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TOI : PUNE: In a bid to address allegations of bias in the conduct of elections for heads of various civic panels, the state government has curtailed mayoral powers to organise the polls.

In a government resolution (GR) issued on December 12, the state government announced the passing of an amendment in the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (BMC) rules, 2007, to do away with mayoral powers in this regard. Divisional commissioners have now been authorised to conduct the polls and act as presiding officers.

The BPMC rules, 2007, empowered mayors to conduct the elections to the office of the chairman of the standing, transport and ward-level committees, among others. “It has been brought to the notice of the state government that in some cases, the elections were not held for a long time, thereby obstructing the smooth functioning of the local bodies,” the GR states.

After the amendment, meetings to elect heads of panels will now be presided over by the divisional commissioner or his or her representative of the rank of additional divisional commissioner.

The GR adds that the decision to amend the rules was taken after consultations with the state election commission. “In rule 2, the word mayor’ has been replaced by divisional commissioner of the concerned revenue division in which the corporation is situated.”

Elections of civic panel heads in municipal corporations across the state regularly get mired in controversies, with opposition parties accusing mayors, who preside over the process, of prejudice towards the ruling party to which they belong.

In the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), too, elections of the chairman of the standing committee and other panels have frequently come under severe criticism and opposition parties have repeatedly alleged that the polls were not free and fair.

Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale, however, has a different take on the matter. “The corporators elect chairpersons of various committees, while the mayor only presides…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will announce the list of the eligible applicants for the housing scheme for the economically weaker section (EWS) on January 15. Subhash Dumbre, acting commissioner and additional commissioner, PCMC, assured a delegation of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party members about this on Thursday.

Earlier, the MNS conducted a Ghantanaad’ (ringing the bell) agitation near the Babasaheb Ambedkar statue at Pimpri, after which a delegation, led by Raju Bhalerao, president, Pimpri division of the MNS, met Dumbre in the commissioner’s office.

Bhalerao said thousands people have submitted their applications for the EWS housing scheme, but the PCMC has not announced the names of eligible applicants yet. He demanded that the PCMC returns the money deposited by the applicants with interest. Dumbre said the civic body will consider it if the demand came from the people themselves.

The MNS also demanded that the PCMC take action against the corporators who were alleged to have unauthorised constructions. Bhalerao said the PCMC gets police protection to demolish the unauthorised constructions and stalls of poor people but fails to get police protection to demolish unauthorised constructions of corporators. “The PCMC had assured the MNS that appropriate action will be taken, but no action has been taken till now,” he said.

Dumbre pointed out that the PCMC has demolished constructions of important political leaders and corporators for road widening and that there was no discrimination.

The MNS has demanded that a retaining wall should be constructed along the Pavana river from Chinchwad to Sangvi. Dumbre said the PCMC has sent the proposal for constructing the wall to Union government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. He stated that the PCMC will implement the river development scheme under public-private-partnership (PPP) basis.

Meanwhile, a delegation of school children led by Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Babar and corporator Seema Savale met assistant…More

TOI : PUNE: In a bid to conserve energy, the city railway division has installed solar-energy-based systems at more than 50 level crossing gates between Pune-Daund and Pune-Lonavala railway routes. The division has also made initiatives to use compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and metal halide lamps at more than 10 railway stations in the division.

The initiatives have been made following a policy decision by the railway board asking all divisions to use CFLs. A special committee has also been set up to monitor the process.

Officials from the division stated that the energy conservation move has helped reduce electricity bills and it should also help reduce the division’s expenditure on maintenance. “Although the extent to which these measures have helped conserve power are yet to be calculated, we expect 40 to 50 per cent reduction in bills,” said M P Khobragade, divisional electrical engineer (general), Pune division.

Khobragade said that solar-energy-based systems will soon be installed at the additional 30 level crossing gates in the division. He added that the division is working towards installing the hybrid model, based on wind and solar energy, at the level crossing gates on busy routes. “The hybrid model could be used as the primary source of energy,” he said.

“Work of replacing all existing lamps and installing new CFL and T5 lamps is currently underway at more than seven stations. Three more stations will be covered under the drive and certain parts of stations, like waiting halls, dormitories and retiring rooms, will also be made energy efficient. Other railway properties, like residential quarters and running room at Pune and IRICEN hostel, will get solar water heaters and CFLs, soon,” Khobragade.

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TOI : PUNE: The Vishrambaug police have directed the authorities of the Sir Parashurambhau (SP) college to prohibit outsiders’ entry on the college premises. The directive, issued on Saturday, came as a preventive measure in the wake of two separate incidents of attack on students of the college.

