The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation has said people above the age of 75 can travel for free on its buses from Friday.
An MSRTC release also quoted the state-run transport undertaking’s vice chairman and general manager Shekhar Channe as saying that those eligible for this free travel scheme will get a fare refund if they had booked their tickets before August 26.
It said those between the age of 65 and 75 would get a 50 per cent rebate on ticket fares on select rpt all types of bus services operated by the undertaking.
The free travel facility can be availed by showing identity documents like Aadhaar Card, PAN card, driving licence, Voter’s Card etc, the release said.
It also added that this facility is not available for MSRTC’s city buses and will be for journeys within state limits.
The announcement of the new facility was made by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state Assembly a couple of days ago.
MSRTC has a fleet of more than 16,000 buses and used to ferry almost 65 lakh passengers per day before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Britney Spears has deactivated her Instagram account. According to Page Six, Britney “aims to have a drama-free life”.
After deleting Instagram, Britney took to Twitter and wrote, “I’m learning every day is a clean slate to try and be a better person and do what makes me happy … yes I choose happiness today”. She further wrote, “I tell myself every day to let go of the hurt bitterness and try to forgive myself and others for what may have been hurtful.”
I’m learning everyday is a clean slate to try and be a better person and do what makes me happy … yes I choose happiness today. I tell myself every day to let go of the hurt bitterness and try to forgive myself and others to what may have been hurtful.
She then wrote, “I pray there actually is truth to the Holy Spirit and I hope that spirit is with my children as well !!!” referencing her sons – Sean Preston and Jayden James. She also shared a message about feeling “overwhelmed” ahead of the release of her duet with Elton John, ‘Hold Me Closer,’ which comes out this Friday. She wrote, “my first song in 6 years!!!! It’s pretty damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time…@eltonjohn”
I want to be fearless like when I was younger and not be so scared and fearful. I pray there actually is truth to the Holy Spirit and I hope that spirit is with my children as well !!! Yes … I choose happiness and joy today ☀️ !!!
Well, this is not the first time Britney deleted her Instagram.
Okie dokie … my first song in 6 years ? !!!! It’s pretty damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time … @eltonofficial ?!!!! I’m kinda overwhelmed… it’s a big deal to me !!! I’m meditating more ??♀️ and learning my space is valuable and precious !!!
She has deactivated her Instagram thrice in the past. According to Page Six, In the past, she has returned to the platform mere days after ditching it. Speaking of her personal life, Britney and Sam Asghari got married at the former’s home in June.
The wedding was attended by a lot of stars, including Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton, and Donatella Versace, who also designed the bride’s wedding dress.
Britney and Asghari met on the set of the ‘Slumber Party’ music video in 2016 and got engaged in September last year. Spears also became pregnant earlier this year but experienced a miscarriage in May.
This is the Pop singer’s third marriage. Before, that she was married to Jason Allen Alexander and to American singer Kevin Federline, with whom she got separated in 2007.
She has two sons, 16-year-old Sean and 15-year-old Jaden, whom she shares with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Indian men’s hockey team midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad rued the chance of playing the Final against Australia in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as he suffered a knee injury ahead of the title clash.
The Indian Team settled for a Silver medal at the prestigious Games after losing 0-7 to Australia.
“I was devastated to miss the Commonwealth Games final against Australia. Making the Final of such a prestigious tournament is a big deal for any player. Having played a good campaign to reach the Final and then being ruled out of the summit clash due to injury was devastating for me,” Vivek Sagar Prasad said.
“I really wanted to be there for my team on that particular day. However, this happens in sports. So, the only thing we can do now is to move on,” he added. This was Vivek Sagar’s second outing at the Commonwealth Games.
In 2018, at the Gold Coast CWG, Vivek was the youngest player on the squad. While it was an exciting outing for him as a 17-year-old, the team returned home without a medal.
“The CWG in 2018 was my first experience of a multi-discipline sporting event. I was quite young and really excited. But it was a disappointing outing for us as a team. This time, we were adamant about a good show but again, things did not go as planned in the Final,” he said.
Having rested over the past few weeks, Vivek is all set to join his compatriots on Monday, when the National Camp commences in SAI, Bengaluru.
He said, “it was just a minor injury. Having rested well over the past weeks, I am eager to join my teammates in camp and begin our preparations for the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January. I am sure the team’s support staff will assess my recovery once I join the camp basis which they will plan my workload.”
In a horrific incident, two brothers allegedly raped their minor cousin and grandmother in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, said the officials on Thursday.
