Mumbai, July 23: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, accusing it of patronising big corporate loan defaulters while enforcing harsh recovery mechanisms on poor and middle-class citizens.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, the party said as per the official data provided by the Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, public sector banks have written off bad loans totaling Rs 7.75 lakh crore across 1,249 accounts (each owing Rs 100 crore or more) between FY 2014-15 and FY 2025-26. Out of the massive defaults, banks have managed to recover a mere Rs 3.10 lakh crore so far.

While the government argued in Parliament that writing off loans is standard technical accounting for non-recoverable debts and does not equate to a total loan waiver, the editorial termed this defence shocking and hypocritical. “All of this is deeply shocking. Ever since coming to power, the Modi government has continuously beaten its chest about bringing financial discipline to the banking system. So, under what definition of ‘financial discipline’ does it fall to simply transfer unrecovered loans into bad debt accounts instead of enforcing recovery while big industrialists pull off such massive heists on banks?” asked the Thackeray camp.

“Taking massive loans, repaying a tiny fraction, and defaulting on the rest seems to have received official state sanction,” the editorial noted, labelling the current era an “Amrit Kaal of Default”. It further commented, “An ‘Amrit Kaal of Loan Defaulting’ has commenced in the country, where poor ‘cockroaches’ must tighten their belts to pay off their loan instalments, while wealthy billionaires get to bankrupt the banks. If the government itself is complicit, who is going to stop these robbers from looting public money?”

A major point of contention highlighted in the editorial is the government’s refusal to publicly disclose the names of these top corporate defaulters. The government cited Section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, which mandates confidentiality regarding credit information, as the reason for withholding the identities.

The editorial vehemently questioned this rationale. “Why are the names of small default borrowers publicly advertised in newspapers, while billionaire defaulters are shielded behind confidentiality clauses? Why are properties, vehicles, and homes of middle-class citizens, small business owners, and farmers seized or sealed over tiny defaults, while big corporate tycoons face no such action?”

The Thackeray camp questioned whether these defaulting tycoons are major donors to the ruling party, alleging an unspoken policy of “Give donations, get loan write-offs”.

Sharply contrasting the plight of the common citizen with wealthy industrialists, the editorial claimed that while ordinary taxpayers squeeze their tight budgets to pay off micro-loans, wealthy billionaires are permitted to loot state banks with impunity.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena remarked that the open plunder of public sector banks is taking place through collusion between “fraudsters in industry and big fraudsters in government”. It warned that if the state itself shields such elements, public money remains dangerously unsecured.

Mumbai: Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has directed the BMC health and medical departments to formulate a comprehensive, multi-pronged policy aimed at providing quality, affordable, comprehensive and accountable healthcare services to the citizens of Mumbai. He directed that the policy be developed in a phased manner and include various aspects like artificial intelligence (AI)-based operations, sanitation and workforce management.

A special meeting of the BMC health and medical departments was held recently at the BMC headquarters, where Bhide provided guidance. The meeting was attended by Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Prajakta Laungare. Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Public Health) Sharad Oghade, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Municipal Commissioner Office) Shri Prashant Gaikwad, Director Medical Education and Major Hospitals Dr Shailesh Mohte, Executive Health Officer Dr Daksha Shah, and officers of the concerned departments were present.

Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has directed the health and medical departments to implement multi-level reforms in a phased manner, with the aim of making various health and medical services provided by the BMC more citizen-centric. Accordingly, a digital presentation was given by the concerned departments regarding the proposed plan. The plan has set milestones and objectives and issued instructions to formulate a strategy for their implementation. The details about the milestones of the proposed plan and the targets set for each phase are as follows: Phase-I; The objectives set for the first phase of this proposed plan include: Display of ‘Citizen Charter’ at the health and medical facilities of the Municipal Corporation; Strengthening and enhancing the cleanliness management in hospitals and dispensaries; Ensuring faster redressal of complaints; Implementing HMIS (Hospital Management Information System) more effectively; Enabling a comprehensive dashboard for hospital services and facilities; and reducing patient waiting times in Outpatient Departments (OPD) by implementing ‘Smart and Digital OPD’ system.

This also includes streamlining the process of issuing various permits and licenses by the Public Health Department. Ensuring strict compliance with the terms and conditions under which these permits and licenses were granted through regular checks. And adopting the latest technology wherever needed.
Furthermore, the first phase of the improvement includes technology-friendly measures that are extremely important and beneficial to patients, such as filling up of vacant medical posts and setting up of dedicated Insurance Assistance Cells in major municipal hospitals to help patients avail health insurance benefits. Furthermore, the plan includes a special improvement program to ensure prompt availability of essential medicines during emergencies for patients seeking medical treatment.
Phase II; The objectives set for the second phase of this proposed project include several key initiatives: implementing ‘online bed allocation’ on a pilot basis – thereby allocating hospital beds to needy patients on the waiting list through an online system; decentralising hospital services, especially by referring patients who require minor treatment to suburban hospitals; and starting 24/7 clinics on a pilot basis in every ward of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Furthermore, the second phase includes initiatives such as making joint efforts — through public-private partnerships — to secure funds to cover up to 50% of the cost for needy patients; providing training to hospital officers and staff in soft skills, medical ethics and related fields; and establishing special awards for employees who perform exceptionally.

Another prominent feature of the second phase is the inclusion of various components based on ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI). These mainly cover aspects related to radiology, pathology, and resource management.
Phase Three; The third phase of this proposed project mainly focuses on ‘Quality Assurance’. It includes

Mumbai: Due to the efforts of Mumbai Police, an 8-year-old child was handed over to his family after three years, bringing joy to the faces of the grieving family. An orphanage named Asanhasdan under the limits of Andheri MIDC police station had filed a complaint that a child from their place had gone missing. On October 22, 2023, a police complaint of kidnapping was filed in this matter. On October 22, the child was found abandoned in a suspicious condition on Juhu Chowpatty, which the police had kept in the orphanage. 8-year-old Anees Khan had left the orphanage without telling anyone, after which the police have started searching for him. All the missing FIRs from 2023 till now were examined. Along with this, the police came to know that there is a child of the same name in Matunga too. In such a case, the records were checked and from here it was found that this child was residing in Malad Maloni. After that, the police found out the address of his house and then from Maloni police station it was found that the name of the child is Aman Sheikh, after which the police found out by sharing a picture with his aunt, she identified him and later the police The police have handed over an 8-year-old boy who had been missing for 3 years to his family. This operation was carried out by DCP Dutta Nalawade on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Devin Bharti.