1. Thaw In Saffron Ties? Uddhav Rally On Fadnavis Home Turf In Nagpur Cancelled
In an indication that Shiv Sena is leaving open the door for reconciliation with ally BJP, the former has decided not to kick-off its poll campaign with Uddhav Thackeray’s rally in Nagpur – the home turf of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and union minister Nitin Gadkari. The Sena had, earlier this month, announced it would hold a “mega rally” in Nagpur on February 2.
The move comes a couple of days after Thackeray convened a meeting of his party MPs, in which he suggested that he would be willing to reconsider the stand of going solo if the BJP offered a “respectable proposal” for a tie-up. Thackeray, in his past few rallies, had lambasted the BJP over several issues, but a rally now, with a possibility of a tie-up on the cards, could send a wrong signal to the ally.
Source: Hindustan Times
2. Rs 69.48 Crore Crop Insurance For More Than 80,000 Farmers
More than 80,000 farmers will be provided with Rs 69.48 crore as compensation under crop insurance by the state government. The decision got Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ nod on Wednesday.
Under the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme, farmers had filed online applications for crop loss for 2017. Compensation to the eligible farmers was paid by insurance companies.
But it was noted that there were 86,748 farmers who did not apply online. As a result, the companies rejected their claims.
Source: The Indian Express
3. BMC To Install Sanitary Pad Vending Units In City’s Slums
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be setting up sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators inside 235 public toilets in slums across the city at a cost of around ₹1.5 crore.
The proposal was tabled before the standing committee on Wednesday but the meeting was adjourned owing to the demise of former defence minister George Fernandes.
An officer from the BMC’s slum sanitation programme said, “While women living in slums may have access to sanitary napkins, they may not have access or the means for disposing of them safely. This leads to unhygienic living conditions in slums. To resolve the issue, we want to install incinerators in public toilets along with the vending machines.”
Source: The Hindu
4. Nirav Modi’s House Likely To Be Blown Up
Detonators are most likely to be used for demolishing Roopanya, Nirav Modi’s bungalow at Kihim in Alibaug.
Raigad Collector Vijay Suryawanshi said that the demolition was stalled after five hours of work on January 25 as hardly 2% of the bungalow could be razed.
He said, “The construction is quite strong and excavators will take a lot of time to demolish the structure. The challenges would increase as there are many valuable fixtures in the house and the demolition work will incur more cost.”
Source: The Hindu
5. At 15.4 Degrees Celsius, City Feels The Chill
The city recorded a minimum temperature of 15.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday morning, a sudden dip as the mercury had been hovering around 17-18 degrees Celsius for the past three days. On Wednesday morning, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded 15.4 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. IMD’s Colaba observatory recorded 19.5 degrees Celsius.
Weathermen have said the minimum temperature will hover around 15-16 degrees Celsius during the weekend. On Tuesday, the minimum temperature recorded at the Santacruz observatory was 19.2 degrees Celsius. A day before, it was 18.6 degrees Celsius. Colaba recorded 19.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and 19.8 degrees Celsius on Monday.
Source: The Indian Express
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