News Reporter

With an aim to carry out logistic operations in the Himalayan frontier, an Untethered Multi-copter payload, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The UAV is capable of flying in the Himalayan environment with 5 kg of payload and even dropping bombs in the enemy areas. The multi-copter was displayed by DRDO at the 108th Indian Science Congress. Mahesh Shahu, an official of DRDO, informed ‘The Hitavada’ that successful trials of the multi-copter were conducted at Sikkim at 14,000 altitude. The product would be ready for induction in the forces after two remaining successful trials, he said. The DRDO has developed the multi-copter with payload capacity from 5 kg to 25 kg and working on to increase the capacity upto 30 kg, he stated. The multi-copter has an onboard Li-ion battery bank. Advantage of the multi-copter is that it has high payload capacity and endurance of 30 minutes. It can carry out autonomous missions with wa...

A rat with a mounted camera on his head would help Indian armed forces in Intelligence Surveillance and Recovery (ISR) operation by entering the enemy territory soon. Scientists of DRDO’s Young Scientist Laboratory (DYSL-AT) created intelligence-augmented rat cyborgs controlled via a wireless micro-stimulator. The Rat cyborgs are undergoing Phase-I trials at DRDOs’ laboratory, informed P Shiva Prasad, Director of DYSL-AT on Thursday. P Shiva Prasad told mediapersons after the plenary session that the rat would be maneuried with electronic commands through semi-invasive brain electrodes. “This is the first time India has engaged in developing such technology,” he said, adding that some foreign countries already have the technology. In Phase-I, the operator always gives commands for all the turns and the rite will go accordingly. In Phase-II, the scientist can actually feed an image to the camera. When the rat finds the image in the camera it will stay there. He gave an example of the 26...

The proceedings at Legislative Council were stalled by Opposition benches demanding Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar’s resignation over an illegal land regularisation order passed by him when he was a minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe adjourned the house for the day due to the uproar. The High Court stayed Sattar’s order of regularising 37 acres of gairan land (grazing land) in Washim district for private use. Taking cue from the High Court’s order, Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Ambadas Danve raised the issue under Rule 289 of Council. He said, “Sattar illegally alloted the land when he was the Minister of State for Revenue in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.” The allotment took place on June 17, 2022 overruling orders of District Court and District Collector, stated Danve. Sattar illegally allotted plots, sand contracts, Agricultural Produce Market Committee at Ratnagiri, Aurangaba...

The Maharashtra government has made a big announcement for thousands of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) students in the State. There will be a gradual increase in the monthly stipend received by the students of government ITI institutes. For the past several years, the students were given a stipend of Rs 40. Now, the stipend will be increased to Rs 500.  Skill Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha informed the Legislative Council during question hour on Monday. The issue was raised by legislators Vikram Kale, Dr. Sudhir Tambe, Satish Chavan, Balaram Patil during question hour. For the last several years, the students of the Government ITIs in the State were being paid stipend Rs 40 per month. The MLCs underlined their demand and stated that the existing stipend of Rs 40 is minimal in the time of rising inflation. Responding to the query, Minister Lodha said that the process to table the proposal before the cabinet is underway. It is proposed to increase the tuition fee for ...

While speaking on the raging boundary dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka, Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday demanded in the state Legislative Council that the Union government should declare ‘Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra’ areas as a Union Territory and the resolution in this regard should be passed in the house. He also fired a salvo at the Shinde-Fadnavis government for failing to corner the Karnataka government on the issue.  This was the first time Thackeray attended proceedings of State legislators after resigning as the Chief Minister in July. Thackeray said, “Marathi language and culture rooted in the Belgaum (Belgavi) area since 1800.  It is not just a case of language and border, but of ‘humanity’.” These Marathi-speaking people are facing atrocities from the Karnataka government, he said and demanded that the ‘Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra’ areas should be declared as Union Territory by the Central Government till the issue is pending before t...

Meritorious players of Mallakhamb will get the benefit of five per cent reservation quota in government jobs. Minister for Sports and youth welfare Girish Mahajan informed the Legislative Council on Monday. He was answering a question raised by MLCs Bhai Girkar, Pravin Darkar, Adv Niranjan Dawkhare, Nagorao Ganar, Ramesh Patil, Ramesh Karad. Mahajan said that All Indian Sports Association in its letter dated September 11, 2020 directed all states to give benefits of sports quota to meritorious Mallakhamb players for recruitment of Class ‘C’ posts. The Maharashtra government had already issued a Government Resolution on November 15, 2017. According to the resolution, the Mallakhamb players are eligible to get benefits of five per cent sports quota, he said. A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Service). But direct recruitment of Mallakhamb players was not taken into consideration of the committee, he said. Some recommendations of the committe...

