Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (File)Mumbai News Highlights: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his government is committed to ensure that the schemes for women’s upliftment reach the targeted beneficiaries and said the new women’s empowerment policy will be unveiled soon. Greeting women on the occasion of International Women’s Day at an event here, Thackeray said women are not just confined to the kitchen and child-rearing, but have gone beyond these duties to be equal to men in all spheres.
Meanwhile, Mumbai on Tuesday recorded 60 fresh Covid-19 cases, a day after adding 38 infections, taking the tally to 10,57,016, a civic official said. The Covid-19 death toll remained unchanged at 16,692 with no fresh fatality reported during the day, the official said. The daily coronavirus cases had remained below 50 on Monday (38) and Sunday (46), when the daily addition to the tally in the metropolis had gone below 50 for the first time after April 2020.
On the weather front, the first pre-monsoon rainfall is predicted in 18 districts across the state on March 8 and 9. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert in districts of the Konkan, Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha regions. Light rainfall is also forecast for Mumbai on Tuesday and Wednesday and temperatures will stay above normal in the city.
BMC headquarters. (File)
Three police personnel were injured on Tuesday while defusing explosives in MIDC area at Mahad city in Raigad district of Maharashtra, an official said. The explosion occurred when gelatin and detonator sticks were being defused. These explosives were seized by the police in 2013.
The injured personnel are identified as constables Aashirwad Ladage (45), Ramesh Kute (36) and Rahul Patil. While Ladage and Kute sustained major injuries and were rushed to a hospital in Navi Mumbai, Patil was admitted to the rural hospital in Mahad, a police official said.
These seized explosives were brought for disposing by the staff of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) from Alibaug. (PTI)
Meera Isaacs, the first woman principal of one of the city’s most prestigious schools – John Connon and Cathedral school – has retired from the position.
As she takes up the new role of senior advisor at the school, she tells Pallavi Smart about the Indian education system, pandemic-induced changes and other aspects. Read full interview
A Pune-based businessman on Tuesday approached Mumbai Police with a written complaint seeking registration of a case against builder-cum-restaurateur Jitendra Navlani, who was earlier in the day accused by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut of being involved in extortion incidents along with some Enforcement Directorate officials.
The complainant Arvind Bhosale, a developer, in his letter to Mumbai's police commissioner, alleged that Navlani was 'one of the conduits of the ED who would first give information to the personnel and thereupon that named person would be summoned by ED officials under the pretext of investigating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act'.
The letter further alleged that Navlani would then extort money from such persons who had been issued notices by the ED. (PTI)
Representatives of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the third time in less than a week to request him to finalise the election date for the Assembly Speaker's post, sources said.
Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat (of the Congress) and Transport Minister Anil Parab (Shiv Sena) met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan here, they said, adding that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and PWD Minister Ashok Chavan had held a discussion on the issue with Koshyari on Monday.
On March 4, an MVA delegation that met Koshyari to request him to fix the date to hold the election had suggested March 9, and had also demanded that he appoint 12 MLCs from his quota. (PTI)
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said the misuse of the police machinery for political purposes began under the previous BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis.
Participating in the debate on law and order in the Assembly, Patole said IPS officials like Rashmi Shukla were deployed by that dispensation to tap phones illegally.
Shukla has been booked and a probe on who ordered her to tap phones must be conducted at the earliest, the Congress leader said. (PTI)
Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of hatching conspiracies to target its political opponents and misusing the police department.
Speaking on law and order in the state Assembly, Fadnavis submitted a pen drive containing "proof" to Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal.
He claimed this pen driver comprised video recordings running into 125 hours, showing how conspiracies were hatched by the police and members of the MVA (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) to frame BJP leaders, including himself, in false cases at the office of special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan's office. (PTI)
Mumbai on Tuesday recorded 60 fresh Covid-19 cases, a day after adding 38 infections, taking the tally to 10,57,016, a civic official said. The Covid-19 death toll remained unchanged at 16,692 with no fresh fatality reported during the day, the official said.
The daily coronavirus cases had remained below 50 on Monday (38) and Sunday (46), when the daily addition to the tally in the metropolis had gone below 50 for the first time after April 2020.
A total of 10,36,974 people (98 per cent of the Covid caseload) have been discharged post-recovery in the city, including 77 on Tuesday, leaving the metropolis with 467 active cases, the official said. (PTI)
Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik on Tuesday urged the Bombay High Court to set aside his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate claiming it violated his fundamental right to life and liberty.
