Crane accident in Maharashtra: CM Shinde announces Rs 5 lakh aid to families of deceased
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday expressed grief over the loss of lives in the crane accident at Shahapur in Thane district and announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh for the families of each of the deceased.
Seventeen workers were killed and three injured as a crane fell on a bridge slab during construction of the third phase of Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra's Thane district on Tuesday, an official said.
"A few persons are still feared trapped and efforts are on to rescue them," an NDRF official said.
Three persons were injured in the incident and they were being treated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalva in Thane, he said.
CM Shinde announced an aid of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of the deceased.
The government will bear the expenses of treatment of the injured persons, he said in a tweet.
The accident took place during the third phase work of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, he added.
The Samruddhi Mahamarg, named Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, is a 701-km-long expressway connecting Mumbai and Nagpur.
It traverses 10 districts including Nagpur, Washim, Wardha, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Amravati, Jalna, Nashik and Thane.
The construction of the Samruddhi Mahamarg is being carried out by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
The first phase, connecting Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2022. It covers a distance of 520 km.
CM Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the 80 km long second phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg stretch from Bharvir village in Igatpuri taluka to Shirdi on May 26.
Shinde said in May that the third and last phase would be completed by the end of December this year.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
