogistics in Sonari vil-lage. He was taken toIndira Gandhi RuralHospital in Uran, butwas pronounced deadby doctors on arrival.

Sports Martial ArtsAssociation Nerul at SS High School, Sea-woods.

In the workshop 60women participated.They learned physical

tactics to protect them-selves, build confi-dence, improve aware-ness, basic key defense,body strikes, assessand avoid dangeroussituation, powerful

self-defense move etc.by the Sai Sports Mar-tial Arts Association President and Chief Ex-aminer Sensai ManishaPatne and SecretarySensai Amar Patne.

Basanti Jain felicitated by PanvelTaluka Journalist Development Forum

PANVEL: Socialactivist Basanti Jainwas felicitated by thePanvel Taluka Jour-nalist Vikas Manch onSaturday for heroutstanding contribu-tion in the social

sector. The PanvelTaluka JournalistVikas Manch has beenhonoring women everyyear on the occasion ofInternational Women’sDay. Basanti Jain washonored this year.

Panvel TalukaJournalist Develop-ment Forum Chair-man Madhav Patil,former presidentAvinash Koli, Treasur-er Vivek Patil, formerpresident Sanjay

Kadam, generalsecretary HareshSathe, Mandar Donde,Nitin Koli, Raju Gaddeand BJP’s Panvel citytreasurer Sanjay andother dignitaries werepresent.

PANVEL: Corpora-tor Sushila JagdishGharat of Panvel CityMunicipal Corporation(PCMC) hasdemanded thatthe existinguncovered Dis-tribution Point(DP) Boxes inthe New Pan-vel should becovered at theearliest.

She pre-sented a letterto the Chief Engineer ofthe New Panvel,MSEDCL and men-

Cover the exposed MSEDCLdistribution point boxes in

the New Panvel, sayscorporator Sushila Gharat

tioned that there areseveral DP boxes in thevarious areas of Sector13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 at

New Panvelnear groundsand society pre-mises whichare open or notproperly cov-ered.

“DP boxshould be keptclosed to avoidany potentialdanger that

children may be ex-posed to,” she said inher letter.

Awareness on coronavirus held in APMC

Cleanliness drive also initiated


NAVI MUMBAI: TheAgriculture ProduceMarket Committee(APMC) Onion Potatodivision on Saturday

spread awareness oncoronavirus and held aspecial cleanlinessdrive. Addressing thegathering, Anil Cha-van, Administrator

and Secretary of theAPMC said that sincethe World Health Or-ganization (WHO) hasdeclared Covid-19 aspandemic, they have

been given instructionsby the State Govern-ment to take effectivepreventive measures

Contd. on pg. 5


Issue : 267 15 March, 2020

Karadaiyan Nombu

Married womenworship Goddess Ma-halakshmi and God-dess Parvathi for mar-ital bliss and goodhealth of family mem-bers. Unmarried girlsperform the vrat to getan ideal life partner.Karadaiyan Nombu isan important festivalfor the married wom-en. On this day, wom-en offer prayers for thelongevity and well-be-ing of their husbands.Karadaiyan Nombu isobserved on a day whenthe transition takesplace between twoTamil months, Maashiand Phanguni. It is ob-served when the Tamilmonth of Massi endsand month of Pangunibegins.

Karadaiyan Nombuis observed by marriedwomen. The word‘Karadai’ refers to ‘aholy dish and ‘nombu’means ‘upvasam orvratam.’ KaradaiyanNombu is observed inremembrance of ‘Saty-van and Savitri.’

Savithri was thedaughter of the KingAsrapathi. Savitriwanted to marrySathyavan who lived inthe forest. Despiteknowing that he would

By C K Subramaniam

die within a year ofmarriage, Savithrimarried Sathayavan.Savithri did penanceher husband. She of-fered Durwa grass andPeepal leaves. She of-fered Prasad of wildrice and karamani dalalso known as KaraAdai in Tamil. The lastday of Sathayavan ar-rived. Savithri stayedby her husband. TheLord of death came.But he was pleasedwith her devotion. He

wanted to grant herboon. Savitiri ex-pressed her desire to bethe mother of 100 chil-dren. Yama realizedthat to fulfill Savitiri’swish he would have tospare Sathyavan’s life.Hence, he granted herwish to honor her cour-age and devotion.Celebrations and Rituals:

Fasting is an impor-tant ritual of Karadaiy-an Nombu. Marriedwomen observe a fastfrom the sunrise. Thefast is broken after thepuja rituals by eating

the unique Karadaipreparation with but-ter. A special na-ivedyam is preparedand is known as ‘Kara-dai Nombu Adai.’ As perthe mythological sto-ries, Savitri preparedthis special dish andoffered it with butter toLord Yama, God ofDeath, as a thanksgiv-ing gesture for return-ing the life of Satyvan.Women worship God-dess Gauri and offerKaradaiyan Nombu

Naivedyam to pleaseher. Mantras arechanted at the time ofoffering. Another signif-icant ritual on Kara-daiyan Nombu is wear-ing the yellow coloredthread along with asmall flower around theneck, which is referredas ‘Karadai Nombu Sa-radu.’ This thread istied for the well-being ofhusbands. Women alsodecorate their houseswith Kolam.

The writer is freelancerfrom Sanpada, Navi

Mumbai

URAN:The

classmatesof the

1991-1992batch of

VeerWajekar

of Fundein Urantaluka

had theirbatch

reunionrecently.

(By DineshPawar)

Kid’s Zone

Nikhil Krishnan, Std 1 Reliance Foundation School Kopherkaine

Mangroves: Under threatMangrove forests are the world’s most productive and impor-

tant ecosystem. Apart from providing a safe haven for animals,mangroves have a major role in supporting humans too — theyprovide food security, forest products and sustainable fishing tolocal communities living around the sea shores.

