BMC school children to get free BEST rides

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February 12, 2020

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) has announced free bus rides for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) affiliated schools. Senior citizens can avail fifty per cent concession in these buses. Only school going children can avail a free bus ride on their school route during the school timings by presenting a valid school ID card. A BMC official stated that the common goal of the civic body is to face-lift the education infrastructure as well the BEST.

Especially, in the 2020 BMC budget Rs.1,500 crores have been allotted for the cash-strapped BEST that aims a maximum number of office employees and school children should be using its service. They have continuously increased its fleet and frequency. It recently introduced two new routes i.e. Goregaon to Adarsh Nagar in Aarey Colony and Grant Road to J. Mehta Road in Malabar Hill.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has also announced that around 80 per cent of its red buses will only run on short distances of up to 5kms. This move was taken as the authorities mentioned that a large number of buses are currently conductor less with data suggesting that there are currently around 212 conductor-less non-AC buses in BEST’s fleet.

BEST spokesperson Manoj Varade told media, “We run buses on 38 AC and 44 non-AC short-distance routes,” while adding that BEST has added 2 new AC bus routes that will run between 6 am to 10 pm. BEST has also added two more mini AC buses to its fleet. Some of the buses in BMCs fleet do not have a proper rear window enclosure.

BEST general manager Surendrakumar Bagde said, “It was temporary. The doors are now being covered and will be opened only in an emergency.” He said that officials had used ropes and sticks to cover the rear doors of some non-AC conductor less buses. It’s worth mentioning that BEST’s fleet now has a record 500 conductor-less buses. Bagde also said that 100 new AC mini buses will be added to the city’s routes within a week. However, not everybody is happy with this decision. “We will protest on the streets if need be. It is a serious threat to the work force where many conductors feel insecure,” said a senior member of the BEST Workers’ Union. For some context, the Mumbai Industrial Court passed an an order last week approving BEST’s conductor-less buses. “Our union will strongly protest against conductor-less buses as it is a threat to the workforce. Also, BEST should be maintaining a mandatory fleet of 3,337 buses [owned by it] as per the MoU signed with several unions and it should be recruiting new conductors,” union leader Shashank Rao had said then. There was earlier a proposal to employ 400 bus conductors on a contract basis from a “manpower service provider”, but this proposal too had been shot down. What needs to be seen is that through all these means, will the BEST be able to turn around its operations and attract more riders and become profitable.

State govt. employees to work only five days a week

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 12, 2020

To easen the burden of its employees, the Maharashtra government has announced five-day working week from February 29. The decision was taken at the state Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. There are over 20 lakh officers and employees in government, semi-government and local bodies in the state.

The Cabinet also decided that the state department for OBCs, SEBCs (socially and educationally backward classes), VJNTs (vimukt jati and nomadic tribes) and special backward classes will now be known as the ‘Bahujan Kalyan Department.’

Thane: Shanti Nagar police officers detain two men in possession of demonetised currencies

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 12, 2020

Thane: Shanti Nagar police officers detained two men who were in possession of Rs 1 crore in demonetised notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.

Reports say that Jalgaon resident Gopal Varude (42) and Kalyan resident Arun Patil (54) had come there to exchange the money. The police found 8,000 scrapped notes of Rs 1,000 and 4000 notes of Rs 500 notes.

Later a NC complaint was registered against them under Sections of the Specified Bank Notes Act, 2017. They were questioned and released. RBI and the IT department have been alerted about the seized notes.

23 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Virar for staying illegally

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 12, 2020

With the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the country I full force, an anti-terrorism cell and anti-human trafficking unit has arrested 23 Bangladeshi nationals who were living illegally in Palghar district.The Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Virar. As per the report which emerged on Wednesday, the Arnala Police is carrying out further investigation into the incident.

Earlier this week, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Tripura Police detained 12 people including 11 Bangladeshis along the India-Bangladesh international border. Notably, the arrest in Virar has come days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray led a huge march to demand the ouster of illegal migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh staying in India.

Extending support to CAA, NCR and NPR, Raj Thackeray had said, “The Muslims are taking out morchas around the country, I don’t see the point. Why do they need to make a show of strength? We have nothing against the Indian Muslims, they are ours. We are only against the illegal Muslim infiltrators from Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

“Henceforth, for all morchas against CAA-NRC-NPR, we (MNS) will counter with morchas, retaliate sword by sword and stone by stone,” Thackeray added.

