As Covid-19 cases rise in Pune, Anna Saheb Magar Hospital in Hadapsar has been converted to a dedicated Covid hospital with a 50-bed facility. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)Pune Live Highlights: Of the 214 patients found with Omicron infection in Maharashtra on Wednesday, 158 are from Pune city while 10 are from Pune rural areas. Four persons are confirmed with Omicron infection from Pimpri Chinchwad.
The ongoing pandemic has impacted the financial planning of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as the Rs 45 crore funds of the civic body meant for health cover of urban poor are over within nine months of the current financial year, forcing the civic administration to seek additional funds to meet the expenditure for the hospitalised urban poor.
On Wednesday, Pune district recorded 12,633 new Covid-19 cases, taking its overall tally to 12,81,974, while the death toll rose by 12 to 19,322.
Pune district recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases during the third wave so far, detecting 11,748 new infections on Tuesday. The district also reported eight deaths, taking the total to 19,310, the highest in the state.
Pune has accounted for 25 per cent of new Covid-19 infections in the state and has a weekly positivity rate of 38.54 per cent.
According to the state health department report that was presented at the cabinet meeting on Thursday in the last week, Pune accounted for 24.89 % of the Covid infections followed by 21.47 per cent in Mumbai.
Thane accounts for 14.27 per cent of infections in Maharashtra. There has been a rise in the overall infections in the state from 2.77 lakh in the second week (January 6-12) to 2.87 lakh in the third week (January 13-19). Read more
The Supreme Court Thursday directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to ensure that the general elections to constitute the Panchayat Samiti, Shrirampur in Ahmednagar district, are conducted in "right earnest" and in accordance with the triple test laid down by it.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari was hearing an appeal filed against the Bombay High Court order which declined to interfere in the petition challenging the election of a man as Chairperson of the Panchayat Samiti as reserved OBC category candidate despite the decision of this Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali case.
The apex court said that as the term of the Panchayat Samiti is only up to February 23, 2022, it does not wish to precipitate the matter any further and accept the explanation offered by the Collector as a plausible error committed by him. (PTI)
Chandhrashekhar Phutke’s daily routine since the last few months has been much more hectic than usual.
A teacher with Beed Zilla Parishad’s school in the village of Kasarwadi in Parli taluka, Phutke (46), like lakhs of other teachers, had to switch to online mode after the state government once again closed schools in the wake of the latest wave of Covid-19 infections. However, not satisfied with the progress made by students in online classes, Phutke now goes to his students’ homes, not only to check their homework but also to teach them.
While teaching online, Phutke used Google forms for submissions and feedback, and realised that students were struggling with the lessons. Read more
In a major development, the Maharashtra government approved offline operations of schools for all classes from Monday. The local administrations will take final decisions based on Covid conditions in the region. The state school education department had sent this proposal to the Chief Minister Office on Wednesday which has been approved.
While all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) remain same from the last time when the schools had resumed offline classes; the new order includes even pre-primary sections which until now were out of the picture, in school reopening decisions. The schools Education minister on Wednesday had sent the proposal to resume offline classes for schools from Monday after receiving multiple recommendations in this regard from educationists as well as parents’ associations. Including pre-primary sections in the decision has been a pressing demand by a set of parents who have been highlighting the hindrance in growth of toddlers by staying away from schools for so long. Read more
Hours after four-year-old Swarnav Chavan was reunited with his family after being kidnapped from the Balewadi area in Pune last week, his aunt, who was travelling from Nanded to meet him, died in a road accident in Ahmednagar district in the early hours of Thursday.
The deceased has been identified as Sunita Rathod (36), the elder sister of Swarnav’s father Dr Satish Chavan. Her husband Santosh, who was driving the car, and two children – Samar (14) and Aman (6) – were injured.
The police said that the car met with an accident around 3 am, on a bridge around 5 km away from Ahmednagar city. Read more
A former sarpanch and his wife allegedly thrashed a woman forest guard, who is three months pregnant, along with her husband at a village in Satara district of Maharashtra, following which the accused couple has been arrested, police said.
The incident took place on Wednesday at Palsawade village in the western Maharashtra district, located around 120 kms from Pune, they said.
According to police, the accused man, who is a member of the local forest management committee, was angry with the woman forest guard for taking the contractual forest labourers along with her "without his permission". (PTI)
Amid concerns being expressed over the decline in the book-reading habit in the present generation, 67-year-old Jeevan Ingale, a resident of in Khatav tehsil of Maharashtra's Satara district, has been on a mission to inculcate this habit among the young and old alike in the surrounding areas as he pedals his library on bicycle to lend books to them.
Ingale, a bibliophile from a small village called Budh in Khatav tehsil and an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts, started the initiative 12 years ago and now his mobile library project has become popular among children and adults in the area.
"I have studied only up to Class 11, but I always had a penchant for reading. I used to read Gandhiji and was also inspired by Sane Guruji (Marathi author and freedom fighter) and his book 'Shyam Chi Aai'. After spending a few years with Shetkari Sanghatana, I quit the movement and decided to do something related to books," Ingale told PTI.
He said he had around 70 books in 2007 and launched a non-profit organisation called 'Sarvodaya Social Organisation'. Currently, he has over 2,600 books, which he lends to around 500 members of his mobile library.
Pune's air quality is expected to be around 82 on Thursday, considered satisfactory. The minimum temperatures recorded were Shivajinagar - 11.7 degrees, Lohegaon - 15.1 degrees, Chinchwad - 16.7 degrees.
Hazy conditions would prevail over city till afternoon hours, after which clear sky conditions would return. The maximum temperature is expected to be 30 degrees.
