Mumbai: The hostage crisis’ ‘script’ was apparently readied over a month. The 17 children had their hands tied and mouths taped at the Powai recording studio on Thursday, but everyone went along with it for hours believing that a “hostage scene” for a web series was being shot. Panic set in only after the captor,…
New Delhi: The Delhi govt may disconnect water connections of consumers with long-pending dues once its late payment surcharge (LPSC) waiver scheme concludes next March, officials said on Friday. The one-time scheme launched by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Oct 14 offers a complete waiver to domestic customers who pay their pending principal amount by…
Pune: PMC’s standing committee on Friday approved a plan to upgrade six sewage treatment plants (STPs) located along the Mula and Mutha rivers at various locations. After the upgrade, the collective treatment capacity of the facilities will increase to 451 million litres per day (MLD) from their existing capacity of 362 MLD — a rise…
Mumbai: Fatalities and injuries in BEST bus accidents have surged sharply this year, with a 43% rise in deaths and a 53% increase in injuries recorded in 2024–25 compared to the previous year, according to fresh data released by the BEST on Friday. The statistics also reveal that most of these crashes involved wet lease…
New Delhi: Public health considerations are paramount, Delhi High Court said on Friday as it refused to tinker with a ban on misleading ORS-labelled beverages by the country’s food regulator.Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently withdrew permissions for food-and-beverage companies to use the word ORS in the labelling unless they met the…
(5×2 graphics, Abir; PC_BONDED_31_10_25)Pune: The Yawat police, along with officials from the district magistrate’s office and the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), on Tuesday rescued 27 bonded workers of nine different families, from a sugarcane farm at Rahu village of Daund taluka.The rescued people included two pregnant women and six children. The action followed a…
Mumbai: Launched as a private initiative in 2022, the Swachhta Monitor programme selected schoolchildren across Maharashtra as “cleanliness monitors”, tasked with calling out acts of uncleanliness in their surroundings. The initiative, led by Apsara Media Entertainment and Rohit Aaryya, who orchestrated the Powai hostage crisis, received official sanction when the company was paid Rs 9.9…
New Delhi: Delhi’s winter atmosphere is climatologically unsuitable for consistent and effective cloud seeding, stated a new study by IIT Delhi released on Friday. It highlighted that even after significant washout, air quality improvements are short-lived, and ozone concentrations often increase post-rainfall.The study, conducted by PhD students from IIT-D’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS) and…
Pune: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who also oversees the finance department, on Friday questioned how many times govt could continue waiving farm loans and whether it was sustainable to keep offering such financial concessions. He also urged farmers to adopt financial discipline and manage their resources more prudently.“When you receive farm loans at zero…
Thane: A man allegedly murdered his maternal uncle following a heated argument over a family dispute late Thursday night in Kalyan.According to police officials, the accused identified as Ganesh Pujari, attacked and killed his maternal uncle Mariyappa Nair during an altercation that broke out outside a private hospital in Mohane, where Pujari’s wife had been…
