Governance
Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway up to Shirdi to be operational from May 1
Uddhav Thackeray
Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray said the first phase of the ₹55,000 crore Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg/ Expressway up to Shirdi would be operational for public from May 1, 2021. He said the expressway would be completed in a year’s time from now.
State ministers Eknath Shinde, Yashomati Thakur, Sanjay Rathod and senior officials accompanied Thackeray during the visit.
Thackeray said the same after reviewing the quality and speed at Shivni-Rasulapur in Nandgaon-Khandeshwar taluka of Amravati district on Saturday.
Nagpur Mumbai expressway
Thackeray, who travelled six kilometers on the 74-km-long expressway, said, The Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Expressway will be the best in the country and in the next six months, the road up to Shirdi will be open to traffic.
Thackeray said the work on the 701 km long eight-lane expressway continued despite COVID-19 lockdown, because of which, most parts of the expressway are complete.
The expressway, which would help travellers commute between Nagpur to Mumbai in eight hours, would pass through 10 districts.
COVID-19
Thane Municipal Corporation adds 25 beds as COVID cases rise
Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) added 25 additional beds in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital Kalwa apart from arranging a special ward dedicated to COVID-19 patients. The total number of active patients in the city stood at 252 while five succumbed to the virus. Meanwhile, TMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said a ‘death audit’ of patients who died of COVID would be conducted. The TMC has ensured it has additional stock of oxygen concentrators, testing kits, medicines, to name a few. Bangar told HT, “Due to the increasing number of Covid patients, it is necessary for everyone to be alert.”
He added, The number of Covid tests should be increased to stay one step ahead of the disease. As a result, the number of patients is likely to increase due to increased testing. However, as per the ‘test, isolate, treat’ protocol for Covid, it becomes necessary to isolate and treat more and more patients. The testing centres will not remain closed even for a single day. At the same time, more arrangements for testing will be made immediately in public places, markets, railway stations, malls.”
India recorded 3,095 new COVID cases and five deaths in last 24 hours.
Also read: Nagpur records 22 COVID cases in 24 hours
Politics
After Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, his namesake who contested from Wayanad disqualified

Rahul Gandhi
An independent candidate for Lok Sabha elections named Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from contesting polls for failing to lodge account of election expenses. Gandhi, who’s name figures as ‘Rahul Gandhi K E S/o Valsamma’ in an Election Commission list of persons, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an Independent and had received 2196 votes from the Wayanad seat in Kerala – a constituency from where ex-Congress MP Rahul Rajiv Gandhi had won with over seven lakh votes.
However, since it is mandatory for all contestants to submit their account of election expenses among other mandatory requirements under EC rules and the Representation of the People Act.
Rahul Gandhi K E S/o Valsamma stood disqualified to contest polls from September 13, 2021 till September 13, 2024. According to Section 10A, the Election Commission can disqualify a contestant for a period of three years from the date of the order if he/she has failed to lodge an account of election expenses within the time and in the manner required by law and has no good reason or justification for the failure.
Also read: ‘CBI under UPA govt. pressurised me to frame Modi,’ recalls Amit Shah
Nagpur News
Nagpur records 22 COVID cases in 24 hours
A total of 22 patients tested positive for COVID-19 in Nagpur in past 24 hours on Thursday. Almost 242 people were tested in the city, out of which 15 belonged to urban area while and 6 were from the rural areas, and one from outside Nagpur district.
At present, there are 72 active patients in the city. Three new cases of the new XBB.1.16 variant of COVID-19 were detected that took the total tally to five in the district.
India recorded 3,095 new COVID cases and five deaths in last 24 hours.
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