A four-year-old boy, who was kidnapped from Balewadi last week, was found at Punawale area on Wednesday and reunited with his family. The boy, Swarnav alias Duggu, is the son of a doctor couple, Satish and Prachi Chavan. Police suspect that the person who kidnapped the boy released him on Wednesday at a building in Punawale.
Swarnav was kidnapped from Saykar garden in Balewadi area around 9.45 am on January 11 by kidnappers who used a two-wheeler to flee. The spot where the kidnapping took place is located close to the Balewadi police chowki.
Read more
The Pune Zilla Parishad has claimed that it has constructed 246 kilometre of roads in the district in a span of barely 12 hours. Of 246-km roads, 125 km include tarred roads and 46 km is cement concrete road.
Zilla Parisha CEO Ayush Prasad said 246 km of roads were constructed on January 18 in 13 talukas of the district. “The roads were constructed as part of our campaign to complete some development works in 100 days,” he said.
Read more
After closing parks and other outdoor spaces due to rise in Covid cases, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is now facing public pressure to reopen them to enable people to do physical exercise in the open. However, the civic administration has passed the issue to the forthcoming Covid-19 review meeting to be chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday.
As per the directions of the state government, the PMC decided to shut swimming pools, gyms, gardens and parks for the public, citing rising Covid infections in the city. However, it came under criticism for not allowing the public to visit such places to do physical exercise and remain fit. Thus, it allowed gyms to operate with 50% capacity.
Read more
The ongoing pandemic has impacted the financial planning of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as the Rs 45 crore funds of the civic body meant for health cover of urban poor are over within nine months of the current financial year, forcing the civic administration to seek additional funds to meet the expenditure for the hospitalised urban poor.
As per the health insurance scheme for the urban poor, the PMC enrols slum dwellers with an annual income of maximum Rs one lakh by charging them an annual fee of Rs 200 per family.
Read more
Maharashtra reported 214 patients with Omicron infection on Wednesday, increasing the tally to 2,074.
Of the 214 patients with Omicron infection, 158 are from Pune city while 10 are from Pune rural areas. Four persons are confirmed with Omicron infection from Pimpri Chinchwad.
Read more
Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 43,697 cases, 10 per cent more than the previous day, including 214 new Omicron infections, and also saw 49 fatalities linked to the infection, the health department said.
A total of 46,591 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the state's overall recovery count to 69,15,407. The COVID-19 recovery rate of Maharashtra stands at 94.4 per cent, it said.
Currently, there are 23,93,704 people in home quarantine and 3,200 people in institutional quarantine. (PTI)
Despite geographical advantages and favourable meteorology, air pollution is rapidly becoming a matter of concern in Maharashtra, a new analysis of regional air pollution levels by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based research and advocacy organisation, has found.
Even though most cities in the state recorded a drop in pollution levels during the early months of 2020 when a strict lockdown was enforced, a rising trend in annual Particulate Matter 2.5 levels has been recorded since then.
The study analysed 40 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in Maharashtra — one each in Aurangabad, Kalyan, Nagpur, Nashik and Solapur, two in Chandrapur, four in Navi Mumbai, eight in Pune, and 21 in Mumbai. Read more
On Wednesday, Pune city reported 6,441 fresh Covid-19 infections and nine who succumbed to the deadly infection. Total active cases tally in Pune is 5,76,269.
Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra minister Anil Parab on Wednesday claimed the results of the nagar panchayat elections showed that people favoured the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Numbers were important in democracy and the ruling MVA alliance of the Sena, NCP and Congress won the highest number of seats collectively, he told reporters here after the results were announced. It did not matter which MVA constituent won how many seats, Parab said, adding that the result was a victory of the alliance.
The Sena also did well in the coastal Konkan region, its traditional bastion, he claimed. Of 1,649 seats in 97 nagar panchayats (local government bodies for small towns), the BJP bagged 384, NCP 344, Congress 316 and Shiv Sena 284. (PTI)
Members of city BJP unit along with chief Jagdish Mulik staged an agitation at Regional Mental Hospital Yerwada on Wednesday against Congress state chief Nana Patole on his recent comments on PM Narendra Modi. (ENS)
An industry-academic collaborative effort set up at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) campus during the Covid-19 period is showing results as Tuesday marked a milestone when five apps were launched by the innovation lab to help digitise all functions of a small-medium enterprise.
The Center for Industry 4.0 (C4i4), set up under the Central Government's 'Samarth Udyog Bharat 4.0' initiative at SPPU, is working on digital innovations for SME’s, under which five apps were released for SME’s including those for e-scheduling, order traceability, shop floor planner, digital service management and sales configurator applications.
Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendranath Pandey, who was speaking at the inauguration of the applications, said that India wants to become a manufacturing hub, adding that more than 155 projects are underway across India under the Department of Heavy Industries. Read more
Swarnav was kidnapped from the Saykar garden in Balewadi area around 9.45 am on January 11, by suspects who had used a scooter like two wheeler. The spot from where the kidnapping took place is located at a close distance from the Balewadi police chowki.
Massive search operation was carried out for the last few days by about 300 sleuths from the crime branch and the Chatushrungi police station. Cops checked several videos captured by CCTV cameras at different locations for getting clues about the abducted boy and the kidnapper. Police said there was no call made by the kidnapper seeking extortion money for releasing the boy.
It was a great sigh of relief for the parents of Swarnav, who has been missing since January 11. When contacted over phone, the father of the boy said, "My son is back and safe and he is with his loved ones now. That is all that matters right now." The worried father had in the meanwhile left posts on social media appealing the kidnapper to take money, but return his son. (ENS)