A BMC health worker collects swab sample of an outstation passenger for Covid-19 test at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj terminus in Mumbai, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (PTI)Mumbai Highlights: Maharashtra government has announced new Covid curbs amid rising cases in the state. The government has imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am and no movement will be allowed within this time except for essential purposes. The government has barred the movement of people in groups of five or more.
The maximum number of people allowed in marriages or social and other gatherings are 50, whereas the maximum number of people allowed to attend funerals are 20. Swimming pools, gyms, spas, parks, zoos, museums and forts are to remain shut. Schools are to remain closed until February 15, 2022. Shopping malls and markets complexes are to operate at a 50 per cent capacity and to remain shut between 10 pm to 8 am. Restaurants are also supposed to function at 50 per cent capacity and only allow fully vaccinated persons.
Mumbai reported 20,318 new covid cases and five deaths on Saturday. The active cases as of Saturday evening are 1,06,037. The total number of asymptomatic patients were 82 per cent and the bed occupancy stood at 21.4 per cent on Saturday. Maharashtra recorded 41,434 new Covid cases and 13 deaths. A total of 9,671 recovered on Saturday and the active cases in the state are 1,73,238.
Also, amid a surge in daily Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and a day after the Union Ministry of Health cut the isolation period for patients in home isolation to seven days, the BMC on Thursday released new home isolation guidelines for asymptomatic and mild cases.
At a Covid-19 center at Vashi Exhibition Complex in Mumbai.
Maharashtra government has announced new Covid curbs amid rising cases in the state. The government has imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am and no movement will be allowed within this time except for essential purposes.
The maximum number of people allowed in marriages or social and other gatherings are 50, whereas the maximum number of people allowed to attend funerals are 20.
Swimming pools, gyms, spas, parks, zoos, museums and forts are to remain shut. Schools are to remain closed until February 15, 2022.
Shopping malls and markets complexes are to operate at a 50 per cent capacity and to remain shut between 10 pm to 8 am. Restaurants are also supposed to function at 50 per cent capacity and only allow fully vaccinate persons.
Dreaded gangster, Uday Pathak, 52, infamous for the Kurar quadruple murders in 2011 for which he continues to stay in prison as an undertrial, has been booked for extorting and threatening to kill an imitation jeweler from Kurar in Malad (east). Incidentally, Pathak was arrested in 2020 along with his aides for conspiring a firing at the same jeweler’s shop. Back then he was also booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). Pathak has 15 crime cases against him including atleast four cases in the last 10 years which include murder, attempt to murder and extortion.
On Thursday, the 53-year-old complainant approached the Kurar police station alleging a postman dropped an envelope at his imitation jewelry shop when he was working there with his son. The letter stated that Uday Pathak, Rahul Mantri, Vicki Pise are angry with him as he did not pay them Rs 1 crore extortion money in 2020. The letter asked him to meet Pathak and pay up Rs 1 crore failing which he will be bumped off.
Love Grove in Worli is all kinds of beguiling. Once a scenic vantage point coveted by honeymooners to view the rolling hills around the city, the spot is the site of a big stink today. It is home to major sewage treatment plants — a crucial element in any polluting megacity — but the loss of its romantic connotations has been lamented over for decades now.
In April 2021, Love Grove got a makeover as a vibrant street art site. Members of the Aravani Art Project painted a mural along the compound wall that stretches out on Dr Annie Besant Road. It’s a sight for sore eyes and tired minds that wait at the traffic intersection.
The Aravani Art Project is a collective of women and transwomen involved in collaborative public art projects across India. Like their other murals, the project in Love Grove is a series of portraits of people who frequent the area. Sadhna Prasad, co-founder of Aravani Art Project, describes the mural as showing “the everyday of the place”. They were invited by public art platform St+Art India, which arranged the logistics, paints and permissions for the mural.
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BJP MLA Ashish Shelar on Saturday wrote to Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil complaining against the death threats he has been receiving from an unknown caller over the past two days.
