BJP bid to show alliance govts are unstable: NCP on K’taka drama

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January 15, 2019

Launching a frontal attack on the BJP over the political developments in Karnataka, the NCP Tuesday said the saffron party’s efforts to “dislodge” the Congress-JD(S) dispensation were aimed at creating a public perception ahead of Lok Sabha polls that alliance governments are unstable.

NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said the BJP would not succeed in its alleged bid to poach some MLAs of Congress for dislodging the H D Kumaraswamy government in the southern state.

Malik’s comments came on a day two Independent MLAs in Karnataka withdrew support to the alliance government, triggering a political firestorm.

As the move set off speculations over survival of the seven-month old dispensation, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy ruled out any threat of stability to his ministry.

The ruling Congress and opposition BJP have levelled charges of horse-trading against each other, as the two MLAs who withdrew the support are staying in a hotel in Mumbai.

“The BJP will not be able to form government in Karnataka, as the numbers are not stacked in its favour,” Malik told reporters.

He said the BJP’s political manoeuvring was aimed at “creating a perception among the people ahead of the general polls that alliance governments are unstable”.

The BJP wanted to project it among voters as politically indispensable, Malik added.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JD(S) 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each, besides Speaker. BSP, KPJP and an Independent are supporting the coalition.

In 2018, the Congress and the JD(S) had formed a coalition government in the southern state after BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, who was sworn-in as Chief Minister, resigned ahead of taking floor test to prove majority in the same month.

Amid charges and counter-charges of horse-trading between BJP and Congress, the saffron party has shifted its flock of 104 MLAs to a resort in Haryana’s Nuh district.

Karnataka Water Resource Minister D K Shivakumar had said that three Congress MLAs were camping at a hotel in Mumbai in the “company of some BJP leaders”.

Parts of Thane City to face 24 hours water supply shut down

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January 15, 2019

To regulate the water supply, the Thane Municipal corporation (TMC) will enforce a 24 hours water supply cut from January 16 morning 9 am to January 17 morning 9 am.

Samta Nagar, Rutu Park, Siddeshwar, Jail , Saket , Uthalsar , RetiBandar , Mumbra , Kolivada, Shailesh Nagar, Sanjay Nagar and some parts of Kalva will face this water cut. The city faced 24 hours water supply cut on January 12 as the repair work of pipeline near Ranjnoli Naka took place.

The supply of water at Ghod Bandar Road , Patli Pada , Pawar Pada , Kothari Compound, Azad Nagar, Dongri Pada Wagh Bill and Gandhi Nagar will be resumed during the water cut. Because of this shut down, water supply with low pressure will be supplied for couple of days during the cut. TMC has urged the citizens to cooperate with the corporation and to manage with the scarcity of water.

Local leaders oppose power privatisation move in 3 Thane areas

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January 15, 2019

Political leaders cutting across party lines have opposed handing over of power distribution duties in three electricity sub divisions of Thane to a private player.

These leaders Monday met at the circuit house here and among those who attended were Mumbra-Kalwa MLA (NCP) Jitendra Awhad, Shiv Sena MLA Subhash Bhoir, BJP MLA Kisan Kathore and Kalyan Shiv Sena district unit chief Gopal Landge.

These leaders claimed that the experiment to privatise electricity supply in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi here had failed and, hence, it should not be expanded to newer regions of the district.

They also claimed that people were opposed to the entry of private players in place of the state-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) in this region.

On January 3 this year, private firm Torrent Power announced it had been appointed as electricity distribution franchisee for three sub-divisions under Thane urban circle of Maharashtra.

“The company has emerged as winner of competitive bidding process conducted by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) for appointment of input based distribution franchisee for distribution of electricity in Shil, Mumbra and Kalwa sub-divisions under Thane urban circle, for 20 years,” Torrent Power had said in a BSE filing.

Shil, Mumbra and Kalwa sub-divisions have a customer base of 2.15 lakh, the filing said.

The firm is also the electricity distribution franchisee in Bhiwandi since 2007 for a period of 20 years.

Chair breaks during Maha health minister’s visit to tribal PHC

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January 15, 2019

Maharashtra Health Minister Eknath Shinde Monday had a first-hand experience of the rundown condition of some primary health centres in the Palghar region when the chair he was sitting on broke during an inspection.

