Ghatkopar Hoarding Collapse News Highlights: Death toll rises to 8, several hospitalised

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Eyewitness Swapnil Khupte says, “I was there when a big hoarding of some builder fell down, all the cars, bikes and people that were there got stuck. We helped people get out and somehow manage to escape.”

Commenting on Prime Minister’s roadshow in Varanasi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says, “...My father, while being the Prime Minister, used to go to the villages on foot and ask about the problems. He used to wipe the tears of the people ...”

Two hours after the roadshow began from the Malviya Chauraha in Varanasi's Lanka area, Prime Minister reached the Kashi Vishwanath temple and offered prayers.

The roadshow on Monday began with Modi garlanding a statue of educationist and social reformer Madan Mohan Malviya at the Malviya Chauraha in Varanasi's Lanka area and passed through the Sant Ravidas Gate, Assi, Shivala, Sonarpura, Jangambadi and Godaulia.

BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani says, “We suspect 20-30 more people trapped under that hoarding which collapsed in Ghatkopar. A total of eight people died in the incident. Rescue is underway...”

BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani says, “64 people have been admitted to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. One is in critical condition and a total of four people have died in this incident."

-- Death toll in iron hoarding collapse incident rises to four, 65 injured.

-- Rescue operations are still underway.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis says, “...There will be an investigation regarding what kind of permission they have for this hoarding, whether they had this permission or not... The CM has directed that a proper audit of all the hoardings in Mumbai be done by BMC to mitigate such incidents in future. Whovever has done this kind of ignorance, strict action will be taken against them."

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has cancelled his Lok Sabha campaign and public meeting in the Mulund area after the hoarding collapse incident at Ghatkopar.

The Deputy Chief Minister will shortly meet the affected people.

Three people died and 59 people injured after a hoarding fell at the Police Ground Petrol Pump, Eastern Express Highway, Pantnagar, Ghatkopar East. Search and rescue operation is in process, says BMC.

Till now 67 people have been rescued, informs NDRF.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has now rolled out a new functionality in Annual Information Statement to display the status of information confirmation process.

This will display, whether the feedback of the taxpayer has been acted upon by the Source, by either, partially or fully accepting or rejecting the same.

In case of partial or full acceptance, the information is required to be corrected by filing a correction statement by the Source.

A large number of women in saffron attire walked ahead of the vehicle carrying PM Modi. The group represented 'matrashakti'.

As many as 54 people have been reported injured and over 100 feared trapped after a hoarding fell at the Police Ground Petrol Pump, Eastern Express Highway, Pantnagar, Ghatkopar East. Search and rescue operation is underway, says BMC.

The Mumbai civic body has said that it will file a complaint against Railway and Advertising company Ego Media over the hoarding falling incident in Ghatkopar. The complaint will be filed for registering FIR under the Disaster Management Act, the BMC PRO said.

JD(S) leader HD Revanna granted conditional bail by a special court of people's representatives, in a kidnapping case.

He was arrested on May 4 by SIT officials in a kidnapping case registered against him at KR Nagar police station in the city.

As many as 35 people have been reported injured after a hoarding fell at the Police Ground Petrol Pump, Eastern Express Highway, Pantnagar, Ghatkopar East. Search and rescue operation is underway, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation informed.

The sudden dust storm in Mumbai also affected flight and train operations with a tree uprooting incident being reported from Jogeshwari. One person was injured in the incident and an autorickshaw was damaged.

“It is a great feeling. This is happening for the first time in the history of Varanasi. We will fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and our party’s Sankalp of '400 paar'...,” says Ansar Ul Haq, Bharatiya Janata Party worker.

“For the past ten years I have seen a lot of development in Varanasi and it is all because of PM Modi. I hope this time also he wins...Hope he comes to power and does welfare for the people. I am really amazed to see the crowd...,” says a local resident.

“Kashi is special... The warmth and affection of the people here is unbelievable,” says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

“There is no one who can give competition to PM Modi. Varanasi has changed a lot...Everything has become so systematic. There has been so much beautification...," says a local resident of Varanasi.

Speaking about PM Modi's roadshow in Varanasi, a local resident says, “There has never been such a great preparation. For around 4-5 km all preparations have been made. This turnout of people is historic and this can happen only when PM Modi comes...”

