News

indianexpress:  Eleven people died during the wee hours of Saturday in two separate wall collapses in the city. Seven deaths were reported in the Baner area while four members of a family died at Rambaug Colony in Kothrud. While the Baner mishap took place at around 2 am the Kothrud incident took place at around 3.30 am.

Following a complaint registered by PMC, police filed a case against SP Paranjape of Paranjpe Builders under IPC sections 304(A) – causing death by negligence, 336 – negligence endangering life or personal safety of others, 337 – causing hurt by negligent act, 427—causing loss of property by negligent act.

Four members of a family residing in the hutments in the Rambaug colony area near MIT College were killed when a compound wall collapsed on their huts following Friday night’s downpour. The victims, Ramji Deoji Rathod (28), Lakshmi Deoji Rathod(21), Tulsibai Balu Chauhan(30) and Parubai Balu Chauhan (2) lived in one of the six huts that bordered the wall. “The wall collapsed on the huts, killing the victims on the spot. Four others escaped with minor injuries as they were saved by the other hut dwellers,” said a resident, Ashok Ramappa Chalwadi.

The compound wall was been built by Ganesh Saungare to separate his plot, located at a higher point on the slope, from the hutments.

In Baner, Paranjpe Builders and Mukund Deshpande, also a builder, owned two adjacent plots. Paranjpe had constructed a compound wall to demarcate the boundary. It was this wall that collapsed following the Friday rains, killing seven people who had been camping in Deshpande’s plot.

“There were around 116 workers at the site. While seven of them were killed on the spot, nine injured were rushed to Agarwal Hospital. All the deceased have not been identified as yet as half of the workers were natives of Chhattisgarh while the other half were from Mehboob Nagar, Andhra Pradesh,” said Chatuhshringi Police Inspector Suryavanshi.

indianexpress: The district administration has alerted all disaster management cells in the district after the sudden heavy downpour on Friday. The city had recorded 97 mm rainfall on Friday. On Saturday, it was 31.3 mm till 8.30 pm.

The cells located in Baramati, Daund, Bhor, Velhe, Khed, Maval and Mulshi were issued alerts. However, the district disaster management authority has not received any report about any untoward incident from the district. District Collector Prabhakar Deshmukh told Newsline that with Baramati having received 110 mm rainfall, the tehsildar and the Gram Panchyat have been asked to do a survey of farm lands which have been submerged.

“The people at the disaster management cells have been asked to keep a watch for any untoward incident caused by the heavy downpour,” he added. Resident Deputy Collector Chintamani Joshi added that they have identified the disaster prone villages and are checking on the whether all systems are in place.

On the agriculture front, he said that there has been no crop destruction as the sowing season is yet to start. Zilla Parishad agriculture development officer SN Kudale said that 2,87,600 hectares is the total area of kharif cultivation in Pune district and sowing has just started. “Around 19,000 hectares have been cultivated which is only 6.6 per cent.” The average rainfall of Pune being 848.8 mm for the season, till Friday Pune had received only 105 mm rainfall, which is 12.46 per cent of the total. Kudale added that this year there was a demand for 12,000 quintals of seeds for the kharif season for the district and 11,902 quintals have already been supplied.

The low pressure area which has enhanced rainfall activity has gradually moved over Marathwada near Osmanabad and according to India Meteorological Department officials there would be continued rainfall activity for the next 24 hours.

indianexpress:  It is negligence that caused the death of 11 people in the city on early Saturday in two separate wall collapses, in Baner and Kothrud, said municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi on Saturday. The Pune Municipal Corporation will take legal action against those found responsible for their death and initiate a drive against builders whose encroachments have blocked natural streams and nallas and such encroachments will be treated as a criminal offence.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Pardeshi refused to reveal the identity of those against whom legal action was being planned. “This is a sensitive case and the PMC will initiate required steps. We will ensure that action is taken against those who are responsible for death of 11 people,” he said.

“Irregularities by builders like diverting the natural streams and blocking nallas could result in big calamities and hence the PMC is treating these calamities as opportunities to crack down on culprits who have encroached nallas and are responsible for blocking of natural streams,” said Pardeshi adding that the PMC is initiating a drive to restore the natural nallas.

“In the last 10-20 years, illegal structures have came up rapidly and hence it is impossible to demolish every construction that has come up on nalla. But we want to send a strong message that there will be zero tolerance on the blocking of natural streams. The PMC will file criminal cases against the encroachers,” he said.

“With only 10 per cent of city roads having storm water drains, water logging will take place. But the PMC has put in every effort to clean 170 km nallas and 588 slum encroachments before monsoon showers,” said Pardeshi.

indianexpress: The first monsoon showers to hit Pune have put to rest claims of ‘preparedness’ by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL). For the second day running, areas around Shukrawar Peth, Sadashiv Peth, Wadgaonsheri and the Camp area faced several hours of power cut on Saturday. Residents of Salisbury Park, Gultekdi and Market Yard felt the brunt of the utility’s inefficiency right through the day, with feeders at Parvati breaking down.

“We have had no power from 3.30 a.m. We could not even register our complaint with the call centre as the phonelines were engaged throughout. How is the MSEDCL going to manage the entire monsoon season with so many technical snags?” asked a senior citizen from Salisbury Park where power was eventually restored at 6 pm —after 14 hours.

