The Maharashtra government will provide subsidised WiFi services at public data offices (PDOs), which will be set up at fair price shops (ration shops) in seven districts as part of the Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface (PM WANI) scheme. The seven districts are Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Palghar and Sindhudurg. All residents within 100 to 200 metres of these fair price shops will be able to avail WiFi services on their devices on subsidised charges. The state Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department on Friday issued a Government Resolution (GR) to this effect. “The government is giving its approval to convert fair price shops to public data offices (PDOs). Its aim is to help children from low income families, who can use the internet via WiFi centres at the fair price shops for their homework and studies. Children from such families will also be able to attend online classes easily due to internet connection from such WiFi centres,” the GR said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad, who was arrested by the Thane police last week after an FIR was registered against him for forcibly shutting down the screening of the Marathi film Har Har Mahadev, announced Monday that he was resigning as a legislator. “Police have filed two fake cases against me in the last 72 hours and that too under Section 354 of the IPC. This is the murder of democracy. I will fight. I have decided to resign from my MLA post” Awhad tweeted early on Monday. Awhad and 11 others who were arrested by the Thane police Friday, were released on bail by the Thane Sessions Court Saturday. Among the conditions set by the court while granting bail was that Awhad should not try to influence witnesses and appear before the Vartak Nagar police station whenever he is summoned.
In other updates from the state: A 65-year-old homeless woman, sleeping on a cement platform near Dhobi ghat next to the Mahalaxmi railway station, died on Saturday after falling down three feet when two persons, including a 15-year-old boy, allegedly tried to snatch her bag in a robbery bid. The bag, however, got stuck in her neck, throwng her off the platform.
The police have arrested one of the accused and sent the juvenile to an observation home.
Also, a recent statewide health screening programme revealed that for every 100 women examined, one was detected with undiagnosed cervical cancer in Maharashtra. Despite this, the long-pending demand to include Human papillomavirus (HPV) — a vaccine for cervical cancer — in the national immunisation programme remains unfulfilled.
In the state, a total of 73,554 women above the age of 30 years were examined, of which 925 were detected with undiagnosed cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. Even after getting infected, the virus can sometimes take years before it causes any symptoms.
While Ajit Pawar is one of the politicians who made it a point to wear a mask strictly, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Manu Kumar Shrivastava is among the bureaucrats who never stopped wearing a mask even after the Covid-19 wave was over. It was in the last cabinet meeting when the senior bureaucrat was finally spotted without a mask. It seems the masks are finally off, for good.
IT Under Addl Charge
Maharashtra’s Information and Technology department is in the process to plan and execute few of the big projects. Despite its importance and expanding scope of work, the department does not have a full-time administrative head for almost a year now. Aseem Gupta, Principal Secretary, Relief and Rehabilitation, was handling the additional charge of the department. In the first week of November, Parrag Jain-Nainutia was appointed as Principal Secretary, Transport, and given the additional charge of IT.
NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad. (File photo)
Mumbai has reported another death associated with measles. The deceased is one-year-old boy from Bull Bazar.
Cause of death was stated to be septicemia with acute renal failure with measles bronchopneumonia.
Dahisar Police registered a case of stone pelting on a BEST bus full of passengers on Western Expressway in Dahisar area of Mumbai, injuring passengers in the bus.
Two accused have been arrested, and search has been started for the absconding accused, ANI reported.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said he has not yet received an invitation to join Bharat Jodo Yatra. "If senior leaders from our party have been invited to Rahul Gandhi’s Shegaon rally, they might go for it," he said.
A clash broke out between two Shiv Sena factions in Thane on Monday. An FIR has been filed.
Delhi High Court dismissed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's plea challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to freeze the election symbol of 'Bow and Arrow'.
Another witness in the Malegaon blast case turned hostile. This is the 29th witness who turned hostile in the case. He had given statements to ATS in 2008 about accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
As the global population reached 8 billion, the spotlight is on Thane, the district with the highest population in India, with experts attributing the growth to migrants who find cheaper accommodation to commute from workplaces in adjoining Mumbai.
The population of Thane district in 2001 was 81,31,849, and rose to 1,10,60,148 in 2011, as per the last census. Thane district, which borders Mumbai, recorded an exponential growth of more than 30 per cent in population as per the 2011 census.
