Political violence was putting more burden on the police machinery in Maharashtra, state Home Minister R R Patil said here on Wednesday evening.

Feuds and clashes between workers of political parties were becoming common of late, he observed.

Police were overburdened, he said, adding that political parties should ensure that wranglings do not lead to law and order problems.

Patil inaugurated the new administrative building of the Thane Police Commissioner’s office here.

Festivals and birth anniversaries of national leaders should be celebrated in such a way that very little policing would be required, he said.

Patil conceded that police in Thane district, with its burgeoning population, were understaffed. Eight more police station in Thane city limits and five in other parts of the district would be set up, he announced on this occasion.

The state government had decided to recruit 61,000 police personnel in five stages, and the announcement of 18,000 posts will be made within the next eight to ten days, he said.

Mumbai electricity consumers with monthly consumption up to 500 units may have to wait 50% cut in their tariff alike their counterparts in Delhi. However, preliminary estimates made internally by power distribution companies Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure, the BrihanMumbai ElectricSupply and Transport (BEST) and the state energy department show that tariff reduction for the consumer categories of 0-100 units, 101-300 units and 301-500 unit will cost the distribution companies worth nearly Rs 300 crore.

These companies will be entitled to get the government subsidy to make up the possible loss in their revenue as per the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003. The reduction will be possible only in variable charge component of the per unit tariff. The other option is that the regulators can take a call to approve tariff rise in other categories especially industrial and commercial to cross subsidize the lower tariff to residential consumers with monthly consumers up to 500 unit.

A senior minister, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard ”The issue will be discussed threadbare at the cabinet before taking any formal decision on tariff cut.”

Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure are tight lipped on the politically sensitive issue of tariff cut in Mumbai. However, officials of both the companies cite the sections 65 and 108 of the Electricity Act. As per the section 65, the state government can grant subsidy to any consumer or class of consumers in the tariff determined by the power regulator. On the other hand, under section 108 the state government has give direction to the state power regulator in the matters of policy involving public interest. BEST official argued that it will have to make up loss incurred by its transport wing with its revenues from power distribution.

However, the ruling NCP, which also holds the energy portfolio, has publicly opposed any move to provide subsidy to private distribution companies in Mumbai including Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure.

Tata Power has a consumer base of 4,25,000 of which nearly 2,50,000 are residential consumers of which about 1,00,000 are with monthly consumption up to 500 units. As far as Reliance Infrastructure is concerned, of the total consumers of 2.8 million, 2.3 million are residential of which 1.7 million consume up to 500 units per month. In case of BEST, which is a part of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, it has a consumer base of 1 million of which 7,65,000 are residential and nearly 6,60,000 consumers have monthly consumption up to 300 units.

Mumbai has emerged as the safest city to drive and is also voted as the city with most disciplined traffic, says a road safety survey on drivers conducted in key cities.

The survey conducted by an insurance company with a sample size of 987 has been conducted in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata among others.

“Mumbai has been voted as the safest city to drive and also emerged as one with the most disciplined traffic,” Sanjay Datta, chief of underwriting and claims at ICICI Lombard, which conducted the survey told reporters today.

While Delhi has the best roads, Bangalore has been voted as having the best driving facilities in terms of roadside assistance.

As per the survey, 19 per cent of respondents believe that increase in the penalty amount will help curb violation of traffic rules.

Interestingly, pedestrians are perceived as the major violators of traffic rules by both car and bike drivers.

As far as accidents are concerned, the survey revealed that autorickshaw drivers top the list of worst offenders leading to accidents in Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad.

The survey also pointed out that around 75 per cent of the women respondents feel that they drive safer than men.

The private general insurance firm also said that Bangalore has recorded highest accident claims for private cars, while Ahmedabad leads for two-wheeler claims as per its claim data.

Aam Aadmi Party students wing on Thursday held protest outside the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan to protest the suspension of Mumbai University professor Neeraj Hatekar. The AAP protestors were detained up by police and prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed in the area.

Professor Hatekar was suspended by Mumbai University Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar on Saturday after he publicly spoke out against what he said were irregularities in the university.

He had accused the Vice Chancellor of mismanagement. Many people including eminent historian Ramachandra Guha too have tweeted in Professor Hatekar’s support.

The Court Bombay High Court today asked Maharashtra Government to file a report by February 6 on the existing vacancies in the police force as on December 31 last year and inform what steps were taken by the state to fill up the posts in the past two years.

The direction was given by a bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah on a suo motu (on its own) PIL seeking improper probe into the murder of a Pune builder Nikhil Rane.

During the hearing of this PIL earlier, the court had transferred the probe to CBI saying that the State CID had drawn a blank in the investigations. This was done on the plea made by Ashwini Rane, wife of the slain builder.

While this aspect of the PIL had been disposed of, certain issues such as shortage of staff and vacancies in police force came up before the court which adjourned the hearing from time to time.

The High Court also asked the State today to file an affidavit on what steps it would take on its proposal to segregate the police force on the basis of two categories — law and order and investigating crimes.

The bench has fixed the matter for hearing on February 20 and asked the State to give the information on segregation of police force and filling up of vacant posts by February 6.

During the pendency of this PIL, the High Court had come across an affidavit filed by the State in the Supreme Court in another matter on a proposal to segregate the police force two-fold viz investigation of crimes and law and order.

The State had then informed the court that vacancies in the range of 20 per cent to 42 per cent existed in lower categories of police force at the level of sub-inspectors, inspectors, Superintendents of Police and Assistant Commissioners of Police.

However, today, Anil Anturkar, the lawyer for builder’s widow Ashwini Rane, alleged that vacancies still existed in the police force and no steps had been taken to fill them up.

The least that was expected of the Government was to fill up the vacancies, if not improve the investigation machinery, he said.

Nikhil Rane was fatally injured on November 23, 2009, when gangsters fired at him from close range. His widow filed a petition in 2010 seeking transfer of probe to CBI.