Mumbai cop damages businessman's car

A constable, who was recently promoted and made a sub-inspector at Pant Nagar Police Station, Ghatkopar, Mumbai, allegedly damaged the car of a Kandivali-based businessman and made an attempt to cover up the crime by misusing his power.

The officer has now gone on casual leave. According to businessman Bharat Saraf, on Tuesday he was driving on the Marol-Maroshi Road, from Aarey Road towards Marol BEST depot. He said, There was a BEST bus to my right. As soon as it stopped, I overtook it. A person in civilian clothes was riding a motorcycle on my left. As I was overtaking the bus, he tried to overtake me without any prior indication. Since I did not allow him to do so, he had to stop behind the bus.

According to Saraf, the rider, who he later realised was a plainclothes policeman named Deepak Pawar, followed him for a bit, pulled up next to him and began banging on his window angrily. I ignored him as people in this city often do such things in a fit of rage. But this man kept following me, until both of us stopped further down the road. There, he got off his bike, picked up a wooden ladder lying by the road and used it to smash my cars windscreen.

He demanded that I get out of the car, so that he could beat me. He kept yelling that he was a policeman and that no one should interfere, added Saraf. When Saraf lowered his car window, the constable allegedly slapped him four times. I am a policeman, come out so I can thrash you. What do you think of yourself, driving around in an air-conditioned car? is what Pawar kept repeating, alleged Saraf.

Not done with assaulting him, Pawar climbed on the cars bonnet and smashed the windscreen and roof of the Honda City with his knee. After a crowd gathered in Saraf's support, he approached the MIDC police, who registered a complaint in their Traffic Accident Diary (TAD).

When contacted, Senior Inspector Deepak Bagwe of the MIDC Police Station said, "The constable broke the windscreen of the complainants car. We registered an entry in the TAD as the complainant was not interested in pursuing the matter and lodging an NC."

A policeman on condition of anonymity said, When I spoke to him, he told me he was involved in an accident, and had injured his knee and leg, but refused to elaborate on how the accident took place. The injuries, however, are consistent with the description of what has happened. Pawar's senior officer, DCP Zone VII Rajkumar Vhatkar said, I am not aware of the matter, but I will enquire into it.

Day after Ashok Chavan's promise, 16 skywalks nixed

Mumbai: The authorities have been quick on the feet to cancel 16 skywalks in the city just a day after chief minister Ashok Chavan said the government would review unfeasible skywalks.

The skywalks are being cancelled due to local resistance, though they are techno-economically feasible, said an official at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) — under which 61 skywalks are being constructed.
Among the areas where skywalks have been cancelled are Mahim and Mahalaxmi. “While in Mahim, residents and the MLA had differences regarding the alignment of the skywalk, in Mahalaxmi, it would have posed a problem for the proposed third phase of the metro rail. In the other places, the problems pertained to permission from civic and railway authorities,” said Ashwini Bhide, joint metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA. The priority now, he said, is to complete 17 skywalks before May 31.
About the Santacruz (East) skywalk not being useful enough since it does not cross the Western Express Highway, Bhide said the authority was considering to extend it beyond the highway, but “it may take time since several permissions will be needed, including one from the traffic department”. “Our target is to complete the project by May end. But we can continue extending some skywalks as per need.”
The skywalk project — the brainchild of Ratnakar Gaikwad, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA — has been planned at a cost of Rs1,481 crore. The first skywalk, in Bandra (East), was a big hit, but the others were met by growing opposition. At present, 17 skywalks are fully or partially open, and 17 are under construction.

Crackdown on drunk driving; 40 detained

Traffic police drive comes ahead of civic polls, in wake of increasing complaints
In a major crackdown on drunken driving ahead of the civic polls, the traffic wing of the Navi Mumbai Police has arrested 40 persons for driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol. The drive which began since Monday evening will continue till April 12, the day counting of votes for the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) takes place.
"The drive began since Monday evening with an objective to keep a tab on anti-social activities during elections," ACP (Traffic) Shrikant Dhivare said. The drive has been undertaken in the entire Navi Mumbai.
It has been observed that there is a steep increase in cases of traffic rule violations during elections. "We want to keep the situation under control and prevent any untoward incident during the polls," Dhivare said. Recently, city police had seized a huge consignment of liquor brought to the city from the places like Diu, Daman and Madhya Pradesh. Police officials believe that the stock of the liquor is brought to the city to be distributed among voters and party workers during campaigning.