-- Ahead of his roadshow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had paid tributes to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya's statue in Varanasi.

-- PM Modi is the sitting MP and candidate from Varanasi. He will file his nomination for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections tomorrow.

PM Modi, UP CM Yogi hold mega roadshow in Varanasi; thousands throng the streets

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has arrived at Malviya Chauraha in Varanasi's Lanka ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in the city later today.

“A big festival will be organised on the occasion of Ganga Saptami, and we are preparing for that for the last three days. The entire Kashi Vishwanath premises has been decorated with lights and flowers. Today, the PM would be coming. Decoration has already been done, and the standard drill regarding his security will be followed.”

Speaking on PM Modi's upcoming rally in Varanasi today, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and party candidate from Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency Chirag Paswan said, “The PM's words have made me and my mother emotional. The things that he has said from the stage, my father used to say all these things about me, and it matters to me... The trust that the PM has shown in the youth of Bihar… they will be his biggest strength in this election."

Delhi's Karkardooma Court reserves the order on the bail plea of Umar Khalid in the larger conspiracy of Delhi riots case of 2020.

Umar Khalid has sought regular bail on the grounds of delay and parity with other accused persons. He has been in custody since September 2020 in a case under UAPA. Delhi police opposed the plea calling it "frivolous and baseless".

-- More than 5,000 'matrashaktis' (women) will walk in PM Modi’s roadshow in Varanasi today.

-- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ministers and legislators will also participate in the event.

-- Modi will be staying the night at the BLW guesthouse. He will reach the guesthouse from Vishwanath Dham.

-- The PM’s convoy is expected to pass through Maidagin Chauraha, Kabirchaura, Lahurabir, Teliabagh Tiraha, Chowkaghat Chauraha, Lakdi Mandi, Cantt Overbridge, Lahartara Chauraha, Manduwadih Chauraha, and the Kakarmatta Overbridge areas.

-- People from different communities, including Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Maheshwari, Marwari, Tamil, and Punjabi, will welcome Modi at 100 points in 11 zones during the roadshow.

-- The prime minister will be welcomed with the blowing of conches and beats of 'dhols' and 'damrus'.

-- Prime Minister Modi will also go to seek the blessings from Baba Vishwanath.

-- Cutouts of famous people of Kashi will also be installed along the route of the roadshow.

No elections will be held in the future if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins this time, says Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Jharkhand.

The prime minister is seeking a third consecutive term from the Varanasi seat that will go to polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the general elections, where he is slated to hold a roadshow later today.

-- PMLA court rejected the bail plea of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.

-- Earlier the court had reserved the decision after hearing the arguments of both parties.

-- Former CM Hemant Soren had filed a petition for bail in the PMLA court on April 15.

“PM Modi will be conducting a roadshow today in the evening in Varanasi and will file his nomination tomorrow. Under the leadership of PM Modi, a lot of development work has happened in the last ten years...The country is moving forward to become 'Viksit Bharat',” says Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary.

Neelotpal, SP, Gadchiroli, says, “A credible intel was received this morning that some members of Perimili Dalam are camping in the forest area near Katrangatta village in Bhamragad Taluka with an aim to carry out subversive activities during the ongoing Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign period. While the teams were doing an area search operation, they were fired at indiscriminately by Naxalites, which was retaliated strongly by our C60 teams. After the firing stopped and the area was searched, 1 male and 2 female naxal bodies were recovered. The bodies are primarily of DVCM Vasu, Incharge and Commander of Perimili Dalam.”

Three Naxalites have been killed in an encounter with security forces in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on M ay 13, police informed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a six-kilometre-long roadshow in Varanasi on May 13 evening, a day before he files his nomination from the Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

Before he files his nomination on May 14, the prime minister will also take a dip in the Ganga.

The roadshow will be held from Malviya Chauraha in Lanka to Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham. It will pass through Sant Ravidas Gate, Assi, Shivala, Sonarpura, Jangambadi, Godaulia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with a Samman Patra at the Patna Sahib Gurudwara, earlier today.

He is slated to hold a roadshow in Varanasi this evening before filing his nomination for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, “I also read that another arrest has been made...We have long maintained that if any event or violence in Canada has any evidence or information that is relevant to be investigated in India, we are open to investigating it. To date, we have never received anything specific or worthy of being investigated by our investigative agencies...”