Broom sweeps the BJP away

By

S. Krishna Kumar

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February 12, 2020

What a fantastic ‘repeat performance’ by the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal, in Delhi! The Delhi voters have given a resounding victory to Kejriwal and his team to the extent that the BJP could not even touch the double figure while the Congress bit the dust. As an ex-AAP activist and member, I am glad of course because the AAP which was in the infant stage till a few years ago, has made tremendous progress in various fields and maintained a good rapport with the people of Delhi. Thus the party won their trust and confidence again.

However, I am dead against the “freebies” policy of the AAP CM and his government due to which of course, AAP scored good number of votes and seats. Obviously, the Delhi public love the idea of good governance and freebies! It’s like have the cake and eat it too! And, so they have reposed their high hopes on Kejriwal to get everything either free or at a low price! Kejriwal should take these aspects into consideration if he wants to run an effective government and not make the coffers of the Delhi government empty!

Still, AAP could beat a mighty party like BJP …even with Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah at the helm of the affairs and when a whole lot of ‘heavyweights’ of the BJP were fiercely campaigning against the AAP.

Now, the scene is that Kejriwal has a clear mandate and he will have his own say in the administration. If you have sweeped the polls in the Capital city of Delhi, it is rather equivalent to winning 2 or 3 states of India. But, Kejriwal and his team need to bring out a lot of changes in the style of governance as we had seen many unpleasant episodes during his last term which must be avoided.

Both AAP and the BJP need to shed the vengeance attitude and must co-operate with and reciprocate with each other for the development of the capital city which is badly affected by pollution, traffic problem, crime and so on. Both the parties should stop spewing venom on each other but maintain decorum and discipline their members (including ministers, MPs etc) and party activists.

The BJP has been shown its place as there were certain cronies who were into tarnishing the image of the PM and the party by indulging in fanaticism and unsavoury acts and provoking statements. The drawback of the big shots’ in the BJP is that they chose to run a polarised campaign and without fielding a CM candidate against a credible and popular incumbent. The name and face of PM Narendra Modi and also of Amit Shah cannot be always used everywhere to garner votes. They are okay at the national level and for general elections. But when it comes to state assembly elections, the CM candidate must be projected for the people to judge.

All said and done, it is right time for the BJP administration to do some introspection and reconciliation and take extreme corrective measures if it wants to regain its winning track as elections are not too far off in Bihar, Bengal and UP. There has to be a serious “Chintan Baitak” to work out strategies from now on.

Less said about the Congress, the better. It looks that the Congress was not interested in winning but had only wanted to keep the BJP out. Still today, the Congress is being rejected outright everywhere and it hardly makes any presence in the elections. There has to be a total revamp of the top leadership if it has to survive.

By the way, which channel or the exit-poll survey body will pat its own back for “near projection of the results?” Every channel would now say: We said it right…..we were on dot !! As for me, I still feel “Exit Polls” must be banned.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 12 February, 2020

By

Web Team

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February 12, 2020

1Hat-trick for Kejriwal in Delhi

AAP and Arvind Kejriwal are back in power in the National Capital as Kejriwal will sit on the Chief Minister’s chair for the 3rd consecutive time which means it would be an hat-trick for the current CM. Kejriwal was a novice in politics when his first term as CM lasted for a few days but it seems he learnt a lot as a politician in those few days as he virtually looks invincible in Delhi politics by the margin of seats his party has won against all odds. Modi and Amit Shah’s magic works in Parliamentary elections but sadly it fizzles when it comes to assembly polls.

Congress has virtually been wiped out and Kejriwal it seems is a better alternative to Rahul Gandhi when it comes to national politics. Modi as a leader is accepted across the nation but it seems BJP doesn’t have leaders at assembly levels to win elections. BJP has been losing state elections at regular levels and this should be worrisome for Prime Minister Modi as country’s development and progress depends on how all the states contribute towards nation building.

S.N.Kabra

2Shun oppression of women

We in India should stop worshipping goddesses like Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati and Kali for we have proved ourselves to be incapable for we no longer respect, give credence and love women. Instead, we ill-treat them, play games with them and given a chance rape them.

Look what happened to Jyoti Singh who along with her male friend were abused and ill treated by six men when they were returning home after watching a movie on that fateful day. Not only that Jyoti was raped by all the six in turns before they dragged her and threw her from the moving bus.

