Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Thursday informed the legislative council that 34,325 children below 5 years of age died in Maharashtra in the past two and a half years, due to premature birth, low birth weight, sepsis, pneumonia, birth asphyxia and other causes. The government, however, succeeded in reducing malnutrition among children, with the number of children with severe acute malnutrition dropping from 80,248 to 14,660 in the past 2.5 years, women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare informed the council via a written reply.
The reply was submitted following questions raised by NCP MLC Sanjay Khodke, Congress MLC Satej Patil and others. Khodke cited a January 2026 report by the nonprofit Samarthan which claimed that 137,407 children were affected by malnutrition and questioned reports about only 32,000 children dying due to malnutrition in Maharashtra over the past 2.5 years.
In her reply, Tatkare said that to curb the problem of child deaths due to malnutrition, the government is undertaking a programme to focus on the first 1,000 days after birth, and all measures were being taken to create awareness about the programme.
3 mn dog bite cases on 6 yrs
Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday informed the legislative assembly that as many as 3 million people in Maharashtra state had suffered dog bites in the past six years, while 30 people had died of Rabies in the state between 2021 and 2023. The state government has issued instructions through the cultural affairs department to prevent the presence of stray dogs in tourism spots and tourist resorts, Shinde said in a written statement, in response to questions raised by MLAs from both the treasury and the opposition benches.
The MLAs questioned the government over the menace of stray dogs and the measures being taken to curb the same, including sterilising strays and keeping them confined to animal shelters, as directed by the Supreme Court.
“In accordance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court regarding stray dogs, instructions have been issued to all urban and rural local bodies in the state directing them to implement the provisions of the Central Government’s Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. Instructions have been issued to implement the provisions of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023,” Shinde said.
Action against errant builders
The Maharashtra government has started the process of attaching properties of builders who failed to compensate consumers as per orders of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), minister Shambhuraj Desai informed the legislative assembly on Thursday .
Desai said that out of the ₹792 crore that the MahaRERA had ordered various builders to pay to consumers, only 34% or ₹279 had been recovered, while ₹103 crore was disputed as builders had moved the NCLT, and ₹430.66 crore needed to be recovered.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed us to speed up recovery of compensation from builders. We have asked district collectors and divisional commissioners to expedite the process and identify assets of the builders for attachment. The identification is expected to be done through records with various departments,” he said.
Desai said that the chief secretary has been conducting review meetings with district officials and special attention was paid to districts such as Mumbai, Kolhapur and Palghar, where recovery rates were low. He was responding to a question from BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar regarding non-implementation of MahaRERA orders for compensation to homebuyers.