Mumbai’s Little-Used Sea Highway

India’s first sea highway was thrown open to motorists in July amid much brouhaha, expectations and swelling pride — “engineering marvel,” “dream ride” and “landmark” were some words used to describe the Bandra-Worli Sealink.
Eight months later, with four additional lanes but surprisingly little traffic, the euphoria is muted.
Analysts wonder if there is a need for the new lanes when the original four are rarely jammed. Motorists who use the bridge have found it to be mostly empty, with a vast majority of drivers reluctant to pay the $1 toll — which is about the price of a meal at an average restaurant in the city.
“I think MSRDC overestimated the number of commuters who would use the sealink,” said Gaurav Dua, infrastructure analyst and head of research at Sharekhan, an online share-trading portal.
Maharashtra State Regional Development Corporation, or MSRDC, the state agency in charge of the sealink, claims otherwise.
The state agency’s estimates for traffic plying on the sealink in the first three years was pegged at more than 50,000 passenger car units a day, according to S.M. Sabnis, the agency’s chief engineer. Those expectations have been quite exact so far, he said. The sealink, according to him, logs traffic of 45,000 to 50,000 cars per day.
The bridge has a capacity of 75,000 passenger cars at a time, with one bus being equivalent to three passenger cars.
“Our revenue estimate for the first three years was 750 million rupees per year,” Mr. Sabnis said. “We have contracted out the toll collection at the sealink and receive 2 million rupees per day, in revenue.”
Sharekhan’s Mr. Dua said that the sealink, which was built as a respite to commuters traveling from north to south Mumbai, does not serve its purpose. “I think the traffic on the sealink is much lower than 45,000 cars a day,” he said.
Like many other well-intentioned projects in India, the sealink — meant to ease congestion at Mahim causeway and decrease travel time — is a victim of poor planning, particularly at its exit points, by infrastructure and state officials. Logjams at the Worli exit are not a rare sight, causing a 2.8-kilometer drive to Mahalakshmi station to take as much as an hour during peak times.
“I know many people who would rather commute through Mahim because of the bottleneck on both sides of the sealink,” Mr. Dua said. “To increase its usage and make travel more efficient, we have to ensure that bottlenecks are sorted out. Otherwise, it makes no sense to take the sealink.”
The highway is one of many infrastructure projects underway in India, which the government hopes will boost and maintain the country’s economic growth rate. It is banking on private players like GMR Infra, L&T, Punj Lloyd and Jai Prakash Associates to fund development, since India’s public and private sector banks are already stretched.
At a conference in New Delhi two weeks ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India needed to boost its infrastructure spending to $1 trillion over a five-year period beginning April 1, 2012. The 2010-2011 Union Budget provides 1735.52 billion rupees ($38.49 billion) for infrastructure development.
According to research by Sharekhan, India will need to invest 10 trillion to 12 trillion rupees ($222-266 billion) on roads in the next decade and build close to 35,000 to 40,000 kilometers of highways and expressways.
The government of India presently plans to spend 12 billion rupees ($266 million) on building 20 kilometers of road, per day.

Highway mishap claims four lives

PUNE: Four people, including a truck driver and a cleaner, were killed and seven injured in an accident involving two trucks, a tanker and a tourist car. The incident took place at Tathawade on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass, about 15 kms from Pune, at 1.45 am on Wednesday.

Three passengers and the driver of the tourist car, which was heading towards Pune, were injured in the mishap. They were identified as Raghunath Dyandev Awate (40) of Mumbai, his relative Soni Ganesh Mane (4) of Karmala in Solapur district and Nitin Dyandev Shinde (35) of Bhivandi.

The police were yet to ascertain in which truck the other two deceased were travelling.

Wednesday's was the third road mishap in as many days. Ten people were killed and 9 injured when a multi-utility vehicle hit a trailer and overturned near the Katraj tunnel on Monday. Four people were killed and seven injured when their SUV collided with a truck on the Pune-Solapur highway at Yevat on Tuesday.

In Wednesday's mishap, two bodies were stuck in the cabin of one of the trucks and the police had to cut it open to remove them.

The accident caused a major traffic jam on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass for about an hour.

The Hinjewadi police have identified the deceased as Tanaji Dinkar Kumbhar (25) of Kalina, Mumbai; Tejashri Pralhad Mohite (35) of Chembur, Mumbai; Sandip Bhimrao Khuje (25) of Sangli and Ajappa alias Satappa Irgar (25) of Belgaum, Karnataka.

Balshe Sidhappa Teli (24) of Karnataka, Pritam Jagannath Khalkar (25) of Karad in Satara district and Indrajit Sambhaji Mohite (45) of Sangli sustained severe injuries. They were travelling in the trucks, and have been admitted to the ICU of a private hospital.

Senior police inspector Ganpat Madgulkar of the Hinjewadi police station told TOI that one truck, loaded with chillies and vegetables, was on its way to Mumbai from Belgaum. When it came near the Sai petrol station at Tathawade, its driver, Ajappa Irgar, lost control over the vehicle and hit the road divider, leading to the bursting of the front tyres. The truck skidded into the opposite lane towards Pune and rammed a truck, loaded with scrap, that was heading for Kolhapur. The taxi, which was also proceeding towards Pune, hit the scrap truck and went off the road.

Pramod Vasant Chavan (30) of Sangvi, who was driving the car, which was heading towards Pune, rammed the scrap truck and went off the road. A tanker filled with a chemical, which was just behind the car, rammed both the trucks. The driver of the tanker sustained minor injuries.

The driver of the truck loaded with vegetables Irgar died on the spot and cleaner Balshe Teli sustained severe injuries. Indrajit Mohite, the driver of the truck loaded with scrap sustained severe injuries. However, the cleaner, Sandip Khuje, died on the spot.

"Both the drivers of the trucks had taken passengers. We suspect that Tejashri Mohite and Tanaji Kumbhar, who died in the mishap, were travelling in the truck," Madgulkar said.

Additional commissioner of police Dhananjay Kamalakar and deputy commissioner of police (zone-III) Mahesh Patil visited the spot.