Vol. 66 No. 89 | FRIDAY | AUGUST 12, 2022 | 18 Pages | Sunrise: 06:19 am Sunset : 07:08 pm THE FP BULLETIN CATTLE SCAM: TMC LEADER HELD I n a fresh jolt to Trinamool Congress, party strongman Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the CBI in a cattle smuggling case on Thursday. Mondal, who was arrested from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district, West Bengal, after an hour-long interrogation, was sent to CBI custody till August 20. 4 ARMYMEN KILLED IN TERROR ATTACK F our Army personnel on Thursday succumbed to injuries received while neutralising two terrorists carrying out a suicide bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri. Notably, the attack comes a day after three LeT terrorists were neutralised by security forces in Budgam. FREEBIES: SC WON’T ACT AGAINST PARTIES T he Supreme Court said on Thursday that it won’t encroach upon the sphere of legislature but will hear the case on freebies offered by political parties. It said this despite the Centre submitting that the court pass directions in the matter. SPLIT WIDE OPEN SENSEX RALLIES 515 POINTS TO RECLAIM 59000-MARK SANJAY JOG MUMBAI The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which ruled Maharashtra until the rebel Shiv Sainiks pulled the rug from under Uddhav Thackeray’s feet, is finally headed for an absolute split. The cause for the turmoil is the Shiv Sena’s unilateral move to recommend party legislator Ambadas Danve’s name for the post of leader of opposition (LoP) in the state council. The Congress party, which was a junior partner Bail for bldg owner who lost family of 9 2021 MALVANI BUILDING COLLAPSE URVI MAHAJANI/MUMBAI The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Mohammed Rafique Siddique, the owner of a Malvani building that crashed on an adjoining structure last year. Siddique lost nine family members, including his wife, brother, sister-in-law and six children, in the incident. While granting bail, Justice Bhati Dangre observed that the applicant, in any case, cannot be held responsible for the “rash and negli- gent act, resulting in the collapse where he himself lost his family members”. The court, however, said that Siddiqui “may face the consequences of the trial when the prosecution will establish and connect him to the grave and negligent act”. On April 9, 2021, the eightyear-old two-storeyed structure in Malvani West collapsed on the adjoining building, killing 12 persons, including nine members of Sid. diqui’s family CONTD. ON NATION PAGE OTT GAVE ME BETTER SCOPE THAN TV OR FILMS TO EXPLORE ACTING: CYRUS Is MVA headed for the final snap? State Congress president Nana Patole’s statement that the coalition in the former state government was ‘not natural’ may just prove the BJP right in the former state government, claimed on Thursday that its tripartite alliance with the Shiv Sena and the NCP was not “natural” and permanent. Party state president Nana Patole said they have decided to go solo in the upcoming urban and rural body elections, and that every party has the right to strengthen its or- ganisation. Patole said, “The MVA alliance had taken place in an situation extraordinary with the sole objective of keeping the BJP out of power.” The Congress had also staked its claim on the LoP post, but the legislature secretariat released the gazette notification recognising Danve’s appointment. Even the NCP is miffed that the Shiv Sena didn’t discuss the appointment among allies. Patole hinted that under these circumstances the continuation of MVA is questionable. He said, “Whoever may be the choice for LoP, the discussion should have taken place.” CONTD. ON NATION PAGE CITY POTHOLES TOO EXPENSIVE TO FILL KALPESH MHAMUNKAR MUMBAI Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner and the potholes on city roads are still gaping. With no bidders for the tenders that it had floated, the BMC is now bending backwards and relaxing the conditions to attract contractors. In the previous tender, the civic body had kept 50 per cent of the project amount as defect liability, in case the potholes reappear soon after filling. This amount has now The BMC has relaxed the conditions for tenders after zero response been reduced to 10 per cent. It had decided to fill all potholes on priority with two new mixtures – geopolymer and rapid hardening technology – as Ganeshotsav will be celebrated with large processions after a gap of two years. The BMC had recently invited tenders worth Rs 5 crore for the project and mentioned that Rs 3 crore will be spent on the roads in the western suburbs, Rs 1 crore will be reserved for the eastern suburbs, and another Rs 1 crore will be for the city. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE fice branches where one has a savings bank account. The subscribers of the scheme get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month after attaining 60 years of age depending on their contribution. The new notification has clarified that the APY account will be closed for IT payers who join the scheme on or after October 1 and their accumulated pension wealth will be returned to them. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Are you an IT payer? Doors to Atal Pension closed from Oct 1 FPJ BUSINESS BUREAU MUMBAI The Finance Ministry has significantly modified the eligibility criteria for enrolling into the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), and notified that in- come tax (IT) payers will not be allowed to join the scheme from October 1. The notification will not apply to subscribers who have joined on or before September 30, 2022. The much-hyped social sewas scheme curity introduced by the NDA government on June 1, 2015 as a social security measure for the unorganised sector but was kept open to all Indian , citizens. Currently everyone in the 18-40 age group can join APY through banks or post of- Aarey depot speeding to April ’23 deadline PIC: SALMAN ANSARI 310c. 240c. EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper SWEETY ADIMULAM MUMBAI The state government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the Metro 3 car shed On . Aarey at remains , Thursday Ashwini Bhide, the managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), announced that the car shed for the underground Line 3 (Colaba-BandraSEEPZ) will be ready for Phase 1 operations by April 2023. Bhide said work is in progress at full speed, considering that the Phase 1 stretch between BKC and SEEPZ is scheduled for December 2023 opening. Bhide said, “To meet the deadline, certain improvements have been made in the plan. We are in talks with our consultants to ensure that the depot work is expedited. Moreover, the amount of work expected to be carried out for the depot for Phase 1 operation has been prioritised.” PHASE I Aarey to BKC: 12km PROJECT STATUS Civil works: 86% Station work: 84% Tunnelling: 100% Systems work: 43% Track laying: 40% COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS Phase I: December 2023 Phase II: June 2024 STATUS OF AAREY DEPOT WORK Completed: 29% Phase I deadline: April 2023 Phase II deadline: July 2023 She said the important part is the operations control centre (OCC), but a backup is ready at the BKC station even if it gets delayed. Bhide added that the provision for the OCC was planned at BKC from the start. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE