MSEDCL, Great Power come with Great Loss!

 

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“With great power comes great responsibility” … Spider Man

“With great power comes a great electricity bill” … Common Man

“With great power comes great loss” … MSEB Employee

Three quotes to start the sharing, you must be wondering but if you read them then they are the version of one quote only just the way in Infinity War (well, it’s a superhero movie) Dr Strange (a superhero) tells to others there are more than a million version of the future, same way first quote is my most favorite rather my philosophy then other two are its versions! By the way the first two quotes have become famous (for a week, at the most) on social media are about hike MSEB i.e., short form for present MSEDCL which is distribution company owned by our Maharashtra State govt for electricity supply in the State while the third quote is my creation for the news I came across recent & which was about heavy losses MSEDCL has made (Rs 74,00 crore) over the years. Ok, for those who doesn’t know what is MSEDCL (fortunate, they are actually) for them, in our State electric power supply’s generation, transmission & distribution is done by companies which are State owned fully & the company which is backbone of it is MSEDCL i.e.  Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company earlier (popularly) known as MSEB i.e., Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Only difference in this “old stuff in new package” is, now the same stuff comes in three packages i.e., power generation, its transmission & distribution to the consumers, all of which earlier used to be done under one roof now it’s by three separate companies mentioned above respectively!

Now, one will ask what’s so big fuss & use of sharing this knowledge as what difference this all is going to make to us, does it going to reduce our electric bills or installation cost of our electric meters (for builders & commercial users), well, answer is a big “No”!  then many of you may ask why should we read further about this MSEDCL thing & losses it has made? The answer to this question is, because if you are an honest electricity consumer (read as paying bills on time without complaining) then these losses will mostly be recovered from your pockets, that’s why you should read about this whole thing named MSEDCL & may be by being aware & making others you can stop this overloading of the losses which you are not party to on our pocket! Now definitely most of you will read ahead with another question in mind, how I am party to the losses made by MSEDCL & how I can avoid it that by reading this sharing? Well, for that you will have to read further as knowledge is the key to most problems, seen & unseen, right? Ok, basic issue is, how MSEDCL made such huge losses when electricity is one of the most essential things in today’s world & its use getting increased every day, how such product can make loss to its makers, is a question even ten-year-old mind can get confronted with, after knowing the business of MSEDCL & I don’t blame ten-year kid as even grownups are wondering about it. Answer to any loss-making business’s problem is simple, either the product is faulty so no one is buying it, or the producer has invested the money from selling the product in some loss-making business or the product is being sold at the price below its making cost, no fourth thing can exist when it’s a business loss & I need not have to be Mukesh bhai or Warren bhai to tell this simple logic! In the case of MSEDCL first reason invalid as electricity is most sought-after product or say in demand but other two reasons are very much in place i.e., the money generated is being used on other fronts which are loss making or not profit oriented & the product i.e., power is sold below its production cost or say the product is being sold but money is not being recovered!

Now again you must be thinking what’s your relation with all this? Well, if you are a MSEDCL consumer means you get electricity from the company & it charges you for the power you consume & if it has got some ten customers along & they also use the electric power by MSEDCL but if only two clients out of the ten clients pay the bills in time & other eight doesn’t, what will happen? The company will go into loss & will shut off its production, right? But this is a State-owned company & its employees are getting salaries even if the company is in loss & production is also must be kept on then what will you do? Simple, recover the cost of eight non-paying customers from the two paying customers, it’s the way govt works in our country & now you will understand the importance of the sharing & your relation to the loss as the eight customers are never going to pay because they have been pardoned by the govt itself  & they are farmers, poor people (well, officially), co-operative sugar factories, Gram Panchayats, municipal corporations or Zillah Parishads, govt’s establishments & many such & this list is of legal consumers. Joke is all these consumers does charge their respective consumers again which are residents (barring farmers) of various gram panchayats & cities yet they don’t pay to MSEDCL. And then there are millions of consumers who are actually illegal, like slum dwellers & illegal connections which either are beyond reach of the MSEDCL or are untouchables (with some God Father backing) i.e., the company can’t do anything about it! Bigger joke is, the news said a detailed analysis/ presentation about the losses have been presented in front of entire “Mai Bapp” govt i.e., CM & Ministers & they indeed showed grave concern but, in the end, blamed MSEDCL officers only, for these losses! Wonderful, we give free electricity to agro-pumps means electricity used for watering farms, irrespective of the size & income of the farmer (and use he or she does) & to thousands of govt owned or controlled establishments but govt doesn’t pay MSEDCL for the same, yet blames MSEDCL only, for such losses! And then does this govt give food or such products where electricity has been given free, in subsidized rates to the consumers (read as you & me), again a big NO! Leaving MSEDECL no option to keep hiking rates of the honest consumers to survive!

