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TOI : PUNE: Notwithstanding the warnings of the hazardous health and environmental impact caused by the use of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), the Hanjer Biotech company claims that the plant at Urali Devachi is, in fact, producing green fuel, which is less polluting.

The PMC has already approved a proposal to sign an agreement of 30 years with Hanjer Biotech Energies Private Limited to upgrade the waste processing plant at Urali Devachi. A memorandum of understanding has also been signed with the National Building Construction Company, a Government of India enterprise through which Hanjer has been appointed.

Interestingly, the detailed Project Report and the agreements between the PMC and the Selco and Hanjer Biotech do not mention RDF plants. The PMC has set September as the deadline for Hanjer company to increase its processing capacity to 500 tonnes.

“We will expand the capacity of the existing plant at Urali Devachi upto 500 tonnes. The company uses the RDF and mechanised composting methods,” said a top company official, requesting anonymity. When asked what quantity of garbage would be processed using RDF technology he said, “The waste will be divided as per the quality. At Urali Devachi we are producing green fuel using RDF which has lower emission levels compared to other fuels. There are no environmental hazards involved in this plant.”

The PMC has decided to adopt integrated technology to process the garbage collected in the city. Along with RDF, the PMC will use mechanised composting and biomethanation plants in an effort to process the 1,100-1,400 tonnes of garbage collected daily in the city. In May 2009 Urali Devachi villagers withdrew their agitation to ban garbage vehicles in their villages, only after the PMC promised to stop dumping at the village site after seven months.

“Many companies have shown interest in the fuel produced at the Hanjer plant at Urali Devachi. There is no other technique other…More

TOI : PUNE: Barclays Bank Plc has joined hands with Pratham, a non-government organisation working in the education space, to launch an entrepreneurship programme for economically disadvantaged youth in Maharashtra.

The entrepreneurship development programme aims to identify youth from economically challenged sections displaying strong entrepreneurship skills. Barclays has agreed to donate the seed capital to the potential entrepreneurs, a media communication said on Wednesday.

The project will initially be launched in the Satara, Sangli and Lonavla regions, where, according to the latest Indian census, over 20 per cent of the 10 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. These areas also have over one million unemployed youth.

The programme will focus on grooming entrepreneurs in farming, dairies, small-scale industries and the automobile servicing sector. Ram Gopal, interim managing director and chief operating officer, Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank, India, said in the press release, “In a rapidly growing country such as ours, an entrepreneurial spirit will no doubt help offer many opportunities to those with an inventive spirit and a strong market orientation.”

“India’s labour force is growing at 2.5 per cent annually, while the employment rate is growing at 1.8 per cent, resulting in over 8 million people remaining unemployed every year,” the communication stressed, citing statistics from the National Sample Survey. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: For the last five years, Pune district has been receiving only around 20 per cent of the normal pre-monsoon rainfall, show the district-wise data published by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here.

The data contain the rainfall figures for each month of the last five years and the departure in percentage.

The pre-monsoon rainfall is necessary for good agriculture output, experts say. It is helpful for better sowing and for removal of weeds from fields.

According to the IMD figures, the district witnessed around 80 per cent less rainfall than the normal during the pre-monsoon period — from January to May — for the last five years. In 2004 Pune recorded 89.4 per cent deficiency, which came down 78.3 per cent next year. The deficiency was 81.6 per cent in 2006, 86.4 in 2007 and 80.53 per in 2008.

“The pre-monsoon rainfall is dependent on the local conditions like heat and moisture,” said P.C.S. Rao, director (weather, central), IMD. “If the conditions are not favourable, then chances of getting pre-monsoon rainfall are less.”

As per the data, Pune witnessed 100 per cent deficiency in rainfall in January for four out the five years between 2004 and 2008. Only in 2005 did Pune experience 75 per cent of the total rainfall in January. In the case of February, situation was worse — not even once during the last five years the district witnessed any rainfall.

For March and April the figures show a better situation. The departure was less in these months compared to previous two months. In 2005, 2006 and 2008 Pune witnessed rainfall in March and April. In March 2008, the there was 13.7 mm rainfall — around 600 per cent more than the normal rainfall for this month.

In May, though there was pre-monsoon showers all the five years, the quantity was very less. The district recorded 49 per…More

TOI : PUNE: Taking cognizance of the dog-bite cases at Phursungi-Urali landfill sites, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to shift the stray canines from the garbage depot to Blue Cross Society within seven days. The move came in the wake of an incident, in which a rag-picker girl was attacked by a pack of dogs at the garbage depot on Tuesday.

