Wada medical officer held for graft

MUMBAI: The medical officer of the Wada Primary Health Centre (PHC) was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a nurse wanting a transfer, on Tuesday.

The Thane Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) laid a trap and nabbed Dr Surendra Kuloor. He had allegedly demanded money from two nurses Nilima Javanjal (26) and Jyoti Borkar (25) working in the Devgaon PHC near Wada.

The two nurses wanted a transfer to any PHC closer to their homes in Thane. Dr Kuloor demanded Rs 5,000 each for the transfer. While Javanjal remained silent, Borkar approached the ACB. On Tuesday as planned Borkar met Dr Kuloor at the PHC and paid Rs 5,000 when the ACB sleuths raided the hospital.

The ACB carried out search of Dr Kuloor's PHC and home. Dr Kuloor was remanded to police custody till July 19 by the Thane ACB court.

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Maharashtra govt rigid, may not dance to court's tune

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has made clear its intent not to allow dance bars in the state despite the Supreme Court verdict overturning the ban on the establishments here.

Hours after the apex court upheld a Bombay HC order striking down a 2005 legislation that outlawed dance bars, home minister R R Patil told the state legislative council that the government will seek legal advice on how to ensure that dance bars remain shut.

"There has been no change in the situation since the law was passed. We shall form a committee of prominent members of both houses and seek legal advice on how to keep dance bars closed. We shall finalize the strategy during the session," asserted Patil, who spearheaded the crusade in 2005 to ban dance bars.

The home minister told TOI that the state has three options: file a review petition before the SC, refer the case to a larger SC bench, or amend the Bombay Police Act so that the ban continues. "We have briefed the chief minister on the verdict. We are weighing all options," Patil said.

Both ruling and opposition parties demanded in the legislative council that the government appeal against the apex court judgment or reframe the law to prevent dance bars' resumption. The house was adjourned following the protestations.

The opposition leader in the legislative council, Vinod Tawade, who raised the issue, said the reopening of dance bars will have an adverse social impact. "The government must go before a full bench of the Supreme Court for a review of the order," he added. BJP legislator Ashish Shelar insisted that a review petition be filed.

Shiv Sena legislator Diwakar Raote said the government, in 2005, left several loopholes while amending the Bombay Police Act to ban dance bars; "the law and judiciary department does not do due diligence. The government must rework the law and implement it."

Patil responded that the bill to outlaw dance bars was passed unanimously in both houses of the legislature eight years ago. "The issue was raised through a calling attention motion by an opposition legislator, seeking a ban on dance bars in Panvel as it was adversely affecting the area. In fact, policemen would aggressively seek postings in areas with dance bars," said Patil.

The home minister stated that at that time there were 1,200 registered dance bars and an equal number of unregistered ones: "The biggest beneficiaries were these establishments' owners. Women's organizations across the state had demanded a ban on dance bars."

But the ban did not have blanket support right from the beginning. On June 23, 2005, when the cabinet submitted a proposal for promulgating an ordinance to provide for the ban, the then governor, S M Krishna, had rejected the proposal. He had pointed out that there was no urgency for the proscription. The governor had suggested that the government introduce a bill in the two houses of the state legislature. Krishna had reportedly even cautioned the then chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, while doubting the legal validity of such legislation.

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Rajesh Khanna to be immortalized at Bandra bandstand

MUMBAI: In a fitting tribute to Bollywood legend Rajesh Khanna on his first death anniversary, a statue will be installed at the Bandra bandstand alongside prominent personalities like Yash Chopra, DevAnand and Raj Kapoor.

On July 18 last year, the 69-year-old actor passed away at his residence 'Aashirwaad' after being critically ill.

Entertainment channel UTV Stars plans to unveil Khanna's statue at Bollywood's official landmark -'Walk of the Stars' at Bandra bandstand promenade - early next month to commemorate Khanna's inimitable style and charismatic smile.

The brass statue will immortalise one of his iconic poses. It will be unveiled by the actor's family members among well-known names from the industry. Khanna, the first superstar of Indian cinema gave 15 consecutive solo hit films during his golden period from 1969-72, a record that remains unbroken till today.

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Police investigating break- in at governor's Nagpur residence

MUMBAI: The police are still investigating the break-in into the Governor's house in Nagpur.

Nagpur is Maharashtra's winter capital. The break-in happened in May this year.

Uday Samant, minister of state for urban development said as per the complaint filed with the police by the Governor's chief officer, the lock on the Governor's grounds were broken and miscreants illegally entered the grounds, cut down trees, burnt them and using bull-dozers and JCBs tried to flatten the grounds. The glass window panes of the watch tower were smashed, the sewer pipe broken.