And the outcome is, the average middle class city consumer in Pune with 2 bhk flat pays approx. Rs 1200 plus, per month bill for his or her 100 sft flat while the farmer (with due respect to farming) owning acres of land pays nothing for every use under the name of agro-pump connection! And the story is the same for slum dwellers which use illegal electricity or never pay the bills yet their connections never get cut! But in case you (common man, middle class) don’t pay one single bill for a month which may be even by mistake of MSEDCL & next month your electric meter is cut & on the top of it you have to pay fine along with numbers of visits to concerned office to get it reconnected is the fact!

If this is story for single domestic consumer then if you are builder or industry the whatever is your load demand there has been norms of getting electric supply for your load demand at affordable cost & yet as MSEDCL doesn’t have funds for infrastructure you have to pay for everything to get electricity to your door from the place where MSEDCL has supply point & it may be Kilometers away from your project or industry & this cost can be in Crores of Rupees but you are an honest customer & you are not having any Godfather behind you, so you have to pay it, this is how you are related to the losses of MSEDCL! Because as per MERC (Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Council) MSEDCL can’t say no to any electric supply demand & has to bare all this infrastructure costs for Transformer, Ring Main Units, HT & LT lines & other necessary equipment including labor costs but MSEDCL doesn’t have money for honest consumers & honest consumer’s project can’t wait till MSEDCL does all the infrastructure in place & the honest consumer can’t afford to make losses the way MSECL can as the honest consumer cant charge its some customers double or multiple times for his failure to make profit from other customers the way MSEDCL can, this is how you are related to the losses MSEDCL is making!

And these losses have not only made the life of genuine & honest consumers miserable but life of MSEDCL employees also worst as in city like Pune which generates nearly Rs 300 plus crore revenue, also gets starved for the funds required for routine maintenance of the infrastructure making power failures & curses of the consumer a ritual for the MSEDCL employees, which are working sincerely for the power supply to its consumers. This is why in the rainy season there is disruption in power supply in the city & MSEDCL staff have to work to keep power supply on by putting their lives in danger in monsoon!  And outcome of the losses is more power cuts in rural as no wonder if you call MSEDCL as a company then its job is to serve the good paying city consumers on priority so unpaid rural consumers get more power cuts though no one will accept it on record! And the problem with losses is MSEDCL needs more billing from paying consumers means they won’t promote use of Unconventional Energy such as Solar or Wind by paying city consumers, so there is no load reduction while calculation load demand as well the rebate getting process for electricity saved by Solar power is so tedious that the consumer gives up idea of setting alternate energy source & I don’t blame MSEDCL for this as in their place I would have also done the same. Because, which businessman will provide his good paying consumers address of another manufacturer of the same product at a lesser price, right?

