PROJECTS.

1) Pet-a-tree:
Team leader : Rishi Tejuja - rishitejuja@utisel.com

Working to increase the green belt in the city by planting trees, adopting traffic islands and any other locations available. Currently working on the Mahim Causeway and Dadar area.


2) Heritage Statues & Structures:
Team leader : Hemanth Meka Rao - hemanth@hemanth.net

Working to conserve and restore heritage statues and structures in the city. Currently working on restoring and appropriating two lost statues in the city, and working with the BMC's Senior Heritage Engineer on this.


3) NGO AGM:
Team leader : Hemanth Meka Rao - hemanth@hemanth.net

Working to create the city's first annual meet to bring together all the NGO's based in the city working to improve the city in their scope of vision. The idea behind this is to create awareness of each other and to see how each one can synergize with each other to bring together a cohesive plan on how to make this city a better place, by eliminating duplication and using their unified strengths.


4) Ambulance EMS:
Team leader : Hemanth Meka Rao - hemanth@hemanth.net

Working to create India's first and the city's first Emergency Response system by integrating all the city's ambulances under one central control center, using GPS technologies to locate and dispatch ambulances immediately to emergency cases. The team got two ambulances donated to RBT in principle along with the GPS equipment & services given to us for free. However the
project was scrapped after the logistics and costs were prohibitive for the organisation and only if Government support was given, could we proceed. The team wrote to the Minister for Health for the state, and upon receiving no reply had temporarily scrapped this project. Interestingly enough, a month
later it was unveiled that a State hospital is doing this project.


5) Wish-a-Dream :
Team leader : Shraddha Thacker - shraddhathacker12@yahoo.com

Previously called the Make-a-Wish team, the team decided to work with terminally ill children by tying up with the existing Make-a-Wish foundation. The team had raised money as well. However the Make-a-Wish foundation then retracted and said there were branding issues(?!) to do this. Therefore the team has changed its focus and name and are now working directy with the hospitals to see what can be done to make a child's life a little better.

6) Accessibility for Individuals with Disabilities (A.I.D):
Team leader  Manish Maker - manish.maker@makers.co.in 

Providing better facilities and accessibility for individuals with disabilities through action, legislation and dedication. Working on creating a world where the Disabled person is abled - by breaking barriers such as steps. Working on adding more ramps and handrails in the city, the team has put through legislation to change the DC Regulations of the BMC to mandate all new buildings, entertainment centres and footpaths to be accessible. The team is also working on making firms and corporates to have a program of employing handicapped individuals. 

7) Café Revive:
Team leader : Hemanth Meka Rao - hemanth@hemanth.net

Working on creating Revive Bombay café's around the city whereby we tie-up with an existing location and a restauranteur who has the expertise in managing a café. The essential idea here is that we create the brand and that a certain part of the profits from the Café come to the organisation to be spent on making the area that the café is located in - a better place. This will ensure fund flow for doing positive things around the city, and
will make people want to come - knowing that the area that they live in/work in will be improved. Currently scouting locations.

8) Future of Roads (F.O.R.)
Team leader : Hem Tejuja - htejuja@hotmail.com

Working at integrating and improving several road issues - from potholes, to safety and infrastructure, to trucks & lorry pollution. The first goal is to fix the pot-holes on Marine Drive!

9) Adopt-a-kid
Team leader : Dr. Sohan Shah - drsohan@indiatimes.com

Working to adopt underpriviledged children, street children etc.  The idea here is the team finds a child, or childen who they literally adopt upto a certain age. The team meets with the children once a week, takes them out for a movie etc, or the  park, acts like an older brother etc. The team has currently tied up with Magic Bus, another NGO doing similar work.


PAST PROJECTS

WASTE MANAGEMENT (Formerly RECYCLING/PROPER WASTE DISPOSAL & DUSTBINS)
 Neha Mehta (neha@idfc.com)

 Working with local authorities and residentialsocieties to improve waste management in the city. The project worked in its scope of educating residents of one of the members buildings. After that, there were few takers interested in educating their societies of the advantages of this.

FOOD DRIVES
Chirag Doshi(ccdoshi@walchand.com)

Working to provide food for the needy and underprivileged. While the team coordinated and tied-up several city restauranteurs, there were legal issues such as those of liabilities incurred in doing a Good Samaratin project such as this. The project was therefore stopped.

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

To support the conversion of existing diesel and petrol taxis into CNG. After the Supreme Court gave its verdict requiring all Taxis and Buses to change to CNG compulsorily, the scope of the project was limited as the Court got the teams work done.


