Page 6 - Maharashtra

BJP scores record local body poll win, says Fadnavis; Oppn cries foul

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the BJP has set a record in local body polls with 48 per cent of councillors winning on the party symbol, and its candidates elected as presidents in 129 municipal councils. He attributed the Mahayuti alliance's success in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections to the BJP organisation and development agenda of the government. Counting of votes for elections to the posts of president and members in 286 municipal councils and nagar panchayats held in two phases began in the morning. Fadnavis said the BJP has once again emerged as the single largest party. "48 per cent councillors have been elected on the BJP symbol, which is a record. The BJP has created another record with 3,300 councillors being elected from the party. "BJP candidates have been elected as presidents in 129 municipal councils. In 75 per cent of the local bodies, Mahayuti nominees have been elected as municipal presidents," he said. Fadnavis .

How a Maharashtra village of 1,500 logged 27,398 births in just 3 months

Authorities in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district are probing a massive birth registration scam after a village of just 1,500 people recorded over 27,000 delayed births in three months, raising fears of

Centre to decide on sugar exports, higher ethanol quota next month and half

Maharashtra's sugarcane arrears stood at ₹2,000 crore till November 30, 2025

Pigeon feeding under fire: Why bans are spreading across Indian states

As authorities cite health risks from pigeon droppings, cities like Mumbai and Bangalore move to restrict feeding, even as communities push back

Maharashtra FDA cancels 13 licences, suspends 32 medical stores in Nanded

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cancelled the licences of 13 medical stores and suspended those of 32 in Nanded district over alleged sale of intoxicant tablets, officials have said. As part of a drive, the FDA had issued show-cause notices to 48 medical stores for selling intoxicant tablets without a doctor's prescription and for violating the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Assistant Commissioner (Drugs) AT Rathod said in a release on Wednesday. After the explanations submitted were found unsatisfactory, the licences of 32 medical stores were suspended, while the licences of 13 stores were permanently cancelled. Action has been proposed against the remaining three medical stores, it said. In some cases, the FDA said, the medical stores have secured stay orders at the government level, and proceedings against them are currently pending before higher authorities.

Maharashtra civic polls in January: 29 bodies, 2,869 seats at stake

In September, the Supreme Court asked the SEC to conduct local body elections, including of the municipal corporations, by January 31

Haffkine procurements leave ₹2,226 cr Advance Contingent bills pending: CAG

The Maharashtra government routed routine procurement of medicines and medical equipment through the state-run Haffkine institute using Advance Contingent bills, leaving 559 bills worth Rs 2,226.32 crore pending for adjustment at the end of 2024-25, CAG has said. Advance Contingent (AC) bills are a type of government bill used to draw money in advance for urgent or unforeseen expenses, when it is not practical to wait for detailed bills or vouchers. According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), tabled on the last day of the winter session of the state legislature on Sunday, pending AC bills accounted for 63.03 per cent of the total AC bills, in violation of Rule 282(2) of the Maharashtra Treasury Rules, which bars withdrawal of funds unless required for immediate disbursement. The report identified the Medical Education and Drugs Department as the biggest defaulter with Rs 2,212 crore of Detailed Contingent (DC) bills pending, followed by the Public Health ...

Offline e-crop survey registration open till Jan 15 for farmers: Bawankule

Farmers across Maharashtra who missed e-crop survey registration will be allowed to register through an offline process till January 15 to help them sell their produce at government procurement centres, said Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday. He made the announcement in the legislative assembly while replying to a calling attention motion, a procedure that allows a member to bring an urgent public matter to a minister's notice. The online e-crop survey portal has been closed and cannot be reopened due to technical constraints, but the government has decided to open an offline window so that genuine farmers do not suffer losses, said Bawankule. Maharashtra's e-crop survey, known as E-Pik Pahani', allows farmers to self-report their crop details via a mobile application. Bawankule said farmers who failed to complete the e-crop survey registration due to technical issues or other reasons can submit offline applications to the concerned authorities till January 15.