Good news is, MSEDCL has accepted & started giving refund for the infrastructure work done by the developer or any consumer, of course there is, “*conditions apply” tag but it’s a big positive step to start & for real estate industry a big help which needs every single rupee’s support in present situation. And going with current status infrastructure for MSEDCL’s power supply was a big dent which used to vary for Rs 1 lakh & above per meter (flat or unit) taking the overall expense in Crores of Rupees for bigger projects & it’s great saving (hope so)! At the same time by paying service charges the developer or the consumer can ask MSEDCL to get the infrastructure works required for power supply of the project for which again the “*conditions apply” tag is there as it depends on fund flow with the company which in current scenario one can understand. And then there is another option where in case of emergency the consumer or the builder can get the entire work approved by paying just 1.3% supervision charges to MSEDCL & in this case the ownership of this set up remains with the consumer forever!

With due respect to all poor farmers & such category, I am not saying, don’t help them & indeed that’s job of the govt only, to support them by giving them free electric supply but all the honest consumers are also voters & citizens of this very State only & they also contribute in the revenue of the State only by their input in respective form, this also the govt must not forget while trying to burden us with other’s consumption of electricity! And why even the MSEDCL has to accept losses (read as along with its paying consumers) which are caused by the policies of the govt, is the question everybody must ask now! There are many good officers in MSEDCL & its allied companies & they have the ability to keep this ship on course even in turbulent seas. The problem is with the owner of the ship i.e., Mai Bapp govt! And problem is, with all the honest consumers of MSEDCL who pays their bills on time as high time they should ask why they are being burdened with all other non -paying consumer’s weight which the owner i.e., the govt only has thrown on them or else one day the ship will be sunk along with the crew & the passengers & all that will be left is endless sea of loss!

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Sanjay Deshpande,

 Sanjeevani Dev.

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below…

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Choosing a Right Home!

 

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“You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family” … Anita Baker.

Anita Denise Baker is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. No wonder, with such understanding about emotions like home & family, Anita’s song touched the hearts of millions! I deliberately used the term emotions for the words “Home & Family” respectively as home may be a concrete, brick, wood structure but then so is any structure, it’s the emotions attached to the structure which makes it a home. And any bunch of living species we can call it as a herd or a group or a bunch but it can’t be called a family unless animals (read as living objects) in that group or herd are attached to each other with their emotions! And that’s why a home is complete only if you have a family to live along in it, is my perception & that’s why while making a home or buying it, one must think from the aspect of the family which will be living in it! If you are wondering, what made me start my sharing with such a strong “gyan.com” dosage then the reason is a visit by one of my school friends with his son, who wanted to buy a home in Pune for himself & dialogue with both of them!

Whenever anybody asks me where I should buy a home, I have to be very balanced, as being a builder, if I say buy in my projects then I am a big fool as I must not forget that I am a professional first & then a trader (read as builder). My job is to guide the people (read as clients) to understand what is a right home for them & then let them decide whether my project is right for them. This is the base of sharing, because there is nothing such as good home or bad home, which people often ask me as there are no bad homes; a term named home can’t be ever bad, it just may not be right home for you! So, the first thing I want to share is whenever you are looking for a home then use the scale of right or wrong & not good or bad! Here many will be confused, what is the difference between good or bad home & right or wrong home? Well, for that you will have to analyze the home on the parameters & for that you should learn to look at the home from not just yours but from the entire family’s perspective towards that home!

To start with for any home, still the age-old main criteria is, location. I gave them example of I Phone, that if you buy a I Phone, it will give you same service or outcome on all front right from price to camera quality to the functions irrespective of location or city from where you buy, right? Means, whether you buy an I Phone in Mumbai or Raipur or Seoni (MP) or Solapur, its price will be nearly same & so will be the service that I Phone will give to you. But it’s not applicable for a building which we call a home as the building structure may be the same but depending upon where it has been built will decide whether it’s a right home for you or not. As construction cost of the building & specification you can keep same at any place in any city (nearly) but its utility to the residents will change as can the home will serve you same has it been built in some remote area of rural like Vidarbha or Marathwada or even in Dharavi slum of Mumbai in compare to developed location like Baner or Hadapsar or in posh areas of South Bombay or Prabhat road in Pune, of course no, is the answer. Does this mean the building is not good if it’s built at such odd locations, no, it’s not but it isn’t a right choice as utility of any building which we are looking as a home changes as per the location & so does its price, this aspect differentiates real estate from all other commodities significantly! Whenever you are searching for a home, see that you are at the right location where past, present & future infrastructure, your connectivity, surrounding & price are evenly balanced as then the home will serve you at its best!

