Sangli/Satara: It's not only the Centre's much-anticipated relief package that political parties are trying to hijack.

It is mostly caused by deliberate neglect and designed failure of the way we manage water and land

It’s drought time again. Nothing new in this announcement. Each year, first we have crippling droughts between December and June, and then devastating floods in the next few months. It’s a cycle of despair, which is more or less predictable. But this is not an inevitable cycle of nature we must live with.

The Centre is expected to release a first instalment of about `700 crores assistance for drought relief works in Maharashtra in the next few days.

Union ministers Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal and the deputy chairman planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia are expected to meet on this issue either on Monday or Tuesday, sources said.

A study on irrigation projects across the state has exposed corruption to the tune of Rs26,000 crore in the sector in the last decade.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee has set up an 'emergency assistance committee' to tackle issues related to scarcity of water and fodder due to drought situation in the state.

Two major residential projects being planned under the slum rehabilitation scheme, with a combined value of over Rs330crore, were recently granted clearance by the State Expert Appraisal Committee

MUMBAI: Residents of housing societies in Worli expressed concern after noticing that part of the Arabian Sea near the Haji Ali dargah turned black.

The state government on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that close to 6,500 autorickshaws in the city have been fitted with electronic meters following a notification issued in February.

The statement was made in a compliance report filed before the court by joint transport commissioner Satish Sahasrabudhhe. The report states that 2,598 new autorickshaws have been fitted with e-meters. The figure for vehicles which have come forward for renewal of fitness certificates is 3,839.

With little assistance forthcoming, 41 of them have been threatening to push for merger with Karnataka

Malabai Solankar has been waiting since 6 a.m. on Saturday to collect fodder at a makeshift depot in Sordi village in Sangli's Jath taluka. Now well past noon, she is struggling to not to lose her patience, as are others gathered there. Located on the Maharashtra border, Sordi is part of 41 villages that have been threatening to push for merger with neighbouring Karnataka if the Maharashtra government fails to provide relief in view of the current drought.

MUMBAI: Almost a month after the Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the ministry of environment and forests to publish reports of all commissions and special panels on its website within