Officials present there quickly helped the minister regain balance as the chair gave way at Jamsar PHC in predominantly tribal Jawhar taluka here, a video of which was being circulated on social media platforms.

Shinde, during the visit, also heard out medical personnel at the PHCs in Dhaberi, Jamsar and Sakhare in the district who complained of lack of facilities including personnel, medicines and ambulances.

He assured them of help in this regard, officials said.

Shinde was recently given additional charge of the health portfolio in the Maharashtra government.

Maha cabinet approves Rs 700 cr worth of schemes

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January 15, 2019

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday approved schemes worth Rs 700 crore, including two packages for the Ramoshi and Wadar communities.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier held meetings with the Ramoshi and Wadar communities in September and December respectively.

The state cabinet on Tuesday also approved Rs 250 crore for the OBC corporation while a sum of Rs 300 crore has been allotted to the SC/ST corporation.

The state government had earlier implemented 16 per cent reservation in jobs and education for the Maratha community.

Maha murder convict who jumped parole nabbed by Thane cops

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January 15, 2019

A murder convict who jumped parole in 2006 while undergoing life imprisonment in Pune’s Yerawada Jail was Monday nabbed by Thane police, an official said.

Police said the convict had changed his name and was working as an agent near the Panvel tehsildar’s office and had even been arrested on January 10 this year by Anti-Corruption Bureau for allegedly accepting a bribe.

Senior Inspector Nitin Thackeray of Thane Police’s Crime Branch Unit 1 said Kishore Raghunath Gaikwad (45) was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Alibaug court in 2003 for murdering Panvel-resident Mukund Mhatre in December, 1997.

He jumped bail in 2006 and started living under a fake identity as Kishore Ramchandra Mhatre and passed himself off to people as a resident of Usarli in Panvel, police said.

“Gaikwad, as a runaway convict, took up work as an agent outside the Panvel tehsil office under the new identity and was arrested on January 10 this year by the ACB for demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a man who had some work there. He got out on bail the next day in this case,” an official said.

Acting on a tip-off, a team led by Thackeray nabbed Gaikwad from the Vitava check post area on Monday, the official said.

“He insisted he was Kishore Ramchandra Mhatre and not Kishore Gaikwad. After sustained interrogation by police, he accepted he was Kishore Gaikwad, a murder convict who had jumped parole,” the official said.

He was handed over to Kalamboli police for further action as a case had been registered there against him in 2013 for jumping parole, the official added.

HC asks BEST workers’ union to decide on withdrawal of strike

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January 15, 2019

The Bombay High Court has directed the BEST workers’ union to take a final decision on the withdrawal of its ongoing strike by Tuesday evening and inform the court on Wednesday.

The direction came after the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) told a bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar that it was willing to implement the redressal measure suggested by a high-powered committee on granting an interim pay hike to its employees.

The counsel for BEST, M P Rao, told the bench that the corporation was “open to implementing a 10-step increment” for its employees with effect from February this year.

The increase, however, will be implemented subject to the fact that the strike was called off Tuesday evening, Rao told the bench.

As per the previous submissions made by the BEST workers’ union and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the court, a ‘one-step’ increase in pay for BEST workers amounts to around Rs 330 per person per month.

In compliance with the court’s previous orders, the state government through Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, submitted a list of measures recommended by the committee to address the demands raised by the workers’ union.

The committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, was constituted by the state last week.

The committee in its report, has recommended among other things, that subject to the strike being called off, as an interim measure, workers be granted a ’10-step increase’ in salary for about 15,000 employees in a time-bound manner.

This amount of increment, however, will be subsumed in the final agreement.

It also recommended that upgradation and modernisation measures be implemented within the BEST, but no existing employees should be retrenched.

The bench has been hearing since last week a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Datta Mane, urging the court to pass interim orders directing the BEST workers to call off the strike immediately.

Around 38,000 BEST employees have been on strike since the last eight days now.

Some of their demands include a pay hike, revision of pay grade for junior level employees, and the merger of BEST’s budget with that of the BMC.

6 drown as boat capsizes in Narmada river

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January 15, 2019

Six persons died on Tuesday after a boat ferrying them capsized in the Narmada river in Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district, police said.

Altogether 36 persons have been rescued so far, and are admitted to a local hospital, an official said.

The boat was carrying around 60 people who were on way to perform a river worship ritual on the occasion of Makar Sankranti when it capsized, the official said.

