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Tuesday,06-June-2023
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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

Maha CM Eknath Shinde to launch cluster development scheme in Thane today

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The launch of the much-talked cluster development scheme will be held on Monday, June 5 in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) said that this would be one of the biggest projects in the continent, and it is an ambitious project of CM Eknath Shinde.

The implementation of this plan, which has been on paper for many years, will finally fulfill the dream of the people in Thane who are staying in dilapidated and unauthorised buildings for a long time.The CM and the deputy CM on Monday will inaugurate the Kisan Nagar cluster, which is the home turf of CM Shinde. CIDCO will execute the project said an official from TMC.

Cluster development scheme will change lives

A cluster redevelopment office has also been constructed at Kashish Park near Teen Hath Naka to manage the operations of the cluster development scheme.

The officials from TMC said, “The integrated redevelopment project will be done on the lines of townships. The occupants will get a 323 Sq ft ownership house. Earlier CM said that the government is committed to rapid development of industrial corridors across the state even as the central committee on the National Industrial Corridor praised the infrastructure development work being carried out in Maharashtra at a review meeting last week.”

Redevelopment of dilapidated buildings

TMC officials said, “A cluster scheme will be implemented for the redevelopment of dilapidated dangerous unauthorised and official buildings in Thane city with well-planned and complete civic infrastructure. A total of 45 urban regeneration schemes have been prepared with a total area of 1500 hectares. A regulation was prepared from the concept of CM Shinde for the collective redevelopment of unauthorized and official dangerous buildings. The redeveloped township plan includes well-equipped health, educational, sports, recreational, parking, mandi and civic facilities.”

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Maharashtra

Mumbai Weather: IMD predicts light rainfall over next 48 hours, AQI good at 39

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Mumbai: The city and its suburbs are likely to remain partly cloudy today. However, the city may experience light rain/drizzle over the next two days.

Mumbai’s temperature on Monday morning is 31.4°C, while the humidity is 71%.

As per IMD’s district-wise forecast, partly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain are likely in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar on June 5.

Mumbai Weather

The IMD said that the city would witness partly cloudy skies on Monday. However, rain or thundershowers could occur towards the evening or night on June 5, and 6.

The weather agency said maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 34°C & 28°C.

Mumbai AQI

As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the AQI in Mumbai is currently in the ‘good’ category, with a reading of 39.

For context, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 is ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

AQI of different areas in Mumbai

Colaba · 29 AQI Good

Mazgaon · 77 AQI Satisfactory

Malad · 33 AQI Good

Borivali· 50 AQI Good

Navi Mumbai · 92 AQI Satisfactory

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Crime

Mumbai News: CBI arrests SoBo developer in connection with ₹280 crore fraud with SBI bank

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Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Harresh Mehta, a prominent developer from South Mumbai and director of Rohan Lifespaces Ltd, in connection with a fraud case. The case involves an alleged scam of Rs 280 crore, defrauding a leading public sector bank. The arrest was carried out by the CBI’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Mumbai.

Details on the case

The CBI’s EOW Mumbai unit initiated the probe in 2016 based on a complaint filed by the Thane branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) against the directors of Rajput Retail Ltd (RRL), Vijay Gupta, and Ajay Gupta. The complaint stated that the accused directors conspired with unknown government servants and availed three loans from the bank using forged documents, resulting in a fraud of Rs 280 crore.

Involvement of Harresh Mehta in the case

During the investigation, the role of Harresh Mehta from Rohan Lifespaces Ltd and Rohan Constructions Ltd emerged. The CBI conducted searches at Mehta’s offices and residences, as well as at Ruby Mills Ltd. It was revealed that loans totaling Rs 155 crore were sanctioned for the purchase of premises in a building called The Ruby.

Legal proceedings in the case

Mehta is currently in judicial custody, and the CBI had submitted a chargesheet in the case in July 2018. Mehta’s lawyers argued against extending his custody, claiming that he had cooperated fully with the agency. They also contended that Mehta was not involved in forgery, fabrication of documents, or cheating, asserting that his arrest by the CBI was unlawful.

Another case taken over by CBI recently

In another development with the investigative agency, the CBI has taken over the investigation of a graft case wherein an Income Tax officer had allegedly demanded a bribe from a doctor for not taking action on a complaint against him for non filing of income tax returns. The accused was caught red-handed by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in December 2020 while accepting a bribe of Rs10 lakh from the complainant.

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