News

TOI : PUNE: The Deccan Gymkhana police have arrested Stephen Daniel Salve (23) of Dhanorie for allegedly duping the ICICI Bank of Rs 3 lakh by obtaining personal loans in various fictitious name.

The ICICI bank’s collection manager, Abdul Siddiqui, in his complaint said that Salve had obtained a loan of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh under different names since February 5, 2007.

The incident came to light after Salve failed to repay the loan. Investigations have revealed that Salve had impersonated as a software engineer for obtaining the loan. Police sub-inspector A.B. Londhe is investigating the case…More

TOI : PUNE: Refuting suggestions that the Pune division of the Central Railways (CR) has not been up to mark in providing public amenities, the divisional railway manager (DRM) of the Pune division has defended the track record of his organisation.

According to D K Jain, DRM, the Pune division has fared much better than many other divisions with three of the 32 new trains announced during last year’s railway budget coming to the city. “Besides getting new trains, we have also added number of new coaches in passenger trains,” Jain said.

Regarding connectivity, the DRM pointed out that as many as five trains from the city are going to or via Delhi now. “We are reaching out directly to more and more destinations. Once the AC/DC conversion happens, there will be enhancement in the time of travel and local trains will achieve of speed of up to 100 kilometre an hour,” Jain said.

Similarly, the CR is also undertaking additional projects to cater to the demand for washing and cleaning of coaches and maintenance of rakes. The Pune station is frequented by more than 2,200 passengers and other people each hour during the peak time of any day.
More

TOI : PUNE: “The recent controversies across the country over the use of agriculture land for industrial purpose points to an inevitable aspect of capitalism,” feels sociologist Partha Chattejee.

He was speaking at the foundation day and 14th convocation ceremony of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics on Saturday. The topic of the lecture was ‘democracy and economic transformation in India’. Arup Maharatna, officiating director of the institute was also present. “Capitalistic economic growth must be accompanied by adequate social sector expenditures and supervised by the states to bring down the effects of loss of means of production,” Chattejee suggested.

Stating that big economic transformation is now underway in the country, Chattejee said, “Clearing agriculture land for industrial use and entry of corporate capital into retail trade in agricultural commodities are best examples of capitalistic growth in the country. It also brings to notice the loss of means of production for small farmers and producers. The government, supported by the all political parties, must check these negative traits of capitalism. They should provide credit, subsidies and direct benefits to the poor.”

Chattejee further observed that all sections of the society do not enjoys the benefits of rapid economic growth. Keeping in view the sustainable growth it is the job of a political system to protect the left out classes of the society from being victimised, he said.

Giving information about Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Maharatna said, “The institute undertook nine research projects and published 58 research papers in the last academic year. It is conducting studies on different subjects and some of them are being done at the national level.”
More

TOI : PUNE: A survey conducted by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) on infrastructure in municipal schools shows that about 27 posts of principals in city’s corporation schools are lying vacant. Moreover, a large sum of money meant for purchasing school equipment, is lying unspent.

Even as corporators and activists are raising concern over the pathetic condition of infrastructure facilities in schools, the quality of education too is a cause of concern.

Speaking to TOI, corporator Medha Kulkarni said it was disturbing to know that so many top positions are lying vacant. “The situation has been prevailing for some time, but no efforts are being made to fill the posts. In the absence of headmasters, there is no decision-making authority and teachers behave at their own will which ultimately affects the students.”

Similar apathy prevailed regarding purchase of equipment, she added. “Firstly, the allocated money is not spent fully. And whatever is spent is used for unnecessary things. Many schools do not have a court, but basketball equipment is purchased. There is no space for keeping table tennis tables in some schools.”

Kulkarni said municipal school students would fare well if provided with proper equipment and personal attention by teachers. “In schools where there are enough teachers, students do well in scholarship exams. It is for the authorities to take steps for improving the quality of schools,” Kulkarni added.

Kulkarni had also sought a written reply from the civic authorities about how many toilets were constructed in municipal schools from SSA funds during the year.

“Only Rs 60 lakh have been spent. In many schools there aren’t enough toilets for students. Where they been have constructed, the drainage system and construction material is bad. The tanks are leaking and toilets are on the verge of collapse….More

TOI : PUNE: Compressed natural gas (CNG) would be available in the city by mid-February, but there are no vehicles which can run on CNG. Moreover, even though vehicles have to be retrofitted with government-approved CNG kits, there are no retrofitting centres either at present.

Authorities of the Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL), however, say that once the CNG supply starts in the city, retrofitting centres will also start coming up, just as auto LPG centres were set up after LPG became available at various outlets in the city.

MNGL, a joint venture of Gas Authority of India Limited and Bharat Petroleum Company Limited, has been entrusted with the task of distributing CNG across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The company would be supplying CNG from a BPCL outlet at Pimpale Saudagar initially on an experimental basis.

CNG supply in bulk would begin sometime after June after the completion of the distribution network. The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited, which will readily get CNG at four depots - Shivajinagar, Katraj, Kothrud and Hadapsar - too is yet to make plans for getting CNG-run buses.

MNGL authorities said they were trying to supply CNG as early as possible. At the same time, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) and autorickshaw owners can start thinking on when they can switch over to CNG.

Speaking to TOI, PMPML managing director Subbrao Patil said the transport body has decided that all new buses that would be procured would run on CNG. “The existing buses cannot be retrofitted with CNG kits as the cost of conversion is too high. Hence, it is practical to take new buses which have factory-fitted CNG kits,” Patil said.

A few meetings have been held in the recent past with MNGL authorities regarding supply of CNG at various depots of PMPML, Patil said. “We have demanded…More