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TOI : PUNE: Backed by a slow, yet steady economic recovery in the country and across the globe, India’s wine sector that was hit by last year’s recession and the terror attacks in Mumbai, which dried the flow of foreign tourists to the country, is gearing up for a strong comeback this year.

The sector is, however, expected to witness some shakeout in terms of wineries that may not sustain in the long-run. Terms that govern business practices, like procurement of grapes, etc, are also set to become more stringent.

Rajeev Samant, chief executive officer of Sula Vineyards, told TOI that though the production this year will be less as compared with last year’s, the unsold stocks will meet this year’s increased demand.

“Quite a few wineries will be crushing almost 75 per cent less than they did last year, but there is leftover wine from the last two vintages mainly red, that gets better with a year or two of ageing,” Samant said.

Samant’s confidence is shared by Ravi Jain, managing director of Valle De Vin, who launched a sparkling wine last week. “With the economy is improving, there is increased consumption of wine and the tourist inflow also seems to have improved,” Jain said, adding that his company wants to produce 3,00,000 bottles of wine this crushing season, which begins early 2010.

On the grape procurement front, Jain said there is no cause of worry as many wineries plan to crush less because of last year’s economic slump. Samant, too, said grape availability will not be an issue and, in fact, Sula would be crushing 800 tonnes more grapes than it did last year. “Bigger wineries may not do crushing at all this year, which means grapes will be there for others to use,” Samant observed.

“Last year’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai were a big blow to our industry. Wine sales in hotels…More

TOI : PUNE: Residents of Warje staged a rasta roko on Friday demanding that a public toilet facility be made available to them.

“Warje village became part of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) around 12 years ago, but hardly anything has been done to solve its issues,” said Baba Khan, president of the Warje traders association.

The area gives revenue of around Rs 23 crore to the corporation. Still we are deprived of the basic amenities. It is very sad. For this reason we held this agitation. We also demand installations of traffic signals and benches,” said K D Pawar, who took part in the agitation.

Around 300 people participated in the agitation which took place at 11 am. It was called off after PMC officials promised that something would be done to solve the problem.

Deputy Commissioner (zone one) Vjiay Dahibhate pointed that work would be started soon. “Road-widening is underway, that is why other issues are pending. As soon as the road-widening is completed other works will be done,” he said. “We are hunting for space for a public toilet and, as soon as it is available, one will be built.” Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section Youth seek better treatment, larger role 2 trains cancelled, long-distance trains diverted on Sunday Measures necessary, say parents, teachers Mills to declare final payment figures for cane by Dec 31 Sculpt…More

TOI : PUNE: It seems Pune is going the solar way. The city not only is home to majority of the solar equipment manufacturers in the state but also has made installation of solar water heaters in new buildings mandatory.

City engineer Prashanth Wagmare told TOI that installation of solar water heater is made mandatory in all new buildings coming up in the city.

The ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) provides a one-time financial assistance of Rs 5-10 lakh to the local bodies that modifies their building bye-laws.

Pune is the second-largest market in terms of solar manufacturers and users in the country, Bangalore being the first, said Suhas P Ghotikar, president of the Maharashtra solar manufacturers association.

The city has the ideal weather conditions for using solar devices. Currently, about 20 per cent of the houses in Pune are using solar water heating units. This percentage would increase because of the central government incentives, said Ghotikar.

“The solar water heaters are not expensive if we consider their long-term utility. One family has to spend approximately Rs 25,000 for a solar water heater. The central government is promoting the installation of solar water heating systems through a soft loan scheme being operated through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd and banks,” Ghotikar said.

Soft loans at 2% to domestic users, 3% to institutional users not availing accelerated depreciation and 5% to industrial/commercial users availing depreciation are available.

The government also provides an interest subsidy, besides a 5% rebate on property tax. Capital subsidy is available for installation of solar water heating systems to registered institutions and commercial establishments.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has set up an eco-housing cell. The civic body offers a concession of 10-50% on the total premium extended to developers depending on the rating of their projects. As much as 25% rebate will be given, when the…More

TOI : PUNE: The autorickshaw drivers in the city got another month’s time to get their uniforms ready, which were made mandatory by the traffic police and the regional transport authority (RTA). However, wearing of badges is compulsory for every auto driver from December 1.