Then there was this case of Ankita Pisudde who was stalked and set ablaze by one Vikesh Nagrale. The outcome was so serious that she had to be hospitalised. And after fighting for long, she succumbed to her injuries two days ago.

Likewise there have several molestation and rapes taking place every day but victims fear to lodge a complaint fearing bad name in the society.

My query is why a woman should suffer because of the hungry deeds of a man.

Ashish Mitra

3Maharashtra mayhem

Ever since Maha Vikas Aghadi government took over reins, the state of Maharashtra is in turmoil and now back to back incidents in 36 hours rocked the state. Maharashtra has the dubious distinction of being rocked by two incidents of women being set ablaze at Wardha and Aurangabaad. The law and order situation is going from bad to worse and unless Shiv Sena led government take some punitive action to bring the culprits to books. Setting ablaze hapless women is the order of the day. The women suffer at the hands of goondas and the government is just a sorry spectator. How long such atrocities on women will be committed and they become a slave in front of such assailants. Back to back incidents crippled the state and we condemn such heinous crime against women.

Jayanthi Maniam

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

AAP victory sees spike in biryani prices in Delhi

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 12, 2020

A fallout of the dramatic victory of Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi assembly elections on Tuesday was the spike in sales of biryani with some restaurateurs offering discounts on the same to cash in on the sudden surge in demand for the traditional rice-based delicacy.

For some days, Social media platforms were agog with posts of citizens announcing celebrations with biryani after the AAP win. This was in response to comments of some senior BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath that AAP was serving biryani to anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters at Shaheen Bagh in South Delhi.

“We have seen a higher uptake on our orders today which saw an increase in the the evening,” said Raymond Andrews, co-founder of Biryani Blues, a restaurant chain in the national capital region. “Biryani as a cuisine is celebratory by nature, be it a birthday, an anniversary or friends celebrating,” he added.

Many restaurants have come up with promotional offers on biryani. “We did a 1+1 (one-plus-one) on all biriyanis for delivery between 6 to 10:30 pm yesterday,” said Thomas Fenn, partner of Mahabelly, a South Indian restaurant at Saket.

Vishal Jindal, co-founder of biryani and kebab chain Biryani by Kilo (BBK) said the chain was running a 25 per cent off on the promotional exercise.“Despite being a Tuesday, we saw a pickup in sales,” he said. Many people in India refrain from consuming non-vegetarian food on Tuesday for religious reasons.

High profile sex racket busted in Andheri; 2 rescued, 1 held

By

Hema Singh

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February 12, 2020

On Tuesday, Crime branch unit 10 busted an online flesh trade racket in Andheri and arrested 37-year old person who uses to run the racket. Two women who were forced into flesh trade were rescued.

According to the report, the accused roped in needy women and used to target rich people and foreign nationals through a ‘massage services’ website. The gang had posted mobile phone numbers on ‘massage republican.com’ to accept calls from customers.

The arrested accused has been identified as Jatun Mahadeo Yadav, a resident of Mahakali Caves in Andheri East. Police said that they got a tip from the sources about a flesh trade being operated on a website name ‘MassageRepublican.com’. Acting on the tip, the police visited the website and found a number flashing. After contacting that number, a meeting was set up at Hotel Skyway Inn in Andheri (E), near Saki Naka.

Later, police sent a decoy customer to the hotel where the main accused had come along with two women aged 21 and 30. After verifying that an illegal operation was underway, police officials immediately raided the hotel and arrested the accused and rescued the two women.

Sunil Mane,Senior inspector of Crime branch unit 10 said, “During the interrogation, it was revealed that Jadhav, an auto rickshaw driver, had lured in women with desperate need of money and promised to give them a cut of 30 per cent for every stint while he took the rest. We recovered cash worth Rs 17,500 and two SIM cards from Yadav.”

Police have registered a complain at Saki Naka police station under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act.

Nightmare for Gargi College girls

By

Hema Singh

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February 11, 2020

A college fest turned out to be the worst nightmare at Delhi’s University’s all-girls Gargi College where a group of drunken men broke into the institute and allegedly groped, harassed and molested several women during the fest. The incident came to light days after complaints of mass molestation and abuse inside the campus went viral on social media.

“The DCW has issued notices to the Delhi Police and authorities of Gargi College. We are yet to receive any reply on the same. We will take appropriate action once we receive an answer,” said Satyvrat Nehra an official from DCW.

On Monday, the students of Gargi College protested against the administration and demanded a full and impartial inquiry into the alleged incident. Not only this, students also called for the resignation of the college Principal as well as of the head of the Student Union for the delay in action against the criminals.

The incident took place on February 6, when the students of were pumped to enjoy the music performance of popular musician Jubin Nautiyal. It was the last day of the three-day annual festival, Reverie 2020 and students from across colleges started queuing up from the afternoon to enjoy the show. However, the fest was hijacked by hordes of unidentified men who swarmed the venue and allegedly verbally as well as physically molested women students.

It was reported that several middle-aged men (not students of the college) entered the college campus around 6.30 pm. As per eyewitnesses, there was no checking of passes or ID cards at all. Even male students were required to carry a pass to enter the girls’ college. The crowd started to build by 4 pm. By 6.30 pm, the main gate was opened and all the men standing among the gathered crowd outside made their way into the venue unchecked. Also the students said, the group of men were drunk and were chanting “Jai Shree Ram” in the college campus and was reportedly wearing saffron. From the group a few of them even climbed on the table of an empty stall and started shouting “Jo larki mujhse pategi usey 50k ki makeup kit dunga (I will present a makeup kit worth Rs 50,000 to the girl who agrees to go out with me).”

Several students’ claimed that CRPF and Delhi Police personnel were deployed on the campus. However, they weren’t able to curb the mayhem and chaos, nor did the college authorities or union bodies try to intervene much.

A student said on the condition of anonymity, “There was a complete lapse of security. The students were groped, molested and even assaulted by the men who all appeared to be in their mid-30s. The college had claimed to set up security but, I don’t think there must have been such an incident in any college campus across the country.”

The students have demanded a fact-finding committee to instantly be instituted to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to book. They have also asked for written apology from the Principal as well as those responsible for handling the security on the day of the event. This was because when the students went to complaint about the incident to the authorities, they told the students to not attend the fest if they felt unsafe instead of helping them.

Students of Gargi College wait for this fest whole year however, this year it turned out to be a great disappointment as the administration was zero concerned about the safety. Students have decided to boycott classes until their demands will not fulfilled by the authorities.

After the all chaos the Delhi Commission of Women Swati Maliwal took suo moto cognizance of the complaints made by some of the students on social media.

A case has been registered at the Hauz Khas police station under IPC Sections 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

After the incident, the question has arisen that where our country is heading? As every hour in every corner women are assaulted, raped, molested or killed. Why the government is not taking any strict action against such crime? Why the conviction rate is so poor, that the accused is not thinking once before committing crime?

AAP foils BJP’s dream to rule Delhi

By

Suraj Chandran

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February 11, 2020

After thrashing the BJP, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) romped home with a resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly Election. The party won 62 seats while the BJP won only 8 seats in the 70 member assembly while the Congress failed to open its account. Even though Delhi witnessed a three way contest between AAP, BJP and Congress, this time the actual battle was fought by the BJP and AAP. Exit polls had predicted another term for AAP. In the 70-chair Legislative Assembly, a political party or an alliance needs the support of at least 36 MLAs to form the government.

AAP MP Narain Dass Gupta said, “This win has to go to the people of Delhi so also to the work done by AAP. This win has turned a new leaf in politics which says that good work will only pay and not on false talk. In the coming years we will develop Delhi in a big way that will help us make Delhi a world class city.”

After emerging victorious AAP seems to now signal its national ambitions. Posters installed outside the party office are asking people to join AAP in nation building. While campaigning for Delhi assembly polls, Kejriwal had promised to offer free delivery of rations at home, offer patriotism curriculum to school students and spoken English classes. His party also coined the slogan ‘Five years have gone by well.’

It may be recalled that the BJP had failed to declare its chief ministerial candidate as AAP highlighted this aspect while campaigning for polls. BJP’s strategy of not declaring a chief ministerial candidate too seems to have backfired as a wrong message that was sent to voters that the party lacked the services of an able leader to lead the state. The party had promised wheat at Rs 2 per kg for the poor, cycle for girls from poor families who enter class IX, free electric scooter for college-going girls from poor families and Rs 51,000 for marriage of daughters of poor widows.

All these promises failed to attract voters as the party suffered another debacle in the polls. Here it may be recalled that BJP had last come to power in Delhi in 1990.