Mumbai Apr 26 PTI Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya on Tuesday claimed that a fake FIR was filed in his name at Khar police station in Mumbai which he had not even signed days after his car was vandalised while he was returning from the police station after meeting arrested independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana Talking to reporters outside the Khar police station Somaiya hit out at Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey over the issue and also claimed some goons had been sent by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to attack him They should face strict action It will happen for sure the BJP leader said before entering the police station The Mumbai police filed a fake FIR in my name it is not signed by me Is Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey unaware of such legality I came here to file an actual FIR against the fake FIR filed by the police he said Somaiya later claimed Khar police station officials admitted that an FIR was registered at Bandra police station on Monday on the instructions of Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey It was not signed by me still it was sent to Khar police station and the officials even initiated action based on it Is Pandey aware of the legal provision that such an unsigned FIR is illegal the BJP leader asked The unsigned FIR which was uploaded on the Mumbai police commissioners website exposes the forgery and cheating on part of the police commissioner he claimed I demand a criminal investigation against the Mumbai police commissioner who asked police officials to get such an FIR registered Somaiya said The BJP leader also said he would meet Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari on Wednesday and inform him about such practices Today I demanded an official copy of the FIR I found that I had not signed it According to CrPC section 154 my signature should have been there Are the Mumbai police trying to save Shiv Sena goons Somaiya asked The BJP leader also claimed that he was made to sit at Khar police station for two hours but his complaint in the matter was not accepted I was told that my complaint would be accepted and I was made to sit for two hours After receiving a phone call from the Mumbai police commissioner Khar police station officials destroyed all the papers and the FIR was not registered he claimed Asked about various allegations including cheating levelled against him by leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA in the state Somaiya said if he had done anything wrong the authorities were free to take any action against him The Mumbai police late Saturday night registered an FIR against Somaiyas driver for allegedly driving in rash and negligent manner due to which a Shiv Sena corporator and a party worker suffered minor injuries an official earlier said The police had on Monday also arrested four Shiv Sena members including former city Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar for allegedly vandalising Somaiyas car Some people had vandalised Somaiyas car on Saturday evening when he was returning from Khar police station after meeting independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana following their arrest The Rana couples plan to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree the personal residence of CM Thackeray on Saturday morning had angered Shiv Sena workers Amid Shiv Senas stiff resistance the Rana couple later cancelled the plan but the duo was arrestedMaharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil had said Somaiya should know that arrested persons can only meet their legal counsel or relatives and that the BJP leader had no business to go to the police station to meet the Rana couple PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Mar 30 PTI A 27-year-old farmer has died of heat stroke in Maharashtras Jalgaon district as parts of the state continue to witness heatwave conditions officials said on Wednesday An official at the Jalgaon district collectorate claimed this was probably the first such case during the current summer season in the state On Tuesday Jalgaon district located over 400 km from Mumbai recorded a maximum temperature of 418 degrees Celsius which was 25 degrees C higher than normal as per a report of the India Meteorological Department IMD The farmer Jitendra Sanjay Mali was on Tuesday afternoon rushed by some people to the Amalner rural hospital in Jalgaon where he was declared dead on arrival Dr Ashish Patil from the medical facility said Prima facie Mali died of heat stroke He was working in a farm and while going back home he fainted during the scorching heat The other farmers working nearby rushed him to the hospital but we could not save him Dr Patil said The IMD has predicted heatwave conditions in some parts of the country including Maharashtra over the next few days PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Mar 22 PTI The Maharashtra Legislative Council was adjourned for 20 minutes on Tuesday after opposition members disrupted the House proceedings over the issue of strike by the MSRTC employees to press for their demands A section of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC employees have been on strike since October last year demanding that the undertaking be merged with the state government which would give them better salaries and greater job security Leader of Opposition in the Council Pravin Darekar raised the issue in the House on Tuesday saying problems of the MSRTC employees were not yet solved There were some 16 demands shortlisted by the state government and employees and 90 per cent of the employees were ready to resume duty But there has been no firm response from the state government Hence we will not allow the House to function until the state transport minister issues a statement in the House the BJP leader said Amid the chaos the House was adjourned for 20 minutes After the House reassembled Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar directed Transport Minister Anil Parab to arrange a cabinet meeting in consultation with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on approval of the state appointed three-member committees report on the MSRTCs demands To this Parab said I will consult with the chief minister and take appropriate steps regarding approval of the committees report The Maharashtra government-appointed committee had said the MSRTCs with the government and treating its employees as government personnel was not feasible practically and administratively The committees report which was tabled in the state Assembly earlier this month recommended rejection of the demand made the MSRTC employees while maintaining the independent status of the corporation PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Dec 28 PTI Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad has said that Balbharati the state curriculum board has decided to dump old syllabus books weighing over 400 tonnes Gaikwad was responding to a question raised by legislator Arun Lad in the state Legislative Council on Monday over the dumping of old books by the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research popularly known as Balbharati It is true that Balbharati invited tender on August 17 this year to scrap the old syllabus books weighing 426 tonnes The board has received five tenders for the same the minister said In the last three years new syllabus books for Classes 2 11 and 12 have been printed Hence the books of old syllabus have been scrapped for the purpose of pulping she said PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Dec 23 PTI Opposition members walked out of the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Thursday after claiming that a member