Two killed after BEST bus skids and crashes into auto-rickshaw

Two people, travelling in an auto, were killed in a BEST bus accident. The bus crashed into the auto rickshaw after it skidded and collided with another BEST bus. The deceased were identified as Johnny Sankhram, 42 and Sujata Panthaky, 38. Both people sustained severe head injuries. The incident took place at the Goregaon check Naka on the Eastern expressway Highway. 

The police booked the driver of bus number 1453 for causing death due to negligence under section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code. The officials said that since the road was slippery, the driver lost control of the bus. “The driver Deolkar was arrested on Sunday and will be produced before the court on Monday,” said a police officer from Vanrai police station.

Source: Hindustan Times

Ajit Pawar sworn in as deputy CM; third time in four years

On Sunday Ajit Pawar took oath as a Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, after he joined the present government claiming support of 40 MLAs from the Nationalist Congress Party. He became the Deputy CM for the third time since 2019. He joined the Fadnavis and Shinde alliance weeks after Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule was declared as the working president of NCP. Ajit Pawar was also upset over former CM Uddhav Thackeray being reflected as the face of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. Veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar has severely criticised this defection by his nephew.

Source: NDTV

Read More: Three years since COVID-19, Mumbai mill workers still without work and income

921 trees in Kurla to go for Metro-2B

The Maharashtra State Tree Authority (MSTA) gave a go-ahead to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to cut down 921 trees in central Mumbai to make space for the metro line 2B that connects DN Nagar to Mandale.

Yash Agarwal, an environmentalist with Fridays for Future (Mumbai), who has also visited the area, said, “The place has a very dense green cover, and it is a low-lying area where water fills up during the monsoons. We have seen time and again how such spaces get concretised and lead to flooding in their immediate vicinity. There are also eight heritage trees among the 921 which are proposed to be cut down. It is shocking that the MSTA, whose job it is to preserve green cover, continues to sanction proposal after proposal allowing for more trees to be felled.”

Source: Hindustan Times

146 potholes reported on the BMC app since June

BMC launched the ‘My BMC pothole fixit’  portal to register complaints about potholes in 2019. Since June the app has registered 146 potholes complaints. The data says that the complaints are registered between June 1 and July 14. The major amount of complaints came from R North ward.

According to senior civic officials, more complaints are reported from the western suburbs because it has a larger labyrinth of asphalt roads. Meanwhile, officials added that the pothole fixing drive is ongoing round the clock and at present 227 sub-engineers have been deployed for supervising the pothole filling work that is being done by the contractors.

Source: Indian Express

BMC to set up ward-wise war rooms to handle monsoon illnesses

As the Mumbai monsoon arrives the BMC is making sure that each ward is ready to deal with the monsoon diseases. The ward-wise war rooms will be contacting various hospitals and clinics to track patients, similar to how it functioned during the Covid-19 pandemic. The BMC will also set up teams to go for door-to-door checkup to control the outbreak of diseases like dengue and malaria. 

Additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde said the door-to-door check-ups will take a few weeks to start off as resources are being raised. When these checks start, any person with symptoms will be tested; and if they test positive, then 250 people living nearby will also be tested. Additionally, they would also take up measures to control mosquitoes.

Source: Times of India

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Compiled by: Stephin Thomas