Water taxis and ROPAX Ferries to be part of ... - Newsband

• RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 • POSTAL REGN. NO. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE

• VOL. 14 • ISSuE: 255 • THuRSDAY, 8 APRIL 2021

PAGES: 8 PRICE : 2.00

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A

23 civic health centres to now have Covid testing facility

Centre should direct neighbouring

states to supply oxygen to

Maharashtra: Health Minister,

Rajesh Tope

While the number of corona patients is

increasing in Maharash-tra, the state has taken the lead in vaccination. Therefore, the central government should supply vaccines as

per the demand. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope demanded this

from the Union govern-ment. He also urged

the Central government to give instructions to other states to supply

oxygen to Maharashtra, considering the growing demand for oxygen…

(More on page 8).

Urban Development Minister directs authorities

to check on black marketing of Remedisivir

Continued on page... 5



By: Chandrashekhar Hendve

Urban Develop-ment Minister,

state government of Maharashtra has asked the authorities to ensure that there is no black marketing of Remdesi-vir in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the state.

Shinde held a meet-ing with divisional com-missioners of Konkan, Pune and Nagpur, district collectors, municipal commissioners, CEOs of municipal councils and nagar panchayats to review the Covid-19 situation.

Minister Shinde di-rected to ensure that the patients who are in home quarantine fol-low the rules and do not venture out. This can be done by stamping their hands, putting stickers outside their homes and

preventing outsiders from entering the con-tainment zones, he said.

“A call centre should be started to speak to patients on a daily basis and to understand their grievances,” he said.

If required, chairmen and secretaries of hous-ing societies should be given temporary polic-ing powers, he added.

He said that the Covid 19 care hospitals and centres should have separate sections for pa-tients with comorbidities and women patients and it should be ensured that no malpractice occurs. “Senior officials should visit in person to ensure quality treatment to the patients. Fans and air coolers should be pro-vided and care should be taken to ensure that

To promote eco-friendly wa-terways transportation and re-

duce the traffic load of crowded Mum-bai city roads, 4 new routes for ROPAX (roll-on/roll-off passenger) ferry services and 12 new routes of Water Taxi are planned to be op-erational by De-cember, 2021.

Minister of State (I/C) for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Mansukh Mandaviya, chaired a meeting to review the Ur-ban Water Transportation projects for

Mumbai, Maharashtra. Senior Officials of the Ministry, Chairperson of Mum-

bai Port and officials of Maharashtra Maritime Board and other stakehold-ers were pres-

Water taxis and ROPAX Ferries to be part of

Mumbai’s transportation soonWater taxi on 12 routes and ROPAX

services on four new routes will start soon

With an aim to curb the grow-

ing cases of Covid-19 under its jurisdiction and scale up Covid 19 testing, the commission-er of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), Abhijit Ban-gar, has ordered to start Covid-19 testing facili-ties at the 23 civic health centres from Thursday, April 8. Testing will be carried from 9 am to 5 pm. The move has been taken under the aegis of ‘Mission Break the chain’.

An official from NMMC said, “The Mu-

nicipal Commissioner has been keeping a close watch and not leaving any stones turned to en-sure that the cases come in control at the earliest. Hence, as part of 3T’s- Trace, Test and Treat-

the commissioner has directed to start the test-ing facility at all the 23 civic health centres”.

At present 24x7 covid testing is being

NMMC files FIR against 4 for violating

home quarantine

rulesThe Navi Mumbai

Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has taken action against four

persons for violating home quarantine rule. As per the reports two

Covid-19 positive patients from Nerul Division and two

patients from Belapur Division, in violation to the Covid 19 pro-tocols, were found to be roaming in public

places…

(More on page 5).

2 thursday, 8 april 2021

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By: Crime reporter The Kharghar police have registered a case

against 40 to 50 traders in Kharghar for violating the government order and gathering in large number to protest against the lockdown imposed by the gov-ernment in front of the municipal employees and po-lice who went to Kharghar to instruct them to close shops to curb the spread of Covid-19 disease.

As the number of Covid 19 cases is surging rapidly in the state, the state government has an-nounced a mini lockdown till April 30th under the aegis ‘Break the Chain'. In order to prevent the spread of Corona, Panvel City Municipal Corpora-tion (PCMC) has started efforts to strictly follow the orders of the government. As a part of the same, on Tuesday afternoon, the officials of the encroachment department of the municipal corporation had gone to Kharghar to order the shop owners to close their establishments. Around 40 to 50 shopkeepers and traders from Navrang Chowk in Kharghar Sector-12 protested against the lockdown imposed by the government.

The Kharghar police arrested Jagdish Kumar, Ramesh Patel, Chhaya Shete, Lata Wagh, Jaslita Thakkar, Samudra Singh, Amul Kasture, Pawan Kumar, Pramod Chaudhary, Bhagirath Singh, Vijay Patil and others.

