News

indianexpress: The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has relaxed the deadline for conversion of autorickshaws that are older than fifteen years into LPG in the city ‘indefinitely’. The EPCA will consider the situation in a meeting scheduled on April 4 in Mantralaya.

This is the fourth time that the deadline has been extended. Earlier, the EPCA had extended the deadline of December 2006 to March 31 for the conversion of the 9,085-odd autorickshaws. However, till March 31, around 8,328 autos were converted into LPG leaving a total of 757 still to switch over.
 
In an email sent to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), EPCA member Sunita Narain has blamed the non-availability of LGP in the city for the situation. The email says that the EPCA is aware of the conversion not being completed. “However, based on our assessment, it is also clear that the biggest bottleneck is the supply of LPG. The LPG supplying agencies had been given deadlines for new outlets in January, which was not done leading to the present state. Given this, the EPCA has no alternative but to extend the deadline indefinitely,” the mail mentions.

It further adds that the EPCA will hold discussions with oil supply agencies and see what action needs to be taken against them for non-compliance of the order. The mail has also requested the Pune RTO to not stop registration of the autorickshaws, since as per the earlier deadline of March 31, the RTO would have freezed the process.

Meanwhile, Pradeep Bhalerao, member of the Pune city rickshaw association mentioned other reasons for delay in the conversion process. He said that a number of autorickshaws were held up for conversion since they had to clear the RTO’s pending fines. “Fines amounting to Rs 6,000-7,000 are pending on many autorickshaw owners, which needed to be cleared for the conversion. Moreover, the process of conversion costs around Rs 14,000. Several autorickshaw owners are hesitant as it will burn holes in their pockets,” Bhalerao said.

indianexpress: Within hours of the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Bapu Pathare being named chairman of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Standing Committee, Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar announced that his party would take the initiative to create unanimity among all parties on long-term policies pertaining to the city’s development.

Addressing a rally of party workers on Monday evening, Pawar said a committee would be formed for the purpose and will include former mayors and leaders of all parties. “The committee will discuss issues with corporators, pertaining to the development of Pune. It will also consult experts from various fields before forming an opinion. The committee will try to create consensus with regard to long-term policies,” he said.
 
Pawar minced no words while warning the newly elected NCP corporators and workers that there would be no excuse for failure to develop the city. “People in Pune are smart. They have not given a majority to any party because they want to test us. We will get a majority in the future only if we show them miracles in a short time,” he said.

He advised corporators to be vigilant and maintain decorum of the house, besides insisting on immediate completion of the various ongoing projects.

He blamed the local leadership of the Congress party for forcing the NCP to take help of other parties like the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “It was decided at the state-level that Congress and NCP would help each other in the mayoral elections. The decision was honoured in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur. Only in Pune, the Congress leadership refused to give mayorship to the NCP though we had more corporators. This forced us to join hands with other parties in view of the development of Pune,” he said.