A day after over 30 Shiv Sena members barged into the Hornbill House compound in South Mumbai,where the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) head office is located,and demanded that Bombay in the name be changed to Mumbai,the 126-year-old conservation outfit said they would not yield to pressure. We wont succumb to pressure from any political party. This morning,an FIR was filed with Colaba police for criminal trespass and damage to property, BNHS president and former Union cabinet secretary B G Deshmukh said. On Thursday,Sena members had damaged the BNHS signboard on its property. They came with a ladder and hammers. Before we knew it,they had reached our BNHS signboard and knocked off the B, Divyesh Parikh,a BNHS representative said,adding they would take a strong stand. Sena leaders said BNHS had failed to comply with a government resolution (GR) that names be changed from Bombay to Mumbai. We had spoken to them more than a year ago about changing the name as per the GR of 1996. We went and gave them a memorandum on Thursday, said Pandurang Sakpal,Sena leader from Colaba. Their answers during the meeting seemed vague. They were not sure whether and when they will be able to change the name.. Anil Desai,Sena general secretary,said It was not a drastic measure. We had given them opportunities. We haven't broken any law. We have not damaged their property. We have just made the name change , said Desai. An FIR has been filed., Sachin More of Colaba Police Station confirmed. Uddhav seeks term extension for SDBsUddhav Thackeray and other Shiv Sena leaders met Governor K Sankaranarayanan on Friday to demand extension of the term of the Statutory Development Boards (SDBs) by five years. The term expires on April 30. The SDBs were established for Vidarbha,Marathwada and rest of Maharashtra in 1994 to ensure regional balance in development. The state legislature is set to discuss the fate of the SDBs in the Budget session commencing on March 18.
