1. Bullet Train Will Eat Up Forest Land The Size Of 218 Football Fields
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which has lost significant green cover to infrastructure projects, is bracing for one of the biggest environmental blows, as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project will take up 18.92 hectares of mangrove land and 117 hectares of forest land in Thane and Palghar districts.
Parts of Palghar district have been included in the MMR, and the proposal to sacrifice 1,50,752 mangroves was recently tabled before the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).
Source: Mumbai Mirror
2. CBI’s Sensational Disclosure: Sanatan Sanstha Behind Lankesh’s Murder; She Was No 2 On Hit List
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report submitted to a Pune court earlier this month said Goa-headquartered Sanatan Santha was “involved” in the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, who was gunned down outside her house in Bangalore in September last year.
Mirror accessed the report, dated November 12, in which the CBI made a sensational disclosure that Sanatan Sanstha had code-named Lankesh as “Amma”, and she was number two on the organisation’s “list” that had 37 eminent people from various walks of life who the organisation considered as opposing the beliefs and practices of Sanatan Sanstha and its sister organisation, the Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
3. Government Vet Lists All That Went Wrong In Tigress Avni (T1) Operation
Expert government veterinarian Dr Sunil Bawaskar was summoned before the state-appointed committee, investigating the killing of tigress T1 (Avni), on Thursday in Nagpur.
Forest department sources told mid-day that Dr Bawaskar gave a two-page written statement to the committee, highlighting several critical things that messed up the operation. Committee members present included tiger expert Dr Ullhas Karanth, S H Patil and Nitin Kakodkar.
Source: Midday
4. Maharashtra: Fire At Dumping Ground In Kalyan
A fire broke out in the Aadharwadi dumping ground in Kalyan on Friday. It raged for over an hour before it was brought under control, officials said. Residents complained that the smoke led to a drop in visibility and breathing problems.
The fire broke out around 3.30 pm, officials said. “The fire brigade responded immediately but the fire grew rapidly. Four fire tankers were deployed to douse the flames,” said a KDMC official
Source: The Indian Express
5. Maharashtra: Property Tax Waiver For Vasai-Virar Residents Affected By Floods
The Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) has decided to waive off the annual property tax levied on the residents who suffered damages during the floods in July.
However, the residents have claimed that the list of beneficiaries prepared by the revenue department does not include those who had been running small businesses from their homes.
Source: The Indian Express
6. Maharashtra: Congress Writes To Governor, Demands Deshmukh’s Ouster
A day after the agriculture department revoked a Rs 24.81-crore grant sanctioned to BJP leader and state Cooperation, Marketing and Textiles Minister Subhash Deshmukh’s family-led company in Solapur, the Mumbai Congress on Friday wrote to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao seeking the minister’s removal from the Cabinet.
In his letter, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said: “The dairy development department and the Maharashtra government must file a case against Subhash Deshmukh for cheating… Since his fraudulent acts have now been proven, the people of the state cannot trust him anymore. (CM Devendra) Fadnavis must sack Subhash Deshmukh with immediate effect.”
Source: The Indian Express
7. Mumbai Buses To Get LED Displays, Destination Alerts
Soon, just like trains and the Metro, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses, too, will have announcements and LED displays to alert you about the next stop.
The authority, as part of the ₹112-crore intelligent transport management system (ITMS), has started to install global positioning system (GPS) and public information system (PIS) in its buses. BEST has a fleet of 3,337 buses that ply in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Mira-Bhayander. According to sources privy to the development, BEST has installed GPS and PIS in more than 1,250 buses, while the remaining will be covered in the next couple of months.
Source: Hindustan Times
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