A total of 11 people have sustained injuries in various rain-related incidents during the monsoon season in Thane.

THANE: Three people have died and nearly 800 others have been evacuated due to rain-related incidents across Maharashtra’s Thane district over the past week, while a lightning strike injured two people in the latest weather-related incident, officials said on Thursday.According to an official release issued by the district administration, the fatalities include one person each from Thane city, Ambernath and Mira Bhayander.A total of 11 people have sustained injuries in various rain-related incidents during the monsoon season, officials said.On Wednesday, a lightning strike injured two people, including a teenage girl, in Murbad taluka, tehsildar Abhijit Deshmukh said. Both were rushed to the Tokawde Primary Health Centre and are reported to be out of danger.In separate incidents, two young boys drowned in a river and a nullah in Bhiwandi on July 5 and July 6, respectively. Search operations to trace them are still underway, officials said.Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man was recovered from the swollen Potgaon river in Murbad. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination, and police are working to establish his identity.Heavy rainfall has caused widespread disruption, prompting rescue teams to shift 797 people from 229 families to safer locations.The rains have also caused extensive damage to infrastructure, with 136 houses suffering partial or complete collapse across the district. In addition, five huts, two poultry farms, one community hall and an Anganwadi centre have been destroyed.The district administration said authorities acted swiftly on Wednesday after hill torrents threatened to wash away the Adarsh Chawl locality in Kalwa.A spot inspection found that natural drainage channels and nullahs carrying stormwater down the hill had become severely clogged with debris, causing rainwater to overflow into nearby residential units.“The Thane Municipal Corporation immediately deployed personnel to clear the choked nullahs, effectively restoring the natural flow of the hill torrents and safely diverting the water into the main city drainage network,” the release said.The district administration said no structural collapses occurred in the Kalwa incident, and no loss of life or financial damage was reported.(With inputs from PTI)

Doctors ended their strike after Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre’s arrest for assaulting hospital staff.

KALYAN: The arrest of Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre for the assault of a Dombivli hospital’s staffers on Monday over purported delay in a pregnant patient’s treatment, along with assurances from civic chief Abhinav Goel on adequate security at hospitals, prompted doctors and healthcare workers to end their strike.Routine outpatient and non-emergency services were halted on Tuesday in protest against the attack and private doctors had joined the stir in solidarity on Wednesday.Prior to his arrest from his Dombivli home, Mhatre called a press conference to deny that he had hit a woman doctor.He blamed “the camera angle” and claimed he had only tried to snatch her phone as she continued speaking on it while he was seeking information on the patient’s condition. “She is like my daughter. It is not part of Shiv Sena’s values to raise a hand on a woman,” he said.DCP (Kalyan zone) Atul Zende said his alleged associates, Akshay Karande, Ramesh Pawar and Pramod Nikam, were produced before a Kalyan court and remanded into two days of police custody.

Party loyalist named in 12 other cases

The medical fraternity’s two-day strike—private doctors joined on a call by Indian Medical Association (IMA)—affected hundreds of patients who visited hospitals for routine consultations and follow-up treatments.Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors said it will observe a token black ribbon protest on Thursday across all govt medical colleges and hospitals in Maharashtra to oppose “the increasing incidence of violence against healthcare workers across the state”.An IMA delegation met DGP Sadanand Date. “He assured us that instructions will be issued to all police stations across the state to implement Maharashtra Medical Act whenever there is violence against a healthcare establishment,” said Dr Santosh Kadam of IMA.The attack drew strong condemnation not just from opposition parties but also the Sena brass. Shrikant Shinde, Kalyan MP and deputy CM Eknath Shinde’s son, made it clear that Sena would not shield anyone involved in the attack. “The party will not support any individual found guilty.”NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray visited the civic-run Shastri Nagar Hospital in Dombivli, whose staffers were attacked, offered their support and demanded Mhatre’s resignation. State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said Mhatre was drunk on power.