In the letter, Shelar wrote, “Some unknown person has been issuing threats to kill me and my entire family. He has been hurling abuses,” adding that the stranger was repeatedly calling them even during odd hours. The BJP leader also shared two telephone numbers from which the calls were made. Shelar had written to the Mumbai Police Commissioner in this regard on Friday.
Describing the development as a cause of concern, BJP leaders in the state have sought a probe into the matter. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said, “When a sitting MLA receives such abusive calls threatening to cause harm to him and his family it is indeed a very serious matter. The Home Ministry must look into it and book the culprits.”
In spite of a spurt in Covid-19 cases across Maharashtra, the state government is treading a cautious path over imposing fresh restrictions. While active cases have seen an exponential growth over the last few days, the state has not issued any restrictions due to difference of opinion within the government, said sources.
While a section in the government and bureaucracy is in favour of imposing further restrictions, another section has opposed it, countering that it will have a severe impact on the business and industries, sources said.
The spike in Covid numbers in the city saw a substantial drop in vehicular traffic all over Mumbai on Friday. Vehicular traffic was thinner than usual, confirmed Raj Vardhan Sinha, joint commissioner of police, traffic, Mumbai Police. “There is a drop of 20 to 25 % in vehicular traffic in Bandra (west) on S V Road and Link Road,” said Vishal Khaire, senior inspector of Bandra Traffic division.
Peddar Road wore a similar look. Sagar Lad, a tennis coach and Marine Lines resident, said, “There was absolutely no traffic this evening while I was returning home from Worli. A cab ride usually takes 40 minutes in the evening peak hours but today, I reached home in 20 minutes.”
Noted theatre artist, writer and activist Gerson da Cunha passed away on Friday noon following a cardiac arrest. Da Cunha was 92 years old. Through his work spanning decades, first as an ad man and later as an activist, he came to be closely connected with Mumbai’s cultural landscape and civic issues.
Friends and associates remember da Cunha as a stalwart from a generation that was integral to the cosmopolitan life of post-Independent Bombay, keen on ensuring a flourishing of literature, fine art and theatre.
Da Cunha was born in Mumbai in 1929 and grew up in Mazgaon. Graduating in science, da Cunha first worked as a journalist at PTI Reuters and then moved to advertising, where he remained for 25 years. He was CEO of ad agency Lintas from 1955 to 1980.
The Mumbai civic body on Thursday issued detailed instructions to its nodal officers for giving 'precaution' or booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare professionals, frontline workers and senior citizens above 60 and with comorbidities from January 10 and said their inoculation will be free at government and corporation-run centres. In an internal circular, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) stated that health workers, frontline staffers and people above 60 with comorbidities will be eligible for 'precaution' dose if they have completed nine months, or 39 weeks, from the second dose of their COVID-19 vaccine.
The civic body said for taking the booster dose, eligible persons can either register online or walk in to vaccination centres. Presently, over 400 vaccination centres, including in private hospitals, are active in Mumbai. Till January 5, more than 1.80 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to people in Mumbai.
A 32-year-old policeman has been arrested on the alleged charges of sexually harassing a woman, in central Mumbai, an official said on Friday. Based on a complaint lodged by a woman with the Bhoiwada police, constable Akshay Chougule, a resident of BDD Chawl, was placed under arrest on Wednesday, the official said.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, has been allowed to reside in Thane, following a plea she moved before the trial court recently.
Among the jail conditions set for Bharadwaj by the trial court was that she could not reside outside the jurisdiction of the court, which is Mumbai city. Bharadwaj had sought permission to shift to a friend’s residence in Thane since accommodation in Mumbai is expensive.
An affidavit was submitted by Bharadwaj’s friend in court, following which special judge Dinesh E Kothalikar on Thursday granted her plea seeking permission to stay in Thane instead of Mumbai. The court directed her to report to the local police station in Thane, as part of her bail conditions. It also said that the investigating agency, NIA, is at liberty to verify the address.
Dharavi, Asia’s biggest slum, which was praised for its Covid management in the second wave, is now battling a third round. On Friday, it reported 150 cases, its highest single-day surge since the beginning of the pandemic. The peak before this was 99, in April 2021.
