A tankar carrying inflammable chemicals overturned near Poladpur Mumbai Goa National highway no.66 on Wednesday morning. Two men suffered minor injuries .A minor leakage of the toxic chemicals caused difficulty in breathing and spread a panic among the locals. Traffic was affected for five hours as the toxic fumes spread in the Kashedi Ghat .
The truck carrying toxic chemicals is owned by Vinati Organics Mahad which was moving towards Gujarat while it upturned at a steep turn in Kashedi ghat .The fire fighters from Mahad MIDC, Kashedi traffic police reached the accident spot soon after the mishap. The Traffic was affected for five hours and was regulated in late evening.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova’s scintillating return to form continued on Wednesday as she powered into the Australian Open third round to set up a mouth-watering clash with defending champion Caroline Wozniacki.
Sharapova, who is seeded 30th at the tournament and seeking to recapture former glories after coming back from a drugs ban in 2017, brushed aside Swede Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-1. The 31-year-old has only conceded three games en route to round three at Melbourne Park, where she won the title in 2008 and has reached the final a further three times.
I’m really happy the way I performed today and obviously it’s always great to be back on this court. Overall, I thought I played a really solid match, she said.
The pair emerged on Rod Laver Arena late in the night due to a long-running men’s match, meaning only a smattering of fans were there to cheer on the former world number one. While Sharapova served a 6-0, 6-0 “double bagel” to her first-round opponent Harriet Dart, Peterson initially promised more of a fight as she rallied against the Russian from the baseline.
Her aggressive approach was not enough to prevent the veteran going up a break in the third game, while offering the Swede nothing on her own serve. The gulf in experience began to tell as the match stretched into early Thursday, with Sharapova breaking Peterson again to take an iron grip on the first set, which she wrapped up after 34 minutes.
Sharapova’s blistering returns proved too much for world number 64 Peterson and the Russian soon ran away with the second set. Sharapova and third seed Wozniacki have met 10 times, with the record 6-4 in the Russian’s favour. But their most recent clash was in 2015, when Sharapova was still at her peak and the Dane was yet to win her coveted maiden Slam, which she has credited with boosting her confidence.
There is no love lost between the pair. Wozniacki questioned the way the WTA handled Sharapova’s return from her drugs ban in 2017 and was furious when she was bumped from the show court in favour of the Russian at that year’s US Open.
It prompted a withering response from Sharapova after Wozniacki’s elimination. I’m in the fourth round. I don’t know where she is. Their meeting promises to be the standout match in the first week of the women’s draw. It’s a tough third round but I’ve set up the challenge and I’m willing to take it, Sharapova said.
Alleging communalism of education, threat to campus democracy and privatisation of education, Left students’ unions will march to Parliament on February 18 against the government, a statement from the unions said on Wednesday. The unions, including SFI, AISF, AIDSO, PSU and AISM, have made a slew of demands from the government for the education sector.
Communalism has been another severe threat to the secular fabric of education system. Syllabuses have been changed drastically, under the BJP governments in various states, which replaced science and history with myths and puranas. Historical facts are distorted and the Sangh parivar agents are appointed as the head of the different institutions and universities, they alleged in the combined statement.
Their demands include the establishment of a nationwide fully state-funded and free common education system from kindergarten to post-graduation, increased government spending on education, protection of federal character of education, release of money for all pending scholarships immediately and establishment of more fellowships for research scholars from deprived backgrounds.
The budgets of most of the educational institutions in the country have been reduced continuously. We are protesting against stoppage of scholarships in IITs and other institutions, the shutting of hostels of students belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and the privatisation of education from KG to PG, said Mayuk Biswas of SFI, the CPI’s students union, at a press meet.
The statement alleged that campus democracy has been attacked heavily and a sense of fear and surveillance instilled in educational institutions, instead of an atmosphere of free speech, debate and discussion. There will be an intensive campaign throughout the country highlighting the issues of education as part of this Delhi Chalo call by the Left students’ organisations, the statement said.
If day one was for ascetics from akharas and those who braved the surging crowds, day two of the Kumbh Mela on Wednesday was for the many lakhs, including tourists, who lined up along the Sangam for a purifying dip. The pull of the water was as strong on Wednesday, the second day of the largest religious festival on earth, with officials estimating that more than one crore people took a plunge in the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.
