Mumbai: If you’re driving along the old Mumbai–Pune Highway anytime soon, slow down as you approach the now-defunct Nishiland Water Park. Hidden in plain sight, on a dusty plot right off the road, rests one of Maharashtra’s strangest landmarks, an abandoned Boeing 737 that has quietly become a viral attraction.

This aircraft once belonged to Air Sahara and was very much in the skies until 2005, when it overshot the runway at Mumbai airport. Media reports later revealed that repairing the damaged aircraft wasn’t financially viable, prompting the airline to sell its fuselage to a private Indian company. But the story only gets more bizarre from there.

During its road journey on a massive trailer, the jetliner got stuck in Chembur, turning the area into an impromptu aviation exhibition. Locals reportedly flocked to witness the surreal sight of a full-size commercial aircraft wedged between buildings and traffic, creating a spectacle that Mumbai remembers to this day.

Eventually, the aircraft was moved to Nishiland Water Park, purchased for over Rs 1 crore as a crowd-pulling attraction. For a while, it worked, visitors came for the slides but stayed for the plane. But when the park shut down a few years later, the Boeing too was abandoned once again, this time on the highway where it remains frozen in time.

Today, the grounded aircraft has a new purpose: showbiz. It is rented out for movie and ad shoots and has appeared in films like MS Dhoni and Tees Maar Khan. The interior, accessible to visitors for a Rs 100 entry fee, is surprisingly intact. Rows of seats, cabin windows, catering trolleys and a slightly makeshift cockpit with a printed instrument panel all add to its quirky charm. The yoke, interestingly, is real.

Set between the hills on one side and the highway on the other, the location is oddly picturesque. Lucky visitors may find the entrance open and can even park right beside the aircraft for that perfect Instagram shot. Otherwise, a short walk will lead you to one of Maharashtra’s most unexpected tourist curiosities, a forgotten Boeing resting quietly by the road, waiting for the next passerby to rediscover its story.

Kolkata, Nov 22: Another Booth Level Officer (BLO) died in West Bengal on Saturday, allegedly due to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) related work pressure, said the police on Saturday.

The incident comes three days after a female BLO in the Mal Bazar area of Jalpaiguri district in Bengal died, allegedly over the same reason.

This time, a female BLO hanged herself in the Shasthitala area of Krishnanagar in Nadia district.

The deceased has been identified as Rinku Tarafdar (51). According to the police, a suicide note has been recovered from her room.

The police said the woman wrote in that suicide letter that administrative pressure would come to her if she did not complete the work of a BLO.

“I can’t handle the pressure,” the female BLO allegedly wrote in the suicide letter, according to the police.

She has also blamed the Election Commission for her death.

Police said Rinku Tarafdar was a part-time teacher at Swami Vivekananda Vidya Mandir in Nadia district’s Chapra police station area. She was working as a BLO in the Bangaljhi area.

At the same time, Rinku wrote that no one in her family was responsible for her death.

Blaming the Election Commission for her death, the BLO also wrote, “The Election Commission is responsible for my fate. I do not support any political party. I am a very ordinary person. But I cannot bear the pressure of this inhuman work. I am a part-time teacher. The salary is very low compared to the hard work. But, they did not spare me.”

A senior officer of Krishnanagar Police District said, “The body of a female BLO was found hanging. A suicide note has been recovered. She blamed the Election Commission for her death as she could not bear the pressure related to SIR work. A case of unnatural death has been registered. The body has been recovered and sent for autopsy.”

On Wednesday, a female BLO identified as Shanti Muni Ekka died by “suicide” due to alleged work pressure during the SIR exercise in the state. The incident took place in the Mal Bazar area in Jalpaiguri. The family of the woman alleged that she decided to end her life as she could not bear the pressure of SIR work.

Following the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Election Commission of India over the “suicide” of a female BLO.

Using her social media handles, CM Banerjee claimed that about 28 people have died in the state since the Election Commission began the SIR of Bengal’s electoral rolls.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also asked the ECI to halt this “unplanned drive” to save lives in the state.

On the same day, another female BLO named Tapati Biswas suffered a cerebral attack in the middle of SIR-related work in Hooghly district’s Konnagar area. The day after, she was relieved of her election duty following her cerebral attack.

On Friday, the West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of deceased BLO Shanti Muni Ekka in Jalpaiguri and Rs 1 lakh for BLO Tapati Biswas in Hooghly.

Meanwhile, a compensation of Rs 2 lakh was also announced for the family of BLO Lalit Adhikari, who died in a road accident on Thursday. He was a resident of the Baradham Chatragram area in the Cooch Behar district. The compensations were handed over to the families by district officials.

Mumbai: The BMC on Friday issued notices to around 59 construction sites across Mumbai under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP IV). The sites including building construction sites and RMC plants, and are located in areas of Chakala, Malad West, Mazgaon, Siddharth Nagar-Worli, Navy Nagar-Colaba and Deonar. 

“If the sites fail to comply with the air pollution control norms within seven days, all construction activities and industries the areas will be stopped. More notices will be issued as the squads conduct inspections,” a senior officer from BMC Enviornment department said.

The action comes a day after the BMC announced that GRAP IV will be implemented in the areas which consistently recorded Air Quality Index (AQI) above 200 despite mitigation measures. Additional municipal commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi said that implementation of GRAP IV is the last step, after all air pollution mitigation measures fail, and all the industries and construction activities in the areas will be stopped. 

The BMC administration informed on Thursday that it has also formed flying squads across 24 civic wards, which will ensure implementation of 28-points guidelines for air pollution control, especially at the construction sites. The squad will consist of two engineers (building factory and environment department each), a police personnel. A nuisance deterctor and a vehicle with vehicular tracking and monitoring system (VTMS) will be operational with them. 

Some of the guidelines mandatory at the construction sites include: covering with green cloth, regular water spraying, CCTV monitoring and installation of air pollution monitoring systems among others.