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Maharashtra

‘Budhha hoga tera baap’: Sharad Pawar’s refrain to an aged farmer’s worries

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 Trust the octogenarian Sharad Pawar to floor his audiences with a whack of his wit and spontaneous humour, on his many tours in the state.

It happened on Monday in Pune’s Purandar taluka where the intrepid 82-year-young Nationalist Congress Party President landed for a spot assessment of the havoc in region caused by the recent rains, and later dropped in at the NCP office in the Parinche village to interact with farmers and his loyal band of party workers.

Apparently concerned over Pawar’s health and wellbeing, an elderly farmer present at the meet sounded a note of caution to the NCP Bigg Boss.

In a grandfatherly fashion, he gently urged that “Pawar Saheb should refrain from going out too often, and instead sit at home and wield the remote control” on the party, as there fell a pin-drop silence.

Even as other farmers and senior NCP workers gulped nervously, wondering if that aging peasant would be scalped for the ‘blasphemy’, the benign Pawar walked upto take the centre-stage

With a glint in his eyes and a sly grin, Pawar quietly glanced around and then shot a mouthful at the farmer – “Have I become old? Who’s saying that? I am not old! How do you know?”

As the pin dropped onto a thunder of guffaws and cackles of laughter, Pawar also heartily joined the hilarity, which melted away the earlier few tense moments.

Later, he was back to his old favourite game – politics – and slammed the government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis over how they have abandoned the ryots reeling from the ravages of the recent rains in the state.

Senior leaders of not only the NCP, but even the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) admit how Pawar’s ‘youthful’ tours inspires and buoys them to undertake such gruelling schedules though he has put in more than 55 years in electoral politics and more in public life.

It may be recalled how in January 2016 — when Pawar had been admitted to hospital for a routine medical checkup — it sparked off rumours of his ‘passing away’.

As people waited with bated breath, Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, senior leaders like Jitendra Awhad and others scotched the so-called ‘death rumours’, and released videos of him, sitting hale-and-hearty on the hospital bed.

On his part, Pawar remained lively and jovial, immensely enjoying the rumour-mongering at his expense, even remembering how the legendary Jayprakash Narayan had been ‘prematurely declared dead’ on March 23, 1979, by the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai in the Parliament, and later had to apologise to the nation.

Maharashtra

ED took action on 15 places including Mithi river, cleanliness, irregularities, Dino Morea

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Dino Morea ED

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided 15 places including Mumbai in the irregularities case in the cleaning of the Mithi river. The Enforcement Directorate has also claimed to have seized many important documents related to the case while conducting raids in Mumbai and Kochi. The ED has also raided the house of film actor Dino Maurya. The EOW has registered the first FIR in this case, after which the Enforcement Directorate has now started a parallel investigation. The ED has taken this action under the PMLA Money Laundering Act. Dino Maurya has also been involved in this irregularity. The EOW has also questioned him and his brother.

It is said that Dino Maurya and Ketan are close to Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray. Now Dino’s troubles have increased. The EOW has found many important documents and evidence in the Mithi river corruption and irregularities case in Mumbai, so now the ED has also started its action in the case of misuse of funding and illegal tender purchase in this case. Many Shiv Sena leaders are also in the ambit of ED action, because during the Mithi river corruption scam, Shiv Sena was ruling the BMC, so the scope of investigation has become focused on Shiv Sena leaders. EOW has also made significant progress in its action in the Mithi river corruption case in Mumbai. More revelations are expected after the arrival of ED in this case. EOW has taken action against 13 people in this case so far and has also arrested them. In this, political leaders including BMC officials are also on the radar of ED.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: MLA and SP leader Abu Asim Azmi appeals to avoid sacrificing animals in the open on Eid-ul-Azha

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Mumbai: Mumbai Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has appealed to Muslims not to perform Qurbani in the open and also follow BMC and government guidelines. Cleanliness is half of faith, so take special care of cleanliness. Not only this, it is mandatory to follow all the guidelines and guiding principles set regarding Qurbani. Take special care of cleanliness and ensure that the brothers and sisters of the country do not face any kind of trouble on Eid-ul-Azha. This is the real teaching of Islam. Celebrate Eid with mutual love, brotherhood and following Sunnat Ibrahimi. Azmi said that the waste of Qurbani on Eid should also be kept in bags and thrown in the dustbin.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai Congress delegation meets Municipal Commissioner, expresses grave concern over poor condition of city

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Mumbai: Today, a high-level Congress delegation led by Mumbai Congress President and MP Prof. Varsha Tai Gaikwad met BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. The delegation included MLA Aslam Shaikh, MLA Amin Patel, MLA Dr. Jyoti Tai Gaikwad, former corporator Haji Babbu Khan and other former corporators of Mumbai Congress.

Several important issues were raised in the meeting on administrative collapse, corruption and deterioration of public amenities in Mumbai.

‎🛑 Highlights of the meeting:

‎🔸 Increase in property tax without public approval
Violating the directions of the Supreme Court, the BMC increased property tax in the absence of elected representatives. The Congress strongly opposed this unconstitutional move and called it a financial burden on the people of Mumbai.

‎Scams in road construction
‎There is a possibility of massive corruption in the concreting of roads. Only 25% of the work has been completed so far and that too has been hampered by poor quality, damage to pipelines and serious irregularities in tendering – particularly in the inorganic phosphate based geo-polymer concrete tender.

‎🔸 Drain cleaning scam

Drain cleaning before the monsoon has become a sham. All the work has been handed over to contractors, no monitoring, no accountability. The Congress has demanded immediate and strict action.

‎🔸 Medical facilities in ICUs

BMC hospitals – like Baba, Rajawadi, Shatabdi and Bhagwati – are in a shambles. Patients are being forcibly sent to private hospitals, while privatisation of hospitals and delay in development work have worsened the problems.

‎🔸 Waste management
‎The sanitation system is already failing and now the BMC is considering imposing a “garbage tax”. In areas like Kurla and Borivali, the sewer line work has been incomplete for years.

‎🔸 Failure of the education system:

BMC school children have not yet been given books and uniforms. The commissioner has given a deadline of June 15. If this work is not completed, the Congress will again come out with questions on June 16.

‎🔸 Delay in housing schemes and PAP projects:

Housing schemes, PAP and redevelopment projects in areas like Andheri, Vakola, Khar have been victims of builder fraud, misuse of TDR and government negligence.

‎🔸 Other important issues

Corruption in central procurement process

Delay in approving hawking policy

Acute lack of facilities in Muslim graveyards

🗣️ Congress demands:

✅ ACB should investigate contractor mafia in BMC

✅ Independent audit of drain cleaning and road construction works

✅ Independent monitoring body should be formed for BMC tenders

Mumbai cannot be left at the mercy of a neglected and corrupt system. Congress will continue to fight at every level by becoming the voice of the people of Mumbai!

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