Mumbai: Cousins Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who were among the early supporters of activist Sonam Wangchuk’s indefinite fast, on Thursday announced a Tiranga morcha for the public from Shivaji Park to Siddhivinayak temple from 10am on Sunday.On Friday too, the two parties will lead a public gathering near Meenatai Thackeray’s statue at Dadar Shivaji Park at 4pm, followed by the recitation of the national anthem at 5pm under the slogan ‘One Nation – One Emotion’.Both events are open to the public and will display only the Indian flag. “I spoke to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the party might support the morcha on Sunday,” said Uddhav.Taking a strong view of police beating protesters in Delhi, Raj warned, “If anyone tries to disrupt our peaceful march on Sunday, we will beat them up. If hooligans enter the march, we will not spare them.”Uddhav said that the issue had gone beyond NEET and that the simmering anger among people over years of ‘Modi rule’ had become an outburst. “When I visited Delhi, I met a young man who had come to Jantar Mantar because had lost his entire livelihood during demonetisation,” said the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief.Raj said the govt had ignored the protesters and now the anger had entered every home. “The protest has entered every home and the govt is now on the backfoot. Everyone can join our protest. Even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi or NCP chief Sharad Pawar,” he added.The MNS chief also criticised the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for saying that he did not have time to watch videos of the protest: “He gave birth to the cockroach. And now he does not have time to watch his child,” mocked Raj.Uddhav added, “The courts have time for dogs and pigeons, but not cockroaches. Has the situation in the court also become like that of Dhritarashtra? It’s like Draupadi is asking Dhritarashtra for justice.”He alleged that BJP had introduced goons in civilian clothes into the protests to foment violence. “Who are these people in civilian clothes wielding police lathis?” asked Uddhav. “BJP has got goons from Pakistan to try and disrupt the protest.”In a related development, Congress has demanded action against police personnel who allegedly violated students’ privacy by checking their mobile phones and illegally detaining them during the recent protests.A party delegation, led by Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal, met state director general of police Sadanand Date and Mumbai police commissioner Deven Bharti and submitted a memorandum outlining its concerns. In their memorandum, the party raised four issues: violation of privacy, illegal detention of around 700 students, misuse of prohibitory orders to register FIRs, and release of students who were still in detention at different police stations.Sapkal alleged that police had detained students who had not even reached the main protest venue. They were illegally picked up from Metro stations, public roads, and even directly from their homes, he claimed.Meanwhile, to provide necessary assistance and legal guidance to students during protests and similar situations, Mumbai Congress has constituted a special task force of its workers, and district coordinators have been appointed by the party, along with one lawyer, for each assembly constituency.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ daughter, Divija Fadnavis, on Thursday weighed in on the ongoing student protests over the alleged NEET paper leak, saying peaceful demonstrations are a democratic right but warning that violence by either protesters or the police should not be tolerated.In an Instagram post, the 19-year-old said she decided to share her views after being repeatedly asked to comment on the student agitation led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in New Delhi.“Peaceful protests are the right of citizens in a democracy. Violence by protesters towards police and police violence towards protesters should not be permitted,” she said.

Divija urged citizens to support reforms in the education system without “blindly” backing political parties or their ideologies.She advised people to examine the “true intentions” of those leading any movement before extending their support.She also said that the Opposition in a democracy should keep the country’s interests in mind and help the government take better decisions, instead of acting as its “enemy” and trying to defame the ruling party.Appealing to social media users to think independently, Divija said people should not support any issue merely because it is trending online or allow themselves to be “brainwashed” into following any ideology.“As long as the interests of students come first, it is all good,” she said.She, however, cautioned that once protests move beyond issues such as the NEET examination, paper leaks and the National Testing Agency (NTA), and shift towards religion or unrelated matters, “the intention changes”.The CJP-led agitation, demanding accountability over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations, reforms in the education system and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, began at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on June 20.The outfit also organised its ‘Sansad Chalo’ march on July 20.(With PTI inputs)

