Mumbai live news: Anil Deshmukh (File)Anil Deshmukh news, Mumbai news highlights: The Bombay High Court will hear on December 6 the bail plea of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On Friday, a single-judge bench of Justice Makarand S Karnik said that it will hear Deshmukh’s plea on merits from December 6, after concluding that the matter can be heard on priority considering the health grounds raised by the petitioner. Last week, the bench had adjourned the matter after the CBI counsel had urged the court to do so as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, who was to appear for the central agency, was unwell.
In other news, according to news agency PTI, Mumbai on Thursday recorded 23 new measles cases and zero fatality, the civic body said in a release. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also inoculated 1,162 children against the viral infection on the first day of its Outbreak Response Immunisation drive. The Maharashtra health department has also formed a state-level task force headed by Dr Subhash Salunke to tackle rising measles cases, an official statement said.
Partially rolling back the ban on plastic items imposed across Maharashtra in 2018, the state government on Thursday allowed use of single-use disposable plastic items such as straw, plates, cups, glasses, forks and containers like bowls, among other things, made of compostable material. This brings relief to plastic manufacturers, traders and users of plastic such as restaurants, shops and businesses across the state. The notification was issued by the environment department on Wednesday.
Mangal Prabhat Lodha is a quiet man. At the BJP headquarters here, his colleagues say that the Cabinet minister operates silently — not flaunting his power and always speaking to a select group of people. The image of quiet efficiency is quite different to the public persona of a firebrand Hindutva votary and this combination helped the former Mumbai BJP chief become a member of the Eknath Shinde-led government. At present, he holds the portfolios of tourism, and women and child development.
On Wednesday, Lodha lit a political firestorm by comparing 17th-century warrior Shivaji’s historic escape from the Mughal court in Agra with Shinde’s defection from the Shiv Sena that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June. Read to know more here
Children aged 9-13 years are spending more than three hours a day on social media watching videos or playing games on the internet, according to 42 per cent of urban parents who took part in a survey in Maharashtra. And 46 per cent of the children are using smartphones for it, thanks to easy access to devices with school activities going online.
The survey was conducted by Local Circles, a community social media platform which conducted various studies to gauge public opinion during the pandemic. The survey included around 13,000 parents from across Maharashtra, seeking their observations on internet, social media and gaming habits of children, post pandemic. Know more here
A 13-year-old girl has been allegedly sexually assaulted on the school premises by two of her classmates in Mumbai, police said Friday.
The police said that the incident took place on November 28 when the rest of the class had gone to the ground for some practice session. Two minor boys allegedly stopped her from stepping outside the classroom after which they read more here
Three members of a family, including an 80-year-old man, were killed when the car they were travelling in collided with a truck on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said. (PTI)
A lawyer and a retired senior private secretary of a judge recently approached the Bombay High Court seeking directions to the Union Ministry of Railways to earmark a separate coach for senior citizens similar to one for physically-handicapped persons in suburban local trains in Mumbai. Know more...
Mumbai police has arrested Pradyumn Yadav (25), president of the city unit of the National Student Union of India (NSUI) for allegedly cutting birthday cake with a sword-like weapon, an official said on Thursday.
According to police, the incident took place on Friday when Yadav celebrated his birthday with his supporters near read more here
More from Cities
The Bombay High Court is set to hear bail plea of Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a case of corruption & misuse of official position being probed by CBI. On Tuesday, the counsel for CBI urged a single-judge bench of Justice Makarand S Karnik to adjourn the matter as additional solicitor general (ASG) Anil Singh, who was to appear for the central agency, was unwell. Deshmukh’s counsel submitted that the central agency was delaying the hearing in the case and sought an earlier date for hearing the bail plea. The bench had posted the hearing to Friday, December 2.
All systems at the Terminal 2 of Mumbai airport are reportedly down, resulting in long queues at the counters. Airline services are also affected. “Due to the server down at Mumbai International Airport, the crowd is slightly more than normal. The crowd is being managed well and there is no chaos as manual passes are being issued,” news agency ANI quoted the CISF at Mumbai International Airport as saying.
A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by an unknown person in Maharshtra’s Kalyan area. The police said they have detained a minor but are yet to ascertain whether he has committed the crime.
According to police officers, the girl’s body was found inside a residential building around 8 am Thursday. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Gunjal said, “The deceased and her family members earn by begging and stay near the building.” Read more
State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has written a letter to the Election Commission requesting to push the last day of filing forms to December 3. He has also pointed to the problems faced by candidates in filling firms as the EC server is down. Bawankule has suggested that candidates should be allowed to fill forms ofline for grampanchayat polls.
