Mumbai News LIVE Updates: City reports 276 new Covid-19 cases

Maharashtra is the growth engine of the country, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday and called for strengthening the state. Shinde spoke to Shah in a virtual dialogue meeting regarding the ongoing 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' campaign. Union cultural affairs minister G Kishan Reddy also attended the meeting, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

"Maharashtra is the country's growth engine. If Maharashtra is strengthened, so will be the country," Shinde told Shah.

He said Maharashtra rural development ministry has won the first rank in the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign.

Marathi actor Deepali Sayed, who identifies herself as a Shiv Sena leader, has claimed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray have agreed to meet to resolve differences.

After her tweet stating that some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are mediating an upcoming "meeting" between Thackeray and Shinde caused a flutter, a Sena functionary on Sunday said Sayed holds no post in the party.She had unsuccessfully contested the Maharashtra Assembly election in 2019 from the Mumbra-Kalwa constituency in the Thane district on a Shiv Sena ticket.

In 2014, she had fought from the Ahmednagar district on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket but lost."I am glad to know that the meeting of Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde will happen in the next two days keeping in mind the sentiments of shiv sainiks. Shinde understood the feelings of the sainiks and Thackeray accepted them with a large heart in his role as the family head. Some BJP leaders are mediating for this meeting," Sayed tweeted.

At least 104 people have died in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra since the onset of monsoon on June 1, the state disaster management authority said in a report on Sunday. The fatalities occurred between June 1 and July 16, and two of the deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours - one each in Jalgaon and Amravati districts, it said. The deaths were caused by floods, lightning strikes, landslides, falling of trees and collapse of structures, among other reasons, the report said. As per the latest data, two villages in the state were affected by heavy rains and three people have been reported missing. However, no one was evacuated anywhere in the state due to flooding in the last 24 hours, the report said.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar has said tackling terrorism and cyber crime are the major challenges for the city police, but efforts are on to keep the metropolis safe and terror-free. The security of women, children, senior citizens and deprived sections is the Mumbai Police's priority, Phansalkar, who recently took charge as the city top cop, told PTI in an interview. The city has faced a number of terror incidents, including serial bomb blasts in 1993, train blasts in 2007 and a deadly terror attack in November 2008, which claimed several lives.Phansalkar said Mumbai is an important city and the police are working relentlessly in coordination with all agencies, like Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Force One (a specialised counter-terrorism unit of the Mumbai police), and the state intelligence department, to keep it safe.

Heavy rains that lashed Mumbai earlier this week not only affected the normal life for people, but it also had an impact on the wildlife, as over 80 displaced animals and birds were rescued from various parts of the city over the last few days.At least 88 different species of animals, birds and reptiles were rescued from different parts of the city and its adjoining areas in three days, a forest official said.

Majority of the animals and birds were rescued from the suburban areas of the city, which share spaces with forests, and most of them were displaced due to incessant rainfall, he said.Two wildlife ambulances, six rescue staff and 20 volunteers from the NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) rescued the animals and birds, the official said.

A 17-year-old boy, who was critically ill and in urgent need of medical treatment, was rescued from a remote village cut off by flood waters in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district in a joint effort by the locals and authorities.Sahil Waghade, a resident of Tohogaon village, was rescued on Saturday in a joint effort by the local gram panchayat, the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM), the police and district administration.Sahil was suffering from fever and was undergoing treatment at a local primary health centre, but his condition deteriorated over the last few days, said Firoz Pathan, the former deputy sarpanch of Tohogaon village.

Arguing the case of Karishma Prakash, former manager of actor Deepika Padukone, senior counsel Aabad Ponda sought reference to a larger bench to conclusively decide the “controvertible question” of whether all NDPS offences are non-bailable.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday sacked former minister of state Vijay Shivtare from the party and scrapped his primary membership citing anti-party activities. While Uddhav is continuing with his spate of sackings, CM Eknath Shinde has been reappointing sacked MLAs and leaders back to the same posts. On Saturday, Shinde reappointed Naresh Mhakse as the zilla pramukh (district chief) for Thane. Mhaske’s is the second reappointment by Shinde of a Sena office-bearer dismissed by Uddhav. Thackeray had sacked Mhaske earlier in the week after Mhaske backed Shinde.

High-profile Shiv Sena rebel Abdul Sattar is the first MLA beneficiary of the new government led by Eknath Shinde. As per an order uploaded on state government’s website, the state on July 13 has sanctioned Rs 15. 17 crore for Sillod-based National Cooperative Spinning Mill promoted by Sattar and led by his son Samir. The funds will be considered the state’s share capital for the Rs 80 crore project. Sattar confirmed to TOI that he has set up the cooperative spinning mill and his son Samir is leading the unit. He said it will help with development in the Aurangabad area. “We have started the unit recently, with the state government’s finance assistance, we are sure we will start the mill soon,” Sattar said.

Public vaccination centres offering free Covid vaccination in Mumbai saw three times the turnout in private centres on Saturday. While 5,328 went to private centres, over 16,000 went to BMCor state-run centres on the second day of the ‘Covid Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav’ in which adults in the 1859 age group will be offered free Covid vaccine between July 15 and September 30. Most beneficiaries of the booster dose were in the 18-59 age group, showed BMC vaccination data on Saturday.

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 2,382 new coronavirus infections and eight pandemic-related deaths, the health department said.