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indianexpress:  “We are afraid to step out of our house. We need help and protection,’’ says the written complaint by Akash Jagtap (15), Vishal Mhetre (15) and Swapnil Mhetre (12) from Sahajpur village of Daund taluka, submitted to the district collector Prabhakar Deshmukh on Friday.

Akash, Vishal and Swapnil, shaken as they are, had openly spoken out on different issues plaguing their village at a “unique gram sabha” for children on November 14. The district collector was present at the gram sabha which was held in Daund, 35 kms from Pune.

The boys are allegedly facing threat from the elected members of the gram panchayat, forcing them to approach the district collector seeking protection for themselves as well as their parents.

In a swift action, Deshmukh has directed the police to provide protection to the children and has also asked them to take action against those issuing threats. “I have asked the rural police to take necessary action and see it to that no harm is caused to the children or their families,’’ he said.

The children have specifically complained against the members. “ We were encouraged to speak out but we did not know that we will face such problems. So we decided to approach the collector,’’said Akash who met the collector today.

indianexpress:  To resolve the traffic problem arising due to vehicles being parked on the road by those visiting playgrounds and parks, the Pune municipal administration has proposed the development of basement area for parking of vehicles at its various playgrounds, garden and parks.

A modification in the development control rules, for the 1987 approved city development plan (DP), under clause 37(1) of MRTP Act, 1966 has been proposed for approval of the city improvement committee (CIC).

As per the existing rule, PMC acquires the land reserved for garden, park and playground. Thereafter the site may be allowed to develop or maintained through public interest or the commissioner may entrust the development and maintenance of the facility to a suitable agency or team to be decided by him.

However, the proposed modifications include the provision for development of partial or full basement for parking only in the reserved plot to be developed.

The proposal said that the number of four-wheelers were increasing along with the rapid growth of the city. The city roads were getting congested due to parking of vehicles on roads by those visiting parks and gardens because of lack of parking space in the public places developed by the PMC, it said.

indianexpress: Continuing its policy of boosting research in affiliated colleges and at the university level, the University of Pune (UoP) has introduced a new scheme of offering cash incentives for varsity researchers whose essays are published in recognised national and international journals. At the college level, the UoP has organised a conference, Innovation 2007, on November 19 and 20 to bring together researchers from affiliated colleges.

While research is normally considered to be restricted to the varsity, the UoP recently introduced a unique initiative of allocating Rs. 8 crore for funding research projects at the college level. As part of this, 500 projects were approved, with funding between Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 3 lakh per project.

These researchers will now attend the Innovation conference, which aims at providing an opportunity to showcase their work, interact with others and update their knowledge in the field.

Quality research at the university level will also be rewarded. “Today there is no data whatsoever on the number of research essays which are picked up by reputed journals. I have written letters to deans of various faculties to prepare a database of all such research essays published in these subjects, and how many are in recognised journals,” said VC Narendra Jadhav at a press conference on Friday.

Accordingly, research essays published in international journals will be given cash awards of Rs. 5000, while those published in national journals will receive Rs. 2000. The norms for deciding upon these awards will be formulated by the deans.

indianexpress: It’s official. The Pune Municipal Corporation had prepared an “incomplete plan” for various road development works under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The civic administration has re-estimated project cost to Rs 1462.91 crore from the earlier Rs 807.12 crore — an 80 per cent rise. The re-estimated project cost document will be placed before the City Improvement Committee meeting to be held on November 20.

“The increase in material rates and inclusion of additional provisions has increased the project cost,” Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi said in the proposal. He said the re-estimation cost is based on the detailed project report (DPR) prepared for the project and as per the market rate for 2007-08. “The re-estimation includes the additional cost due to certain technical changes and also the addition of provisions of service lines.”

The technical changes proposed include laying high capacity water and sewage lines keeping in mind the future need, construction of storm water drains and construction of cycle tracks alongside the road to be developed under JNNURM.

“The existing estimates were carried out two years ago and approved by the Centre. Thus, the re-estimates have been carried out as per the clauses in JNNURM and will be sent for approval,” a senior civic officer said.

indianexpress:  Students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minority communities who are studying in University of Pune-affiliated colleges in adivasi areas will now get special benefits with the UoP announcing a 100 per cent grant for providing these students with ‘jobs on demand’.

The Maagel Tyala Kaam (Jobs On Demand) scheme, introduced by Vice Chancellor Narendra Jadhav under the varsity’s Earn and Learn programme, provides jobs on campus to the needy and deserving students. The scheme was implemented in affiliated colleges on a 60:40 grant, with the UoP bearing 60 per cent of the costs, while colleges bore the rest.

“For 14 colleges in the adivasi areas, most of which are in Nashik, 90 per cent of costs will be borne by the university and a 100 per cent grant will be given to students belonging to SC/ST, denotified tribes and communities, minorities and other needy students,” said Jadhav. Personality development centers will also be set up in 220 colleges,he added

indianexpress: The monsoon is long over, but the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has just woken up and decided to step up efforts to provide raincoats, rainsuits and gumboots to its Class IV employees.
A consignment of brand new raincoats and rainsuits worth Rs 27 lakh arrived at PCMC’s stores department located in Nehrunagar earlier this week. Another consignment of gumboots worth Rs 13 lakh is expected to arrive in two weeks. The PCMC had placed the orders in September and October

Every three years, PCMC distributes raincoats, suits and gumboots among the over 3300 Class IV employees. Last time, it distributed these rain-wear in March 2004 — which means there has been a delay of eight months in making the rain-wear available to the employees who work in extremely adverse conditions. The stores department is quick to blame other civic departments for the inordinate delay in procuring the consignment. “We had written a letter to several civic departments on January 5, 2007, requesting them to let us know the number of Class IV employees working with them. After that, we sent two reminders, but the departments have been slow to react,” say senior stores department officials.

Assistant municipal commissioner Amrut Sawant, who has taken charge of the stores department just a few weeks back, told The Indian Express on Friday that in future, he would ensure that there was no delay in procuring material meant for different departments. “Since I have just taken charge, I am getting to know the system here. But I will make it sure that material is purchased at the right time,” he said.

indianexpress: In its second edition this year, the Pune Design Festival — to be held from Novermber 20 to 24 at YASHADA — is aiming to reach out and bring design to the public. “The conference last year was a close knit activity. This year the weeklong festival will have competitions, public workshops and exhibitions,” said Ashish Deshpande, vice-president of the Pune Design Foundation, which is organising the event.

In a bid to take design to the children, a school competition was held — the theme for which was ‘Ideal school desk and seating.” The foundation received about a 100 design entries from students from Pune, Satara and Nashik. Around 75 entres were received for the competition open to design and non-design undergraduate and above students, the theme being “Design to build: In transit public spaces.” The third competition open to all students is on “Traffic education for India.” “Unlike last time, the entries will be documented in a book this year. We will also see if we can take the award winning entries forward and build a prototype,” said Deshpande.

As the larger goal of the festival is to spread awareness about design, workshops for students, corporates, entrepreneurs, and design enablers, exhibitions in association with INTACH and Indian Institute of Interior Designer (IIID) are on the agenda, said Darpana Athale, chairperson of Pune Design Festival 2007.