We will vote against confidence motion: Left

Virtually reaching a point of no return on the nuclear deal, the Left parties on Friday said they would vote against the United Progressive Alliance government in Parliament in case of a confidence motion if it took the next step to operationalise the agreement।

"If there is a vote of confidence in Parliament on the issue, the Left will vote against the government। But we will do so only after the Government formally conveys its decision to proceed with the deal," CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told the Outlook magazine.

His CPI counterpart A B Bardhan, in an interview to Times Now television channel, however, did not say whether they would join hands with BJP to bring down the government in case of a confidence vote but made it clear that they would pull out if it went to the International Atomic Energy Agency।

Traffic congestion at Vile Parle

Large potholes are being repaired and covered up on the Vile Parle to Churchgate stretch of the Western Express Highway (WEH).

This has caused heavy traffic congestion at Vile Parle, since morning.

Vehicular movement has been badly affected on this route, with harrowed citizens complaining of bumper to bumper traffic.

The (WEH) users are a regularly distressed lot due to the ongoing construction of the flyover, today faced another hurdle in their journey.

Matka king, Suresh Bhagat's wife nabbed

Mumbai: Suresh Bhagat Matka king who died in a road accident at Alibaug had earlier filed a complaint alleging threat to his life from his wife and son.

The Mumbai police have now nabbed Jaya Bhagat this morning and who has been produced in the court.

Bhagat was found dead a few weeks ago under mysterious circumstances in a road accident at alibaug.

He was on his way to Mumbai in his Scorpio after attending the court hearing in one of the cases filed against him.

The driver of the jeep lost control and rammed the vehicle into a truck coming from the opposite direction.

Bhagat had earlier filed a complaint alleging threat to his life from his wife and son, who were eyeing his flourishing Matka kingdom that runs across the state.

22,500 housing societies have a parking lot, but none allow visitors’ cars। The BMC wants to change that, which in effect also means congestion on roads reduces by 20 per cent.

State moots parking authority

The Maharashtra Government has mooted setting up a parking authority in the state to tide over parking woes in the city and other urban areas.
"The problem of parking has become major and a separate agency is needed to deal with it," said Principal Secretary, Transport, Ramanath Jha.
The Parking Authority would deal with fees of parking, fixing congestion charges, flexibility of parking and multistorey parking, Jha said.
A proposal would be first presented before the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority and after the approval, it will be sent to cabinet for the final decision, he added.
According to the data from transport department, there are about 11 to 12 lakhs private vehicles in the state and parking is posing a major problem.
Transport expert Ashok Datar said that an increase in charges for parking would reduce the number of cars.
Datar said since 1988, BMC has not revised parking fee in Mumbai.