Mumbai News Updates: City likely to get rains over next two days

Several parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall along with thunderstorms over the next two days, an India Meteorological Department official said on Monday. This bout of rain is due to a trough running from south Konkan to central Chhattisgarh at lower tropospheric levels, he said.

An offence has been registered against eight persons for allegedly cheating during the physical test at the Mumbai police's recruitment drive, an official said on Monday. The incident took place on Friday at the police training ground at Marol, where a recruitment drive for the post of constables was underway, the official said.The accused has to take part in a 1,600 meter run to clear the physical test and were provided tags for it. The accused allegedly exchanged these tags among themselves while registering for the test and an examiner noticed this, he said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said the people in Maharashtra are looking for a change and he will ensure that constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) contest the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections together. Pawar was speaking to reporters after the newly-elected Congress MLA from Kasba Peth Assembly constituency in Pune city, Ravindra Dhangekar, visited the NCP chief at his residence here.He said Dhangekar was elected by common people in the bypoll in Kasba Peth, a BJP bastion, as he has been working for them for the last several years.

Four members of a family sustained injuries after part of a ceiling plaster collapsed in a building in Tardeo's police camp in the early hours of Monday.The incident was reported at around 2.30am.

At least five Covid-19 cases were reported in Thane district of Maharashtra, taking the tally to 7,47,509, a health official said on Monday. With the addition of the latest cases on Sunday, the tally of active cases in the district rose to 30, he said. The overall Covid-19 toll in Thane district is 11,969 and the count of recoveries is 7,36,278.

More than 1,100 bales of fodder were destroyed in a major fire triggered by a lightning strike in Sakhre village in Palghar district of Maharashtra on early Monday morning, officials said. No one was injured in the incident.Officials said a bolt from the sky fell right on the stack of fodder bales at around 3.30 am in a field.At least two fire engines from Palghar city rushed to the spot, located 51 km away, and brought the blaze under control after at least five hours.

The state government has appointed Abhay Wagh and Satish Deshmukh as members of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) for the full tenure of six years, and retired bureaucrat Dilip Pandharpatte for a two-year term.Former MPSC chairman and veteran bureaucrat V N More has welcomed the state government's decision to appoint new members for a full tenure.

A 27-year-old woman looking for a groom on a matrimonial site was duped by a man who claimed to be from the UK and chatted with her on social media. He told her one day that he had arrived in India to meet her but was caught up at the Foreign Registration Office and asked her to transfer money.

A man who stole a car belonging to an officer of the NSG stating that he will put the SUV on the Mantralaya contract but cheated him was arrested by Marine Drive police on Saturday.The Marine Drive police arrested Mahesh Bhoinwad from Kumar Village in Malad for allegedly cheating a Navi Mumbai resident under pretext of availing him a contract for his SUV with the Mantralaya.

The hot and humid weather Mumbaikars experienced on Sunday may continue for another three days and may possibly bring a drizzle to the city in a day or two, reports Chittaranjan Tembhekar.Meteorologists have pointed out that the low-flowing easterly winds gushing in from Bay of Bengal and a trough formed between south Konkan and mid-north Maharashtra have given rise to clouds, resulting in the hot and humid weather. IMD Mumbai scientist Sushama Nair said northern Maharashtra will witness unseasonal showers over the next couple of days and possibly a slight drizzle in isolated areas of Mumbai region due to the cloudiness caused by low easterly winds that brings in moisture and a trough. “One can observe clouds over a belt between southern konkan and mid-north Maharashtra due to this couple effect,” she said.

More than 50% of CNG buses which were taken off the fleet due to three fire incidents recently were back on the roads by Sunday morning. Officials said most of the buses had spare parts replaced to ensure fire safety for commuters.“After several checks and parts replacement in some buses, 205 CNG buses were back on roads on Sunday,” said a senior official from the traffic division. He said all 400 buses that were withdrawn from the fleet 11 days ago could be back this week to cater to thousands of commuters, especially office goers, on 38 routes across the island city and suburbs.BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra said all the buses were being checked by technicians of Tata Motors and BEST. He said the delay in bringing back buses was due to ‘extensive inspections and certification on fire safety. ’ “In some cases, it took time to get spare parts for replacement,” he said.

The city crime branch probing the HSC Maths paper leak have detained two students, including one from Ahmednagar who allegedly leaked the paper to the Mumbai student over Wha tsapp. Preliminary investigations have suggested that the Mumbai and Buldhana district paper leaks could be linked.In Mumbai, the math paper got leaked 30 minutes prior to the exam on WhatApp, and a private college has registered an FIR with the Shivaji Park police station after they found the math paper in the cellphone of one of the students who had appeared for the exams.

Information disclosed under RTI shows that till 2007, two applications were filed under Section 22A of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981—it grants p ower to the Maharashtra Pollution Con trol Board (MPCB) to make an application to court for restraining persons from causing air pollution—but in the last seven years, there have been zero applications. After 2007, the MPCB has not uploaded any data on its website.In many cases, the officials deal with the complaints at their own level, said a former MPCB official, who did not wish to be named. “Often, violators are given a chance to comply with the norms and eventually many cases are closed upon meeting the criteria,” he said. “But in caseswhere a serious threat is p osed to the environment, that unit is stopped immediately and penal action is taken. All these cases do not reflect in the data. In case of prosecution, procedures such as police investigation, recording of statements, and producing evide nce eventually delay conviction. Only these cases are then visible. ”