Heavy showers pound Mumbai, Thane; 3 killed in rain-related incidents

Agencies
June 25, 2018

Mumbai, Jun 25: The Southwest Monsoon picked up momentum in Mumbai, bringing heavy showers that claimed three lives in the city and adjoining Thane, officials said today.

Heavy rains lashed the metropolis and Thane district throughout the night and continued this morning, causing water-logging at several places and slowing the movement of suburban trains, thus causing inconvenience to office-goers.

Two persons were killed last evening when a tree fell on them near Metro Cinema in south Mumbai, said an official from the disaster management unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

A 13-year-old boy was killed and his parents were injured when an adjacent wall collapsed on their house at Wadol village in Ambernath taluka of Thane around 2.15 am today, the district civic body's regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.

In another incident, a 65-feet compound wall of a housing complex in Thane city collapsed this morning, crushing two cars and another vehicle, he said.

The district received 229.81 mm rain in the last 24 hours, Kadam added.

In Mumbai, a huge part of a compound caved-in at Antop Hill area in Wadala. Around 15 cars were damaged with some vehicles getting buried under the debris, an official of the BMC's disaster management cell said.

No casualty was reported in the incident, he said.

"The fire brigade and Mumbai police officials have reached the spot and are assessing the situation," he added.

Mumbai received 231.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here said.

"The Santacruz weather station recorded 231.4 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. So much rainfall is categorised as extremely heavy showers," IMD Mumbai Director Ajay Kumar told PTI.

"This is the first extremely heavy rainfall recorded in Mumbai in the current season," he said.

The rain intensity has gone up since yesterday afternoon and is expected to continue further, he said.

Owing to the heavy showers, several parts of the city, like Dharavi, Sion, Matunga, Hindmata, Malad, Kurla, Andheri subway, Bhandup, Worli and Lower Parel, were flooded with water up to two to three feet, and vehicles got stuck in some places.

"Traffic has been diverted from Sion, King's circle, National College in Bandra, Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon, Chembur Phatak, Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Milan Subway in Santacruz and Powai area of the city," a statement issued by civic body said.

A container broke down on a bridge at suburban Vikhroli near Eastern Express Highway this morning, because of which vehicular movement in the area was slow, the Mumbai Police said.

Local train services of the Central Railway (CR), Western Railway (WR) and on the Harbour Line corridor were running late by 5 to 10 minutes, officials said.

"There is some water accumulation at Sion due to continuous rains but trains are running on all three lines of the Central Railway (main line, harbour and trans-harbour) with a slight delay of 5 to 7 minutes," CR Chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi said.

The suburban main line of CR runs from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Karjat, Khopoli and Kasara, the Harbour Line runs from CSMT to Panvel and the Trans-Harbour Line is from Thane to Vashi and Panvel.

The Western Railway in a tweet said, "WR Suburban trains are running with no disruption. There is slight delay due to low visibility in some areas due to rains."

Certain diversions were made due to water-logging on few routes of bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), an official said.

The IMD has predicted heavy-to-very heavy rain in the city in the next 24 to 48 hours.

"These heavy showers are due to a cyclonic circulation over north Konkan and adjoining south Gujarat and another circulation in the Bay of Bengal. We expect the rain activity to increase in the coming week, with scattered heavy to very heavy rain on June 27 and 28 in parts of north Konkan, including Mumbai," an IMD official said.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, Apr 5: Joining efforts to fight COVID-19, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed a full-body disinfection chamber and a special face protection mask for healthcare professionals, officials said.

The special chamber called 'PSE' has been designed by Vehicle Research Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, a DRDO Laboratory.

The walk through enclosure is designed for personnel decontamination, one person at a time. It is a portable system equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser, officials said.

The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, electrically-operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for disinfecting, the DRDO said in a statement.

The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically indicating completion of operation. As per procedure, personnel undergoing disinfection will need to keep their eyes closed while inside the chamber, it said.

The system consists of roof mounted and bottom tanks with a total of 700 litres capacity. Approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required, the DRDO said.

The system has see-through glass panels on side walls for monitoring purpose and is fitted with lights for illumination during night-time operations, it added.

This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings and critical installations, officials said.

Also, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, have developed face protection mask for healthcare professionals handling COVID-19 patients, the DRDO added.

Its light weight construction makes it convenient for comfortable wear for long duration. This design uses commonly available A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) film for face protection, it said.

One thousand face shields are being produced daily in TBRL and provided to Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, it said.

Similarly, 100 are produced at RCI and these have been handed over to Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Hyderabad. A demand of 10,000 shields has been received from PGIMER and ESIC hospitals based on successful user trials, the DRDO added.

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News Network
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been summoned by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said on Monday.

They said Ambani was asked to depose at the Enforcement Directorate office in Mumbai on Monday as his group companies are among the big entities whose loans went bad after borrowing from the crisis-hit bank.

The officials said Ambani, 60, has sought exemption from appearance on some personal grounds and he may be issued a new date.

Ambani's group companies are stated to have taken loans of about Rs 12,800 crore from the bank that turned NPAs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in a March 6 press conference that the Anil Ambani Group, Essel, ILFS, DHFL and Vodafone were among the stressed corporates Yes Bank had exposure to.

Officials said promoters of all the big companies who had taken large loans from the beleaguered bank which later turned bad are being summoned for questioning in the case to take investigation forward.

Ambani's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) upon deposition, they said.

Kapoor, 62, is at present in ED custody after he was arrested by the central probe agency early this month.

The ED has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later turned NPA.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Kochi, Apr 14: Reacting to the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac on Tuesday maintained that his state needs money more than appreciation for the work it has done to mitigate the impact of the lockdown and contain coronavirus spread.

"The only additional money that Kerala received is mere Rs 230 crore and that too for Covid-19 work. The funds we received to tide over revenue deficit is different -- we would have got it anyways," said Issac, who has been demanding more liberal financial assistance from the Centre.

"The need of the hour now is for the Centre to immediately hold a videoconference meeting with all state Finance Ministers. The Centre should borrow more money from the RBI and give it to the states. Otherise, things will be very bad, as the economy, especially rural economy, is tumbling. It needs to be checked," said the Kerala Minister.

Devasom and Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the state Cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide how to go about things till May 3.

"The coronavirus figures reveal that Kerala has done quite well. The Cabinet will decide on how we move forward after looking into the guidelines of the Centre," said Surendran.

Local Self Government Minister A.C. Moideen said that local farm produce has to reach markets as rural economy revolves around this. The Cabinet will look into this issue as well.

Health Minister K.K. Shailaja stressed the need for maintaining social distancing and asked all to see that the lockdown guidelines were strictly followed.

"Our advantage is that we have been able to contain the spread, but we still have a long way to go. Singapore is the best example -- after a slowdown in positive cases, it picked up there. So, let us all continue to maintain strict vigil and wait till Wednesday's Cabinet meet," said Shailaja.

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