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Chennai-based Star Heal-th & Allied Insurance,

India’s first and largest sta-ndalone health insurance co-mpany, has formally kickedoff its sale process with anasking price tag of up to $1bi-llion, people directly awareof the matter said.P 23

Star Insuranceon sale for $1bn

Global IT security firmQuick Heal has discove-

red an ad placed by an unk-nown hacker on a DarkNet fo-rum that claims to have ac-cess to data of over 6,000 Indi-an businesses that includeISPs, key government bodies,banks and enterprises. P23

Data on 6k Indianfirms on sale?

A group of slum dwellerswho had lost their hom-

es to a demolition drive car-ried out for beautification ofawater body, tied up a sittingBJP corporator to a tree andthrashed him. The incidenttook place in Bapod in Va-dodara on Monday. P16

BJP corporatorthrashed in Guj

The state government hasannounced a probe into

the deaths of 18 farmers inYavatmal district due to acci-dental inhalation of toxic fu-mes while spraying pestici-des. The pesticide fumes haveaffected over 400 people in thepast two months. P 11

State to probe 18pesticide deaths

AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS DIDN’T SLEDGE INDIANS IN ODI SERIES OUT OF FEAR THAT THEY WOULDLOSE OUT ON LUCRATIVE IPL DEALS: SEHWAG 26

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Mumbai: One of the survivorsof the Elphinstone Road stationstampede, 19-year-old Shilpa Vi-shwakarma, told the railway in-quiry panel on Tuesday that thetragedy may have been trigger-ed by panic that set in after somecommuters mistook the word“phool” (flower in both Hindiand Marathi) for “pul” (bridgein both Hindi and Marathi).

Vishwakarma, who said shewas stuck in the middle of the st-aircase on Friday as the crowdson the stairs and the bridge ra-pidly swelled, told the panel thataflower-seller had slipped on thestairs and said loudly, “Phool girgaya”. “Some heard it as ‘pul’(bridge) and thought the bridgehad fallen,” she said.

In the chaos that followed,Vishwakarma, an ElphinstoneRoad resident who was trying togo up the stairs as she wanted toboard a train to attend coachingclasses in Vile Parle, fell and wastrampled on by some people butwas immediately pulled out by aman in the crowd.

Did ‘phool gir gaya’ cry setoff ‘bridge is falling’ panic?

Stampede SurvivorSays Many Heard‘Pul’—Bridge InMarathi & Hindi

Manthan K Mehta & S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: More than 3,000 ofthe 5,000-odd housing societiesand establishments in the citythat have not yet begun to treattheir waste despite the Octob-er 2 deadline could face powerand water cuts.

In one of its sternest movesso far, the BMC is consideringnotifying the Maharashtra Po-llution Control Board (MPCB)about these recalcitrant socie-ties (see box).

As many as 3,140 of the4,749 bulk waste generators inMumbai that were issued noti-ces to treat their own garbagehave not responded to the BMCin the affirmative so far. Mere-ly 251 or around 7% of the est-ablishments served notices ha-ve begun composting. Some188 societies have sought an ex-tension, though the BMC hasmade it clear it would showconsideration only to those th-at can cite a valid reason. TheBMC had announced that itwould stop lifting waste frombulk generators in the city fr-om October 2.

Mehta said currently, a th-ree-month extension has beengranted on a case-to-case basis,after which the civic body wo-uld stop lifting garbage.

Housing societies nottreating waste may

face power, water cuts Richa.Pinto@timesgroup.com

Three US scientists wonthe 2017 Nobel prizefor physics on Tuesd-

ay for opening up a new eraof astronomy by detectinggravitational waves—faintripples in space and time fo-reseen by Albert Einstein a

century ago. The work ofRainer Weiss, Barry Barishand Kip Thorne crownedhalf a century of efforts byscientists and engineers.“It’s a win for the human ra-ce as a whole,” Caltech’s Th-orne said. His colleague, Ba-rish, said the prize is “a winfor Einstein”. AGENCIES

‘Einstein waves’fetch US trio

physics Nobel

Mumbai: The Union ministryof environment and forests nolonger considers salt pans to be“wetlands’’, a move that couldopen up these eco-sensitive tra-cts in Mumbai for development.

