Mumbai News LIVE Updates: Over 500 kids with suspected measles; expert team in city

The stop-work notice issued to the 16. 5-acre Bhendi Bazaar Cluster Redevelopment Project has been revoked, allowing work to resume after a halt of over two months. The C ward issued it on Thursday.The Rs 4,000-crore project was brought to a standstill when the BMC followed up (see box) on deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis ordering an inquiry into complaints that the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, which is executing the project, had changed the original plans. There were also complaints of widths of existing roads being reduced and certain roads being deleted.

There are 584 children with suspected measles infection in the city, says a civic health update issued on Friday. The measles outbreak is so widespread that a central team of experts, including a paediatrician and an epidemiologist, landed around midday on Friday to meet local health officials.

In the dusty bylanes of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, where three cousins died within a 48-hour period allegedly due to measles, the awareness about the ongoing outbreak of the contagious disease is shockingly low.Barefoot children are either running around or huddled together to watch clips on a mobile phone, clearly unaware that measles spreads through coughs and sneezes.Mumtaz Qureshi, mother of a toddler, told TOI, “No health officer has come to our homes. ” The BMC's health staff has for the last four days been going from door to door in the locality, checking children under five for fever and the tell-tale rash of measles, and urging parents to take their unvaccinated child for a shot. Around 80,000 houses in the entire M East ward that includes Govandi, have been surveyed, said BMC health officials. But Qureshi was firm that no one had checked on her child.

NCP’s Jitendra Awhad, exMP Anand Paranjpe and 9 party workers were arrested by Thane police for allegedly assaulting a multiplex audience member and stalling Marathi film Har Har Mahadev show. Molestation charges were also invoked.

In another setback for the Shinde government, a manufacturing zone for power and renewable energy equipment floated by the Centre, which various states—including Maharashtra—were vying for, has gone to MP.

Four days after the Gokhale Bridge was shut leading to huge traffic chaos in Andheri, it was decided on Friday that railways, and not BMC, will demolish the vital east-west bridge and aim to complete the task by midMarch. BMC will invite tenders for the reconstruction onSaturday, and work on precast material will start simultaneously with the demolition. It was also suggested that if possible, one lane of the bridge should be kept open for two-wheelers and autorickshaws till demolition begins.

A 46-year-old television actor, Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi, known for his work in Balaji shows like Kkusum and Kasautii Zindagii Kay, suffered a heart attack and collapsed while working out in a suburban gym Friday. He was taken to Kokilaben Hospital where doctors tried to revive him for 40 minutes before he was declared dead. Comedian Raju Srivastava had died after a collapse in gym too.