Over 64 lakh women above 18 years from eight districts in Maharashtra have been counselled against tobacco, drug and alcohol addiction in the last two months.
There has been a “strong link” between alcohol abuse and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — particularly cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases, pancreatitis and diabetes. Around 1.56 crore women have been screened under the ongoing statewide medical checkup of adult women — ‘Mata Surakshit Tar Ghar Surakshi‘ — which started in September this year.
Out of this, 64,55,475 women from eight districts —Thane, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Beed, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Latur — were counselled on tobacco, drug and alcohol addiction which leads to diseases like cardiovascular issues, hypertension and diabetes. The maximum number of women being counselled were in Pune (11.8 lakh), and then Nashik (10 lakh). Read more.
The air quality in Mumbai dipped to ‘moderate’ on Thursday, days after the city recorded ‘good’ air quality. The readings on the Air Quality Index (AQI) showed 183, which falls in the ‘moderate’ category. Experts said low air speed and humidity were the primary reasons for the air quality.
The air quality is expected to oscillate between ‘moderate’ and ‘poor’ till the end of January. On Tuesday, Mumbai’s overall air quality measured 41 on the index. There are six categories on the AQI, namely ‘good’ (0-50), ‘satisfactory’ (50-100), ‘moderately polluted’ (100-200), ‘poor’ (200-300), ‘very poor’ (300-400), and ‘severe’ (400-500). Read more.
POLICE ARE on the lookout for a man, who was seen in a video clip, for sexually harassing a south Korean national in Khar (west) on Tuesday night.
The video footage of the incident was posted on Twitter tagging the official Twitter handle of Mumbai Police on Wednesday afternoon. The incident took place at night when the foreign national was shooting a video using a selfie stick. The clip shows the unknown man asking for her age, then catching her hand and forcibly taking her towards his scooter. On way to his scooter, he is heard making fun of her accent by saying, “Gaadi pe betchi, jalchi, come fast. One time.”
When she refuses to sit, the accused puts a hand around her neck and tries to kiss her on cheek. As the woman starts walking away fast while to shoot the video saying, “It’s time to go back home”, the accused and his aide stalk her on the two-wheeler and stop her again asking her to go on a ride with them. They then offer her to drop at the railway station or to her home. Read more.
After Mumbai and surrounding areas, Aurangabad, Buldhana and Pune are also reporting cases of measles, said officials. With this, the state health department is anticipating a surge in cases till March next year.
Across the state, 82 outbreaks of measles have been reported, of which 34 are from Mumbai, 12 in Malegaon, 10 in Bhiwandi, six in Thane, four in Navi Mumbai, three in Vasai-Virar, two each in Aurangabad and Buldhana and one in Pimpri-Chinchwad. While 724 confirmed cases of measles have been reported, the number of suspected cases stands at 11,777.
Speaking to mediapersons, Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillance officer, said, “Usually, the five months between November and March is considered a high transmission period. So, cases might go up.” Read more.
The BMC is likely to award the contract to reconstruct the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge to Mumbai-based A B Infrabuild Limited, which is currently building the new Carnac Bridge.
The civic body had floated the tender for reconstructing the Gokhale Bridge — estimated to cost Rs 84.7 crore — on November 12, after taking final approval on the design of the new bridge from IIT-Mumbai.
The BMC deadline for submitting final bids for contractors was November 25. The last day for finalising the contractors was November 30. A B Infrabuild is constructing the new Carnac Bridge that will be located between Masjid and CSMT in south Mumbai. Besides, BMC has also awarded the firm the work to build a bridge over the rail lines in Vidyavihar. Read more.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it will not proceed with the delimitation process for BMC elections till the court hears a plea filed by former corporators on December 20.
Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Arif Saleh Doctor were hearing the plea filed by former corporators challenging the government’s decision to reverse the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s decision to go ahead with delimitation of BMC wards. Initiated in 2021, the delimitation exercise during the MVA government had increased the number of electoral wards from 227 to 236.
However, an ordinance issued by the Eknath Shinde government on August 8 had reinstated these wards to 227. On September 8, the ordinance was replaced by the Maharashtra Amendment Act, 2022. Read more.
Good morning and welcome to our Mumbai live blog! Follow this space for the latest updates from your city.