Then comes the major part of home & a most neglected one & that is planning of a home & when I say planning, its two-fold i.e., internal & external planning. Internal planning includes interconnection of rooms, right dimensions of the room as well wasting minimum area in commuting with the home yet each room will have privacy at the same time natural light & ventilation, which is very important for a healthy home. The external planning consists of common passages & lobbies connecting to the flats at every flow & right from stair case trade (payara, tappa) height which is allowed 7” by law but must be below 6” for ease of climbing, so many things matter which you can’t change later. And post pandemic where the entire city has been locked within their complex, open spaces around the building as well top common terraces, matters a lot as we can use them for walking or open gym type uses. At the same time if you are having basements then the ramps as well parking areas should be well lit naturally which helps in saving your common electric bills. Do check for the parking ramps as well side margins because to take turn in your parking lot comfortably for any size of car, a minimum 14 ft margin is a must. Even the internal arrangements of the toilets matter where wet area (shoer area) is clearly segregated from dry area, making maintenance & use of the toilet easy. I have seen many clients asking for planning as per Vaastu Shastra (I don’t believe in it but I don’t disrespect it as it’s emotional aspect for many) but these clients neglect the basic aspects of the planning which are responsible for making your life in any home comfortable, which is major factor in deciding a right home!

Of-late many people ask about specifications of the home, indeed with thousands of options available for materials it’s a difficult task for the builder as well architect to chose something which will be liked by all yet if asked to me, my first criteria in choosing materials such as plumbing fitting, electric switches, door fittings & many such, is durability! The home is supposed to stand with you for more than fifty years & all the hidden parts of this home which are responsible to assure the home stands in fit & healthy condition with you for this time span!  Right from hinges used for fixing the doors to fasteners for fixing the wash basin or commode, everything which your eyes won’t see matters more than what your eyes see. So, it's not just costly or fancy looking gadgets that make a right home but the durability & toughness of the materials used in making the home is what makes a home right one! As do mind, you can get your home decorated with whatever costly & good-looking exteriors but just the way our body is strong not by our skin or colour or clothes we wear but our physic & immunity, same way a right home depends on the strong & durable ingredients used for making it & for that you need to ask question to your builder & his team about specifications which matters most i.e., workmanship & process of constructions!

One most important aspect which many always neglect in finer detailing related to the home as there are many things which a fancy brochure of the project or even 3-D walk-way of a home won’t show you but your common sense as well exposure of the world you have, can find out such details! Right from having a safety door fixed in MS frame so nobody can cut the lock of the door to having two kondas to main doors so nobody can  lock you inside your home to having CC TV’s at every floor lobby to display of emergency & essential contact numbers on every floor lobby to marking on all water lines as well power lines so it comes handy at the time of maintenance to using all internal walls also of 6” thinks to avoid voices getting heard across the rooms, there are thousands of things where detailing matters in a right home! Even having clear 4 ft height parapet walls of your balconies, verandas or even to terrace or a safety railing at overhead water tank & a proper climbing ladder to inspect the top of the water tanks makes a big difference which nobody notices!  Do you know why Japanese car makers or European car makers are better than our Indian car makers, it’s just because the smallest of the detail is looked after in making a car & while you drive the driver realizes the importance of those details, same logic is applicable with a right home! Again, this one has to see by your own eyes & open mind but most clients see only the fancy furnished flat & Italian marble lobbies & choose a wrong home getting mesmerized with just presentation & that doesn’t mean presentation doesn’t matter, it does but do check what’s being presented to you while choosing a right home!

