Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe on Saturday stressed the need for “independence” in the food people consume, saying it should be healthy, safe and standardised rather than merely tasty.Speaking to reporters on Independence Day, Mundhe said the quality of food has a direct impact on public health and the country’s overall progress.“On Independence Day, I wish we shall have independence in the food we consume. The food should be good for our health, standardised, safe and not just tasty,” he said.Highlighting the link between healthy eating and national development, Mundhe added, “If we follow it, we will have good health, and if we consistently remain healthy, our country will also become one and progress further.”The FDA commissioner underscored the importance of consuming safe and quality food to ensure better health outcomes and contribute to the nation’s growth.

The civic improvements committee approved leasing BMC’s Century Mill land for thirty years.

MUMBAI: BMC’s proposal to lease its 6.17-acre Century Mill land in Lower Parel to Peddar Realty Ltd for 30 years, with an option to extend the lease by another 30 years, was approved by the civic improvements committee on Friday.The proposal drew opposition from Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, who said BMC was getting a raw deal on land it had reclaimed after prolonged litigation. They said the valuable parcel should have been used for a public amenity.Sena (UBT) corporator Vishakha Raut said the BMC should have at least ensured that the mill workers’ families got larger homes under the proposal. Sena (UBT) corporator Sachin Padwal asked why BMC had not made greater efforts to attract more bidders and whether the terms and conditions had been altered to favour a particular developer.After the proposal was cleared, Padwal and fellow corporator Vitthal Lokre tore up copies of the proposal in protest.Improvements committee chairperson Sandhya Doshi said efforts would be made to give mill workers’ families, who are Marathi people, homes at the same location.The committee also approved a proposal to delete the existing reservation for a sports complex/stadium on a portion of a plot in Mulund East and replace it with a petrol pump.The committee also approved a proposal to club nearly 9,000 sq m of BMC land in Lower Parel with an SRA scheme. In the arrangement, BMC will receive 189 rehabilitation flats and a 25% land premium.

IndiGo deplaned more than 100 passengers and removed two bags belonging to Anuj Jayaram Suvarna, a Versova resident travelling to Delhi for work. (Representative image)

MUMBAI: City police arrested a 55-year-old passenger who was deboarded from an IndiGo Mumbai-Delhi flight after allegedly joking there was a bomb in his bag, delaying the aircraft by about an hour on Aug 9.The incident took place on flight 6E333, scheduled to depart Mumbai at 8am. IndiGo deplaned more than 100 passengers and removed two bags belonging to Anuj Jayaram Suvarna, a Versova resident travelling to Delhi for work.After security checks of the aircraft and baggage, the flight departed at 9am without him.According to a complaint by airline assistant security manager Omprakash Rajbhar, staff were checking hand baggage and asking passengers about prohibited items.When asked whether his bag contained items such as a lighter, scissors, nail cutter, liquid or spray, Suvarna allegedly replied that it contained a bomb.Sahar police said the matter was reported to senior airline staff and the CISF, after which Suvarna was taken for questioning and handed over to police. IndiGo declared him an unruly passenger, and police said he may be blacklisted by the airline.An FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 125, for acts endangering human life or safety, and 351(2), for criminal intimidation. DCP Nimit Goyal said Suvarna claimed he made the remark as a joke. He was later released on bailThe incident occurred amid heightened security at major Indian airports ahead of Independence Day, with stricter checks expected until around Aug 20 at several key hubs

Suspension orders have been given to two Blinkit stores in Malad West and Ghatkopar, three of Instamart in Bandra West, Azad Nagar in Andheri West and Andheri East, three of Zepto in Andheri West’s Lokhandwala, Mulund and Goregaon, Bhagwati Stores in Jogeshwari.

MUMBAI: FDA on Friday suspended the food business licences of 14 quick-commerce delivery outlets across the state, including nine in the city, after hygiene violations were found during inspections.Suspension orders have been given to two Blinkit stores in Malad West and Ghatkopar, three of Instamart in Bandra West, Azad Nagar in Andheri West and Andheri East, three of Zepto in Andheri West’s Lokhandwala, Mulund and Goregaon, Bhagwati Stores in Jogeshwari.Bollywood Cafe, Studio Number 13, within Film City in Goregaon was fined for heavy fly infestation, sewage, filth and food residues in the kitchen. FDA officials said a hearing over the matter would be held in the coming days.At Blinkit’s Malad West and Ghatkopar stores, food safety officers found severe cockroach infestations, uncleaned storage racks, rotten vegetables, damaged ceilings, open toilet doors, expired packaged foods, temperature control failures and poor waste management.The required medical records of workers and drinking water test reports were missing.The three city stores of Zepto violated temperature norms for frozen items, stored hazardous chemicals alongside food products, and showed a severe lack of pest control.Instamart’s Andheri and Bandra hubs had rat droppings, broken pest-proofing, dusty air curtains and congested floor stacking.In all, 86 outlets were inspected. One of Blinkit’s in Karad was told to halt commercial operations and 60 were issued improvement notices.