Last rites of former minister Shivraj Patil performed with state honours

The last rites of veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Shivraj Patil were performed with full state honours in his home district Latur in Maharashtra on Saturday, with many top leaders in attendance. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre were among those present. A prominent member of the Lingayat community, Patil was buried in his farm at Varvanti village, six km from Latur, in a seated, meditative posture. This Lingayat ritual stems from their belief that the soul of the deceased immediately unites with Shiva and is not subject to the cycle of rebirth, thus making the cremation rites to release the soul from the body unnecessary. Birla laid a wreath on Patil's mortal remains. Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal and Lok Sabha member from Latur, Shivaji Kolge were present. Before the last ...

Road works of ₹1.5 trillion have been approved for Maharashtra: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said road works valued at Rs 1.50 lakh crore have been approved for Maharashtra for 2026. The works will begin in the next three months, he told reporters on the premises of the Vidhan Bhavan, where the state legislature session is underway. The Nagpur MP visited the legislature complex to attend an event marking the centenary celebration of the Vidhan Parishad. Gadkari told reporters that MSIDC (Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation) will construct a new Pune-Sambhajinagar expressway for Rs 16,318 crore, and an MoU has been processed. The new expressway will reduce the travelling time from Pune to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to two hours and from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to Nagpur in two-and-a-half hours. He said the 'bhoomipujan' (ground-breaking) of Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur Elevated Road, which is being constructed for Rs 4,207 crore, will be done after the local body elections are over. Gadkari said that the DPR proc

Land deal: Officials should have rejected wrong documents, says Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said officials responsible for registering documents should have refused to process agreements that were not permissible under the law and clearly informed the parties concerned about such limitations. His comments come against the backdrop of a notice issued by the deputy registrar to the firm of his son, Parth Pawar, seeking Rs 21 crore in stamp duty and penalties in connection with a controversial land deal in Pune. Recently, the Bombay High Court raised sharp questions regarding the police probe into the land deal, suggesting authorities might be shielding Parth Pawar by failing to name him in the FIR. Ajit Pawar sought to dispel perceptions stemming from a bill cleared by the legislative assembly on Friday, which empowers the revenue minister to hold hearings in contentious cases related to the IGR. Pawar said those who registered such documents were at fault, and officials should have exercised due diligence at the time

Over 128K people bitten by stray dogs in Mumbai in 2024: Eknath Shinde

More than 1.28 lakh people in Mumbai were bitten by stray dogs in 2024, raising concerns about the safety of citizens and prompting authorities to undertake measures like sterilisation and vaccination of free-roaming canines to control their population. This information was shared by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the state legislative council on Friday in a written reply to queries by MLCs Sunil Shinde, Vasant Khandelwal, Sandip Joshi and others. These legislators raised concerns about the increasing number of stray dogs in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) limits and a similar menace in Nagpur. Shinde stated that more than 9,400 people were bitten in Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, in 2024. He said that a survey conducted by the BMC via Human Society International, as per the Animal Welfare Board rules, revealed that the number of stray dogs had come down from 95,172 in 2014 to 90,757 in 2024. In Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) limits, 9,427 peop

Shivraj Patil: Cong leader who faced flak during 26/11 for changing attire

Congress veteran and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil donned many hats during his decades-long political career and was a prominent figure in Maharashtra and national politics, but had to resign as Union Home Minister after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Patil (90), who passed away on Friday at his residence in Latur district of Maharashtra after a brief illness, remained a Congress and Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist till his last days and held several key constitutional and ministerial posts during a public life spanning more than five decades. The veteran politician faced severe public and media backlash as Union Home Minister in 2008 when he was seen in three different sets of clothes on the night of November 26 when Mumbai was facing unprecedented attacks from ten heavily-armed Pakistan-trained terrorists. Defending himself over the criticism, he had said people should criticise policy, not clothes. The sheer scale of the Mumbai attacks weighed heavily on Patil's ...

