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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the...

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the state and central Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and when some attempted to enter inside, they were prevented by a strong posse of Mumbai Police deployed there since Monday. As tensions appeared to escalate, the police clamped down by detaining top state and city Youth Congress leaders including President Harshwardhan Sapkal, Vijay Wadettiwar, Bhai Jagtap, Hussain Dalwai, and many others. Thousands of students carried out a fresh demonstration at Dadar west Shivaji Park to vent their ire at the police action on Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s agitation in New Delhi on Monday. Several MVA leaders and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray visited or expressed solidarity with the protesting youth, comprising many women. Opposition’s Voice The Congress leaders alleged that Rahul Gandhi was targeted by the BJP-led government to muzzle democratic dissent, suppress the Opposition voices inside and outside Parliament and trampling upon the peoples' Constitutional Rights to protest peacefully. Defying pouring rains in the city on Wednesday, Congress workers along with activists of MVA allies, staged a noisy demonstration in Chembur and another group attempted to storm the BJP office in south Mumbai, condemning the assault on students in New Delhi and the detention of the Gandhi siblings. Senior Congress leader Hussain Dalwai flayed the government for “misusing the police” to gag democratic rights and the protests were intended to defend the Constitution and democracy against the BJP’s policy of intolerance of dissent in any form. “This is gross injustice. We are not allowed to protest against the government failures as they are misusing the police. The PM is scared of taking the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as he could be the next. We want to highlight to the BJP to govern the country as per the Constitution,” Dalwai declared, interacting with the media at Nariman Point. As the BJP also threatened to launch counter-protests, the police cordoned off and deployed a precautionary security ring around Tilak Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, as leaders from both sides exchanged political darts and looked aggressive enough for a confrontation. MVA ‘bandh’, ‘Tricolour’ march today The state is set for another two days of political turmoil as the MVA has announced a Maharashtra shutdown (‘bandh’) on Thursday followed by a non-partisan ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on Friday. MVA allies, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, besides other leaders of the alliance, informed of the state and city level actions today. Ambedkar appealed to the masses and also the BJP youth to participate wholeheartedly in the bandh tomorrow and claimed that students’ bodies, parent-teachers associations, colleges, universities, other institutes of higher education, private coaching institutions, and other governmental departments could support the shutdown, as it has now become a national issue. Aaditya sought the peoples’ participation in the ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on the theme of “One Nation, One Emotion” planned on July 24 afternoon to Shivaji Park, in support of environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, the Cockroach Janta Party, plus the youth and students protesting in New Delhi. Terming it as a national citizens’ movement rather than a political party, he called upon the people not to carry any party flags but unite under the National Tricolour to assert democratic rights and express resentment against the government’s high-handed policies. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police have already imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 across the city from July 23-to- August 6, apprehending the possibility of law-and-order disturbances.

Chikki capital sets a millennium record

1290 mm rain in 48 hours marked as an extremely rare weather event

Mumbai: The famed hill-station of Lonavala, which was battered by 670 mm rainfall in a day and 1290 mm in 48 hours on Sunday-Monday, is set to enter the record books for the ‘extremely rare’ weather event, scientists and climatologists said.


On July 5 and 6, Lonavala measured 670 mm and 620 mm rainfall, respectively, totalling to a staggering 1,290 mm in two days. Lonavala and its twin Khandala rank among the state’s most popular tourist hotspots, particularly attracting monsoon tourist crowds.


Scientists and meteorologists like K. S. Hosalikar former head of India Meteorological Department’s Climate Research & Services, Pune; IMD scientist Sakha Sanap; Mumbai Nowcast chief S. R. Khandelwal; research scientists Dr. Vineet Kumar; Dr. Vivek Shilimkar, Kokan Hawaman’s amateur forecaster Abhijit Modak; and others hailed the historic development in glowing terms on social media today.


“Lonavala, 670 mm rainfall received… 670 mm rainfall qualifies as a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event, making it one of the rarest extreme weather events recorded in the region,” said Hosalikar.


“Highest rainfall in ghats: Davdi (688 mm), Lonavala (620 mm) on 6 July and many stations reporting extremely heavy rainfall. Rainfall intensity expected to reduce in coming days,” added Sanap.


“As Lonavala received 670 mm rain in 24-hours, we have witnessed a once in a lifetime event. As per IMD, the return period of such an extreme rainfall in Lonavala is 1000 years. This means only once in 1000 years, rainfall exceeding 650 mm occurs in Lonavala. Truly remarkable,” noted Dr Kumar.


“Lonavala is creating history… 1290 mm rains in Just 48 hours… 5 July (670 mm) and 6 July (620 mm),” posted Khandelwal.


“A 620+ mm rainfall is an event that occurs approximately once every 500 years and 670+ mm rainfall is an extremely rare event that occurs approximately once every 1000 years,” informed Dr Shilimkar.


“Lonavala has created a new All-Time Record (ATR), recording an extraordinary 670 mm of rainfall in just 24 hours, making it one of the most remarkable monsoon events ever observed over the Bhor Ghat section,” gushed Modak.


Rainfall Analysis

The evaluation was based on the Rainfall Frequency Analysis, as per IMD Central Water Commission (CWC) Atlas, 2015, and the records earned laurels from many on the social media.


The torrential downpour set off several hill-slides and landslides, disrupting rail and road traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Highway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Central Railway route serving the country’s commercial capital with the state’s academic-IT-cultural hub.


Lonavala-Khandala – the latter made famous after the Aamir Khan-Rani Mukherjee frolicking number from the Hindi film, Ghulam, “Aati Kya KHandala…?” (1998) – are cuddled in the luxuriant green Western Ghats – a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2012, and are believed to be older than the Himalayas.

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