A fire ignited in two flats situated on the 11th floor of a Vile Parle building

MUMBAI: Two people, including a 2.5-year-old child, died and six others were injured after a fire broke out in two flats on the 11th floor of a residential building in Vile Parle (West) late Tuesday night.The fire erupted around 10.02pm at Shanta Bhavan Building on Baptista Road, near St Xavier School on Church Road.The blaze was spread accross electrical wiring and installations, an AC unit, household articles, sofa, bed, false ceiling, kitchen utensils and other items spread across around 4,000 sq ft in Flat numbers 1101 and 1102 on the 11th floor of the stilt-plus-11-storey building.Fire brigade personnel, police, electricity department officials, a 108 ambulance and ward staff were mobilised to the spot. The fire was brought under control at around 12.25am and completely extinguished by 1am.Eight injured people were reported in the incident. Two were taken to Cooper Hospital and six to Nanavati Hospital.According to doctors at Cooper Hospital, fireman Manoj Sonavane, 30, and Shivam Dwivedi, 29, were treated and discharged. Sonavane sustained injuries while responding to the fire.At Nanavati Hospital, two of the six injured were declared brought dead. They were identified as Abir, 2.5, and Ankita, 23.The other four admitted at Nanavati were identified as Parth, 32, Hiren, 64, Yashasvi, 33, and Abishek. Parth and Hiren were reported to be stable, while Yashasvi and Abishek were treated and discharged.The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The MBBS tuition fee of the Sangli-based institute for the current academic year is yet to be finalised, but parents are expecting it to go up. Last year, the FRA had fixed the annual fee at Rs 8.64 lakh

Mumbai: Sangli-based Prakash Institute of Medical Sciences has become the second private medical college in the state to register under Section 8 of the Companies Act, nine years after Palghar’s Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences.While the college will continue to remain a private entity and be regulated by state bodies such as the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) and the state CET Cell, students will not be eligible for any government scholarship scheme.The MBBS tuition fee for the current academic year is yet to be finalised, but parents are expecting it to go up. Last year, the FRA had fixed the annual fee at Rs 8.64 lakh. A college official said the institution would continue with last year’s fee structure for now and revise it once the FRA finalises the fees. Any excess amount collected will be reimbursed to students, but if the revised fee is higher, they will have to pay the difference.The fees at Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences this year is fixed at Rs 17.13 lakh, the highest in the state among private colleges.Besides Prakash Institute, Loknete Rajaram Bapu Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, also managed by Prakash Shikshan Foundation, have transferred their ownership from trust-run institutions to companies.In a notification issued on Monday evening, the state CET Cell informed aspirants about the approval granted for the transfer of management of two institutes. The notification stated that students admitted to these institutions would not be eligible for any government scholarship, tuition fee concession or tuition fee reimbursement schemes.A source said it had become difficult to manage private institutions with fees being collected from less than 20% of its students as nearly 80% of the seats are covered under various government scholarship schemes, including those for girls, economically weaker sections and students from different categories. “While the government has extended these benefits to students, fee reimbursements from the government take a long time. There is always a delay in disbursing the amount, making it difficult for the college managements,” he said.Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said, “The government is at fault for pushing these colleges into companies or deemed institutions. They either extend part or full subsidies to students, but do not reimburse it on time. How can colleges survive with fees from less than 30% students? The government sometimes takes three to four years to reimburse these fees.”In 2024, colleges had refused to start postgraduate admissions in protest.Prakash College has been at loggerheads with the FRA for the last few years. In 2022, the college’s fee for MBBS was slashed to half based on its expenditure. Last year, the tuition fee for postgraduate courses ran into controversy. While the college demanded an annual fee of Rs 16 lakh for MD/MS courses, the FRA insisted that they charge Rs 10.5 lakh as ad-hoc fee for new courses.

