Maharashtra plans Biz Districts along Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Maharashtra is planning to develop a business district with IT parks, recreational zones and affordable housing along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The state said the revenue from the business district will be ploughed back to develop 71 villages on the route. But planning experts questioned the use of mainly agricultural land for the plan. Planned by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation — as part of its development plan after it was appointed special planning authority for the 71 villages in 2016 — the new central business district will have financial and technological centres, animation, visual effects and gaming centres, and a comic park. The DP covers villages in the Panvel and Khalapur taluka — a total area of 186.72 sqkm, and is effective between 2016 and 2041. This is the MSRDC’s first development plan for the 71 villages.

According to the plan, 82.99% of this area has been underdeveloped, while 35% of the land-use is agriculture. MSRDC plans to implement the DP in four phases, including creating affordable housing on a 30-hectare land parcel. It estimates generating a revenue of ₹14,027.77 crore through the development of these 71 villages. The revenue will be earned through development charges, sale of MSRDC land and plots under its town-planning scheme and a premium on land and floor space index.

However, urban planning experts questioned the need to develop agriculture land. MSRDC estimates spending ₹12,099 crore to implement the DP with 138 reservations.

The plan states, “In order to attract younger wealth creators, apart from commercial uses permitted, the business zone shall host smart Fintech centres as per the Maharashtra FinTech Policy 2018.” The policy also aims to establish a Global Fintech Hub in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and make the state one of the top five fintech centres in the world in the next five years.

Planned 27 km from the Navi Mumbai International Airport, and another 13 km from the proposed multi-modal corridor, the business district will also be easy to access.

The CBD zone is proposed to be 130.45 hectares with a FSI of 4. Vijay Waghmare, joint managing director, MSRDC, said, “The CBD is one of the highlights of the plan. Apart from this, we have also proposed an international convention centre across 62 acres of land.”

According to an observation from the Confederation of India Industry, the move is good for industries, but power tariff needs to be “decent” for industries to set-up offices along the corridor.

Officials said the development plan is open to suggestions and objections from citizens till January 14, 2019.

Baghel sworn in as Chhattisgarh CM amid heavy rain

Against a backdrop of unity and camaraderie, Chhattisgarh Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

State Congress leaders TS Singh Deo and Tamradhwaj Sahu were also sworn-in as ministers at the ceremony which was scaled down in size due to intermittent rains in state capital Raipur.

The swearing-in ceremony was scheduled to be held at the Science College Grounds before continuing showers forced the administration to shift the venue.

A bevy of leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy attended the ceremony held at the Balbir Singh indoor stadium.

Gandhi also extended his greetings to former chief minister and BJP stalwart Raman Singh who was present on the occasion.

Baghel, third chief minister of the tribal-dominated state, now heads the first elected Congress government in Chhattisgarh since it was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.

While Ajit Jogi had helmed the first Congress government in the state, formed by virtue of larger numerical strength in the bifurcated house, Singh had led the BJP to three consecutive victories in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Credited with engineering a Congress revival, Baghel and Singh Deo led the party to victory in the recently concluded elections for the 90 member Assembly; thus bringing to an end a 15-year BJP rule in the state.

The Congress on Sunday named Baghel to head the state Congress Legislature Party. Baghel, who took charge as Congress state president Congress after 2013 assembly polls, was credited for the massive victory of the party in the recent Assembly polls where Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member House.

Cyclone Phethai batters coastal Andhra

Cyclone ‘Phethai’ left a trail of damage in coastal Andhra Pradesh, affecting crops and bringing in heavy rainfall. Incidents of uprooting of trees and electric poles were also reported from the affected areas. One person was reported dead in a landslide in Vijaywada. The government declared two-day holiday in educational institutions.

The cyclone struck East Godavari district around 12.30 pm, resulting in heavy rainfall, coupled with winds with speed of up to 80 km per hour. Standing crops were damaged on more than one lakh hectares in coastal districts of East and West Godavari, Krishna, Prakasam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.

Phethai had weakened before hitting Katrenikona coast in East Godavari. It is now moving in northeast direction towards Odisha. It is likely to develop into a deep depression. Krishna district collector B Lakshmi Kantham announced an immediate relief of Rs.50,000 to the family of the man who was killed in landslide. Meanwhile, two men and a woman reportedly died due to cold weather in Prakasam district. Phethai is the third cyclone to hit Andhra Pradesh in four months, after Gaza and Titli. The Real Time Governance Society issued instructions to the districts to be on alert till Tuesday evening. RTGS CEO Babu Rao said a total of 25,000 people were shifted to relief camps.

About 750 passengers were stranded as 14 flights from Visakhapatnam airport were affected. The South Central Railway cancelled 47 passenger trains. APSRTC also cancelled bus services in affected districts.

India & Maldives to Deepen Ties

India and the Maldives agreed to deepen cooperation to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean Region as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial assistance of up to $1.4 billion to the archipelago nation amid China’s increasing inroads in the region.