Builders have been eying theover 5,300 acres of salt pans inMumbai for several years whilethe state government is keen toexploit them for affordable hou-sing. Environmentalists and ci-vic activists have warned thatsalt pans are the last remainingopen spaces in the city; they actas natural buffers during heavyrains and prevent flooding. Besi-des, they are contiguous to themarshy areas near estuariesand creeks which sustain the re-gion’s bio-diversity and are clas-sified as wildlife sanctuaries.

TOI has learnt that the mi-nistry has tweaked the Wetland

Rules, 2017, and deleted salt pansfrom the definition of ‘wetland’.

DStalin, director of the NGOVanashakti, said in one strokethe Centre has opened up the po-ssibility of further erosion in thecity’s open spaces, especially alo-ng the eastern coast. Most of the

salt pans are situated in Vikhro-li, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulundin the eastern suburbs and somein Mira Road, Dahisar and Vasai-Naigaon in the western subur-bs. “Salt pans are in the inter-ti-dal areas, so it is very strangethat the ministry should exclude

them,” Stalin said.Sources said the decision

was taken in consultation withall coastal states which have lar-ge areas under salt pans and we-re keen to develop them.

State Govt KeenOn Affordable

Housing On Plots

Centre tweaks wetland rules,opens up salt pans for devpt

Clara.Lewis@timesgroup.com

The present govt has said salt pans will be used only for affordable homes and rehabilitating slum dwellers

In Mira-Bhayandar, Naigaon, Mumbai’s northern suburbs, large developments have come up on salt pan land. The move will help regularize these constructions

5,379 ACRESIN CITY CAN BE OPENED UP

In 2012, Dept of Industrial Policy & Promoti-on frames norms to consider pleas for transfer of salt pan land, other than that in city

In 2013, the Centre decides not to renew the leases for salt production

In 2015, Maharashtra asked for transfer of salt pan land in Mumbai and suburbs for creating affordable housing

In 2016, MMRDA said only 25 of the 5,379 acres can be developed as the rest are classified as wetlands

What It Means

Road To Freeing Up The Plots

The Govt of India owns 60,587acres of salt pan land across 9 states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, TN, AP, Odisha, Haryana and HP

Salt Pan Land

In Mumbai, salt pans are spread over 5,379 acresin Dahisar, Goregaon, Mulund, Bhandup, Kanjur, Nahur, Ghatkopar, Turbhe, Mandale, Chembur, Wadala and Anik

Mumbai

Brace for a hike in prices ofCNG and domestic piped

gas across the Mumbai met-ropolitan region from Wedn-esday. While CNG prices (in-cluding taxes) will go up byRs 1.49 per kg, rates of pipedcooking gas will escalate byRs 1.08 per unit, reports So-mit Sen. A hike in CNG pric-es is likely to impact publictransport fares in the nearfuture as all autos and taxisply on CNG and nearly 70%BEST buses ply on the greenfuel in Mumbai. P 7

CNG and piped gas prices to goup from today

Former Congress leaderNarayan Rane met CM

Devendra Fadnavis on Tues-day, a move seen as a preludeto his entry into the NDA.The meeting caps days of ne-gotiations on Rane’s potenti-al role within the NDA andthe state cabinet. An announ-cement is due within days. P5

Rane’s cabinetentry likely soon

On the first working day after the Elphinstone Road station stampede,rush hour sees a calm: commuters at the neighbouring Parel stationquietly form queues and climb the foot overbridge, supervised by cops

Mumbai:For the first time, thr-ee fast trains on the Western Ra-ilway suburban network to Chu-rchgate—two starting from Go-regaon and one from Malad—will not halt at Andheri stationduring the morning peak hours.The move comes after Jogeshw-ari commuters protested again-st Western Railway’s new time-table that cancelled halts at theirstation for six fast trains—twooriginating from Malad and fo-ur from Goregaon.

