The new share auto stands were proposed by local MLA Krishna Hegde.

The new routes are: Vile Parle station (E) to Shivaji Chowk, Koldongri (Rs 5.50); to Hanuman Mandir (Rs 5.50); to Garware House (Rs 6); to Highway Rose Society (Rs 5.50), to Saibaba Mandir, Shradhanand Road (Rs 5.50), and to Sahara Star Hotel (Rs 6). Said Hegde, “The RTO and traffic police have approved the routes after we pursued the matter with them.”

Source: Timesofindia

“We are providing all the services under a single roof,” said state transport commissioner V N More. “The purpose is to encourage as many auto owners/drivers to come to the camp, select and purchase an e-meter and get it installed immediately.”

At the camp-being organized at the Andheri, Wadala, Thane and Navi Mumbai RTOs-auto owners will get a demo from all manufacturers and they can also expect discounts from some of them. The camp will remain open from 10.30 am to 5.30 pm.

Said More, “Auto owners have been complaining about the lengthy procedures to get e-meters installed. So, we have decided to give them the new gadgets under one roof.”

Source: Timesofindia

“The CRZ clearance is required to be obtained before starting the development work,” said Kunte. Adarsh land is located in the CRZ 2 area. “After verifying the files from the revenue and forest department, I found Adarsh hadn’t obtained CRZ nod from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF),” Kunte said to a query by Dipan Merchant, counsel for the commission.

Kunte, in a meeting with the National Coastal Zone Management Authority, had referred to “serious lacunae” in permissions given to Adarsh. He had said then deputy secretary, UDD, P V Deshmukh had misinterpreted MoEF’s March 11, 2003, letter which said construction can be taken up as per CRZ rules. Kunte said this was not a clearance and meant that Adarsh should have approached the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority for permission.

Source: Timesofindia

The police have got a photograph of Tabrez, one of the two Pakistanis, from a gym run by ex MLA Arun Gawli’s trust. Tabrez had enrolled himself in the gym and worked out there for over three months. “With the help of intelligence agencies, we are trying to find out their addresses in Pakistan. The red-corner notice will contain their address, name, photograph, cases against them and their description. We have got their description from the other accused who were in touch with these Pakistanis,” said officials.

Waqqas and Tabrez are facing three cases of murder. They have not been identified in the court documents and mentioned only as A and B. Police sources said they came to Mumbai in February 2011 and stayed in Habib apartment in Byculla on rent till November last week.

The Pakistanis are suspected to have conspired for the terror strikes on July 13 last year when bombs exploded at Opera House, Zaveri Bazar and Dadar, killing 27. The duo are also accused of making the bombs.

A lookout notice has already been issued against the duo, alerting all airports in the country. Investigators, say sources, have got some telephone numbers which were referred to and used by the Pakistanis during their stay in the city. “They had used more than 16 SIM cards, all provided by their co-accused, Naqi Ahmed. We have arrested Ahmed for aiding and abetting the blast case,” said an officer.

Cops said Ahmed had even arranged accommodation for the two Pakistanis. “We found that the duo had been using stolen cellphones and the handsets belong to people in Bihar, Pune and Mumbai. “We are looking for five to six persons who could be involved in the blasts. So far, we have arrested four persons. Details of the red-corner notice will be forwarded to the CBI, which will send it to its Interpol wing,” said a police source.

Source: Timesofindia

The land belongs to the BMC, but was leased to GSK in 1938. In 2004, the company sold the lease rights of the land to I-Ven Realty Pvt Ltd, a joint-venture firm set up by Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Constructions and ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Ltd, for Rs 107 crore.

Ruling in favour of GSK, a division bench of Justice S J Vazifdar and Justice A R Joshi questioned why the civic body passed a one-sided order against them. “The adverse and prejudicial observations made in the impugned order leaves no room for doubt that this was a case where personal hearing ought to have been given by BMC commissioner, considering that it could have a bearing on the firm’s reputation. Questions of fraud, misrepresentation, cheating (against GSK) cannot be decided in such a superficial or summary manner,” the court said, while setting aside Phatak’s order and directing the BMC to give a fresh hearing to GSK and I-Ven.

The order gives a big boost to Oberoi Constructions which is now the sole owner of the Worli property after it purchased ICICI Venture’s 50% stake in the project. Industry sources say the developer has plans to construct a 40-storey hotel or high-end twin 60-storey residential building.

