North Maharashtra shivers in Cold as Mumbai records dip in Covid

Maharashtra welcomes the New Year along with all other states, but part of the state is feeling cold. Covid-19 cases are going up. The state is also fighting to control the spread of Covid and Omicron.Ban imposed on movement of people in groups during daytime. Mumbaikars get a gift by waiver of property tax on flats up to 500 square feet and  Mumbai Police nabs three persons in Bully Bai app case.

Mumbai registered a dip in Covid cases for the fourth day in a row to11,647 cases on Tuesday and positivity rate was also recorded 11.58 per cent. Total tests done on Monday were 59,242. The positivity rate on Monday stood at 23 per cent.Across the state, 44,388 new cases were reported. Experts attributed the slight dip in cases in Mumbai to a small drop in testing on Sunday, unreported positive cases because of at-home antigen testing kits and backlog of RT-PCR test reports.

The new Covid-19 guidelines came into force

As per the new guidelines, while the night curfew will be imposed from 11pm to 5am, no one will be allowed to move in groups of five or more from 5 in the morning to 11 at night. Further, no movement will be allowed in public from 11pm to 5am except for essential services. Schools and colleges will be closed till 15 February except those required by various boards.Attendance at marriages and social, cultural or political gatherings will be capped at 50. At funerals, not more than 20 can remain present. Hair cutting salons and beauty salons and gyms will function at 50% capacity.

Entertainment parks, zoo, museums, forts and other ticketed places for public will be closed. Shopping malls and market complexes can operate at 50% capacity and information about the number of visitors should be displayed on notice board. Only fully vaccinated people can enter the malls and shopping complexes which will be closed after 10 pm. Restaurants and eateries, cinema halls and theatres also can run at 50% capacity. Public transport will be allowed for only fully vaccinated persons. Among other things, for domestic travel, double vaccination or negative RT-PCR test report not older than 72hrs is mandatory.

Maharashtra waives property tax for flats owners in Mumbai

On 1st day of the year, the state government announced a New Year’s  gift for the Mumbaikars by waiving the property tax on flats up to 500 square feet. The decision is likely to benefit 16 lakh families in the city. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said he was fulfilling the promise made by Shiv Sena in the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election campaign.

Bulli Bai App accused in police custody 

Mumbai Police succeeded in arresting three persons in Bullabai Bai case in the first week of the year. While two arrests were made earlier -Shweta Singh (19) from Uttarakhand and Vishal Kumar Jha from Bengaluru and later Mayank Rawal (21) from Uttarakhand. Mumbai police on Tuesday again presented the accused  Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal before  Metropolitan Magistrate of Bandra. The police custody of these two accused has been increased up to 14th of this month. Vishal Kumar Jha had been found infected with Corona-19 and the court has sent him in judicial custody till 24th of this month. Vishal Kumar Jha will remain quarantined.The fourth accused Neeraj Bishnoi in connection with this app was arrested by Delhi Police in Assam.

Mumbai’s Coastal Road Project completes excavation of first tunnel 

The ambitious project to decongest the city and ease traffic marked a huge mile stone on Monday ,10th January with the completion of the excavation of the first tunnel connecting Marine Drive to Priyadarshini Park. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray joined the occasion through video conferencing. The twin tunnels of the coastal road will pass under Malabar Hill. India’s largest 12.19-metre diameter tunnels are being constructed 20 meters below the shore of Arabian Sea and70 meters below Malabar Hill. It has three lanes for transportation for south and north bound traffic.

North Maharashtra shivers in cold

According to Anupam Kashyapi, the head of the weather forecasting division, Pune, there have been severe cold wave conditions in North India due to snowfall. These are the reasons for the drop in the  minimum temperature in Maharastra, especially in Nashik city and northern part of the state. Kashyapi further said that there may be further drop in the minomum temperature and cold conditions may continue for the next two days. Nashik was the coldest with a minimum temperature of 7-3 degree celcius. Jalgaon wth 9-00 digree and Malegaon with 10.3 digree celcius were the coldest cities of Maharashtra.