Mumbai Notes

MiC to get tough on erring hawkersHawkers doing business in non-hawking zones after September 16 will be fined any thing between Rs 5,000...

MiC to get tough on erring hawkers

Hawkers doing business in non-hawking zones after September 16 will be fined any thing between Rs 5,000 and 10,000, announced Mayor Nandu Satam on Wednesday.

Satam admitted that residential societies are strongly opposed to the presence of hawking zones outside their colonies, but pointed out that the administration had to take into consideration the livelihood of hawkers. 8220;We are also bound by the Supreme Court order to set up hawking zones,8221; he added.

Ex-gratia payment for Diwali

The MiC has approved ex-gratia to the tune of Rs 111 crore to be paid to employees on the ocassion of Diwali. The BMC had finalised a three year-long agreement with unions last year, and the MiC today gave its formal sanction for a provision in the forthcoming budget.

While presenting the budget this March, municipal commissioner Girish Gokhale had said that given the BMC8217;s glaring defict, the administration should not pay employees ex-gratia. Gokhale had also argued that it was not the BMC8217;s obligatory duty to pay employees ex-gratia.

Satam added that although the BMC8217;s financial position was weak, there was no reason to panic. He also justified the expenditure of Rs six crore to be spent on the construction of cabins and other facilties for MiC members as necessary8217;. As the construction was to be of a permanent nature, he said it wasn8217;t a waste.

Clean chit to Bhagwati, Nair in AIDS case

The Mayor has given the two municipal hospitals where 13-year-old Sunil Gupta was suspected to have contracted AIDS in a blood transfusion a clean chit.

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Sunil was being treated at Bhagwati hospital at Borivli after he fell off a running train and lost his leg. He was administered 10 bottles of blood at Bhagwati and then shifted to Nair hospital. There, he was given two bottles of blood and later plasma.

However, when he developed a fever which he failed to recover from, doctors conducted a blood test on him and and found that he ahd contsrcted the HIV virus.

After the issue was raised in a general body meeting, Satam had promised an inquiry into the matter. He had then informed that the blood administered at the Nair hospital had been checked and i was not contaminated. Today, a report of the blood samples at the Bhagwati was received and the report said that nine bottles of blood given from the Bhagwati blood bank had been tested and it was found to be clean. One bottle which was received from the Cooper hospital was also tested and it was also not contaminated, the report has stated.