
New Delhi: State-run BHEL on Tuesday said it will invest Rs 500 crore for setting up a manufacturing facility at Bhandara in Maharashtra. "BHEL is setting up a new Power Equipment Fabrication Plant at Bhandara in Maharashtra. The greenfield unit is being set up by the company at an initial investment of Rs 500 Crore and will provide direct employment to about 700 persons," BHEL said in a statement. The...

12:49 PM, May 14, 2013

Mumbai: A 19-year-old engineering student's life met a tragic end in Mumbai. His suicide note names two seniors who allegedly ragged him. Engineering student Nitin Padalkar, unable to handle the stress and anguish of being ragged in college, allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in Kalyan near Mumbai on May 10. A suicide note recovered along with his body, says, "It has become difficult for me...

12:34 PM, May 13, 2013

Mumbai: Whoever said that celebrities don't care about what's going on in the real world, Salman Khan will make them rethink that. He has promised to donate 2,500 water tanks to drought-hit districts in Maharashtra, which is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Across Maharashtra, it has been a devastatingly dry summer as more than 11,000 villages grapple with the worst drought in four decades. But there might be...

10:09 AM, May 13, 2013

Mumbai: Amid ongoing stand-off between traders and state government over proposed imposition of Local Body Tax (LBT), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday asked traders to not hold common people to ransom and open their shops. In a press statement issued in Mumbai, Raj said that LBT, to be imposed in Mumbai and some municipal corporations in the state from October 1, either be scrapped or amended. "Henceforth,...

11:47 PM, May 12, 2013

Mumbai: Perturbed by strident opposition to imposition of Local Body Tax (LBT) in Mumbai and some municipal corporations from October 1, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday asked Congress leaders to "clear misconceptions" pertaining to the levy. "The chief minister asked state Congress leaders, including MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre and Mumbai Congress president Janardhan Chandurkar, to clear misconceptions of traders, merchants and opposition parties about LBT," Chavan was quoted...

11:36 PM, May 12, 2013

Mumbai: Wholesalers in the city would continue to observe bandh against the local body tax (LBT) even as associations representing retailers called off their strike on Saturday. "Despite a section of the retailers calling off the strike, wholesalers' strike against LBT will continue," Federation of Associations of Maharashtra President Mohan Gurnani said in a statement in Mumbai. The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association, led by Viren Shah, had announced...

11:24 PM, May 12, 2013

Mumbai: In a good news for people of Mumbai, retailers called off their strike against the Local Body Tax on late Saturday and said they were ready to talk to the government. The announcement came even as the city struggled with shortage of supplies due to the three-week long strike. Supporting the agitation by Maharashtra traders against the newly introduced Local Body Tax which replaces octroi, Indian Merchants' Chamber had...

11:26 PM, May 11, 2013

Mumbai: Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil has directed the police to lodge a case of kidnapping in instances of missing children below 14 years. "The Home Minister has directed that instead of filing the case of missing children below 14 years in police register, an offence of kidnap be lodged," a spokesperson for the minister said in a statement here. Patil has directed that a circular in this regard be...

09:58 AM, May 11, 2013

Mumbai: In a landmark decision, all children below 14 years of age who are reported missing shall be treated as "kidnapped" and the matter investigated accordingly, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil said in Mumbai on Friday. "Henceforth, any child below the age of 14 shall be directly treated as kidnapped, the case will be lodged accordingly and investigations shall be taken up with seriousness," Patil said. The decision follows a...

04:56 AM, May 11, 2013

Mumbai: An explosion in a state transport bus in Latur district of Maharashtra on Friday evening left several injured. According to sources, the cause of the blast was unknown. Nearly 10-15 people are believed to have been injured in the blast. Sources said a bomb disposal squad has been rushed and the Maharashtra ATS is on its way to the site. Initial reports said that the blast took place between...

