News Analysis India

Tag: Thane municipal corporation

  • 66 of 67 Sena ex-corporators in Thane civic body extend support to Shinde camp

    By PTI

    THANE: In a setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group, 66 out of the 67 former party corporators of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have extended support to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

    The term of the 131-member TMC, which has been a stronghold of the Shiv Sena, ended sometime back and its elections are due.

    The 66 former Sena corporators, led by ex-mayor Naresh Mhaske, met CM Shinde at his ‘Nandanvan’ bungalow in Mumbai on Wednesday night and extended support to him, a release from Shinde’s office said.

    Last month, Shinde had launched a rebellion against the Sena and majority of the party MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state led by Uddhav Thackeray.

    Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30 and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had taken oath as the deputy CM.

  • Maharashtra: No vaccine jab, no salary, says Thane civic body

    By PTI

    THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in Maharashtra has said its employees who have not taken even one dose of vaccine against COVID-19 will not be paid salaries.

    The decision was taken on Monday during a meeting of senior TMC officials, including civic commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma and Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske.

    According to an official release issued late Monday night, the civic employees who have not taken the first dose, will not be paid salaries.

    The civic employees who have not taken their second vaccine dose within the stipulated period will also not get their salaries, the release said.

    The TMC has made it compulsory for all civic employees to submit their vaccination certificates at their respective offices.

    These measures are part of an effort to achieve the target of cent per cent vaccination in the city by this month-end, Mhaske told reporters after the meeting.

    A massive vaccination drive has been initiated in the city, located adjoining Mumbai, from Tuesday to achieve the target of cent per cent vaccination, he said.

    The mayor sought cooperation of the citizens in achieving the target and appealed to them to take the vaccine shots, and those who have taken one jab to take their second dose as well.

    The TMC has made available different vaccination centres, including ‘on-wheels’ inoculation facilities and jumbo vaccination centres.

    Regular outreach camps are also being held in the city, he said.

    In addition to this, under the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ programme, health employees, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and nurses will go door-to-door and collect details of those who have not taken the vaccine.

    Such people will be given the jabs, the official said.

    A total of 167 teams have been formed for the purpose, he added.

    Those who accompany patients to the civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj General Hospital at Kalwa here are required to produce their certificates establishing that they are fully vaccinated.

    Those who have not been inoculated so far will be given the jabs, the release said.

    Besides, teachers of various schools and colleges have also been roped-in into to create awareness about the vaccination drive among students.

    The students will in-turn pass on the message about the importance of vaccination to their parents, the release said.

    The garbage collection vehicles moving in the city will also spread the message about the importance of vaccination, it said.

    The mayor said it was a good sign that COVID-19 cases in the city were coming down, but every care should be taken that the infection does not rise, and the mega vaccination drive is the only solution for it.

    On Sunday, Thane district reported 118 new cases of coronavirus, taking the infection count to 5,66,749, while one death raised the toll to 11,543, as per official data.

    Maharashtra on Monday reported 751 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 15 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 66,18,347 and the toll to 1,40,403, the state health department said.

    The number of cases and fatalities dipped on Monday compared to Sunday, when Maharashtra had logged 892 infections and 16 deaths due to COVID-19.

    A total of 1,555 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries in Maharashtra so far to 64,60,663, leaving the state with 13,649 active cases, an official said.

    Maharashtra’s case recovery rate now stands at 97.62 per cent.

    The fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.

    With 61,720 new tests, the lowest in the recent past, the number of samples examined so far in Maharashtra went up to 6,33,02,489 on Monday, the official said.

    On Monday, 16 districts and five municipal corporations in the state did not report any new COVID-19 cases.

    Mumbai districts reported the highest 206 new infections, followed by the Ahmednagar district with 46 cases.

    Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Mumbai region saw the highest 399 cases during the day, followed by 175 cases reported from the Pune region.

    Nashik region reported 102 cases, Kolhapur 30, Aurangabad 21, Latur 17, Akola five and Nagpur two cases, the official said.

    Mumbai region reported the highest number of eight fatalities among all the eight regions, followed by two deaths due to COVID-19 each in Nashik and Pune regions.

    Akola region, Latur region and Kolhapur region each reported one death.

    Aurangabad and Nagpur regions did not report any fatality in the last 24 hours.

    Mumbai city witnessed 206 fresh cases and five deaths.

    Pune added 51 cases, but no fresh fatality.

    Among 13,649 active patients in Maharashtra, the Mumbai district has the highest number of 3,599 active cases.

    Among the total 64,60,663 recovered patients across the state, the highest 11,33,367 recoveries are from the Pune district.

    Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 66,18,347, new cases 751, total deaths 1,40,403, fresh deaths: 15, total recoveries 64,60,663, active cases 13,649, total tests conducted 6,33,02,489.

  • Around 40 furniture godowns gutted in major fire in Thane, no casualty 

    By PTI

    THANE: Around 40 godowns of wooden furniture were gutted in a major fire that broke out in a wholesale market selling these items at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra’s Thane district, a civic official said on Saturday.

    Nobody was injured in the blaze that started around 11 pm on Friday at the Mahalaxmi Furniture market located near Kasheli toll plaza, he said.

    “The fire broke out at one of the furniture godowns, which quickly spread to the adjoining storerooms.

    Around 40 of these units were completely destroyed in the incident,” chief of Thane Municipal Corporation’s Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) Santosh Kadam said.

    On being informed, the fire brigade personnel from Thane and Bhiwandi, a team of the RDMC and fire engines rushed to the place, he said.

    “The fire was brought under control by 4.45 am today,” Kadam said, adding that the cause of the fire was being probed.

