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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western...

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) spokesperson Pradeep Shetty.   “We are in continuous touch with the concerned authorities, but the situation is very gloomy. There is no response from the Centre or the Ministry of Petroleum on when the situation will ease. We fear that more than 50 pc of all eateries in Mumbai will soon down the shutters. The same will apply to the rest of the state and many other parts of India,” Shetty told  ‘ The Perfect Voice’ .   The shortage of commercial LPG has badly affected multiple sectors, including the hospitality and food industries, mass private or commercial kitchens and even the laundry businesses, industry players said.   At their wits' ends, many restaurateurs resorted to the reliable old iron ‘chulhas’ (stoves) fired by either coal or wood - the prices of which have also shot up and result in pollution - besides delaying the cooking.   Anticipating a larger crisis, even domestic LPG consumers besieged retail dealers in Mumbai, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Akola, Nagpur to book their second cylinder, with snaky queues in many cities. The stark reality of the 12-days old Gulf war with the disturbed supplies has hit the people and industries in the food supply chains that feed crores daily.   “The ordinary folks leave home in the morning after breakfast, then they rely on the others in the food chain for their lunch or dinner. Many street retailers have also shut down temporarily,” said Shetty.   Dry Snacks A quick survey of some suburban ‘khau gullies’ today revealed that the available items were mostly cold sandwiches, fruit or vegetable salads, cold desserts or ice-creams, cold beverages and packed snacks. Few offered the regular ‘piping hot’ foods that need elaborate cooking, or charging higher than normal menu rates, and even the app-based food delivery system was impacted.   Many people were seen gloomily munching on colorful packets of dry snacks like chips, chivda, sev, gathiya, samosas, etc. for lunch, the usually cheerful ‘chai ki dukaans’ suddenly disappeared from their corners, though soft drinks and tetrapaks were available.   Delay, Scarcity  Maharashtra LPG Dealers Association President Deepak Singh yesterday conceded to “some delays due to supply shortages” of commercial cylinders, but assured that there is no scarcity of domestic cylinders.   “We are adhering to the Centre’s guidelines for a 25 days booking period between 2 cylinders (domestic). The issue is with commercial cylinders but even those are available though less in numbers,” said Singh, adding that guidelines to prioritise educational institutions, hospitals, and defence, are being followed, but others are also getting their supplies.   Despite the assurances, Shetty said that the current status is extremely serious since the past week and the intermittent disruptions have escalated into a near-total halt in supplies in many regions since Monday.   Adding to the dismal picture is the likelihood of local hoteliers associations in different cities like Pune, Palghar, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and more resorting to tough measures from Thursday, including temporary shutdown of their outlets, which have run out of gas stocks.

Fate of anti-rape bills in limbo

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Fate of anti-rape bills in limbo

The pitch is growing louder for stricter laws against rape as politicians and activists are demanding quick and effective justice even as three anti-rape bills await the President of India’s nod. On September 2, while West Bengal passed the Aparajita Bill, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) working president Supriya Sule staged a protest against the President’s delay in approving the Shakti Bill passed by the Maharashtra legislature in 2020.

It may seem ironical that at a time when cases of heinous sexual crimes against women are flooding the news every day, three anti-rape bills that seek strict punishment for the culprits are still awaiting approval from the President. The bills that need the President’s nod are the Aparajita Woman and Child Bill passed by West Bengal and the Disha and Shakti Bill

Shaken by the rape and murder of a young doctor Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the West Bengal Assembly, on September 3, 2024, passed the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) Bill 2024’ to amend provisions in existing laws to provide for stricter punishment for crimes against women and children.

While speaking in the Assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “Rape is a now a national shame. Let us come together for social reform which is needed to prevent rapes.”

The Bill tweaks section 64 in the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS) and enhances the jail term to the “remainder of that person’s natural life and fine, or with death”. Additionally, it adds that this fine shall be fair and reasonable to meet the victim’s medical expenses and rehabilitation costs. The Bengal Bill proposes death penalty for rape resulting in the victim’s death or causing her to be in a vegetative state, while the existing Section 66 of the BNS allows for 20 years jail term, life imprisonment, and death for such a crime. In the cases of gangrape, the Bill seeks to amend Section 70 of BNS, increasing the punishment from 20 years to life imprisonment and death for those convicted of gangrape. The Bengal legislation also toughens the punishments in child abuse cases as laid down by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The proposed legislation seeks to penalise printing or publishing of any matter relating to court proceedings without permission with a punishment of “imprisonment of three to five years and fine”. The Bill mandates that a probe and trial must be completed within 21 days, with a possible extension of up to 15 days. The extension must be justified by a senior police officer. Trials in all sex crimes and acid attacks must be completed within 30 days. The Aparajita Bill legislation also includes provisions for setting up special courts to hear sexual violence cases and task forces to investigate them.

The legislation, while moved by the ruling Trinamool Congress, was unanimously passed but requires President Droupadi Murmu’s assent before it can come into force.

However, this is not the first time that a state assembly had tried to seek President’s assent regarding an anti-rape bill. The Andhra Pradesh Disha Bill 2019 and Shakti Bill passed by Maharashtra in 2020, both introduced in India in the wake of high-profile cases of sexual violence against women, demanding strict punishment, are still awaiting a nod from the President.

Both bills mandate death penalty for certain offenses against women, such as rape and gang rape. Additionally, both bills provide for the establishment of special courts to handle cases of violence against women and children. While the Shakti Bill was largely modelled after the Disha Bill, there were some minor differences in the specific provisions and timelines for investigations and trials. “Politics is involved in delaying the approval for the bill as a lot of MPs in BJP are accused in rape cases. The BJP fears that if this bill gets implemented, the death penalty will also apply to them as well,” says Vidya Chavan, Chief Spokesperson of the NCP (SP).

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