No impact of APMC result in NMMC election

No impact of APMC result in NMMC election

Amit Srivastava

There will be no much impact on the election result of the agriculture produce market committee (APMC) Mumbai in the upcoming local body election of Navi Mumbai. The alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 15 out of 18 seats for which the election was held on February 29. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) supported candidates who failed to open its account.

The Mumbai APMC located in Vashi in Navi Mumbai is the nodal body of all 326 APMCs in the state.

Sanjay Pansare, who has been elected unopposed for the fruit market director said that the dynamics of the APMC election and local body election is different and there is less chance of its impact on the upcoming election of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) election which is scheduled in the third week of April. There are a total of 111 seats and BJP is at the power after former guardian minister Ganesh Naik along with its corporator defected to BJP.

However, Pansare said that the political parties will use this election result in local body elections. “The number of voters in the APMC election was hardly 18,000 and they cannot influence the result of the civic body,” said Pansare.

Ramchandra Gharat, BJP Navi Mumbai president said that he does not see any impact and there is no relation with the party of APMC election result. “I was shocked to see the media report that BJP lost the APMC election. I was not even aware of the election and BJP leader was present in the election campaign,” said Gharat.

Narednra Patil, a former MLC and Mathadi leader too felt that there would no impact of its result in the NMMC election. “There are sections of people who are trying to give political colour to APMC result by terming that MVA swept all the seats which is not true,” said Patil. He added that there were three candidates in Kanda-Batata (onion-potato) market where all of them had used Shard Pawar and Ajit Pawar photos in their campaign. So, can this be termed that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidates were fighting themselves? This is completely wrong analysis,” said Patil. He added neither senior leader from MVA nor did the BJP campaign for the APMC election.

Navi Mumbai Congress chief stops recreational centre work in Vashi, alleges BJP corporator

By Amit Srivastava

Dayavati Shewale, a Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) corporator from ward number 63 in Vashi has made a serious allegation against senior Congress leader Anil Kaushik. Shewale alleged that Kaushik used the urban development department through Thane district guardian minister Eknath Shinde and managed to get a stay order on the ongoing work of recreation centre for senior citizen at Meenatai Thackeray garden in sector 17 in Vashi for political mileage.

Shewale made the allegation during a press conference held at NMSA in Vashi on Thursday. Other senior BJP leader from the city including party’s city president Ramchandra Gharat, leader of the house in NMMC Ravindra Ithape and senior citizens of Vashi were present.

Sampat Shewale, former corporator, and husband of Dayawati Shewale said that the 70 percent work of recreation centre for senior citizens has already been completed. “The NMMC administration informed that the work of the recreation centre was stopped following order from the Guardian minister of Thane district,” alleged Shewale. He added that Guardian minister ordered stop work on the behest of local congress leaders especially Kaushik who does not want that the work of recreational centre completes and BJP corporator can take benefit in the upcoming civic election.

Shewale and his wife had won the last three elections from ward number 63 in Vash. “Since Kaushik lost the last three elections, he is using state government power to deprive the senior citizen of getting the facilitation centre,” said Shewale.

The standing committee of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation had passed the proposal in 2017. “Thre civic body had come up with a draft to develop recreation centre for senior citizens in the city’s garden in 2012. All procedures were followed to develop the recreation centre and it can accommodate 250 senior citizens once competed,” said Shewale.

Ramchandra Gharat, president of Navi Mumbai BJP said that they will bring calling attention motion in the general body of NMMC to raise the reason why the work was stopped and if they do not get a satisfactory reply, they will protest against it,” said Gharat. He added that the Mahavikas Aghadi is functioning on the behest of Congress party and this is evident that Shiv Sena leader and minister for urban development Eknath Shinde orders the stop work. Anil Kaushik was not available to comment

T20 of DYPSC starts in Nerul, 16 teams to participate

Amit Srivastava
The 16th edition of the D Y Patil T20 tournament kicked off at the cricket stadium of D Y Patil Sports Complex (DYPSC) in Nerul on Monday. A total of 16 teams are participating in the tournament that will see some of the prominent players like Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Aiyer, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey among others will be seen in action.

Vijay Patil, president of DYPSC and Mumbai Cricket Association inaugurated the T20 cricket tournament. The tournament will continue till March 6. There will be 31 matches played by 16 teams.
Patil said that the T20 tournament DYPSC is recognized as one of the prominent events after the Indian Premier League. “As several players from the international Indian team and domestic first-class teams are playing the tournament, the excitement level will be very high,” said Patil.

