Maharashtra Traders call Two-Days Strike opposing Local Body Tax

Protesting against the new Local Body Tax in the state, Lakhs of traders in Maharashtra are on strike today and tomorrow. As a result most markets are expected to stay closed.

Trade associations say that the new tax will increase corruption and will be used by officials to harass traders. 750 traders' associations are backing the strike. After abolishing octroi Local Body Tax was introduced in some cities of the state from April 1st.


The state government has offered to relax the tax for the smaller traders. But it had said that it cannot be removed entirely as this will have its effect on the earnings of municipal corporations and councils.

The traders have threatened that if their talks with the government fail, they will start an indefinite agitation next month.

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Shirdi Sai Temple Trust, To Ban Devotees Bringing Flowers and Garlands - Fearing Terror Attack

At the revered shrine of Sai Baba in Shirdi. Carrying garlands and flowers would soon be a thing of the past. This is because the Shirdi Sai Sansthan trust, which runs the temple, has decided to impose a ban on devotees bringing flowers and garlands into the temple in order to avert any possibility of a terror attack on the temple.


The trust has decided not to allow devotees from bringing garlands and flowers, which terror groups could use to conceal bombs and sneak in, in case of an attack.


The chief officer of the trust Kishore More, said "Many devotees buy big garlands that are brought in bags and it is difficult to keep check on each and every devotee. We feel that some terror groups might exploit an opportunity to sneak in an explosives-laden garland into the shrine by disguising themselves as devotees and we do not want to take a chance with that."


More also said “"that the trust has decided to discontinue allowing garlands into the shrine. He says that the temple has been on the terror hit list of many radical organizations and there is no point in taking chance, especially since the recent twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar went off close to a Sai Baba temple.”


The trust will now meet with the committee of the temple before implementing this order. In the year 2007 the temple had banned carrying cell phones into the shrine after receiving terror threat. The constant terror threat to the temple, in the recent years, has forced the state government to provide the temple with additional security forces.


At present, about 730 private security guards are deployed on duty at the temple by the trust which is leading to spend a substantial portion of the donations received, towards the security of the temple. Apart from this, the state government has appointed 50 policemen and a bomb detection and disposal squad on standby at the temple.

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Chota Pakistan in Mumbai as mentioned on Electricity Bills

Electricity bills carrying name of 'Chota Pakistan' were given to Muslim electricity customers of  slum area in Thane district in Mumbai suburb, according to new aired by NDTV news channel.

Mumbai is the financial capital of India, which witnessed biggest terror attack in 2008.

The official swung into action after the news flashed. Taking action over the issue, the  Maharashtra state minority commission has summoned electricity officials on Thursday and asked for their clarification over the bills addressed mentioned as 'Chota Pakistan' and 'Laden Nagar'.

The Power Minister Ajit Pawar has assured to take action over the issue.

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Salute to Bala Saheb Thackery, the great hero of Maharastra

By Jyoti Parida

On 17th November 2012 at 4.55 pm the announcement of the death of the great hero Bala Saheb Thackery brought Mumbaikers came to a halt. Mumbai the city that never sleeps has given a break to mourn for the king. All the shops, vehicles, malls, offices were closed after hearing the sad news. This is very sad news for all the Indians because we have lost a great cartoonist and politician.

He was born on January 23, 1926, and the second of four children of Kesav Sitaram Thackery, a writer. The 86 year old Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackery started his journey as a cartoonist at the English daily Free Press Journal in the late 1950s. His cartoons also published in the Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun and in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. In the 1960s he began to involve into politics and in 1966 he founded the Shiv Sena.

In the early 1990s he led a successful campaign to drop the name Bombay- a Portuguese derivation of “beautiful bay”- and replace it with Mumbai for the goddess Mumbadevi- the name by which the city is known in the Marathi language. He was said to be the Mascot and the God father of the Marathi pride and the Hindutva. With many ups and downs he still maintained to hold his fame. No matters either he is alive or dead the lesson he taught will be always remembered in the minds of everybody.

Today his body will be taken from his residence Matoshree at Bandra to Shivaji Park (where he gave his first speech on 1966). He will end his journey today there from where he first started. He gave more than what Maharashtra and also the Nation required. His last rituals will be at 6 pm and more than 20 lakh people are expected to come to pay their honour to the great hero of Maharashtra.

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