Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant has demanded that party supremo Bal Thackeray be accorded the status of a “national hero” and that his photo be put up in all government offices of the state.

In a letter written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sawant stated that Thackeray’s contribution to Maharashtra’s development is immense and, “without vying for any political gains”, he ensured that Marathi-speaking people excel in various fields.

“Marathi-speaking people in the state did not get justice even after the formation of Maharashtra and thus, Balasaheb Thackeray found the Shiv Sena that gave Marathi speaking people a platform to get justice and what is due to them,” he said in the letter.

Thackeray’s contribution to Marathi language, the state’s culture, and the cultural, political, educational and financial development of Marathi people is immense, he said.

“He lived a simple life and despite not taking up the reigns of power, he made sure Marathi people did exceptional work in various fields,” he mentioned.

“The state government should declare such a nationalist person a national hero and according to protocol, his photo should be in every government office in the state,” the Sena leader demanded in the letter.

Sawant told that Thackeray always believed in service to the country and that “if any person, irrespective of religion, has love for India and is willing to sacrifice his life for it, he is a patriot”.

“Balasaheb has done immense service to people in his lifetime. He was a man who did not ever ask for any lucrative position in the government and spent his entire life for the uplift of Maharashtra, poor and the downtrodden. He has ensured dignity for the common man and he deserves to be called a national hero. If there can be other people’s photo in government offices, why not his?” he said.

Former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal warned that NCP will further intensify its ‘jail bharo’ agitation, if the BJP-led state government does not take any steps to tackle the scarcity situation.

He also demanded that the government should start a ‘fodder camp’ for cattle, increase water tankers, waive total loan advances and electricity bills of the farmers.

Bhujbal himself led the ‘jail bharo’ agitation at Nashik’s Dwarka circle locality on Nashik-Pune highway, where he and thousands of NCP activists courted arrest.

Addressing a gathering at Dwarka circle, Bhujbal said,”the scarcity situation is also being felt in north Maharashtra, including Nashik district. NCP will further intensify its ‘jail bharo’ agitation, if the BJP-led state government does not take any steps to tackle it.”

The government should take steps in these districts as it is doing in Marathwada region, instead of misleading people by asking what Congress-NCP government had done in past 15 years, he said.

Pointing out that the prices of essential commodities have increased, he demanded that the government should waive educational fees of the students and start employment guarantee scheme works.

The NCP leader said that yesterday party workers staged the ‘jail bharo’ agitation in eight districts of Marathwada region. Considering the ongoing Kumbh mela here, the NCP has planned the agitation in Nashik revenue division, comprising five districts of Nashik, Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar and Ahmednagar.

Bhujbal, several other NCP activists and agitating farmers came on bullock carts to protest against the state government and courted arrest. They were taken to Bhadrakali and Gangapur police stations to clear the highway, police said.

Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court that it was planning to amend the law to give the power to municipal corporations to stop illegal constructions forthwith without any prior notice.

Nitin Kareer, Principal Secretary, Urban Development department, informed the division bench of Justices A S Oka and V L Achliya that the government proposed to amend the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act and Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act in the winter session of legislature.

“By the amendment, the local civic body will have the power to physically stop the work of a building which is being constructed without permissions, take possession of the land and initiate demolition without issuing notice. A grievance redressal mechanism will also be set up,” he said.

The High Court, which was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the issue of illegal constructions, said “there should also be a dedicated police force to assist the civic body during demolition drives. Time and again we are told that the local police refuse to provide security.

“An effective mechanism should also be set up by which people should not be allowed to occupy an illegal building. When people are allowed to occupy, various complications arise and the Corporation is forced to take a humane approach,” the court said.

Kareer added that the government was also examining if water and power supply to unauthorised buildings can be stopped.

The court asked the government to file an affidavit on the proposed amendments and other measures and adjourned the hearing to October 15.

The Bombay High Court restrained Maharashtra government from distributing chikki (a sweet snack) to school students in the wake of complaints that a sub-standard product was being supplied.

The High Court also asked the government not to make payments to the contractors who had supplied the chikki for free distribution to students of Anganwadis (primary schools in tribal areas).

Government counsel Srihari Aney told the court that the government had already stopped payments to the contractors.

The division bench, headed by Justice V M Kanade, said it was passing the order in the interest of the health of children and in view of the allegations made by the petitioners that the chikki was being distributed to students despite an earlier assurance given by the state government to the court that it had been stopped after July 10.

The judges made it clear that they were not expressing opinion on the merits of the case or the procedures to be adopted for awarding food supply contracts.

The bench said it wanted to know whether the government had considered the capability of the manufacturer to supply chikki on a large scale and directed it to file an affidavit on this aspect within four weeks.

The government maintained that distribution of chikki had stopped after July 10, whereas the petitioners alleged that it was still being distributed.

The government also informed the HC that only one report had indicated presence of clay in chikki; no other report indicated that it was sub-standard, though a test report from one of the laboratories was still awaited.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Sandeep Ahire and others seeking an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into the alleged Rs 206 crore `chikki scam’, for which Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde had come under fire.

