Pune News Highlights: City records 4,857 new Covid-19 infections, one death (2024)

Political interference appears to have grounded the Khed Panchayat Samiti’s project for a new administrative building. Although a new state-of-the-art building for the Panchayat Samiti was sanctioned in January 2019, there has been no progress on the construction front as NCP andShiv Senaleaders jostle for taking credit for the project.

With NCP opposing the construction at the planned site by proposing that the existing Panchayat Samiti building be demolished to construct a new one, the cost of the project has also escalated to Rs10 crore from the sanctioned Rs5 crore. The NCP MLA from Khed, Dilip Mohite, has proposed that a “central administrative building” be constructed at the empty plot where the Panchayat Samiti building was earlier planned. Read more

A day after the Maharashtra government asked people who have tested positive forCovid-19using home antigen test kits to register themselves on a portal, the Pune division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday directed chemists to maintain a record of those who buy the test kits.

Maharashtra is expected to see a spike in hospitalisation of COVID-19 patients this month-end or in the first week of February, according to the state health department.

The state cabinet expressed concern after the health department made this projection during a presentation before it on Wednesday, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

The daily requirement of medical oxygen in the state has witnessed a rise, it said, adding that the present demand is 400 metric tonnes. (PTI)

A duo of zoologists from Mumbai has traced butterfly species variations as per seasonal changes in Chandrapur’s Tadoba National Park.

Scientist duo Manisha Kulkarni and Aparna Ghadi of the Mumbai-based Institute of Science identified about 45 species of butterflies belonging to five families during their study conducted between November 2016 and January 2018.

Located in the north of Deccan plateau, the 120-acre Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is a tropical dry deciduous forest receiving annual rainfall of about 1700 mm.

Read more

State Health Minister Rajesh Tope appealed to those who have tested positive for coronavirus infection after using home antigen test kits to register on a Covid-linked portal. “If they are self-tested, then they should report to the municipal/district health authorities,” Tope said.

State Surveillance Officer Dr Pradeep Awate said at least 2.42 lakh persons have undergone self- testing in the last five to six months, and have uploaded their data on the ICMR portal.

Read more

A court in Pune on Wednesday granted ad interim bail to Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and three others in a hate speech case.

Pune City Police had booked six persons, including controversial religious guru Kalicharan Maharaj alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag, Ekbote, his brother Nandakishor Ekbote, Mohanrao Shete, Dipak Nagpure and Captain Digendra Kumar for alleged hate speeches during a programme, Shivpratap Din, held in Pune on December 19.

According to the FIR, hate speeches were made against Muslims and Christians during the programme.

Read more

The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has detected 1,145 cases of power theft in five districts under Pune Division. In these cases, illegal power worth over Rs 2 crore was consumed.

MSEDCL has been conducting dedicated drives to detect power thefts in Pune Division, comprising Pune, Solapur, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli districts. In four such drives conducted over the last four months, MSEDCL officials have detected 6,428 cases of power theft of equivalent billable consumption of Rs 7.7 crore.

Power utility officials said that Pune Division has been conducting drives every month, during which MSEDCL engineers make concerted efforts to detect power thefts being done through illegal connections using hooks or cables.

Read more

As state health authorities await the results of genome sequencing of samples taken in the second week of January, data so far shows that the Omicron variant is on the verge of taking over the Delta strain. Experts have, however, said that the Delta strain of SARS CoV2 virus is not extinct yet.

Pradeep Vyas, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Maharashtra, told The Indian Express that the rate of replacement is different in different districts.

On Wednesday, 86 patients with Omicron infection were detected across the state, increasing the tally to a total of 1,367 laboratory-confirmed cases of the variant in the state.

Read more

Fresh restrictions in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases have done more harm than good, said Sudhir Mehta, president of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Mehta said measures like closing restaurants bring about more misery than succor.

As cases surge, Maharashtra has imposed several restrictions such as 50 per cent occupancy in offices, restaurants, malls and gyms.

