2 die as bike hits divider on JJ flyover

The young men were pitched under the wheels of a Honda CRV.

Two men, both in their twenties, died after their motorcycle lost control at a sharp turn on J J Flyover and crashed into a Honda CRV travelling in the opposite direction. 

Nitin Subash Paatre, 25, and Siddesh Ashok Kadam, 23, were on their way to visit Babulnath temple in Walkeshwar on the eve of Mahashivratri on Wednesday when the accident happened. Paatre, a resident of Kalwa, had picked up Kadam from his home in Dadar. 

At around 11 pm that day, the two men were speeding towards CST when Paatre, who was sitting in front riding the bike, lost control. The two-wheeler bumped into the road divider and the two men were pitched under the wheels of a Honda CRV which was coming down the other side of the road. The accident happened at a sharp turn at Mandvi Post Office. 

The two were taken to J J Hospital but were declared dead on arrival. The driver of the CRV Vijay Shinde, 29, told cops that the victims were driving rashly on the flyover. Paatre, who was driving the two-wheeler, has been booked by the Pydhonie police for negligence. 

Over just Wednesday and Thursday, the Pydhonie traffic division booked 154 and 171 motorcyclists, respectively, as two-wheelers are not allowed on the flyover. 

"Bikers are not allowed on the flyover because of the sharp turns on the road. We keep a regular surveillance to keep them away from the bridge to prevent such incidents. The post mortem of the bodies was conducted at J J hospital after which they were handed over to their respective families," said a policeman. 

Dr Nitin Bavrekar, Medical Supretendent of J J Hospital said: "The deceased were brought dead to the hospital with deep injuries in the head and other parts of their body." 

JJ biker deaths 

On February 15, Naresh Naik (21) and Ashok Valmiki (22) got on to the flyover from the CST end at 5.30 pm on a motorcycle. A flat tyre flung both off the vehicle, but they escaped without serious injuries. Police charged them with rash driving. 

On January 15, 2013, a 25-year-old freelance photographer Dhaval Ashar, a resident of Lamington road, died on the flyover, while riding a bike from Fort towards Byculla. 

On September 22, 2012, two college students were killed when their motorcycle crashed into a taxi on the flyover at 8.30pm. Dilpesh Rawal (20) and Bhavin Jain (19) were both students of KPB Hinduja College at Charni Road. 

Between 2005 and 2010, 31 people were killed and 66 injured on the JJ flyover, most of them motorcyclists.

A hero’s death

INS Sindhuratna after it was brought to the naval dockyard late on Thursday evening for inspection and repairs (inset) Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal and Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar

Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal first noticed the fire. He called Lieutenant Kumar to help him contain it and asked everybody else on the sub to evacuate.

Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal and Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar, the two officers who died in Wednesday's mishap on board Sindhuratna submarine, laid down their lives while trying to make sure everybody else on the sub made it to safety. 

According to initial investigations and survivor accounts, Lt Commander Muwal was the first to notice smoke in the sailors' chamber and his immediate reaction was to alert others on board and direct everybody else in the chamber to leave. 

He then radioed Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar to help him contain the fire. Lieutenant Kumar rushed to Lieutenant Commander Muwal's help, even as he initiated evacuation process and instructed that the sub be raised to the surface. 

As the two officers tried to contain the fire using fire extinguishers and waited for an all-clear signal from their colleagues, sources said they choked on an unsanctioned quantity of Freon gas released from the fire extinguishers. 

The sub took around 20 minutes to rise to the surface and rest of the crew was air lifted to Naval Dockyard. Lt Commander Muwal and Lt Commander Kumar, however, did not emerge from the sailors' chamber and were declared missing. Their bodies were found on Thursday when the sub was toed to the dockyard for inspection and repairs. 

Sindhuratna is a Kilo-class Russian-made submarine and Freon is commonly used as fire suppressant in these subs. 

Naval sources revealed that Freon has different chambers through which it travels to different compartments. However, in INS Sindhuratna case the two officers restricted the gas circulation to the chamber from which they were operating. 

Naval spokesperson Commander Rahul Sinha said: "Whatever happened on board INS Sindhuratna is difficult to reconstruct at the moment, but it will come up before the inquiry team." 

The post-mortem of the two naval officers was conducted at JJ Hospital by medical officers of the Coroner's Court under commander Navneet Nath of INHS Asvini. The team that conducted the post-mortem said that the bodies are charred and have started decomposing already. 

A case in this regard has been registered with the Yellow Gate police. On Friday, a wreath laying ceremony will be held at INHS Asvini, said sources.

