In a major push toward wildlife preservation and habitat protection across Maharashtra, the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Monday approved key environmental proposals during its 26th official meeting.

Among the landmark decisions made, the board granted Wildlife Sanctuary status to two key forest pockets and formally approved proposals for 14 new Conservation Reserves spanning seven districts.

The new Wildlife Sanctuary status has been accorded to Kolamarka Conservation Reserve (Gadchiroli district), which is widely renowned as a vital habitat for endangered Asiatic wild buffaloes (Bubalus arnee).

Kolamarka has officially been upgraded to a Wildlife Sanctuary. Further, approval was granted to expand the existing Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary by incorporating 588.767 hectares of private and revenue land from six villages (Ogda, Khodde, Tirmal, Pachghar, Phansad, and Amle) to make the sanctuary human-settlement-free.

Proposals for 14 new conservation reserves spread across Pune, Raigad, Nashik, Nandurbar, Thane, Palghar, and Chandrapur districts received official board clearance. These reserves include Velhe Mulshi (Pune / Raigad), Bhorgirigad (Pune), Lonavala (Pune / Raigad), Dindori (Nashik), Surgana (Nashik), Taharabad (Nashik), Chinchpada (Nandurbar), Alibaug (Raigad), Ghera Manikgad (Raigad), Gumatara (Thane), Jawhar (Palghar), Asherigad (Palghar), Dhamani (Palghar) and Ekara (Chandrapur).

Further, the State Board for Wildlife declared 100.139 sq. km area in Koka Wildlife Sanctuary as Critical Wildlife Habitat and 255.79 sq. km area in Jaakwadi Bird Sanctuary as Critical Wildlife Habitat.

It was also decided that maintenance, silt removal, and dam repair works inside wildlife sanctuaries must be permanently integrated into the respective Management Plans within 3 months.

Wildlife officials are to be notified in advance instead of seeking fresh administrative approvals for every project.

Clearances were granted for essential civic and infrastructure projects (irrigation, drinking water, roads, bridges, power transmission, medical units, and underground optical fibre cables) across protected zones, eco-sensitive areas, and tiger corridors. Discussions were held on declaring Human-Wildlife Conflict as a Natural Disaster under the Disaster Management Act, establishing quiet zones in tiger reserves (core/buffer/ESZ), and formulating relocation policies for villages in buffer zones.

The CM instructed officials to evaluate staffing requirements, deputations, and vacant positions within one month to shift notified sanctuaries from Regional Forest/Forest Development Corporation Maharashtra control to the dedicated Wildlife Wing.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced that the state will conduct an independent assessment of the proposed height increase of Telangana’s Thummidihetty irrigation project, ensuring that local interests are safeguarded while maintaining cooperative inter-state relations.

The decision came following a high-level meeting where a delegation led by Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy formally requested Maharashtra’s concurrence to raise the project’s height from 148 meters to 152 meters.

Highlighting Maharashtra’s tradition of resolving neighbouring states’ issues through cooperation, CM Fadnavis stated that the state holds a positive stance on aiding Telangana, provided it causes no detriment to Maharashtra’s citizens.

However, CM Fadnavis noted that previous approvals revealed that actual submergence areas exceeded initial projections. Consequently, the government has mandated a joint committee comprising the Chief Secretaries and Irrigation Secretaries of both states to conduct a thorough technical evaluation.

The joint study will examine the impact of relocated project sites on submergence areas, the inclusion of relevant wildlife sanctuaries and the extent of required non-riverbed land.

Furthermore, any discrepancies or technical objections raised by Telangana regarding Maharashtra’s study will be reviewed jointly by officials from both states, with expert consultations brought in if necessary.

The Chief Minister clarified that matters concerning water allocation and statutory clearances fall within the purview of the Central Water Commission (CWC). Maharashtra will officially submit its stance based on factual findings once the CWC seeks the state’s feedback. Final decisions on the project will proceed following the independent technical review and subsequent discussions.

The Tummidihetti project, which was originally a key component of the Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella project, is located across the Pranahita River (a tributary of the Godavari) at Tummidihetti village in Koutala mandal, Kumram Bheem Asifabad district (formerly Adilabad district) of Telangana.

It is designed to irrigate approximately 200,000 acres in drought-prone areas across the erstwhile Adilabad district and aims to harness and lift water from the Pranahita River to fulfil regional irrigation needs.

Telangana is pushing for a barrage height of 152 meters (which would account for about 2,300 acres of potential submergence) to maximise water utilisation and gravity flow, while discussions continue regarding lower structural options like 150 meters to minimise land submergence in neighbouring Maharashtra.

The meeting was attended in person and via video conferencing by Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, Telangana Chief Secretary Sanjai Jaju, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Lokesh Chandra, Principal Secretary Srikar Pardeshi, Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Eknath Davle, Secretaries Jayant Borkar and Prakash Misal, alongside other senior officials from both states.

The ED arrested a Mumbai-based advocate and secured his custody till October 29 from a Special Court (PMLA) in connection with the digital arrest of a Goa couple who were duped of Rs 2.6 crore and his association with a gang of cyber criminals, an official said on Monday.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Panaji Zonal Office, arrested advocate Rashesh Bharatkumar Upadhyay alias Rashesh Shah on October 24 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the official said in a statement.

He was intercepted at the boarding gate of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, while attempting to leave Mumbai on an early-morning connecting flight to Delhi without any return booking, it said.

The interception was made possible by the active and timely support of Mumbai Customs and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Goa Police in a digital arrest fraud.

Fraudsters impersonating officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation placed the Goa couple under continuous video surveillance, showed her a forged order of the Supreme Court, and coerced her into transferring about Rs 2.6 crore into accounts falsely described as “Secret Supervision Accounts”, said the statement

The ED’s investigation traced these proceeds through more than 400 mule accounts into a network of commodity, travel and foreign-exchange companies controlled by Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed through dummy directors, the ED said.

This network undertook banking transactions of nearly Rs 28,000 crore and deposited about Rs 2,900 crore in cash. Its bank accounts have surfaced in over 300 victim complaints and more than 160 FIRs across 20 states and union territories, involving reported losses of over Rs 400 crore, the ED said.

Rashesh Upadhyay was a key node of this network. Whenever bank accounts of the network were frozen by law enforcement agencies on cyber fraud complaints, he arranged their release by paying cash bribes to certain suspected officials of the agencies concerned, routed through angadiyas.

He fixed the amounts, the collection points and the onward payments. On his own admission, he arranged the unfreezing of about 100 such accounts for various agents, including a payment of over Rs 60 lakh in a single instance, the ED said.

By restoring the network’s access to frozen fraud proceeds, he kept the money-laundering infrastructure behind digital fraud running across the country, the ED said.

He continued these dealings even after ED’s searches, including in respect of accounts frozen by the ED, deleted his chats with the co-accused, and switched off all his known mobile numbers before attempting to flee, said the probe agency.

Although enrolled as an advocate, he had never appeared or filed any vakalatnama for the co-accused or their companies. He misused his professional standing as a cover for brokering bribes and securing the release of fraud proceeds. Such conduct is not legal practice, and the protection available to communications between an advocate and a client does not extend to communications made in furtherance of an illegal purpose or showing the commission of a crime or fraud, the ED said.

This is the 7th arrest in the case. ED has earlier arrested six persons, including the two controllers of the network, Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed, and the agents who supplied banking entries to the network and arranged the release of its frozen accounts.

Further investigation is in progress to identify the officials who received the bribes, the angadiyas and other intermediaries involved, and to trace the full extent of the Proceeds of Crime.