He had promised his daughter that he would be there, come what may, a kin said. But fate had a different plan.
The IMD issued a "Nowcast" warning, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph at isolated places in Mumbai in the next three to four hours.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and forest minister Ganesh Naik on Monday held a janta darbar in Thane, the home turf of Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, rejecting speculation of one-upmanship in the Mahayuti alliance.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's jail bharo agitation was cancelled on Friday in the wake of the massive fire at the Mantralaya.
The city police, investigating last week's major fire at Mantralaya, on Monday claimed to have made a substantial progress in the probe and recorded statements of 50 witnesses in this connection so far.
The Mantralaya inferno and how it played out, from inside the building, on the street, and in the blame game afterwards, elaborates Sanjay Jog.
Maharashtra government employees returned to work at Mantralaya, the secretariat building in Mumbai, on Monday, four days after its top floors were damaged in a fire.
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.
Renovation of the Mantralaya, the Maharashtra state secretariat, which was engulfed by a devastating fire last week is likely cost about Rs 50 crore.
Over 12 hours after its broke out, the massive fire which engulfed Mantralaya (the state Secretariat building) was doused early on Friday morning.
The CM also said all papers and files in his office have been gutted.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday claimed that Uddhav Thackeray planned to make Eknath Shinde the chief minister of Maharashtra after the 2019 polls, but first the Bharatiya Janata Party and later Maha Vikas Aghadi allies including Sharad Pawar played a spoilsport.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took charge of their new official responsibilities at the state secretariat 'Mantralaya' here after taking oath of office on Thursday evening.
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'.
Maharashtra Forest Minister and BJP leader Ganesh Naik will hold a 'janata darbar' in Thane, a stronghold of Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde, amid speculation of unease within the ruling Mahayuti alliance. The event, which will be held near the collector's office in Thane city, is being seen by some political circles as a direct challenge to the Shiv Sena's influence in the area. The BJP and Shiv Sena have been experiencing tensions in their relationship for the past few weeks, which came to the forefront with Shinde's recent warning to not take him lightly. The rivalry between Naik and Shinde goes back several years, with both competing to increase their influence in Thane. The event has been downplayed by Shiv Sena leaders, who emphasize that it is simply a public hearing to address grievances. However, the timing of the event and the recent tensions between the BJP and Shiv Sena have fueled speculation about its political significance.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has strongly criticized its ally, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, for felicitating Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at an event in Delhi. The party's spokesperson, Sanjay Raut, views the felicitation as an endorsement of BJP leader Amit Shah, who was instrumental in Shinde's split from the Shiv Sena. While Pawar's party maintains that the event focused on literature, BJP interprets it as an acknowledgment of Shinde's leadership. The incident has sparked a political controversy in Maharashtra, with both sides engaging in verbal sparring.
Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as new chief minister of Maharashtra while allies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy CMs at a grand ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday evening.
Fourteen people were killed and 24 sustained injuries in two separate road accidents in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada and Raichur districts on Wednesday. The first accident occurred when a truck carrying 29 fruit sellers fell into a 50-meter-deep valley in Yellapura. The second accident occurred near Araginamara Camp in Sindhanur, where a vehicle carrying students of Mantralaya Sanskrit Pathashala overturned due to a tyre burst. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed condolences and announced compensation for the families of the deceased.
Two days after a devastating fire swept Maharashtra's secretariat Mantralaya, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said all files of the Urban Development Department will be reconstructed within a month's time.
Amid apprehensions that several important files relating to the Adarsh Housing Society scam may have been destroyed in Thursday's fire at 'Mantralaya', officials of the CBI and the judicial panel probing it said they have copies of all relevant documents.
A major fire broke out at the fourth floor of the Mantralaya building which houses the state secretariat in south Mumbai on Thursday afternoon, fire brigade sources said.
Pune Police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of a history-sheeter who allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a state transport bus at the Swargate bus station. The accused, Dattatray Ramdas Gade (37), is on the run since the incident which took place on early Tuesday morning. He has half a dozen cases of theft, robbery and chain-snatching registered against him in Pune and adjoining Ahilyanagar district, and was out on bail since 2019 in one of the offences.
Devendra Fadnavis, thrice Maharashtra chief minister, approaches Vasantdada Patil and Sharad Pawar's records.
Ruling out any sabotage angle in the June 21 Mantralaya inferno, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan lashed out at the Opposition for fuelling such speculations.
Learning a lesson from the fire that destroyed top four floors of the state secretariat last week, the authorities at the Maharashtra Legislature have imposed a ban on plywood in its vicinity.
Efforts on seeking information about structural audit of the Mantralaya building, where a massive blaze gutted several offices on Thursday, will take place on Friday morning, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said. The Crime Branch will probe the fire.
The department has installed the system that would prevent the employees from accessing these two sites and making any transactions online.
Following a fatal collision between a ferry and a Navy craft off the Mumbai coast, authorities have made life jackets mandatory for all passengers taking boat rides from the Gateway of India. The decision comes after survivors of the Wednesday tragedy claimed the ferry did not have enough life jackets. Some tourists, however, raised concerns about the effectiveness of life jackets if people don't know how to use them properly.
Only 10 per cent of the files which were destroyed in the fire that gutted top floors of the Mantralaya on June 21, 2012, have been reconstructed so far.
Hinting at sabotage in Mantralaya blaze, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar "showed courage" to step down as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra only after files pertaining to various scams gutted in the fire.
A devastating fire in the Maharashtra government secretariat, including offices of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister, on Thursday left two persons dead and 16 injured and destroyed large number of files, raising questions on whether any sabotage was the cause.
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.
A major fire broke out on Thursday at Mantralaya, the Maharashtra government Secretariat, gutting three floors of the seven-storey building including the offices of the chief minister and injuring at least 16 people.
The race for the Maharashtra Chief Minister post has intensified following the Mahayuti coalition's landslide victory in the state assembly polls. The Shiv Sena has backed Eknath Shinde for the top job, citing the Bihar model, while the BJP has thrown its weight behind Devendra Fadnavis, emphasizing his leadership qualities and understanding of the state. The BJP's preference for Fadnavis stems from its dominance in the alliance with 132 seats, compared to Shiv Sena's 57 seats. Amidst these developments, both parties have held meetings to discuss the matter, while Fadnavis and other BJP leaders have denied any dispute over the CM's post.
An alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government employee in Thane district sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the BJP-led government assured justice and condemned the incident. Opposition parties demanded immediate action against the accused, Akhilesh Shukla, and his wife, who have been arrested. The incident has raised concerns about discrimination against Marathi people and fueled tensions in the state.
The two missing persons have been identified as 43-year-old Hansraj Bhati and seven-year-old Johan Mohammad Nisar Ahmed Pathan, the police said.
As the race for Maharashtra chief minister enters the last lap, Hemant Waje looks at several scenarios which can play out.
Admitting that there were lessons to be learnt from the devastating fire at Mantralaya that claimed five lives, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday announced that a fire audit would be conducted in all the government buildings.
A 27-year-old woman, daughter of Maharashtra cadre IAS officers, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the 10th floor of a building near Mantralaya in south Mumbai early Monday morning, the police said.
