The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has urged the Maharashtra government to extend the property tax waiver for six months, PTI reported.
The association also said the three-month waiver announced by the BMC should have been granted to all hotels as well as restaurants for a six-month period during which they were asked to remain shut.
Hotels and restaurants are facing major cash crunch and the pandemic crisis has brought the shutters down on many establishments and in such times, with the industry being on the verge of collapse, not just hotels but restaurants as well are hoping for complete waiver on taxes or levies for the duration of at least 12 months, it added.
On Saturday, the Railways said select 10 per cent employees of co-operative and private banks will be allowed to travel on Mumbai's suburban trains, reported PTI.
Suburban train travel is currently restricted for the general public in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Employees of national banks are already allowed to travel by trains.
On the Maharashtra government's request, 10 per cent of the total strength of co-operative and private banks will be permitted to travel by local trains, a joint release issued by the Central and Western Railways.
The railways have been operating special suburban services for people engaged in essential and emergency services since mid-June.
Meanwhile, a mob of 10 people ransacked a petrol pump and assaulted staff in Manickpur area of Palghar district over mask violations and efforts were on to nab them, PTI quoted police as saying.
Senior Inspector Rajendra Kamble of Manickpur police station said the incident happened on Friday evening after the pump attendants refused to give the accused fuel as they were not wearing masks.
Health workers conduct Covid-19 test at a municipality dispensary in Nimoni Baug in Mumbai
(Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Maharashtra on Sunday recorded as many as 20,598 new coronavirus positive cases, which took the state's overall tally to 12,08,642, the health department said. With the death of 455 patients, the state's fatality count mounted to 32,671, PTI reported.
The Centre has formed expert committees for inspection of government and other Covid facilities following directions of the Supreme Court, which took cognizance of shortcomings in the care of coronavirus patients in different hospitals in the country.
The expert committees constituted by the Ministry of Health have been tasked to inspect, supervise and guide government and other hospitals dedicated to COVID-19, the MoS Health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Sunday.
Pune reported 1,658 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its Covid-19 count to 1,30,081, while 39 deaths pushed the death toll to 3,046, PTI quoted an official as saying.
A total of 1,248 persons were discharged during the day, he added.
The count of coronavirus cases in Mumbai's Dharavi area crossed 3,000-mark Saturday with 25 new cases being detected, said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The tally reached 3,018 on Saturday. It had crossed 2,500 on July 21.
The Covid case count in Pune district surged to 2,44,516 with a single-day spike of 4,093 cases. The death toll in the district mounted to 5,536 with 85 more fatalties in a day, the health official said. Pimpri Chinchwad reported 843 new cases taking the tally to 68,493, the official said. The number of positive cases reported from the rural parts of the district, the civil hospital and areas within the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has risen to 47,654 so far, the official said.
At least 22 per cent of 7.12 lakh suspects tested for coronavirus so far in Maharashtra's Thane district have turned out be positive for the infection, an official said on Saturday. As many as 7,12,567 persons have been tested so far, of which 1,55,314 had contracted the infection, the official said. (PTI)