New Delhi: Deposing before the Adarsh Commission, Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan has blamed the Principal Secretary (Revenue) for the controversy surrounding the housing project, saying he signed the letter of intent on good faith. "I was guided by Principal Secretary (Revenue) DK Shankaran regarding the conditional 'Letter of Intent'. I wasn't aware of the detailed conditions. I signed it in good faith. The details of the membership of...
01:20 PM, Jul 02, 2012
Mumbai: Work has resumed at the Maharashtra state secretariat on Monday, four days after a fire killed five people in the Mantralaya fire. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar arrived at the Mantralaya on Monday. Three floors have been cleared, say authorities. A small ceremony was held to remember the victims. The building will remain closed to the visitors though. Five people died, and 14...
12:24 PM, Jun 25, 2012
Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday met the grieving family members of two state government employees, who were killed in the devastating fire at Mantralaya on Thursday, to offer his condolences. Secretariat employee Mohan More and a retired state government employee Tukaram More were two of the five persons who were killed in the blaze. Chavan first visited Mohan More's residence in suburban Mira Road and expressed grief...
03:21 AM, Jun 25, 2012
Mumbai: A day after a massive blaze gutted top floors of the Maharashtra secretariat in Mumbai, an RTI activist on Friday said the mishap could have been averted had the government implemented suggestions in a fire safety audit report in 2008. "Police cases should be filed against officials of the Public Works Department and General Administrative Department for negligence of fire safety audit norms," Athak Seva Sangh chairman and RTI...
09:24 AM, Jun 23, 2012
A day after the fire at the Mantralaya, the CM admits that safety norms were flouted as the opposition alleges sabotage. ...
11:45 PM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: The fire at the Maharashtra Secretariat claimed five lives and caused severe structural damage as well. However, more than the structural damage, the loss of important files in the fire has stumped the state government. Conspiracy theories abound as many allege the fire was intentionally started to destroy paper trails of corruption scams. Even before the embers of the inferno died down, politics played out and conspiracy theories were...
09:13 PM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: The blaze at Mantralaya that has so far claimed five lives and destroyed several official documents could have been averted if the state government had heeded fire audit warnings two years ago, a leading RTI activist has claimed. In a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and leader of Opposition Vihar Durve said that in April 2009, he had written to then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, specifically intimating the...
04:50 PM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: As fire engulfed the Maharashtra Mantralaya building on Thursday, five brave men put their lives in danger to climb atop the towering inferno to lower the Tricolor. The men refused to come down till they had lowered the national flag. As the fire spread, these men stood by the flag pole ready to protect it from the flames. The Triclour was hoisted at the Mantralaya office on Friday afternoon....
02:41 PM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said that fire safety norms might have been flouted at the Mantralaya. He also promised to take steps to recover data from computer hard disks damaged in the fire. "We will try to restore hard disks and recover data from them. We will seek help of Nasscom, cyber cell and even foreign experts," Chavan said. The announcement was made after the state...
01:59 PM, Jun 22, 2012
The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader expresses surpise at the fact that the Chief Minister's office had miraculously not been affected by the fire. ...
11:53 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: A special meeting of Maharashtra Cabinet will be held on Friday to review the situation in the aftermath of the massive fire that engulfed the state secretariat 'Mantralaya'. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who has announced a crime branch probe into the incident, will chair the meeting to be held at Vidhan Bhawan, CM's PRO Aniruddh Ashtaputre, who was among those injured in the incident, said. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit...
10:49 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: The fire at the Mantralaya building which houses the state secretariat in Mumbai has finally been doused. Firefighters worked through the night on Thursday to bring the blaze under control. With the recovery of two more bodies on Friday morning the death toll has risen to five, one of whom is yet to be identified. Several people are still believed to be missing. Over 3,000 people were evacuated to...
09:05 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Mumbai: Firefighters in Mumbai worked through the night on Thursday to bring the blaze at the Mantralaya building which houses the state secretariat under control. Two people have died and one was missing. The Crime Branch began its probe even as the Opposition called for an independent probe suspecting a sabotage angle as key files related to Adarsh and other scams were kept in the secretariat. Bystanders spot smoke coming...
07:40 AM, Jun 22, 2012
The fire also gutted the offices of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the Chief Secretary and several other ministers. ...
10:57 PM, Jun 21, 2012
Mumbai: The massive fire that broke out at the Mantralaya building in Mumbai killed at least three people and injured as many as 14 others. The fire also gutted the offices of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the Chief Secretary and several other ministers. Hours after the incident, the Chief Minister, along with fire officials entered the premises of the Mantralaya for inspection. The Maharashtra government...
10:34 PM, Jun 21, 2012
Mumbai: The Crime Branch of the Mumbai police will probe the fire incident at 'Mantralaya', the Maharashtra government Secretariat, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced on Thursday. Asked by reporters whether it could be an act of sabotage, he said, "We don't want to jump to conclusion. Crime Branch will probe the incident." The police wing usually probes cases which are underworld-related or those which are sensitive in nature. Responding to...
10:12 PM, Jun 21, 2012
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has ordered an inquiry into the massive fire that broke out at the Mantralaya office in Mumbai, gutting the offices of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Chief Secretary and several other ministers. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that all Urban Development Ministry files have been scanned and so there was no loss. "There are around 3 crore 50 lakh pages scanned...
07:13 PM, Jun 21, 2012
Mumbai: The much-anticipated Mumbai Metro Railway project has been delayed by eight months and is now expected to be operational by March 2013, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here on Tuesday. "Owing to certain impediments, the project has suffered delays and we hope to make it operational by March next year," Chavan told mediapersons. According to the current plan, the project's first phase, providing a 12 km east-west Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor,...
10:09 AM, Jun 13, 2012
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has ridiculed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar over the latter's criticism of the Congress-led government in Maharashtra. "If the Congress-led government in the state is ineffective, why is the Pawar-led NCP still glued to it," Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Monday. At a meeting of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday, Pawar had, in a veiled attack on Chief...
10:41 PM, Jun 04, 2012
