1. Thousands of Angry Farmers on Their Way to Mumbai, Ask the City to Join in Their Fight for Rights
Busy Mumbaikars, whose lives move as fast as the trains they take to work every day, have an unusual request from their less privileged, but no less hardworking “brothers and sisters” living in the villages: Instead of fretting over getting stuck in traffic jams and not reaching office on time, why don’t you join us in our fight for rights tomorrow?
Over 35,000 farmers, who started a long march (180 km to be precise) from Nashik on March 6 with the aim to reach the city on March 12 to stage protests outside the state assembly to press for a host of demands, feel that the city-bred people should support them instead of complaining about inconveniences when the procession makes its way through the heart of the city.
Dr Ajit Nawale, general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Maharashtra unit, which is spearheading the march of farmers and adivasis, made a special appeal to Mumbaikars, saying that the agrarian community suffers every day because of the government’s neglect and their protest will gain strength if the city people stood by them.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
2. No Water Cuts This Summer, Says BMC
As the mercury rises, so does the fear of water cuts in the city. However, this may not be the case this year as the BMC has promised that it has enough water stock to tide over the summer, thanks mostly to last year’s heavy monsoon. In fact, for the past few weeks, the BMC has been supplying 50 million litres more to the city every day than usual. Additional Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee confirmed that there would be no water cuts this year.
He added, “This summer will fare very well. In fact, we are supplying 50 MLD more to the city now through a recycling plant at Panjrapur.” Mukherjee said that the BMC can now get an additional 265 million litres of water from its lakes. It has conducted lake tapping in Modak Sagar which can add 40 MLD to the capacity. It also has the technology to draw more water from Bhatsa. Moreover, discarded raw water from the two treatment plants that supply water to the city are also being recycled.
As of March 11, the city has 7.05 lakh million litres of water, which is almost 50 per cent of its annual requirement. It can last for about six months. The same was 7.02 lakh million litres this time last year and 5.13 lakh million litres in 2016.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
3. Reach Sobo Before 6 Am: State Tells Farmers
Hours before thousands of marching farmers were to proceed further into the city and execute their plan of gheraoing the Vidhan Bhavan today, confusion reigned supreme about where the kisan morcha will end and whether it will end up inconveniencing students out to appear for their SSC exams.
Sensing massive traffic chaos and harassment of the examinees, the state government came up with a last-minute plan of asking the farmers, who commenced the 180- km long march from Nashik on March 6 and entered the city yesterday, to start by 1 am and reach Azad Maidan by 6 am on Monday.
But while some leaders of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), which is spearheading the protest in favour of a host of demands, including complete farm loan waiver, claimed that they would recommence their march from Somaiya Ground, Chunabhatti — their halt for the night — only at 10 am today, others said that they could toe the police line and reach Azad Maidan at night itself.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
4. Maha Budget: Work on Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway to Start in April
The construction of the ambitious Mumbai – Nagpur Super Communication Expressway will start in April, said state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar while presenting Maharashtra’s budget for the year 2018-19. The 701-km expressway Greenfield project, which is also called the Samruddhi Mahamarg or the Prosperity Corridor, will connect two important cities in the state.
The expressway will pass through the most backward districts of the state. The state government plans to develop 24 nodes or prosperity hubs, which include truck terminuses, commercial sites, knowledge city, IT industries, manufacturing units, etc, to boost the economy of the region.
“A special purpose vehicle has been set up in the name of Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway Limited for this project. The Samruddhi Mahamarg will run through 10 districts, 26 tehsils and 390 villages. Private land purchase procedure up to 52% is completed. The work on project will start from April 2018,” said Mungantiwar.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. TISS Admin Offers Rs 50,000 Fee Cut to OBC Students
In a bid to placate protesting students, the administration of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has offered new measures, including fee reductions amounting to nearly Rs 50,000, to Other Backward Class (OBC) students and doctoral students.
In its dispatch sent to the students on Thursday, the administration has proposed to provide an additional aid of nearly Rs 30,000 to eligible OBC students from the 2016-18 and 2017-19 batches. As things stand, the students receive Rs 12,000 at the time of admission.
“It is a small group of students [who are protesting] demanding a full fee waiver to students from extant and upcoming batches, which is neither legally nor practically possible,” said PK Shajahan, dean of student affairs, TISS.
“This is the best thing we could do, and there is nothing much we can do beyond this,” he Shajahan said.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
6. No of Autorickshaws in City up by 11%: Survey
Every city dweller’s biggest bane; the unrelenting problem of almost every Mumbaikar – unwilling or unavailable autorickshaws. This, despite an increase of 11 per cent in the total number of autos from last year.
According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra, as of January 1, 2018, the number of the three-wheeled vehicles saw an increase while two-wheelers and cars, surprisingly, only registered a moderate rise.
The total number of vehicles in Mumbai stands at 31 lakh.
Mumbai’s public transport has always been the topic of much debate with its local trains under constant strain due to high demand. The state government has envisaged an elaborate Metro network for the city but until that becomes a reality, the load on Mumbai’s road transport is ever increasing. The state government recently released its Economic Survey for the year 2017-18 which has detailed the information on transport in figures.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
7. Woman Duped of Over Rs 4 Lakh by Callers Pretending to Be From Insurance Firm
A 57-YEAR-OLD woman, employed with a city hospital, was allegedly duped of more than Rs 4 lakh by people who pretended to be from an insurance company from which she had purchased life insurance in 2013. According to police, the series of events that led to the alleged fraud began in July 2016, when Ranjani Subramaniam, a medical officer with a city hospital, received a phone call from a person claiming to be from an insurance company.
She had purchased an insurance policy worth Rs 1 lakh in 2013 from this company. However, the next year, she needed the money and withdrew the capital amount. The caller, who identified himself as Subbarao, told her that she was due to receive Rs 22 lakh from the insurance firm, police said. The woman, however, told the caller that she had withdrawn her policy a few years ago and that he might have been mistaken.
Subramaniam, who lives with her 74-year-old mother in Andheri, later received another call from a person identifying himself as Dr Mangat, who also claimed to be calling from the insurance company. He, too, told her that she was due to receive Rs 22 lakh from the company. She informed him also that she had already withdrawn the policy. A few days later this exercise was repeated when she got a call from a woman, who identified herself as Mrs Sharma, who also told her that she was due to receive Rs 22 lakh. The calls kept coming over a period of time, police said.
Source: The Indian Express
8. Let Them Step Into Your Slippers
As thousands of farmers rested at Somaiya Ground on Sunday night before starting the final leg of their march to Vidhan Bhavan on Monday, one thing they appeared to be in dire need was good, comfortable slippers. Having walked for six days all the way from Nashik, their shoes and chappals have either worn out or are torn.
“Some have tied up their torn slippers with strings. Many women are walking barefoot. Their feet are swollen, and have blisters,” said Kamlesh Shamanthula of the Janta Jagruti Manch, a voluntary youth organisation in Jogheshwari, which has come forward to help the farmers in the march.
Kamlesh, 33, who works in the IT industry, sent out WhatsApp messages on Sunday to a number of groups, asking people to donate slippers for the farmers. But he made sure to point out that the slippers will be needed only for two days, as the march ends on Monday. “I don’t want people dropping by on Tuesday and leaving things behind. They shouldn’t use the march to get rid of their belongings they no longer want,” he explained.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
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