Former IAS officer Sudhirkumar Goyal told PTI that Thane offered cheaper accommodation for people who came to Mumbai in search of employment.
Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of brutally killing his live-in partner in Delhi, had visited the housing society in Vasai in Palghar district of Maharashtra a fortnight ago to help his family members shift to Mumbai, a society member said.
Aaftab, 28, was arrested on Saturday by Delhi Police for allegedly strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar. He sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days, police said on Monday.
"Aaftab Poonawala had visited Unique Park Housing Society in Vasai around 15 days back to help his family members who shifted from the society to Mumbai," the housing society member said. (PTI)
More from Cities
Forty functionaries of the BJP and Congress from Latur in Maharashtra have joined the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, a district office-bearer from the CM-headed party said. Shinde was present at the event in Mumbai on Sunday when they joined his party.
Among those inducted are former BJP Latur tehsil president Balaji Adsul, former zilla parishad member Rajkumar Kalame and former corporator Prakash Patil Wanjarkhedkar. (PTI)
Women's Alliance of NCP were detained during a protest against Abdul Sattar's controversial statement on MP Supriya Sule, in Mumbai.
Students from Mumbai's Gurukul Art School pay tribute to Shraddha Walker, who was murdered by her boyfriend Aftab Ameen Poonawala in Delhi.
A day after Maharashtra Governor B S Koshiyari presided over an event promoting investment in his home state of Uttarakhand, leader of opposition (LoP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Tuesday took a swipe at him, stating that people in higher positions should not attempt to “take industries out of the state”.
While addressing a press conference at party headquarters on Tuesday, Pawar said, “All individuals in higher positions should try and ensure that industries remain in the state. But during the period of this government, Chief Ministers of other states and even the higher ups in Maharashtra from other states are advising that the industries should go to other states. I must say that this is not the right thing to do.”
The Thane Sessions Court Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to NCP MLA and former cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad in connection to a molestation case registered Sunday night.
Among the bail conditions set for Awhad, who had earlier planned to resign as a legislator after the FIR, include not interfering with the case. The bail was granted on furnishing a bond of Rs 15,000. Read more
Tanvi has gone against her family to take admission to bachelor of arts (BA) even after scoring well in Class 12 in the commerce stream. And now she started second-guessing her decision and thinking what if anything goes wrong.
Raghav has been home for the past two years of the pandemic and before that school was just around the corner from his house. But as he began a degree course along with additional studies, he is spending time and energy travelling, leaving him in a perpetual irritated mode.
Read the full story here
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s firmness helped in the smooth transition of power in the state earlier this year as the Bharatiya Janata Party countered “betrayal by the Shiv Sena”.
Fadnavis was speaking as the chief guest at the launch of a booklet inspired by the thoughts of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shah. Read more
Shraddha Walkar (27), a Vasai resident, who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala (28) in Delhi, wanted to break up with him because he “mentally tortured her and physically assaulted her several times”, but she continued their relationship as he emotionally blackmailed her and said he would die by suicide if she leaves him, her close friends told The Indian Express.
Read the full story here
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday said that it will seek technical opinion from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) on the structural stability of Andheri’s Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, which was closed on November 7 this year.
Following the report submission, a decision will be taken on whether to reopen the bridge for pedestrian use and light vehicle movement or not, said civic officials. Read more
The BMC will float fresh tenders for concretising the city roads by the end of November, said civic officials, adding that the cost for the same would be 20 per cent more than what it was in the previous process.
In August this year, the BMC had floated a Rs 5,800 crore-tender for concretising 397-km road in Mumbai to mitigate pothole problems across the city. Read more
A SOCIAL activist, who is a former trustee of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust in Nashik, has recently approached the Bombay High Court with a PIL challenging the levy of Rs 200 by the trust as charges for VIP entry into the temple.
The petitioner said that the temple had been declared as an “ancient monument” under the Ancient Monument Preservation Act which requires protection of the monument and the impugned decision was against the law. Read more
International cruise ships are returning to India after a span of two years. M V Viking Mars is the first international cruise ship, operated by Switzerland-based Viking, to dock at Mumbai Port on November 13 where it will stay till November 15. Carrying 834 passengers, said cruise has come from Oman (Muscat) and is on its way to Goa. Read more