Shrihari Chaudhari, superintending engineer of the Rasta Peth circle, said some power cables were damaged near Dandekar Bridge, which led to the power cuts in surrounding areas. He also blamed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for the damage. “We have often complained to the PMC officials, since it is their contractors who damaged the power cables during road work,” Chaudhari said.

He attributed Friday night’s power cuts to punctures in the “weak” insulators. “Weak insulators usually get damaged after the first heavy rains every year. It will be a non-issue once we get past these showers. Please don’t read too much into the power cuts over the last two days,” he said.

Friday night also saw power cuts in parts of Sahakarnagar, the Cantonment and Hadapsar due to damage in the feeders close by. This also led to a breakdown in power supply at Kalyaninagar and other areas on Friday. Darkness also descended on Mundhwa, Kharadi, Phursungi, Bibwewadi, Katraj and Sinhagad Road. The feeder in the sub-station near the University of Pune came under the scanner as did the one at Ved Bhavan.

indianexpress: This family of five stays in a slum and uses three tubelights and two bulbs. They do not iron clothes to save electricity. But their bill is around Rs 3,000.

Fifty-five-year-old Thakubai Bhikaji Wagh is getting desperate. She stays with her driver husband Bhikaji and three sons who are daily wage workers at survey no 30 in Dandekar Pul slums. The family’s income is barely enough to last the month. They stay in three small rooms.
 
According to Thakubai, this is for the fifth time that they have been issued a bill that far exceeds their consumption. “I have already paid Rs 3,000 for the March-April billing cycle and this is becoming unbearable.Time and again we have approached the authorities concerned but they don’t have time for us. They are not responsive and keep us waiting for the saheb. However, the day is wasted and we don’t get the chance to meet the official,” she lamented.

Venting her ire on Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) officials, Thakubai said: “We thought that our meter was faulty. Hence we got it replaced with a new one a year ago. Still the problem of excess billing persists and the bill amount has multiplied by leaps and bounds over the months. I have been to the divisional MSEDCL office. But their response was cold. Neither did the staff allow me to meet the engineer in-charge nor did they guide me. I was simply asked to leave.”

Her son Kailas said: ‘’We approached the authorities concerned but all our attempts were in vain. Our house has just three tubelights and we don’t even iron the clothes as it consumes more electricity. Moreover, visits to the MSEDCL office are costly as one has to forgo a day’s income. The staff is unco-operative and lethargic. Who will compensate for our loss?”

Thakubai is worried about her dwindling savings. “All our savings vanish as we pay these bills. If we don’t pay, then the MSEDCL staff threatens to snap our connection. Once the supply is cut, we don’t think we will ever get it back. I don’t want it to happen as we don’t have any voice.”

When contacted, Rasta Peth Circle superintendent engineer Shree Hari Chaudhary said, “We appeal to all the people who have billing related queries to directly get in touch with the sub-division billing office located in Parvati. Two officials have been appointed exclusively for billing-related issues. We will help the family out, if they approach us with the excess bill.”

indianexpress: A Two-day national workshop on ‘suicide and attempted suicide’ started on Saturday at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune.

According to Lt Gen S K Kaul, director and commandant, AFMC, “The rapid pace of globalisation and economic development witnessed in the recent past are exerting considerable stress on the psyche of an individual. The younger section of the society and people in the productive age group at times succumb to this pressure. Therefore, measures aimed at preventing suicides are being accorded priority in health care delivery systems globally.”

Dr Dig Vijay Singh Goel, formerly national consultant in Mental Health to Govt of India and World Health Organisation (WHO), delivered the keynote address.

The aim of the workshop, according to AFMC, is to bring together experts to evolve an approach to help the general population in coping with stress and enable health care professionals in providing proper counseling and timely psychiatric assistance to the needy. A large number of delegates from all over the country attended the workshop.

Other prominent guests who attended the workshop included Dr Vihang Vania from Mumbai, Dr Manas Mandal from Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Delhi and Dr P K Chakraborti, director, Ranchi Institute of Neoro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences.

indianexpress: IIT-Bombay is introducing a flexible B-Tech course from this academic session that will allow a student to study something as different as sociology or economics alongside their engineering syllabus. The course will allow students to either pick up credits from other departments or graduate with honours or finish with the basic minimum credit level for a regular B-Tech course.

This initiative is part of IIT-Bombay’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, which will run from September 5 and end on its foundation day — 10 March, 2009. The institute expects to raise Rs 500 crore in this period besides strengthening its alumni network.

Other new courses this session include an integrated MSC-PhD in Energy Sciences, which will be extended to the Engineering department from 2008 and a joint PhD programme with the University of Singapore. The institute is also jointly conducting programmes with the Monash University, Australia.

Ashok Misra, Director, IIT-Bombay said these initiative were in tune with IIT-Bombay’s aim to emerge as a global institute. Besides new initiatives, said Misra the Golden Jubilee celebrations will allow the institute to celebrate past achievements and plan for the future.

Misra said emphasis would be laid on research. “Research will take us to the next generation. We had around 1,300 doctoral students in the last five years including 150 students this year — a number we aim to increase,” he said. Research initiatives include setting up Rs 100-crore project for nanotechnology with the Indian Institute of Science, setting up golden jubilee chair professorships, and developing the centres for innovation and entrepreneurship through industry sponsorship