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TOI : PUNE: Landowners in Pune district will soon have digital images of their properties as well as computerised copies of the ownership of the lands that will detail the entire history of deals having taken place.

This will be done in the pilot project being undertaken for the district under the National Land Resource Management Programme (NLRMP). The project will take off in two months.

The scheme for landowners has been announced by the department of rural development and will be implemented by the department of land records at the local level. The scheme will focus on upgradation, digitalisation and linking up of all information pertaining to land records and deals concluded, enabling a landowner to access any data at the click of a button.

While Pune district has been selected for the pilot project, it would be extended to cover all districts in the state subsequently, said S.R. Daund, deputy director of land records and settlement commissioner. “The scheme was announced in the last financial year. The funds for the first phase have been sanctioned. We expect the money for this phase - Rs 3 crore - to be allocated in the next couple of months.”

In the first phase, the records for Haveli, Mulshi and Maval talukas would be upgraded, said Daund. “The work will include computerization of land records, conducting of surveys, updating of land records and completion of pending mutations along with the inter-linking of registration and land records. Some of the work which is highly technical will be outsourced.”

According to Daund, every land entry would be given a separate code. “This will help a landowner obtain all the information linked to that code at the local level. The satellite images and topographic maps of lands will prove helpful in defining the boundaries of land holdings.” …More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Finally, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put to rest its project to construct cement porticoes at the second century BC Ajanta caves, which is also a Unesco World Heritage site.

The rock-cut caves with ancient paintings and sculptures are acclaimed as masterpieces of Buddhist religious art. The caves are located 100 km from Aurangabad.

The ASI filled up the pit they had dug in front of Cave No 1 to construct a cement portico in October 2007, with a mixture of cement, sand, metal, black oxide and red ochre on Monday and Tuesday (June 2-3, 2008).

TOI was the first paper to report on the ASI’s plans to construct the porticoes (issue dated November 21, 2007) and how experts were disturbed by the development.

“The project is closed now. The pit was also filled as children were falling into it,” said the superintending archaeologist, K. Veerbhadra Rao. “We were searching for stumps of the columns or pillars of a porch,. but nothing was found.”

“While I am relieved that the idea of a cement portico seems to have been given up, I do wish that repair work to the damaged area would have been more sensitively undertaken under the supervision of experts. Let us hope they will take steps to minimise the latest damage and do not undertake works that undermine the integrity of this site,” Dev Mehta told TOI.

Incidentally, cement is banned all over the world for conservation of monuments due to its deleterious effects on paintings and stone surface. Still, the ASI seems to have not taken protective measures to stop the cement dust flowing into cave No 1 while carrying out the’repairs’ to the damage they had caused earlier, which was just meant to be pleasing to the eyes.
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TOI : PUNE: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) suffered a massive loss of Rs 90 lakh when transformers, electricity poles, conductors and cables were damaged by the heavy pre-monsoon showers that lashed the city and Pune rural on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Officials of the MSEDCL told TOI that as many as 38 transformers failed in Pune division - four in Ganeshkhind circle, 3 in Rasta Peth circle and 31 in Pune rural. Damages in Bhosari sub-division have been put at Rs 25 lakh.

As many as 758 electric poles were extensively damaged and uprooted, including 229 high tension (HT) and 529 low tension (LT) poles. In Pune rural division alone, 25 HT and 88 LT poles were damaged in Kedgaon sub-division, 127 HT and 304 LT poles in Manchar sub-division and 29 HT and 84 LT poles in Rajgurunagar sub-division.

The MSEDCL office also reported that 408 conductors, comprising 60 HT and 348 LT supply cables, snapped due to the storms and rains.

In Baramati, 400 poles were damaged and Narayangaon reported damages to 250 poles. MSEDCL officials stated that almost 80 per cent supply had been restored in Narayangaon till Thursday night and repairs were still on. …More

TOI : PUNE: Three unidentified persons assaulted one Aakash Laxman Phul (26) of Galandenagar with sharp weapons, abducted him and later threw him and escaped with his jeep. The incident took place near Pune railway station in wee hours of Thursday when Phul, a driver, went to Pune station to pick his employer, Gorakhnath Adhav, who was coming to Pune by train.

At around 4 am, when Phul was waiting in the jeep at the station, three people came from behind and attacked him with sharp weapons. They tied his hands and blindfolded him and forced him into the jeep. They drove the jeep upto Lullanagar, threw Phul out and fled with the jeep. Phul has lodged a complaint with Kondhava police station.

One arrested for forcing minor into flesh trade: The Faraskhana police arrested one Kalawati Chandrappa Talegari (40) of Budhwar Peth on charges of forcing a minor girl into prostitution. The police also booked Dilawar Khan, brother-in-law of the girl, who allegedly sold her to Talegari. The police rescued the girl on Wednesday evening. The police team was led by inspector V. T. Pawar. …More

TOI : PUNE: Yuvarj Sankpal, a 32-year-old porter working at Pune railway station since last many years, is now changing his career track and will be working as a gangman with the Pune railway division. Like Yuvraj there are 205 porters who are on the verge of changing their career track and joining as railway gangmen.

The posts of gangmen were made open for the porters with an announcement made by railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the railway budget 2008-09. It has been decided to recruit the porters as gangmen in all the divisions across the country.

The procedure for the first phase of recruitments of porters as gangmen are now in its final stages in the Pune railway division. Nearly 231 porters have passed the medical tests for gangmen, out of which 205 have already accepted the job. The remaining 26 are still to accept the job offer. The selected gangmen are in the 18-50 years age group.

Serving as gangmen with the railways, they will now be getting a monthly salary of over Rs 5,000 with a basic pay of Rs 2,610. The gangmen will also be entitled to other perks like provident fund and various allowances which will be included in their monthly salary. Besides this, the gangmen will be getting a weekly off along with a chance to participate in various schemes offered by the railways.
“Getting a permanent job and a fixed salary is the most interesting aspect of the scheme. For us it is a good opportunity as we will be employees of the railway department. It is more important that we will be getting a training before commencing the work,” said Sankpal.

“Many of the porters have already joined, while the remaining will be joining shortly. All the new gangmen will be undergoing a special training in the first few days of their service….More

TOI : PUNE: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani on Thursday came down heavily on the government for hiking fuel prices and warned that the move would lead to the ruling coalition’s downfall.

“This government has signed its own exit,” Advani said. “It is going to have a cascading effect on prices of all commodities.”

Advani was speaking on the sidelines of a function where a book on Arvind Lele, a late BJP leader, was released.

On the stalled Indo-US civil nuclear deal, he said: “We are for buying nuclear fuel from the US required for our nuclear reactors. But we want to renegotiate the whole deal.”

He said India should not be forced to keep away from further nuclear tests in exchange for nuclear cooperation with the US. …More

TOI : PUNE: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani on Thursday came down heavily on the government for hiking fuel prices and warned that the move would lead to the ruling coalition’s downfall.

“This government has signed its own exit,” Advani said. “It is going to have a cascading effect on prices of all commodities.”

Advani was speaking on the sidelines of a function where a book on Arvind Lele, a late BJP leader, was released.

On the stalled Indo-US civil nuclear deal, he said: “We are for buying nuclear fuel from the US required for our nuclear reactors. But we want to renegotiate the whole deal.”

He said India should not be forced to keep away from further nuclear tests in exchange for nuclear cooperation with the US. …More