In addition, mangrove forests act as a natural defense barrieralong the tropical coastlines, protecting them from tides, stormsurges, currents and even tsunamis. They help in reducing soilerosion and act as an effective carbon sink.

In spite of the many advantages mangroves provide, this uniqueecosystem is under threat like most of the other ecosystems aroundthe world. According to the scientists, mangroves are disappear-ing 3 to 5 times faster than the overall forest losses in the recentyears. Mangroves are so sensitive that even minute changesin temperatures, atmospheric carbon dioxide, sea levels, rainfall,wind and waves during storms can disrupt their existence.

Development of the seashore for housing, construction of damsand clearing of swamps are greatly contributing to the destructionof mangroves. In addition, unchecked and uncontrolled dumpingof construction debris is also leading to their destruction.

Recognizing the threat faced by mangrove forests in 123 na-tions of the world, the United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation (UNESCO) as officially proclaimed July 26thof every year as the ‘International Day for the Conservation of theMangrove Ecosystem’. The earth and humanity simply cannot af-ford to lose these vital ecosystems. Reducing land, air and oceanpollution by using bio degradable alternatives can help in a bigway. We can also restrict overexploitation of resources by the hu-man communities which will regulate and conserve mangrove for-ests.

A healthy mangrove ecosystem is important for our own well-being. If their destruction continues at the present rate, the coastalshorelines will soon become sources of carbon dioxide, which willbe directly released into the oceans, resulting in great imbalancein carbon levels in the oceans and increase in ocean temperatures.Oceans, with their own marine ecosystem, are as fragile as themangroves and a slight increase in temperature will spell doomfor the myriad list of its inhabitants.


Kalamboli BJP unit spread awareness on coronavirus

PANVEL: With thespread of coronavirusworldwide and withmillions of patientsbeen affected, theBharatiya Janta Party(BJP) Kalambolicouncilor RajendraSharma has startedspreading awarenessin public places.Sharma has beendistributing informa-

tion posters, handsanitizers and masksat police stations,transport branches aswell as schools.

“World HealthOrganization (WHO)has declared Corona apandemic. Infectedpatients have beenfound in India andMaharashtra. Thus,people need to be

cautious. At thegovernment level,although preventivemeasures have beenlaunched, yet manypeople are unaware ofthe Coronavirus: Itssymptoms; cure etc. aswell. Thus I decided tospread awareness,” saidSharma who has takenthe initiative under theguidance of MLAPrashant Thakur.

Information posters,hand sanitizer andmasks were distributed

at Ward Committee,Kalamboli Roadpalliand Khidukpada ZillaParishad School,Anganwadi KalamboliPolice Station andTransport Branch.BJP Kalamboli citypresident RavinathPatil, city generalsecretary RajendraBankar, PrashantRanvere, senioractivists PrakashShelar and KamalKothari were presenton the occasion.

the help of new mobilescanners.

Second project of220/333KV MUSS Sub-station at JNPT Yardwas inaugurated. Thestate of the art 220 and33 KV Gas insulatedswitchgears have beendeployed for maximumpower reliability. Sub-station is provided withSCADA and Sub-sta-tion Automation sys-tem where informationregarding any fault ismade available on Mo-bile phone of the con-cerned engineers roundthe clock to have bettercontrol on sub-stationoperations and Auto-mated Fire Detection &Alarm system alongwith CCTVs are de-ployed.

The new Central-ized Parking Plaza(CPP) and buildings forContainer TractorTrailers and CustomFacilitation Centre wasinaugurated which isprovided exclusively tointegrate the parking ofTractor Trailers carry-ing Factory Stuffed con-tainers for exports atone location from theexisting multiple loca-tions. This will help in-tegrate document pro-cessing by customswith state of the art fa-cilities and service pro-vision in the Centra-lised Parking Plaza.The Centralized Park-ing Plaza will provideparking facility fortrucks carrying exportcontainers and enablecompleting pre-gate en-try formalities and doc-umentation for exportunder one window sys-tem. This system willease the movement ofcontainer trucks onJNPT roads and helpthe respective termi-nals to plan their TTmovements in a betterway.

It was followed byunveiling of the newlyconstructed fly-over atY Junction nearPublic Utility Build-ing (PUB). The totallength of the flyover is830 mtr with 600 mtrapproaches on bothsides, the newly builtflyover will help in

faster evacuation ofcargo. The newly builtflyover will help infaster evacuation ofcargo and will avoidthe criss crossing ofthe GTI out Containertraffic with northbound in containersfor NSICT, JNPCTand NSIGT. The Allthese projects are partof JNPTs continuousefforts to help reducelogistic cost to helpthe EXIM trade and isin line with Govern-ment’s Ease of DoingBusiness initiative.

The minister alsoinaugurated, ShivSamarth Memorial &Museum near Jasai-Dastanphata, Uran tocommemorate thegreat Maratha Emper-or. The Shiv-SamarthSmarak is a recre-ational facility projectdeveloped to promotethe art, culture and bean avenue for thesociety at large to stayconnected with thelocal heritage. TheProject includesrecreational facilitieslike community hall,2 Nos. of halls forExhibition and Fortmodels, Art Galleryfor models and paint-ings, audio visualroom, Cafeteria,amphitheater havingcapacity for 250personnel’s, 7000 SqM landscape gardenand green rooms. Thefourth floor has aDeck slab for visitorsto view the statueswhich will be installedon the fifth floorshowing statues ofChhatrapati ShreeShivajiMaharaj andSaint Shree RamdasSwami.

