Gadkari, Fadnavis lay foundation stone for Rs 1,183-cr road project

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January 24, 2019

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Thursday laid the foundation stone for Rs 1,183-crore highway widening project, awarded to MEP Infra by NHAI, in the state.

“MEP Infrastructure Developers Ltd today announced that it has received the letter of appointed date from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the eight-laning of existing four-lane Vadape to Thane section of NH-3 (new NH-848) in Maharashtra,” MEP Infra said in a statement.

The Rs 1,182.87-crore project will be executed on Hybrid Annuity Mode, it said.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Fadanavis and union road transport minister Gadkari at Dive Anjur in Thane district, the statement said.

MEP Infra had achieved financial closure for this project in terms of the concession agreement executed with NHAI, by tying up project finance of Rs 567.78 crore, and YES bank is the lead banker to this project, it said.

Commenting on the development, Jayant Mhaiskar, chairman and managing director, MEP Infrastructure Developers Ltd, said, “We are proud of this achievement which reaffirms the positivity of the Hybrid Annuity model that has been propagated by the ministry. The financial viability of such projects will ensure the speedy growth and expansion of our road infrastructure.”

MEP is currently one of the major players in the Hybrid Annuity space with 10 successful bids for projects across Maharashtra and Gujarat aggregating Rs 7,942 crore covering 1,893 lane km.

The about Rs 24 km project consists of widening and construction of existing four- lane road to eight-lane road.

The project envisages one new railway over bridge and two new major bridges on Thane Creek.

The total project cost of Vadape to Thane package is Rs 1,182.87 crore with the construction period of 30 months from the appointed date.

This project is under the new Hybrid Annuity model, which is a mix of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and build operate transfer (BOT) system. The Authority and the concessionaire share the total project cost in the ratio of 40:60, respectively.

Ranveer signed ‘Gully Boy’ because of original ‘Mere Gully Mein’

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January 24, 2019

“Gully Boy” is one of 2019’s most awaited films and actor Ranveer Singh says it was the original “Mere Gully Mein” track that had him hooked.

In the Zoya Akhtar directorial, the 33-year-old actor plays an up-and-coming rapper who sets out to achieve his dream by rhyming about his life on the Mumbai streets.

Ranveer says the original number, created by underground rappers Divine and Naezy, blew him away when he saw its video for the first time.

“When Zoya pitched me this film, ‘Mere Gully Mein’, the original video was the first thing she showed me. She said that this is the flavour of the film I want to make and the video completely blew my brains.

“I mugged up the entire rap and since then I started following Naezy and Divine’s music. ‘Mere Gully Mein’ for me, like for many others, is a huge breakthrough for the scene, the movement that’s happening in our society and I’m glad that I was the first one to whom this breakthrough of a song reached,” he told an agency.

The actor, who has recreated Naezy’s portion in the album, says incidentally it was the first song he rapped for the album.

He said it was “almost like my test”.

“Gully Boy”, also featuring Alia Bhatt and Kalki Koechlin, hits the screens February 14.

Paytm may enter 2 more developed markets in 2019: CFO

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January 24, 2019

Digital payments company Paytm is considering foraying into 1-2 more developed markets in 2019, Chief Financial Officer Madhur Deora said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Paytm has already found its footing in Canada and Japan, and several commerce and financial services verticals of the company have begun to churn out revenue and profits, Deora told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.

“We have found the developed markets to be very interesting,” Deora said.

While the company can’t commit to a definite launch in other markets, it is working on building a scalable business, he added.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a Rs 25 billion ($356 million) stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 in August last year.

Paytm, founded in 2010, which counts China’s Alibaba Group and its financial services arm Ant Financial Services Group among investors, faces intense competition from other players such as Google Pay and state-backed Unified Payment Interface (UPI).

John Abraham unveils new look for upcoming film ‘Romeo Akbar Walter’

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January 24, 2019

John Abraham has shared his new look from the upcoming film ‘RAW’ on social media.