On Friday night, two students, Amit Kharade and Ranjit Kadam were beaten up by two unidentified persons in the college campus. As the news spread, more than 100 students from the hostel gathered on the premises and attacked the security cabin. A police team from the Vishrambaug police station, headed by senior police inspector C D Jadhav rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The police have filed a non-cognisable offence against unidentified persons.

Three days back, another student, Ritesh More was assaulted with sharp weapons by two people who were later arrested by the police. Following the incident, inspector Jadhav held a meeting at the college which was attended by officiating principal of the college Madhav Pendse and other officials.

Jadhav said, “We have asked the authorities to restrict outsiders’ entry on the premises. We have also asked them to deploy a few teaching and non-teaching staff at the entrance of the college every morning so that they can identify outsiders and prevent them from entering the college. We even suggested CCTVs.”

The police also suggested that the authorities ban all student groups in the college. “We also asked the authorities not to allow the groups to erect big banners inside or outside the premises,” Jadhav said, “We are planning to start the Mrityunjay Club in the college and involve as many students as possible. A meeting in this regard will be held on Tuesday.”

Officiating principal Madhav Pendse said, “The police have given us some directions and we are working on it. Our campus is spread over 30 acres and there are several…More

TOI : PUNE: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has written a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) complaining about “illegal collection of electricity bills” at the PMC’s citizens’ facilitation centre (CFC) and non-payment of the collected amount by the CFCs to the power utility.

There are around 70 CFCs functioning in the municipal limits.

A statement released here on Saturday by MSEDCL said that as many as eight complaints were received by the power utility where consumers have complained that though they have paid their electricity bills at the CFCs, they were shown to have defaulted on payment.

Investigations by MSEDCL revealed that the CFCs have not sent the bill amounts collected to the power utility. “We have eight cases from Kondhwa and Ganeshkhind areas where consumers have paid their bills from July onwards and the total bill amount was around Rs 20,000,” the statement said. Consumers who paid their bills at CFCs were given receipts in the name of erstwhile Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB).

MSEDCL has clarified that the power company has no tie-up with the CFCs for collection of bills and urged consumers not to pay their power bills at these centres. “A letter has been sent to the municipal commissioner requesting that the money collected be either repaid to the consumers concerned or handed over to MSEDCL,” the statement said.

When asked about the matter, Anupam Saraf, chief information officer at PMC said that the PMC has given the contract of running the CFCs to Vansh Infotech company. “PMC keeps a regular check on the business at these centres and the civic body will take up the matter pertaining to MSEDCL bill payment with the company concerned”, he assured.

When contacted, Rohan Dudhedia, director of Vansh Infotech, the company shouldering the responsibility of running PMC’s citizens’ facilitation centres told TOI, “Our company had a tie-up with ITZ…More

TOI : Along with the pirated versions of works by Paulo Coelho, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Ludlum and Sidney Sheldon lining the pavements, one gets to see a gamut of bestselling Marathi books that can be fetched for a steal.

Veena Gavankar’s Ek Hota Karvhar’, Agnipankh’ Madhuri Shanbhag’s Marathi translation of APJ Abdul Kalam’s much-popular autobiography and Vishwas Patil’s novel Panipat’ are being sold by vendors like hot cakes over the last ten-odd years.

Unbeknownst to most Marathi publishers, most of their bestselling books have become an easy source of money for book pirates from different parts of Maharashtra. “The piracy of Marathi books has increased in the last three years mainly because the prices of Marathi books are rising and a lot of publishers are not willing to increase the discounts given to booksellers,” explains Anil Mehta, the Mehta Publishing House’s advisor and a member of executive council of Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP).

The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Prakashak Sangh, of which he is an active member, had held a seminar last month to address the problem. Over 70 small and big publishers and writers from Pune, Nanded, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur and other cities of Maharashtra attended the seminar, which was one of the initial steps taken by the Sangh to make the publishers and authors aware of the intricacies involved in resolving book piracy-related issues.

“Pune has around 400 publishers. Out of these, at least 15 publishers have faced this problem,” says Mehta. Instances of piracy are aplenty with vendors selling unauthorised version of books on the streets, especially at Appa Balwant Chowk. And illegal copies are also being sold in good numbers at book exhibitions especially in rural parts of the state.

Most of the pirated copies are made in Nagpur, Delhi and Mumbai due to low production costs. “Piracy is occurring in regional literature across the country, but the publishers haven’t been…More

TOI : PUNE: Publishers point out that the Copyright Act, 1957, is an effective tool at the industry’s disposal to deal with book piracy. “While all publishers are aware of the Act, most don’t want to take action against the book pirates because of the complicated legal process involved,” says Anil Mehta, advisor, Mehta Publishing House.

