State Government to create SOP for under-construction sites after tragic accident in Mumbai
Maharashtra government will be establishing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for under-construction buildings in order to prevent accidents in light of the one that occurred in Mumbai’s Worli four weeks ago and resulted in the deaths of two pedestrians.
During the Assembly session, Sunil Shinde, a legislator from Shiv Sena (UBT), brought up the issue of the February 15th accident by a calling attention motion. As per news reports, a concrete block fell from a crane of a 42-storey under-construction building killing two pedestrians.
As a response, Industries minister Uday Samant said that an experts’ committee will be formed to work out the SOPs. He also told the council that the developer of the building in Worli provided a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the families of the deceased and that the Bombay high court has formed a committee to look into the incident.
Source: Hindustan Times
Read more: The mills and a boom: A real estate transformation that left out locals
Unseasonal rains to continue till Saturday
Like several other cities in the state, Mumbai witnessed light to moderate rainfall on Wednesday night and Thursday bringing some respite for citizens from the sweltering heat. Official forecasts predict unseasonal rains and chance of thunderstorms in parts of the city till Saturday.
The sudden rainfall on Thursday evening caused disruptions to local train services. According to the Central Railway officials, the power cables supplying electricity to trains tripped due to light rains, resulting in a delay of 10-15 minutes on both Main and Harbour lines.
Two parks to come up in Mumbai’s L ward
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be spending Rs 5.36 crore to develop parks at reserved plots in Sangharsh Nagar in Chandivli and Gandhi Maidan in Kurla under L ward. Both these areas have seen much encroachment, which will also be cleared to develop these parks.
Read more: No parking please: citizens oppose BMC’s plans for underground parking at Juhu’s public park
The plot at Sangharsh Nagar is about 8,093 square metres in area and officials said equipment and facilities will be made available there for cricket, kabaddi, volleyball and mallakhamb. There are around 1,068 gardens, playgrounds and recreation grounds in the city that are managed by BMC.
Source: Mid-Day
20% of unnatural female deaths in the city result of domestic violence
KEM Hospital’s forensic department’s first-of-a-kind autopsy-based study revealed that over 20% of female deaths caused by unnatural reasons in the city were a result of domestic violence. Following the study’s results, the government has announced the formation of a committee to investigate gender-based violence.
The study is based on 6,190 autopsies conducted between 2017 and 2022 at KEM Hospital and found that women comprised 24% (1,467) of the victims. “Of these 1,467 female victims, 840 had died of unnatural causes,” said the study, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies, released on Monday.
Around 21% or 181 of these 840 women had an underlying history or indication of gender-based violence, head of KEM’s forensic department Dr Harish Pathak told the Times of India. Most fatalities were due to suicide (85), accidents (86) and homicide (10).
Source: Times of India
One less AC train this summer
The Western Railway will be withdrawing one AC rake for periodic maintenance in April amidst hot summer. The maintenance work is expected to last around 25 days and this could disrupt the schedule as each rake runs at least 12 train services in a day.
Rail authorities will also inspect the train’s wheels, brakes, condition of the coaches, its axle, working of the AC, door closing among other things. Maintenance rounds are vital for safe running condition of the trains. When one AC rake is withdrawn, it is replaced with a regular train, which runs on the timetable scheduled for an AC local.
There has been a rise in the number of passengers travelling in AC locals. For instance, in January 79,000 passengers used an AC local while in February 90,000 commuters used to facility.
Source: Hindustan Times
Compiled by Eshan Kalyanikar