Mumbai: A political row broke out after waterlogging was seen at the Andheri Subway after a brief spell of rain disrupted traffic in Mumbai on June 3. BJP MLA Ameet Satam criticised Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray’s proposal of rainwater holding tanks, saying the flooding problem at Andheri Subway is far more severe than at Hindmata or Milan Subway.

His response came after the UBT leader took to his official handle on X and spoke on the success of rainwater holding tanks at Hindmata-Gandhi Market and Milan Subway, projects which were undertaken during the party’s tenure. He said the ‘sponge city’ concept had helped make those areas flood-free and accused the BJP-led BMC of failing to implement similar projects.

Coming back to Satam’s response, he explained that the issue at the Andheri subway is that the quantum of water flowing into it is extremely high, which leads to severe flooding during heavy rainfall, adding that the situation cannot be compared to the Milan subway or Hindmata. He further added, “Relying only on holding ponds will not solve the problem.”

Satam said a BMC had proposed a Rs 500 crore plan involving three holding ponds and a drain to divert water to the Bhardawadi culvert, however, he added that too would reduce flooding by only 50 per cent.

Taking a jibe at the sponge city concept of the Thackeray govt, Satam slammed and said, “You really made Mumbai a ‘sponge city’ by absorbing all public money.”

Further responding to Thackeray’s remarks, Satam criticised and questioned what the previous Sena-led BMC administration had done to solve the issue between 1997 and 2022, when the subway continued to face flooding.

Opposition in Mumbai has slammed the BMC and questioned the monsoon preparedness after brief pre-monsoon showers flooded the Andheri Subway. This comes at a time when the BMC has been undertaking several monsoon preparedness measures, including desilting and cleaning major nullahs, clearing garbage, and carrying out road concretisation works.

Mumbai: Hajj pilgrims faced problems at Mumbai airport due to negligence of Mumbai Hajj Committee of India. After collecting the luggage of the pilgrims in Mecca and Jeddah, their luggage is now missing, due to which the pilgrims at Mumbai airport have raised questions about the arrangements of the Hajj Committee and have said that the Hajj Committee had collected the luggage on May 1st, but the luggage has not reached Mumbai till now. Due to the mismanagement of the Hajj Committee, the pilgrims of Maharashtra and the country are facing problems. Due to the non-availability of luggage to the pilgrims of Mumbai including Bhopal, Bhasawal, Aurangabad, Malegaon, there is chaos at the airport and anxiety among the pilgrims, while the pilgrims have accused the Hajj Committee of mismanagement.

Haji Nazar Alam said that the luggage of the pilgrims was collected on May 1st, but when we reached the airport, the luggage did not arrive. We were assured that the luggage would reach the airport, but so far there is no trace of the luggage. Due to not receiving the luggage, the pilgrims fell into chaos and there was a commotion at the Mumbai airport. There is anxiety in Mumbai due to not receiving the luggage of the guests of Allah. The Hajj Committee of India had collected their luggage on May 1st and told them that their luggage would be delivered to them at the Mumbai airport. When the pilgrims reached the Mumbai airport, they were told that their luggage had not arrived yet and that their luggage would be delivered to their homes. The pilgrims had reached the Mumbai airport from different parts of Maharashtra such as Malegaon, Aurangabad, Dhulia, Jalna, Amravati, Nagpur and they clearly said that their luggage was safe and when would they get it? The Hajj Committee administration has informed the pilgrims at the airport that their luggage is safe and they will receive it soon. There is discontent among the pilgrims in Mumbai over not receiving their luggage, while thousands of pilgrims are worried due to the mismanagement of the Hajj Committee.

Navi Mumbai: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested two Navi Mumbai-based men for allegedly supplying chemicals used in the manufacture of spurious liquor linked to the Pune hooch tragedy that claimed 22 lives in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The accused have been identified as Arun Jagdamba Chaube (59) and his son Abhishek Arun Chaube (24), both residents of Vashi in Navi Mumbai. The duo was apprehended by a CID special team following revelations during the ongoing investigation into the deadly liquor racket, as reported by Loksatta.

According to officials, cops found that the father-son duo had allegedly supplied hazardous chemicals used in the preparation of the toxic liquor consumed by the victims. After tracking their role in the supply chain, CID officers arrested them from Navi Mumbai and produced them before a magistrate’s court in Pimpri. The court remanded both accused to four days of police custody to facilitate further investigation into the source and distribution network of the chemicals.

The arrests come days after authorities detained the alleged kingpin of the racket, Yogesh Wankhede, along with several associates. Following the deaths of over 20 people, the Maharashtra government transferred the probe to the CID to uncover the full extent of the illicit liquor network.

Meanwhile, rattled by the scale of the tragedy, the Maharashtra State Excise Department has launched a statewide crackdown on illicit liquor manufacturing and distribution. State Excise Commissioner Rajesh Deshmukh said the department conducted 440 raids across Maharashtra over the past few days, leading to the arrest of 333 persons allegedly involved in the production and sale of illegal liquor.

During the operation, officials seized 1.61 lakh litres of chemicals used in manufacturing illicit liquor, 9,686 litres of spurious liquor and five vehicles. The total value of the seized material has been estimated at Rs 83.24 lakh.