QMumbai: BEST’s 200 AC Mini Buses; BJP’s 50-50 Formula For Sena

BEST to roll out 200 AC mini buses from August and more stories.

1. BEST to Roll Out 200 AC Mini Buses From Aug

Mumbaikars can look forward to a cool bus ride from August.

BEST, which had pulled out its AC buses from the streets because of heavy losses, has decided to bring back the ‘cool’ fleet, albeit in mini forms.

The transport undertaking is all set to procure 450 buses on wet lease, out of which 200 will be AC mini buses. Among the remaining buses, 200 will be non-AC mini buses and 50 non-AC midi buses. The proposal for wet leasing the buses from private contractors was passed at the BEST committee meeting on Monday amid protests from the committee members.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

2. BJP Seeks to Placate Sena With 50-50 Formula

Rattled by dissenting voices from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp, Bharatiya Janata Party has started wooing its allies. In a bid to keep Shiv Sena in its fold, the BJP is offering it an almost equal number of seats in the Assembly elections.

The BJP has offered Sena 140 seats out of the 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly. Last month after the party conclave, Sena had announced that it would contest next year’s Lok Sabha and assembly elections on its own and would not have any kind of alliance with the BJP.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

3. State’s Bid to Get In Modi’s Good Books

Not Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most important political leader in the country’s history if the school books ordered by the BJP government in Maharashtra are any indication.

The state education department has sought nearly 1.5 lakh books on Modi at the cost of Rs 59.42 lakh, but only a few thousand on the country’s first prime minister and other historical figures, leaving educationists stupefied. The books, in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and English, will be kept in libraries of zilla parishad schools as extra reading material for students in classes I to VIII.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

4. BMC To Spend Rs 671 Crore to Keep Mithi River Sewage-Free

After pouring crores of rupees into widening and deepening Mithi River, the BMC will now pump another Rs 671 crore to improve its water quality. Under the wide umbrella of the Mithi River Water Quality Improvement Programme (MRWQIP), the civic body has planned several sub-projects such as beautification of the riverbank, along with installing sewage treatment plants (STP) along the river.

The authorities will also lay down 'interceptors' to stop the flow of sewage into the river. These interceptors are essentially diversions that will lead sewage, litter and other contaminants towards new sewage lines that will be installed near the river. According to civic officials, soon tenders will be invited to construct new 11.35-km sewer lines in the area. These sewage lines will then direct the effluents to the STPs built along the river.

Source: Mid-day

5. Bullets Found During Port Trust’s Dredging Exercise In Sea

The Mumbai Port Trust recovered several bullets while dredging in the sea near the Alibaug coast last week. They are believed to be several years old. Port officials informed the Yellow Gate police, which shared the news of the unusual discovery with the Navy. In all, seven cartridges were found around 11 am on February 6. They have been sent for a forensic test. “We have been kept in the loop. The Indian Navy is monitoring the matter,” said a defence official said.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

6. Railway Accident Victims Our Responsibility Too: RPF Chief

Injured commuters are the responsibility of all and all railway servants are equally responsible for providing medical assistance to the needy, states a circular from the Director General of RPF, Dharmendra Kumar. Victims should not have to wait for RPF or GRP for assistance, it adds.

The RPF chief’s clarification came after the GRP wrote a letter to Thane station master in August 2017 stating that it was the RPF’s duty to rush the injured to the hospital and then inform them about the case.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

7. Mumbai Cops Assault A 65-Year-Old Man After An Argument Over Towed Bike

A 65-year-old senior citizen from Ulhasnagar was assaulted by a traffic police constable and wardens, as he argued with them when his Activa was being towed away yesterday. While a video of the incident which shows both traffic personnel and him assaulting each other went viral on social media, a case has been registered against the man for disrupting police work.

According to the police, the Activa belonging to Jawahar Lulla, was parked on a road near sector 17, Ulhasnagar. A traffic department towing van prepared to tow the vehicle. Lulla who saw this, tried to pull the two-wheeler free, but it was held by the traffic warden. “Lulla then approached traffic constable Baliram Patil, who was sitting ahead inside the towing van. The video clearly shows that he first requested him, but as Patil refused, Lulla pulled his leg. As Lulla spoke angrily, Patil who also got angry, got down and slapped him. But Lulla too slapped him. Furious, Patil and the two wardens accompanying him started assaulting Lulla badly,” said a police official who had seen the video.

Source: Mid-day