This decision was announced by the traffic department of the city police on Saturday after a meeting with the officials of autorickshaw federations.

RTA member Baba Shinde said, “The decision to wear badges was accepted by all auto federations. The federations sought time to make the uniforms and one-month extension till January 1, 2010 has been granted.”

Shinde added: “Except the Rickshaw Panchayat, 13 auto federations have agreed to wear uniforms from January 1.”

The traffic department and the regional transport office would take action against autorickshaw drivers, who would not wear badges from December 1,” Shinde said.

The officials from prominent federations, like the Aashirwad Auto Federation, Pune City Auto Rickshaw Federation, Vidhyarthi Vahtook Sanghatana, Rickshaw Panchayat and the Pune City Maharashta Navmirman Rickshaw Federation , were present at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Shinde said that, “action against cab drivers, who do not wear uniforms and badges, has been postponed till December 5, following instructions from transport minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. A meeting on the issue has been scheduled on December 5, after which the next course of action will be announced.”

Shinde said that. “The rickshaw drivers will have to wear khaki shirt and pants and the owner of the permit, if driving, will have to wear white shirt and pants. Taxi drivers will have to wear white shirt and pants.

The auto federations have also demanded a subsidy on the expenses incurred on uniforms, which is under consideration, Shinde added.

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TOI : PUNE: Sleuths from the social security cell (SSC) of Pune crime branch on Friday rescued a 16-year-old girl from a brothel in Budhwar Peth. The police have arrested the brothel owner for allegedly forcing the minor into prostitution.

The police have identified the suspect as Poonam Saila Tamang (53) of Sapna building, Budhwar Peth. The police also have booked three more suspects in this regard. Acting on a tip-off, the police team led by inspector Rajendra Bhamare of SSC conducted a raid and rescued the girl.

“We received a tip-off that a minor was being forced into prostitution at a brothel in Budhwar Peth. We raided the brothel and rescued the girl,” Bhamare said, adding, “The girl, who hails from West Bengal, had been in the brothel for the last four months. She told us that two men had brought her to Pune on the pretext of marrying her and then sold her to the brothel owner, Tamang.”

The investigation team comprises of assistant police inspector Vimal Bidve and police constable Subhash Kamble.
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TOI : PUNE: The Bund Garden police late on Friday night arrested a BPO employee for allegedly raping his colleague on the pretext of marrying her.

The police have identified the suspect as Parijit Shyamsundar Chakranarayan (28) of Sasanenagar, Hadapsar. Chakranarayan was produced in the JMFC court on Saturday and was remanded to police custody till December 4.

According sub-inspector Bapusaheb Dhere of Bund Garden police station, the victim and the suspect used to work in the same BPO located at Hadapsar. The suspect befriended with her in the office and later, on pretext of marrying her, allegedly developed physical relations with her.

“The victim stated in her complaint that the suspect refused to marry her when he came know that she was three months pregnant. Which forced her to lodge a complaint with the police,” Dhere said.
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TOI : PUNE: Faced with several problems in acquiring land outside the city limits for setting up waste processing plants, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has come up with a new compensation policy for landowners and those affected by the projects.

The policy, which has been approved by the PMC general body last week, will be sent to the state government for final approval.

Setting up new waste processing units is one of the priorities for the PMC since the Phursungi and Urali and Phursungi villagers have set a December deadline to stop dumping of waste at the land-fill site in their villages.

The PMC was planning to acquire at least four sites for the last six months, but it has not had any breakthrough in any of the cases.

As per the proposed compensation policy, one member of each family affected by the project will be absorbed in the municipal services based on the his/her educational qualifications. Initially, the job will be on daily wage basis but will be made permanent depending on the vacancies.

The proposal also states that rules be implemented with retrospective effect so that families affected by such projects in the past may also be compensated. The policy will be applicable only in those cases where the waste processing project is implemented on more than one acre land. “The policy will be applicable only if the land is acquired by the civic body and not if it is taken on lease,” the proposal states.

