The Evening Wrap: Maharashtra to probe 18 deaths in 24 hours at Thane hospital

Eighteen patients died within 24 hours at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa in Thane, civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar said on August 13. Those dead comprised ten women and eight men and one among them is unidentified, the official said. Addressing a news conference, Bangar said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered formation of an independent probe committee that will be headed by the Commissioner of Health Services. The committee will probe the clinical aspect of the deaths, he added. These patients had complications of kidney stone, chronic paralysis, ulcer, pneumonia, kerosene poisoning, septicaemia etc., he said. Earlier in the day, State Health Minister said the dean of the hospital had been asked to submit a report in two days. A Thane Municipal Corporation official said the deaths were being analysed and several civic officials are at the heavily-patronised facility for inspection of records etc. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ganesh Gawde said, “We have information of 17 deaths in the last 24 hours. We have been told the usual figure per day is six to seven.” “The hospital management told us some of the patients arrived there in a critical stage and succumbed during treatment. Some were elderly. We have increased police presence at the hospital to avoid any untoward incident due to these high number of deaths,” the DCP informed. Hospital sources, meanwhile, said some doctors were down with dengue which was also affecting the running of the facility. India, China to hold 19th Corps Commander talks on August 14 India and China will hold the 19th round of Corps Commander talks on August 14 at Chushul as part of ongoing efforts to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh, defence sources have confirmed. The talks come less than a month before the G20 leaders’ summit for which expectations are running high that Chinese President Xi Jinping would attend in person. “The Indian stance has been consistent, i.e. restoration of status quo ante as on April 2020 and the focus would be on disengagement from Depsang and Demchok. The above entails restoration of patrolling rights till the traditional patrolling points,” a defence source said. Like in the earlier round, the Indian side for the talks will be led by Lt. Gen. Rashim Bali, the Leh-based 14 Corps Commander. The 18th round of Corps Commander talks were held at the Chushul Moldo meeting point on the Chinese side on April 23 just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers meeting. Since the Corps Commander level talks in 2020, the two sides have so far undertaken disengagement from five friction points — from Galwan after the violent clash in June 2020, from the North and South Banks of Pangong Tso in February 2021, from Patrolling Point (PP) 17 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area in August and PP15 in early November. On Depsang Plains and Demchok, there are fundamental disagreements as India maintains that they are the two additional friction points that still remain while China has refused to accept it, terming them as legacy issues predating the 2020 standoff. PFI conspiracy case | NIA raids 14 locations in five States, seizes ‘incriminating material’ The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 13, conducted a series of searches across five States as part of its continued efforts to foil the Popular Front of India conspiracy to disturb peace by driving a communal wedge among the people to destabilise the country. The searches were conducted at 14 locations in Kannur, Malappuram, Dakshin Kannada, Nashik, Kolhapur, Murshidabad and Katihar districts of of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar. Several incriminating digital devices as well as documents were seized during the raids, which the NIA said aimed to “unearth the banned outfit’s conspiracy to disturb the peace and communal harmony of India”. “The NIA has been working to unravel and thwart the attempts by PFI and its top leadership to create an armed cadre and raise a PFI Army for establishing an Islamic Caliphate in India by the year 2047 through acts of terror, violence and sabotage. PFI has been conspiring to radicalise gullible youth and provide them weapons training in a bid to further its violent anti-India agenda by fighting against certain sections of the society,” the NIA said in a statement. Congress calls for wider consultations on three Bills to replace criminal laws The Congress has called for wider consultations involving experts and the general public on the three Bills that seek to overhaul India’s criminal justice system to stay away from the “trap of bulldozing the entire criminal law structure” without discussion. In a statement, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said that on August 11, without any prior intimation or public consultation or inviting suggestions from legal experts, jurists, criminologists and other stakeholders, the Modi government introduced three Bills from its “black magic hat”, thereby restructuring the nation’s entire criminal law apparatus in a “clandestine, hidden and opaque manner”. “The introductory remarks of the Home Minister himself gave away the fact that Amit Shah is himself out of depth, ignorant and oblivious to the entire exercise,” Surjewala said. Shah introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023, that