The Indian Express

The three police jurisdictions of Pune district have geared up for the Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar Palkhi processions which are taking place on a full scale after a gap of two years.The Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune City and Pune Rural police jurisdictions have chalked out plans that comprise heavy police deployment for crowd control, traffic diversions and various security measures for the Pandharpur Wari, the pivotal annual event for Warkari sect and a celebration which is key to Maharashtra’s cultural identity.The Palkhis or the procession of the palanquins carrying the Paduka or revered symbolic footwear of Sant Tukaram Maharaj and Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, will start their three-week-long journeys on June 20 and June 21 from the temple towns of Dehu and Alandi and are slated to reach Pandharpur on July 10.Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi is slated to embark on its journey to the pilgrimage centre at Pandharpur from the temple town of Dehu in Pune district on Monday. As per the tradition, the Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi will be halting at Inamdar Wada in Dehu at night and reach Akurdi in Pimpri Chinchwad on Tuesday. The Palkhi of Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj will begin its journey from Alandi on Tuesday. It will halt at Gandhi Wada in Alandi for the night.🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨Both processions would arrive in Pune city on Wednesday afternoon. The two Palkhis will rest in Pune on Thursday — Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi at Nivdunga Vitthal Mandir and Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Palkhi at  the Palkhi Vithoba Mandir. On Friday morning, both processions will resume their journeys from Pune towards Pandharpur.These processions are accompanied by a large number of Warkaris and devotees from across Maharashtra and even outside who take this 21 day journey on foot, either in entirety or partially. The Warkaris have already flooded Alandi and Dehu. “This time, Warkaris, numbering over 3-5 lakhs, will head from Dehu to Pandharpur,” Nitin More, who heads the Sant Tukaram Maharaj Sansthan, Dehu, said.The Pune district administration and the police are also expecting a huge turnout as the Pandharpur Wari is happening without any restrictions for the first time after two years because of the pandemic.The two starting points of the Palkhis — Dehu and Alandi town — fall within the jurisdiction of Pimpri Chinchwad police. Ankush Shinde, police commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad, said, “We have chalked out an elaborate plan for crowd control in and around the temples and on the routes of the Palkhis. Considering past incidents of theft and pickpocketing, dedicated teams have been deployed on these routes. As we have to close some roads for general traffic, arrangements have been made for traffic diversions through alternate routes. We are also deploying drone cameras for monitoring the passage of processions on their respective routes.”On Tuesday, the movement of heavy vehicles from Dehu Phata to Bhakti Shakti Chowk will be diverted via Dehu Phata to Katraj Bypass from 6 am. Traffic from Bhakti Shakti Chowk to Dehu Phata will be routed via Khandoba Mal, officials said.Joint Commissioner of Police for Pune City Police jurisdiction, Sandeep Karnik, said, “Around 4,000 officers and personnel will be deployed all along the routes and at places of halt for the Palkhis in Pune City. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad will be deployed for conducting checks. Quick response teams will also be on stand-by. Dedicated teams from the crime branch will be pressed into action to prevent cases of thefts, pickpocketing and chain snatching. Traffic diversions have been enforced in Pune City to ensure that the Palkhi routes are isolated from traffic and at same time commuters can use alternate routes.”

Times of India

NEW DELHI: States and Union territories have been asked to submit "larger number" of samples for whole genome sequencing from districts and areas which have seen a surge in Covid-19 cases over a period of seven days, official sources said on Saturday. The direction was issued during Friday's meeting by the INSACOG which reviewed the Covid-19 data to check the possibility of any new emerging variant or sub-variant and ascertain the reasons behind the breakthrough infections. "The idea behind asking states and Union territories to send larger number of samples is to keep a closer watch over the current circulating sublineagues of Omicron and its correlation to the current epidemiological picture," an official said. "Also, we want to see if we are missing out any important clues regarding newer sub variants during routine sequencing through the sentinel surveillance," the official added. As on date, 10 states and Union territories -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat have over 1,000 cases. "The last review meeting that there is no variant of concern in the country as of now. India now has BA.4 and BA.5 in addition to BA.2 which have slightly higher transmissibility as compared to other Omicron sub lineages," the official said. The INSACOG is a joint initiative of the Department of Biotechnology under the ministries of science and technology, and health to carry out genome sequencing of the virus to understand how it spreads and evolves. Thirty-two districts in India including 11 from Kerala and five from Maharashtra are reporting a weekly Covid positivity rate of more than 10 per cent while in 35 districts including 9 from Delhi, the weekly positivity is between 5 and 10 per cent, sources said. India logged a single day rise of 13,216 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,32,83,793, while the active cases have increased to 68,108, according to health ministry data updated on Saturday morning. The death toll has climbed to 5,24,840 with 23 new fatalities. According to health experts although there is a rise in cases, there is no associated increase in hospitalisation or deaths. Also, the increase is limited to limited to a few districts. The complacency among people towards following Covid-appropriate behaviour in addition to people not being enthusiastic about taking precaution doses possibly has increased the pool of susceptible population. In addition, there is an increased mobility due to summer holidays, easing of travel restrictions - both nationally and internationally - and full-fledged opening up of economic activities, because of which there is spread of infection among vulnerable individuals.