Covid-19: 50 traders protesting against lockdown fined

PUBLIC NOTICE BE IT KNOWN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

that my client Shri. Mulaji Hiru Fulore is owner of Shop no 38, Ground Floor, Maruti Niwas Co-op Housing Society Ltd, Plot No B-37 Sector 06, New Panvel (E). The following title document of said property is missing.

Original Share Certificate No 110 issued by Maruti Niwas Co-operative Housing Society Ltd with respect of Shop no 38.

My client has registered Police Complaint about missing of above of said Share Certificate with Khandeshwar police Station on 30/03/2021 at Missing Register No 0567 /2021.

If anybody having rights, title, interest upon said property by virtue of missing share certificate or having any objection, claim upon said Property shall intimate the undersigned within 15 days from the date of publication of this notice. If no claim is received within said stipulated time, my client will apply to the society for issuance of duplicate Share Certificate, which please note. Date: 08/04/2021 Sd/-

Adv. SHARADA U. PINJARI Advocate High Court, Office at 11 & 12, Sa-

tyaSai Plaza, Plot No 5, Sector 11, New Panvel Telephone: 27482187, Mob: 9322833012

3thursday, 8 april 2021

By Crime reporter

Suresh Katkar (27), a resident of Devipada

area of Kharghar, tried to commit suicide by cutting vein of his hand with the help of a blade after he came to know that his wife was in an

extra-marital relation-ship with another man. Kharghar police rushed

Suresh Katkar to the hospital and rescued him. However, the

police have registered a case against him for attempted suicide.

The police found a note in the pocket of Suresh Katkar, in which he has mentioned the reason for his suicide as his wife had another relationship. He men-tioned in the letter, that when he questioned his

wife and Sameer Sheikh the duo threatened to kill him. He wrote that his wife, her boyfriend Sameer Sheikh, Vilas Patil and Chandraka-labai Patil should be held responsible for his suicide.

Husband attempts suicide on learning of his wife's extra marital relationship

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Wel-fare chaired a high-level meeting through Video Conference on 6th April, 2021 to review the situation of Covid-19 and progress of vaccination in 11 States/UTs including Chhat-tisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. These states have been reporting very high rise in daily cases and daily mortality because of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.

Health Ministers of States/UTs including Shri T. S. Singh Deo (Chhattisgarh), Shri Satyendar Jain (Delhi), Shri Anil Vij (Harya-na), Shri Rajiv Saizal (Himachal Pradesh), Shri Banna Gupta (Jharkhand), Dr. K. Sudhakar (Karnataka), Dr. Prabhuram Choud-hary (Madhya Pradesh), Shri Rajesh Tope (Maharashtra), Shri Satyendar Jain (Delhi), Shri Balbir Singh Sidhu (Punjab), Dr Raghu Sharma (Rajasthan) and Additional Chief Sec-retaries and Principal Secretaries (Health) of the 11 States/UTs virtu-ally attended the event.

The Union Health Minister highlighted that these 11 States together contributed 54% of the total cases and 65% of the total deaths in the country, with a disproportion-ately high number of

deaths in Maharashtra and Punjab. A high test positivity rate is seen in Maharashtra (25%) and Chhattisgarh (14%). Dr Harsh Vardhan noted that since Febru-ary 2021, these states have witnessed a steep increase in cases, major-ity of which have been reported in the younger population of 15-44 years. Also, it was pointed out that major-ity of the deaths have been reported among the elderly of age more than 60 yrs. Dr. Harsh Vardhan appreciated the increase in tests in the last four weeks but cautioned against the high RAT proportion in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. An-other worrisome aspect pointed out was that the testing capacity of the private sector is under-utilized in these States.

While highlight-ing these aspects of the 11 States, Dr. Harsh Vardhan also applauded States across the coun-try for the collaborative work that they have put in for the collective gains till now.

“The Centre has

been and shall continue to support the States and UTs through all possible recourses to fight the global pandemic”, he assured them. He stated that while the cases were on the rise since the past few weeks, the national cumulative fatality rate (CFR) has become 1.30% now. India’s vaccination cov-erage has crossed 8.31 crore doses with single largest vaccination in the last 24 hours of more than 43 lakh doses administered. The total number of tests has also surpassed 25 cr today, he stated. “From one lab at NIV, Pune, we now have 2,443 diagnostic labs across the country”, he stated. Our testing capacity has escalated to 13,00,000 per day, he mentioned.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that India has also supported the global community through Vaccine Maitri, under which 6.45 Crore doses of COVID-19 Vaccine have been exported to 84 Countries. 3.58 Crore doses have been supplied to 25 countries under commercial con-tracts, and 1.05 Crore to

43 countries as grants, he stated.