“With all theinaugurated projectsand the ongoinginfrastructuralinitiatives underway,the port is set tofurther consolidate itsposition as the pre-mier container port inthe country and thesewill drive the nextphase of transforma-tion at JNPT,” saidSanjay Sethi, Chair-man, JNPT.

Various infra projects...Contd. from pg. 1

on this. The marketcommittee is also tak-ing all the requisiteprecautions in this re-gard.

Special sanitationdrive is being imple-mented in the marketpremises and cleaningof the premises, roadsand public toilets is be-

ing carried out effec-tively.

Deputy Secretary ofMarket Yard K RPawar, Executive En-gineer Suresh Mohade,Sanitation Officer Ki-ran Gholap, represen-tatives of the trade as-sociation and business-men were present.

Awareness on coronavirus...Contd. from pg. 1

ployees, with an aim to bring more discipline andefficiency.

Annasaheb Misal, NMMC Commissionerspeaking with Newsband said, “On the outbreakof coronavirus, we have stopped the biometric at-tendance for all the officers and employees from14th March, 2020 till 31st March, 2020. Howev-er, all the officers and employees of civic body needto sign the attendance muster on regular basis.This is undertaken as a precautionary measureto combat the spread of the virus.”

Priya Ratambhe, CIDCO, Public RelationshipOfficer said, “We have asked all the employees ofCIDCO to stop the biometric attendance for 15days from 14th March, 2020. As of now all the2000 employees will register their attendance bysigning on the muster.”

Coronavirus.. Contd. from pg. 1


By Dr. Monica Khanna

At a recent confer-ence, one of the dele-gates came up to meduring the break,complimented me onmy speech and offeredto take some photo-graphs. Then sheasked me if I wouldtake a picture ofher standing atthe podium. Ismiled andobliged. “I don’tthink I will everhave the confi-dence to actuallystand at a podi-um and speak toa large audience.But this picturewill at leastmake me feelgood about my-self and keep re-minding me ofmy dream.” Cu-rious and dis-turbed, I probedfurther, and shespoke about herlack of confidenceand nervousnessat the verythought of publicspeaking. “Itfrightens mewhen I look at somany people. Icannot find the wordsto express myself. Be-sides, I am scared ofmaking mistakes,”she shared. “Most ofall, I don’t want to bejudged.”

The conversationmade me realize howinadequately we pre-pare our students fororal communication,especially in public.The focus of the edu-cation system is pri-marily on writing,and most classroomshave one-way com-munication channels.It is the teacher thatdoes the talking whilechildren are passive

recipients who absorbthe information theyare given.

Schools do encour-age children to partici-pate in debates and el-ocutions – but it is al-ways the more confi-dent students who aregiven repeated oppor-tunities to representtheir class, house orschool at variousevents. Those who donot volunteer on theirown or show no incli-nation to participateare not pushed into thearena of public speak-ing. Therefore, count-less children suffer

from glossophobia, orthe fear of public speak-ing.

Public speaking isan acquired skill – andan essential one, forone does not knowwhen one may need tospeak in front of an au-dience. Of course it isnatural for an individ-ual to be apprehensiveabout facing a largegathering. While thisanxiety cannot beeliminated altogether,it can definitely be re-duced through prac-tice. I remember a stu-dent at the undergrad-uate level who burstinto tears before her

first presentation.She was inconsolableand refused to speak.I gave her time, andtold her to present atthe end after all theother students in herclass had finishedtheir presentations.She was still nervouswhen she came up tospeak, but more incontrol of herself. Atthe end of her thirdyear in college, thesame student spokewith such confidenceand poise that I wasbaffled. Could this bethe same girl, I won-dered. The three

years of rigorouspresentationshad completelytransformed herpersonality.

This confi-dence could havebeen inculcatedmuch earlier –during the for-mative schoolyears. Whenchildren areyoung, they arelike play doughand can easily bemoulded. Ifschools could in-clude one periodin a day wherestudents wouldbe encouraged toshare and ex-press their viewson current issuesand social topics,and make it man-datory for eachstudent to partic-ipate, it would

not only help childrenshed their inhibitionsin speaking butwould also enhancetheir general knowl-edge. The dream ofstanding at the podi-um and speakingwould gradually seemless far-fetched andmore attainable –and the photographsclicked would be realand not just imag-ined… The writer is Associate

Professor, IndiraInstitute of Business

Management, Consult-ant, Indian School of

Management andEntrepreneurship

Dare to Speak

An eight-bed facility for Corona virus affected patients has been set up at the munic-ipal hospital in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Vashi (By Sumit Renose)

The Balaji Theater in Koparkhairane has been closed following orders from the stategovernment (By Sumit Renose)

Students were seen wearing mask in Navi Mumbai after coronavirus scare (By SumitRenose)

Following orders from the state government the swimming pool in Navi Mumbai SportsAssociation has been closed (By Sumit Renose)


Shiv Jayanti was celebrated at Navi Mumbai with great zeal and enthusiasm. A procession was organized at the APMC fruit market (By Sumit Renose)

BCCI and Franchise stakeholders deliberate on future course of 13th IPL T20 tourney

Agree to prioritise public safety and well-being in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

By Ashok Dhamija

In order to discussthe ramification ofNovel Corona Virus(COVID-19) outbreakand its impact on theupcoming2020 seasonof Indian PremierLeague (IPL) T20tournament, theBoard of Control forCricket in India(BCCI) on Saturday14th March, 2020 metthe franchises teamowners at its Head-quarters in Mumbai.The high profilemeeting saw the,BCCI board membersalong with all stakeholder reached acommon conclusion ofputting safety andwell-being of fans,athletes and employ-ees as a priority inwake of the pandem-ic, which has trig-gered massive tur-moil across the globe.