The Indian Express

AS Covid-19 cases rise, the Maharashtra health department has focused on stepping up genome surveillance and vaccination. Dr Nitin Ambadekar, who took additional charge as state director of health (Pune), told The Indian Express that instructions have been given to step up genome sequencing of samples that test positive for both antigen and RT-PCR tests.“Currently not many samples are coming in for genome sequencing and a majority are from Mumbai and Pune,” Ambadekar said. At a recent meeting with states to discuss the coronavirus situation, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare underlined the need to strengthen surveillance at international airports and focus on whole genome sequencing to detect any mutations in the country.The Centre has pointed out that referral of samples for sequencing decreased in April and May in Maharashtra and there was also a need to deploy immediate surge sampling in Mumbai.It has also instructed metros in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune), apart from Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram, to strengthen sewage sampling to capture early signals for any surge.Dr Ambadekar, who is also the state joint director of health services (procurement cell and hospitals), told The Indian Express that efforts are underway to get more samples for genome sequencing.“We are asking laboratories to send samples if a rapid antigen test is positive followed by an RTPCR test and CT value below 25,” a state health official said.Officials said they hoped to place atleast 300 samples this week for genome sequencingat various laboratories in Pune. According to a June 13 report of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a surge in Covid-19 cases has been noted in the country and the positivity rate in the last week was at 2.21 per cent.As on June 13, a total of 47,995 active cases of Covid have been reported in the country with Maharashtra and Kerala accounting for 34 and32per cent of the new infections.The 16,370 active cases in Maharashtra are largely concentrated in Mumbai and its suburban areas as well as Pune.In Pune, the weekly Covid positivity rate (June 5-11) is 8.34 per cent while in Mumbai it is 10.28 per cent and more than 15 per cent in Mumbai suburban, as per the report.Of the 101 districts in India reporting a weekly positivity of more than 2 per cent in the week ending June 11, as many as ten are in Maharashtra.According to the latest report from WHO, globally, BA.2.12.1, BA.5 and BA.4 variants are rising in prevalence.🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨According to a report by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium(Insacog – June 3), currently 99 per cent of the samples in the country are of the Omicron variant or its micro lineages. Of the internationally flagged sub-variant BA.2.12.1 (driving the surge in North America), a few have been identified in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, but no increase has been noted. BA.4 and BA.5 (driving the surge in South Africa) have been identified in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.Ambadekar said priority is also being given to vaccination. There were not many takers in the interim as cases had come down and so, it was not a priority for many families to get the child immunised.“We have, however, urged maximum numbers and even conducted home visits to encourage families. So far 32,000 houses have been visited in the last week,” Ambadekar said.According to the latest report of National Institute of Virology, Pune, 2 more patients of BA.5 variant have been found in Thane city. One of the patients is a 25-year-old woman and the other is a 32- year-old man. They were found to be infected with Covid-19 on May 28 and May 30 and both of them recovered during home isolation.Both of these patients have been vaccinated.According to the information given by BJ Medical College in Pune, of recent samples in Maharashtra, BA.2 is the most prominent variant followed by BA.2.38.