Maharashtra brings IAS officers under purview of Lokayukta with amendment

The Maharashtra legislative assembly has approved amendments to the Lokayukta Act that will, for the first time, bring Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers and several state-appointed officials under the purview of the anti-corruption watchdog. The amendment bill, which was passed on Thursday evening, expands the scope of the Maharashtra Lokayukta Act, 2023, and removes ambiguities flagged earlier by the President's office. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who moved the amendments, said the revised provisions were essential to ensuring clarity on which officials fall under the Lokayukta's scrutiny. The amendment makes it clear that IAS officers appointed by the state on authorities created under Central Acts will also come under the Lokayukta. This will remove the existing ambiguity, he said. The amendments specify that officers appointed by the state government to various boards, authorities and committees established under Parliamentary Acts will now be covered. Earlier,

Told to form alliance at any cost before civic polls: Maharashtra BJP Prez

Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan on Friday said that senior leaders of their party have directed that an alliance must be forged at any cost ahead of the major municipal corporation elections which are to be held before January 31. We have been clearly told by the seniors that there should be an alliance at any cost before the civic polls, Chavan said, adding that the matter has been discussed at length by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, who also heads the Shiv Sena. Chavan said elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the Mumbai civic body, are likely to be held in January, while the Zilla Parishad polls may get delayed as the matter is currently before the high court. He said Fadnavis had asked him to hold another round of discussions, following which he met Shinde at the latter's residence on Thursday night. We have created some committees in municipal corporations. But in Mumbai or Thane, seniors have already decided to have an ...

Brookfield to invest $1 bn to build GCC facility in Maharashtra: Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said asset manager Brookfield Properties is set to invest over USD 1 billion to create a global capability centre (GCC) facility in the state. Fadnavis said he held discussions with key Brookfield executives, and they've zeroed in on creating a 2 million sq ft GCC facility, which will be the largest in Asia, and perhaps the world as well. The facility will create over 15,000 direct jobs and support another 30,000 jobs indirectly, Fadnavis said. "It (investment) will be more than USD 1 billion. One single project will create 45,000 jobs," Fadnavis told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. A formal agreement between the government and the asset manager will be filed in due course, he added. In May this year, Brookfield Asset Management aims to more than triple its assets under management in India to USD 100 billion over the next five years. Overall, the firm's AUM in India, where it has been present for 15 years, is around USD 30 .

No funds since year from Centre for Jal Jeevan scheme: Maharashtra minister

Maharashtra has not received central funds for the Jal Jeevan Mission' scheme since October 2024 and is using state funds to complete the ongoing projects, the government said on Friday. In a written reply to a question, the government also said that the lack of funds has hampered the pace of existing projects. The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to provide functional tap water connections to every rural household in India, ensuring safe and adequate drinking water to citizens. In the reply submitted to the legislative council, Water Supply and Sanitation Department Minister Gulabrao Patil said that 51,560 schemes have been sanctioned under the water programme, of which 25429 are still ongoing. Patil informed the Upper House of the state legislature that the state government has given Rs 2,483.58 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 2,103.25 crore in the current fiscal year to complete the ongoing works. The state government said that the pace of the works under the Jal Jeevan Mission has been .

Veteran Congress leader Shivraj Patil passes away at 90 in Maharashtra

Patil was the union home minister from 2004 to 2008. He resigned from the position shortly after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai began

Maharashtra to implement new Lokyaukta act as Anna Hazare warns of strike

The original Lokayukta Bill was passed by the Assembly on 28 December 2022 and by the Legislative Council on 15 December 2023, before being sent to the President for assent

Maha CM Fadnavis asks for plan to build India's biggest shipyard in state

Fadnavis issued the instructions while reviewing works of the Ports Development Department at a meeting held in the ministerial council hall of Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur