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TOI : PUNE: In the absence of a proper system of checks and balances, corruption has firmly gripped the funding of civic projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). An embarrassed state government, while maintaining that audits were being conducted at the local level, has asked citizens to wield the Right to Information (RTI) Act to stem the corruption!

Tenders worth crores of rupees are being floated for various works under the JNNURM and the civic corridors are teeming with contractors attempting to corner a piece of the funding pie.

Last week, a road work tender worth Rs 42 crore was tabled and passed clandestinely by the Pune Municipal Corporation standing committee. It was ensured that the media did not even get a glimpse of the proposal.
Not surprisingly, the estimated cost of the JNNURM works has swelled from the initial Rs 807 crore to Rs 1,462 crore now.

Interestingly, the tenders floated for the road works under the JNNURM have some strange conditions — which read more like an open demand for kickbacks — that contractors should provide the PMC’s engineers and consultants with things like Tavera cars, laptops, tea-cups, laptops, water purifiers and chairs! The PMC officials have, however, defended this clause, saying that the spending on these items was not even one per cent of the total expenditure. In fact, Vinay Deshpande, head of the PMC’s JNNURM cell, told the general body meeting last week that these items were being provided to the officials “to complete works in time and ensure quality”.

Commenting on this, a contractor who requested anonymity said, “Now it is an open secret that not a single tender in the municipal corporation is passed without paying kickbacks. There should be some checks on those who approve tenders and those who move files from table to table.”

The contractor pointed out…More

TOI : PUNE: A builder and his staff members were assaulted and his office on the Katraj-Kondhwa road was ransacked by miscreants on Monday afternoon because he reportedly failed to pay extortion money of Rs 5 lakh.

The builder, Rahul Arun Deshpande of Motibaugh society on the Pune-Satara road, who received injuries to his head, arms and legs, was admitted to a private hospital at Bibvewadi. He received 17 stitches on his head.

Deshpande has alleged that the policemen at the Kondhwa outpost police chowky wanted him to reach a compromise with the attackers. The police, however, refuted the charge.

The others who received minor injuries were site engineer Mahendra Shah, office administrator Bhushan Runwal, centring contractor Nitin Kadam and security guard Tanaji Birajdar.

The victims were attacked with iron rods and sticks, besides kicks and blows, the police said.

Deshpande and his partners of Jai Ganesh Developers are constructing a residential-cum-commercial complex, ‘Shri Ganesh Vishwa, at S. No. 48/1 at Kondhwa Budurk on the Katraj-Kondhwa bypass. The firm had started constructing a compound wall at the site when one Mahadeo Naiknaware of Gokulnagar and others started creating obstacles one-and-a-half months ago.

The miscreants had threatened the workers with dire consequences and allegedly demanded extortion money. The plot owner, where the structure is coming up, had filed a complaint with the Haveli police, but no action was taken. The miscreants, however, continued creating trouble on various occasions.

The Haveli police have booked Naiknaware and his accomplices under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint lodged by Runwal, one of the victims.

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TOI : PUNE: Those potent chillies used in your cooking are turning out to be mighty explosive too, though not in the kitchen. Pune-based High Explosive Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) has developed teargas bombs that contain chilli extracts, which experts say can be used for riot control and even for battling terrorists.

Speaking to TOI , HEMRL joint director R.K. Pande said the chilli-laden bombs were crowd-friendly as they cause only temporary irritation to the body. HEMRL has developed the technology for the manufacture of the bombs and has also patented it.

Pande said an extract of the dry ripe red chili, known as Oleoresin Capsicum (OC), has been used in making the bomb. The other ingredients included natural oils, fats and colouring matter like capsaicinoids.

“The bomb weighs around 300 gm and can create a smoky atmosphere for duration of 35 seconds which can spread over an area of 2,500 sq.m,” said Pande. “On exploding, the bomb spreads around 20 per cent capsaicinoids in the air. This creates a white and dense smoke screen. The bomb has a shelf life of three years.”

According to Pande, the bomb will be an effective mob-dispersal weapon. “It can be used to smoke out terrorists from their hideouts. In fact, a section of the armed forces has already started using this bomb,” he said.

The lab has also developed a teargas grenade called chloroacetophenone (CAP). CAP is a white volatile solid and effective even in low concentration. The grenade is capable of forming high-density smoke with a delay of merely 1.5 seconds with a burning duration of 60-100 seconds. The effects of the grenade on explosion include irritation to the eyes, throat and nose and sneezing and salivation. It is effective even 15 cm under water or under sand and sawdust.

