Category: Kharcha paani

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CM wants mini Press Council for Maharashtra

Rising attacks and mounting pressure from journalists prompts CM to promise to push for Bill in the next Cabinet meeting.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Rising attacks on journalists in the State have got Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan promising a string of measures to protect journalists. Precipitated by a need to have a stringent law in place to ward off attacks on journalists, especially after the February 2012 attack on The Times of India building in Mumbai by the Shiv Sena, a Committee Against Attacks on Journalists had been set up to push for a law to protect journalists.

In a meeting with the Committee in Nagpur yesterday, where the State Legislature is currently in its Winter Session, Chavan assured the delegation that he would review and further discuss the need to implement a law that protected journalists in the State. “We will also look into the setting up of a body like The Press Council of India which is unique to Maharashtra, and which will look into the welfare of journalists in the State,” Chavan said during the meeting.

Members of the Committee had been sitting on an indefinite fast to have their demands met – the Committee has been increasingly frustrated by the State Government’s inaction in the matter. Chavan said, “No doubt there needs to exist a law that protects journalists from attacks. However, such a law and its implications need to be studied in great detail before it can be effectively implemented.”

In February this year, the CM promised to push for the Bill in the Cabinet, and appointed State Industries Minister Narayan Rane to the panel that would formulate the law. Interestingly, Rane was one of the ministers opposed to such a Bill in the first place.

Maharashtra has had quite a few examples of journalists clashing with politicians, builders and others, especially in the mofussil areas, where journalists are said to be targeted routinely. As per records of the last 10 years, 11 journalists have been murdered and six media organisations have been attacked, with a majority of these attacks perpetrated by political parties. From 2010 till date, there have been 212 attacks on journalists and media houses in Maharashtra.

 (Picture courtesy criticalppp.com)

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Expect cold nights this weekend

Weather bureau pegs expected minimum temperatures at 17 degree Celsius for Mumbai. No major departures in temperature, humidity are expected.

After hot days and nights last week, precipitated by warm Easterly winds, Mumbai is back to having some seriously cold nights and cool evenings. As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the city and its suburbs will have minimum temperatures of 17 Degree Celsius for at least the next two nights.

The IMD anticipates that “the temperatures will not fall further.” The current cold weather is seemingly a result of western disturbances, which are low pressure weather systems originating from Central Asia. Temperatures yesterday were as follows: Colaba, maximum: 30.6 degree Celsius, minimum: 21 degree Celsius; Santacruz: 32 degree Celsius, minimum: 17.8 degree Celsius.

Clear skies are expected over the weekend as well.

(Picture courtesy sacbee.com)

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Dadar’s Kohinoor Square is India’s tallest building

Report certifies the under-construction building as tallest commercial structure at 203 metres; 12 other Mumbai buildings figure on the list.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The under-construction Kohinoor Square located at Dadar, has just got a good distinction – it was recently listed as the country’s tallest commercial building by the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH). Standing at 203 metres, the building is a 52-storey diamond shaped tower that is currently in the last stages of construction.

The CTBUH report was released in October 2012, and lists, apart from Kohinoor Square, such buildings as Sunshine Tower, Marathon Futurex, Parinee I, MVRDC, Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, IDBI Towers, Express Towers, Air India Building, CG House, Haj House, 247Park and Century Mills Tower as the city’s tallest skyscrapers. Of the 22 buildings listed by CTBUH, 13 are from Mumbai, while three each are from Bangalore and Gurgaon, two are from Noida and one is from Kolkata.

Kohinoor Square is said to be the only mixed-used development project in Mumbai, offering 40 floors of commercial space, 50,000 square feet of retail space and about 64 residential apartment spaces. There will also be a luxury hotel on top of the commercial tower.

“It enjoys a strategic location, with proximity to Dadar railway station and it is close to western and eastern expressways.  So, apart from being accessible to people travelling by train, it is also close to the Bandra-Worli sea link and both the expressways,” said Nathan Andrews, Chief Marketing Officer, Kohinoor Square.

Other plans for the building include 48 high-speed elevators along with 12 escalators, a car parking for 2,000 vehicles and an intelligent traffic management system, double height landscaped sky gardens and double height terraces with floor-to-ceiling glazing on every alternate floor.

“In order to have a green building and reduce our energy consumption by over 25 per cent, we have used double glazed reflective glass facades, which restrict the energy from coming in, but let in natural light, thereby reducing consumption of electricity,” said Nathan.

