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TOI : PUNE: The Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) will install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and take other measures to beef up security at the KCB main office in Khadki.

Speaking to TOI on Wednesday, chief executive officer (CEO) K C Kaushik said that the KCB has approved a proposal to install CCTV cameras.

Kaushik said that 24 cameras would be installed in the cantonment office building and its premises. It will cost Rs 5.11 lakh. The contractor has been given two months to finish the work.

Kaushik said, “The cameras can store recordings of one month, so we will be able to retrieve the images of any day of that month and check what happened on that particular day at one particular time. Officials will monitor the recordings during the day and a watchman sitting in his cabin will also be able to monitor the entire building at night.”

He said that 10 more security guards have been deployed to increase security at the cantonment office building. These are ex-servicemen who are trained soldiers.

Speaking about the parking arrangements, Kaushik said, “The parking space in the building is insufficient to cater to visitors and the cantonment staff. So we will be starting a parking facility for visitors at the open plot opposite the main gate of the main building.”

Security at the cantonment building came under the scanner when a delegation of Shiv Sena workers damaged furniture in the CEO’s cabin a few months ago.

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TOI : PUNE: Ever since the Indian Air Force expressed its unwillingness to induct women as fighter pilots for now, the issue has become a hot topic for discussion, on air and on the training grounds.

At a press interaction with IAF vice-chief Air Marshal P K Barbora on Tuesday, he had said, “After spending so much, the IAF does not want any disruption in its tight fighter flying schedules, which, it feels, is inevitable after a woman pilot gets married and has children. If a woman gets pregnant, it will not be fruitful for either the force or her. Anyone can fly a fighter. But the issue is that after spending so much, not being able to utilise women operationally would not be a prudent thing.”

Women pilots and flight instructors admit that though there is some truth to what Barbora said, Indian women should be given the same chance as women in other countries who are employed as fighter pilots.

Shirien is a commercial pilot and does not see why the IAF should not employ women fighter pilots. “Flying involves multitasking, something women do well. The IAF vice-chief is right to a certain extent about the investment involved in training a fighter pilot. But if a woman is ready to fulfill the pre-conditions, I don’t think she should be stopped from flying a fighter jet.”

Another commercial pilot, on condition of anonymity said, “Instead of stopping women from flying fighter jets, the IAF should have a policy wherein it can chalk out a fixed term and the women pilot should serve the airforce uninterrupted during that term. In this way, neither the IAF nor the pilots will face a problem.”

Mandeep Patel is a flight instructor at Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute in Gondia. “Nowadays, things have changed,” she says. “Women are becoming more goal-oriented, so finding a woman who will keep a…More

TOI : PUNE: Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor said that a direct involvement of the army in countering the increasingly disruptive activities of the Naxalites is not mandated, considering that the problem was primarily a socio-economic class struggle.

Kapoor, however, reaffirmed the army’s total commitment to providing advice, training and tactical assistance to the state as well as the central police forces in the fight against the Naxals.

“We will extend all help for establishing additional counter-terrorism schools, which the states affected by the Naxal menace may feel the need for,” he said. This will help the states as well as the Centre to withstand this major security challenge, he added.

During an informal chat with mediapersons on the sidelines of the annual General B C Joshi memorial lecture at the University of Pune, Kapoor said: “The army has been involved in such support role and has trained as many as 200 companies of the police over the last two years.”

At a recent meeting with the state chief ministers on internal security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described Naxalism as the greatest internal threat that called for priority attention.

Kapoor said, “Disruptive activities of the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra pose a major challenge. The Union government has adopted a multi-dimensional and integrated approach to counter the menace.” The Naxal menace has affected 200 districts across 14 states either marginally, partially or in a big way. he added.

Asked whether there has been any proposal from Maharashtra seeking army assistance to counter terrorism, Kapoor said, “We usually get all such proposals from the Union home ministry. So far, there isn’t any specific proposal regarding counter-terrorism school in Maharashtra but the army has been providing its expertise to all the affected states.”

Asked how the army views the Chinese government’s claim on disputed…More

TOI : PUNE: The price of onions has increased by Rs 10 a kilo in city markets. This is due to the damage caused to the onion crop by post-monsoon rains that lashed many parts of the state over the last week. This has delayed the arrival of new crop in the market.

Malini Gadre, a housewife from Kasba Peth was one of many customers at the Mahatma Phule market to bargain hard with onion vendors who were selling onion at Rs 32 a kg on Wednesday evening. The post-monsoon rains have also affected the quality of stored onions in various onion storehouses and further reduced the supply of onions to the city-based agriculture produce market committee (APMC).