Mumbai: In a relief for nearly 3,000 community health workers (CHV) engaged by the BMC, the Bombay High Court held that they are entitled to receive minimum wages.“Though branded as volunteers, CHVs almost work as workers of the municipal corporation. They do not merely ‘volunteer’ in a real sense but actually discharge vital duties for the municipal corporation for reward…The denial of minimum wages to CHVs is clearly against the legislative objective of the Minimum Wages Act,” said Justice Sandeep Marne on Thursday.He dismissed BMC’s petitions against Sept 7, 2020 order passed by the authority under the Act directing it to pay difference between the minimum wages and honorarium already paid to CHVs. Advocate for CHVs said following the state’s Feb 24, 2015 notification for paying minimum wages, CHVs moved the authority. BMC’s advocates, in the absence of employer-employee relationship, there is no question paying minimum wages. CHVs are currently receiving Rs 14,000 monthly honorarium for five hours services daily.Justice Marne said “mere branding of wages paid to the CHVs as ‘honorarium’ would not deny them the status of ‘employees’ for the purpose of payment of minimum wages.” He also said the mere grant of minimum wages does not make CHVs entitled to any other benefits nor can they claim absorption/ permanency in municipal service.He noted that CHVs were hired as part of 1998 World Bank funded project to supplement BMC’s health services and family welfare programme. “There appears to be no reason why the municipal corporation would discontinue offering health related services to the community. It is a commonly known fact that 40% of Mumbai city resides in slums,’’ he added. Justice Marne refused to stay the judgment for six weeks.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal claimed that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was not accepting the reality of the closure of businesses in the state, as revealed in Lok Sabha, and was making a desperate attempt to deny it.Sapkal claimed that as many as 36,211 private companies in the state have shut down over the past five financial years, including 12,181 companies in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, which is extremely alarming. Sapkal said: “Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra provided the information on the number of companies that have shut down in Maharashtra in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. It has emerged that the Mumbai–Pune–Nashik belt has recorded the highest number of company closures.”Sapkal stated that the BJP-led Mahayuti govt’s claims of attracting investments worth lakhs of crores of rupees and creating employment opportunities exist only on paper, while corruption, commission-seeking and the hooliganism of people close to those in power are forcing industries in Maharashtra to shut down or relocate to other states.Sapkal said, “Fadnavis claims that the companies that have shut down are merely ‘defunct companies’, but the realty is that these companies became defunct and subsequently closed down.”He also demanded that govt cancel the decision to allot 1,500 acres of govt land on lease in Ahilyanagar district to a private company, allegedly close to a minister, for non-agricultural use for 50 years.

Mumbai: Flagging the growing population of stray dogs, Bombay high court on Friday asked the state govt to “aggressively” implement the animal birth control (ABC) programme.“Instead of trying to catch hold of the growing number of dogs, you have to catch hold of the adult dogs so that it is ensured that they are sterilised… If you stop the growth, the rest falls in line,” said Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam.The court was hearing a suo motu petition following Supreme Court’s May 19 judgement where it refused the pleas of animal lovers and rights groups to stay its order for removal of stray dogs from public institutions including hospitals, schools and colleges. SC had directed HCs to register a suo motu case to monitor the implementation of its order by state and union territory govts and ensure compliance within their jurisdiction.The judges said the state administration must realise that if it implements the ABC programme “aggressively”, there will be no growth of stray dog population. If every dog is sterilised through the programme, there will be no procreation. The judges emphasised the need to catch hold of adult dogs for sterilisation. “If there is no birth of puppies later, then you are nipping the disease in the bud. Otherwise… you will start trying to find out what is to be done about stray dogs, anti-rabies, this, that,” said Justice Ghuge.The judges pointed out that if the population growth of dogs is stopped, then other tasks become easy. “But if the population is growing, then your problems are growing. You have to basically concentrate on the ABC programme. Once that is vigorously implemented, there is no further growth of dogs,” said Justice Ghuge. The judges said in the first place, the state should stop the growth of the stray dog population, “so that one major problem is resolved.”The state’s advocate O A Chandurkar said the state’s affidavit mentions the ABC programme. The judges granted him time to place on record a further compliance affidavit and adjourned the hearing to Sept 11.

EOW deployed its personnel who posed as decoys and invested money in the ponzi scheme operated by the company, AI Origin or Digital Origin, which also has a website

Mumbai: Following a month-long undercover operation, the city EOW busted a Rs 30-crore ponzi scheme and arrested four of the main accused, who had, in the last one year, allegedly collected more than Rs 30 crore from gullible investors, promising 7-8% monthly returns.EOW deployed its personnel who posed as decoys and invested money in the ponzi scheme operated by the company, AI Origin or Digital Origin, which also has a website. The company illegally accepted investments without obtaining any licence/registration from competent authorities like RBI and SEBI, said an officer, adding: “The payment plans began from Rs 1,500.”“The accused, who posed as civic contractors keen to invest in gaming apps and cryptocurrency, had taken 60 people to Thailand and convinced them to bring in more investors,” added the police officer.EOW arrested the company’s chairman and executive director Shrikrishna Chavan, executive director Ankush Parte, director Subhash Pandere and agent Sudesh Mohite earlier this week. Police seized Rs 12 lakh, two cars, passbooks of nine bank accounts, and seven laptop/ desktops during searches at the offices in Ghatkopar, Goregaon, and Vasai.EOW DCP Sangramsinh Nishandar said the accused had conducted several seminars and met people in various parts of the state and lured them with the promise of high returns. “Our economic intelligence unit personnel received information about this company. Undercover police personnel from this unit infiltrated and became members of this scheme. They collected all the information and we registered a case and arrested the accused,” he said.