Use your cellphone, but lose driver's licence

MUMBAI: Despite a seven-month old-circular issued by the state transport department instructing all Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) to disqualify the licences of motorists caught talking on cellphones while driving, no action has been taken to date, say senior police officials.

In an effort to rectify this, senior traffic officials will be meeting members of the state Law and Judiciary Department on Tuesday to demand stricter implementation of the existing law. Between October 2009 and March 2010, 1,186 licences of motorists pulled up for driving and operating their mobile phones were sent to the RTO, but not a single one was cancelled or suspended.

"We do not have the power to disqualify the driving licences of offenders. After a driver is caught violating the rule, we send his licence to the morning court," said DCP Nandkumar Chaugule. "The court either fines the driver or suspends his/her licence for a period of time. Once the licences are returned to us, we forward a photocopy of to the RTO. But to date, the RTOs haven't disqualified any driver." 

Taj Tower to be renamed

The Taj hotel is trying to let go of the dreadful memories of the 26/11 attack. The hotel is likely to change its name back to the original Taj Mahal Palace Hotel from the current Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel this May. This will be the second time the hotel is being renamed. One reason behind the renaming of the hotel again is the fact that the management finds its earlier name lucky and auspicious.A few days ago, the management met the hotel's bigwigs in the Princess Room. "The management made an official presentation to important members and decided to change the name in a few months," said a hotel source. 

"Stationery items will soon be changed. They have already placed an order for new stationery," he said.
A Taj spokesperson confirmed the news, but added, "We have not finalised anything yet." 


History of Taj 1902: The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL)  is formed.1903: IHCL opens its first hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace, in Mumbai. 2003: IHCL re-launches its flagship property as the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower during their centenary year. 2010: IHCL plans to adopt the old name once again.
After 26/11
December 21, 2008: Taj hotel reopens December 1, 2009: Wasabi and Harbour Bar reopen March 30, 2010: Ballroom  reopensMay 23, 2010: Old wing to reopen 

Celina Jaitley asks people to boycott Bombay Gymkhana

Bombay Gymkhana asking transgender activist Laxmi Tripathi to leave (MM April4), actor Celina Jaitley, an activist and friend of Tripathi, has launched a Twitter campaign to boycott it. The message posted at 3 pm on Sunday reads, “Boycott Bombay Gymkhana in name of HUMAN RIGHTS n equality. Preserve democracy.”


Deputy CEO of Bombay Gymkhana Col A K Bhargava said, “Whether or not the club wishes to allow a patron entry is a completely personal choice. How can anyone criticise it?” In an SMS reply, Jaitly said, “Around 80 per cent of the people who logged onto my feed today support my decision to boycott the club.”

She added, “Laxmi’s democratic rights and dignity as a human have been humiliated. They have violated her right to equality and freedom.

Delhi Daredevils T-shirts worth Rs 2 lakh stolen from stadium

T-shirts worth a total of Rs 2 lakh were stolen from a stall at Navi Mumbai's D Y Patil stadium on March 27, a day before the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers.The owner of the stall Mahadev Surendra Singh Khanna, 29, said that all the stolen T-shirts were of the Delhi Daredevils, to be sold to the team supporters. 

Khanna said that on March 27, he had shut his shop around 10 pm and when he opened it the next morning he found the shutter open and the shop ransacked. “Interestingly only T-shirts belonging to the Delhi team had been stolen,” added Khanna who stocks T-shirts of all the other IPL teams as well.

What's astounding is that the theft took place despite the tight security in the stadium since March 26. The official spokesperson of IPL said, “It's surprising that the thief got in despite the heavy security arrangements. Police officers were deployed in and around the stadium since March 26. In fact, on March 27 they even conducted a mock drill there.”

While a case of house breaking has been registered at the Nerul Police Station, police remain red-faced. Shyam More, official spokesperson of the stadium, said, “A group called JOG Sports has been given the responsibility of distributing sports T-shirts and other accessories inside the stadium. We had a discussion with them and it is possible that the T-shirts have been misplaced. However, at the moment nothing can be said for certain as police are investigating the matter.”

Nooriya out of prison

Nooriya Haveliwala stepped out of jail on Sunday, over two months after her arrest on charges of driving drunk and being involved in an accident that left two men dead.She had been granted bail by a metropolitan magistrate’s court on Wednesday, with the police having failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days. The accident had taken place in January; Haveliwala had driven her vehicle into a team of policemen, killing a policeman and a civilian and injuring several other policemen.

“The bail formalities were completed on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, her family came to receive her and she was released,” said Sudhir Kingre, the superintendent of Byculla jail.

The police had wanted Haveliwala charged under a section of the IPC that deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which could have attracted life imprisonment, but the court prima-facie agreed with the defence argument that the case could be tried only under Section 304 (II) that attracted a maximum punishment of 10 years.

Bridge design not yet cleared, Metro races against time

Nine months ahead of the scheduled commissioning of the first Metro corridor, a feature that will take an estimated 10 months to build - the 183-metre-long steel bridge over the Andheri railway lines - is still waiting for its design to be cleared.

The initial deadline for the 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor was July, but it was pushed back to the year-end; now, even that target looks difficult to meet.The authorities have been seeking clearance for a year for the portion over and across the tracks at Andheri station. The designs had to be altered twice to suit the requirements of the Western Railway authorities.

The nodal agency, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and the concessionaire, Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), are both hoping that Western Railway will now clear the designs “in a few days”.

240 mn litres lost in 3 months

In a growing nightmare for a city facing the start of a long, parched summer, the water distribution network has seen 33 pipeline bursts and 64 heavy leakages over the past three months, resulting in the wastage of over 240 million litres.

As per data with the four divisional offices of the BMC’s hydraulic engineering department for the period between January 1 and April 1, there have been 30 bursts on the pipeline network within the city on pipes measuring between 12 inches and 86 inches in diameter, and three major bursts along water mains outside the city limits.

Six of these have been the result of work by agencies on various civic infrastructure projects, one such rupture having taken place on an underground water tunnel in Malad on February 12. The Malad damage alone has caused a loss of more than 230 million litres till date, with the tunnel from Bhandup Complex to Liberty Garden leaking as much as 5 million litres everyday since it was damaged due to the illegal digging of a borewell. The civic body has now asked Hindustan Construction Company to repair the tunnel, more than 50 days after the rupture.