BJP LEADER APOORVA HIRAY SET TO JOIN NCP ON FRIDAY
MUMBAI: With elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former legislator Apoorva Hiray is all set to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Hiray will be inducted in the party in the presence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday.
Hiray, who joined the BJP in 2014, has been upset with the party for sidelining him of late. He had been elected to the state legislative council as an independent candidate in 2012. However, he failed to get re-elected in June.
Hiray comes from a wellknown political family from Nashik. His father Prashant had been an NCP minister during the Congress-ncp regime, but had also joined BJP in 2014.
State NCP chief Jayant Patil confirmed Hiray’s induction. “He [Hiray] is coming home after a few years’ gap. Hiray’s family is related to NCP for a long time. His grandmother Pushpatai Hiray was a minister in Pawar’s cabinet while his father Prashant Hiray was minister of state during the Congress-ncp government,” Patil said.
“BJP used us [the Hiray family] during the Nashik Municipal Corporation and zilla parishad (ZP) elections. Since then, we have been completely ignored,” Hiray said.
“I was made in-charge of the local bodies’ elections, so BJP’S tally in Nashik Municipal Corporation increased to 65 from 14 and in ZP to 14 from 4. Of these 14, 11 ZP members are from my family alone,” he added.
According to sources from the NCP, Hiray is keen on contesting the upcoming state Assembly elections from Nashik West.
Further, Hiray is also believed to have sorted out his differences with senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal.
“Things between the two leaders were sorted more than a year ago. In fact, Hiray was the one of the leaders who participated in the protests carried out in Nashik demanding bail to Bhujbal on health grounds,” said a leader close to Bhujbal. MUMBAI : Developers may no longer have to get special no-objection certificates (NOC) from the traffic department and permits from stormwater drains, sewage, water departments and local wards to install amenities in a new building. As part of the ease of doing business reforms, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to include these permissions in the current online application for construction permits, reducing the interaction between public and officials and expediting the process by at least a month.
Currently, developers get the approval to set up water connection, sewage connection and stormwater drains at the time of making the online application for a construction permit under the single window clearance system. However, while digging the road to lay the water or sewage pipe, the developer has to approach the department concerned, and the local ward office again for a permit. And Agro Limted company, respectively. The other directors, Lukman Shaikh, Sachin Gosawi, Mukesh Sudesh and Sulindra Chavan, were also arrested.
The company lured investors from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane by offering them lucrative returns on their investment, at
“We plan to generate the permit along with the NOC given at the beginning of the process, so developers will not have to approach the departments again. While setting up the utility, the developer will already have a permit ready,” said municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta.
The civic body also plans to do away with the permission needed from their traffic department. “This will reduce the interaction between officers and developers. Nobody will have to come to the ward office or the departments concerned to process permissions,” Mehta said. City-based architect Shirish Sukhatme said, “This is a great move and will save time by almost a month. Getting permits from the sewage and water departments is tedious.”
Urban planners, however, have their doubts. Hussain Indorewala, professor, architecture, Kamala Raheja College of Architecture, said, “The tendency in the recent past has been to make things simpler and easier. It can’t be the pretext of diluting building regulation or relaxing building bylaws.” 15-18% interest rates within three years.
After three years, they approached the company. However, the managers kept delaying the payment. Moreover, the six accused gradually left the office one by one. The investors were told that the managers and/or directors had been removed from the job.
The investors approached the Naupada police station and filed a complaint after learning that they had been duped.
“Upon receiving multiple complaints, we began to investigate and learnt the accused were booked in several police stations across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region,” said Sanjiv Patil, senior police inspector, Thane EOW.
“The accused company had its branched in Satara, Rajasthan, Mumbai, Palghar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kolhapur and Raigad. We will investigate whether there have been similar cases against the company in other parts of the country,” said Patil. who rode a Royal Enfield motorcycle in the area,” said Sashikant Mane, senior police inspector, Govandi police station.
During patrolling, the police questioned Chavan about the motorcycle to which he gave evasive replies. “When we checked the details about the Royal used duplicate keys or wires to start the two-wheelers and then sell them at extremely low prices. “Haldankar would sell the motorcycles in the outskirts of the city, such as in Vasai. They initially hid the motorcycles for three to four months before selling it,” said Mane.