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Maharashtra

Mumbai: BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal hits back at Aaditya Thackeray over corruption charges

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BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has refuted all allegations made by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray over “irregularities in BMC tenders and projects”. Chahal clarified that all projects are “implemented as per rules and regulations, without any misconduct or irregularities in the bidding process”.

‘No contractor has stopped work due to shortage of material’

Over shortage of gravel and monopoly of one contractor, Chahal said, “The allegations are baseless. No contractor responsible for cement concrete work has stopped work due to a shortage of material. No issue regarding hiked gravel prices has been raised by any contractor.”

‘Appropriate responses have been provided on the allegations’

The BMC chief said that the corporators’ term ended March 7, 2022, and the state government appointed him as the administrator of the civic body. He said he has diligently fulfilled the responsibilities bestowed upon him. “Appropriate responses have been provided on the allegations through various channels, legal forums, correspondence, media and social platforms. All allegations of financial misconduct, mismanagement, irregularities and contractor favouritism stand completely unsubstantiated and baseless,” he said.

Chahal makes his point very clear

Chahal further clarified that the contract to concretise the 400km road network was given to firms that met the eligibility criteria. “The rates had been increased because no contractor was ready to work within the BMC’s 2018 scheduled rates,” he said, emphasising that stringent conditions were included in the tenders to monitor and maintain quality.

He said even the street furniture tender process was implemented under the online SAP system as per the prevailing terms and conditions to achieve uniformity in 19 BMC departments.

‘Pedestrian First Policy’

The estimated cost for the road furniture project was nearly Rs263 crore but the first lowest tenderer had quoted Rs276.5 crore, which was 4.96% more than the estimated cost. Negotiations were conducted and the tender price was fixed with 0.01% less than the estimated cost. He said all works were supervised and executed by the deputy chief engineer (traffic) who is well versed with the ‘Pedestrian First Policy’ which has a defect liability period of nearly 10 years.

Addressing the sanitary pad vending and incinerator machine, he said, “Considering that many public toilets are located in slum areas, sanitary pad vending and incinerator machines have been set up there. As per a survey conducted by the Solid Waste Management Department, it was determined that the vending and incinerator machines will be installed in 5,000 out of the 8,173 public toilets. The responsibility of operating, maintaining, and refilling these machines for the next three years has been given to contractors. The BMC invited tenders and the lowest bidder was given the work.”

Maharashtra

No one’s father has India, MLA Abu Asim Azmi takes a dig at Nitesh Rane

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Mumbai: Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has expressed his anger over Nitesh Rane statement and has given a befitting reply and said that no one’s father has India. He said that Nitesh Rane constantly shows provocations and no action is taken against him. Many cases have been registered but no action is taken. Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid are in jail but they are free. They did not show any provocation. The Supreme Court has directed strict action against hate speech but why does the government not take action against such elements who spread hatred.

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Maharashtra

New details emerge in investigation into Mumbai Rohit Arya encounter… Rohit had asked for videos from Marathi artists and selected 80 children

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Mumbai: was shaken by the hostage drama at the Mumbai RA studio. Rohit Arya had taken young children hostage at the studio in Powai for the money owed. The police successfully rescued them, but Rohit Arya was killed in an encounter. Several Marathi artists will be questioned in this case, and the Human Rights Commission has also taken notice of it. New revelations are coming out every day in the hostage case.

‎Rohit Arya encounter Investigations are also underway about the ‘artists’ who met Rohit Arya.
‎Last week, on Thursday, October 30, there was a big commotion in Mumbai in the afternoon. Some young children and senior citizens were taken hostage at the Mumbai RA. After the work done for the education department, a person named Rohit Arya had called some children for an audition for payment of dues and he made several demands while holding some children hostage. After this, the police entered the washroom and rescued a total of 19 people, including 17 children. And during the encounter, Rohit Arya was shot dead.

This hostage drama has shaken not only Mumbai but the entire Maharashtra and new revelations are being made in this case every day. The post-mortem report of Rohit Arya, who was killed in the encounter, has also come out recently. The post-mortem report confirmed that Rohit Arya died due to bullet injuries. The report says that given the nature of the bullet, there was no chance of his survival.
Meanwhile, another revelation has been made in this case. RA Studio in Powai, where this hostage drama Rohit Arya conducted some auditions, was visited by some famous actors of the Marathi world. Many actors like senior actor Girish Oak, actress Urmila Kothare, Manal Kapoor, Swapnil Joshi, Teja Pradhan, Ankash Joshi were present in the studio. Now in this matter, those actors who were in contact with Rohit or were going to participate in the shooting will also be questioned. The Human Rights Commission has taken serious notice of the Rohit Arya encounter case and a committee has been appointed to investigate. In this matter, the artists who went to RA Studio and met Rohit Arya will also be questioned. It has been said that the statements of everyone who was in contact with Rohit Arya will be recorded. According to the information received, Rohit had made a lot of preparations before implementing the plan to take children hostage in the studio. He asked for videos of hundreds of child artists for the short film and selected 80 of them. After that, he organized a four-day workshop for 35, 20 and finally 17 child artists. According to the information received, during these four days, artists Manal Kapoor, Swapnil Joshi, Teja Shri Pradhan, Ankash Joshi had visited the studio and returned, so now all these artists will be questioned.

‎Rachita Jadhav was also contacted.
‎It has been told that actress Rachita Jadhav was also invited to the same Raw studio. Rohit pretended that he wanted to do a film and an audition was held for her. Under the same conspiracy, he also contacted actress Rachita Jadhav. He called her, I am doing a film, he asked if you will work in it. When she agreed, he called her to the studio, and he also arranged a meeting. However, at the same time, due to a medical emergency at Ruchita’s house, she told that she could not come to the studio. Hence, Rohit and Ruchita did not meet.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Polls 2025 To Be Held On December 2, Counting Of Votes On December 3

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Mumbai: The State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare on November 4 announced the dates for the long-awaited Maharashtra Polls 2025. While addressing the press conference, the SEC said that the local body polls will be held on December 2 while the couting of votes will be held on December 3. The results for the Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayat will be declared on December 10.

According to the SEC, polls dates were announced for all local bodies , except for the 29 municipal corporations. The dates were announced for 246 Nagar Parishads and 42 Nagar Panchayat. The nomination process for the polls will begin on November 10.

The high-stakes polls will be against the ruling Mahayuti consisting of BJP, Shinde’s Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP vs the Mahayuti (consisting of UBT Sena, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Congress). In addition to this, MNS is also set to join hands with the MVA for the polls. For the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections, there are one crore sixty lakh voters and 13,155 polling stations

The last BMC elections were held in 2017 and since then, the elections were not been held. In 2017, the elections were held in a single held on February 21 while results were announced on February 23.

Off all the 227 seats, the United Shiv Sena won 84 seats while BJP won 82 seats. Both the parties were in alliance during that time. The Congress had won 31 seats while the united NCP secured 13 seats. Raj Thackeray’s MNS had won 7 seats.

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