Heena Sharma Blog

  Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has stayed the transfer of 100 MHADA flats here to the Tata Memorial Hospital for providing temporary accommodation to cancer patients undergoing treatment there. State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad on Wednesday confirmed the decision. Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary told reporters that the decision to stay the transfer order was taken after he complained to the CM about objections to it from local residents. Notably, Awhad had taken the decision to allot 100 flats in buildings of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to the hospital. The keys of the flats were handed over to the hospital authorities in May by NCP president Sharad Pawar, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in the state. Chaudhary, who is an MLA from Sewri in Mumbai, said over 1,000 families living in the vicinity objected to the disturbance created by outsiders arriving there on a temporary basis. Read More

  Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday took stock of the situation in Mumbai, Thane and other coastal districts of the state in the wake of the cyclonic storm Tauktae . According to an official statement, 12,420 people living in coastal stretches of Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Raigad districts have been shifted to safer places. These include 8,380 people in Raigad, 3,896 in Ratnagiri and 144 in Sindhudurg. Thackeray reviewed the situation in Mumbai, Thane and neighbouring areas and instructed authorities to ensure that the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the region is not affected due to the cyclonic storm, the statement said. A red alert has been issued for Raigad district, while an orange alert has been issued for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar, it said. A red alert is sounded for rainfall of over 20 cm and an orange alert is for rain between 6 cm and 20 cm. Read More

  After the apex court has struck down the Maratha quota in excess of 50 per cent ceiling limit as unconstitutional, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said that he would send a formal request to the Center in this regard and if needed, he will take a delegation also for a follow-up on the same. "The Maratha community is very patiently waiting for steps from the Center. I will send a formal request to the Centre in this regard and if needed, I will take a delegation also for a follow-up on the same," Thackeray said. He also requested the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind after the Supreme Court struck down the law granting quota to Marathas. "Unfortunate that the Supreme Court rejected the law of reservation to the Maratha community in Maharashtra. We had unanimously passed a law for the sake of life with self-respect to our Maratha community. Now SC says that Maharashtra can not make law on this, onl

  Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will on Friday meet senior civil servants to discuss the state’s spurt in Covid-19 cases , said news agency ANI. The state on Thursday reported 43,183 new Covid-19 cases and 249 deaths, making the numbers the highest one-day rise since the pandemic began. It was the state’s highest number of deaths since October. Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Thursday said that Mumbai may announce restrictions from April 2, claiming "people do not listen" to safety precautions. Hotels could be asked to operate at 50 per cent seating capacity and religious places might be shut completely. Mumbai reported 8,646 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, making it the highest one-day spike since the pandemic hit the city early last year. The city reported 18 deaths in the last 24 hours. Read More

  Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the city's famous Siddhivinayak temple has decided not to give on-the- spot permission to devotees for taking darshan of Lord Ganesh from March 1, its office-bearers said on Friday. Only those who have registered themselves online, will get a chance to take darshan, and only 100 such devotees will be allowed inside the temple per hour from next month, they said. Talking to PTI, Priyanka Chhapwale, chief executive officer of the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust said that at present, devotees who have not registered themselves for darshan, are given QR code on the spot, which allows them to go inside the temple. Read More

  As the country awaits a Coronavirus vaccine , the Maharashtra Health Department will conduct a dry run tomorrow in four districts of the state to ensure effective preparedness for its rollout. The districts of Pune, Nagpur, Jalna, and Nandurbar have been selected for the dry run, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope informed after a meeting with senior health officials. All four districts will have three vaccination centers, with each having 25 people for vaccination. "Vaccines will not be administered to anyone but all operation preparedness will be tested by this dry run, including manpower management at the centers, protocol following, unhindered power and internet supply, etc," Tope said. He further informed that each center will have a waiting room, a vaccination room, and an observation room. Read More

  The Maharashtra government has extended till January 31, 2021 the lockdown restrictions in the state on account of coronavirus . A circular to this effect was issued on December 29. "The state is threatened with the spread of COVID-19 virus . Therefore, to take certain emergency measures to prevent and contain the spread of the virus, the lockdown in the state has been extended till January 31," the circular said. The activities already allowed and permitted from time to time shall be continue, it added. Over the past few months, the government has eased several lockdown restrictions. Last month, the government had allowed reopening of places of worship. Schools for students from Std 9th to 12th were also reopened in some parts of the state. Read More

