Vol. 28 No. 19 RNI No.54695 / 87 Reg. No. G/MH/MR/NMD/98/15-17., 10 Jan 2015 to 16 Jan 2015 Pages 12, Rs. 1 Wacathon on January 11 The Navi Mumbai Traffic Control Branch & Rotary Club of Navi Mumbai Industrial Area (RONMIA) is organizing Wacathon on 11th January, 2015 during Road Safety Week with a view to spread awareness on the need to follow traffic rules and also to promote walking as the simplest form of physical activity. The Wacathon will start at 7:15 am from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation 's car parking at Sector 30, Vashi and will get completed at Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's car parking at Sector 9A, Vashi opposite mini seashore. The Wacathon has been organized in four categories 7 kms; 5 kms; 3 kms and 1 km. Magnum 2015 Over 500 students and 100 faculty members of Mahatma Gandhi Mission (MGM) dental college in Kamothe are organizing their annual festival 'Magnum 2015' on January 12, 2015. The event which is in its 7th year will have some social pre-events for public awareness. There will be a swachha Khandeshwar initiative in which the students and faculty will gather to clean and sweep the Khandeshwar station on January 12. Along with this they will also be putting up dustbins on the premises and banners on cleanliness across the platforms. Students will also perform a dance and skit to educate people on cleanliness. The event will be held for two hours from 7.30 am to 9.30 am which will be followed by a tree plantation and blood donation drives on MGM Campus After the 12th the fest will run for 10 days till the 23rd which will also see the participation of students from other colleges. The 'inter collegiate' dance competition will be the biggest draw with 7 dental institutions participating plus all the other MGM colleges on campus. An intercollegiate 'scientific session' is also planned to encourage the scientific temperament of students through paper presentations. Other events include literary, singing, arts and a host of indoor and outdoor sports events. Illegal parking chokes school zones By: Ankush Verma Nerul: Long queues of vehicles parked illegally in front of city schools have become a common sight. The problem is worse, especially in front of those schools which are located in residential areas. “As many schools do not have parking slots, the parents park their vehicles outside the school premises. With vehicles parked on either sides of the road, space gets constricted, leaving hardly any space for other vehicles to move on. It should be ensured that the owners do not park their vehicles haphazardly. Secondly, parking should be allowed only on one side of the road so that there is enough space for other vehicles,” says Aarti Sinha, a resident of Nerul. Agreeing to the problem some of the school principals blame the police and administration saying that they held several meetings with them but were not allowed legal parking slots in the vicinity. Abandoned pets on city roads alarm animal activists By: Meena R. Prashant Belapur: Animal activists are alarmed to find a rising number of pets being abandoned by the owners on the city roads. According to them around 8 to 10 pet dogs and cats are left 444 children in civic school suffer from malnutrition abandoned every month in the satellite city. “Pets demand as much time and care as one's own children. Some owners have discovered this to their cost - literally. But instead Contd.on pg.08 Work on Nature Park in full progress By: Meena R. Prashant Belapur: In a survey conducted by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) under the Rashtriya Bal Swastha Karyakram (RBSK) some startling facts were revealed. 40,837 children were surveyed from the anganwadis and civic run schools between April 2013 to December, 2014. Of these, 26,613 went for clinical analyses for malnutrition. Of these, 444 children were found to be malnourished. A total of 126 Belapur: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) which proposed to develop the 2000 hectares nature park along Parsik Hill stretch to Kharghar, has initiated the primitive stages of developmental work and is progressing as per the schedule. The nature park has been planned by the developing authority to preserve and maintain the ecological balance of the area began with the soil and moisture conservation work in July last year. Additionally, two of the Contd. on page 10 Contd. on page 08 By: Meena R. Prashant cars inside the school compound," said a Principal of the school. “We have suggested that guardians share pool car to solve the problem," said another Principal. The problem worsens during the peak hours when the parents come to pick up or drop kids to schools. “With roads being narrow and parents stopping the vehicles arbitrarily, there is an absolute traffic chaos in the morning and afternoons. The motorists are forced to stand in long queues for hours,” angrily remarks a resident of Seawoods. This pic is used for representational purpose only When contacted a senior police official from the traffic department said, “We "Guardians are compelled to park are well aware that this problem on the road or on the no-parking persists. So we have decided to zone just in front of the school carry on random checks in front of building. This is a problem as we the schools and sue the offenders." don't have enough space to allow