29 villages excluded from Vasai-Virar civic body

We are thankfull to all members of Vasai Jan Andolan Samiti, All Sanghatnas, Political Parties who have participated and supported us till the end agitation. We are also thankful to all the MLA's, Opposition Leaders, Mantri's of varoius political parties & All Bureaucrats who have supported our MLA Vivek Pandit on all fronts in Vidhan Sabha.


The notification excluding 29 of the 53 villages in the Vasai taluka from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) has been issued by the state government. The villages are likely to have their panchayat elections after the monsoon.

The VVMC was formed on July 3, 2009 with the merger of four municipal councils of the region and 53 villages.

The Vasai Janandolan Samiti, an organization formed to fight for the villages, contested the first VVMC polls last year. They also voted and got elected former Shiv Sena leader Vivek Pandit as the MLA of the region. Last month Pandit led a march from Vasai to Vidhan Bhavan to put the exclusion on a fast track.

With the notification out, at least eight corporators, who were elected from the villages, will lose their seats. Most of them are women and belong to backward castes.

The villages have not seen much development in the last two years. "The villagers are happy to have saved their green belts. Gram panchayat elections may take two to three months," said president of Swabhimani Vasaikar Sanghatana Vijay Machado.

Civic officials, however, said many development projects were lined up for the villages. The VVMC had set aside a budget of Rs 40-50 crore for the development of infrastructure in the villages.

The villages which have been included in the VVMC are close to urbanization.

Civic sources said that development of villages within municipal limits will be taken up on a priority basis. The 20 villages that could not be removed from the municipality are unhappy with the samiti.

Swabhimani Vasaikar Sanghtana....

The CM Apologises to Cardinal for Cross Demolition

Thousands of Catholics led by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop and President, Catholic Bishops Conference of India prayed at Cross Maidan, and then protested at a rally against the demolition of 3 Crosses, one believed to be in existence since 1936 in Byculla-Mazagaon area of the city.

This despite the chief minister and the municipal commissioner giving Christians a 15 day time frame to produce documentation on the crosses. Cardinal Gracias informed that the chief minister had called him and apologised for the acts of desecration, even as yet another Cross was demolished and since notices were pasted on the Crosses themselves.

Cardinal said he was hurt, embarrassed and angry at the developments and would meet the state chief minister on the issue. He said that such disrespectful behaviour by the municipal corporation was shocking and had given the BMC a bad name internationally, as it was not expected from Mumbai. Bishop Percival Fernandez said he shared the strong sentiments and concern of the Cardinal at the developments in the metropolis.

"Various state governments are demolishing religious structures, following a Supreme Court directive, which seems giving a communal colour to the demolition drive, with Christians being selectively targetted", said Joseph Dias, general secretary, The CSF, which organised the protest. He added that there was no political will to deal with the issue and there was a strong possibility of it being a ploy to polarise votes on communal lines before the municipal polls due in a year. He also pointed out that the behaviour of the municipal and police officers, who did not spare women, children and senior citizens, gave the impression that communal Hindutva forces had infiltrated these administrative areas too, besides the bureaucracy.

Joseph Dias said that "the West Bengal government had filed an affidavit that action to remove them may have adverse impact on law and order situation and hurt the religious sentiments of the people. No State government has given any time bound framework to manage the structures. From the affidavits, it appears that none of the state secretaries have taken solid measures to abide by the Supreme Court order.Only states of UP, MP, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat have filed their affidavits.

Further, Delhi had reported at 52 only reported the least of such objectionable religious structures. Sikkim, Mizoram and Nagaland had no such religious structures in public places."

The CSF called for a policy from the Union and State Governments, after seeking SC clarifications and announced as part of their future plans, an inter-religious rally at Azad Maidan - if the State Government did not act on its demands.

Beautiful Vasai

These are some true and Green view photos from our very own vasai....

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