Traditionally, lachrymatory compounds are used for riot or mob-control. These…More

TOI : PUNE: Can the University of Pune (UoP) effect direct admissions of foreign students, including people of Indian origin (PIO), to professional courses, such as engineering and medicine? The question is all the more important especially when an independent centralised admission process for such courses is conducted by competent authorities like the state directors for technical and medical education.

The question was raised by UoP senate member Atul Bagul at a press conference organised here on Tuesday in the wake of the ongoing row over alleged irregularities in PIO admissions effected since 2002-03 by the UoP’s International Students’ Centre (ISC).

The ISC is the nodal agency for foreign/PIO student admissions to all colleges, professional and recognised institutions affiliated to the university.

Bagul, also a member of the Poona University Teachers’ Association, alleged that the then ISC administration did not check whether the foreign/PIO students, who approached it, had fulfilled the mandatory norm of first getting their admission finalised by the government’s competent authority.

So much so that the ISC did not even check whether the colleges — to which the foreign/PIO students were granted admissions — were authorised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to maintain a foreign/PIO quota, Bagul alleged.

A UoP circular (No 6 of 2002, dated Jan 1, 2003) states that foreign/PIO students may be admitted to diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate professional and non-professional courses — on a supernumerary basis upto 15 per cent over and above the sanctioned student intake.

The circular also states that this provision “shall not be applicable” to the courses for which the government of Maharashtra or other such competent authority makes admissions. University bulletins and brochures, published at regular intervals, have reiterated this position by stating that foreign/PIO students will have to get their admission finalised by the state government before approaching the ISC.

…More

TOI : PUNE: An unidentified pedestrian died after falling into an open manhole of a storm water drain near Jayashree theatre at Chinchwad station along the Pune-Mumbai highway on Monday.

The commuters coming out of Chinchwad railway station informed the fire brigade and police that an unidentified person had fallen into the drain around 2 pm on Monday. Policemen from Nigdi police station and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) fire brigade officials rushed to the spot and got the person out of the drain.

He was taken to the PCMC-run Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) but the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. The unidentified person was wearing a red shirt and a black trouser. The PCMC is widening the highway and constructing a grade separator at Chinchwad. There are a number of stormwater drains without any covers along the highway.

Ghulam Ali Bhaldar, executive president of the Chinchwad Pravasi Sangh told TOI that a number of similar mishaps have occurred at Chinchwad station.

Manholes without covers can be found at Kalbhornagar, Chinchwad station, Akurdi and Nigdi. “We are taking legal opinion to find whether a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) can be filed in this regard. The victim’s family members should get compensation from the PCMC or the contractor who did not care to cover the manholes,” he said.

An official from the PCMC engineering department said that the PCMC had placed cement covers on the manholes but some people had broken them up to steal the iron rods embedded in the lids. They sell these rods to scrap dealers and earn money. The PCMC will check the storm water drains along the Pune-Mumbai highway and install covers on the open drains wherever required, the official said.
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TOI : Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt during their visit to India (Agencies) MUMBAI: Thirty-year old Saurav Dey is not paparazzi but two years ago he trailed Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie when she was filming A Mighty Heart in Pune and made a documentary Chasing Angelina Jolie that won him an Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) award held in Mumbai last Saturday.

A third year student of the Films & Television Institute of India (FTII), Saurav received the best student documentary (Golden Trophy) award for his unique project, which was a part of his second year academic project.

His project coincided with Angelina and her partner Brad Pitt’s visit to India. It was not pre-planned but the idea of chasing Brangelina on their Indian sojourn clicked when he read about it in the newspapers. “She had absolutely shut out the media and so making a documentary on her visit seemed even more relevant.”

Recounting his experience he said, “Made in English (with a smattering of Hindi in it), the film is about our steps in trying to get her. But we could not interact with her or Brad, at all. However, we made sure not to cross the ethical boundary during the making of the film. It’s a reality documentary showing everything that happened on our way. ”

Saurav picked up scraps of information as best as he could from a couple of senior film directors as well as the journalists who were chasing the Hollywood hot shot couple.

On the day Brad and Angelina decided to take the now famous auto rickshaw ride Saurav was luckier than most in getting close to the couple. Later, he learned from the auto driver that he had been asked to take a few foreigners (Brangelina and their son) around the city and that he would be paid for it. The driver was asked…More