Maharashtra
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2025 Kicks Off! Here’s All You Can Experience At Their Silver Jubilee Edition

Mumbai: The much-awaited Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) is back for its 25th edition, transforming Mumbai into a vibrant hub of culture and creativity. From January 25 to February 2, 2025, the festival will bring together artists, performers, and audiences in a grand celebration of artistic diversity and heritage.
With the theme ‘Silver’, this year promises a dazzling lineup of events, performances, and installations. “For 25 years, KGAF has brought out the best of Mumbai’s creative spirit, giving all kinds of artists and art forms the platform and freedom to express, engage and inspire,” said Festival Director Brinda Miller.
An unparalleled lineup of events
This year’s festival will feature over 300 programs across 15 categories, hosted at more than 25 venues. From visual arts to theatre, literature, music, dance, and even stand-up comedy, there’s something for everyone. The district will come alive with heritage walks, children’s activities, food events, and much more.
The opening event, Silver Sitaare Fusion, will be a spectacular showcase of 25 distinct dance styles, performed by 55 celebrated artists. Additionally, renowned composer Shantanu Moitra will unveil the KGAF Anthem, marking a special tribute to the festival’s incredible journey.
What are the highlights of the 2025 Edition?
Art lovers can expect a plethora of unforgettable experiences this year:
Literature Enthusiasts: Dive into thought-provoking sessions featuring Devdutt Pattanaik, Gurcharan Das, and Jerry Pinto. Topics will range from mythology to modern queer narratives.
Culinary Delights: Foodies will love the Chefs of Kala Ghoda series, showcasing creative culinary experiences.
Dance and Theatre: Be mesmerized by performances from Aditi Mangaldas, Padmashri Narthaki Nataraj, and Prachee Shah Pandya, or enjoy plays by legends like Makarand Deshpande, Juhi Babbar, and Aakarsh Khurana.
Tributes: A special screening of The Hundred-Foot Journey will honor Om Puri, followed by a conversation with his family and friends.
Interactive Fun: Join a lively session of Kvizzing with the Comedians, featuring Shreeja Chaturvedi and Kumar Varun.
The festival will be hosted across iconic venues like the David Sassoon Library, Elphinstone College, Asiatic Library Steps, and Afghan Church, to name a few. Entry to the festival is free, but registration is required through Paytm Insider.
25 years of art and creativity
Launched in 1999 by the Kala Ghoda Association, KGAF has grown from a local street arts initiative to Asia’s largest multicultural festival. The funds raised each year contribute to the restoration of heritage sites in Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda district.
Bringing together heritage, contemporary art, and a global audience, the festival stands as a testament to Mumbai’s artistic pulse. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a heritage lover, or simply curious, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2025 offers an unforgettable experience.
Crime
Looting from poor slum dwellers in Byculla! Builder and E ward officials benefited by around 500 crores

Homes built on huts of poor people. The dark truth of collusion between BMCE ward officials and builders.
Mumbai: It is the dream of a common man to have his own house and when, after showing sympathy for them, their house is snatched away, then there is only curse on their lips. We are talking about hundreds of such families who were promised to be given permanent houses in place of their huts and the government also declared them entitled to permanent houses but some corrupt officials of Mumbai Municipal Corporation sold the files of their houses to well-known builders and these builders call themselves clean and righteous.
The work of removing hundreds of huts under E Ward Office started in the year 2017, in which the local corporator Raees Sheikh struggled a lot so that these footpath dwellers get permanent houses and the next generation of footpath dwellers who have been living like animals for many years can live in a good house, but the opposite happened.
You will be surprised to know that the BMC officials who bring shame to humanity have traded their integrity with the builders. Many hut owners were called and threatened to vacate their place and they will not get the house because their documents are not complete and they are ineligible for a government house. The frightened people appealed to social workers and local leaders that where will they go but nothing was achieved.
Assistant Engineer Parveen Mulk, Amjad Khan and other supporting officials working in the maintenance department of BMC E department called all the hut owners individually and held a meeting. In this meeting, the sub engineer and people of the local builder were also kept. The entire work was done under a well thought out conspiracy.
BMC officials issued a notice that you have to vacate the footpath and your documents are not enough to prove that you have been living there for 50 years. Meanwhile, the frightened hut holder was threatened by the builder’s man and then an affidavit was taken from the hut owner that he has given his hut to the builder’s relatives or his employees and in return the builder gave him some money so that he can settle in a rented house somewhere else.
Now the corrupt BMC E department officials have told in their report that when the hut was inspected, the person in whose name the hut was located was not found and the person whom he had allowed to live there, we have considered him as the hut owner and he will be given a house by the government.
In the next episode, this builder requests BMC to give space to the huts taken in his name and the huts in the name of his relatives in the high profile building being constructed by his company, which is accepted after taking money and the slum dwellers who are bogus are told to be shifted to the high profile project of the builder. Not only this, in lieu of giving place to these slum dwellers in his project, the builder also takes a good FSI from the government.
Do not forget to read in the next issue in which buildings houses worth crores have been given to slum dwellers, who are the corrupt officers and who are those kind cheater builders
Crime
Mumbai: New India Cooperative Bank GM Confesses To ₹122 Crore Fraud Before RBI Officials