“We have decided to shift the dogs to Blue Cross Society. The work will start from today (June 11). All the dogs will be shifted within seven days,” said R.R. Pardeshi, deputy health official of the PMC.

Dog-bite has been a perennial problem faced by the people living in and around Phursungi-Urali villages. “Every month there are four- five dog-bite cases in our village. The villagers are scared of passing by the garbage depot at night. Now, residents are attacked even during the daytime,” said Dnyaneshwar Admane, sarpanch of Urali-Devachi.

“All the stray dogs caught by the dogs-squad of the PMC are released at the garbage depot. The dogs feed on the animal carcasses which are unscientifically dumped at the garbage depot. This makes these dogs more ferocious and wild,” Admane added.

Ranjit Raskar, member of Phursungi gram panchyat said that, “There are more than 150 dogs at the garbage depot. All of them are wild and aggressive. Once the monsoon sets in, they start coming to nearby fields in search of shelters. It is difficult to repel them. The cases of dog-bites increase during the monsoon every year.” The PMC should take immediate action and make provision for the medical expenses of dog-bite victims, he added. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: Encroachment, reduction in road carriage width due to parking of vehicles, and haphazard constructions along the Kalewadi Phata-Pimpri road have made commuting on the road a risky affair, as it was proved by the mishap on Monday that claimed the life of 12-year-old Nilesh Madhurkar. Nilesh was hit by a private bus when he was coming home on his cycle after collecting firewood for cooking.

Inspector (administration, traffic branch) Vijaykumar Palsule, while talking to TOI, confirmed that accidents do happen on this road stretch. “In 2007-08, we had registered nine fatal, eight serious and 12 minor accident cases. The main reasons are narrowness of the road and several punctures in the road divider which result in haphazard movement of vehicles,” he said.

The two km Kalewadi Phata-Pimpri road is one of the busiest roads in the Pimpri-Chinchwad township and links areas along the Aundh-Ravet road to Pimpri. It also links areas of Rahatni, Kalewadi, Thergaon and Chinchwad villages to Pimpri.

In the past two decades, population in the locality along the road has increased tremendously, with people initiating haphazard constructions resulting in narrow roads. Apart from residential buildings, the M M high school, two municipal schools, two English medium high schools and a junior college are located close to the road. Moreover, vegetable, fish and fruit vendors encroach upon the road to sell their goods.

It has been observed that house owners along the road start shops in the front portions of their houses. As there is no proper parking facility in the neighbourhood, customers visiting these shops usually park their vehicles on the road, making the narrow road narrower. The footpath on an one km stretch is being used as parking space, thus pushing pedestrians to walk on the road.

There are around half-a-dozen marriage halls along the busy road. A majority of these do not have adequate parking facilities; some have…More

TOI : PUNE: Olympian Virdhawal Khade, who won six medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games last year, told TOI on Wednesday that the final decision about representing any state will be taken only in September.

Virdhawal, who is in Spain for training, will be back in India by September-end to appear for his higher secondary examinations. Virdhawal told TOI on e-mail: “I have not decided whether I will change to any other state or not. I see other states giving prize money even for national-level competitions. Since Maharashtra does not do that, I have not participated in the senior national swimming competition (the biggest swimming competition in the country) for a few years.

The TOI carried a report (June 9) on Virdhawal’s willingness to move to another state owing to the Maharashtra government’s indifference to the welfare of its sport persons. Khade had said that the government owed him Rs 55 lakh. It had promised cash awards during the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 held in the city for every medal won. He won six medals, including three gold (Rs 10 lakh each) and three silver (Rs 7 lakh each). Besides, he is yet to receive cash awards worth Rs 4 lakh for his performance in the 2007 Guwahati National Games.

State sports minister Dilip Deshmukh said that, “The pending dues will be cleared by the end of June 30 to all sport persons.” A special provision will be made in the coming budget to disburse all the pending amounts for rewards, he added.

Virdhawal said in his mail: “If they (the government) promise a good amount for all the international competitions and national competitions, it will be a great motivation not just for me but also for the youngsters. And then Maharashtra will be the strongest in all the sports.”

On the personal front, Virdhawal said: “I look at swimming as a serious business and so…More

TOI : PUNE: A stay order by the municipal court has stalled construction of an approach road to the Kalewadi-Pimprigaon bridge which has been constructed as an alternative route to the Kalewadi phata-Pimpri road that has seen many accidents.

Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said, “The court has put a stay on the construction of the approach road. We are trying to get the stay order vacated.”