will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. Surjewala alleged that Shah had “lied and misled” on many points of the proposed legislations. Congress MP Manish Tewari has also called for wider consultations on the bills. These Bills have serious implications on the fundamental rights enshrined in Part -III of the Constitution of India especially the Golden Triangle of rights Articles-14, 19 and 21, he said. Unviable Arunachal hydro projects have been dumped on Central PSUs, say experts The 12 hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh that were officially handed over to three Central public sector undertakings on August 12 are economically unviable, water resources experts said. Private companies had given up on these projects with a total installed capacity of 11,523 megawatts, which would require at least ₹1,42,000 crore to be executed by the CPSUs. The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) have been awarded five of these long-stalled projects each, with a total installed capacity of 5,097 MW and 2,626 MW, respectively. According to the agreement, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) would handle two projects (3,800 MW). “The private sector no longer sees these projects economically viable and that is why they did not develop them even after putting in a lot of resources over the years. In the end, they sold it to the PSUs, at a loss in many cases,” Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams said on August. “The public sector has no accountability and so they can implement unviable projects,” he added. An Assam-based hydrologist, who did not want to be quoted, said these projects should not have been taken up in the first place. “Apart from being unviable, these guarantee disaster for Arunachal Pradesh and downstream regions in Assam,” he said. Arunachal Pradesh’s Power Commissioner, Ankur Garg, signed the agreements with the heads of the three CPSUs on behalf of the State government in Itanagar in the presence of Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, R.K. Singh, State Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and his Deputy CM Chowna Mein. Singh assured the State that the CPSUs would start work on at least seven of the 12 projects by March 2024. He justified the government’s push for hydropower as it would contribute to the objective of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, besides creating employment opportunities. L-G office’s communiqué drops the ‘Sher’ from Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor’s (L-G) administration on August 13 dropped the title ‘Sher’ (lion), a reference to the late National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, from the name of the convention centre located on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, possibly indicating a change in its name. Until August 12, official communications referred to the ‘Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre’ (SKICC), which on August 13 was termed ‘Kashmir International Convention Centre’ (KICC). In a statement pertaining to an official function where L-G Manoj Sinha flagged off the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Srinagar, the official communiqué mentioned KICC several times. The rally was planned from the convention centre up to the Botanical Garden in Srinagar. The L-G administration first indicated the intention to change the name of the convention centre in 2020. However, a formal order has not been issued till date. The convention centre was built in 1977 by renowned architect Joseph Stein. It was named Sher-i-Kashmir (‘Lion of Kashmir’) after the title used for Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, a towering figure in the erstwhile State’s politics. Since the Union government ended Jammu & Kashmir’s special constitutional position in 2019, the L-G administration first dropped Mr. Abdullah’s name from the State Police awards. A holiday on Abdullah’s birth anniversary was also removed from the official calendar. NCP will not go with BJP though some well-wishers trying to persuade me, says Sharad Pawar The political landscape in Maharashtra is rapidly evolving, with rumours swirling in political circles about a covert meeting between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, the State’s Deputy Chief Minister. Visuals of Sharad Pawar arriving at the residence of a businessman at Koregaon Park area in Pune around 1 p.m. on August 12 were aired by regional news channels. While the senior Pawar left around 5 p.m., his nephew was seen leaving the premises in a car at 6.45 p.m. while apparently trying to avoid cameras. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed his lack of awareness about any such meeting. NCP MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, also said he was not aware of a meeting. However, if such a meeting had happened, there is ‘nothing wrong in maintaining communication in a family’, he added. Meanwhile, NCP State president Jayant Patil said on August 13 that he was not informed about the details of the conversation. “It was not a secret meeting. I went with Pawar Saheb to a common acquaintance[’s house] and left early. I am not aware of what transpired later,” he said. Patil said that recently his brother had received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking information about a company and four days ago, his brother went to the ED’s office and submitted all the details he was aware of. “It is completely wrong to link the ED notice to Saturday’s meeting,” he said. When asked about the rumours of him joining the Ajit Pawar faction, the State president said that he has already made his stand clear that he was loyal to Sharad Pawar. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar reiterated that his party will not align with the BJP under any circumstances. He explained that his meeting with Ajit Pawar was a family matter and shouldn’t be overanalysed. He also said that some “well-wishers” are trying to persuade him but he will never align with the BJP. Government employee rapes minor girl in Rajasthan’s Karauli; case registered A minor girl was allegedly raped by a public health engineering department employee in Todabhim town in Rajasthan’s Karauli district on August 12, the police said. According to officials, the accused government employee has been identified as Sunil Kumar Jangid and a case under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections of IPC has been registered against him. The accused is posted as a senior assistant to an executive engineer in the department and has been suspended from his post with immediate effect after the incident came to light, they said. Kirodi Lal Meena, who was an executive engineer in PHED is also accused of protecting the accused and tampering with the evidence and misleading the investigation into the case, the department officials said. In Brief: Another Hindu temple vandalised in Canada with Khalistan referendum posters A Hindu temple was vandalised in Canada by extremist elements, with Khalistan referendum posters in the late hours of August 12, Australia Today reported. The incident happened in British Columbia province in Canada. The posters, shared by Australia Today, read “Canada investigates the role of India in June 18th assassination”. The video of the incident has also gone viral on social media platforms. The video shared by Australia Today shows two masked men, pasting the posters and taking photos before fleeing the scene. Russian shelling kills seven in Ukraine’s Kherson, including baby Russian forces shelled two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on August 13, killing seven civilians including a baby, Ukrainian authorities said. A couple, their 23-day-old child and another man were killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The couple’s 12-year-old son was critically wounded and died in hospital, he added. Two people were killed and one wounded in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, which Klymenko said was struck 12 times with artillery. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 13 August 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( 18 deaths reported in 24 hours in Thane hospital; probe ordered [Eighteen patients died within 24 hours at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa in Thane]( civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar said on August 13. Those dead comprised ten women and eight men and one among them is unidentified, the official said. Addressing a news conference, Bangar said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered formation of an independent probe committee that will be headed by the Commissioner of Health Services. The committee will probe the clinical aspect of the deaths, he added. These patients had complications of kidney stone, chronic paralysis, ulcer, pneumonia, kerosene poisoning, septicaemia etc., he said. Earlier in the day, State Health Minister said the dean of the hospital had been asked to submit a report in two days. A Thane Municipal Corporation official said the deaths were being analysed and several civic officials are at the heavily-patronised facility for inspection of records etc. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ganesh Gawde said, “We have information of 17 deaths in the last 24 hours. We have been told the usual figure per day is six to seven.” “The hospital management told us some of the patients arrived there in a critical stage and succumbed during treatment. Some were elderly. We have increased police presence at the hospital to avoid any untoward incident due to these high number of deaths,” the DCP informed. Hospital sources, meanwhile, said some doctors were down with dengue which was also affecting the running of the facility. India, China to hold 19th Corps Commander talks on August 14 [India and China will hold the 19th round of Corps Commander talks on August 14]( at Chushul as part of ongoing efforts to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh, defence sources have confirmed. The talks come less than a month before the G20 leaders’ summit for which expectations are running high that Chinese President Xi Jinping would attend in person. “The Indian stance has been consistent, i.e. restoration of status quo ante as on April 2020 and the focus would be on disengagement from Depsang and Demchok. The above entails restoration of patrolling rights till the traditional patrolling points,” a defence source said. Like in the earlier round, the Indian side for the talks will be led by Lt. Gen. Rashim Bali, the Leh-based 14 Corps Commander. The 18th round of Corps Commander talks were held at the Chushul Moldo meeting point on the Chinese side on April 23 just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers meeting. Since the Corps Commander level talks in 2020, the two sides have so far undertaken disengagement from five friction points — from Galwan