Mumbai Feb 20 PTI Mumbai on Sunday reported 167 new coronavirus positive cases 34 less that the previous day which raised the citys infection count to 1055561 the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC said The death toll remained unchanged at 16687 as no patient succumbed to the infection during the day it said On Saturday the metropolis had recorded 201 cases and one fatality There are 1511 active cases in the city at present Of the 167 new cases147 patients are asymptomatic Nineteen patients required hospitalisation and five of them were on oxygen support the health department of the civic body said in a statement As many as 286 patients were discharged during the day which took Mumbais recovery count to 1034493 A total of 28978 people were tested during the day taking the overall test figure to 16028961 The recovery rate of Mumbai is 98 per cent and the case doubling rate is 3097 days Mumbai is free of containment zones or buildings sealed due to COVID-19 cases the statement said PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Jan 30 PTI Maharashtra on Sunday reported 22444 new coronavirus positive cases which increased its caseload to 7705969 while 50 patients succumbed to the infection taking the fatality count to 142572 the health department said Of the new patients five were found infected with the Omicron variant of the virus All of them are from Pune city it said A total of 39015 patients recuperated during the day which pushed the recovery figure to 7331806 the department said in a statement The states COVID-19 recovery rate is 9514 per cent and there are now 227711 active cases As 168968 people were tested during the day the cumulative test count rose to 74502688 So far 3130 Omicron variant cases have been reported in the state it said Mumbai city reported 1160 cases new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths With this its overall case count increased to 1044712 and death toll to 16612 Mumbai region which comprises the mega city and its satellite townships logged 2801 cases and 15 deaths Nashik division reported 2292 cases Pune division 8518 cases Kolhapur division 1168 cases Aurangabad division 976 cases Latur division 1041 cases Akola division 1121 cases Nagpur division 4527 cases Maharashtras coronavirus figures are as follows Total cases 7705969 new cases 22444 death toll 142572 recoveries 7331806 active cases 227711 tests so far 74502688 PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Jan 30 PTI Mumbai on Sunday reported 1160 new coronavirus positive cases taking its overall tally to 1045630 while the death of 10 such patients increased the toll to 16612 the civic body said A total of 2530 patients were discharged during the day post-recovery So far 1015451 patients have recuperated from the infection in the city the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations health department said in a statement There are 10797 active COVID-19 cases in the city With 46307 tests carried out on Sunday the overall test count reached 15243823 Of the 1160 new cases 1009 patients are asymptomatic while 160 are hospitalised Of them 29 are on oxygen support Out of the 37573 beds 2268 are occupied Mumbais recovery rate is 97 per cent and the case doubling rate is 375 days Mumbai civic commissioner I S Chahal said the citys positivity rate has come down to 25 per cent PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Jan 23 PTI Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday paid tributes to freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray on their birth anniversaries The chief minister garlanded the portraits of Bose and the late Sena supremo his father and paid floral tributes to them at the official Varsha bungalow in south Mumbai State Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray was also present there Taking to Twitter NCP president Sharad Pawar recalled that the Sena founder through his writings and speeches always made an apt comment on the prevailing social and political situation Pawar said that Bal Thackeray took a firm stand to protect the interests of Marathi-speaking people The NCP chief also paid homage to Netaji Bose and hailed his contribution in Indias freedom movement PTI MR NP NP

Panaji Jan 22 PTI The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party NCP the ruling allies in Maharashtra have forged an alliance for the first time in Goa for the February 14 Assembly elections but data shows that winning seats in this coastal state has never been an easy task for the two parties individually and their candidates had lost deposits on several occasions in the past polls Data of to the previous elections showed that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has fared better than the Shiv Sena in terms of the number of votes polled The Shiv Sena has been fighting elections in Goa since 1989 while the NCP has been on the states electoral scene since 2002 After the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra the Shiv Sena which till then allied with the BJP joined hands with the NCP and the Congress to form a government which was christened as the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA The Shiv Sena and the NCP had last week announced that they would contest the Goa elections together Both parties will collectively fight 20 seats for the 40-member House Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut who announced the first list of nine candidates for the Goa Assembly polls on Friday said he wanted the MVA model in Maharashtra to be replicated in Goa this time which is why he had approached the Congress with that proposal But the Congress did not show any willingness to forge a pre-poll alliance with Sena-NCP he said He also said that if the BJP retains power in Goa it is the Congress that should be blamed as it refused to tie up with the two parties In 2007 the NCP had contested the Goa Assembly polls in alliance with the Congress while Shiv Sena has always fought the elections in the state alone without a tie-up with the BJP In 2017 the NCP had contested 17 seats but could win only one seat while its deposit on 16 seats was forfeited The party polled 20916 votes and registered 228 per cent share in the total valid votes polled The Shiv Sena on the other hand had contested three seats at that time but could not open its account It had polled 792 votes and recorded 009 per cent vote share in the total valid votes polled The Aadm Aadmi Party AAP which entered Goas poll fray for the first time in 2017 had contested 39 seats and its candidates lost deposit on 38 seats The party polled 57420 votes and got 627 per cent share in the total valid votes polled In 2012 the NCP had contested seven seats and had lost deposit in three places The party had polled 34627 votes and got 408 per cent share in the total valid votes polled at that time The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had contested three seats but lost deposit on all three of them It had polled only 210 votes The party got 002 per cent share in the total valid votes polled That year the Trinamool Congress TMC had contested 20 seats and lost deposit on 19 seats The party had polled 15323 votes with 181 per cent share in the total valid votes polled In 2007 the NCP had contested six seats and won three of them The party lost its deposit in one seat It polled 35731 votes getting 502 per cent share in the total valid votes polled The Shiv Sena had fielded seven candidates but all of them lost their deposits The party had bagged 1049 votes with 015 per cent share in the total valid votes The NCP had contested 20 seats in 2002 and won one of them while losing deposits in 12 seats The party had secured 37093 votes with 583 per cent share in the total valid votes polled The Shiv Sena had fielded 15 candidates and all of them lost their deposits The party got 4946 votes with 078 per cent share in the total valid votes In 1999 the Sena had contested 14 seats and lost deposit in all of them It had secured 5987 votes with 104 per cent share in the total valid votes polled In 1994 the party had contested two seats when it bagged 8347 votes and got 145 per cent share in the total valid votes polled while in 1989 of the six seats it had contested it had lost deposit on five of them It had bagged 4960 votes and 098 per cent share in the total valid votes polled PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 26 PTI A woman police constable who has just completed her VIP security driving course earned praise for her driving skills after drove a vehicle occupied by state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during his official visit to coastal Sindhudurg district Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Satej Patil who accompanied Pawar during the trip hailed the woman constable Trupti Mulik in a series of tweets saying her driving skills were an inspiration to young women Mulik who has been in the state police force since the last 10 years completed her VIP driving course on December 23 and her assignment was to drive the Deputy CM Pawar Sindhudurg district guardian minister Uday Samant and Patil in the official car Patil tweeted a photo of all the three ministers being driven by Mulik and said she was employed in the Sindhudurg polices motor department as she loved driving since childhood PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI The Maharashtra government on Wednesday appointed Deepak Kapoor as the head of the Directorate General of Information and Publicity DGIPR The DGIPR is the publicity wing of the state government Kapoor who was the vice president and MD of the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation MADC said after taking over the new post that apart from print and electronic media social media was also important The DGIPR should also make maximum use of social media to propagate government schemes and policies he said Kapoor takes over from Dilip Pandharpatte who has been appointed as the secretary EGS and Water Conservation department PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI The Maharashtra government on Wednesday presented in the state Assembly a report of the joint committee of the state legislature on a bill that provides for strict punishment including death penalty for crimes such as rape acid attack and derogatory material on social media against women and children State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil presented in the Lower House of the legislature the joint committees report on the Shakti Criminal Laws Maharashtra Amendment Bill 2020 that specifies the recommendations of the panel The bill which is modelled on the Disha Act in Andhra Pradesh was first tabled in the legislature during the winter session