Since June 8, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has dismissed over 50 of its employees and issued “chargesheets” to another 4,000 as disciplinary action against them for not reporting to work. The dismissals were described as a move towards privatisation by Shashank Rao, general secretary of BEST Sanyunkt Kaamgar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS). Officials said the BEST management is first issuing chargesheets to the employees. Even after that if they failed to report to work, they are being sent dismissal notices, asking them to appear for an internal inquiry. “Only those who fail to appear for the inquiry are being dismissed,” said a senior official from BEST.

Tocilizumab and Remdesivir, two drugs that are still undergoing trials as possible treatment for Covid-19, are in huge demand as cases surge and doctors increasingly prescribe it for moderately to severely ill patients even as scientific evidence on their efficacy is awaited. Dr Pradeep Vyas, Health Secretary of Maharashtra, said they are soon going to release a treatment protocol so that the “drug is not unnecessarily prescribed and administered to Covid-19 patients”. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state government will be purchasing Remdesivir and Tocilizumab soon. After a meeting with FDA Minister Ravindra Shingne, Deshmukh said, “There is high demand for these two drugs across the state. We have started making purchases and soon they will be available across Maharashtra.”

Maharashtra reported record single-day spike of 7,862 new cases on Friday, pushing the state's tally of Covid positive patients to 2,38,461, the health department said. With 226 more patients succumbing to the disease, the death count in the state reached 9,893, it said. As many as 5,366 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospitals on Friday, which pushed the number of recovered patients in the state to 1,32,625, it said, adding that 12,53,978 people have been tested so far. There are 95,943 active cases in the state at present.

A curfew will be imposed in Nanded district of Maharashtra from the next week to check the rise in coronavirus cases, PTI reported on Friday. With 34 people testing positive for the virus Friday morning, total number of cases in the district surged to 558. The curfew will start on the midnight of July 12 and continue till the July 20 midnight, said an official release.

he Bombay High Court on Friday sought information from the NIA and Maharashtra government about social distancing and other safeguards implemented to prevent coronavirus spread at the Byculla women's jail here. Activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, is lodged in the prison. The court was hearing a plea filed by Bharadwaj, who has been in jail since September 2018, challenging a special court's order rejecting her bail application. A bench led by Justice S S Shinde directed the authorities to file reply on jail conditions and health safeguards by July 17, the next date of hearing. Bharadwaj approached the HC after the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) denied her bail on May 29 this year. (PTI)

A lockdown with very few exemptions that is in force in Thane city of Maharashtra till July 12 has now been extended till July 19. The order was issued by Thane Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner Ganesh Deshmukh. This "total" lockdown, as part of which most shops were closed and essential items ordered to be home delivered, was enforced on July 2 for a period of ten days. It has been extended for 7 more days.

As a measure to arrest the spread of Covid-19, a 10-day lockdown will be imposed in Pune, neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad and a few other parts of the district from July 13, a senior official said Friday. The lockdown will come into force from midnight of July 13 and end on July 23, he said. The district reported a record spike of 1,803 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday that pushed the tally to 34,399, while the toll rose to 978.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and district guardian minister Ajit Pawar, the official said. "A lockdown will be imposed in Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and some other areas of the district considering the rise in COVID-19 cases," news agency PTI quoted divisional commissioner (Pune division) Deepak Mhaisekar as saying.

The Maharashtra government on Friday informed the Bombay High Court that the prohibitory order against spreading of incorrect or false information on social media amid the COVID-19 pandemic has ended and no extension has been given to it.

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told a division bench of Justices A A Sayed and M S Karnik that the order dated May 23 passed by the deputy commissioner of police (Operations) under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) had been in effect only till June 8. "The same has not been extended after June 8 and presently there is no prohibitory order in place," Kumbhakoni said. The court was hearing two public interest litigations challenging the legality of the prohibitory order. As per the order, action can be taken against any person who spreads incorrect or fake information on social media. (PTI)

Pune district in Maharashtra reported its highest single-day spike of 1,803 new coronavirus cases, which pushed its overall count to 34,399, a health official said on Friday. This single-day rise was reported on Thursday, he said. The death toll in the district reached 978 with 34 more people succumbing to the infection on Thursday, the official said. "Of the 1,803 cases, as many as 1,032 were reported from the areas located in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, where the number of patients has reached 24,977," he said. (PTI)

Two days after writing to the University Grants Commission (UGC) over the infeasibility of conducting final year degree exams, state Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant said Thursday the government will wait for a few days for the commission’s response before taking further action in the matter.

