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TOI : PUNE: Out of the Rs 273 crores of the state government’s share towards the Pune Municipal Corporation’s JNNURM projects, it has sent only Rs 128 crores, keeping the civic body waiting for the remaining instalments.

This information was sought by civic activist Vivek Velankar through the Right to Information Act (RTI). He stated that on the eve of the assembly election, it is essential to ask why are funds meant for Pune’s development are being held up by the state government.

Circulating copies of the information sought from the PMC, Velankar pointed out that the PMC had sought Rs 644 crores from the Central government and Rs 273 crores from the state government for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) projects.

“From April 2006 to September 15, 2009, the PMC has spent approximately Rs 1,000 crores for various projects in the city. According to the JNNURM formula, the projects are funded by the centre upto 50 per cent, upto 20 per cent by the state and the remaining has to be borne by the local body. Accordingly, the PMC sought the shares from the centre and state respectively. While the centre has diligently released its share of Rs 606 crores, the state has held up more than half the amount due,” Velankar said.

He explained that although the state government has made provision for Pune’s JNNURM share in its budget, the amount has not been released and no reason has been stated either.

“Now with assembly elections nearing, the citizens’ questions must be answered; why are the funds being held up. All the political parties are answerable to us and we will raise these questions the citizens’ vote on October 13. We want to ask the sitting MLAs, contesting once again, about what efforts have they taken or will take in future to ensure that Pune gets its due amount,” Velankar said….More

TOI : PUNE: The genetic make-up of Indians has inherent lipid abnormality, which increases the risk of heart diseases. Besides, hectic work schedules and improper diet are the contributing factors, say city cardiologists.

“Indians have smaller calibred arteries. Hence they are prone to early manifestation of coronary artery disease (CAD) with early atherosclerosis (deposition process of lipids inside arteries),” said cardiologist Suhas Hardas.

Nearly 40 per cent of Indians are found to be highly or at least moderately at risk of heart disease in a study conducted by IMRB, designed by Apollo hospitals and commissioned by Quaker Oats in 10 cities across the country.

“Indians are genetically more prone to have coronary artery disease (CAD). They have inherent lipoprotein abnormality which is a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases,” said Sunil Sathe.

“The findings of the survey clearly reflect what we, as doctors, are confronting every day. I see at least 5 to 10 people in the age group of 30 to 39 years every week with cholesterol abnormality and hypertension. Stress level at workplaces is among the major reasons for this drastic shift in the age group,” said cardiologist Sunil Sathe.

Sharing the same view, cardiologist Suhas Hardas said, “I see at least one patient in the age group of 30 to 39 years with coronary artery disease (CAD) every week. First and foremost reason for this drastic shift in the age group is hectic working hours. People belonging to this age group are productive working people who are working their guts out to meet targets and comply with the deadlines. Besides, erratic eating schedules and unhealthy eating habits are other contributing factors.”

“These findings should increase awareness that heart disease is not just a disease of the elderly. Aggressive heart disease prevention should begin in childhood, when it’s easier to establish healthy habits and correct harmful ones, before the damage begins,” said…More

TOI : PUNE: Schoolchildren across the state will give the message of three R’sreduce, reuse and recycleduring the Joy of Giving Week that will be held from September 27 to October 3.

With the help of more than four lakh kids, who are part of the National Green Corps (NGC) eco clubs across the state, the Directorate of Social Forestry, Maharashtra, will conduct activities with an aim to give back to the society some of what we have taken so far, says Prakash Thosre, director of social forestry.

The Joy of Giving Week is a national movement that aims to engage every Indian in giving back to society in a way that she or he chooses in terms of money, time, skills or resources.

On the last day of the Joy of Giving week i.e. October 3, the Social Forestry department has organised programmes all over the state which include making cloth bags from old sarees, distribution of shami’ and apta’ saplings and making fresh notebooks from unused pages of used notebooks.

“Work on these activities has already begun in different parts of the state. The NGC students have already made some 50,000 cloth bags. The notebooks prepared will be distributed in slums. We are also encouraging children and people to donate old toys, books and footwear to the needy, on this occasion,” says Thosre.

Keeping in mind the idea of giving back to nature instead of drawing from it, castor seeds will be planted along canals in different cities of the state. “Some 4 crore castor seeds will be sown all over the state. Castor is known to control air pollution. This activity will take place in Pune too. Our target is to sow 100 castor seeds per NGC student,” says Thosre.

NGC students will be distributing cloth bags outside vegetable markets in Pune. And as a prelude to Dassera’ that will be celebrated…More

TOI : MUMBAI: Chief minister Ashok Chavan and MRCC president Kripashankar Singh held an eleventh hour meeting with Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Rajendra Gavai and signed a pre-poll alliance for the coming assembly elections.