“The board willcontinue to monitorand work closely withGovernment of India,State governmentsand other State

Former India captain andBCCI President SouravGanguly addressing themedia personnel followingthe meeting with IPL gov-erning council along withits Franchise team owners.

IPL T20 Tournament has ben postponed to April 15th,2020

regulatory bodies todecide on the futurecourse of action in thebest interest of publichealth. The BCCI andall its stakeholdersare committed toproviding a safe andhealthy environmentfor everyone involvedin our great sport andthe nation,” sharedJay Shah, HonorarySecretary, BCCI.

As may be recalledon Friday, BCCI hasdecided to suspendthe 13th edition of thecash-rich IPL whichwas scheduled tocommence fromMarch 29th to April15th, 2020 due togovernment-imposedtravel restrictionsexcept for a fewofficial categories andrefusal of three statesto host any matchesin the wake of thegrowing coronavirusscare. The SportsMinistry also followedthis up by making itclear that all sportingevents should becancelled in the wake

of the coronavirusoutbreak. And if it isunavoidable, theevents should be heldbehind closed doors toavoid mass gather-ings.

A sources in theknow shared that allpossible scenarioswere discussed duringthe course of themeeting so as toreach an amiabledecision in among allparties — BCCI, IPLowners and broad-caster partner StarSports based on thereview meeting and

the situation aftertwo to three weeks soas to offset anyfinancial loss.

The first being atruncated IPL seasonor an extension of theleague. Dividing eightteams into two groupsof four with the topfour qualifying forplay-offs could be thesecond one. The third

option could beincrease of doubleheaders (even onweekdays). Thefourth being conduct-ing all matchesbehind closed doors injust a few centreswith restrictedmovements of play-ers, support staff andTV crew.

Former Indiacaptain and BCCI

President SouravGanguly known forhis unambiguousview said, “Humanbeings safety comefirst and financecomes second. We arehere to adhere toGovernment of Indiaalong with theMinistry of YouthAffairs and Sports,Ministry of Healthand Family Welfareand all other relevantCentral and StateGovernment depart-ments in this regard.I don’t see anythingbeing decided beforethe end of the monthEven if IPL happensit will be in allprobability a truncat-ed one since 15 daysare gone. How trun-cated, how manygames, I can’t say atthe moment.”.


By C.K. Subramaniam

MUMBAI: Mumbaibased animator has seta world record by mak-ing a 10x8 feet mosaicportrait of ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharajon the occasion ofhis birth anniver-sary. NitinDinesh Kamblecreated the art-work in 10 daysusing as many as46,080 plasticbits of six differ-ent colours and itis history now.

Kamble, whoworks as an ani-mator in a privatecompany, says alot can be donewith plastic, evenif they arebanned in themarket. The portrait ofChhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj was madewith 46,080 plasticbits. In India, there is

Nitin Dinesh Kamble

creates World Record

Makes 10x8 feet mosaic portrait of

Shivaji Maharaj in 10 days

a ban on plastic butthere is a lot we can doabout the plastic thatis already in themarket. Kamble saidhe bought the raw ma-

terial for the artworkfrom Bhubaneswarand coloured it him-self. It took nearly 10days for him to make

and complete theportrait. This portraithas been registered inthe World Records In-dia.

“This is my firstworld record,”says Kamble whowishes to createmore such por-traits of the free-dom fighters withan aim to makethe younger gen-eration knowabout them andget inspired.

Last year, anartist created amural of Chhatra-pati Shivaji Ma-haraj on GoogleMaps. The satel-lite view on theapp showed theartwork was

made on a field in thevillage of Nilanga inLatur district.The writer is a freelancerfrom Sanpada, Navi Mumbai

Dipti Duggal bags ‘WomenIcon of the Year 2020’ Award

MUMBAI: Mrs DiptiDuggal has beenawarded with “WomenIcon of the year 2020”Award at the NationalGratitude Awards 2020which was held recent-ly. Earlier, she had alsowon the title of MrsIconic Eyes and MrsChandigarh 2019.

The National Grat-itude Awards- 2020 wasorganised recently byVine Arora (Vinay Aro-ra), Managing Directorof the Paper Stone Pro-ductions and DirectorGurudev Aneja. On theoccasion, the people as-sociated with politics,religious and social ac-tivities and businesswere felicitated at thehands of noted actressSonali Bendre, who wasthe chief guest on theoccasion.

Dipti hails from aplace with diverse cul-ture i.e. Hong Kong,

with deep routes at-tached to Chandigarh.Being a mother of twochildren, she standsindependent to take thechallenges of life. She isa software engineer byprofession, a passionatewriter and blogger bycompassion.

She is a founderof likhtidipti.com. Onwinning the award shesaid, “I live with mydreams and make themhappen to become true.I want to become a role

model for all other wom-en who are workinghard without any ap-preciation. I hold thevision of love, peace andprosperity for every-one.”

She also helps thecommunity by partici-pating in different socialwork events along withUNESCO and otherethnic communities.She has been appreciat-ed with Silver Award forbeing a Peace Ambassa-dor in UNESCO HK.

