Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray. Mumbai News: Police personnel were deployed outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence, ‘Matoshree’, in Bandra after a row over Independent MLA Ravi Rana and his wife MP Navneet Rana’s remarks that they would recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Thackeray’s residence on Saturday if he did not chant it on Hanuman Jayanti. Shiv Sena leaders had dared the couple to come to Mumbai to chant Hanuman Chalisa, warning them that they would get a befitting reply from Shiv Sainiks.
The Supreme Court Friday SC rejected the bail plea of Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in relation with a money laundering case. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said that it will not interfere with the Bombay High Court order of March 15 but Malik can avail the remedy available under the law before the trial court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Malik, said that they have arrested him in 2022 for something that happened in 1999 and there is no case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as there is no predicate offence.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Thursday recorded 179 new coronavirus cases, 17 more than the day before, and one new fatality, the health department said. With this, the state’s overall Covid-19 tally rose to 78,76,382, while the toll increased to 1,47,831. On Wednesday, the state had recorded 162 coronavirus cases, but zero fatality. The state’s active cases rose to 762. Mumbai recorded 91 cases, more than half of the new patients detected in the state in the last 24 hours.
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BMC floats tenders for Sister City Square, says work will be done in 6 months
Proposed plan of the sister city square. (Photo: MCGM Planning Department) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued tenders for the Sister City Square at Kalanagar in Bandra-East. The square, conceived by the guardian minister of the suburbs Aaditya Thackeray, will honour the relationship BMC holds with 15 international sister cities.
The square will have flags of all the countries of which Mumbai is a sister city. The square would be accessible to the citizens and tourists and would be a representation of international relations which Mumbai shares with other international cities like Berlin, Los Angeles, St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Yokohama, Honolulu, Zagreb, Barcelona, Busan, Port of Odessa, Jakarta, Nadi, Antananarivo and Shanghai.
Google Maps collaborates with BMC to provide real-time updates on road closures, diversions
To ease commuting in the city, Google Maps in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now provide citizens with real-time updates on temporary road closures or diversions.
According to the officials, the initiative will help commuters save time and plan their journey accordingly as now they will have access to the latest updates on road closures and available alternate routes on Google Maps. The pilot project conducted on this was successful, the civic body said.
Survey finds 1,435 endangered smooth-coated otters and 245 crocodiles in Ratnagiri dist
A survey has found 1,435 smooth-coated otters across all 10 rivers, creeks, and irrigation tanks in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. The study has also found 245 crocodiles in the district.
This is the second census of the rarely studied mammal conducted by the Maharashtra Mangrove Cell and a Pune-based Non-Government Organisation (NGO) Ela Foundation. The first one was conducted in 2017 which covered 12 creeks in Sindhudurg district and found 591 smooth-coated otters.
Mumbai witnesses slight dip in maximum temperature
After a steep rise in daytime temperature in Mumbai, the city recorded a slight dip in the maximum temperature. However, the maximum temperature was still above normal.
On Friday, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 37.7 degrees which was 4.1 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, the IMD Colaba observatory recorded maximum temperatures of 34.5 degrees which were 1.7 degrees above normal.
The city has been witnessing heatwave ‘like’ conditions with maximum temperatures rising to 38.9 degrees, the highest daytime temperature for the season this month and also the second-highest in a decade.
115 persons including lawyer Gunratna Sadavarte and MSRTC workers granted bail by sessions court
One hundred fifteen persons including lawyer Gunratna Sadavarte and MSRTC workers were granted bail by a sessions court in connection with a complaint filed at Gamdevi police station, for allegedly orchestrating a purported attack at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence in South Mumbai earlier this month.
Koyna steps up to meet Maharashtra’s growing power demand
As Maharashtra is facing a power shortage on account of rising demand and dip in power generation from thermal plants due to coal shortage, the Maharashtra Electricity Generation Company Limited is now heavily dependent on the Koyna hydro-electric plant at Pophali near Chiplun.
The state has witnessed a sharp rise in demand leading to a shortage in power supply over the last couple of weeks. Vijay Singhal, CMD of Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company Limited, said that the current demand has gone past 28,800 MW as against a demand of 22,000 MW around this time last year. “Koyna has been very helpful and it is a blessing in disguise. Demand in the state has gone up and supply of coal is less,” said Singhal.
BJP leader Shelar hits out at Sena-ruled BMC, says Mumbai has turned into a ‘death trap’
BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Friday took potshots at the Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), accusing it of turning Mumbai into a “death trap” and questioned where the Rs 2 lakh crore spent by the civic body was used.
Shelar’s comments come at a time when the Mumbai BJP has launched a ‘Pol-Khol’ campaign to expose the corruption in the Sena-ruled BMC, the country’s richest civic body.
“In spite of getting total control over BMC, the Shiv Sena has failed to address basic concerns of Mumbaikars. The Sena has power to serve its own vested interests. As a result, struggling Mumbaikars have been totally ignored,” he alleged.
Bombay HC grants two-week protection from arrest to Union minister Narayan Rane
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted two-week protection from arrest to Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane while hearing his plea to quash an FIR registered against him in Dhule over his remark against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray made in August, last year.
A division bench of Justices Prasanna B Varale and Shriram M Modak on Thursday had observed that Rane “certainly did not use words respectably” against Thackeray last August and suggested that Rane can make a statement that “bygones be bygones” to ensure “no wrong signal is given to people” and hoped that “better sense prevails”.
