Page 103 - Maharashtra

Don't consider ourselves to be in Oppn anymore, says Aaditya Thackeray

"We do not consider ourselves to be in the Opposition anymore. We are already seeing overselves as part of the next government. I.N.D.I.A is going to win (Lok Sabha polls next year)"

You are at right place after long, but came very late: Shah to Ajit Pawar

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday shared the dais with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at an event in Pune and said the latter is now at the "right place after a long time", but "came very late". Shah's statement comes more than a month after Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar, joined the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Eknath Shinde along with eight party MLAs on July 2. Pawar was made deputy chief minister, while the other eight MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil, were sworn in as ministers. "This is my first public programme with Ajit Pawar. I want to tell him that he is now sitting at the right place after a long time. This was always the right place for you, but you came to sit here very late," Shah said. Shah was speaking after launching the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) office. CM Eknath Shinde and ...

No sugar mill in Maharashtra should be without ethanol distillery: Shah

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said there should not be a single sugar mill in Maharashtra that is not producing ethanol. He was speaking at a public event after launching the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) office in Pune. Huge funding is available under various schemes for cooperative societies which can be utilised for setting up distilleries. Sugar mills in the state should avail of the loan facility. There should not be a single sugar mill in Maharashtra that is not making ethanol. It is an emerging market and rates are also good for the same, Shah said. On the digital portal of the CRCS office launched by him, the Union minister said, The digital portal is aimed at increasing the efficiency and transparency. The cooperative sector cannot move forward without modernisation, transparency and accountability. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government last month, was ..

Maharashtra man makes threat call to Mumbai Police about bombing, arrested

The Mumbai police control room on Sunday morning had received a threat over the phone from an unidentified caller. The caller claimed the possibility of a serial blast in a local train

FIR against ex-Mumbai mayor, 2 others in Covid-19 body bags purchase scam

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police has filed a case against former city mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar and two civic officials over alleged corruption in the purchase of body bags meant for COVID-19 victims, an official said. The case was registered at the Agripada police station on Friday, he said. The complaint in this regard was filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in July, the police official added. Pednekar belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena. She held the position of mayor from November 2019 to March 2022. The case against Pednekar and the two senior officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was registered under various Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections, including 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), he said. The police official did not share any further information regarding the case. When contacted, BJP leader Somaiya said, "We had filed the complaint in connection with the body bag scam in

Maharashtra govt working on law to curb 'love jihad', says Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the state government was thinking about introducing a law to curb "love jihad" but will study similar legislations in other states before taking a decision. Love jihad is a term used by right-wing activists and outfits to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage. "Many cases have come up of girls getting married and converting. There is demand from all corners to make a law against this. Earlier, I had made an announcement in the House also. Accordingly, study of laws in various states is on and then the decision about it in Maharashtra will be taken, Fadnavis said. Speaking about the Supreme Court on Friday staying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 defamation case related to a remark on the Modi surname, Fadnavis made a veiled attack on the opposition party by saying "some people think if the Supreme Court rules in their favour, then it (decision) is good

Case filed against NCC cadet who whacked juniors during training session

Police have registered a case against a cadet of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) after a viral video showed him mercilessly thrashing some junior cadets during a physical training session at a college in Maharashtra's Thane city, an official said on Saturday. The case was registered against the student under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) at the Thane Nagar police station on Friday night after the police took suo motu cognisance of the matter, he said. The action was taken on the day several student unions protested outside the college, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar assured the state legislative assembly that the issue will be probed and necessary steps taken. The incident took place at the Joshi Bedekar College in Thane. The college management said that it has suspended the student, whose act of beating his fellow NCC cadets during the physical training session on a rainy day was filmed by another student. The video that went viral on ...

