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Mumbai News: Over 6K Potholes Filled; Thousands More Need Repair, Says BMC Opposition Leader

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Mumbai: The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) claims to have filled up 6,045 potholes across the metropolis from April 1 to July 24. However, there are several thousands more which need filling up and it is not clear when that will happen.

Ravi Raja, a former leader of the opposition in the BMC, said, “The potholes come up with great regularity because the original work itself is shoddy. If the contractors selected by the MCGM had done a good job initially, there would have been no potholes. These potholes are proof of massive corruption in the civic corporation.”

Where has all the money gone?

“In May-June, the MCGM had floated a tender for ₹250 crore for pothole filling and gave ₹2 crore to each ward for the same. Where has all the money gone? There are more than 16,000 potholes in the city,” Raja added.

Following heavy rains, thousands of potholes have cropped all over the city and suburbs like in the past years. These not only slow down vehicular traffic, but also pose a major danger to pedestrians.

“Parel flyover is a disgrace to the city and no one in the BMC appears to be bothered about it. The problem had started even before the rains. So it is wrong to blame the potholes here on the rains,” said Chandrakant Mhatre, a local citizen. The Lalbaug and Sion flyovers are fast catching up with Parel flyover in terms of potholes and uneven surfaces.

The BMC has carried out several experiments on roads to make the city pothole-free but without much success. Till date, 512 metric tonne of dry mix has been provided to 24 administrative wards in the city to fill up the craters. However, the work carried out by the contractors is shabby, complain activists.

The city witnessed heavy rains last week and that has increased the number of bad patches. The civic body has received several complaints about potholes from citizens through websites, mobile apps, social media and toll-free numbers. Additional municipal commissioner, P Velrasu, has started inspecting the work along with senior civic officials of the road department at several places in the city from Sunday.

BMC uses M-60 and reactive asphalt to fill up potholes

The BMC is using rapid hardening of concrete (also known as M-60) and reactive asphalt to fix potholes this year. After taking a review, he instructed the officials to fill all the bad patches on all the roads, including the eastern and western express highway and eastern freeway up on priority.

“Several teams have been formed for co-ordination to detect bad patches and get them filled in the proper manner on war-footing. Contractors have also been appointed in seven zones for two years to get the bad patches repaired.

However, the citizens and activists are not convinced by the BMC’s claims. “The civic body is spending crores but their work is shabby,” said Nikhil Desai, an activist from Matunga. “The BMC experiments with several different technologies but it gets washed out with heavy rain,” said Vinod Gholap, a resident of Malad. Godfrey Pimenta, an activist from Andheri.”

Funds allotted for potholes

Potholes filled from April 1 to July 24: Total 6,045

Funds to fill potholes

₹125 crore at zonal level

₹2 crore each for 24 administrative wards

Material used: 512 metric tonne dry cold mix

Road network in city: 2050km

Asphalt road: 1058km

Concrete road:1056km

Maharashtra

Mumbai Police equipped with modern laboratories and technology: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police has equipped itself with modern technology to curb cyber crime and cyber fraud. Accordingly, Mumbai Police inaugurated three cyber labs including a forensic lab, a special van, an intercept van and other modern equipment at the hands of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the police has been modernized to curb cyber fraud and online fraud and the police will use these modern equipment to solve crimes ranging from cyber fraud to other crimes.

Fadnavis said that the way incidents like digital arrests are happening today by fooling people online, the police has brought significant revolution in the investigation methods and other things to curb these incidents. He said that special help rooms have also been set up in police stations to help women, in which women will get immediate help. He said that a special van has also been prepared for women so that they can get immediate help. Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Pansalkar, Special Police Commissioner Devin Bharti, Joint Police Commissioner Satyanarayan Chaudhary and senior officers were present at the event.

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Maharashtra

Bir Mecca Masjid bomb blast implementation of UAPA

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Mumbai: Police has implemented UAPA Act in the Bir Ard Masla Mecca Masjid blast case. On the midnight of March 30, Vijay Agon and Shri Ram Ashok placed a bomb in the mosque and exploded it. This explosion was done with the help of jetliner and detonator. In this case, the police had earlier registered a case under Arms Act and other sections, but after that Muslim organizations had demanded to prosecute the accused under UAPA Act and NSA.
The Beed blast was investigated by the local crime branch, in which the crime branch found that the explosion was very powerful and detonators were also used along with jetliner rods. On this basis, UAPA Act has been implemented on the recommendation of the Crime Branch. Police have registered a case against both the terrorists under sections 16 and 18 of UAPA. Since the Beed blast, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is investigating it along with the police. The ATS is investigating the connection and financing of terrorists in this case, including how jetliner rods were made available to the accused and who provided them jetliner rods without license or permit. Along with this, investigation is also going on to find out how many more people and conspirators are involved in this case. ATS said that investigation is going on every aspect and point of the Beed bomb blast, however, ATS has so far questioned many people in this case, including family members and well-wishers of the accused as well as their friends and acquaintances. ATS is trying to uncover the conspiracy before the blast in the Beed Mecca Masjid blast case because before the blast, accused Vijay Agon had released a video and uploaded it on the status threatening Muslims to remove the mosque and only after that the blast took place here. The local police had also registered a case of spreading religious hatred against the accused a day earlier and the mosque was blown up the next day.

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Crime

Actor Ajaz Khan’s Wife Fallon Guliwala Granted Bail in Drugs Case

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Mumbai: Fallon Guliwala, wife of actor Ajaz Khan, who was arrested in November 2024 after narcotics were recovered from her residence, has been granted bail by a special court in Mumbai.

Guliwala had been in custody for over four months. The court has imposed certain conditions for her bail, including the submission of her passport, a restriction on travel, and mandatory attendance before the investigating officer three times a week until the chargesheet is filed.

Her lawyer, Ayaz Khan, argued that she was unaware of the recovered items and that she was not the only occupant of the premises. He also mentioned that the CCTV system was turned off during the raid, and no videography or photography was conducted.

Special Public Prosecutor Vibhavari Pathak opposed the bail plea, stating that a prima facie case existed against Guliwala.

Considering that the seizure process had already been completed, the court granted bail but with strict conditions.

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