Police vehicles purchased for women being used as escort vehicles for Shinde govt MLAs

Since July, vehicles purchased by the Mumbai Police under the Nirbhaya fund to combat crimes against women have been used as escort vehicles for MPs and MLAs of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.

The fund is a corpus set by the Centre in 2013 for state governments to ensure women’s safety in the aftermath of 2012 Delhi gangrape. In June, Mumbai police spent Rs 30 crore under the Nirbhaya fund and purchased 220 Boleros, 35 Ertigas, 313 Pulsar bikes and 200 Activas.

Source: The Indian Express

94 former BMC corporators claim lack of transparency under chief IS Chahal

94 former corporators, in a letter to chief minister Eknath Shinde, said there was a lack of transparency in non-budget expenditure by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is functioning as an administrator until the next BMC election.

Former corporators stated that Chahal has been the sole in charge of the civic body since March 2022, which is when the BMC corporator’s term ended, and the contracts and proposals worth thousands of crores have been awarded since then, but not a single Draft Letter (DL) has been made available to the public.

Source: Hindustan Times

Read more: Understanding Mumbai’s municipal corporation

BMC partly agrees to Worli fisherfolk’s demands after four long years of tussle

BMC has agreed to the demands of Worli’s fisherfolk community after a four-year-long tussle between the two. The civic body said the fishing community’s demand for a navigation span of 120 metres between two piers has been accepted and the corporation will now scrap its original plan of 56 metres.

The development came after fishers took their request to chief minister Eknath Shinde on October 7, who then formed a committee of experts to come up with a solution on the matter. The committee report stated that the navigation span gap could be increased till 120 meters, resulting in celebrations among the fisherfolk at Worli Koliwada.

Source: The Times of India

Read more: Mumbai’s Coastal Road Project will potentially cause damages: IPCC report

WR may start special trains for farmers to send produce to North India with ease

Mumbai’s Western Railway (WR) is considering introducing special parcel train for farmers and traders from Palghar, which will go to Delhi and its nearby areas. Betel leaf, fish, and vegetables are frequently hoarded by farmers and traders from Dahanu and Palghar and transported in local trains to Churchgate or Mumbai Central.

From there, these commodities are then loaded on North India-bound express trains as these trains do not halt in Palghar or Dahanu. Earlier, there was also a discussion held to facilitate halts for long distance trains at Dahanu and Palghar station itself.

Source: Hindustan Times

Diesel spill from BMC van in Thane causes inconvenience to commuters

Following a diesel spill from a BMC van, traffic on the Eastern Express Highway’s Cadbury flyover headed for Mumbai was hampered on the morning of December 16.

According to Thane corporation regional disaster management cell, the road surface had become slippery due to which traffic had to be halted as officials sprayed sand and water on the affected stretch. One lane of the flyover was blocked and the vehicles were diverted on the highway, leading to massive traffic jams.

Source: The Times of India

[Complied by Eshan Kalyanikar]

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• Drowning in debt: Mumbai’s fisherfolk struggle to survive extreme weather and dwindling catch