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TOI : PUNE: Launching its drive to widen the Triveninagar Talawade road, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Wednesday razed seven constructions in Ganeshnagar.

The Triveninagar-Talawade road, in Ganeshnagar, is a 3.5-km long stretch which is to be widened to 24 metre, as per the PCMC development plan. Owners of residential and commercial buildings along half-a-kilometre stretch on this road had not removed their constructions, thus narrowing the road width.

An official of the engineering department of zone A said that the PCMC had served notices to the owners of these seven constructions that were to be affected by the road-widening drive. The municipal corporation had also asked the residents to remove the constructions voluntarily. Since the owners failed to respond to the civic initiative, the PCMC was pushed to take action.

Parts of some workshops were demolished in the drive, which was conducted under the supervision of deputy director of town planning Avinash Patil, executive engineer Balwant Bankar and other officials.

Police sub-inspector of the civic anti-encroachment squad Sunil Patil with 20 policemen and 15 labourers participated in the drive. Two escavators and one dumper were used to pull down the illegal constructions. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The online admission process for first-year degree courses in agriculture science and allied branches will commence from June 5.

A total of 5,967 seats for nine courses at the 102 agriculture colleges in the state, including 74 non-aided institutions, are up for grabs for the academic year 2009-10.

The city-based Maharashtra Council for Agriculture Education and Research (MCAER), which is the governing body for the four state agriculture universities, will conduct the admission process while the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) will implement the online process for the same.

According to MCAER director for education D P Waskar, over 13,500 students had applied for the 6,483 seats last year. The reduced total intake this year is mainly on account of closure of two colleges owing to their failure to meet the affiliating agriculture university grades.

“We are also expecting a decision soon on some additional seats that are to be sanctioned this year,” Waskar said, adding that the total intake would then go further up.

Standard XII passouts aspiring to join either of the nine courses can access the prospectus and related details from the official websites www.mcaer.org or www.mkcl.ws/agri from June 5 onwards, the MCAER said in a release here.

The last date for filing online admission forms is June 25. To fill the forms, aspirants are directed by the MCAER to access the website www.mkcl.ws/agri and download a copy of the admission form after filling the same online.

The aspirants have been further directed to affix their passport-size photograph on the filled-up form along with their signatures across the photo. While the admission fee for open category candidates is Rs 600, the same for reserved category students is Rs 300.

The application forms, along with the cheque for the admission fee and attested photocopies of the support documents, are to be submitted either by registered post acknowledged (RPAD)…More

TOI : PUNE: It is the flip side of summer vacations. Twenty-two blood banks in the city face supply crunch for three months at a stretch starting April every year. The reason: their most prized blood donors – the student class – is out on vacation.

“The annual average blood requirement of the city is 1.5 lakh units approximately. Of this, 40 per cent is contributed by students. That’s the reason why blood banks in the city face crunch during summer vacations between April and June,” said Dilip Wani, national president of Jankalyan Chain of Blood Banks in India. Besides 40 per cent by students’ community, the rest is contributed by workers from the organised sector (25 per cent), political outfits (10 per cent) and the remaining 25 per cent is taken care of by social, voluntary and religious organisations, added Wani.

Sharing the view, Prashant Chaudhari, chairman of the blood bank of Poona Serological Institute, said, “Students make 40 per cent of the contribution to the annual requirement of the city. Hence, blood banks in the city have to adopt various ways to meet the shortfall during summer. The stress is more on motivating patients’ relatives to donate blood during this period.”

“This seasonal shortfall causes serious problems for Thalassemia patients and those who are suffering from blood cancer as well, who need constant transfusion,” said Wani.

Echoing same sentiment, blood transfusion officer of the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital Sanjeev Ketkar said, “We rely on software industries in and around the city to fill up the gap. Similarly, we have formed voluntary platelet donor support group for patients of cancer and dengue.”

Ram Bangad, who runs the trust Raktache Nate’ with a base of 7,000 donors in the city, said, “It is true that summer vacation leads to crunch, but hospitals try to fill up the gap by conducting camps on industry premises. And it is…More

TOI : PUNE: With its recently held property exhibition generating 450 home bookings, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Asso-ciation of India (Pune) is all set to hold its next Best of East’ exhibi-tion at the Weikfield IT Park in Vimannagar, between June 5 and 7.

