Mumbai Underground

RUSH HOUR
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seems to be in a hurry to get as many stalled transport-infrastructure projects on track as possible. Last week, his government axed a Metro project that was mired in difficulties. The very next week, chairing his first meeting as MMRDA chairman, he cleared an alternative plan to the one that was scrapped and another Metro line too. In the meeting, MMRDA officials discussed the possibility of using muck from the underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz, work on which will start next year, for reclaiming land for the ambitious coastal road, but expressed concern about the coastal road project, which has many hurdles, taking off soon enough for that. They were surprised to note that instead of sharing their concern, Fadnavis was very upbeat about the coastal road taking off. Jokingly he declared that the challenging coastal road project might just be completed before the underground Metro.

NOT ‘MY’ PARTY
Swicthing parties comes with its own set of diction problems if talking to Congress’ most recent defector and nephew of senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat, Sameer Desai, is anything to go by. While justifying his switch, Desai inadvertently kept saying ‘my’ party when referring to Congress, almost immediately correcting himself each time. Looks like the recently-appointed Mumbai BJP secretary still needs to practise referring to BJP as his own party and leave Congress behind. Desai was welcomed into BJP by MLA Vidya Thakur, whom he had openly helped during the Assembly election while still a member of the Congress party. Desai’s major grouse with Congress party is not getting a ticket for the Goregaon seat, which Thakur went on to win.

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR
The change in government in the state has also led to a change in the ambiance and decorum in the personal chambers of ministers in Mantralaya. Certain changes in these offices have been carried out to reflect the spiritual side and ecclesiastic preferences of the new bosses. After stepping into the ante chamber of one of the topmost Cabinet ministers, many would would feel that they have stepped into a room meant for spiritual discourse. The room has soothing spiritual music being played in a low volume. When asked the reason behind it, the minister claimed that it helped in creating positive vibes. With the state steeped in financial mess, the minister no doubt needs the positive vibe to get its finances back on track.

POLES APART
During a recent press conference by the Mumbai police, addressed by a Joint Commissioner of Police, who was sitting next to the Deputy Commissioner of the same agency, reporters could not help but comment on how different the two officers were. While the senior police makes it a point to always be politically correct and not give out too many details of a case, the DCP is known to be a lot more forthcoming. The comparison was not lost on the Joint Commissioner, who, while responding to myriad queries by reporters, assured them that the DCP would provide them with enough material to follow the case for the next few days. In a rare moment of levity, he then quipped, “I seek his permission before I hold press conferences.” The embarrassed DCP was ribbed by reporters for the next three days about his superior’s comment.