Poor response to Mhada flats, BMC’s new app to curb hawkers: Top five stories from Mumbai

Here are the top five stories from Mumbai you shouldn’t miss

In a heartwarming incident, a Railway Police Force (RPF) constable on duty at Kurla station reunited a five-year-old boy lost inside the compartment of a train with his family. Irked by the illegal hawkers that congest the city’s streets? You might soon be able to use a mobile application to complain about them.While the MHADA affordable housing lottery scheme has not got the huge response this year, the Mumbai police have rejected all 79 applications that they received for fresh dance bar licences, following a Supreme Court order in November 2016. Also, a 32-year-old man on Tuesday killed his 20-year-old girlfriend and committed suicide at Ambernath on Tuesday, said police.

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Here are today’s top five picks:

1. RPF constable reunites five-year-old boy lost in crowded Mumbai train with family

Hearing a child crying loudly in the overcrowded ladies compartment of a Vashi-bound train, a Railway Police Force (RPF) constable on duty at Kurla station platform on Sunday evening decided to investigate. As the train pulled out of Kurla, the constable, DN Sawji, managed to get into the men’s compartment adjacent to the women’s and looking through the grill spotted a boy crying.

2. Police reject all fresh licence applications to operate dance bars in Mumbai

Dance bars will not reopen in the city anytime in the near future, as the Mumbai police have rejected all 79 applications that they received for fresh licences, following a Supreme Court order in November 2016. The hearing on the petition to stay the law that makes dance bars almost impossible to operate in Maharashtra, scheduled for April this year, has been deferred till January 2018, said advocate Satyajit Saha, who is representing the dance bar association in the apex court.

Irked by the illegal hawkers that congest the city’s streets? You might soon be able to use a mobile application to complain about them. Civic chief Ajoy Mehta has asked the information technology (IT) department to look into Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) request of to create a WhatsApp number where citizens can complaint against hawkers, and prepare a plan.

4. Poor response to Mhada flats in Mumbai this year; people complain they are unaffordable

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s (Mhada) affordable housing lottery scheme has not got the huge response this year that it usually gets, with the number of applicants dropping by as much as 40 per cent compared to 2016 . Till date, 77,937 people have applied for flats, compared to last year’s 1.36 lakh. The extremely high price of flats, and the economic slowdown seem to have put people off from investing in Mhada’s no-frills apartments.

5. Mumbai man strangles girlfriend, texts her parents, ‘She is dead, I am committing suicide’

A 32-year-old man on Tuesday killed his 20-year-old girlfriend and committed suicide at Ambernath on Tuesday, said police. The motive is not yet clear. Metram Chadrabhan Verma, 32, a labourer, lived in Ambernath, while the woman, Anchal Shriram Mahalle, 20, worked at a private firm and stayed in Diva. As Mahalle’s parents were out of town, she stayed at Verma’s home in Kansai at Ambernath for two days.