Alarmed at a 16-year-old girl losing her arms after she slipped from a crowded Mumbai local at suburban Ghatkopar station, Union Minister Milind Deora has urged the Railway Ministry to urgently look into safety of train commuters and take strong measures to prevent such mishaps.

Deora, an MP from Mumbai South constituency, in a letter to Rail Minister Malikarjun Kharge, raised the issue of lack of passenger safety on locals and demanded that top priority be accorded to it.

“As you may be aware, travelling in local trains in Mumbai during peak hours is already fraught with risk due to the unmanageable rush of lakhs of daily commuters attempting to board or alight from the trains.

The huge gap between the platform and the footboard of the train makes the process even more risky and there are already several tragic instances of people losing life and limb on this account,” Deora said in the letter dated January 13.

“I am appalled at the indifferent attitude of the Railway authorities where by putting the lives of lakhs of commuters using these trains day in and day out,” he said.

Deora also asked Kharge to look into the matter “seriously” and initiate strong and quick measures to ensure travel safety on local trains.

“As observed by the Honourable Court, I urge upon you to take steps urgently to prevent recurring of such incidents in future,” he added.

Later talking to reporters he said, “The Railways should launch a campaign on the safety of commuters. The issue should be looked into holistically. Rail safety is an important issue in Mumbai which is very crowded.”

Western and Central railway should see how to launch the safety campaign as it will help in saving lives of commuters, he said.

Early this week, college student Monica More lost both her arms after slipping from the train at Ghatkopar and falling in the gap between the platform and footboard onto the tracks.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said if the CBI was still investigating benami transactions in the Adarsh housing society case then activists who have filed petitions should wait for the outcome of the probe.

Social activist Pravin Wategaonkar, who has filed a public interest litigation seeking CBI to probe against Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar, today mentioned his petition before the High Court and sought urgent hearing of the case.

Wategaonkar told a division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achiliya that the Maharashtra government has partly accepted the findings submitted by a judicial inquiry commission which probed into the Adarsh case and hence CBI should also be directed to look into the findings.

“The commission in its report has named several bureaucrats and ministers for alleged favouritism towards the society. CBI should look into these aspects,” Wategaonkar said.

CBI counsel Hiten Venegaonkar told the court that while investigation into the scam is complete and a chargesheet has been filed, probe into benami transactions is still on and those details cannot be disclosed.

“When investigation is still on you (petitioner) have to wait for the outcome,” Justice Patil said.

Wategaonkar, however, alleged that the CBI was suppressing certain facts from the court regarding Patil-Nilangekar.

Following this, the court agreed to hear one application filed by Wategaonkar seeking a direction to CBI to make Patil-Nilangekar an accused in the case on January 23.

The application alleged that Patil during his tenure as state revenue minister granted certain approvals to the society illegally. In return, his son-in-law was allotted a flat in the plush high rise in south Mumbai.

Renowned Marathi poet and firebrand activist Namdeo Dhasal passed away here today after a prolonged illness. He was 64.

Dhasal, who was battling with colorectal cancer, died at the Bombay Hospital. His last rites would be performed on Thursday in Mumbai.

Dhasal was one of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement which started after the casteist riots in Worli’s BDD chawls in the late ‘60s.

He was also a pioneer of the Dalit literature movement known for its deep concern for the under-privileged.

The Padma Shri awardee also has a medical history of myasthenia gravis which is one of the lesser known auto-immune disorders.

In 2007, actors Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan had helped raise funds for Dhasal whose family was on the verge of selling their house to pay his medical bills.

Dhasal, also a rights activist, received the Nehru award for his book ‘Golpitha’. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akadami award for his contribution for literature.

Dhasal’s selected poems were translated into English under the title “Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld”, Poems 1972-2006.

Uttam Khobragade, a retired IAS officer and father of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, said on Wednesday that he would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Khobragade told that post his retirement; there was speculation about his foray into politics.

“There is nothing new in it (about joining politics). After I retired from the service talk started doing the rounds. Yes, I will contest the Lok Sabha election,” he said.

Refusing to disclose which political party he would join, Khobragade said, “Talks are on with various parties. I will make an announcement about it at an appropriate time.”

Asked about her daughter Devyani’s priority to bring back her two children to India, he said that they will be back next month.

“We will have to get their admissions done in a Delhi school to continue their education,” said Khobragade, who had served as general manager with BEST.

Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi is going through a tough phase of his life these days. Reports said that the ‘Jannat’ hero’s 4-year-old son, Ayan, has been diagnosed with cancer.

It was Emraan’s uncle, Mahesh Bhatt, who broke the news to the daily. The doctors at the Hinduja Hospital have found a tumour in Ayan’s kidney that was found threatening to the child’s life. But thankfully, the cancer is in the first stage, hence, curable. The doctors have prescribed a surgery to remove the tumour which is to be followed by chemotherapy to completely root out the disease.

Bhatt told the daily that Emraan and his wife were in an inconsolable state when he went to see the couple at the Hinduja Hospital where Ayan’s diagnosis was done. However, Emraan has now turned into a gladiator to fight for his son’s well-being and health.

We hope that Emraan and his family comes out these trying times soon with less hassles.

A Goa court on Wednesday rejected former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal’s petition seeking a bail in connection with a sexual harassment case lodged against him by his colleague.

The allegations of sexual harassment led to Tejpal’s arrest on November 30, last year.

Tejpal has already spent a month and half behind bars, both in police as well as judicial custody.

Tejpal has been accused of allegedly raping a junior colleague in a Goa resort, during ThinkFest, a high profile conference organised by Tejpal and his team at a Goa resort.

Tejpal is currently lodged at the Sada sub jail in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from here, as prisoner number 624.

Tejpal, who was editor of Tehelka – a weekly newspaper known for path breaking investigative stories – was booked for rape on November 22, 2012, after a junior colleague accused him of allegedly raping her in an elevator of a five star resort in Goa.

The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will launch two mobile vegetable vans in the city on Thursday.

District party leader Rajan Gawand told that the new scheme has been initiated with an aim to provide an opportunity of employment to the needy.

City unit chief of MNS Neelesh Chavan said the vegetables at these mobile vans would be reasonably priced.

Party district unit’s women wing chief Sejal Kadam said the project will be extended as per the demand and later they would undertake the sale of fish also from these outlets.

The party leaders said they will go in for necessary permissions from the FDA and civic authorities to operate these mobile centres.