Contractual DTC drivers and conductors are on strike over pay and service conditions.

They earn Rs 862 a day and are asking for Rs 2,000.

They also want medical facilities, social security, an annual bonus, paid holidays and leave.

The government says some benefits have already been approved.

The union says the protest will continue until its demands are met.

Thousands of buses remained parked at depots across the capital.

Services were reported to be hit in areas including Burari, Wazirpur, Nehru Place, Rajghat, Rani Khera, Ghumanhera and Sarita Vihar.

Long queues were seen at bus stops, and some e-rickshaw drivers were asking Rs 15 to Rs 20 for distances of two to two and a half kilometres.

Delhi Metro added train services during peak hours as more commuters switched to it.

Transport Minister Pankaj Singh said the administration had already approved certain benefits, including medical facilities, leave compensation, additional kilometre payments and death assistance.

The government distinguished between direct DTC employees and those hired through private contractors.

Union president Lalit Chaudhary said the drivers were not asking for anything unreasonable and that the protest would continue until the demands were met.

Reports differed on the day count, with one report calling Friday the fourth day of the strike and another saying it entered its fifth day on Saturday.

No emergency order to end the strike was reported in the accounts reviewed.

The strike began earlier in the week and continued through the weekend.

Many Delhi residents rely on DTC buses for daily commuting, so even a short strike has a wide impact on the city.

The strike by contractual drivers and conductors of the Delhi Transport Corporation continued through the weekend of September 19 and 20.

It is led by the DTC Karmachari Ekta Union, which claims that more than 10,000 drivers and conductors are taking part.

DTC low-floor bus, Delhi (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

A tragedy during the Ganesh festival in Mumbai left two people dead and four others injured in an electrocution incident.

It happened early on Sunday near a pandal in the Lalbaug-Kalachowki area.

The victims included an 8-year-old girl and a woman.

Police have booked the stall operator for negligence.

Investigators are looking into the electrical fittings at the spot.

At least four others, aged between 8 and 20, were reported to have suffered burn injuries and were undergoing treatment.

Police have registered an FIR against the operator of the nearby stall under Sections 106(1) and 125(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, alleging negligence.

Section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita deals with causing death by negligence, and Section 125 deals with acts that endanger life or the personal safety of others.

An investigation has begun into how the loose wire came to be exposed and who was responsible for the electrical fitting.

The Lalbaug area draws large crowds during the Ganesh festival, and pandals and nearby stalls use temporary electrical connections.

Officials and civic bodies usually issue safety advisories about temporary wiring, earthing and open cables before festival crowds gather.

Devotees are advised not to touch loose or hanging wires, especially in wet conditions, and to report exposed cables to local authorities.

Wet conditions raise the risk of electric shocks from damaged wiring in crowded public places, which is why safety advisories stress caution in the monsoon season.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals, and the woman who died had been admitted to Global Hospital in Parel.

The incident took place at around 2 am on Sunday, September 20, when devotees were present near the Ganesh pandal.

Electric shocks from a loose wire at a cold drink stall near Aastha Hospital on Dattaram Lad Marg in Kalachowki injured several people.

Ganesh festival decoration (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Four people were held with 47.3 kg of heroin and three pistols in Faridkot.

The arrests came from a checkpoint by the CIA Faridkot team.

Fifteen cartridges and two vehicles were also seized.

The accused are from Ferozepur district.

An FIR has been registered at Sadiq police station.

The four occupants of the car were apprehended, and the heroin and weapons were found during the search.

All four accused are residents of villages in Ferozepur district.

According to police, the gang received consignments of heroin and weapons dropped by drones from across the border in the border areas of Fazilka and Ferozepur.

The gang then supplied the consignments further within Punjab, police said.

An FIR has been registered at Sadiq police station in Faridkot.

Investigators are working to establish the forward and backward linkages of the network.

Punjab, which shares a long border with Pakistan, has seen repeated drone-dropped drug and weapon consignments in border districts.

Police recoveries of this kind are typically followed by questioning of the accused to trace the suppliers across the border and the buyers within the state.

The accused are yet to be tried, and the allegations against them remain to be proved in court.

The recovery included both narcotics and firearms, which police say shows the gang handled more than one kind of illegal consignment.

Baba Farid Agman Purab is a major annual religious event in Faridkot, and police step up checking in the district ahead of it.

Ferozepur and Fazilka, the districts named in the case, lie on the border with Pakistan.

Crime Investigation Agency units in Punjab districts focus on organised crime and narcotics cases.

The Faridkot Police arrested four operatives of a cross-border smuggling network and seized 47.3 kg of heroin.

They also recovered three pistols, three magazines, 15 cartridges and two vehicles.

Raj Mahal palace, Faridkot (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain