Regd. No. MH/MR/South-160/2012-14 RNI Regn. No. 43675/1985 MUMBAI MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 32 PAGES `3 Website: www.afternoondc.in
Aft er oo DESPATCH & COURIER
CM HAD CLEARED MARIA’S APPOINTMENT ON JAN 20 We will skip the congratulations and get straight to the point. After all, enough time has been wasted in merely filling the hot seat you now occupy. There are many issues plaguing the city that will require your fulltime attention and they will need to be prioritised. From the common citizen’s point of view, these must be first addressed. Topping this list of course, is the concern for our daughters. You must be fully aware how unsafe this city has become for women. Crimes against women and girls, as well as very young children, have become so common that they seldom make front page news. The city seems to have become numb to the fact that we have lost that part of our identity which lifted us above every other city in India. What all of us would like to see is a return to the good days when Mumbai was truly a city for women to live and work in fearlessly. The Mumbai police can do it, if only it is led right. And you are now the leader! Another issue that needs your attention is the chaotic traffic conditions of Mumbai. Apart from giving the entire police department a bad name through their open displays of corruption on the city’s roads, and in the absence of visible senior officers, at times it looks as if the constabulary is ruling the city through its main arteries. Putting the seniors out on the streets at proper times and intervals would go a long way in untangling the mess that is the city’s traffic. In Mumbai, where time is literally money, this would go a long way in improving living and working conditions for the Aam Aadmi. As regards terrorist activities and law and order management, your credentials require us to say no more. That will no longer remain a concern with the city in your hands. At least that’s what we believe, and we hope we won’t be let down.
Carol Andrade Editor
Business&Investment Pg13-20
Contrary to popular perception that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has lost out to Home Minister R.R. Patil in the choice for Mumbai’s Police Commissioner, the opposite is true. The CM just seems to have played along with reports that he was in favour of Ahmed Javed, resulting in the NCP trying to score brownie points and unwittingly, choosing the man who was the CM’s original choice. No wonder Chavan is having the last laugh.
ADC had said it on January 21 Regd. No. MH/MR/South-160/2012-14 RNI Regn. No. 43675/1985 MUMBAI TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2014 32 PAGES `3 Website: www.afternoondc.in
After oo DESPATCH & COURIER
Azad Shrivastav | ADC
Dear Mr. Commissioner,
Gold: `29,375 Silver: `46,613 US Dollar: `61.85 Temperature: 320C/220C Humidity: 44%
By Neel Shah
A
Gold: `29,364 Silver: `45,178 US Dollar: `61.62 Temperature: 290C/200C Humidity: 54%
Health&Fitness Pg13-20
ADGP (ATS) Rakesh Maria: If declared as the city’s new police chief, he would most certainly remain in the post for nearly two years. An officer of the 1981 batch, Maria, who recently turned 56, has extraordinary credentials. He showed exemplary skills during all his stints in the city at different designations but there was no looking back for Maria after the year 1993, in which he, as DCP (Traffic), played a key role in arresting most of the accused of 1993 serial blasts and for the first time unearthed Pakistan’s role in training ultras and sponsoring the blasts in the city. Exactly a decade later, during his posting as Additional CP (Crime), Maria cracked the twin blasts of Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar in 2003, and when posted as JCP (Crime), he successfully broke the most active module of the terrorist organization, the Indian Mujahideen (IM). An officer with razor-sharp memory, his colleagues and officers who have worked under him, consider him to be a man with no full-stops, who brings out the solution for each and every problem. He is one among quite a few IPS officers in the state police, who have kept himself well-versed with not only the crimes in the city but also with the inside information of the D-Gang’s meetings happening behind Karachi’s well guarded doors. This knowledge and information, in his ‘red diary’, is thanks to the large network of ‘loyal’ informers, which he has able to gather during the past two decades.
