Demolition relief for Ulhasnagar

Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has decided to regularise around 30,000 illegal buildings in Ulhasnagar which faced threat of demolition following a high court directive.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet here, official sources said, bringing relief to thousands of families who were on the verge of being rendered homeless following the demolition drive against illegal buildings undertaken by civic authorities.

Hearing a bunch of public interest litigations, Bombay High Court had directed the civic body to demolish the unauthorised structures following which residents of the town in Thane district had resorted to obstructing rail and road traffic.

However, under the leadership of local MLA Pappu Kalani, the locals urged the government to take a humanitarian view of the issue and help in regularising the unauthorised structures.

Suspense on PF rate

New Delhi (PTI): Maintaining suspense over the employees’ provident fund interest rate for the current fiscal, which was earlier pegged at 8.5 per cent by the board, labour minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Tuesday that the notification alone would reveal the rate but declined to reveal the date.

After meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P. Chidambaram, Rao said he had apprised them of “all issues considered while recommending 8.5 per cent rate” and the “demands” being made by trade unions and employees for retaining the rate at 9.5 per cent.

MBA deadline

Hyderabad (PTI): The Indian School of Business has extended till January 15 the deadline for accepting GMAT scores from prospective students.

The last date of submitting applications, January 7, would remain the same, V.K. Menon, its director (admissions), said in a release.

IAF crash

Bangalore (PTI): An IAF trainer aircraft crashed while on a routine sortie here on Tuesday but the two pilots ejected to safety minutes before the plane hit the ground, senior air force officials said. The Kiran Mark-I aircraft crashed and caught fire after the pilot and co-pilot ejected.

Naxalite killed

Guntur (PTI): A rebel was killed in an exchange of fire between police and Maoists in this Andhra Pradesh district on Tuesday. A grenade and a gun were recovered from her, the police said.

Coins worth Rs 1.10 crore have had to be squeezed into the strongroom of Tamil Nadu state transport corporation as banks refused to accept them. Interest worth Rs 5 lakh is lost annually.