The Maharashtra government will provide subsidised WiFi services at public data offices (PDOs), which will be set up at fair price shops (ration shops) in seven districts as part of the Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface (PM WANI) scheme. The seven districts are Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Palghar and Sindhudurg. All residents within 100 to 200 metres of these fair price shops will be able to avail WiFi services on their devices on subsidised charges. The state Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department on Friday issued a Government Resolution (GR) to this effect. “The government is giving its approval to convert fair price shops to public data offices (PDOs). Its aim is to help children from low income families, who can use the internet via WiFi centres at the fair price shops for their homework and studies. Children from such families will also be able to attend online classes easily due to internet connection from such WiFi centres,” the GR said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad, who was arrested by the Thane police last week after an FIR was registered against him for forcibly shutting down the screening of the Marathi film Har Har Mahadev, announced Monday that he was resigning as a legislator. “Police have filed two fake cases against me in the last 72 hours and that too under Section 354 of the IPC. This is the murder of democracy. I will fight. I have decided to resign from my MLA post” Awhad tweeted early on Monday. Awhad and 11 others who were arrested by the Thane police Friday, were released on bail by the Thane Sessions Court Saturday. Among the conditions set by the court while granting bail was that Awhad should not try to influence witnesses and appear before the Vartak Nagar police station whenever he is summoned.
In other updates from the state: A 65-year-old homeless woman, sleeping on a cement platform near Dhobi ghat next to the Mahalaxmi railway station, died on Saturday after falling down three feet when two persons, including a 15-year-old boy, allegedly tried to snatch her bag in a robbery bid. The bag, however, got stuck in her neck, throwng her off the platform.
The police have arrested one of the accused and sent the juvenile to an observation home.
Also, a recent statewide health screening programme revealed that for every 100 women examined, one was detected with undiagnosed cervical cancer in Maharashtra. Despite this, the long-pending demand to include Human papillomavirus (HPV) — a vaccine for cervical cancer — in the national immunisation programme remains unfulfilled.
In the state, a total of 73,554 women above the age of 30 years were examined, of which 925 were detected with undiagnosed cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. Even after getting infected, the virus can sometimes take years before it causes any symptoms.
While Ajit Pawar is one of the politicians who made it a point to wear a mask strictly, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Manu Kumar Shrivastava is among the bureaucrats who never stopped wearing a mask even after the Covid-19 wave was over. It was in the last cabinet meeting when the senior bureaucrat was finally spotted without a mask. It seems the masks are finally off, for good.
IT Under Addl Charge
Maharashtra’s Information and Technology department is in the process to plan and execute few of the big projects. Despite its importance and expanding scope of work, the department does not have a full-time administrative head for almost a year now. Aseem Gupta, Principal Secretary, Relief and Rehabilitation, was handling the additional charge of the department. In the first week of November, Parrag Jain-Nainutia was appointed as Principal Secretary, Transport, and given the additional charge of IT.