Maharashtra Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Gulabrao Patil on Monday directed the administration to prepare and submit realistic, village-wise action plans for potential water scarcity across all stages in the Nagpur, Amravati, and Konkan divisions by October 25.

Minister Patil also instructed officials to prioritise the completion and operationalisation of drinking water supply projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission that have reached between 75 per cent and 99 per cent progress.

The minister’s directives come after the state government has already announced drought in 304 talukas following scanty rainfall and launched 12 mitigation measures.

Addressing a high-level review meeting, Minister Patil evaluated the water supply status, groundwater levels, and mitigation measures for potential water scarcity in Nagpur, Amravati, and Konkan regions. While noting that there is currently no severe water scarcity in these regions, the Minister emphasised the need for administrative preparedness ahead of upcoming months.

“The administration must remain proactive. Action plans should be framed based on ground-level inspections and extensive consultations with public representatives, sarpanches, gram panchayats, and local officials,” he said.

Minister Patil instructed that pending works such as pipeline laying, pump installation, electrical connections, and transformer setups for projects in their final stages must be completed on a priority basis.

Schemes exceeding 75 per cent completion must have their package details verified and certified promptly to ensure smooth funding releases. He said that a dedicated plan for strengthening local water sources must be created for potential tanker-dependent villages.

Authorities should utilise 2 per cent of the District Planning Committee (DPC) funds primarily for source augmentation. Groundwater recharge works, including well recharging, farm ponds, cement bandharas, cement plugs, continuous contour trenches (CCT), and repairs of older bunds—must be carried out by tapping into District Planning, Mining, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, he stated.

Minister Patil reiterated that deploying water tankers should only serve as an ultimate last resort. Prior to that, officials must enforce cleaning and disinfection of available public wells. He asked the administration to focus on the rejuvenation of local water sources and efficient water budget planning and disciplined water conservation practices.

He strictly instructed officers to immediately visit villages and take necessary action whenever complaints regarding water scarcity surface or media reports highlight local distress.

To ensure long-term operational success, Minister Patil said that fixed timelines must be established to hand over completed and successfully tested water supply schemes to Zilla Parishads or Gram Panchayats. In cases of delay by local bodies in accepting projects, formal proceedings will follow state policy guidelines.

Zilla Parishads and Gram Panchayats are expected to handle operation, maintenance, and electricity billing effectively. Local officials were advised to coordinate directly with District Collectors and Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to resolve any persistent transformer or power connection hurdles, he said.

A 19-year-old second-year Chemical Engineering student at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, has committed suicide in his hostel room in Matunga.

The student, identified as Siddhesh Patil, was a native of Nashik and resided at the ICT College hostel. According to preliminary information, the incident occurred at around 10:30 p.m. when he hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his room.

Mumbai Police have registered an Accidental Death (AD) report and initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

According to information received in connection with the case, Patil had reportedly been experiencing mental health difficulties over the past few days and was undergoing treatment.

On the day of the incident (Tuesday), he reportedly sent a message to his doctor expressing emotional distress. The doctor promptly informed the student’s family after receiving the message.

Following this communication, the family contacted Patil’s friends at the hostel and asked them to reach his room immediately to check on him.

However, the friends reportedly arrived after the suicide had taken place.

The Matunga Police are investigating the case and gathering information to establish the sequence of events. Further details are awaited as the investigation continues.

The incident has drawn attention to the mental well-being of students pursuing higher education away from their families. It also underscores the importance of accessible mental health support and timely intervention when students experience emotional distress.

Earlier in September, a second-year student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay died by suicide after he was found using a mobile phone during an examination, triggering protests by students on the institute’s Powai campus.

The incident marked the third reported suicide at the IIT-Powai campus in the past six months.

The deceased student was identified as Sahil Wakode, who was pursuing his second year in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering. According to the institute, Wakode had uploaded an examination question paper to ChatGPT in an attempt to obtain answers while the test was underway.

IIT-Bombay said no disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against him following the incident. The matter was discussed with the student by the examination instructor and the Head of the Department. They counselled him and assured him that the incident would not have an adverse impact on his academic career, the institute said.

The audio clip containing a threat to Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff will now be examined, as the investigators plan to match the voice sample against the ‘voice banks’ maintained by the Punjab and Delhi Police, officials said.

These databases contain voice recordings of members allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan Police have separate voice banks containing audio samples of the Bishnoi gang members. Similar verification was earlier carried out on audio clips linked to threats received by Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Rohit Shetty, Baba Siddique and others.

This time, investigators will examine the audio clip of Anil Pandit, which surfaced after the alleged attack threat against Tiger Shroff.

According to senior Mumbai Police sources, identifying the person behind an audio clip is a major challenge, as threats often arrive under different names and in different voices.

Delhi Police reportedly has a voice bank with over 200 voice samples connected to the Bishnoi gang, while Punjab and Rajasthan Police maintain similar databases.

Mumbai Police is also continuing to study the gang’s methods and activities, as the Bishnoi gang has increasingly come into focus in Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, over the past two to three years.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell will produce the arrested accused in the Tiger Shroff firing case before the Esplanade Court at 3 p.m.

According to sources, the accused in the firing incident had arrived in Mumbai about a month ago and allegedly conducted a recce of the homes of several prominent Bollywood celebrities.

The accused would ask auto-rickshaw drivers, whom they hired to travel around Mumbai, to take them to the residences of Bollywood stars. They allegedly claimed that they wanted to photograph the celebrities’ homes.

Meanwhile, the accused allegedly discarded both weapons at an unidentified location while fleeing Mumbai after the attack. The Mumbai Police are now attempting to trace and recover the firearms.

According to police sources, the attackers used two pistols during the incident, one foreign-made and the other domestically manufactured. However, they reportedly had limited information about which of the two weapons was foreign-made.

Investigators are continuing their efforts to locate the discarded firearms as part of the probe into the firing incident.

The Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating the case to establish the roles of the accused and determine the full extent of the conspiracy.