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TOI : PUNE: To reduce time taken for Ganesh immersion procession by about four to five hours, the city police have proposed two more immersion points at Lal Bahadur Shastri road and J.M. road.

Commissioner of police Satyapal Singh said that mandals coming from the Dandekar bridge road will take the Shastri road and immerse idols near Poona hospital. They would not be allowed to come at Alka Talkies chowk. Those from Wadarwadi will pass through J.M. road and reach the immersion point near PMC. Singh said that the police have given the proposal for implement from the next year.

“The police have learned their lessons and are planning to execute it in the next year. It was seen that some mandals did not follow the 12.00 pm deadline for shutting loud speakers. The police have initiated action against them,” he said.

Refusing rumours of a threat mail to the police on the day of visarjan, he said, “The police received about seven to eight hoax calls, but I congratulate the people of Pune for being alert and vigilant,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, additional commissioner of police Prabhatkumar said that the police have recorded the immersion process in video cameras. The police would file cases against those mandals that didn’t follow the rules, he said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has recommended that a Departmental Enquiry (DE) be initiated against Pune municipal school board chief Sudhakar Tambe, since he has been found guilty in the tender scam by the PMC’s internal enquiry committee.

Speaking to press reporters here on Tuesday, additional commissioner M.S. Devnikar said that since the state government is the appointing authority for the school board chief, the DE will be conducted by the state and further action will also be taken by them.

“Prima facie, it has been found that Tambe has not shown due diligence in conducting the tender procedure. Therefore a report will be sent to the state government recommending a DE. Further action will be taken by the state,” Devnikar said.

He added that the involvement of school board members has also been found in the tender process since decisions taken by them have not been in the interest of the school board.

“Since the administration is not the competent authority to take action against the members, the report about board members will be tabled before the PMC’s general body, which will take a decision on action to be taken against them,” Devnikar said.

Speaking about other decisions taken by the PMC, Devnikar said that the tender process has been cancelled because there were lot of irregularities in it. “Similarly, re-tendering the entire process now will be very time consuming and since uniforms, shoes and socks have not been distributed to the students as yet, we have come up with a different plan,” Devnikar said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF) will run a clean-up drive on the banks of the Mula and Mutha river on September 20 with the help of over a thousand volunteers from schools and colleges in the city. The drive will be carried out under the aegis of US-based volunteer organisation International Coastal Clean-up. Clean-ups are carried out globally on the third Saturday of September each year, Rajan Vir, president, IMF, said at a press conference held on Tuesday. The drive will start 8.30 am.

The drive will be carried out by volunteers from local schools and colleges, members of Rotary Clubs, cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA), sea cadet corps and citizens. Volunteers from various educational institutions including Wadia college, the Bishop’s school and Rewachand Bhojwani Academy will participate in the drive, which will take place at 14 designated locations in the city.

This is the sixth successive year that the IMF is undertaking the task to clean the two rivers. It will collect garbage, segregate it and hand it over to the PMC, which will use it for its waste management project. “The main aim is to create awareness and I can say that we have been successful in our effort so far,” said Vir. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Aiming for a better management of electricity at the University of Pune, the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (Meda), in co-ordination with the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), will be carrying out an energy audit at the institute.

Mahesh Zagade, director general of Meda, said, “We are planning to save at least 30 per cent energy for the varsity and the task has been assigned to energy auditors.” The project will start within eight days, he added.

Zagade was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on ‘Conservation of petroleum fuel’. The seminar was organised for volunteers of National Service Scheme (NSS) at the UoP on Tuesday.

Zagade said the energy audit will cover the various establishments in the campus. Every building will be checked to find out how much electricity was being consumed there. An action plan will be prepared, highlighting what steps need to be taken to reduce comsumption.

T S Prabhakaran, director, PCRA, said that such audits were important to create awareness among public. “Certain practices in our day-to-day life can help in saving electricity. The same can be implemented at homes and other institutes,” he said. After this audit, energy saving practices will be promoted among students and the teaching staff, he added.

Elaborating, Prabhakaran said the audit attempts to balance the energy inputs with its use. It also serves to identify all the energy streams in the system and quantifies energy usage according to its discrete function. Vice-chancellor of UoP, Narendra Jadhav, said, “The varsity is looking at the project as a model initiative. Such audits should be done in all colleges under UoP.” Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Many hospitals and maternity homes in the city are agitated because the bio-medical waste generated at their establishments is piling up and stinking, thereby posing a serious health hazard.

The collection of waste has almost come to a standstill following a recent fire at the biomedical waste plant on the Kailas crematorium premises on Rajabahadur road, which has claimed seven lives.

Moreover, the hospitals are upset because the PMC has washed its hands of the issue by arguing that it has “outsourced” the waste collection job to a private contractor, appointed by the PCMC.

The contractor, however, is unable to reach all the 537 hospitals in Pune, which had registered for seeking the CBWTF facility. Indian Medical Association (IMA), Pune, president Avinash Bhondwe, said, “As per the law, the waste should be disposed of scientifically and an individual cannot do that on his/her own.” Print EMail DiscussNew B…More