The Union Health Minister chaired a comprehensive and detailed review of the Covid cases, vaccina-tion status and chal-lenges being faced by the States in manage-ment of COVID19. He highlighted that a large part of the reason for the surge in cases in almost all parts of the country, more specifi-cally in these 11 States, was that people have adopted lax behaviour towards Covid appropri-ate behaviour.

He pointed out that “It seems that people have given ‘Tilanjali’ to measures and steps that can protect them from Covid such as mask wearing, avoiding gath-erings and maintaining physical distancing, which I have been call-ing as Social Vaccine and are as important as the Vaccines that we now have.” He urged the States to take up mass awareness cam-paigns to re-instill the importance of measures in the masses. It is only with a Jan Andolan (people’s movement)

and Jan Bhagidari (citizens’ cooperation) that we shall be able to overcome this phase of high rise in the cases in the country, he stated.

Dr Harsh Vardhan reminded the States Health Ministers that, “The measures to prevent and contain COVID19 are not rocket science! We have successfully adopted these measures all of last year and shown the world about our success story”. The same measures have to be reinforced and implemented with more rigour and commitment by the States and the people, he pointed out. They form the funda-mental pillars of our fight against COVID19, he pointed out strongly.

In order to curb the resurgence of the pandemic, Dr. Harsh Vardhan advised the States to strengthen their public and private healthcare resources. The limiting of social/public gatherings, im-plementation of “Test, Track, Treat” strategy with 70% RT-PCR ratio, quarantine of positive cases, contact tracing of

at least 25 to 30 contacts per positive person were also stressed upon.

Speaking on the need to enhance the pace of vaccination, Dr. Harsh Vardhan as-sured everyone that the Centre will continually replenish the vaccine stock and exhorted the states to vaccinate the prioritized groups in a mission made. “There is no vaccine shortage in any part of the country. The Centre is providing the required quantities to all States and UTs, he stated.

The State Health Ministers shared a brief snapshot of the actions taken for containment, surveillance and treat-ment of the COVID positive cases along with best practices of their States.

The meeting was attended by Ms. Van-dana Gurnani, Addl. Secretary and Mis-sion Director, NHM, Ms. Arti Ahuja, Addl. Secretary (Health), Dr. Sunil Kumar, DGHS (MoHFW), Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh, Director (NCDC) and senior of-ficials from the Health Ministry.

No Vaccine shortage in the country: Union Health MinisterDr. Harsh Vardhan reviews Covid-19 situation and vaccination progress in 11 States/UTs showing large number of cases


On 11th March 2020, the World Health Orga-nization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) a pandemic. Also known as SARS Cov-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), COVID 19 virus mainly attacks the respiratory system. Like a common cold, COVID 19 infection is highly contagious and mandates use of a face mask for protection in public places. The main portal of entry for the virus is through the nose and mouth. So does oral hygiene play a role in preventing? If so, what oral hygiene practices should be encouraged? Read on.To simply answer your question, YES! Oral hygiene does play an important role and can help reduce the risk of

COVID-19.Can poor oral hygiene increase the risk of con-tracting COVID-19?Yes, quite possibly. Upon entry through the nose and mouth, the virus attaches to the epithe-lial lining of the nasal passage and throat. The virus subsequently infects healthy cells and spreads through the body.What oral hygiene prac-tices should be encour-aged?1. Brush twice daily: Brushing twice a day in the morning and at night ensures a clean mouth when one goes to bed. This is crucial because saliva contains antibacterial properties and reduced salivary flow at night increases the risk of attack by virus particles.2. Use of mouthwash: Studies have proven that use of mouthwashes such as chlorehexidine and betadine can effec-tively prevent COVID-19. These mouthwashes

are active for as long as 12 hours and hence using these twice a day can provide sufficient protection from harmful bacteria which may be trying to invade the oral cavity. Continuous use of face masks has also led

to increases complaints of bad breath. Using a mouthwash can help counter bad breath.3.Clean toothbrushes: It is very common to find all toothbrushes kept together. This may lead to cross contamination.

In order to reduce risk, individual toothbrushes should be kept separately in well ventilated areas. A diluted povidone iodine solution can be used to disinfect the toothbrush for 1 minute before and after use.