The poster of the film ‘Romeo Akbar Walter’ (RAW) shows John staring intently, wearing a checked shirt and cardigan, A cigarette can be seen dangling from his lips as well. Apart from the main photo, the actor can be seen sporting different looks across the poster.

He captioned the post, “One man. Many faces. One mission – to protect his country. Presenting ‘Romeo’ from #RAW, based on the true story of a patriot. #RAWRomeo.”

‘RAW’ is set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 and is said to be inspired by true events.

Apart from John Abraham, the film will also see Mouni Roy and Sikander Khen in pivotal roles.

Being directed by Robbie Grewal, this is John Abraham’s second collaboration with producer Ajay Kapoor after ‘Parmanu’ and is set to release on April 12.

Spain tour will be good indicator ahead of Olympic Qualifiers: Rani

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January 24, 2019

Indian women’s hockey team skipper Rani on Thursday said their Spanish tour will help “understand where we stand” ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers, slated to be held later this year.

The tour opener will be played in Murcia.

“It will be a challenging tour no doubt but our team has made a lot of improvement in the past two years and we see this as a great opportunity to understand where we stand ahead of the Olympic Qualifying events this year,” stated Rani.

The Indian team will play four matches against Spain between January 26 to January 31 followed by two games against Ireland on February 2 and 3.

“We have quite a few youngsters who have been given a chance to show their potential against strong teams. It is important to have a larger pool of players with good international exposure ahead of important tournaments this year,” she added.

Rani believes her team will carry confidence from its impressive performances last year, which helped India move up the FIH world rankings.

“Though we surprised many with our performance against teams like England and Australia, we feel we could have done better in the 2018 Asian Games and 2018 World Cup.

“While we carry confidence from last year’s events, we work everyday with the belief that we can take our performance to the next level and we certainly have the potential to do so.

“We have been receiving great support from our coaching staff in the past few months of training where we not only had to overcome the heartbreak of losing the 2018 Asian Games final to Japan and a quarterfinal loss to Ireland in the 2018 World Cup but also introspect on the mistakes we were making.”

The Indian team left in the early hours of Thursday morning for the Spain tour from here.

SEBI says no reference received on relaxing rules in Jet Airways matter

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January 24, 2019

Markets watchdog SEBI on Thursday said that it has not received any reference on relaxation in rules regarding Jet Airways. The regulator’s statement comes amid reports that relaxations have been sought by Gulf carrier Etihad for infusing additional funds into crisis-hit Jet Airways, which is listed on the exchanges.

In its brief statement issued in the afternoon, SEBI referred to reports about certain relaxations of regulations with respect to Jet Airways.

However, the regulator did not provide elaborate.

“It is hereby clarified that SEBI has neither received any reference in this regard from any quarter nor has it expressed any views in the matter,” the statement said.

Shares of Jet Airways rose nearly three per cent to Rs 272 on the BSE at around 1330 hours.

Grappling with financial woes, Jet Airways is looking to raise fresh funds, including from strategic partner Etihad, which currently holds 24 per cent stake in the airline.

According to reports, Etihad has sought various relaxations, including exemption from the possible open offer in case it infuses more funds into Jet Airways.

Asian Cup performance will have huge impact on Indian football: Gurpreet

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January 24, 2019

India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu feels the country’s recent performance in the AFC Asian Cup will have a huge impact on Indian football.

India began their campaign with a convincing 4-1 victory over Thailand. But thereafter, the Blue Tigers bowed out in the first round after losing back-to-back matches against hosts UAE and Bahrain.

“21 out of the 23 players in the team were playing at such a stage for the first time. Now, we want to take it from here. It is important for us to deliver at the big stages and we shall do so. The impact of the competition will be huge for Indian football,” Gurpreet was quoted as saying by All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) official website.

“This team can go places if we remain united, and the game plan is in the right place. We are out of the tournament but we can certainly do more than we did,” he added.

