NCP demanded the resignation of Industries Minister Subhash Desai for leading a delegation to Maharashtra Governor demanding concessions in power tariff for industrial sector.

“When a cabinet minister has all powers at his disposal to take decisions for welfare of the people, Desai leads a delegation of industrialists to the Governor seeking concessions in power tariff for the industry…,” NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said. He said this shows the failure of the state government as well as the minister and added that he has no right to continue in office.”Due to his failure to do his job, Desai should quit his post,” Malik demanded. Desai led a delegation of steel manufacturers from Wada region in Palghar district today and met the Governor at Raj Bhavan here to seek reduction in power tariff.

Referring to the proposed bhumi-pujan of the Ambedkar Memorial at Indu Mill in central Mumbai on October 4, Malik said the decision to construct a memorial was that of the previous government. “Only the design of the memorial project has been finalised, but the bidding process has not been completed and the contractors are yet to be finalised,” he said. “With an eye on Bihar polls, the BJP wants to hurriedly conduct the bhumipujan in order to divert people’s attention from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comments regarding reservations,” Malik alleged.

Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar announced establishment of the Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation.

The dedicated body will look after mangroves, marine flora and fauna, as well as help protect the environment, he said.

He said that out of Maharashtra’s 720 km coastline, 29,839 hectares are covered by mangroves.

As per directives of the Maharashtra Wildlife Board, three per cent of the cost of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (Rs 115.71 crore) has been deposited with the state’s forest department to conserve mangroves, he said.

If other mangroves are diverted for development, a similar amount will be deposited with the newly set up foundation, he said.

He said that norms to sanction and disburse compensation for damage to crops and fruit orchards by wild animals have been simplified, due to which farmers would be able to obtain financial assistance within 30 days.

The city police exhumed the body of a partially buried new born baby from Khevra, a police official said.

Police inspector R K Gaikwad of the Kapurbawdi police station told that labourers noticed the body while cleaning bushes near the footpath.

The local tehsildar was summoned, a panchnama was done and the was body removed, the police official said. The body has been sent to the Thane civil hospital for a postmortem and the police would arrive at any conclusion only after the medical report, the police official said.

Meanwhile, some clothes and utensils were found at the site and the police is presently examining CCTV footage to identify those who might have buried the body. The local Kapurbawdi police is probing further, the police official said.

A murder accused from Boisar in Palghar district who was handcuffed and being escorted by two police constables to the Thane central prison in a train managed to escape on Wednesday evening from the Vasai railway platform.

Raghu Gaikwad (35) was in the custody of the Boisar MIDC police for allegedly killing his friend early this month. On Wednesday, when produced before the Palghar court he was send to judicial custody. Two policemen U J Varta and V G Ghadve handcuffed Gaikwad and boarded a local train at Palghar railway station. They alighted at Vasai Road to take a bus to the Thane central jail. They missed the bus and decided to return to the Vasai station and travel upto Dadar in a local train.

When the 7.07 pm Dadar train arrived on the platform Gaikwad took advantage of the crowd and escaped from the constables’ custody. The constables raised an alarm but Gaikwad disappeared in the crowd.

A case under section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful arrest) of the IPC has been registered against Gaikwad with the Vasai Government Railway Police (GRP). A report has been sought from the Boisar-MIDC police before taking action against the two constables. Undertrials and convicts are generally taken to the Thane prison in police vans.

A 29-year-old man, who duped a Thane family and decamped with cash and jewellery worth over Rs 2 lakh on the pretext of marrying their daughter has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

PSI SB Tagad of Thane Nagar Police Station said the cheat Sampat Darade, hailing from Nevasa of Ahmednagar district would trap victims through matrimonial sites and develop closeness with them.

Elaborating on his modus operandi, police said that the accused would go to the extent of participating in making arrangements for marriage and at the fag end would flee with cash and valuables given to him ceremonially prior to the wedding.

In a similar fashion, he also spotted his victim from Thane who was a divorcee and told her that he was also a man separated from his wife. Trusting him, family of the girl made all arrangements for the marriage and fixed the date as September 23.

On the eve of the marriage, when Darade did not turn up for a function at a hall here, they smelled something fishy and suspected that he had fled with ornaments and cash worth Rs 2.50 lakh. The family members of the girl then lodged a complaint with Thane Nagar Police Station who swung into action and traced the cheat to Kalwa and placed him under arrest. He has been charged under sections 420 and 494 of the IPC, police said.

Police suspect that the cheat resorted to such acts for getting easy money as he was in huge debt.

Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot today said that work on the ‘Universal Identity Card’, announced last year to ascertain the exact number of physically challenged citizens in the country, would begin from February next.

The minister said the Universal ID Card project will not only help know the exact count of physically challenged population, but will also enable them access benefits of various Central government schemes.

Gehlot was in the city to launch the “Accessible India Campaign” under which selective public places will be developed as “disabled friendly”.

He said people with lesser degree of physical deformity will also be considered as ‘disabled’ and issued ID cards and that his ministry has tabled a Bill in the Parliament which has widened the criteria of disabilities from existing seven categories to 19 categories.

“We hope that in coming the Winter session of Parliament, when the bill is passed, disabled persons will be recognized under 19 categories as against current seven,” Gehlot told reporters.

“The Census (figures) does not provide a clear and proper picture on the actual number of disabled persons. Our ministry has decided to conduct a country-wide survey to identify people with disabilities and issue them universal ID cards,” he said.

Under the Accessible India Campaign, Gehlot said, the department has identified 48 cities across all states of the country where 100 public buildings would be selected in each city by the state government, which would be equipped with disabled friendly infrastructure such as fixing ramp, urinals, public dealing counters, etc.

In Maharashtra, the buildings would be identified in cities Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik and Pune.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the occasion said his government will extend all the efforts and facilities rendered by the Centre to the differently-abled persons.

“Western culture speaks about survival of the fittest. But our culture, and government talks that whosoever is born here will live the life full dignity and this project (Accessible India Campaign) is an example of it,” Fadnavis said.

Union minister of state of Krishnapal Gujar, cabinet ministers Diwakar Raote, Rajkumar Badole, actor Vivek Oberoi were also present.

A 38-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter, who were sleeping on footpath, were killed after a car allegedly ran over them in Dombivili town of the district, police said today.

The incident occurred yesterday in the wee hours at Girnar Chowk near Shiv Mandir locality when the car ran over them, Assistant Police Inspector of Dombivili Police station S Avghade said. Prima facie it appears that the car driver Iqbal Sheikh, who was driving reportedly under the influence of alcohol, first hit another vehicle coming from an opposite direction and then ran over the duo who were sleeping on the footpath, he said.

The woman have been identified as Meena Kumari and her daughter Pushpa. They were beggars, the official added. Sheikh was apprehended and produced in local court which remanded him in five-day police custody.  A case under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC and relevant sections of Motor Vehicles Act has been registered, police said. Meanwhile, the driver of another vehicle, who was also injured in the mishap, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, they added.