4. Stay hydrated: Drinking enough amount of water not only helps keep the body hydrated but also helps to improve the flow of saliva within the mouth. This is ben-eficial as saliva contains antibacterial properties

which provide protec-tion against invasion by microorganisms.Is oral hygiene related to severity of COVID-19?YES. Studies have proven that patients with poor oral hygiene can have more severe complica-

tions of COVID-19 as compared to ones with good oral hygiene. This is especially true for indi-viduals suffering from co morbidities. In addition to being co morbid, pres-ence of poor oral hygiene puts an individual at great

risk of complications.Can I visit the dentist for check up?Since the pandemic started in 2020, there was ambiguity about carrying out dental treatments safely. How-ever, subsequent efforts found that dental treat-ments can be taken up safely and successfully by following proper sanitation and social distancing protocols. Hence, I urge everyone to visit their dentist for a regular check up every 6 months and get dental treatments done in time to avoid emergencies.The oral cavity is a dynamic environment which is capable of warding off any disease causing organisms with

little effort from our end. Following simple daily oral hygiene routines can help prevent any adverse outcomes.

dr. aditi Mahajani is periodontist and oral implantologist

Tooth Be Told: Oral hygiene and COVID-19

By: dr. aditi Mahajani

By: Crime reporterThe police arrested

a youth for posing as a senior police officer. The accused has been identified as Amardeep Paras Giri (26) and works as a watchman in Juhugaon.

Police constables Dattatraya Sabne and Vikram Hase from Vashi police station were patrolling the Vashi railway station area around 7 pm on April 2. At this time, they noticed Giri standing suspiciously on a motorcycle near the municipal toilet near Vashi railway sta-tion. When questioned, he said his name was Arun Prabhakar Borude and he was a

senior police inspec-tor. Suspected the duo, they demanded an identity card. Giri said he did not have an identity card. Howev-er, he showed them the photo of the identity card in his mobile.

Upon close observa-tion of the picture, it was found that the iden-tity card and the post was fake. Amardeep was taken to Vashi police station for further investigation. During interrogation, he con-fessed to have forged identity card to pretend to be a police officer as a hobby and kept items used by police officers. According to police, he was arrested on the charges of forgery.

Man posing as cop arrested by police

By Lakshman sundar Smt. Praveena Gout-

haman, a Vashi, Navi Mumbai- based classical music and Veena mae-stro inspired, enthralled and captivated the audi-ence across many coun-tries in her live virtual concert organized by SR Fine Arts at the famous Bay Area at San Fran-cisco, California last Friday (April 2, 2021). Her concert held from 8.30 am to 930 am (9 to 10 pm Indian Time) lasted over an hour in which her magnetic voice created a magical spell on the viewers. The global viewers felt that she should have been requested to sing for an hour more as they saw her perform with such

a great melody, fluency and passion.

Smt. Praveena Gout-haman started with a ma-jestic varnam in Kamas composed by late Shri. Muthaiah Bhargawatar

Varavallabha in Ham-sadvani by the legendary musician G.N. Balasubr-manian followed it with sweet svarams and alap

Pahi Parvatham in Arabhi by Shri. Swa-titirunal

was exquisitely presented. Then she rendered Sri Parthasar-thy in Sudhadhanyasi by Shri Muthuswamy Dhikshithar.

Mari Very Gati in Shanmughapriya

with ragam Niraval

and Alap.Smt. Praveena

Gouthaman concluded the delightful concert with a spell binding Tillana in Thillang. She was ably support-ed on the mridangam by Shri. Anirudh. S. Smt. Shobana Sujit organized the pro-gramme.

Vashi artiste Smt. Praveena Gouthaman captivates global audience

Smt. Praveena Gouthaman singing at a live online concert for SR Fine Arts , San Francisco , USA. Accompanist Anirudh S is on her right.


You are walking down the street and you stepped in poop. What face did you make? Shrink nose and feeling of “Dis-gust”. Did you hear reports of Milind So-man eating insects for health reasons. How does that make you feel? When someone is disgusted, they always turn their head or body away from the object of disgust. Covering the nose/mouth and hunching down are both typical responses as dis-gust contributes to nausea.

Disgust is one of the seven basic feel-ings, and it is char-acterized by a strong dislike for something offensive. We may be disgusted by what we see, smell, touch, hear, or taste with our physical senses, by people's actions or appearances, or even by thoughts.

Common disgust triggers:

Expelled body products such as waste, saliva, water, mucus, and blood are typical disgust causes.

Certain foods someone eating cockroaches or puck of dog etc. (often from cultures other than our own)

Anything that is decaying, dis-eased, or on the brink of dying

Sound of someone clearing their throat while spitting mucus.

Perceived acts of other people (such as certain sexual inclina-tions, to name a few)

Certain social norms can make us feel disgusted, like people having non-monogamous relation-ships or multiple husbands etc.

Disgust has a purpose the emotion's intent is to keep us from bringing potentially harmful sub-stances into our mouths. Disgust is also influenced by culture the

norm that are seen as normal, insects can be repulsive to Western-ers, but to certain tribal are treats. So disgust is a subjective reac-tion to a stimuli that is objective! The feelings we are feeling at any given time affect the

decisions we make, the actions we take, and the expectations we have.