Lathi charge outside Mantralaya as protestors turn violent

Platoons of the State Reserve Police resorted to a mild lathi charge when protestors from the Lahuji Shakti Sena staged a rasta roka opposite Mantralaya on Wednesday. Around 2.30 pm, 300 to 400 protestors blocked traffic from both directions. The cops asked the protesters to relent, following which a few of them became violent, forcing the SRPF lathi-charge them. 

"SRPF platoons had to resort to a mild lathi charge as some of the protestors got aggressive and even manhandled cops when they asked to call off the protest. We picked up around 30 people for questioning," said Additonal Commissioner of Police Krishna Prakash. 

Two protestors suffered severe injuries and were rushed to the G T Hospital and St George Hospital. Four women protestors who suffered minor injuries were given first aid. 

The protestors, who are from the Mathang community, said they had organised a protest at Azad Maidan on Wednesday afternoon, for which around 1,200 people from all over the state had arrived in the city. Their demands include job reservations for the Mathang community and the erection of a statue of freedom fighter Lahuji Salve in the Vidhan Bhavan. 

Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria called a delegation of the party to his office to discuss the the issue, after which the situation was defused.

Post-graduate among 32,000 to get auto licenses

♦ The permits were granted after an online lottery which was webcast live by RTO officials ♦ CCTV cameras monitored the entire process for transparency

A post-graduate in history was among the 32,000 Mumbai metropolitan residents who received permits to ply new autorickshaws in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai. The permits were granted after an online lottery which was webcast live by the RTO. CCTV cameras monitored the lottery process for transparency. 

Khar resident Shivshankar Mishra, who holds a PG degree from Gorakhpur university, came to Mumbai in 1985. "I used to work as a clerk with a stock broking firm in Andheri before becoming an auto driver in 1994," he said, adding that despite his qualifications, he had to settle for the profession he did as there were not too many jobs available back then. 

Claiming he enjoyed being an auto driver, Mishra said his profession in no way affected the quality of education his two daughters and his son received. Brijesh, Mishra's only son, is a chartered accountant in a South Mumbai firm. "I will soon give up the khaki uniform worn by drivers and don the white shirt and pant worn by owners," Mishra said, proudly. 

Ashok Yadav, 43, Prem Sagar, 44, Devendra Nadar, 32, also received autorickshaw licenses in the lottery. All of them have passed Class X. Yadav, a Kandivali resident said, "I will save about 10000 a month on the money that I pay my auto owner today. This will help me provide for my family." Sagar, who has been driving autos in Mumbai for the past 20 years, said: "I never thought of owning an auto some day. The online lottery made it possible for me." 

The new, grateful license holders claim they will not refuse passengers. "We will not have to spend on paying the owner. So that will give us a bigger margin and we can take risks," Devendra Nadar, a Goregaon resident who hails from Tamil Nadu, said. More than 1.70 lakh applications were received for the 81,456 autorickshaw permits (for the entire state) that were granted online, the winners declared through a computerised random lottery. Mumbai had received about 75,000 applications at its Andheri and Wadala RTOs. 

The chief minister, who heads the transport department, launched the lottery process in a symbolic function. The actual lottery took place at the Andheri RTO. 

"We got a tremendous response from some RTOs. However, in some RTOs like Pen, the number of permits to be issued was less than number of applicants," said VN More, state transport commissioner.

"If any winner submits incorrect or faulty documents, they will be disqualified and the waitlisted people will be considered," More said.

BMC announces extra Rs 1 crore development fund for each corporator

The civic administration has announced an additional Rs 1 crore for each BMC corporator as part of their development fund in a pre-election bonanza, surprising all. This is besides their local fund, which is Rs 60 lakh per year. 

Some corporators are calling the increased amount a bribe of sorts by municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte to ensure that the civic standing committee and the general body approve the civic budget without any hiccups. The administration wants to ensure that the budget is approved before the election code of conduct comes into place. The standing committee approved the budget on Wednesday, while the general body is likely to pass it later this week. 

"We had asked the municipal commissioner to give us more funds and are glad that our demand has been approved. Many development works can now be taken up. We will also request the administration to allow corporators to undertake works in private layouts, at least in slum-free wards. I'm sure the entire fund will be used," said Rahul Shewale, Chairman of the civic Standing Committee. 

While corporators are happy with the bonus, some of them said that with two elections due in the coming months, they will not be able to use the sanctioned amount with the code of conduct in place. 

"Its good that more development fund has been sanctioned this year. Most corporators will be able to take up more development works for the benefit of citizens. However, the BMC must plan more at the micro-level rather than announcing blanket policies or just sanctioning funds," said Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party group leader in the BMC.

BMC clears projects worth more than Rs 1,800 crore

less than a week after passing proposals worth Rs 1,000 crore, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Standing Committee on Wednesday passed 68 proposals totalling Rs 1,800 crore in just 90 minutes. 