Read more

The number of active Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Wednesday rose close to 10,000. The city registered 2,025 new Covid-19 cases on the day. From January 1, when the city had 350 active cases, the number has increased to 9,486 in only two weeks.

The civic administration, however, said most were asymptomatic cases and those patients were in home isolation. “Only over 5 per cent patients required hospitalisation while rest of them are in home isolation.

Currently, only five patients are in intensive care units of civic hospitals while 24 are on oxygen support.

Read more

The president of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), Sudhir Mehta, has said that fresh curbs imposed by the government in view of the surge inCovid-19cases will do more harm than good.

Notably, the Maharashtra government has allowed only 50 per cent occupancy in offices, restaurants and gyms in a bid to curb crowding. The restrictions have been placed just as economic indicators were showing an uptick after months of stagnation. Read here for details

The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to fill up over 4,000 vacant posts in a phase-wise manner. The civic administration has taken the decision after the state government gave a green signal for filling up the vacant posts. All the posts are permanent ones. The PCMC already has over 8,000 employees.

After the first match between Bengal Warriors and Tamil Thalaivas today, the second game of the day will feature the season's first Maharashtra derby with U Mumba taking on Puneri Paltan. The Mumbai team has looked better balanced so far in the season, but raider Ajith Kumar's absence might affect their performance.

Puneri Paltan has shown sparks of brilliance and coach Anup Kumar will be hoping his young stars can once again clinch a victory.

Pune thrashed Bengal Warriors in their previous match with youngster Aslam Inamdar once again impressing. He will need to team up with the likes of Nitin Tomar and Mohit Goyat to unlock a Mumbai defence that seemed lost for answers against Patna Pirates in their previous game. (PTI)

Copper cable worth nearly Rs 90,000 was found stolen in Pune’s Sahkarnagar, leading to disruption of BSNL service in the area.

The theft was discovered when BSNL employee Swapnil Mane went to check the telephone line in Aranyeshwar after receiving several complaints regarding the disruption of service. An FIR filed at Sahkarnagar police station on Monday said that 26 metres of copper cable, estimated to be worth Rs 89,979, was stolen between January 8 and January 10. Read more.

Even as active Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad have shot up by over 20 times in 11 days, the civic administration on Tuesday said less than 10 per cent of the cases required hospital admission while the rest are in home isolation.

Pune will experience cloudy sky conditions on Wednesday.

The minimum temperatures on the day were Shivajinagar - 11.4 degrees, Pashan - 12.3 degrees and Lohegaon - 13.3 degrees.

The maximum temperature will remain around 29 degrees Celsius.

The air quality has improved significantly and the air quality index value forecast for the day is 92.

THE Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday successfully flight tested the final deliverable configuration of the Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM).

The marks scored by as many as 1,120 candidates of Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) of 2018 and 2020 were increased by tampering with the evaluation process, an investigation has revealed.

The investigation is also linked to a probe into a slew of malpractices in state government exams. Starting with the probe into a paper leak in the recruitment process of Group D employees in the Health Department in November last year, the Cyber Cell of Pune City Police has unearthed a question paper leak in MHADA recruitment, malpractices in the TETs of 2020 and 2018, and a paper leak in the Group C recruitment process of the Health Department. Read more.

As the number of active Covid patients in the city rises, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday extended the operations of its 800-bed jumbo Covid hospital for three months. Besides, it will set up five Covid Care Centres (CCC) with a total of 1,050 beds for isolating patients who have mild or no symptoms but no facility available for home isolation.

BVG India Ltd, a key player that manages Maharashtra’s Emergency Medical Services (MEMS), has said that it is fully geared up to tackle the spike in Covid-19cases by offering emergency response services and MEMS 108 toll-Free ambulance services.

BVG ambulance service, in association with the Maharashtra government, is India’s first project where a qualified doctor attends to the patient in an ambulance. BVG MEMS has served over 5.9 lakh patients since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a statement issued on Tuesday. Read more.