Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation has sought Rs 3,600 crore from the state government for payment of salaries and other essential expenses, Transport Minister Anil Parab said on Friday.

The state-run corporation has not paid the salaries of its employees for the last three months, and to pay them was its priority, the minister said.

Parab, who is also the chairman of the MSRTC, told reporters that the corporation was trying to raise money through external means too.

“Paying salaries before Diwali is the current priority and we will do it, we would borrow money if needed,” he said.

“As currently, even the earnings of the state government have gone down, instead of depending solely on government, the corporation is exploring other options too,” Parab said.

Asked about reports that the MSRTC was going to mortgage some of its properties for obtaining a loan, Parab said it could take a loan but it would not be a mortgage.

“Mortgaging properties is different,” he said.

The MSRTC needs Rs 292 crore per month for paying salaries. The cumulative losses of the transport body have ballooned to over Rs 5,500 crore, he said.

The MSRTC used to earn Rs 22 crore every day before the coronavirus outbreak, but presently its revenue from passenger services has fallen to barely Rs 5-6 crore, he said.

Mumbai: Posters of French President Emmanuel Macron were found pasted on a busy road in south Mumbai and were later removed by the police, an official said on Friday.

Pedestrians and motorists in the Bhendi Bazaar area spotted hundreds of posters of Macron, who is facing criticism from Muslim countries over a cartoon row in France, pasted on the Mohammed Ali Road under JJ flyover on Thursday evening, the official said

A video also surfaced on social media in which vehicles can be seen driving over the posters.

Mumbai Police spokesperson S Chaitanya confirmed the incident and said the posters were promptly removed by the Pydhonie police after getting information about them.

No case has been registered in this regard so far, another official said.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted people on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi and hoped that this day furthers compassion and brotherhood.

Milad-un-Nabi marks the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad and it is observed in the month of Rabi’ al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.

“Best wishes on Milad-un-Nabi. Hope this day furthers compassion and brotherhood all across,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

“May everybody be healthy and happy. Eid Mubarak!” he said.

Washington: A US court has asked Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, to pay compensation of USD 1.2 billion to a Bengaluru-based startup, Devas Multimedia, for cancelling a satellite deal in 2005.

As per the agreement in January 2005, Antrix agreed to build, launch and operate two satellites and to make available 70 MHz of S-band spectrum to Devas, which the latter planned to use to offer hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication services throughout India.

The agreement was terminated by Antrix in February 2011. Over the next several years, Devas approached various legal avenues in India. This included the Supreme Court, which directed for a tribunal.

In his order dated October 27, Judge Thomas S Zilly, US District Judge, Western District of Washington, Seattle, ruled that Antrix Corporation pay a compensation of USD562.5 million to Devas Multimedia Corporation and the related interest rate amounting to a total of USD1.2 billion.

In its lawsuit filed in the US District Court, Western District of Washington in September 2018, Devas Multimedia said three separate international tribunals and nine different arbitrators have found the termination of the Devas-Antrix agreement to have been wrongful, with one of the tribunals describing it as conduct ‘which shocks, or at least surprises, a sense of juridical propriety,’ and another finding it to be a clear breach of simple good faith by India.

Antrix, in November 2018, had sought the dismissal of the lawsuit citing jurisdictional issues.

The court, however, asserted that it had jurisdiction over the issue, but stayed the matter for one year and asked the two to file a joint status report by April 15, 2020.

On July 16, 2020, both Devas and Antrix filed the instant motion, a Joint Status Report in which they disputed whether the court should lift or extend the stay, and, if the latter, whether Antrix be required to post security.

Devas, according to submissions, has argued that the US court has jurisdiction over these cases, as Antrix engages in business in this district and across the United States.

Antrix and Spaceflight Industries, which is headquartered in Seattle have an agreement to provide satellite launch services using India’s PSLV rocket.

Antrix and RBC Signals LLC, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington have a worldwide agreement to provide space communications services to satellite operators.

Antrix in 2018 launched a satellite for Redmond, a Washington-based Planetary Resources.

Antrix agreed in 2015 to launch two satellites for Colorado-based PlanetiQ. Antrix is contracted with DigitalGlobe, which has headquarters in Colorado and other locations in Florida, Virginia and Washington to procure certain satellite data, which is then distributed by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s National Remote Sensing Centre.

Devas said that after the initial signing of the agreement, the two companies performed in good faith for five years. Among other things, in May 2009, Dr. Appanna Bhaskarnaryana, the Director of the Satellite Communications Program Office of ISRO, spent four to five weeks in the US with Devas personnel meeting with Hughes Networks, Sirius XM SkyTerra, Qualcomm and ICO North America to understand the technologies used by, and operation of, hybrid satellite-terrestrial operators providing telecommunications services.

Devas subsequently conducted experimental trials in India (attended by Antrix officials, including the then-Chairman of Antrix), Chengdu and Beijing in China, and Stuttgart in Germany, which successfully demonstrated the hybrid satellite-terrestrial systems and end-user terminals that Devas had developed in conjunction with a global network of leading technology players such as Alcatel Lucent, it said.