According to a press note, over 100 projects from 35 developers will be on sale, and the prices will start upwards of Rs 10 lakh.

Anuj Bhandari, chairman, exhibition committee (Credai), said, “We had 450 bookings at the Best of West’ exhibition. Many factors have contributed to the upward movement of home sales. Firstly, prices have rationalised and customers can sense this. Besides, many of our members reduced the rates or the areas of the flats to make them affordable. Also, the RBI’s push to realty industry by improving liquidity and reducing interest rates helped matters. We believe that with the elections over and the country having a stable government, people who had put their purchase decisions on hold will come out and buy.”

The association’s second exhibition will showcase properties in the east of Pune, including areas like Vimannagar, Kharadi, Dhanori, Wanowrie, Undri, Koregaon Park, Kalyaninagar and so on.

“We have flats to suit every budget, this is a good time for people to convert rents into EMIs,” Bhadari said. The Best of East’ property exhibition will be inaugurated at 4 pm. Prospective buyers may visit between 10 am and 8 pm till June 7. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The state government will soon prepare an action plan to prevent pollution of rivers in Maharashtra for which an action committee comprising experts and state officials is to be formed over the next three months, state minister Vijay Vadettiwar said on Wednesday.

Replying to questions raised by Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe, Vadettiwar said the municipal corporations and local self bodies in the state would be helped to implement measures for curbing pollution of rivers.

In her speech, Gorhe said that despite the increasing pollution of rivers, the government has been neglecting the issue. She said the report on the status of rivers has also not been placed before the state cabinet of ministers.

Gorhe said the pollution of all the main rivers in the state is so high that of every six litre of water drawn, only one litre is purified in return. The 22 municipal corporations in the state use 670 crore litre of water per day. Of this, around 540 crore litre of water becomes impure and is released every day. She said that thriving water hyacinth and lifting of sand is also harming the rivers and that constructions have appeared within floodlines. Besides this, rivers are also facing chemical pollution on a large scale. Gorhe added that such rampant pollution of rivers has given rise to diseases and breeding of mosquitoes.

In his response, Vadettiwar said the government has already received the report on the status of rivers and will prepare an action plan over the next three months. Besides taking help from the water resources department, the central environment department and the state government will also assist the municipal bodies in curbing river pollution, he added. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The civic administration’s apathy in acquiring land reserved for civic infrastructure development came to the fore when it was revealed that of a total of Rs 147 crore allotted for land acquisition, the civic administration had utilised only Rs 27 crore. Of 541 properties, only 16 properties have been acquired in the last six years.

Standing committee members came down heavily on the civic administration when officials revealed this at a meeting on Wednesday.

“This is nothing but a wastage of public money. If the amount had been invested in fixed deposit the PMC could have received double returns. The municipal commissioner should look into the matter and speed up the land acquisition process,” said BJP corporator Ujwal Keskar.

With the PMC unable to develop reservations earmarked in the 1987 Development Plan (DP), many of the places have been encroached upon. Of the reservations spread over 770 hectares and earmarked for various amenities, till date the PMC has developed about 309 hectares. In other words, only 35 per cent of the total reservations have been developed. Most of the land which has not been acquired by the PMC has either been encroached upon or has land acquisition cases pending against it.

In the 1987 DP, 52 plots measuring 50,000 sq ft and above were earmarked for parking schemes but the PMC has acquired only 10 of these plots.

Standing committee members asked civic officials to give detailed clarifications on the matter at the next meeting. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The state branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Pune Psychiatrists’ Association (PPA) have joined hands to secure a part of a piece of prime land in Yerawada which had been allotted to the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health (MIMH) for building a rehabilitation centre for the mentally ill.

A few months back, the state revenue department had given major part of the land to a private trust without informing the MIMH. The move came soon after the institute received state funding of Rs 90 lakh to establish the much-needed rehabilitation centre.

