The first batch of evacuees from Ukraine reach Romania via Suceava border crossing. (File)Mumbai News: The first evacuation flight, which was carrying 219 Indian citizens from Ukraine, landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening. The flight had taken off from Bucharest, Romania as a part of the Indian government’s new evacuation plan through Ukraine’s neighbouring countries since Ukraine closed its airspace.
Mumbai reported 89 fresh Covid-19 cases and zero deaths on Saturday. While 200 people were discharged, the active cases as of Saturday evening were 902. The total Covid-19 tally reached 10,56,296 in the city.
In another development, almost nine months after the Supreme Court scrapped the Maratha quota, the Maharashtra government on Friday has taken the decision to set up an independent and dedicated backward class commission to study the backwardness of the Maratha community. The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee of the Maratha Reservation held by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
NIA officials have remained tight-lipped about whether they will be filing additional evidence or a supplementary chargesheet in the case. (File Photo)
Transit of young Indian students returning from Ukraine at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai.
The second female adult turtle satellite-tagged and released has returned to the beach to lay eggs again in the same nesting season along the Maharashtra coastline.
Savani, the second adult Olive Ridley turtle tagged and released on January 25 from Anjarle beach in Ratnagiri district, has nested (laid eggs) for the second, possibly the third time in the same nesting season on an adjacent shore – Kelshi.
Savani has laid 76 eggs on Kelshi; at Anjarle it had laid 87 eggs, said the Mangrove Foundation, an autonomous body under the state government. ‘With this information, we have understood the nesting behaviour of Olive Ridley turtles. And it could be confirmed that they nest twice or thrice in the same nesting season,” tweeted Mangrove Foundation. (Read More)
Mumbai on Saturday reported 89 Covid-19 cases and no death, the seventh time this month when the fatality slate was clean in the metropolis, a civic official said.
The tally in the city now stands at 10,56,296 and the toll is 16,691, while the discharge of 200 people during the day took the recovery count to 10,35,826, he said.
The active caseload of the city is 902, and 20,073 samples examined in the last 24 hours took the overall number of tests to 1,61,53,525, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation data showed. (PTI)
The first evacuation flight, which was carrying 219 Indian citizens from Ukraine, landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening. The flight had taken off from Bucharest, Romania as a part of the Indian government's new evacuation plan through Ukraine's neighbouring countries since Ukraine closed its airspace.
The campaign to repatriate Indian nationals from Ukraine has commenced as the first Air India flight, AIC-1944, from Bucharest in Romania carrying 219 Indian evacuees from Ukraine, is expected to arrive in the city late evening, an official statement said on Saturday.
The Air India flight had departed from Mumbai at 3.38 am on Saturday and landed in Bucharest at around 10.45 am (Indian standard time). From Bucharest, it departed for the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at around 1.55 pm (IST).
According to a statement from CSMIA earlier in the day, the first flight with Indian evacuees from Ukraine is expected to arrive from Bucharest at 8 pm. (PTI)
A sessions court in Mumbai Tuesday rejected the bail application of a 19-year-old arrested last month for passing lewd comments on women on the Clubhouse App. The court said that the offence was not committed against any individual but all women.
The detailed order made available Saturday states Akash Suyal’s offence is being investigated and granting bail will create a hurdle in the probe.
“The investigation is in progress. The accused (was) found passing comments against females and (a) particular community. The involvement of other accused is noticed during course of investigation. The offence is not committed against any individual. It is an offence against all women,” additional sessions judge Sanjashree J Gharat said. (Read More)
Maharashtra BJP on Saturday continued to target the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state over the arrest of its minister Nawab Malik, and sought to know why Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was not asking him to step down.
Talking to reporters in Pune, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said that in the past, some other ministers in the MVA government had resigned after facing allegations, so Malik should follow suit.
"Malik has been booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and has been arrested. If a government employee faces criminal charges and is arrested, then that person is not only suspended, but also loses job. So why doesn't the same rule apply to Malik and why his boss is not seeking his resignation?" he asked. By not taking his resignation, the government is protecting an accused and the BJP will never tolerate it, he said. (PTI)
The sculpture of a vendor carrying vegetables in two wicker baskets tied to two ends of a stick slung across his shoulder outside the Plaza Cinema in Dadar is an ode to an era when vegetable vendors used to come to the Dadar market from faraway places to sell their produce grown in their own backyards.
Most of these vendors resided outside the city limits in places like Vasai, Virar, Saphale and Palghar and would come to the city daily carrying a fresh stock of vegetables and leave by the evening. It was in remembrance of those vendors that former Mayor Dr Shubha Raul in 2008 sought to build a sculpture among other things that were a part of the area’s history but are no longer present.