  • Two dead, one injured after slab of building collapses in Maharashtra’s Thane

    By PTI

    THANE: Two people were killed and another person was injured after the slab of a 25-year-old four-storey residential building collapsed in Maharashtra’s Thane city on Sunday morning, civic officials said.

    The slab of a flat on the third floor of ‘C-wing’ of the Khatri Apartments, located in Rabodi area, came crashing down on its ground floor at around 6 am, Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) deputy commissioner Ashok Burpulle said.

    After being alerted, a team of local firemen, police and the TMC’s regional disaster management cell (RDMC) rushed to the spot and pulled out three people from the debris, two of whom died in hospital, he said.

    An official from the TMC’s disaster control room said that the deceased were identified as Rameez Shaikh (32) and Goss Tamboli (38), while the third person was under treatment. The Rabodi-based housing complex collectively has 73 flats, Burpulle said, adding that after the incident, occupants of all 24 houses in its C-wing were shifted to a safer place as a precautionary measure.

    The civic body’s RDMC chief Santosh Kadam said that following the incident, “the ‘C-wing’ of the 25-year-old building was sealed”. Meanwhile, Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde, who visited the site later in the day, said cluster development of dangerous and dilapidated buildings was the only solution to such incidents.

    The building had been declared dangerous but occupants were reluctant to move, Shinde said, adding that compensation would be given as per government norms to the kin of the deceased. “The only permanent solution to this problem of dilapidated and dangerous buildings is cluster development, which has been approved for Thane city. Elected representatives, civic officials and residents must meet to finalise development works,” the state minister and senior Shiv Sena leader said.

    TMC Assistant Commissioner Mahesh Aher told PTI that the entire building, comprising three wings with 73 flats, has been sealed and an audit of the structure would be conducted by engineers.

    Meanwhile, the TMC, in a release issued in the evening, said occupants had been given repeated instructions to vacate the building, as it had been declared dangerous post an inspection in 2013, and notices were also issued, all of which were ignored.

    The release said Rabodi police was asked to get the building vacated, while the water supply, electricity and drainage departments had been told to disconnect supply.

    An audit had suggested immediate repairs and the TMC had given three reminders to the owners of the building to get it repaired, the release said, adding that some 85 per cent repair work had been completed while 15 per cent was pending.

  • ‘Will take on illegal hawkers’: MNS chief Raj Thackeray meets injured Thane civic body official

    By PTI

    THANE: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Wednesday said the growing “courage” of illegal hawkers need to be crushed after he met senior Thane civic official Kalpita Pimple, who was injured in the attack by a street vendor during an anti-encroachment drive, at a hospital here.

    Pimple, the assistant municipal commissioner (AMC) of the Majiwada-Manpada area in Thane, lost three of her fingers and received head injuries when a hawker stabbed her with a knife at the Kasarvadavali junction on Monday.

    Her security guard also sustained injuries. Thackeray visited the hospital and enquired about the health of Pimple. He appreciated the courage shown by her and wished her a speedy recovery.

    Later talking to media persons at the hospital, Thackeray, whose party MNS is known for pursuing the sons-of-the-soil agenda, said in Marathi that he felt sad over the incident. “But at the same time, such tendencies are getting strengthened. MNS’ fight against illegal hawkers will continue…such ‘himmat’ of these forces should be crushed,” he added.

    Thackeray said he discussed the issue with senior police officers. “Police are doing their job. We hope a strict punishment will be given to the accused. The court is also doing its work,” he added. The accused hawker, identified as Amar Yadav, who had attacked Pimple and later threatened to commit suicide, was arrested.

    A video of the accused shouting and wielding the knife went viral on social media. The Kasarwadavali police had booked him under various Indian Penal Code Sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty).

    The incident caused outrage and invited condemnation from political parties and various sections. Maharashtra BJP vice president Chitra Wagh also visited the hospital and enquired about the health of Pimple and the security guard.

    “The law and order situation in Maharashtra is fast deteriorating. Women in the state are not safe anymore,” she said while launching a scathing attack on the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.

    Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske had said the civic body will bear the cost of treatment of the injured official and her security guard. Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde visited the hospital around Monday midnight to enquire about Pimple’s health.

    On Wednesday, the general body meeting of the Thane Municipal Corporation was adjourned without transacting any business to condemn the attack on Pimple. The general body is likely to discuss the entire issue in the next meeting, a corporator said.

    As a mark of protest, staff and officials of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) protested the incident and wore black ribbons. They handed over a memorandum to the BNMC commissioner.

    Condemning the incident, staff and officials of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) struck work and submitted a memorandum to municipal commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi on Wednesday demanding that officials doing public duty be provided with the armed police protection to ensure their safety.

    The Congress party took out a silent morcha in Thane but was stopped midway to the office of the district collector by the police. Local Congress leaders demanded the TMC chief take action against unauthorised constructions and hawkers in the city.

    They also demanded that a hawkers policy be finalised.

  • Thane man receives call from municipal corporation to collect own death certificate

    By PTI
    THANE: A 55-year-old school teacher here got a shock of his life when he received a call earlier this week from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) that his death certificate was ready and he should come and collect it.

    When Chandrashekar Joshi, a city resident, went to the TMC office, he was allegedly told by an official that as per the data received from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), he had `died’ on April 22, 2021.

    The death certificate mentioned that he was a Covid patient ten months ago.

    A bewildered Joshi told reporters here on Thursday that he had indeed tested positive for the viral infection in October 2020, but he isolated himself and recovered.

    Civic officials were not available to comment on the goof-up despite several calls.