Navi Mumbai International Airport formally launched its overseas operations on Wednesday

Abu Dhabi: At 2.55am (IST) Wednesday, Air India Express flight IX 207 to Abu Dhabi lifted off from Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), becoming the first international commercial flight to depart from the city’s long-awaited second airport and formally launching its overseas operations.The historic departure was marked by a ceremonial send-off. Three “Follow Me” vehicles escorted the eight-month-old Boeing 737 aircraft in an arrowhead formation as it taxied to the runway of the seven-month-old airport. Back at the international terminal, ground staff lined up in a guard of honour, watching the aircraft accelerate into the night sky.Shortly after take-off, Captain Shapoor Irani informed passengers that the aircraft would pass over the Elephanta Caves and south Mumbai before heading across the Arabian Sea. About one hour and 40 minutes into the flight, it entered Muscat airspace before descending into Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport roughly 30 minutes later. The moderately full flight, with only a handful of empty seats, landed at around 4.15am local time.For now, the thrice-weekly Air India Express service will remain NMIA’s only international route. Airport officials said no additional overseas flights are expected before September.“One international carrier has booked slots beginning in September. Other airlines, including IndiGo, have expressed interest, but no additional slots have been confirmed yet,” an airport official said.The launch comes at a time of heightened uncertainty in Middle East aviation after the ceasefire between Iran and the US-backed coalition fell through just days ago, reviving concerns over regional stability and airline operations. “Once the regional situation stabilises, we hope airlines will begin operating more services from this airport,” a senior terminal official said. “Airlines operate on very thin margins, and stability will encourage carriers to expand.”NMIA is banking on a catchment area extending beyond the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. “We expect to draw international passengers all the way from Pune. Since the Missing Link has become operational, travel time between Pune and Navi Mumbai has reduced significantly, making this airport an attractive alternative for overseas travellers,” an airport official said.Inside the terminal, NMIA has commissioned 66 conventional check-in counters and 22 self-service kiosks serving both domestic and international passengers. Some facilities, however, are still awaiting regulatory approvals. “There is presently no smoking area. The smoking lounge is pending security approval,” an airport official said.The passenger processing sequence also differs from Mumbai’s existing international airport. At Navi Mumbai, immigration formalities are completed before security screening. Officials said passengers wishing to leave the airport after clearing immigration— because of an emergency, a delayed flight or any other reason — would have to first cancel their immigration clearance, a process that could take several hours.The terminal’s duty-free outlet also recorded its first customers. An oilfield worker became its inaugural shopper after purchasing chocolates before boarding the flight, while the second customer, a businessman, bought perfumes and souvenirs worth several thousand rupees.NMIA currently has 72 aircraft parking bays, including seven capable of accommodating wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Boeing 767 at the cargo terminal, although no scheduled wide-body passenger operations are planned immediately.The airport currently has the capacity to process around 2,500 passengers every hour.

Thane: Police have registered a case against an advertising agency and a structural engineer following the collapse of a hoarding in Maharashtra’s Thane city, officials said on Wednesday.The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) had also revoked the permission granted to the advertising agency for putting up a hoarding in view of the incident which occurred on July 6, they said.The authorised cantilever-type advertising hoarding erected on a road divider crashed in the Subhash Nagar area of Vartak Nagar. No casualties were reported, the officials said.Taking serious note of the safety lapse, the TMC cancelled the permission for the hoarding. A case has been registered against the advertising agency and the structural engineer concerned under Section 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for endangering the life or personal safety of others, the civic body said in a release.The agency had been granted permission to erect the structure under the TMC’s intersection beautification scheme in exchange for developing various junctions across the city. The firm had submitted a fresh structural stability certificate on June 6, issued by a structural engineer following an audit.Since the hoarding collapsed despite possessing a valid stability certificate, a detailed inquiry has been initiated into the matter, the TMC said.Following the crash, the TMC launched a drive to inspect all authorised hoardings across Thane. During the inspection, hoardings at two locations were found to be in a dangerous condition, prompting their immediate removal, it said.Strict instructions have been issued to all advertisement licensees in the city to check the structural strength of their hoardings, dismantle advertising sheets during the monsoon as required, and ensure the safety of all electrical illumination and wiring, it added.On July 13, a massive birthday banner collapsed from a foot overbridge near Mulund Check Naka in Thane.

Cases of other vector-borne diseases also surged during the same period

Mumbai: H1N1 cases in the city between Jan and mid-July this year rose to 113 from 41 reported during the same period last year, according to data released by BMC’s health department. Doctors attributed this sharp rise to erratic weather patterns that have created a conducive environment for viral transmission.While the majority of the cases remained mild, hospitals reported increased severity among patients over the age of 60 and those with underlying comorbidities, with some requiring ventilator support.Cases of other vector-borne diseases also surged during the same period: malaria from 3,115 to 3,681, dengue from 734 to 938, and leptospirosis from 136 to 157. These diseases typically surge as the monsoon progresses. However, BMC’s health department was unable to provide a monthly breakdown of the data.Dr Hemalata Arora, an infectious diseases expert at Nanavati Hospital, said the city has experienced abrupt weather swings characterised by high temperatures and humidity. “Viruses thrive in these conditions,” she said.Although H1N1 has begun to show a downward trend, Dr Gautam Bhansali, a consultant physician at Bombay Hospital, said the season for chikungunya and dengue cases has begun. “We are seeing patients with joints pain, fever and vomiting, which are common in chikungunya. There have also been a few suspected leptospirosis cases,” he said.Dr Anita Mathews, an infectious diseases expert at Fortis Hospital, said due to changing weather patterns and an increase in construction activity, malaria and dengue are no longer largely restricted to the rainy months and are now seen almost throughout the year in varying numbers.While plasmodium falciparum malaria is considered more life-threatening than plasmodium vivax, Dr Arora said there have been severe cases of plasmodium vivax across all age groups. For instance, a 19-year-old plasmodium vivax malaria patient was referred to the hospital after developing a hospital-acquired infection and gram-negative sepsis. “It was followed by Guillain-Barré syndrome as a post-infection complication,” she said.