Disgust has long been linked to anxiety conditions including arachnophobia and blood-phobia, according to research.

How do we en-sure it doesn’t fall into trap of too much and convert in phobia.

First Remem-ber emotions and feelings are That You Are Only Hu-man. ...

Second pro-cess them in time

Third give same if not more importance to emotions and feelings like we give to physical health.

Invest time, money and effort to sort internal dialogues, belief and thoughts .As belief gives rise to thought and thought to feeling and feelings drive ACTION.

So pause introspect.Next Article is on well SUR-

PRISE !!!This would be last in series of

emotions.

Ulka Shukla Author of this article is committed to leave an emo-tionally safer and greener planet for the next generation. She is founder of ZoeticSutra which helps in Unleashing life by mak-ing you emotionally smarter.

By ulka shukla

DisgustBy ryhea george

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has taken ac-tion against four persons for violat-ing home quarantine rule. As per the reports two Covid-19 positive patients from Nerul Division and two patients from Belapur Division, in violation to the Covid 19 protocols, were found to be roaming in public places.

The action was taken by the civic body’s Covid -19 Prevention Mea-sures department and an FIR under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code was lodged at the Nerul Police Station on 3rd April, 2021 against a couple from the Maryland Society in Sector 23 Nerul who were roaming despite being home quarantined. This was re-ported to the NMMC.

Likewise, two Covid-19 positive women, who are residents of Suyog Society, Sector 24, Juinagar, violated safety rules by walking out of the house despite being infected.

“It is very important to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus by stay-ing at home and taking treatment as per the advice from the doctor. NMMC is taking utmost care to ensure effective implementation of Covid-19 preven-tive measures and action against vio-lators of Covid-19 safety rules will be implemented more effectively in future”, said NMMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar.

As per the government guidelines under Covid-19, a stamp is being af-fixed by NMMC on the back of the

left hand of a person advised for home isolation/quarantine. Such a person is required to isolate himself from others during the 14-day quarantine period. A signboard is also put indicating the period of quarantine outside the door of the infected person with the clear instruction to stay at home.

As per the Section 3 of the Epi-demic Diseases Act, 1897, violation of the rule invites penalties under the Act. These are according to Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a pub-lic servant and can be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month or with fine which may extend to two hundred ru-pees, or with both.

NMMC files FIR against 4 for violating home quarantine rules

ent in the meeting.Currently, ROPAX

service from Bhaucha Dhakka (Ferry Wharf) to Mandwa (Alibag) is successfully operating by reducing the road journey of 110 km to about 18 km by using waterways, thereby re-ducing travel time of daily c o m m u t e r s from about 3-4 hours to merely one hour. After the huge benefits being reaped of this ferry ser-vice, similar services are planned to be operation-al at various other routes

in Mumbai.Opening up of four

new routes of ROPAX Ferries and 12 routes of Water taxis is go-ing to prove a big boon for daily commuters of Mumbai. It will result in

a pollution-free, peace-ful and time-saving jour-ney as well as reduce the travel cost and carbon footprint significantly. It would also cater for the requirements of increas-

ing number of tourists and commuters at vari-ous stretches of Mumbai city.

Mansukh Mandaviya stated that operational-ization of new water-ways routes is a big step

towards P r i m e Minister Shri Na-r e n d r a M o d i ’ s vision of harness-ing wa-terways and inte-g r a t i n g them with

the economic develop-ment of the country. It will open up new oppor-tunities and avenues to create an ecosystem and network of such ROPAX services and Water Taxi

Continued froM page...1

Water taxis and

there is no short circuit,” he stressed.

Minister Shinde also laid emphasis on organizing blood

donation camps in as-sociation with various NGOs and officials to ensure regular supply of blood.

“Municipal Cor-porations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats which need funds should send


Urban Development Minister directs...

proposals. The funds will be sanctioned in consultation with Chief Minister Ud-dhav Thackeray and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar through DPDC and SDRF, as well as through the Urban Development Depart-ment,” Shinde said.


Editorialissue: 255 8 apriL, 2021

As per a study conducted by researchers from In-

dia, Brazil, one of the reasons for heatwave in India is the rise in temperature in the Arc-tic region due to global warm-ing. Similarly, unprecedented cyclones, torrential rains have time and again highlighted how climate change is affecting the globe over the years. Ex-perts, scientist across the world have restlessly emphasised on the long-term effect of climate change not only on mankind, but also on the complex ecologi-cal and physical stability and function of the Earth. As the global climate changes, so is the capriciousness.

