Afternoon Pulse: Pune orders a 20% water cut as Mahayuti's Pune and aid rows hang unresolved

Maharashtra's midday was quieter than its morning. The rows that broke on Thursday, an ally backing a rival in Pune and another calling drought aid too thin, have not escalated, but they have not been settled either. What did move was water. The statewide cut is now in force, and Pune district has gone further than the state asked.

Start with the Pune teachers' seat. Since this morning there is still no on-record reply from the BJP to Eknath Shinde's backing of independent Sachin Sanap against its candidate Kaustubh Gawade. An IANS report carried on Friday said Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai played down the rift, saying the alliance would keep coalition ethics, that every party may expand, and that there is no active discord. The same report lists Congress's Jayant Asgaonkar, the sitting member backed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and independent Dattatray Sawant, who missed the BJP ticket, in the race, and puts counting on 27 October after polling on 23 October. Sarkarnama's live page framed the episode as Mahayuti infighting, noting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's claim that the alliance would contest all five Council seats together.

The Tatkare loop is also still open. We found no report by early afternoon that NCP state president Sunil Tatkare has met Fadnavis over the ₹5,000 drought advance, and no reply from the Chief Minister's office. TV9 Marathi's morning roundup simply repeated that Tatkare considers the aid insufficient.

The drought is now in the taps. The government's minimum 10% cut for urban and rural local bodies took effect today, and TV9 Marathi reported that Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde urged residents to save water. Pune has gone further. District Collector Jitendra Dudi has ordered a 20% cut for Pune city and the district's municipal bodies, eSakal reported, because storage in the Khadakwasla dam chain is about 25% lower than last year. The aim is to stretch supply until August. The Free Press Journal's Marathi edition said the cut starts today in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, and that squads will act against people wasting water. The Pune corporation has also shut city supply every Thursday since 15 October.

On cane, we found no report of a fresh mill-gate protest by Raju Shetti's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana since this morning. The government's side of the dispute did come into clearer view. ChiniMandi, citing Deccan Chronicle, reported that the state will lead a delegation of cane farmers and industry to the Centre to seek a higher minimum selling price for sugar and a better ethanol rate. The decision came at a meeting chaired by Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil with farmer leaders, including MLA Sadabhau Khot. The Focus India, reporting the same Mantralaya meeting, said flying squads will check cane weighbridges this season and that Fadnavis and his two deputies will hold a meeting soon. The reports differ on the farmers' sugar price demand: ₹50 a kilo in one and ₹55 in the other. Neither gave a date for the trip to Delhi.

In governance, Health Minister Prakash Abitkar announced that private hospitals must display their service rates in Marathi and English at the entrance and keep bills transparent, IANS and Lokmat reported. District civil surgeons will enforce it, but no penalty or deadline has been stated.

The Shiv Sena name-and-symbol case brought no fresh word from the Supreme Court. The 26 October date that Saamana cited from the court's website still lacks a second confirmation, so it remains tentative.