FOURTH MEETING

Minutes of REVIVE BOMBAY - Fourth Meeting
Time: 5:00pm Sunday April 28th, 2002 Fire N Ice
NOTE: SEE YOU SUNDAY JUNE 16TH, 5 PM AT BUNGALOW 3, MADHULI

Hello everyone,

These are the minutes of the fourth meeting of the organization.

1) Update - Website, logo, Charter
2) Pramod Navalkar (Bumped up in the agenda as he had other committments to attend)
3) Team Updates
4) Uday Khemka - Founder, Youth Reach India - A Youth outreach NGO based in Delhi
5) Next time - New proposals
6) Thank you Ketan & Fire N Ice

1) UPDATE

Website : The alpha version of the revivebombay.org/com website is now ready. The website will be up soon and will be announced to everyone. It will be a site not just for the organization, but a guide for anyone who wants to make a change - from information on other NGOs, BMC contacts, Ward map of Bombay, studies/white papers (projects that have seen completion or success) etc. If anyone wants to offer any suggestions etc, please contact either Chaitanya Rajani(chait@bombaycity.com) or Hemanth Rao(hemanth@hemanth.net).
Logo : The logo for the organization has been finalized. Saloni Lodha,
Akshay Sahgal and Radhika Jain are all working on making it look all nice and beautiful Charter : The charter has been ready for quite a while, however we are waiting on one more signature to submit it. Once that is done, it should be smooth sailing. We HOPE to get chartered before our next meeting.

2) PRAMOD NAVALKAR

Firstly, I don't think any organization can boast having Pramod Navalkar at Fire N Ice. He himself said he likes clubs and discos as people need to be able to enjoy, unwind etc. As most of you are aware, Mr. Navalkar came and spoke to us at length about his work, his involvement with the city. One of the other key things that he mentioned - For example, its not just planting trees and then leaving. The key is in monitoring. You should beable to come back once a week and see that the plant is still there. So many efforts have gone waste in this city because people do not follow up after the publicity shots have been taken. You have to have your team to come back and monitor what work you have done and make sure it sustains itself. Mr. Navalkar spoke about how his many years working for the city have been not as a politician - but as a citizen walking the streets. He spoke about his beach clean ups, medical checks, the nana nani parks that he has started and various other things. Goal setting, time management were other issues mentioned.
It would make sense to mention at this point that this talk went on for an hour and over the alloted time. Though we were ecstatic to have a person like Mr. Navalkar address us with such energy and enthusiasm, the meeting had run out of time and we could not address other issues such as team updates, and were not able to do justice to Uday Khemka's talk on Youth Reach India. Fortunately he was understanding and said he would be at the next meeting.

3) TEAM PROJECT UPDATES

WASTE MANAGEMENT
Neha Mehta(neha@idfc.com)
We are in the process of hooking up with Little Gibbs road ALM. and working with Il Palazzo Soceity first. We are also in touch with the D ward officer from BMC, and couple of other local authorities.Next week my team will go and see some work being done in other areas - in waste segregation.

TREE PLANTATION
Sravanya Rao(sravanya@hotmail.com)
Lack of time in meeting

FOOD DRIVES
Chirag Doshi(ccdoshi@walchand.com) -(Excused Absence)
Have gotten in touch with Shaheen Mistry of Akanksha to work together on their Food Drives. As Akanksha has worked in this area before, but on a more limited scale, the Team felt it would learn a great deal from them.

PROJECT CLEAN AIR
Puneet Khurana(puneet_k@yahoo.com)
Lack of time

BOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
Hemanth Rao(hemanth@hemanth.net)

Half the team has visited the site and found the location for the BWOF to be amazing! We met with the Supdt. Engineer and his staff who showed us the model of the Bandra Worli Sealink and where the promenade will be. We're waiting on the drawings from MSRDC to start planning our presentation for the top brass at MSRDC who own the land. Once we get that, we will have to convince them that this is the perfect way for both organizations to synergize. We then will be forming the Bollywood Walk of Fame Association which will be a spin-off of Revive Bombay. They will administer the site. We will be having people from various Film and TV based organizations, from the hotel and tourism industry etc who will sit as directors of this organization. We
will have to decide soon if the Chair of this organization should be a
Revive Bombay member or someone who should have the background to carry on an organization of this stature. Either way, there will be atleast 2 members of the BWOF team who will sit on the board of the BWOF Association.