The Committee meeting that was scheduled for 3 pm, started well in advance around 1.30 pm and ended at 3.15 pm. Committee members spent just 15 minutes to discuss other issues before passing all 68 proposals before them. 

The agenda was circulated on Tuesday night to all members, but no one asked why the Committee had sent these proposals in bulk. Even during the meeting, not a single corporator from the Opposition raised question about the hurry. 

Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party group leader, said the Standing Committee is approving these proposals hurriedly, but there is nothing wrong in doing so. "All proposals are for important civic works. All projects have to commence before the monsoons, like cleaning of storm water drains and roads," he said. 

Among the proposals cleared on Friday were the Rs 450-crore roads tenders for western and eastern suburbs, which includes repair and maintenance. Five days later, the committee again approved proposals worth Rs 1,200 crore. 

Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shewale defended the move saying the proposals were for the city's infrastructure. "There were several proposals for projects at the ward level. If we would not have passed them as soon as possible, they would have got stuck once the Election Commission's model code of conduct kicks into force," said Shewale.

Gap trap: Late-night tests help Railways find optimal height for platforms

From top: An RDSO expert records readings from sensors fitted to the compartment (below) to measure the distance between the platform and the footboard; An RDSO expert attaches a sensor to a compartment

Experts from Lucknow-based RDSO join railway officials and the HC-appointed committee to plug gap trap.

Two weeks after the Bombay High Court slammed the Western Railway (WR) and the Central Railway (CR) on the issue of the killer gaps between suburban railway platforms and train footboards, the railways on Monday launched a study to find out whether the height of the platforms could be raised beyond the maximum prescribed 920 mm. 

The test rides are conducted from 11 pm to 3 am between Churchgate and Borivali, and involve a team from Lucknow-based Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) along with a 14-member team formed by the High Court. 

In its observation on February 13, the High Court referred to a committee formed in 2011 in the wake of a public interest litigation filed in 2007. 

Sudhir Badami, a civil engineer from IIT-Bombay with 40 years of professional experience, who was a member of that committee, had recommended in May 2012 that railways increase the height of platforms to 1,200 mm from the current range of 760-840 mm. Badami told the court that the railways hadn't even considered his recommendations. 

Following Mumbai Mirror's Gap Trap campaign, Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha told the railways that, at times, they should listen to other people as well (High Court slams CR, WR for 'know-it-all' replies on killer gap, MM, February 14). "Why are you sticking to the 920 mm limit? You must try and find out the optimum upper limit to which the height of the platforms can be increased," the court asked. 

The test rides 

A 12-coach train is used for the test rides, and three of its bogies are fitted with sensors to calculate the distance between the footboard and the platform. The readings are taken when the train zips past the stations at top speed, as well as when it is stationary. 

One of the bogies is stuffed with sand bags and rubble to ensure it weighs 36 tonnes (representing a jampacked compartment), the second bogie is partially loaded while the third is kept empty. The train leaves Churchgate station at 11 pm and the readings are taken at Charni Road, Grant Road, Parel, Elphinstone Road, Vile Parle, Dadar and Andheri, where height of the platforms has been raised to 920 mm. 

On Monday, a Siemens-manufactured train equipped with air spring suspension was used for the test ride, and it clocked the top speed of 100 kmph. Over the next two days, an older rake and bogies of a long-distance train were used. 

A WR official said that the RDSO experts from the Testing, Track and Carriage Directorate were involved in the drive, and the timing will not affect the schedule. "We have selected nine platforms whose height has been raised to 920 mm," the official said. 

The 1,200mm problem 

On Monday, the railway officials found that the sensors were damaged at Charni Road, while sensors were found damaged at Elphinstone Road station the next day. At Charni Road, an investigation revealed the platform's height was, in fact, 970 mm because of a cement layer. Even at Andheri, where the platforms' height has been raised to 920 mm, there was very little gap left between the footboard and the platform, the investigation revealed. 

"There was a loud noise as the train passed Charni Road and emergency brakes had to be applied. The height of the platform was 970 mm. It seems unlikely that we will be able to raise the platforms' height to 1,200 mm, but further tests, using wooden planks to raise the platforms' height, will be done," a senior railway official said, adding that there have been discussions with Sudhir Badami. 

The risks 

The aim of these test rides is to find out whether trains will brush the platforms if their height is increased among other things. A senior railway official said, "Several factors have to be considered, such as the tracks could sink during rains, and also the wear and tear of the wheels. The RDSO will submit its recommendations, based on which a detailed report will be prepared and we will have a meeting with the HC-appointed committee around March 2."