QMumbai: Notices to Sugar Mills Over Dues; Tech Mahindra Case
All the latest news updates for Mumbai.
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1. Tech Mahindra Sacks ‘Bigoted’ Ex-Diversity Chief
Richa Gautam, the former diversity and inclusivity head of Tech Mahindra and current group head for training, who was accused of homophobia and bigotry by a large number of former employees, was on Saturday evening sacked by the company following an investigation.
Tech Mahindra, in a tweet to former employee Gaurav Probir Pramanik, who had first gone public with the accusations against Gautam on September 9, wrote: “@gauravpramanik, arising out of an investigation carried out in the matter, the concerned employee has been separated from the employment of the company with immediate effect. At Tech Mahindra, we believe in diversity & inclusion & condemn discrimination of any kind in the workplace.” Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, who is travelling abroad, and Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani both retweeted the official response.
On Saturday, Mirror had written how Pramanik had called out his former boss, Gautam, on her bigotry and homophobic statements while she held the multiple responsibilities of being the diversity and inclusivity head as well as the chair of several panels like the sexual harassment committee. Gautam had joined Tech Mahindra in 2006 and had a rapid rise through the ranks.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
2. Notices To Sugar Mills Over Rs 1,200 Cr Dues
The Maharashtra government has issued notices to co-operative sugar mills in the state which have defaulted on repayment of loans worth over Rs 1,200 crore taken by them, an official said. Some district central cooperative (DCC) banks in the state are facing a financial crisis due to non-repayment of loans given to cooperative sugar mills controlled by leaders from the opposition Congress and the NCP, he said.
State Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has also directed the cooperative department to come up with a ‘white paper’, listing the loans taken by these cooperative institutions and the amounts re-paid so far.
A senior official from the co-operative and marketing department said five DCC banks are in a financial crisis after lending money to 11 cooperative sugar mills controlled by “big” leaders from the Congress and the NCP. These banks are in Solapur, Wardha, Nashik, Buldhana and Osmanabad districts.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
3. Four Men Arrested For ‘Sexually Abusing’ Boy Get Bail
Four men arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy were granted bail by a special court recently. The men, in the age group 30-60, were arrested following a complaint filed by the boy’s mother at Khar police station.
According to the chargesheet filed by the police against one of the accused, the boy had met the men through a mobile dating application. The boy, in his statement before a magistrate, said he had downloaded the app in 2017 and, through that, had met over 15 men on various occasions.
According to the statements annexed to the chargesheet, on May 17 this year, when the minor’s mother woke up to have water at around 3 am, she saw an unknown man in the house. When she asked him who he was, he said he was a friend of her son. She then asked her son about it and also went through his phone. On it, she found the app. The minor was sent for counseling and subsequently an FIR was lodged.
The minor, in his statement, has said that he had stated his age as 18 to access the website. He also said that he had revealed his age to be 16 to some of the men who eventually met him.
(Source: Indian Express)
4. BMC To Repair Kemp’s Corner Flyover After Letter From Kuwait Consulate
Motorists who have experienced a bumpy ride on the Kemp’s Corner flyover are in for some relief. After the Consulate General of Kuwait recently wrote to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about the problem, the civic body has decided to repair the expansion joints of the flyover to eliminate bumps.
Last year, people had raised similar concerns about the flyover. However, securing traffic permission was and will be a task as it is a VIP stretch and the BMC might have to undertake work at night.
India’s first flyover, the Kemp’s Corner flyover was thrown open to the public in 1965. In May this year, a picture of a crack in the flyover went viral on social media, creating alarm. Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray even took up the matter with the BMC, which later said that the ‘crack’ was a design flaw and had been there since the beginning.
On August 9, the Diplomatic Attache of the Consulate General of Kuwait wrote to the Municipal Commissioner about the deterioration of the flyover. It said that due to non-alignment of two slabs, there is a dip that is increasing in size, causing cars to bump badly and damaging them. There is a metal plate in every expansion joint, which over time becomes loose. When a car passes, the load shifts the plate leading to a bump.
The letter requested the BMC to address the fault, after which officers from the Bridges Department conducted a site visit. The BMC has now decided to overhaul the expansion joints.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. No More Risking Lives: Women At Aarey Slums To Get Toilets
After years of having to defecate in the open, braving stares and stones flung by residents of nearby towers, several women residing in slums at Aarey Colony will soon be able to afford the privacy of four walls.
Following Mirror’s Report on June 26 highlighting the plight of hundreds of women at slums in Aarey Colony, Goregaon, and Vikhroli forced to use small plots only barricaded by a wall of sarees due to lack of adequate facilities, four toilets are currently under construction at Aarey.
The residents were so elated by the new addition to their locality that they reportedly even took on odd jobs during the construction – some of them pitched in the excavation work, while others helped in ferrying and laying down of bricks.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
6. Citizens’ Groups Draw Up Plan For Better Traffic Flow
The city traffic department is considering a plan jointly submitted by residents’ groups from Worli, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi on Friday, to help regulate traffic better.
Residents of Marathon Era, Phoenix Towers, Casa Grande, Lady Ratan Towers, Zahara Towers, Raheja Atlantis and other residential areas, along with office-goers from Lower Parel, jointly met Amitesh Kumar, Joint CP (Traffic), to submit their plan.
They said they had been gravely affected by the closure of the Delisle Road/Lower Parel Bridge, in addition to the ongoing Metro work in the vicinity, which has resulted in the narrowing of E Moses Road.
“The travel time from a given point in Lower Parel to another has amplified four times; a regular 15-minute journey now takes an hour. To make it worse, cab drivers, even from aggregators, are apprehensive about accepting trips commencing from and culminating in the area.
What with a hazy completion timeline for the Delisle Road bridge, and the ongoing metro project, it has become very challenging to step out daily,” said Bhavik Shah, member, Worli Welfare Residents’ Association (WRWA).
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
7. Maharashtra’s Revenue Receipt, Tax Collection Show Steady Growth
Revenue receipt in the state has shown a steady increase from Rs 1,49,821 crore (4.8 per cent) in 2013-14 to Rs 2,43,653 crore (19 per cent) in 2017-18.
Data from the state finance department shows that Maharashtra’s tax revenue collection has also registered a jump from Rs 1,08,641 crore (5 per cent) in 2013-14 to Rs 1,67,931 crore (22.9 per cent) in 2017-18.
Revenue receipt data in the state for the last five years is as follows: Rs 1,49,821 crore (4.8 per cent) in 2013-14; Rs 1,65,415 crore (10.4 per cent) in 2014-15; Rs 1,85,035 crore (11.9 per cent) in 2015-16; Rs 2,04,693 crore (10.6 per cent) in 2016-17; and Rs 2,43,653 crore (19 per cent) in 2017-18.
Tax revenue data for the last five years in the state also shows a steady rise: Rs 1,08,641 (5 per cent) in 2013-14; Rs 1,15,090 crore (15.9 per cent) in 2014-15; Rs 1,26,625 crore (11 per cent) in 2015-16; Rs 1,36,616 crore (17.9 per cent) in 2016-17; and Rs 1,67,931 crore (22.9 per cent) in 2017-18.
A senior finance department official said that although there was ample scope for more reforms in the financial sector, the state government’s higher borrowings was to cope with infrastructure expenditure undertaken through public-private partnership model. The objective is to maximise the use of long-term loans taken on lower interest rates for infrastructure and utilise higher state budget funds on social sectors.
(Source: Indian Express)
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