NEWS

The Delhi government on Monday announced that the legal drinking age in the national capital has been lowered to 21 from the existing 25. The government also said that no new liquor shops will be opened in the city. “There will be no government liquor stores in Delhi,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said at a press conference while talking about the changes to the excise policy approved by the cabinet.

Sisodia further said that the policy is aimed to check the “liquor mafia” and the excise from the sale of alcohol is expected to grow at 20 per cent annually instead of the five per cent, the current annual growth.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said on Sunday that he has taken a “serious note” of the allegations of corruption levelled against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray can take action, he said further.

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday dropped a “letter-bomb” triggering a huge political row in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra of which the NCP is an integral part.

In the letter, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh wanted his team member, arrested cop Sachin Vaze, to ‘collect’ Rs 100 crore per month from bars and hookah parlours.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launching the 'Catch the Rain' campaign on World Water Day, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur too announced that at least one water harvesting structure would be constructed in every subdivision.

At the state-level event to mark the day, the Chief Minister said the state has taken this decision as per the call by the Prime Minister to ensure water conservation and rainwater harvesting.

Thakur urged the elected representatives to ensure water conservation. To check the quality of water, a special campaign would be launched in the first fortnight of June, under which samples of water to be taken in villages, schools and 'anganwadi' centres would be tested in a laboratory.

He said a special drive to clean all sources of water would be launched from October 2 to 31. The objective of these programmes is to make the water quality and conservation campaign a mass movement.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has refuted the allegations against him and asserted that former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh made the claims to save himself as his involvement in the Ambani bomb scare case and Mansukh Hiran death case was getting clearer.

Deshmukh said he is going to file a defamation case against the former Mumbai police commissioner. He has also issued a point-by-point rebuttal of former Mumbai cop Param Bir Singh, who in his explosive letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray, accused Deshmukh of demanding Rs 100 crore collection from the police every month.

While the opposition has demanded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader's resignation, his party members and alliance partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government have termed the matter as serious but have ruled out replacing him. Several other political leaders have also given their reactions.