Durand Cup: Mumbai City FC to face Mohammedan Sporting in Kolkata

The match kicks off at 4.45 pm local time. In Saturday's first match, Bodoland FC take on Rajasthan United FC in the first-ever Durand Cup game in Kokrajhar

Maha Assembly: LoP Wadettiwar raises viral video of assault on NCC cadets

Taking note of the controversy around the video, which surfaced online, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar directed the government to take necessary action on the matter

Financial, operational turnaround of MSEDCL not achieved: CAG report

The compliance audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for fiscal 2021 that was tabled in the Maharashtra Legislature on Friday said the financial and operational turnaround of state-run power distribution firm MSEDCL was not achieved despite implementation of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). The report, which was tabled in the Assembly and the Legislative Council on the last day of the Monsoon session, said Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, also called MahaVitaran, received Rs 4,960 crore from the state government under the UDAY scheme to repay its high cost debt. However, MSEDCL did not receive any other dedicated fund to achieve various operational parameters, which it had improve through its own resources or under other Central/state schemes, as per the report. The state-run power firm approached the state government in 2017 for availing guarantee for raising bonds of Rs 1,653 crore in accordance with the government .

Maharashtra's 3rd Vande Bharat Express to now halt at four stations

Maharashtra's 3rd Vande Bharat Express will now stop at four places instead of three, which include Dadar, Thane, Kalyan and Nasik Roads. The modification has been done on an experimental basis

One cannot say big projects left Maharashtra: White Paper by state govt

A 'White Paper' tabled by the Maharashtra government in the Legislative Council on Thursday claimed that it would not be right to state that big-ticket projects like Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture moved out of the state as no MoUs had been signed. The Eknath Shinde government has been routinely accused by the opposition parties of not doing enough to stop several big-ticket projects from going to other states. The opposition also claimed the Union government took some of these projects to neighbouring Gujarat ahead of Assembly polls there in late 2022. On the Tata-Airbus aircraft manufacturing project, the White Paper, tabled in the Council by Industries Minister Uday Samant, said there was no communication between the state government and the Centre or the Tata group for the project. It also said that the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had not signed any memorandum of understanding for procurement of land for the Tata-Airbus project. On the Vedanta-Foxconn .

87% sowing completed for Kharif season 2023 in Maharashtra: Official

Maharashtra agriculture commissioner Sunil Chavan on Thursday said 87 per cent of sowing for the Kharif season has been completed in the state. He also said fertilisers and seeds are fully available for farmers during the season. The total land area under sowing during Kharif season is 142 lakh hectares and a total of 123.78 lakh hectares have been covered, Chavan was quoted as saying in a release from the district information office here. He also said rainfall in the state between June 1 and July 31 was 570.50 millimetres, which is 106 per cent of the average rainfall of 538.50 mm. "Sowing has picked up in the state, especially of cotton, soybean, tur and replanting rice crops. As on July 31, soybean has been sowed on 46.72 lakh hectares, cotton on 40.84 lakh hectares, tur on 10.21 lakh hectares and paddy on 9.33 lakh hectares," he said. The release said 21.78 lakh kilograms of seeds are available for Kharif season 2023 against demand of 19.21 lakh kilograms, while 43.13 lakh met

Maharashtra: NDRF resumes op to rescue 4 workers trapped after well cave-in

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) resumed on Thursday the rescue operation at the site of an under-construction well where four workers are feared trapped after a cave-in in Maharashtra's Pune district, an official said. The incident occurred at Mhasobachi Wadi village in Indapur tehsil on Tuesday evening. According to officials, the well is 100-foot-deep with a diameter of 120 feet. The site was earlier used for quarrying, they said. An NDRF official said the rescue operation was suspended on Wednesday evening, as the site contained a substantial amount of debris, and the soil surrounding the well was also loose. We have resumed the operation today. It is a big well and during the construction, the inner concrete wall sank and those working at the bottom of the well got trapped, said the NDRF official. The official said around 30 NDRF personnel are taking part in the operation. Till yesterday (Wednesday), we were carrying out the operation with a lot of caution, but to

Fadnavis took action on 114,000 letters in 11 mths: Reply to RTI question

RTI activist Anil Galgali sought details on the action taken by the office of Maharashtra DCM Devendra Fadnavis regarding letters received from ordinary citizens, VIPs and government officials

