Mumbai underground

Congress corporator Pravin Chheda and other party members protested the use of Marathi slang and demanded BMC check protocol.

“We want this statement to be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. We will see how the committee chairman allows such unprofessional behaviour,” said Chheda.

Shiv Sena corporator and standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale refused further discussion on the matter. He sided with his BJP ally and urged Congress members to calm down.

Police can keep secrets too,says Home Minister

Home minister R R Patil is proud the police force has mastered the art of keeping secrets from the media. He said the shift of actor Sanjay Dutt from Arthur Road Jail to Yerawada Jail in Pune was planned in advance. However,to hoodwink the media parked outside Arthur Road Jail 24×7,senior police officers and Patil said they would take 15 days to decide the transfer. Even officers called to sneak Dutt out of Mumbai were told they were required for a combing operation.

Except for a few top officers nobody had a clue how and when Dutt would be moved. “This shows police can keep secrets if they want to. There are several such secrets,” Patil said.

Police had similarly kept the media in the dark on burial of nine 26/11 terrorists and execution of Azmal Kasab.

Mobile phones become a menace for men in khaki

Hi-tech mobile phones are making police nervous. They fear the devices could be used to secretly record conversations. Police officers of the crime branch are always on guard refusing to entertain the media these days. Calls from the media are being rejected since the spot-fixing scam broke out. Insiders said police feared if they revealed information related to ongoing investigations to the media,superiors may check call detail records to determine source of the leak and penalise them.

‘Pawar struggle’ between cong,NCP over Local Body Tax

Congress and NCP are competing to take credit for ending the indefinite traders protest against local body tax (LBT). Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said,“It was the intervention of NCP president and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar that made traders withdraw the protest across Maharashtra.”

Congress leaders,on the other hand,said sustained efforts by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan brought results.

Ajit said,“LBT comes under the ministry of urban development which is held by Chief Minister. That is the reason none of us wanted to interfere. Yet,we all must acknowledge the matter was resolved only after Sharad Pawar held a meeting with traders and CM.”

Mono-metro ‘pits’ shiv Sena against Chief Minister

Shiv Sena has blamed MMRDA for not taking adequate steps to remove debris from metro-mono projects. The party,which controls BMC,is worried the debris will cause water-logging and flooding during monsoon in 40 places. In a complaint to MMRDA,Sena leaders have said rainwater will flow into pits at mono-metro sites. Pipelines have been covered with debris,they said.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray,who visited some of the sites to study monsoon preparations of BMC,said Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan should direct MMRDA to address the problems before rains. Or else it would cause major inconvenience to people.