MAHARASHTRA

Chief conservator of forests Clement Ben said, Thepreybase seems to be improving in the recently notified conservation reserve of forests in Kolhapur. The camera trap had not shown the presence of spotted deer in SahyadriTigerreserve area for the last seven years.

There is a need for strengthening the faunal monitoring mechanism in the recently notified conservation reserves owing to the tiger sightings and also its prey based animal count in the area.

Last year, the state wildlife board gave conservation reserve tag to the Amboli-Dodamarg, Chandgad, Ajara-Bhudargad, Gaganbawda, Panhalgad, Vishalgad and Jor-Jambhali ranges along the Western Ghats.

The city has bagged the first position in the first state-level city beautification and cleanliness competition-2022 organized by theMaharashtragovernment.

Thane stood second, while Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation clinched the third position under A+, A and B grades municipal corporations across the state.

Under D grade, Amravati Municipal Corporation won the second spot, while in municipal council category, Mouda Municipal Council came first.

The state sought a 15-slide presentation regarding the work done by the city during the competition period and categorized it according to the four paramaters. Municipal commissioners and chief executive officers of the cities and towns that participated in the competition submitted the presentation.

State higher & technical department plans to inoculate nearly 37 lakh college students aged 18-25 at university and college campuses. A final decision will be taken after consulting chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, said higher & technical Education minister Uday Samant. The minister said the department should be declared an essential service for smooth processing of results. He said exams for 13 non-agricultural state universities will be held online due to Covid-19.

As the Centre announced a vaccination drive for all above 18 from May 1, Samant said his department will consult the CM, Health department and cabinet colleagues to initiate the drive for students to ensure the next academic session starts without delay. There are around 37 lakh students, for whom the state can arrange vaccination at university level, to avoid crowding at vaccination centres.

For the second day in a row, the peak electricity demand in the state crossed 28,000 MW afternoon while the demand in Mumbai was close to 3,400MW — a demand recorded in May during summer of 2022.
The actual peak demand was 3372 MW in Mumbai and 28133 MW across the state around 3pm.

With the current trend, the peak electricity demand in Maharashtra was likely to touch 30,000 MW and this could include Mumbai demand coming close to 4,000MW during this summer as temperature has been soaring as high as over 39 degrees in the city, said power expert Ashok Pendse.

While BEST has additional 100 MW to fall back on, Adani Electricity will depend on its short and medium term power purchase agreement and open market sources for exigencies, the MSEDCL will have to purchase power from exchange in crisis situations and Tata Power on Tuesday announced a roadmap for tackling any shortfall of electricity during surge in peak demand this summer.

Sugar production inMaharashtramay fall from 137.28 lakh tonnes in 2021-22 to 124 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 due to adverse climatic conditions in different parts of the state, a top official has said.

The crushing season will be over early as compared to last year. In the last crushing season, factories worked till the start of the monsoon. Now, it will end up by April end. A total of 199 factories are currently operational in the state.

The crushing in Satara,Sangli,Kolhapurdistricts will be over by March end and in Marathwada factories by April end.

Fire brigade officials said Saturdays fire atTardeosSachinam Heightswas most likely caused by a short circuit in the electrical duct, and it spread since the firefighting equipment was not functional. Short circuits and non-functional firefighting systems have become a deadly combination for fires in the city, especially in high-rises in the recent past.

A majority of fires breaking out in Mumbai have been due to short circuits and casualties have been high as firefighting systems remain non-functional.

There were reports of 3,151 fires in slums. The cause of 32,516 fires was short circuits. And 1,116 fires broke out due to gas cylinder leakage and 11,889 due to other reasons.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said in the House that Maharashtra is seeking the Centre’s permission to implement the Shakti bill that amends laws for offences committed against Women and children with more stringent penal actions.

Reiterating that Maharashtra is studying the ‘love jihad’ laws of other states, he said: “In fact, the term love jihad has been coined by the Communist-ruled Kerala and it is a fact that such cases are happening all across the country. Other states have made stringent laws to curb such cases and hence Maharashtra is also ready to enact the law on similar lines to ensure long-term protection to women.”