Earlier, addressing an election rally in Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency, Modi said the money recovered in raids against politicians "belonged to the country's poor". "I will tell you why they are crying hoarse against the action of agencies like the ED. During the previous Congress regime, the ED seized only Rs 35 lakh, which could be contained in a school bag. Ever since we took over, the agency has recovered Rs 2,200 crore, which would require 70 small trucks to be carried," said the PM.

"If Pakistan does not wear bangles, we will make the country wear these. I know they did not have foodgrains. Now, I come to know they do not even have adequate supply of bangles," the PM said.
"But, we must look carefully at the opposition which seems to be full of cowards and timid people, who give a clean chit to Pakistan on terrorism, raise doubts on surgical strikes' their Left allies even want our nuclear arsenal to be dismantled," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the opposition INDIA bloc, calling its leaders "cowards" who were "scared of Pakistan's nuclear power". Addressing an election rally in Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar, Modi made an apparent reference to a recent statement of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, without mentioning him by name.

"The INDIA bloc seems to have leaders who are scared of Pakistan and have nightmares of its nuclear power," he said. The remarks come in the backdrop of comments by Abdullah about Pakistan having atom bombs and not wearing bangles.

When Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav mocked the prime minister by saying he did not have a family, PM Modi retaliated with “140 crore people of India are my family”. Following this, all BJP leaders added ‘Modi Ka Parivar’ after their names on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Similarly, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had raised the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hain’ slogan, alleging irregularities in the Rafale aircraft deal. Subsequently, all the BJP leaders added ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ after their usernames on X.

Earlier, in an interview with Network 18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, the prime minister had said he was ashamed of the level of discourse. “That means whatever abuses you are hurling, you are hurling them at the prime minister. To say things like we will bash the prime minister’s head or abuse my mother… I am shocked that even the president of India was insulted. I am ashamed of this.”

He had asserted that he was going forward with a positive attitude and had left the responsibility on the media and voters to deal with people (hurling abuses) as they deem fit. The BJP has often turned around the Opposition’s barbs at the prime minister into opportunities to reach out to voters and touch a chord with them.

A defamation plea against Arvind Kejriwal for ‘retweeting’ will come up for hearing in August 2024. The Delhi CM’s lawyers tell the court that the settlement talks will get underway soon.

Kejriwal had retweeted a video by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee on BJP IT Cell.

The Supreme Court on Monday has asked the Enforcement Directorate to respond to the plea by Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the ED. The former Jharkhand CM is in custody over his alleged involvement in the land scam case, which is now listed for hearing on May 17. The SC says the ED has to respond to the plea. However, the court expressed its doubt regarding the May 17 hearing as it’s the last working day before the court closes for summer vacation. The SC was initially inclined to list it for next week. Soren’s lawyer Kapil Sibal said Kejriwal’s order will cover him and the election will be over by the next date of hearing. He said it will be unfair. SC rebuked Sibal saying this is the shortest possible time for the ED to file a response.

Explaining how he turns around negative remarks, PM Modi said: “There is an old poem, the gist of which was that I take the stones that people throw at me and use them to build a path and move forward. Secondly, jitna who keechad ucchalenge, kamal utna hi zyaada khilega [The more muck they throw our way, the more the lotus will bloom].”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave himself the moniker ‘Gaali-proof’ as he shared that he was not rattled by the Opposition’s personal attacks on him.

In an exclusive interview to News18 the prime minister said: “We are kaamdaar, they are naamdaar. Kaamdars like us have grown up hearing abuses since childhood. We don’t take these things personally.”

In a lighter vein, the prime minister added: “I have become Gaali-proof in a way. When people ask me the source of my energy, I say jokingly that I eat two kilograms of abuses every day and that is where I get my energy from.”

Supreme Court dismisses an appeal against Delhi HC order which junked a plea for dismissal of Arvind Kejriwal from the post of Delhi Chief Minister as he was in custody. The SC says, “There may be a proprietorial issue relating to Arvind Kejriwal continuing as CM of Delhi despite being arrested, but there is no legal right with anyone to seek a direction from the court to ask him to step down.”