07:57 PM, May 10, 2013

Mumbai: A fire broke out on the sixth floor of the Income Tax Building in Marine Lines area in south Mumbai on Thursday night but there were no report of casualties. Ten fire engines have been rushed to the spot, fire brigade sources said. The building, called 'Aayakar Bhavan', houses office of the Commissioner of the Income Tax. The fire call was received at 10:20 pm. There were no reports...

01:26 AM, May 10, 2013

Mumbai: Federation of Associations of Maharashtra (FAM) representing 750 trade associations in the state on Thursday said, it would continue with its call for indefinite trade bandh till the LBT (Local Body Tax) is removed, even as the agitation entered 18th day. The decision on indefinite strike was taken at a meeting of traders called by FAM at Azad Maidan on Thursday. Several BJP leaders like Jaywantiben Mehta, Raj Purohit,...

01:06 AM, May 10, 2013

Mumbai: Mumbai's bustling markets on Thursday wore an empty, deserted look. Since Monday, over one lakh traders in the city have shut shop to protest against the Local Body Tax (LBT) that the Maharashtra government has introduced to replace octroi. Traders say that the protest has caused a loss of Rs 75,000 crore so far. But they are not backing down yet. With talks with the government failing, they have...

07:37 PM, May 09, 2013

Nashik: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday recovered cash worth Rs 57,69,000 and over 9 kg of gold from two bank lockers of Swati Chikhlikar, wife of suspended PWD executive engineer (Nashik north) Satish Chikhlikar, besides 5 kg of silver from another locker in her name. The seizure is collectively estimated over Rs 3,27,29,000, according to a senior ACB officer. "ACB seized cash of Rs 57,69,000, 9.558 kg of gold, including...

04:51 PM, May 09, 2013

New Delhi: The Empowered Group of Ministers on Drought, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, on Wednesday approved an additional assistance of Rs 256 crore for rejuvenation of orchards in drought-hit Maharasthra. However, the decision on extension of duty-free import of oilcakes to boost fodder supply was left to the Finance Ministry, which will take a call after assessing the demand and supply situation. "The proposal on providing additional assistance...

12:28 PM, May 08, 2013

Mumbai: After the Congress, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Tuesday demanded that Mumbai Cricket Association lift its five-year ban on actor Shah Rukh Khan from entering Wankhede Stadium. Khan's Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians were set to face off at the Wankhede Stadium here Tuesday and the star would miss the match if the ban is not lifted. Thackeray said it was...

12:03 PM, May 08, 2013

Thane: The prosecution in the Thane building crash case on Tuesday opposed the bail pleas of two senior municipal officers arrested for the tragedy which claimed the lives of 74 people last month. Suspended Deputy Municipal Commissioner Deepak Chavan and Assistant Municipal Commissioner Shayam Thorbole were among 22 persons arrested for the collapse of a seven-storey unauthorised building in Shil-Phata area. Assistant Public Prosecutor Hemlata Deshmukh opposed the bail applications...

10:36 AM, May 08, 2013

Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Tuesday set up an 11-member committee headed by Women and Child Welfare Minister Varsha Gaikwad to finalise the women's policy draft which was unveiled on March 8, 2013, celebrated as International Women's Day. The two-month period for seeking objections and suggestions for the draft policy ends tomorrow. The committee will meet on May 10, 2013 to discuss the inputs received and give a final shape to...

03:50 AM, May 08, 2013

Yavatmal: Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has ordered the Maharashtra Government to file an affidavit on a PIL which alleges corruption committed in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Agency (MGNREGA) scheme in the district in 2011-12. The division bench of Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice AB Chaudhari on Friday ordered the government to file an affidavit on the PIL by July 22, 2013. The PIL was filed...

02:05 AM, May 07, 2013

The usual dusty small-town India greets us as a small group of people associated with the NGO Caring Friends travel over two-and-a-half days through Aurangabad and Jalna to understand the problems in the region and what help could be given. On the face of it, people seem to be going about their normal life. Where are the signs of distress that we had read in the media? Don't girls and...

11:08 PM, May 06, 2013