Railway boosts gender sensitivity
Of the total 75 lakh commuters travelling on the suburban rail network of Mumbai, 22 lakh are women who use the facility every day. For the first time, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation has decided to make the suburban rail travel more secure for women. A pilot project will soon begin to make 19 out of Mumbai’s total 136 suburban railway stations gender sensitive. The main aim in the first phase will be to eliminate dark unlit areas from railway stations, other facilities such as special rooms for lactating mothers, open spaces with special utility court, house food stalls and ATMs.
Century-old well discovered
The engineers of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have discovered a century-old well, which had disappeared under a footpath. Members of Bombay Gymkhana, which is situated in a corner of the Azad Maidan near the BMC headquarters, had been using part of the footpath as parking. A few days ago, the administration stopped the practice of parked vehicles on the footpath. However, it was then realized that the footpath had started caving in. When the engineers decided to explore the reasons, they realised that there was a huge hollow space below the tiled footpath. When they explored further, they found an old well below.
Tiger Bajirao dead
Mumbai’s only living white tiger Bajiro died at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park due to old age last week. The tiger was born in 2001 to a pair of Royal Bengal Tigers — tigress Renuka and tiger Siddharth — both white tigers brought to the park from Aurangabad Zoo in 1999. While Renuka died in 2009, after being diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 13, 20-year-old Siddharth died on June 4, 2015, due to old age. The park had only four white tigers in captivity since its inception in 1942. The old tiger was ailing for
a long time.
Victoria to return to Mumbai
Almost four years after they were banned to stop cruelty towards animals, the iconic Victorias of Mumbai are likely to return to the streets soon. However, the Victorias won’t be horse-driven this time. They would be battery operated carriages, officials of the tourism department have said. This is an effort by the state tourism department to keep the old attractions of the city alive. Initially, 40 Victorias will operate on 40 routes around tourist attractions such as the Gateway of India, Chowpatty, Marine Drive, Nariman point etc.
Abhijit Mulye
Our correspondent in Maharashtra
abhijit.mulye@gmail.com