Mumbai Dec 26 PTI Maharashtra continued to witness a rise in the daily coronavirus infection cases as it registered 1648 new cases on Sunday which pushed the overall tally to 6657888 while the death of 17 patients took the toll to 141433 the health department said The daily caseload in Maharashtra has been rising over the last few days The state had reported 1485 coronavirus cases on Saturday 1410 on Friday 1179 on Thursday 1201 on Wednesday 825 on Tuesday and 544 on Monday On Sunday 918 patients were discharged which took the recovery count to 6502957 As 102045 tests were conducted during the day the cumulative test count reached 68455314 The states recovery rate is 9767 per cent while the fatality rate is 212 per cent There are 9813 active cases in the state Mumbai city reported 896 cases and two deaths pushing its caseload to 770910 and toll to 16370 Mumbai division which comprises the city and its satellite townships saw 1180 cases and seven deaths Nashik division reported 97 cases Pune division 284 cases Kolhapur division 18 cases Aurangabad division 15 cases Latur division 11 cases Akola division 13 cases Nagpur division 30 cases including 28 in Nagpur city it said The coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows Positive cases 6657888 death toll 141433 recoveries 6502957 active cases 9813 total tests 68455314 PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 26 PTI The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB has started a campaign to keep school campuses free of drugs in Mumbai and has identified 200 institutions to help in the initiative an official said on Sunday The campaign has started from a well-known school in Santacruz and the response from the students there has been tremendous NCB Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede told PTI We are asking students to take a pledge to keep their campus drug-free and to inform the NCB if anyone is indulging in drugs inside it or within the vicinity A link will be sent to schools for students including those in NCC to take the pledge he said Students who take the pledge will get a certificate from the Ministry of Home Affairs under which the anti-drug agency operates as well as the NCB and this can be downloaded Wankhede informed PTI ZA BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Dec 26 PTI Former India coach Ravi Shastri on Sunday heaped praise on Himachal Pradesh after they won their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy saying it is one of the great inspirational storiesYou know for a team like Himachal like I said no superstars but going on to win the tournament just goes to show that if your work ethics are good you are grounded you are humble and you want to play the game in the true spirit of the game as a team you can achieve great heightsSo hats off to them for pulling off one major upset after another in this tournament Shastri told reporters hereThe former India all-rounder was speaking after the prize distribution of 74th Police Shield tournament at the picturesque Mumbai Police Gymkhana hereHimachal Pradesh on Sunday stunned the mighty Tamil Nadu in the final of the Vijay Hazare TrophyIndia player Suryakumar Yadav part of the winning Parsee Gymkhana team slammed 249 in the final of the Police Shield and played a key part in the teams victoryAccording to 59-year-old Shastri the knock played by Surya will help him in bigger tournamentsI think the best thing what that I liked was to see senior players from Mumbai coming and playing this tournament Police Shield Someone like Suryakumar Yadav who is with Indian team now with the Mumbai team a senior player but when you have such players coming and playing these tournaments it only gives confidence to the other players in that dressing room to emulate him and reach to heights he has achieved added Shastri himself a former Mumbai captainShastri who has served Indian cricket in various capacities also spoke about the dismal performance of the Mumbai teamwhen I see sometimes score sheets that show Pondicherry beating Mumbai twice not that they are an ordinary team any team can beat any team on a day but it tells you that there is a problem somewhere said ShastriWhen you see a team like Himachal cruising through to the final without any big names and Mumbai not getting through and it has been for sometime now then you start asking questionsAnd first and foremost I would say is that I get the feeling a lot of people who play for Mumbai these days take things for granted They think you have a Mumbai stamp then we will win this doesnt happen You have to go and respect the game respect the work ethics respect where you have come from and then go out and play as a team that is the Mumbai cricket team with pride Shastri added PTI NRB BS BS

Mumbai Dec 26 PTI BJP president J P Naddas visit to Mumbai to unveil a statue of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was cancelled following which the party claimed the Maharashtra government denied permission for the event at the last minute The event was scheduled on Saturday on the occasion of Vajpayees birth anniversary at a sports complex in suburban Kandivali Maharashtra is currently governed by the three-party alliance of the Shiv Sena NCP and Congress BJP Lok Sabha member from north Mumbai Gopal Shetty claimed that state Sports Minister Sunil Kedar denied permission for the event at the last minute Due to the cancellation of permission given by the district administration BJP president J P Nadda had to cancel his visit to the city Shetty told reporters on Saturday PTI MR GK GK