New season of the Amazon OriginalSeries ‘Four More Shots Please!’ to launch

on 17 April on Amazon Prime Video

Starring Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhare, Bani J, Maanvi

Gagroo, Lisa Ray, Pratiek Babbar and Milind Soman, the

new season will be directed by Nupur Asthana

MUMBAI: AmazonPrime Video hasannounced that thesecond season of theAmazon OriginalSeries, Four MoreShots Please! will belaunched on 17 Aprilon Prime Video inIndia and around theworld in more than200 countries andterritories. Coincidingwith InternationalWoman’s Day, theannouncement

celebrates a seriesfocused on woman-hood, camaraderieand friendship.Produced by PritishNandy Communica-tions Ltd and createdby Rangita PritishNandy, the romantic-comedy is helmed bya predominantlyfemale cast and crew.Marking this specialoccasion of Interna-tional Women’s Day,Amazon Prime Videoalso unveils the firstlook poster of theshow’s second seasonthat gives a vividglimpse of the four“Flawsome” damselswho celebrate theirflaws while beingawesome at the sametime.

Riding high on thephenomenal successof the season 1 andpicking up after theprevious season’s

cliffhanger ending,season two showcasesfour unapologeticallyflawed divas who live,love, blunder anddiscover what itreally takes to buildeverlasting friend-ships in MillennialMumbai. Tacklingboth light-heartedand complex issuesfacing women today,Four More ShotsPlease! stars SayaniGupta, Kirti Kulhari,

Bani J and MaanviGagroo, with PrateikBabbar, Lisa Ray,Milind Soman, NeilBhooplalam, SimoneSingh and AmritaPuri in featuredroles. The series isdirected by NupurAsthana and writtenby Devika Bhagat,with dialogues byIshita Moitra.

Four More ShotsPlease! will join thethousands of TVshows and moviesfrom Hollywood andBollywood in thePrime Video cata-logue, includingIndian producedAmazon Originalseries such as TheFamily Man,Mirzapur, InsideEdge and Made InHeaven, and award-winning and critical-ly acclaimed globalAmazon Original

series including TomClancy’s Jack Ryan,The Boys, Hunters,Fleabag and TheMarvelous Mrs.Maisel, all on PrimeVideo, which isavailable at no extracost for AmazonPrime members. Theservice includes titlesavailable in Hindi,Marathi, Gujarati,Tamil, Telugu,Kannada, Malay-alam, Punjabi and

Bengali.Prime members

will be able to watchall episodes of FourMore Shots Please!anywhere and any-time on the PrimeVideo app for smartTVs, mobile devices,Fire TV, Fire TVstick, Fire tablets,Apple TV, Airtel,Vodafone, BSNL etc.In the Prime Videoapp, Prime memberscan download epi-sodes on their mobiledevices and tabletsand watch anywhereoffline at no addition-al cost. Prime Videois available in India at no extra cost to aPrime membershipfor just ̀ 999 annual-ly or ` 129 monthly,new customers canfind out moreat www.amazon.in/prime and subscribeto a free 30-day trial.


INSPIRE :

Swami Vivekanand’s lesson forevery modern day medical out break

By Dr. Vandana Mahajani

Corona virus hastaken over the worldand at least 4,720deaths have been con-firmed so far. The pan-demic is not new to In-dia or the world. In In-dia during plague Swa-mi Viveknanda wrote“Plague manifesto”and reached out to thepeople. This wastranslated in Englishand Bengali and wasdistributed by hardwork of Swami Sadan-anda and Sister Nived-ita to remain “free fromfear as fear is the big-gest sin”

Swamiji says “Al-ways keep the mindcheerful. Everyone willdie once. Cowards suf-fer the pangs of deathagain and again, sole-ly due to fear in their

own minds. “he urgedto thrust aside thisfear “ Come let us giveup the false fear andhaving faith in the in-finite compassion ofGod, grid our loins andenter the field of action.Let us live clean andpure lives. Disease,fear of an epidemic, etc, will vanish into thinair with His grace” Hefurther added, “Alwayskeep the house and itspremises , the rooms,clothes, bed, drains, etcclean. Do not eat stale,spoiled food; take freshand nutritious food in-stead. A weak body ismore susceptible to dis-ease. During the peri-od of epidemic, abstainfrom anger and fromlust.” He also asked notto panic and pay anyheed to the rumours.

It was Sister Nived-ita and other monasticdisciples who workedendlessly during thosedays. Swamiji request-ed all to just send aword at Ramakrishnamath at Belur if any-one needed help.A com-mittee was formed byRamakrishna mission

then with Sister Nived-ita as the secretary.Swami Sadanand’s re-lief work was a masterpiece of organisationalability of his. Swamijiand Sister Niveditaboth delivered lecturesto public on Plague“The plague and duty ofstudents” to arise theyounger population.Teams were formedwhere sister herselfcleaned the drainsalong with others.

Dr. Radhika GibindKar, one of the eminentdoctors in those daysand an eye witness tosister Nivedita’s work.A vivid description isgiven in her writingsin the article “ThePlague” in her book“Studies from an east-ern home”. Their self-less service was seenand felt by all.

Thus in this timelet us not panic, fearand spread rumours,rather accept the pre-ventive measures is-sued by the state andgovernment of India.

The writer is NagarPramukh, VivekanandaKendra, Navi Mumbai

Send us your problem at

[email protected] pictures and we will try and ensure

that the authorities take action

By Ashok Dhamija

PANVEL: Former champions Oil& Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) rode on Arif Shaikh’sbrace along with a goal fromHimanshu Patil to tame CenturyRayon 3-1 in an Elite Divisionmatch of the Rustomjee-MDFALeague 2019-2020 and played atthe Cooperage ground, on Friday.Century Rayon scored throughThatchan Vasham to reduce themargin of defeat.

