Only 3% HCWs given second jab on first day

Only three per cent of the targeted beneficiaries were given a second dose of vaccine. According to the vaccine data, 71 of the targeted 1,926 healthcare workers (HCWs) were inoculated the second dose. Civic officials attributed this drop to the technical glitch in the CoWin due to which names of the first time beneficiaries were missing from the list following which they were sent back without taking the second dose. “All the beneficiaries visited vaccination centres for the second dose of covid vaccine had to be sent back due to the Co-Win app portal issue,” read the press release.

However, the overall turnout of the beneficiaries dropped to 50 per cent on Monday, with vaccinating 5,203 of the 10,400 HCWs and FLWs.

Suresh Kakani, an additional municipal commissioner in charge of BMC’s public health department, said, “Initially, the speed of the drive was low and now it is picking up, and we will be able to complete the drive in the targeted time. BMC noticed that whenever senior doctors have not participated in the drive and taken vaccine shots, the turnout is low. Where senior doctors have also taken the vaccine, other HCWs are more confident and the turnout is high.”

The Kurar Police have arrested two men for allegedly kidnapping an RTO agent, who had been in an argument with the accused over a domicile certificate. The arrested accused assaulted the RTO agent and tried to teach him a lesson. While two have been arrested, their accomplice is still on the run.

Police said that on Friday midnight, a 39-year-old RTO agent, identified as Shankar Gupta, was out for a walk post dinner near his Kandivali (E) residence, when three men approached him. Gupta identified two of the three men as Prashant Parab, 42, and Rakesh Dalvi, 28, who ensued in a heated argument with the agent, which soon escalated.

Gupta was badly thrashed by the trio, who hit him with fisticuffs and kicks, following which they abused him and dragged him in their Ertiga car, where they assaulted Gupta over previous enmity with the agent for not issuing a domicile certificate in their name. After covering a small distance, the trio released Gupta, threatening him again. Gupta, however, immediately rushed to the Kurar police station and lodged a complaint against the trio.

Kurar Police registered a case and booked the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for kidnapping, criminal intimidation, assault and common intention. After scrutinizing the CCTV camera footage, police zeroed in on two of the three accused-Parab and Dalvi, who were arrested. While the search for their accomplice is underway, the arrested duo are being interrogated, said police.

Mining magnate Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd on Monday invited bids for the sale of natural gas from its prolific Rajasthan block at rates equivalent to the price of imported LNG from the spot market or Brent oil price. Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta's oil and gas arm, produces about 3.5 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from its largely oilbearing block in Rajasthan, the firm said in a notice. The output is being ramped-up to more than 5 mmscmd.

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NEW DELHI: Bank credit grew 5.93 per cent to Rs 107.05 lakh crore, while deposits rose 11.06 per cent to Rs 147.98 lakh crore in the fortnight ended January 29, RBI data showed.

In the fortnight ended January 31, 2020, bank credit stood at Rs 101.05 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 133.24 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight ended January 15, 2021, growth in bank credit was 6.36 per cent, while deposits rose 11.41 per cent.

During the first nine months of the current fiscal, bank credit rose by 3.2 per cent and deposits by 8.5 per cent.

In December 2020, nonfood credit growth of banks stood at 5.9 per cent as compared to 7 per cent in the same month of the previous year, according to RBI data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit for December 2020, released last month.

During the reporting month, growth in credit to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 9.4 per cent from 5.3 per cent in December 2019.

Loans to industry contracted by 1.2 per cent as compared to 1.6 per cent growth earlier, mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries by 2.4 per cent as against 1.8 per cent growth a year ago, the data showed.

Personal loans registered a decelerated growth of 9.5 per cent in the reporting month as compared with 15.9 per cent growth in December 2019.

The FPJ News Service/ NEW DELHI, Jan. 23: Over 1,000 retired militar y officers met in Istanbul at the beginning of this month and unanimously decided to offer their services to the Indian armed forces if the Chinese undertook aggressive move, according to Istanbul Press.

A Kolkata-based woman who had donated her kidney to an orphan, has received a letter of admiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who told her that no amount of praise can be enough for her act of selflessness. Manashi Halder (48) said she had donated the kidney in 2014 after hearing a speech of Modi in which he had hailed organ donation as a "maha daan". She decided to write to the prime minister about the incident a few months back and was happy to receive a reply from him recently.