Then there is always the legality factor along with the people whom you will be dealing with & that also now you can confirm from social media or communicating with the existing clients of the builder & sharing their home buying experience with the said builder! As well, speak with the team of the builder not just sales or marketing but site team & judge their dedication for the job they are doing i.e., building your home as a right home is the outcome of the right approach of the entire team involved in making it!

And above are just a few aspects to select your right home, it’s not a full & final list as a home is an evolving thing though right & wrong never changes, if you are clear about deciding the norms! And when all of these above parameters are tick-marked then check the price as indeed that aspect you only have to decide, how much you can pay for a right home, right? So, go ahead, there always is a right home waiting for you, all you have to do is make a right definition of your right home!

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Sanjay Deshpande, team Sanjeevani

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

 

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

 

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com

Real Estate Post Lockdown 2 !

 

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“When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work – the most you will make is 5 dollars.” … Idowu Koyenikan.

 

Idowu Koyenikan is an “internationally acclaimed organizational consultant and author” - USA TODAY NETWORK. Idowu help individuals and organizations break through to new and higher levels through strategic planning, training and coaching. Well, though I am not much of a finance or economics person yet I am in business, that too like real estate & in our country the business faculty don’t have much respect or recognition, unless you are tagged with some political party’s close one! That’s why nobody pays much attention to such wise words of Idowu which has helped USA to become a business power across the globe with nearly six out of top ten companies are USA based & it’s not fluke or accident but strategic planning towards the business & industry which has made USA or say countries like Japan & Korea to achieve this. Well, when the business arena is in our country & the industry is real estate, less we speak about strategy & planning, is the scene which even big players in real estate accepts! Joke is, with all ups & down yet real estate is always talk of the town & may it be a town or mis segment city or a Metro, everybody (even the govt) wants to be associated with this industry though when it comes to share the problems, nobody wants to be part of it but everything (read as loss) is dumped on the builder’s head, is also a fact!

We are now in post second wave of world war (read as  pandemic) & again life seems to be coming to normal (that’s one good thing about our country), restaurants are full, tourist destinations are overbooked & flights are packed. All these are sure signs of things coming back to normal for the business barring a few (& for a few, its start of 3^rd wave) & real estate is no exception to it. And indeed, that’s best way to overcome adversity as now the biggest enemy is not some virus but the fear about future & toughest task is survival & both these factors gets best out of a human being is a basic law of human behaviour! All one has to do in present times is, stay focused & not get carried away but for real estate the challenges just don’t end with fear of future & survival but one more added factor is there & that is “Mai Baap” govt’s attitude which gets reflected in the policies related to this industry! And here again no govt even when Hon Cm was having Urban Planning dept with him dared to take bold decisions which will revive or make real estate flourish once again.

Because the basic problem with the govt is it works to please the masses & masses are always against the builders even though they accept (at least now a days) that it’s the builder which only builds the homes for the masses (read as all types of home buyers) yet the builders shouldn’t make money while doing this as they have made & are doing loads of profits is a basic assumption & making huge profits is a crime in our society! Though the very same society celebrates when Blue Chip companies makes huge profits & declares dividends or bonus in their annual financial results & stock market goes souring high with such results but not the builders. May be its because most builders are individual or family run business & people won’t like money getting accumulated to one person or the family but then such is the nature of this business that’s why there are not many corporates in real estate, right? Rather the govt should think of why there aren’t many public limited companies in real estate as well why those which were there have gone down bank corrupt (most of them), the answer is because of the nature of this business & policies related to it!

Right from getting a clear title land to uncertainty about the rules & regulation to no control on any of the prices related to raw material like land to material to labour to delays caused due to issues like fights over authority of plan sanctioning (Take example of merged villages in PMC) to development plans delays & then Unified Development Control Rules to clash of different departments of the govt making projects stopped, the list of hurdles for real estate business is endless! And such kind of business is always going to be like steering a ship in the storm where the captain can be only one, means no corporate decisions are going to work where board of directors are involved in making any big decision as every decision is of life & death in the real estate is a fact! Many will say, whatever I am talking is just justification of the way this industry is being run but then I can be wrong, what about the facts that there are not many successful Public Limited Cos’ in the real estate for decades here, even when the business was in full bloom, if anyone can enlighten me, I am ready to take my words back!