Both the teams had come atthe back of contrasting wins.While ONGC showcased theirclass and registered a impressive5-1 win against Union Bank ofIndia. Striker Himanshu Patil ledONGC’s charge to victory withtwo goals while Sunil Lohar,Sudhakar Ranjan and Shishir P.,all chipped in with a goal each.Union Bank of India started welland scored a goal through NinadChavan but the defence crumbledunder constant pressure formONGC strike force. CenturyRayon SC on the other hand had

Unbeaten ONGC tames CenturyRayon: MDFA Elite Division

overcame a spirited challengefrom Central Bank of India tosnatch a narrow 1-0 win. TheCentury Rayon outfit playedaggressively and managed to scorethe lone goal in the 43rd minutethrough Zingshegim Lunglong’sfine efforts.

In another match, Salcette FCand Sea View SC shared honoursin a 1-1 draw. Sanket Mayekarscored for Salcette and Sea View’srestored parity through TanmayRai’s strike.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Marinesoutclass PIFA 3-0 courtesy of asecond half brace from Akshayafter Ravish’s 1st minute goal hadput Mumbai Striker ahead rightfrom the onset.

Results (Elite Division):ONGC 3 (Arif Sheikh 35, 45+5,

Himanshu Patil 812 ) beat Centu-ry Rayon 1 (Tholchan Varhum 402) (HT 2-1); Salcette FC 1 (SanketMayekar) drew Sea View SC 1(Tanmay Rai); Mumbai Striker 3(Ravish 12 , Akshay 762 , 90+12 )beat PIFA 0 (HT 1– 0).

Defending champions ONGC which is a blend of youth and veterans continued theirunbeaten run in the MDFA Elite Division with a fluent 3-1 win over Century Rayon.


Letters to the Editor....

Let us make Sports CompulsoryThis refers to your editorial “No Bag Day: The

right decision” (March 14). Carrying heavy schoolbags day after day is one of the most distressingexperiences for a school going child. It’s not theweight of books alone, but that of fancy bagstoo. Half of all children suffer back pain by the age of 14 and doctors arereporting a rise in cases of spinal abnormalities in pupils, including dis-figuring curvatures known as scoliosis.

Now-a-days, it is very common to find students especially in middleschool carrying huge bags with their shoulders drawn down with theweight. Modern system of education has not yet come up with any usefulalternative where students don’t have to carry such heavy bags. Healthexperts say children risk long-term and ultimately permanent damage ifthey regularly carry more than 15 per cent of their body weight over theirshoulders. In this technology, there are several options to make this situ-ation uncommon and make the bags of children lighter in weight. Theschool authorities should make arrangements for keeping their daily workbooks in school or reduce the number of periods per day. Lockers are an-other good option when it comes to reducing the bag weight.

Vinod C. Dixit, Ahmedabad

Let Nirbhaya’s soul rest in peaceDespite the highest court in the country having confirmed the death

sentence for this heinous crime, the four accused in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case have been happily filing applications all over andthat too one by one, only to merely delay and derail the due process of law.

All this misuse of the judiciary and precious scant court time is abso-lutely impermissible. May be, it’s high time the government amends thelaw to ensure that punishment for such grievous crimes should be ex-tremely fair but yet very swift. There needs to be a deterrent to the lawbreakers.

Will it need that a child of a ruling politician is raped and murderedfor the Government to awaken to this reality that justice delayed is jus-tice denied?

The four Nirbhaya rapists (Mukesh Kumar Singh, Vinay Kumar Shar-ma, Pawan Kumar Gupta and Akshay Kumar Singh) should be hangedtill death at the earliest so that other rapists may learn a lesson from thisincident and not treat women like sex objects in order to satisfy theircarnal desires. But what about the juvenile who has raped Nirbhaya too.Why was he given just three years imprisonment and left with just alight warning? Besides giving him a light warning and three years ofimprisonment, why has he been hidden in an isolated place where no oneknows where he is now? Is there an answer to this? How much moneyhas he bribed the court to let him off with just a light warning and onlythree years of imprisonment?

Justice should be given to Nirbhaya’s parents so that her soul mayrest in peace.

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai

Prevention is better than cureSince the outbreak of corona-virus in Wuhan, China, the deadly dis-

ease has spread like wildfire throughout the world, not only that, but ithas created a mass hysteria of fear in the people, which is far more dan-gerous than the virus itself.

With countries shutting their doors to foreigners in the wake of stop-ping corona-virus, Health Emergency needs to be imposed in our countryregarding the catastrophic outbreak of this fatal disease.

Prevention is better than cure. India should minimize travelling toand from virus affected countries. Facilities to diagnose this virus shouldalso be established in big cities to nip the evil in the bud. People of Indiamust also exercise vigilance and control in their movement and doing allacts that may cause attraction of virus.

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai

Saurashtra’s success story

By C.K. Subramaniam

Cricket is a gameof chance but in RanjiTrophy cricket, it agame of first inningslead. Saurashtra wonthe first even RanjiTrophy title at Rajkotbeating Bengal. So, aside from the WesternRegion annexed thetrophy. However,Mumbai, the head-quarters of Indiancricket could notachieve any headwayin the championship.

Saurashtraskipper Unadkatsprings into action toput the skids onBengal’s chase on thefifth and final day.His left arm medium-pace bowling was arevelation in thisRanji Trophy Champi-onships. A magniû-cent tale of grind andtoil came to a halt asSaurashtra, led by aninspiring JaydevUnadkat, stoppedBengal on the ûfthand ûnal day to winits first title. Unad-kat not only deliveredthe final blow but alsoclaimed 63 wickets atan average of 13.23per wicket. But thatwas not the best thisseason. Bihar slowleft-arm orthodoxbowler AshutoshAman took 68 wicketsin the 2018-19 season.