Officials are wary about the fast-rising numbers, believed to be driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, in an area that, at 66,000 people per sq km, is twice as densely populated as Mumbai (the fifth-most densely populated city in the world). The slum as of Friday had 588 active cases, of whom 147 were hospitalised.
There is no immediate need for imposing lockdown or additional restrictions in Mumbai as the bed occupancy rate, oxygen requirement and number of COVID-19 deaths are low, municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal said on Friday. During the first and second wave the decision to impose lockdown was taken on the basis of case positivity rate, but this criterion cannot be applied for the third wave which started from December 21, 2021, Chahal told a Marathi news channel.
No further restrictions were needed to be imposed on travel by local trains as only fully vaccinated people are being allowed to board the trains, he said. "The criterion in the first and second wave was the positivity rate. But in this wave of Omicron variant of the virus, two new criteria should be occupancy of hospital beds and oxygen requirement," Chahal said.
The National Human Rights Commission has expressed concern over the living conditions of slum dwellers in Mumbai and sought a "comprehensive report" from the Centre, officials said on Friday. In a statement, the NHRC said that acting on a complaint in this connection, it had issued notices to the government of Maharashtra and the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs seeking their responses.
The Government of Maharashtra responded, through its chief secretary, that several efforts have been made and schemes formulated to provide dwelling units to the slum dwellers for economically weaker sections with the state and central assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna-Urban (PMAY-U). Shortage of funds has been cited as a constraint, it said
Mumbai reported 20,971 new covid cases and six deaths on Friday. 84 per cent of those who tested positive were asymptomatic. The city saw 8,490 patients being recovered from the virus. The active cases as of Friday evening are 91,731.
The Bombay High Court on Friday set aside a proclamation that Riyaz Bhati, an accused along with former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and others in an extortion case, is an absconder.
A single-judge bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere quashed the proclamation while hearing a petition filed by Bhati, who stated that a co-accused also declared as absconding–Vinay Singh–had already been relieved of the absconder tag by the High Court on December 1.
The Central Railway will operate 36 hours of infrastructure block starting 2 pm Saturday till 2am Monday on the Up and Down slow lines between Thane and Kalva stations to complete the work on the fifth and sixth lines between Thane and Diva.
The block will result in cancellation of Suburban train services at Kalva, Mumbra, Kopar and Thakurli railway stations.
The railways also advised commuters boarding from Kalva, Mumbra, Kopar and Thakurli stations to board trains from Thane, Diva, Dombivali and Kalyan stations, respectively.
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Two men, booked for propagating ISIS ideology in 2015, who had pleaded guilty, were sentenced to imprisonment for eight years by special court. Rizwan Ahmed has spent 6 years and Mohsin Sayed has spent 5.5 years in jail already.
The two accused, Shweta Singh 18 and Mayank Rawat 21, arrested in the Bullibai app case by Mumbai Crime Branch's cyber police were produced before Bandra magistrate court on Friday and remanded to police custody till Monday. The duo was arrested from Uttarakhand for posting obscene content from the Bulli bai app on their Twitter handles.
Vishal Jha, 21, the first accused arrested in the case is also in police custody till Monday.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, has been allowed to reside in Thane, following a plea she moved before the trial court recently.
Among the jail conditions set for Bharadwaj by the trial court was that she could not reside outside the jurisdiction of the court, which is Mumbai city. Bharadwaj had sought permission to shift to a friend’s residence in Thane since accommodation in Mumbai is expensive.
An affidavit was submitted by Bharadwaj’s friend in court, following which special judge Dinesh E Kothalikar on Thursday granted her plea seeking permission to stay in Thane instead of Mumbai. The court directed her to report to the local police station in Thane, as part of her bail conditions. It also said that the investigating agency, NIA, is at liberty to verify the address.
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao’s bail till February 5. The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22 last year and was later allowed to extend it till January 7, 2022.
On Friday, the matter was listed before a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar. “You know that the third wave, experts say, may survive for 50-60 days. Front Line Workers (FLWs) and police personnel are testing positive for Covid-19. The figures were not the same as the first or second wave. Is it possible that in such a wave he (Rao) should be sent to jail? We will hear you on merits. Give us some breathing space,” Justice Shinde orally remarked.
