Mumbai Feb 19 PTI After the Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC issued a notice to him for inspection of his bungalow here Union minister Narayan Rane on Saturday said he had taken all the permissions that were necessary for the construction of the property and asserted that there were no irregularities in it The BJP leader also alleged that he was being hounded by the Shiv Sena and Matoshree a reference to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray whose private residence in suburban Bandra bears that name The BMC on Thursday issued a notice to the bungalow owned by Rane in the upscale Juhu area for conducting inspection and taking measurements of the premises The Adish bungalow falls under the K-west civic ward located in western suburbs of Mumbai The notice said a civic team will visit to inspect the said premises and to take measurements and photographs of the same and also asked the owner not named in the notice to be present for the same along with the last approved plan or authentic documents of the structure The notice came amid an escalating war of words between the leaders of ruling Shiv Sena and opposition BJP in the state Talking to reporters here Rane said he had taken all the necessary permission before building his bungalow nearly 12 years back The building his residence was built by a reputed architect and all norms were followed during its construction Not an inch more has been constructed since the building was completed as no need for it ever arose he said Rane said this is not the first time that his house has been under scanner but the authorities have never found any irregularities during their scrutiny in the past Me my wife my two sons their wives and children stay here A total of eight people reside here So we never felt the need to build anything more here Rane said adding that he had informed late Sena chief Bal Thackeray about his decision to build a house at Juhu The entire action notice is being undertaken to exact revenge by the Shiv Sena and Matoshree I am being hounded Rane said without naming anyone Rane alleged that there are irregularities in the new residence of Uddhav Thackeray but he Rane desisted from speaking about it since it was their personal matter Attacking Thackeray Rane said the chief minister is neither seen visiting Mantralaya nor does he physically attend the cabinet meetings The enmity between Rane and Shiv Sena particularly Uddhav Thackeray is known in Maharashtra political circles Rane was the chief minister in 1999 in the Sena-BJP government but he later quit the party after his differences with Uddhav Thackeray Since then Rane and Thackeray have been at loggerheads Meanwhile during his press conference Rane also claimed that Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput and his former manager Disha Salian were murdered He also alleged that Salian was raped before being killed However the minister did not furnish any evidence to buttress his claim PTI PR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 30 PTI Thousands of resident doctors will go on a strike in Maharashtra from Friday to seek a resolution of the NEET-PG 2021 counselling issue a step that is likely to affect the health services in the state hospitals Sanchari Pal general secretary of the KEM unit of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors MARD said some government hospitals in the state were on strike from Thursday Listing out the demands she said Our fundamental demand is resolution of the NEET-PG counselling issue with a proper timeline Pal said the MARD is also extending solidarity with its counterpart in Delhi We demand action against the perpetrators involved in violence against the doctors she said referring to the police action against the protesting medicos earlier this week She added that the FIR against protesting doctors must be withdrawn immediately PTI PR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 30 PTI Maharashtra on Thursday witnessed a massive spike in the daily coronavirus as well Omicron cases as it reported 5368 fresh infections which included 198 patients who were found infected with the new variant the health department said The state also reported 22 fatalities during the day Of the 198 cases of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 190 are from Mumbai With this the tally of Omicron patients in the state reached 450 The health department said that 1193 COVID-19 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours taking the recovery count to 6507330 The states recovery rate stands at 9755 per cent Currently 133748 people are in home quarantine and 1078 others are in institutional quarantine it added PTI PR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI No new case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus was reported in Maharashtra on Wednesday the health department said a day after the state saw 11 such infections No new case of Omicron variant was reported in the state today Till date a total of 65 patients infected with Omicron variant have been reported in the state the health department said in a bulletin Of these total number of cases 35 patients have been discharged after they tested negative in the RT-PCR test Since December 1 a total of 150153 international travellers have arrived in the state from overseas Of these 21809 patients were from at-risk countries and RT-PCR test was conducted on all of them Additionally field surveillance of all international passengers who have arrived since November 1 is underway Through airport and field surveillance 632 samples have been sent for genome sequencing Results of 121 are awaited so far the bulletin said The Centre on Tuesday said there is a need to activate war rooms take pro-active action and consider night curfews amid the rise in the Omicron cases in the country PTI PR NP NP

