BMC releases additional funds to tackle pothole menace
Mumbaikars, you may not have to complain about potholes anymore, hopefully. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allotted an additional fund of Rs. 5 lakhs to all 24 civic administrative wards in the city for buying cold-mix from the open market to fix potholes in city.
The BMC has already allotted Rs. 1.5 crore to each civic ward for filling potholes during the monsoon. But the city is still witnessing heavy rains on some days. The continuous rainfall in the city has increased the pothole menace. So, the BMC allotted additional funds to the wards on Friday.
Read in our report what did BMC officials say
Travelling in taxis, rickshaws to get costlier from October 1
Mumbaikars, will have to shell out more from Oct 1 to travel in black-and-yellow ('kaali-peeli') taxis and auto-rickshaws. The state Transport Department has agreed to raise the minimum fares of taxis by Rs3 and auto-rickshaws by Rs2 from that date.
The existing minimum fare for taxicabs is Rs 25 while it is Rs 21 for auto-rickshaws. The new minimum fares will be Rs 28 and Rs 23, respectively.
Earlier on Wednesday, the MTU had called for an indefinite strike from Sep 26. The union has now withdrawn the strike.
The fares were last increased in Mar 2021 when the minimum fare for cabs was raised to Rs25 from Rs22 and auto-rickshaws to Rs21 from Rs18. The Mumbai metropolitan region has around 60,000 taxis and 5,00,000 auto-rickshaws, including some petrol-run vehicles.
Maharashtra Govt puts clearance for 630 land proposals spread over 2500 acres on fast track
Even as the Vedanta Foxconn saga continues and the Shinde Fadnavis came under attack for granting a stay on the lands to investors, the state-run Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation has put on the fast track to clear a record 630 land proposals spread over 2500 acres for a total investment of over Rs 25,000 crore.
The proposed investment in these allotted lands is expected to generate 50,000 jobs. These proposals are expected to be cleared by the MIDC’s Land Clearance Committee (LCC) in a fortnight.
A senior industry department officer told the Free Press Journal, ‘’These proposals are for investments in food processing, IT, electronics, automobile, electric vehicles, textile, chemicals and petrochemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, data centres and other sectors. They are across the state including Pune, Baramati, Nagpur, Dhule, Kurkure, Pathan, Chalisgaon.’’
He further said, ‘’Thee are about 38 projects with an investment of Rs 100 crore each which will come up on 1,000 acres and generate 20,000 jobs. There are 14 projects with investment of Rs 250 crore each while five projects with an investment of Rs 500 crore each.’’
Mumbai local molestation case: Accused not arrested yet; inquiry begins on apathetic cops
The accused in the molestation case where a woman took to Twitter on Thursday and narrated her ordeal of reporting molestation to the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Andheri, has not been arrested yet. According to the police, the accused is mentally unstable and does not have a specific location of residence.
The victim, who works as an attorney, in her lengthy tweet, had also mentioned the apathetic attitude of the cops and said she was made to wait for nearly three hours and had to narrate the incident repeatedly to get the FIR registered.
Regarding the arrest of the accused, a senior police inspector, Anil Kadam, Borivali GRP, said, “Looking at the CCTV footage we have received the photographs of the accused. We have observed in the previous footage that the accused travelled by various trains and got down at random platforms, in a mentally unstable condition and half-naked state.”
Light showers in Mumbai, Thane over weekend
The Indian Metrological Department (IMD) has given a green alert over Mumbai and Thane for the next two days, citing possibility of light rainfall.
According to the IMD forecast for the next 48 hours, the city and suburbs will witness cloudy atmosphere with occasional light rainfall.
Most of the districts in Maharashtra including Pune, Raigad, Palghar, Nasik, Kolhapur, Satara among others have been given a green alert.
However Eastern districts of the state like Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur, have been given a yellow alert (light to moderate rainfall) along with possibility of thunderstorm.
Green panel approves diversion of 32.6921 hectare forest land for coastal road connecting MTHL
The Regional Empowered Committee (REC) attached to the union ministry of environment, forest clearance and climate change, at its recent meeting approved the diversion of 32.6921 hectares (ha) of forest land for the project to construct a 7.021-km-long coastal road from Amra Marg to Mumbai Trans Harbour Link road (MTHL) Junction, including the Airport Link Road at Targaryen village in Raigad district.
The proposal was moved by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) as the coastal road provides connectivity with MTHL, Amra Marg, the Airport Terminal Road and already developed nodal arterial roads for optimum judicious use. The approval was given based on certain riders.
CIDCO argued that there is a need to provide an exclusive road to serve the traffic demand arising out of the developments expected from Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). The proposed coastal road will serve as an important link in the overall transport network around the proposed NMIAL.
WR to run 31 more AC local trains to meet rising demand
Keeping in mind the overwhelming response to its air-conditioned (AC) local train services, Western Railway (WR) decided to introduce 31 more services from October. Currently, WR operates 48 AC services on its suburban section between Churchgate-Virar.