Saurashtra’ssuccess story isphenomenal. Theyachieved this againstall odds. At the sametime the winningteam was showingearly promise inRanji Trophy indifferent names.Nawanagar (HQJamnagar) appearedin Ranji Trophy from1936/37 to 1947/48(won title on debut in1936/37 when theybeat Bengal in final).Western India StatesAgency (HQ Rajkot)appeared in RanjiTrophy from 1934/35to 1945/46 (won titlein 1943/44 when theybeat Bengal in final).Kathiawar appearedin Ranji Trophy from1946/47 to 1949/50.

All three above

sides merged tobecome Saurashtrafrom 1950/51 to date(won title in 2019/20when they beatBengal on firstinnings lead. Inciden-tally, Saurashtra wontheir maiden nationaltitle - the 50-overVijay Hazare Trophyin 2007-08, theyagain beat BENGALin the final. So forSaurashtra, Bengal isthe soft target to win

titles.Corona virus

caused ripples as thelast days play wasplayed with gatesclosed for the public.Moreover, C Sham-shuddin, one of thefield umpire was onruled out as the on-field umpire for theremainder of theRanji Trophy finalafter getting hitaround the lowerabdomen area on theopening day of thetitle clash betweenBengal and Saurash-tra. Substitution wasdone from day two ofthe match.

After falling toMumbai in 2012-13and 2015-16, and toVidarbha in 2018-19,Saurashtra beatBengal on first-innings lead in the

2019-20 Ranji Trophyfinal to become thenewest team to winIndian cricket’spremier domesticcompetition. Sincetheir first campaignin the Ranji Trophyin 1950-51, Saurash-tra, in the process,become the thirdGujarat-based teamto triumph in thecompetition, theothers being Gujaratand Baroda. Saurash-

tra are the third teamfrom the Saurashtraregion of Gujarat towin the Ranji Trophy,following the titleruns of Nawanagar in1936-37 and WesternIndia in 1943-44.

After losing justonce (against UttarPradesh) in a groupcontaining Karnata-ka, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh,Mumbai, Railways,Baroda, and MadhyaPradesh, Saurashtrafinished fourth in thecombined Group Aand B table to qualify.So after a long gapthe Ranji Trophy hadgone to the placewhere it actuallybelongs to.The writer is freelancerfrom Sanpada, NaviMumbai


Tata Motors announces the launch of ‘Mega Safety Campaign’

Celebrates National Safety Month with its customersMUMBAI: Tata

Motors recentlyannounced the launchof ‘Mega SafetyCampaign’, a nation-wide free safetycheck-up camp for itscustomers at 650+workshops. Com-mencing on 15th

March, this campaignis a part of TataMotors’ overalloutreach during theNational SafetyMonth and endeavorsto provide an exclu-sive vehicle safetycheck-up to itscustomers. Thecampaign will run till31st March 2020.

Apart from thetotal safety check-upof the car, the Compa-ny will also offer afree top wash/foamwash for the vehicle,

attractive discountson labor, parts,lubricants, accesso-ries and value addedservices. To raiseawareness amongstcustomers, TataMotors will also beconducting workshopson tips for safedriving and vehiclemaintenance. Thiswill be in addition tothe road safetyactivities organized inconjunction with localRTOs across cities.

According to Mr.Subhajit Roy, SeniorGeneral Manager &Head Customer Care(Domestic and Inter-national Business),Tata Motors, “Cus-tomer safety has

always been atthe forefront ofour brand. Weare delightedto be conduct-ing free safetycheck-upcamps for ourcustomers.Through theroll-out of thiscamp, we aimto ensure theoverall safetyof our custom-ers and raiseawarenessregarding safedriving andvehicle mainte-nance. Thiseffort is inalignmentwith theconstantly

evolving safety normsand seeks to equipour customers withthe best safetypractices.”

Furthering itselfin the service sphere,Tata Motors alsoannounced the launchof the latest version ofthe Tata MotorsService Connect(TMSC) app. The appnow is much fasterand comes with a24X7 breakdownassistance support onhome screen whichshares the breakdownlocation directly withthe TML call centreat a click for locatingcustomer location andproviding help.

The service checks

in the mentionedduration will coverthe check-up ofEngine, Clutch,Transmission,Brakes, Steering,Suspension, Wheels &Tyres, Lights, ORVM,IRVM , Horn, AC,Seat, Seatbelts andDoor Locks, etc. toensure completesafety of the vehicle &customer.

To get your carchecked up and toavail the offers, pleasecontact your nearestTata Motors Autho-rized Workshop. Tolocate the nearestworkshop, pleasedownload the latestversion Tata MotorsService Connect(TMSC) app or visithttps://cars.tatamotors.com/service



NAVI MUMBAI: In adrive to connect digitalIndia, a leading Edtechstartup based inKharghar- Testbook,an end-to-end learningand assessment plat-form for Governmentjob exams, today an-nounced its businessgrowth plans here inNavi Mumbai. Lookingat the growth trajecto-ry of Testbook, thestart-up has recorded astupendous growthrate of 250% in the lastthree years. The com-pany is on track toclock in a revenue of 30crore in FY 2019-20 andfurther 105 cr by 2020-21.

Testbook is a onestop solution for thegovernment job aspir-ants. The platformgives a 360° learningexperience by providingLive online coachingwith planned curricu-lum through top-notchfaculty, along withMock test practice &assessment and studymaterial around Tips &Tricks. Subsequently,

Leading Edtech startup Testbook looks at a revenue of 105 crore in FY 2020-21

Ashutosh Kumar, CEO and Co-Founder (Middle); Naren-dra Agrawal, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer (Left);Praveen Agrawal, Co-Founder & Chief Content Officer(Right)

The start-up has set-up base in Navi Mumbai as it expands its operations further

it also gives detailedanalysis of a student’sperformance helping inimproving scores andincreasing selectionchances.

