The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 26/09/2015

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

PUNE

@CMOMaharashtra: Germany has brought manufacturing excellence into India and we take pride that the fulcrum of that is Pune: CM @Dev_Fadnavis

Better public services are essential for a smart city

India haven for gem trade: De Beers

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No attempt to preserve heritage trees

Two months after PMC Garden Department shortlisted 25 trees, heritage cell hasn’t done anything at all

shortlisted heritage trees

Pics by rahul raut

The peepal tree in front of Parvati temple complex at Parvati hill is 250 years old. Nanasaheb Peshwe performed the thread ceremony of this tree in 1754

The 30-year-old Shwet Kanchan tree at Agarkar Research Institute is the only one of its kind in Pune

The huge Shirish tree at Vaikunth crematorium in Navi Peth is 60 years old

Olive tree on Savitribai Phule Pune University campus is 30 years old. It is the only specimen of a rare exotic kind in the city

The rare Undi tree at Abasaheb Garware College on Karve Road has seen 20 summers

Muchkund tree at Tulshibaug temple is 60 years old and the largest specimen of the rare species

Date palm at Parsi Agyari at Nana Peth is 55-60 years old. The tree has strong association with Zoroastrian religion

The 35-year-old Gondan Peepal tree at PMPML Swargate bus depot is a rare variety

The Sita Ashok tree at Empress Garden, a celebrated tree that finds mention in Ramayana, is 20 years old

Medshinigi tree at Marimata temple on Savitribai Phule Pune University campus is 25 years old

Adansonia Digitata (Gorakhchinch) at Abhinav Chowk on Tilak Road

Phoenix Dactylifera (Date palm) at Parsi Agyari at Nana Peth is 55-60 years old

Women sitting under the shade of 300-year-old Plumeria Rubra (Chapha) tree on Parvati Temple Complex in Parvati

While the Pune Municipal Corporation has undertaken its ambitious geo-enabled tree census, it seems to be turning a blind eye to the conservation and preservation of heritage trees.

The PMC Garden Department has compiled a final list of 25 trees to be included in the heritage list two months ago, but the PMC heritage cell has not taken any cognisance of it.

Ironically, one of the two tree experts whom the Garden Department consulted before making the final list, is not aware that the department has already forwarded the list to the heritage committee. The other expert, who is also a member of this heritage committee, told TGS that the list of 25 heritage trees was tabled before the committee in July, but the committee has not discussed it so far.

Tree expert SD Mahajan said, “I have submitted a list of around 100 trees of

historical value. I do not expect the municipal authorities to approve all of them, but they should have showed me the list before sending it to the heritage committee, so that I could have made my suggestion.” Mahajan was asked to focus on indigenous trees which could be listed as heritage trees. The other tree expert Shrikant Ingalhalikar, who is also a member of heritage committee of PMC, had suggested 20 trees to be conserved and preserved as heritage trees.

“I had suggested 20 trees that include a peepal tree on Parvati hill and at the PMPML depot at Swargate. I sent my suggestion a year ago and the Garden Department then began the process of identifying the trees. However, since coming before the heritage committee in July, no discussion has taken place over it,” said Ingalhalikar. The committee is supposed to discuss and reduce or increase the number of trees and then bestow the status of ‘heritage’ on the selected trees immediately.

“The municipal authorities are not serious about it and I know that all this will remain on paper only,” said Ingalhalikar, who has not attend the last few meetings of the committee as he has had enough of the red tape. The selection of the trees has also raised some eyebrows. Of the 39 lakh trees identified in December 2012 for the year 2008-2009, PMC first picked 45 trees and later shortlisted them to 25.

No specific criteria was used by the Garden Department during the short listing and all the trees that were listed were already well preserved, as most of them are located at educational institutes. Besides the few trees with historical importance, others in the list are rare specimens or are exotic in nature. The criteria of ‘heritage’ trees states that the tree should have cultural or historical associations.

“We shortlisted it for the convenience of the heritage committee. If the committee wants they can increase the number,” said Shruti Gawde, Horticulture Supervisor in

Athletes, coaches demand new track at Sanas ground Sanas ground running track has worn out and become injury-prone for athletes

By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis_ashish India’s athletics coach Dr Nikolai Snesarev sent in his resignation letter to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) last week, citing poor infrastructure as the primary reason.

