Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak on Sunday inspected the ongoing work at Mithi river after the Congress MLA from Kurla, Naseem Khan, expressed displeasure over the second phase of the widening project. Khan claimed that the work was moving slowly and demanded completion of the project before the onset of the monsoon.

Even as health officials investigate the death of two children after they were administered Hepatitis B and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccines, TOI has learnt of one more incident in which a two-month-old died this week, this time after taking the BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) vaccine given to prevent childhood tuberculosis.

Construction of Maharashtra's tallest dam is expected to commence soon. The project architect, Central Designs Organisation

The Central Railway (CR) on Thursday launched the 'GO Mumbai' smartcard, a first-of-its-kind travel card which works like a pre-paid telephone card, and can be used for travel on the main line of CR, its Harbour line and BEST buses. "This is a red-letter day. A journey begins with buying a ticket and serpentine queues can be extremely cumbersome for passengers. The 'GO Mumbai' smartcard is one of the steps we have taken to permanently terminate these long queues," said general manager of CR, Sowmya Raghavan, who unveiled the card.

A month after the Bombay high court order which declared all houses on private forest land as illegal, embattled chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday stepped in to protect the estimated one lakh flats of 'innocent' persons on forest lands in the suburbs, especially in the Powai-Bhandup-Mulund-Thane-Kandivli-Borivli belt covering about 1,500 hectares. Another 75,000 flats are under construction in these areas.

The city may have to go through water cuts this summer to help its parched neighbours. Municipal corporations around Mumbai, faced with an acute water shortage, have rushed in to claim the city's daily share of 3,400 million litres of water. The BMC has already received a request from Thane Municipal Corporation for an additional 100 million litres of water every day. This, besides the 160 million litres it supplies to the TMC for a nominal cost. Bhayandar has also asked the BMC for 50 million litres daily, over and above the 35 million litres it gets from the city civic body.

Call it the horns of a dilemma. The BMC cannot decide whether to keep male and female dogs together or separately in the two proposed shelters for canines in Palghar and Thane. The problem will be highlighted in an affidavit the civic body will submit to the Bombay high court during a hearing scheduled for Friday. The court had ordered the BMC to set up two shelters for the city's strays on the outskirts of Mumbai. But the BMC, while going about the task, has come across several points that it cannot make up its mind about.

MUMBAI: The BMC has issued commencement certificates to 11 public parking towers-eight in the Parel-Dadar belt and three in Goregaon-for 15,845 vehicles, according to the latest official figures. The structures will be about 10-15 storey high.

MUMBAI: Electricity bills could go up as the government has decided to levy an additional duty and tax on electricity produced and sold in the state.

MUMBAI: In an apparent play of votebank politics, the Congress-led Democratic Front government on Wednesday doled out generous sops to farmers in its 2011-12 budget in the form of loan waivers and subsidies.

Farmers across Maharashtra owe Rs 5,900 crore in electricity bills along with interest and late fees.

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