Mumbai: In a major development in the ₹122 crore embezzlement case at New India Cooperative Bank, sources have revealed that the bank’s General Manager and Head of Accounts, Hitesh Mehta, has confessed to the fraud before Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials.
According to sources, Mehta admitted to withdrawing money from the bank since the COVID-19 period and distributing it among his close associates and friends.
Following this confession, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) took Mehta into custody for further investigation.
During an audit, the RBI discovered discrepancies in the bank’s cash reserves—₹112 crore missing from the Prabhadevi branch vault and ₹10 crore from the Goregaon branch vault. The investigation is ongoing, and further revelations are expected.
Maharashtra
Thousands hit streets for Dharavi’s development, demand early resolution of their demands

Mumbai, Feb 15: Thousands of residents from Dharavi took to the streets on Saturday, staging demonstrations and protests over the unhygienic and pitiable situation in the city’s densely populated slum.
The protesters voiced their concerns over scarcity of clean water, poor sanitation and the unhygienic conditions in Asia’s largest slum and also engaged in sloganeering against the local public representative Varsha Eknath Gaikwad.
They blamed Congress leader Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, representing Mumbai North-Central constituency, for poor living conditions in the area and demanded that the administration addresses their problems urgently.
The locals protested for hours, expressing anger over ignorance of their region and warned of intensifying the stir if their demand goes unheard. They also raised slogans like “Varsha Gaikwad… Hai Tauba”.
The residents of Dharavi, long plagued by issues such as overflowing toilets, filthy streets, and contaminated water stood united in their demands for change. The demonstration saw more than 5,000 residents hitting the streets.
The protesters made it clear that they are not aligned with any political party and their stir is centred around a single cause — securing basic development and a better quality of life for the people of Dharavi.
One protester said, “We challenge Varsha Gaikwad or any of her family members to spend a month in Dharavi’s slums. If they oppose development after that, we will accept their stance. But if they continue to allow us to live in these horrible conditions while they enjoy luxury, we will take to the streets again.”
Another woman added, “The situation here is so bad that I can’t even let my children out after 8 pm. If development happens, our children will be safer.”
A third protester called for a thorough investigation into the ongoing surveys in the area, saying, “If anyone tries to stop the survey, the police should act immediately and send them to jail.”
Social activist Sujit Gupta, who was also present at the rally, stated, “Today, more than 5,000 voices are united, demanding that the survey be completed quickly and that development work begins without further delay. If there is any opposition, the entire Dharavi will stand against it.”
Nilofer, another resident voiced similar concerns and said, “Only politicians are opposing development. They protest because they stand to benefit from it. If they want to protest, they should come and live with us in these filthy conditions.”
A resident also pointed to Adani and said, “The development can be done in the slums only by Adani, no other entity has the guts to take this task.”
With the Dharavi slum-dwellers coming together to raise their voice unitedly, this is expected to give strength to their demands.
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