Gavai, who was part of united RPI, developed some serious differences with Ramdas Athavale and decided to withdraw from the front on the issue of using the symbol of his own party. As per the agreement with the Congress, RPI (Gavai) will now field candidates in two assembly segments Dombivli and Daryapur in Amravati district. The RPI (Gavai) candidate from Dombivli will be Shankarlal Patel while Rameshwar Abhyankar is being fielded from Daryapur.

Gavai, son of Goa governor R S Gavai, said, “I have been insisting that my candidates will use our own symbol and Congress has agreed to my suggestion.”

He added, “I have had enough bickering with Athavale and his group. I left the Third Front about a week ago. My faction had decided to contest 15 seats on my own in Vidarbha and offered support to the Third Front in remaining 273 seats in Maharashtra. But, Athavale has refused to take my support.”

Before finalising the agreement, Gavai had called on chief minister Ashok Chavan at Varsha late Friday night. “I will now ensure a Congress-NCP win in Maharashtra on all seats,” he said, adding that there will be a sizeable division of Dalit votes in all constituencies.

With Gavai in the Congress camp, another powerful RPI faction led by Prakash Ambedkar will contest over 150 seats in Vidarbha and other parts of the state.

Political observers said this was a significant development as it would help the Congress-NCP counter the threat from Athavale, who was a one-time ally of the Democratic Front government. Apparently, Athavale is irked by Congress party workers for his defeat in the recent Lok Sabha elections from Shirdi constituency. Athavale is…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune railway division now has additional coach maintenance facilities, including pitlines and stabling lines. The first phase of coach maintenance complex at Ghorpadi yard was inaugurated by Central Railway manager B B Modgil recently. The complex has two pitlines and two stabling lines of 26 coach-length each.

The coaching complex has facilities for high pressure washing and cleaning of trains. It also has compressed air-testing of trains. The railway administration has installed advanced technologies at this complex for better working environment.

After inauguration of the complex, Modgil said passenger amenities is the first priority of the railways. The setting of a maintenance complex is said to be one the prominent step in expanding the railway facilities at the division.

The maintenance complex will reduce the waiting period for cleanliness and maintenance activities. It has installation of computerised data maintenance system and will provide a scope for better maintenance.

“The Pune station at present has five pit lines in which, only one pit line has capacity to undertake the maintenance of 24 coaches. The other four pit lines are of the capacity with 15 to 16 coaches. The problems and delays are being faced frequently as the capacities of existing pit lines are lesser to undertake the maintenance of bigger rakes with more than 16 coaches,” said an official from the division.

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TOI : PUNE: A 60-year-old woman from Tathawade village in Pune district died at the Sassoon hospital, 11 others tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Friday.

The woman, who was admitted to the Sassoon hospital on September 25, died at 6.45 am on Saturday. “Her throat swab sample has been sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The report is awaited,” said Ashok Mehta, joint director of the state health services. While the throat swab report of the 81-year-old man who died at the YCM hospital in Pimpri on Friday, has tested negative, added Mehta.

Meanwhile, around nine critical patients are presently being treated at the isolation ICUs of various private and government hospitals. “All of them are on ventilator,” Mehta added.

As many as 11 people tested positive for the H1N1 influenza in the city on Friday. “A total number of 585 suspected patients are being administered Tamiflu tablets, while around 22, 258 have been given the tablets so far,” said Ashok Mehta, joint director of the state health service. Around 11,331 people were screened across the district, adding that 53 were discharged on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the PMC has declared holiday to all the screening centres on Monday for Dassera. However, Naidu Hospital will remain open. All the 53 screening centres in PMC limits will start working from Tuesday.

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TOI : PUNE: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate from Chinchwad assembly constituency Sunil Walhekar is among the 17 candidates whose nomination forms were found to be invalid in the three assembly constituencies of Pimpri-Chinchwad township.

Speaking to TOI on Saturday, Chinchwad constituency returning officer Shahaji Pawar said, “Walhekar’s nomination form was found to be invalid as it did not fulfil the basic requirement. MNS is a registered, unrecognised party so his nomination form should have had at least 10 people proposing his candidate. However, Walhekar’s nomination form had only one person proposing his candidature, which made the form invalid.”

Pawar added that the nomination form of Madhukar Ingale, a dummy candidate of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was also found to be invalid. Vijay Nivrutti Waghmare is the official BSP candidate and his form was found to be valid after scrutiny.

One party cannot have two candidates so Ingale’s form was declared invalid.

Pimpri constituency returning officer Ashok Munde said that the nomination forms of 11 candidates were found to be invalid. Officials said that one of them is Lok Janashakti Party candidate Chandrakant Mane. The other nine are independent candidates.

