Maha govt revises lease rent for food vendors at Juhu beach

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to revise the lease rent for food vendors operating on its land at the Juhu beach in Mumbai.

The decision, taken at the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday, will reduce the government’s annual revenue by Rs 6.38 crore, the government said in a statement.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns 794 sqm area at the Juhu beach while 489.6 sqm comes under the jurisdictionof the state government.

Out of the total 80 stalls there, 42 operate in AAI’s area, while 38 stalls are located on the state government’s land.

The co-operative society of stall owners had earlier moved the Supreme court, saying the lease rent charges at the Juhu beachwere high.

As per the SC order, the stall owners’ society held a meeting with AAI and agreed upon a lease rent. Accordingly, the state government agreed on the lease rent fixed by AAI, the statement said.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to extend till July 31 the scheme to convert additional milk stock into milk powder.

In April this year, the government decided to convert 10 lakh litre of additional milk into milk powder, considering the increased milk demand during the lockdown period.

The scheme was implemented for two months.

Now, the government has extended the scheme and as part of it, 1.6 crore litre milk will be procured in one month and Rs 51.22 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose, the government said.

In the wake of the lockdown, the daily sale of milk came down by17 lakh litre due to the closure of shops, hotels and sweet marts.

The cabinet also gave a go ahead to the implementation of the Centre’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ in the state.

The scheme aims to provide 55 litre water per day to each family with individual water supply connection by 2024.

At present, out of 132.03 lakh families in the state, 50.75 lakh haveindividual water supply connections.

In the next four years, 89.25 lakh more connections are targetted at an expected expenditure of Rs 13,668.50 crore, the government said.