Earlier this week,  but must be conducted in either online or offline mode.

“In case exams are to be conducted, how will the universities conduct exams for students from containment zones and those students who have returned to their villages? For students from containment zones, what will the quarantine facilities be?” Samant said Thursday, while urging the UGC to release detailed guidelines.

There seems to be no respite in sight for consumers, who are dealing with high power bills. The high interest rates, put out by power utility firms on the three-month EMI scheme enabling consumers to pay off their high electricity bills at ease, are set to burden them further.

The 50 lakh power consumers in Mumbai, who are supplied power by Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited and Tata Power will have to cough-up up to 14 per cent interest on their instalments. Only government-owned Mahavitran Ltd has waived off interest on EMIs for its 2.4 crore consumers, if paid on due dates. Read More

The wait for the 13 lakh students who appeared for the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education (MSBSHSE) HSC exams keeps getting longer as there is no official confirmation on when the results will be announced. However, following some media reports, the HSC results are expected to release next week.

The exams which started on March 7 was supposed to conclude in April, however, it was postponed midway after a nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeping the rising coronavirus cases in mind. The exams were later cancelled as the state government pointed it was impossible to conduct the exams in such an environment.

On Thursday, the number of new Coronavirus cases from across the country crossed the 25,000 mark for the first time. More than 26,500 new cases were reported, that has taken India’s total infections to over 7.93 lakh. The number of people who have recovered from the disease has gone over 4.95 lakh. With 475 deaths reported on Tuesday, the number of Coronavirus positive people who have died has gone up to 21,604.

Pune city reported single-day highest spike of 1,006 new coronavirus cases since previous evening, taking case tally to 25,174, a health official said on Thursday. Death toll reached 786 with 16 COVID-19 patients succumbing to the infection during this period. On the other hand, 581 patients were discharged from the hospitals, he said.

With the Opposition questioning his visits to districts amid the Covid-19 pandemic, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that his visits to Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurangabad is part of an exercise to reach out to people “reeling under hardships”.

Speaking to mediapersons during his two-day visit to north Maharashtra and Marathwada, Fadnavis said: “If someone likes to sit at home it is their problem. But as Opposition leader (in the state Assembly), it is my duty to see the ground situation and lend support to the people.”

“My tour is not political. When people are in trouble, we are reaching out to help them,” he added.

With the addition of 1,793 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the tally in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 48,856, a senior official said. As many as 50 more patients succumbed to the infection, taking the death toll to 1,454, said the official from the district collectorate.

With the addition of 1,793 cases in the district, the count has now reached 48,856, he said. A Thane city police spokesman said a constable attached to the Kasarwadavali police station died in the evening due to coronavirus. The official said Kalyan city added the maximum 580 cases, taking the total to 10,931, while 348 more persons tested positive in Thane city, pushing up the count to 12,053.

The Covid-19 tally in India on Friday inched closer towards the eight lakh mark after 26,507 fresh cases were reported within a span of 24 hours, taking the total to 7,93,802. The number of fatalities stood at 21,604, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Nearly 15 students, one each per bench and all wearing masks, are being taught in their classrooms at Karmavir Vidyalaya in Chandrapur district’s Madheli village since July 6. The school is one of the many in Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts in Maharashtra that have physically reopened this month.

On June 15, the state school education department had released guidelines for physical reopening of schools, allowing the district administrations to open schools for classes 9, 10 and 12 from July in areas that have not witnessed Covid-19 cases for at least a month. According to the guidelines, school management committees, along with the local administration, are allowed to decide whether schools should be physically reopened.