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Maharashtra

Oppn to PM: ‘Meet kin of farmer who committed suicide after greeting you’ 

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In a shocker, a penniless and frustrated farmer Dashrath L. Kedari, greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday (September 17) and then jumped into a village pond to end his life, his grieving family said here on Monday.

The Maharashtra Opposition has called upon the PM to visit the family of the farmer who penned a suicide note and raised issues of Minimum Support Price and other issues confronting the agro-sector.

Kedari’s brother-in-law Arvind Waghmare said the incident took place in Bankarphata village where he had been working as a farmer for the past 8 years.

“He seemed very depressed that day, but conveyed his wishes for a long life to the PM, then jumped into a nearby pond and killed himself. A suicide note was recovered later,” Waghmare told IANS.

Opposition Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress slammed the state and Central government for failure “to protect farmers reeling under a severe agrarian crisis with a record number of farmland suicides clocked this year”.

In his final note, debt-ridden Kedari wished ‘Happy Birthday to You, PM’ and then blamed the state government for failing to ensure MSP which compelled him to end his life and escape the debtors.

He rued how the state was not giving MSP to onion, tomato and other crops’ cultivators, suffering from the ravages of the recent floods and the losses of the pandemic.

“What should we do? You are only concerned for yourself Modi Saheb… We are not begging for alms, but what is rightly due to us… MSP must be given to us as the money-lenders are threatening us. Nobody takes risks like the farmers… where do we go with our grievances,” Kedari said.

Congress state President Nana Patole, Sena Spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Dr. Manisha Kayande and Nationalist Congress Party Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed the government for failure to tackle the state agrarian crisis which has resulted in a spate of desperate suicides by the tillers.

Shooting a letter to Modi, Tiwari – who is President of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM) – urged the PM to immediately come to visit the Kedari family as the state government has failed to solve the problems of farmers.

He recalled how Modi – during his trendsetter ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ with farmers in his visit to Yavatmal (March 2014) – had assured to address core issues like MSP, marketing, input costs, easy credit from public sector banks, change in crop patterns, risk management by way of crop insurance, etc.

However, despite the PM’s best efforts, nothing has materialised owing to a hostile administration and corrupt implementation agencies, leading to tragedies like Kedari’s suicide for precisely similar reasons, Tiwari pointed out.

He called upon Modi to visit the Kedari family or direct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to go and console the deceased farmers’ kin during her visit to Pune next week.

“A farmer greets the PM and then goes on his ‘chita’ (funeral pyre), but the PM is busy bringing the ‘cheetah’ to the country… This is the sad status in the country,” said Dr. Kayande, taking a swipe.

Patole said when farmers are burning on the pyres, the PM is organising ‘cheetah’ mega-events and called for “ending this suicides circle”.

Tapase termed it a ‘shame’ that farmers are greeting PM’s birthday with suicide as “the government has gone deaf, dumb and blind” to their plight.

A grim Tiwari added that this year, over 1,080 farmers have ended lives in Vidarbha alone and the state has created a new record with around 2,600 peasants’ suicides in the first nine months of 2022.

Kedari, 42, hailing from Wadgaon-Anand village, is survived by his wife Shanta and two college-going children – son Shubham, 20, and daughter Shravani, 18.

His funeral was completed last weekend after the Alephata Police made enquiries and registered a case, said Waghmare.

Maharashtra

Mumbai Weather Update: City Sees Clear Skies After Heavy Overnight Downpour, Yellow Alert Issued; Overall AQI In Moderate Range At 63

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Mumbai: After heavy rains lashed the city on Friday, bringing brief waterlogging and traffic disruptions, Mumbai woke up to sunny skies on Saturday morning. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) cautioned that the respite may be short-lived, as the city remains under a Yellow Alert with a forecast of partly cloudy skies and a possibility of moderate rain or thunderstorms through the day.

According to the IMD, temperatures are expected to hover around 34°C during the day and dip to about 25°C at night. The brief spell of unseasonal rain not only cooled the weather but also brought a remarkable improvement in the city’s air quality, which had deteriorated sharply post-Diwali due to increased pollution and stagnant winds.

Overall AQI In Moderate Category

Real-time data from AQI.in showed that Mumbai’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 63 on Saturday morning, placing it in the moderate category, a notable recovery from the unhealthy levels recorded earlier in the week.

