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TOI : PUNE: The city will have a 20 per cent water cut beginning Sunday because of the delay in the arrival of the monsoon in the district and depleting water levels in the four dams that supply water to Pune.

District guardian minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said, “The dams at present are holding, on an average, 4.11 per cent water (1.14 TMC) of their capacity. The water cut will continue until the storage at these dams registers considerable increase. The total capacity of these dams is 27.72 TMC.”

He clarified that no water cut will be implemented in Pimpri-Chinchwad as the levels in the Pavana dam, which supplies water to the twin township, is 30 per cent of its capacity. Print Emai…More

TOI :

CLEARED BY AJOY

HEAD: PCMC to develop two parking lots

Siddharth Gaikwad| tnn

Pune: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is planning to develop two large parking lots at a cost of Rs 1.17 crore along the Pune-Mumbai highway to address the lack of parking lots along it.

One parking lot will be located behind the Babasaheb Ambedkar garden in Pimpri and the other near the octroi booth in Nigdi. A PCMC source said the civic body will decide later whether to charge parking fees for using the two lots.

The proposal to develop the parking lots will come up for approval at the monthly meeting of the general body (GB) on June 20.

Subhash Dumbre, additional municipal commissioner, said: “Pimpri and Nigdi are two important areas located along the highway. The parking lots will allow people to come to these areas in their vehicles, park them at the lots and board buses to go to their desired destinations. This will also reduce the use of private vehicles.”

An official from the civic engineering department said the civic body would be asphalting the land and putting up a chain-link fence around it. The parking lots will have markings to indicate parking spaces as well as a watchman’s cabin.

“The plot in Pimpri measures 4,500 sq m. It will accommodate 215 four-wheelers and 260 two-wheelers,” the official said. As regards the plot in Nigdi, it measures 5,000 sq m and will be able to accommodate 150 four-wheelers and 280 two-wheelers. He said both the plots are in possession of the PCMC and work on the project can begin as soon as the GB approves the proposal and the work order is issued.

It may be noted that the GB had rejected the civic administration’s proposal to introduce pay-and-park schemes along the Pune-Mumbai highway and in other areas last month. Instead, it…More

TOI : PUNE: A 15-year-old boy, who had gone on a holiday trip to the US, was quarantined on suspicion of H1N1 flu at Naidu hospital here on Thursday evening .

“We have sent his throat swab report to the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The report is expected on Saturday,” said D.V. Barathe, medical superintendent of the hospital.

Meanwhile, four Puneites, who had been quarantined on their arrival from abroad on suspicion of H1N1 flu, had tested negative on Thursday.

A woman and her two children, who have arrived from Singapore, and a professional who came from France were kept under observation at Naidu Hospital on June 16.

“All the four tested negative. They were given discharge immediately,” said Barathe. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: Close to 50,000 teachers from state universities and senior colleges across Maharashtra have threatened to launch an indefinite strike from July 14 to press for the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations. The stir will be led by the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation (MFUCTO), which is the apex body of teacher organisations from different universities and colleges in the state.

In the run-up to the proposed indefinite strike, members of the Pune University Teachers Association (Puta) and Pune University and College Teachers Organisation (Pucto) have decided to stage a demonstration in front of the district collector’s office at 3.30 pm on June 22.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Puta president Atul Bagul and his Pucto counterpart, R G Gurav, said that the teachers would go on mass casual leave on July 6 if the state government continued to overlook their demand.

“Eventually, our struggle for the 6th Pay recommendation will lead to an indefinite stir till the time parity is restored with the salary being given to the state government employees, school and junior college teachers,” Bagul said.

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections, the government had announced implementation of 6th pay panel recommendations to school and junior college teachers with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006, as was suggested by the University Grants Commission’s Chaddha committee, said Puta general secretary Raghav Ashtekar. “senior college teachers were overlooked in this process and we have been agitating for the cause since April,” he said.

According to Pucto general secretary, B S Bendre, minister for higher and technical education Rajesh Tope had assured the state legislative assembly that the pay panel recommendations would soon be extended to senior college teachers. “However, the minister has not kept his word, despite repeated follow-ups,” he added. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: Complimenting the traffic department for bringing out a report on accident prevention measures, traffic and road safety experts have urged the Pune Municipal Corporation and other agencies to act and take necessary remedial measures.

Chandmal Parmar, managing trustee of the Kumari Rajashree Parmar Memorial Trust, which has been working for road safety issues, said that road engineering has to be given utmost importance. Installing proper road signals, having proper lane markings, zebra crossings with thermoplastic paint are important aspects of road safety and yet they are neglected, he said.

The state government, he said, should appoint an engineer for traffic planning in the traffic department of the police. The traffic engineer, who could be appointed from the public works department, should regularly undertake studies regarding road engineering and traffic planning and give necessary suggestions to the civic body. The municipal corporation should implement these suggestions.

Parmar, who is also the member of the road safety and accident prevention committee, said that there should be better coordination between the PMC and the traffic department.

According to Parmar, the officials of the town planning department, and the Public Works department, should also be involved in implementing remedial measures to prevent mishaps at the 51 accident prone spots that have been identified in the report. This will help the PMC in implementing measures in an effective way, he added.

Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrian First, a group working for road safety of pedestrians, said that he had been constantly pursuing the issues highlighted in the report with the municipal corporation. Inamdar said that there should be a single person or department in the PMC to look into the issues related to road safety and road engineering. At present, the traffic department of the police has to contact ward offices and other civic departments for getting work done related to road safety. The PMC should provide standard…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has begun a drive to clean up the Pavana river, which flows through municipal limits. Around 15 tonnes of garbage has been removed from the river so far.