Sibal takes 'achche din' dig at BJP over Haryana clashes, Manipur violence

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday took a swipe at the BJP over the Maharashtra train firing incident, clashes in Haryana and the violence in Manipur, asking if these were the "achche din" promised. He said politics of hate was responsible for such incidents. RPF constable Chetan Singh (33) allegedly shot dead his senior Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena and three passengers -- Abdul Kadarbhai Mohammed Hussain Bhanpurwala (58), Asgar Abbas Sheikh (48) and Syed S (43) -- near Palghar station on the outskirts of Mumbai. In Haryana, mobs killed a cleric in a late-night attack on a mosque, torched an eatery and vandalised shops as communal violence that began in Haryana's Nuh spilled over into neighbouring Gurugram. Manipur witnessed violence for over two months, which broke out on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts of the state to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, killing over 160 people since then

Housing society's protection wall collapses in Maha's Thane, no casualty

A portion of the protection wall of a housing society collapsed in Maharashtra's Thane city in the wee hours of Wednesday, civic officials said. No one was injured in the incident which took place at the housing society located in Panchpakhadi area, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said. The 10x8 feet portion of the nine-year-old compound wall collapsed at around 1 am on Wednesday, he said, adding the remaining portion of the protection wall was in a precarious state. After being alerted, local firemen and the disaster management cell team rushed to the spot and carried out work to clear the debris, the official said. The area around damaged portion of the wall has been cordoned-off, he said.

Vistara plane suffers engine damage, was hit by ground service equipment

A Vistara Airbus A320 neo aircraft on Tuesday suffered engine damage after it was hit by a towing tractor at Mumbai airport, according to a source. The plane, which was scheduled to operate a flight from Mumbai to Kolkata, has been grounded and is undergoing necessary checks and repair. One of the engines of the aircraft suffered extensive damage after being hit by the towing tractor, the source said. "While on ground, Vistara aircraft operating flight UK 775 from Mumbai to Kolkata on August 1, 2023 got hit by a ground service equipment, causing damage to one of the engines," a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement. The aircraft is undergoing necessary checks and repair, the spokesperson added. In the meantime to minimise inconvenience to the customers, the spokesperson said an alternate aircraft was immediately arranged.

Juniper Green Energy crosses 1.2GW of renewable energy generating capacity

Renewable energy producer Juniper Green Energy on Tuesday said it has crossed 1.2GW of renewable energy generating capacity. Juniper Green Energy crossed 1.2 GW of renewable energy capacity with the recent PPAs/LOAs (power purchase agreements and letter of award) secured in the last few months, a company statement said. The company, an independent renewable energy power producer and operator of solar, wind and hybrid power projects, was recently awarded 190 MW of Wind capacity from GUVNL and 105 MW of Solar capacity from MSEDCL at an average tariff of Rs 3.00 (around USD 0.037) per kWh, it said. These projects were awarded through competitive bidding, followed by an e-Reverse auction held by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). As per bid terms, PPA shall be signed between the entities for 25 years, and the projects will be commissioned within 18-24 months. Additionally, the company has started constructio

CM announces Rs 5 lakh aid to families of deceased in Maha's crane accident

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the loss of lives in the tragic accident at Shahapur in Maharashtra and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased and an assistance of Rs 50,000 for the injured persons. Sixteen workers were killed and three injured as a crane fell on a bridge slab during construction of the third phase of Samruddhi Expressway in Shahapur tehsil of Thane district on Tuesday, an official said. Three to five persons are still feared trapped and efforts are on to rescue them, an NDRF official said. The injured have been shifted to nearby hospital, he added. It was a special-purpose mobile gantry crane used in bridge construction and to install precast box girders in highway construction projects. The accident took place shortly after midnight on Tuesday near Sarlambe village in Shahapur tehsil, around 80 km from Mumbai, the official said. The Prime Minister's Office in a tweet said, "Pained by the tragic mishap in