Mumbai Feb 22 PTI A day after reporting less than 100 COVID-19 cases Mumbai on Tuesday added 135 patients to its tally and recorded two fresh fatalities due to the infection a civic official said The caseload in the metropolis now stands at 1055792 and the COVID-19 death toll is 16690 With 233 being discharged after treatment the count of recoveries went up to 1034914 in Mumbai which was 98 per cent of the tally he said Some 85 per cent or 115 cases of the 135 detected during the day were asymptomatic with just 20 patients requiring hospital admission and eight needing oxygen support in the last 24 hours he said The active tally in the city stood at 1315 and just 781 of the 36248 beds earmarked for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied the official said Tuesday was the third day in a row when the addition to the tally was less than 200 with Mondays 96 being the lowest since April 2020 just a month after the pandemic began nationwide The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC data showed 20889 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours some 4000 more than those conducted on the previous day taking the overall number of tests here to 16066326 It also showed the positivity rate was 064 per cent and that there was no sealed building or containment zone currently in the countrys financial capital The caseload doubling time stood 3512 days while the growth rate in cases stood at 002 per cent between February 15 and 21 civic data revealed Mumbai had reported a record 20971 cases on January 7 this year amid the third wave of the pandemic PTI KK BNM NSK NSK

Mumbai Feb 21 PTI The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC on Monday said out of 35138 applications received by it for compensation from relatives of patients in the city who died due to COVID-19 financial aid of Rs 50000 each has been paid to 2216 applicantsAccording to a BMC release 35138 applications have been received so far from relatives of deceased COVID-19 patients in Mumbai on the Maharashtra governments portalOut of these sanction for compensation has been approved for 21436 applicants and in 2216 cases ex-gratia payment of Rs 50000 each has been already released the release saidOut of the total 12871 applications have been rejected Of these 5003 citizens have applied to the Grievances Redressal Committee seeking review of BMCs rejection of their payout claims it statedThe release said a meeting of the Grievances Redressal Committee was held at Penguins Hall in the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale garden and zoo in the presence of Mayor Kishori Pednekar and other dignitariesThe committee approves or rejects claims for ex-gratia filed before it after verification of relevant documentsOf the 5003 citizens who have approached the panel 328 applicants presented their case for claims before the committee and of these compensation was sanctioned for 273 the release saidThe mayor has assured to pursue the remaining applications with the state government it saidA total of 36 applications were rejected as COVID-19 patients on whose behalf payout was sought died outside Mumbai while in case of 19 applicants all relevant papers were not submitted the BMC saidThese 19 applicants were asked to produce the required documents before the committee during its next meeting the release saidThe Maharashtra government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50000 each to the nearest kin of patients who have died due to COVID-19 in the state PTI KK RSY RSY

Mumbai Feb 18 PTI Mumbai on Friday reported 202 COVID-19 cases and one death taking the tally to 1055193 and the toll to 16686 a civic official said The city witnessed a daily addition of less than 300 cases for the fifth day in a row though the lone fatality came after a three-day gap he pointed out The discharge of 365 people during the day took the recovery count to 1033862 which is 98 per cent of the caseload leaving the metropolis with an active tally of 1780 he said Civic data showed that 87 per cent or 176 out of the 202 new cases were asymptomatic while only eight patients needed oxygen support in the last 24 hours It also revealed that only 838 of the 36319 hospital beds earmarked for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied including 26 admitted in the last 24 hours As per Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials the city does not have a containment zone or sealed buildings since over a week now The positivity rate was 053 per cent the caseload doubling time was now 2627 days while the growth rate of cases between February 11 and 17 stood at 003 per cent they said With 37700 samples being examined in the last 24 hours 3000 more than the previous day the number of tests in Mumbai had gone up to 15963150 they added Mumbai had witnessed a record 20971 cases on January 7 this year amid the third wave of the pandemic PTI KK BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Jan 21 PTI Fishermen in the coastal districts of Maharashtra have received Rs 4078 lakh as compensation in the last three years for safely releasing 260 protected marine species including Olive Ridley and green sea turtles that were accidentally caught in their fishing nets an official release has said This compensation is being paid as part of the scheme jointly launched by the state forest and fisheries departments in December 2018 which is aimed at conserving the rare and protected marine creatures it said So far 138 Olive Ridley turtles 67 green sea turtles 5 hawksbill turtles two leatherback sea turtles 37 deer sharks six giant guitar fish humpback dolphin four finless porpoises have been released into the sea it said Speaking during a programme here Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday that the Mangrove Cell Kandalvan Pratishthan has paid Rs 4078 lakh compensation to the fishermen who released the marine creatures back into sea for the damage caused to their fishing nets The cell has done a commendable work for the protection of marine biodiversity and similar such serious efforts are needed for the conservation of biodiversity in the state he said Thackeray also called for an extensive public awareness drive for this initiative Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray said the state government has undertaken ambitious steps for the protection and conservation of mangroves It includes mangrove subsistence creation mangrove afforestation mangrove nature tourism and removal of encroachments on mangroves among others Maharashtras mangrove cover is 32000 hectares he said adding that while protecting mangroves they are being given the status of reserved forests The work of installing CCTVs for protection of mangroves is underway As a result of these efforts the states mangrove covered has gone up by four square kilometres as per the Indian Forest Survey Report 2021 the minister said PTI KK NP NP