On February 25, 2011, Antrix issued a termination notice to Devas, which among other things stated that the policy decision was of the central government, acting in its sovereign capacity is the event of force majeure, which was an occurrence on February 23, 2011.

The scope and duration of the said decision cannot be anticipated. It is likely to be indefinite. It is not possible for Antrix to take any effective step to resume the obligations under the agreement, Antrix said.

Devas disputed Antrix’s repudiation of the agreement and sought to conduct discussions among senior management as contemplated by that agreement.

In June 2011, Devas commenced arbitration proceedings under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Antrix initially refused to participate in the arbitration and obtained an injunction from the Indian Supreme Court enjoining the arbitration. After one year, the Supreme Court lifted the injunction, allowing the arbitration to proceed. Thereafter, Antrix participated fully in the arbitration.

Srinagar: Three BJP workers were shot dead by militants in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, police said. The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be a shadow group of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the killings.

Fida Hussain, Umer Hajam and Umer Rashid Beigh were shot by militants in Y K Pora area of Kulgam district late on Thursday evening, a police official said. He said the trio was rushed to a local hospital at Qazigund where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

In a message in English and Hindi on its social media account, the TRF said “crematoriums will get overbooked”.

Militants have since June stepped up attacks on BJP workers and leaders in the union territory, killing eight of them so far.

In a similar attack in Bandipora in July, a BJP leader, his father and brother were killed by the ultras.

Priyanka paid floral tributes to her grandmother Indira Gandhi at her memorial ‘Shakti Sthal’ in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party general-secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra paid tributes to their grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 36th death anniversary on Saturday

Indira Gandhi served as the first and only woman Prime Minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984. “From the false to truth. From darkness to light. From death to life. Thank you Dadi for showing me what it means to live these words,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet and also posted a picture of the former prime minister.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid floral tributes to her grandmother Indira Gandhi at her memorial, “Shakti Sthal”, here. She was shot dead by two of her own bodyguards at her official residence at Akbar Road on October 31, 1984.

Ramazan Hussain had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly elections from Bani constituency on a BSP ticket before joining the PDP.

JAMMU: A senior PDP leader joined the BJP here on Wednesday, saying the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not support anyone who tries to defame the nation and the national flag.

Ramazan Hussain, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly elections from Bani constituency on a BSP ticket before joining the PDP, was welcomed into the party fold by J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina at the party headquarters here, a party release said.

It said Hussain quit PDP and joined the BJP along with his supporters, stressing that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are very optimistic about the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The people of J-K are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the ‘Tiranga’ (tricolour) and do not support anybody who tries to defame the nation and the national flag,” the statement quoting Hussain said.

He said J-K is on the right track towards peace and development.

Hailing Hussain’s decision, Raina said he has come to the right place now and asked him to serve the party and the nation with full vigour.

Raina also assured him full support of the party in his public welfare endeavours, the statement said.

Amid soaring prices, four people were arrested for allegedly stealing onions worth Rs 2.30 lakh in Junnar in Maharashtra.

PUNE: Amid soaring prices, four people were arrested for allegedly stealing onions worth Rs 2.30 lakh in Junnar in Maharashtra’s Pune district, police said on Tuesday.

The theft of 56 bags of the kitchen staple took place in Dingore village and the arrests were made on the basis of CCTV camera footage and leads, a Junnar police station official said.

Kumar also praised Modi for his initiatives in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

PATNA: Bringing the ‘Modi factor’ to the fore of the poll campaign, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday devoted his speech at a BJP rally here to development works undertaken by the prime minister for Bihar and said Narendra Modi will make it a “developed” state if the ruling NDA is voted back to power.

Lavishing praise on Modi, Kumar referred to a slew of projects to assert that the people of Bihar can never forget what he has done for the state.

“Listening to his (Modi’s) appeal, if you give the NDA one more chance to work in the state, then you take it for sure that he will transform it into a developed state. Bihar with march ahead,” he said.

Locked in a keen electoral battle with the RJD-led opposition amid a perceived anti-incumbency against Kumar’s nearly 15-year tenure as chief minister, the National Democratic Alliance is banking strongly on the ‘Modi factor’ to help it romp home.

In the state capital and several other places, BJP’s posters carrying the prime minister’s photographs and its symbol, among with that of allies, have been put up prominently, assuring voters that he will bring them jobs — a central theme of the Bihar assembly polls — and other developments in the same way he has brought them roads and electricity.

In his speech, Kumar, the JD(U) president, spoke about the Patna metro project, smart cities plan and the Ujjwala scheme among other measures to laud Modi. He has done so much for building roads and bridges in the state, the chief minister said in his brief speech.

Kumar also praised Modi for his initiatives in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Referring to the free ration scheme for over 80 crore poor in the country between April and November, the chief minister said, “This is not a small thing.”

The NDA has projected Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate.

Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, the chief ministerial face of his alliance, has launched an aggressive campaign around the theme of “unemployment and corruption” in the NDA government in the state and has protected himself as a harbinger of hope and change.

The NDA, on the other hand, has been raking up the issue of the “15-year-misrule” during the previous RJD regime from 1990 to 2005.