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Maharashtra

Prayers on lips, devotion in hearts, Maharashtra soaks in Ganeshotsav spirit!

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After two years of the Coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Ganeshotsav 2022 started with a big bang, gigantic idols, lavish colourful thematic decorations and piety all over Maharashtra, with celebs, corporates and commoners immersing in the spirit of the 10-day festival, here on Wednesday.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, various state and central cabinet ministers like Narayan Rane, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, Bharatiya Janata Party city and state chiefs Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar and other prominent leaders welcomed the elephant-headed Lord Ganesh for the fest amid music, dance, pomp and pageantry.

Several ex-CMs or union ministers like Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Congress state President Nana Patole, city chief Bhai Jagtap, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, ex-Mayor Kishori Pednekar, and other well-known leaders also installed big and small idols of Lord Ganesh for worship.

Other celebs like the Ambanis, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Nana Patekar, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Shilpa Shetty, Shreyas Talpade, Vivek Oberoi, Govinda, Sonali Bendre and many more are celebrating Ganeshotsav with idols at their homes.

Many other celebs like Sachin Tendulkar, Rani Mukherjee and others started their day with the customary visit to pray at one of the Ganesh Temples in their vicinity.

A festive atmosphere prevailed at the 8 top Ganpati Temples – Ashtavinayak – all ‘swayambhu’ (self-manifested) in Raigad, Pune and Ahmednagar districts, with thousands thronging for ‘darshan’ and ‘pujas’ since early morning.

After two years, idols of 2-feet (household) and 4-feet (public marquees), the familiar large and gigantic idols of Lord Ganesha returned to the celebrations, awing the masses.

The state’s tallest – 38-feet Lord Ganesha – in a Parashuram ‘avatar’ is installed at 11th Khetwadi Lane in south Mumbai, while the all-time favourite, Lalbaugcha Raja in Laulbaug has mesmerising form of over 18 feet enthralling devotees who throng here 24 hours daily for ‘darshan’, and the richest, GSB Seva Mandal Matunga’s Lord Ganesh idol of gold, silver and precious stones, with an insurance cover of a staggering Rs 316.50 crore this year.

As in the past, there are several regular or innovative themes, mostly around the 75th Independence Year, Lord Ganesha in various forms/avatars, in some marquees sitting with his parents Lord Shiv and Parvati, in different colours, moods and sitting, standing, aggressive or benign poses, wowing the beholders.

An estimated around 300 large or gigantic idols adorn the city landscape this year, besides other medium or small idols in mandals and households, companies, factories, or certain railway stations, all over, with official estimates of nearly a million idols to be worshipped this year in Maharashtra.

With so many choices, thousands of people, some celebs, domestic and foreign tourists have chalked out elaborate plans for ‘pandal-hopping’, trooping to various marquees, for ‘darshan’, joining ‘puja’ and partaking of ‘prasad and blessings’.

Several big and small Ganeshotsav organisers admit that with the massive inflation this year, all budgets have gone haywire with prices of all stuff for decoration, the costs of erecting the big and small pandals, security, prasad and other eatables shooting up between 25-40 per cent.

“Since we are coming in a big way after two years of subdued celebrations, there’s no way to cut corners, so we somehow trying to pull on hoping for some recovery through donations, offerings or sponsors,a said an office-bearer of the BrihanMumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanway Samiti, the apex body of all public celebrations in the city.

Another organiser said that they are counting on the turnout after the two-year hiatus to fill up their offering boxes which will help balance their budgets, though they would be barely left with anything for other welfare or charitable activities.

Elsewhere, Pune is also witnessing pompous celebrations, while the traditional celebrations are seen in the coastal Konkan belt where thousands of villages and homes have come alive in the Ganeshotsav fest, twinkling fairy lights beckoning the visitors from afar in the remote hilly or coastal or tribal villages.

Lakhs of people from Konkan, living or working in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and other major cities have gone to their native villages for full-fledged Ganeshotsav celebrations, braving delays, massive traffic snarls, bad roads, the sudden downpour, high ticket rates, etc.

“Barring these ‘vighnas’ (obstacles), the ordinary people are revelling in the festive atmosphere, and make the most of the Lord Ganesha’ blessings,” said a bank official Kishore Gowale who is celebrating in Mumbai while his wife Priyanka and their three tiny tots are enjoying the festival in Ratnagiri.

