Amid prevalent chaos and uncertainty over access to the essential services and commodities during the lockdown, we bring you the latest updates from Mumbai.
* Update at 10.30am: Terming it an 'unfortunate' act, the Bombay high court has granted bail to a Mira Road resident who allegedly obstructed a civic team, including medical personnel, visiting the housing society where he resides to collect COVID-19 related information information.
* ANI update at 9.30am: We've asked all private doctors, who are below 55 years of age & not having any comorbidity & who closed their clinics due to lockdown, to work for 15 days to provide Covid-19 treatment. They'll be paid & provided with protective gears: Director, Medical Education & Research (Mumbai)
* Update at 9.20am: Total number of Covid-19 positive cases in India rises to 49,391 including 33,514 active cases, 1694 deaths, 14,182 cured/discharged and 1 migrated: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
* Update at 9.15am: A day after a Bhayandar man died of Covid-19, another senior citizen from the same locality died of the virus. She was 67-year-old
* State officials have said shramik trains are unlikely to start from Mumbai and Pune soon. “The ministry of home affairs has reservations about starting trains from these zones,” said an official.
Five shramik special trains left the state on Tuesday. There were two departures from Kalyan—one to Bihar and the other to Andhra Pradesh. Another left from Panvel for Madhya Pradesh. And two more left from Nandurbar to Darbhanga and Saharsa in Bihar. Two trains with migrants belonging to Maharashtra from Andhra Pradesh arrived at Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, said officials.
Hundred private buses left the state since Monday with 2,500 migrants, said Malik Patel of Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana. Operators have been allowed a “special waiver” on road tax when crossing the border. The tax would have been Rs 7,500 to Rs 25,000. With the waiver, tickets could be Rs 200 to Rs 500 cheaper.
* Kalyan, Ulhasnagar to keep out locals working in Mumbai; Thane plans hostels
The Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar civic corporations have decided that they will deny entry to local residents who are employed in essential services in Mumbai in their respective cities from May 8. The civic bodies have said these people could unknowingly be carrying the coronavirus and could infect others.
The Thane district administration, for its part, is considering isolating nearly 10,000 local residents employed in essential services in Mumbai, in hostels in Thane so that their families are not placed at risk.
KDMC commissioner Dr Vijay Suryawanshi said 73 of the 224 patients in Kalyan-Dombivli were those who worked in Mumbai, while 28 others infected were their close contacts.“The safety of family members of employees travelling to and from Mumbai is an issue, so we requested employers and their staff to make arrangements for their stay in Mumbai. From May 8, they would not be allowed to enter KDMC limits,” he said, adding BMC was already making arrangements for its employees.
* Mumbai civic chief Praveen Pardeshi has authorized assistant municipal commissioners to take possession of any private hospital under their jurisdiction during the pandemic, and pay them per day bed charges of Rs 3,000-6,5000 for treating Covid-19 patients.
Officials said it will help officials to engage local hospitals for emergency treatment of positive patients, instead of depending on civic headquarters to process requests. Pardeshi issued an order on Tuesday delegating powers under Epidemic Diseases Act.
Almost daily, patients are struggling to get hospital beds and are told to go from one hospital to another. The state government deputed three IAS officers to help BMC in bed management but the civic body has been unable to resolve the issue.
* The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the state government to clarify who will pay for medical screening as well as transportation of migrant workers to their home states.
Via video-conference, Justice Suresh Gupte heard three PILs by NGOs and Sarva Hara Jan Andolan, a union, which highlighted the plight of migrants following the Covid-19 lockdown in Mumbai.
* Owner opens shop, finds Rs 8 lakh bottles, cash missing
Thieves broke into a liquor store in Powai and made away with cash and bottles valued at over Rs 8 lakh during the lockdown. The theft at Dimple Wine Shop came to light on Monday evening, when the owner, Pramod Dodeja (43), opened it after receiving the permission to sell liquor. The thieves had entered the shop by bending the shutter from top and fixing it before leaving, said the police. In his complaint, Dodeja said that liquor bottles worth Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 1.1 lakh cash from the safe in the cupboard were missing.
* Private hospitals billing patients for PPE kits
Just like the pre-Covid days of inflated bills due to huge margins on diagnostics, consumables and medicines, the private hospitals are now inflating charges for personal protective gear and adding separate charges for bio-waste disposal. With many patients being admitted for 10-15 days, the costs add up and bills of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 16 lakh are generated. Common investigations like a liver function or kidney function test, which costs Rs 400-800 in independent labs, are being billed Rs 3,000-3,500. The pattern holds for tests, big or small, reports Rema Nagarajan
* Hours after the state sought to allow all manner of shops barring those in containment zones to lift shutters, Mumbai civic chief Praveen Pardeshi rolled it back on Tuesday saying easing of curbs would be “detrimental” to controlling the virus and ordered freezing of recent concessions including those that allowed liquor shops to reopen.
The directive came on a day marked by long, indisciplined queues outside liquor shops and record sales. Most outlets reported 6-7 times the average daily business of Rs 2 lakh. Total sales in the state amounted to Rs 62 crore.