While three of the trains willstill skip Jogeshwari, the otherthree will skip Andheri. These se-rvices are the 8.06am Malad-Chu-rchgate local, 9.05am Goregaon-Churchgate local and the 9.59amGoregaon-Churchgate local).

As the new timetable cameinto effect on Monday, KailashVerma, general secretary of theMumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh, se-nt a letter to railway authoritiessaying, “We do not mind if thesethree trains skip halts at Andheriif they are halted at Jogeshwari.”

In a first, no Andherihalt for 3 WR fast locals

ManthanK.Mehta@timesgroup.com

� SEE INSIDE FLAP

Thirty-seven Indian scie-ntists were co-authors of

the gravitational waves disc-overy paper which won theNobel for Physics, reportsSwati Shinde Gole. Pione-er in gravitational waves ast-ronomy in India Sanjeev Dh-urandhar said Indians hadplayed a big role, especiallyin extracting signal from no-ise, in detecting the gravita-tional waves. P 13

Indians co-wrotediscovery paper

�Pressure from states, P 4

�Waste collection points, P 4

�Lone survivor appears, P 4 �‘A halt for 20 yrs’, P 4

Rizwan Mithawala

The Environment Protection Act, 1986,

empowers the sanctioning authority to impose

conditions on those premises (that exceed 20,000 sq m in area) for not treating their waste, including

disconnection of electricity and water. The

civic body will have to inform the MPCB, which, in turn, will move towards taking action against non-compliant societies—Ajoy Mehta | MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER

RAISING A STINK

3,140 have not responded

BMC notices served to 4,749 bulk waste generators

188 have sought extension

251 are treating wet waste

THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAIWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 20174 TIMES CITY

WATSON: ‘HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT MUMBAI ISN’T OPEN DEFECATION FREE?’ HOLMES: ‘ALIMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON’

BE A SMART TOI CITIZEN REPORTERKeep mobile phone’s GPS on while clicking and sending picturesDescribe exactly where and when picture was taken, giving street names and other locators

More photos, videos on timesofindia.com

BORIVLI

STEPS OF LEARNING TAKING THE PLUNGE

OCTOBER 2, GANDHI GETS HIS STRIDE BACK AS TOI CITIZEN

REPORTER APP WORKS AGAIN

ODF? NBL (NOT BLOODY LIKELY): Raisina Hill may be far from Cuffe Parade, but Mantralaya which announced the “success” of the Open Defecation Free (ODF) scheme is within sniffing distance from this upmarket SoBo enclave. Here’s what Citizen Reporter Priyaank Arora says: “I reside in Cuffe Parade. This is a picture from my window showing people defecating in the open by the sea shore. This is not a one day show, it’s their regular activity”

BROKEN STEPS ON FOOT OVERBRIDGE AT UNIVERSITY STADIUM: The railway foot overbridge at Marine Lines is in a bad condition and can seriously injure commuters —Ashutosh Rajadhyax

IMPACT

BEFORE

AFTER

The BMC’s A ward office has cleaned up the filth behind the garden near Mantralaya after Citizen ReporterAmeet Shende had complained about that on September 19. He has sent a picture of the clean area. We hope it stays this way

ANOTHER DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN: A broken nullah wall at Tilaknagar has not been repaired despite repeated requests to BMC and the local corporator —Manohar Jadhav

Mumbai: Help has poured infor the family of TilakramTeli (37), a daily-wage labou-rer, who died in the stampedeon the Elphinstone Road footover-bridge on Friday. TheNepal citizen, who had madeMumbai his home for thepast two decades, is survivedby a wife and four school-go-ing children.

A day after TOI reportedabout Teli, several Mumbai-kars approached the newspa-per wanting to support the fa-mily. Manish Pradhan, a ge-neral manager at Ingram Mi-cro, has assured to take careof the children’s educationalexpenses. “We will fail as a so-ciety if the children have todrop out of school for lack offinance. I have already metthe family. His wife doesn’t

have a bank account so ope-ning one would be the firststep,” he said.

A sales executive, who didnot wish to be identified, saidthat he would also contributetowards school fees of thechildren. “Often lives arethrown completely out of ge-

ar by such an incident andeducation is the first casual-ty. My plan is to build a cor-pus,” he said. A city couplehas also offered to raise mo-ney for the family.

Teli’s brother-in-law OmPrakash said that his sisterBindravati has been puttingup a brave front. “The child-ren are in their native place(Kapilavastu district in Ne-pal). The young ones have notbeen told about their father’sdemise,” he said.

Meanwhile, 14 of thosewho were injured in the stam-pede were discharged fromKEM Hospital, Parel, on Tu-esday. Dean Dr Avinash Supesaid that only five continue tobe hospitalized, including fo-ur female patients in the sur-gical ward. Akash Parab (18),who has lost his youngerbrother Rohit in the stampe-de, also underwent a surgeryfor fracture of the femur bo-ne on Monday evening. Hisfather Ankush said he was re-covering well.

Citizens offer helpinghand to victim’s family

(inset) TilakramTeli who died inthe stampede;(above) his kids

Will Fund EduOf Nepali Man’s

Four Children WR’s divisional railwaymanager Mukul Jainsaid the move will co-

me into effect from Wednesday.“But this is an interim measureand halts at Andheri will be res-tored once Harbour line trainsstart operating from Goregaon,with Jogeshwari having an ad-dition of slow services.” TheHarbour line is scheduled toopen by December 2017.

Andheri has daily footfallsof 6.04 lakh (8am to 10pm) as pera passenger survey conductedby Mumbai Railway Vikas Cor-poration in 2013. No study hasbeen done for Jogeshwari butrailway officials estimate thefootfalls could be around 2-2.5lakh per day.

Fast trains that originatefrom Virar generally do not haltbetween Kandivli and Jogesh-wari. Once these trains departfrom Borivli, the next halt isAndheri, skipping Kandivli,Malad, Goregaon and Jogesh-wari. However, most fast trainsthat originate from Borivli stopat all stations up to Andheri ex-cept Ram Mandir as it does nothave platforms on the fast corri-dor. WR’s fresh timetable hasincreased the number of servi-ces by 32 from the earlier total of1,323. However, commuters inJogeshwari were upset that sixfast trains were now going toskip their station. RTI activistMansoor Darvesh said, “Thesetrains have had halts at Jogesh-wari for the last 20 years. Howcan authorities withdraw ser-vices popular with residents?”

Explaining the rationale be-hind the new timetable, a se-nior railway official said, “Ofthe six trains, two originatefrom Malad and four from Go-regaon. These trains operate onthe Churchgate-bound fast cor-ridor. At the originating sta-tions, they halt for at least threeminutes. If we start giving haltsat all stations between Malad/Goregaon and Andheri, eachtrain will end up eating takingup 3-4 minutes more.”

WR said it had decided to goahead with the new plan as the-re are an adequate number ofslow trains from Jogeshwari,where 200-300 commuters areseen to board each train.

‘Trains havebeen halting

at Jogeshwarifor 20 years’

�From P 1

Mumbai: Bombay high courton Tuesday posted for urgenthearing on October 5 a fresh PILseeking a criminal probe by Na-tional Investigation Agency(NIA) into the Elphinstone Ro-ad station stampede that clai-med 23 lives to rule out any act of“soft terror’’.

The PIL, a third such pertai-ning to last Friday’s stampede,was filed by perfume trader Fai-sal Banaraswala (47) and AbdulQureshi.

Advocates Jayashri Patiland Gunratan Sadavarte, men-tioning the PIL before a benchheaded by Justice Bhushan Ga-vai, sought an early hearing asthey said the stampede needed athorough probe from all angles.

Banaraswala, president ofRepublican Pravasi group, saidrumours of the bridge or sheetsfalling and a short circuit led tothe stampede. “There was no

bridge collapse. Worldwide,such tricks are employed forsoft terror attacks.’’

