Ex-corporator among 2 held for RTI activist's murder

October 17, 2016

Mumbai, Oct 17: Two persons, including a former corporator, were arrested this morning by Mumbai Police in connection with the murder of a 72-year-old RTI activist.

RTI "Amjad Khan (53) and his father Razzaq Khan (78) were arrested today morning on charges of murder of Bhupendra Vira. Razzak was earlier a corporator in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It looks like a land dispute led to the Khans killing Vira," Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Dudhe said.

Razzaq Khan is former corporator of Congress from Santacruz area. Vira, who had been fighting against land mafia, unauthorized structures and encroachments in and around Kalina, was shot dead at point blank range on Saturday night when he was watching TV at his residence in suburban Santacruz.

The shooter is suspected to have used a silencer, as Vira'a wife, who despite being in the house claimed that she did not hear anything, a police official involved in the probe said.

Police had earlier said they were inquiring if Vira had approached them with any complaint - that he faced threat to his life. The activist is survived by a daughter and two sons.

Social activist and former AAP leader Anjali Damania, who had worked with Vira, yesterday said he was attached to 'Voice of Kalina', an advanced locality management (ALM) body and a citizen's group.

Describing him as committed social worker, Damania had said, "Vira along with other members of the ALM were fighting against encroachments, illegal structures and land mafia in and around Kalina by filing RTIs. He had written several letters to authorities including, Lokayukta, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and police, seeking action against illegal structures."

According to her, several activists had received threats and many of them, including Vira, had filed several complaints at Vakola police station in this regard.

She said that on Saturday morning, Vira had persuaded the BMC authorities to issue four notices to a local goon living in the same area.

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Dalit family in MP forced to live in toilet

Agencies

July 25,2020

Tikamgarh, Jul 25: Promise of providing housing to the poor has been made by both Centre as well as State governments but a Dalit family in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh is forced to live in a toilet for the last several years.

However, the administration denied that the family is living in the toilet.

Maganlal Ahirwar, his wife and four children live in Keshavgarh Gram Panchayat of Mohangarh area of Tikamgarh district. All of them have been living in the toilet for four years. Ahirwar's wife Phula Devi said she told the authorities several times that her family didn't get house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, but no one listened. The couple even got their daughter married in the same toilet.

They even got an electricity connection and gas connection under the Ujjwala scheme.

Mohangarh tehsildar Dr. Abhijeet Singh told media persons, "I got to know about the case and have asked for the report. Maganlal Ahirwar came to the office two-three days ago and denied that he was living in the toilet with his family. He has an ancestral house in the village."

He might have lived in a toilet earlier but currently he is not living there, Dr. Singh added.

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Mumbai hotel fire doused after 3 hours: 24 doctors rescued

Agencies

May 28,2020

Mumbai, May 28: Twenty four doctors and three others staying in a south Mumbai hotel were rescued after a major fire broke out in the five-storey building, officials said on Thursday.

The BMC has arranged temporary accommodation for emergency and essential service staffers, including doctors and nurses, in various hotels and lodges in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This hotel is one such facility.

The fire broke out at Hotel Fortune near Metro Cinema late Wednesday night and was brought under control after nearly three hours early Thursday, fire brigade officials said.

“The fire spread from the first to the third floor of the hotel, a fire brigade official told PTI. It was a level-2 fire and eight fire engines were rushed to the spot, he added.

The fire was confined to the electric wiring and cables in the electrical duct, false ceiling in the lobby and the common passages on the first, second and third floors of the hotel, he said.

The 24 rescued were resident doctors at a local hospital who were provided temporary accommodation in the hotel, while the three others were guests of the hotel, he said.

The fire broke out at 11 am and wasbrought under control at 1.40 am, the official said. Cooling operation is underway at the hotel, he added.

Five doctors were rescued using fire brigade ladders and breathing apparatus sets, the official said.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, the fire brigade official said.

On April 21, a major fire broke out in a lodging room of Hotel Ripon near Mumbai Central, which was being used as a quarantine facility by the civic body.

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