Taxi unions against prepaid service at domestic airport

Where’s the winter? “Mumbaiites who were hoping to welcome December with their mothballed woolens will have to wait just a little longer. Though the meteorological department expects temperatures to return to normal over the next two days, Wednesday was the hottest day in November since 2004,” says Hindustan Times. It should have become better for air passengers, but it might get worse. “Black-and-yellow taxi unions are opposing the prepaid service, to be tentatively launched on December 1, by tourist cab companies at the domestic airport. This may cause inconvenience to flyers from Thursday, authorities anticipate. Priyadarshini and Forshe cabs, both tourist taxi firms, are set to launch their prepaid service and this is being strongly opposed by the black-and-yellow taxi unions, which are threatening a “law and order” situation,” says Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_145377” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Black-and-yellow taxi unions are opposing the prepaid service, to be tentatively launched on 1 December, by tourist cab companies at the domestic airport. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters”]  [/caption] And this should have been good news for commuters on the suburban railways, but this has gone wrong, too. “The Harbour Line has taken a beating after the recent conversion from DC to AC between Vile Parle and Borivli stations. Officials now find they do not have sufficient AC-compatible rakes to ply from CST to Andheri. Non-availability of even one rake has led to the daily cancellation of at least four trains and delay in services. On November 28, four Bandra services were cancelled and one was terminated at Andheri, sources said. On November 27, two services each for Bandra and Andheri were cancelled, while one Andheri service was terminated at Bandra,” says Times of India. Is this efficiency on the part of the police or inefficiency? Here’s a story of a pickpocket who’s had a 20 year career. “Maybe it was the lure of money or the heady rush from doing something wrong. Rahul Naidu, 46, had a free run for two decades as he went about picking pockets at railway stations and in BEST buses. Little changed in the modus operandi of the resident of the posh Lokhandwala locality of Andheri (W) over the years — zero in on a target, pick his pocket, empty out his wallet, rush with the credit/debit card to a nearby electronics or jewellery store and make the next 15-20 minutes worth their weight in gold,” reports DNA. And who does one blame for this? “Poor response from people coupled with National Aids Control Society’s decision to stop the funds is behind Hindustan Latex Ltd’s decision to remove the over 1,500 condom vending machines it had installed in the city. Hindustan Latex Ltd Family Planning Promotional Trust is the company responsible for maintaining these machines across India. The government has spent Rs2.57 crore in procuring and installing the machines across Mumbai,” says Bhaskar. What started the fire at Sara Sahara and Manish markets? No clue. “Even as it struggles to nail the cause for the blaze at the Sara Sahara and Manish markets last weekend, the Mumbai Fire Brigade has been found to be largely unsuccessful in conclusively establishing the reason behind most major fires in the city over the past three years. Most probes have been closed after blaming the fire on a suspected short-circuit or saying the cause was “unknown”,” says Indian Express. The money will be spent, but will the roads improve? “Following much delay in awarding contracts for 700 new small roads to be built in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finally cleared the Rs 349-crore contract on Wednesday and is now waiting for civic standing committee’s nod. Even after this, the project is facing a delay as work on these roads was supposed to begin on December 1,” says Indian Express. And in this case, the money will be spent, too, but what will change for citizens? “The Maharashtra government today informed the Bombay High Court that it will have training sessions for traffic constables in the city on behavioral science and has contacted the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) over the issue. “We will design a module for imparting training in behavioral science to constables,” Assistant government pleader Jasbir Saluja told the division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Dalvi,” reports ibnlive.