ROAD SIGNAGE
Kunal Chandra(kunal25@hotmail.com) -(Excused Absence)
Seems to be a very lengthy process and very capital intensive. However, are looking at other ways of beating this.

A.I.D(Access for Individuals with Disabilities)
Manish Maker(mm340@hotmail.com)

GENERAL
· Our project is now called A.I.D. (Access for Individuals with
Disabilities). However, we must be very aware that an obstacle-free
environment will benefit not only wheelchair users, but also the aged,
pregnant women, post-operative patients, and parents using strollers, etc. · We have formulated a circular (will be on website shortly) to have a permanent databank of resources available within our Revive Bombay
organization, and to tap these resources as and when required. · We have received various information packets and are gathering more statistics and data, so that armed with more knowledge, we will be able to more effectively bring about a change-We now have a statistical packet on disabilities in India, an InfoPack about the American with Disabilities Act and other relevant provisions, various articles from the net about accessibility and disability in India, etc. · We have been in touch with some manufacturers of ramps to get an idea of costs involved for ramps of different lengths and materials. The attempt is
to have a list of available manufacturers ready for organizations, etc that
are willing to help us but need help in implementation.

THEATRES & CINEMA HALLS
· Met with Sidharth Jain of INOX Multiplexes about ramps, sizes of toilets to accommodate people in wheelchairss, seats, etc. He is extremely interested in furthering our cause. · Also met Rakesh Sippy, Film Distributor and Exhibitor, CHITRA Cinema, Dadar. Chitra is currently accessible for people in wheelchairs to come into the Stalls area. If required, there is also space for parking a single wheelchair in the stalls for viewing the film without removing the fitted chair. However advance intimation is required to given to make this possible.

LEGISLATURE & AUTHORITIES
· Met with the Fire Department about Chief Fire Officer's involvement and co-operation. Emphasized the need for circulars to be issued incorporating ramps for public buildings so that wheelchair users can be evacuated in case of an emergency. They will get back to us about a meeting with the CFO. · We have got copies of THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, PROTECTION OF RIGHTS AND FULL PARTICIPATION) ACT, 1995 & RULES, 1996 as well
as THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR WELFARE OF PERSONS WITH AUTISM, CEREBRAL PALSY, MENTAL RETARDATION AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES ACT, 1999, as well as the AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT of 1990. We will be studying these from the
point of view of implementation, execution, and future changes in other
legislature as required (e.g. the Development Control Regulations, 1991 for incorporating some provisions).

SPECIAL PEOPLE & ORGANIZATIONS
· Met with the Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped, a non-profit
voluntary organization founded in 1956, that doesn't receive any govt.
funding and relies wholly on private donations. They run training cum
placement programs like printing, tailoring, carpentry etc. They have a
bus, which is wheelchair accessible. They also make wheelchairs in their center and were very excited to work with us. They are very willing to help us achieve our goal. · We attended a Seminar on The American Centre on Disability Issues: Policy, Attitude and Access at the American Centre. Andrew Imparato, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, led this discussion. The Founder Chairperson, The Spastics Sty of India; Director, Centre of Special Education; Hon Gen Secretary Gen, National Association for
the blind also participated. · At the Seminar we met and fixed up meetings with ADAPT (Able Disabled All People Together)-the only organization other than our's that is targeting the basic infrastructural issue of accessibility. In fact, we were surprised to learn that most organizations and schools for special persons are NOT accessible.
· We have been in close touch with Mr. Javed Abidi, the founder of NCPDEP (National Council for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons). He is a National Award winner, an Ashoka Fellow, and one who has battled hard to get the Supreme Court to amend legislation. He is more than happy to work with us, and is also willing to come down to Bombay for a meeting. He has sent us an InfoPack containing a wealth of information.

