Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s comments that 1993Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon should not hang – which he withdrew after widespread outrage – have irked Mumbai jewellers, with some calling for a boycott of his movies on Tuesday.

The Mumbai Jewellers Association (MJA), which bore the brunt of the terror attacks in Zaveri Bazar, the national hub of gold and jewellery business, has taken umbrage at Khan’s “sympathetic words for a bloodthirsty terrorist”.

“I ask all these people — Salman Khan and the 40-plus other prominent personalities pleading for mercy for Memon — have they absolutely no sympathy for the 257 people who lost their lives due to the acts by Memon and his associates?” an enraged MJA vice-president Kumar Jain asked.

“Why don’t all these people speak up for those innocent victims of terror? Here is a man (Memon) who has undergone a trial, been convicted, and has lost all appeals in a case in which 257 people were killed — why show sympathy only for him?” Jain said.

The jewellery hub has been thrice targeted by terrorists — first in 1993, then in 2003 and again in 2011.

Usman Memon, the cousin of Yakub Memon, the sole death-row convict of 1993 Mumbai blasts case, visited the Central Prison.

Yakub, lodged in the Nagpur Central Prison, is scheduled to be hanged on July 30. However a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court today delivered a split verdict on his plea for stay to execution and referred it to the Chief Justice who set up a three-judge bench to decide the matter.

Usman, accompanied by advocate Anil Gedam, Yakub’s local lawyer, was inside the prison for over three hours. They didn’t speak to reporters while leaving the prison, so it could not be known whether they met Yakub.

Meanwhile, sources said that authorities have allowed Yakub Memon’s family to send a cake for him tomorrow. July 30 happens to be his birthday.

He may celebrate his 53rd birthday in the company of jail officers and a couple of inmates tomorrow night. His wife Rahin and other relatives who met him last week had requested the authorities to allow them to send him a cake.

Prison sources said that Memon would be allowed to celebrate his birthday in a low-key manner, so as to keep him in good humour before the scheduled execution.

Tight security arrangements have been made in and around the jail. The police have deployed a Quick Response Team.

Entry in the jail premises have been restricted and no private vehicles are allowed in the vicinity.

As part of its efforts to boost industrial development, Maharashtra government is working on a proposal to revive sick and closed small scale industries in the state.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told that his department was working on a proposal to classify small-scale industries and the reasons behind their closure.

“If some units can be revived, it will go a long way in improving industrial development. We want to see if some units can be restarted. Some may be having issues like VAT (Value-Added Tax) or non-payment of electricity bill. So, we need to work out which of these issues can be resolved and which units can be revived,” he said.

There are 2,54,054 small scale industries in the state out of which 30,549 units are closed, Mungantiwar said.

Water levels in seven reservoirs which supply water to the city has increased substantially and this is expected to enable water supply for at least six months, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

“The seven dam reservoirs which supply water to 1.22 billion people in Mumbai have a capacity of 14,47,363 million litres. So far, all dams have 6,75,123 million litres of water stock, which is equal to 46.64 per cent of the total stock,” BMC’s Chief Hydraulic Engineer Ashok Tawadia said.

According to a chart of the water level, released by the civic administration, all dams received either equal or more water as on Tuesday morning, as compared to the previous year.

The BMC supplies 3,750 million litres of water everyday to Mumbai and its suburbs, which falls short of the city’s actual demand for 4,200 million litres of water.

In the recent past, insufficient rainfall had forced the BMC to supply less water.

“There is no cause of concern as of now, because all dams have crossed the minimum-level mark,” BMC spokesperson Vijay Khabale said, adding that hydraulic engineers monitor lake levels closely.

Mumbai’s water supply comes from seven reservoirs which store rainwater collected during the rainy season.

These are Modak Sagar, Tansa Lake, Vihar Lake, Tulsi Lake, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa and Middle Vaitarna. Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna come under the Maharashtra state government’s control, while the rest are managed and maintained by the BMC.

Apart from lesser rainfall, the metropolitan region’s rapid population growth and huge losses due to leaking pipelines as well as illegal water connections tapping into these pipelines have always been a matter of concern for civic officials.

A minor fire broke out in the basement of the iconic Taj Hotel in South Mumbai.

The fire which broke out in the basement was due to a short circuit and has been contained, the fire brigade said.

Two fire engines were pressed into service, they said.

No casualty reported so far.

Late APJ Abdul Kalam was co-authoring a book on education with a leading educationist in Maharashtra.

“I will miss my most lovable friend. Kalam was my role model,” said Ashok Vikhe Patil, chairman of Vikhe Patil Foundation, with whom Kalam was co-authoring the book.

“Kalam’s wish of writing a book on education along with me could not be fulfilled. We had started working on the book. We spoke on why Indian education is not internationally accepted as we don’t have a single university among top 200 in the world,” he said.

“The second point we wanted to focus was why several Indian graduates are not employed. He felt skill development was important from school level,” Patil said.

He further said, “In his book Ignited, Kalam devoted eight pages about my work in health and medical education sector.”

“There were only two persons in my life who were my role models. The other was Padmashree Vithalrao Vikhe Patil, my grandfather,” he added.

Vithalrao Vikhe Patil started Asia’s first co-operative sugar factory at Loni in Maharashtra.

Vikhe Patil said Kalam celebrated his (Kalam’s) birthday at Loni in Ahmednagar district in 2005 with handicapped children.

The former President gave 1,150 such children clippers made from lightweight material, he added.

Patil recalled that on July 4 last year, Kalam had visited the Vikhe Patil Memorial School and interacted with students.

Patil said he had requested Kalam to visit the school to interact with them as they view him as the only role model for the young generation.

“Kalam could feel the pulse of the new generation and guide them to realise their dreams and goals,” he said.

“His last visit to our campus was on January 5 this year, to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Pravara Rural Education Society,” he added.

The former President died at Bethany Hospital, Shillong, Meghalaya after he collapsed during a lecture at the IIM.