Mumbai: Water and food are inseparable parts of our daily lives. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation is running an analytical laboratory to ensure that both these things are available to the citizens in a pure and quality manner. The Municipal Analytical Laboratory at the ‘G’ office in Dadar tests over 70,000 water and food samples every year. The laboratory has provided the facility of providing water testing reports on the user’s mobile and email at a very low cost and within 24 hours. However, Additional Municipal Commissioner Prajakta Vermalongare has appealed to the citizens and commercial establishments to take advantage of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s analytical laboratory for testing the purity of water and food.
The Municipal Analytical Laboratory under the Public Health Department of the Burhan Mumbai Municipal Corporation is a laboratory that is almost 123 years old and has been continuously serving the people of Mumbai since then. Started in 1903, the laboratory has been updated over time. In the last ten years, more than 7 lakh water and food samples have been tested in this laboratory. This is the only laboratory of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for testing food and water samples, which is functioning in Dadar. In this laboratory, water samples distributed daily by the Municipal Corporation’s Water Supply Department, fast food in the food court, ice samples, water used for construction, water used for swimming pools, etc. are regularly tested and analyzed. Therefore, it is possible to know the quality and purity of the relevant water and take necessary measures in time. The latest equipment and technology are used for analysis in this laboratory for testing the samples. More than 45 thousand water samples are tested by the laboratory in a year. Importantly, the test report of the water samples is available in just 24 hours. The report is made available on the website for institutions and on email and WhatsApp to citizens. Food and water samples are also sent to the Municipal Analytical Laboratory for testing by Central Railway, Western Railway and Konkan Railway. Apart from this, samples of mid-day meal served in schools, samples of prohibited items sent by various police stations of Mumbai, gutkha, fragrant supari and fragrant tobacco are tested. About 8 thousand such samples are tested in this laboratory during the year. Due to the use of latest equipment and technology in this laboratory, this laboratory has been given the status of a state-level food laboratory by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. For safe and quality health facilities of Mumbaikars, a plan has been initiated to modernize the laboratory for more detailed analysis and more tests through the laboratory of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Prajakta Verma Longare said in this regard that both food and water should be available for the health of Mumbaikars. For this, it is also necessary to upgrade the laboratory for more analytical and detailed tests. The role behind this is to ensure that a laboratory with international standards and testing capacity is constantly available at the service of Mumbaikars. The laboratory provides food and water testing facilities at a very low cost. Citizens, housing societies, food vendors and other commercial establishments should take full advantage of this facility. So that the quality of our food and water can be ensured.

Mumbai: Abu Asim Azmi said on the TET exam paper leak in Bhiwandi that the government is playing with the future of students. Azmi slammed the government and said, “The government promises transparency, but it only talks, but the promises are not kept. The government has no control, all its officials are corrupt, and corruption is rampant everywhere, the government is not paying attention to these things, and the future of children is being destroyed, the government is not serious at all in this matter.”

Mumbai, June 27: The Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) on Saturday abruptly cancelled the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2026, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday. The decision comes after a joint raid by the Bhiwandi Police exposed a major question paper leak just a day before the statewide examination.

The exam was set to take place across 1,028 centres in Maharashtra. Council officials stated that the postponement was necessary to maintain absolute transparency and fairness for all candidates. The postponement of TET has thrown the future of over 428,122 candidates in limbo and sparked widespread outrage across the state.

According to an official release, Intelligence agencies received confidential information in the early hours of Saturday indicating that a group of individuals in Bhiwandi (Thane district) had unauthorised access to the TET question papers.

Acting swiftly on the tip-off, a team from the Bhiwandi Police Department raided the location. During the operation, law enforcement personnel detained several suspects and seized incriminating materials.

Senior officials from the MSCE were immediately summoned to the spot by the police to verify the seized documents.

Upon a detailed cross-examination, officials discovered a definitive match as the questions found in the possession of the detained individuals were identical to the questions drafted for the actual June 2026 Teacher Eligibility Test.

Following the confirmation of the breach, an official First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Bhiwandi Police Station against the accused individuals. Taking a serious note of the security lapse, the MSCE decided to call off Sunday’s exam to ensure a thorough, comprehensive probe.

The Education Department and Thane Police have launched a high-level joint investigation to trace the mastermind behind the leak, map out how the security protocol was breached, and determine if any internal Board officials were involved.

The MSCE has assured candidates that a fresh date for the Maharashtra TET 2026 will be finalised soon. All updates regarding the rescheduled examination dates and revised guidelines will be published directly on the official website of the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations.

An extensive investigation is currently underway to identify the mastermind behind the leak and determine if any internal network or printing press was compromised, said the MSCE release.

The MAHA TET is a mandatory benchmark for candidates aspiring to teach in primary (Classes 1–5) and upper primary (Classes 6–8) schools across Maharashtra.

A total of 4,28,122 candidates had registered to take the exam in two separate sessions across the state. Many applicants had already travelled long distances to reach their designated exam centres, only to be met with the news of the sudden cancellation.

The cancellation has led to massive frustration among aspirants, drawing sharp parallels to recent nationwide controversies surrounding the NEET and UGC-NET paper leaks.

Candidates are demanding stricter implementation of anti-paper leak laws and immediate accountability from the education department.