Rescue operations are underway, the official said.

The deceased hailed from villages along the river in the tribal-dominated district in north Maharashtra, police said.

Prima facie, it appears that the incident occurred as the boat was carrying more number of people than its capacity, police said.

Kohli is unbeatable like Tendulkar: Justin Langer

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January 15, 2019

Australian coach Justin Langer compared Virat Kohli with Sachin Tendulkar and said that the balance of the Indian captain while playing 360 degree shots in all formats of the game is “unbelievable”. After his 39th ODI hundred helped India to a series levelling win in Adelaide, Langer heaped praise on Kohli, saying that the India skipper is currently having the same impact on international cricket as Tendulkar.

I would like to have them both in my team. Sachin was an incredible cricketer. I used to watch him and it was like he was meditating. He was so calm and that’s why his record is peerless. Virat is doing the same thing. He is so calm and so competitive, and technically his balance is unbelievable. The balance he has in playing 360-degree shots in all formats of the game is unbelievable. It is a blessing in disguise for the young Australian cricketers to play against class players like Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Langer said.

He (Kohli) is a great competitor and his concentration is extra ordinary and for someone to make so many runs as he has is incredible like all the other great players. Sachin and Virat, and MS Dhoni, who averages 50-plus in 340 games, they are all-time great players and our guys are in the best seats at the moment, playing some of the best all-time great ODI players and they will be better from the experience, Langer added.

Dhoni slammed an unbeaten 55 off 54 balls after Kohli laid the foundation for India’s series-levelling victory in the second ODI with a fluent 104. Langer said that the inexperience of his side showed as first Kohli marshalled the middle overs and then Dhoni turned back time to finish the chase with four balls to spare.

We were playing against three all-time great one-day international players (also referring to Rohit Sharma at the SCG). We saw it in the first one, and class always comes to the top, and we have seen that with India so we must respect that. The way Virat and MS batted today, you hate losing but when you see that – it’s amazing. That’s why they are such great players so we will gain great experience from it. He added.

In big tournaments like the World Cup, I like to see our guys under pressure like they were tonight so it will be much better for the experience. And it’s still one-all in the series, and it means it’s alive and well. The MCG game is going to be huge, and we can’t wait for that,” he added.

He further added that, I thought Shaun Marsh’s innings was absolutely brilliant. We had some good 50-run partnerships but we talked about getting big hundreds, Shaun did that. We probably lost those two wickets just at the end with Shaun and Glenn Maxwell getting out just at the end. It might have cost us 15 or so runs which obviously in the context of this game would have been handy. He’s turning into a great one-day international player, four hundreds in eight games. You’d like to see him get hundreds and win. It would have been a perfect day for him.

Shaun Marsh’s seventh ODI hundred helped Australia to set up a tall score of 289 for 9, but India overcame easily riding on the experience of Kohli and Dhoni. Langer was full of praise for Marsh, who has been Australia’s best ODI batsman in recent times.

No BJP Rath Yatra for now; SC says Bengal’s worry “Not Unfounded”

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January 15, 2019

As per the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday, the BJP cannot hold a “Rath Yatra” in Bengal for now. The apex court said that the concerns of the state government “cannot be said to be unfounded”. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the BJP to revise its plan, address the apprehensions of the Mamata Banerjee government and seek permission again.

The top court, however, said that the Bengal unit of the BJP can hold rallies and meetings in the state.

The Bengal government had said in court that the “Rath Yatra’s” route is planned through communally sensitive areas and will create law and order problems. The state government had also cited intelligence reports to say the rallies would be communally polarising. However, the BJP had argued that “It is our right to hold rallies and yatra in a democracy and state can’t stop our constitutional rights”.

The top court has asked the Bengal government to consider the revised schedule of the BJP for ”Rath Yatra” keeping in mind the fundamental right of speech and expression under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition by the Bengal unit of the BJP that had challenged the December 21 order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court, which had set aside the order of a single-judge bench allowing the procession.

The rallies, according to the original schedule, were supposed to be flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar district on December 7, Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas on December 9, and from Tarapith temple in Birbhum on December 14.

The BJP has now decided to cut short its 40-day programme to 20 and the fresh yatras would start from Bahrampur, Diamond Harbour, Midnapore and Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituencies, a lawyer associated with the matter said, adding that the decision was taken in view of the upcoming school examinations and the 2019 general elections.