Tuesday was Makar Sankranti, one of the sacred bathing days of the 50-day fair. But ‘shahi snan’ or no ‘shahi snan’, there was no discernible dip in the number of people. It is called “the greatest show on earth” for a reason, said one visitor.
To be very honest, we were not expecting the crowds to be smaller. Also, most of the roads were open for visitors today. And then it is just the second day. We expect the same throughout the 50-day mela, not just for the ‘shahi snan’, said a police officer who didn’t want to be identified.
On Tuesday, the administration restricted the entry of all types of vehicles other than those required for essential services in the vicinity of Kumbh Nagari, the sprawling 32,000-hectare township that has come up on the banks of the river.
We came yesterday also but didn’t get to take the holy dip. Yesterday, it was a show of akharas. They took a lot of time, first with the procession and then the bath. Today is the day for tourists, said 28-year-old Ranjan Mitra.
Yes, I would have liked less crowd as there was just too much of pushing and pulling at the ghats, Mitra said as the loudspeakers blared out names of people lost in the mela – a familiar trope in many a Hindi film.
Like always, many people were seen making a beeline for the Juna akhara, an organisation of sadhus, and posing with Nagas, naked men with ash smeared on their body and long dreadlocks.
You come tomorrow. Today, I have to attend to my international disciples, said a Naga sadhu, readying his chillum.
Guilia, who came here from Italy with her friends, was one of the international disciples. Our train got delayed and we couldn’t reach on time yesterday for the sacred bath. We will be staying with Naga sadhus and exploring the mystic India, she said.
Breaking through the melee with their soulful rendition of bhajans was a group of blind students of the Shri Vrindavan Andh Mahavidyalaya who entertained the crowds.
I, of course, can’t see the expression on the face of the audience, but my guru ji said that people present enjoyed my music, said Ashok, 19, who has been blind since birth.
The mela will come to a close on Maha Shivratri, March 4.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that the information sought by a convict in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings case regarding an Intelligence Bureau report purportedly calling for review of evidence in the matter, did pertain to human rights violation and asked the Central Information Commission to consider his request afresh.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru said the Central Information Commission (CIC) “erroneously” concluded that the information sought by the convict, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique, did not pertain to allegations of corruption or human rights violation.
“The gravamen of his allegation is that he has been falsely implicated by the respondent despite the respondent having information that the petitioner was not involved in the July 11, 2006 blast case. This court is of the view that the said conclusion is erroneous, as the information does relate to violation of human rights,” the judge said.
With the observation, the court set aside the CIC’s March 26, 2018 order denying the information sought by the convict, and remanded the matter back to the commission for fresh consideration.
The order came on a plea by Siddique, represented by advocate Arpit Bhargava, seeking directions to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to provide him with the report which was tabled before the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2009.
Siddique, presently lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail, was given capital punishment for the July 11, 2006 serial blasts when seven RDX bombs ripped through as many Western line local trains in Mumbai leading to the death of 189 persons and injuring 829.
In his plea, filed through Bhargava, he had claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case which amounts to violation of his human rights and therefore, he needed the IB report which purportedly called for review of the evidence in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case.
The IB, represented by advocates Rahul Sharma and
C K Bhatt, had opposed the plea saying since Siddique was convicted after trial by a court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), he could not in another forum claim that he was falsely implicated.
The IB’s lawyers had also contended that the convict was “trying to create a parallel trial” since the death sentence to him was pending confirmation in the Bombay High Court.
The court while sending the matter back to CIC for a fresh consideration, made it clear that merely because information regarding allegations of corruption and human rights violations falls within the purview of RTI Act does not mean it has to be disclosed.
It said the commission will examine whether the information sought was relevant and if it found that it was not, then approval for disclosure would not be granted.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and Maharashtra government on a plea challenging the Bombay High Court order which had refused to restrain authorities from taking steps regarding the proposed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial project in Arabian Sea.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul issued notices on the plea which has challenged the November 2 last year order of the high court.
Advocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar, who appeared for Maharashtra, said that while issuing notice on the plea, the bench orally told him to ask the authorities not to proceed with the construction activity there.
The petitioner NGO, Conservation Action Trust, had moved the high court challenging the February 23, 2015 order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) granting environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance to the Rs 3,600 crore project in Mumbai.
It had sought interim relief that stay should be granted on the order and the authorities restrained from taking further steps with regard to the project.
