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indianexpress: The Pune Municipal Corporation is looking to hire a team of demolition men to fill in the shortfall of staffers assigned that job. After cracking down on illegal hawkers on 30 city roads, the PMC has turned its gaze on all illegal structures within the city limits.

“The PMC plans to hire 140 labourers, 10 for each of 14 wards, on contract basis to carry out the demolition action routinely.Shortage of staff and requisite machinery is hampering action against illegal structures. It is not happening on a routine basis,” said Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi.

Presently, there are four to five staffers allotted to each ward for the purpose under the building control department, but that is not proving to be sufficient, he said. The PMC has also hired machinery, including JCB, for taking action against the illegal structures, Pardeshi added.

The civic administration receives many complaints of illegal structures, but the problem aggravate due to delay in action. Those ward offices with sufficient manpower will now act without delay on receipt of public complaints. The PMC, on its own, will keep a constant check on any illegal structure coming up in the city.

This comes a year after the PMC announced its plan of action, following the Bombay High Court order on illegal structures in private premises and on public roads. However, the plan to demolish illegal structures under construction within 24 hours and existing ones in 30 days could not be realised due to shortage of staff and machinery.

indianexpress: While pointing out that it is difficult to do away with the loadshedding spectre in Maharashtra in the next five years, chairman of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), Dr Pramod Deo on Saturday said if alternatives to the Pune’s captive power project (CPP) are not found soon, there is a possibility of imposition of loadshedding in the city once again.

“It was wrongly projected that the Captive Power Project (CPP) was generating sufficient power for Pune city, while in reality Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) had to borrow power from some other sources,” he said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a workshop on Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) organised by the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA), in association with the United States Agency International Development (USAID).

Dr Deo further said that Pune city was fortunate enough that it has had no loadshedding thanks to the CPP. “But a myth was created that the CPP was generating 90 MW of power, which is sufficient to cater to the needs of Pune,” he said. “However, the fact is that out of the total demand, almost 70 per cent was being borrowed from outer sources by MSEDCL. That is why I have now asked the state government to adopt a franchisee method for power generation as well as distribution. Starting power generation plants locally is important.”

indianexpress: Four months since the ball was set rolling to start an ‘official’ RTO approved pre-paid auto rickshaw and taxi stand at the airport, the process seems stuck in a limbo with authorities pointing fingers at each other.

The prepaid auto- taxi stand at the airport never really took off. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had given permission to certain selected licensed drivers who were allowed to ply from the airport into the city for customer convenience – but there were complaints from commuters of overcharging and internal disputes among taxi drivers.

Finally, this issue was raised again in late June by the traffic department. On August 6, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) passed an order directing the Deputy Commissioner Police (DCP) Traffic, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to sit together and sort out the details for a prepaid counter at the airport. “The area has been surveyed by representatives of the RTO, DCP traffic and the AAI. The inspection is over and the AAI has to come up with the layout for the booths, road markings, and lanes and set up the infrastructure. Only after this is done, we can work out the tariff and the distance between the airport and the nodal points,” said Assistant RTO Vijay Katole.

Airport director Deepak Shastri, however, said that no request had been submitted to him in writing. “We already have a prepaid stand here. For the last few months, we have been approaching the RTO to revise the rates if they find them high but they have not been forthcoming,” he said.

indianexpress: Hackers will use what is arguably their first international convention in India to take the help of police and legal experts to explain that “hacking” is actually good. This among other things are billed as top of the draw when hackers from various parts of the country and abroad meet at the ICC Trade Tower on Senapati Bapat Road here on Sunday.

“The day-long convention includes a unique session where in the representatives of hackers, legal experts and police department would sit together and answer the queries raised by the public”, said Rohit Srivastwa, convener of the event – Clubhack 2007.

Over 200 participants are expected for the convention, of which 40 per cent are ethical hackers. The others participants include industrial leaders, senior lawyers, police officials from cyber crime cell and computer experts from leading companies like Microsoft, Symantec, Mac Fee and Checkpoint.

“Hacking skills are essential for developing a software. So in any IT company, almost 50 per cent of the employees are hackers,” he said. Srivastwa said that Clubhack has invited Deputy Commissioner of Police Sunil Phulari of Cyber Crime Cell and Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Jadhav from State Intelligence Department (SIT).

Jadhav said that such events should be encouraged, as hacking is a positive concept. “The convention will help in international bonding of hackers”, he said. There will be presentations on cyber laws, hacking skills and techniques of investigations by 13 speakers including those from the US and Israel.

indianexpress: Giving it the needful thrust, the first conference on naturopathy is all set to evolve guidelines for better clinical and administrative management as well as help in crystallising research in the subject. Inaugurating the three-day conference, organised by the National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) at the Alpa Bachat Bhavan, VANRAI president Mohan Dharia said the conference was “a united effort to make India a healthy nation.” He added that the best way to do it was through naturopathy, “which was even preferred by Gandhiji.”

With the conference aiming at throwing light on prevention and cure besides promoting aspects through lectures and seminars, NIN director Babu Joseph said the scientific sessions planned in the conference would help evolve the guidelines. “The newer innovative techniques will definitely help to crystallise the modern trends and advances in research, education and clinical practices in naturopathy,” he said.

Joseph added that naturopathy for long has been misunderstood and this conference would build people’s belief in naturopathy by sharing the experiences of expert naturopaths and graduates, which will not only boost the acceptance of naturopathy but enrich budding naturopaths and help improve the common man’s perception of it.

With over 700 participants from the participating various states, the three days will see symposiums in various areas such as concepts and principles of naturopathy, perspectives of naturopathy and yoga as a holistic system of medicine and physiological basis of therapies used in naturopathy.