Mumbai Nov 25 PTI Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab on Thursday warned of strict action against employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC if they dont rejoin duty on Friday The MSRTC workers have been on a strike since October 28 demanding a merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government which will give them the status of state government employees and better salaries In a bid to end the strike Parab had on Wednesday declared a hike of Rs 2500 to Rs 5000 in the basic salaries for employees claiming that it would be the highest in the history of the corporation The transport minister had also given a 24-hour deadline to the employees to return to duty Speaking to reporters Parab on Thursday said that he has assured to withdraw the suspension of employees and will be reviewing the situation in a meeting with the MSRTC officials later in the day While making an appeal to the employees to rejoin duty the minister warned that stern action will be taken against those who dont return to work within the given deadline on Friday According to an MSRTC official the corporation is compiling information about workers attendance from across the state However preliminary reports have revealed that majority of the employees have not reported to duty as yet and hence the operation of buses at all 250 depots in the state was also shut the official added Meanwhile the BJP on Thursday announced to temporarily call off the sit-in agitation of MSRTC employees at Azad Maidan here BJP MLC Sadabhau Khot and Gopichand Padalkar who were leading the agitation made the announcement Today we are temporarily calling off our agitation at Azad Maidan All employees should sit together and decide whether to carry out the rest of the agitation We are with them Khot said The movement was started by the MSRTC employees and the party had supported it to give justice to them he said The state government has taken two steps forward We have won the first stage of the fight The decision merger will come from the court We will be with the workers if they agitate in the second phase as well Khot said The BJP had started a sit-in agitation at Azad Maidan on November 10 to push for the demand of MSRTC employees for the merger of the corporation with the state government Citing that they had tried on various levels to give justice to MSRTC employees Padalkar refuted the allegation that they had tried to take political advantage of the strike PTI KK ARU NP NP

Mumbai Nov 19 PTI Maharashtra on Friday reported 906 new COVID-19 cases and 15 fresh fatalities taking the infection tally to 6628744 and the death toll to 140707 a health department official saidThe state has witnessed a marginal dip in new COVID-19 cases and also fatalities as compared to Thursday when it had logged 963 cases and 24 deathsTen districts and three municipal corporations did not report any new COVID-19 casesThe official said 918 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24hours pushing the number of recovered cases to 6472681He said the state has 11704 active cases while currently 99369 people are in home quarantine and another 1009 in institutional quarantineMaharashtras COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 9765 per cent while the fatality rate is 212 per centThe cumulative number of tests in the state climbed to 64489471 of which 104735 tests the lowest in recent days were conducted in the last 24 hours the official saidMumbai district reported the highest 231 new infections followed by Pune district at 81Among the eight administrative regions of Maharashtra each consisting of a set of districts the Mumbai region reported the highest 404 COVID-19 cases followed by 236 in Pune and 145 in the Nashik regionAmong the other regions Aurangabad reported 42 new cases Latur 31 Kolhapur 28 Nagpur and Akola regions 10 eachMumbai and Nashik regions reported 6 each fatalities followed by two in Kolhapur and one in the Latur region the official saidPune Aurangabad Akola and Nagpur regions did not report any coronavirus-linked fatality in the last 24 hours he saidThe official said Mumbai witnessed 231 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths while Pune city reported 76 new cases but no fresh fatalityAmong the 11704 active patients in the state Mumbai district has the highest at 3544 he saidThe official said among the 6472681 recovered patients across the state the highest - 1135671 - were from Pune districtCoronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows Total cases 6628744 new cases 906 total deaths 140707 total recoveries 6472681 active cases 11704 total tests 64489471 PTI KK RSY RSY