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Mayur and Tushar Vayeda used to travel for six hours everyday from their hometown in Palghar district to reach Mumbai to study there. Belonging to the Warli tribe of Ganjad village, their travel to their college showed them the “balance that existed between a traditional and modern life in India”.
The experiences are captured in their paintings made in the distinctive Warli style which is art using white lines on a base made of cow dung. The brothers, who have received much fame around the world via exhibitions at the Setouchi Triennale in Japan and the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, will be making their debut in Mumbai at Artisans’ Centre in Kala Ghoda today.
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In a bid to bring its tax structure at par with competing states and secure its revenues, the Maharashtra government is mulling to waive the stamp duty on the import of gold and silver in the state.
While Maharashtra levies a 0.1 per cent stamp duty on gold imported by air, sources said that the import of gold has been shifting to other states, as they don’t impose stamp duty. As this arbitrage resulted in decline of gold imports within the state, sources said that the government has been losing hundreds of crores in goods and services tax (GST) on import of gold. They further said that the waiver of stamp duty on gold could increase state revenue.
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The Bombay High Court recently held that there is “no legally enforceable fundamental right to a public holiday and whether or not to declare a particular day as a public holiday or optional holiday is a matter of government policy.” It also observed that since there are “too many public holidays in the country, the time has come to reduce and not to increase them.”
The court made these observations while rejecting a plea seeking directions to the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to declare August 2 as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation Day of the Union territory. A division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Madhav J Jamdar was on Wednesday hearing the plea by Kishnabhai Nathubhai Ghutia who, pending hearing and final disposal of his writ petition, sought an order directing the respondent authorities to issue a notification declaring August 2 as public holiday from this year.
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A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cavalcade was stranded on a flyover in Punjab, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that CM Uddhav Thackeray has demanded a probe into the security lapse.
“The Prime Minister belongs to the entire country. There should be no compromise on his security. The flaws found in Modi’s security during his visit to Punjab are serious. The country has lost two prime ministers due to such flaws. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that a thorough inquiry should be conducted into the matter,” Raut tweeted.
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A 43-year-old man was arrested Thursday for allegedly murdering his live-in partner. The woman’s five-year-old daughter witnessed the incident, which took place early Thursday in Andheri (east), police said. The incident took place at 1.15 am in a room on the seventh floor of a building in Datta Sai Society in Sangharsh Nagar, Sakinaka.
The accused, Raju Nile, a TV repairer, hit his partner, Manisha Jadhav, 29, a house help, on the head with a stone mortar and then stabbed her with a knife on her nose, neck, chest and stomach, police said. Nile suspected that Jadhav was having an affair and they often fought over this issue, police said.
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A senior IPS officer from the Mumbai Police Crime Branch confirmed that a team from Mumbai had also reached Assam on Thursday morning to arrest the mastermind in the Bulli Bai app case, Neeraj Bishnoi, but they soon realised that the main accused is already in the custody of the Delhi Police. “We were less then an hour behind Delhi Police,” said the officer.
Sources in the department said that it was Bishnoi who was using the Twitter account handle @giyu44, through which he had confessed to the crime on a public platform on Wednesday and went on to threaten the Mumbai Police to stop targeting innocents or there will be Bulli Bai 2.0.
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Amid a surge in daily Covid-19 cases in Mumbai and a day after the Union Ministry of Health cut the isolation period for patients in home isolation to seven days, the BMC on Thursday released new home isolation guidelines for asymptomatic and mild cases. The civic body released seven eligibility points for home isolation. “The guidelines apply to Covid-19 patients who have been clinically assessed and assigned as mild/asymptomatic cases,” it said.
The circular referred to asymptomatic patients as laboratory-confirmed cases, who are not experiencing any symptoms and have oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent. Clinically assigned mild cases have been referred to as patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms with or without fever, without shortness of breath and having oxygen saturation at room air of more than 93 per cent.