The process starts with the filing of a police complaint against the culprits. “A publisher cannot file a complaint unless he holds the copyrights of the book,” Mehta says.

“Anyone involved in and abetting book piracy is punishable under the Act. This includes vendors, binders, printers and distributors of pirated books,” eminent lawyer and former judge Suresh Naik said at the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Prakashak Sangh’s seminar on book piracy organised in the city last month.

Law enforcers say that a suitable response from the affected publisher is required to check piracy. “However, we don’t see that happening often. We handle just one case pertaining to book piracy in six to seven months,” says inspector Ram Pathare of the crime branch, Pune, who busted a piracy racket at a bookstore in Appa Balwant Chowk two months ago.

Mehta says that keeping book prices low is one of the solutions to the problem. “We have also urged booksellers not to stock pirated books, and to get in touch with the concerned publisher if they come across any,” says Ramesh Kundur, president of the Marathi Prakashak Parishad.

“Outside Pune, there have been cases of booksellers calling up publishers to caution them about pirated copies of their books being circulated in the market,” he adds.

Kundur points out that his own company, Aadarsh Vidyarthi Prakashan, which mainly publishes religious literature pertaining to the warkari tradition, hasn’t so far suffered piracy of its publications.

Nishad Deshmukh of Career Publications, Nashik feels that raising awareness among readers too is equally important. “Often, copies…More

TOI : PUNE: Basic education is the birthright of every child, whether rich or poor. How one ensures that each child has access to this right is where teachers play an important part.

The teachers of the Prathamik Shikshak Mandal Shikshan Sanstha’s school in Rasta Peth understand this reality.

Established by a group of primary school teachers in 1950, to provide education to underprivileged children from slum areas in the city, the school now has about 350 students from kindergarten to standard VII. Today, though the school is run by another set of teachers, the enthusiasm and dedication that led to the establishment of the school in the first place is still present.

Each teacher knows all the students and their families. This is possible because, every year, they visit the slums at Tadiwala road and Mangalwar Peth from where most of the students come.

The students belong to families below the poverty line, and, many of them come from broken or single parent homes. “Their parents are either labourers or domestic help. But, this does not make them any less sincere in their studies,” says headmistress Ashalata Korad. Sit in during one of the classes and you know this to be true. Every student jumps up to greet the teacher, and eagerly recites the poems and lessons flawlessly.

The school receives government aid from classes I to V. However, there’s no grant for classes VI and VII. “Though we have received recognition from the government, we get no aid. The grants we get only cover the salaries of a few teachers,” says Anil Navle, secretary of the organisation. “We can only afford to pay Rs 1,000 to some of our teachers, even though they are well qualified. Our peon has been working here for more than 18 years, and gets paid Rs 1,000 too. But we are not complaining.”

The reason is simple. The…More

TOI : PUNE: The Shiv Sena will issue a “written explanation” on its stand against former state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare when he was heading the Malegaon blasts probe.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Sena MLC and party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said, “The party leadership will explain the party’s stand on Hemant Karkare when he was investigating the Malegaon blast case. We will come soon come out with a written clarification so that media does not have a chance to misrepresent our stand.”

Before his death during the Mumbai terror attack, Karkare and the ATS had come in for severe criticism from Shiv Sena leaders. The party had even called for a state-wide bandh to protest against Karkare and the ATS’ Malegaon blasts probe.

When TOI asked Gorhe whether the Sena now regretted targeting the officer, Gorhe said, “This is entirely a different matter. The party chief will issue a statement on the same. We don’t want to give the media a chance to launch a verbal attack (on us).”

She said that despite the change of guard in the state leadership, there are no chances of the law and order situation improving. “The state and central governments have failed completely on all fronts. We suspect that A R Antulay enjoys the support of someone in the ruling party, which is why his resignation was not accepted,” Gorhe stated.

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TOI : PUNE: The Pune police have appealed to the public to provide them with any relevant information in the Suresh Alurkar murder case.

Additional commissioner of police Rajender Singh (crime) said that any person who provides vital information leading to the arrest of the suspects will be given a cash reward of Rs 25,000.

Singh has assured that the informer’s identity would be protected and has appealed to the public to contact assistant commissioners of police Prakash Bhoi on 9923293242, Sangramsinh Nishandar on 9923139999 and inspector Vijaysinh Gaikwad on 9822422400, if they have any information.

Alurkar was found murdered at his residence in Swapna Nagri society on November 14. The society is behind the Alurkar Music House on Karve road, which he had started.

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