While the organiza-tion celebrates their re-markable growth overthe years, the investors,Iron Pillar Fund andMatrix Partners, havealso shown unwaveringtrust in their successstory by investing Se-ries B round of INR 60crores very recently.

With a total of 1.1crore registered users,Testbook has morethan 40 Lakh monthlyactive users out ofwhich 5 Lakh + arepaid subscribers. TheCompany plans to grow10x in the next twoyears and is hiring atan unprecedented rateacross more than 15roles.

Ashutosh Kumar,Co-Founder, Testbookspeaking during thepress meet said, “Withthe recent infusion ofcapital & current an-nual revenue rate ofINR 30 crore, the com-

pany is poised to ex-pand exponentiallythereby increasing thenumber of intake of stu-dents to 1 crore in theupcoming year from the56 lakh students lastyear. Interestingly, outof the total 56 lakhs,four lakh students werefrom Maharashtra.More than 8 crore as-pirants appear for Govt.jobs every year compet-ing for only 5 lakh va-cancies i.e. less than1% selection chance.The competition is asstiff as getting into anIIT, but Testbook is way

above the national av-erage at 7% selectionrate.”

Furthermore, headded, “Testbook isheadquartered in NaviMumbai and it cannotleave behind the oppor-tunities it provides forpeople residing in andaround the vicinity. Wehave hired 63 employ-ees from Maharashtraalone in the last twomonths of which 33 arefrom Navi Mumbai it-self. Kharghar andNavi Mumbai are apool of talent waiting tobe explored.”

Choosing NaviMumbai as the base forTestbook was an easydecision and NarendraAgarwal, Co-Founder,Testbook says,“Kharghar is located inclose proximity to bothMumbai and Pune.With the internationalairport and metro astwo major proposedprojects, Kharghar isset to become the nextbusiness district on thelines of BKC Mumbai.The rentals are com-paratively economicaland suits best for a boot-strapped startup.Kharghar is a smart &clean city to live with-out the traffic snags ofMumbai & with anabundance of potentialtalent waiting to be ex-plored in Navi Mum-bai.”

Despite being theleaders in providingquality content, out-come driven and inno-vative product for overhundreds of govt. re-cruitment exams, Tet-stbook’s solutions arevery affordable, even forthe students from Tier

2, 3 or 4 towns. Theyhave a subscription-based platform for INR599 per year for mocktests. The platformcharges INR 500 toINR 5000 a year foronline courses withabout 100+ live cours-es available on the plat-form. Testbook’s re-markable innovationslike video lecture andonline tests streamingwithout internet arepowerful features forsmaller town students.These students can evenmake offline voucherbased purchases.

Testbook haschanged the way stu-dents prepare and learnfor government exami-nations. Efforts are be-ing made to add morethan 150 state govern-ment recruitment ex-ams in next one year;out of which 13 brandnew exams have beenadded in February. Itwill also be launchingmultilingual learningcontent soon withteachers teaching inMarathi, Telugu, Ben-gali and Gujarati.

NAVI MUMBAI: Evenas environmentalistshave been protestingagainst the blocking offree flow of tidal waterin eco-sensitive Uran,the creek water has be-gun to inundate thefarm fields in the region.

Presenting the‘grim picture’ with pho-tographic evidence, en-vironment focusedgroups NatConnectFoundation and ShriEkvira Aai Pratishtan,along with fishing com-munity forumPaaramparik Machhi-mar Bachao KrutiSamiti have sent anSOS to Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray,Environment MinisterAaditya Thackeray and MaharashtraCoastal Zone Manage-ment Authority (MCZ-

Blocked tidal water finds its way to Uran farms

Greens blame private container yard, jetty & CIDCO; send SOS to CM

MA) to take urgentsteps and check fur-ther deterioration.

“In the latest envi-ronment disaster,large stretches of farmfields in Khopte havebeen flooded as tidalwater has found itsown course,” said B NKumar, director Nat-Connect Foundation.This is a serious issueas the livelihood of thepeople is threatened.“Salt water is bound todestroy the fertile soiland you do not need anexpert to say that,” heargued.

Kumar recalledthat during Holi festi-val last year, tidal wa-ter entered at least fivevillages. “We hadwarned the authoritiesthen,” he said andpointed out that there

has been just lip-servicein terms of site inspec-tions with little or nilaction.

The area has no his-tory of floods over thepast 15 to 20 years,said NandakumarPawar, head of ShriEkvira Aai Pratishtan,

quoting official re-sponse to RTI applica-tion. Flood crisis beganto arise only after the

various infrastructureworks such as NMSEZand JNPT related Con-tainer terminal havebeen started, he point-ed out.

The so-called devel-opment works havecaused destruction offishing areas and now

they are ruining what-ever little farm fieldsare left, lamented Dil-ip Koli of PaaramparikMachhimar BachaoKruti Samiti. “Our

constitutional right topractice our trade isbeing denied to us,” hesaid.

This area clearly isunder CRZ 1 and isfishing zone, Koli saidand regretted that in-numerable appeals tothe officials have fall-en on deaf ears.

The development ofa container yard by aprivate company is toblame for the currentfloods as the flow ofcreek water has beenblocked and wetlandsdestroyed, the environ-mentalists said.

“We are not againstany infrastructure de-velopment,” said Ku-mar and asked: “butshould it come at thecost of environmentand hitting the localeconomy?”

postal regn. no. nmb/154/2020-22/vashi mdg post office ... · navi mumbai: re-sponding to a series...

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