Stressing once again on the seriousness of climate change and the need to work towards a holistic change, this year, the World Health Day, which is ob-served every year on 7th April, is being celebrated on the theme, protection of health from cli-

mate change.Every year, April 7 is cel-

ebrated as World Health Day which aims at spreading aware-ness about quality living and importance of health in one’s life. However, this cannot be achieved if we don’t take con-certed steps towards protec-tion and conservation of mother earth on a daily basis.

The first step that every county should take is limiting the use of fossil fuel such as oil, carbon and natural gas and re-placing them with clean and re-newable source of energy.

Opting for walking or cycling as transportation is the second best option to curb the rising carbon emission. Use of less en-ergy at home, eat less meat and opt for plant based food, follow-ing the 3 R’s i.e., Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and lastly, proper government policy will help a lot in healing the earth and protect-ing it from the rapid changes.

Need conscious steps towards Mother EarthBy ashok dhamija

City based Security Association of India (SAI), a representa-tive body of the pri-vate security sector in the country, has demanded that pri-vate security guards irrespective of their age group, should also be given prior-ity in vaccination by placing them on the essential service list for the corona vaccine.

In this context, President of the Association, Gur-charan Singh Chauhan has written a letter to the Prime Minister, Naren-dra Modi, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and State Health Minister Rajesh

Tope, that the Govern-ment of India on March 24, last year, included

Private security services in the Essential Services List by issuing its order no. 1-29/2020-pp. He further stated that at the time of lockdown last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, personal se-curity guards have been

serving at all places like health, residential and commercial complexes,

banks, containment zones etc. There-fore, these secu-rity guards should also be included in the corona war-riors and should be given priority in receiving the Covid-19 jabs so that they can give their services in a relaxed manner in the crisis arising out of the second wave of infec-tions. Further he

referred to the first or-dinance ref no, DMU / 2020 / CR / DMU-1 that was released by the Gov-ernment of Maharashtra on 23 March 2020 and included the private se-curity sector in essential services.

Security guards also Corona warrior, entitled for vaccine: SAI President

By: dr. Veena Mohan adigeKeeping minds and

bodies active during these trying times is a difficult propo-sition. One tends to get into the doldrums just thinking whether life after covid will ever become normal.

Vsisters, the all women group from Navi Mumbai, kept themselves active by partic-ipating in vari-ous contests last year. This time they had a home-made cold drink contest where twenty seven ladies made interesting cooling drinks from various food items. Pu-dina, lime, mint, mango, lemon, kokum, pepper, ginger are favourites but these ladies came up with many variations including nachni, ragi,

dudhi, moong, banana, split gram, bottlegourd, cashew, and other items to keep the summer heat

at bay.Shanteri Nayak,

proprietor of Café Mysore and Nayaks Sweets and Snacks, Matunga, and Past President of GSB Ma-hila Shakha and cur-rently Vice President of GSB Sabha was the judge for the occasion.

“I was enthralled by the amazing and innovative creations of different varieties of

home-made summer drinks,” says Shan-teri Nayak. “I gave marks for the nutri-tional value, use of sea-sonal fruits and veggies, combination of different spices and herbs and the presen-tation,” she

informed.The first prize was

awarded to Vidya Bhat for her Ragi Almond Milk. Mughdha Nad-karni won the second prize for Mango Piyush while Bina Shenoy walked away with the third prize for her Cucumber and Mint Cooler.

Lockdown homemade cold drink contest

By siddhesh Waykar The motorists wait-

ing at traffic signals are irked by the nuisances caused by the beggars and transgender who roam freely without masks and touch them for alms. With Covid 19 cases rising sharply in Maharashtra, the residents fail to under-stand why no action is being taken against them for violating Covid safety protocols and creating nuisance as well.

It is a common sight to see beggars, in various age groups, or eunuchs approaching people, especially the people who are travel-ling on bike or walking, and asking for money. Even after refusing several times, they keep on insisting the same

and start touching feet or other body parts.

“I recently had a bad experience when I was waiting at Vashi sector-19 signal. Few eunuchs came and started asking for money. After constant refusal, they began to touch my hands and T-shirt. Needless to say, that none of them were wearing mask or were even aware of sanitisa-tion. The gesture was repeated with other motorists as well”, said Hardik Patel.

“It's very uncanny to be touched like that. I have no ill feelings against them, but as we all know, the country and especially our state is passing through a very tough phase with regards to Covid 19 cases. While mea-

sures are being taken to ensure complete adherence to Covid safety protocols, why no action is being taken against them for non-compliance?” says Simran Mittal, a resident of Vashi.

Some of the traffic officials, however, feigned ignorance to this. “We have not received any official complaint yet, but if this is happening then definitely one should register a complaint in the nearby police station. We are trying our best to curb the covid situation and such things are not acceptable. People facing such situation can directly approach us”, said Bhanudas Khataokar, Traffic In charge of Vashi.

