<keyword id="6358070" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mumbai" source="Orion">Mumbai</keyword> is steeped in <keyword id="110082" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="devotion" source="Orion">devotion</keyword> to welcome the annual homecoming of Lord <keyword id="6356252" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ganesh" source="Orion">Ganesh</keyword> as the 10-day festival began on Tuesday amid fanfare and gaiety. Idols in various shapes and sizes were installed at several households and in pandals against the backdrop of elaborate decorations based on myriad themes ranging from the <keyword id="8011274" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="chandrayaan-3" source="Orion">Chandrayaan-3</keyword> launch to Ayodhya's <keyword id="42499" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ram-mandir" source="Orion">Ram Mandir</keyword>. Families, including children as well as senior citizens, stepped out of their homes early morning to bring their beloved "bappa" home amid chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya" and the beating of drums. Many people were seen carrying the idols of Lord Ganesh in autorickshaws, cars, and other modes of transport. Several politicians and celebrities from <keyword id="143" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bollywood" source="Orion">Bollywood</keyword> install idols of the deity of wisdom and knowledge in their homes every year. While many famous Ganeshas are installed in pandals in the early morning hours in Mumbai, including the most famous Lalbaugcha Raja, many idols were being taken out from workshops to the pandals in processions. People will be allowed to take darshan of the deity at pandals after the puja is performed as per the muhurat, an organiser said. A total of 2,729 'sarvajanik Ganeshotsav mandals' have been permitted to organise public Ganesh festivities by erecting 'pandals', the city civic body said on Monday. To maintain security during the festival that sees lakhs of people visiting pandals in ten days, more than 13,750 police personnel have been deployed in the city, an official said. They comprise 11,726 constables, 2,024 officers from the rank of sub-inspector to the assistant commissioner and 15 deputy commissioners, he said on Monday. Notifications issued by the traffic police listed several moves for a smooth flow of vehicles in the metropolis, including a ban on heavy vehicles on certain days. Immersion day (September 28) will see a larger presence of police on the ground and manpower details being chalked out, the official informed. Ganesh festivities are the most patronised in Mumbai, with idols of Lord Ganesh being installed in pandals and at homes. Mumbaikars have been thronging the popular shopping spots of the city at Dadar, Crawford Market, and Lohar Chawl, to buy decor items, flowers, and puja materials among other festival paraphernalia. People are in for a visual treat this year, as the city's Ganesh mandals have come up with fascinating thematic decorations for their pandals. Pandal-hoppers will get to see themes of the Chandrayaan-3 launch, Ayodhya Ram Temple, and the 350th anniversary of the coronation of warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, showcased by big mandals or pandals in the city. A large number of devotees are expected to visit Lalbaug in central Mumbai to catch a glimpse of Lalbaugcha Raja, one of the most celebrated Ganeshas of the city, followed by GSB Seva Mandal's Ganpati in Matunga, which is considered the richest and known for its grandeur. The GSB Seva Mandal's 'Mahaganpati' will this year be resplendent in 66.5 kilograms of gold ornaments, more than 295 kgs of silver as well as other precious items. Other famous Ganesh mandals are in Chinchpokli, Ganesh Gully and Tejukaya. Apart from these, people will also get to see the city's tallest Ganesha at 45 feet in the Khetwadi area of Girgaum. A BMC release said a special cleanliness drive was undertaken in Mumbai on Sunday as a part of the Union government's 'Indian Cleanliness League 2.0', an intercity cleanliness competition.

Mumbai: Devotion and decorations on display as Ganesh festival begins

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53417721.cms" /> 
The Maharashtra government has off lately faced a lot of pressure from taxi and auto rickshaw unions for curbing Ola and Uber, the app-based taxi aggregators in Mumbai city, owing to which the government might soon take some action. 
 
The reason, some say, is that the government doesn’t want to offending such a large number of taxi and auto rickshaw drivers, looking at the political cost that it might have to pay for this later. 
 