in December last year However the government had referred it to the joint committee after that The joint committee held 13 meetings and later submitted the recommendations the minister said The draft bill provides for capital punishment for crimes against women and children specifies deadline of 30 days to complete the probe since the day the complaint in such cases is lodged and puts the onus on social media platforms as well as internet provider companies to share the data for police investigation He said that as per the committees recommendations the police probe in such cases should be over within 30 days and in case it does not happen another 30 days can be given after specifying the reasons from Special Inspector General or Police Commissioner The recommendations say that if the officer probing the offences against women and children demand sharing of the data it should be done within seven days otherwise punishment will be awarded for the failure on the part of social media platforms or internetmobile data providers Failure to do so may attract imprisonment of up to three months orand fine worth Rs 25 lakh As per the recommendations section 326 of the Indian Penal Code IPC applied in case of acid attacks will be amended to make provision of minimum 15 years to maximum life imprisonment to the guilty along with monetary fine The expenditure of plastic surgery and face reconstruction operations will be taken care from the monetary fine to be charged on the guilty Walse Patil informed the House The earlier version of the bill had scrapped the provision of anticipatory bail to individuals accused of assault on women The committee cancelled this provision after taking opinion from senior lawyers It also made the provision of minimum one year to maximum three years of imprisonment and Rs one lakh fine on those who make false complaints of sexual assault A new section 354E of the IPC has been proposed to take action against those outraging the modesty of women men and transgenders through electronic or digital means Section 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC will be amended as per which two social workers granted by the state governments Women and Child Welfare Department or two public servants can be taken as independent witnesses in case of sexual harassment case he said PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 19 PTI Maharashtra minister and senior Shiv Sena leader Gulabrao Patil has kicked up a controversy by comparing the roads in his constituency in Jalgaon district to actor Hema Malinis cheeks prompting the state womens commission to demand an apology from him The video of Patils remarks which he made recently while addressing an election meeting for the Bodhwad Nagar Panchayat polls in the district has gone viral on social media During the speech Patil asked his opponents to visit his constituency to see how good the quality of roads there is Those who have been MLAs for 30 years should come to my constituency and see the roads If they are not like Hema Malinis cheeks then I will resign the water supply and sanitation minister said apparently targeting former BJP leader Eknath Khadse who was an MLA from Jalgaon for several years However Rupali Chakankar the chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women took cognisance of the remarks and warned the minister of legal action if he did not tender a public apology The commission has taken note of the comment If the minister doesnt tender an apology he will have to face legal action Chakankar said in a video statement PTI MR NP NP

Mumbai Nov 28 PTI Asking people not to lower their guard against coronavirus in view of the new Omicron variant detected in South Africa Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the state cannot afford to have another lockdown and in order to avoid it everyone must follow COVID-appropriate behaviour He also asked the state authorities to take necessary steps on a war footing to protect citizens from the new variant without waiting for the Centres directives in this regard Saying kuch nahi hota yaar nothing will happen wont do at all he said Speaking virtually during a meeting of divisional commissioners and district collectors to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the threat of the new strain Thackeray who is recuperating at a city hospital following a spine surgery said Maharashtra had tackled both the COVID-19 waves well The challenge of the new variant Omicron and its severity will also have to be tackled by the administration in Mumbai and rest of the state If the virus spreads again we cant afford steps like a lockdown If that is to be avoided COVID-appropriate behaviour is a must Regular use of face mask avoiding crowd maintaining physical distancing have to be followed he said The process of vaccinating people needs to be expedited and international as well as domestic air travellers need to be monitored he said Steps should be taken up on a war footing without waiting for the central governments directives the chief minister told the authorities while also asking them to take action against those who violate the COVID-19 safety protocols Thackeray also called for carrying out fire audit of hospitals and ensuring availability of medical oxygen and medicines in the state Members of the state COVID task force also took part in the meeting PTI MR NP NP