GSK had moved the court to challenge the order passed by Phatak in 2009 to transfer and develop the land given to I-Ven in Worli. In his order, Phatak allegedly accused GSK of fraudulently inflating the built-up area to derive unlawful benefit, pleading ignorance of key facts and misrepresenting at different points.

Before passing the order, the BMC had issued three show-cause notices. Though GSK gave a written submission, the BMC gave a hearing only to I-Ven. The firm claimed that it had not been given a hearing and said the BMC had acted arbitrarily. GSK said the land had first been leased to the realty firm in 2004, by paying a premium of Rs 7.53 crore to the BMC. There was a fresh demand for a premium of Rs 134 crore in 2008 after the BMC revised transfer fees by 50%. The notice was later set aside by the high court.

Source: Timesofindia

The two WWTPs are part of the much delayed Phase-II of the Rs 4,000-crore Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP). Ahead of the civic elections, the BMC had invited pre-qualification bids for upgrade of other treatment plants in the city.

Confirming the development, chief engineer (MSDP) Vilas Bobde said the BMC was facing some hurdles with the two WWTPs. “In the case of Bandra, the MSRDC (Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation) is still not returning the land. The entire plot has construction machines on it and we cannot start work on the treatment plant unless these are cleared. As far as Malad is concerned, we are yet to get clearance from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).”

At Bandra Reclamation, the civic body is unable to build the treatment plant next to the BMC’s existing sewage pumping station as the 3-hectare municipal plot is being used by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

According to civic officials, the MSRDC has refused to vacate the plot despite several letters sent by the BMC. The civic body had given the reclaimed plot of land to the MSRDC on a temporary basis for a casting yard for the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. However, even after the work was completed, the MSRDC did not return the land arguing that it needed it for the Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link.

To add to the BMC’s problems, the treatment plant proposed at Malad is stuck owing to lack of environmental clearances from the MoEF. The BMC is awaiting the clearance for some time but has got no response.

According to MSDP officials, a major portion of the land required by the civic body in Malwani (Malad) to build the plant is covered with mangroves and has been declared protected forest land by the high court.

A civic official said sewage amounting to 2,600 million litres daily is generated in the city; of this, the civic body is primarily able to treat only 1,600 MLD, meeting the standards of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. After the treatment, the water is released into the Arabian Sea. Its plan to activate sewage treatment at these plants is being touted as one of the largest waste water improvement initiatives in the world.

Source: Timesofindia

The swap will be offered in U.S. dollar, euro or Indian rupee against the domestic currency or domestic currency-denominated government securities of the requesting country.

The swap amount available to various member-central banks is arrived at broadly based on two months import cover, subject to a floor of $100 million and a maximum of $400 million per country.

Under the facility, the requesting member-countries can make drawals in dollar, euro or Indian rupee in multiple tranches. Each drawal is of three months tenor and can be rolled over twice. The first roll-over will be at the normal rate of interest.

The second one, however, will attract 50 basis points more than the normal interest rate. For this purpose, the normal interest rate agreed upon is the LIBOR (for three months) plus 200 basis points. The normal interest rate for Indian rupee swap is RBI Repo Rate minus 200 basis points, says an RBI release. “For availing of the facility, the central banks of requesting countries will need to enter bilateral swap agreements, which need final approval from the Government of India,” the release says. The Reserve Bank’s proposal to offer swap facility to SAARC member-countries had already been approved by the Union Cabinet. The swap arrangement is intended to provide a back stop line of funding for the SAARC member-countries to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises, till longer-term arrangements are made or if there is a need for short-term liquidity due to market turbulence.

The move for a SAARC swap facility follows a decision taken by the SAARC Finance Ministers at the Ministerial Meeting on Global Financial Crisis held on February 28, 2009.

The swap facility is expected to deepen economic co-operation within the SAARC region and pave the way for an increased intra-regional trade.

Source: The Hindu

Following a decision to hike tax on petrol and diesel cars by 2% and 4%, respectively, the tax rate on the purchase of imported and company-owned vehicles-which are charged at a higher rate-had increased considerably.

While a tax of 22% was being levied on imported petrol-run cars, the rate was 26% for diesel cars. The hike in rates led to a trend wherein such cars were registered in neighbouring states such as Gujarat, where the tax rates were low.