An Assistant Police Inspector (ASI) and a citizen were seriously injured when a speeding car rammed into a police nakabandi at NMC’s zonal office near Dhantoli police station.  The injured persons are identified as ASI Gajanan Naik and Pranay Giradkar.  A police official said that the incident occured on Sunday at 12.20 am. ASI Naik was part the police team deployed at Nakabandi point. Giradkar, who was passing through the road on a motorcycle, was stopped by the police for checking.  A speeding Maruti Swift car came from Mokshadham Square at great speed. When the police signalled the car to stop, the driver rammed the vehicle into the barricades. ASI Naik and Giradkar sustained grievous injuries in the accident. Before the police could arrest the driver, he accelerated the vehicle and sped away from the spot.  Profusely bleeding Naik and Giradkar were admitted to hospital. According to police, the condition of ASI Naik is stable while Giradkar is critical.  An ...

A woman attempt to set herself ablaze outside the Vidhan Bhavan on Friday to protest derogatory remarks made against iconic personalities, including Chhatrapati Shviaji Maharaj. The woman was identified as Kavita Chavan (28), a resident of Solapur. According to police, Chavan came near the Vidhan Bhavan complex at around 2.30 pm and poured yellow coloured combustible liquid (probably petrol) on herself. The police staff deployed at the gate noticed her action and over-powered. Before she could set herself ablaze, the police staff bundled her in the police jeep. The woman was seen questioning the police about derogatory remarks made against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Saints. She raised slogans of ‘Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Ki Jai’ when the police took her into custody. She was taken to Sitabuldi police station. Later, the police also conducted her medical check-up. A police officer said that the woman would be booked under provisions of Indian Penal Code.  The official said that c...

The State government constituted a fact finding committee to probe rehabilitation of Takli-Dolhari irrigation project in Yavatmal district. Minister for rehabilitation Shambhuraje Desai announced in the Upper House that the committee would submit the report for review.  Desai was replying to the Calling Attention Motion moved by Congress legislators Adv Abhijeet Wanjari, Bhai Jagtap and Dr Sudhir Tambe.  MLC Wanjari levelled serious allegations about the rehabilitation process. “Some buissinement from Raipur in Chhattisgarh have purchased agricultural land for Rs 4 lakh per acre after the notification about the project was issued by the government. Now these bussinement are getting Rs 65 per acre as compensation,” Wanjari informed the house.  He further alleged that the Gram Sabha’s resolution was bogus as it was motivated by some government officials. The villagers are demanding to cancel the entire process of rehabilitation. The Chief Execution Officer (CEO) of Yavatmal...

Acting on the complaints of the hostelites, the Special squad of the social welfare department conducted random checking in the 54 government hostels in the State and found that 28 complaints were true. Wardens of these 28 hostels have been served show cause notices and facing inquiry. Minister for social Justice Sanjay Rathod informed the Legislative Council on Thursday while replying to Calling Attention Motion moved by Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Manisha Kayande, BJP’s Prasad Lad, Nagorao Ganar and Ramesh Patil. Rathod said, the social welfare department conducted a ‘Samvad’ programme under which the officials themselves stayed in the hotels and interacted with students living in the government hostels. In this dialogue activity, the officials noticed some wardens are not living in the hostels, lack of clean drinking water and hot water, lack of library, complaints about food, lack of cleanliness in the hostel, computers in the computer room are malfunctioning, non-payment of sustena...

The Maharashtra government has earned Rs 146 crore through distribution of ‘Anandacha Shidha’ among the 1.55 crore ration card holders in the Diwali. Minister for food and civil supply Ravindra Chavan informed the Legislative Council during the Calling Attention Motion on Friday. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ambadas Danve, Shiv Sena (UBT) legislators Dr Manisha Kayande and Adv Anil Parab moved the motion alleging irregularities in the distribution process of ‘Anandacha Shidha’, a kit of Gram, Pulses, Rava, Sugar and Palm Oil.   Minister Chavan said that a total of 1.61 crore kits were available for distribution. Of which, 1.55 crore have been distributed. The State earned Rs 15 crore from Mumbai region and Rs 131 crore from the rest of Maharashtra. An offence was registered against ration shop holders in Shahapur tehsil in Thane district on October 22, 2022 for selling the kits at Rs 300/- after a video of the incident went viral. LoP Danve alleged that the tender of Rs 513 cror...