Dr Raul told The Indian Express, “It was one of the first traffic island statues in the city after which it was replicated across the city. We wanted to represent the community of vegetable vendors who came with their produce from places like Vasai, Virar and others.” (Read More)
About 60 people from Maharashtra, most of them medical students, will reach India from Ukraine on Saturday in two Air India flights that will arrive at Delhi and Mumbai airports in the afternoon, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said Saturday.
About 1,200-2,000 people hailing from the state are estimated to be stranded in the Eastern Europe nation, of which the state government’s control room has received details on 366 people, Pawar said.
The Bombay High Court on Saturday extended till March 3 the time allotted to Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao to return to jail. In doing so, the court extended the medical bail granted to Rao till March 3.
The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22, last year, and was later allowed to extend it till February 28, 2022. On Saturday, the matter was mentioned before a division bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Amit B Borkar.
Air India will operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. Air India said on Twitter on Friday night that it will be operating flights on B787 aircraft from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on Saturday as special government charter flights to fly back stranded Indian citizens.
The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since the morning of February 24 and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest. Before the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had operated a flight to Ukraine's capital Kyiv on February 22 that brought 240 people back to India.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai has extended full support to the evacuation of stranded Indian nationals from Ukraine, who are arriving by Air India flight AI 1944 at 8 pm. The airport has blocked a special corridor for the arriving passengers.
As per the guidelines laid down by the government, the Airport Health Organization (APHO) team at the airport will be conducting mandatory temperature checks. Passengers will be required to produce either a Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate or a Negative RT-PCR Test Report at the time of arrival. In case any passenger is not able to show any of the documents, they will have to undergo RT-PCR testing at the airport, where the cost would be borne by the airport. The passengers will be able to leave the airport, post-testing negative. If any passenger tests positive, they will be clinically managed as per the protocols laid down by the government.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday that the Centre’s attempts at muzzling the states and defaming them by using its power reflects the degradation of politics which is detrimental to the country and democracy. He added that Shiv Sena is ready to join hands with other parties in the country in national interest.
Thackeray was in conversation with Loksatta editor Girish Kuber on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of Loksatta, a Marathi daily of The Indian Express group. The CM also launched a book, Loksatta Varshvedh, on the occasion.
“Looking at the last few decades, it seems that the country has progressed more under coalition governments. After gaining power, they (BJP) are squandering the opportunity rather than making the most of it. All the states should oppose being muzzled by the Centre. Rather than being deemed as a front opposing BJP, we are ready to replicate on the national level what we have done in Maharashtra. We will certainly do it if everyone comes together,” he said.
An Air India evacuation flight from Romania carrying Indian citizens has been evacuated from Ukraine amid the ongoing crisis. The flight will arrive in Mumbai at 4pm on Saturday.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal will receive the evacuees at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai.
Around 1,200 students from Maharashtra are stranded in war-hit Ukraine and efforts are on to evacuate them safely, state rehabilitation minister said on Friday. Talking to reporters, the minister said the state government was gathering information at district level about the students from the state who are stuck in the east European country, and all collectors have set up helpline numbers for this purpose. The stranded students or their relatives can contact the state control room on 022-22027990, WhatsApp number 9321587143 and email id controlroom@maharashtra.gov.in, he said.
Authorities in Thane and Palghar in Maharashtra on Friday said 21 students from the two districts are stranded in Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia. Of the 21 students, 11 are from Thane and the rest from Palghar, an official said.
The district administration in Latur in Maharashtra has set up a control room at the collector's office to provide information to kin of students stranded in Ukraine, which has been invaded by neighbouring Russia. An official on Friday said they have information of 28 students from Latur pursuing education, mainly medical courses, in Ukraine. Meanwhile, parents continued to fret on the fate of their children, even as officials assured them that all efforts were being made to bring them back from the war-hit nation.
A 60-year-old man was killed and two others injured when the septic tank of a public toilet exploded in a locality in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane district on Friday, an official said. The incident took place in Chouhan Colony locality of the town in the morning, he said. Local firemen rushed to the scene and pulled out two persons trapped in the debris following the blast, the official from the fire brigade of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation said.
The CBI has arrested former NSE group operating officer Anand Subramanian after expanding its probe into a co-location scam in the exchange following "fresh facts" in a Sebi report that referred to a mysterious yogi guiding the actions of former CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, officials said on Friday. Subramanian was taken into custody late Thursday night in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, they said.
He was questioned for days in Chennai early this week during which he was found evasive in his responses to the sleuths which prompted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine him in custody, the officials said.