To reverse the trend and prevent a further loss of revenue, the cabinet decided to impose a cap of 20% that could be imposed on such vehicles. The cabinet also decided to apply a decision to lower tax rates for CNG and LPG cars for import of vehicles purchased in some other state.

An ordinance in this regard will soon be issued. State transport department officials are hoping that the decisions will help boost the sales of vehicles in Maharashtra.

Source: Timesofindia

Allaying concerns over the sharp slide of the rupee, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated in the Rajya Sabha that the free fall in the currency and the stock market was caused not by any intrinsic weakness of the Indian economy but due to the global risk aversion following the heightened uncertainty in the eurozone stemming from the fresh crisis in Greece.

Global canvas ‘complex’

Dubbing the global economic canvas “complex,” Mr. Mukherjee said: “It is because what has happened, what was decided by the electors of Greece in defeating a particular political party, raised the questions of uncertainty of resolving the eurozone crisis and the package which was worked out by the leaders of Europe… there is a question mark.”

Mr. Mukherjee sought to explain how any economic crisis in any part of today’s globalised world had an impact on the economy of any other country and, therefore, the currency and stock market mayhem should not lead to panic as stability would return when the crisis was resolved.

“Whether Greece will be revived, whether the package which was worked out by ECB [European Central Bank] where IMF [International Monetary Fund] is going to make a contributory role by providing additional $600 billion support, now that has been put in question mark… Uncertainty is prevailing, not confined to Greece, not confined to those four countries, but the entire Asian market today has taken a hit. This is the complex situation in which we are living today and we cannot ignore that,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

Impact on markets

Perhaps, the Minister’s statement — which also referred to a slew of undefined austerity measures in the pipeline to tackle the tough economic situation — had some impact.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex, which had plummeted to 15,974.60 in intra-day trade for the first time since January 12, recovered a tad to close at 16,030.09, but still reflected a decline of 298.16 points as foreign investors engaged in all-round selling in 28 out of the 30 stocks on the sensitive index.

The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty also kept pace with a loss of 84.55 points at 4,858.25.

Marginal recovery

As for the rupee, which has been subjected to a battering in recent weeks mainly on account of the widening current account deficit (CAD) and rising inflation, also recovered from its all-time low of 54.56 in intra-day trade to close marginally better at 54.50 to the dollar and thereby surpassed its December 2011 low of 54.30.

Clearly, although the rupee was already under pressure on account of India’s widening CAD and investment-related concerns, the new development in Greece has led to fresh global risk aversion, which is putting additional pressure on the currency.

The depreciation in value of the rupee, according to foreign exchange dealers, has been owing to strong capital outflows on account of sell-off of stocks as investors are wary of riskier equity assets and are finding the U.S. dollar a safer haven.

Source: The Hindu

“The application for the issue of registration certificate (RC) can be for an amount up to a maximum quantity of 25,000 tonnes. Earlier this limit was 10,000 tonnes per RC,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice.

The application for second and subsequent RC can be made after exporting at least 50 per cent of the allotted quantity.

Earlier, Mr. Pawar and Mr. Thomas met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on this issue.

“Both the Food Ministry and the DGFT have issued separate notifications. There is some confusion. This will be sorted out…The DGFT will issue clarification shortly,” Mr. Pawar had said on Tuesday. The DGFT also extended the time limit for completing the export orders to 60 days from the date of issuance of RC from the earlier 30 days.

“An applicant is at liberty to seek split RCs for export through more than one port, within the overall quantity limit of 25,000 tonnes,” it added.

In a notification dated May 14, the DGFT said the export policy for sugar would be ‘free’ but prior registration of quantity was mandatory. It said that exporters could submit application for RC for up to 10,000 tonnes.

The notification comes after the Food Ministry issued, on Tuesday, a formal order allowing sugar export without any quantitative restrictions. The Food Ministry had said that mills would not be required to obtain the export release order.

The government had allowed two million tonnes of sugar export in the 2011-12 marketing year, before deciding on May 2 to free sugar exports.

Exports were permitted as the country’s sugar output is expected to touch 26 million tonnes in 2011-12, higher than the annual demand of 21.5-22 million tonnes.

Source: The Hindu