Mumbai : Mumbai citizens have been hit by inflation ahead of the BMC elections. The fare hike for BEST buses has been approved. An additional fare of twice the fare will be implemented from today, which will now mean that BEST passengers will have to pay an additional fare, which will affect the pockets of the passengers. The BEST administration has decided to implement the new fare from May 9. The fare has been increased for distances of 5, 10, and 20 kilometers.

The fare for a distance of 5 kilometers has been doubled. The fare for a distance of 5 kilometers has been increased from Rs 6 to Rs 12. No concession has been given in the fare for a 12-year-old child. The daily pass was previously Rs 60, but now the new fare has been increased to Rs 75. The monthly pass is from Rs 900 to Rs 1,800. The facility of Chalo Bus Pass has been provided for children of the Municipal Corporation. The increase in bus fares and tickets in Mumbai has put a burden on the pockets of the citizens. Shared taxis and auto rickshaws are also operated in Mumbai city and its suburbs, but due to the fare, many passengers are unable to pay for these shared means of transport and travel by buses.

Mumbai: The verdict in the September 29, 2008 bomb blast in Malegaon will be pronounced on July 31. BJP leader and former MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt. Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit, former Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Swami Dayanand Pandey, Ajay Rahirkar, and Sameer Kulkarni are accused of being involved in illegal activities. A bomb was planted in Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s scooter, after which the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested 13 accused in the case and charged 7 accused. The hearing of the Malegaon bomb blast will be completed in April. The verdict was expected to be pronounced today, but the court gave the reason that more than one lakh pages are under study and therefore the matter has been adjourned till July 31.

A bomb blast in a scooter at Bhakko Chowk killed 7 people and injured 100. In this case, ATS Chief Hemant Karkare investigated and MCOCA was also applied to the accused, but this investigation was later handed over to the NIA in 2011. The NIA has sought death penalty for the accused in this case. Statements of 223 witnesses were recorded in this case and 23 witnesses defected in the court, including 8 witnesses from the army and defense department. The court has ordered all the accused to be present on July 31 and if anyone is absent, action will be taken against him. The court will pronounce its verdict in this case only on July 31 because the hearing of the case has been completed and the court has also reserved its verdict.

New Delhi, May 8: In a significant operation, India on Thursday morning targeted the Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan, during which the one at Lahore has been neutralised, said the government in a statement.

On the night of May 7-8, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India, including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles.

These drones and missiles were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. “The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks,” said the release.

Following this, India launched a major strike and targeted Pakistan’s Air Defence Radars and systems at several locations.

“The Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,” the government statement read..

Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy-calibre Artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government said that India was compelled to take the action in view of Pakistan’s unprovoked heavy shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. In the firing by the Pakistan Army, 16 lives have been lost so far.

“Sixteen innocent lives have been lost, including three women and five children, due to Pakistani firing. Here too, India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt,” said the release.

The Indian Armed Forces have reiterated their commitment to non-escalation, provided the same is respected by the Pakistani military.

During the Press Briefing on Operation Sindoor on May 7, India had called its response as focused, measured and non-escalatory.

It was specifically mentioned that Pakistani military establishments had not been targeted. It was also reiterated that any attack on military targets in India will invite a suitable response.