* Update at 10.30am: Terming it an 'unfortunate' act, the Bombay high court has granted bail to a Mira Road resident who allegedly obstructed a civic team, including medical personnel, visiting the housing society where he resides to collect COVID-19 related information information.
* ANI update at 9.30am: We've asked all private doctors, who are below 55 years of age & not having any comorbidity & who closed their clinics due to lockdown, to work for 15 days to provide Covid-19 treatment. They'll be paid & provided with protective gears: Director, Medical Education & Research (Mumbai)
* Update at 9.20am: Total number of Covid-19 positive cases in India rises to 49,391 including 33,514 active cases, 1694 deaths, 14,182 cured/discharged and 1 migrated: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
* Update at 9.15am: A day after a Bhayandar man died of Covid-19, another senior citizen from the same locality died of the virus. She was 67-year-old
* State officials have said shramik trains are unlikely to start from Mumbai and Pune soon. “The ministry of home affairs has reservations about starting trains from these zones,” said an official.
Five shramik special trains left the state on Tuesday. There were two departures from Kalyan—one to Bihar and the other to Andhra Pradesh. Another left from Panvel for Madhya Pradesh. And two more left from Nandurbar to Darbhanga and Saharsa in Bihar. Two trains with migrants belonging to Maharashtra from Andhra Pradesh arrived at Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, said officials.
Hundred private buses left the state since Monday with 2,500 migrants, said Malik Patel of Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana. Operators have been allowed a “special waiver” on road tax when crossing the border. The tax would have been Rs 7,500 to Rs 25,000. With the waiver, tickets could be Rs 200 to Rs 500 cheaper.
* Kalyan, Ulhasnagar to keep out locals working in Mumbai; Thane plans hostels
The Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar civic corporations have decided that they will deny entry to local residents who are employed in essential services in Mumbai in their respective cities from May 8. The civic bodies have said these people could unknowingly be carrying the coronavirus and could infect others.
The Thane district administration, for its part, is considering isolating nearly 10,000 local residents employed in essential services in Mumbai, in hostels in Thane so that their families are not placed at risk.
KDMC commissioner Dr Vijay Suryawanshi said 73 of the 224 patients in Kalyan-Dombivli were those who worked in Mumbai, while 28 others infected were their close contacts.“The safety of family members of employees travelling to and from Mumbai is an issue, so we requested employers and their staff to make arrangements for their stay in Mumbai. From May 8, they would not be allowed to enter KDMC limits,” he said, adding BMC was already making arrangements for its employees.
* Mumbai civic chief Praveen Pardeshi has authorized assistant municipal commissioners to take possession of any private hospital under their jurisdiction during the pandemic, and pay them per day bed charges of Rs 3,000-6,5000 for treating Covid-19 patients.
Officials said it will help officials to engage local hospitals for emergency treatment of positive patients, instead of depending on civic headquarters to process requests. Pardeshi issued an order on Tuesday delegating powers under Epidemic Diseases Act.
Almost daily, patients are struggling to get hospital beds and are told to go from one hospital to another. The state government deputed three IAS officers to help BMC in bed management but the civic body has been unable to resolve the issue.
* The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the state government to clarify who will pay for medical screening as well as transportation of migrant workers to their home states.
Via video-conference, Justice Suresh Gupte heard three PILs by NGOs and Sarva Hara Jan Andolan, a union, which highlighted the plight of migrants following the Covid-19 lockdown in Mumbai.
* Owner opens shop, finds Rs 8 lakh bottles, cash missing
Thieves broke into a liquor store in Powai and made away with cash and bottles valued at over Rs 8 lakh during the lockdown. The theft at Dimple Wine Shop came to light on Monday evening, when the owner, Pramod Dodeja (43), opened it after receiving the permission to sell liquor. The thieves had entered the shop by bending the shutter from top and fixing it before leaving, said the police. In his complaint, Dodeja said that liquor bottles worth Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 1.1 lakh cash from the safe in the cupboard were missing.
* Private hospitals billing patients for PPE kits
Just like the pre-Covid days of inflated bills due to huge margins on diagnostics, consumables and medicines, the private hospitals are now inflating charges for personal protective gear and adding separate charges for bio-waste disposal. With many patients being admitted for 10-15 days, the costs add up and bills of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 16 lakh are generated. Common investigations like a liver function or kidney function test, which costs Rs 400-800 in independent labs, are being billed Rs 3,000-3,500. The pattern holds for tests, big or small, reports Rema Nagarajan
* Hours after the state sought to allow all manner of shops barring those in containment zones to lift shutters, Mumbai civic chief Praveen Pardeshi rolled it back on Tuesday saying easing of curbs would be “detrimental” to controlling the virus and ordered freezing of recent concessions including those that allowed liquor shops to reopen.
The directive came on a day marked by long, indisciplined queues outside liquor shops and record sales. Most outlets reported 6-7 times the average daily business of Rs 2 lakh. Total sales in the state amounted to Rs 62 crore.
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