This affair has once again cast the spotlight on the lack of facilities Indian athletes struggle under.

Against this backdrop, TGS team visited Pune’s centrally located Baburao Sanas Sports Ground, near Sarasbaug, to view the facilities on offer for city athletes.

The original track was laid in 2003, when the Pune Municipal Corporation

(PMC) standing committee had allotted Rs 3.08 crore for a eight-lane 400-metre synthetic track.

Sanas ground has played host to several district and state level athletics tournaments. It has even hosted international events, like the third leg of Asian Athletics Grand Prix in 2006, featuring Indian legends like Anju Bobby George and Seema Antil. The Asian Athletics Grand Prix in 2010 was the last major international event held at the venue.

Sanas ground is still used for age group selections trials, district-level tournaments, and is home for local athletes like Jui Badhe. But the fact of the matter is that track has worn out In the absence of a locker facility, athletes are forced to leave their belongings in the open

Ficus Benghalensis (Wad) on Savitribai Phule Pune University campus

the Garden Department, who was also a part of the department team which identified the trees. However, environmental activist Vinod Jain who was enraged with the short listing of heritage trees by the Garden Department on its own, claimed that the civic authorities short listed the list without consulting the experts, as they then would not be able to cut them down

Ficus Religiosa (Pimpal) on SP College campus

for vested interests.

“Are there no trees on the roadsides or any other parts of the city that have heritage value?,” Jain said. The civic authorities purposely short listed the trees as they would be an obstacle to road widening or any other illegal construction activities. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

pics by Aniruddha Rajandekar

BY PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka

significantly, and in this state poses the possibility of causing injuries to athletes.

Injury pattern Dr Sher Khan, 40, has been training at the ground for the last three years.

He suffered an ankle injury during a practice session, which kept him from training for several weeks.

Khan kept going to the track even when he was incapacitated, and observed that athletes’ injuries at Sanas ground fall into a common pattern.

“As a synthetic track ages, it loses suspension and becomes hard. It then puts extra pressure on athletes’ ankle and knee joints. It’s like running on a tar road. This can cause acute and chronic strains and tears in tendons, ligaments and muscles, and can also lead to strained and ruptured Achilles tendons. We want the track to be refurbished or replaced at the earliest,” he said.

Improper maintenance Newly designed synthetic tracks are durable and can last for years if maintained properly. Athletics coach Harshal Nikam explained how the Sanas Ground track has not been maintained at all.

“The track is wearing out because of the lack of regular watering. This has been hampered due to a shortage of sprinklers along the track. Moreover no one ensures that only athletes

The well-worn track and the debris around it are not just an eyesore but hazardous for athletes

wearing spikes or canvas shoes are allowed on the track,” Nikam said.

Even his students have suffered injuries. “After we became aware of the injury-prone nature of the track, we began training our athletes on a dirt track inside the synthetic track. Now that track has also been dug up for renovation,” he said.

Other demands The athletes also need lockers. Athletes are forced to keep their belongings at the side of the track and keep a watchful eye on them.

Long distance athlete Dhananjay Shah said, “We will happily pay for locker rooms, showers and other

facilities. All we want are good training facilities.”

Money angle PMC requires at least four crore rupees to replace the track. But has the sum been sanctioned? An official under conditions of anonymity, said, “Some money has been sanctioned to refurbish the track. But there is a rumour that the money is being used for some other purpose, and they are just repainting the track line on a shoe string budget.”

Misuse of infrastructure Secretary of Maharashtra Athletics Association Pralhad Sawant claimed

that the track does not need to be replaced for another year or two, if it is maintained properly.

“The average life of a synthetic track is six to seven years. The Sanas ground track is older than that, but it’s still usable as it has been sparingly used.

It just needs to be maintained properly.

PMC officials shouldn’t allow anyone to misuse the infrastructure,” he said.

About injuries to athletes, he said, “Very young athletes are using the track, which is not right. Juniors should first train on a dirt track before switching to a synthetic track. This is the main reason for injuries, which every coach should be aware of.” ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

PUNE, SEPTEMBER 26, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Why do so many homeless sleep on Pune streets?

