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TOI : PUNE: In Maharashtra, which contributes one-third of the country’s total sugar production, there are absolutely no takers for the specialised engineering degree course in sugar technology.

Call it the effect of ‘mega buck’ jobs in other sectors or the vagaries afflicting the cooperatives that control the state’s sugar industry, but none of the 12,000-odd aspirants, who participated in the admissions to the six autonomous engineering colleges, have opted for the 33 B.Tech (sugar technology) seats.

Round I of these admissions, which commenced on June 30, ended on Tuesday at the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), said N.B. Dhokey, vice-chairman of the admissions panel.

Nanded-based Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology (SGGSIET) is the only institution in the state that offers a full-time engineering course in sugar technology.

Things have come to such a pass that SGGSIET has been forced to recommend to the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), that its sugar technology course be shut down. “We have asked that the course be replaced by a B.Tech chemical technology course,” said R.C. Thool, admissions chief at SGGSIET, during a telephonic conversation with the TOI on Wednesday.

The state has over 170 sugar factories, almost 95 per cent of which are controlled by the cooperatives sector. Sugar technologists are required for tasks such as laboratory chemists and manufacturing chemists. The professional ladder goes up to the post of chief chemist.

According to P.G. Medhe, managing director of the Chhatrapati Rajaram sugar mill in Kolhapur, sugar units usually prefer science graduates in chemistry for these tasks.

“It is unfair to expect a sugar technology engineering degree holder to join the factory as a lab chemist or even a manufacturing chemist. On the other hand, the factories cannot take them directly as chief chemists without their having had any practical experience,” he said.
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TOI : AJANTA (AURANGABAD): They have a world heritage monument in their backyards. But a population around 2,000 people in four tiny villages — Sawarkheda, Juna (old) Swarkheda, Lenapur and Duttwadi, just one or two kilometres above the famous Ajanta caves, do not rejoice. Because, the proximity to the monument puts a lot of restrictions on them.

People here are not allowed to burst crackers to celebrate Diwali or other festivals. They don’t have a permanent source of drinking water. The villagers live in the western side of the caves; have also been barred from digging wells, or building a dam.

“To reach these villages one has to climb up the caves and walk on a centuries-old pathway to cross another mountain,” said Tejrao Patilba Zond, a Sawarkheda elder who heads the proposed ‘Apla Pani Prakalp’ (own your water supply project) scheme of the Aurnagabad zilla parishad.

The situation improved a little five-six years ago, following an agitation. The authorities had constructed a single lane road and started an MSRTC bus, which used to make a night halt. However, this service has been stopped for the last three months on account of road work, progressing at a snail’s pace.

“Presently, the Sawarkheda villagers have to travel at least 25 km on foot, bullock carts or on motorcycles, which a few of them could afford,” Zond said.

The villagers are descendants of the settlers, who were brought to work for a feudal lord from Parbhani, Madhukar Kisanrao Pinglikar, in 1825 — the caves were re-discovered by the modern world in 1819.

“Over a period of time our tenancy rights were established on some of the properties, owing to various laws including the Land Ceiling Act,” said Zond.

“All of us are dryland farmers, since we are not allowed to take up any irrigation project or dig well, as…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) decided on Wednesday to increase passenger fares as a belated response to the hike in fuel prices.

Depending on the distance to be travelled, the increased amount would range from Re 1 to Rs 6. Accordingly, the minimum fare would now be Rs 4, instead of Rs 3.

The PMPML has also revised the rates for the monthly and daily passes for common citizens, as well as for senior citizens. However, students’ passes have been exempted from any increase.

The resolution will come into effect once it is approved by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA). The decision to increase the fares was taken at a meeting of the PMPML board of directors. Among those present were Pune municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma.

For the first two kilometre of travel, the fare would go up from the current Rs 3 to Rs 4. For the first 18 kms of travel, the hike would be one km per stage, with each stage counted as two kilometres. Similarly, for travel ranging from 20 to 30 km, the fare hike would be Rs 2 per stage. For 30 to 34 km, the hike would be Rs 3 per stage. For 36 to 38 km, it would be Rs 4 per stage. For 40 to 56 km, the increase would be Rs 5 per stage and for 58 to 60 km, it was Rs 6 per stage.

The daily bus pass would now cost Rs 50 and monthly pass has been increased from the existing Rs 600 to Rs 750. For senior citizens, the price of a daily pass has been increased from Rs 12 to Rs 20. Their monthly passes would now cost Rs 300. The PMPML is incurring a daily loss of Rs 13-14 lakh. He added that after…More

TOI : PUNE: The agriculture sector in the state has been hit hard by the extended break in the monsoon. Only 26% of the total sowing activity has been completed in the state till the first week of July.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, state agriculture commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh described the situation as critical. “Nearly 50% of the talukas have recorded below average rainfall till the first week of July. All agriculture departments in the state except Kolhapur have reported less-than-average sowing activity. Crops like rice, moong and tur have been hit hard.”

This season, sowing activities are being carried out on a mere 40.86 lakh hectares of land out of the total kharif land of 134.18 hectares.

As a result of the extended break in the rains, conditions have become unfavourable for farming activities in the state, bringing agricultural work to a standstill. Farmers now fear losing their entire sowings if the situation continues for the next few days.

A special meeting of the director, joint directors and other high-level officials from the agriculture department has been called on Thursday to review the situation and chalk out a plan to tackle the current scenario.

“The department will be proposing proactive irrigation measures across the state in the next few days to bring some relief to farmers,” Deshmukh stated, adding that the focus would also be on water management.

“Due to the break in the rains, farmers cannot continue with the old pattern of farming. The department would enlighten them about the sowing patterns to be practised during the rest of the season.”

He added that he expected farmers to make the most of the rabbi season considering the critical conditions during the kharif season. He also said that rain-water harvesting projects have been completed at nearly 408 sites in
353 talukas in the state while…More

TOI : PUNE: The morbid indifference of some private hospitals in extending primary emergency treatment to accident victims has drawn flak from the doctors community in the city. The recent death of two accident victims under such circumstances have brought various medico-legal and ethical issues, involved in treating accident victims, on the fore.

“It is mandatory for private hospitals and doctors to extend timely medical aid in an emergency, especially in case of road accidents. It is enshrined in the Constitution and reiterated by the Supreme Court (SC) of India time and again,” said surgeon Subhash Behere, secretary of the medico-legal cell of IMA.

With regard to the case, the Supreme Court held that every doctor whether at a government hospital or otherwise has the professional obligation to extend his services with due expertise for protecting life, said Behere. It has been clearly stated by SC that a doctor should not be harassed by lawyers and police if an accident victim succumbs to injuries while undergoing essential primary treatment.

Again, the SC has also stated that whoever brings the victim to the hospital should not be harassed by the police, Behere added. Private hospitals are reluctant to treat emergency cases, especially road accidents cases, as they do not wish to get entangled in medico-legal cases.

Orthopedic surgeon Parag Sancheti, director of Sancheti Institute of Orthopedic Research stressed that unless a patient is fully stabilised, he should not in any case be shifted to another hospital.

Another major ground on which a private hospital refuses to admit an accident victim is the blame of theft that an unescorted victim might charge on the hospitals after being stabilised. To this, Behere said the doctors should maintain a record of valuables in the presence of hospital in-charge of the police.
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