Mumbai Beat

Brij Bhushan Gupta deadFilm dialogue writer and novelist, Dr Brij Bhushan Gupta, died today after a prolonged illness. He was 65. Gupta's...

Brij Bhushan Gupta dead

Film dialogue writer and novelist, Dr Brij Bhushan Gupta, died today after a prolonged illness. He was 65. Gupta8217;s books on national integration had won him recognition from both the state and central governments.

Gupta started his career as a teacher in Pune and later shifted to Mumbai. In a career spanning three decades, Gupta had written the dialogues for Do Boond Pani, Barrister, Idhaar and Surya Putra Shani Dev. He had also written over 80 books, some of which were included in high school and college syllabi. He was also the recipient of three National Literary Awards, and was honoured with the Maharashtra Hindi Sahitya Academy award last year for his novel Somu.

Chembur fire guts 15 slums

Fifteen slums were gutted in a fire which broke out at Chedda Nagar, Chembur, on Wednesday night in the thickly-populated slum. No casualty has been reported. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. UNI EC8217;s restriction on Prabhu 8212; Union Environment MinisterSuresh Prabhu has been cautioned by the Election Commission against inaugurating the media centre at the Mumbai Press Club tomorrow as it would amount to violation of the model code of conduct for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. 8220;We received a note from the minister8217;s office asking whether he could participate in the function. But we told him that it would violate the model code,8221; said a senior official of the state election office.

Maths Olympiad: 6 medals for India

n INDIA won three silver and three bronze medals at the 40th International Mathematical Olympiad held in Bucharest, which concluded today. Arvind Narayanan from Chennai, Rishi Raj from Ranchi and Vaibhav Vaish from Lucknow, won silver, while Mandar Joshi of Pune, Abhishek Saha of Calcutta and Mohit Singh from Delhi won the bronze medals.

India ranked 18 among the 81 participating countries, according to Dr Arvind Kumar, Director of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. Dr Pranesachar Bangalore and Prof K NRanganathan Chennai were the leaders of the Indian delegation.

Potholes to be filled: Mayor

n Mayor Hareshwar Patil today assured the civic general body that the city8217;s potholes and trenches will be attended to before Ganesh Chaturthi.His assurance followed an adjournment moved by Shiv Sena corporator Ashok Nar regarding the sewage pipe-laying delay from Ashokvan to Dahisar Check Naka. The discussion then shifted to trenches when Sardar Tara Singh said even after laying pipes at LBS Marg, Kurla.