MAHARASHTRA

The state’s first transgender ward will come up at the state-run Gokuldas Tejpal (GT) Hospital near CSMT. The 35-to-45-bed ward will start in January 2023 and thereafter each of the JJ Group of hospitals in the city will get a trans ward.

The GT Hospital ward will contain two bathrooms and three toilets that will be gender-neutral. Dr Saple said that a separate examination room and dressing room will also be included in the ward to ensure that the patient’s privacy and dignity are maintained.

Transgenders, especially hijras, have complained about the trouble and stigma they face in accessing healthcare even in cities such as Mumbai. Many NGOs working for them had raised the issue with local governments, leading to the Preliminary Transgender Persons (Protection of Right) Act, 2019.

The state cabinet approved the proposal to increase the number of elected representatives in all , except theBMC, by 17%.

Last month, the cabinet had approved reintroduction of the multi-member system for all these local bodies. Elections are to be held for 23 of the 27 municipal corporations and 27 of the 36 district councils early next year. Pune, which has a Population of more than 30 lakh, may see the number of seats increase by 11, Nagpur five, Navi Mumbai and Thane by 11 seats each.

At present, the number of members in municipal corporations is a minimum 65 and maximum 175. The number of members in municipal councils is a minimum 17 and maximum 65. Thus, the minimum number of members to be elected for a population of 3 lakh to 6 lakh will be 76 and the maximum will not exceed 96. The minimum members to be elected for a population of 6 lakh to 12 lakh will be 96 and the maximum will not exceed 126. (For Navi Mumbai, it will go up from 111 to 122).

For a population of 12 lakh to 24 lakh the minimum will be 126 and the maximum 156 (For Thane, the seats will go up from 131 to 142, Nashik 122 to 133, Kalyan-Dombivli 122 to 133, and Vasai-Virar 115 to 126).

Private vaccine centres in the state, currently holding an estimated 2 lakh doses and facing low turnout, have urged the government use their stock in the ongoing booster drive.

The Centre had announced free boosters for 75 days (from July 15). Private centres worry the drive will further reduce turnouts for the paid jab and have proposed a swap near-expiry doses in return for fresh vials.

The private sector has demanded an exchange of Vaccines by either compensation through cost or by replacing it with fresh stock to prevent wastage

Of the total arrears, Bhandup zone which includesBhandup-Mulund,Thane and Vashi(Navi Mumbai) had arrears from residential consumers to the tune of Rs 137 crore.

At the same time, the Kalyan zone which includes Dombivli-Kalyan up to Karjat/ Kasara and Vasai-Virar, Palghar had pending electricity bill payments of over Rs 350 crore from residential consumers, sources said. This included Rs 183 crore in Kalyan-Dombivli and Rs 103 crore in Vasai-Virar belt.

As thetollrose to 209, the state cabinet is likely to announce a special compensation package for Konkan and Western Maharashtra region that were worst hit. The compensation will be on the lines of that announced during the Nisarg and Tauktae .

The state governments compensation proposal to the Centre for rain-related losses last year was over Rs 3,721 crore. The State Government had sanctioned Rs 4,375 crore from its coffers for the affected districts. The central norms for compensation were drafted in 2015. The state has been hiking the norms and giving compensation, therefore a large burden falls on the state.

The will oust private operator M/s Garuda Amusement Park (Nagpur) Pvt Ltd, and develop Ambazari garden tourism project, cultural and memorial centre for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar itself, deputy chief minister and guardian ministerDevendra Fadnavistold followers of Dr Ambedkar.

The people staging an agitation for this at the garden for the last 157 days have planned a rally from Variety Square to Samvidhan Square on Monday to mark the victory of their stir.

Expressing concerns over the treatment meted out to widows, the members campaigning for protection of rights and dignity of widows have demanded that a law be enacted for the purpose.

The state convener of ‘Vidhva Mahila Sanman va Sanrakshan’ campaign, Raju Shirsath along with others have presented a memorandum to district collectorate appealing to take urgent steps for enacting the law.

The members said that the agitation would continue in the peaceful and democratic manner till it gathered a pace and became a momentum or the government enacted the law for the protection of widows.

A separate department to address all issues pertaining to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has been demanded by the SME Chamber of India andMaharashtraIndustry Development Association.

The representation cited harassment and extortion threats the SMEs face from local goons, harassment by Mathadi kamgaars and other unregistered labour unions, transporters, recruitment agencies run by politicians, and interference from politicians and party workers, who disturb business activities and manufacturing operations.

A separate department could help set up a mechanism to promote exports and revival of sick units, and enable sale of shut units.

The Centre on Monday launched the horticultureCluster Development Programme(CDP) in order to promote the export of horticultural produce, identifying 12 out of a total of 53clustersfor implementation in a pilot phase.

The identified clusters for implementation of CDP in the first phase include Shopian (J&K) and Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh) for apple; Lucknow (UP), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar () for mango; Anantpur (AP) and Theni (TN) for banana; Nasik (Maharashtra) for grapes; Siphahijala (Tripura) for pineapple; Solapur (Maharashtra) and Chitradurga (Karnataka) for pomegranate and West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for turmeric.

Based on the learnings from the pilot project, the programme will be scaled up to cover all the 53 clusters in the next 5-7 years.

The CDP will be implemented by theNational Horticulture Board(NHB) through Cluster Development Agencies (CDAs) which are appointed on the recommendations of the respective state/UT government.

Deputy Chief Minister of MaharashtraDevendra Fadnavisrevealed a statue ofChhatrapati Shivaji MaharajinMauritius. He highlighted Maharashtras potential as a leading industrial and destination in India at the Indo-Mauritius Business Forum and signed an MoU to promote trade betweenMauritiusandMaharashtra.

Fadnavis attended a cultural event with Mauritius Prime MinisterPravind Jugnauthand will meet with members of the Maharashtrian community.

During his visit to Mauritius, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis unveiled a statue of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and emphasized that our existence today is indebted to Shivaji Maharaj.