NDA Presidential leader Draupadi Murmu in Mumbai(Express Photo)Mumbai News Highlights: NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu reached Mumbai on Thursday to meet Sena and BJP leaders.
Amid heavy rainfall, schools in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Palghar will remain closed Thursday. Mumbai University, too, has cancelled exams scheduled on Thursday. Though there is no holiday for schools in Mumbai, education officers and headmasters have been directed to make decisions based on local conditions and directives issued by the disaster management department for their locality.
With the heavy downpour in Mumbai, the July rainfall is nearing the 1,000 mm mark. Mumbai, which has continuously recorded rainfall since July 1, has received 952 mm of rainfall till Wednesday evening, 48 mm short of 1,000 mm. The average July rainfall for Mumbai is 855.7 mm. More rainfall is in store for the Konkan region (including Mumbai) and the adjoining areas of Madhya Maharashtra as the weather bureau has issued an orange alert till July 14, after which rains are expected to ease. According to the 48-hour forecast for Mumbai, moderate rain in the city and suburbs with the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely. Occasional strong winds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 60 kmph are also very likely.
The National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu did not meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray during her visit to Mumbai on Thursday despite the latter declaring support to her.
No meeting had been scheduled between Murmu and Thackeray, Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut said.
Two days ago, Thackeray announced support for Murmu's candidature for the July 18 presidential election after breaking ranks with his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners, namely, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.(PTI)
Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 2,229 fresh coronavirus cases, a drop of nearly 350, and four more deaths linked to the infection, down from 10 fatalities a day ago, the state health department said.
With these additions, the state's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 80,12,452, while the toll increased to 1,48,005, said the department in a bulletin.
On Wednesday, the state had registered 2,575 cases and 10 coronavirus-linked fatalities.(PTI)
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday claimed there is no government in place in Maharashtra at present as the Eknath Shinde-led dispensation is "illegal", and asked where Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari is when rains are wreaking havoc in the state.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut said cholera has broken out in many parts of the state that has resulted in deaths.
"Maharashtra is again under a lockdown. Nearly 100 people have died due to floods," he said.(PTI)
The National Democratic Alliance's Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu arrived in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon to meet and interact with the ruling alliance's MPs and MLAs.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis received her at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. She was accompanied by BJP leader Vinod Tawde.
Murmu then headed to a private hotel near the airport to meet the BJP MLAs and members of parliament along with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs of the Shinde camp.(PTI)
The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering complaint against ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and former NSE top bosses Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain in connection with the alleged illegal phone tapping case of the stock exchange employees, officials said Thursday.
It also placed Ramkrishna, till now in judicial custody in the NSE colocation case linked to alleged manipulation of the bourse, under arrest. A Delhi court later granted the anti-money laundering probe agency her custody for four days.
The federal probe agency filed the fresh case under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a week after the CBI booked them.(PTI)
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and a heritage panel told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that all necessary procedures were followed for the construction of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's memorial in Mumbai.
Thackeray (86) died at his residence in suburban Bandra in November 2012.
The BMC and the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) submitted their affidavits before a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik in response to a public interest litigation challenging the decision taken by the Maharashtra government in 2017 to convert the mayor's bungalow in Shivaji Park area to a memorial for Thackeray.(PTI)
The Maharashtra government has given all the clearances for expediting the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference after the state cabinet meeting, Fadnavis said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has given all the clearances for the project.
The pending issues were related to the forest clearances and land acquisition, among others, he said.
The estimated cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is Rs 1,10,000 crore, out of which Rs 88,000 crore are being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Over 70 per cent land required in Maharashtra for the project has been acquired in Thane and Palghar districts.(PTI)
The Maharashtra government led by Eknath Shinde on Thursday restored the pension scheme meant for those political activists who were imprisoned during the Emergency imposed in 1975.
The scheme, which was introduced by the Devendra Fadnavis government in 2018, was scrapped by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation in 2020.
The Fadnavis government, which was in power between 2014 and 2019, had taken the decision to provide pension to the activists, who had protested against the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.(PTI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Thursday announced that the government has decided to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 3 per litre respectively.