The petitioner had claimed in the high court that amendment in a clause of the Coastal Zone Notification 2011 by a February 17, 2015 notification of the MoEF&CC was “illegal” as it permitted the Centre to dispense with the requirement of public hearing in such projects.
The state government had opposed the plea in the high court and had said that clearances were taken for the project from different authorities.
It had argued that final environmental and CRZ clearance of February 23, 2015 was granted by the MoEF&CC after a detailed study and after ascertaining the compliance of all requirements and after following proper procedure.
The high court, while rejecting the petitioner’s request for interim relief, had noted in its order that state has said that the memorial project does not involve rehabilitation and resettlement of public, and the site is located away from human habitation.
“It also cannot be overlooked that the project is considered by the state government to be of national importance,” the high court had noted in its order.
Through initiatives such as the Jalyukt Shivar water conservation scheme, the BJP-led Maharashtra government has made 16,000 villages free of water scarcity, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at an international conference on micro-irrigation in Aurangabad.
“Micro-irrigation facilities have increased three times in the state,” Fadnavis said at the event which was also attended by Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Fiji Agriculture Minister Mahendra Reddy and others.
“Water is very precious and we still have not realised it….we don’t get regular rainfall and micro-irrigation is the only solution. Earlier, two countries would fight over water. Now such crises erupt between districts and even tehsils,” said Fadnavis.
“The government is working hard on the Jalyukt Shivar initiative and has made 16,000 villages water-neutral (free of water scarcity). Thirty-four lakh hectares of land is (has been brought) under irrigation. Micro-irrigation facilities have increased three times,” the chief minister claimed.
“Through the Nanaji Deshmukh Krushi Sanjivani project, we are working on providing sustainable irrigation in 4,000 villages,” Fadnavis added.
While the BJP-led state government has put a lot of stress on village-level water conservation projects, the state faced a poor monsoon in 2018, forcing it to declare drought in 151 tehsils in 26 out of the total 36 districts.
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) workers’ union has agreed to call off their nine-day-old strike on Wednesday after they agreed to the implementation of an interim pay-hike for about 15,000 employees. The ’10-step increment’ will kick in from this month. The workers’ union also informed the Bombay High Court that it will call off the strike with immediate effect.
Among the terms agreed to withdraw the strike was the appointment of a retired high court judge who will negotiate terms between the workers’ union and BEST management.
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had directed the workers’ union to take a final decision on the withdrawal of their strike.
This direction came after BEST management told the court that it was willing to implement the interim pay-hike for about 15,000 employees, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, commuters had to face hardships due to the strike, even as the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) deployed its buses to minimise their woes.
Over 32,000 BEST employees had been on strike since January 8 over their various demands, including pay hike, revision of pay grade for junior level employees, and merger of loss-making BEST’s budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
“We are reinforcing women in the industrial field. BMC has built a strong network of self-help groups across the Mumbai city and its suburban regions. Women are being encouraging to enter in the commercial industry,” said Dy. Mayor of BMC Hemangi Worlikar while inaugurating an exhibition cum sale to promote the products made by these groups.
Dy. Commissioner (Planning Dept.) Asst. Commissioner (Section A) of BMC jointly organised an exhibition cum sale centre to promote the products made by self-help groups at Kala Ghoda Bhuyari Marg Fort which has been inaugurated by Dy. Mayor Hemangi Woralikar. On this occasion, president of G/South ward Kishori Pednekar, President of Women and child welfare committee Smt. Gavkar, local corporater Sujata Sanap and officers from planning dept. and other depts. were also present.
Woralikar also stated “Mumbai is economic capital of India. People across the country come here to earn their livelihood through entrepreneurship. We provide aid to women to form their network of self-help groups and also provide them trainings and extend support to encourage their start-ups. These kinds of exhibitions would be helpful to sale commodities manufactured by them.”
Woralikar appealed the public to purchase these products. Exhibition will continue till January 17 2019.
Two persons, including a policeman, were injured in an attack by a leopard in Nashik district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.
The feline entered a house in the tribal-dominated Kalwan taluka on Tuesday, an official at Abhona police station said.
On getting information, a police team from Abhona rushed to the spot.
While the policemen were trying to evict the leopard from the house, the animal attacked them and those staying in the house before running away, the official said.
The house owner and an assistant police inspector received injuries in the attack, he said.
They were taken to a government-run hospital where they were provided medical treatment, he added.