Malik's counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai, told HC the NIA was trying to connect the minister with gangster Dawood Ibrahim and cases related to the fugitive, even though his client had nothing to do with them.
"My remand paper deals all with the Dawood gang even though I am not related to it. They (ED) have tried to suggest that on Feb 3, 2022, they had registered an FIR against Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar. It goes into folklore around Dawood and into incidents going back to 30 years ago," Desai said. (PTI)
Statements of witnesses prima facie show the involvement of Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in money laundering, the special PMLA court has said.
Special judge R N Rokade made this observation in his order, which became available on Tuesday, remanding Malik to 14-day judicial custody in a money-laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his aides being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Senior NCP leader Malik (62) was arrested by the ED on February 23. He was sent to judicial custody on Monday as no further remand was sought by the probe agency. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) why shouldn't permanent medical bail be granted to poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist Links case, who suffers from several health ailments.
A bench led by Justice SB Shukre asked the question after Rao's counsel Anand Grover listed out, from Rao's medical reports, several health conditions he suffers from, including signs of 'early Parkinson's disease.'
The bench extended till March 21 the time granted to Rao, who is currently on temporary medical bail, to surrender before Taloja prison authorities. (PTI)
Alleging that Enforcement Directorate officers were acting as an 'ATM' for the BJP, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the Mumbai Police were probing extortion charges against four officers of the central agency and some of them will go to jail.
Addressing a news conference here, Raut said whenever there has been an Enforcement Directorate raid on any company, it has transferred money to firms belonging to one Jitendra Navlani.
“The ED and some of its officials have become an ATM (automated teller machine) for the BJP,” Raut said, maintaining he has shared details of the same with the Prime Minister's Office. (PTI)
Maharashtra minister Jayant Patil on Tuesday informed the state Legislative Council that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had not undertaken enough water recycling projects because of which 4 TMC water could not be diverted to the drought-prone Marathwada region.
The state water resources minister was speaking to a calling attention of MLC Vikram Kale.
“There are not enough recycling plants set up by the municipal corporation in Mumbai due to which 4 TMC water from Vaitarna dam cannot be diverted to Marathwada. Once such plants are operational, some water can be sent to Marathwada,” Patil said. (PTI)
The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to stop the release of the film 'The Kashmir Files'. The film can now be released on its scheduled date of March 11, 2022. (ANI)
Questioning as to why the central agencies were targetting a selected few from states such as West Bengal and Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut Tuesday termed it a tactic to pressurise and destabilise the MVA government.
He further said: “Mumbai police will begin an investigation into the criminal syndicate and extortion racket by a nexus of ED officials. Mark my words, some of these ED officers will go to jail too.”
The Narendra Modi government did not give relief to the people of the country when global oil prices were at its lowest, and, hence, it does not have the moral authority to hike fuel rates in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, the NCP said on Tuesday.
NCP's Maharashtra unit chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase alleged that with the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states over, the Centre seems to be contemplating an “imminent rise” in retail price of fuel.
He noted that the global crude oil price has soared to $140 per barrel in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war. (PTI)
A special court has observed that actor-producer Sachin Joshi was not 'directly or indirectly' involved in the money laundering case linked to city-based firm Omkar Realtors and Developers.
Special PMLA judge M G Deshpande had on Monday granted bail to Joshi, who had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 14 last year in the case.
The 37-year-old actor-producer is currently out on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court on medical grounds. The detailed order was made available on Tuesday. (PTI)
Maharashtra Legislative Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar on Tuesday suggested that the state transport minister must take steps to resolve the strike by employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
Nimbalkar issued the instructions after BJP legislators alleged that state transport minister Anil Parab had failed to resolve the deadlock with the MSRTC employees.
The MSRTC employees have been on strike since November last year, demanding the merger of the corporation with the state government, which will give them the status and benefits of government personnel. (PTI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday extended his greetings and best wishes to all women on the occasion of International Women's Day.
In a tweet posted on the CMO's official handle, Thackeray was quoted saying: "On the occasion of International Women’s Day, it is my greatest honour to extend my wishes to all the daughters, sisters, and mothers of Maharashtra who shape our world and continue to strengthen it."