Red alert in wettest July, holiday for educational institutions
Mumbai rains did not take a pause this week, and the city recorded its wettest July ever with 1557.8 mm rain.
The IMD issued a red alert on Thursday due to very heavy rains. The city was flooded in many areas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Thursday.
On Friday, both the Colaba and Santacruz observatories recorded over 100 mm of rainfall within 24 hours. The northern suburbs, including Dahisar (237mm), Borivali (194mm), Vasai (138mm), Thane (166mm), and Dahanu (224mm), experienced more intense rains.
Meanwhile, the catchment area lakes received significant rainfall, increasing their total water stocks by 6.48% in a single day. Modak Sagar, is the fourth lake out of the seven lakes that supply water to the city, to overflow.
Source: Times of India
Data reveals BMC school children’s poor health condition
BMC conducts annual health check up for school children of classes 1-10. The health department data of the same check up revealed that 160 students had tuberculosis, 24 suffered from heart diseases and three from leprosy. Of the total students, who were examined between June 2022 and April 2023, 46,684 were sent to BMC clinics or hospitals for further examination.
Source: The Free Press Journal
IIT Bombay students use a three-year exit program under NEP
The National Education Policy provides the opportunity to exit the engineering course in its third year. The three-year exit option was implemented by IIT Bombay last year, and 15 students exited the degree in its third year. The students, who chose to exit received a three-year BSc in engineering instead of the B Tech, which is a four-year course. This new exit option was introduced to the students of IIT Bombay in 2022-23. This initiative is to help students, who are struggling to complete their four-year degrees or have other plans for their careers.
Read More: Documentary portrays worsening floods in Mumbai over years
The exit option introduced under NEP offers students a flexible education structure, where they can discontinue mid-way and get a diploma or a certificate depending on the number of years they have studied.
At IIT Bombay there’s only one exit option of the three-year degree as of now. The officials from IIT Bombay said, “The students are required to earn around 160 credits to be eligible for BSc (Engineering) certificate. Their degree is named after their core branch of engineering, such as mechanical or computer science, provided they earn at least 30 credits in that discipline.”
Source: The Free Press Journal
Online booking for Ganpati pandal
BMC will conduct e-bookings for Ganpati pandals this time. The civic body announced that the portal for booking would open from 1 August till September 13th. BMC officials said the online booking option would make it easier for Mumbaikars, who wish to set up pandals. Citizens don’t need to go to traffic police, Mumbai police and fire bridge to take permissions. A security deposit of Rs 1000 needs to be given to BMC.
Source: The Times Of India
New AMC conducts surprise visits to hospitals
The newly appointed BMC’s additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde made a surprise visit to check sanitation and cleanliness in hospitals. He visited without any security and not in office clothes so that staff was not able to recognise him. Shinde identified 50 BMC–run medical facilities that need improvement. He also went to take night rounds in these hospitals.
Recently the staffers of the Tata Memorial Hospital were booked for allegedly referring patients to private labs to commission money for their own pockets. “While I have not found instances of patients being referred to private labs, there are so many medical shops and testing labs around civic hospitals that are running so well, which means that there is some kind of a referral system. I have told officials to keep a watch,” Dr Shinde said.
Source: Mid day
(Compiled by: Stephin Thomas)