Page 93 - Maharashtra

Onion prices in Maha fell 5-9% after decision to fix MEP, says Centre

The Centre on Monday said prices of onion in Maharashtra fell by 5-9 per cent from last week following its decision to fix minimum export price. On Saturday, the Centre imposed a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of USD 800 per tonne on onion exports till December 31 to boost the availability of the vegetable in the domestic market. In an official statement, the government said its "decision to impose Minimum Export Price of USD 800/ton on Onion with effect from 29th October 2023 till 31st December 2023 to discourage exports and maintain availability in domestic markets has shown an immediate impact of price correction in Maharashtra markets". In Maharashtra, prices recorded a decline of 5 per cent to 9 per cent from the highest price registered during last week, it added. The weighted average price of onion in Maharashtra across all the markets has declined by 4.5 per cent and a similar decline was observed in consumption centres as well. The Department of Consumer Affairs is monitoring

Maharashtra CM Shinde to remain CM even if he is disqualified: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will not be disqualified and in case that happens, he will be elected as an MLC and will retain his post. The Supreme Court on October 17 granted state assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar a final opportunity to give it a realistic time-frame for deciding the cross-petitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party last year. The apex court is scheduled to hear on Monday pleas filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar bloc of the NCP, seeking a direction to Narwekar to expeditiously decide disqualification petitions against some MLAs. Speaking to TV9 Marathi channel on Saturday, Fadnavis said, The first thing is that Shinde will not get disqualified. Even if he gets disqualified, we will get him elected him to the legislative council and he will retain the chief minister's post. The next ..

Maratha reservation: Meeting of Maharashtra Cabinet sub-committee tomorrow

As per a release issued by the state government, the meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted for Maratha Reservation and Facilities will be held on Monday, October 30 in Mantralaya

Police serves notices to those on chain hunger strike for Maratha quota

Police have served notices to several persons who have begun a chain hunger strike in Kalyan in Thane district seeking reservations in jobs and education for the Maratha community, an official said on Friday. The participants include workers of the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena, he said. Shiv Sena Kalyan district president Arvind More said it was unfortunate police was serving notices at a time when a Maratha was the state's chief minister. If this was the case, then we don't need such a chief minister, More said.

Maharashtra govt may convene 1-day session to grant Maratha quota: Jarange

Activist Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast over the Maratha quota issue entered the third day on Friday, said the Maharashtra government can convene a special one-day session of the state legislature to grant reservation to the community. He also said that if extension has been given to the committee appointed to devise ways to provide reservation to Marathas, then the Maharashtra government is conspiring not to grant quota to the community. Jarange was addressing a press conference at his native Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, where he is observing his hunger strike. "We had given the government 40 days and presented necessary evidence to prove our stand on the Maratha quota. If they have given an extension to the committee working on this issue, it is a conspiracy for not giving reservation to Marathas," he said. The 40-year-old activist appealed to leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to stay in their homes and not to enter villages. "If the leaders are n

Nine people killed, 27 injured in two road accidents in Maharashtra's Beed

Nine people, including a doctor, were killed and 27 others injured in two separate road accidents involving a private bus and an ambulance in Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Thursday. The speeding bus overturned at Aashta Fata around 6 am on Thursday when it bus was on way from Mumbai towards Beed, located about 120 km from here, they said. The bus was moving at a high speed. Its driver lost control over the wheels and as a result it met with the accident, the police said. The police later launched a rescue operation with the help of locals. Five persons were killed in the accident. Four of them were residents of Beed district and one was from Yavatmal, Ashti police station in-charge Santosh Khetmalas told PTI. Twenty six people were injured in the bus accident. They were taken to various hospitals for treatment, another official said. The deceased have been identified as Dhondiba Shinde, Deodatt Peche, Mohammad Asif Dost Mohammed Khan, Ashok Bhondve and Ravi Godambe,

Cloud seeding experiment over Solapur led to 18% rise in rainfall: Study

A cloud seeding experiment to artificially trigger rain over the Solapur region of southwest Maharashtra led to 18 per cent more rainfall than in normal conditions, a study has revealed. In the results of the study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), scientists from the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and other institutes found that hygroscopic cloud seeding enhanced rainfall in a rain shadow area spanning 100 square kilometres in Solapur. Hygroscopic seeding is done in warm convective clouds with a cloud base height greater than zero degree Celsius. It uses hygroscopic flares of calcium chloride particles released at the convective cloud base. "As per radar observations over an area spanning 100 sq km downwind of the seed location, there was a relative enhancement of rainfall by 18 per cent in the 'seed' category clouds," Thara Prabhakaran, the project director of Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement ...