Speaking to TOI, R B Chavan, health executive officer, said that civic employees have removed water hyacinth and other garbage in large quantities from the river over the past fortnight.

Chavan said that the river stretch has been divided into two parts from the Military Dairy Farm in Pimpri to Kalewadi and the Military Dairy Farm to Dapodi. Ten employees of zone B and 20 employees of zone D are participating in the drive.

“Boats are being used to help remove the water hyacinth. Apart from the water hyacinth, tyres, plastic bottles and other garbage has also been removed,” said Chavan. He said that the drive will continue till the rains begin in earnest.

Environmental organisations like the Indrayani Bachav Kruti Samiti (IBKS) are also participating in the drive. Vikas Patil, founder of IBKS said, “We have been conducting regular inspection of the river stretch to identify the polluted spots and areas where water hyacinth and garbage has accumulated in the river. The civic employees later remove the garbage.” Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The traffic department officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have claimed that they have already started the work on making engineering rectification at the accident-prone junctions, as declared in the report released by the Pune traffic police on Thursday.

An allocation of Rs 75 lakh has already been made in the 2009-10 budget under the heading Necessary measures for critical accident-prone junctions.’

Speaking to TOI, PMC traffic planner Shriniwas Bonala said work is on to take adequate measures at the critical spots.

“The report may have been released yesterday but we have been working with the traffic police for quite some time now to rectify the problems. A few joint visits with the police officials have already been carried out. Accordingly, the necessary budget requirements have been made in the civic budget. More funds have been allocated separately for every ward office,” Bonala said.

He explained that each of the 51 spots identified by the traffic police have different set of issues and need to be addressed in a different manner.

“At some places, there is a need for surface dividers, at others, we need railings or street lights. Junction improvement is required at some critical spots, while at other places, the surface is slippery and needs to be changed to avoid accidents. Chamber corrections are required elsewhere.”

Asserting that the work has actually started, Bonala cited an example of a junction near the race course road stating that there was an urgent need to have dividers at the junction, which has already been done by the PMC.

When pointed out that the report states a need for a better coordination between the PMC traffic department and the traffic police, Bonala insisted that both the departments are working in conjunction with each other.

“We are working together. Many joint visits have been conducted and discussions are on continually to…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has operationalised its central and zonal flood control cells to tackle any likely problems during the monsoon. Speaking to TOI, Mustafa Phadnis, assistant commissioner and in-charge of the flood control work, PCMC, said the central flood control cell and the four zonal cells have been operationalised from June 15.

He added that the central cell is located in the PCMC main office building in Pimpri. Citizens can contact this cell on phone number 27425073. The four zonal flood control cells are located in the respective zonal offices from where citizens can get information regarding the current flood situation and the rescue work.

Phadnis said 97 people have been deployed to work at these five cells in three shifts. “The PCMC has set up 12 help centres in various parts of the municipal limits along the banks of Pavana and Mula rivers. We have given instructions to the local zonal officials to keep ready the municipal schools, community centres and dharamshalas in the low-lying areas for providing shelter to the affected people in the event of a flood-like situation,” said Phadnis. Print Emai…More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Lightning claimed six lives in different parts of Marathwada region even as heavy rains lashed the region on Thursday night and brought relief to farmers, eagerly waiting for the monsoon to start.

With Thursday’s toll, the number of deaths due to lightning increased to 58 in the last three months. The region has also recorded 11 other natural calamity-related deaths in this period.

“All the victims were farmers who were working in the fields when the lightning struck them,” said G D Khan, an official at the divisional commissionerate. Those who lost their lives in Aurangabad district were Asaram Kisanrao Nemane (55) a resident of Murma in Paithan taluka and Vilas Karbhari Tambe of Tili in Vaijapur taluka.

The Hingoli victims have been identified as Himmatrao Gavhane (50) of Maharsapur in Sengaon taluka and Vijay Tukaram Chole (28) a resident of Banbarda, also in Sengaon taluka. Twelve-year-old Rani Bhimrao Bhise died after getting struck by lightning in Rampura village of Georai taluka in Beed; while Sunil Venkatrao Kadam (22), a resident of Omerga in Ahmedpur taluka died while working in the field in neighbouring Chakur, in Latur district.

The process of providing financial assistance to the victims’ next of kin has begun in the respective districts. Khan said that the next of kin of victims below 18 will receive Rs 50,000, while those of the victims between the ages of 18 and 65 will get Rs 1 lakh.

Meanwhile, the region recorded 23.4 mm rainfall on Friday, which is just three per cent of the average rainfall in Marathwada. The region receives an average rainfall of 779 mm, Khan said. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE : Special judge P B Bora on Friday confirmed the interim bail granted to former additional commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Ashok Deshpande and three others who were arrested recently by the State Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Pune in the transfer of development rights (TDR) scam.

The other accused are PMC additional city engineer Vivek Kharwadkar, retired assistant engineer Arun Joshi and builder Shekar Savkar. The suspects were released on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each with sureties of the like amount. The suspects were earlier released on interim bail in view of a Supreme Court ruling after they were send to judicial custody. Their bail applications came up for final hearing before the court on Friday afternoon.

Additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar objected to confirmation of bails as the suspects had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy and had forged documents for illegally sanctioning the TDR in respect of a property in Kasba Peth in 2005.

Defence lawyers Pratap Pardeshi, Sudhir Shah and Sandeepan Phadke prayed to release their clients on bail as their detention was not required since the ACB is yet to complete the investigations. The court upheld the defence lawyer’s plea and confirmed the bail applications. Print Emai…More