Mumbai News LIVE Updates: City reports 283 Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours

The ‘Save Aarey’ activists on Wednesday told the media that their petition to shift the Metro-3 car shed out of Aarey forest is likely to be heard in the Supreme Court by next week as the Chief Justice of India has assigned this pressing environmental matter to a bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud for hearing.Environmentalist D Stalin of Vanashakti NGO told media, “We are thankful to the apex court for quickly assigning a bench for this eco-sensitive matter of Aarey forests. We are going to raise all the key points: like how the 41 hectares of state government-owned land is available at Kanjurmarg site for car sheds of all the Metro lines. If the government is allowed to build the Metro-3 car shed inside Aarey, then by 2030, they will want to further expand the area for the Metro project, which will totally destroy Aarey forest. ”

Although the Covid-19 surge witnessed in June has declined, there are still 270 critical Covid patients in the state.The state public health department's latest Covid report said 169 of these 270 patients are in intensive care. While 130 are on oxygen support, another 29 are on ventilator support.

The Air Intelligence Unit of Customs on Tuesday arrested two foreign nationals for carrying around 2. 26kg cocaine worth Rs 12 crore. In the case of the first accused Constancia Zangula Bibiana (40), the AIU on the basis of information from DRI Bengaluru, that a passenger arriving at Mumbai International airport was suspected to be carrying drugs, the officials intercepted her with 1,466gm white colour powder purported cocaine.

The Maharashtra cabinet has approved a Rs 45,000-crore scheme to revamp the entire electricity distribution network of the state. The project has three parts - upgrading distribution infrastructure, installing smart meters and digitalising the distribution system. READ MORE

The Mumbai Taximen's Union, the biggest union of kaali-peeli taxis in Mumbai, has called for a taxi strike on August 1 to protest against the government not taking any decision on fare hikes.