The outage on Wednesday had hit traffic signals across Pune. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)Pune News Live: Pune reported 2,076 new Covid-19 cases and 18 deaths on Wednesday, taking its overall caseload to 14,39,355 and toll to 19,609. The weekly positivity rate in the district — 18.8 per cent in the week ending February 8 — is higher than the state average (9.3 per cent), but has dropped significantly, or as much as 54 per cent, from the previous week ending February 1.
In other news, while the city is experiencing clear skies this morning, the India Meteorological Department has said it is likely to turn overcast post noon. Foggy and cold conditions are likely to persist till February 14 as Maharashtra is under the influence of a cyclonic circulation lying over Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada. Baramati in Pune district, where the minimum temperature recorded yesterday was 11.4 degrees Celsius, was the coldest location in the state.
The district witnessed one of its worst power outages on Wednesday, when nearly all of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad was without electricity for several hours in the morning. This resulted in major disruptions in industrial and office work, water supply and traffic management.
A beneficiary gets a dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Pune. (Express Photo: Ashish Kale)
Two unidentified motorcycle-borne persons robbed a medical shop owner at gunpoint in Wanwadi in the early hours of Wednesday. Rajesh Alkonda (39), resident of Ganj Peth, lodged a first information report (FIR) in the case at the Wanwadi police station.
The police said Alkonda was working at a 24x7 medical shop near Kedari Petrol Pump in Wanwadi. Around 3.45 am, two people came to the spot on a motorcycle. One of them pointed a pistol-like object at Alkonda. Then, threatening to attack him, the duo robbed him of Rs 5,000 and fled.
The police has booked the accused persons under Sections 392 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and launched a search for the robbers.
The first consignment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-tagged ammunition, comprising three lots of 5.56 mm bullets, was despatched from the factory at Khadki in Pune to the Central depot located at Pulgaon on Wednesday.
The RFID implementation has been steered by the Ordnance Services Directorate of the Indian Army in collaboration with Pune-headquartered Munitions India Limited, which is the newly created entity post corporatisation of the Ordnance Factories Board. Sushant Kulkarni reports
A soldier working as a nursing assistant at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune died by suicide at his residence in Wanavdi, said the police. The deceased was identified as 34-year-old Gorakh Nanabhau Shelar. The police has booked Shelar’s wife and in-laws in this case on charges of abetment of suicide. Read more
In the current fiscal, the demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has already surpassed the consolidated demand of last year. This is despite the gradual opening up of the economy wherein most migrant labourers are already back in the cities.
Trends of the present fiscal, that is 2021-22, show that till date, 11.57 crore people had applied for work, of which 9.53 crore have been given employment. With more than a month left for the fiscal to end, employment generation and demand can touch another high. Parthasarthi Biswas reports
The city's minimum temperature continued to remain on the lower side for February, with Shivajinagar recording 12.3 degrees Celcius, Pashan 14.1 degrees Celsius, and Lohegaon 15 degrees Celsius. While this morning remains cold with clear sky conditions, the IMD has forecast the skies to turn overcast post noon.