Banaraswala said on Octo-ber 2 he had sent a complaint toBhoiwada police station to re-gister the deaths as a case ofmurder under the Indian PenalCode and as a case of terror.

The PIL said the “Railwaysis sitting over February 2012 re-commendations by the Kakod-kar committee, which warnedthat the situation was grim

across Mumbai’s suburban sy-stem’’ that needed to “be tackledon a war-footing’’.

The HC also scheduled a PILseeking a judicial inquiry intothe stampede for hearing on Oc-tober 6. The PIL filed by Thaneresident Vikrant Tawde wasmentioned before a divisionbench headed by Chief JusticeManjula Chellur and JusticeNitin Jamdar. Advocate V P Pa-til, counsel for the petitioner, so-ught an urgent hearing.

Third PIL seeks NIA probeto rule out act of ‘soft terror’

Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

The BMC is holding exhibitions, meeting ho-using societies to understand their pro-blems in case they are not able to process

their waste and also considering central segrega-tion centres for societies that do not have the spa-ce. After chalking everything out, we expect peo-ple’s participation,” said Mehta.

Meanwhile, Solid Waste Management Rules2016 state that all gated communities and institu-tions with more than 5,000 square metres areawill, within one year from the date of notificationof these rules and in patnership with the local bo-dy, ensure segregation of waste at source by gene-rators. Biodegredable waste will be processed, tre-ated and disposed of through composting or bio-methanization within premises as far as possible.

Solid Waste Management Rules are not man-datory, though. The Environment Protection Act,on the other hand, mandates housing societies

with an area larger than 20,000 square metres tocompulsorily instal waste converters on their pre-mises for recycling organic waste at source.

Currently, 7,600 metric tonnes of waste rea-ches the three dumps daily. The BMC hopes tobring it down to 5,000 metric tonnes with the drive.

Waste collection pointslikely for smaller societies

This kind of dictatorship is unaccepta-ble, where the civic body is considering

disconnecting electricity and water— Nikhil Desai | KING’S CIRCLE ACTIVIST

While the BMC needs to penalize establishments for not treating their

garbage, going to the extent of disconnect-ing water and electricity must be the last resort. A penalty of a certain amount could be levied instead — G R Vora | SION ACTIVIST

� From P 1

He however died, Vish-wakarma said. Vish-wakarma herself suf-

fered injuries to her hands,legs, back and stomach. Shewas rushed by locals to KEMHospital but was dischargedthe same evening.

The three-member pro-be panel headed by WesternRailway’s chief security of-ficer began its inquiry intothe stampede on Tuesday.Vishwakarma was the onlysurvivor to appear before iton the first day. Railway staf-fers deputed at ElphinstoneRoad gave their statements,and an ordinary Mumbai-kar too had turned up to of-fer his suggestions. The pro-be will continue, with thecommittee asking WR offici-als to visit KEM Hospital torecord statements of thoseinjured who are still there.

Describing the scene onthe bridge just before trage-dy struck, Vishwakarmatold TOI, “While I wascaught in the middle of thestaircase, there was pressu-re from the top (from thebridge) as well as from below(the exit) as many commu-

ters did not want to get out ofthe station because of the ra-in. Many women were deck-ed in traditional attire forNavaratri and were reluc-tant to get wet.”

Dadar police, who areconducting their own inqui-ry, have recorded statementsof 20 witnesses so far. Fourwitnesses have corrobora-ted Vishwakarma’s theory,said an officer. Meanwhile,multidisciplinary audit te-ams comprising officialsfrom railways, BMC and se-curity agencies visited sta-tions on WR and Central Ra-ilway to identify problemsand suggest solutions tocommuter hardships.

Only 1 survivorappears beforepanel on Day 1

NCP leader Jitendra Awhad dared Union railway minister PiyushGoyal to board any suburban local during morning peak hours,

should he really empathize with lakhs of commuters. The MLA fromMumbra-Kalwa voiced his angst at misplaced priorities of the centralgovernment which has announced ambitious plans for a high-speedBullet train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad, while suburbancommuter safety has long been overlooked.