The Indian Express

As Covid cases rise, the Maharashtra health department has focused on stepping up genome surveillance and vaccination. Dr Nitin Ambadekar, who took additional charge as state director of health (Pune) told The Indian Express that instructions have been given to step up genome sequencing of samples that test positive for both antigen and RT-PCR tests.“Currently not many samples are coming in for genome sequencing and a majority are from Mumbai and Pune,” Dr Ambadekar said. At a recent meeting with states on the coronavirus situation, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare underlined the need to strengthen surveillance at international airports and focus on whole genome sequencing to detect any mutations in the country.The Centre has pointed out that referrals of samples for sequencing decreased in April and May in Maharashtra and there was also a need to deploy immediate surge sampling in Mumbai. It has also instructed metro cities in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune), apart from Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram, to strengthen sewage sampling to capture early signals for any surge.Dr Ambadekar, who is the state joint director of health services (procurement cell and hospitals) and now has additional charge as director of health services, told The Indian Express that efforts are now being made to get more samples for genome sequencing. “We are asking laboratories to send samples after a rapid antigen test is positive followed by an RT-PCR test and CT value is ls below 25,” state health officials said. Officials pointed out that they hoped to place at least 300 samples this week for genome sequencing at various laboratories in Pune.According to a June 13 report of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a surge in Covid-19 cases has been noted in the country and the positivity rate in the last week was at 2.21 per cent. As on June 13, a total of 47,995 active cases of Covid have been reported in the country with Maharashtra and Kerala accounting for 34 and 32 per cent of the new infections.The 16,370 active cases in Maharashtra are largely concentrated in Mumbai and its suburban areas as well as Pune. In Pune, the weekly Covid positivity rate (June 5-11) is 8.34 per cent while in Mumbai it is 10.28 per cent and more than 15 per cent in Mumbai suburban, as per the report.Of the 101 districts in India reporting a weekly positivity of more than 2% in the week ending June 11, as many as ten are in Maharashtra. According to the latest report from WHO, globally, BA.2.12.1, BA.5 and BA.4 variants are rising in prevalence.According to a report by the Indian SARS-CoV -2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog – June 3), currently 99 per cent of the samples in the country are of the Omicron variant or its microlineages. Of the internationally flagged sub-variant BA.2.12.1 (driving the surge in North America), a few have been identified in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, but no increase has been noted. BA.4 and BA.5 (driving the surge in South Africa) have been identified in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.Dr Ambadekar said priority is also being given to vaccination. There were not many takers in the interim as cases had come down and hence it was not a priority for many families to get the child immunised. “We have, however, urged maximum numbers and even conducted home visits to encourage families. So far 32,000 houses have been visited in the last week,” Dr Ambadekar said.

News18

Times of India

PUNE: Businessman Saurabh Prakash, who came to Pune from Delhi early in June, found himself staring at his phone for 40 minutes outside Pune airport, while cabbies continued to cancel his ride one after another. Nearly an hour later, he had no option but to take an autorickshaw to Shivajinagar for Rs800. "Six cabbies cancelled my ride after accepting it. I had landed in Pune in the wee hours and found no one who could help me. There were a few autorickshaws outside and the one I took quoted a little lower fare than the rest," Prakash said. Another female flyer, who chose to stay unnamed, told TOI she paid Rs700 from airport till Model Colony earlier this month. Little did she know that midway, the auto driver would ask her to get into another autorickshaw as he had somewhere else to go. Leaving the airport via any mode of public transport continues to be a hassle and risk for flyers. The situation has seen no improvement, said flyers, and the problem is particularly prevalent in the late evening and early morning hours. Ravindra Sarat, who arrived from Delhi last week, said, "I got out only by 2am. I could reach my friend's place in Kondhwa by 4.30am. Six cabbies cancelled my ride and the one who didn't asked me for Rs300 extra, claiming he wouldn't get any passengers on the way back," said Sarat, a working professional, who finally paid Rs600. Another passenger, who recently came back from Indore, said the pre-paid taxi charged him Rs700 to Kothrud. "I didn't know about the counter of cab aggregators and took a pre-paid cab that cost an astronomical amount," he said. Between 12am and 3am, there are around 13 arrivals and 14 departures lined up at the airport. Also, between 3am to 6am, there are close to nine arrivals and the same number of departures. A cabbie said, "Most flights after midnight till 3am land at intervals of 5-15 minutes. This results in a huge rush of flyers. Travelling to the airport is often tough due to the traffic along New Airport Road. Cabbies do cancel rides thinking passengers will not wait, but many flyers cancel rides, too." Another cabbie cited high fuel prices. "If we go to any place in the city after midnight, we do not get a return passenger. The price of petrol is above Rs100 per litre now; diesel and CNG are also very costly. We need to make up for the ride back alone." Last year, airport authorities removed the pre-paid autorickshaw stand in the arrivals area. This move hit flyers hard as they now have to deal with auto drivers outside asking for unreasonable fares. A frequent flyer pointed out, "Why were these autos removed? Travelling with them is safer as they provide a receipt with a tag and numbers of the Pune police. If they cannot be inside the airport, why has no space been given to them outside for flyers, especially women, to feel safe?" A senior member of the LV Antaral Autorickshaw Sanghatana, the organization of pre-paid auto drivers at the airport, said the situation was tough for them. "We have no place to do business but are still trying. The monopoly of other autos is such now that they don't let passengers come to us," he said. Jatin Dheer, another frequent flyer, said he has now made friends with an auto driver at airport. "I call him in advance and he shows up. The authorities need to put implement some kind of order here," he said.

