15 hospitals in Thane sealed for flouting fire safety norms
Thane: As many as 15 hospitals have been sealed by the Thane civic body in Maharashtra for flouting fire safety norms, an official has said.
The action came after the Bombay High Court last month directed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to seal all private hospitals and nursing homes operating without a no- objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department.
The court issued the directive while hearing plea claiming that according to a survey conducted by the Thane fire department earlier this year, more than 50 per cent of the private hospitals and nursing homes here were ill-equipped to deal with fire incidents.
TMC's chief fire officer Sashikant Kale on Wednesday said following the court's directive, they sealed 15 hospitals in the city in the last couple of days.
"These hospitals were first issued notices. When they failed to produce the NOC, we had no option but to seal these health care centres while allowing them to shift patients to other hospitals," he said.
He said licences of these hospitals were likely to be suspended or cancelled. Following the high court's directive, a four-member committee of civic officials was formed which inspected various hospitals earlier this month and identified 15 of them for flouting fire safety rules, he said.
Among the sealed hospitals, five were located in the city's Wagle Estate area, four in Mumbra, and three each in Balkum and Naupada localities, he mentioned.
Kale said in April last year, around 200 hospitals in Thane applied for NOC from the fire department. Of these, 188 hospitals were at that time found to have complied with the fire safety regulations and hence, were given the NOC.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