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A member of BJP’s social media cell in Maharashtra was detained for questioning by Mumbai Police Crime Branch’s Cyber Cell Thursday for his alleged controversial tweet on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray.
The man, identified as Jiten Gajaria, had on January 4 posted a photo of Rashmi with the caption “Marathi Rabri Devi”. The caption was connected to the health issues of the CM implying his wife will take over his post like Rabri Devi had taken over in Bihar when her husband Lalu Prasad was forced to resign over the fodder scam.
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The last passenger of the Cordelia luxury cruise ship was allowed to disembark on Thursday morning. In all, 205 passengers from the cruise have tested positive for Covid-19. On Tuesday evening, 66 infected passengers onboard the ship had reached Mumbai from Goa. Of the remaining 1,827 onboard, 139 more passengers and crew tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. BMC officials said most patients were asymptomatic and allowed home quarantine.
Of the 139 who tested positive on Wednesday, 63 were crew members, nine from Mumbai and 67 from outside the city. After the ship anchored at Mumbai port, the BMC began testing all onboard, which continued till 5.30 am Wednesday. While 41 who had tested positive on Tuesday were shifted to various hotel and civic-run quarantine facilities by Wednesday morning, the remaining were on board till late Wednesday.
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The Maharashtra health department has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ramp up testing for Covid-19, with the city reporting 20,181 fresh cases on Thursday.
“If Mumbai is getting 20,181 positive cases, then they should be conducting 2 lakh tests. The positivity rate must be around 10 per cent of tests conducted. But they are conducting only about 65,000 tests per day. We have told them that the number of tests must be increased immediately,’’ said a senior officer of the state health department.
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Maharashtra registered 36,265 fresh Covid cases on Thursday, with Mumbai recording a sharp 31.7% spike in daily cases within 24 hours. The city’s numbers include that of Dharavi, also Asia’s largest slum cluster, which recorded its highest-ever single day tally on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Mumbai registered 15,014 cases, which rose to 19,780 on Thursday, its highest single-day surge. The public health department anticipates a “ferocious spike” in the third wave in Mumbai by the middle of January.
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A member of BJP’s social media cell in Maharashtra was detained for questioning by Mumbai Police Crime Branch’s Cyber Cell Thursday for his alleged controversial tweet on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray.
The man, identified as Jiten Gajaria, had on January 4 posted a photo of Rashmi with the caption “Marathi Rabri Devi”. The caption was connected to the health issues of the CM implying his wife will take over his post like Rabri Devi had taken over in Bihar when her husband Lalu Prasad was forced to resign over the fodder scam.
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The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has started demolishing one of the 42 buildings at the Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawl cluster at Naigaon in Dadar to start the redevelopment project. “The work of demolition of building No. 5B started on Tuesday and the construction of a new building on the site will begin soon once the demolition is completed,” Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, who was present during the demolition, said.
The minister added that this is the largest and most ambitious redevelopment project undertaken by the government of Maharashtra and the work would be completed soon.
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Mumbai reported 20,181 new Covid cases and four death on Thursday. As reported by ANI, the active cases stand at 79,260.
A member of BJP’s social media cell in Maharashtra was detained for questioning by Mumbai Police Crime Branch’s Cyber Cell Thursday for his alleged controversial tweet on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray.
The man, identified as Jiten Gajaria, had on January 4 posted a photo of Rashmi with the caption “Marathi Rabri Devi”. The caption was connected to the health issues of the CM implying his wife will take over his post like Rabri Devi had taken over in Bihar when her husband Lalu Prasad was forced to resign over the fodder scam.
Another tweet by Gajaria, a Mumbai resident with 18.9 K followers on the site, which too is possibly under the scanner was on Ajit Pawar.
A special court here accepted a plea made by two men admitting their guilt for joining the terror outfit ISIS in 2015 and convicted them on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Special NIA judge A T Wankhede on Wednesday said he would hear the accused on the quantum of punishment on January 7.
Mohsin Sayyed (32) and Rizwan Ahmed (25) had approached the special court last month seeking to plead guilty in the case. On Wednesday, the court explained to the accused the charges they face and the punishment that can be imposed on them if convicted.
