Sanjay Dina Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party was elected MP  to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Mumbai Northeast constituency. Son of MLA Dina Bima Patil, Patil is a first time MP. He was earlier an MLA (between 2004 and 2009), representing Bhandup in Mumbai.
Ever since  his election to the Lok Sabha, Patil has completed a few projects under the MPLAD scheme to improve civic condition of his constituency. One such is modernisation of the Mulund Cemetery, in Mulund East, that has won him respect of the Catholics.

Here are the details:

Project: Modernisation of cemetery in Mulund East
Objective: To provide more space for burials, modernise and beautify the cemetery
Date of commencement: 25.8.09
Deadline:  25.8.10
Completion: 20.11.09
Estimated cost: Rs 15 lakh
Cost incurred: Rs 15 lakh
Executing agency: Mumbai Slum Improvement Board.

Governance Now correspondent Geetanjali Minhas went to assess the work done at the cemetery and found the work quite satisfactory. The modernised cemetery now provides added space for burials and it has  also enhanced beauty of the place. Three hundred concretised vaults, each measuring 3x7 ft, have been built. The vaults are covered with four removable concrete lids that can be opened to place the coffin inside. About 70 to 80 bodies are brought here for burial every year.

Shabbir Vazir Shaikh, cemetery attendant, who has been working here for the last two years, says “women and young children come to pray and pay respects to the departed. The traditional graves covered with soil pose a risk with wild growth at the spot, especially doing the rains when snakes can be spotted in the area".

Prashant Gurunath Gawde, an official of the cemetery, points out that earlier Christians from Mulund to Ghatkopar had to travel all the way to Sewri. Now people from Goregaon and Powai also come here. Besides being closer, the new cemetery can accommodate more bodies and is maintainance free.

Joseph Reddy, a board member of the Mulund Cemetery Committee, praises Patil for the good work and says the MP left it for the board members to identify the agency to execute the project. He says the cemetery got the land in 2004 and the first burial started two years later. Soon space constraint became an issue and hence a novel idea of providing concrete vaults was mooted in June 2009. Patil responded to it and came forward to help. The project has helped in increasing the capacity of the cemetery by three-fold.

Geetanjali gives thumbs up to the project.

Your Turn: Sanjay Patil claims to have improved civic amenities in his constituency through many of his MPLAD schemes. Have these projects really made a difference? Are these projects useful as he claims? Here we list out some of the important ones for you to check out and let us know if his claims are right. Become our Public Reporter and send us your views, photographs and if you like, video clipings, to make your point.

Some  of the other projects completed by Sanjay Patil in the year 2009-2010 :

• Laying drainage system and construction of passage at Christian cemetery in Mulund East
• Construction of footpath and approach road to the same cemetery
• Construction of footpath at IIT Powai