Finally, Mumbai may get a top cop it really deserves
major re-shuffle in the higher echelons of the state police department is imminent, with the city getting its new police chief by this weekend. The chances of Addtional DG and the incumbent state ATS chief Rakesh Maria being announced as the city’s police commissioner are high, revealed well-placed sources in the home ministry. Talking to the ADC, the sources informed, “Considering the election code of conduct that will be in place after a month, and the considerable delay in the transfers of the IPS officers who are already due for transfer or promotion, and most of them having completed their respective tenures, the government has to take the decision at this point of time.” Another significant reason for the transfers being likely to take place now is that the differences between Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Home Minister R R Patil over the issue of police transfers have been sorted out during last week’s Cabinet sub-committee meeting, added the sources. In the meeting, it was finally decided that the CM would continue to decide on the transfers of the IPS officers of the ranks of commissioner, additional commissioner and IG, but the power to transfer the police officers of the rank of deputy superintendent and additional SP of state services would be vested with Patil. The state DGP and department heads under his jurisdiction will now have the powers to transfer police personnel till the level of police inspector. Meanwhile, the sources explained that though there are quite a few IPS officers in the run up for the post of city police chief,
Maria’s name is being strongly considered. In addition, it becomes pertinent to know that apart from Maria, the only other name being considered for the final announcement is that of Additional DG (Establishment) Satish Mathur. neel.shah@afternoondc.in
In the ADC issue of Jan 21, we had clearly stated ‘Rakesh Maria is new CP?’ The question mark in the headline was a mere formality, as it was certain on that day itself that Rakesh Maria would be Mumbai’s Police Commissioner, and only a formal T announcement was awaited. «
MOST OF MUMBAI LEFT OUT
CABINET CUTS POWER TARIFFS BY 20 PER CENT, LEAVES OUT MOST OF MUMBAI By Prashant Hamine
By Deepak Sahijwala
“H
e is a no-nonsense officer. Mumbai will be in good hands.” This comment from a senior Mantralaya bureaucrat and close confidante of the Chief Minister had sealed Rakesh Maria’s appointment on the afternoon of January 20 itself. And as sources reveal, all the CM asked the officer was, “How do we go about it,” as appointing Maria would mean that he would have to supersede his colleagues. Then began the ‘top secret’ homework by a team of trusted senior officers, including some from the Home Department, who meticulously planned the manner in which Maria would be brought forward. The Police Establishment Board recommendation of three
names was a mere formality, and if sources are to be believed, the leakage to the media that 'Javed was the CM’s choice and he was not in favour of Maria,' was also fuelled by the CM’s office, for they knew fully well that, whomsoever the CM chose would be opposed by R.R. Patil and the NCP. Then began the 15 day drama, where names and political preferences were being shuttled around, amidst intense lobbying, while criticism for the CM’s non-action on the issue kept growing. All the while, the CM remained non-committal, and on Saturday, in a late evening decision after a meeting with Home Minister R.R. Patil, Chavan, pretending to accede to the NCP’s choice, announced Rakesh Maria as Mumbai’s Police Commissioner.
per cent for commercial, in- ity Mahavitaran (Distribudustrial, agricultural and res- tion). The decision – which he State cabinet meeting idential power consumers, leaves out large parts of yesterday, witnessed a consuming upto 300 units of Mumbai and tariffs of private heated debate over its deci- power and availing power Continued on pg 8 sion to cut power tariffs by 20 supply from state power util-
Behind the scenes Sources tell us that, till about four weeks ago, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had no personal inclination towards any single individual for the post of the CP, and was going along with demands from Senior Congress leaders to name either Ahmed Javed or Vijay Kamble as Mumbai's CP, as either of them would give the party a caste or community advantage in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. From the NCP camp we hear that while Rakesh Maria's name was being propped up, they believed that knowing the adamancy
of Chavan, if he resisted Maria's name, they could arrive at a compromise formula, wherein the NCP's actual choice, Satish Mathur, could be brought in as the CP. As regards Sharad Pawar's role, we learn that he was playing along with R.R. Patil's strategy, knowing that in the ultimate analysis, Maria, being junior to other contenders, didn't have much of a chance. So Satish Mathur would make it. But the shrewd Chief Minster seems to have turned the tables on everybody.