Mumbai: BRICS cities must move beyond dialogue and deepen city-to-city cooperation to tackle common urban challenges, said Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday and called for sharing of technology, expertise and innovations to build inclusive, resilient and future-ready cities.The call came at the inaugural session of the two-day BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave 2026 in Worli, where speakers stressed that the future of urban development would depend on how effectively cities could convert shared knowledge into partnerships and action.Maharashtra governor Jishnu Dev Varma highlighted the need to build cities that are prosperous, equitable, sustainable and human-centred, and encouraged BRICS cities to translate dialogue into partnerships and concrete action. His emphasis placed citizens and equitable growth at the centre of the international urban cooperation agenda.Mumbai First chairman Narinder Nayar highlighted the need for city-to-city cooperation to address global challenges through solutions rooted in local realities. Mumbai First vice-chairman Ashank Desai said the organisation was committed to building “wise cities” and advancing meaningful global urban collaboration.Former Maharashtra additional chief secretary and CEO of Maharashtra Institution for Transformation Praveen Pardeshi said BEST’s daily ridership had fallen from 4.8 million to about 2.4 million, while its operating fleet of 3,200 buses was far below the estimated requirement of 12,000-15,000. He called for rapid fleet expansion and electrification, backed by depot charging infrastructure and sustainable financing. Pardeshi proposed ring-fencing non-fare revenues such as congestion charges, parking fees and commercial development above depots, instead of relying mainly on fares or subsidies. He said buses would remain crucial for first- and last-mile connectivity alongside metro expansion.Addressing the conclave, Shinde said cities across countries increasingly faced common challenges, including climate change, flooding, heatwaves, traffic congestion, pollution, water management and affordable housing. These challenges, he said, required cooperation and exchange of knowledge beyond geographical and national boundaries.“Cities are not merely structures of bricks and concrete but growth engines of a country’s economy,” Shinde said, stressing that urbanisation should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a problem.Shinde said urban development should not be measured merely by tall buildings or an attractive skyline. Easier commuting, safe housing, clean air, opportunities for children and an administration capable of standing by citizens during disasters should be the real benchmarks of successful urban planning.He emphasised inclusive, resilient and future-ready urban development, with a particular focus on climate resilience, sustainable mobility, digital governance, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.Shinde described climate change as a serious challenge for Mumbai, saying rising sea levels, flood risks and increasing temperatures could affect both public safety and the city’s economy.He said Maharashtra govt was taking steps in areas including flood control, coastal protection, increasing green cover, rainwater management, sustainable transport and technology-based planning.He also highlighted the potential of digital twins, AI-based traffic management and smart governance. BRICS cities, he said, had significant experience in public transport, digital governance, disaster management, green finance and sustainable infrastructure, and sharing such experience could help cities prepare for future challenges.Shinde said Maharashtra was giving fresh impetus to metro projects, roads, drainage, redevelopment, affordable housing, digital services, green infrastructure and disaster management in Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Nashik, Thane and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.The objective, he said, was to improve citizens’ quality of life, ensure easier access to services and create equal opportunities, with development reaching the last person.He also called for cities to focus on cooperation and empowerment rather than competing with one another, invoking Sant Tukaram’s words — “Ekmeka sahay karu, avaghe dharu supanth.”Nayar stressed the importance of locally rooted solutions to global urban challenges, while Desai’s emphasis on “wise cities” pointed towards combining technology and innovation with better urban decision-making and collaboration.The conclave, being held in Mumbai on Aug 11 and 12, brings together city representatives, urban planners, policymakers and experts from BRICS countries and partner nations. It is organised by Mumbai First, with support from govts of Maharashtra and India.

Pic used for representation purpose

Mumbai: The man who allegedly broke into actor and 2016 beauty pageant second runner-up Lopamudra Raut’s Santacruz flat and stole valuables worth nearly Rs 1 crore had an unusual past: he was once a police informer who had spent time with Gamdevi police learning how they investigated thefts.Chandan Mukhiya (26) was arrested from Darbhanga in Bihar on Aug 2 for the July 14 burglary. Police have recovered valuables worth nearly Rs 76.4 lakh from him.Investigators soon discovered, though, that Mukhiya was no stranger to their methods: In 2021, he had helped Gamdevi police crack a house-theft case while working as an informer. During his stint with the cops, police said, he closely watched how they collected evidence, tracked suspects and pieced together cases — lessons he allegedly later used on the other side of the law.In 2021, Mukhiya allegedly stole valuables worth Rs 1.8 crore from the flat of his employer, a diamond merchant, on Bhulabhai Desai Road near Breach Candy Hospital. Police said he buried the booty near his family home in Bihar.He was arrested again by Gamdevi police in 2025 for allegedly committing a Rs 25 lakh burglary and was released on bail in Jan this year. After his release, he did odd jobs, stayed in dormitories around Mumbai Central and, according to police, spent his time recceing the city.During one such recce, he allegedly spotted Raut’s building in Santacruz West, where bamboo scaffolding had been erected for repair work. On July 14, between 4am and 5am, he allegedly climbed the scaffolding, entered the fifth-floor flat and escaped with cash, gold and diamond-studded jewellery, expensive watches and other valuables worth around Rs 1 crore.“He randomly targeted the flat after noticing the scaffolding. He spent about an hour inside and managed to escape. He was caught on CCTV in just one frame in the neighbourhood,” a Santacruz police officer said.Raut, who was away at her Nagpur home, returned to Santacruz on July 27 and found her flat locked from inside. A building staffer entered through the balcony and opened the door, following which she alerted the police.Investigators pieced together CCTV footage and network-tracking data to identify Mukhiya. His details were matched with police records, following which a team travelled to his village in Bihar and arrested him.Police said Mukhiya had fled Mumbai soon after the burglary, boarding Jai Sagar Express towards the India-Nepal border.Within 10 days of the burglary, Mukhiya and his uncle Lalu Mukhiya (45) allegedly invested Rs 22 lakh in two plots measuring 2,722.5 sq ft near their village. One of the plots reportedly has a hotel on it.Lalu, who allegedly helped sell some of the stolen valuables, is wanted in the case. DCP (West Zone-2) Mohit Garg supervised the investigation, with ACP Vinod Gaonkar, senior inspector Dattatray Masvekar, inspector Sakharam Mole, assistant inspector Sanjay Kalhatkar, sub-inspector Umesh Kaulge, assistant sub-inspector Jaywant More and their team involved in the operation.“His whole family has a record of carrying out thefts after getting employed as domestic help. People should check the criminal record of workers before employing them as house helps,” the officer said.