Hume Pipe gutter near DMC Market at Char Rasta, Nani Daman

In November’16, the Daman Municipal Council had laid Hume Pipe gutter near DMC Market at Char Rasta, Nani Daman.

That time, I had raised a concern about the quality of joints executed by the then President of Daman Municipal Council, Shri AnilTandel and made him aware of my concerns and explained him the technical difficulties.

Now they have started the renovation of said Market and for that, they are excavating ground. Wherein from above photographs, it is clearly seen that there is no jointing performed on the bottom between two Hume Pipes and dirty water is leaking from those Hume Pipe Pipes.

This is dirty water which is leaking, which will be soaked into the ground and will spoil the ground water and will also damage the surrounding structures due to constantly wet ground.

The President had assured me of the quality of execution but the end result depicts something else.

If in future groundwater is spoiled making it non-drinkable and damage to surrounding structures and roads occurs, who will take responsibility?

When will Administration of Daman & Diu take action against illegal buildings?

There are altogether 52 illegal buildings now, 53 buildings after adding new building under construction near Manchha Complex at Mashal Chowk, Nani Daman in Daman which is held up for one illegality or another.

These buildings are marked to be demolished and for demolition, the tender is also floated. Now, everyone is eagerly waiting for the demolition to be carried out, so that common man knows that now all buildings are legal and he can buy any flat without worrying about illegality.

One more thing is learnt that after issuing Construction License within six months Show Cause Notice is issued to all 53 buildings for one violation or another. Builders never give a reply to that Show Cause Notice and they complete buildings as scheduled.

If they get some buyers, it is the fate of the buyer otherwise they will wait for appropriate time to get Completion Certificate. Once they get Completion Certificate, their all illegalities turn into legalities and they can sell that property at price of their own.

Is Administration of Daman & Diu in the iron clutch of builders? What is stopping the administration from the demolition of illegal buildings? The administration is overzealous in the demolition of illegal huts, compound wall falling in the road margins, illegal temples, etc. why not illegal multi-storied buildings?

Benefits of being the brother of an RTI activist

On Monday night i.e. 16/04/2018, my brother Shri Tushar Dalal was hauled from meeting at Manchha Complex and beaten before asking to call me at the venue. Since I was not in Daman they tortured him for almost 2 hours before they could let him go.

There is one building coming up at Mashal Chowk, Nani Daman on Survey No. 419/3 in-between Manchha Complex and Manchha Empire. The project was given clearance by Daman Municipal Council on dated 22/12/2016, within 4 months of issuing License, a Show Cause Notice was issued for violations in front set back and side setbacks on dated 12/04/2017 but without any effect on the builder. The work of the project was carried out in full swing, within a year project is ready for possession.

I made an RTI inquire about the status of Show Cause Notice wherein the Chief Officer-cum-Public Information Officer of Daman Municipal Council informed that they have not received any reply to said Notice and also informed me that he is ready to visit the site with me. On dated 12/04/2018, I along with Shri Vaibhav Rikhari, the Chief Officer, Shri Rakesh Patel and Shri Keyur Patel, both Junior Engineers from Daman Municipal Council visited the project site and found that even after issuance of Show Cause Notice, work on the project is going on full swing and no corrections were made to the project as per the observation in the Notice. The Fire Department has also denied NOC for this project.

Because they knew that they have done illegal work, the builders got frightened and from the meeting, they dragged Shri Tushar Dalal, my brother, outside of the meeting venue and started thrashing him. Shri Bhavesh Kanti Patel, Shri Rajani Uttam Patel, Shri Rakesh Uttam Patel, Shri Kiran Uttam Patel along their goons had taken an active part in the beating. Wife of Shri Rajani Uttam Patel was also present and she was directing Rajani and encouraging him. Wife of Rajani is a teacher in Government School in Daman. It can be very well imagined the type and quality of education such kind teacher of imparts.

This is how Whistle Blowers are treated if Govt. fails to act on time. If DMC had taken action at the time of Show Cause Notice and had taken steps to stop the project, RTI wouldn’t have been made.

There are already 52 buildings in Daman with irregularities which are held up for want of Completion Certificate and this building in an addition to those 52 buildings, now there are 53 buildings being held up.

The moot question here is that what is the fault of buyers? Buyers don’t get their property nor money back, who is responsible for such malpractice? The responsibility should be fixed on someone and the whole amount should be recovered from that person.

I salute my brother Shri Tushar Dalal for his bravery. He stood alone before those goons and took their pressure for almost two hours.

Illegal construction in Daman

There are almost more than 52 buildings in Daman at various stages of completion, work on which are stopped due to many irregularities. Crores of rupees are blocked of innocent people in such buildings.

In recent time, it has come to light that even after so many buildings are held up due to irregularities, one more building is under construction to whom Show Cause Notice is issued by the Daman Municipal Council but it appears that builder has not given reply to said notice and even continued further construction of building and readying it for possession without Completion Certificate.

Buyers Beware!

Source of massive corruption in Daman & Diu since 1996

Until now people were uncertain about this but now it is for sure that bureaucrats are milking cow named CRZ.

Now, it is on record that Environmental Department has not prepared a plan to verify violations of CRZ since 1996.

It is my personal experience that when I had sought information on deliberation on CMZ draft notification issued, they had none. They had notified areas without deliberation or consultation only on whims and hearsay.

If they do not have CRZ plan notified how they can issue notices to hoteliers and citizens and harass people of Daman & Diu.

It is great relief that now onwards if anybody receives notice for violation of CRZ it is clear that the officer and his superiors are asking for money because without CRZ notified plan how he could tell that there a violation of CRZ.

If they had issued and notified CRZ plan in last 22 year it wouldn’t have been easy for bureaucrats to earn crore of rupees in corruption and how could they enjoy lavish parties without paying a single paise? And keep sword dangling on everybody for next bureaucrat to milk this cow further.

Complete Information not yet provided by the Daman Municipal Council

The Daman Municipal Council has not yet provided the full inspection of records. The Public Information Officer wants a written statement stating that the information is received by me and the PIO is very cooperative.

The fact, they are dilly-dallying in providing inspection and yet not forwarded the Order of the Central Information Commission to the concern Public Information Officer to enable him to reply the Show Cause Notice issued.

Good news for electricity consumers of Daman & Diu

There is an article in newspapers announcing a reduction of tariff for electricity in Daman & Diu.

There was a time when the Administration was hell bound to convert electricity department into corporation even though the department was making a profit. Now they have earned even more to enable them to reduce tariff further and pass that profit to consumers.

The point to ponder is that till date the administration has not come on record stating that they have abandoned the process of corporatisation and it is no more option.

Remember this.