As many as 96 seats are being voting for in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. The final and the seventh round of voting will be held on June 1 and votes counted on June 4. There never has been a dispute over power transition in India once results are declared. “So, you will see the momentum (in investments) picking up regardless of whoever comes in, but at this moment, everybody thinks that Prime Minister Modi will come back,” US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) president and chief executive officer Mukesh Aghi said.

Investors expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come back to power and they also have confidence in the reform and business-oriented government, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) president and chief executive officer Mukesh Aghi has said.

"Everybody also feels that this time, the elections are more predictable. And that predictable results sends investors coming to India more and more because they feel that the current government is very reform-oriented, is very business-oriented," the head of the top US-based India-centric business and strategic group told Moneycontrol.

During a rally in Hajipur, Bihar, prime minister Narendra Modi said, “June 4 is not very far. Everyone’s eye will be on TV, social media, and radio (to check the results). The blessings you all give to BJP and NDA will be visible - ‘Abki baar Modi sarkar’. Your every vote for NDA will form Modi's strong government in the centre. If anyone votes for RJD, Congress, or the INDIA alliance then their vote will go to waste. Bihar’s people are intelligent, they won’t let this happen.”

More than 5,000 ‘Matrishakti’ will be involved in the road show along with sportspersons as the prime minister will seek votes for himself in a departure from canvassing for others. PM Modi has sent door-to-door invitations to Kashi residents to attend his roadshow. As part of the BJP’s strategy to make the roadshow a raging success, the five-kilometre journey will prepare a roadmap for the development journey of Kashi in five years. Under 11 beats, 10 points each i.e. about 100 points have been made on which people from Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Maheshwari, Marwari, Tamil, Punjabi etc. communities will welcome PM Modi in traditional attire

PM Modi’s roadshow will start with the garlanding of the statue of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya at Singh Gate of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Monday evening and will prepare the roadmap for the development journey of Kashi in five years. It will end at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, with PM Modi seeking blessings from Baba Vishwanath.

Old and new pictures of Varanasi’s development will be seen along the route of the roadshow apart from pictures of Kashi’s celebrities whose place of work or birthplace has been the historic city. These will include Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Bismillah Khan, Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Tulsidas, Kabir Das, and Sant Ravidas among others.

The grand plans to welcome PM Modi to ‘Apni Kashi’ include Shehnai rendition by family members of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan near Madanpura. The Muslim community will shower flowers on the prime minister under the leadership of former MP Rajesh Mishra. A picture of the PM Modi touching his mother’s feet will also be seen in the road show.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, other chief ministers, ministers and prominent people of many states are likely to be a part of the nomination process.

A special Shehnai rendition, folk music, ode to Kashi’s celebrities and much more — as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gears up to file his nomination for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections on May 14, his five-kilometre-long roadshow a day before on Monday will present a glimpse of Mini India and the culture of Uttar Pradesh.

The prime minister will file his nomination at 11.40am on Tuesday, which is considered an auspicious period as it falls under the ‘Abhijit Mahurat’ and ‘Anand Yog’ as per Hindu Panchang.

"The agenda of the Congress party is not how many seats they will win. Their agenda is to see whether we can win 400 seats or not," says prime minister Narendra Modi in an exclusive interview with News18.

Answering a question about whether the BJP will be able to repeat its performance in the Hindi-speaking belt, PM Modi said, “BJP is all over the country and will do hat-trick. BJP and NDA will break its records South will be a big surprise this time. Andhra, Telangana will be a clean sweep for us. Where BJP is already there, will be repeated.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stressed that the INDIA alliance has “no way forward” and asked how will one prime minister “understand” the country in one year. “They think by going against Modi, they will win. This is a big country, the voter wants to know the name which will make the nation’s aspirations come true and the INDIA alliance has not been able to decide on that one name. I read in a newspaper, that the INDIA alliance plans to make one PM each year. How will a PM understand India in one year, what will that PM do in one year,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is confident that the BJP-led NDA will cross the 400-seat mark in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024. He said he has travelled across India and that there was a 'storm' which indicates the BJP-led NDA will comfortably cross the mark and ensure a hattrick of tenure at the Centre

Good morning, Moneycontrol readers. Follow along as we bring you the latest news making the headlines in India and abroad. We start of our live updates with PM Narendra Modi expressing confidence of the BJP-led NDA securing a hattrick of tenures at the Centre in the upcoming elections. Stay tuned for regular updates.