Under the UAPA and provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the duo can face a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of life imprisonment. The accused informed the court that they were aware of this and were voluntarily seeking to plead guilty. The court then accepted their pleas and convicted them under the relevant sections of the UAPA and IPC. (PTI)
Mumbai is set to get two new administrative wards for better management of civic services and governance. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to bifurcate and restructure K-east ward (Andheri east) in western suburb and L ward (Kurla) in the eastern part of the city.
While K-east comprises areas like Andheri east, Jogeshwari east, Vile Parle east and Marol, L-ward covers areas from Kurla, Chuna Bhatti, Sakinaka and Chandivali. Both are among the biggest administrative wards out of total 24 spread across the city managing daily services such as water supply, waste management, birth and death certificates, nullah cleaning and road repairs.
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At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, several experts had predicted that the infection could be particularly hard on tuberculosis (TB) patients who already have compromised lungs. However, TB patients in Mumbai largely escaped being co-infected with Covid-19, according to BMC data. The data shows that since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, only 462 such patients in the city contracted novel coronavirus while the fatality rate among the TB patients co-infected with Covid-19 stood at 8 per cent.
Experts attribute this to the regimen already followed by TB patients, such as frequent wearing of masks, and steps taken by the civic body even as they say more research is needed to understand the phenomenon.
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Offline lectures in all non-agricultural universities, deemed as well as self-financed private universities, technical institutions and all colleges in Maharashtra have been discontinued till February 15, said state Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant during a Facebook Live session on Wednesday. Classes in online mode will continue.
All examinations will be conducted online during this period, Samant added. In the wake of rising cases of Covid-19 across the state, the minister had conducted a review meeting on Tuesday with 33 district collectors, six divisional commissioners, health department officials and vice-chancellors of all state universities, after which he made the announcement on Wednesday.
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Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pawar on Thursday said she has tested positive for coronavirus.
'Today my #Covid-19 test report has come out positive and I have quarantined myself at home. All those who came in contact with me in the last few days are requested to get their #Covid test done and follow the rules for prevention of coronavirus,' the minister tweeted. Pawar is the Lok Sabha member from Dindori in Nashik district of Maharashtra.
Earlier this week, Lok Sabha member from south Mumbai Arvind Sawant, Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde and MLA Vidya Thakur (from Goregaon in Mumbai) had also tested positive. Last week, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said 10 ministers and 20 MLAs had tested positive for the coronavirus in the state. (PTI)
Amid criticism regarding his absence from public life following ill health, Shiv Sena president and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that he would respond to the Opposition at an appropriate time. Speaking at a virtual meeting with party functionaries from Mumbai, late Tuesday, sources said Thackeray asked Sena workers to gear up for the upcoming BMC polls. The party leadership has also sought a report on utilisation of funds from corporators, they added.
“We should continue to work for the people. I am taking the criticism quietly but will respond to them at an appropriate time,” Uddhav was quoted during the meeting. Thackeray, who underwent spine surgery last November, has been working from home as per doctor’s advice and didn’t attend the state legislature’s Winter Session last month.
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The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme implementing authority in Maharashtra, along with the state women and children development department, on Tuesday submitted an action plan before the Bombay High Court on how to deal with malnutrition issues faced by infants as well as expecting and lactating mothers in tribal areas, including Melghat.
The action plan, among other measures, stated that while there are severe and moderate acute malnutrition cases in Dharni and Melghat among infants, the anganwadis – through ASHA workers – are making efforts to identify pregnant mothers as soon as pregnancy is detected so that they can be enrolled for nutritional food supplements, which women currently can avail only from the third month of pregnancy.
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After failing to end the ongoing strike of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) workers even after over two months, the transport body has decided to hire retired drivers on contract basis. The MSRTC strike entered its 71st day on Wednesday. Of the 92,666 staffers, only 24,329 are currently reporting to duty.
The MSRTC workers have been on strike since October 27 demanding merger of the MSRTC with the state government with a hope of getting the benefits of being government employees. Almost all 250 bus depots in the state have been shut since November 9 till recently, which almost paralysed the public transport services in the interior parts of the state. Owing to the strike, the general public in rural areas who were depending on the buses have been suffering.
