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indianexpress: Bajaj Auto Limited has offered a three-point package to over 2,700 workers at its Akurdi plant that has been shut on September 1. The options for the workers include a VRS, jobs in Bajaj dealerships and jobs to kins in one of the Bajaj units. The offer however did not find acceptance from the representatives of the two union members who attended the meet. They demanded that the status quo be maintained till the next meeting.

The offer was made by the company at a meeting called to discuss about the closure of the plant. BAL Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Labour Minister Ganesh Naik and trade union leaders attended the meeting at Sahyadri guesthouse in Mumbai on Saturday.

Pawar has requested the union leaders and the management to deliberate on the Saturday discussion and meet up again in a weeks’ time, this time in Pune.

Suryakant Mahadik, President of Bharatiya Kamgar Sena asked the company to open the plant first before considering these options. “We’re not ready to accept the options. The management should restart the plant first. We will discuss other issues later. The Bajaj Auto management doesn’t want to restart the Akurdi plant. That’s why they are giving these options,” he said.

The status quo should be maintained till the next meeting promised to us in one weeks’ time after the Lok Sabha session. “We would be intimated about the same.”

Meanwhile Dilip Pawar, president of Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana said that the meeting did not yield any positive results. “We are not happy with the proposal offered by the MD. I requested Bajaj today to keep the unit open for supplying spare parts to the Chakan unit. We will be addressing our members on the discussion on Sunday at 9 am at the Akurdi plant,’’ Pawar said.

The union leaders feel it’s an attempt by the BAL management to arm-twist as many workers as possible into accepting the VRS. Bajaj had been claiming that no VRS was in the offing, the Akurdi plant having already witnessed many VRS offers in the past. They refused to be taken in by sops such as jobs at BAL’s Chakan unit for their kin with diplomas in engineering.

indianexpress:  Even as rampant pollution in the city is leading to a drastic rise in cases of bronchitis, wheezing, common cold, skin rashes, eye infections and asthma, it appears as if nobody is bothered about its rub-off effect on generation next.

“The amount of lead produced by vehicle emissions continues to present an increasing hazard. Increasing number of kids are suffering from symptoms such as falling appetite, leading to anaemia while asthma is the other common ailment on the rise,” says city’s leading paediatrician Dr Jayant Navrange.

Pune, ranked the fifth most polluted city in Asia according to a World Bank report in 2003, appears to have hit a downwards spiral with the number of vehicles registered in the city growing at around nine per cent a year. The city branch of Indian Medical Association had in 1996 conducted a detailed survey on pollution and health hazards in the city and submitted the report to the then Municipal Commissioner Ramanath Jha.

As to be expected of any such report submitted to the civic administration, it too served no purpose but as a means to gather dust in its cupboard.

Dr Pravin Joshi, the then IMA president who initiated this study says the effort was made taking into consideration the opinions of all stakeholders but a good 11 years have passed but nothing has come of it, he laments. The report had insights on rising asthma cases among kids, as well as how chemicals emitted because of increasing vehicular traffic affected the normal behavioural pattern of people.

indianexpress:  Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Osram India Private Limited under which citizens in Pune and Thane are set to receive energy-saving Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) in exchange of regular working bulbs.

According to the MoU, part of the clean development mechanism project, Osram will provide CFLs free of cost to households in Pune and Thane. The project will take off in December 2007.

In a press release, MSEDCL said the idea behind the deal is to promote the use of CFLs that will help save energy. CFLs last 15 times longer then regular bulbs.

The project will cost Osram about Rs 46 crore to exchange CFLs with regular bulbs for which the company will get carbon credit. The MoU was signed by MSEDCL managing director Ajay Bhushan Pandey and his Osram counterpart Gagan Mehra.

indianexpress:  A Kidney transplant operation was for the first time performed in Pimpri Chinchwad area — on 35-year-old Faiz Ahmed at Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital on August 30. Ahmed was discharged on Friday. The operation was the first of its kind, with such facilities not available in the region.