"There are 1lakh auto rickshaw drivers in the city and about 30,000 taxi drivers, so if each driver has a family of three, then the number comes to around 5 lakh people. So you are antagonising five lakh voters during the civic elections in Mumbai and Thane," a government official told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/maharashtra-may-put-curbs-on-app-based-taxi-aggregators-ola-uber/articleshow/53409989.cms">ET</a>. "We are working on a plan where taxi and autos also operate like Uber and Ola with flexible fare structures," he added. 
 It was because of an assurance from the government that one of these unions called off a strike that was scheduled from yesterday. However, needless to say, executives from Uber and Ola were also not going to sit quietly, because of which they have sought an appointment with CM <keyword id="6355042" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Devendra-Fadnavis">Devendra Fadnavis</keyword>. 
 
<a href="http://d152j5tfobgaot.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/yourstory-mumbai-taxi.png">Image source</a>

Maharashta might limit Ola and Uber operations in Mumbai

<keyword id="6358070" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="mumbai">Mumbai</keyword>, Public transport services in Mumbai, including suburban trains and buses, and in other parts of Maharashtra largely remained unaffected on Tuesday morning despite various organisations supporting the <keyword id="6379373" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharat-bandh">Bharat Bandh</keyword> for repeal of the Centre's agri laws, officials said. Services of local trains as well as out-station trains remained unaffected until now, said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer (CPRO), Central Railway. Leaders of taxi and autorickshaw unions told that their services in Mumbai remained normal. A spokesperson of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which operates a fleet of buses in Mumbai and metropolitan region, said almost 85% of the scheduled buses plied on roads. "Out of 3,435 scheduled buses, 2,913 buses plied on roads," he said. <keyword id="58636" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Maharashtra-State-Road-Transport-Corporation">Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation</keyword> (MSRTC) PRO Abhijit Bhosale said buses plied normally across the state, barring few places where they have curtailed operations either due to the poor passenger response or as a precautionary measure. "No report of any untoward incident is reported in the state until now," Bhosale said. Truck operators said the movement of goods was affected to an extent as several truckers chose not to operate in view of the shutdown. "Many truckers have kept their vehicles off road in support of the strike, but we haven't stopped movement of essential commodities," said Kailash Pingle, leader of <keyword id="10396854" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="maharashtra-rajya-motor">Maharashtra Rajya Motor</keyword> Malak Sangh. Transportation of essential commodities like milk, vegetables and fruits have been excluded from the bandh, said Daya Natkar, secretary of Maharashtra Rajya Truck Tempo Tankers Vahatuk Sangh. Taxi union leader A L Quadros said taxis are plying in Mumbai as the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown had already hit the sector severely. The ruling Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress have extended their support for the shutdown, but appealed to protesters to not disrupt public transport services. In Pune also, public transport remained unaffected. "All our operations in the city are unaffected and no incident of buses being stopped anywhere has been reported yet," said an official from PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal). SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/top-stocks-to-watch-ril-maruti-suzuki-nmdc-sbi-ongc-eicher-motors-likhitha-infrastructure-tata-consumer-and-others/articleshow/79600409.cms">Top stocks to watch — RIL, Maruti Suzuki, NMDC, SBI, ONGC, Eicher Motors, Likhitha Infrastructure, Tata Consumer, and others</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/petrol-is-less-than-a-rupee-away-from-being-more-expensive-than-it-has-ever-been-for-indian-consumers/articleshow/79601841.cms">Petrol is less than a rupee away from being more expensive than it has ever been for Indian consumers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/top-stock-movers-ongc-hdfc-bank-nmdc-pfizer-spicejet-indigo-irctc-tata-chemicals-and-others/articleshow/79602525.cms">Top stock movers — ONGC, HDFC Bank, NMDC, Pfizer, SpiceJet, IndiGo, IRCTC, Tata Chemicals, and others</a>

Bharat Bandh: Public transport services in Mumbai, other parts of Maharashtra almost unaffected

