Maharashtra News Live Updates: Three dead, two injured in accident on Mumbai-Pune expressway

The Maharashtra agriculture department has banned the sale of pesticides and fertilisers worth Rs 18.82 crore in Akola district after an inspection showed that they did not meet quality standards, officials said.To ensure the supply of good quality inputs to farmers ahead of the Kharif season, the department collected samples of pesticides and fertilisers from 63 godowns.Of these, the samples of 36 companies had various deficiencies, the department said in a release on Monday.The department then banned the sale of these companies' stocks, worth about Rs 18.82 crore, lying in the godowns, it said. The Maharashtra agriculture department has banned the sale of pesticides and fertilisers worth Rs 18.82 crore in Akola district after an inspection showed that they did not meet quality standards, officials said.To ensure the supply of good quality inputs to farmers ahead of the Kharif season, the department collected samples of pesticides and fertilisers from 63 godowns.Of these, the samples of 36 companies had various deficiencies, the department said in a release on Monday.The department then banned the sale of these companies' stocks, worth about Rs 18.82 crore, lying in the godowns, it said.

An offence has been registered against a man for allegedly attempting to convert a youngster from Maharashtra's Palghar district after getting in touch with him on social media, police said on Tuesday. Based on a complaint lodged by the man's father, the police have registered an offence against the accused, who is a resident of Mumbra in neighbouring Thane district, and he will be arrested soon, senior inspector Sampatrao Patil of Manickpur police station said. The complainant alleged that the accused had gotten in touch with his son on social media and during their chats online, he posted derogatory remarks about Hindu deities to convince the youngster to convert, he said. The accused also allegedly claimed that he had supernatural powers, the official said. A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 and other acts, he added.

Western Railway train services likely to normalise after 4pm as signal on line are not working. Authorities have cited cable failure as the reasons and are laying a new cable to restore the signal. Trains running 25 to 30 minutes behind schedule

The Hyderabad-headquartered Bharat Rashtra Samithi has claimed to have enrolled nearly 3.5 lakh new party workers from 15,000 villages in Maharashtra, said a BRS leader. BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao launched a party expansion campaign last month with an aim to reach all the 288 Assembly segments in Maharashtra. According to Manik Kadam, who heads the 'Kisan' cell of BRS, they have so far enrolled 2 lakh new party workers in Maharashtra using their online platform. "Where there is an internet issue, we are using the offline method. Through the offline method, we have also got 1.5 lakh new party workers for our different wings," he said. Kadam said the campaign will continue till June 22.

Veteran journalist Olga Tellis will receive Dinu Randive Memorial Award for her exemplary contribution in the field of journalism spanning over five decades. Tellis will be honoured with the award on June 16 at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in the presence of veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar, a statement issued by a selection committee on Monday read. The selection committee for the award, which is constituted in the name of journalist and freedom fighter Dinu Randive, was led by Bhalchandra Mungekar, former Rajya Sabha MP and Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, and three journalists. Tellis' career in journalism spans over the last five decades and she has worked in publications such as 'Sunday', as a business correspondent of Observer of Business and Politics, columnist at 'Blitz' and a resident editor at 'The Asian Age', the statement said.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Tuesday placed a full-page advertisement in many newspapers titled “Modi for India, Shinde for Maharashtra”, quoting a survey where Shinde is shown as more preferred for the top post than BJP's Devendra Fadnavis. The ad prompted Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut to call the party “Modi-Shah's Shiv Sena”. The advertisement carries Sena's bow-and-arrow symbol and images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Shinde. It has no image or photo of Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray, a noticeable departure going by its earlier publicity materials.