1. Aarey Metro Car Shed May Meet Fate of Nanar Refinery, Says Uddhav Thackeray
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday that the plan to build a rake shed for Metro Line 3 in Aarey, which has become controversial on account of the trees that need to be cut, might meet the same fate as Nanar Oil Refinery in the Konkan region.
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“There was similar issue with the Nanar refinery also,” said Uddhav, while responding to a query on the Sena’s stand on the tree cutting and car depot in Aarey for the Metro 3 project. The Sena chief was referring to the Nanar Oil Refinery project in Sindhudurg district which was to come up with massive Saudi-UAE investment.
Source: Indian Express
2. Malegaon Case: Media Insists on Court Presence for Accurate Reporting
Terming Pragya Singh Thakur’s accusations against the journalists covering the 2008 Malegaon blast trial ‘derogatory’, the advocate representing them in their intervention on Monday stressed on the importance of the presence of media in the courtroom in order to ensure authenticity of news reports.
Advocate Gayatri Gokhale from Rizwan Merchant & Associates told the NIA court that Thakur was challenging the very basis of their application by alleging that the intervenors (including this reporter) did not have enough proof to show that they were journalists, even though they belonged to reputed media organisations. Gokhale also responded to submissions made by the Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal and Thakur’s lawyer Prashant Maggu in previous hearings. While Rasal had submitted that journalists can report about the case by taking details from the investigating officer, instead of attending the trial, Maggu submitted that anyone would walk in the court room and start taking down notes, calling themselves journalists, and report about the proceedings verbatim.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
3. IIT-B Study: Mumbai’s Urban Footprint Is Growing Faster Than City’s Population
IN THE four decades from 1972 to 2011, the urban footprint of Mumbai has spread more rapidly compared to the city’s population growth, an IIT-Bombay study shows. During this time, the built-up area in the region increased 4.5 times, from 234 sqkm to 1,056 sqkm, while the population grew only three-fold, according to the study.
This urban sprawl has increased the infrastructure cost and commuting time, stressing transport networks and destroying forests and wetlands, says the study published in the journal Applied Geography. Done using satellite images, the study says that the decline in population density of the urban areas is at the expense of cultivated lands, forests and water bodies.
Source: Indian Express
4. Hazardous Chemical Seized During Nakabandi
The Thane police seized a huge consignment of a hazardous chemical during anakabandi a few days ago. The police have identified the owner of the consignment, and are trying to find out where the chemical was being taken to and what it was meant for.
The Kapurbawdi police said that during anakabandi at Balkumbh at around 1am on September 11, the police team spotted a tempo approaching at a high speed. Just as the police team signalled the tempo to stop the vehicle, the driver along with two others present in the tempo (MH-05 DK 4251), abandoned the vehicle and fled.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
5. Dipped into Reserves to Help Clear BEST Debt, Says BMC
With no provision in its budget, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has dipped into its reserves to help the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) repay its loans. The BMC said it used money from three fixed deposits (FD) to bail out BEST.
A BMC statement said that between August 19 and 30, it paid Rs 1,136 crore to BEST, of which Rs 478 crore came from breaking three fixed deposits. “These FDs were withdrawn from the State Bank of India account prematurely. It was done to ensure that BEST’s transport wing will become debt-free. There was no provision in the BMC budget 2019-20, so we had to use some other way to provide the help,” said a senior official from the civic body’s chief accountant department.
Source: Indian Express
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