It is suspected that the Anjuman-Haji-Islam may be respnsible for the incident. A case has been registered under the Prevention to Public Property Act along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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Political parties should implement RTI provisions

MUMBAI: A day after the deadline for six major political parties to implement provisions under the Right To Information Act lapsed, citizens groups came together to demand that they appoint public information officers, as mandated by the Chief information Commission. As per the order, political parties should have not only appointed officials under the RTI but also voluntarily disclose information under section 4 of the RTI Act.

A note by the RTI campaign pointed out that parties had not challenged the order in court as yet, and had decided to amend the RTI act in the next parliamentary session, a move that was not acceptable to them. A public signature campaign petition initiated by the National Campaign for People's Right To information (NCPRI) has already garnered more than 67,200 votes across Gujarat against the proposed amendment.

The campaign is supported by former CIC Shailesh Gandhi and jointly led by prominent transparency groups including the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat pahel and Saladi Gram Vikas Lok Jagruti Samit among others. Transparency in the functioning and funding of political parties is highly desirable and should be brought in at the earliest.

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Puppy which survived cruelty in IIT campus now adopted

MUMBAI: The only surviving puppy which had endured extreme cruelty while it was rescued from a pile of e-trash under barbed wires inside the Powai campus of IIT-Bombay, has now found a loving home for itself in Andheri.

The other two pups which were also found in a badly injured condition at the IIT campus, had succumbed to their injuries. The survivor pup has been adopted by the family of Dhruv Sharma in Lokhandwala, Andheri (west).

"Pepper is blessed to have Dhruv and his family. From the little interaction I had with them I could see they were genuine animal lovers and compassionate people. Pepper went to the vet Dr Umesh Jadav who treated him and his siblings when they were rescued,'' remarked Christina Lobo Jha.

"I am very happy that the pup has now gone to a good home. It was a horrid sight when Pepper and the other two pups were taken out from underneath the barbed wired at the IIT campus. Someone had deliberately left them there to die; but two IIT students had noticed them and informed animal activists," said the founder of Plants and Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) Nilesh Bhanage.

At the time of rescue, the newborn pups were badly injured as maggots were practically eating them alive. Maggots were literally spilling out from the eyes, ears and genitals of the other two puppies who did not make it. Pepper was fortunate to have lesser injuries.

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Government stands by its decision to ban dance bars

MUMBAI: Maharashtra home minister RR Patil has said his government is still firm on its stand on which it had banned dance bars.

The Supreme Court ruling striking down government's decision to ban dance bars has not changed government's stance in any way, Patil said adding that the government had even on Tuesday received representation from various organization and social bodies backing the decision to shut dance bars. "Our sentiments have not changed once bit.

"The dance were affecting the social moorings, especially were disrespectful of women and leading to a surge in crime. It is for this reason we had banned them as they were making our society and system corrupt," said Patil.

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NCP backs RR Patil on dance bar ban

MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has urged its leader and senior cabinet minister (home) RR Patil to appeal against the court's decision to reopen the dance bars in city.

NCP state president Bhaskar Jadhav said on Tuesday that the ban was unanimously approved by the Maharashtra cabinet and later went through the legislature before being implemented. It therefore, represented the sentiments of the people and public representatives of the state.

"The ban was welcome across the state, especially celebrated by women as if it was Deepawali. The government must now make all efforts possible to appeal against the court's decision and ensure the ban in enforced once again keeping in mind the betterment of the society as a whole," Jadhav said.

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Oppostion parties reacts sharply to dance bar judgement

MUMBAI: The Opposition parties in Maharashtra have demanded government owns up responsibility for filing a weak affidavit in the dance bar case resulting in an adverse ruling from the court. The parties reacting sharply demanding a 'reckless and careless' government do better homework before appealing against the judgment.

Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, Vinod Tawde said the decision was unfortunate but reflected poorly on Maharashtra government's careless approach.

"We react strongly to the judgment which could have an adverse effect on the society as a whole," he said refusing to agree that court has meddled in the government affairs. Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi said the government had failed to do its "homework" in court which led to today's ruling.

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City BJP protests against potholes on MMRDA roads

MUMBAI: The city unit of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Tuesday protested against fast emerging potholes on roads belonging to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The party members protested by planting trees in the potholes on the road in Andheri west, east, Ghatkopar and several parts of the suburbs. Party city president Ashish Shelar said a party delegation had met metropolitan commissioner complaining about the potholes, especially under the roads in the ongoing metro and monorail projects. But the MMRDA has done nothing to assure the BJP that due care would be taken. "This is causing great inconvenience to the motorists in Mumbai," said Shelar.

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