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A special court on Wednesday allowed a plea made by two men to accept their guilt for joining terrorist organisation Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015. The court held them guilty on charges including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act based on their pleas. It will hear the accused on the quantum of punishment on Friday. It is the first case in the state where those arrested in connection with ISIS have pleaded guilty.
Mohsin Sayyed (32) and Rizwan Ahmed (25) had last month approached the court stating that they had reflected on their actions in the prison and wanted to plead guilty.
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Taking note of complaints received against fake clean-up marshals, the BMC on Wednesday appealed to the people that before paying the fine, they should check if the person is wearing the correct uniform and if the name and the serial number of the concerned department/ward are printed on it. The civic body on Wednesday also released a toll free number – 1800221916 – for people to raise complaints against the marshals.
Appointed for fining people moving around without masks and spitting at public places amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the BMC’s clean-up marshals have been at the centre of controversy for allegedly harassing people. Several videos of verbal and physical fights between clean-up marshals and people over wearing masks have gone viral.
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Mumbai recorded 15,014 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day surge witnessed since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The daily positivity rate, too, shot up to 25%.
As the spread continues, officials at the public health department expects the city to record a further daily surge in cases over the next two weeks, which may even lead to increase in hospitalisation. With the advent of the Omicron variant, which is more transmissible than its predecessor Delta, the active Covid-19 cases have surged over 30 times in a month– from 1,922 cases recorded on December 1, 2021 to 61,923 on Wednesday.
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With the surge in COVID-19 cases, bank unions on Wednesday demanded a five-day week for banking operations and capping the attendance of the workforce to 50 per cent in Maharashtra till the situation improves.
In a letter to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), the United Forum of Bank Unions (Maharashtra State) also urged to consider restricting banking hours till 2 pm.
This will help in reducing the customer interaction time at the branches/ offices and will, therefore, reduce the risk of contamination among the employees of banks and customers, it said.
Bank of Maharashtra is the SLBC convenor in the state.
The forum said the bankers, being in close contact with the public in general, are more prone to the infection, it said. (PTI)
An ACP-rank officer, named by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh in his letter accusing then Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of corruption, told an inquiry commission here on Wednesday that Sachin Waze was an "obedient" and "high-performing" officer.
Singh, in his letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, had claimed that Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanjay Patil was one of the officers whom Deshmukh had asked to collect money from bars and restaurants.
Testifying before the Justice (retd) K U Chandiwal commission which is probing these allegations, ACP Patil also said he had not come across any adverse remark about Waze from his superiors.
Patil also denied any knowledge of a meeting called by Waze or any other subordinate police officers under him to discuss the alleged extortion demand made by Deshmukh. Patil made these statements during cross examination by Waze.
There was a WhatsApp group of Mumbai crime branch officers, and everybody above the rank of unit in-charge were its members, he said. "Good work such as raids on hookah parlours and pubs was discussed in such groups, and efforts of the concerned officers were appreciated," ACP Patil said.
But superior officials also made adverse remarks some times for poor performance or misconduct, he added.
"Between October 2020 and March 2021, I had noticed good work of officers of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), including that of CIU officer Sachin Waze. Comments of appreciation were also made for Sachin Waze (on the WhatsApp group)," Patil said.
"I did not notice any adverse remarks to (made in respect of) Sachin Waze. It can be said that Sachin Waze is a high- performing and obedient officer as recorded in the WhatsApp group," he added. (PTI)
In view of the rise in COVID-19 cases, all non-agricultural, autonomous universities, technical and affiliated colleges in Maharashtra will be shut till February 15, Minister Uday Samant said on Wednesday.
The minister of higher and technical education said classes will continue online and examinations of all these universities and affiliated colleges will also be conducted online during this period.
The state government had arrived at the decision considering the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, he said.
