Central Railway may stop issuing daily Mumbai local train tickets

The Railways may stop issuing daily tickets for Mumbai local trains. This comes a day after the state government issued an order allowing fully vaccinated citizens to travel through local trains by issuing only monthly, quarterly, and half-yearly passes. 

“We might not issue daily tickets to anyone. Yet we are still having internal discussions on the same before we finalize the same,” a railway official told The Free Press journal. 

Source: Indian Express, The Free Press Journal

14 more bridges in Mumbai to undergo repairs

After the collapse of the Himalaya bridge in March 2019, an audit conducted by the BMC motivated the reconstruction of 14 bridges. Now, 14 more bridges have been added to the list. “Overall, there are 50 such small bridges that are being taken up for repair and reconstruction in phases. We are also going ahead with similar works for the Bandra skywalk in the coming days.” a BMC official from the bridges department told HT.

The total cost of the 14 bridges is estimated to be around ₹5.45 crore, all expected to be completed by 2022. Vehicular bridges to be reconstructed or repaired include one in Malwani area in Malad, Hindustan Nallah Bridge on Charkop Road, vehicular bridge connecting Lokhandwala and Laxmi Nagar in Andheri west and vehicular bridge crossing Mithi River on Andheri-Kurla Road. The bandra east skywalk is also expected to be demolished and rebuilt. A third-party auditor pointed out structural defects. Owing to this, the stretch between Bandra East station and Western Express Highway will be rebuilt within the cost of ₹16.20 crore.

Source: Hindustan Times

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Chembur resident gets Maharashtra’s first BH series vehicle

On October 27th, Chembur resident Rohit Sue, a government employee, became the first in the state to receive a BH (Bharat)-series registration vehicle. The Maharashtra government, earlier in the week, had announced the decision to issue BH number plates for vehicles to move from one state to another.

“As we had committed, BH-series registration has started in Maharashtra from today. Now you all can take the delivery of your car happily before Diwali and enjoy the long drive from one state to another without any hassle,” Satej (Bunty) D. Patil, minister of state for home (urban) transport told Mid-day. 

Source: Mid-day

Petrol prices in Mumbai touched ₹114.14 this week

Fuel prices in the city skyrocketed again this week. On Thursday, petrol prices were at Rs 114 per litre and diesel at Rs 104 per litre. Transporters claim that the inflation in the country is serious and the price hike is leaving an impact on their employment. They also claim that the central government is yet to provide relief to common citizens. 

“The inflation in the country has reached abnormally high levels on account of continual hikes in diesel prices. The Central and state governments have been insensitive and have refrained themselves from providing any tangible relief to the common citizens and the transport fraternity of 20 crore. The situation is turning pathetic as diesel and petrol prices have crossed ₹100-mark in most of the cities in the country. The rising fuel prices have halted the vehicles of small-time operators leading to unemployment,” Bal Malkit Singh, chairman, All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) told HT.

According to Reuters, oil prices fell on Wednesday in the U.S, the world’s largest oil consumer, after crude stockpiles rose more than expected and fuel inventories unexpectedly increased.

Source: The Indian Express, Hindustan Times

Maharashtra municipal corporations to have 17% more seats

On Wednesday, the Maharashtra cabinet gave its nod to a 17% rise in the members of 26 municipal corporations, except Mumbai, in proportion to the projected rise in population. The collective number of seats in the 26 corporations will go up to 2,789 from existing 2,509 seats. The number of corporators in poll-bound Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli corporations will increase to 142 from 131; 122 from 111 and 133 from 122 respectively. Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayander corporations will see the rise to 126 from 115 and 106 from 95 corporators respectively. Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad corporations will see a rise to 173 from 162, 156 from 151 and 126 from 115 corporators respectively.

“Keeping the rapid speed of population rise in mind and the need to ramp up urban development schemes , the state government has decided to increase the number of members in corporations and city councils. In the wake of the changes in the structures of the urban areas, expediting the pace of the development work is necessary. The decision to increase the number of seats is to ensure overall development of these urban areas,” the government said in a statement. 

Source: Hindustan Times

Also read:

• How Mumbai’s wards slice up the city will determine who you get to vote for
• Mumbai is not fully open until the trains start running
• ‘Mumbai taught me to dream big and be relentless at it’

[Compiled by Saachi D’Souza]