The PMC has just four night shelters in a city with a population of over 30 lakh, and what’s even more surprising is that many homeless people are not aware of such facilities See Spotlight, p06 & 07

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

PUNE

Female blood not acceptable

“The main problem of traffic at Sinhagad is several four-wheelers coming to the fort. Hence, we are dividing the day into three-hour slots. Parking space will only be available as per these slot.”

— Vijay Mane, Assistant Conservator of Forests

Young minds driven by the vision of a clean city

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Falling rocks, dust cloud villages’ horizon pics by Rajil Menon

Residents of Lingali and Malwadi villages are up in arms against an ‘illegal’ stone quarry

BY Rajil Menon @RajilMenon

The inhabitants of the twin villages of Lingali and Malwadi in Daund taluka are living in a constant state of fear.

Their very lives are under threat from the operation of a stone quarry and crusher that are in close proximity to their homes, farms and schools.

The distressed villagers handed over a written complaint in this regard to their Sarpanch Sunita Anna Yede, on September 22. The Sarpanch assured the villagers that the gram panchayat members would discuss the issue and submit a resolution to the tehsildar urging him to stop the illegal stone quarry operation.

Rocks and stones from the quarry have caused damage to some cattlesheds, water tanks and the gymnasium, and the walls of some houses have developed cracks due to vibrations from the quarry. What’s more, fragments of stones have damaged lemon trees and flower plants.

The quarry operation has also proved to be a threat to the sugarcane crops. Dilip Ashok Jagdale, 32, said, “Our sugarcane is laced with dust and stone particles and even the asbestos roof of our cattleshed has been damaged by falling stones and debris,” he said.

Madhukar Raghunath Jagdale, 40, has had his lemon tree yield destroyed by the dust from the stone crushing operation. “My brother and I have now turned to sugarcane farming after that bitter experience,” he said. He had sent in a RTI query two years ago to the then tehsildar, who had said that

(Top) The sprawling site where the stone crushing is carried out which is in close proximity to the villagers’ homes. (Left) Hrishikesh Jagdale points out to the crack in the wall of his house caused by the blasting operation

the quarry and crusher were operating illegally. He had sent two notices to the quarry owner, but it is still operating Deepak Gorakh Kate, 40, said, “The blasting at the quarry has even snapped electricity wires. While the quarry has power supply round the clock, we get electricity supply intermittently between hours-long power cuts.”

Gram panchayat member Lala Jagdale said that the gram panchayat has not given any NOC to the quarry.

“The owners had not applied for permission to run the quarry to the gram panchayat,” he said.

Daund college student Hrishikesh Madhukar Jagdale, 17, said that some village students have to pass by the quarry and are in danger from being hit by stones or rocks. Parents of the village school children are understandably concern about the danger the quarry and crushing operation pose to their wards.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control

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Action urged against PoP and oversize Ganesh idols

BY Gargi Verma @missgverma The Pune Municipal Corporation is abuzz as it gears up for the marathon immersion ceremony that is the culmination of the 10-day Ganeshotsav.

With the big shortfall in average rainfall this year, less water is being released from Khadakwasla dam. On September 24, the PMC declared that only 0.007 TMC water will be released for 12 hours, as against the earlier 2-4 TMC over a period of 36 hours.

The decision was taken following the National Green Tribunal’s decision to keep potable water pollution due to the Ganesh immersion to a minimum.

Acting on an Environment Interest Litigation filed by Shivani Kulkarni on September 22 through her lawyers Asim Sarode, Pratap Vitankar and Mrunalini Shinde, the National Green Tribunal passed the order on September 24. The tribunal had named the district collector, Water Resources Department, the commissioners of Pune and Pimpri-

Chinchwad municipal bodies, the State of Maharashtra (through its Ministry of Environment and Forest), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the commissioner of police as respondents.

The order urged the authorities to hold a meeting within 24 hours and decide on the amount of water to be released from Khadakwasla dam. The tribunal also asked the authorities to build more artificial tanks for the immersion, although there are presently 114 artificial tanks. The NGT suggested availing of help from builders in the construction of new tanks.

