Mumbai: Suburban collector Vishwas Patil has supported a citizens' initiative to restore the Juhu lake in JVPD and Pawan Hans base (runway) near Nehru Nagar. Spread over 64 acres, the water body, Juhu citizens say will solve the problem of floods in the area.

Thane: Soaring mercury levels have apparently started taking a toll on the birds in the city, as the Society for Protection against Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) registered 10 cases of birds afflicted with sunstroke on Tuesday, almost a month before the onset of summer.

Nashik: Last October, Kailas Pingle, a grape farmer from Matori village near Nashik, started working on his five-acre plot, raising grapes. Pingle has been a grape farmer for many years, and took a loan and developed a new vineyard two years ago.
DNA
Fragile support: Kailas Pingle tries to erect the fallen vines

Mumbai: The Democratic Front government on Monday reiterated its commitment to transforming Mumbai into a world class city. In his address to the joint session of the state legislature at Vidahan Bhawan, the governor of Maharashtra SC Jamir outlined the socio-economic and political priorities of the Congress-NCP government.

Mumbai: Mahim beach once had a prominent shoreline, stretching from Mahim Fort to Mahim market. The shoreline has narrowed over the last decade owing to frantic reclamation, angering local residents, who have now got together to form a forum to save the beach from being reclaimed further.

Mumbai: It's official. The dedicated bus lanes to be introduced in the city will be demarcated along the median on the highways. After much deliberation, the authorities have decided to mark these lanes along the divider, rather than the far-off ends where bus stops usually are, despite the decision requiring massive construction along the highways, as well as re-engineering of the buses.

Mumbai: An organisation training girls from the Delhi slums to be professional taxi drivers, another working on the mental health issues of mothers and young girls from Kolkata, and an NGO responsible for introducing innovative research and education programmes for tribal girls in Andhra Pradesh have won the first Kubera-Edelweiss Social Innovation Honours (KESIH).

Mumbai: Metro II is still to get a bidder, but Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU) is thinking of a pilot station that will have a 'circle of influence'.

The 'circle' concept involves an area of 500 sqm around metro stations that is developed as business hubs. And the government gives out incentives such as higher FSI for this.

Nashik: A sudden hour-long hailstorm on Sunday destroyed grape crop worth Rs60 crore across 5,000 acres in the northeastern parts of the state's vine district of Nashik. The hail also damaged wheat and vegetables.

Mulund: The octroi department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to cut down 230 full-grown trees as part of a beautification project and for extension of the yard near Hari Om Nagar in Mulund east. The process of felling has already begun and almost the entire green stretch of trees next to the highway police chowky has been razed.