The railway administration and police personnel had gathered infull strength to stall NCP plans to disrupt rail services at Kalwa onTuesday. The protestors, however, sneaked onto the tracks and heldup a CST-bound local for two minutes before being escorted away bypolice. —Manoj Badgeri

NCP dares Goyal to travel during peak hours

The state has constituted acabinet sub-committee

to to look into issues faced bycommuters so that railwayprojects pending for a longtime can be streamlined."The idea is to co-ordinatebetter with railways andother agencies to expeditepending projects,” said an official. TNN

State govt formsown sub-panel

�From P 1

Last month, the ministryhad called a meeting ofstakeholders from across

the country. Over 60,000 acresof salt pan land is owned by theCentre and they are spreadover Gujarat, Karnataka, Ta-mil Nadu, West Bengal, And-hra Pradesh, Odisha, Maha-rashtra. “While Maharashtraasked for water reservoirs notto be included under the defi-nition of wetlands, the otherstates were vociferous and de-manded that salt pan lands beexcluded,” said sources.

State environment secreta-ry Satish Gavai confirmed toTOI that salt pans have beenexcluded from the definition ofwetlands, but added that devel-opment on them was a sepa-rate issue. He also said his de-

partment, in filing objectionsand suggestions, had notasked for exclusion of saltpans from wetlands.

This would have been ashift from the state’s earlier po-sition in 2015 when Maharash-tra government formallyasked for transfer of salt panlands in Mumbai and its sub-urbs to the state for creating af-fordable housing stock.

At that time, the Centrehad asked the state for a mas-ter plan, explaining what it in-tended to do. The MumbaiMetropolitan Region Develop-ment Authority was then ap-pointed to prepare the plan.But in a report submitted in2016, MMRDA said only 25acres of the 5,379 acres undersalt pans were developable.

This finding was endorsedby a survey which said large

swathes of salt pans are located in the midst of wet-lands or covered with man-groves. In addition, some ex-panses are encroached byslums and buildings while oth-ers are under litigation and ti-tle disputes.

The new rules state: “Wet-land means an area of marsh,fen, peatland or water; whether natural or artificial,permanent or temporary, withwater that is static or flowing,fresh, brackish or salt, includ-ing areas of marine water thedepth of which at low tide doesnot exceed six meters, but does not include river chan-nels, paddy fields, human-made water bodies/tanks specifically constructed fordrinking water purposes andstructures specifically con-structed for aquaculture, salt

production, recreation and ir-rigation purposes.”

It also says wetland ruleswill not apply to wetlands fall-ing in areas covered under theIndian Forest Act, 1927, theWildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,the Forest (Conservation) Act,1980, the State Forest Acts andthe Coastal Regulation ZoneNotification, 2011. Salt pansare covered under the coastalregulation zone (CRZ).

Stalin said salt pans inMumbai have been wronglyclassified as CRZ III withoutground studies. “The draftCoastal Zone ManagementPlan has corrected this andclassified them as falling un-der the stringent CRZ I. How-ever, its finalisation is delayedand this will only benefit de-velopers. Salt pans are nowvulnerable as the CRZ Notifi-

cation, 2011 does not explicitlystate that they cannot be re-claimed,” he said.

However, a government of-ficial said it would not be easyto throw open salt pan landsfor development given thatthese are inter-tidal areas andthat there are title disputes.

Besides, activist and archi-tect P K Das, while mappingthe city’s open spaces, creeks,rivers etc had shown how near-ly 95% of the city is alreadyconcretised.

“The recent deluge shouldserve as a warning against pro-moting real estate develop-ment on salt pan lands. Intenserainfall is going to be annualphenomena and so also flood-ing. Citizens and activists willneed to continually raise theirvoice against concretisation ofsalt pan lands,” said an official.

Pressure from states made govt tweak salt pan rules� From P 1