One of the brothers has been arrested while the other fled from the spot. The absconding brother was also arrested by officials later.
The incident came to light after the father of the girl informed police that his daughter had been buried.
“2 brothers allegedly raped minor cousin, her grandmother in Jabalpur. A case has been registered under POCSO Act and other sections. They also assaulted her. Her father informed the police after the girl was buried. One held, search on for the second accused is underway,” said Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) PK Shende. Further investigations are underway.
Earlier, a 35-year-old woman, who had gone to bring food, was allegedly gang-raped by 5 men in Jaipur on Thursday night.
The incident happened near the Jaipur Junction Railway station. The woman had gone out to bring food for her husband who was drunk. The five miscreants saw her and reportedly took her forcibly near the railway track. They reportedly tore up her clothes and then raped her one by one.
The woman was somehow able to reach the GRP station half-naked. The police firstly provided her with clothes. After that, they also registered a case.
A special team of the Commissionerate also reached the spot after learning about the incident. Forensic Science Laboratory Division (FSL) officers reached the crime scene.
The victim woman gave them information about the suspected offenders. The team also collected evidence from the spot.
Since then, the police have been conducting multiple searches in the city but no one has been arrested so far. The Government Railway Police also issued a statement regarding the incident and informed about the investigation.
“A 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped near Jaipur Junction railway station yesterday. The Police and FSL teams have conducted an investigation at the crime site,” the Railway Police said.
Actor Gauahar Khan has come out in support of Ranbir Kapoor, who was recently slammed by netizens for his ‘phailoed’ remark on his pregnant wife Alia Bhatt’s weight gain during a live session on YouTube.
Aaj kal log kuch zyada hi sensitive ho gaye hain. Ab apni biwi se kuch halka phulka Mazaak karne pe bhi paabandi hai, kya pata kaun kahan pe offend ho jaaye (People have become very sensitive these days. Now even cracking a light joke with your wife isn’t allowed, who knows what might offend people),” she tweeted.
She added, “Take a chill pill yaar, take light, it will resolve a lot of the issues in the world.”
Aaj kal log kuch zyaada hi sensitive ho gaye hain . Ab apni biwi se kuch halka phulka Mazaak karne pe bhi paabandi hai , kya pata kaun kahaan pe offend ho jaaye . Take a chill pill yaar , take light , it will resolve a lot of the issues in the world .
Meanwhile, Ranbir also apologised for his comment recently. During a press event for his upcoming film Brahmastra in Chennai, Ranbir talked about the same and shared that his intention was not to hurt anybody’s sentiments
“Firstly, I love my wife with everything I have in my life. It’s a joke that didn’t turn out to be funny. It wasn’t my intention. I spoke to Alia about it later and she laughed it off. I have a bad sense of humour which falls flat on my face sometimes. I apologise to those who got triggered by it,” he said.
A few days ago, Ranbir and Alia along with director Ayan Mukerji conducted a YouTube live session for the promotion of their film Brahmastra. During the live session, when the duo was asked why they are not actively promoting ‘Brahmastra’ in the way they do for other movies, Alia replied, “We will promote the film, and we will be everywhere but if the question you are asking is why we are not ‘phailod’ everywhere, right now our focus is… “It was at this point that Ranbir cut her in between and pointed at his wife’s baby bump saying, “Well I can say somebody has phailod (referencing her weight gain).” However, he did add that his comment was meant as a joke.
Though Ranbir made it clear that he was joking, unfortunately, it did not go well with many social media users, who later slammed the ‘Shamshera’ actor for allegedly ‘fat-shaming’ Alia.
The clip of the interaction circulated on several social media.
Ranbir and Alia tied the knot on April 14, 2022, and in June 2022, the couple announced the news of their pregnancy.
Apart from the baby’s arrival, the two are also awaiting the release of their film ‘Brahmastra’, which is scheduled to hit the theatres on September 9.
Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, and south actor Nagarjuna will also be seen in prominent roles in Ayan Mukerji’s directorial.
Senior Congress leader and former minister RS Chib also resigned from the primary membership of the Congress and said that Congress has lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the people require a decisive leader like Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide them towards a better future.
Trouble is mounting for Indian National Congress as several leaders tendered their resignation following the resignation of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from all party positions on Friday.
“We knew he would resign, had been having these talks for the past 2 months. Ghulam Nabi Azad was pushed against the wall by the party High Command, he had no choice but to quit the party & it’s primary membership,” RS Chib said.
He said that Congress lost decisive leadership both at the central and the state level.
