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TOI : PUNE: The state urban development department (UDD) on Thursday held a meeting to discuss the bus purchase plan by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) under the JNNURM.

“We discussed the technicalities in the purchase. The ultimate goal is to provide good public transport to citizens,” Pune municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade told TOI. Along with Zagade, Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma, PMPML managing director Nitin Khade and principal secretary (UDD) Ramanand Tiwari were present at the meeting.

The PMPML’s decision to buy buses, including 200 A-C ones on public-private-partnership (PPP) basis has drawn flak from some corporators and organisations.

“In the meeting, the government told PMPML that the ownership of the buses purchased under JNNURM will be with the PMPML and not with private owners,” said BJP corporator Ujwal Keskar.

Meanwhile, Pune divisional commissioner Dilip Band said there was no question of ownership of buses going to private players. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: A mobile medical squad headed by 20 doctors, treatment facilities at eight rural hospitals, 15 primary health centres in Pune district, 32 tankers for drinking water and 16 designated wells are some of the arrangements made by the district administration for the journey of palkhis of saints Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram through Pune district.

The district collectorate has published a booklet that gives all the information including addresses and mobile numbers of officers concerned who have been entrusted the responsibility to help the warkaris.

Speaking to TOI, district collector Chandrakant Dalvi said, “The booklet has been compiled by the administration for the first time. It provides readers with a comprehensive statistical overview of the network put in place to help the warkaris. We are providing the book to each of the registered dindi (team) in both palkhis.”

Sanjeev Kumar, chief executive officer of the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP), said that as many as 300 ZP staff members will accompany the warkaris till Pandharpur to take care of them. “These staff members also check samples of food items in 600 hotels, dhabas and small eateries along the route to ensure that proper hygiene is maintained. They will also spray pesticides at the locations where the palkhis halt,” he said.

Kumar said that a committee of gram sevaks has been constituted in each village along the route and has been asked to contact dindi chiefs in the wari to solve their problems.

District health officer H H Chavan said that as many as four ambulances with emergency medical equipment like ECG, x-ray machines and oxygen cylinders will accompany the palkhi. “We have a tie up with 12 private hospitals along the palkhi route to offer treatment when needed. All the 610 dindi chiefs have been given a first aid box each to take care of minor injuries. Four mobile medical teams will travel with the palkhi,”…More

TOI : PUNE: From fine arts to installation, digital photography and video art, contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram has brilliantly moulded them to create a whole new artistic meaning.

One of the few prolific modern artists to use these mediums extensively, Sundaram, nephew of legendary Indian artist, Amrita Sher-Gil, has showcased his multi-dimensional, multi-layered creative streak especially in the digital and video art works and installations he did on the Sher-Gil family’s photographs, among other prominent art works.

Not to mention his current preoccupation with trash that he is using to create installations that signify bustling metropolises, human relationships and emotions.

“There is nothing cerebral or intellectual about the installations and the video art. The keenness of art enthusiasts will help them experience it,” explains Sundaram, who presented a lecture on art at the film appreciation course at Film and Television Institute of India, on Thursday.

Switching over from fine arts to installations in the mid-1990s, Sundaram began to lend new meanings to various visual art forms. His video art along with graphics and special effects comprises site specific installations. He also prefers to ‘make’ photographs, that is, using other people’s photographs to create a new meaning by arranging and juxtaposing them digitally.

Terming his photographic presentations as ‘allegorical’, one can read possible references of society, history and time within those spaces. “I want the viewer to construct his own meaning out of my works,” says Sundaram.

In the ‘The Sher-Gil Archive,’ Sundaram showed large-scale installations of the Sher-Gil family photographs. “It show how the Sher-Gil family lived and the time they spent together. It cuts across time and space and creates real-time modern day meaning for the viewer,” says Sundaram.

‘Tracking,’ one of his recent video arts, shows an installation of ancient city juxtaposed with moving images. This is his way of blending various visual arts into create a heterogeneous whole. “Today, a lot…More

TOI : PUNE: It took two years of hard work and extensive research for the journal, Weekly Vivek, to release the first volume of an encyclopaedia that will trace 200 years of the state’s history.

Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, Mahesh Pohnerkar, western region co-ordinator of Weekly Vivek, said that the encyclopaedia of Maharashtra will be published in 12 volumes. “These volumes will deal with topics like history, literature, politics, education, sports, spiritualism, administration, art, science and technology, economics, agriculture and future of Maharashtra,” he said.

The first volume, titled ‘History’ will be released on June 21 by noted historian, scholar and theatre personality Babasaheb Purandare at the Garware College Hall, Karve Road at 5.30pm. Kirtan exponent Charudatta Aphale and actor Rahul Solapurkar will present a special performance titled ‘Maharashtra dharma vadhavawa’ to mark the occasion.

