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Maharashtra

‘Khoke’ ruckus continues to rock Maharashtra politics for fifth day

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 The ‘khoke’ (crore) row continued to rock Maharashtra politics for the fifth straight day with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s group and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) targeting each other, here on Thursday.

The Shinde Group legislators lampooned Shiv Sena leader and ex-minister Aditya Thackeray, displaying posters on which he is shown astride a horse facing the opposite direction, outside the Vidhan Bhavan building.

The banners carried slogans like �Yuvrajanchi Disha Chukli’ (the prince missed the route), and Maharashtra’s �pa pu’ or �param pujya’ and calling him the �Prince pappu of Maharashtra, as the Shinde Group MLAs raised slogans to counter MVA legislators.

The posters also ridiculed Aditya Thackeray for doing ‘nothing’ when he was the tourism minister, but instead touring the state now, adding that his ‘adamance’ cost the Shiv Sena its government.

On his part, Aditya Thackeray — the son of ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray — hit back by raising the familiar ’50 Khoke’ (Rs 50 crore in street slang) slogan implying how the Shinde Group MLAs allegedly got the huge amount to switch sides and topple the MVA government of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress in June.

Aditya Thackeray even joined the MVA chorus of ’50 Khoke, Chidley Boke’ (Rs 50 crore, irate cats), �gaddars’ (traitors) plus all the other slogans that have rattled the Shinde Group in the past five days of the legislature’s monsoon session, leading to a bout of jostling and fisticuffs on Wednesday.

He dared the Shinde Group’s 40 MLAs to resign from their constituencies and contest the elections afresh, saying, “Let the electorate and masses decide who is right or wrong once and for all.”

The Shinde Group hit back by demanding that first he should quit from his Worli seat where he was perched on the support of other legislators and an ex-Mayor, to which Aditya Thackeray said he would resign after the 40 MLAs from the rival camp quit.

“What they are indulging in is �Ravan Raj’, not ‘Ram Rajya’… I pity them as the 40 MLAs have been denied what they were promised. They should take up the issues of the people, farmers and youth,” said Aditya Thackeray.

The Congress-NCP MLAs also raised slogans demanding a �wet drought’ to be declared in the state, compensation to farmers and other related issues.

Maharashtra

Municipal Commissioner directed to complete work on Bhandup Water Purification Project to ensure safe water supply to Mumbai

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The state-of-the-art 2,000 million litres per day (MLPD) water treatment plant to be set up at the Bhandup Complex will significantly enhance the efficiency, transparency and resilience of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s water supply system. The project will help Mumbaikars get better quality, safe and sustainable drinking water as per national and international standards. Considering the growing population of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the pace of urbanisation, the growth of the industrial and commercial sector, as well as the increasing demand for water in the future, it is a key infrastructure project for Mumbai’s long-term water security. Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has directed that all necessary steps be taken to expedite all civil, structural, electrical, mechanical and process engineering works related to this water treatment project and complete the project ahead of schedule. A state-of-the-art Water Treatment Plant (WTP) with a capacity of 2,000 million litres per day (MLD) is being set up by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Bhandup Complex. The water treatment project is expected to be completed by July 2028. Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide visited the site of the water treatment project today (June 17, 2026) and inspected it. He also reviewed the progress.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Project) Abhijit Bangar, Deputy Commissioner (Municipal Commissioner’s Office) Prashant Gaikwad, Deputy Commissioner (Special Engineering) Parshottam Malwade, Deputy Commissioner (Engineering) Shri. Shashank Bhoor, Chief Engineer (Water Supply Project) Chandrakant Choudhary, Chief Engineer (Mumbai Sewerage Project) Ashok Mengade, Chief Engineer (Bridges) Rajesh Mulla along with concerned engineers and officers were present on the occasion. There are two main systems for supplying water to Mumbai. From one of them, through the Tansa-Vitarna system, water from Tansa, Modak Sagar, Madhya Vitrna and Upper Vitrna dams is brought to the Bhandup Complex by gravity through water channels. This water is purified at the water purification centre in the Bhandup Complex. About 2500 million litres of water is supplied to the people of Mumbai daily through water reservoirs located at various locations. The 1910 million litres per day water purification project in the Bhandup Complex was built about 43 years ago. As the project has become structurally weak, a new water treatment project is being set up with a capacity of 2,000 million litres per day (MLD). The new water treatment project will process 2,000 million litres per day (MLD) of water. This water treatment project is crucial to increasing the capacity of the Bhandup Complex, which supplies water to the western and eastern suburbs of Mumbai.

Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said that the new water treatment project on 7.4 hectares of land in the Bhandup Complex will replace the existing project, which is the largest in Asia. It will help provide clean water to Mumbai. Its main objective is to meet the growing demand for water and replace the old project, which has reached the end of its life. Currently, soil testing, excavation, site clearance, relocation of power lines, tree planting, etc. are in full swing. Along with the construction works, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation work has also been started in parallel. The project works should be completed expeditiously by making additional manpower and machinery available. Instructions have been given to plan for excavation, radar transportation. Overall, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is committed to bridging the gap between the demand and supply of water for Mumbaikars. Bhandup Sewage Treatment Plant to be functional by October 2026.

The work of the 215 million litres per day (MLD) capacity sewage treatment plant project in Bhandup is in the final stages. Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide inspected the work today (June 17, 2026). Bhide directed that the project be fully implemented by October 2026.

In view of environmental protection in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is setting up sewage treatment plants at a total of 7 locations. Under this, the work of Sewage Treatment Plant project is underway in Bhandup. Under this, the construction work of Primary Treatment Unit, Primary Clarifier, Continuous Sequencing Batch Reactor Tank, Air Blower Building and Digesters etc. has been completed. Mrs. Bhide inspected all the works and took detailed information.

Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said that the state-of-the-art Sewage Treatment Plant with a capacity of 215 million litres per day in Bhandup will be an important milestone for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

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Maharashtra

Eknath Shinde’s Operation Tiger was successful… Uddhav Thackeray’s rebellion in Shiv Sena UBT, Sanjay Raut is angry

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Mumbai: Operation Tiger has been successful. Shinde Sena has succeeded in forcing 6 MPs of Shiv Sena UBT to form another group, after which the rebellion has started again in UBT. The independent group has also been approved by the Lok Sabha Speaker. Now these 6 MPs can soon merge with Shiv Sena Shinde Party. After Operation Gaigar, Uddhav Thackeray group MP Sanjay Raut addressed a press conference and said that despite what Uddhav Thackeray did not do for these MPs, these people have acted dishonestly. This is dishonest. It is said that the rebel MPs are camped in Delhi and will merge with the Shinde group in the next two days. The operation in the state has been going on for the past several days and in June, a meeting of the India Alliance was also held in Delhi. In this meeting, Home Minister Amit Shah gave the green signal to Operation Tiger. The rebel MPs of the Thackeray group have been accommodated in a five-star hotel in Delhi. On Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray also held a meeting of his MPs in which five MPs attended the online meeting, due to which no one suspected them. This is the second biggest split in the Shiv Sena. After the rebellion of the Shiv Sena MPs, the Shiv Sena has become completely weakened. These rebel MPs include Sanjay Deshmukh, Ayut Mahal, Sanjay Jadhav, Parbhani, Sanjay Dina Patel, Mumbai, Nagesh Patil, Hingoli, Amarraje, Nimbalkar, Dhara Shiv. There is resentment in Shiv Sena after the rebellion of these MPs. Sanjay Raut is angry with them. He says that Uddhav Thackeray did so much for them but these people became dishonest.

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Maharashtra

Muslim students deprived of government schemes… Only Hindu candidates are accepted for drone pilot training scheme: Raees Sheikh

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Mumbai: Raising the issue of Muslim youth and students being deprived of the government’s ‘Amrit’ institute schemes, Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East Raees Sheikh has said that applications are being accepted for the drone pilot training programme of the institute run by the state government’s Other Backward Classes Welfare Department, while online applications from Muslim candidates are not being accepted. In his letter to Minister Atal Seo and the Chief Executive Officer of Maharashtra Research, Advancement and Training (AMRUT) Institute, MLA Raees Sheikh said that the Amrit Institute has invited applications till June 30 for drone pilot training which is aimed at candidates from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the open category. “However, when applicants try to fill the online form, they are required to provide information about their religion and caste. The portal offers caste options only for Hindu communities, which prevents Muslim applicants from successfully submitting their applications.” Sheikh said he had received several complaints regarding this issue. Pointing out that the Amrit Institute aims to serve the economically weaker sections in the open category, he said that as an autonomous government institution, the founding government resolution (August 22, 2019) of Amrit does not mention any specific religion. It aims to work for different communities in the open category. Therefore, restricting applications in this manner is against the rules, he claimed. The Maharashtra government has set up several institutions for different social groups, including Barati, Aarti, Sarathi, Mahajyoti, Marti, and Amrit. While each institution may focus on a specific target group, it can be limited to a certain extent. They also provide training opportunities to and benefits to other communities. Sheikh added that unemployment is currently a major concern for youth of all castes and religions across the state. He said, “The Amritsar should not interpret the rules in such a way that Muslim youth are deprived of skilling opportunities. Minister Atul Sivaji, who heads the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, should ensure that Muslim youth are not excluded from these training programmes.”

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