Shinde announces Rs 10 lakh aid to kin of Agniveer who died in Siachen

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday announced an assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the family of Agniveer Akshay Laxman Gawate, who died in the line of duty in Siachen last week. Shinde also expressed condolences to the family over the death of Gawate, who hailed from Pimpalgaon Sarai in Buldhana district of Maharashtra, as per a statement. Situated at an altitude of around 20,000 feet in the Karakoram mountain range, Siachen is known as the world's highest militarised zone, where soldiers have to battle extreme cold and strong winds. Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande and all ranks of the force had condoled the death of Agniveer Gawate. "All ranks of Fire and Fury Corps salute the supreme sacrifice of #Agniveer (Operator) Gawate Akshay Laxman, in the line of duty, in the unforgiving heights of #Siachen and offer deepest condolences to the family," the Army's Leh-headquartered Fire and Fury Corps said on X on Sunday.

PM Modi to launch projects in Maharashtra, inaugurate National Games in Goa

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday launch a scheme in Maharashtra aimed at benefitting more than 86 lakh farmers and launch projects worth over Rs 7,500 crore. He will later travel to Goa to inaugurate the 37th National Games. PM Modi will begin his Maharashtra tour by offering prayers at the famous Shri Saibaba temple in Shridi and inaugurate its new 'darshan queue complex', as per an official statement. He will perform "Jal Pujan" of Nilwande Dam and dedicate a canal network of the dam to the nation. The prime minister will later attend a public programme in Shirdi to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth about Rs 7,500 crore in sectors like health, rail, road and oil and gas. The new 'darshan queue complex' in Shirdi is a state-of-the-art modern mega building envisaged to provide comfortable waiting areas for devotees, the statement said. It is equipped with several waiting halls with a cumulative seating capacity of more tha

Hold polls, results would reveal who represents Sena's ideology: Maha Cong

"He (Eknath Shinde) is saying all this because of the support that Uddhav Thackeray is getting," Congress added

Private hospitals in Jalna rue pending dues under Maharashtra health scheme

The pending dues of 22 hospitals offering medical services in Maharashtra's Jalna district under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) have touched nearly Rs 10 crore, an official said on Wednesday. MJPJAY is a flagship cashless health insurance scheme of the Maharashtra government and covers a comprehensive range of 996 diseases. According to Avinash Markad, the Jalna coordinator of MJPJAY, the pending dues of 22 private hospitals from the district empanelled under the scheme had touched nearly Rs 10 crore since June of which Rs 1.5 crore has already been released, he said. Private hospitals in Jalna district, however, have expressed concerns over the pending dues. If we don't get the dues, we might be forced to shut down services under MJPJAY, said the director of a hospital in Jalna city requesting not to be identified. Markad said they are working towards clearing the remaining dues. Meanwhile, the district health department has issued 2.1 golden cards under the

Jarange launches indefinite fast over Maratha quota demand as deadline ends

As the 40-day deadline he set before the Maharashtra government to implement Maratha reservation came to an end, activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday launched his indefinite fast to press for the demand for quota to the community. Forty-year-old Jarange, who has brought back the Maratha quota issue to the centre stage in the state, began his stir at his native Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district. Speaking to reporters before launching the fast, he said, "Maharashtra Chief Minister (Eknath Shinde) had asked me to wait for 40 days to make a decision on the Maratha reservation. But he did not do it, therefore I have decided to start fast unto death at my village." Jarange had observed a hunger strike in this village in September this year demanding that the Maratha community be granted reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He had withdrawn the protest on September 14, setting a 40-day deadline till October 24 to the ...

PM Modi to launch projects in Maharashtra, inaugurate National Games in Goa

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday launch a scheme in Maharashtra aimed at benefitting over 86 lakh farmers and launch projects worth over Rs 7,500 crore and then travel to Goa to inaugurate the 37th National Games. An official statement said Modi will begin his Maharashtra tour by offering prayers at the famous Shri Saibaba temple in Shridi and inaugurate its new "darshan queue complex". He will perform "Jal Pujan" of Nilwande Dam and dedicate a canal network of the dam to the nation and later attend a public programme in Shirdi to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth about Rs 7,500 crore in sectors like health, rail, road and oil and gas. The statement said the new "darshan queue complex" at Shirdi is a state-of-the-art modern mega building envisaged to provide comfortable waiting areas for devotees. It is equipped with several waiting halls with a cumulative seating capacity of more than 10,000 devotees. Its foundation stone

