Yah hai Mumbai meri jaan

He might have his roots in Punjab, but his heart is in Mumbai. Born and brought up in the city of dreams, Member of Legislative Council, Charan Singh Sapra is all set to make Mumbai a better place to live in. In fact he has been tirelessly working towards the cause since a long time. CS speaks to this dynamic leader about his work so far and the Mumbai of his dreams:

Politically correct
My journey as a politician has been very thrilling, even though I never envisioned a career in politics. I went to Khalsa college, where I became a student leader. Once Sunil Dutt visited our college for a programme that I had organised and was very impressed by my efforts. He then asked me to organise an event for the Anti Narcotics Cell, which I did. Eventually, he roped me in to join him in the Punjab Padyatra, and that was my first brush with politics. I then went on to become the University leader of the National Student's Union Of India, got selected in the youth Congress in 1992 and in 1995 I was appointed as the President of the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress. And in 2008, the Congress High Command appointed me as an MLC in the Government of Maharashtra.

Time for action
I instituted the Rajiv Gandhi Awards in 1995. We would hear the refrain, 'Jab tak suraj chand rahega, Rajiv Gandhi ka naam rahega,' but I wonder how much we believed in it. The awards were my effort at immortalising the memory of our late prime minister. Throughout my tenure I've taken up many issues for suburban Mumbai. Some of these include the property tax issue, the conveyance issue, the closure of the dumping ground in Mulund where I stay, the current issue of pipelines and the development of skywalks wherever they are needed.

Dream on
The Mumbai of my dreams doesn't seem like utopia anymore. I want to see Mumbai with its own water transport service, I want the people living along the coastal line, the Kolis, to get good houses to live in. We should execute the rental and low-cost housing proposal and look into the private forestland issue that has affected 10 lakh people.