The entire business community including retail traders, hoteliers and wholesalers from Maharashtra will down their shutters on July 1 in support of a bandh call given by Federation of Associations of Maharashtra (FAM) to protest against the tax and revenue collection norms of the state government. FAM president Mohan Gurnani said the state government will lose revenue over Rs 500 crore and traders would also suffer a loss of nearly Rs 10,000 crore on the bandh day. He said FAM has been urging the government for urgent relief in hike in sales tax rates, reintroduction of one per cent turnover tax and ten per cent surcharge on gross sales tax, stamp duty on imports to the state and hike in registration and licence fees under the Shops and Establishments Act.

Customs official dismissed

A customs official in Mumbai was dismissed from service following the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) recommendation of regular departmental action on charges of abusing hisofficial position and accumulating ``huge immovable and movable assets.'' ``The CBI investigation had revealed that the accused was in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 1.28 lakh,'' a CBI release said. The accused, an appraiser in Mumbai Customs, was served with dismissal order by the customs commissioner following the CBI recommendations, the release said.

Free education for girls in ITIs

The state government today decided to provide free education to girl students in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state from the current academic year. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Narayan Rane said. Altogether, 18,583 girls in 312 ITIs would be beneficiaries of the decision, Rane said. The move would impose a burden of Rs 33.45 lakh on the state government, he said.

Fake currency racket busted

Police nabbed six persons today for possessing fake Indian and foreign currency and operating a full-fledged currency racket. The accused havebeen remanded to police custody till July 5 by metropolitan magistrate Mohan Puranik. The accused are Msish Magan, Nasir Khan, Syed Hassan Moin Ahmed, Laxmikant Vyas, Mayur Thakur and Jayesh Doshi. A revolver was also seized from them.

Vishal Aarti for army's victory

Divine powers were today invoked for victory of the Indian Army in the fight to evict Pakistan-backed intruders from Kargil in Kashmir. Hundreds of people gathered under the banner of the BJP south Mumbai unit to participate in a Vishal Aarti outside a Hanuman temple. ``God give the strength, power and blessings to our jawans fighting at Kargil to throw out intruders from our holy land,'' they chanted.