Ok, now coming back to journey ahead, let me tell you up-front our Hon PM has been successful on one front & that is keeping rates of the houses (in many Metros) steady which is directly can be said as the home rates has been reduced. Reasons may be any but the home rates are either stagnant or increasing in tune with other commodities which wasn’t the case some five or six years back. And this is exactly what the real estate players has to keep in mind, at the same time customers are becoming more & more demanding (anyone who deals with redevelopment ask him or her), today’s landlords are ready with all the calculations except investing the money in the project & ends up as biggest gainer in real estate. Second category is Banks or financial institutes which gets from both ends i.e., project finance (if you are lucky to get one) with double interest rate than home loans & home loans for the very same project, aggregating the rate of interest for some projects nearly 30% per annum, this is sheer logic I am sharing as I am an engineer & not a finance guy as stated earlier! Thankfully the loan sharks (investor) are out as they are the first who knows a dead fish without flesh & blood which real estate has become. This doesn’t mean there is no money in real estate, this means every day is not a Sunday anymore as earlier wherever you build & whatever you build, one used to make huge money (read as investors if not the builder) but now only if you choose wisely & build more wisely only then you can make some money. Third gainer is the govt as for them real estate was & is milking cow, so the amounts you pay to get all the sanctions (read as in the form of challans to govt only) are getting fatter while the quantum of FSI coming in market is all time high, means more supply which is directly related to reduction of rates, right? And lastly the latest gainer in real estate are the clients i.e., the flat buyers, as with more supply of homes & lesser (or no) finance avenues, the flat buyers also has learned to smell the kill & just like the way negotiations happens on readymade clothing merchant’s stall on footpath, whatever price you tell the client starts from 50% of it is the trend in the real estate! Oh yes, the increased labour & material cost is one more factor (challenge) ahead for real estate but I won’t say the vendors & contractors are gainers as they also have to share the heat which real estate is facing!

And I don’t blame any of above category as this is outcome of our (builder’s) attitude towards our own industry by which we only never have been professional in dealing issues related to us, so how we can expect other to think from our vision about the same! Though post second lockdown many changes are being seen, people have understood importance of owning a home as that’s most secured place for any human being or a family. Another aspect is, real estate obviously grows only in the towns or the cities with basic infrastructure in place like public health & social avenues & on the background of pandemic, this aspect will lead to generate more migration from villages or less developed regions to developed regions like Pune & there will be huge demand for homes, only thing is we should be able to deliver as per the demand & not as per our whims! The lockdown has hit many segments barring the service segment & it will affect budget provisions for the home for most of the families. One hint of caution for the flat/ home buyers too, in the present times do mind, not always the builder who negotiates best (read as, gives maximum discount) ends up as the best home maker as you are buying a home & not some vegetables or dry fruits, please do mind! So, the builder fraternity, get ready to cope up this challenge of delivering homes with fighting all above categories as do mind, everybody is in the race of survival here, even the govt & as Mr. Idowu quoted you must learn to make your share of what you are producing (read as building) than just cursing you bad luck or hoping for a miracle, that’s what will make you a successful builder & not just a builder!

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Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

 

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/01/post-lock-down-real-estate-home-buying.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/

 

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

 

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

 

www.punecorporation.orgTake your issues to Hon PM at link below...

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

Road Kills, Wild Life & Human named Demons!

 

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“Humanity can no longer stand by in silence while our wildlife is being used, abused and exploited. It is time we all stand together, to be the voice of the voiceless before it's too late. Extinction means forever.” …  Paul Oxton.

