QMumbai: Gudi Padwa Plastic Bag Ban; Boy Abused in Chembur School

BMC gives eviction notice to dilapidated nursing home and other stories.

1. State Bans Plastic Bags From Gudi Padwa

Twelve years after the first ban on plastic bags in the state failed, the environment ministry has decided to ban them again from the Gudi Padwa (March next year).

Environment minister Ramdas Kadam announced the ban after holding a meeting with key government officials on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended, among others, by additional chief secretary (environment) Satish Gavai and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board chief P Anbalagan. Kadam said that the alternative to plastic bags would be decided soon. He also asked his department to find out if the women self-help groups could stitch cloth bags and present them as an alternative to plastic bags.

The ban will be imposed in a phased manner in the state.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

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2. Boy Stalked, Bullied, Sexually Abused by Schoolmate, School Does Nothing

A Std VI student of a convent school in Chembur, who was sexually assaulted in the school toilet by a senior last month, is not doing well. Traumatised and living in constant fear, the 11-year-old has been undergoing psychiatric treatment. His parents had filed a police complaint against the unidentified boy after the August 5 incident. They have now alleged that the accused assaulted and threatened their son again recently, but the school authorities have turned a blind eye to it all.

It's not monsters under the bed or fear of a bogeyman for this student; his every waking moment is filled with dread for and images of the "masked boy", as he calls him, because the accused wore a mask during the assaults.

(Source: Mid-Day)

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3. BMC Asks Dilapidated Nursing Home Residents to Vacate in 24 Hours

A nursing home and diagnostic centre at Masjid Bunder in B ward has been declared dangerous as a C1 Category structure. Doctors and staffers are now trying to figure out what to do with the patients admitted there.

The BMC issued a second eviction notice yesterday to the charitable nursing home after the structural audit report revealed its condition as "extremely dilapidated and dangerous". The one-storeyed structure is owned by civic body's education department; it has been occupied by the The Muslim Ambulance Society, which has been running the diagnostic centre there since 1988.

The centre has more than 20 beds for dialysis patients, who are treated at concessional rates.

(Source: Mid-Day)

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4. After Results, Students to Wait for Re-Evaluation

After having waited for their results for months on end, students at the University of Mumbai stare at another long wait as they make a beeline for re-evaluation in the wake of results marred with errors.

Top varsity officials on Monday, in a press conference, announced that the total number of re-evaluation applications received has surpassed 22,000, with a majority of them from engineering students. The number is expected to go up as the full extent of the count is yet to be ascertained.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

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5. Sachin Bats for M-East

NGOs Apnalaya and Mumbai First have joined hands with the BMC to launch Mission 24, a project to provide clean water, affordable healthcare, and education to M-East Ward, which includes areas such as Govandi and Mankhurd.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who supports Apnalaya, was at the BMC headquarters yesterday to launch the project.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)

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6. Card Cloning Crooks Strike Again in Mumbra

Sunday was ruined for at least 20 residents of Mumbra after they all received alarming text messages from their bank, informing them that someone was emptying their account, Rs 10,000 at a time. All 20 received the message between 5 and 6 pm and most of the withdrawals were made from an ATM in Kalyan West, suggesting that a card cloning gang is behind the theft.

Munnavar Hafiz Sayed, 37, was out shopping around 5 pm when he received four messages in succession, each one informing him that Rs 10,000 had been withdrawn from his account. "There was Rs 41,300 in my ICICI account, and a total of Rs 40,000 was removed. I contacted the customer care number and blocked my card," he said.

(Source: Mid-Day)

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7. 300 CCTVs to Keep an Eye on You at the Byculla Zoo

The surge in visitors at the Byculla zoo ever since an enclosure housing seven Humboldt penguins was opened on March 18, has posed a challenge for zoo officials. Unable to manually manage the large crowds, the civic body has decided to install CCTV cameras across the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo. According to the authorities, there has been a four-fold rise in the number of visitors since March.

In order to prevent untoward incidents, the civic authorities plan to monitor movement inside the Byculla zoo.

(Source: Mid-Day)

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