Over the last few days, commuters using the Mumbai Nashik Expressway and Bhiwandi Bypass have had to face a harrowing time due to frequent traffic jams caused by the increasing number of potholes that have cropped up on the stretches between Thane and Kalyan in the wake of incessant rainfall. The stretch falls in the constituency of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is also the MLA from Thane and the guardian minister. His son Shrikant Shinde is an MP from Bhiwandi. Read more
Some parts of Pune city recorded 70 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, the season’s highest so far, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data showed Thursday morning. Pune district will be under an ‘orange’ alert on Friday even as heavy rain battered Maharashtra for the fourth straight day, leaving hill stations and plains flooded alike.
Many areas in Maharashtra were among the country’s wettest areas with Shirgaon recording 312 mm of rainfall, Vaitarna dam 252 mm, Tamhini 235 mm, Lonavala 218 mm, Mahabaleshwar 150 mm, Koyna 142 mm, Matheran 130 mm, and Mumbai – Santacruz and Dahanu (70mm each) – during the past 24-hours. Read more
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court to submit a fortnightly report on progress made in the 2008 Malegaon blasts trial in which BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit are named as accused. The High Court also asked the NIA to ensure that at least two witnesses are present for examination for each hearing at the special court “so that the precious time of the Court is not wasted, more particularly, when the Court is seized with only the present case”. Read more
A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court Wednesday sentenced a man and his two friends to 20-year rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 16-year-old daughter over a period of two months in 2018.
Special Judge S C Jadhav convicted the three accused, who were booked for offences punishable under Section 376-D pertaining to gang rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of the Pocso Act. He also ordered 20 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 each and directed the amount to be given to the victim as compensation. Read more
A 50-year-old woman was injured when a portion of her house collapsed in Maharashtra's Thane district after heavy showers on Thursday morning, civic officials said. The incident took place around 5.30 am at a chawl (tenement) in Rashid Compound of Mumbra township, Thane Municipal Corporation's regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Avinash Sawant said.
A part of a wall of the woman's house crashed following heavy downpour in the area, he said. After being alerted, local firemen and RDMC personnel rushed to the spot for rescue work. (PTI)
Eleven people, who were trapped after a wall of a dilapidated, abandoned building fell on their houses in Pune’s Kondhwa Budruk area, were rescued by the fire brigade and local residents on Thursday morning. No casualties or injuries were reported.
The incident took place around 8.30 am. “The old building is very dilapidated and all the residents have moved out owing to its condition. A side wall of this building fell down on three small houses located next to the building,” a fire brigade official who was part of the response team said. Read more
At least five persons died and four went missing in rain-related incidents amid heavy rainfall across Maharashtra on Wednesday. As many as 1,828 people were evacuated from 10 rain-hit villages across Gadchiroli, Nagpur and Palghar districts. Since June 1, rain-related incidents have claimed 89 lives across the state.
A man was killed and two of his family members were injured on Wednesday in a landslide in Vasai town of Palghar district following heavy rain. Another person is feared trapped in the same area and rescue operation by a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is currently underway. Read more
Amid incessant rains in Maharashtra, ten workers of an infrastructure company, who were trapped in the Vaitarna river near vill, Bahadoli, Manor in Palghar, were rescued by the NDRF Thursday.
A SESSIONS court in Mumbai has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a 38-year-old flat owner who had rented out her apartment in the building that collapsed in Kurla (East) last month. The applicant along with others was booked for ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ for renting an apartment despite being aware that the building was dilapidated and could collapse any time.
Additional Sessions Judge S M Menjoge held on Monday that the applicant, Rajni Chetan Rathod, “was knowing that the said building was dangerous for human dwelling, she ought not to have let out the same and she is prima facie responsible for the said incidence and for proper investigation, her custodial interrogation is necessary.” Read more
The Maharashtra health department has detected a case of Zika infection in a seven-year-old young girl from an ashram shala in Jhai village in Palghar district (along the Gujarat border). This is the second case of Zika infection in the state . The first case was detected in a woman from Belsar village of Pune district in August last year.
