MUMBAI BUZZ

BMC elections likely to be held in October According to sources, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections for 2022 are likely to be pushed to October. This is due to the temporary halt in judicial proceedings for the reservation of Other Backward Castes (OBC) seats in the local elections. The state government passed a resolution in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that local body elections will not take place without OBC reservation. In a protest conducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 9th, BJP leader Chandrakant Patil told the media that BMC elections may be postponed by 6 months.…

Higher Secondary Certificate exams begin offline in Maharashtra For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a state board exam will be conducted offline. Higher secondary Certificate (HSC) exams were cancelled last year due to pandemic restrictions in the second wave. With over 14 lakh students in the state, out of which 3 Lakh are in Mumbai, HSC exams are now being conducted offline in all colleges. While the state board will conduct exams on the entire syllabus, other boards like CBSE and CICSE have conducted semester exams on 50% of the syllabus. Their second semester exams…

Decision on shutting down COVID jumbo centres likely by next week The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will decide on whether Covid jumbo centres in Mumbai should be dismantled, by next week. With COVID-19 cases reducing to between 200 and 100, a few centres like the ones at Dahisar, Goregaon, Malad, Sion and Kanjurmarg might be shut, but centres at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Byculla (Richardson and Cruddas) and Worli (NSCI) will continue to function. “The daily occupancy in many of these centres has been in a single-digit since the past few days. While we will ensure that we are prepared…

Mumbai launches country's first water taxi India's first 'water taxi' was virtually inaugurated in Mumbai on February 17th by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbanand Sonowal. The taxi service will connect suburban Mumbai to South Mumbai. “Today is an important day as the country’s first water taxi is starting from Mumbai. The first railway service in the country was also started between Mumbai and Thane. The facilities which started from Mumbai were spread all over the country.” said CM Thackeray. The current routes of the taxi are from Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) to…

Mumbai University exams to be conducted offline Mumbai University will open its doors soon for undergraduate exams for this year's summer session. A detailed timetable is yet to be released, but the exam committee has devised a broad outline. Semester 2 will be offline for both regular and candidates with a backlog of exams, while Semester 4 exams will be entirely online for Arts, Science, and Commerce streams. Backlog candidates for Semester 1, 3 and 5 will appear for exams online.  A call on final semester exams will be taken based on data collected on vaccinated students and the public…

Mumbai Coastal Road project given priority in 2022-23 budget In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s 2021-22 budget for Mumbai, Rs 3500 crore was allocated to the Coastal Road project, 50% of which has been completed. For the financial year 2022-23, Rs 3200 crore has been allocated for a 90% completion of it. The base construction cost of the project is 8,429.44 crore, and Rs 12,950 crore including taxes, supervision charges, consultancy charges and others. A total of Rs 22,647 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure for spending on projects dealing with infrastructure, drainage systems and water supply. Source: Mid…

89% COVID-19 samples from Mumbai show presence of Omicron From 280 samples sequenced at civic-run Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Mumbai, 89% had the Omicron variant of COVID-19. 8% had Delta derivatives, and the remaining 3% had other subtypes. “This explains the reason behind the spike in cases by the end of December last year. As Omicron doesn’t involve the lungs, we are witnessing very few cases of pulmonary pneumonia, which was high in the second wave when Delta variant was predominant in Mumbai,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Source: Indian Express Mumbai's double decker buses to…

Mumbai schools reopening on January 24th Schools across Maharashtra are reopening on Monday, January 24th, after agreement from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. According to Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra School Education Minister, schools have been instructed to follow COVID-19 protocols strictly. "After COVID cases rose, the government decided not to continue with the school (offline) sessions. But after discussion with the experts, it has been decided to start the sessions where the number of cases is low based on the local COVID-19 situation," Ms Gaikwad said. Source: NDTV BMC finalises ward boundaries for 236 seats, elections to be held in March On…

Daily COVID-19 cases drop in Mumbai After January 12th, the city has seen a 17% drop in in its daily COVID-19 cases. The daily numbers in Mumbai have been a subject of debate, since doctors believe that the curve is flattening but authorities insist that the city is yet to experience the worst. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said that the next three-to-four days will decide whether the third wave is indeed declining in Mumbai. Source: The Times of India Reporting home-test results for COVID-19 now mandatory Given the rise in home-testing in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has…

Mumbai reports 20,181 new COVID-19 cases, positivity rate at 31.7% As of January 7th, Mumbai crossed the 20,000 cases of COVID-19 mark, which was the threshold for lockdown measures, as announced by Mayor Kishori Pednekar. Health Minister Rajesh Tope said a decision on lockdown in Mumbai will be taken by the Chief Minister. The total number of fresh cases, 20,181, is a 33 per cent spike over the previous day’s figures. Although 85% of the new cases show no symptoms, 1,170 patients have been hospitalised and 106 are on oxygen support. Four deaths were also recorded. BMC has issued home…