Paul is founder of Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation & their mission is, “The Future of Wildlife is in Our Hands’ Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation is a small Non-Profit Organization (registered with the Department of Social Development), doing all we can to make a big impact. We live for helping the wildlife most at risk. We love working hands-on with the animals, and we do our utmost to help every animal we possibly can.” And I have used wise words of Paul not once but many times especially when subject of sharing is wildlife & this topic is also not exception! Well, though the topic is road kills but the reason for the topic is my recent tadoba trip & as usual many (read as non-wild lifers) will say, “Oh no, again, tadoba!” Guys, can’t help it as lockdown even after new new normal has made travelling a bit difficult especially out of our State & then my friend anuj khare & myself wanted to explore new gates of tadoba forest so I decided for tadoba & a road trip from Pune to tadoba is always dear to me as I can take darshan (no right word in English) of Shree Gajanan Maharaj at Shegaon on way to tadoba!

Tadoba which is mostly known by now to all the wild life lovers (and non-lovers too) as tiger centre because very rarely the visitor returns from here without seeing the yellow black stripes such is the success story of tiger conservation here! I too wanted to click the tiger on the greens which you can get in tadoba at its best in the monsoon season & then I have never been to tadoba in the monsoons i.e., rains to experience how the landscape looks with vitamin rain! So, with all such background myself & anuj reached to tadoba’s aliganja gate which is accessible from Chimur side & close to Kolara gate of core area. Now tadoba has nearly fifteen plus gates for core & buffer though in rainy seasons only buffer gates are open for tourism, again something I don’t understand as why we can’t keep open core area also in rains only on motorable roads & tadoba core has got enough of such roads! Already we need more & more people to visit forests & places like tadoba to make life of people living around sustainable with tourism as the way wild life tourism charges are being increased by the govt (all State’s), it’s now restricted to few riches for regular visits & fun oriented people for just one visit & both categories do nothing for wild life conservation! Sad part is, the category of the society which can conserve or help in conservation of wild life can’t afford to visit repeatedly forests such as tadoba such costly affair it has become & by opening more forests & in all seasons we can reduce cost of existing gates which will be big boon for wild life conservation in totality (somebody from govt please read & think)!

At the same time if we are thinking keeping park open in monsoons affects wild life privacy (read as tigers) then in buffer tigers are breeding & are healthy & happy so the logic doesn’t apply for disturbance of privacy to the tigers & wild life by keeping forests open in rains, is what I want to put forward! Now coming to Aliganja gate, let me tell you tadoba was never much famous for beauty of the forest (with due respect to tadoba lovers) the way Kanha or Corbett has wide & rich diversity on scale of plants, flowers, birds & insects. But after visiting Aliganja gate I am sure this opinion has changed as this part of forest of tadoba one must visit just to see how rich tadoba forest can be as at one time our gypsy was surrounded by hundreds of butterflies (a rare sight than tiger actually) making me feel like acting in some Disney animation movie & that is sure sign of richest biodiversity of the forest! At the same time there is old Shiv (Mahadev) temple backdrop of a water-fall, making a pool at its bottom & the scene was right from some Hollywood movie like Indian Jones, what more one needs to forget the city life & concrete jungle as this is why one should be out in nature some time & this is what we want to protect & for that more & more people must be allowed to be here at affordable costs!

Ok, enough of tadoba & let’s come to main subject the road kills of wild animals & reason why once again I have to take this aspect of wild life is because on way back from tadoba to Nagpur via varroa road which goes through many small villages & non reserved forest & farms we saw a Civet Cat dead on the road, needless to say got hit by some speeding vehicle. Nobody was paying much attention as for a common man’s eye it looks like as domestic cat & in a country where nearly a million human lives meet their end in road accidents, who cares for a dead cat on road even if it’s a Civet Cat!  Well, the readers who are not wild lifers, let me tell you, I have been travelling to the forests for nearly twenty-five years & in all these years I have never seen a Civet Cat in live though I have seen a tiger at least five hundred times. Now you can imagine how rare this animal is, as then only you will know why I got so disturbed with the sight of the dead Civet Cat in road accident or road kill! Civet Cat is nocturnal animal i.e., it comes out of its hiding only in darkness to hunt or to feed & no wonder the lonely road with flood lights of a vehicle would have been blinding for the poor Civet & then there is no school which teaches traffic rules to any other species than humans though what difference it makes as humans with all teachings & rules themselves doesn’t follow any traffic rules for fellow humans so who bothers for other species like Civet Cat, right?

