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TOI : PUNE: The electricity appellate tribunal in New Delhi on Friday granted a stay till January 15 on the order of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Merc) which had fixed the load-shedding protocol on November 28 and asked the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to reduce the excessive load-shedding in the state.

The November 28 order had asked the MSEDCL to implement load-shedding prescribed for a power shortfall of 4,500 MW on the basis of the data furnished by the MSEDCL. As a result, Pune was to have load-shedding for 2.45 hours in group A, 3.30 hours in group B and 4.15 hours in groups C areas everyday. The Merc also observed that the MSEDCL was undertaking excessive load-shedding and was under-drawing power from the central sector.

However, the MSEDCL chose to enforce a load-shedding protocol suited for a power shortfall of 5,000 MW (load-shedding of 3.15 to 4.45 hours in Pune) and challenged the order in the appellate tribunal.

A statement by the MSEDCL said the tribunal had the fixed hearing of the appeal on December 4 and again on December 19, which was postponed due to a request made by Merc’s lawyer. The next date for the hearing has been fixed on January 15. During the hearing on Friday, the MSEDCL requested the tribunal to stay Merc’s order of November 28 which was granted.

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TOI : PUNE: In the US all traffic violators are treated as one, even if they were to be the President’s offspring. But closer home, educated youngsters get away with roughing up traffic cops who dare to correct them.

In the last few weeks, the city has witnessed a rise in the number of educated young people lashing out at on-duty traffic policemen. Here’s asking city-based counselors and psychiatrists what they think are the reasons.

Psychiatrist and counselor Suparna Telang is not surprised. “Aren’t they simply following the example set by their elders? Isn’t that what they have grown up seeing?” she countered, adding, “Besides, our system is such that anyone, except for the pettiest of offenders, can get away with unlawful behaviour.”

Telang believes that the image of a traffic policeman needs to be revved-up along with that of the entire system with immediate effect. “Unless the law enforcing authorities are empowered enough not be dominated by the bigwigs, nothing much can be done. Only when this larger systemic change comes about, will we see an improvement.”

For his part, psychiatrist Kaustubh Jog points out that the student community is merely representative of the society they are a part of. “Overall, it is a fact that aggression is on the rise. And it is related to the fast-paced urban lifestyles,” Jog said.

With reference to Thursday’s episode of an African student slapping a cop who wanted to fine him for talking on the phone will riding, Jog said that instead of focusing on individual episodes, the prescribed punishment ought to be implemented and reported. “That’s how the message will come across,” he said, adding that he would also prescribe a measure of community service for those proven guilty. “That way, even those with clout, would have to put in the prescribed hours.”

Clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Seema Darode asserts that education is not merely…More

TOI : PUNE: Wakf board property in Pune is at the centre of controversy once again with Muslim activists alleging that illegal construction is taking place on land belonging to the Wakf board in Mangalwar Peth.

Imtiyaz Ismail Shaikh and Ibrahim Papamiya Attar have served notice to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) alleging that, despite its stop work order, a construction company is carrying out work on land in Mangalwar Peth (city survey number 202, 203 A and B). “The civic body should not give no objection certificates to the company as the land belongs to the Wakf baord and a case is pending with the Wakf tribunal in Aurangabad,” said Shaikh, speaking to reporters on Friday.

The Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs (MSBW) has assets worth Rs 1,000 crore in the city. Out of 3,724 hectares of Wakf land in Pune, 80 per cent has been encroached upon. Various court cases are pending regarding the ownerships of the Wakf land and Mangalwar Peth is just one case, said the activists.

“As ordinary Muslims, we have a right to protect Wakf land. The land in Mangalwar Peth belongs to the Wakf institution and is a part of the Dhakta Shaikh Salla Dargah. The PMC should take serious cognisance of the encroachment and ask the construction company to stop,” said Shaikh and Attar.

In January this year, with land prices in Pune skyrocketing, the Wakf board had decided to protect its land and started a regional office in Pune to speed up the legal process to regain its land.