Among the city’s monitoring stations, Wadala Truck Terminal reported the highest pollution level with an AQI of 190, followed by BKC (75), Kurla (73), Worli (73) and Chembur (72). While mild traces of smog lingered in some of these areas during the early morning, visibility and air freshness improved significantly across most parts of Mumbai.

On the other hand, several localities recorded remarkably clean air. Thakur Village in Kandivali reported the city’s best air quality with an AQI of 25, while Parel-Bhoiwada (32), Malad West (38), Borivali East (40), and Kandivali East (43) also registered good air quality, offering much-needed relief to residents.

As per AQI.in’s classification, readings between 0–50 indicate “Good” air, 51–100 “Moderate”, 101–150 “Poor”, 151–200 “Unhealthy”, and above 200 “Severe” to “Hazardous.”

Friday’s rain marked the third unseasonal spell after the official monsoon withdrawal and was accompanied by lightning, thunder and gusty winds. The IMD had issued a Nowcast warning late Friday evening, alerting of potential thunderstorms and moderate rainfall over Mumbai and adjoining districts. Meanwhile, most parts of Maharashtra, excluding the Vidarbha region, continue to remain under a Yellow Alert for the next few days.

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Maharashtra

Brave officer risked his life to save injured girl

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police Traffic Officer has shown bravery in saving a young girl from the clutches of a cruel lover, after which this officer is being praised. He took the injured and bleeding girl to the hospital and risked his life to free her from the armed youth, after which the youth committed suicide.
‎Today at 10:17 am, a call was received from the MTP helpline of the Byculla Traffic Department Group that two-wheelers and four-wheelers were parked on the footpath in front of Meoresh Building, Dataram Lad Marg, Kalachowki, causing inconvenience to the passers-by. In response to the said call, Rider Police Constable Karan Suryavanshi of the Byculla Traffic Department reached the spot. When he was taking action at the said place, some people present there told the officer that a boy was attacking a girl with a knife in the cabin of Astha Nursing Home. Seeing the seriousness of the incident, Kiran Suryavanshi immediately went to the spot and tried to free the victim girl from the clutches of the accused boy and took her out of the nursing home. Since she was in an injured condition, he showed haste and without a moment’s delay, put the girl in a taxi and brought her to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, Ranibag. The girl was given first aid there. Officers and personnel from Kalachowki took the injured woman to JJ Hospital for further treatment.

Besides, in this incident, the attacker also stabbed himself and was taken to KEM Hospital with the help of Kalachowki Police Station.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 4, Assistant Commissioner of Police as well as Senior Police Inspector of Kalachowki Police Station visited Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Railway Hospital.

The girl is undergoing treatment at Sir JJ Hospital. Police officers from Kalachowki police station are conducting further investigations. The officer is being praised for protecting the girl without caring for his own life and saving her from the clutches of her heartbroken lover.

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Maharashtra

Samajwadi Party is not part of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Vikas Aghadi: Abu Asim Azmi

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Mumbai: The Samajwadi Party will not enter into an electoral alliance with the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, not will it be part of this alliance. Those who objected to the release of innocent Muslims imprisoned for 19 years but remained silent on the release of the accused in the Malegaon blasts. Those who express pride in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, take the names of Lord Ram and Lord Vishwanath, but call the holy water of the Sangam smelly and make Uttar Bharatiyas and North Indians a target for violence. This is a province where the Pawars go to do their country’s panddan. Those belonging to such provinces insult and subject North Indians and Biharis to violence.

If such people are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Samajwadi Party will never be part of it.

The Samajwadi Party does politics of justice, secularism, constitutional values ​​and Ganga-Jamuni culture. Therefore, we cannot be part of any alliance that includes forces that spread hatred and divide the country. This kind of explanation has been given by Mumbai Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi. Elections are approaching, in such a situation, Mahayoti and Maha Vikas Aghadi are very serious about their allied parties. In such a situation, the Samajwadi Party has clearly refused to enter into an understanding with Maha Vikas Aghadi and has called it biased. Now there is curiosity about the expected entry and entry of MNS in Maha Vikas. In such a situation, the Samajwadi Party has denied it and said that it is unable to participate in the elections with those who incite violence on the basis of regionalism.

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