Uddhav harboured CM ambition since 2004, staged endorsement in 2019: Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday claimed that Uddhav Thackeray nurtured the ambition to become the CM since 2004 but things didn't work out. Addressing the annual Dussehra rally of Shiv Sena led by him at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, Shinde also disclosed that two persons were sent to NCP chief Sharad Pawar to recommend Thackeray's name for the post of chief minister. "It was his (Uddhav's) wish to become the CM since 2004 but the 'jugaad' didn't work out. He pretended that he was never interested in the post. It was said publicly that he accepted the responsibility (after the 2019 assembly elections) on the advice of Sharad Pawar. But the fact is that two persons were sent to Pawar to recommend his (Uddhav's) name for the post," Shinde said. After the elections, he jumped in the chair of the chief minister, added Shinde, who was a cabinet minister in the erstwhile MVA government led by Thackeray. "They (Uddhav) wear many masks and do things subtly with a straigh

Coalition govt needed, not rule of one party with brute majority: Uddhav

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government but not of "one party with brute majority", and batted for a coalition rule. Speaking at his party's annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, he said when the "chair" (of ruler) is unstable, the country becomes strong. Thackeray, who is part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc, advocated a "mili-juli sarkar' (coalition government) which can take everyone along, and cited the examples of governments under Manmohan Singh, P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. There was a time when Sena founder and his father late Bal Thackeray said that the country needed a strong government, Uddhav recalled. "We have seen a strong government for nine years now. Have the issues of the people been resolved? There should be a strong government, but not of any one party with a brute majority," he added, targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his friend-turned-foe. The BJP or (its ...

Sanjay Raut takes on Maharashtra govt over rising drug cases in state

"First of all, Ravana of drugs will have to be ended in Maharashtra. Udta Punjab is now done; do you want to destroy Maharashtra?" he asked

Govt employees to hold Family March on Nov 8 for Old Pension Scheme in Maha

Nearly 17 lakh government and semi-government employees in Maharashtra have decided to hold a "Family March" in every district and tehsil of the state on November 8 to demand restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Participants of the march, to be taken out with the slogan of 'My Family, My Pension', will reach the offices of district collectors and tehsildars to press for their demand, Vishwas Katkar, convenor of a coordination committee of various organisations of state employees, said on Monday. The OPS was discontinued in the state in 2005. "We have decided to take out a 'Family March' in each district and tehsil on November 8 and submit our demand of restoration of the OPS. If there is no proper response, then we will go on an indefinite strike from December 14 for the demand of OPS, Katkar said. The employees have been disappointed with the Maharashtra government for not fulfilling their demand for the OPS, which provides an assured and reliable source of income ...

Two persons injured as training aircraft crashes near village in Pune

A training aircraft belonging to a private aviation academy crashed near a village in Maharashtra's Pune district on Sunday morning, injuring a trainee pilot and an instructor on board the plane, police said. The aircraft crashed near Gojubavi village under Baramati taluka at around 8 am, they said. "A training aircraft, belonging to the Redbird Flight Training Academy, crashed near Gojubavi village. A trainee pilot and an instructor suffered injuries in the crash. Both have been rushed to a nearby hospital," Baramati police station's senior inspector Prabhakar More said. "The cause of the crash is not yet known. We are conducting a probe into the incident," he said. This is the second such incident involving the private aviation academy's aircraft in four days. On Thursday evening, a training aircraft of the academy crashed near Kaftal village in Baramati taluka, injuring a pilot, according to the police.

Fadnavis knows everything about Oppn, how come he is unaware of drug mafia

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of shielding the drug mafia in the state, referring to the recent seizure of mephedrone worth Rs 300 crore by the Mumbai police. Raut was interacting with reporters before joining a march in Nashik to protest the growing menace of drugs in Maharashtra. Fadnavis knows everything about the opposition. How come he doesn't know about the drug mafia? He is shielding the drug mafia and those who are taking haftas' (protection money)', he said. Calling Lalit Patil, a main accused in the Rs 300-crore mephedrone seizure case, the tip of the iceberg, Raut said, In fact, the friends of drug mafias are sitting in the assembly. It's the plight of Maharashtra that we have such a home minister (Fadnavis), Raut said. The arrest of Lalit Patil has triggered a war of words between the ruling dispensation and the opposition in the state. Hours after the news of Patil's arrest came on Wednesday, ..

Maharashtra has become big market for sale, consumption of drugs: Saamana

Saamana claimed that the drugs that are not being seized by the authorities at the ports of Gujarat are being released into Maharashtra