Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has opposed BJP-led state government’s decision to confer prestigious ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award to 92-year-old historian Babasaheb Purandare and said that it is “an insult to the nation”.

“Awarding B M Purandare, who distorted the history of Shivaji Maharaj, with the title of ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ is an insult to the nation,” the Congress leader tweeted.

“Distorting history is RSS agenda and I strongly condemn their attack on MLA Jitendra Awhad, who is a relentless fighter against communal forces,” he added.

The controversy about the Maharashtra government’s decision to honour Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare has become murkier, especially after members of the Shivpratishthan disrupted an event on Sunday spearheaded by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MLA Jitendra Awhad.

Awhad has opposed the Maharashtra state government’s decision and the Sambhaji Brigade, which supports Awhad’s stand, has said it wouls reply aggressively to such attacks in the future.

After the BJP-led state government announced the prestigious Maharashtra Bhushan award for Purandare earlier this year, the Sambhaji Brigade and other Maratha-dominated organisations have openly opposed the decision, including Awhad, who held public rallies highlighting the issue.

Awhad held a public meeting in Pune recently and during Sunday’s event in Sangli district, Shivpratishthan members climbed onto the dais and disrupted the gathering.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, in a letter to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, sought adequate protection for Jitendra Awhad.

“I am confident that you would not want anything untoward to happen to Awhad. As the CM and as head of the home department, you cannot evade your responsibility,” Pawar stated in his letter.

“Awhad is a prominent Other Backward Caste (OBC) leader and an active member of the Assembly. I am sure that you will take due cognisance of the threats to him,” Pawar stated in his letter.

Concerned over the decreasing mangrove cover in Mumbai, a parliamentary panel has urged the Environment Ministry to take all necessary steps to save and protect these areas from further encroachment.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology and Environment and Forest said that necessary measures should be taken to prevent garbage dumping in wetlands and mangroves.

“The committee feels that decreasing mangroves cover in Mumbai is a matter of concern and therefore recommends that the Environment ministry and the state government should take all necessary steps to save and protect mangroves areas from further encroachment,” the committee chaired by former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar said.

It also said that all necessary development activities must be approved after keeping ecology in mind.

“All necessary development activities must be approved consistent with the view to prevent ecological imbalances. Steps should be taken by the concerned authorities to prevent garbage dumping with wetlands and mangroves, check illegal activities and dumping of spent oil in ocean,” it said.

It also noted that noise pollution in the city is one of the factors “adversely” affecting the health of inhabitants and immediate steps are required to contain it.

The panel also recommended that scientific noise profiling of the city needs to be completed at the earliest and noise pollution should be checked along with enforcement of relevant laws.

“The committee finds that permissible limit for noise levels in the residential areas of Mumbai is at 120 decibel hardly leave any elbowroom when but the toleration level of human ears is 120 decibels. Considering the toleration level of human ears, the committee is of the view that permissible level of noise needs to be reduced,” it said.

Opposition Congress in the Maharashtra Legislative Council said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statement on the demand of loan-waiver for farmers was misleading, and that it intended to carry on the protest if the demand was not met.

The House saw some chaotic scenes as opposition MLCs shouted slogans against the government.

In his reply to the debate on the issue, Fadnavis said today that the final objective of relief measure must be to ensure that farmers are free of debt in the long run. He listed out the measures the government intended to take.

He also hit out at Congress-NCP and said their motive behind asking for loan-waiver was dubious.

“I know very well why you are asking for loan-waiver. In your 15 years’ rule, you have eaten up the co-operative banks through corruption. Farmers would not have been in this situation had something been done for them in your tenure,” Fadnavis said.

After the CM’s reply, Congress group leader Manikrao Thakre said Fadnavis’s speech was intended to mislead the farmers.

“He (Fadnavis) has given inaccurate figures and has tried to mislead both the Houses. On the top of it, he is trying to create a divide between Vidarbha and Marathwada regions through his speech. This is unacceptable,” Thakre said.

“We will continue to protest inside and outside the legislature until the government agrees to a complete loan-waiver for farmers,” the Congress leader said.

Following Thakre’s statement, the opposition members started shouting slogans against the government and the House was adjourned for the day by the chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar.

Thakre told later that Congress and NCP leaders would be meeting this evening to decide on the strategy for pressing the demand of loan-waiver further in both the Houses.

The Maharashtra government has given a 15-day ultimatum to Taj Mahal Hotel in South Mumbai to pay the outstanding amount of nearly Rs. 7 crore to the city’s municipal corporation for barricading the footpath near the luxury hotel for security reasons.