“The sludge should be despatched to landfill sites identified by the PMC and Collector and approved by MPCB, under the supervision of Regional Officer of MPCB,” the NGT order said.

The order passed by the bench of Justice Vikas Kingaonker and Ajay Deshpande also asked the authorities to take serious action against Ganesh mandals immersing idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) or oversize idols. The lawyer for the petitioner, Aseem Sarode, said,

“The tribunal clearly stated that since the POP idols don’t fully dissolve and are also harmful for the ecosystem, they should be abolished. Mandals using such idols should be penalised.”

Sarode said, “The tribunal told the petitioner that it was too late to make any fundamental decisions now, but that the plans to minimise the water pollution should be put in place three months before Ganesh Chaturthi next year.” The NGT stated that even though it was not deciding the amount of water to be released, it relied on the ‘conscience’ of the authorities involved who would reduce the water outlet to the bare minimum.

Soon after the order was delivered at 4:30 pm, the officials met and decided on the amount of water to be released, which was less than a tenth of what was released earlier. “We welcome the NGT’s decision and hope that the authorities take strict action against mandals using oversize POP idols,” said Sarode. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

Board (MPCB) Sub Regional Officer J S Salunkhe said that his predecessor N H Shivangi had served a notice to the quarry owner following complaints of air and noise pollution by the villagers, in November 2010. But the quarry owner’s representative Gurucharan Roy did neither co-operate with the inspection nor produced any proof of consent or air pollution control arrangements, as per the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981. Failure to comply or provide the necessary documents could result in the closure of the quarry. Salunkhe said that he would have to verify from

the records if any action had been taken and the notice replied to.

D a u n d environmental activist, former army man and lawyer Satish Ingale said, “The quarry and crusher are big sources of air and noise pollution and that the villagers were paying the price for the administration’s inability to stop the illegal quarry operation.”

Dr Manikrao Patil of Shri Samarth Hospital, Yerawada, owns a farm in Lingali at survey number 515, right next door to the stone quarry on survey number 516. “Dust from the stone crushing is harming my sugarcane crop, fruit trees and flower plants. And

Even sugarcane and other crops are adversely affected by the dust

it is also causing respiratory ailments among villagers,” he said.

Lingali-Malwadi tehsildar Uttam Dighe told TGS that the quarry and crusher was shut down in 2013 following notices from the earlier tehsildar. But the MSEB bills for June to September show that the quarry was operational.

Ingale said that the owner of the quarry Kanwaljit Singh Ghai was very rude and aggressive towards the villagers. But Ghai’s brother Inderjit said, “We have forwarded papers for the lease which are now being processed. We ensure that theres is no pollution with stringent methods. We use tractor and not the bore method, so the fragments frfom the blast do not go beyond 100 metres.” The villagers’ charges are baseless and politically motivated, he said. rajil.menon@goldensaprrow.com

Curtain-raiser for the smart city project at local ward

Ward 67 to be the first smart ward in the city; model to be implemented on PPP basis Aniruddha Rajandekar

BY Surbhi Modi @TGSWeekly Smart city is a term we have been hearing on a daily basis for the last month or more.

Now Deputy Mayor of Pune, Aba Bagul, has launched a ‘smart ward’ initiative, which scaled down the details of a smart city. It is an innovative Aba Bagul step, where Bagul plans to adopt smart solutions in his ward number 67, which comprises the areas of Gajlaxmi Society, Parvati Industrial Estate, Gajanan Maharaj Mandir, Tavre Colony, Padmavati Mandir, Y S Valvekar Nagar, Santnagar, etc.

His main objective is to improve the living conditions of the residents of the ward through the optimum use of technology. The smart ward plan includes smart garbage bins and bus stops, CCTV surveillance, free Wi-Fi hotspot, Citizen Portal, mobile apps, information displays etc. It is going to be adopted on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis in collaboration with Tech Renait, a private firm.

Bagul has urged the residents of his ward to support this initiative by providing feedback and suggestions.

“It is my dream to make Pune the smartest of cities. And I have decided to start from my own ward, which will provide a model for the smart city plan,” Bagul said.

