It is a well known fact that the air we breathe in “aamchi mumbai” is far from the fresh air that we need.

And now a study by the TIFR confirms this. But wait, the major culprit is not cars. Its garbage. Yes the garbage that you and me and everyone else generates in bucketloads.

A survey conducted by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) has put light on a hazardous fact — half of Mumbai has become a gas chamber.

This means the air is not hygienic anymore. Garbage is the main culprit for this, not traffic.

According to the study, residents between Byculla and Mahim on the western side and Byculla to Ghatkopar and Chembur on the eastern suburbs are the major victims.

TIFR also says that burning garbage at the 100-hectare dumping ground north of Chembur-Vashi road has affected Mumbai’s eastern suburbs.[link]

And here is a small example of the quantum of garbage that the sea throws back at us

Very soon we will need gas masks to live in the city.

This has to be one hilarious incident.

The chief of police organised an event to educate his top brass about healthy eating and lifestyles. This is after a lot of studies that show that stress and the daily rigour are occupational hazards these policemen face daily.

And what do you think the cops did ? They bunked. Just like we all bunked lectures in college, the cops bunked the lecture.

And to top it, the police chief arrived on time and instead of a full house, saw one barely half full.

Ah well, sometimes good intentions and will to do something for the betterment of all is not enough. You gotta crack the whip.

In what apparently is a first in the world, a Rolls Royce car is being used to sell cellphones. The Hutch Essar group is advertising their tie up with Virgin and Rolls Royce in a campaign called Rock with Rolls.

As part of the campaign, the Phantom will visit 11cities to begin with, starting with Mumbai followed by Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin and Pune. Consumers will get a chance to touch, feel, ride the Rolls. [link]

And of course the hallowed car brand is not happy.

“We were surprised to see reports that we have partnered with Essar,” informed a RR representative. The RR dealer in the city denied that the car costing Rs 4.5 crore was purchased by Essar for its promotional campaign and insisted that it was purchased for personal use.

What was Essar thinking of ?? Buy a cell and get a Rolls free ??

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This rat with its unusual long teeth was trapped at a farsan shop in Dombivli on Wednesday. Nearby residents of Siddhivinayak Farsan thronged the shop at Phadke Road, believing the rat was Lord Ganesh’s avatar. The shop owner, Sachin Dedhiya, took the rat to his home and offered puja. The rat did not eat anything at his home, so fearing that it would die, Dedhiya left it at a Shiva temple. [link]

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For all thos of you who find huge advertisement hoardings as eyesores, rejoice. The BMC has put a temporary block on approving new hoardings till they get a comprehensive policy in place.

Hoardings — they pollute the skyline and are growing at a rate that rivals the country’s population growth. However, all this would soon change, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to issue new guidelines for hoardings in the city.

The BMC has said no new permission for hoardings will be given while the new guidelines are taking shape.[link]

Hoardings set selectively to blend into the background are actually pleasing and there are numerous instances of that in New York City for example. But most of the hoardings in Bombay are poorly designed, crass and loud. One just needs to look at Flora Fountain to understand the problem at hand.

However even the size of hoardings is under the scanner.

The BMC is also contemplating restricting the size of gargantuan hoardings that are currently being put up in the city..[link]

Actually I would love the No Hoardings Policy that another megalopolis across the world just put into place. Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city banned billboards and the citizens couldn’t be happier.

In a first for our country, the civic budget of a city will be available online and nearly in real-time.

For the discerning tax-payer who wants to know what the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has done with his hard-earned money, the civic body has taken one giant step forward in transparency. In a first of its kind in the country, the richest civic body will make its annual budget available at the click of a mouse.[link]

For a country that is the IT backoffice to the whole world, we are still lagging in online governmental services. However things have improved by leaps and bounds in the last few years and I was really pleased to file for my PAN card online and have it delivered to my home in a three week period.

Check out the city’s official website for more information about Mumbai.

A 10 year old kid, Madhav Subrahmaniam, has taken it upon himself to help save the tigers of India. And he has done a fantastic job out of it. ..

The 10 year old student of Ambani International School

“The importance of tigers for the survival of all other species including human beings struck my mind when I joined ‘Kids for Tigers’. Since then the feeling that the magnificent animal was in dire crisis made me restless and the urge to do something for the big cat kept on growing,” said Madhav.

In order to earn this amount, Madhav did not mind polishing the shoes of guests visiting his house and dusting houses in his building. “I used to polish shoes for Rs5 and even dust houses. Though I charged Rs 5 for polishing shoes, I earned the maximum amount from this when I had a guest from USA. He gave me $5 for polishing his shoes,” added Madhav.[link]

From someone that youn, this is exemplary. If more children are allowed to follow their passion and help doing good to the larger world, we would have solutions to a lot of problems tha adults have failed at.

The Municipal Commissioner has announced a gargantuam budget exceeding 12,000 crores for the city this year. The aim is to enhace city infrastructure, provide new amenities and keep taxes under control. All in all a great formula on paper.

However it remains to be seen what pans out.

Presenting the Rs12,866 crore budget for the city on Tuesday, municipal commissioner Dr Jairaj Phatak said it was a “realistic budget that took the city’s priorities into account.” The Centre has added a few hundred crore rupees to the corpus.

Mumbai residents may find it heartening that although the BMC has provided an additional Rs3,258 crore this year, there will be no tax rise. The civic infrastructure will be granted a sizeable chunk (43 per cent) of the outlay. Another Rs2,353.63 crore will be deployed to buttress social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. [link]

What remains to be seen is how much of this money actually makes it for the right causes and how much of it will get siphoned off as bribes etc. I frankly have my doubts. We will evaluate in a year and see.

Bombay has a large population of Nigerian and other West African students who come to study at city colleges. However in the past few months Nigerians have come onto the radar for all the wrong reasons. At the begining of the year a Nigerian duo was caught while trying to pull off the Nigerian 419 scam.

And yesterday another quartet was apprehended during a drug bust. However

A group of four Nigerian nationals today assaulted and injured two constables who tried to nab them for allegedly carrying narcotics, a senior police official said.

During a raid carried out in Vakola in the early hours, a police party attempted to arrest the group of Nigerians who were allegedly carrying cocaine, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Anti-Narcotics Cell) Dilip Srirao told PTI. [link]

I guess a few bad apples spoil the basket. Nigerian students in the city should get together and make sure their names are not sullied and they don’t get stereotyped into something not too popular.

The Tatas have inaugurated the first helipad in South Bombay. This is on top of the Tata Wellington Mews which is now a luxury hotel.

The Tatas have become the first corporate house in Mumbai to have a helipad in Colaba. Their helipad atop Taj Wellington Mews — a luxury apartment hotel in Colaba — is now functional.

Over the last weekend, two trial landings were conducted in the presence of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-appointed inspectors and sources said that they gave the green signal.

For a city of millions and with jet setters and high flyers galore, the city have very few public heliports.

The only other helipads in Mumbai are at the Mahalaxmi racecourse (open to the public), the Raj Bhavan (for the governor and heads of state) and at INS Kunjali, Colaba (used for defence purposes only). The helipad atop the Essar building in Mahalaxmi is defunct.