Bhosari constituency returning officer Dinesh Bhaledar said that the nomination forms of five candidates were found to be invalid. Officials said that the nomination form of Bharatiya republican party Bahujan Mahasangh’s candidate Rajnikant Kshirsagar was found to be invalid as there were only six people who proposed his candidature, instead of the required 10.

The nomination form of Vasant Janglu Londhe, an independent, was also declared invalid. Objections were raised about his candidature stating that permission of people who proposed his candidature, was not take before writing their names in the form.

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TOI : PUNE: Four medical stores in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits began selling Tamiflu from Saturday.

The medical stores are Pooja medico in Pimpri, Mahesh medicals in Bhosari and the chemists’ shops attached to the D Y Patil hospital in Tukaramnagar and the Lokmanya hospital in Nigdi. Kundan Medical, Chinchwad, is the wholesaler for the drug in the area.

Till Friday, Pimpri-Chinchwad, having a population of around 15 lakh and with five H1N1 flu fatalities, did not have any chemists’ shop selling Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) tablets. “We then asked the Pimpri-Chinchwad Chemists’ Association to submit names of chemists having the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licence to sell schedule X drugs,” PCMC commissioner Sharma said.

Considering the township’s population, it would need 7 to 8 chemists’ outlets selling Tamiflu, he added. Speaking to TOI on Saturday, R R Iyer, medical director, PCMC, said, “Tamiflu will be sold at the medical stores only when prescribed by doctors identified by the civic authorities. We had asked the Pimpri-Chinchwad Doctors’ Association (PCDA) to hand over a list of doctors who would be authorised to prescribe Tamiflu. They submitted a list of 45 names, that include MDs, ENT specialists and paediatricians.”

Explaining the civic body’s strategy for tackling the outbreak, Sharma said, “Residents of areas where H1N1 cases were reported are screened. Besides, preliminary screening centres, isolation wards and ICU wards for H1N1 patients have been set up.”

“Critical H1N1 patients should not be shifted from one hospital to another. The hospitals should take the civic health department’s permission before doing so,” he stated.

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TOI : PUNE: The developers and builders community has welcome the proposed legislation that intends to regulate real estate deals by making it mandatory to post critical details of the projects on the official internet site of the real estate regulator.

Realty sector players have, however, expressed concerns over the possibility of this measure opening another door for corruption and bureaucratic interference in their work as well as effective implementation of the provisions of the legislation to benefit the consumer.

According to Satish Magar, president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai), Pune, there was a need to introduce regulations that will protect customers from errant builders. “This bill will protect the consumers against fly-by-night operators who are out to make a quick buck without giving much thought to consumer interests. Our association is a body of professional builders/developers who are already governed by a self-imposed code of conduct and we are happy to learn that the government plans to widen the gamut to include builders as well as one time constructors.”

The law to regulate real estate developers will call on builders to provide details of the number and size of plots, layout plan, carpet area and plinth area of flats, apartments or any other housing complexes. Importantly, it will prevent builders from changing the plans or inserting charges as the sale agreement will be considered binding.

Magar added that the bill should be more holistic in its approach. “It is important to note that there may be delays that take place on account of changing rules and regulations, ad-hoc procedural changes that builders have no control over. The regulation must also encompass the approving authorities involved in the development process so that all parties responsible directly or indirectly are covered. This will give greater protection to the consumer.”

Kaustuv Roy, executive director at the real estate research and consultancy firm Cushman and…More

TOI : SOLAPUR: A BJP worker was killed and three others injured in a firing incident that rocked an election campaign rally organised by the party at Shegaon, about 65 km from here, in the Akkalkot assembly constituency, around 6.30 pm on Saturday. The incident led to panic and tension across Akkalkot as senior police officials from Solapur rushed to the spot to take control of the situation.

The Solapur district police are investigating the likelihood of an attempt to eliminate the BJP nominee from the Akkalkot seat, Sidramappa Patil, during the rally. Sidramappa had just started his speech at the rally when two persons, who were sitting in the crowd, rose up and started firing at the dais, the police said.

The BJP candidate escaped unhurt, but one of his aides, Bhimanna Kore, suffered a fatal bullet injury, the police said. The three others who were injured in the melee that ensued have been admitted to the Solapur civil hospital. Initial reports suggest that two rounds were fired by the assailants.

The police have prima facie identified political animosity as the reason behind the incident. In fact, investigators have zeroed in on two suspects, both hailing from a rival political outfit and belonging to one family, but no arrests were done till late Saturday night.

Sidramappa Patil is pitted against Congress’s sitting MLA and minister of state Siddharam Mhetre in the Akkalkot constituency, which is known to be sensitive for intense political rivalries in the past elections.

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