“Classes of all non-agricultural, autonomous universities, technical and affiliated colleges will be closed till February 15. During this period, education will continue online. Also, examinations of all these universities and affiliated colleges will be conducted online,” Samant said. (PTI)
Maharashtra reports 26,538 new cases, 8 deaths and 5,331 discharges today; Active cases rise to 87,505. State's Omicron case tally at 797 including 330 recoveries
Nearly 160 resident doctors of hospitals in Mumbai run by the Maharashtra government and the local civic corporation have tested positive for coronavirus in the last three days, a senior office-bearer of their association said on Wednesday.
Ganesh Solunke, president of the JJ Hospital chapter of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said 62 resident physicians of the state-run hospital in central Mumbai have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 72 hours.
Besides, he said 40 resident doctors in King Edward Memorial Hospital, 50 in Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and another seven in R N Cooper Hospital have also contracted coronavirus (bringing the total to 159). All three hospitals are run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). (PTI)
Mumbai on Tuesday reported 15,166 fresh Covid-19 cases and three deaths. The city now has 61,923 active cases.
143 more people who were on the Goa Cordelia Cruise ship have tested positive for Covid-19. This is apart from the 66 who had already tested positive.
Out of the 66, as many as 41 passengers have quarantined in city hotels and one has been admitted to a civic-run quarantine facility. The remaining passengers are still on board the ship.
Amid the spurt in COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said 100 per cent lockdown is not required as of now, but stressed on the need to impose restrictions wherever there is crowding.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with the state's COVID-19 Task Force and officials of the health, planning and finance departments, Tope said the state reported over 16,000 cases on Tuesday, and the number could rise to 25,000 on Wednesday.
He said the silver lining is that 90 per cent of the cases are asymptomatic. Of the 10 per cent symptomatic patients, only one to two per cent require hospitalisation. The state has seen a sharp rise in the daily cases since the last two weeks.
“The Task Force has used the term augmented restrictions, which means if the cases rise like this...we don't have to use the term lockdown. Hundred per cent lockdown is not certainly required as of today,” the minister said.
He said augmented restrictions means that non-essential activities have to be stopped.
“Wherever crowding takes place, there have to be restrictions, but it is not the case that it (curbs) should be brought today,” Tope said. He said recommendations of the Task Force will be discussed with Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. (PTI)
At least 66 staffers and officials of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST), which operates a fleet of public buses in Mumbai and extended suburbs, have tested positive for coronavirus in the last few days, an official said on Wednesday.
The COVID-19 cases in Mumbai have gone up significantly over the last week. The Maharashtra capital had on Tuesday reported 10,860 cases, the second-highest daily count after April 7, 2021.
As per the information shared by the BEST's chief medical officer, 60 per cent of the 60 staff and officials tested positive during screening at BEST depots, a spokesperson said.
The remaining staffers underwent COVID-19 tests in their personal capacity and were found to be infected, he added.
"Although most of the infected staffers have mild symptoms, we have hospitalised 40 of them as a precautionary measure," the official said, adding that nine employees have already been discharged from hospitals. (PTI)
As coronavirus infections surged in Mumbai, the city could witness a peak between January 6 to 13 and take a month for the cases to see a decline, according to researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
Sandeep Juneja, senior professor, School of Technology and Computer Science, at the TIFR, said the peak fatalities could be in February, but it is expected to be around 30 to 50 per cent less than what was recorded during the deadly second wave between March to May last year.
The city recorded 10,860 cases, the highest daily count since April 7, 2021, on Tuesday.
"Cases in Mumbai could peak between January 6 to 13 and they are likely to come down to lower levels in around a month. The peak fatalities are expected to be around 30 to 50 per cent less than what was witnessed during the second (delta) wave," Juneja, who is involved in COVID-19 modelling for the city, said.
He, however, did not comment on the number of cases that the city is expected to witness during the peak between January 6 to 13. (PTI)
With coronavirus infections exceeding 15,000 on Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has asked all private hospitals to restore Covid bed numbers to the peak-level that they had during the second wave of the pandemic.
Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal wrote to private hospitals that since 10-12 per cent patients were symptomatic every day, more hospital beds would be required in the days to come. With over 95% cases being detected in non-slum areas, there would be higher demand for private hospital beds because such patients are reluctant to go to corporation-run hospitals, he wrote. Read more