STRAY DOGS TEAM
Kimaya Salaskar (kimaya salaskar@hotmail.com)

Working for the betterment of life of the Indian pariah(stray dog)through sterilisation, finding them a home - and looking out for these animals who don't have a friend. Working closely with WSD (Welfare for Stray Dogs), the team is looking for ways to go ahead.

Mobile Phone Law 
Freishia Bomanbehram (freishia.bomanbehram@aajtak.com)

Working with radio station RED FM to change the notification banning headsets in cars, the team's work was to see if a law like this made any sense. People were made aware that there is now a law that does not allow you to use your mobile phone while driving, but furthermore you cannot even use your handsfree kit. This seems absurd as laws abroad permit this and it made little sense. RED FM wanted to tie-up with this team to see what can be done about this law to change it as it makes little sense and loses the point of mobility. The law says if a person is driving, their mobile should be in the switched off mode.

This led to a huge debate - where people argued for and against this. It was resolved when it was pointed out that not everyone will agree with every project - everyone will have differences with ideas and ideals. The point is someone finds this an issue worth pursuing where it affects a large number of citizens and Revive Bombay as an organisation should help them so that at
the end of the day - something good should come out of it.

We studied this project and after doing our due diligence, we have realized that there have been no conclusive studies done to prove that using hands-free on your mobile phone while driving is safe. Studies done in the United States by the National Safety Council show that while using your mobile phone is similar to the disturbance caused by switching radio stations, it is talking to someone while driving that is ithe main problem,and that it is more of a mental distraction rather than a physical distraction. Therefore, since there was nothing concrete done, we decided to follow the right path and have abandoned this project until there are studies to show that using mobile phones in the car on handsfree as being safe.


Hoardings PIL with Anahita Pandole 
Hrishi Dugar (hrishi.dugar@czbpartners.com)

Most of you must be aware of the PIL(Public Interest Litigation) filled by Dr. Anahita Pandole. The court has given her a favourable interim ruling while the expert committee works out more details. In the mean time, on talking to her, she suggested that we also get involved by filing as Intervenors, like Citispace and AGNI - two other city NGO's. An intervention
is when you support the petition of the main petitioner. We have received the petition and looked into the possibility of this.

Then it was decided that while we have lawyers who are willing to work with us on this project, the key issue was - how are we adding value to what has already been done by Dr. Pandole. And the answer came back - nothing. They have already done a lot of work and we don't want to merely add our name, so
that we can be associated with this. We should get involved if there is something different in our petition that can add value to the PIL filed by Dr. Pandole.

Trucks & Lorries pollution
Hem Tejuja (htejuja@hotmail.com)

What we want to do is to persuade the two main truck manufacturers to alter their exhaust design to make it similar to that of the US, where the exhaust comes along the side and out the top of the truck. This will make the truck manufacturer seem more environmentally and socially responsible, and they will be looking into the possibility of this. The team had met with the two
truck majors - Ashok Leyland and TELCO. However, this is a time-consuming process. The team has now become the F.O.R.(Future of Roads) Team.

Road Signage
Kunal Chandra (kunal25@hotmail.com)

The idea here is to increase the visibility and sustainability of Road Signage in the city. The BMC has issued two volumes on standardisation of Road signage and how to go about it. However, the project ran into several hurdles and never started off.


Slow Track Projects:

Slow Track projects are the ones that are presently on the back-burner as they need a Maturation period where ground work needs to be done before they come to a Fast Track level.

The organisation as a whole decides on the Grouping of
Projects based on the presentation given by the Project Proposer/Team.


1. Opera House Restoration/Revival - Hemanth Rao
Email:hemanthmekarao@yahoo.com
2. Umbrella for Childrens' organisations - Anushka Jagtiani
Email:anushkaj@hotmail.com
3. Public Library - Kanika Vasudeva
Email:kanikav@hotmail.com
4. Public Restrooms - Meghna Khimji
Email:megbin50@hotmail.com
5. Parking Spaces - Pranay Mehta
Email:pranman@hotmail.com
6. Byculla Zoo - Ramona Sunavala
Email:zoomingbabe@hotmail.com
7. Immunization - Saumya Lashkari
Email:saumya.lashkari@gecapital.com
8. Marine Life - Smiti Ruia
Email: smiti@smiti.com
9. Special Olympics - Saumya Lashkari
Email:saumya.lashkari@gecapital.com
10. Art Plaza - Saumitra Srivastav
Email:saumitras@hotmai.com
11. Energy - Solar/Waste - Saumya Lashkari/Hemanth Rao
Email:saumya.lashkari@gecapital.com / hemanthmekarao@yahoo.com
12. Adopt-a-pavement - Nandish Kilachand
Email:nandishk@hotmail.com
13. Clothes Drive - Meghna Khimji
Email:megbin50@hotmail.com