Ahmed, who was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure in October 2006 and was started on dialysis at Lucknow, had been referred to nephrology consultant Dr Tarun Jalokha for further management during which he continued dialysis. The surgery was performed after his wife’s donor kidney was found to match.

indianexpress: The Joint Director of Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Dr GT Thawani has issued a directive asking all the CGHS beneficiaries in the city to avoid 11 hospitals in the city who have stopped giving credit facilities to pensioners and are also not giving estimates for treatment at the time of admission.

After a joint meeting on Friday with medical specialists, pensioners association, freedom fighters association, Dr Thawani said beneficiaries were advised not to approach these hospitals. The list put up by the joint director include: Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital, Ruby Hall Clinic, Hardiker hospital, Inlaks and Budhrani, Jehangir hospital, Joshi hospital, KEM hospital, Poona Hospital, NM Wadia Institute of Cardiology, Sanjeevan hospital and Sancheti hospital. He however said in case of emergency, the beneficiaries could avail treatment in any hospital.

The meeting was organised in the wake of the members of Association of Hospitals saying that they would not give any credit facility from September 1 to the beneficiaries as they were unhappy with the rates. The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, Pune in a letter to the Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Director General CGHS Dr RK Shrivastav, New Delhi and Director Dr Anita Nanda have stressed that hospitals should continue giving the facilities to the beneficiaries as per the old rates till such time the matter is decided.

Meanwhile, the Central Government Civilian Pensioners’ Association have said that in case the beneficiaries face a problem they could contact the executive members of the association on: 9922757406. There are around 50,000 card holders and two lakh beneficiaries which includes pensioners and government servants in Pune.

indianexpress: Pushkaraj Phadnis wants commuters to use cycles compulsorily on a designated day of the week. Amruta Nagtilak wrote she would take care to get married late, since increasing population is responsible for decline in environment. After her 10th standard exams, Nagtilak plans to stand at traffic signals and ensure vehicle drivers get their PUCs done.

These were some of the ideas that were thrown up when Praj Foundation held an essay competition for children on ‘What you can do to reduce global warming?’ The students were judged in two categories: fifth to seventh standard and eighth to 10th standard. Some 11,500 students participated, of which 22 won cash prizes totalling up to Rs 1,30,000.

“It didn’t matter if the essays were lousy as long as one had a great ‘green’ idea. We were looking for original ideas,” said Parimal Chaudhari, managing trustee of Praj Foundation.

Chaudhari said maximum points were given when children took the onus on themselves, besides their grasp of the bigger picture and the context. Teachers and schools associated with these children were felicitated. “We decided to rope in the principal and the teachers of the school in this programme to ensure better success and maximum participation. And we were right,” said Chaudhari.

The foundation is also looking at extending capital to ensure that these ‘green ideas’ are implemented. “ A child wrote about water harvesting. If the school does not know how to go about executing the idea or has no money for the same, then we will pitch in from the foundation,” said Chaudhari.

indianexpress: Even as Koregaon Park residents reel under the spate of sandalwood robberies, a gang struck at the up market Clover Village society in Wanavdi in the wee hours of September 5 and made off with a sandalwood tree.

According to Sukanth Sapkal, manager of Clover Village Federation, a group of around 12 men came to Gate No 1 of the society around 3.30 am on Wednesday and asked the guards to open the gates.
 
They told them that had come to cut a tree. When the guard refused to let them in, the men forcefully entered the premises and hit the two guards and also cut the telephone wires to prevent them from raising any alarm.

“They had knives, choppers and hacksaws with them. Seven of them stood guard while five of them went and cut the sandalwood tree in the compound. They had parked their vehicle about a km from the Ganga Satellite Complex and loaded the tree there and took off. I tried to run after them to get the vehicle number but could not manage that,’’ says Ambadas Mate, one of the guards present during the robbery.

A case of theft has been registered with the Wanavdi police chowkey. The Clover Village is made up of 11 societies comprising 485 flats and about 50 independent row houses.

“It’s shocking how gangs can roam so freely in prime residential areas. It’s obviously an absolute failure of security. We can do nothing except hope that the police takes some action-and soon,’’ said Saaz Aggarwal, a resident of Clover Village.

“We have youngsters in the society who work in call centres and come home at odd hours. Imagine if one of them had been at the gate during the incident,’’ added Aggarwal.