On August 23, 2021, Rane had said in Raigad that he would have slapped the chief minister for “not knowing how many years it has been since India gained Independence”.
Bombay HC judge pulls up lawyer for ‘overstepping limits’, says there’s no licence to intimidate court
Observing that an “advocate as an officer of court is under obligation to maintain dignity and decorum of court and there is no licence to intimidate the court,” Justice Anuja Prabhudessai of the Bombay High Court pulled up a lawyer for “grossly overstepping” limits of propriety by making allegations that the judge was giving priority to certain matters and certain lawyers and was acting in biased manner.
The judge noted that casting “scurrilous aspersions” has “an inevitable effect of undermining the confidence of the public in judiciary” and also has a tendency to “interfere with administration of justice”.
Fadnavis’ remark on Hindus being targeted ‘joke of the century,’ says
Sanjay Raut. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis’s remark that Hindus were being targeted in Maharashtra was the “joke of the century”. “Maharashtra has Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister of the state, who is also the son of the ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ Balasaheb Thackreray.
He is also the chief of Shiv Sena, which has made ultimate sacrifice for Hindus. Hence, if someone is saying Hindus are being targeted in the state then it is the joke of the century,” he said.
NCP pretends to be progressive, but it’s ‘divisive’ party, says Chandrakant Patil
BJP state president Chandrakant Patil. (Express Photo: Ashish Kale/File) Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Thursday dubbed the NCP as a “divisive” party which pretends to be progressive and said its chief Sharad Pawar should control his ‘tukde tukde’ gang that seeks to divide the society.
Speaking to reporters here, Patil said, NCP MLC Amol Mitkari recently ridiculed a particular community and also Hindu priests in a speech and he was encouraged by state NCP president Jayant Patil and (minister) Dhananjay Munde. Pawar should control his ‘tukde tukde’ gang that ridicules a community and Hindu priests.
The BJP leader accused the NCP, a key constituent of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government in the state, of paying lip service to secularism while practicing divisive politics.
Mumbai police chalks out security plan in light of loudspeaker row, festivals
In the wake of the loudspeaker ultimatum given by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the upcoming festivals, the Mumbai police has come out with a security plan, in which police teams will reach any location within five minutes with full preparedness to deal with untoward incidents, an official said on Thursday.
The city police have come out with a security plan, under which they will be assisted by 19 companies of the State Reserve Police Force, platoons of the Riot Control Police, QRT, assault, delta and reserve forces besides the local police deployment, the official said.
Sadavarte collected Rs 2 cr from MSRTC staff: Police
The Mumbai Police on Thursday claimed that lawyer Gunratna Sadavarte, booked for allegedly orchestrating an attack on the south Mumbai residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar on April 8, collected Rs 2 crore from protesting Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees, whom he represents in the Bombay High Court.
In its reply filed before the court in connection to the bail plea of Sadavarte, the Mumbai Police told the court that the accused collected Rs 550 per person to prepare an affidavit and other legalities, thus accumulating Rs 2 crore. The police claimed that the motive was to stretch the agitation of the workers as much as possible.
Two held for vandalising BJP’s ‘Pol Khol’ rath in Mumbai
Mumbai police on Thursday arrested two persons for allegedly vandalising the BJP’s ‘Pol Khol’ rath earlier this week, while two more are on the run in the case, an police official said.
According to the police, a case was registered against unidentified persons after a civic poll campaign vehicle of the BJP fashioned as a rath was vandalised in Cheetah Camp area of the city in the early hours of Tuesday. The ‘Pol Khol’ (exposure of corruption) vehicle was parked by a road and the shattered windscreen, caused by the pelting of a stone, was noticed in the morning, as per the complaint.
International conference in Mumbai next month to promote cruise, river tourism
With an aim to promote cruise and river tourism, the Mumbai Port Authority will organise its first ever international cruise conference in the state capital on May 14 and 15.
Speaking to media persons while unveiling the event logo and mascot, ‘Captain Cruzo’, Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Indian cruise market has the potential to grow by 10 times over the next decade driven by rising demands and disposable incomes.”
Fire erupts at 7-storey building in Mumbai’s Khar area
Four persons inhaled smoke after a fire broke out in a seven-storey building in suburban Khar in Mumbai on Thursday morning and were later treated at a hospital, civic officials said. The four were rescued from the terrace of the building, an official from the fire brigade said. The fire started in a flat on the fourth floor of Nothan Villa building in Khar (West) at around 10.30 am.
Mumbai accounts for over half of state’s new Covid-19 cases, BMC steps up measures
Covid testing in progress at a civic-run clinic in Mumbai. (Express photo: Amit Chakravarty) With more than half of the state’s new Covid-19 infections recorded from Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked civic officials to increase daily testing, ensure strict contact-tracing and keep a vigil in their respective administrative wards.
Currently, the daily testing is below 10,000 samples in the city. BMC has asked all the 24 ward officers to be alert. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health) said, “We have directed officials to increase testing, surveillance, contact tracing, strict implementation of home isolation protocol and booster dose to the eligible population.” The number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours in the city stood at 9,514, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests conducted so far to 168,08,907.
Firm on plan to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Maha CM’s residence on Apr 23: MLA Ravi Rana
Ravi Rana, an independent MLA in Maharashtra, said he was firm on his plan to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the residence of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray here on April 23.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he said, “I am going to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside the residence of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday. He (CM) uses Hindus only for voting, but opposes it when it comes to exercising religious rights in day-to-day life.”
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