Neeraj Tiwari

A senior officer from the MHADA said at present, it did not have the desired housing stock to conduct a larger lottery. The Covid-19 pandemic brought to a halt the construction of houses houses supposed to be completed this year.

A statement by MMRDA late Thursday said to enable participation of Indian companies, the eligibility criteria would be revised, giving chance to manufacturing facilities working in India for the last 10 years on similar projects.

With these initiatives, officials said, MahaRERA services and operations can be delivered digitally, without any need for physical visit by allottees, promoters, agents, advocates and others to MahaRERA offices.

“In the last 67 days, I have not earned a single paisa due to the coronavirus and the lockdown. Now, I have to leave my house and take refuge in the school with my two daughters and wife,” Kumar, a beach photographer at Satti Padha village, said.

Post the nationwide lockdown on March 24, all fishing activities had been shut down. In April, however, fishing was allowed by the central government.

“There has been a substantial increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbra. Inspite of the lockdown, people are crowding at shops and vegetable markets. Social distancing norms are not being followed...,” the circular issued by TMC said.

On April 26, the authority had issued circular allowing developers to carry out pre-monsoon works following Covid guidelines.

B G Pawar, Joint Metropolitan Commissioner, said the MMRDA on Thursday handed over 13,000 homes to various municipal corporations to convert them into Covid-19 centres.

Spread over 2.4 sq km, Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, is home to some 60,000 families and 8.5 lakh people. It has so far reported 1,353 cases and 56 deaths.

On Thursday, the Mumbai Metro released photographs of its trains on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro route, where stickers have been put up on seats, with alternate ones left vacant

SRA CEO Deepak Kapoor confirmed that travel passes will be provided to staff and developers. He said he had issued the order to various departments of SRA.

Gaurav Singh, Superintendent of Police, Palghar, said that investigations into the murders of the three men have so far been focused on identifying the sources of the rumours spread in Gadchinchle village in Dahanu taluka.

Despite the lockdown, the three had managed to cover a distance of 120 km, till they were stopped by a sentry of the forest department near Gadchinchle village, which is close to the border that Maharashtra shares with the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

More than 2,000 fishermen from Maharashtra are stuck off the Gujarat coast near Veraval in 40 boats, unable to return.

Speaking to The Indian Express from his boat, Mahendra said, “In Nargol, we were asked to pay Rs 1,500 for ration supplies by the Gujarat Police.”

The Gujarat authorities claimed they could not allow fishermen from any other state to alight as villagers would not allow them to pass through in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the fishermen said.

Over the last three decades, many visually-impaired people have flocked to Vangani, located 60 km west of Mumbai, creating a colony of residents who would find sustenance by either hawking trinkets on the suburban train system or seeking alms.

Many of the migrants said that they were being forced to leave Mumbai as their employers had asked them to vacate the premises where they had been staying. The total number of migrants detained was over 600.

“There’s a lot of panic. We have no money left to purchase any food. We will all die of hunger even before coronavirus reaches us,” says Kalim Mulla, a worker at now-closed handloom in Bhiwandi.