Around 26,648 posts of technical and non-technical grades in Class-III and Class-IV in Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) are lying vacant. Since the contract workers cannot be recruited directly in the service, they will be given priority by giving more marks in the recruitment process, informed DCM Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Council on Thursday.   He was replying to a question raised by BJP Legislature Pravin Datke during Questions Hour about induction of contract workers of power distribution companies. DCM Fadnavis said that there are no posts of lightmen and similar workers in MahaGenco and MahaTransco Company. But the State government is soon recruiting a large number of posts in MSEDCL. In this, contract workers will be provided insurance cover in terms of social security on the lines of security corporations. These workers will get additional markers per year for their service that would be considered during the recruitment proces...

The Maharashtra is under the debt of Rs 6.5 lakh crore. If the old pension scheme is implemented for the State government employees, the State will have an additional burden of Rs 1.10 lakh crores per year causing huge financial burden on the State exchequer, said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council on Thursday. The question about implementation of the Old Pension Scheme was raised by Congress MLC Dr Sudhir Tambe, Jayant Patil, Eknath Khadse, Rajesh Rathod, Vikram Kale and Abhijeet Wanjari. “Three State government in the country have announced implementation of Old Pension Scheme. Of which, a State asked the Union government for financial assistance for run the scheme,” he said.  Fadnavis said, “Every government wants to make its employees happy. However, it is currently not possible to implement the Old Pension Scheme of 1982. If the scheme will be implemented, the government will have to take a loan to pay the interest. The ...

Orange crop on 2882 ha and Mosambi crop on 270 ha was affected due to Kolshi are affected due to  Kolshi disease in Nagpur district. The impact of the disease was not observed in Amravati district, stated Horticulture Minster Uday Samant on Thursday while replying to Calling Attention Motion in the Legislative Council. The minister further said that the damage caused by the disease was below the norms of financial loss. The motion was moved by NCP legislature Amol Mitkari, Vikram Kale, Shashikant Shinde and Satish Shinde. In 2021-22, the total area of Orange crop in the State is 1,19,833 ha and the total area of Mosambi crop is 64,825 ha. Of which, 1,09,977 ha of Orange crop and 12,690 ha Mosambi crop in Vidarbha region. The state government has offered aid of Rs 750 crore to the farmers, he said.  The opposition benches were not satisfied with the answer of the minister. MLC Mitkari urged him to give a specific answer about how much was given to the farmers for crop damage....

Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Chairperson of Legislative Council, on Thursday directed State government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe rape allegations against Rahul Shewale, Member of Parliament (MP) of CM Eknath Shinde led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) Devendra Fadnavis promised the house that he would check into the instructions issued by the Deputy Chairperson and the allegations against MP Shewale. The implications of MP Shewale demand in Lok Sabha of investigation into death case of Disha Salian, , the former manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, were seen in the council after question hour.   The treasury benches raised the issue of Disha Salian death case and demanded a probe by SIT. BJP MLC Pravin Darekar demanded time to speak on the issue. However, Deputy Chairperson Gorhe denied him permission. As BJP leader Pravin Darekar tried to raise the same issue in the state Council, Deputy Chairperson Gorhe rejected his point ...

The recruitment process for Scheduled Tribe will be done in a time-bound manner in order to ensure justice to the tribal community, said Cabinet Minister Deepak Kesarkar. He also  said that the government employees recruited under Scheduled Tribe reservation but failed to submit caste validity certificates were not dismissed from the service. He was replying to a Calling Attention Motion moved by Shiv Sena (UBT) Legislature Amshya Padvi. Padvi demanded immediate recruitment of the tribal candidates on vacant posts of State government. There are 3,898 government employees in the State who failed to submit caste validity certificates. These employees are adjusted to ad-hoc posts. The recruitment process of the Scheduled Tribe category will be implemented as per the service entry rules by designing a time-bound programme, he assured. The process of recruitment of the posts under Maharashtra Public Service Commission in the currently vacant posts will be completed by December 31, 2023 ...

The Legislative Council witnessed uproar when opposition members pressed to speak on the issue of allotment of land by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during his tenure as Urban Development Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The members of treasury benches strongly opposed the demand and the house was adjourned four times. LoP Ambadas Danve gave a notice under rule no 289 to speak on the issue. Deputy Chairperson Neelama Gorhe asked to speak after Calling Attention Motion. When Danve rose to speak on the issue, the ruling party members started shouting and interrupted his speech. The members objected that Danve was raising the issue again when DCM Fadnavis had already given a reply on it in the Council on Tuesday. Narendra Darade, who was presiding over the House, adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.  When the House resumed, Fadnavis said, “The issue is sub-judice, then why are we discussing it in the House.” As both sides refused to back down, Gorhe adjourned for anot...