(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, May 1 () India will now be under lockdown till May 17 with a complete ban on air travel, trains and inter-state road transport for the general public while educational institutions, theatres, malls, hotels and bars will also remain shut, the government announced on Friday but gave some relaxations for various business activities and people's movement within areas with limited or no COVID-19 cases. The decision to extend the lockdown by two more weeks after May 3, when the second phase of these restrictions was scheduled to end, came amid a continuous rise in the number of people testing positive for the deadly virus infection across various states, including in major metropolitans, with the nationwide tally crossing 35,000. The death toll has crossed 1,100. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown from May 25, which was later extended by two more weeks to contain the virus spread. However, several experts have cautioned that the lockdown is severely impacting economy and many rating agencies and industry bodies have forecast a sharp dip in the country's economic growth rate for the current fiscal with a few even estimating an overall GDP decline. All major urban centres including Delhi and Mumbai have been identified as 'red zones' or areas with large numbers of cases and therefore not much relaxations would be applicable to them beyond already permitted ones for those involved in essential services. Special trains also began operating during the day, which also happened to be the Labour Day, to help lakhs of migrant workers stranded for over a month at various urban centres due to the lockdown with many of them having rendered jobless and homeless, reach their native places, including in different states. Separately, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat announced at a special press brieing, along with the three service chiefs, that the armed forces will express their gratitude to all "corona warriors" on Sunday by conducting fly-pasts, showering petals on hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and illuminating naval vessels. Besides, the Army will conduct mountain band displays along some COVID-19 hospitals in almost every district. Rawat also said it is not proper to conclude that the novel coronavirus outbreak is a result of biological warfare. US President Donald Trump had earlier said that the deadly virus originated from a virology lab in China's Wuhan city before it spread across the world and claimed over 233,000 lives and shattered global economies. But Trump's comments undercut a rare public statement from his own intelligence community, which stated no such assessment has been made by them whether the COVID-19 outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan. While several countries including Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, Austria and various states of the US have begun easing their respective lockdowns, India has decided to implement the third phase of its own lockdown, while providing specific relaxations to less affected and 'virus-free' areas by classifying districts and cities into red, orange and green zones. But, some activities will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the zone, and these include air travel, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training hospitality services, cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes, as per an order issued by the Union Home Ministry. All social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings and religious places or places of worship for public will also remain shut, the order said. Outside the containment zone falling within red zones, certain more activities are prohibited in addition to those banned throughout the country and these include plying of cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, running of taxis and cab aggregators, intra-district and inter-district plying of buses, as also barber shops, spas and saloons. Activities allowed in red zones with restrictions would include movement of individuals and vehicles for permitted activities, with a maximum of two persons (besides the driver) in four-wheelers and with no pillion rider in two-wheelers. Industrial establishments in urban areas including Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships with access control have been permitted. Construction activities in urban areas will be limited to in-situ construction (where workers are available on site and no workers are required to be brought in from outside) and construction of renewable energy projects. Shops in urban areas, for non-essential goods, are not allowed in malls, markets and market complexes. However, all standalone shops, neighbourhood shops and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of essential and non-essential. E-Commerce activities in red zones are permitted only for essential goods. Private offices can operate with up to 33 per cent strength as per requirement, with the remaining persons working from home. All government offices can function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and up to one-third of remaining staff. Commercial and private establishments allowed in red zones include print and electronic media, IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, cold storage and warehousing services, private security and facility management services, and services provided by self-employed persons, except for barbers. In orange zones, taxis and cab aggregators will also be permitted with one driver and one passenger only, while inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles will be allowed for permitted activities only. Four-wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers. In green zones, all activities are permitted except those prohibited throughout the country irrespective of the zone. However buses and bus depots can operate with maximum 50 per cent capacity. Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry listed 130 districts in the country in red zone, 284 in orange zone and 319 in green zone. This classification of districts is to be followed by states and UTs till May 10 and the will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier if required, Major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad have been designated as red zones in the new classification. A district will be considered under green zone if there has been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far or there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district. Red zone districts are those considered to be infection 'hotspots', decided on the basis of number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases and extent of testing and surveillance feedback. Districts which are neither defined as a red or green zone, would be considered as an orange zone. The Health Ministry also said India has ramped up production of COVID-19 protective gears and medical equipment to reduce its dependence on foreign countries for these items which are in high demand globally due to the pandemic. In its evening update, the Ministry said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 35,365 with 1,152 deaths, while 9,065 people have so far recovered. ACB SKL MPB ASK PLB BJBJ

COVID-19: Lockdown extended for two more weeks; 'Considerable relaxations' for safer zones

