A widespread protest is currently emerging among the people of Navi Mumbai who are against CIDCO’s continued imposition of transfer fees on property sales. To force CIDCO to stop collecting transfer fees, the Navi Mumbai Co-Operative Housing Federation, together with their 3500 affiliate Co-Operative Housing Societies, and Navi Mumbai Vyapari Mahasangh, with their 22,000 affiliate members from the trader’s class, have banded together. Across Navi Mumbai, 500 Co-operative Housing societies have written letters endorsing this cause.

The Navi Mumbai Merchant’s Gymkhana had a meeting on Monday when participants shared their opinions, the rationale behind their objections to the practice, and the best ways to tackle the problem in order to achieve their goals.

“We have determined the points in response to the request that the CIDCO board of directors approve a proposal to eliminate the transfer costs. The same would be submitted to the state government concurrently for approval, according to Navi Mumbai Citizen Foundation President Satish Nikam.

One of the key issues the federation would be investigating is a decision from the high court in Aspi Chinoy and Anr Vs. State of Maharashtra, which was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme court in the year 2022 and prevented the collector from accepting transfer charges.

The Aspi case bears similarities to the problems encountered by the people of Navi Mumbai, where the petitioner protested about the money paid to the collector as transfer fees. We held the meeting on Monday to find out if the average person was willing to fight for the cause, and the tremendous support we got inspired us to move further. The president declared, “We will now be holding talks with political representatives in order to increase pressure at the state level as well and get this system eliminated.

The use of the money received as transfer charges for the benefit of the populace was brought up at the meeting. “What services does the CIDCO currently provide to the public? What is the purpose of the money that CIDCO collects from citizens under the Transfer Charges name? Since CIDCO was the sole company responsible for maintaining the city’s infrastructure, it had the authority to request Transfer Charges up until 1992. Citizens are now required to pay Property Tax to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, and CIDCO is responsible for collecting Transfer Charges. “Don’t the residents of Navi Mumbai pay two taxes?,” said one of the group.

According to Nikam, taking the legal route will be too expensive for them at this time, therefore they will use the protest route to obtain the outcomes.

Along the elevated road leading to the Nerul Jetty, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has announced plans to replace the current LED lamps with yellow ones in response to environmentalists’ concerns about the detrimental effects of light pollution on the pink flamingos at the DPS Flamingo Lake. This action is intended to lessen the confusion and deaths that the bright lights are causing in the birds.

For this project, CIDCO has released an e-tender, with a September 11 submission date. Since the horrible incident in January or February, when seven flamingos collided with a massive signboard for the passenger water transport terminal and died from the intense brightness of the lights, environmental organizations have been sounding the alarm. Ten additional flamingos perished, exacerbating the issue, according to the NatConnect Foundation. These deaths were probably brought on by the lights’ confusion and the lake’s drying out as a result of the intertidal water flow obstruction.

Environmentalists applaud CIDCO’s decision to solve the light pollution issue, despite its delay. When the flamingo season returns next month, Director B N Kumar of the NatConnect Foundation hopes that the lake will be prepared to greet the birds under less obtrusive lights.

The too bright light has confused the migrating birds that fly low, especially the flamingos, which has resulted in these unfortunate events. Previous to this, CIDCO had removed the signboard in response to the prompt action of joint MD Dr. Kailas Shinde. NatConnect has advised Dr. Shinde, who is currently the Commissioner of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), to repair the lighting surrounding the lake, particularly on the service road that runs parallel to Palm Beach Road.

In order to reduce the negative effects of light pollution on birds, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has previously advised NMMC and CIDCO to replace the strong lights and change the lamp angles to 45 degrees downward. NatConnect underlined that CIDCO ought to change the LED lights for yellow ones in addition to angling the lampshades to the recommended position.

The Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society’s (NMEPS) Sandeep Sareen expressed optimism that CIDCO will eventually take a more environmentally friendly stance. Rekha Sankhala, an activist, went on to say that CIDCO has to recognize mangroves and wetlands as essential components of the biodiversity of the city.

For nocturnal birds, light pollution has been a major problem that causes confusion. Birder and activist Jyoti Nadkarni brought attention to a similar campaign that the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) ran at Vadale Lake in Panvel, where they heeded the green request to reduce bright lights in order to conserve nighttime life.

NMMC workers call off protest following written assurance from authorities.

The Protest

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) contract workers’ unrest was put down after NMMC officials gave a formal promise. On September 4, 2024, the workers had organized a big march from Vashi to the Chief Minister’s house in support of equal pay under the Equal Work Equal Pay principle.

For the last three years, contract workers have been demanding equal pay, requesting earnings that match those of permanent employees hired in 2007. The matter was unsolved even after a proposal was submitted to the Principal Secretary, Urban Development 2, on July 25, 2023, and received permissions from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in November 2023.

The workers’ march was stopped by police at the Vashi railway station after Deputy Secretary Sushila Pawar gave the Commissioner notice.

The workers received a written guarantee from Deputy Commissioner Solid Waste Management Ajay Gadade, Deputy Commissioner Administration Sharad Pawar, and Additional Commissioner Shirish Aardwad that Deputy Commissioner Gadade would follow up and guarantee a decision within a month after their meeting. The agitation has been delayed until September 20, 2024, and if a settlement is not achieved by then, other actions will be taken.

Mangesh Lad, the general secretary of Samaj Samata Kamgar Sangh, stated, “We have decided to stage a march on the 20th, as we do not trust the promises made by the municipal authorities.”