MAHARASHTRA

TheMaharashtraPolice‘s plans to build housing schemes for its personnel have received a major fillip with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcement seeking states to commit a part of their interest-free loan outlay for development of police housing or police stations, among other purposes.

The MSPHC, since its inception in March 1974, has constructed and handed over 34,470 residential quarters to policemen in the state. In addition to this, as many as 4,297 quarters were purchased from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and the urban land ceiling department.

As Covid-19 and its variant Omicron tighten their grip inMaharashtra, the has decided to shut down all non-agricultural, technical, deemed or private universities and their affiliated colleges and students hostels till February 15, officials said.

Samant said that considering the safety and Health aspects of the students, all colleges and varsities have agreed to conduct the classes as well as the upcoming examinations online.

The shortage of auto-disable syringes has marginally pushed up vaccine wastage rates in several districts in the last two months.

Even if the states cumulative wastage rate continues to be under 1%, a handful of districts have reported wastage in the range of 3% to 12%. The rates are higher forCovaxin compared to Covishield.

According to the last available data, Indias vaccine wastage rate was 6.3% in June.

Recent numbers compiled by the showed that the states wastage rate for Covaxin was 0.72%, while that for Covishield was negative (-1.09%). However, at least a dozen districts have a higher wastage rate than the state Average for Covaxin. Among them, Nandurbar touched a staggering 12% this month. In 14 districts, including Mumbai, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Jalgaon, the Covaxin wastage is negative.

Raigad saw a Covishield wastage rate of (2. 7%) and Yavatmal (2.6%). In nine other districts, it has remained between 1-2%, while in a dozen districts, the wastage is less than 1%. Mumbai, Palghar Ratnagiri are some of the districts that have a negative wastage rate (see box) for Covishield.

The District Administration ofSatarais planning to makeKasplateau an all-season tourist destination to provide earning source to the villagers in the area. The plateau, a world heritage site, gets most of its visitors during the flowering season in the months of September and October.

In order to provide an earning source to the villagers of the Kas plateau area, the district administration is planning several activities that will attract tourism round the year.

A unique initiative, the Maharashtra government has kickstarted the Women4Climate programme that aims to bring Women in Mumbai together to combat https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change.
Under the programme, the State Government along with the C40 Cities Network will focus on bringing out Leadership qualities in women so that stage can be set for the next generation of climate leaders. Women will get a chance to develop and implement action to accelerate their climate projects, and develop strategies to achieve the overall target of Sustainable Development goals.

State Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray called on women to take part in this initiative and protect the environment from the effects of changing climate.

He further announced that 1,900 electric buses will be added to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) fleet by 2023. At present, 386 electric buses are plying in the megacity.

Dhule city has become the first urban centre in Maharashtra to get a Covid-free tag, something only villages in the state have earned thus far. The northern Maharashtra city has a Population of 3.75 lakh.

The city was one of theCovidhotspots in the district during the second wave of the pandemic. Although there were fewer deaths during the second wave, the total number of people who tested positive in Dhule city was much higher than in the first wave.

The state tourism department has decided to promote various tourism sites in Nashik district to attract more tourists, saidMadhumitaSardesai, deputy director, state tourism department.

The office-bearers of Travel Agents Association Nashik (TAAN),SagarWakchaure, Datta Bhalerao and others were present at the tourism conclave attended by Sardesai.

The state tourism department has already announced plans to enhance travel and trade opportunities in the state. The tourism conclave in Nashik was held as part of this project.

The tourism department intends to implement a comprehensive strategy to boost tourism and trade. This strategy includes development of new tourism circuits, enhancement of existing , and promotion of sustainable tourism practices.

Export of onions fromMaharashtradeclined by over 27.4% during the 2021-22 financial year when compared to the previous year.

According to the data provided by the Agricultural and Process Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which functions under the Union ministry of commerce and , onion export from Maharashtra declined to 5.8 lakh tonne during the 2021-22 financial year down from 7.9 lakh tonne during the previous fiscal of 2020-21.

The wholesale prices of onions in the domestic market were higher when compared to the prices of the produce in the international markets. Moreover, freight charges have also increased at large. These two factors led to a drop in onion exports from the state.