The 16 teams are participating in the tournament are D Y Patil A and B teams, Mumbai Customs, RBI, Income Tax, Reliance 1, Jain Irrigation, India Oil, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, CAG, Indian Navy, Air India, Western Railway, Central Railway, and BPCL. Most of the matches will be players at the DY Patil’s University ground and stadium and a couple of matches at RCP in Ghansoli. The entry to the 

NMMC election: A complete chaos over ticket distribution

Amit Srivastava

It is hardly two months left for the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) election 2020. However, political parties have yet not decided candidates. While the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has adopted a wait and watch formula, there is confusion in the Maha Vikas Aghadi of seat-sharing. 

As per the sources, all three parties namely Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena will retain the seat where they had won the 2015 election. However, the majority of the corporators of NCP have defected to BJP and they will contest the election with the BJP symbol. Similarly, there were sitting Congress corporators who had defected to BJP are seeking more than one seat. As BJP does not give more than one ticket in a single-family, corporators who defected to BJP are now planning to go back to their previous party. There are also possibilities that in a single-family, their members may contest from three different parties.

Since both Congress and NCP saw the defection of corporators from the party, they will have to find new candidates. While there is no clarity in the NCP, the Congress witnessed infighting over ticket distribution as several sitting corporators had demanded tickets for family members. 

Early this week, around five corporators from Turbhe who earlier joined the BJP after leaving NCP have now defected to the Shiv Sena. Now, the old party workers in the Turbhe area have reportedly opposed it and they claimed that the development has dented their chance to get a ticket despite there are working for the party for many years. They alleged that these five corporators always worked against the party and their inclusion will impact severely in the upcoming election. 

As per the sources, most of the parties will take a call of ticket distribution after Holi in March second week. “Candidates will be given very little time to file nomination and prevent the chance of defection,” said a senior party leader from the BJP. However, candidates are worried a lot as they will get very little time for election preparation. A BJP worker from Nerul said that they had received assurance of ticket but has been asked to not open their office or the start campaign. He says that despite he has received assurance, he is not sure he will get the ticket. “If the party has decided my name, what is the problem in starting the campaign,” said the party worker

Two held for making rifles after watching videos on YouTube

Two held for making rifles after watching videos on YouTube

Amit Srivastava

The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch arrested two persons for allegedly making and carrying country-made rifles on February 18 in Panvel. The duo by profession a carpenter and an electrician learned the process of making rifles after watching videos on YouTube. They had already sold around five rifles.

Acting on a tip-off received from reliable sources, the crime branch of Navi Mumbai police caught them with 10 country-made rifles and two live cartridges near Danphata along the Old Mumbai-Pune road in Panvel area. They were coming to Navi Mumbai to deliver the rifles in a motorbike.

The duo identified as Parshuram Raghav Pirkad, 40, a resident of Nanavali in Khalapur and carpenter by profession and Dattaram Govind Pandit, 55, a resident of Kharwndi in Karjat and an electrician by profession.

Pravinkumar Patil, deputy commissioner of Police (crime branch) said that ten country-made rifles, two cartridges, one motorbike, and a mobile phone were found when they were caught. “In the initial investigation, we came to know that they learned the art of making rifles from videos on YouTube. They had already sold around five rifles between Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 each,” said Gowekar. He added that after carrying out raids at their village in Raigad district, they also seized materials to be used in making the rifles. According to the official, the same make original rifle is available at Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh in the market.

They have been arrested under sections 3, 5 and 25 of the Arms Act and 37 (1) and 135 of the

Maharashtra Police Act. “They are in this illegal act for around one year and they were on the way to deliver the rifles,” added Gowekar.

Infighting over ticket distribution in Congress for NMMC election

While the Congress party witnessed a brutal defeat in the Delhi election and failed to open its account, the dynasty politics has come to the fore for the Navi Mumbai’s local body election. The party is facing infighting over ticket distribution as sitting corporators are demanding tickets for family members in the upcoming Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) election, claimed sources.

Buoyed over getting power in the state along with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress workers in Navi Mumbai are fighting to get tickets for family members in the upcoming civic election of NMMC. They believe that their probability of getting elected is high as Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the coalition of three parties namely Congress, NCP, and the Shiv Sena will fight the election together.

As per the sources, a section of sitting corporators from the Congress party in NMMC is demanding tickets for their family members. “As three parties of MVA will fight the election together, the 111 seats of NMMC will be distributed among them,” said party worker, requested anonymity. He added that in the present scenario, there are limited seats available for the party.

However, there are sitting corporators and senior members who are demanding tickets for their wife and son. 

Unfortunately, senior party leaders in Mumbai are not aware about the situation. Sachin Sawant, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson said that he has no idea about it and he will certainly look into it.