Mumbai news updates: Won't let local body polls be held in state without OBC quota, says Chandrakant Patil

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday claimed the Shiv Sena-led MVA government in Maharashtra has no intention to give reservation to Marathas after the 2018 quota law for the community was struck down by the Supreme Court.The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly targeted PWD minister Ashok Chavan, who heads a state cabinet sub-committee on Maratha quota, for his recent comments on the reservation issue.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Thursday said that the party would not let the state government conduct local body elections until the issue of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation is resolved. Read more...

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and cultural affairs minister Amit Deshmukh on Thursday approved a relief package for artists, folk artists, drivers of folk art troupes, its owners and producers who are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more...

The state women and child development department (WCD) with the help of Childline and a few social organisations have successfully prevented as many as 790 child marriages in the last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, said minister for WCD Yashomati Thakur. Read more...

The Covid-19 vaccination tally in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) limits in Maharashtra crossed the 8-lakh mark on Thursday, a civic official said.According to a release issued by the civic body, a total of 8,00,584 people from Thane city have taken the Covid-19 vaccine jab so far, of which 4,24,310 beneficiaries were men and the rest were women. Read more...

Maharashtra reported 6,695 new Covid-19 cases and 120 fresh deaths on Thursday, taking the infection tally to 63,36,220 and the toll to 1,33,530, a health department official said. Read more...

A 16-year-old boy drowned in a water-filled pit at a construction site in Vasai of Maharashtra's Palghar district on Thursday, a civic official said. A group of eight boys from Shirdi Nagar of Nalla Sopara were roaming near the construction site when they came across the pit and decided to take a swim in it, the official said.Some boys saw the victim Ketan Tiwari drowning and tried to pull him out of the pit, but the boy slipped and fell back in, he said. Read more...

Railway has decided to run 78 special trains, apart from the 72 already announced, for Konkan to handle additional rush during Ganapati festivals in September.Of the 78 special trains, 40 will be run by Central Railway (CR) and 38 by Western Railway (WR). Read more...

The Bombay high court on Thursday issued notice to the state government on a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of delay despite a court order, in handing over IAS officer Rashmi Shukla’s phone tap report and other documents it sought in connection with its probe against ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Read more...

Considering the importance of mangroves for the environment, CIDCO on Thursday handed over 281.77 hectares of mangrove region from Panvel taluka comprising 134 ha in Kamothe, 38 ha in Panvel and 109 ha in Kolhe-Khar under its jurisdiction, to the mangrove cell of the forest department, aiming to protect and conserve mangrove region as 'Reserved Forest.' READ MORE

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that Mumbai city on Thursday reported 324 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total count to 7,36,346. At present, there are 4,529 active patients in Mumbai. As many as 315 patients were discharged from hospitals post-recovery today. The total number of positive patients recovered and discharged till date stands at 7,13,476. READ MORE

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the Bombay high court that 602 bed-ridden people received Covid-19 vaccination at their homes till Wednesday, out of 4,715 who registered. READ MORE

Police on Thursday arrested two villagers and detained three juveniles for allegedly assaulting two young couples during their visit to Haji Malang shrine in Thane district of Maharashtra, an official said. The couples were allegedly beaten up by a group of villagers during their visit to the hill top shrine in Kalyan on Sunday. READ MORE

A fire erupted at a paper godown in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane district on Thursday, and no casualties were reported in the incident, a civic official said.​​The blaze broke out at the godown in Harihar compound of Mankoli around 4 pm and the premises was completely gutted, said Santosh Kadam, chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation.

Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Dave on Thursday said that local train services will be made available for common people in Mumbai once again if the state government submits a proposal to that effect. The suburban train services in the metropolis were suspended for the general public in April this year due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. At present, only government employees and those working in essential services are allowed to travel in local trains."The Ministry of Railways will approve the proposal of allowing common people to travel by local trains in Mumbai. However, we have not received any such communication from the state government so far. The railway administration is not against commencing local train services for common people," Danve told a regional news channel in New Delhi. (PTI)

State-run Bank of Maharashtra on Thursday announced various offers for its retail customer, including waiver of processing fee for gold, housing, and car loans till September 30, 2021. The lender is offering housing loans and car loans at an interest rate starting from 6.90 per cent and 7.30 per cent respectively, a release said.