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TOI : PUNE: The Pune division of the income-tax department has been facing staff crunch on a large-scale basis for years now. The department is recording constant increase in tax collection as the number of tax payers has gone up considerably.

Out of the sanctioned strength, nearly 24 per cent of inspectors posts, 36 per cent of tax assistants and 66 per cent of stenographers’ posts are still lying vacant.

During the current financial year, three new commissionerate and two new directorate charges have been created, but no new staff recruitment has been done for the newly-commissioned charges. The existing staff is being made to work for the new charges too, which is leading to staff shortage in all departments.

An official told TOI that the posts have been lying vacant as no recruitment has been done in the last 10 years. “A proposal for recruitment has been sent to Central Board of Direct Taxes,” he said, adding that the clerical staff was the backbone of the department.

The division’s total sanctioned strength for inspectors posts is 513, out of which 117 posts are vacant. Similarly, out of the total 618 posts of tax assistants, nearly 223 posts are lying vacant. Stenographers posts have the highest vacancy of 66 percent as out of sanctioned 254 posts, nearly 169 posts are lying vacant in the division.

But despite of the staff crunch, the division has recorded 20 percent increase in the process of tax returns as compared to last year. Nearly ten lakh tax return cases were disposed of till the end of October 2007. The tax collection has reached 63 per cent of target set for this financial year, the official said…More

TOI : PUNE: The city police have desisted from slapping more serious charges against techie Anita Ajay Sharma (26), who was arrested for allegedly causing damages to the tune of $ 13 million to a software firm, despite an observation by the fast track court that section 408 of the IPC also comes into the picture.

A resident of Pimpale-Saudagar, Anita was arrested on December 25, 2007 for allegedly leaking vital information and source code of 3 D-PML Software Solution Limited at Hinjewadi via e-mail to her husband and others.

She has been booked under Section 66 of the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000, which refers to hacking with computer system and can result in a three-year imprisonment.

In an order passed on November 27, judge S.D. Kulkarni has observed, “Not only Section 66 of the IT Act, but Section 408 of the IPC also comes into the picture. It is not a simple case of leaking information….More

TOI : PUNE: For the 12 women rescued from the brothels in the Budhwar Peth redlight area on Thursday, life has been a never-ending harrowing experience. One can describe their living conditions as nothing less than “horrible”.

As Andhra Pradesh superintendent of police (CID) B. Sumati found out, the victims had been forced to entertain 10 customers for a sum ranging between Rs 150 and 200 each. They lived a cramped existence in dingy, unhygenic rooms in dilapidated buildings.
According to Sumati, the girls were traded for Rs 25,000 each, on a verbal contract between the trafficker and the brothel-owner, to exploit their services for two years.

At least 90 women were rounded up during a joint-raid carried out by the Andhra Pradesh police and their Pune counterparts at the Budhwar Peth red light area on Thursday afternoon. The raid came as a reaction to questions raised in the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly over young women, from the Cudappa and Anantpur districts, being illegally trafficked to Pune.

Investigations revealed that 20 of these women were allegedly involved in trafficking women from Andhra Pradesh to Pune, while another 12 were identified as their victims. The police could not find much against the remaining 58 women, who returned to Budhwar Peth after they were let off…More

TOI : PUNE: The Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) for the Pune region would be in place by March 2008. This is a major step towards formation of the much-awaited Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), Pune divisional commissioner Nitin Kareer said here on Friday.

Kareer was addressing the first comprehensive meeting of stakeholders to discuss the formation of MPC and PMRDA. Pune guardian minister Ajit Pawar presided over the meeting.

Once the MPC comes into existence, the development of the region would be done according to the draft development plan (DP) prepared by the MPC. Zoning system in the regional plan (RP) would be converted into reservation. The PMRDA would be the implementing agency for the draft DP by the MPC.

Kareer said voter list was being prepared and elections to the MPC would be conducted soon. The MPC would work parallel to the district planning and development committee (DPDC).

“The ambit of the PMRDA is not yet decided. There are two models — in the first model the authority is involved in land acquisition and development; in the second model it functions only as a planning authority. It is up to the state government to decide on the model for Pune region,” Kareer said.

Once the MPC comes into existence, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad can hope for an integrated development planning. The MPC would enhance co-ordination between various government agencies and local governing bodies.

For claiming funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) it is compulsory for state governments to form MPCs for cities with a population of 30 lakh. As per the 74th constitutional amendment, the MPCs are expected to prepare and forward the development plan to the government.

The Pune metropolitan region, established in 1967, includes areas under the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, Khadki and Dehu road…More

TOI : PUNE: In a novel initiative to facilitate smooth and efficient functioning, the city traffic police have trifurcated its work under three divisions — engineering, education and enforcement to be headed by three assistant commissioners of police (ACP).

The ACPs will also co-ordinate with interested non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for traffic planning in the city.

A discussion-cum-meeting of planning authorities and NGOs was organised by the traffic police on Friday. Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Mahesh Ghurye said the meeting was organised to plan a better traffic management.

“We invited NGOs, discussed ideas and provided them with statistics for their papers on particular issues. After the papers were submitted, the meeting was arranged where specific issues were highlighted,” Ghurye said.

Around 10 issues of traffic engineering, 7 to 8 issues of traffic education and 10 issues related to traffic enforcement were discussed during the meeting. NGOs such as Parisar, Nagrik Chetna Manch, Kumari Rajshri Parmar memorial foundation, Sajag Nagrik Manch, Nirdhar, Rotary, Lions groups and several others participated in the meeting.

Representatives from municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki Cantonment Board, Pune mahanagar parivahan mahamandal limited (PMPML), Maharashtra state road transport corporation (MSRTC) and regional transport office (RTO) were also present during the meeting.

After the meeting, Ghurye said, “The NGOs will be pursuing the issues and will co-ordinate with the traffic police. Moreover, with this system of appointing ACPs for each segment, there will be a clarity as whom to approach to in the traffic department for getting work done,” he added…More