Residents demand action against beggars roaming without masks

and touching people for alms


Former Chief Minis-ter and Leader of Oppo-sition in the Legislative Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis in a letter writ-ten to the Chief Minis-ter, Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that the decision on ‘lockdown like restrictions’ should be reconsidered after discussing the issue with the small business community.

In his letter, Fad-navis said, "We had been informed that as the Covid 19 cases in the state are rising, therefore strict restric-tions will have to be imposed. We agreed as it was the subject of a two-day lockdown. However, the manner in which the other five days of lockdown-like restrictions are being imposed has caused great uneasiness in the minds of the people. In some places, people have taken to the streets to protest. Many areas have been hit hard by

the lockdown, and the economy has been hit hard. Given the kind of restrictions that have actually been imposed, this is in a way an unan-nounced month-long lockdown. Therefore, the interest of the retail-ers, small shopkeepers, small hotels, salons all need to be considered. Further, it appears that not much thought has been given while imposing such restric-tions. For example, while transportation is open, garages and spare parts shops are closed.

There are several such examples.”

Therefore, Fad-navis said that taking into consideration the current situation and also the fact that the poor should not be affected financially, a new notification of restrictions should be issued, after holding a detailed discussion with all the stakehold-ers. It is important to prevent and control Covid 19, but all other factors should also be taken into consider-ation, he said.

Decision on ‘lockdown like restrictions’ should be reconsidered after discussing

with all stakeholders: Devendra Fadnavis

By: Chandrashekhar HendveAiroli MLA Ganesh Naik held a

meeting with the Commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) Abhijit Bangar recently and discussed the rising Covid-19 cases in the city. He demanded to re-start all the Covid centres again and increase the manpower and to equip the centres with every requisite, medical instru-ments and medication required to treat Covid patients.

“NMMC has been advising pa-tients who have tested positive to stay at home as beds have become unavail-able again. To ensure no patient is deprived of the needed medical care, NMMC must increase ventilators and oxygen beds with immediate effect”, said the senior MLA.

He further stressed that the journal-ists who are an integral part of front-line work, should be given Covid-19 vaccines too.

He further stressed that the civic body administration has been failing to trace those who have come in con-tact with Covid-19 patients; thereby leading to more cases. Thus, it is very

important that administration ramps up the contact tracing efforts and test maximum people at the earliest. Apart from contact tracing, the NMMC has also stopped sanitizing buildings and neighbourhoods that have positive cas-es. This is also escalating the chances of spreading covid-19 cases.

With regards to private hospitals MLA Naik demanded that the NMMC must ensure that private hospitals are accountable from time of admission of patients to ensuring that citizens are billed as per the government approved norms.

He also urged the commissioner to implement Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojna in every case possible so that citizens can get financial aid from the government during COVID times.

Naik asked the commissioner to set up Covid health centres in every ward so that patients are not inconve-nienced and ensure that the centres do not lack basic facilities such as fans, drinking water.

He further demanded the NMMC to start the dashboard system again on-line so that people are informed of the availability of bed in hospitals.

MLA Ganesh Naik meets NMMC chiefDemands vaccination for journalists

By: Chandrashekhar HendveBJP Yuva Morcha

Secretary, Vinayak Giri has arranged free rick-shaw rides for vaccina-tion for senior citizens of ward no 109, Nerul.

In Nerul area, Coro-

na Vaccination Centres have been started by the Municipal Corporation at Civil Health Cen-tre at Sector 48, Civil Health Centre Karave Gaon. BJP women organizer, Pratiksha Giri

has appealed to those who want to avail the free service to call on 7039751890.

Former transport member Visaji Loke dis-tributes N 95 to mark his birthday

Free transportation provided to senior citizens to Covid

vaccination centres in Nerulcarried in Vashi, Nerul and Airoli hospitals and testing is being done at Mata Bal Hospital Nerul and Mata Bal Hospital Turbhe from 9 am to 5 am. In ad-dition, the APMC, which is a risk area, testing has been initi-ated from morning 5 am to 5 pm. Similarly, at railway station un-der the jurisdiction of NMMC i.e., Belapur, Nerul, Vashi, Sanpa-da, Turbhe, Ghansoli, Rabale from 8 am to 5 pm. Covid testing is being done at this time.

“At present 8,500 to 9,000 covid testing is be-ing done every day and in order to increase the number of covid testing we have planned to have

testing at all the civic run health centres”, said Abihijit Bangar.

He further said, “Apart from increasing

the testing capacity in the city, we are also fo-cusing on contact trac-ing up to 30 persons and strict implementation of the restricted zone

(Containment Zone). Apart from this, empha-sis is also being laid on covid vaccination which builds immunity against

corona and every citi-zen above the age of 45 years should get free vaccination at munici-pal hospitals and civic health centres”.