The opposition and ruling party members engaged in war of words in Legislative Council on Tuesday demanding resignation of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde against the backdrop of the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court’s decision ordering status quo on a decision taken by Shinde when he was Urban Development minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of allotting land meant for slum dwellers to private persons.  The tussle between opposition and ruling party members led to adjournment of the house twice for 15 minutes. As both sides were not ready to relent, Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe finally adjourned the house for the day. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ambadas Danve raised the issue on point of information. “Shinde during his tenure as the Urban Development Minister of the MVA government directed the NIT to give away 4.5 acre of land acquired for a housing scheme for slum-dwellers to 16 private persons. The land which cost around Rs 83 crore was given by Shinde at j...

Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya Thackeray Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday visited the new office of Shiv Sena (UBT) in Vidhan Bhavan premises and counseled the staffters of Shiv Sena Bhavan Mumbai who broke down on Monday when Shinde group forced them to vacate the place. When asked about the misbehaviour by Shinde group MLAs with the women employees, Uddhav Thackeray said that he consoled the employees. “This is called loyalty. These employees have been working for Sena for the past thirty years. Tears rolled down from their eyes today,” said Thackeray.  Later, Thackeray garlanded the bust of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the office. He was accompanied by former Environment minister and MLA Aditya Thackeray. It may be mentioned here that the ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday took possession of the existing office of Shiv Sena on the premises of the Vidhan Bhavan. MLAs of the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray w...

Launching a slavo at Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government over agrarian distress and the State losing investment projects, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ajit Pawar on Sunday said that the Opposition parties unanimously decided to boycott the customary tea party on the eve of the winter session of State legislature to register their protest. The State government will cornered by Opposition parties NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress over State Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s remark of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, simmering border row with Karnataka, agrarian distress, state losing investment projects and other issues, Pawar said. “In the past six months, the Shinde government has not been able to fulfil the expectations of the people of State,” Pawar opined. “The Governor and ruling party leaders are making absurd statements about historical figures including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule. These ruling party leaders are not even bother to apologize for ...

On the first day of the winter session, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions engaged in a war of words to get possession of origital party office in Vidhan Bhavan premises. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde himself came to get the possession in the afternoon. After which, MLAs supporting Uddhav Thackeray were allotted another office at Barrack No. 6. The employees of Shiv Sena Bhavan Mumbai, who came for administrative work of the party, got emotional and broke down due to the incident. The office near Vidhan Bhavan was allotted to Shiv Sena party for the past three decades. On Monday, both factions of Shiv Sena were stationed at the office. Pictures of Balasaheb Thackeray along with Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya Thackeray were displayed in one room. In the afternoon, Eknath Shinde faction got the old office, while Uddhav Thackeray faction was allotted another office in the backside of Nationalist Congress Party (NCPs) office.  The Sena Bhavan employees were busy in the...

The first day of winter session kicked off in the Legislative Council with flares over border row. The opposition unitely condemned Karnataka government’s action of not allowing Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti to hold convention at Belgaum. DCM Devendra Fadnavis also assured the opposition that he would raise the issue with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai.  Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the council and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve opened the discussion and said, “The Samiti members were not allowed to hold the convention at Belgaum in Karnataka in which political leaders from Maharashtra were going to participate. The incidents of stone pelting on vehicles bearing registration number of Maharashtra and pictures of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are being reported in the bordering districts of Karnataka.”  Danve further stated that two Maharashtra ministers had announced plans to visit Karnataka. Later, the tour was postponed. The political parties of Maharashtra shou...

The police personnel on-duty engaged in a wordy duel at the food counter on Monday. A large number of police personnel deployed for bandobast duties got upset and engaged in a wordy duel with senior officers on the very first day of winter session over shortage of food. The cops gathered at a food stall near Vidhan Bhavan and asked the police officers to return the cash taken for the food. Similar situation was observed at other food stalls in the city. The cops have paid Rs 250 for lunch for 10-days period. After the chaos in the afternoon, DCP Headquarters Ashwini Patil and other officers were seen at Morris College T-point late in the evening ordering additional lunch for 1,500 police personnel for Tuesday. It may be mentioned that around 7,000 police personnel have been deployed for the bandoabst of the winter session from Saturday. Of which, around 3,000 policemen came from various police units including Mumbai and Pune. The Nagpur police Commissionerate has been given a responsib...