Measuring tallness

The CTBUH does not measure ‘tallness’ based on a building’s height alone – such parameters as height relative to the building’s context, proportion and technologies used for tall buildings (such as vertical transport and structural wind bracing) come into play when determining whether a building is tall or not.

(Pictures courtesy kohinoorsquare.in)

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AAP Pawar pe chup kyun hain?

While Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘black paper’ on Maha irrigation irregularities tears into Sunil Tatkare, it says nothing on Ajit Pawar.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Yesterday was clearly Ajit Pawar’s day. The decks were cleared for his return to the Deputy Chief Minister’s post he resigned from on September this year, owing to his name being mired in alleged irregularities in the irrigation sector, and on the other hand, the ‘black paper’ submitted by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vehemently tore into Water Resources Minister (WRD) Sunil Tatkare, but did not name Ajit Pawar.

The AAP presented its black paper to State Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan yesterday, following which, Chavan had a meeting with the party’s activists Anjali Damania and Praful Vora, among others. In the paper, AAP has called the white paper on irrigation brought out by the Tatkare-led WRD a “total farce” and demanded for Tatkare’s resignation, but does not name Ajit Pawar anywhere.

Like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP has also demanded for an SIT-level probe in the matter.

In black and white

In its black paper, AAP has countered almost all of the white paper’s claims, starting with the area under irrigation in the State. While the white paper claims that the area under irrigation increased by 5.17 per cent from 2001 to 2010, the black paper calls this as an attempt to mislead people.

Further, the black paper says that water was illegally diverted from irrigation projects to non-irrigation purposes, and that there were plans to approve 71 new water-intensive thermal power projects in the suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha.

The black paper blames the WRD for rampant corruption and violation, and calls for Tatkare’s resignation, an SIT probe in the irrigation scam and action against politicians, officials and contractors responsible for the mess, apart from demanding an immediate stop on projects that have committed violations. The paper also criticises Chavan, adding that the white paper presented by the WRD to the Government was merely a ‘status paper’ that toed the coalition politics line.

AAP will most likely bring out another black paper on irrigation soon.

(Picture courtesy forbesindia.com)

 

 

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Blow hot, blow cold

After a week of pleasant morning weather and night-time chills, the temperature’s rising in Mumbai. Warm weather will persist awhile.

It’s probably true what they say about Mumbai never really being very cold. However, last week and the beginning of this one brought a welcome respite both from this notion and hot mornings. Mumbai began its mornings in a cool breeze, and went to bed with the mercury dipping to as low as 15 Degrees Celsius.

For the last two days, however, the heat is on. The cold winds from the North that had made Mumbai’s weather such a delight to be in a few days ago, have all but disappeared, and have been replaced by warm easterly winds. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) contends that these warm winds have combined with low humidity levels to make temperatures in the city rise to as much as 35 Degree Celsius. Minimum temperatures recorded have been in the 24 to 22 Degree Celsius range.

What’s more, the temperatures are expected to be in the higher range this weekend, after which, another wave of cold winds may hit the city.

(Picture courtesy sierrasentinel.com)

 

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First, the transfer. Now, modifications

The Centre will hand over the Indu Mill land. The State will now seek the necessary modifications for the takeover.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Yesterday, the Centre announced that the Indu Mills land in Prabhadevi would be given for the setting up of a Dr BR Ambedkar memorial. While the announcement was welcomed by all quarters, with the State Government pushing for the issue over meetings in the last few days, the next task for the Maharashtra Government is to oversee the takeover process for the land.

First is a proposal to amend the existing CRZ norms to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) – a modification to this is needed because prevalent rules do not aid the Transfer of Development (TDR). Also, a special clause will be invoked in the city’s Development Control (DC) rules to allow the TDR to be used in the island city.

An MoEF approval is also necessary for the plot of land approved for the memorial by the State. Furthermore, Union Textile Minister Anand Sharma will have to push for a legislative proposal to enable the use of land for a memorial – the land was originally a private land which was under the National Textile Corporation (NTC).

The State plans, apart from a memorial, a social justice university, a museum housing Ambedkar’s belongings, a meditation centre, a residential space for visiting pilgrims and a library on the site.

(Picture courtesy jaimaharashtranews.com) 

 

 

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