Mumbai Nov 19 PTI The services of 238 daily wage workers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC were terminated and 297 employees suspended on Friday in view of the stir in the states premier public transport undertaking an official said Notices were sent to 2296 daily wage workers and the services of 238 have been terminated in the first phase and further action will follow he said Earlier this week a total of 2296 of 2584 daily wage workers were served notices asking them to join duty within 24 hours but only 32 reported to work We have also suspended 297 employees on Friday taking the total number who have faced this action to 2776 he informed MSRTC staffers have been agitating since late October demanding merger of the undertaking with the state government which would give them better salaries and greater job security Operations in 250 MSRTC bus depots are shut since November 9 due to the agitation PTI KK BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Nov 17 PTI The strike of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC employees continued on the 22nd day on Thursday with virtually no negotiations taking place between the government and unions At least 7541 out of 92266 employees reported to work during the day but it provided very little relief to harried travelers as less than 100 state transport buses plied across the state The employees are seeking merger of the loss-making MSRTC with the state government which will give them the status of government employees and better salaries Those who reported to work on Thursday included 5205 administrative staff 1925 workshop employees 258 drivers and 153 conductors an MSRTC official said While the strike began on October 28 all 250 bus depots of the corporation have been shut since November 9 The corporation managed to operate 93 buses on Thursday mainly air-conditioned Shivneri and Shivshahi services and had ferried around 2500 passengers as of 3 pm the official said Since last week the corporation has suspended over 2000 employees for participating in the strike and has served service termination notices to 2296 of 2584 daily-wage workers The administration had also given a 24-hour ultimatum to employees to rejoin work but officials did not disclose if any of them returned to work or if it took any action A 29-year-old MSRTC employee allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtras Buldhana district police said Vishal Ambalkar a resident of Matargaon consumed poison at his home on Tuesday and died at a government hospital in Akola on Wednesday night a police official said adding that the reason for the alleged suicide was yet to be ascertained The MSRTC has a fleet of more than 16000 buses most of which are standing stationary across depots since the strike began The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak Travelers have been forced to rely on private vehicles due to the strike and there are complaints of overcharging The state government has permitted private buses goods vehicles and contract-carriage buses to ferry passengers till the strike is over PTI KK ARU KRK KRK KRK

Mumbai Oct 21 PTI Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday said the heritage sites in the state need to be developed considering their tourism potential which will be beneficial for both the state and the country He was speaking during a meeting about the promotion of tourism in the Aurangabad circle of the archaeological department an official release said The archeology tourism and cultural affairs departments of the state should develop a scheme in coordination with the Archaeological Survey of India ASI he said Guides approved by the state government should have access to all heritage sites and their rates should be standardized the minister said PTI KK KRK KRK

Mumbai Sep 23 PTI A 40-year-old woman died while two others including a 10-year-old girl were rescued after a fire broke out in a seven-storey building in suburban Khar West on Thursday evening police saidThe fire broke out at Nutan Villa building around 7 pm and fire brigade vehicles reached the spot within 20 minutes said a civic officialEight fire engines and six jetties along with other equipment were sent to the site and dousing operations were still underway late at night he saidThe flames spread in the duct through which electrical wiring of the building passes Very soon smoke filled up large parts of the building and fire brigade personnel had to use breathing apparatus the official said They rescued Sangita Thakur 45 and Palak Jagwani 10 but Hema Jagwani 40 who was trapped in the same room suffocated and was declared brought dead at the Hinduja HospitalThe cause of the fire was not known yet the official said PTI KK KRK KRK KRK