23 civic health centres...


With an aim to con-trol and curb the ris-ing Covid 19 cases, the commissioner of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has emphasised on dis-infecting the public and containment areas on a regular basis. An or-der in this regard has been issued to all the Divisional Officers and Assistant Officers. The commissioner said that if any Covid 19 infected patient is found in the area, it is imperative to spray the area with dis-infectant.

Accordingly, the Solid Waste Manage-ment Department is paying special attention towards the containment

areas and is spraying the affected areas frequently. Similarly, public / com-munity toilets are also being regularly disin-fected. Apart from this,

sodium hypochloride is also being sprayed in public places like mar-kets, bazaars, bus depots and bus stops which are crowded with citizens.

Civic chief lays emphasis on disinfecting public and containment areas

By: Chandrashekhar HendveWhile the number

of corona patients is increasing in Maharash-tra, the state has taken the lead in vaccination. Therefore, the central government should sup-ply vaccines as per the demand. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope demanded this from the Union government. He also urged the Central government to give in-structions to other states to supply oxygen to Maharashtra, consider-ing the growing demand for oxygen.

Union Health Min-ister Dr. Harshvardhan reviewed the Covid 19 situation in the states on 6th April, 2021 by interacting with health ministers from various states through video conferencing. While discussing various is-sues, Mr. Tope informed about the ongoing mea-sures being undertaken by the state government to control the pandemic in Maharashtra.

“More than 4 lakh people are being vac-cinated every day in the state for the last few days. Vaccination is more effective in controlling the growing number of patients and the state has acceler-ated it. Vaccine wastage

in the state is also very low. Given the current stock of vaccines in the state, there is an urgent need for additional supply from the Central Government,” said Mr. Tope.

Chief Minister Ud-dhav Thackeray has demanded the Prime Minister to vaccinate the citizens above 25 years of age in the state. In the review meeting, Health Min-ister also reiterated this demand. “The number of patients in the state at present is more in the age group of 25 to 40 years and the citizens in this age group have to go out for business. Taking this into consid-eration, the demand to include citizens above 25 years of age in the priority list of vaccina-tion is important,” he said.

The demand for oxygen is increasing as the number of patients in the state is increas-

ing. “The state produces 1,200 metric tonnes of oxygen per day, of which 80 per cent is to be used for medi-cal purposes,” said Mr. Tope. He requested the Central Government to direct the neighbouring states to supply oxygen to Maharashtra where the use of oxygen is not high.

Likewise, Mr. Tope said that the demand for Remedesivir injec-tion has increased in the state. “Considering the growing number of patients in Maharashtra, research should be done by the National Centre for Disease Control to guide whether there is a new strain in the state,” he said.

He also demanded that the funding should be provided from the National Civil Health Mission for the recruit-ment of additional manpower for health services, technical guid-ance and training.

Centre should direct neighbouring states to supply oxygen to Maharashtra:

Health Minister, Rajesh TopeDuring the meeting with Union Health Minister, Mr. Tope raised this demand and also demanded more vaccines

Teachers and students of Chirner Primary

School felicitatedVarious competi-

tions like Essay, General Knowledge, Painting, Cos-tume, slogan etc. were or-ganized at School Chirner under Youth and Eco Club on 5th April, 2021 for the

students. Winning stu-dents and teachers were

felicitated. (By: Dinesh Pawar)

By: Crime reporter About 42 police

personnel under the Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate have tested Covid-19 positive. Deputy Com-missioner of Police (Headquarters) Abhi-jeet Shivthare informed that all these police officers are undergoing treatment at various hospitals and some are under home quarantine.

84 per cent of the Navi Mumbai police officers have been given the first dose of Covid vaccine and 49 per cent have received the second dose as well. Measures have also been taken to provide all the neces-

sary equipment to the on-duty police as per the instructions given by the state govern-ment to prevent them from contracting the infection. This includes distribution of N-95 masks and sanitizers to police officers and staff as well as sanitization in all police stations, branches, police head-quarters, all police sta-tions within the limits of the Commissionerate of Police, informed Shivathare.

Due to the rapid spread of corona, all the police personnel of the Commissionerate of Police at CBD, police officers working in various branches were

tested for antigen and RTPCR on Tuesday.

Navi Mumbai police, who played the role of Corona Warriors during the lockdown last year, did their best to enforce the curfew. Apart from raising awareness about corona, Navi Mumbai Police also distributed food grains, masks and sanitizers to the needy. About 2,000 police personnel and officers of the Navi Mumbai Police Force, which was at the forefront of all these activities, had fallen victim to the corona. Unfortunately, 11 of these police officers died during treatment.

42 police officers test Covid positive

Water taxis and ROPAX Ferries to be part of ... - Newsband

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