Shirish Patel, urban planner who designed India’s first flyover, dies at 92
Mumbai: Urban planner Shirish Patel who designed India’s first flyover at Kemp’s Corner in Mumbai, died on Friday. He had cancer and was aged 92.
Patel was one of the pioneers in envisioning the creation of Navi Mumbai as a model city to alleviate the pressure on Mumbai. He played a key role in designing the project and overseeing the state government's efforts during its construction in the 1960s and 1970s.
He was deeply committed to preserving Mumbai's heritage and improving the city's infrastructure, in addition to playing a vital role in the construction of the Koyna Dam, one of the largest dams in Maharashtra.
Describing Shirish Patel's death as an irreparable loss, renowned conservation architect Pankaj Joshi told The Indian Express that he first met Patel when they were both members of the civic heritage committee. “He worked tirelessly towards multiple issues affecting Mumbai’s heritage and infrastructure. He also highlighted the importance of open spaces and environment sustainability and considered these factors to be non-negotiable when it came to Mumbai’s infrastructure development,” Joshi said.
Throughout his life, Patel championed the cause of equitable urban development in Mumbai. He strongly opposed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to demolish and rebuild the Malabar Hill water reservoir. Last year, following widespread public opposition, the civic authorities decided to abandon the move.
Shirish Patel was born in 1932 and spent his childhood in Karachi. He relocated to Mumbai after his father Bhailal Patel became the first Indian municipal commissioner of the city. Patel studied at the prestigious Cambridge University and served as a chief planner with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).
In 2023, Patel, along with architects and urban planners Oormi Kapadia and Jasmine Saluja, authored a book titled ‘6 Metros’ which is a comparative study of urban planning and implementation in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Delhi and London.
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CBI registers another FIR against ED's assistant director over bribery
New Delhi, Dec 30: The CBI has registered one more FIR in connection with alleged bribery scandal involving Enforcement Directorate's assistant director posted in Shimla, who had escaped during a trap operation conducted by the agency there last week, officials said Monday.
The CBI has now registered two FIRs with one pertaining to alleged bribe demand of Rs 85 lakh and another of Rs 80 lakh from the promoters of educational institutes in Himachal Pradesh, they said.
The promoters, who were also the complainant in the case, addressed a press conference in Shimla, alleging that the assistant director used to call them to office, torture them and demanded bribe.
The officer and two of his staff members made us sit in the Shimla ED office for hours during which they would keep demanding money, they alleged.
The CBI has three suspects under scanner in the case with the brother of the accused and a middleman already arrested, while the officer is understood to be on the run and has not joined the investigation so far, they said.
The assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted at Shimla and his brother, a senior manager at the Punjab National Bank in Delhi, had allegedly gone to a location near Chandigarh to receive the bribe from an educational institute promoter, who is facing a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.
The case pertains to post-matriculation scholarship scam in Himachal Pradesh.
The owner of the educational institute had filed a complaint with the CBI about alleged extortion, based on which the Chandigarh unit of the agency planned the trap operation, where the complainant was asked to give a bribe of Rs 55 lakh in cash to the officer, with CBI sleuths keeping an eye, the officials said.
The plan was that the CBI would nab the accused after the bribe was received by him, they said.
The ED officer, who is on deputation from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), got alerted during the operation and allegedly fled, the officials said.
The agency has been trying to locate him for seven days.
So far, cash amounting to around Rs 1 crore, including the bribe money, has been allegedly recovered during searches, the officials said.
Sources in the ED said the accused assistant director of its Shimla sub-zonal office and his supervisory officers -- a deputy director and the joint director (based in Chandigarh) -- have been transferred to Delhi following the case.