Mumbai: A 32-year-old man was arrested by Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) in connection with robbing and assaulting a revenue officer at Dockyard Road station recently. His associate is wanted.The arrested accused, Altamash Khan, has a criminal history with prior offences of robbery registered against him. Police recovered the stolen Rs 1,200 from him. Police said he threw away the revenue officer’s driving licence, which was also stolen.The incident took place on July 16, around 2.10pm, when the 28-year-old revenue officer, who works with the district collector’s office at CSMT, boarded a CSMT-bound local from Cotton Green station’s platform no. 2. The train reached Dockyard Road station in 10 minutes and two men entered the general compartment that the complainant was seated in. As soon as the train started, the duo snatched the complainant’s wallet and driving licence and alighted.The complainant immediately followed them out of the train and a scuffle ensued between him and the robbers. The two accused assaulted him and threatened him before they fled.The complainant later told the police that the accused were about 5.3-5.4ft tall and were wearing blue shirts.The incident sparked concerns about commuter safety at railway stations and whether security agencies like the Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force are doing enough.A few weeks ago, a viral video clip captured a man thrashing a woman on the railway tracks at Dadar station. They later turned out to be a married couple and were having a dispute. Last week, another video went viral capturing two transgender persons beating up a male commuter on a Western Railway local following a dispute over asking money.Last month, a 21-year-old passenger, Mayank Lohar, was allegedly stabbed to death by a co-traveller, Roshan Suvarna, over an argument about keeping the compartment door closed amid rain. In a similar incident, in January, college lecturer Alok Kumar Singh was allegedly murdered by a co-traveller, Omkar Shinde, over a trivial argument about alighting at the station.

Palghar: Relentless rain continued to batter Palghar district on Thursday, triggering widespread flooding, disrupting transport and power supply, and cutting off more than 200 villages from the rest of the district. Authorities evacuated 891 people from flood-hit areas, while one person died in Dahanu taluka in a rain-related incident.The district recorded an average rainfall of 183.3 mm in the 24 hours ended 8 am on Thursday. Dahanu and Talasari were the worst-hit talukas, where overflowing rivers and submerged roads brought normal life to a standstill. A total of 218 families, comprising 891 residents, were shifted to safer locations as a precaution.The district administration has activated its emergency response mechanism, with four National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams deployed for rescue and relief operations. Authorities said the identity of the deceased in Dahanu is yet to be established.Power supply has remained completely disrupted in Dahanu and Talasari since Wednesday night, while mobile network services have also collapsed in several areas. Floodwaters entered several houses in Bordi and Gholvad, leaving residents stranded. Water levels reached up to three to four feet inside many homes.Rail services have been affected too. Several long-distance trains on the Western Railway network and suburban services on the Dahanu–Churchgate section have been disrupted, causing hardship to thousands of commuters.The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway has also been affected by the heavy rain. Waterlogging on the Talasari–Umbergaon stretch forced authorities to close the road ahead. To prevent traffic congestion, motorists have been advised to park their vehicles near roadside hotels and dhabas along the highway until the water recedes.Heavy rain has also severely affected the power infrastructure. Sixteen Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) substations across Talasari, Dahanu, Wada, Vikramgad, Jawhar and Mokhada have gone offline, while power supply through 108 feeders has been disrupted. Uprooted trees, snapped power lines and damaged electricity poles have left more than one lakh consumers without electricity.Floodwaters have submerged several bridges and roads across the district after rivers and streams crossed the danger mark. As a result, more than 200 villages have been cut off, and traffic on several key roads has been temporarily suspended.An MSRTC bus got stranded in floodwaters on the Saivan–Waghadi road in Dahanu taluka after the driver misjudged the water level while crossing the flooded stretch. Four passengers, along with the driver and conductor, were trapped inside the bus. Local residents and police personnel rushed to the spot and rescued all six using ropes. No injuries were reported.