Zika is a mosquito-borne disease and while surveillance has been stepped up, the disease presentation has been mild, state health officials have said. There are around 224 children in the Ashram Shala and 13 of them had fever. They have been kept under close observation at Sub district hospital Dahanu and samples that have been sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV) have tested positive for Zika (one case) and seven for H1N1 virus (swine flu), Maharashtra health officials said. Anuradha Mascarenhas writes
Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar on Wednesday met civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and both understood to have discussed the situation arising out of heavy showers in the metropolis. The meeting at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters in South Mumbai took place in the background of heavy rains in the city and its suburbs since morning, an official said. (PTI)
More rainfall is in store for the Konkan region (including Mumbai) and the adjoining areas of Madhya Maharashtra as the weather bureau has issued an orange alert till July 14, after which rains are expected to ease. According to the 48-hour forecast for Mumbai, moderate rain in the city and suburbs with the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely. Occasional strong winds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 60 kmph are also very likely.
“Intense rainfall activity over Konkan and adjoining ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra is expected to continue till July 14 with gradual reduction later. Widespread rainfall activity with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rainfall is expected over the region in this period. Parts of Marathwada and Vidarbha are also very likely to receive widespread rainfall activity with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places,” stated the forecast.
With the heavy downpour in Mumbai, the July rainfall is nearing the 1,000 mm mark. Mumbai, which has continuously recorded rainfall since July 1, has received 952 mm of rainfall till Wednesday evening, 48 mm short of 1,000 mm. The average July rainfall for Mumbai is 855.7 mm.
Amid heavy rainfall, schools in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Palghar will remain closed Thursday. Mumbai University, too, has cancelled exams scheduled on Thursday. Though there is no holiday for schools in Mumbai, education officers and headmasters have been directed to make decisions based on local conditions and directives issued by the disaster management department for their locality.
Good morning! Welcome to today's Mumbai live blog. Stay tuned for all the latest news updates from the city and the state of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 2,575 fresh coronavirus cases, while 10 more patients succumbed to the infection in the state, the health department said.
With these additions, the state's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 80,10,223, while the toll increased to 1,48,001, the department said in a bulletin.
The state had recorded 2,435 cases and 13 COVID-19-linked fatalities on Tuesday.(PTI)
The CBI arrested businessman Ajay Ramesh Nawandar from Mumbai on Wednesday in connection with the Rs 34,614-crore DHFL bank-fraud case, officials said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at Nawandar's premises last week and recovered a large number of uber-luxury watches worth crores of rupees, including Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Cartier, Omega and Hublot Michael Kors, the officials said.(PTI)
Health Department informs that seven-year-old girl found infected with Zika virus in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
On the 14th; East Madhya Pradesh on the 13th & 17th; Vidarbha on the 14th & 17th; Chhattisgarh on the 16th & 17th; Odisha on the 13th-16th; Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra & Gujarat region on the 15th; and Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra & Gujarat region on the 16th; very heavy downpour is predicted by IMD.
A 42-year-old man and his brother-in-law were arrested for a string of thefts and burglaries in Mumbai who used to spend money on sightseeing with their family members after committing the crime, police said on Wednesday.
Rasheed Khan and his brother-in-law Ibrahim Khan alias Taklya are involved in multiple cases of burglaries, according to police.
"Each time after committing the crime, the duo used to take their family members for an outing at various places, mostly in Uttar Pradesh," a Mumbai Police official said.(PTI)
A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday allowed the plea of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, who has got a clean chit from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the last year's 'drugs-on-cruise' case, seeking the return of his passport.
Aryan Khan had submitted his passport before the court as part of his bail conditions. He was arrested in October last year in the high-profile drugs case. However, in its charge sheet filed in May, the probe agency did not name him as an accused.
The NCB let off Aryan Khan and five others due to "lack of sufficient evidence".(PTI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the Bal Thackeray memorial at Shivaji Park, Dadar on the occassion of Guru Purnima.
(Express Photo)
She connects with people and assists them in their rice growing on the way to the waterfall. The actor-singer explains the advantages of taking some time for yourself in nature at one point, saying, “I am alone right now, and I am happy. Everyone should get this time to feel that inner peace.” (ED) Read more
Police in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district have recorded the statement of a man after he was accused of making an objectionable comment about deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's wife Amruta on a WhatsApp group.
But no First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in the case, said an official of Rajapur police station on Wednesday.