Navi Mumbai: A newly married couple returning to their Mumbai Central home with family from a Goa trip ended in tragedy. The bride, the groom’s mother, his cousin, and the family driver died in an SUV crash along the Mumbai-Goa highway. Allegedly speeding along at 140 kmph, the SUV crashed into the rear of a dumper truck parked on the extreme left lane of the highway near Shanti Nagar at Lanja, Ratnagiri, around 7 am on Wednesday. The groom sustained severe injuries to his neck and has been admitted to a private hospital.The impact of the crash was such that after hitting the right side of the truck’s rear, the SUV yanked off the highway and somersaulted twice, during which time three members of the family got flung out of the SUV,which came to a halt after further crashing into the highway median at a distance of about 50 metres. The SUV was severely mangled, due to which the woman’s son and the chauffeur had to be extricated from it. The chauffeur was declared brought dead at Lanja Rural Hospital.The deceased have been identified as Yasmin Mohammad Irfan Qureshi, 54; her daughter-in-law Fiza Anas Qureshi, 27; her nephew Mohammad Anas Irfan Qureshi, 15; and driver Mustafa Alfaz Kafi, 24, who hailed from Jamnagar in Gujarat. The injured was identified as Anas Irfan Qureshi, 31, Fiza’s husband.The family, which is in the garments business, lived in the Doodhwala Complex, opposite the City Centre Mall, near the Mumbai Central railway station.Anas and Fiza who got married 20 days ago took along his ailing mother and cousin.Anas will be brought to Mumbai and admitted in a hospital in the city.“The family earlier stayed at Bhendi Bazaar and came to reside in Doodhwala Complex just six months ago. Anas and Fiza got married on June 25. This is a very sad incident,” said Dr S A Qureshi, secretary of the Doodhwala CHS. Dr Qureshi and the Qureshis are not related to each other.Qureshi’s elder sister Aafreen and her husband Ashfaque Lashkaria, along with other relatives, reached Ratnagiri and were busy in the legal formalities. The deceased would be buried at the Marine Lines Muslim Bada Qabrastan, said Dr Qureshi.Qureshi’s father, Irfan, passed away around 16 years ago.Neelkanth Bagale, police inspector of Lanja, said Dr Swaroop Eklure, who has a clinic and a residence in Shanti Nagar, reported the accident, as he was at the nearby petrol pump. After the police team reached the accident spot, Dr Eklure and other locals helped the police extricate the driver and Anas from the SUV.Inspector Bagale said, “Upon inspection of the SUV, the speedometer was found locked at 140 kmph. In the Konkan region, even speeding at 70-80 kmph is risky, especially on the Goa highway. The dumper truck was parked on the extreme left of the highway since Tuesday night due to a breakdown. The dumper driver had even kept tree branches on the truck’s rear and side and kept the parking indicator on to signal vehicles coming from behind. However, the SUV was speeding at such a speed that the driver lost control and, veering off the highway, crashed into the dumper truck’s rear, causing the fatal accident. An FIR under the BNS and MV Act sections will be registered against the dumper truck’s driver for allegedly dangerously parking the vehicle along the highway, which resulted in the crashing of the SUV into its rear, causing the fatal accident.”

Mumbai law colleges face significant fines for a new state government admission requirement (File photo)

MUMBAI: A majority of law colleges across Mumbai are in a bind over a new state govt requirement that makes the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) recognition letter mandatory for participation in the CET cell’s admission process.Due to a procedural mismatch between the two statutory authorities, Mumbai University (MU) and the BCI, private colleges are forced to pay a fine of up to Rs 8 lakh to obtain BCI approval.Colleges now plan to meet the higher education minister, Chandrakant Patil, to seek a relaxation of the requirement. Meanwhile, 30 colleges, which were denied affiliation certificates, are yet to get relief from the MU.Together, the two issues have raised concerns over delays in this year’s admission process.A principal said ‘the university’s affiliation certificate for the academic session was issued to several colleges only recently, when the BCI process required them to upload the certificate by Dec 31’.“Although the delay is entirely beyond the control of the colleges, the BCI is levying a late fee fine for delayed compliance, which is Rs 4 lakh per programme. Colleges offering both the 3-year and the 5-year LLB are burdened with an unfair financial liability of Rs 8 lakh,” they mentioned in a letter to Patil.The MU, in a letter written to the BCI, mentioned that the affiliation certificates are granted in June every year, as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016. MU, therefore, appealed to the council to exempt colleges from the imposition of a late fee.No relaxation has been granted by the BCI yet.The problem is faced only by private and unaided colleges that have to seek extension of affiliation from the university every year. Most aided colleges, which enjoy permanent affiliation, have already obtained the BCI recognition letter.Earlier the BCI followed a manual process.Though similar clashes between the timelines of the two statutory authorities have occurred in the past, the shift to an online approval process two years ago has made it even more difficult for colleges, said a principal.“It will be a recurring problem in Maharashtra universities. Either the universities will have to issue the affiliation certificates before Dec 31, or the BCI will have to extend their deadline,” he added.