Monsoon tragedy: Passenger’s four-month-old baby falls in nullah, landslide in Raigad 

In a heartbreaking incident, a four-month-old baby fell in a nullah on Wednesday, when the train service was disrupted between Thakurli and Kalyan due to waterlogging on tracks. As the train was stuck for hours, the child’s mother Yogita Rumale accompanied by the child’s grandfather Gyaneshwar decided to get down from the train and started to walk on the tracks. While walking on the slippery tracks, the baby slipped from Gyaneshwar’s arms and fell in nullah. Railway Protection Force, National Disaster Response Force, local police team along with local volunteers conducted rescue operations but the baby was not found. The search operations have been called off.

In another monsoon mishap, 16 people died and several others were found injured due to landslide in Raigad district, adjoining district to Thane. The National Disaster Response Force was called for rescue operations at Irshalwadi village, where the landslide occurred. The NDRF had to stop their search operations due to the heavy rain in the area. CM Eknath Shinde visited the site and also announced Rs 5 lakh for each affected family. 

Source: Free Press Journal, Economic Times

BMC to use drones in drowning cases

BMC will be using drones for rescue operations in cases of drowning in Mumbai. Currently the trial runs of drones are being conducted. This idea was introduced by the Mumbai fire brigade in 2021. Finally, the trials after a gap of two years now. “Whenever a drowning incident takes place, it takes time for the lifeguard to reach out to the victim. During the monsoon it takes longer. These drones will bring down response time drastically and will also avoid loss of lives,” said an official.

Source: The Indian Express

Read More: Manual scavenging continues; continues to kill

Overflowing lakes, heavy downpour

Tulsi Lake, one of the major reservoirs for water supply for Mumbai, started overflowing. The collective water availability at seven reservoirs that supply drinking water to Mumbai is at 36.9 per cent (5,73,340 million litres of water). Tansa is at 71.02 per cent, Modak-Sagar at 62.99 per cent , Middle Vaitarna at 50.69 per cent, Upper Vaitarna at 14.80 per cent, Bhatsa at 32.34 per cent, Vihar at 62.92 per cent and Tulsi at 100 percent.

BMC’s weather forecast predicted heavy to very heavy rains in the city. While it would increase the incidents of flooding and waterlogging, it could also mean good news if the water levels in other six lakes increase, ensuring adequate water supply for the city.

Source: Mid day

Govt-aided schools to hire teachers 

The process of recruiting teachers, which was pending for six years has finally begun. The 193 government  schools have 763 vacant posts. The higher managements of the schools have been instructed to conduct interviews. “The process to appoint teachers was stalled due to various issues, including legalities,” explained an official from the school education department. A new circular is now issued to finally begin the process.

A portal called pavitra portal, which is a centralised site, is being used to keep a record. The management is instructed to upload the status of the candidate after the interview is done, then only the appointments can be finalised.  The process of recruiting teachers is for class 6 to 12.

Source: The Indian Express

New medical colleges announced for the state

To improve the healthcare system in Maharashtra the government is ready to set up nine new government medical colleges. The total budget for this initiative is 4366 crore. These nine colleges will be established in Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Buldhana, Washim, Wardha, Amravati, Jalna, Thane and Palghar districts. The GR that came out stated , “With these new colleges, the 900 seats for medical education will increase in the state, which helps in producing skilled and specialised doctors. The establishment of these colleges aims to address the shortage of doctors in the state and ensure timely access to healthcare services.”

Last year the budget talked about establishing medical colleges in Thane and Palghar, which will be useful for greater Mumbai region, but it never happened. This time the GR stated the fixed location for establishing these colleges. The state government has also approved 448 posts each to run these medical colleges. This initiative will also be beneficial in decreasing the caseload on Mumbai civic hospitals.

Source: The Hindustan Times

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Compiled by Stephin Thomas