Inspector Janardan Parabkar said that Anilkumar Karangutkar, a local BJP worker, had filed a complaint against businessman Ashfaque Mapar two days ago. (PTI)
Several villages in Maharashtra's Nagpur district have been put on alert about the possibility of floods on Wednesday as water was being released from dams following incessant rains, an official release said. The gates of Navegaonkhairi, Nandh and Vena dams have been opened to release water and as a result villages in Saoner, Parseoni, Ramtek, Umred and Bhivapur tehsils may face floods, collector R Vimla said in the release.
The villages in Bhivapur tehsil, in particular, face a danger of floods, she said. Villages near the Gosekhurd dam too have been asked to remain alert as the level of backwater is expected to rise. The administration is closely monitoring the rain situation, the collector added. People should not venture outside unnecessarily and avoid crossing flooded bridges and causeways, the release said. The district administration has provided helpline numbers 0712-2562668 and 1077 which flood-affected people can contact for seeking assistance. (PTI)
After the IMD forecast intense to very intense spell of rain in Mumbai Wednesday, the traffic police appealed to motorists to travel cautiously even as waterlogging and traffic snarls were reported in several areas of the city. “As per the IMD forecast, intense to very intense spells of rain are likely to occur at isolated places in Mumbai in the next 3-4 hours. We request Mumbaikar to travel cautiously and #Dial100 or tweet to us for any further help or guidance,” tweeted the Mumbai traffic police. Read more
Amid heavy rainfall across Maharashtra over the last few days, as many as 89 people have died due to rain-related incidents, with 5 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Wednesday said that enhanced rainfall activity is likely to continue over Konkan region (including Mumbai) and adjoining Madhya Maharashtra ghat areas until July 14.
With Pune district continuing to witness heavy rain, the water storage in the catchment areas of all four dams upstream of Mutha river has now increased to 12.23 TMC as of Wednesday morning. Last year, on the same day, the water storage in the dams was 8.79 TMC.
This increase in water storage levels is despite water being released from Khadakwasla dam into the Mutha river. The Khadakwasla dam, which is the closest dam to Pune city upstream of Mutha river, is filled to its capacity, compelling authorities to discharge 11,000 cusecs of water. Read more
A man was killed and two of his family members were injured Wednesday after a landslide in Vasai town of Maharashtra's Palghar district following heavy rains. Another person is feared trapped and rescue operation are currently underway by a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
The India Meteorological Departments's weather forecasting division head Anupam Kashyapi told PTI, "Moderate to intense rain spells also very likely to occur at isolated places in Thane, Palghar, Mumbai and Raigad during the next 3 to 4 hours." "Packed isobars over the Arabian Sea are still persisting. Strong westerlies result in enhanced pressure gradient force, causing huge wind convergence over Konkan-Goa and in ghat sections of Madhya Maharashtra," he said.
The presence of a well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is persisting almost at the same time, he said. There would not be much reduction in rainfall activity over the state and Pune district till Thursday, he said. "The monsoon will continue to be vigorous over the state today and tomorrow," the official said. (PTI)
Due to the heavy rains in Mumbai, as many as 85 trees fell and seven walls collapsed in the last 24 hours. No casualties were recorded.
The India Meteorological Department Wednesday issued a nowcast warning for Maharashtra’s Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur districts, predicting moderate to intense rainfall at isolated places in the next 3 to 4 hours. The IMD has also issued a similar warning for Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Dhule, Nandurbar, Osmanabad, Aurangabad, Beed and Nashik districts.
Amid heavy rains lash Mumbai, the water level at the Andheri subway increased from 1.5 to 2 feet Wednesday. Due to this, the Mumbai police announced that the traffic from the subway has been diverted to SV road.
Incessant showers lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Wednesday morning, leading to flooding in many low-lying areas and traffic snarls on roads, officials told PTI. The local trains, considered as the lifeline of the metropolis, were largely unaffected on the Central Railway and Western Railway routes. The suburban services on the Harbour Line were running slow, according to railway officials.
Some areas, including the Andheri subway, which connects the east and west parts of the suburb, was flooded and police had restricted its use by citizens. The Western Express Highway, connecting suburbs to south Mumbai, also witnessed heavy traffic, a Mumbai traffic police official said. (PTI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making all-out efforts to dissolve democratically elected state governments, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday, indicating that the day was not far when people will “rise and revolt”.
