QMumbai: ‘Covering Up Nullahs Only Option’; Food in Premium Trains

All you need to know from the city of Mumbai.

1. ‘Since Mumbaikars Don’t Listen, Covering Up Nullahs Only Option’

This year, the BMC removed 1.70 lakh metric tonnes of silt from storm water drains. And this statistic does not include the tonnes of garbage floating in these bodies. Every year, the BMC has a hard time conducting desilting work before monsoon because the trash thrown in the nullahs interferes with and clogs the machines, apart from blocking the rain water from draining into the sea.

In order to prevent this next year, the richest municipal corporation in the country has now decided to implement the oldest trick in the book. It has floated tenders to ‘cover-up’ the storm water drains instead of appealing to citizens to not use them as their personal trashcans. Two nullahs in the city have been chosen on a trial basis. Pancholiya nullah in the western suburb of Kandivali and Nanepada nullah in the eastern suburb of Mulund. The BMC chose these two because of their comparatively shorter lengths and location abutting slums – the biggest reason behind the problem.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

2. Even Premium Trains Dish Out Pathetic Food

The national auditor CAG has severely criticised the railways over the quality of food served at stations and on trains, saying in many cases it is “unsuitable for human consumption”.

Several Mumbaikars who travel by premium long-haul trains said rail officials often ignored complaints about the quality of meals after wrongly assuming that passengers were simply being picky. But CAG’s findings, which were tabled in Parliament on Friday, should give the officials some serious food for thought.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

3. Mumbai’s Batwoman

Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar, who became an overnight sensation after clobbering defending champions Australia for an unbeaten 171 in the Women’s World Cup semifinal on Thursday, is a Mumbaikar for the last four years. She idolises Virender Sehwag, and lives in the same area as Sachin Tendulkar, in Bandra (W).

It was another Mumbaikar -- former India women’s captain and current member of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators Diana Eduljee -- who facilitated Harmanpreet’s shift to the city. Eduljee, a Western Railway employee, saw Harmanpreet bat for Punjab and insisted to the Railway Sports Promotion Board that she be hired.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

4. Sobo Club ‘Sacking Members Who Question Irregularities’

The 127-year-old Islam Gymkhana on Marine Drive has sparked a row by gradually expelling members who raised uncomfortable questions about alleged irregularities in the club’s management.

Veteran pitch curator Nadeem Memon is the latest target of what some sacked members called a purge. The gymkhana sent him a termination notice on July 13 when he was in Britain. The reason he was given: a member had objected to his behaviour.

Memon said the complaint was baseless and it had been “planted” so the management could avoid scrutiny over its controversial decisions such as not holding an election for the president’s post for 17 years.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

5. Woman Calls RPF 8 Times After Spotting Suspicious Bag, They Hang Up

When Swati Sharma saw an unattended bag lying in the train, she did what any alert citizen should do – call the police. Instead of jumping to action, the cops hung up on her. When a railway police officer finally turned up, he asked her just one question: "Are you happy with our customer service?"

Swati, an airhostess and resident of Lokhandwala, boarded a fast train from Andheri to Churchgate at 7.40 pm on Wednesday. "I noticed a bag lying on the overhead rack and looked around, there were only three people in the coach. I had a bad feeling about it. I asked the other passengers if the bag was theirs, but they refused," she told mid-day.

Source: Mid-day

6. After Girl's Death Last Week, Aarey Milk Colony Residents Find Python At The Same Spot

Same place, same snake species, but a tragedy was averted. Barely a week after an Aarey milk colony resident, 20, died of snakebite, panic slithered into the Jivachapada tribal hamlet in the early hours of Friday when another Spectacled Cobra found itself inside a poultry cage.

Anandrao Moghe and his family members – his wife, three daughters and a son – were asleep when they heard a commotion near their poultry cage. Speaking to mid-day, Moghe said, "It was around 1.45 am that we crept out of our home to find a 2-3 feet long snake inside the poultry cage. We cautiously opened one of the doors to the cage and the hen inside it ran out."

They alerted snake rescuer Kaushal Dubey around 2 am, who managed to get the cobra out of the cage in 15 minutes, following which he released it into a forest patch, around 400 metres away from the hamlet.

Source: Mid-day

7. Lokmanya Tilak's Great-Grandson Accused In Rape Case, Gets Bail

The great-grandson of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak and National Youth Congress coordinator, Rohit Tilak who has been booked in a rape case has received adinterim anticipatory bail till July 28.

The case was filed by a Bombay High Court lawyer late on Monday evening. On July 19, mid-day had published a report on Lokmanya Tilak's great-grandson being booked for rape, complainant fears for life.

Source: Mid-day

8. Vikhroli College Peon Nabbed For Trying To Record Video In Girls' Washroom

A second year Bachelor of Management Studies student of a Vikhroli-based college was shocked to find a cellphone with the video-recording feature on in the girls' washroom on the first floor on Wednesday. She immediately informed her class teacher, who told the principal. It was later found that the phone belonged to a peon.

After being informed by the college management, the police reached the spot and arrested the accused, identified as Vijay Shivtare, 29.

Source: Mid-day