These disturbing facts are reflected in a study commissioned by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and executed by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The study, which concluded in August 1998, aimed to study the socio-economic conditions with a view to assessing the magnitude of the island's problems. INTACH has, on the basis of this study, drawn upa plan in coordination with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and non-governmental organisations to preserve the island's heritage and ecology and provide its people with developmental strategies. It has therefore organised a fund-raiser on the island on November 29 to raise resources to formulate an action-plan for the island's people.

Says INTACH Convenor Tasneem Mehta: ``If a worker from the island had to come to Mumbai to work, she would spend Rs 20 travelling daily... that's Rs 600 a month. Hardly anyone on the island can afford to pay such a sum for travel.''

The TISS study says medical facilities are restricted to a homoeopath, who visits the island twice a week. Education takes the shape of a government-run school and a balwadi with 30 children. Only two per cent of the population is skilled carpenters, electricians and photographers.

Electricity is provided by three generators belonging to the MTDC, which are operational only between 7.30 pm and10.30 pm. The quantity and quality of water, drawn from three wells is less of a problem than the distances the women have to walk for to collect it. Survival is also endangered by a population of about 8,000 monkeys, who regularly attack both the islanders as well as visitors. The more fragile side of biology reveals itself in the slow destruction of mangroves along the shore by pollution from the Mumbai harbour. ``These mangroves are the lungs of the sea,'' explains Mehta. On INTACH's plan to rehabilitate the mangroves, she says, ``They oxygenate the water. By killing them we are heightening chemical levels in the waters and killing its marine life.''

Other threats to the ecosystem include a proposed toxic chemical storage terminal of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, 400 mt from Elephanta though UNESCO's guidelines for world heritage sites state that these can only be constructed 500 mt away. INTACH is also opposing the government's proposal to connect the island with the proposed eight-lane,Sewree-Nhava Sheva link.The ASI and UNESCO in their attempt to upgrade visitor facilities have restored a custodian's cottage which has been converted into an Elephanta Site Museum to be inaugurated on Monday.

``Our plans include better signage, medical and toilet facilities and an exclusive sound-and-light show,'' Mehta said. ``Also, we hope to set up a separate picnic area so that visitors will not litter near the caves,'' she adds. This plan will be sponsored by the fund-raiser, which includes an art auction donated by 20 artists. Shubha Mudgal will perform specially composed music while Alarmel Valli will perform Bharatanatyam from 5.30 pm to midnight. The Harmony Heritage Award for Lifetime Contribution to Art Culture and Literature will be presented by the chief minister to theatre personality Ebrahim Alkazi.