Asked about proposed 31 AC services, a senior officer of WR said the time table for these services being finalised, some of them are new and some are replacing existing non-AC services. Hence the total number of suburban services will go up to 1,383.
Currently WR runs 1,375 suburban services on weekdays. As per the data provided by WR, the number of daily average passengers was 56,333 in August 2022, which is 71,000 up to September 22.
According to passengers, finding a seat in AC local trains is becoming tough now, especially during rush hours. Most of the AC trains are running packed during peak hours.
Climate activists, Environmentalists demonstrate at Dadar in Mumbai demanding urgent action to tackle global warming.
Cases of cardiac arrest up 25% among youth
Cases of sudden cardiac arrest amongst those aged 18-40 years are on a rapid rise. In comparison to 1-2 per cent of the total cases earlier, now 20-25 per cent of the total cases are in this age group.
India accounts for one-fifth of the total deaths occurring from stroke, cardiac arrest and heart attacks, especially in the younger population.
Forty per cent of those who suffer a heart attack, or cardiac arrest are below the age of 55. As per medical experts, a decade ago heart attack cases in the younger population comprised 1-2 per cent of the total cases, but it has now jumped to 15-20 per cent.
As per the BMC’s health department data,17,880 people died due to heart attack between January and June 2021, while 2,816 died in the same period in 2020. The figure shows how the heart attack incidents are on the rise in the city among the youth.
Overambition, a lifestyle bereft of exercise, air pollution, smoking and unhealthy diet are some of the major reasons behind the rise.
Read what doctors have to say about this trend in our detailed report here
Today on Sept 24, bus route No 607, between Tulshet Pada and Patkar Kapound, has been suspended at Patkar Kapound from 09.15 due to the construction of Devi's Mandap on the road: BEST
Maharashtra: ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were heard outside the District Collector's office yesterday in Pune City where PFI cadres gathered against the recent ED-CBI-Police raids against their outfit. Some cadres were detained by Police; they were arrested this morning.
Morangao Bus Route 627 was suspended at Hinduja Bungalow, 200 meters from Morangao, from 11:10 a.m. due to construction of a mandap for Navratri celebrations at the last bus stop.This change is for 10 days: BEST
Mega block on Central Railway's Main and Harbour lines on Sunday; check details here
Mumbai: Central Railway will be operating Mega Block on September 25, Sunday, suburban stations to carry out engineering and maintenance works.
Check the details in our report here
Prices of leafy veggies go up; a bunch of coriander costs Rs 70 in retail
The price of coriander leaves increased further and reached Rs 70 a bunch. The supply of most green vegetables was severely impacted due to rainfall in most parts of Maharashtra. According to traders, there will be no respite for at least a fortnight.
The supply of vegetables has been low for long due to heavy rainfall across the state. Supply of leafy vegetables further dipped as their shelf life is low compared to others, especially coriander and fenugreek.
As per the administrative office of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the arrival of vegetables decreased by around 30 percent due to the continuous rains for the past few days.
Worli fishermen's case adjourned till September 30
The Supreme Court on Friday listed the case of the BMC against fishermen represented by the Worli Koiliwada Nakhwa Matsya Viavasay Sahkari Society on September 30 after the latter's counsel Colin Gonsalves sought a week's time to file a short counter affidavit.
A Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli was hearing the BMC's petition against the orders secured by fishermen from the Bombay High Court on their work hampered by the civic body by obstructing fishing activities in the fishing zone up to 10 nautical miles from the coast and not being allowed to use the jetties at Worli port.
Maharashtra BJP leaders seek stern action against PFI over 'Pakistan Zindabad' video
Senior leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Maharashtra have demanded stern action against the Popular Front of India (PFI) after a video of protestors reportedly raising "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans went viral after agitation held here by PFI.
The city police said they were looking into the matter.
The PFI had organised a protest outside the district collector office in Pune city on Friday to denounce the recent nationwide raids on the organisation and the arrest of its activists. During the protest, the police detained around 40 protesters.
A video of "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans being raised when the protesters were taken into custody and made to sit in a police vehicle, went viral on social media.
Stern action against those who shouted 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans: Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home department as well, on Saturday announced that a stern action will be taken against those who shouted ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in Pune.
"’We will not spare those shorted Pakistan Zindabad slogans. We will find them and take action against them,’’ he said.
Fadnavis was responding to demand by several BJP leaders demanding action after a video of protesters purportedly raising “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans during an agitation held here by the Popular Front of India (PFI) surfaced on social media. BJP leaders demanded a strong action against the slogan shouters.
The protesters purportedly shouted Pakistan Zindabad and Allah Hoon Akbar slogans during their protests outside the district collector’s office in Pune after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided offices of the PFI across the country.
