Raj Thackeray meets Fadnavis amid MPSC protests; Maharashtra drought team, ED arrests, Nagpur suspension

Maharashtra saw considerable activity in both politics and administration on Friday. Students are agitating in Pune over the MPSC examination, and in the midst of this MNS chief Raj Thackeray met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. After the meeting, Thackeray gave positive signals.

The Opposition is attacking the BJP government over alleged irregularities in the MPSC examination and is demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar. NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar reacted sharply after a claim made on social media about the talks between Thackeray and Fadnavis. According to Rohit Pawar, the MPSC chairman will have to resign.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray targeted Minister Dr Uday Samant in a social media post. Referring to the London visit of Industries Department officials, he asked what the need was to send a government delegation abroad at a cost of crores of rupees of taxpayers' money when a large part of the state is battling drought.

On drought, conditions this year are described as serious because of poor rain in the kharif season and the effect of El Nino. A high-level inter-ministerial team of the Union government has arrived in Maharashtra to assess the situation on the ground. The team held a review meeting in Washim and will carry out inspections until October 11.

There is news for rail passengers: a protest by CJP is proposed in Delhi on October 10. In view of this, Western Railway on Friday changed the departure times of two major Rajdhani Express trains from Mumbai to Delhi. Several other express trains have been cancelled outright.

A major case of fake recruitments has come to light in schools and workshops for the disabled in Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon districts. It is alleged that illegal appointments were made using forged documents and misuse of office. A demand for an investigation has been raised.

The Mahayuti government has taken a major decision to increase earnings from surplus MSRTC land. Commercial development of the land under a public-private partnership (PPP) model has been approved, and leases of up to 98 years have been permitted. This includes 3,500 acres of land belonging to the ST Mahamandal.

The Mumbai regional office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Praveen alias Nagesh Ramchandra Shinde and Brijesh Kanjibhai Moradia under Section 19 of the PMLA, 2002, in action against an organised drug trafficking gang run by Salim Ismail Dola, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim, and his accomplices.

In Nagpur, Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare Patil has suspended API Ravindra Shedge, posted in the Cotton Market Traffic Division, in a case of bribery and illegal extortion. The action has caused a stir in the Nagpur traffic police department.

The allocation of the Pune District Planning Committee (DPC) fund of Rs 1,472 crore remains stuck even six months into the current financial year. Leaders of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP in the Mahayuti are locked in a tussle over a new formula for distributing the funds, and there is resentment over it in the Zilla Parishad.