Crime

Mumbai: Irfan Edenwala arrested on charges of fraud and preparing fake documents, including under the Arms Act

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CRIME

Mumbai; The Mumbai Police has claimed to have arrested a youth who had cheated the police and administration by producing fake licenses and clearance certificates and had obtained fake police clearance certificates on Nagaland license. At Khar Police Station, Mumbai, a person named Faiz Irfan Edenwala, aged 36, illegally renewed his arms license from Nagaland using fake police clearance certificates and illegally kept firearms on the said arms license. He has also not submitted information about the said firearms in his possession to the Mumbai Police Commissionerate. Therefore, a case has been registered against him at Khar Police Station under sections 465, 467, 471, 474 IPC as well as sections 3, 25(1) (a), 30 of the Arms Act, 1959.

The accused named Faiz Irfan was arrested in the said crime on today as the investigation revealed that he was directly involved in the crime.

The said arrested accused was produced in the 9th Court, Bandra (East), Mumbai on May 30 and the Hon’ble Court remanded the said accused in police custody till June 2. Further investigation into the said crime is underway.

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Maharashtra

Eviction action against around 250 unauthorized structures in Powai’s Phuket Nagar and Malind Nagar areas

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A joint eviction operation was carried out by the ‘S’ Administrative Division (Ward) and the Water Engineering Department of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation on about 250 unauthorized structures on the land of the Water Engineering Department located in the Phuket Nagar and Malind Nagar areas of Powai. This operation was conducted under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner (Zone 6) Shinus Kumar Dhunde. and led by Assistant Commissioner Samiti. Samreen Sayyad was also present. The operation was taken after observing a large number of unauthorized structures on government land in the said area. This campaign is being implemented in a planned manner with the aim of clearing the concerned land from encroachments and protecting it. About 150 police personnel, around 50 engineering officers and employees of the ‘S’ Department and Water Engineers Department and 200 labourers were deployed for this operation. This operation was also carried out with the help of 7 JCBs, 10 dumpers and other small cargo vehicles. During the operation, the unauthorized structures are being removed and the area is being completely cleared. As soon as the process of removing encroachments is completed, the work of fencing the relevant area will also be started immediately and necessary security measures are being taken to prevent further encroachments. Meanwhile, the administration has clarified that action against encroachments on government and municipal-owned areas will continue regularly.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai Municipal Corporation has given three months to the concerned agencies to improve the quality of facilities provided in public toilets.

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The Mumbai Municipal Corporation is always ready to provide clean, safe and dignified public toilet facilities to the citizens. It has been found that these facilities are lacking in some places in North Mumbai. Therefore, the organizations operating public toilets on the ‘pay and use’ principle have been given a deadline of three months to improve the quality of the facilities. It has been warned that action will be taken against the organizations that do not improve within the stipulated period. In line with the vision of Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and MP from North Mumbai Piyush Goyal for clean, safe and citizen-friendly public toilets, a review meeting of the organizations operating ‘pay and use’ public toilets in North Mumbai was held today (30th May, 2026) at the Zone 7 office. The meeting was chaired by Ganesh Khankar, Leader of the House, Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Kiran Dighavkar, Deputy Commissioner (Zone 7) Manish Valenju, Corporator Siddhant Sharma, Assistant Commissioner (R South), Assistant Commissioner (R Central) Praful Tambe, officers of the Solid Waste Management and Maintenance Department as well as representatives of organizations operating various public toilets were also present.

It has been observed that there is a need for improvement in the basic amenities, cleanliness and maintenance of public toilets. Leader of the House

Ganesh Khankar expressed the view that such public toilets need to be improved immediately.
All toilet operators were directed to complete the work of replacing broken commodes, fittings and other equipment, repairing broken doors and windows, repairing damaged tiles and cladding, painting and beautification in the next three months and bring necessary improvements in the standards of cleanliness and maintenance.

In addition, it has been made mandatory to implement a citizen feedback system in all public toilets, maintain a record of cleaning every hour, conduct a deep cleaning campaign at least once a week and install an IoT-based odor monitoring system to control odor. Assistant Commissioners of the concerned departments have been directed to issue notices to all institutions and regularly review the improvement work. It was also clarified in the meeting that the contracts of institutions that do not bring the expected improvements within a period of three months will be suspended or cancelled and alternative institutions will be appointed in their place.

The Leader of the House said that this campaign is being run with the aim of improving the quality of public toilets and providing citizens with cleaner, safer, and more dignified facilities.

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