Daily Despatches

Nashik to adopt Surat formula for clean cityNASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) will adopt the "Surat pattern" of ma...

Nashik to adopt Surat formula for clean city

NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) will adopt the "Surat pattern" of maintaining cleanliness in the city. City mayor Ashok Dive, who recently led a delegation of civic officials to Surat to study its civic affairs management, said that the NMC would follow the pattern set by Surat civic authorities. He said that while Surat had 15,000 employees, out of which 4,000 were deployed for scavenging work, the NMC had only 4,000 employees. He hinted at increasing the conservancy staff of the NMC and pointed out the disparities between establishment spending by Surat and Nashik civic authorities. While Surat’s civic expenses were to the tune of over Rs 95 crore every year, NMC’s expenses stood at less than Rs 19 crore.

Panel on octroi abolition in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government has formed a high-level committee headed by Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala to look into the various aspects of abolishing the octroi system in the state.The state government has already said it was open to the idea of abolishing octroi. The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry has demanded abolition of the outdated system of octroi duty in the state and suggested that the government instead collect a 15 per cent surcharge on Sales Tax that could be handed over to municipal bodies. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) standing committee chairperson Mayaben Kodnani said Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel was also keen on abolishing octroi in the state as the BJP had listed it on its agenda. She said that during a meeting on Wednesday, the Chief Minister had asked the state Finance Minister to form a high-level committee to study the proposal.

Nagpur ex-dy mayor held for murder

NAGPUR: Former Deputy Mayor Ashok Jeevandas Jain alias Ashok Jerman was held here yesterday on charges of flinging a 42-year-old woman to death from her fifth-floor apartment in Kalpana building in the posh Ramdaspeth locality on Wednesday night. Meena Girish Desai, thevictim, died of multiple wounds at Apollo Hospital around midnight on Wednesday after she was rushed there by Jerman himself in his car, police said. The police picked the former deputy mayor from his residence at Zenda Chowk in Mahal after Meena’s mother, Aruna Jain, lodged a complaint of murder against him. Property dispute was said to be the immediate cause of the incident which occurred between 10.30 pm and 12 midnight when Jerman had gone to Meena’s house.