Maharashtra
Oppn to PM: ‘Meet kin of farmer who committed suicide after greeting you’
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
Thane To Face 30% Water Cut From December 9 After Major Pipeline Break At Kalyan Phata; Check If Your Area Is Affected
Thane, December 9: After Mumbai witnessed a 15 percent water cut earlier this week, residents of Thane are set to face an even steeper reduction in supply. The Thane Municipal Corporation has announced a 30 percent water cut across the city with effect from Tuesday, placing lakhs of citizens under severe water stress.
The major disruption follows a breakdown in the 1000 mm diameter water pipeline that supplies water to Thane from Pise Dam to the Temghar Water Treatment Plant. The pipeline reportedly burst at Kalyan Phata on the morning of Saturday, December 6, during ongoing work being carried out by Mahanagar Gas.
Officials from the water supply department said that repair work has been underway on a war footing for the last two days. However, restoring full supply is expected to take at least three more days as the damaged pipeline is old and made of pre stressed concrete.
Due to the scale of the damage, water supply to Thane has already been significantly reduced. Civic officials stated that the fragile condition of the pipeline has further complicated the repair process.
To ensure that the available water is distributed as evenly as possible, the civic body will now supply water on a zoning basis till December 11. As a result, residents in many areas will experience intermittent water supply and low pressure at different times of the day.
The municipal corporation has advised citizens to store sufficient water for essential use over the next few days and to use water sparingly to avoid further hardship.
The sudden and sharp reduction in water supply is expected to impact daily activities across households, residential societies, eateries and commercial establishments. From cooking and cleaning to drinking water needs, citizens are likely to face significant inconvenience.
Meanwhile, parts of Mumbai also faced an eight hour water cut on Sunday following major pipeline repairs. A 15 percent cut has been implemented there since December 8, affecting supply in 14 sections of the city. However, officials acknowledged that the situation in Thane is more critical due to the higher percentage of reduction across the entire city.
Maharashtra
Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh faces threat, complaint filed in Crime Branch after Lawrence Bishnoi’s threat
Mumbai: Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh has been threatened by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang not to join Bigg Boss and not to work with Salman Khan, after which Pawan Singh has filed a complaint with the Anti-Money Laundering Squad of the Mumbai Crime Branch here. The police have also started an investigation into Pawan Singh’s case. The Bhojpuri actor received a phone call in which he was threatened with bad consequences including not joining Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss and not working with him. At the same time, the addressee has said that he belongs to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The police have started an investigation in this matter and it is being found out who is the threatening caller and whether he really belongs to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang or is he trying to scare the film industry in the name of Lawrence Bishnoi. Earlier, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang also threatened actor Kapil Sharma not to do a film with Salman Khan and not to invite him to host their program, after which the Mumbai police have arrested Kapil Sharma. Security had also been increased. Now again, Lawrence Bishnoi gang has threatened the Bhojpuri actor with dire consequences. Despite the threat, the Bhojpuri actor has decided to participate in Bigg Boss with Salman Khan, after which his security has been increased. The Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating the matter to see if Lawrence Bishnoi himself gave this threat or not. Efforts have also been made to trace the threat along with its recording.
Maharashtra
Mumbai Additional Municipal Commissioner Amit Saini has been transferred and replaced by IAS officer Avinash Dhakne following allegations of a “cash-for-transfer” scam.
The transfer comes after an exposé revealed alleged corruption involving the reshuffling of over 160 engineers in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which was subsequently stayed by the government.
A complaint was filed by activist Sanjay Satam to Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, alleging that Saini was charging between ₹5 lakh and ₹40 lakh to transfer engineers.
Saini, a 2007-batch IAS officer, had been posted in the BMC since March 2024.
Avinash Dhakne, a 2017-batch IAS officer, previously served as the member secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and has taken charge.
The transfers followed demands from activists for action, with Galgali thanking Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the decision.
Activist Satam stated that the transfer is insufficient and called for a departmental and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation into the matter.
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