Rather this road kill which I witnessed by myself was apex of what has been told or shared to me in tadoba trip from the locals. In any trip to forest, one should keep chatting with guides, gypsy drivers, local food joint runners, resort crew as they feed you with many stories about forest which never reach to social media platform. One such story was about a tiger named Chota Mataksur which has been driven from his territory from Kolara gate side by another young male tiger (one of the zones in tadoba forest) & now this Chota Matakasur named tiger is killing many cattle from nearby village to such extent that in a single incidence this tiger has killed six cattle at a time! While returning from one safari on Moharli Chandrapur road which passes through dense forest around & on which many animals are seen, one car of local number plate zoomed past us honking all the time like it’s been participating in race. Our guide cursed & said “saala in logoki wajahase hum logoko bhugatana padata hai, raatko bahar gadi nikalane nahi dete forest wale hume gharse aur ek mahineme 1 tiger, 1 leopard aur 2 chital mare hai in Chandrapur wale gadiyoke niche”! What it mean is, its the nearby town number plate cars (read as car owners) which are real menace as its such local peoples rash driving makes forest dept apply stringent norms for the villagers around the park while they do foolow traffic norms! Actually, there are road signages all along the roads around tadoba forest to Chandrapur of drive carefully & slowly & watch out for wild animals crossing but if animals can’t read the signages we the humans turns blind eye & deaf ear to such traffic signs, making us dumbest specie (rather useless specie) on the earth. But the what we forget that it’s our dumbness which costs life for many other species, is an unfortunate fact!

And the scene is not just on highways where at some place near forests for e.g. Nagpur-Pench stretch, there are crossing corridors for wild animals & causeways (under-pass) has been provided & indeed it has helped to save lives of some animals. The problem is, smaller internal District or State roads like Nagpur-Varoa- Moharli (tadoba) road which is being used by locals or tourist vehicles commuting from nearby hubs to the park. These are less travelled roads without any road signs (except at few places), the roads are narrow, not much traffic is there so whatever vehicles are using it they are mostly commercial transports or locals & both doesn’t care much about authorities or wild life & outcome is a dead Civet or a dead Jackal or a dead Porcupine & snakes, I have stopped counting in road kills (just sarcastic)!

Few things are a must if we want (if) to reduce if not stop the wild animal’s road kills & they are, first install CC TVs at regular intervals & watch them & find the vehicle speeding & fine them heavily. Second is, speed guns, hidden on the roads passing through forests or outside of forests. Third is a continuous patrolling squad with good vehicles & arms on these roads with basic medical supplies as well a mobile medical van for first-aid of injured animal as well to prevent speeding vehicles & punish them on spot. Fourth is we may not have under passes build for smaller roads but we can create Road Crossings Zones on same level of the road with different surface material as well defused lighting around it so the vehicles will know (hope so) to slow down in these zones. Last but most important an all the way round awareness campaign, especially for commercial & tourist vehicle’s drivers & owners about caring for wild life while they drive. There can be stickers on the car’s wind shields “We Care for Wild Life” to road shows on these roads with the help of local NGO’s & this will be ever going initiative.

Just remember, it’s not the rules or laws which assures a safe & peaceful life but its what we think of our laws is what makes it possible & Road Kills are no exception for this basic law of human behaviour, till then God save the wild animals from the monsters named vehicles & the demons (read as humans) which drive these monsters!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

 

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