Fire at cloth godown kills 3 in sleep

Three people died when a fire gutted a cloth godown in Khotwadi, Santacruz, at 3 am on Thursday. They had been sleeping in the godown, a ground-plus-two-storey structure in a narrow bylane in Santacruz West.Pappu Devraj Vaidya, 22, Ramdev Praveen Singh Jhala, 22, and Ramesh Hirjee Kathre, 20, were all workers in the godown, which also served as a cloth-cutting factory.Once the fire was doused, the upper two floors were demolished as the structure could collapse, a BMC official said.

The cause of the fire could not be determined, said Uday Tatkare, chief fire officer. “It proved difficult for us to take the fire truck to the narrow bylane, and we had to use hose pipes to get water to the site,” he said.Usually more people sleep in the godown, but three of them were not there on Wednesday night. Had they been there, they could have also died, said Jaishree Mathur, who lives in the same lane. “We did not realise there had been a fire until we woke up and saw the fire brigade.” 

Another onlooker said the godown was not adjacent to other buildings, so other houses did not suffer much damage. These houses, in one of the city’s oldest areas, have been marked for slum rehabilitation.“The upper floors were unauthorised and we will serve a notice to the owner,” said assistant municipal commissioner M M Kshirsagar, H West ward (Bandra West). A survey will assess whether other houses in the area are authorised, he added.

'I-T' men in Rs1.3-cr diamond heist held in Mumbai

Mumbai: A sensational robbery case involving the theft of diamonds worth Rs 1.30crore by men posing as Income Tax officers was cracked by the Mumbai Crime Branch. Seven persons were arrested on Thursday.The arrested have been identified as kingpin Pravin Parab alias Bala, Govind Mankar, Ramesh Shinde, Harpreet Singh, Amardeep Singh, Gagandeep Chauhan and Rahul Jaiswal.

They were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by Deepak Lalwani, who works in KGK Diamonds. According to joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy, Lalwani was accosted on March 28 by five persons posing as I-T officers.

A case of dacoity, kidnapping with arms was registered with the Dindoshi police. The number plate of their escape vehicle was traced to someone who had nothing to do with the case.A team of senior inspector Milind Khetle, assistant inspectors Sandeep Vishwasrao and Vijay Kandadgaonkar nabbed the culprits. “We have recovered diamonds worth Rs1.16 crore, charas, a pistol and four live rounds,” Roy said.

New domestic terminal will open on Monday

MUMBAI: The much-awaited new domestic terminal at Mumbai airport will be inaugurated on Saturday and thrown open for passengers on Monday. The new terminal — 1C — will function as a link between the existing terminals, 1A and 1B.

Passengers can look forward to boarding their flight from the new terminal more conveniently as six new aerobridges will be opened up for domestic flights. Till now, only terminal 1A (from where Air India and Kingfisher flights operate) had aerobridges. “The entry and exit points for the passengers will remain the same as usual. However, once they have collected their boarding pass and are through with security checks, they will move towards the new terminal for boarding,’’ an airport official said.

The 1C, the official added, will serve till the new integrated terminal for both domestic and international operations is ready. “The current structure will be demolished once the X-shaped integrated terminal in Andheri is ready,’’ an official said.

Heading to sea? Watch out for invisible craters, say experts

MUMBAI: The drownings of three children at Aksa beach on Wednesday has once again highlighted the need to plan trips cautiously and watch the water one steps into. Even as summer vacations have started and families have started thronging sea-side resorts, experts warn of the danger that lurks beneath the tempting waters.

The sea, say experts, cradles big holes that is not visible to the eye. The treacherous sands and powerful waves are enough to drag even swimmers into the depths of the sea. “People want to soak in the cool waters as the heat is too much to bear, but the sea can often be treacherous,’’ explains Rajnikant Mhashelkar (54), a lifeguard who has spent 35 years in this profession.

“When a person is in the water, the strong waves slowly drag him in the direction of the holes. While the person himself is unaware of this gradual shift, an onlooker can see it. But before anyone can
realise it, the person gets sucked into the deep sea,’’ said Mhashelkar.

Fire brigade plans to train lifeguards

MUMBAI: Taking into account the frequent drowning deaths on beaches, the BMC has transferred the entire responsibility of beach safety to the fire brigade. Considering their expertise in tackling eventualities, the fire brigade will appoint and train lifeguards for all beaches. A day after three youngsters died after drowning off Aksa beach, civic and fire brigade officials were busy chalking out a beach safety plan. It has now been decided to double the number of lifeguards on beaches. While currently there are 34 lifeguards on beaches, there will now be 68.

“We have handed over the responsibility of beach safety to the fire brigade as it has the core competence for the exercise. During monsoons, we will double the number of lifeguards. They will be given training by fire officials,’’ said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar.

The BMC, last month, issued an order to shift lifeguards from public health department to the fire brigade as it is on duty for 24 hours. This makes them better equipped to manage lifeguards. Chief fire officer Uday Tatkare said, “There are lifeguards at Juhu, Versova, Aksa, Madh, Marve and Gorai. But they are neither properly trained, nor available when there is a crowd. We are in the process of training them.’’

Science made fun for school kids

Students most often find science a difficult subject to crack in school. But when it comes to practical experiments in the laboratory, the subject become interesting.In an effort to make the subject have a greater connect with students in the city; Bayer’s conducted a school education initiative — Make Science Make Sense (MSMS) — a science challenge.The challenge, launched in India in 2007, had 200 students from 10 city schools participating in it. Conducted for Std V and VI students, the challenge involves initial phase of activity conducted during school hours, where the students participate in various demonstrations and experiments.

Activities include the functioning of hydraulic bridges, finger prints, paper chromatography, water rockets, etc. “Students also had to participate in a hands-on activity and build a small robot that can walk in a straight line from the kit provided to them,” said Kaikobad Mistry, chief financial officer, Bayer, India.

Second sea link will be longer & costlier

Mumbai: Although the length of the Worli-Haji Ali stretch of the sea link is said to be approximately 4 km on paper, if the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officials are to be believed, the total length of this second phase is going to be more than the first link. Also, the cost of this stretch will go up by leaps and bound.The cost of the Bandra-Worli stretch increased from Rs400 crore to a whopping Rs1,634 crore. However, the contractor and MSRDC have been defending their case by saying that the escalation was because of the change in alignment and an additional cable stayed bridge. Now, the second stretch will also see a higher cost, even though there are no complicated engineering works such as the cable stayed bridge — an extremely complicated engineering job.

According to senior MSRDC officials, though the actual sea link is 3.6 km into the sea, there are several other aspects which will be responsible for the increased cost. “The connector towards Haji Ali connecting the link with the main road will be of 1.25 km. Besides this, the most complicated part will be the clover leaf flyover at Worli. This will be a similar structure like the one opposite the Bandra fire brigade office. This will ensure smooth traffic flow at Worli junction. Together, this takes the total length to 7 km,” said an MSRDC official.