The Kalewadi-Pimpri bridge near Milindnagar is the only bridge that links the areas of Thergaon, Kalewadi and Rahatni, lying along the Kalewadi phata-Pimpri road, to Pimpri. Earlier there was a bridge near Milindnagar but the PCMC built another bridge to reduce the traffic congestion on this busy road.

The second bridge was constructed as the Kalewadi phata-Pimpri road is narrow and unable to cater to the growing traffic.

The bridge linking Tapkirnagar (Kalewadi) and Pimprigaon could provide an alternative link for vehicles coming from Kalewadi, Wakad and Aundh to get to Pimpri. The bridge has been built but there is no approach road from the Rahatni/Kalewadi side to the bridge due to an objection by a landowner. The construction of this bridge was completed in October 2004 but has not been opened to traffic since in the absence of an approach road.

One of the landowners whose land needed to be acquired for the bridge has filed a case and secured a stay on construction of the road.

Municipal commissioner Sharma had promised that the work of the approach road will be completed and the bridge will be opened to traffic in June. The PCMC had started work on the approach road amidst police bandobast but the stay order stalled further progress.

Speaking to TOI, Satish Panse, a resident of Kalewadi said, “The PCMC should open the bridge to traffic as soon as possible and provide an alternative route to go to…More

TOI : PUNE: The State Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Pune on Tuesday informed the special court that it had recovered cash worth Rs 3.4 lakh, gold and silver ornaments, expensive garments and other articles, totalling over Rs 34.76 crore in a search operation conducted at the residence of the State Co-operation Department’s additional commissioner Manohar Tribhuvan in Model colony.

The ACB has sealed Tribhuvan’s residence in Nasik. Special judge P R Bora has sent Tribhuvan to police custody till June 11. ACB officials had caught Tribhuvan, allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from chartered accountant Jaywant Chavan of Satara at Hotel Woodland near the Pune railway station on Monday.

Inspector B R Patil produced Tribhuvan before the court in order to obtain four days’ police custody.

Additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar argued that custodial interrogation of Tribhuvan was required as he was not co-operating with the agency and was not giving information as to how he had come to be in possession of such huge assets.

Pawar submitted that time was required to conduct searches at Tribhuvan’s residence at Nasik.

She argued that the ACB should be given sufficient time to investigate Tribhuvan’s involvement with other suspected persons whose names figure in a recorded conversation. Tribhuvan was allegedly demanding 30 per cent commission from chartered accountants in return for giving them the auditing work of credit co-operative societies.

Pawar contended that Tribhuvan, who was the second in command at the State Co-operation Department had abused his authority. He had the authority to appoint and remove the chartered accountants if his demands were not met.

Defence lawyers Sudhir Shah and Pratap Pardeshi pointed out that Chavan’s complaint sheet did not specify where the alleged bribe demands had been made by their client.

The lawyers argued that the authority to appoint and remove the chartered accountants vested with the additional registrar and not…More

TOI : PUNE: The Bund Garden police on Wednesday arrested Pune police stenographer Jamila Shaikh for allegedly threatening Fouzia, the widow of additional superintendent of police Mujeeb Karjatkar.

Karjatkar had shot and killed himself with a service revolver allegedly due to Shaikh’s harassment in Nagpur on February 25.

Senior police inspector Suhas Nadgouda of the Bund Garden police station said Shaikh was arrested under section 452 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

Shaikh was produced before the court which remanded her to magisterial custody. She was later sent to the female ward of the Yerawada central jail.

According to the police, Shaikh who had developed a liking for Karjatkar had entered his Koregaon Park residence and had asked Fouzia to obtain a talaq (divorce) from her husband on January 19.

The police said Shaikh had abused Fouzia and had threatened her.

Fouzia had registered a case against Shaikh after much delay on April 28. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) has requested the Khadki ammunition factory to attend fire calls from the cantonment area till the cantonment repairs its sole fire engine.

Speaking to TOI on Wednesday, N Srinivasa Reddy, chief executive officer (CEO) said that the request has been made for the benefit of citizens living within Khadki cantonment limits.

Two days ago a fire occurred at the cattleshed in Khadki, a km away from the fire brigade office. Since the KCB fire engine was inoperational, fire engines of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) were called, causing a delay. The dry fodder stored in the shed was burnt completely although, fortunately, the milch animals were taken out by the owner.

“We do not have a proposal to procure another fire engine for now but we can discuss the issue at the monthly meeting to be held on June 12,” Reddy said. Print Emai…More