Fire broke out in a rubber footwear factory in Malad (W) this afternoon, resulting in a loss of property worth lakhs of rupees. However, no one was injured while the fire brigade took five hours to douse the flames.

According to fire officials, the fire first broke out in a large shed in the rubber slipper manufacturing factory at Bombay Talkies Road, in Malad (W), at around 12.50 pm. The fire soon spread and destroyed stocks of newly manufactured footwear, office files, cabinets, computers, electric installations, and office furniture. The fire was put off by 5.40 pm, with the help of six fire engines.

Hoax bomb at Dockyard

Police received a call about a bomb being placed at Dockyard Road railway station on Harbour line which proved to be false this evening. The Mumbai police have declared a red alert in the city following Pakistani intrusions in the Kargil region.

The hoax call was received at around 5 pm. The Bomb Disposal Squad was immediately pressedinto service to defuse the explosive. However, following close examination the squad found it to be a pack of dry cells tied with a wire. Panic had gripped the area after the news of the bomb spread. Normalcy was restored after the squad declared the bomb as fake.

Kamat protests slum demolitions

Senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat has in a letter to the municipal commissioner complained about the "unauthorised" demolition of 600 hutments at Shivaji Nagar, Bainganwadi, in Trombay on Friday. Kamat has stated that some of the civic officials had come to the site seeking to demolish a few hutments to construct a toilet block. But when the locals resisted, the officials became angry and started demolishing hutments built prior to 1995 and protected under the government policy, stated Kamat.