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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Government Approves ₹25 Crore Fund To Strengthen Haffkine Vaccine, Announces DCM Ajit Pawar

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Mumbai/Pune: A meeting was held on Tuesday to address the challenges of the Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation under the leadership of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The discussions included pension concerns of retired staff and officers, as well as measures to strengthen its vaccine manufacturing capacity, particularly at the premises located in Vallab Nagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Ajit Pawar took to X (formerly Twitter) and announced the meeting. He said, “The Haffkine Institute has made invaluable contributions to the field of vaccine production. It has played a significant role in the eradication of polio from the country. The Government of India has a demand for 268 million doses of oral polio vaccine.”

Pawar further said, “In today’s meeting, an in-principle approval was granted to provide a fund of ₹25 crore to the Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation from the two per cent cess of the Haffkine Procurement Cell for the production of these vaccines.”

Pawar further said that a committee headed by renowned scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar has been appointed. Its purpose is to strengthen the Haffkine Institute and Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation. The committee has submitted its report to the government.

This committee will include the secretaries of the medical education, public health, and planning departments. They were instructed to prepare a five-year roadmap for the empowerment of Haffkine.

The Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the Haffkine Institute, which specialises in antivenoms, currently has 1.5 lakh doses of the anti-snake venom vaccine ready. “The snake venom vaccine produced by Haffkine is effective and potent. Instructions were given that the Maharashtra Medical Goods Procurement Authority should purchase these vaccines directly from Haffkine,” said Ajit Pawar.

Despite these developments, Haffkine continues to grapple with significant challenges at its Pimpri-Chinchwad premises. media earlier report had revealed the problems with the facility. Originally envisioned as a key hub for vaccine manufacturing, Haffkine suffers from underutilisation and delayed modernisation.

Hearing reports about this, Maharashtra FDA Minister Narhari Zirwal visited the premises a fortnight ago. He was told about infrastructure bottlenecks, outdated equipment, and slow-moving approvals in Haffkine, which have hampered production expansion at the site. Employees voiced concerns over uncertain operational schedules and inconsistent government support. 

Maharashtra

Azmi’s unique protest… Wearing a mask, he reached Nagpur Assembly with a banner demanding effective action to end toxic air pollution in Mumbai, SMS company

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Mumbai: Air pollution and toxic atmosphere are common in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. The people of Shivaji Nagar and Govindi are facing toxic fumes every day. Successive governments have neglected this area because it is a poor neighbourhood.

On the second day of the winter session of the Assembly today, the Samajwadi Party (SP) made a clear demand.

It has demanded the immediate closure of the SMS company, RMC plant, and dumping ground and made it clear to the government that it should stop playing with the lives of the common man.
The government should take effective steps to eliminate this toxic air pollution. Abu Asim Azmi said that due to the SMS company in Govandi, the average age of people has increased to 39 years and diseases are spreading due to burning waste and chemical materials in it, so it should be banned immediately. He further said that clean sanitation and other facilities should be available in Govandi and such a factory should be closed so that the people can live a healthy life. Abu Asim Azmi protested against the toxic air outside the Nagpur Assembly in a very unique way by holding a banner and wearing a mask.

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Maharashtra

Increase in crime incidents in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, demand for action against drug dealers and drug users, Abu Asim demands in Nagpur Assembly

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Mumbai: Due to the increase in crime incidents in Mumbai’s Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, the law and order situation is dire. Due to the shortage of police manpower, it is difficult to control crimes. Three murders have been committed here in three months. The increasing incidents of crime. Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi, while addressing the Nagpur winter session, expressed concern and said that he demanded an increase in the police manpower and the establishment of a new police station in Shivaji Nagar so that criminal elements can be curbed. Along with this, he has also demanded action against drug and drug addicts here. Abu Asim Azmi told the House on a notice seeking attention that there has been an increase in murders, attempted murders and robberies last month. A 24-year-old coconut vendor was murdered over a money transaction. The second murder was committed due to personal enmity and the third murder was committed due to drug dealing. The police are investigating this case in connection with drugs. Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar is a poor area. The law and order situation here is bad due to drug addicts and drug dealers. The population here has also increased immensely. Whenever a road expansion or other project is started somewhere, people are rehabilitated here. That is why there is a shortage of police here. Even after setting up a bat post, there is no police in it because there is a shortage of police manpower. In such a situation, Azmi has demanded that police be deployed here.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Hajra, wife of builder Riaz in Kurla, accused of illegal abortion, Kherwadi police registers case against mother

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Mumbai: An incident has come to light in Mumbai in which a case has been registered against a mother for illegally aborting a pregnancy. Kherwadi police have registered a case of abortion against the second wife of Kurla builder Riaz Shah. On December 7, Riaz Shah’s son filed a complaint in which it was stated that Hajra Shah had miscarried a 24-month-old child. The abortion was done using contraception in 2024 and on the complaint of this illegal act, the police have registered a case against Hajra and her brother Ashfaq under sections 88, 91, 238 of the BNS. This is the first case of its kind in which a case has been registered against the mother for wasting contraception. In 2024, when Riaz Shah asked his wife where the child was, she said that she had miscarried and that she had done the autopsy of the newborn in the Kurla Sunni graveyard and her brothers Ashfaq and Imran Lado knew about this. When Riaz checked in the graveyard, no record of the newborn was found, after which the police registered a case of misleading and aborting the child. Junaid Riaz Shah has filed a complaint against Liya. The police are investigating the matter further.

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