Deputy Municipal Commissioner (zone 3) Chandrashekhar Rokde, who was in-charge of demolitions, was today transferred to the Education department. DMC in-charge of education V W Joshi may replace Rokde, according to reliable sources in the BMC.

Rokde rubbed many politicians on the wrong side with his demolition drive since the beginning of this year.

Gangster shot in encounter

A gangster was shot dead and four others were injured in an encounter with police while they were fleeing after looting a petrol pump near Vasai on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Thane district today.

Police said on receiving information that eight armed gangsters were looting the Sagar petrol pump, police immediately swung into action.

The gangsters, seated in a van, immediately opened fire at the police party, who returned the fire, killing a gangster on the spot and injuring four others. Three other gangsters, however, managed to escape, police said.Police recovered Rs 33,500 out of thetotal Rs. 70,000 looted, in addition to five pistols, a chopper and a sword.

I withdrew the money: Mayor

Mayor Nandu Satam stated today that he took the decision independently to stop the payment of Rs 10 lakh to Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan. The decision was prompted by the Sammelan president Vasant Bapat's statement that he spits on the money offered by the government, he announced at a press conference. ``It was the word spit that really irked me more than anything else. We are not fools here to give money to people who ultimately only want to spit on it. Bapat may have his own opinions, but using such acerbic words is simply too much to tolerate,'' Satam remarked.

When asked if it was the Shiv Sena councillor Satam or the BMC Mayor who had ultimately decided to revoke the payment, he replied, ``I took the decision as city's first citizen, the Mayor of Mumbai. I was not under any pressure from Saheb (Bal Thackeray) to ask the bank to stop the cheque payment.''