Slum stars saved by Danny-Tata trust

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle plays with the film’s child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (10) as the other child star, Rubina Ali (9), stands by at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday. Rubina and Azharuddin lost their homes this month as the authorities cleared out parts of Garib Nagar slum, where they live.

The two child actors from the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire are to get permanent homes after their shantytown dwellings were demolished, AFP quoted officials as saying on Wednesday.

They said Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson, who set up a trust for the slumdwellers, on Wednesday asked officials of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who manage the trust, to fund the new homes.

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National Identity Cards for coastal areas

In its ongoing effort to beef up coastal security following the Mumbai terror attacks, the Centre has decided to issue multi-purpose national identity cards to the population living in the coastal areas.

To expedite the project, under the charge of the Registrar General of India, the government has asked states to undertake data collection for the creation of a National Population Register with respect to habitations in coastal areas without waiting for the 2011 census.

States have been asked to furnish the final list of the coastal villages by February 1 so that the data collection can commence from the last week of February. The project is to be completed in a period of one year.

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Lalu warns Mumbai: Stop, or I’ll halt trains

In a veiled threat to the Maharashtra government over continuing violence against North Indians in Mumbai, railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday virtually “threatened” to seriously consider stopping train services in parts of the state.

“The railways are a soft target for any kind of protesters as it easy to attack our property. It is the responsibility of the state government to protect rail assets. We will seriously consider blocking services to violence-affected parts of Maharashtra if the violence continues,” he said.

Railway ministry sources said train services were halted in parts of Bihar too following widespread attacks on railway property recently, but political watchers said Mr Yadav’s remarks were a “clear warning” to Maharashtra.

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Mukesh, Anil in Vanity Fair Influential 100

Billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani are the only Indians who figure on American magazine Vanity Fair’s annual listing of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people.

The brothers are a joint new entry on the list, at number 67 spot. Described as the “bickering brothers”, with a combined net worth of $85 billion, the entry on Mukesh, 51, and Anil, 49, mentions the fact that the elder Ambani is building a new, 27-floor, 550-foot tower in Mumbai as his residence, which is likely to be the world’s costliest home.

Anil, according to the article, is on the verge of buying into Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks with a $500million-plus capital investment. “He also plans to finance films for the production companies of George Clooney, Tom Hanks, and Brad Pitt.”

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Actress, Navy officer arrested for murder

A naval lieutenant and a budding television actress were arrested by the crime branch of the Mumbai police on Tuesday for the murder of the creative head of Adlabs Synergy on May 6. The police said the murder was the result of a love triangle gone sour.

The two arrested were to be engaged in July but of late had been having trouble with the naval officer suspecting the actress of two-timing him with the deceased, claimed the police.

Maria Monica Surairaj, 27, had come to Mumbai in 2005 and, after completing a one-year course from Asha Chandra's acting school, went south and acted in four Kannada films. In March this year, Surairaj came back to Mumbai and approached Neeraj Grover, 25, creative head of Adlabs Synergy. Grover was the former creative head of Balaji Telefilms. The police said that Surairaj believed Grover would get her a break in the TV industry.

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Mumbai sees world's biggest rent rise

Mumbai, often termed as the financial capital of the country, has become the biggest riser when it comes to industrial property rentals, according to "Industrial Spaces Across the World 2008", a Cushman & Wakefield report. Mumbai recorded the highest increase in rental values in a single year, at 94.44 per cent, and leaped 11 positions to be the 26th most expensive industrial location in the world, according to the same report.

"It also recorded the highest percentage growth in rental values in one year, at 94 per cent over a single year. New Delhi (IMT Manesar) also accounted for the sixth highest percentage growth in rental values in a single year, with a growth of approximately 30 per cent. Mumbai commanded a rental value of $10.88/sq.ft./year (approximately Rs 428.78/sq.ft./year) in December 2007 as against $5.6/sq.ft./year (Rs 221.02/sq.ft./year) in January 2007," said a release from Cushman & Wakefield India.

The release also quoted Sanjay Dutt, joint managing director of Cushman & Wakefield India, as saying: "High levels of owner occupancy in Mumbai have led to a shortage of product at a time when demand is being stimulated by India's strong economic growth.This in turn has increased rents. With a shortage of space in the city, many occupiers are locating in industrial parks in the outskirts, in particular as the infrastructure improves and with the introduction of state incentives. In Chennai, locations such as Sriperumbudur, and in NCR, Manesar and Greater Noida, have seen a similar shift towards development in peripheral locations."

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Entertainment Special Economic Zone planned in big way for Mumbai

While the proposed entertainment special economic zone at Gorai in Borivali might be a tough proposition. Thanks to strident opposition from the locals and Nandigram making SEZ an unpleasant word, the Maharashtra tourism development coproration has gone ahead and done the next best thing.

It has opened up four plots of land in the Manori-Gorai belt measuring a total of 45 lakhs square metres in a bid to make the pristine stretch of beaches and mangroves one of the largest entertainment hubs in the country.

The MTDC on Wednesday asked firms to come up with offers for a 30-year lease to develop top-end tourism projects on the plots. According to the MTDC, the projects they have in mind are ones connected to a marina, Big Wheel, mangrove parks, theme parks, spas, a golf course, and hotels and any other entertainment-tourism related venture.

The four plots opened up are a 2,97,346-square metres plot, titled Open Land Manori 1, a 28,85,900-square-metres plot, titled Open Land Manori 2, a 5,21,342square-metres plot, titled Open Land Gorai 1, and a 10,60,996 -square-metres, titled Open Land Gorai 3.

Talking to this newspaper, senior manager Hemant Phadke, land and estate, MTDC, said, "These plots were lying vacant for the past 20 years and they belong to the MTDC. So we decided on this project."

The MTDC officials emphasised that this project had nothing to with the earlier government's announcement of setting up a tourism SEZ on the GoraiUttan belt of Borivali.

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