from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA allegedly referred to farmers as power stealers Later speaking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises Leader of Opposition in the Council Pravin Darekar said they had raised the issue of farmers electricity connections being disconnected by the state power utility We wanted a discussion on the plight of farmers and sought some relief for the farming community However a member from the MVA asked what about farmers who steal electricity Such a question was completely irrelevant as farmers have been severely affected because of various restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus the BJP leader said He said the demand for produce by cultivators has gone down which also affected the income of farmers Unfortunately we noticed such an insensitive attitude of a Council member towards farmers hence we staged a walk out Darekar said The BJP leader claimed he did not remember the name of the MVA member who made those comments in the House Darekar also expressed disappointment with Maharashtra Minister of State for Energy Prajakt Tanpure Our calling attention was regarding farmers issues and how the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company can come up with policies that would be lenient towards agriculture sector Tanpure preferred to point out at the Union government and its policies and tried to pass the blame the BJP leader said PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Nov 30 PTI The strike by employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation continued for the 34th day on Tuesday and the transport undertaking operated over 1500 buses out of its fleet of 16000 vehicles an official said The agitation of employees who are seeking merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government has crippled the state-run bus services for a month now The MSRTC operated 1086 buses including 822 ordinary ones on various routes from 50 depots till Monday evening Another 506 buses operated early Tuesday The final figure will be released by the evening a spokesperson of the MSRTC said Till Monday the corporation had suspended the services of 7585 permanent employees and 1779 daily wage workers an official earlier said The MSRTC has a fleet of 16000 buses and over 92000 employees It used to ferry more than 65 lakh people per day before the COVID-19 outbreak in March last year hit operations severely After the Diwali festival earlier this month the MSRTC employees intensified their agitation which had led to all 250 depots of the corporation to remain shut for some days The stir continues despite the state government announcing a 41 per cent salary hike last week to break the impasse PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Oct 28 PTI Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik who has repeatedly termed the NCBs cruise drugs case as fake on Thursday sought to know why no action was taken against organisers of the cruise party He also claimed that an organiser of the cruise party was a friend of the Narcotics Control Bureaus NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede An NCB team led by Wankhede had on October 2 raided the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs The federal anti-drugs agency later arrested actor Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan and others in connection with the case Speaking to reporters here Malik said A person with a beard who was present on the cruise is the head of Fashion TV which had organised the alleged drugs party on the Cordelia cruise The NCB has already claimed that a rave party was planned on the cruise How come such a big party was organised without any permission Why no action has been taken against Kashif Khan who is the India head of Fashion TV and a friend of Sameer Wankhede the NCP leader asked He also raised questions about the relations between Wankhede and Kashif Khan Why no action has ever been taken against him by Wankhede I expect answers to these questions from Sameer Wankhede the minister said Earlier Malik on Wednesday said The Cordelia cruise drugs party organisers- Fashion TV- had not taken any permission from the Maharashtra Police or the state home department They obtained the permission directly from the directorate of shipping which comes under the Union Ministry for Ports Shipping and Waterways The minister had also claimed that a member of an international drugs mafia was present on the same cruise and asked how come he was moving scot-free while some others were arrested The NCP leader had earlier also levelled various allegations against Wankhede including illegal phone tapping and use of forged documents to secure job Wankhede has denied the allegations PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Sep 29 PTI Doctors at a private hospital here have used an advanced immunodiagnostic technique to transplant a womans heart to a man the medical facility has said The Parel-based Global Hospital claimed it to be the first such transplantation using the technique The heart of a 41-year-old woman was recently transplanted to 31-year-old man who was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy with severe left ventricular dysfunction the hospital said in a statement He came to the hospital about three months back following which he underwent a pre-transplant and antibody screening and identification procedure it said The hospital said the clinical outcome in mans case was outstanding He was mobilised on the fourth day of operation and was good to be discharged nine days after the surgery which generally in case of heart transplant recipients takes between 21 to 30 days it said PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Sep 28 PTI The Maharashtra government has decided to provide jobs on compassionate ground to eligible family members of class A and B employees in case of their death during service The policy is aimed at providing financial support to the family after the primary earning members death the state government said in an order issued on Monday Earlier there was such a policy for family members of class C and D employees and the Maharashtra government was deliberating on extending it to class A and B officials also in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic said the order issued by the state General Administration Department The decision to offer jobs to the eligible kin of state government employees from class A and B on compassionate ground was taken during the state cabinet meeting on August 26 this year Based on it the state government on Monday took the decision to extend the policy to class A and B officers the order said As per the order the policy will be applicable retrospectively with effect from January 1 2020 PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Aug 31 PTI The southwest monsoon has again become active in Mumbai after a long gap bringing heavy rains to the city and neighbouring areas and causing a landslide here due to which some people were injured officials said on Tuesday Several low-lying areas were also inundated following heavy overnight showers they said Since Monday night the metropolis neighbouring Navi Mumbai Thane and other adjoining areas received rainfall in the range of 20 mm to 70 mm a report of the India Meteorological Department IMD said The IMDs observatory in Santacruz representative of suburbs recorded 49 mm rain while the Colaba observatory representative of south Mumbai received 298 mm rain in the 24-hour period ending at 830 am on Tuesday the MeT department said The incessant showers led to a landslide in Mumbais Asalpha area injuring some people officials said The rains also caused water-logging in Andheri Parel Bhandup and some other areas slowing traffic movement on roads in those places they said PTI ND GK GK