Deputy commissioner Suresh Jagtap told TOI that the policy would certainly help PMC in getting land for setting up processing plants.

“We are aware that the deadline given by the villagers of Urali and Phursungi is approaching fast and we are working on all their demands. Firstly, we are increasing the capacity of the processing plants at Phursungi. Simultaneously, efforts to set up more processing…More

TOI : PUNE: In a first of its kind drive, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s property tax collection and assessment department on Friday initiated action against mobile companies, which had not paid their property tax dues for erecting mobile towers. As a result, even as the PMC began its drive, five companies paid dues worth Rs 5.47 crore by Friday night.

Four squads of inspectors were sent to stop the activity at mobile towers of various companies on Friday, deputy commissioner Vilas Kanade said.

“We have received cheques from five companies totalling Rs 5.47 crore after we sent the squads to seal the towers. However, we will continue with the action until the entire dues are collected,” Kanade said.

There are about 598 mobile towers in the city owned by five mobile companies, which have pending dues of more than Rs 10 crore.

Earlier this week, leader of the opposition Aba Bagul had raised the issue about pending dues in the PMC general body. Bagul had pointed out that there were dues running into crores with large companies, which the civic administration has failed to collect. “At the same time, the administration is proposing to hike the octroi rates and property tax, which will burden the citizens.”

The administration had tabled two proposals before the standing committee to hike octroi rates and to withdraw property tax concessions, stating that it was falling short of funds for development works. The corporators have not arrived at any decision on both the proposals for the past few weeks.

The civic body has also stepped up drives against octroi offenders and, now, property tax offenders to increase its revenue. It is for the first time that the PMC has collected such a high amount as property tax in a single day. Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section Youth seek better treatment,…More

TOI : PUNE: Taking a concrete step towards providing employment to Marathi youth, the Parvati wing of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has organised a special camp to train local youth for the police enrolment examinations.

Denying charges that the party has not done much to provide employment to the Marathi Manoos, MNS corporator Ravindra Dhangekar said, “The MNS has been organising various training programmes, study camps and awareness drives for the Marathi youth. The camp is being organised with an aim to create a base for Marathi youths to face the competitive world.”

“The training programme being organised here in December is one such camp for Marathi youths who are opting for the police enrolment examinations. We have been organising this camp for three consecutive years now and an increasing number of youth have been enrolling with every passing year,” he said.

The local Marahti youths should get employment opportunities in the government sector and the party will continue to agitate if Marathi youths are not employed, Dhangekar added.

The district secretary of MNS Bala Shedge said that the ten-day camp will be free for all participants and will start from December 1 at the S P college. Around 350 youths will be given training in the first phase. They will be trained physically and their writing and speaking skills will be polished.

The police enrolment examination will be held in January 2010 wherein over 1,500 posts under the police force in Pune district will be filled.

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TOI : PUNE: Over 75,000 employees of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) have been given accident insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh each under a group insurance scheme.

Significantly, the concerned MSEDCL zonal offices have been made responsible for filing the duly filled and checked insurance claims within a stipulated time of 15 days after receiving them from the employees.

“All insurance claims should be scrutinised by the office concerned and directly sent to the insurance company. However, the office concerned has to submit the claim in 15 days without giving any excuses, failing which the official concerned will be held responsible and the compensation amount will be recovered from him. Besides he/she will also face strict disciplinary action,” the MSEDCL circular said.

According to the insurance scheme, the insurance cover will be for a period of one year till November 16, 2010 and the premium will be paid by MSEDCL. Employees who retire, resign or are dismissed will not be eligible for the benefit.

Each employee will get 100% compensation in case of death, permanent handicap, loss of both hands or eyes or loss of one hand and one eye. The employee will be eligible for 50% compensation in case he or she loses one hand or one eye. In case of partial disability due to an accident, the employee will get compensation in proportion with the disability. An employee who gets temporarily disabled will get a compensation equivalent to one per cent of his weekly wages for a maximum period of 100 weeks.

The circular said that an employee involved in an accident during service has to file an insurance claim, complete with all documents, to the insurance company within one month. “Claims have to be sent through the executive engineer or an official of similar or higher rank to the designated branch of the insurance company. The insurance company will…More