Ndtv

Residents of the village say that all four wells in the village have dried. (Representational)Amravati: Amid the scorching summer heat, several villages in Maharashtra's Melghat belt here are facing acute water shortage, forcing residents to step down into deep wells and walk long distances in the hilly terrain barefoot to fetch just a potful of water.Though the local administration has pressed water tankers into service, the supply is inadequate and the water is not fit for drinking, villagers have complained.Khadimal is one such tribal-dominated village on Dharni road, situated in the Satpura mountain range, about 50 km from the Melghat Tiger Reserve.There are 311 houses in the village having a population of around 1,500, as per government records.Water scarcity is a perennial problem in the village. It starts from November and turns acute by February, according to locals.All the four wells in the village dried up long back. A borewell in the village is lying defunct, local resident Ram Bethekar, 65, told PTI.Twice a day, the local administration sends a tanker which empties its water stock in a well located in the village, he said.As soon as the villagers see the tanker, they throng the well, with both young and old people jostling to get a potful of water, another local Bhurya Kasdekar said."Our struggle does not end there. For fetching just a potful of water, we have to risk our lives by stepping down into the deep well and then climbing up while balancing a pot of water on our heads," a woman from the village said.The tanker supply lasts in the well for only about half-an-hour, leaving many without even a pot of water, some villagers said.These people then have to walk some three km in the sweltering heat to fetch water from a spring.The daily struggle has not only resulted in many villagers suffering from body pain, but is causing other health issues to them due to the consumption of undrinkable water, Mr Bethekar said.Even their cattle and livestock have to remain thirsty at times, the villagers said.Mr Bethekar claimed the village sarpanch (village head) hardly visits their place to address their troubles.He said the villagers are demanding a dam nearby to solve the problem of water scarcity.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comThe village head was unavailable for comments.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Times of India

AMRAVATI: Amid the scorching summer heat, several villages in Maharashtra's Melghat belt are facing acute water shortage, forcing residents to step down into deep wells and walk long distances in the hilly terrain barefoot to fetch just a potful of water. Though the local administration has pressed water tankers into service, the supply is inadequate and the water is not fit for drinking, villagers have complained. Khadimal is one such tribal-dominated village on Dharni road, situated in the Satpura mountain range, about 50 km from the Melghat Tiger Reserve. There are 311 houses in the village having a population of around 1,500, as per government records. Water scarcity is a perennial problem in the village. It starts from November and turns acute by February, according to locals. All the four wells in the village dried up long back. A borewell in the village is lying defunct, local resident Ram Bethekar (65) told PTI. Twice a day, the local administration sends a tanker which empties its water stock in a well located in the village, he said. As soon as the villagers see the tanker, they throng the well, with both young and old people jostling to get a potful of water, another local Bhurya Kasdekar said. "Our struggle does not end there. For fetching just a potful of water, we have to risk our lives by stepping down into the deep well and then climbing up while balancing a pot of water on our heads," a woman from the village said. The tanker supply lasts in the well for only about half-an-hour, leaving many without even a pot of water, some villagers said. These people then have to walk some three km in the sweltering heat to fetch water from a spring. The daily struggle has not only resulted in many villagers suffering from body pain, but is causing other health issues to them due to the consumption of non-potable water, Bethekar said. Even their cattle and livestock have to remain thirsty at times, the villagers said. Bethekar claimed the village sarpanch (village head) hardly visits their place to address their woes. He said the villagers are demanding a dam nearby to solve the problem of water scarcity. The village head was unavailable for comments.