“This loss caused party’s graph to decline… GN Azad is a leader himself, his decision is his own. But we will stay with him in whatever he decides,” Chib added.
Chib, in his letter of resignation to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, wrote, “…I feel that in the prevailing circumstances, Congress Party has lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of my state.”
“Keeping in view the turmoil that the State of J&K has witnessed over the past decades, the people require a decisive leader like Jb. Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide them towards a better future. I feel that Congress party has not been able to play the role that is expected of it,” he added.
Citing differences in the views of him and those at the “helm of the Party affairs”, he said that it would be the “best course of action” to part ways with the party.
Chib’s resignation came after 5 other Congress MLAs, including GM Saroori, Haji Abdul Rashid, Mohd Amin Bhat, Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Choudhary Mohd Akram resigned in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday resigned from all positions of the Congress party including the primary membership of the party.
“The Indian National Congress has lost both the will and the ability under the tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India,” Azad wrote in his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi.
In his letter of resignation to the Congress interim president, Azad had resigned from all the party posts, including its primary membership.
Azad cited the “immaturity” of Rahul Gandhi, whom he blamed for “demolishing the consultative mechanism” in the party.
In a hard-hitting 5 page note to party interim president Sonia Gandhi, Azad claimed that a coterie runs the party while she was just a nominal head and all the major decisions were taken by “Shri Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs”.
The development comes days after Azad resigned from the organizational post of Jammu and Kashmir. Recounting his long association with the Congress and his close relationship with Indira Gandhi, Azad said the situation in the Congress party has reached a point of “no return.”
“The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC has been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road,” Azad wrote.
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Azad wrote, “Since the 2019 elections the situation in the party has only worsened. After. Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a ‘huff’ and not before insulting all the senior Party functionaries who have given their lives to the party in a meeting of the extended Working Committee, you took over as interim President. A position that you have continue to hold even today for the past three years.”
Azad said that it was “worse still the ‘remote control model’ that demolished the institutional integrity of the UPA government now got applied to the Indian National Congress.”
He continued the attack on Rahul Gandhi but praised Sonia Gandhi for playing a “sterling” role as Congress President in both the UPA governments.
Azad’s resignation followed a series of exits of senior leaders from the party, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jaiveer Shergil, Jitin Prasada, amongst others.
Azad’s resignation comes ahead of the 2024 elections and after indications that elections to the post of Congress chief would be postponed yet again. The Congress top leadership has announced a ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya on Friday claimed former guardian ministers of Mumbai Aaditya Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and Aslam Sheikh of the Congress were involved in a “Rs 1,000 crore studio scam”.
Both were allegedly connected to the construction of a film studio in the Madh-Marve area of Mumbai’s northern Malad suburb by violating Coastal Regulation Zones, said Somaiya, who visited the site during the day with civic officials.
“Permission was given for a film set in the CRZ area in February 2021 by the Maharashtra environment ministry, which was headed at the time by Aaditya Thackeray.
However, a proper cement-concrete structure with commercial facilities came up,” the former Lok Sabha MP told reporters.
“Despite an order in July 2021 to demolish the structure, no action was taken and the civic body gave an extension to the studio till October 2022. The studio and the commercial structures are a scam of Rs 1,000 crore,” Somaiya alleged.
The area where the alleged studio has come up falls in the Assembly constituency of Aslam Sheikh, who has earlier denied these allegations.
195 secondary schools to be merged with base schools in Assam 9
Assam government on Friday issued an order to merge 195 newly provincialised secondary schools with base schools across the state.
According to an order issued by Mamata Hojai, Director of Secondary Education, Assam on August 25, 195 newly provincialised secondary schools all across the state will be merged with base schools.
“In pursuance of the Govt. orders issued vide no. ASE.73/2021/12, dated February 18, 2021, and as per approval of the Secondary Education Department, Govt. of Assam vide letter no.
ASE.263/2022/244, dated August 6, 2022, the Directorate of Secondary Education, Assam is pleased to issue the order of merger of newly provincialised Schools with Base School of 195 Secondary Schools of Assam under ‘The Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 as amended in 2018.” In the order, the Director of Secondary Education, Assam has requested the concerned Inspector of Schools to instruct the Head of the institutions of newly provincials schools to shift all materials/articles/ school furniture etc.
to the Base Schools immediately. “The land, building and other assets of the newly provincialised schools shall vest with the government,” said the order copy.
