QMumbai: Lavasa Dream Crashes; No Loan Waiver for 1 Lakh Farmers

Dabholkar’s daughter, MLA, activist were on right-wing sympathisers’ hit-list says ATS, and other stories.

1. Hill Dream Crashes

Hundreds of families whose money and dreams of idyllic hillside dwellings are stuck in Lavasa have suffered another jolt, with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordering insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden firm behind the stalled development.

Tribunal member MK Shrawat has appointed Devendra Prasad as the interim resolution professional to initiate the insolvency procedure. The process will offer banks and other financial entities that lent funds to Lavasa Corporation to develop the sprawling but controversial hill city, near Pune, the first right to recover money. Home buyers and property investors — who paid huge booking amounts six to eight years ago but are still without possession — will be recognised as “unsecured financial creditors” with much less authority to protect or recover their investment.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

2. More Than 1 Lakh Farmers Did Not Get Loan Waivers

More than one lakh farmers did not get the farm-loan waiver announced by the state government last year as banks had written off their loans, and their names were not sent to state government by the banks who loaned them the money.

As write-offs don’t mean waivers, these farmers continue to be defaulters in the banks’ record and are not eligible for fresh loans from other banks either.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

3. Dabholkar’s Daughter, MLA, Activist Were on Right-Wing Sympathisers’ Hit-List: ATS

Several prominent people who dissented against the Sanatan Sanstha, including slain rationalist Narendra Dhabolkar’s daughter Mukta Dabholkar, social activistShyam Manav and NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad, were among those on the hit-list of the right-wing accused arrested in the Nallasopara arms case, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) told the special UAPA Court on Thursday.

Special Judge Vinod Padalkar, who was hearing the remand application of one of the accused, Avinash Pawar, read the names out from ATS’s case diary, in which the developments of a case are recorded. These revelations are significant, as the Sanatan Sanstha has repeatedly distanced itself from all those accused in the case, including gaurakshak and Sanatan Sanatha sympathiser Vaibhav Raut.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

4. Mumbai’s Monorail to Resume Services From Saturday

Come Saturday, Mumbaikars will be able to take the Monorail between Wadala and Chembur when the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will restart operations .

The services were shut on the route following a fire incident in November 2017, and the subsequent deadlock between MMRDA and Scomi Engineering—the operator—over the per-trip rate.

(Source: Hindustan Times)

5. Reservation Charts out From Today

A ritual that has been an integral part of train travel for the last several decades will soon start fading out. Charting, or the pasting of reservation charts on train coaches, will be discontinued from today across the Indian Railways. And along with it will also disappear that quick browse of the charts by travellers just before they got into their respective compartments. The reason for the move is not surprising. According to senior railways officials, about 70 percent of the 11 lakh railway tickets sold daily across the country are booked over the internet.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

6. Raj Bhavan Wins 5-Yr Battle Against Crockery Supplier

The Raj Bhavan at Malabar Hill, home to the Governor of Maharashtra, has won a five-year legal battle against a supplier who allegedly sold it substandard crockery. The verdict in the case, filed before the Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, was delivered on Wednesday wherein the supplier, Andheri-based East Coast Global Pvt Ltd, and the manufacturer, Tata Ceramics, were asked to replace the crockery, worth Rs 5.86 lakh, or reimburse the amount with an annual interest of 10% before October 1.

Justice MY Mankar, president of the forum, also directed the supplier and the manufacturer to pay Raj Bhavan Rs 1 lakh as compensation for harassment, and Rs 10,000 towards litigation expenses.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

7. Municipal School Kids Being Stopped From Using BMC Ground

Parents of the Adarsh Nagar Mumbai Public School (MPS) in Oshiwara have alleged that their children are being prevented from using the BMC playground adjacent to a private trust-run international school. The English-medium is fashioned out of seven rooms on the ground floor of a private trust-run JBCN International School building. Recently, the Adarsh Nagar MPS school was in news, after the local Sena corporator Rajul Patel had shut it down for 15 days, as she was not invited for its inauguration.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

8. Cases Against Mumbai’s Ganpati Pandals for Potholes May Be Withdrawn

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday directed civic officials to reconsider applications to set up roadside Ganesh pandals, that were either rejected or cancelled by local authorities, previously. In Mumbai, more than 800 applications have been rejected or cancelled for various reasons so far this year.

Fadnavis has assured that the cases registered against Ganesh mandals for creating potholes and violation of silence zones may also be dropped. A committee has been formed to study and make recommendations. From next year, the mandals also will not have to submit relevant documents while making applications to set up pandals on the road for Ganeshotsav festival.

(Source: Hindustan Times)

9. Kin of Ex-Hairstylist Found Dead in Her Flat Untraceable

A day after the partially decomposed body of an elderly woman was recovered by the Versova police from her flat, the cops are yet to trace her relatives so that her mortal remains could be handed over to them.

The deceased, 79-year-old Sheela Kapoor, a former Bollywood hairstylist, was found dead in her second-floor flat in Shree Pushpanjali Society in four Bunglows, Andheri West on Thursday evening.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)