Thane society combats water scarcity with sustainable solutions

As Mumbai faces a 10 per cent water cut and dwindling potable water in its reservoirs, BMC has resorted to using reserve stocks. Residents of the Saprem Co-operative Society in Thane are now creating sustainable solutions to combat water scarcity. For more than two decades, the residents of the 64-flat society in Lokmanya Nagar have struggled with frequent water disruptions forcing them to rely on expensive water tankers costing up to Rs 1 lakh per month....Read More

Mumbai: Tricolour signboards scrapped

The Indian Railways on Thursday said it was rolling back its policy based on the Indian tricolour and reverting to the blue and red signage for station names. Station signage of Borivli on the WR and Badlapur on the Central Railway had been changed as per the new policy so far....Read More

Mumbai: Bus owners protest against faulty Ashok Leyland model

Around 61 bus operators and members of the Mumbai Bus Owners Association, a registered association of passenger bus owners in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), are protesting against Ashok Leyland buses, which have been experiencing multiple faults on the road. The bus owners claim that the company has not responded to their concerns and have been staging protests at the company`s showroom in Naigaon. The bus association is also affiliated with the Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India (BOCI), a national body of passenger vehicles....Read More

Thane: Boy goes for surgery, gets a circumcision!

The parents of a nine-year-old boy who was recently admitted to a sub-district hospital in Thane for leg surgery claimed on Thursday that he had been mistakenly circumcised instead. They have filed a complaint with the hospital and police, alleging that the doctors got confused due to the presence of other patients in a similar age group. While doctors claim that they were in the right as the boy had an infection on his penis, his parents firmly deny this. An inquiry has been initiated under the supervision of Dr Kailas Pawar, civil surgeon of Thane Civil Hospital....Read More

Mid-Day Impact | Mumbai: Borivli doesn’t have to grill and bear it any more

The BMC has removed the three-foot-tall grills it had installed in the middle of a Borivli West road to safeguard manholes after mid-day reported on the issue. According to BMC officials, the grills were installed to prevent accidents due to the possibility of manhole covers getting dislodged during surcharge and sewage upthrust due to rain. The work of improving the sewer network is underway and will take at least two more years to complete.....Read More

Mumbai: Banganga Tank steps damaged after BMC contractor drives excavator during desilting work, FIR lodged

In a shocking incident, some steps of the centuries-old Banganga Tank in Mumbai suffered damage after an excavator moved over them while carrying out desilting works, leading to the lodging of an FIR against the contractor....Read More

Mumbai: Central Railway commuters unite, petition for improved AC local train services

More than a thousand regular AC local train travellers on Central Railway have created a unified WhatsApp group for regular updates on the trains. They have now petitioned the Railways to increase AC local services, add more coaches for women commuters and eliminate the ‘Sunday timetable’ that leads to the cancellation of regular train services. Central Railway Mumbai operates 66 AC local train services ferrying 78,000 passengers per day....Read More

Vasai murder case: Two minutes of rage, says killer; it was premeditated, say cops

Rohit Yadav, the 29-year-old who bludgeoned his 20-year-old former girlfriend Aarti Yadav to death on the morning of June 18, showed no remorse during the initial days of his interrogation but has now confided to his lawyer Harish Gaur that ‘two minutes of anger ruined everything’. “We have seen the video [of Rohit attacking Aarti]. It was absolutely inhuman. Rohit told me he was infuriated with her and everything happened in a fit of rage that lasted two minutes,” Gaur told mid-day....Read More

Law education for prisoners hits a legal hurdle

The Bar Council of India may need to come out with a mechanism in setting up study centres to those prisoners aspiring to pursue legal education. Universities in Maharashtra do not have such a provision to set up any study and exam centres, as law education cannot be imparted in distance education mode. The state prison department had recently written to the vice-chancellors of five universities in the state requesting them to establish study and exam centres in the prisons and almost all of them have responded in negative....Read More

‘No data on wheelchairs at Mumbai airport’

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are unaware of the number of wheelchairs available at Mumbai airport, despite wheelchairs being an essential service for the handicapped and elderly. Recently, the DGCA fined Air India and Mumbai Airport for not providing a wheelchair to an elderly passenger who had to walk a long distance, ultimately leading to his death. A Right To Information (RTI), request and a subsequent first appeal filed by this reporter with the DGCA revealed that both authorities lack this crucial information.....Read More

‘Atal Setu road cracks to be fixed in 12 hrs,` MMRDA

With the government left red-faced by cracks appearing in the Ulwe approach road to Atal Setu within six months of the Rs 17,843-crore project’s launch, MMRDA has asserted that the repairs will be completed within 12 hours. Repair work continued non-stop, even through the rainy night....Read More