Bollywood stars get municipal notice over dengue

September 26, 2015

Mumbai, Sep 26: In an aggressive attack on dengue, the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has slapped notice or initiated legal action against film stars and celebrities as well as commoners with equal zeal, officials said on Thursday.

juhi chavlaIn the past nine months, the BMC has served notice to 13,587 people and initated 866 legal cases against them for ignoring civic warnings and allowing mosquitoes to breed in their homes or neighbour hood. "Of all the dengue victims, in 80 percent of the cases, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which is responsible for spreading dengue, has been found in the homes or in the immediate vicinity. Besides, in 70 percent of the cases, mosquito breeding sites have been discovered in posh areas like Malabar Hill, Juhu etc.," an official said.

In an effort to control the dangers of dengue, the BMC has now served notice to film stars Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Jeetendra Kapoor and singer Amit Kumar. Officials said breeding sites in plastic sheets, decorative mud pots and other odd articles were found in the homes and in the vicinity of the homes of these four Bollywood personalities.

The homes of other prominent personalities like Amitabh Bachchan (four bungalows), Ranjeet, Mahesh Bhatt, Shilpa Shetty and Shabana Azmi were also surveyed but no mosquito breeding sites were found there.These dengue and malaria breedings sites were among the whopping 5,611 breeding sites which came to light in a survey of 6.27 million homes in the city in the past nine months.

The BMC has also imposed and collected penalties of Rs.2.33 million. In September alone, as many as 1,953 breeding sites were discovered and destroyed, of which 1,773 were in buildings in posh localities and just 180 were in slums.

As per BMC data, this year, there were three deaths due to dengue and another 469 confirmed cases, while last year there were 860 cases and 12 deaths.The BMC has taken up regular fogging, removing stagnant water collected in low-lying areas, pesticides and other measures to control the mosquito menace and urged the public to take precautions.

It has repeated its earlier warnings that dengue mosquitoes thrive in clean accumulated water and urged people to change such water in drums, tanks etc. every week, and wipe all utensils with clean cloth.

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News Network
April 19,2020

Mumbai, Apr 19: It is important to stay united and have faith in each other to fight the coronavirus pandemic, veteran lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar said on Sunday, expressing concerns over the attack on healthcare workers and cases of communal tension in the country.

In a video shared by Akhtar's wife, veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Twitter, the writer urged people to stand together in this time of crisis.

"The country is undergoing a crisis at this point of time. To fight this crisis called coronavirus, it is important for us to be united. If we will keep suspecting each other or won't understand each other's intentions, there will be no unity, then how will we fight it?

"You must salute these doctors who are endangering their lives to test you. Unless you get tested, you will not know whether you have the disease or not. You can be treated only after that. It's a matter of stupidity that, I've heard, people are pelting stones on those doctors. This should not be done," Akhtar said in the 2 minute-long clip.

The 75-year-old lyricist also said that targeting a particular community defeats the goal of unity.

"I also hear that shops of a particular community are being shut, 'thelas' are being overturned or people are hit so that they can flee. This is not how unity works. We will have to believe each other. We all are citizens of this country," he said.

Akhtar appealed to the Muslim community to offer prayers from home in the holy month of Ramzan, which will begin from April 24 or April 25.

"I request all the Muslim brothers that now that Ramzan is coming, please say your prayers but make sure that this doesn't cause problems to anyone else. The prayers that you do in the mosque, you can do that at home. According to you, the house, the ground, this all has been made by Him. Then you can do your prayers anywhere," he said.

"Ensure that your speech, slogans and deeds don't create any suspicion in the minds of others. And to all the other citizens of the country, I'd say please have faith in each other, practice unity, don't resort to hatred. Only with the help of love and trust, we will be able to fight with the coronavirus," he added.

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News Network
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: Joining other big names from the industry in raising the awareness about the novel coronavirus, actor Katrina Kaif on Sunday ensured the safety and urged everyone to take all the preventive measures to combat the spread of the virus.

The 36-year-old actor shared a post on Instagram along with a caption that read: "..... hope everyone is staying safe ... please follow all precautionary safety measures as recommended by the health professionals .... exercise and meditation help your body`s immune system ... keep your environment clean and happy."

In the shared post, she is seen posing for the camera along with her girlfriends, all seen in happy faces.

Earlier in the day actor Parineeti Chopra too took to Twitter and urged her fans to adopt social distancing to stop the highly contagious virus from spreading.

This comes three days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced coronavirus as a global pandemic.

In the wake of spurt in cases of coronavirus across the country, the Central Government on Saturday decided to treat the deadly virus as a "notified disaster".

As of Sunday, the total cases of coronavirus reported in India is 107, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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News Network
July 26,2020

Mumbai, Jul 26: Just days after actor Kangana Ranaut made some claims on Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case and asked why the Mumbai police is not summoning some people of the Hindi film industry, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday said that film director Mahesh Bhatt and Karan Johar's manager will be called for the questioning.

"Tomorrow Mahesh Bhatt will be called for questioning and we will later call Karan Johar's manager too. If required Karan Johar can also be called for the questioning in Sushant Singh Rajput case," he said while speaking to news agency.

A day Rajput's suicide, Kangana had released a two-minute video speaking highly of the deceased actor and accusing certain sections of the film industry for not acknowledging the star's talent.

Kangana had also claimed that some of the last social media posts by the actor made it evident that he was struggling to survive in the industry.

According to the police, statements of 39 people, including film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.

Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14.

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