No Bidders For Waste-To-Energy Plant At Deonar Dumping Ground
The revised tender for BMC’s ambitious waste-to-energy project at Deonar dumping ground has failed to generate any bids. The civic body has extended the deadline for bidding to October 25 after no company expressed interest in taking up the project when the deadline ended on September 28.
“A lot of people had appreciated our tender document and even commended it for being on par with international standards. Despite that, there was not a single bid. We will now have to introspect what went wrong,” said an official of the Storm Water Management (SWM) department.
Recently, the civic body had revised the Deonar project’s tender document to address concerns raised by bidders. Two workshops were also arranged to help them understand the online bidding process.
According to sources, a Chinese government firm, which had expressed interest during the pre-bidding process, did not place bids as it could not secure permission from its government, owing to the tension between India and its neighbour. The information could not be independently verified.
The proposed project at Deonar is supposed to process 3,000 metric tonnes of waste to generate 25 MW of electricity per hour.
The electricity generated will then be used to power the civic body’s many establishments like, for instance, the storm water pumping stations, which currently buy power at commercial rate.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
I Married Paes Twice, In 2005, 2008: Pillai
Former model Rhea Pillai, who is fighting a domestic violence case against estranged live-in partner Leander Peas, has said the two, who parted in 2012, were married in two ceremonies – one in 2005, and the second in 2008.
During cross-examination by Paes’s lawyer in court on Thursday, Pillai said a priest was present at her 2005 wedding to Paes, which she said was held in Colaba. However, the second marriage had no priest, she said.
This assumes importance as Pillai was earlier married to actor Sanjay Dutt, from whom she was formally divorced only in 2008. However, Pillai had earlier clarified that Dutt and she had been living separately since 1999, and both of them had moved on in their lives.
Dressed in a Lucknowi salwar suit, Pillai, who has accused both Leander Paes and his father of ill treatment and harassment in her complaint, was examined for over an hour in Magistrate RS Sarkale’s court.
On a question by Paes’s lawyer Aabad Ponda, Rhea answered that the couple separated in 2012 after the London Olympics.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Hawker-Free FOBs In 10 Days
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray gave railway officials 15 days’ time to make Mumbai suburban stations and foot overbridges (FoBs) hawker-free but the railway authorities promised to complete the task within 10 days.
Thackeray’s ultimatum came after he led a march to the Western Railway headquarters at Churchgate on Thursday to protest the September 29 stampede on the Elphinstone station foot overbridge (FoB) that left 23 people dead and several others injured.
Before addressing the gathering at Churchgate, Thackeray accompanied by a delegation met senior railway officials, including Anil Kumar Gupta, general manager, Western Railway, DK Sharma, GM, Central Railway, and Prabhat Sahai, CMD, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, which is responsible for execution of suburban rail improvement projects. Chief security commissioners of Western and Central Railway were also present at the meeting.
The MNS delegation gave them a memorandum of demands, which included improvement in infrastructure and eviction of hawkers from suburban railway stations.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Mumbai: Cops Bust Drug Factory At Palghar, Seized Heroine, Ecstasy Worth Rs 40 Crore
The Palghar Crime Branch has busted a drug factory running out of a farmhouse, seizing drugs worth Rs 40 crore. Cops found 5.25 kg heroin, 9 kg ketamine and 24 kg MD in a Fortuner jeep at the farmhouse located at Talasari, near the government dairy project zone.
The cops also seized machines and raw materials used for making drugs. The house belongs to infamous drug peddler Fayaz Ahmed Sheikh. The cops learned about the drug kitchen after the arrest of Sohel Memon, Sarfaraz Memon, and Nigerian national Uchhena Ukapabi on September 25. They were caught with 21.7 g of ephedrine in a BMW. The cops learnt that Sarfaraz and Sohel were the main suppliers, and Uchhena was meeting them to buy drugs.
(Source: Mid-Day)
Power Cuts Back In Suburbs, Thane, Navi Mum
Mumbai’s eastern suburbs such as Mulund, Bhandup and Kanjur and large parts of Thane and Navi Mumbai, which had been spared load-shedding since 2012, experienced power cuts for three hours on Wednesday. The load-shedding is likely to continue as the demand-supply gap has widened.
According to officials of the state-owned power distribution utility, Mahavitaran, while power demand in Maharashtra is around 16,500 MW, the supply is only 14,000 MW.
The Mahavitaran has divided the state into seven zones (A to G), depending upon the percentage of bill recovery and transmission and distribution losses. The areas which fall in A to C category were exempted from load-shedding in 2012.
However, a shortage of coal, closure of generation units and increase in demand due to October heat have forced Mahavitaran to go for power cuts. While the state is facing an acute shortage of coal, the Union coal ministry is claiming increased production in the three years of NDA government.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
Parents Fume After Wards Dictated Fee Reminder In Diary
Parents of students enrolled in a Marol school are up in arms against the institute’s management after their wards were dictated reminders about school fees in their diary last month. They said this is a “pressure tactic” employed by the Narayana E-Techno School which, so far, has not given a clear “fee structure”.
“Kindly pay 60 per cent of your child’s school fees to receive the admission number on or before September 19, 2017. Otherwise you will have to pay 80 per cent,” a student was asked to write on the page meant for ‘Home Task’. An admission number, which entitles parents to get updates on their child’s progress, is given out once the school receives at least 50 per cent of the student’s fee.
“Dear Parents, kindly pay the second term school fees by October 5, 2017. Ignore if paid,” another student was made to write on the page marked for ‘Home Assignment.’ Notices were stapled on the school diaries of a few students.
While the diary is meant to serve as the medium of communication between the school and parents, bringing the children into the tussle over the fee is being viewed by the latter as unnecessary. “Making children write about fee payment in their diaries is a way of forcing parents to pay up. Many parents have challenged the fee,” said a parent, whose two children were made to write in their diaries.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
MMRDA Failed To Recover Rs 3,000 Crore Dues: Rti Activist
After sending notices to five companies for failing to timely complete construction on Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) plots, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has failed to recover its Rs 3,000 crore dues, alleged RTI activist Anil Galgali.
“The MMRDA, which is headed by the CM, is rapidly losing its sting and authority as can be understood from its abject failure to recover its own dues amounting to Rs 3,000 crore. Of the total outstanding amount, 95 per cent is to be recovered from Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL),” said Galgali.
Earlier in August, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had accused MMRDA of showing undue leniency towards RIL. The company was asked to pay additional premium after they failed to complete work on the two plots allotted to them in 2007.
(Source: Indian Express)
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