Mumbai: Mumbai remained under an orange alert for the third consecutive day on Thursday, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places along with gusty winds of 60-70 kmph. Neighbouring Palghar continued under a red alert, while Thane also remained under an orange alert.For Friday, a yellow alert is in place for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar, forecasting heavy rains at isolated places.Meanwhile, heavy downpour in Kalyan, Thane district, submerged key bridges on Thursday, severely impacting traffic and connectivity in the region, an official said on Thursday. Kalyan Tehsildar Vikas Garudkar said that the Runde bridge on the Titwala-Falegaon road went completely underwater around 8 am due to rising water levels in the Kalu River.“As a precautionary measure to ensure public safety, the Runde bridge has been completely closed to all vehicular traffic,” Tehsildar Garudkar stated. The Walkas-Vehare bridge in the taluka has also been rendered impassable and shut to traffic for the past five hours following heavy rains, the official added.In Mumbai, however, despite the orange warning, rainfall was moderate compared with other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am Thursday, the IMD’s Santacruz observatory recorded 63.6 mm of rainfall, while Colaba received 22.2 mm. Thane recorded 99.32 mm and Navi Mumbai 56.87 mm.The heaviest rainfall was reported from Palghar district, where several areas received triple-digit rainfall. Jawhar topped the chart with 274 mm, followed by Palghar (254 mm), Wada (166 mm) and Vasai (102 mm) in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning. The IMD has forecast extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the district.Within Vasai taluka, Agashi (Virar West) recorded 123 mm, Bolinj (Virar) 104 mm, Kaman 101 mm, Manikpur (Vasai West) 98 mm, Mandvi 74 mm and Pelhar (Vasai East) 70 mm.The fresh spell of rainfall significantly boosted water reserves in the seven lakes supplying Mumbai, with live storage rising to 70% of capacity, an increase of nearly 8 percentage points in a single day.Modak Sagar became the fourth lake to overflow this monsoon after reaching its full supply level at around 2 am on Thursday. The lake supplies 440 million litres per day (MLD) of water to Mumbai.Mumbai receives 4,100 million litres of water per day (MLD) from seven lakes—Modak Sagar, Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Vihar, Tulsi and Tansa. To meet the city’s annual water requirement, the reservoirs need a combined storage of 14.47 lakh million litres.

Mumbai: Amid mounting concern over a series of fatal BEST bus accidents, BEST committee chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao has widened the spotlight beyond private wet-lease operators, holding sections of the undertaking’s own administration ‘also responsible’ for lapses in safety oversight, vehicle maintenance and driver monitoring.At a BEST committee meeting this week, Vishwasrao said responsibility for recent crashes could not be placed solely on contractors operating wet-lease buses. She alleged that officials in the transport and engineering departments had failed to adequately monitor periodic maintenance, driver training and compliance checks.In a stern directive issued on Tuesday, Vishwasrao asked senior officials to step out of their ‘AC cabins’ in offices and conduct on-ground inspections at bus depots, visit accident sites and interact directly with depot and engineering staff to understand operational shortcomings and prevent future mishaps. The impact was visible from Wednesday, with few senior officials fanning out across depots.Vishwasrao said she has personally visited hospitals to meet injured passengers and the families of those killed in recent crashes. She added that contractors concerned had been asked to provide compensation to victims, while BEST would bear medical expenses.Expressing strong reservations about the wet-lease model, Vishwasrao said she had “lost faith” in the system and favoured a return to a fleet largely operated by BEST’s own buses and drivers.“BEST’s full-time drivers rarely figured in major crashes in the past. Last year there were 15 accidents and 10 so far this year, with a majority involving wet-lease buses,” she said.She revealed that, at her insistence, the administration recently introduced a mandatory four-week training programme for drivers. A joint meeting of BEST management, wet-lease contractors, drivers and conductors is also planned to address grievances regarding pay scales, facilities and working conditions, which contractual staff claim are inferior to those of permanent employees.A crucial meeting involving BEST general manager Sonia Sethi, Vishwasrao and wet-lease contractors has been scheduled for Friday to review safety standards and accountability mechanisms.The chairperson also welcomed deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s decision to procure 5,000 BEST-owned buses, saying the move could reduce dependence on private operators.However, she stressed that securing adequate funding remains a challenge. A meeting with the chief minister and deputy chief minister is expected on Friday to discuss financing options. Sethi said funding could come either from the state government or from BEST’s own resources.