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI Mumbai on Wednesday reported 490 new coronavirus positive cases a jump of more than 160 from the previous day but did not record any fatality caused due to the infection a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC official said The city had reported 204 cases on Monday and 327 on Tuesday With the addition of cases the overall infection count in the city climbed to 768148 while the death toll stands at 16366 he said A total of 45014 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours taking their cumulative number in the city to 13291717 the civic official said Mumbai now has 2419 active coronavirus cases after 229 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day following recovery So far 746784 patients have recuperated in Mumbai and its recovery rate is 97 per cent The overall growth rate of the COVID-19 infection stood at 003 per cent between December 15 and December 21 while the case doubling rate was 1962 days he said The civic body said that presently Mumbai has 14 sealed buildings where more than five residents have tested coronavirus positive in each of them but no containment zone in slums and chawls old row tenements since the past few months This year Mumbai reported the highest cases at 11163 on April 4 and most number of deaths at 90 on May 1 during the second wave of the pandemic PTI PR NP NP

Mumbai Nov 25 PTI Adding teeth to Indias naval prowess the Navy on Thursday commissioned submarine INS Vela here with the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh calling it a potent platform with an ability to undertake the entire spectrum of submarine operations This is the fourth of the six submarines the Indian Navy is inducting under the Kalvari class submarine Project 75 This is also the second major induction in the Indian Navy in less than a week On November 21 the navy commissioned warship INS Visakhapatnam Speaking at the event of commissioning the submarine the Navy chief said Project 75 will transform Indian Navys war-fighting in the underwater domain in the years to come INS Vela is a potent platform with an ability to undertake the entire spectrum of submarine operations And given todays dynamic and complex security situation Velas capability and fire power will play a crucial role in Navys ability to protect promote and preserve Indias maritime interest across the seascape of the Indian Ocean Region while acting as a clear deterrent to our adversaries Singh said The Scorpene class submarines are being built in India by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited MDL Mumbai in collaboration with Ms Naval Group France Three submarines under Project 75 - INS Kalvari INS Khanderi INS Karanj - have already been commissioned INS Vela would form a part of the Western Naval Commands Submarine fleet and would be another potent part of its arsenal the Navy said Crew of the erstwhile Vela a Russian origin Foxtrot class submarine which was decommissioned in 2009 were also present amongst the guests on this occasion These Scorpene submarines are extremely potent platforms and they have advanced stealth features and are also equipped with both long range guided torpedoes as well as anti-ship missiles it added These submarines have a state-of-the-art SONAR and sensor suite permitting outstanding operational capabilities They also have an advanced Permanent Magnetic Synchronous motor PERMASYN as its propulsion motor INS Vela is fitted with advanced weapons and sensors All of these are integrated into the Submarine Tactical Integrated Combat System known as SUBTICS the Navy said Once a target is classified the submarine may choose to engage it using either her sea skimming missiles also known as Flying Fish or heavy weight wire - guided torpedoes it added The submarines mascot is the Sub-ray which is an amalgamation of the submarine and the stingray The stingray is known for stealth aggression and offensive power Its flat body allows it to sit on the bottom of the ocean camouflage itself to predators swimming above as it lurks for its prey underneath Singh said that INS Vela showcases Indias notable strides in indigenous submarine construction as also the journey from being a buyers navy to a builders navy While Project 75 has been an important step in enhancing the Navys capability Singh said it is simultaneously progressing with Project 75 India under a Strategic Partnership model With this project India envisions achieving complete self-reliance in submarine construction and life cycle substance The Project 75 India aims to develop all facets of the submarine construction ecosystem within the nation and also involves transfer of several niche technologies In June the Defence Acquisition Council headed by Defence minister Rajnath Singh approved issue of RFP for construction of six Conventional Submarines under Project P 75 I under the Strategic Partnership SP Model This project envisages indigenous construction of six conventional submarines equipped with the state-of-the-art Air Independent Propulsion system at an estimated cost of Rs 43000 crore The Navy chief said the project would significantly enhance Indias ability to work with cutting edge defence manufacturing technologies with the implications not only for the Navy but also for the nation INS Vela carries forward the legacy of her namesake the Foxtrot type submarine acquired from Soviet Russia in 1973 and served the Navy for 37 years Rear Admiral retd JMS Sodhi the Commissioning Commanding Officer of the earlier INS Vela was also present at the event PTI PR NP NP