Mahesh Vijapurkar
Read biographyMahesh Vijapurkar likes to take a worm’s eye-view of issues – that is, from the common man’s perspective. He was a journalist with The Indian Express and then The Hindu and now potters around with human development and urban issues.
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How Mumbai’s ‘ordinary man’ gets screwed on real estate
In a city where Antilia, a 27-story, single-family residence, the Malabar Hills, Juhu bungalows, and the slums on Reay Road sidewalks so tiny that multiple families use a common kitchen to save on scarce space, co-exist, it is hard to know who the common man is. Mumbai’s Rs 1,51,608 per #Antilia #Dharavi #HowThisWorks #MHADA #Mumbai #Public housing #Real estate #Slums
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Worli demolition: What about the three builders, the civic body?
Their plight is natural and obvious. Faced with the inevitable demolition, save a miracle or a stay by the Supreme Court of its own order pending a review petition, the residents of the five apartment blocks in Worli are numbed. They face being dishoused within a couple of days, and #Campa Cola #ConnectTheDots #Mumbai #Real estate #Worli
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Monkey menace: Langurs are passe, will foreign help work?
In 1977, an entire town was held to ransom by the Indian Rhesus Macaque or simply the Indian monkey because just nobody wanted to hurt them. It is alright to see a guy making a monkey do some tricks, firmly holding it on leash, but harming them was, and is, #California National Primate Research Centre #HowThisWorks #langur #monkey
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Explaining Pawar’s sudden opposition to building demolitions
It is quite possible Mumbai’s civic body will demolish the 140 illegal apartments on 35 floors of seven buildings in Worli on Monday because the Supreme Court has ordered it. It is quite likely that nothing, including humane considerations, may work to save the residents because no official or government #Demolitions #India #Mumbai #Mumbra #PoliticsDecoder #Sharad Pawar
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Demolition of illegal Mumbai flats: Why hit the innocent?
There is this often narrated anecdote, surely apocryphal, where a mischievous student’s parent tells the teacher that the boy is sensitive. If he errs it would do if the next student is slapped and his son would get the message. That was, of course, before corporal punishment was outlawed. To expect #Illegal buildings #Mumbai #Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai #ThatsJustWrong
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Thane bandh: The govt-politician-builder nexus in cover-up bid
The legality of the daylong bandh in Thane city today could well be argued what with the High Court frowning on the tendency to organise bandhs and slapping fines on the organisers on earlier occasions. In fact, the very purpose of the bandh - protection of illegal constructions - deserves to #HowThisWorks #Mumbra collapse
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Child labour in Gujarat’s cotton factories: Will Modi stop it?
We have been told that Narendra Modi is a decisive leader to the extent of being authoritarian, dictatorial but one who delivers. That has been the USP on which his spin doctors have built the entire Modi myth on. It resonates in various fora, starting from his lecture at Shri #Child Labour #Cotton factory #Gujarat #InMyOpinion #Narendra Modi
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How politicians have hijacked the Thane building collapse to their benefit
In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Lucky Compound building in Mumbra, outrage over such constructions swelled and one thought people would take no more of it. At a meeting, Mumbra’s outraged residents decided to fight illegal constructions in their suburb and demanded action against those who had #builders #HowThisWorks #Mumbra Building Collapse #Politicians #Real estate #Redevelopment
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From Mumbra to Nehru Nagar: Why the answer lies in honest officials
The collapse of an illegal under-construction building in Thane’s Mumbra suburb, killing 72 persons, has unleashed a programme of demolitions across the metropolitan region around Mumbai as if the civic bodies have suddenly realised that they do have illegal buildings within their jurisdictions. There is a sudden epidemic of demolition announcements #civic bodies #Corruption #HowThisWorks #illegal constructions #Mumbra Building Collapse #Nehru Nagar police station
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Uncle Sharad to the rescue, but will that help Ajit Pawar?
Sharad Pawar, NCP chief and Ajit Pawar’s uncle, has apologised for his nephew’s indiscreet—even crass and insensitive—remark. Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, had recently said that if there was no water in irrigation dam reservoirs, it was not possible to fill them up by urinating into them. However, this is #Ajit Pawar #Drought #NCP #PoliticsDecoder #Sharad Pawar