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Maharashtra: Bombay HC says bullet train project of ‘national importance’, junks Godrej plea

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Mumbai: Declaring that the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is of ‘national importance’, the Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. challenging the acquisition of its land in Vikhroli.

The verdict by a division bench of Justices R.D. Dhanuka and Justice M.M. Sathaye said: “The project is of national importance and public interest… No interference is required. No illegality found in the compensation.”

The judgement signalling a green flag comes as a breather for the mega-project on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai on Friday.

Justices Dhanuka and Sathaye also said that it is the paramount collective interest that would prevail and not private interest “Project would be first of its kind. Petition is dismissed”.

When Godrej group’s counsel, Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai sought a stay on the order to enable them appeal in the Supreme Court, the high court refused to entertain the plea.

Opposing, the state’s Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the land acquisition for the project was completed except for the stretch owned by Godrej group, and pleaded that the company’s plea should be dismissed.

Additional Solicitor-General Anil Singh argued that the entire land acquisition in Gujarat was complete and the (project) work had started, while in Maharashtra, 3 per cent of the acquisition was remaining to be done.

He contended that the Godrej petition was delaying the project and led to cost escalations, and if the compensation amount was a concern, then a higher payout could be considered, but the project could not be made to suffer more.

For the past four years since August 2019, the government and the Godrej group have been squabbling over the acquisition of the company’s land for what is billed as Modi’s pet project coming up with Japanese collaboration.

Slated to cost around Rs 1.60 Lakh-Crore, the bullet train project will be 508 kms long, including 21 kms running underground and one of the entry points to the subterranean tunnel will fall on the land owned by Godrej in Vikhroli which was taken over by the government.

After the acquisition of around 9.69 acres of its land, Godrej group had challenged the compensation of Rs. 264 crore awarded by the Deputy Collector in Sep. 2022, claiming it was a fraction of the original offer of Rs 572 crore, and how there were multiple and patent illegalities in the entire process.

The company had also challenged the August 2019 notification under the Right To Fair Compensation and Transparency In Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and the constitutional validity of certain sections, which has been upheld by the high court.

Maharashtra

Preparations for Sunni Dawat-e-Islami’s three-day global Sunni gathering in full swing

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Mumbai: Like every year, this year too, the 33rd annual gathering of the Sunni Dawat-e-Islami Movement is being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 12, 13 and 14 at Azad Maidan, Wadi Noor, opposite CST, Mumbai. Like last year, this year too, the gathering on the first day, Friday, will be for women only, while the remaining two days will be reserved for men. Insha Allah, many scholars, preachers and mashaikhs from the country and abroad will participate in this global gathering. The preparations for the gathering were started last Saturday in the evening after the weekly central gathering. Urdu Media In-charge Maulana Mazhar Hussain Alimi said that the leaders of the movement are making full efforts to make the three-day gathering a success. Efforts are being made to provide all possible facilities so that the audience and attendees do not face any kind of trouble. As per tradition, this year too, the three-day global gathering will be broadcast live on sdichannel, which will be directly accessible to those who wish to learn religious teachings from all over the world. The women’s gathering on the first day will feature speeches on important topics such as “Women’s Intellectual Taste”, “Women’s Real Ornament: High Character and Modesty”, and “Women’s Share in Inheritance”. In addition, the researcher of modern issues Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Nizamuddin (President Mufti of Jamia Ashrafia Mubarakpur) will answer questions asked by women about Islam. Ameer Sunni Dawat-e-Islami and the spiritual leader of this gathering, the great preacher Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Shakir Noori, has appealed to people to participate in the gathering as much as possible, understand the message of religion and act on it. Ameer Sunni Dawat-e-Islami has said that they should also come and bring their friends and thus become a means of transmitting religion. He has appealed to Muslims to send women from their homes to the gathering on the first day so that they can Attend the gathering to learn religious teachings, improve themselves and advise others. There will be important speeches by great scholars and preachers in the gathering on the second and third days. There will be detailed speeches on important topics such as “The Miracle of the Holy Quran”, “The Spiritual Life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), “The Envoy of Peace (PBUH), “Searching for Humans in Humans”, “Ethics and Spiritual Training of Youth”, “Religious Information and Artificial Intelligence”, “Signs of the Pleasure and Displeasure of Allah Almighty”. Islamic thinker Allama Qamar-uz-Zaman Azmi (Secretary General World Islamic Mission London) will deliver a speech on the third day. Insha Allah, the commentator of the Quran, Khalifah Mufti Azam Hind, Hazrat Allama Zaheeruddin Khan Rizvi, will also deliver an insightful speech. In the gathering on the third day, there will be a gathering after Zuhr prayers, followed by a lecture on the latest issues of Bukhari Sharif, in which the last hadith of Bukhari Sharif will be delivered by Hazrat Allama Mufti Muhammad Nizamuddin Rizvi (Jami’ Ashrafia Mubarakpur). On this occasion, prayers are accepted in the presence of the Lord, so be sure to participate in this prayer as well.

In order to facilitate the participants of the gathering, a large number of ablution rooms and toilets are being built, and more than sixty cameras are being installed throughout the gathering as part of security arrangements. In addition, about two thousand women will volunteer for the women’s gathering, while more than one thousand male volunteers will serve in the gathering on the second and third days. The police have requested the participants of the gathering not to bring handy cameras, laptops, wires, batteries, matchboxes, lighters, nail cutters and other electronic equipment that runs on batteries. For security reasons, parking of motorcycles or any other vehicle around the Azad Maidan is not allowed.

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Maharashtra

Azmi demands in Nagpur Assembly that Navi Mumbai Airport be named after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj

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Mumbai: In the Mumbai Maharashtra Nagpur winter session, Member of Assembly Abu Asim Azmi has demanded that the Navi Mumbai Airport be named after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. He said that he died in Mumbai on May 6, 1922, so the Navi Mumbai Airport should be named after Shahu Maharaj. He said that Shahu Maharaj has always served Dalits, backward classes, educational reservation and equality and it is to his credit that Dalits and backward classes are provided with reservation and other facilities. He said that the Navi Mumbai Airport should be named after a great leader. Since the airport is a transportation hub, naming the airport after Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj is a tribute to him.

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Maharashtra

Azmi’s unique protest… Wearing a mask, he reached Nagpur Assembly with a banner demanding effective action to end toxic air pollution in Mumbai, SMS company

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Mumbai: Air pollution and toxic atmosphere are common in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. The people of Shivaji Nagar and Govindi are facing toxic fumes every day. Successive governments have neglected this area because it is a poor neighbourhood.

On the second day of the winter session of the Assembly today, the Samajwadi Party (SP) made a clear demand.

It has demanded the immediate closure of the SMS company, RMC plant, and dumping ground and made it clear to the government that it should stop playing with the lives of the common man.
The government should take effective steps to eliminate this toxic air pollution. Abu Asim Azmi said that due to the SMS company in Govandi, the average age of people has increased to 39 years and diseases are spreading due to burning waste and chemical materials in it, so it should be banned immediately. He further said that clean sanitation and other facilities should be available in Govandi and such a factory should be closed so that the people can live a healthy life. Abu Asim Azmi protested against the toxic air outside the Nagpur Assembly in a very unique way by holding a banner and wearing a mask.

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