Rattled by a spate of train accidents in which several lives were lost, Railways today said “enough is enough” and any “laxity on safety front is not acceptable” as it decided to seek Rs. 1 lakh crore funds from the Finance Ministry for safety upgrade.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, expressing serious concern over the derailments in the recent past, asked general managers of all zones to “pull up their socks”.

“Negligence and carelessness will not be tolerated. Safety is not negotiable. There should be safety audits at all levels and action taken on the audit reports should be followed up and monitored regularly,” Prabhu is understood to have said at the GMs meet called specifically to review safety after the series of train mishaps.

Seeking “accountability” in case of safety failure, he also asked the GMs and Railway Board to fix the responsibility at every level.

While four persons including two foreign nationals were killed in two accidents last Saturday, there were twin derailments in Madhya Pradesh on August 7 in which 30 passengers died.

Mumbai suburban rail service also witnessed two derailments yesterday and today though there was no casualty.

Addressing the safety meeting, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha took strong exception to the series of mishaps and said “Enough is enough. Now time has come for taking hard decisions.”

He asked GMs to make necessary changes, if necessary in safety drill. “If you want to make any changes in the safety functioning then do it. We are with you for it.”

He also asked for filling up safety posts on a priority basis.

Chairman Railway Board (CRB) AK Mital said Railways is finalising a safety plan at an estimated cost of about Rs 1 lakh crore. “We are preparing a comprehensive safety plan which include elimination of all level crossings, strengthening of the track and bridges among others and it would cost about Rs. 1 lakh crore,” Mital said.

We will approach Finance Ministry for the special safety fund to upgrade the safety in rail network, he added.

Four of the convicts in the Mumbai serial train blasts case examined witnesses in the trial court to show that they deserve only the minimum punishment.

The court, which convicted 12 accused in the case four days ago, is now hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment.

Most of the defence witnesses examined were relatives of the convicts. Under the law, convicts have the right to point out ‘mitigating circumstances’ and produce witnesses for this purpose.

Four of the 12 convicts examined witnesses in the court; at least two others will do it on Wednesday.

Nadeem Ansari, who deposed at the instance of the convict Ehtesham Siddiqui, said he himself was an accused in another bomb blast case and spoke about the hardships faced by the accused in the jail, drawing on his own experience.

Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) judge Yatin D Shinde, on September 11, convicted 12 accused in connection with the July 11, 2006, serial bomb blasts in Mumbai local trains in which 188 persons were killed. The judge acquitted only Abdul Wahid Shaikh.

Those who deposed were the brother of the convict Dr. Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, brother of another convict Asif Khan, wife of the convict Mohammad Majid Shafi and jail-mate of Ehtesham Siddiqui.

Aziz Khan told the court that his brother Asif was an excellent person and had a very good academic record. “He was always helpful to others and in my opinion he could not have done it (the blasts),” Aziz told the court.

However, during the cross examination by prosecution, he said that Asif was also an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blast case and the Jalgaon blast case. There was also a case for inciting communal hatred against Asif, he admitted.

Stand-up comedy group AIB is set to launch its own television news comedy show.

The four-member group, which first hit headlines for conducting an expletive-laced show “AIB Roast” that involved Bollywood celebrities like Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, took to Twitter to announce its new project.

“Super excited to announce our latest project. Our most ambitious one yet,” AIB tweeted alongwith a three-minute funny video that explained the concept of the show.

Tanmay Bhat is seen telling two fans of AIB that the upcoming show will be on the lines of famous American news satirical series “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

The fans keep relating the show with the infamous January roast but the AIB men tell them the new project has nothing to do with the roast and though they do not reveal the details, they say their new work will be a “news comedy TV show”.

It will air on channels Star Plus and Star World and will be available on Hotstar.

The Bombay High Court said it would issue contempt notices to all those political parties, trusts and organisations which set up pandals during ‘Dahi Handi’ and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals without securing permission and flouted noise pollution rules.

“Looking at the personalities involved, there will be grave difficulties for the civic body to take action which is why the high court will have to step in. They (political parties) have taken law in their own hands. The law of the land says that permission has to be taken before erecting pandals and noise pollution rules should not be flouted. Now they all will face contempt action,” the high court said.

A division bench of Justices A S Oka and V L Achliya was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the issue of illegal pandals being set up across the state during Dahi Handi and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals and noise pollution rules being breached and inaction by the authorities.

The bench was informed by senior advocate Sanjeev Gorwadkar, appearing for one of the petitioners Mahesh Bedekar, that during Dahi Handi festival several pandals had flouted noise pollution rules but no action was taken against them by the concerned civic body.

According to readings recorded by Awaaz Foundation, the decibel level at several pandals set up by political parties like Shiv Sena (Shivaji Park), Congress (Worli) and MNS (Dadar and Thane) was way above the prescribed level.

“We are taking a serious view of the fact that civic body officers are not taking action against such pandals. We are going to direct the concerned corporation to give us a list of the names of all those pandals that have been erected without permission. We will initiate contempt proceedings against them. Apart from the pandals, the officers who failed to take action will also face contempt,” the court said.

In another petition filed against erection of a Ganesh pandal on Thane-Belapur road, the court asked the trust to submit an undertaking that it will not obstruct traffic and abide by noise pollution rules.