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed on Monday the state's preparedness for Cyclone Nisarga , which is predicted to hit the west coast on June 3. Thackeray, in the meeting held through video conferencing, said Mumbai city, its suburbs, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg are on alert for the cyclone. The state's disaster management, relief, and rehabilitation department is fully prepared to deal with the cyclone. Fishermen have been called in from the sea and the coast guard has been notified, the slum dwellers in the Mumbai metropolitan area, especially in the low-lying areas, have also been instructed to evacuate. Read More

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday asked people not to panic over Centre's health team projections about a surge of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, stating that the number of hot spots in the state had reduced to five from 14. He also said that the rate of doubling of cases in the state had improved to 7.01 days from 3.1 days earlier this month. "There is no need to panic over the central government's team projections that Mumbai might have 42,604 cases by April 30 and 6.50 lakh patients by May 15," Tope said in an online address to people. Read More

Over 5,000 people in Maharashtra have been quarantined so far as they were in close contact with 162 COVID-19 patients in the state, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters, Tope said that 5343 people have been identified as high risk contact, because they were in close contact with the 162 COVID-19 positive patients in the state "We have quarantined these 'high risk contact' people as they are likely to be infected or are carriers of the coronavirus infection, he said. It is a clear indication that more people will test positive for coronavirus in coming days, the minister said. Around 4,000 heath department staffers have been deputed for surveillance and follow up of these people, he said. Read More

All shops, establishments and offices excluding those engaged in essential services will have to remain shut till March 31 in Mumbai metropolitan region, Pune and Nagpur, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced on Friday. Groceries, milk centres, pharmacies and banks are exempt from the restrictions which come into effect from today midnight. All government offices will function with 25 per cent attendance and local trains and buses will continue to operate as usual in Mumbai. "Residents have responded positively to our appeals to work from home and crowds have lessened. But we need to be careful and have to take precautions for next fifteen days," Thackeray said. Trains and buses will remain operational to allow smooth functioning of essential services in the city. Read More

With new coronavirus cases being discovered in the country each day and panic among people also increasing, the government has proposed various measures to contain the spread of the disease. The latest steps in the fight against the pandemic come at a time when the number of positive cases in India has reached 125, with fresh cases being reported from Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Kerala and Telangana. In this edition of Business Standard podcast, we will discuss different measures taken by the government to control the outbreak. On Monday, a Group of Ministers (GoM) proposed various measures, including the closure of all educational and recreational institutions across the country. The government has also barred travellers from countries in the European Union, Turkey, the UK, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Malaysia from coming to India till March 31. Read More

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will on Thursday evening join the league of seven leaders who got the chief minister's post in Maharashtra when they were still not member of either the state Legislative Assembly or Council. Congress leaders A R Antulay, Vasantdada Patil, Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil, Shankarrao Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan are among the leaders who were not members of any of the state legislature Houses when they occupied the top post. The then Congress leader and current NCP chief Sharad Pawar also finds name among these leaders. Thackeray, 59, to be sworn in as chief minister at the Shivaji Park here on Thursday evening, will become the eighth such leader. According to provisions of the Constitution, any leader who is not a member of the Assembly or Council has to become member of the legislature within six months of taking oath of the post. Antulay became the first such leader in the state when he was sworn in as the chi

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will take oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at the Shivaji Park here. With the swearing-in of 59-year-old Thackeray, the state will have a chief minister from the Sena after 20 years. The oath taking ceremony will be held at the sprawling Shivaji Park, where his father and Sena founder Bal Thackeray addressed his famous Dussehra rallies. The last Sena man to occupy the chief minister's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first CM from the party. The swearing-in ceremony follows days of dramatic political developments, which included a three-day government formed by an unexpected support from NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who has since returned to the Sharad Pawar-led party fold. The Sena, along with the NCP and Congress constituted the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi' to form a non-BJP government in the state. Read More