A statement issued by the Maharashtra government said the state exchequer will have to bear an annual loss of Rs 2,500 crore as a result of the cut in taxes on fuel. (File)Mumbai News Live Updates: A day after the Maharashtra government announced reduction in VAT on petrol and diesel, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday termed it as “absolute cheating” and said the ruling dispensation in the state should immediately slash the fuel prices without “fooling the people” anymore. The reduction in price as claimed by the state government is a natural result of the Centre’s decision to cut down excise duty on fuel, Fadnavis said in a series of tweets.
The Centre on Saturday reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel. On Sunday, the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) on per litre petrol by Rs 2.08 and diesel by Rs 1.44. At the time, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the Centre’s reduction of excise duty was not enough and demanded that it be brought down further to what it was six or seven years ago.
Meanwhile, in the wake of monkeypox cases reported from some countries, the Mumbai civic body has kept a 28-bed ward ready at the Kasturba Hospital here for the isolation of suspected patients, officials said on Monday. As on date, there has been no report of any suspected or confirmed case of Monkeypox in the city, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) public health department said. In an advisory issued about the viral zoonotic disease, the BMC said airport authorities are screening passengers coming from the endemic and non-endemic countries showing outbreaks.
To improve the quality of roads, the BMC is focusing more on construction of cement concrete roads. (File)
The centralised admission process for the first year of junior college (FYJC) in Maharashtra will begin in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur on May 30 with the online registration stage. From this day, students seeking FYJC (class 11) admissions will be able to begin their online registration process which is part-I of the form and part-II of the form will be opened after the declaration of class 10 results.
This will be to complete the FYJC admissions of the batch currently awaiting their class 10 results, for the academic year 2022-23.
The mock round of the process aimed at providing candidates with a practice finally began on Monday and will continue till May 29. Students can log on to 11thadmission.org.in and select the city where they seek admission. Read More
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife, Medha, has filed a defamation suit against Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in the Bombay High Court, seeking damages of Rs 100 crore.
Medha, who is a professor of organic chemistry, has sought an unconditional apology and a permanent injunction against Raut, restraining him from publishing, circulating or printing material defamatory to her, in the future.
Her plea before the court states on April 12, she came across an article in Sena’s mouthpiece, newspaper ‘Saamna’ accusing the Somaiyas of a “toilet scam” in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation. She said that the allegations in the article and other media after the publishing of the story in ‘Saamna’ are without proof and with an intention to malign her reputation. Read More
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has claimed MNS chief Raj Thackeray deferred his Ayodhya visit as he got scared and that the latter would not go to the Uttar Pradesh city as he "does not have guts".
Also, Thackeray's comment about his surgery scheduled soon was only an excuse to defer the Ayodhya visit, Azmi, who is the Maharashtra SP chief, told reporters in Pune on Sunday.
He said Thackeray's party had in the past allegedly staged violent protests against north Indians in Maharashtra and the "hatred sown by him was being answered with hatred". (PTI)
The Maharashtra Congress held a meeting with its extended executive committee on Monday at the Tilak Bhav in Dadar in the presence of state in-charge H K Patil and under the chairmanship of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole.
The centralised admission process for the first year of junior college (FYJC) in Maharashtra will begin in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur from May 30 with the online registration stage. From this day, students seeking FYJC (class 11) admissions will be able to begin their online registration process which is part I of the form and part II of the form will be opened after the declaration of class 10 results.
This will be to complete FYJC admissions of the batch currently awaiting their class 10 results for the academic year 2022-23.
The mock round of the process aimed at providing candidates with a practice finally began on Monday and will continue till May 29. Students can log on to 11thadmission.org.in and select the city where they seek admission. Read more
The Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) will meet Monday afternoon to discuss strategy related to Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati’s candidature for the sixth Rajya Sabha seat as an independent candidate from the state.
Though MKM does not have any representation in state assembly, with Marathas constituting 30 per cent of the state population, it influences Maratha politics in Maharashtra. The MKM wants all political parties, including Shiv Sena, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and BJP, to support Sambhajiraje’s candidature.
“Shiv Sena’s move to pressurise Sambhajiraje to join their party if he wants support for Rajya Sabha seat has not gone well with MKM. It is being perceived as blackmail,” an MKM coordinator said. Read more
Parts of the island city and eastern suburb will face water supply cut from May 24 to May 27.
According to an official from Hydraulic Engineering (HE) department, due to maintenance work scheduled at Pise Panjarapur Water Complex, areas like Fort, Colaba, Dongari, Byculla, Parel, and Sion in Mumbai, and Kurla, Govandi, Mankhurd, Chembur, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulund in the eastern suburbs will face 5 per cent water supply cut from 11 am to 3 pm between Tuesday to Friday.
Light rain/drizzle is forecast for Mumbai.
In the last 24 hours trace rainfall was recorded in the suburbs. While cloudy skies are forecast for most of the week, rain and thunderstorms are likely in the city over the weekend.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday said there is no possibility of a fourth wave of Covid-19 looking at the current situation. Talking to reporters, Tope said nearly 200 to 250 cases were being reported in the state everyday and there was not much increase in these numbers.
"The Covid-19 recovery rate is very good and Maharashtra has seen very good vaccination results. Hence, I feel that in the present situation, there is no possibility of a fourth wave (of the viral infection)," the minister said.
On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 326 Covid-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 78,82,802, while the death toll stood at 1,47,856 as no fresh fatality was recorded. (PTI)
With no land for Metro car shed, delay in the civil and electric work and no sign of commencement of trial run soon, the Mumbaikars will have to wait at least 2024 for the first underground Metro line 3 Colaba-SEEPZ-Bandra corridor.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), which is executing the much-delayed Metro 3 line, said they are now aiming to complete the work of the first phase of Metro corridor on Bandra-SEEPZ by January 2024 and it will take six more months to start Phase-1, that too only if the Metro car shed land issue is sorted out within three months.
The initial deadline for completion of the work was 2021. However, it seems that it’s not just the issue of car shed that is delaying the work, but other work have also been delayed and the first underground Metro will be ready for the public only after 2024. Read more
Even after 10 months of retirement, Dr Shashikala Vanjari, former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the SNDT University is struggling to obtain her pension. Caught in red tape, Dr Vanjari, who headed the prestigious women’s university for five years currently finds herself coordinating with offices to complete her pension approval process.
“In July, it will be a full year since my retirement. But I am still waiting for my pension to start. Financial loss is one thing, but the amount of mental stress and humiliation it has caused me is unimaginable. This delay is unexpected and showcases the importance given to a VC of a women’s university,” said Dr Vanjari who has been coordinating with the Joint Director (JD) offices of Mumbai and Nagpur along with the registrar office at the SNDT university to complete her pension approval process. Read more
Mohd Tarique, founder and director of Koshish, a field action project started by Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a member of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee for the shelters for urban homeless talks to The Indian Express on the need to do away with the draconian Beggary Act and the need to create shelter homes for homeless in the state of Maharashtra. Read the interview here
Public libraries in Maharashtra have been in dire straits for a while now and the staff working there a first-hand witness to their decline. In 2012, Maharashtra had 12,861 registered public libraries. Over the last decade, more than 712 of these libraries have shut down due to various reasons, including lack of funding and resources.
Under such circumstances, the state government’s recent announcement of setting up a “Village of Books” in each district has left many asking how the authorities plan to go about their motive to “nurture reading culture in today’s time” when little is being done to bring several already existing libraries back from the verge of closure. Read more
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