Vijaya Mehta’s riveting, slice-of-life creations include the poignant teleplay ‘Hamidabai Ki Kothi’ and ‘Pestonjee’

Mumbai: Legendary theatre and film personality Vijaya Mehta, known simply as Bai to generations of theatre lovers and moviegoers, passed away at age 91 Tuesday.Born in Vadodara on November 4, 1934, Vijayabai found her calling as a teenager. She met theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi at age 18, whom she went on to consider her guru.Her riveting, slice-of-life creations include the poignant teleplay ‘Hamidabai Ki Kothi’. This narrative delineated the arrival of musical recordings by classical singers, and the consequential decline of live kotha culture. “People could just press a button and listen to songs, they would not visit the courtesans anymore,” she said.Her cerebral — not caricaturist — portrayal of the Parsi community in the Shabana Azmi-Naseeruddin Shah-starrer ‘Pestonjee’ drew partly from her second marriage to Farokh Mehta. Vijayabai’s first husband Harin Khote, son of Durga Khote, had passed away early.Her entry to Hindi cinema was facilitated by Govind Nihalani in his award-winning movie ‘Party’, which offered insight into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and Shyam Benegal’s ‘Kalyug’. The first full length feature film she directed was ‘Rao Saheb’ in 1986 followed by ‘Smriti Chitre’.She was founder-member of the Mumbai-based theatre group Rangayan along with Vijay Tendulkar, Arvind Deshpande and Shriram Lagoo. Rangayan went on to shape the fortunes of experimental theatre.Her commitment to stage plays lasted a lifetime and Vijayabai became executive director of the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in her later years. Her proactive presence moulded a milestone era in its history.“I was, in fact, involved with NCPA from its conceptualisation. I had attended the inauguration of Tata Theatre. I went on to organise several Indo-German collaborations of Indian classics from here. I organised workshops with international greats including Peter Brooks,” she said, at its 50th anniversary.Vijayabai’s eloquent artistic expression, sharp eye for detail, her keen sense of humour and the ability to draw out the best from stalwart performers like Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Tanvi Azmi, Neena Kulkarni, Nana Patekar, and Bharati Achrekar has been much discussed.The world of Indian theatre and cinema is impoverished by her loss.

Franklin House, a 1,459 sq m property on St Auxilium Road, was built in 1920

Mumbai: Franklin House, an Edwardian-style bungalow built in 1920, is the latest among heritage properties in Bandra (W) that’s set to disappear. The 1,459 sq m property on St Auxilium Road in the upscale residential enclave of Pali Hill has been bought by Aspect Realty, which has emerged as a major player in Mumbai’s realty market.Mohit Kamboj, a former BJP leader, is group CEO of Aspect Global Ventures, which controls the property following a resolution plan approved by the National Company Law Tribunal. The property was under a Bombay high court-appointed court receiver for several decades due to a dispute within the original owners, the Pereira family.Market sources said the land is valued at around Rs 170 crore. Franklin House belonged to Augustine Franklin Pereira, who died in 1942 and bequeathed it to his wife Joanna, sons Dominic and Joseph and daughters Genevieve Beatrice and Flossy Rose. Son Joseph died in 1996 leaving behind six heirs including his wife Mildred, three sons, Dougal, Horace and Reynolds, and two daughters Pamela and Honora. In 1989, Dominic Pereira filed a suit in the high court against his nephews Dougal, Horace and Reynolds, and Flossy, over the property. Subsequently, the court appointed a receiver to take charge of it. A few years later, developers Samir Bhojwani and Suresh Raheja (Papeyon Developers) bought Dougal Pereira’s share for Rs 1.80 crore.Two months ago, Vishwanath Realty LLP, an associate entity of Kamboj’s Aspect Group, purchased Papeyon’s one-sixth stake in the plot for Rs 15 crore. Two tenants are believed to have been paid Rs 30 crore each to vacate.Kamboj, who is currently in the US, told TOI: “We have settled all the issues connected with this property and plan to build a high-end tower.”

Thane: Four-way waste segregation will be made mandatory for all housing societies and bulk waste generators in Thane under the Centre’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2026. A phased rollout of the campaign, titled ‘Four Bin, Thane Clean’, will begin in Oct after the policy is finalised. Currently, there is a two-bin system in place.Households and commercial establishments will have to segregate waste at source into four colour-coded bins before handing it over to civic workers—green for wet waste, blue for dry, red for sanitary waste, and black for toxic and e-waste, including batteries and bulbs.“The move will streamline waste processing, improve recycling and significantly reduce the volume of garbage reaching dumping grounds,” said Madhukar Bodke, deputy municipal commissioner (solid waste management).The campaign was launched by Thane mayor Sharmila Pimpalkar. The new norms were outlined at a workshop to familiarise civic staff with the updated rules and legal provisions on scientific waste management.The announcement, however, sparked concerns among residents of older housing societies, who said finding space for four separate bins will be a major challenge.Health officer Dr Rani Shinde said SWM Rules, 2026, mandate segregation at source, door-to-door collection and scientific processing of waste, while banning open dumping and burning. The rules also provide for user charges, penalties for violations, grievance redressal mechanisms and safeguards for sanitation workers.The regulations apply to all urban local bodies, govt and private institutions, residential and commercial establishments, industrial areas, special economic zones, airports, railway stations and ports.Large establishments with a built-up area of at least 20,000sqm, daily water consumption exceeding 40,000 litres or waste generation above 100kg a day must register as bulk waste generators with Central Pollution Control Board and process wet waste on their premises.

According to the revised BMC circular, the employee will be required to take charge of the new post within 15 days from the date of acceptance of the promotion order

Mumbai: Following a demand for a probe into civic engineers declining promotions, the BMC has issued a revised circular stating that if it is found that an employee refused to accept a promotion with the intention of avoiding a transfer to a particular department, office, or post, he/she will be transferred to another department or office after completion of the departmental promotion committee’s proceedings.At least two executive engineers and eight assistant engineers had recently declined promotions to the posts of deputy chief engineer and executive engineer, respectively, following which BMC opposition leaders sought a probe into their decision. Following the demand for an inquiry, the civic administration on Monday issued an order revising its 1992 circular on refusal of promotions by employees.According to the revised circular, the promotion order will be sent to the employee concerned in writing as well as to his official email address. The employee will be required to take charge of the new post within 15 days from the date of acceptance of the promotion order. It will also be mandatory for the head of the department to relieve the employee within a maximum of seven days. Even if the head of the department does not issue a relieving order, the employee must join the new post without waiting for it as per the deadline. If the employee fails to take charge of the new post within 15 days from the date of acceptance of the promotion order, he shall be deemed to have refused the promotion.Congress group leader Ashraf Azmi, who had sought an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the refusal of promotions, said the revised circular was a positive step on the part of the municipal commissioner and would provide equal opportunity to all engineers. Azmi demanded that the administration should not allow engineers who have retained their posts despite being promoted, allegedly due to vested interests, to continue in those posts.Monday’s circular also stated that an employee who refuses a promotion shall be disqualified from promotion for a period of two years and will not be entitled to seniority during that period. A junior employee who is promoted during the period of disqualification will be considered senior to the employee who refused the promotion.Further, the promotion claim of an employee who has been disqualified from promotion for a period of two years for refusing a promotion will not be automatically restored unless the employee submits a written request, subject to the prevailing rules and the recommendation of the departmental promotion committee.