Addressing party workers at Y B Chavan Pratisthan, Pawar said that India had seen what happened in Madhya Pradesh (in 2020) and now in Maharashtra. He said that during the Congress-led UPA, agencies were never misused. He also asked his party workers to prepare for a “long-drawn” struggle. Read more
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in its draft charge against 35 accused booked in the alleged drugs case filed following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020 has said that the accused had entered a criminal conspiracy with each other for the distribution of drugs “in high society and Bollywood”. The draft also states that delivery of drugs for Rajput had been taking place since 2018. It adds that in 2020, drugs were procured for Rajput’s consumption by the accused, including the late actor’s flatmate Siddharth Pithani, claiming that he “aided and abetted” the actor to “extreme drug addiction.” Read the full story here
The Mumbai Police on Tuesday issued a fresh circular cancelling the two orders issued last month by then Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey. The two orders, that currently stand cancelled, pertain to the registration of FIRs of molestation cases and those under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), Act.
The first order was issued by Pandey on June 6 in which he instructed officials from each police station to seek permission from the zonal deputy commissioner before registering any FIR of molestation or any case under POCSO. The move had drawn criticism from child rights organisations and was also challenged in court. Read more
Expressing “shock” over lack of potable water for residents of Aurangabad city, who have been “shabbily treated” by authorities, the Bombay High Court recently directed the concerned Central and state government authorities to expedite procedure for giving approvals for projects to provide regular drinking water to the city.
It said that residents of Aurangabad city, which is surrounded by places of tourist attraction such as the historic Ajanta, Ellora and Shirdi Saibaba temple, should not be made to wait longer to avail their daily share of potable water and efforts be made to improve water supply which is currently available only once a week. Read more
Rainfall caused waterlogging and traffic jams in Mumbai on Tuesday even as extremely heavy rainfall is predicted for Palghar and Raighad till Thursday. With overnight heavy rainfall, several low-lying areas in Mumbai— Sion, SV Road between Bandra and Andheri, Milan and Andheri subway were inundated. Following the flooding, BEST buses were diverted from Sion, while the Andheri subway was shut for pedestrians and vehicular traffic till the afternoon.
In the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded 62 mm of rain as against 9.2 mm the day before. Similarly, the Colaba observatory also recorded moderate rainfall in the same period at 54.5 mm as against the 5 mm rainfall a day prior.
Three persons were feared trapped after a landslide occurred on Wednesday in Vasai town of Maharashtra's Palghar district which has been witnessing heavy rains, officials told PTI. The debris fell on a house at Wagrapada in Valiv area of Vasai around 6.30 am, according to police. Local firemen rescued a woman and her daughter from the house and they were admitted to hospital, they said. Three other family members were feared trapped and efforts were on to rescue them, District Collector Dr Manik Gursal said. (PTI)
In the end, it was political compulsion that drove the Shiv Sena’s decision on Monday to support NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. Though Sena president Uddhav Thackeray claimed he was under no pressure from his MLAs, it’s no secret that the Sena, wounded and depleted in strength after the recent rebellion that led to the fall of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government that it led, had few options on the table.
On Monday, 13 of the party’s 18 remaining MPs had attended a meeting convened by Thackeray at his residence and “requested” him to support Murmu for President and open the door to a possible reconciliation with the BJP and the breakaway Eknath Shinde faction of the party. Shubhangi Khapre writes
An orange alert for Mumbai and Thane is in place till Thursday. Rainfall caused waterlogging and traffic jams in Mumbai on Tuesday. With overnight heavy rainfall, several low-lying areas in Mumbai— Sion, SV Road between Bandra and Andheri, Milan and Andheri subway were inundated.
The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Palghar and Raigad districts for the same period, indicating extremely heavy rainfall.
At least six people died in rain-related incidents over the past 24 hours and 95 people were evacuated as heavy rain battered Gadchiroli, Nandurbar, Nashik and Palghar districts of Maharashtra. Most of the evacuations were done in Gadchiroli, Nashik, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, and Raigad districts. Two persons were killed after a structure collapsed in a Mumbai suburb while one person drowned in the Gadchiroli district in east Maharashtra.
Good morning! Welcome to today's Mumbai live blog. We bring to you the latest updates from across Mumbai and Maharashtra. Stay tuned