“We have sent copies of the IMA and PPA resolutions in the matter to the chief minister and the state revenue department asking them to reconsider the decision in favour of the mentally ill, who, after their treatment at mental hospitals, need to be rehabilitated and re-integrated in society,” psychiatrist Devendra Shirole, office-bearer and former president of the state branch of the IMA, said. A group of mentally ill patients also met the district collector to bring home the enormity of the issue, Shirole added.

“Around 10 per cent of the state population is mentally ill. But the mental health facilities are not sufficient to cater to such a large number. There is a need to expand facilities to train mental health professionals as well as rehabilitate mentally ill patients. But instead of doing that, the state government has transferred a major portion of the MIMH land to a private trust,” senior psychiatrist and PPA member Vidyadhar Watve said.

Although the government allotted 12.5 acres of land to the MIMH in 1994, it had not issued funds to set up the rehabilitation centre. “Ironically, now when the MIMH has been allocated funds, a major portion of the land has been transferred to someone else,” MIMH director Alka Pawar said. The MIMH and the department of psychiatry of the Sassoon General…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will provide wet garbage and hotel waste to farmers within a 75 km radius of Pune city for composting. The civic body has promised to transport the garbage to farmlands free of cost.

Earlier, the civic body had decided to provide wet garbage to farmers in a 10 km radius area. “The standing committee on Tuesday decided to extend the area to a 75-km radius,” said standing committee chairman Nilesh Nikam.

The city generates about 1,100 to 1,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which includes 250 tonnes of wet garbage. Recently, the villagers of Urali Devachi had launched an agitation against dumping of garbage in their village. The PMC had asked for seven months’ time in which to find a solution to the garbage problem.

Meanwhile the standing committee also approved a proposal to pay Rs 10 lakh a month for an area of 3.5 acres in order to shift the Ramwadi octroi post. Print Emai…More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Hundreds of higher secondary certificate (HSC – Std XII) students, their parents and political activists went on a rampage in Latur on the eve of the HSC board exam results on Wednesday, demanding that the authorities shelve the inquiry being conducted into the alleged mass copying in the English language paper at some centres in Mukhed during the board examinations held in February-March.

More than 2,000 students were being called for the inquiry in phases and as many as 700 students had been summoned on Wednesday. However, most of the 2,000 students turned up on the day.

The rampaging mob pelted stones, damaged furniture and manhandled the HSC board officials and teachers involved in the inquiry, which was being conducted at Rajasthani Vidyalaya.

The board officials called in the police, who arrested three Shiv Sena members and booked 40 unidentified persons.

M R Kadam, chairman of the Latur HSC board, said the incident would have no effect on the schedule of the HSC results which will be declared on Thursday. The results of the students who had allegedly indulged in mass copying have been withheld, he added.

Mukhed, which is 100 km away from Latur, is a taluka of Nanded, the home district of chief minister Ashok Chavan.
Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The much-awaited sanction from the state government to the Development Plan (DP) for 23 villages, which were merged with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in 1987, is expected after the ongoing state assembly session.

“The state government will expedite the process of finalising the DP after the session,” said T C Benjamin, state principal secretary for Urban Development (UD).

However, the state leaders have their task cut out as they are still to arrive at a consensus over earmarking the bio-diversity park (BDP) zoning on the hills in the 23 villages.

The PMC’s official verdict — the General body resolution — favours BDP and rules out the possibility of allowing constructions on the hills. However, a group of NCP and BJP corporators are still pressing for allowing construction on four to eight per cent of the total plot area of the hills. The issue was debated at a recent meeting called by Pune’s guardian minister Ajit Pawar, but no concensus was reached.

Benjamin also pointed out that the delay will not affect the on-going development in the 23 villages as a “governing DP” (a temporary regulation based on the draft DP) was already in place. “We have asked the PMC to submit an outlay on the BDP and plan for hill land acquisition,” he said.

A senior PMC officer admitted that the state’s move asking PMC to submit the outlay for BDP and the plan to acquire the hill land indicates that the PMC’s GB’s resolution to disallow constructions on hill will get upheld.

“But, for this we need to submit a proper plan for hill land acquisition. There is a growing pressure from a group of leaders to allow constructions on hills under the guise of PMC’s failure to submit a viable proposal for acquisition of the 978 hectares of the hill land,”.

Ironically, the meeting called by the Pune…More