after the violent clash in June 2020, from the North and South Banks of Pangong Tso in February 2021, from Patrolling Point (PP) 17 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area in August and PP15 in early November. On Depsang Plains and Demchok, there are fundamental disagreements as India maintains that they are the two additional friction points that still remain while China has refused to accept it, terming them as legacy issues predating the 2020 standoff. PFI conspiracy case | NIA raids 14 locations in five States, seizes ‘incriminating material’ [The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 13, conducted a series of searches across five States as part of its continued efforts to foil the Popular Front of India]( conspiracy to disturb peace by driving a communal wedge among the people to destabilise the country. The searches were conducted at 14 locations in Kannur, Malappuram, Dakshin Kannada, Nashik, Kolhapur, Murshidabad and Katihar districts of of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar. Several incriminating digital devices as well as documents were seized during the raids, which the NIA said aimed to “unearth the banned outfit’s conspiracy to disturb the peace and communal harmony of India”. “The NIA has been working to unravel and thwart the attempts by PFI and its top leadership to create an armed cadre and raise a PFI Army for establishing an Islamic Caliphate in India by the year 2047 through acts of terror, violence and sabotage. PFI has been conspiring to radicalise gullible youth and provide them weapons training in a bid to further its violent anti-India agenda by fighting against certain sections of the society,” the NIA said in a statement. Congress calls for wider consultations on three Bills to replace criminal laws The [Congress has called for wider consultations involving experts and the general public on the three Bills that seek to overhaul India’s criminal justice system]( to stay away from the “trap of bulldozing the entire criminal law structure” without discussion. In a statement, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said that on August 11, without any prior intimation or public consultation or inviting suggestions from legal experts, jurists, criminologists and other stakeholders, the Modi government introduced three Bills from its “black magic hat”, thereby restructuring the nation’s entire criminal law apparatus in a “clandestine, hidden and opaque manner”. “The introductory remarks of the Home Minister himself gave away the fact that Amit Shah is himself out of depth, ignorant and oblivious to the entire exercise,” Surjewala said. Shah introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023, that will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. Surjewala alleged that Shah had “lied and misled” on many points of the proposed legislations. Congress MP Manish Tewari has also called for wider consultations on the bills. These Bills have serious implications on the fundamental rights enshrined in Part -III of the Constitution of India especially the Golden Triangle of rights Articles-14, 19 and 21, he said. Unviable Arunachal hydro projects have been dumped on Central PSUs, say experts [The 12 hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh that were officially handed over to three Central public sector undertakings on August 12 are economically unviable, water resources experts said.]( Private companies had given up on these projects with a total installed capacity of 11,523 megawatts, which would require at least ₹1,42,000 crore to be executed by the CPSUs. The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) have been awarded five of these long-stalled projects each, with a total installed capacity of 5,097 MW and 2,626 MW, respectively. According to the agreement, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) would handle two projects (3,800 MW). “The private sector no longer sees these projects economically viable and that is why they did not develop them even after putting in a lot of resources over the years. In the end, they sold it to the PSUs, at a loss in many cases,” Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams said on August. “The public sector has no accountability and so they can implement unviable projects,” he added. An Assam-based hydrologist, who did not want to be quoted, said these projects should not have been taken up in the first place. “Apart from being unviable, these guarantee disaster for Arunachal Pradesh and downstream regions in Assam,” he said. Arunachal Pradesh’s Power Commissioner, Ankur Garg, signed the agreements with the heads of the three CPSUs on behalf of the State government in Itanagar in the presence of Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, R.K. Singh, State Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and his Deputy CM Chowna Mein. Singh assured the State that the CPSUs would start work on at least seven of the 12 projects by March 2024. He justified the government’s push for hydropower as it would contribute to the objective of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, besides creating employment opportunities. L-G office’s communiqué drops the ‘Sher’ from Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre The [Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor’s (L-G) administration on August 13 dropped the title ‘Sher’]( (lion), a reference to the late National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, from