HOTELS, RESTAURANTS & MALLS
· Met with Sanjiv Malhotra (VP, Oberoi hotels) who was very positive about making a change. He fixed up a meeting for us with Trevor Saldana (Asst. Executive Manager, Oberoi Hotels) with whom we had detailed discussions about accessibility for Kandahar, Casa Mexicana, Frangipani and India Jones, the Barbershop, the new Oberoi shopping mall, and the upcoming Trident Hotel at Bandra Kurla. Visited Oberoi's state-of-the-art rooms for special individuals (have pictures). Trevor was very positive about making a change. He will talk to concerned persons. As a starting point, we will be writing an official letter to him for action/response. · The Oberoi hotel will also be happy to put up Javed Abidi (NCPEDP) at their hotel free of cost as and when he does come down to Bombay to interact with us.· Met with the India chief of HVS International, one of the world's foremost hotel consultancy companies. He will put us in touch with various hoteliers whenever we like. He also promised us an entire page in HVS International's forthcoming Quarterly Newsletter that is circulated to over 600 hoteliers nation-wide. For this, we will be drafting an article about accessibility related to the hotel industry to spread awareness. Normally such newsletters are sent out via email. However, to support our cause, hard copies of this issue will be circulated. A fantastic opportunity to spread awareness.· Met and spoke with Renu Basu of the Tag Group about Accessibility for Wellington Mews, the new Serviced Apartment Hotel coming up at South Bombay. We are happy to know that the hotel is already accessibly, according to her. However, we will interact more closely with them for individual accessibility of toilets, restaurants and other facilities.

OTHER BUILDINGS & CONSTRUCTION
· Spoke to the developers of Phoenix Mills, and have a strong commitment from them to look into all future as well as existing structures to see where accessibility can now be incorporated. We will be following this up very closely.

AIRPORTS, AIRLINES & RAILWAYS
· We have written a letter addressed to the Director, Airports Authority of India, for improving the accessibility at Mumbai's airports. The draft has been sent to Mr. Sanjay Barve (Dpty. Commissioner of Police, Airport Security) who will fix a meeting with the Director for further action. We have addressed two key issues: Ambu-lifts for passengers when aero-bridges are unavailable, and more disabled parking spots close to arrival/departure gates.

4) UDAY KHEMKA, FOUNDER, YOUTH REACH INDIA

Uday Khemka, founder of Youth Reach India was with us at the Sunday Meeting. He flew in especially from Delhi to share his experiences of starting a similar organization in Delhi- Youth Reach India. Though his time with us was cut short due to Mr. Navalkar's talk, Uday had a great many points to share with us that were rather motivational in nature.

· He explained the importance of starting such an organization · He stressed the need for making Revive Bombay work this "first" time. He
explained from his experience, that an organization like this doesn't often gain such momentum and that it is absolutely imperative for us to make this organization a functioning reality because if we don't, an initiative like this will not be taken up again for a long time to come.
· He shared some of his experiences and said that his organization in Delhi had very many teething problems which Revive Bombay might face.Uday has very kindly agreed to join us for our next meeting. His input at that stage will be extremely valuable to all of us and his experience with Youth Reach may prove to be the guiding platform we need for Revive Bombay.

We were unable to break into separate teams as most people had to leave. Two teams did meet however, and the other scheduled their meetings at another time that was more convenient for others.

5) NEXT TIME - NEW PROPOSALS
As most projects are on their way, we will be taking NEW PROPOSALS at the next meeting. If you refer to the minutes from the First and Second meeting, you will notice about 30 odd projects that were chosen. Hopefully people have done some work or would like to bring them back to the table to consider.

NOTE:

While the projects are on their way, there are a still a large number of you who have not attended a single meeting. The organization is not about receiving minutes, but getting involved in some way or the other with the teams. Either join a team or start one. If you join a team, you can see which way you will be most useful.

Secondly, only when you come for a meeting will you be able to judge which project best fits what you want and how far you can go with it in terms of you, your time committment, and your enthusiasm.

6) THANK YOU

A BIG THANK YOU to Ketan Kadam and the team at Fire N Ice for having our meeting there.

*******NEXT MEETING: SUNDAY JUNE 16TH, 5:00 PM. BUNGALOW 3, MADHULI,
WORLI.*******
(Race enthusiasts - this does NOT clash with Formula 1!)

Due to the Teams working steadily on their projects, and the summer months where a lot of us are going to be either busy or out of town, the
organisation will be taking the month of May off, and meeting next on June 16th. Since we didn't have time to finalize our next location, we will be meeting at my house at Bungalow 3, Madhuli So see you all - SUNDAY JUNE 16TH, 5 PM. MADHULI BUNGALOW 3.

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