Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said the grand welcome accorded to the T20 World Cup winning Indian cricket team in Mumbai was also a message to the BCCI to never take away the final match of a major tournament from the country's financial capital.

Thackeray's remarks appear to be criticism of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for hosting the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad instead of Mumbai. India had lost the 50-over World Cup final to Australia in November last year.

"Yesterday's celebration in Mumbai is also a strong message to the BCCI... Never take away a World Cup final from Mumbai," the former Maharashtra minister said in a post on X.

Thackeray's comments came a day after thousands of cricket fans thronged the Marine Drive in South Mumbai to witness the victory parade of the T20 World Cup winning Indian team, which returned home from the West Indies on Thursday morning. India lifted the T20 World Cup after defeating South Africa at Bridgetown (Barbados) late last month.

The open bus parade started from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point after 7.30 pm and went till the Wankhede Stadium. Although it usually takes five minutes to cover the distance between these two points, it took more than one-and-a-half-hour for the parade to do so due to the large gathering of fans.

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Bengaluru: In a bid to address the mounting plastic waste problem, Eshwar B. Khandre, Minister for Forests, Ecology, and Environment, has directed the additional chief secretary of the department to formulate regulations that will require packaged water bottle manufacturers to take responsibility for the scientific disposal of plastic bottles.

As part of the proposed plan, Khandre has suggested introducing a minimum price for each water bottle, which would be refunded when the bottle is returned to any establishment selling packaged water, as reported by Deccan Herald on Monday.

Under this initiative, when a person buys a new water bottle, the minimum price for each returned bottle would be discounted from the bill for the new one.

The goal is to ensure that empty bottles are returned to the shops where they were purchased, preventing them from being discarded in public spaces or ending up in the environment. Under the plan, these establishments would then return the empty bottles to manufacturers, who would be responsible for the scientific disposal of the plastic.

Khandre emphasised that the proposed regulations are aimed at tackling plastic pollution more effectively. Although the central government has already banned the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of certain single-use plastics, and the state government has enacted similar regulations, plastic waste continues to be a significant environmental challenge.