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Christmas 2008 Celebrations in Mira Road

Amidst the fear of the terror attacks that stalled mumbai on the 26/11 still fresh in the minds, the christian in Mumbai celebrated Christmas with the same zeal and enthusiasm.

In Mira Road too, people from all cast and religion, mostly kids got together making the crib in their areas to mark the celebration. Christmas stars too were to be seems at many places. People went about singing Christmas carols and spreading the Christmas atmosphere of peace and joy. Christians decorated their houses. Shops too were decorted to attract customers.

Christians attended masses at St. Joseph's Church on Christmas eve, the church was decorated with lights and stars illuminating the church campus.

The church PYC (Parish Youth Council) took the initiate of preparing the Parish Christmas Tree, wherein each parishioner would decorate the tree by bringing some of their decorations, also the Church Christmas Star almost 25-30 feet tall was prepared by them. The Crib was prepared by the Parish Choir. The theme of the entire celebration was centered around PEACE, The Homily too was focused on PEACE among people and in the city. When the clock struck 12, people wishing each other a Merry Christmas of the birth of the little babe of Bethlehem.

Security was provided by the Mira- Bhayander Police who were patrolling the area during the entire celebration in the church. Almost 18,000 -20,000 people both catholics and non-catholics attended the celebrations in the church.

Prostitution racket busted at Mira Road

A prostituion racket was busted at Mira Road on Wednesday when three were arrested and seven girls rescued.

Officials said both housewives and college girls were engaged in "entertaining customers'' at the two-bedroom flat at New Golden Nest building in Mira Road. Acting on a tip-off, the police sent an officer as a decoy to `L' wing flat of Phase 14 of the housing society.
During a raid, Jaishree Srivastava (32) and Yashodaben Patel (45), who ran the business, were arrested. The police said the women had a list of the names and contact details of housewives and college girls, willing to make a quick buck.
While the college girls offered their services during the day, the customers making it during night hours were entertained by professional call girls.
According to the police, customers were picked up through word of mouth. Every client, who came to the flat, would be asked to recommend the place to their friends. The customers' calls would be received by Srivastava and Patel, who would then get in touch with the girls and housewives. The rates for college girls were higher than that of housewives.

Seven girls, who had come for "work'' were rescued. The police also arrested a customer, Chirag Shah (28) from Bhayander, who frequented the place.

Youths Riding triples killed in accident near Kashimira

BHAYANDER: Three youths, riding a two-wheeler without helmets, were crushed by a speeding truck at Kashimira in the wee hours of Sunday, 14th December 2008.

Durgesh Taigaokar, celebrating his 23rd birthday on Saturday, decided to go out with friends Robert C (24) and Viral Barot (20). Late in the evening, Taigaokar met Robert who had a motorbike. They picked up Barot and headed towards Dahisar for dinner. Robert was riding the bike, while Taigaokar and Barot were sitting pillion.

The three were returning to their homes in Bhayander around 4 am on Sunday, when a speeding truck hit them from behind at Mira Gaon, near Kashimira. The three were flung from the two-wheeler and crushed by the truck. The driver of the vehicle fled from the spot.

Kashimira police said while the truck driver had lost control of his vehicle, the two-wheeler was also speeding as the road was deserted at that time. Police said whether the youths were drunk or not was not known. Taigaokar was to leave for work on a ship in a few days.

Riding triples, a common sight in Mira Road and Bhayander, has been the reason behind a number of accidents on the stretch. Unlike the Mumbai traffic police, the Thane traffic police do not conduct surprise checks on these roads.

Despite govt orders passengers are at the mercy of auto drivers

Every day, when Mahendra Singh tries to take an auto from the Mira Road area to travel up to Borivli, he is turned down. The state government's notification of seamless travel within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is over nine months old. But not a single auto driver in the Mira-Bhayander region has obtained the requisite permission to ply outside the area.

Though the state government insists that seamless travel is in place, passengers are at the mercy of auto drivers who refuse to go beyond the Dahisar check naka. Police officials at Bhayander, Mira Road and Kashimira are busy playing mediator between passengers and auto drivers who are turning up at police stations to lodge complaints.

State transport secretary Ramanath Jha was unaware of the non-implementation of the seamless travel project. "The notification was out long ago and autos have to get their stamp of approval from the RTOs. Those failing to ply within the MMR region can be penalised,'' said Jha.

The notification for autos and taxis to ply across six municipal corporations and 13 civic councils was out in March this year. The Thane RTO, however, has till date not received a single request from an auto owner, asking for permission to ply outside his jurisdiction. The state, unfortunately, has left it to the vehicle owners to decide whether or not they want to ply outside their jurisdiction.

The primary reason for the auto drivers' refusal to ply outside their jurisdiction, is the Mumbai fare structure. Autos in the city ply at a minimum fare of Rs 9. In Thane, autos charge a minimum of Rs 10, and it goes up by Rs 1.50 per km as the distance increases. In Mira-Bhayander, autos charge a lump sum of Rs 35-Rs 50 for a distance that would otherwise not cost more than Rs 15-Rs 20. In Vasai-Virar and Kalyan-Dombivli, share autos fetch the driver between Rs 5 and Rs 10 per passenger. They carry at least five to seven passengers in each trip.
Auto drivers in Mira Road and Bhayander have so far resisted even the meter system as they make more money by carrying passengers on a share basis. "What is the use of introducing a scheme which does not take off? I quarrel with auto drivers almost every day. They just refuse to ply to Kandivli,'' said Bhayander resident Avinash Salil. "I end up taking another auto at the Dahisar check naka.''