The Indian football team and its fans were left heartbroken after it lost 0-1 to Bahrain by conceding in the final minutes. The result meant that the Stephen Constantine-coached team was knocked out of the tournament having won just one of its three matches in the UAE.

Gurpreet, who failed to save a penalty from Bahrain’s Jamal Rashid in the final minutes of the game said, “I had to make sure that we were in the game till the very last minute. It was difficult physically and mentally as they were coming at us all guns blazing. We fought till the end but fell short.”

But the 26-year-old maintained that the team was competitive in all three of its games.

“We fought and there weren’t any one-sided games. We matched our opponents every minute and were even better than them on many occasions. We got points on the board, and showed that we could match our opponents,” he said.

Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris to conduct one day screenwriting workshop in Mumbai

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January 24, 2019

Alexander Dinelaris, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Birdman”, lamented that the treatment meted out to writers in Indian film industry and wondered why they are considered the lower rung on the ladder.

Dinelaris is in the city to attend the launch of actor Boman Irani’s production banner, Irani MovieTone. He will also conduct a day-long screenwriting workshop for budding writers, directors and students of cinema.

I am unfamiliar with Indian cinema and I am just learning. I have seen handful of films and I have seen Boman’s work. I am opening myself to find a bridge. Hopefully I will be well versed when we meet next, the writer told reporters on Thursday.

My education on Indian cinema began with Boman. I did not know who he was and I had not seen his films. And at the same time I had not won anything or was not paid attention to either, he added.

The 50-year-old scribe also said that he felt a connection with Irani’s script. We just connected on the story that he was writing. Here, the screenwriters are a little bit in lower packing order. That is just the way it is and I don’t know why. I fell in love with his story and we just clicked immediately, Dinelaris said.

The duo met when Irani visited New York and they know each other for over six and a half years.

SC refuses to stay amendments to SC/ST Act

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January 24, 2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the proposed amendments to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which restored the no anticipatory bail provision for the accused.

A bench headed by Justice AK Sikri said that the pending review petition filed by the Centre against the apex court’s March 20, 2018 verdict and the pleas challenging the new amendments made in the SC/ST verdict will be taken up together.

The bench referred the matter to the Chief Justice for reconstitution of a bench which Justice U U Lalit was a part of.

Justice Lalit was part of a bench which had passed the March 20, 2018 verdict, taking note of the rampant misuse of the stringent SC/ST Act against government servants and held that there shall be no immediate arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

Pawar preferred Cong to BJP as ideology more important: NCP

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January 24, 2019

The NCP on Thursday said that its president Sharad Pawar had joined hands with the Congress 20 years ago, immediately after quitting it, as ideology was more important for him than personal issues. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik made the remarks a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Pawar had tied up with the Congress despite the old party humiliating him.

Malik also sought to know why the BJP was upset now. Pawar had quit the Congress in 1999 over the issue of foreign origin of then Congress President Sonia Gandhi and formed the NCP in the same year. “After the Maharashtra Assembly and Lok Sabha polls (held simultaneously) in 1999, the BJP had offered Deputy Prime Minister’s post to Pawar sahab and also called for forming government in the state. But Pawar sahab formed government in Maharashtra with the Congress. For him, individual ego was not a big issue, but ideology. When it comes to ideology, personal issues are not important. This was 20 years ago, but why is the BJP being upset now?” Malik said.

Modi, while addressing BJP workers from some Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, including Pawar’s home turf Baramati on Wednesday, had accused the Congress of insulting the Maratha strongman despite being a senior leader of the old party then. Modi said that what he had heard about was that Pawar had staked claim to be the Congress president and therefore, was shown the door by that party. This can happen only in the parties led by families. And the funny thing is that same Pawar who was humiliated by the Congress, had formed an alliance with it. However, Modi had also said that at personal level he respected Pawar for the works he carried out for the people.