the name of the convention centre located on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, possibly indicating a change in its name. Until August 12, official communications referred to the ‘Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre’ (SKICC), which on August 13 was termed ‘Kashmir International Convention Centre’ (KICC). In a statement pertaining to an official function where L-G Manoj Sinha flagged off the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Srinagar, the official communiqué mentioned KICC several times. The rally was planned from the convention centre up to the Botanical Garden in Srinagar. The L-G administration first indicated the intention to change the name of the convention centre in 2020. However, a formal order has not been issued till date. The convention centre was built in 1977 by renowned architect Joseph Stein. It was named Sher-i-Kashmir (‘Lion of Kashmir’) after the title used for Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, a towering figure in the erstwhile State’s politics. Since the Union government ended Jammu & Kashmir’s special constitutional position in 2019, the L-G administration first dropped Mr. Abdullah’s name from the State Police awards. A holiday on Abdullah’s birth anniversary was also removed from the official calendar. NCP will not go with BJP though some well-wishers trying to persuade me, says Sharad Pawar The political landscape in Maharashtra is rapidly evolving, with rumours swirling in political circles [about a covert meeting between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar]( the State’s Deputy Chief Minister. Visuals of Sharad Pawar arriving at the residence of a businessman at Koregaon Park area in Pune around 1 p.m. on August 12 were aired by regional news channels. While the senior Pawar left around 5 p.m., his nephew was seen leaving the premises in a car at 6.45 p.m. while apparently trying to avoid cameras. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed his lack of awareness about any such meeting. NCP MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, also said he was not aware of a meeting. However, if such a meeting had happened, there is ‘nothing wrong in maintaining communication in a family’, he added. Meanwhile, NCP State president Jayant Patil said on August 13 that he was not informed about the details of the conversation. “It was not a secret meeting. I went with Pawar Saheb to a common acquaintance[’s house] and left early. I am not aware of what transpired later,” he said. Patil said that recently his brother had received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking information about a company and four days ago, his brother went to the ED’s office and submitted all the details he was aware of. “It is completely wrong to link the ED notice to Saturday’s meeting,” he said. When asked about the rumours of him joining the Ajit Pawar faction, the State president said that he has already made his stand clear that he was loyal to Sharad Pawar. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar reiterated that his party will not align with the BJP under any circumstances. He explained that his meeting with Ajit Pawar was a family matter and shouldn’t be overanalysed. He also said that some “well-wishers” are trying to persuade him but he will never align with the BJP. Government employee rapes minor girl in Rajasthan’s Karauli; case registered [A minor girl was allegedly raped by a public health engineering department employee in Todabhim town in Rajasthan’s Karauli]( district on August 12, the police said. According to officials, the accused government employee has been identified as Sunil Kumar Jangid and a case under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections of IPC has been registered against him. The accused is posted as a senior assistant to an executive engineer in the department and has been suspended from his post with immediate effect after the incident came to light, they said. Kirodi Lal Meena, who was an executive engineer in PHED is also accused of protecting the accused and tampering with the evidence and misleading the investigation into the case, the department officials said. In Brief: Another Hindu temple vandalised in Canada with Khalistan referendum posters [A Hindu temple was vandalised in Canada by extremist elements, with Khalistan referendum posters]( in the late hours of August 12, Australia Today reported. The incident happened in British Columbia province in Canada. The posters, shared by Australia Today, read “Canada investigates the role of India in June 18th assassination”. The video of the incident has also gone viral on social media platforms. The video shared by Australia Today shows two masked men, pasting the posters and taking photos before fleeing the scene. Russian shelling kills seven in Ukraine’s Kherson, including baby [Russian forces shelled two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on August 13, killing seven civilians including a baby]( Ukrainian authorities said. A couple, their 23-day-old child and another man were killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The couple’s 12-year-old son was critically wounded and died in hospital, he added. Two people were killed and one wounded in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, which Klymenko said was struck 12 times with artillery. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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