QMumbai: Maharashtra CID Website Hacked; Mumbai Houses Get Cheaper
The latest news updates from Mumbai and across Maharashtra.
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1. Maharashtra CID Website Hacked, Defaced
The official website of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was hacked by unknown parties on Friday. It was later restored, and an inquiry has been initiated.
According to Cyber police officials, the incident came to light in the early hours of Friday, when the homepage of the CID website – mahacid.gov.in – was found defaced. The message left by the hackers on the home page referred to the recent violence against Muslims in Delhi and issued a “warning” to the Narendra Modi government.
A group identifying itself as 'Legion' claimed responsibility for the hacking. However, it is not clear whether this is the same group that had in 2016 hacked several Twitter accounts, including that of Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, and posted offensive content from his handle.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Thackeray Govt’s First Budget Focusses on Farmers, Tries to Please All
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra on Friday tabled its first budget worth Rs 4.34 lakh crore in the state legislature, which aims at pleasing all its core constituencies especially the farmers.
Maharashtra’s finance minister Ajit Pawar, who presented the budget, announced Rs 22,000 crore for farmers under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Loan waiver scheme. The scheme has now been expanded to include agriculturists with outstanding loans of more than Rs 200,000 and an incentive of Rs 50,000 for those who repay them on time.
The state government has also envisaged an employment generation scheme for the educated unemployed, which will help train those between 21 to 28 years of age. It also plans to pay a stipend to these youngsters.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Buying House in Mumbai, Pune to Get Cheaper, but Driving Car Set to Pinch
Planning to buy a new home in Mumbai in the next two years? There’s some good news.
The cost of buying that dream home just went down. At a time when the country’s costliest real estate market the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is grappling with a surplus of unsold homes, the Maharashtra government on Friday announced a 1 per cent cut in stamp duty for property transactions in the region for the next two years. Besides Mumbai, the concession was also extended to documents registered in Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, and Nagpur Metropolitan Areas.
But there’s some bad news for car owners across the state. Maharashtra, on Friday, also announced a Rs 1 per litre increase in Value Added Tax on the sale of petrol and diesel to shore up revenues.
(Source: Indian Express)
4. Aaditya’s Pet Projects Get Big Chunk in State Budget
After this year’s civic budget, the State budget too saw a major allocation to tourism and environment, in the wake of Aaditya Thackeray’s entry into the State Cabinet with these portfolios. A good ₹1,400 crore has been set aside for the Tourism Department. Climate change has also found prominent mention in the budget with the setting up of a ‘green fund’.
Soon after becoming minister, Mr. Thackeray took forward projects he had been working on at the city-level for several years, such as the plastic ban, the Mumbai 24 hours project, and tourism development. A separate budgetary allocation was made in the recent District Planning and Development Corporation meeting with Finance Minister Ajit Pawar. The government announced that 22 public places will be developed in Mumbai through a tourism master plan. Island City Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh had also announced the development of Haji Ali and Mani Bhavan. All these projects found reflection in the annual budget.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. Tempted by Higher Interest Rates, PCMC Administration Deposited Rs 1000 Core With Yes Bank
As Yes Bank found itself down in the dumps on Friday with RBI putting moratorium on withdrawals, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation too landed on a sticky wicket as it emerged that the civic body had deposits worth around Rs 1000 crore with the bank. The civic body had favoured the Yes Bank because of its higher interest rate it offered on deposits compared to other private banks and PSUs.
“We have around Rs 984 crore deposited with the bank,” Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar told this paper. The amount includes civic body’s revenue collection from various sources like water tax, property tax, building permission fees and other heads.
(Source: Indian Express)