The financial assistance will be in the form of budgetary support, currency swap and concessional lines of credit for socio-economic projects in the Maldives to reduce the country’s dependence on China.

The announcement was made in Delhi following PM Modi’s summit meeting with the new President of Maldives, Ibu Solih, who was on his maiden state visit after his election.

India and the Maldives agreed to strengthen cooperation to enhance maritime security in the region through coordinated patrolling and aerial surveillance, exchange of information and capacity building.

“The two leaders reaffirmed their unwavering commitment and support for increased cooperation in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations both within the region and elsewhere,” said the joint statement issued following the summit.

Jointly addressing the media with Solih, the PM said after the summit: “President Solih and I agree that to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region, we need to deepen our cooperation. Both India and the Maldives share equal interest and stake in the development and stability of our region.” Modi said: “We will not allow the use of our countries to harm each other.”

HC convicts Sajjan for Sikh riots

Terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as “genocide” and a “crime against humanity”, the Delhi high court convicted 73-year old Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a riot case and sentenced him to jail “for the remainder of his natural life”.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel asked Kumar — the most high profile among six accused — to surrender before December 31 and not leave Delhi after taking note of the testimonies of three survivors who had named the ex-MP for leading and instigating a mob in November 1984, exhorting it to kill Sikhs, hours after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Kumar was convicted of conspiracy to murder, promoting enmity and acts against communal harmony. The CBI had reopened the case on the recommendation of the Nanavati Commission in 2005. Kumar’s lawyers said they would appeal against the order.

The HC said there was “a familiar pattern of mass killings since the Partition, including Mumbai in 1993, Gujarat in 2002 and Muzaffarnagar in 2013”. The common feature was the “targeting of minorities” with attacks being “spearheaded by the dominant political actors, facilitated by law enforcement agencies”.

Mumbai Coastal Road foundation stone laid by Sena chief Uddhav

The differences between the ruling BJP and the Sena in the state again came to the fore when the BJP boycotted the bhoomi pujan, or ground-breaking ceremony, of the Rs.12,721-crore coastal road between Princess Street and Worli.

The BJP decided to boycott the function because Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wasn’t invited. The foundation stone of the project, which will be constructed by the BMC, was laid by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

It was reliably learnt that the BMC had invited local BJP MLA Mangalprabhat Lodha to attend the function, but Lodha gave it a miss on the instructions of the party high command.

Thackeray laid the foundation stone at Amarsons Garden, Breach Candy, and was accompanied by his wife Rashmi, son and Yuva Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, city mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, south Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant, Mumbai city’s guardian minister Subhash Desai, and BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, among others.

Sources said the Sena had decided not to invite Fadnavis in retaliation for Thackeray not being sent a formal invitation for the Kalyan-Bhiwandi-Thane Metro’s foundation-stone-laying ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone of the Metro line on Tuesday.

However, Thackeray tried to play down the differences between the parties on the issue, and thanked both the central and state governments for giving speedy clearances to the project.

He also assured Mumbaikars that there would be no toll, nor would any other tax be imposed for using the Princess Street-to-Worli arm — a 9.98-km stretch expected to be completed within four years — of the 35.2-km long road along the city’s western coast, connecting south Mumbai to the northern suburb of Kandivali.

Bandra and Worli are already connected by sea link, and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation will construct another sea link connecting Bandra to Versova at a cost of Rs.11,000 crore. However, no decision has been taken yet on which agency will construct the Versova-Kandivali stretch.

Valley on the edge

Seven civilians were killed and many more injured when security forces opened fire on residents trying to disrupt a joint operation launched by the army and the police in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district in which three militants and a soldier died.

The killing of civilians in the village of Sirnoo triggered several protests in Pulwama , where people blocked roads at several places. The Internet was suspended in Central and South Kashmir amid concerns that protests could spill into other areas.

The slain militants included Zahoor Ahmed Thokar, a former soldier who later joined the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Residents of Sirnoo said the army and the Special Operation Group of Jammu and Kashmir police launched an operation against suspected militants on Saturday morning in the village, around two kilometres from Pulwama town, and killed three militants in a gunfight. One soldier was also killed in the operation and another injured.

The militants were holed up inside an orchard when the security forces launched the operation. As the operation was underway, locals headed towards the site of the shootout and threw stones on the security personnel. Army soldiers and the police retaliated with gunfire, killing one civilian on the spot.

Chief medical officer, Pulwama, Abdul Rashid Para said 32 people with injuries were brought to hospital. “Six succumbed to their injuries in hospital and 14 were referred to Srinagar,” he said. Locals blamed the army and the police for what a survivor described as avoidable gunfire.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered a probe into the deaths of the civilians. He appealed to people to stay away from encounter sites while directing divisional commissioner, Kashmir, to inquire into Saturday’s incident, an official spokesperson said. A police spokesman said the operation was launched on the basis of credible information that some militants were hiding in the orchard in Sirnoo. The militants in hiding opened fire on the security force engaged in the operation, triggering the shootout, the spokesman said.

Bodies of all the civilians were handed over to their families and buried in their villages amid protests.