New Delhi, May 12 () Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday sought views from Delhiites on how to ease the curbs after May 17, but said the lockdown cannot be lifted completely as a high number of coronavirus cases were being reported daily in the national capital, which saw the biggest spike in death toll with 13 fatalities in 24 hours. According to a health bulletin, with 406 fresh instances, the total number of coronavirus cases reached 7,639 while the death toll has risen to 86. In the bulletin, the Delhi health department, however, carried a footnote that certain figures mentioned in it, including death toll, were subject to change on receipt of additional information. A 31-year-old Army jawan suffering from coronavirus was found hanging from a tree in the premises of an Army hospital here, police said. An IPS officer with the Delhi Police has also tested positive for coronavirus. On a positive note, an 88-year-old man from Himachal Pradesh who had worked with the IAF has now fully recovered after successfully battling coronavirus infection at a city hospital here. Seeking suggestions from people to ease the curbs, Kejriwal said people can send their views by calling toll-free number 1031 or through WhatsApp number 8800007722, or by sending an e-mail to delhicm.suggestions@gmail.com by 5 pm Wednesday. Sources said the Delhi government received around three lakh messages on WhatsApp within seven hours as well as 25,000 recorded messages on the 1,031 helpline and 5,000 e-mails. "On one hand, we will have to save ourselves from coronavirus. But on other, we will also have to maintain the health of the economy," Kejriwal told an online media briefing. Earlier this month, he had said people will have to be ready to live with coronavirus. "I seek suggestions from the people of Delhi. Obviously, lockdown cannot be lifted completely from the city given the spike in cases of COVID-19," he said. The chief minister said his government will send a proposal on lockdown relaxations for Delhi to the Centre on Thursday after discussing the suggestions with experts and doctors. "I want to ask whether there should be relaxation in lockdown (post May 17). How much relaxation should be given and in which areas?" the chief minister sought to know from Delhiites. He also asked whether buses, metro, taxis and auto-rickshaw should now be allowed to operate in Delhi and if schools, markets and industrial areas should be opened after May 17, when the lockdown 3.0 ends. Barring COVID containment zones, economic activities should be allowed to resume in the national capital, Kejriwal had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with chief ministers. During the media briefing on Tuesday, he said the central government has asked all states to submit by May 15 their proposal on lockdown relaxations. The Delhi government has already demanded from the Centre that all 11 districts of the city not be treated as ''red zones'' so that more economic activities are allowed, the sources said. They said the city government wants that ''red zones'' in Delhi to be identified as per municipal wards instead of districts, they said. Recently, the Union Health Ministry classified the entire national capital, which has 11 districts, as a red zone. The city has 272 wards. Meanwhile, as the Raiways resumed its passenger service after over 50 days, three trains departed from the national capital to Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Dibrugarh (Assam) and Bengaluru carrying people who have been stranded since the lockdown came into force. Five other trains bound for Delhi left from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, they added. The Delhi government on Tuesday issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for screening of passengers arriving here from outside in special trains. In an order, the health department said that only asymptomatic persons coming to the national capital would be allowed to go home after ascertaining that they are asymptomatic. For passengers found symptomatic, standard protocol for testing and quarantine shall be followed, it said. Hundreds of passengers gathered at the New Delhi Railway Station with mixed feelings of relief and apprehension, with many arriving before the scheduled train departure. The Chelmsford Road leading to the New Delhi Railway Station was heavily barricaded by police, as those who had to catch the trains walked with their luggage or hired rickshaws. The entrance of the railway station was also barricaded by police. People gathered outside as policemen queued up the passengers to different destinations. Announcements were made to maintain social distancing as people packed the road outside the railway station. Swami H B, employed with a bakery in Gurgaon, reached the station hours before the departure of his train to Bengaluru at 9.15 pm. "I came early as I had to commute from Gurgaon and also because I cannot afford to miss the train," he said. He said he was apprehensive of his journey forward from Bengaluru to his hometown Chikmagalur. BUN NIT VIT KND AMP ASG PR RTRT

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Mumbai: Devotion and decorations on display as Ganesh festival begins

PTI

Maharashta might limit Ola and Uber operations in Mumbai

BI India Bureau

Bharat Bandh: Public transport services in Mumbai, other parts of Maharashtra almost unaffected

PTI

COVID-19: Lockdown extended for two more weeks; 'Considerable relaxations' for safer zones

PTI

Kejriwal seeks Delhiites' views on how to ease curbs; 13 more coronavirus deaths, over 7,600 cases

PTI