Soon, no more dark days at Elephanta
MMRDA Announces Rs 10Cr Grant For Development Of Infrastructure At Heritage Site ……Chittaranjan Tembhekar I TNN
Mumbai: Every day, when the Queens Necklace is lit up, over 320 families on the quaint but panoramic Elephanta islands just across the harbour, are forced to cope with darkness. The entire group of isles lacks basic amenities like power, water as well as health and education.
The islands inhabitants, who had started migrating to the neighbouring Raigad or Thane districts, now see a ray of hope. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has announced a Rs 10-crore grant for the revival of this World Heritage Site, particularly to lay an undersea electric cable.
This is the first such experiment in the state.
Metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said the state had approved the allocation of the grant. Other aspects for developing the islands were being worked out, he added.
According to Uma Adsumilli, MMRDA planner, the grant would also be used for improving the basic tourism infrastructure of the islands. Gaikwad said help from MTDC, the tourism department, MSEDCL and Cidco would be sought to improve the islands infrastructure.
Our fourth generation is fighting for good basic amenities. If MMRDA funds the undersea power cable, and schools and hospitals come up besides the tourist infrastructure being improved, the island will be revolutionised, said former sarpanch of the Gharapuri village Rajendra Padte. According to him, the island gets power between 7 and 11 pm only, that too is erratic.
MTDC found that running a diesel generator was not viable economically, as transporting diesel to the island in a boat was expensive.
We have no landlines or medical services, which we can use during an emergency. Even our ancestors had access to these during the British rule, said a resident Rakesh Mhatre. The British military base had provided electric as well as telephone lines, Padte added, pointing to the old electric poles without wires. He said it took 14 years to commission the first dieselbased power house after it was built in 1972.
In 1990-91, the central government had come up with the idea to set up the first solar power plant on the island.
The government even installed machinery valued at Rs 1 crore. But after its battery costing Rs 6 lakh was damaged, the small panchayat, which has an annual budget of Rs 48,000, could not afford the replacement, Padte said.
Another diesel-based generator was provided to Morabandar village five years ago, at a cost of around Rs 6 crore but that too, was lying abandoned as finally diesel was not made available for it.
The governments idea of installing a hydraulic power project based on sea waves and windmills was found to be unsustainable.
The only viable alternative was to connect Nhava to Gharapuri with an underwater cable and control the movement of ships between Nhava and the island.
However, Padte added the movement of ships on this two-km stretch could not be stopped because of JNPT jetties. The survey for the underwater electric cable has been carried out by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB).
ALL FOR A BETTER FUTURE
The beauty of the scenic Gharapuri island and its age-old civilisation is an added attraction at Elephanta. The MMRDA plans to provide recreational facilities like amphitheatres, eateries, and trendy boats to take the tourists around the isles. The MMRDA expects the revamp exercise to be completed within three years.
ALL FOR A BETTER FUTURE
The beauty of the scenic Gharapuri island and its age-old civilisation is an added attraction at Elephanta. The MMRDA plans to provide recreational facilities like amphitheatres, eateries, and trendy boats to take the tourists around the isles. The MMRDA expects the revamp exercise to be completed within three years.
Better power supply, enclosed pathways, landscaping, a mechanism to keep the site garbage and plastic-free, renovated jetties and shelters are on the cards for the islands.