Gadre said, “I bought onions for Rs 15 to Rs 20 a kg a week ago. Today they are Rs 32 a kg in the retail market. There is need for government intervention in this matter, otherwise the common man will suffer.”

Speaking to TOI, Rajendra Korpe, a senior commission agent said, “Many farmers have stored onions in their storehouses which were being supplied to the APMC. The storehouses were damaged because of the cyclonic storm and the stored onions got partially wet. Pune’s APMC receives close to 1,000 tonnes of onions every day but the supply has come down to 500 tonnes in the last few days. Of the total supply, 70 per cent of onions are diverted to four states in south India. The Pune APMC also supplies onions to adjacent districts, which creates further pressure to meet the local demand for onions. The daily consumption of Pune is around 100 tonne.”

Korpe said that the onion sowed late during the kharif season, popularly known as new onion’, was expected to reach the market by now but the post-monsoon rains have delayed its arrival by a couple of weeks. “There is little possibility that the prices will…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will soon be issuing notices to 120 branches of nationalised banks located within its limits to find out whether the banks had paid octroi on the gold coins sold by them in the last four years.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ashok Munde, assistant commissioner and chief of octroi department, PCMC, said the notices would be issued within the next couple of days.

Munde said, “The banks procure gold coins from other countries and sell them through their branches. It has been found that they do not pay octroi on the coins that are brought into the municipal limits. The banks will be told to furnish details like records of original bills, stock register, purchase register, octroi receipts, balance sheets and related documents for the period April 1, 2006, to October 31, 2009.”

Munde said action will be taken against the banks as per provision of Rule 17 if the records are not submitted within seven days or if it is found that the coins were brought without paying octroi as per octroi rule 2001 (1) 54 (c). The octroi rate on gold and gold coins is 2.5 per cent of its total cost. “In case of octroi evasion, we recover the octroi amount plus 10 times the octroi amount as fine,” he said.

The Pune Municipal Corporation, too, has issued notices to banks within its limits, seeking details about octroi payment on gold coins.

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TOI : PUNE: When India will replace its monovalent oral polio vaccine with the world’s first bivalent vaccine in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in January, Pune’s contribution to its success will be reckoned forever.

The city-based D Y Patil Medical College and Hospital played a significant role in carrying out the 5 Arm Polio Study, in close association with the World Health Organisation, which helped in shaping the national policy in terms of renewed polio vaccination. The medical college was also one of the three places selected for the phase III clinical trial of bivalent vaccine in the country. A total of 300 new born babies from the city underwent trial, from August 2008 to February 2009, to check the efficacy of the vaccine.

“Our college and hospital was one of the three centres to have been selected for the study. It was also one of the three sites selected for the clinical trials of bivalent polio vaccine,” paediatrician Sharad Agharkhedkar and senior study co-ordinator Shalaka Agarkhedkar told TOI on Tuesday.

Both the doctors were invited for the Data Safety Management Board (DSMB) meeting, which was held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 22-23. A presentation on Adverse events and serious adverse events following vaccinations’ was made by Sharad Agharkhedkar during the meeting. “Various trials conducted in other countries were also discussed during the meeting,” Sharad Agharkhedkar said.

The bivalent vaccine protects children from both P1 and P3 strains of polio virus prevalent in India. The clinical trials were conducted to see whether the bivalent vaccine provides as much immunity to children as the present-day vaccine of choice the monovalent oral polio vaccine (MOPV).

Elaborating on the 5 Arm Polio Study that helped in shaping the national policy in terms of renewed polio vaccination, Agharkhedkar said, “The five arms of this momentous study are monovalent (P1, P2, P3), bivalent (P1 + P3) and…More

TOI : PUNE: It was a day for sex workers of Budhwar Peth to laugh, and laugh their hearts out for no reason but just for the sake being happy; a break from a stressful routine which they indulge in just to earn their bread and butter.

With the initiative of Saheli HIV/AIDS Karyakarta Sangh, an NGO, Kishore H Kuvavala, the founder of a popular laughter club, taught about 200 sex workers to laugh. His witty remarks and an interactive session had the audience in splits as he stressed on the importance of laughter therapy.

“Aap kaise ho? (how are you?) asked Kuvavala. “Hum bohot achey hey” (I am very happy), was the reply. Kuvavala says, “though I made them repeat these words, it’s difficult for them to say that they are very happy. But during the session they were happy, though for a short period of time.” The participants raised their hands and laughed together. It was also a sort of get-together for them.

One of the participants said she thoroughly enjoyed the competition. “It is good to laugh. I am tension free now (sab tension chala gaya). ” Another participant said, “I do not think I have laughed so hard in a long time.”

“Laughter gives a positive energy and this can help them fight disease and misery. When they are happy they can deal with business, people they meet and their children in a better way. They do not have a family as such. So the positive vibe can help them unite in a group,” said Kuvavala.