Courtesy : Times OF India

Bus Fares of Mira Bhayander Municipal Transport (MBMT) buses hiked

Travelling long distances in the Mira Road and Bhayandar area has just got costlier. The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has hiked the bus fare by between 50 paisa and a rupee.

The decision to hike the fares of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Transport (MBMT) buses by 50 paisa for distances ranging between 3.8 km and 5 km was taken at the general body meeting of the corporation.

The 50 MBMT buses belong to private contractors and have been running in this region since 2006. Prior to this, the area had to depend on Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses, which were discontinued once the MBMT buses hit the road.

The hike in the bus fares will largely affect those travelling on longer routes to places like Utan, Manori, Gorai and Kashimira as the fares have been hiked by Re 1 for every additional kilometre.

The MBMT buses are an important mode of transport for those residing in the interiors of Bhayandar. "Autorickshaw drivers charge around Rs 150 to transport a passenger from Bhayandar to Gorai. It takes only Rs 10 to reach the same destination by bus,'' Gorai resident Lourdes D'Souza said.

Commuters say that the buses offer good services. The seating arrangements are also better than those in ST buses. "But was there a need to hike the fares? The buses have been around for three years and they always run to packed capacity,'' an Utan resident said

St. Joseph Feast 2008

The parish of St. Joseph Church, Mira Road celebrated the feast of St. Joseph, its patron saint on the 7th of December, 2008 the second Sunday of Advent. The feast is celebrated in the month of December to coincide with the inauguration of the church (5th of December, 1999) and the feast is celebrated towards the nearest Sunday.

Prior to the feast celebration there was a nine day novena where preachers from various churches were present, reflections on the virtues of St. Joseph were preached during the Holy Eucharistic Celebrations. The day of the feast was marked by the liturgical band followed by 4 masses. The solemn feast mass at 11.00 am was celebrated by Fr. Michael Morris, the superior of the Carmelite priest, Mira Road, preacher being the newly ordained Deacon Elvito Fernandes.

The Mira Road Parish Choir led the congregation in singing and praising God through their selection of Hymns and partaking in the Eucharistic celebration.

Thousands of people attended the ceberation and too part in the Eucharistic celebration. Fr. Rudolf, the parish priest thanked everyone for their help and support to make the celebration a successful one. After the mass Snacks and cold drinks were distributed to those who attended the celebration.

Wishing you all a Happy Feast of St. Joseph.

Credit card fraud: Accused duped more persons

Interrogations of the three arrested persons who misused filmmaker Amol Palekar’s credit hard have revealed that they had duped several other persons in a similar manner.

Palekar had lodged a complaint with the Deccan police station on February 19 this year.

“Interrogations have revealed that among others, the suspects misused a Rajkot resident’s credit card duping him of Rs 70,000,” Economic Offences Wing (EOW) DCP Rajendra Dahale said on Wednesday.

Police had recently arrested Iqbal Sheikh (33), a resident of Vasai (West) and Raus Edmen Pareira (25) and Najnin Raus Pareira (25), both residents of Mira Road in Thane.

Palekar owned a Bank of India credit card. The suspects acquired the details of Palekar’s card through Internet and misused it by purchasing air tickets for Goa-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bengaluru flights from November 11 to 13 in 2007, duping him to the tune of Rs 60,285.

“Raus was working with a travel agency based in Malad in Mumbai. He acquired the credit card details and the Card Verification Value number after the transaction slips thrown in the dustbins by the customers and conducted frauds through internet,” he said.

Raus is a zoology graduate from one of the noted colleges in Mumbai. His wife Najnin and one Iqbal were accomplices in the crime. The trio was involved in such frauds since September 2007. Police have seized Rs 53, 700, two laptops, four mobile handsets and data card from them.

REWARD FOR TEAM :
The crime branch cyber cell team which cracked the case and arrested the accomplices from Vasai (west) in Thane after probing it for the past nine months will be honoured. “We will give adequate rewards to the team,” Dahale stated.

City police launch search operations in Mira-Bhayander

The Mira-Bhayander police have begun heavy combing operations following rumours of five terrorists still on the run and the possibility of
them taking the sea route to flee the city. Deputy S P Maithali Jha said, "As Mira-Bhayander is surrounded by sea and there are reports of terrorists on the move, we have tightened security along the coastline and have begun search operations.''

Mira Road and Bhayander are close to the sea and there have been incidents in the past of the area being a "favourite" hideout of modules from Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed . The police had even seized blueprints of attacks being planned at the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Gateway of India from this belt. The anti-terrorism squad had unearthed a few sleeper modules and arrested operatives from this area some years ago.

Said Jha,"We have deployed police personnel on bandobast from Dahisar checknaka up to Vasai. We have put up nakabandi at the bridge that connects the road to the sea. All the railway and road routes up to Vasai have heavy police bandobast.''

The police are also keeping tabs on history sheeters and former SIMI activists who are around the area. Said Jha, "After every terror attack, there have been leads or arrests in Mira Road. Strangely this time it has not happened, but we are keeping a strict vigil.'' In fact, every vehicle that crosses every nakabandi right from Dahisar checknaka is being thoroughly checked, he added. "Even the railway stations are being scanned and checked.''

About 100 policemen have been on bandobast duty in the Mira-Bhayander area from November 26. At a press conference, Mumbai's police chief Hasan Gafoor said that there were only 10 terrorists.

A senior police official said, "There was a fear of some trouble but thankfully it did not happen. In fact, people from all communities attended a condolence meeting we organised at the police station.'' Pakistanis in India with student visas may also come under the scanner.