The board had drawn up plans to restore its land in order to make commercial use of it and set up an IT hub so that poor Muslims in Pune are benefited. The Wakf had then initiated a major effort to restore its encroached property in the city as per the directions of the then Wakf board chief…More

TOI : PUNE: The Union ministry of health and family welfare will extend financial assistance to all eye-related surgeries and made a provision of Rs 1,200 crore for the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB). This free facility would be available at designated centres to anyone irrespective of his/her financial condition.

With this move, the financial allocation to the District Blindness Control Society (DBCS), Pune, is expected to increase ten times.

The decision was announced at the first regional meeting of state programme officials of the NPCB in Goa on December 17. Officials from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Daman and Diu attended the meeting.

“We have been giving financial aid for cataract surgeries since 1994. Now, all types of eye surgeries, be it glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, laser treatment, corneal transplantation, childhood blindness or squint surgery, will get financial assistance from the Union government,” V Rajshekhar, deputy assistant director general (ophthalmology), Union ministry of health and family welfare, told TOI.

A provision of Rs 1,200 crore has been made towards this end in the 11th five-year plan. This is three times more than the allocation in the 10th plan, he added. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: If you have violated a traffic rule, chances are that you may not whiz off scot-free, what with the Pune traffic branch starting to use walkie-talkie wireless sets to intensify its check on offenders.

Speaking to TOI, inspector Vijay Palsule (planning), traffic branch, said, “We have taken this step to mainly track those people who habitually jump traffic signals. At present, we have identified 50 major chowks in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad and have provided 50 walkie-talkie wireless sets to the traffic policemen deployed at these particular chowks.”

He said, “The action began just four days ago, but the results have been good. We managed to intercept around 120 people who had jumped the signal at 28 traffic diversions.”

Speaking about the procedure followed, Palsule said, “If any person jumps a signal at a chowk, the policeman there immediately informs his colleague standing at the next signal. He either gives the registration number of the vehicle or, in case he couldn’t note it down, he gives a detailed description of the offender like the colour of the clothes, kind of vehicle. Armed with this information, the constable at the next chowk intercepts the offender.”

He said that if the person manages to flee from the other signal too, there is another option available. If they have managed to note the registration number, a computerised notice is sent to the person and he/she would have to go to the traffic office and pay the fine.

Palsule added, “We will soon be covering almost all the signals in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area.”

BOX

HEAD: Court cases against fine defaulters

The traffic police are now planning to file cases in the court against traffic offenders who receive computerised notices regarding their offence, but do not pay the fine. Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil said such a traffic offender should pay the fine…More

TOI : PUNE: With the Pune Municipal Corporation’s general body approving budgetary cuts up to 10 per cent for the financial year 2008-09, the civic administration has successfully laid the foundation for a “reality” budget in 2009-10. With no dream projects and appeasing appeals, the civic administration now wants to present budgets based on facts and figures.

For the last five years, the civic budget has been swelling and for the current financial year the PMC approved its highest-ever annual budget of Rs 2,221 crore. However, the year 2009-10 will see the budget get downsized.

Municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi has been consulting elected representatives and making efforts to convince them to base the up-coming budget on facts and figures. “There is no point in proposing big projects in the budget if we don’t have the provisions to complete them. Instead, we should prepare a focused budget so that the targets can be achieved and work is not hampered because of lack of funds,” he said on Thursday.

Pardeshi pointed out that in last two financial years the civic budget had swelled, but it was not possible to implement them.

“The civic administration prepare a budget based on facts and figures. However, the standing committee augments the income and expenditure sides and hopes that the administration will meet these unreal targets,” said one of the civic administration officials. The civic administration has time and again put the onus of presenting a populist budget in the standing committee and approving it in the general body, on elected representatives.

To complete the pending development works which were started in the last two years and remain incomplete due to lack of funds, the PMC GB on Thursday approved 10 per cent cuts (about Rs 65 crore) in the 2008-09 budget. With this move some of the new development works proposed for the financial year 2008-09 will be put on hold….More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) ambitious project to construct a dormitory hostel, where migrant job-seekers can stay temporarily with minimal rent, has proved to be a non-starter.

A year has passed since the project was approved by the Union government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), but the civic body is still scouting around in search of land to set up the hostel.