The first volume contains 64 articles by writers and researchers on development of Maharashtra, kingdoms in the state, religion and philosophy, social development, art and architecture and the state’s progress.

Krishna Patil, who recently conquered Mt Everest, will also launch the website of Weekly Vivek www.maharashtranayak.com.

Featuring the works of social reformers, politicians, educationists, researchers and freedom fighters of Maharashtra who have contributed immensely to the state’s development, the group plans to finish all the twelve volumes by 2010.
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TOI : PUNE: The city has been witnessing maximum temperatures that are higher by around three to four degrees than the normal for the past one week. On an average, the maximum temperature has been in the range of around 34-36 degrees which resembles the temperature usually recorded in the second half of May.

According to IMD officials, this is happening due to the delay in arrival of monsoon. Normally, the maximum temperature in mid-June ranges between 30 to 32 degrees.

“Weather changes like decline in day and night temperatures, reduction in humidity and increase in moisture that normally take place due to the arrival of monsoon, are not visible right now,” said P C S Rao, director (Weather Central), India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune.

“Usually, during the last fortnight of May, a reduction in temperature is witnessed which continues till the first week of June when the monsoon arrives. After that there is further decrease in temperature,” Rao said, adding that this year such reduction took place towards the end of May, but after that subsequent reduction in temperature has not taken place.

According to IMD figures, on Tuesday the city witnessed 36.5 degrees maximum temperature, which was higher by 5 degrees than normal temperature. Before that the city has been witnessing temperature between 34 to 36 degrees which were higher by 3 to 4 degrees than normal.

When asked about any change in the progress of monsoon, A B Mazumdar, deputy director general, meteorology, IMD, added that conditions are not favourable for the arrival of monsoon during the next 24 hours. Till then, hot weather conditions are likely to prevail.

IMD officials have pointed out that many areas in Vidarbha and Marthawada region have been witnessing temperatures around 40 degrees or above. “In some neighbouring states, conditions are even hotter. Parts of Andra Pradesh, Orrisa, Jharkhand and near by areas are witnessing heat…More

TOI : PUNE: Minutes after the sessions court rejected the bail application of Congress leader and corporator Deepak Mankar, police commissioner Satyapal Singh announced that the police will give Rs 10,000 as prize to any person who gives information about Mankar and other suspects.

Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, Singh said, “A woman has lodged a complaint against Mankar’s brother Shivaji Mankar alleging him of evicting her forcefully from an apartment in Shivajinagar area. Right now both the Mankar brothers are under our scanner.” It could not be confirmed if the complainant owned the apartment or if she was a tenant.

The city police have booked Mankar for his alleged involvement in two cases of land-grabbing. On June, 10 the Chatushrungi police had booked him for allegedly encroaching upon a piece of land at Baner belonging to one Ashok Gupta (60) of Bhosalenagar. The land is currently under the possession of the Chatushrungi police. Within four days, on June 14, a second case was lodged against Mankar and the Khadak police booked him, along with former corporator Datta Sagre, builder Sudhir Karnataki, Sadhana Vartak and others, for their alleged involvement in forcibly vacating a property at Shukrawar Peth, which belongs to a retired professor Yashwant Natu. Both these case are being investigated by the Pune crime branch.

“Mankar has not been arrested as yet. We have searched all his houses and office. We were tipped off that he has fled from the city and was seen somewhere else, but Mankar also fled from the said location before our team could reach there,” Singh said adding, “If any person has any information about Mankar he can contact deputy commissioner of police (crime) Anil Kumbhare. The informant will be given a cash prize of Rs 10,000. It is our top most priority to arrest him.”

“If we can gather enough evidence against Mankar, we will certainly invoke the Maharashtra…More

TOI : PUNE: The Bombay High Court (HC) has given permission to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to cut dangerous trees, but in consultation with the experts.

The permission was given in response to a PMC plea to allow cutting of trees ahead of the monsoon. The court had issued an interim order in May restricting the PMC from giving tree cutting permission within the municipal limits without obtaining the approval of the court.

The order had come during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by Pune-based environmentalist Deepak Balkrishna Vahikar regarding felling of 1,522 trees by the civic body.

The Bombay High Court bench had said in its order: “It is the primary duty of the municipal corporation to protect environmental and ecological balance by planting more trees rather than cutting them, which has adversely affected the climate of city of Pune.”

Following the order, the PMC was unable to give tree cutting permissions even for dangerous and weak trees which need to be trimmed or cut so as not to cause damage to life or property. It had filed an affidavit pleading before the court to allow tree-cutting considering that the monsoon is round the corner and many applications for cutting dangerous trees are lying pending with the department.

Speaking to TOI, PMC tree officer Balasaheb Jhagjhap confirmed that the high court has given permission for tree cutting – but only for dangerous trees.