Mumbai Police gave permission to barricade the footpath surrounding the plush hotel as a security measure after the hotel was targeted during the 26/11 attacks, Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil said in the Legislative Council.

The hotel was asked to pay Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for barricading the footpath, which it failed to pay.

“Five-star hotels, cinema halls and private companies encroach footpaths and roads around them that causes severe inconvenience to pedestrians and vehicles plying on roads,” Patil said.

NCP MLC Hemant Takle then asked about discrepancies in charging Taj hotel and Trident hotel, which is also located in South Mumbai, for barricading the footpath outside their hotels.

While replying to Takle, Patil said, “Security for these hotels is a sensitive issue. Taj has occupied 1,386 sq mt area, whereas Trident occupied 59 sq mtr and MCGM has accordingly charged the hotels.”

Taj hotel is yet to pay the outstanding amount of nearly Rs. 7 crore and the government gives them an ultimatum of 15 days to pay the outstanding amount, Patil said.

Trident hotel had an outstanding amount of Rs. 16,09,920, of which it has paid Rs. 14,76,000, he said.

Patil was replying to a calling attention motion raised by Congress MLC Anant Gadgil.

PWP MLC Jayant patil, while support the calling attention motion pointed out that about 511 vehicles get registered in Mumbai everyday.

“What are the measures that the government is taking for the parking of these vehicles?” he questioned.

In his reply, Patil said that the government is yet to come up with a parking policy for Mumbai and added that the government will come up with a similar policy for other cities as well if local municipal corporations submit their proposals to the government.

Heavy rains threw normal life out of gear in the metropolis on Tuesday, leading to waterlogging in low-lying areas and disrupting local train services that hampered mobility of thousands in the morning rush hours.

Many other trains were rescheduled including the August Kranti Rajdhani Express.

The incessant rains claimed two lives in a wall collapse at Govandi. A woman injured in the incident was admitted to hospital, an official from Disaster Management cell said.

Low-lying areas like Kurla, Chembur, Tilak Nagar, Andheri, Parel and Lower Parel as well as parts of the neighbouring Thane, Navi Mumbai and Raigad suffered water logging.

In Palghar district, schools were closed for the day as heavy rains lashed the area since last evening, officials said.

The Western Railway’s suburban services were affected between Andheri and Churchgate stations for some time due to a point failure that forced closure of two tracks while train movement on the Central line was suspended for sometime as tracks on some stretches were submerged due to the heavy downpour.

“Soon after point failure was reported, our staff swung into action and it was corrected and services were restored immediately,” Western Railway’s chief PRO Sharat Chandrayan said.

A few services were cancelled as soil beneath the tracks washed away between Palghar and Boisar stretch that led to the closing down of one of the rail tracks.

The suburban trains services were suspended for nearly 10 minutes at around 10.15 am between Kurla and CST due to submergence of tracks between Sion and Kurla, according to a statement by the Central Railway.

CR’s chief PRO Narendra Patil said, “There were few cancellations in the morning as few stretches got submerged, but services were restored by the afternoon. However, trains were running late by 15 to 20 minutes,” he said.

During the last 24 hours, Colaba in south Mumbai received 15.8 mm rainfall while Santacruz weather station recorded 61 mm downpour.

“We are having good to very good clouding at the offshores and expect good rainfall in next 48 hours,” IMD Mumbai centre’s director V K Rajiv said.

The MeT department has issued a high tide warning. The high tide is expected at 3.40 PM and is likely to be 3.98 m high.

Apart from Mumbai, the neighbouring Thane district received 143 mm rain in the last 24 hrs while Thane city alone got 85 mm downpour. Besides, Kalyan recorded 195 mm rain, Bhiwandi 195 mm, Shahapur 138 mm, Ulhasnagar 150 mm, Ambernath 142 mm and Murbad 98.50 mm, according to official figures.

Due to heavy rains and breaches between Palghar and Boisar, five Express trains of Western Railway scheduled to leave Mumbai this morning were cancelled.

The cancelled trains are Ahmedabad Express, Bandra-Surat Inter-city Express, Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express, Mumbai Central-Porbundar Express and Bandra Terminus-Vapi passenger train.

Meanwhile, Palghar District Collector Abhijit Bhangar declared a holiday in schools and other educational institutions in the taluka on account of heavy rains.

In Thane city, a portion of a wall of garden crashed on a vehicle, regional disaster management control room Chief Santosh Kadam said, adding that there were no reports of any injuries.