PMC superintendent engineer (special projects) V R Patil told TOI that the land earmarked for the project could not be acquired owing to acquisition hassles.

“It is a Rs 21 crore project for which we have the sanction of the central government. We had earmarked land for the hostel, but due to problems in acquiring it, we have restarted the search for a different plot of land. The capacity of the hostel will be 5,000 cots,” Patil said.

He explained that the idea was to construct a hostel with large dormitories, with beds and basic facilities. These beds will have storage space below so that people can keep their belongings for the period they are living there.

“The dormitories are aimed at providing accommodation to migrant job seekers who often have to resort to staying in slum areas as they cannot afford a rented house. We will hand over the dormitory to a separate agency to manage, but the terms and conditions will be those laid down by the PMC,” Patil said.

Asked how such dormitory hostels would curb the growth of slums, Patil said that the hostels were meant for migrants who were in search of jobs, not for labourers.

“These hostels will be for potential buyers of property in the city. The PMC has simultaneously begun efforts to promote low-cost and affordable housing. So, when these migrants stay in the hostel for a while, get a job and have the capacity to rent…More

TOI : PUNE: The civic administration has tabled a proposal to hike the property transfer fee, an amount charged by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on the taxable amount of a property.

The proposal states that the PMC has not hiked the fee since 2001, and it was now necessary to do so.

For those properties which have an Annual Rateable Value (ARV) of Rs 1 to 500 the current charges are a Rs 500 transfer fee. It has now been proposed that this fee be increased to Rs 1,000. For every additional ARV of Rs 100, where the additional charge was Rs 15, it is now suggested that it be increased to Rs 25.

If the property is to be transferred in the name of a nominee or a family member of the owner, who is dead, charges should be increased from Rs 20 to Rs 500, the proposal states.

If the standing committee and the general body of the PMC approves the proposal, the new rates will come into effect from April 2009.

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TOI : PUNE: Estate developer Rajendra Ahire (40) escaped by the breath of his hair after two unidentified persons opened fire at him on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass near Warje on Wednesday around 11.40 pm.

The Warje-Malwadi police have booked two unidentified persons in this connection.

Talking to TOI, senior inspector Shyam Mohite of Warje-Malawadi police said, “Ahire, a resident of Kakade City, had gone to meet his friends in Kothrud. On his way home, he drove back from the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass. At around 11.40 pm, he stopped the car on the highway near the Rosary school at Warje to answer nature’s call.”

When he was standing near the car, two unidentified persons on a motorcycle came near him and opened fire. The bullet hit the windscreen of the car. The suspects, however, fled the scene soon after the incident. A frightened Ahire immediately rushed to the police station and filed the complaint,” Mohite said.

“We are investigating, whether Ahire had any previous enmity. When we inquired, he refused that he had any previous enmity. However, as he is in the business of land dealing, we are investigating from all aspects,” Mohite added. “We have not recovered any empty cartridge from the spot. We have sent the car to the ballistic experts in Mumbai.”

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TOI : PUNE: Over 4.55 lakh children below the age of five years are being targeted for an additional dose of polio vaccine during the National Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme on December 21 and February 9. This is the 13th year of the drive in the district.

“As many as 3,593 booths will be set up in 1,407 villages, 13 talukas and three cantonments,” said Shyam Wardhane, chief executive officer of the Pune zilla parishad. Of these, 293 booths will be set up in the Khadki, Dehu road and Pune cantonment areas which fall under the purview of the zilla parishad. The other areas in the city come under the Pune Municipal Corporation, he added.

Around 10,000 staff, including health workers, integrated child development scheme workers, teachers, volunteers, non-governmental organisations, Rotary club members, etc, would be manning these booths, said district health officer H H Chavan.

“We have identified schools, primary health centres, anganwadis, gram panchayat offices and other centrally located establishments as stationary booths. The aim is to make all the booths easily accessible to parents,” Chavan added.

As many as 170 mobile teams have been formed to reach children of parents working at brick kilns, construction sites and similar areas, Chavan said. Transit booths will also be set up at religious centres, bazaars, toll posts, railway stations, ST stands, etc, he added.

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