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TOI : The price of bricks has gone up by 40 per cent from Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000 per 1,000 units over the last two months, owing to an acute shortage in supplies and causes like dwindling number of brick-kiln owners in the city.

However, the construction industry, which is going through a boom phase, is not unduly worried. Most major firms maintain huge stocks, besides procuring bricks from other centres like Sangamner, Panvel, Khopoli and Barshi.

The issue, however, reflects the rapidly altering face of the brick kiln industry in Pune which is rapidly shifting base from the conventional Sinhagad road and Pashan locations to fringe areas like Sus road, Tathawade and Nanded-phata, ahead of Sinhagad road.

A key factor behind this shift is the high price of land at the Sinhagad road and Pashan. In recent years, these areas have witnessed booming growth of new constructions including apartment blocks and commercial establishments.

The second and third generation members of traditional brick kiln makers in the city, have diversified to other businesses and this is manifested in the dwindling numbers of brick kilns. Sinhagad road, which was once the epicentre of the brick kiln business, barely has one or two major units today as against the 42 units it had a few years ago.

Speaking to TOI, Vijay Bhosale, who operates a brick kiln at Nanded phata, said that survival in the business was getting difficult with each passing day. “We have to pay hefty royalties while transporting bricks from one place to another, involving two different local self-governing bodies,” he said. This was also a reason why brick suppliers were unable to make the most of the prevailing short supply. Rainfall and dried up stocks of bricks manufactured in advance, are some of the reasons behind the shortage, he pointed out.

According…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has become the first municipal body in the state as well as in the country which will be able to avail carbon credits approximately worth Rs 18.5 lakh per year by installing energy efficient streetlights.

In the first phase, the civic body will install 7,000 energy efficient streetlights in the next three months. The work is being done by Asian Electronics, which has formed a consortium of municipal corporations. The project will be submitted to the CDM (Carbon Development Mechanism) board.

A World Bank team, comprising Jason Steele, WB consultant, rural energy and carbon finance analyst, Jeremy Levin, consultant, energy specialist South Asia, and Gaurav Joshi, environment specialist, sustainable development department, visited the PCMC headquarters to get a first-hand account of the project. The team met executive engineer of the electrical department Pravin Tupe, and Madhav Dandavate of Asian Electronics.

According to Tupe, the municipal will replace sodium vapour lamps, having 150 to 250 watts, with T-5 type fluorescent lamps. A total of 14,000 lamps in all the four zonal ward areas are to be replaced in the next six months. Work on replacing the first 7,000 lamps is expected to begin shortly, Tupe said.

With the new Project, the PCMC will be able to save 5,199 Mwh of electricity that will generate 4,627 CERs (Certificate of Emission Reduction). In monetary terms, it would be Rs 18.51 lakh per year.

In the next twelve years, the PCMC would be able to make a saving of Rs 12 crore on electricity bills, apart from getting the carbon credit, Tupe said.

The civic body’s current annual electricity bill is Rs 13 crore.

Speaking to reporters, Levin said that the municipal body has taken a lead in the country for availing carbon credit. Levin said while there are…More

TOI : PUNE: Felling of trees has been going on unabated at a farmland in Keshavnagar, Mundhwa, for over a month now. Garbage being dumped and burned has also been causing further damage to the green cover, besides polluting the area. This is being witnessed at the reclaiming slope terrain of the farmland behind Florida Estates. To make matters worse, the garbage includes polythene bags and thermacol.

However, the PMC and the Keshavnagar grampanchayat are passing the buck on to each other. When contacted, PMC garden department chief Yashwant Khaire said, “We have been receiving complaints of trees being felled and burned in that area. We sent our man to the area but the area falls under the town planning department and not the PMC limits.”

Vikas Dhavale memeber of the Keshavnagar grampanchayat, also claimed that the area is not in the Keshavnagar grampanchayat limits. “Basically, a small nullah divides the farmland and Florida Estates and according to the grampanchayat officials, the area till the nullah falls in the PMC limits and anything beyond the nullah is in the grampanchayat limits.”

Nevertheless, residents of the area are quite disturbed. Niranjan Benegal of Florida Estates says, “I have been for about a month that trees are being axed and burned. This land is bang opposite my house and the toxic fumes often enter our house.”

A year ago, the incident of tree felling was noticed here, which later stopped. But it resumed a month ago.

“Trees are felled and later burned in the name of development. Small trees are also burned and I have noticed that these trees are chopped either on Sundays or holidays. I don’t know if it is being done with permission, but many residents here are getting directly affected by the smoke and pollution,” Benegal added.

Asha Gangoli, another resident, says the…More

TOI : PUNE: As many as 81.8 per cent rural households in Maharashtra and 41.9 per cent urban households do not have toilets. As many as 39.2 per cent households have no drainage lines, 21.5 per cent use kerosene lamps in the absence of electricity and 46.6 per cent use firewood for cooking. But in all this, 24.7 per cent rural households and 70.5 per cent urban households own television sets!

Also, 35 per cent households have radios or transistors, 14.1 per cent have telephones, 30.1 per cent own bicycles, 13.2 per cent own scooters, motorcycles or mopeds, 3.4 per cent own cars, jeeps or vans and 36.8 per cent own none of the specified assets.

The figures have been revealed in the housing census conducted in June 2000, which studied houses, household amenities and assets. However, though the study was conducted in 2000, even today, a city like Pune has just 352 public urinals for a 30-lakh population.

S.S. Hiremath, deputy director, directorate of census operations, Mumbai, told TOI that the housing census was conducted for the first time during the Census 2001 exercise to determine the quality of life of people. “This study is not only useful for planners and policy-makers in the central and state governments, but also for administrators and planners at the local level,” he said.

Hiremath pointed out that most of the policies framed by the government were based on results of census studies. The data is also expected to benefit manufacturers of consumer goods and services.

In addition to the above information, the housing census also gives results on the material used in housing construction, number of married couples in the state, the source of drinking water in households and assets owned by households…More

TOI : PUNE: Beginning today, the city’s Lohegaon airport will remain closed for a fortnight (till February 26) to facilitate runway carpeting and repair works. As a result, all the 28 flights that operate from the airport daily stand cancelled.

Even after completion of the runway repair work on February 26, the airport will remain functional only for eight hours — from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm. The airport timings had been reduced to eight hours, from the earlier 12 hours, since September last year.
The runway recarpeting and repair is expected to end in May. The runway carpeting and repair is being carried out due to its wear and tear on account of air force and civilian flight operations.

Apart from affecting nearly 5,000 passengers, air cargo traffic would also be severely hampered following the airport closure. The Maharashtra chamber of commerce, industry and agriculture said that the estimated losses in air cargo traffic is around Rs 50 crore. Meanwhile, some of the private airliners are making efforts to provide transport facility for passengers up to Mumbai so that they can catch connecting flights.

Pune’s daily air passenger load, ie, number of passengers flying out of and into the city, is pegged at 5,000. The city accounts for almost 20 per cent of the Mumbai air traffic headed for international destinations. Similarly, almost 5 per cent of Delhi’s domestic air passenger traffic is generated from Pune. The annual revenue for the Airports Authority of India for Pune was Rs 30 crore for the year 2006-07…More