“The court has only granted permission specifically for dangerous trees. The final hearing in the PIL is still to take place. We had also sought permission to cut trees on Paud road for road work. So in that case too, the court has granted permission but with a condition that the Pune Tree Authority chairman gives an undertaking that three trees will be planted by PMC for every tree cut. There are around 136 trees which either…More

TOI : PUNE: The Ahmednagar district has become the first seed-sufficient district in the state under the ‘village seed bank scheme’. The scheme was formulated by the state government three years back to promote local seed production which has seen 15 per cent increase in foodgrain production.

The objective is to increase production of seeds and foodgrain suitable for climatic conditions of that particular region.

“Ahmednagar district needs three lakh quintal seeds for 12 lakh hectare agricultural land for kharif and rabi seasons, which has been achieved by bringing 150 villages of the district under the seed bank village scheme,” said Vikas Patil, district superintendent agriculture officer of Ahmednagar.

The benefit of producing seeds locally has directly reflected in higher production of grains. The locally produced seeds are suitable to local climatic conditions and soil as against seeds procured from outside the state. “In last one year, the average foodgrain production per hectare has almost doubled. Today, wheat production per hectare has gone up to 50 quintals from 20 quintals, that of sorghum and gram has also touched the figures of 25 quintal and 10 quintal per hectare respectively. Earlier the average per hectare production of sorghum and gram was eight quintal and three quintal respectively”, Patil added.

Earlier, seeds developed in Vidarbha (Maharashtra) or in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh used to be supplied across the state but they did not give the desired yield and expenditure of farmers went up.

Patil said, “Three years ago the state government formed a group of progressive farmers and introduced them to some varieties of food grains like Sorghum, Bajra and pulses developed by Mahatma Phule agricultural university (Rahuri, district Ahmedngar). The groups were also taken to seed processing units run by farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada to explain their importance. The state government also promoted farmers’ groups to form co-operative processing units, which further set up the…More

TOI : PUNE: Special Judge Arvind Roohe on Thursday granted bail to two senior officials of the Central Excise Department, Pune in an alleged bribe case.

Department superintendent Prakash Barawkar and assistant commissioner Dilip Utpat were released on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.

Inspector N M Parab of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Pune, produced the officials before the court for obtaining CBI custody. CBI special public prosecutor M B Deshmukh argued that the custodial interrogation of the officers was necessary to find out the reason for delay on their part to clear the service tax claims of complaint Chandresh Mehta. Deshmukh prayed to send them to CBI custody for three days.

Opposing the CBI’s plea, defence lawyers Sudhir Shah, Harshad Nimbalkar, Pratap Pardeshi and S K Jain said that the agency had recovered the bribe amount and that nothing more was required to be seized.

The lawyers pointed out that the CBI had conducted searches at the office and residence of the suspects, but nothing incriminating was recovered.

The lawyers said that the agency had recovered service tax refund files of the complainant from the suspects and they assured that their clients would co-operate with the CBI whenever they were called for questioning.

The judge upheld the defence lawyers’ plea and remanded the suspects to judicial custody and later released them on bail.

The CBI on Wednesday caught Barawkar accepting bribe of Rs 30,000 from Mehta at Utpat’s chamber for clearing two files of service tax refunds of Rs 9,29,173.

Mehta’s complaint states that Barawkar had demanded three per cent of the total service tax refund and had threatened to issue him a show-cause notice if his demand was not met.
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TOI : PUNE: The centralised admission process (CAP) for the first year degree course in architecture (B Arch), at colleges falling under the Maharashtra Association of Schools of Architecture (Masa), will commence from June 20.

Masa is a body of 29 private unaided architecture colleges in the state and is affiliated to the Council of Architecture (CoA), which regulates architecture education in the country.

The association accounts for a majority section of architecture colleges, considering that only three government-aided and two unaided colleges are part of the other CAP conducted by the state director of technical education (DTE) on the basis of the MAH-AR-CAT 2009 the common entrance exam for architecture course, which was held on May 31.

Results of the state-run CAP were declared on June 15 and the admissions have reached a stage where the DTE will now publish a provisional merit list of the candidates eligible for seat allotment.

On the other hand, the Masa-conducted CAP will begin with the online submission of forms from June 20, Subhash Karekar, admission authority of the association, said while speaking to TOI on Thursday. “The cumulative student intake of our 29 colleges is 1,460 seats,” Karekar added.

According to Karekar, the B. Arch course aspirants are required to access Masa’s website www.maharch.org for filling the admission forms online and downloading a hard copy of the same for submission at designated application receipt centres (ARCs). The ARC authorities will verify documents and confirm the applicant’s eligibility for admission, he said.

“The process of document verification and confirmation will be conducted between June 27 and July 4 at the ARCs,” Karekar said, adding, “The first merit list of eligible candidates will be released on July 5.”

Post-release of the first merit list, candidates will have to furnish the option forms detailing their choice of college in an order of preference. “Based on these options, Masa will…More