Meanwhile, according to the order copy, out of 195 newly provincialised secondary schools 47 schools in Barpeta district, 13 schools in Bongaigaon district, 7 schools each in Cachar, Darrang and Sivasagar, 23 schools in Dhemaji, 18 schools in Dhubri, one school each in Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Nalbari, 5 schools in Goalpara, 2 schools each in Goalpara and Tinsukia, 3 schools each in Hailakandi and Nagaon, 10 schools each in Jorhat and Lakhimpur, 4 schools each in Kamrup (M) and Karimganj, 18 schools in Kamrup (R), 9 schools in Morigaon, will be merged.
Mumbai Police busted a gang which was conducting fake Income Tax (IT) raids in Akshay Kumar’s ‘Special 26’ style at a businessman’s residence.
The Parksite Police Station, under the Mumbai Police, busted the gang during their investigation at the Green Building, Hiranandani in Vikhroli.
The police informed that the gang was conducting a fake raid at a businessman named Mayank Bajaj’s residence.
The gang members reached the businessman’s residence at 1 pm on July 26 when Mayank Bajaj was not at his home. The gang members came in formal clothes and posed as Income Tax officers by showing fake ID cards.
They started conducting the raid by showing a fake warrant. They were able to find 1 lakh cash from the house.
But, once Mr Bajaj came back, he contacted the IT department from where he came to know that no raid is being conducted by the department.
After that, he complained at the nearest police station and the police came and arrested the gang. Four people have been arrested in connection with the case.
They have been identified as Dheeraj Kamble, Prashant Bhatnagar, Wasim Kureshi and Ejaz Khan.
One of the accused Nita Kamble was a household help at the businessman’s residence.
She gave the information about the money to the gang after which they planned this fake raid.
The police also informed that the masterminds of the gang, namely, Nitin Kothari, Nita Kamble, Mariam Appa, and Shamim Khan are still not arrested.
So far, police have searched areas in Gujarat, Mumbai, Raigarh, Beed and Panvel. The police have registered a case against the arrested members under sections 420, 406, 451, 452, 170, and 120 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
BJP leader Sonali Phogat was forcibly drugged at a party by her two associates who are now arrested after being named as accused in the case related to her death, Goa Police said on Friday.
“On the basis of CCTV footage,it was seen that the accused Sudhir Sangwan and his associate Sukhwinder Singh were partying with the deceased at a club. A video establishes that one of them forcefully made the victim consume a substance,” Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.
The accused Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh had travelled to Goa along with Phogat on August 22.
“When confronted, Sukhwinder and Sudhir confessed that they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it,” IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.
The two accused- Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh- have been arrested and further investigations are on, the Goa Police said.
Sonali Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka had filed a complaint alleging that Sonali was murdered by Sudhir Sangwan, her personal trainer along with Sukhwinder Singh who intended “to take over her properties and financial assets to finish her political career. “
The drugging incident happened at Curlies Restaurant at Anjuna in North Goa, according to the confession by the accused.
The two accused confessed that after they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it, which made her feel uneasy, after which they took her to the hotel and then to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where she was declared brought dead,” the Goa police said.
The police also said that the CCTV footage confirmed that the victim was forcibly given the substance. But the exact cause of her death will be confirmed only after by experts from the forensic science laboratory.
Dhaka alleged that “Phogat’s PA raped her after adding drugs to her meals”. He also claimed that the actor had no plans to visit Goa and she was brought there as per a conspiracy.
“She had no plan to come to Goa. She was brought as per a pre-planned conspiracy. There was no movie shoot. Two rooms in the hotel had been booked only for two days. Film shooting was supposed to happen on August 24 but rooms were only booked for August 21-22,” Dhaka said.
After Dhaka’s complaint, new reports surfaced that claimed Gopal Kanda is helping Sangwan and Sukhwinder.
However, on Friday, Dhaka denied the allegation while speaking to the media in Haryana.
Sonali Phogat’s post-mortem was done in Goa and as per Rinku Dhaka, the post-mortem report showed four injuries and poison as the cause of death.
“A probe should be done as per the filed FIR. The post-mortem report says that her (Sonali Phogat) body has marks of injury,” Dhakahad said earlier.
Goa Police on Thursday said no sharp-edged injuries were found on the body of the actor.
The Goa Police on Thursday also registered a murder case against the two accused.
Meanwhile, Phogat’s last rites were conducted on Friday at Hisar in Haryana.
The actor, who rose to fame with her TikTok videos, contested the 2019 Haryana election as a BJP candidate but lost to then Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi (he has since joined the BJP). She also appeared in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2020.
