PM Conducts Bhoomipujan For Navi Mumbai International Airport
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the Navi Mumbai international airport at Ulwe at 4.10 pm on Sunday.
He was accompanied by Union minister for shipping, Nitin Gadkari; Union minister for civil aviation, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju; Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
GVK Reddy, chairman and founder of Indian conglomerate GVK, was also present at the occasion.The GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) firm has bagged the rights to construct the Rs16,000 crore airport.
The Prime Minister was greeted with chants of “Modi! Modi!” by hundreds of people who had assembled for the programme. Local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had been holding meetings over the past few days to ensure the presence of a huge crowd for Modi’s first visit to the region.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
Three Mumbai Youngsters Looking To Make A Quick Buck Through Extortion Caught
Three youngsters — one of them a 17-year-old — looking to make some easy money have been arrested on charges of extortion in two separate cases in Kalyan.
The two accused, who are in police custody, have been identified as Sunny Manoj Solanki, 21, an SYBCom student from a college in Kalyan, and Avesh Riyaz Momin, 23, alias Murgi, who is a history sheeter. The third boy, a minor, is an SSC student whose exams begin on March 2; he has been sent to the a children’s remand home till March 1.
A Vanve, assistant police inspector from Bazar Peth police station, said: “In the first case, Solanki had been threatening the owner of a readymade garments shop, Chintan Sangoi,29, to hand over Rs5 lakh.”
Solanki allegedly claimed that he was the right hand of a local goon, and that he knew everything about Sangoi, including where his shop is and how many people he employs. “He called Sangoi a couple of times. Last Sunday, Solanki used his mobile phone to call him on his landline in the shop and threatened to kill him if he did not hand over Rs5 lakh in 30 minutes. But Sangoi convinced Solanki to wait, saying that his father was out of town and that he would give him the money once he returned,” said Vanve. “He registered a complaint with us on Thursday. We told him to ask Solanki to come to the shop on Friday to collect the money. He came, and we arrested him.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
Journalist's Mother, 1-Year-Old Daughter Found Dead In Nullah In Nagpur
The bodies of the mother and toddler daughter of a local journalist were found in a nullah in the city on Sunday, with police suspecting murder.
Usha Kamble (52) and Rashi (1), mother and daughter of local scribe Ravikant Kamble, were missing since last evening, police said. "Usha and Rashi had gone missing since last evening. Their bodies with injury marks were found in a nullah in Bahadura area around 10.30 am today," a police officer said. "It is suspected that they were killed with a sharp weapon by unidentified persons," he added.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Nilesh Bharne told PTI that Usha Kamble was into money-lending business. "Usha (alongwith her grand-daughter) went to a jewellery shop near her house around 5.30 pm yesterday. Her husband tried calling her when they didn't return for quite some time, but her mobile phone was switched off. Around 10 pm her son informed police when he returned from his work," DCP Bharne said.
Bodies have been sent for autopsy, the DCP said.
(Source: Mid-Day)
Lottery Winners Pay For MHADA’s Laxity
The 182 winners of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s (MHADA) lottery in 2015 will have to pay Rs 2 lakh extra for MHADA’s laxity.
In 2015, MHADA conducted lottery for 997 homes in Pratiksha Nagar, Mankhurd, and Gavanpada in Mulund and Unnatnagar in Goregaon. Of these, 182 homes were for low income group in Gavanpada. However, as these buildings did not have an occupation certificate (OC) from BMC, the lottery winners were not issued allotment letters.
The MHADA has now secured OC for these building. The housing authority proposes to increase flat prices, said a senior MHADA official who did not want to be named.
In order to increase the number of homes to be sold under the lottery system, MHADA regularly includes even those flats in the sale list for which it has yet to obtain OC, knowing fully well that this is against MHADA’s rules.
Now, the affordable housing development authority wants to recover Rs 2 lakh from each winner of the lottery towards maintenance of these buildings.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
JNPT To Ferry Containers To City
Traffic congestion in Mumbai, Thane and Bhiwandi is set to reduce with the shipping ministry planning to soon ferry containers from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) instead of the longer land route. When implemented, it will bring down the total number of trailer trucks entering the city by 1,000 daily, in addition to the hundreds of smaller trucks and tempos which transport goods from Bhiwandi to the city.
“At present, there is heavy traffic congestion in Panvel, Navi Mumbai and Bhiwandi areas as container trucks travel from JNPT to Bhiwandi,” said union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, speaking after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the fourth container terminal at JNPT. There are several godowns in Bhiwandi – many of them illegal – which serve as hubs from where the goods are transported to the city in smaller vehicles.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Lesbian Couple, Separated By Families, Back Together In Mumbai
A Mumbai-based same-sex couple, forcibly separated by disapproving families in November last year, is back together. And this time one of them has her father on their side.
Reshma Mokenwar, 27, and Preethi Sarkila, 20, who were hunted down in Shirdi by the Hyderabad police after their families back in Telangana filed an abduction complaint, were reunited following untiring efforts of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) teacher Ketki Ranade, who is also a prominent same-sex rights activist, and her associates in Hyderabad.
Mumbai Mirror was first to report Reshma and Preethi’s struggles in its November 21 edition last year when they were forced to live away from each other.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Aamir Khan To Throw A Grand Party For Secret Superstar's 600 Crore Feat In China
With Secret Superstar having made over Rs 600 crore in China within four weeks of its release, Aamir Khan has been busy fielding messages from the film's team, all reading the same thing - party toh banti hai! Jubilant over the film's runaway success himself, the producer-actor has finally decided to pop the bubbly. mid-day has it that he, along with wife Kiran Rao, will be hosting a bash on February 21 at his Bandra residence to celebrate the movie's success.
Says a source close to Khan, "The film's team had been demanding a party for some time now. Since Aamir was busy with the shoot of Thugs Of Hindostan, he kept stalling it. He first told them that he will throw a party when it crosses the Rs 100-crore mark in China. When it did, he good-naturedly joked that he'll wait till it makes Rs 500 crore. Now, he has zeroed in on a date."
(Source: Mid-Day)
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