Sonia Faleiro
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Bring Out the Stun Gun
Mumbai sheriff, Vijaypat Singhania, last seen crouching under a hot air balloon as it drifted into the blue yonder, wants to convert one of Mumbai's few green spaces into a plot for the world's tallest building. If let loose, he also promises a park, a zoo, and night safari.
:: posted by Sonia Faleiro, 12:49 PM
6 Comments:
Actually, I'm not sure if it's such a terrible idea.
If the stands and the track itself is preserved and enough open spaces are planned into the project, it just might work.
If the stands and the track itself is preserved and enough open spaces are planned into the project, it just might work.
Who is this guy to advocate giving away our parkland? Isn't this man's multi-storey Fort office rented at about 200 rs per month due to rent control? Clearly the tax payers subsidised for his feeble "pay for new technology, climb in, sit 'til you set a record" ballon trip, and now he wants us to buy him a nice new hotel.
Mumbai has a pathetically small amount of open space (look it up if it isnt obvious to you) - it cant afford to lose the few areas that still remain by following some criminal advice. I am not naive enough to trust anyone involved in the racecourse to come up with a plan that would actually improve the city in any manner whatsoever.
Anyone that talks about developing hotels on public land in Mumbai should automatically set off alarm bells in ones head - it means they are probably trying to steal from you. And more than likely that they have done so before. Who is going to run the hotel? What price will they pay for the land? if the racecourse could not be run properly, what makes him so sure that a hotel / safari (what the hell?) / adventure park will be managed properly?
What about all the Mumbaikars that walk through the race course, catching a rare whiff of fresh air and a moment of peace - will they be welcome in this (his?) new 7 star hotel?
The Burj in Dubai, which this johhny wants to outdo, charges thousands of rupees just to enter its lobby. An entry level room costs about $1400 per night. It is not a place that average people are welcome to take an evening stroll - unless you happen to be an average ferrari driving leech. When was the last time a class of Dharavi school children played on the lawn at the Oberoi? When did a Bai last go for a refreshing sunday stroll poolside at the Taj Gateway?
Does our city really need another great hotel, at the cost of the public good?
I get screwed enough every time I drive down a road in this city, when the power cuts, or when the roads flood, to not to welcome another reaming from this oinker.
If this man is so worried about the state deficit, maybe he should take his fortune and start paying a proper rent - like most of the rest of us poor sods do.
In fact, if I am not mistaken, he was one of the people in charge of the racecourse - shouldn't he then be held to blame if dirty money has flooded it? Like the solution to mafia money is developing a hotel! Isn't the mafia generally known for taking public land and developing commercial spaces - like the Sara-Sahara complex? Isn't that exactly what he is suggesting? What's the difference, exactly, please?
I think the solution is to strip this man of his honorary title, make him pay market rent for his office thus ending the tax payer subsidy of his ballon trips and his sons' fast cars, launching an audit of the race course books and if any wrong doing is found launch a full criminal investigation.
More realistically, we can just groan and wait for the day the real story behind this wankers' latest suggestion, and his probable other schemes, come to light.
Mumbai has a pathetically small amount of open space (look it up if it isnt obvious to you) - it cant afford to lose the few areas that still remain by following some criminal advice. I am not naive enough to trust anyone involved in the racecourse to come up with a plan that would actually improve the city in any manner whatsoever.
Anyone that talks about developing hotels on public land in Mumbai should automatically set off alarm bells in ones head - it means they are probably trying to steal from you. And more than likely that they have done so before. Who is going to run the hotel? What price will they pay for the land? if the racecourse could not be run properly, what makes him so sure that a hotel / safari (what the hell?) / adventure park will be managed properly?
What about all the Mumbaikars that walk through the race course, catching a rare whiff of fresh air and a moment of peace - will they be welcome in this (his?) new 7 star hotel?
The Burj in Dubai, which this johhny wants to outdo, charges thousands of rupees just to enter its lobby. An entry level room costs about $1400 per night. It is not a place that average people are welcome to take an evening stroll - unless you happen to be an average ferrari driving leech. When was the last time a class of Dharavi school children played on the lawn at the Oberoi? When did a Bai last go for a refreshing sunday stroll poolside at the Taj Gateway?
Does our city really need another great hotel, at the cost of the public good?
I get screwed enough every time I drive down a road in this city, when the power cuts, or when the roads flood, to not to welcome another reaming from this oinker.
If this man is so worried about the state deficit, maybe he should take his fortune and start paying a proper rent - like most of the rest of us poor sods do.
In fact, if I am not mistaken, he was one of the people in charge of the racecourse - shouldn't he then be held to blame if dirty money has flooded it? Like the solution to mafia money is developing a hotel! Isn't the mafia generally known for taking public land and developing commercial spaces - like the Sara-Sahara complex? Isn't that exactly what he is suggesting? What's the difference, exactly, please?
I think the solution is to strip this man of his honorary title, make him pay market rent for his office thus ending the tax payer subsidy of his ballon trips and his sons' fast cars, launching an audit of the race course books and if any wrong doing is found launch a full criminal investigation.
More realistically, we can just groan and wait for the day the real story behind this wankers' latest suggestion, and his probable other schemes, come to light.
Hope somebody shoots him first, the millionaire moron that he is.
Anon, I agree with you.
Also, he's cleverly spoken of creating a zoo on the race course. The Jijamata Bai Udayan, about which I've even written an article, is in a sorry state with waste material, trash, sick animals, and poor living conditions for all to see. The race course on the other hand is large, clean, very green and open to people who want to walk, run, or just enjoy some fresh air. Just because it's a race course, we believe it's elitist and closed to most people, which isn't true. The only time you can't have yourself a good run on the course is during the days when horse races are on, and that's none too often.
And a night safari? You want wild animals at night? Look at all the rats, dogs, cats etc. running amock in Bombay. Go see them at night with night vision glasses.
And a building on a green area? Really, the more I think about it, the more I wish his balloon had never come down. Pah.
Also, he's cleverly spoken of creating a zoo on the race course. The Jijamata Bai Udayan, about which I've even written an article, is in a sorry state with waste material, trash, sick animals, and poor living conditions for all to see. The race course on the other hand is large, clean, very green and open to people who want to walk, run, or just enjoy some fresh air. Just because it's a race course, we believe it's elitist and closed to most people, which isn't true. The only time you can't have yourself a good run on the course is during the days when horse races are on, and that's none too often.
And a night safari? You want wild animals at night? Look at all the rats, dogs, cats etc. running amock in Bombay. Go see them at night with night vision glasses.
And a building on a green area? Really, the more I think about it, the more I wish his balloon had never come down. Pah.
have a feeling we just might be better off giving him the open space and turning it into whatever he feels it should be. Agreed he is a business man ...but he is also 67 years of age - the right age when people stop working for business but for fame...and maybe even some "punya".
uh... why dont we give it to me? I am also willing to take the Oval and the Mayor's Bungalow, if so required.