Tejaswi Sevekari, director of the NGO, said the idea was to use laughter as a therapy for sex workers. “We plan to introduce laughter therapy in all our meetings and also in HIV support group. We plan to start a laughter club in Budhwar Peth with help from other NGOs working on HIV/AIDS,” she said.

…More

TOI : PUNE: In a bid to overcome the problem of drinking water scarcity during the summer, the city-based Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) has drafted a plan to strengthen the drinking water sources in more than 1,650 villages in the state.

The GSDA will also prepare a detailed project report (DPR) of groundwater sources and its availability in the villages.

A GSDA official said this was the first time that such a project, which focuses on the various aspects of groundwater recharging and strengthening, has been taken up.

“Around 100 villages with acute drinking water shortage have been selected. Fifty of these villages are in the first phase, during which the work for underground water strengthening will be undertaken,” an official added.

“In the initial stage, a team consisting of a technical service provider, two geologists and two civil engineers will conduct a survey of groundwater sources at these villages. The team will identify the groundwater sources and suggest works and schemes to be undertaken for source strengthening. Each district will have a separate team,” said another official.

“A report based on this survey will be submitted to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the respective Zilla Parishad for further execution. He will have to issue work orders under the plan,” said the official.

GSDA additional director Suresh Khandale said, “In Maharashtra, more than 50% of villages are dependant on groundwater to fulfil their drinking water needs, especially during the winter and summer months. Water sources dry up owing to excess extraction. Taking this into account, a plan has been drafted with a focus on conducting hydrogeological surveys of the groundwater as well as for effective use, sustainability and overall effective management of groundwater.”

Khandale also said that geologists would conduct impact assessments of the plan, once before the monsoon and once after.

He said that in the second phase, the…More

TOI : PUNE: State statistics of crimes registered during 2008 released by the crime branch of the Maharashtra police reveal that as compared to 2004, rape cases involving girl children below 10 years of age across the state have gone up by 38.82% with 118 cases getting registered in 2008 as against 85 in 2004.

Similarly, the total cases of rape against juvenile girls was 690 in 2008, as compared to 615 in 2007. Figures that hit home hard, especially on the International Day for Prevention of Child Abuse: mental, physical and sexual.

What has remained more or less consistent is the high percentage of minors as rape victims. While it was 45.76% in 2004, in 2008, 44.24 percent of all rape victims were minors.

On a positive note, however, the number of girls sold for prostitution reduced from 31 in 2007 to 25 in 2008. Similarly, there was a decline in the total number of child murders in 2008 with 178 cases getting registered as against 213 in 2007.

The bigger picture, however, regarding what our children continue to face, is stark. A landmark study conducted in 2007 by the ministry of woman and child development, along with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) and Save the Children, covering 12,500 children and 4,800 young adults across 13 states revealed that boys were as much at risk of abuse as girls.

Other pertinent findings: Instances of abuse among the children between 5 and 12 years are the highest, two out of every three school-going children have been subjected to corporal punishment, while every second child reported facing emotional abuse. (In more than 80% of the cases pertaining to emotional abuse, parents were the cause)

More than half of the child respondents reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse. Of these, 70 per cent did not report the mater to anyone. Over 50…More

TOI : PUNE: With the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) failing to pay the initial 50 per cent amount required to procure AC buses, the delivery of buses has been delayed by over seven months now. In defence, the PMPML authorities say that right now their priority is to get non-AC buses as the citizens groups are opposed to purchase of AC buses.

In February this year, the Urban Development Department of the Union Government sanctioned 650 buses for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations had agreed to share the cost of buses with the state and the central government. Accordingly, an order to procure 200 AC buses was given in April.

Responding to complaints raised by corporator Vikas Mathkari that 40 air-conditioned CNG buses are lying idle at a yard in Mhalunge since the PMPML has refused to accept the delivery, the city transport authorities said on Wednesday that non-payment of 50 per cent amount is the only reason for non-procurement of buses. “Since no payment has been made, the responsibility of the buses lies with the company,” said a PMPML official.

In a statement, PMPML’s chairman and managing director Shirish Karle said that various citizens groups, political parties and other organisations had opposed the proposal of purchasing AC buses and had instead demanded that non-AC buses should be procured. Considering the views of the citizens, the PMPML board of directors has informally decided that priority would be given to procuring non-AC buses.

Karle said that the PMC has already released Rs 15.69 crore for 150 non-AC buses. Of the 150 buses, 81 buses have been received by the PMPML. The PMC will release the remaining amount depending on the delivery of buses, Karle said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mathkari argued that when the buses were ready, the PMPML should have accepted the…More