The project has been planned in scrupulous detail and insight, to ensure that the initiatives will indeed improve the citizens’ quality of life tangibly.

The smart garbage bins will have three sections for dry garbage, wet garbage and recycling waste. They will also have intelligent monitoring, to

Ward number 67 includes wide expanses of greenery as well as stately housing complexes

indicate to garbage van drivers when the bins are full.

Smart bus stops will have free WiFi and bus route displays to make it easy for commuters to track buses. Bus stops will have sensors linked to nearby police stations to enable citizens to contact the police in emergencies.

CCTV cameras at public places like bus stops and gardens will ward off criminals and ensure the safety of citizens.

Interactive displays with touch keypads will give citizens access to details about schools, colleges, hospitals and the ward itself. Citizens could also interact with concerned corporators, register complaints, track status, and give feedback or suggestions.

The web portal will provide information on happenings, events, complaints and suggestions. Smart androids apps will give citizens compatible solutions to their issues.

This project is slated to be implemented by January 2016. We

will have to wait and watch how many these facilities are delivered on the ground level. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

IDEAS INVITED A smart city project contest was held about a month ago and the top ten projects were selected. As the smart city concept evolves, Bagul is working on turning his smart ward into reality. The smart city project will be launched in three phases. In the first phase, the PMC has invited citizens of Pune to share views and suggestions about their vision for the city. In the second phase, the inputs by the citizens people will be assessed, and in the last phase, smart solutions will be decided on to resolve the issues and problems mentioned by the citizens.

You can furnish your inputs at http:// smartcity.punecorporation.org/

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

NASA technology to help airlines cut fuel consumption

ARI on rise in India, death toll grows

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PUNE

“A smart city is what citizens want their city to be and plans for the city should involve extensive consultations with them. The plan will be evaluated in the second stage of the City Challenge competition.”

— M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Urban Development Minister

Protesting DIAT students have issues galore

While the hostel is in deplorable state, management has splurged on luxury suites for visiting faculty

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma The student population in Pune seems to be getting to be an agitated lot. Even as the strike by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has continued beyond the 100-day milestone, the protest b y the students of another institution has now continued into its third week, without a solution in sight.

The Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) students have cause enough to be stirred up, if the conditions they endure at their hostel are anything to go by. Many of the boys’ hostel rooms have water leakages and seepages, and the foul odour from an open sewer is making the girls’ hostel rooms unpleasant to live in, to say the least. The security aspect is non-existent as the doors to the hostel are open at all times. The irony is that the management is splurging on rooms for visiting faculty that are akin to suites of a luxury hotel, while turning a blind eye to the living conditions at the students’ hostels. The students have now undertaken a partial hunger strike, from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm, as they hold up placards and banners marking their protest, outside the main building.

LIVING CONDITIONS Two students share a hostel room and each one pays Rs 5,800 per semester.

“There are frequent power outages over the weekends, the common room computers and the water purifiers are not working,” the students said.

Meanwhile the PhD level students

said, “We haven’t received a notice yet and we hope the students see that we are doing all we can.”

TEACHERS’ MEDIATION The Registrar constituted a six member committee of faculty members on September 24 in a bid to persuade the students to call off the strike. However, the mediation has not yielded any result.

have to share rooms though they are eligible for single occupancy. And they say that all their complaints fall on deaf ears anyway. “A week after we register our grievances in the complaint book, someone puts in a ‘resolved’ remark after every complaint, though none have been resolved,” the students say.

THE LUXURY SUITES The Registrar says that the special section consisting of four rooms on the fi rst floor of the girls’ hostel is meant for guest faculty. The students say that these rooms have all the trappings of a five-star hotel luxury suite. The fully-furnished, spacious rooms are fitted with state-of-the-art motion-sensing electric fi xtures and high-end furniture. These exclusive rooms are not mentioned on the DIAT website. The students claim that the management spent Rs 20-30 lakh on renovating this section.

Registrar V S Batra said, “The rooms are meant for visiting faculty.

They are eminent experts and deserve quality accommodation. But owing to the high tariffs they decline to stay in these rooms and consequently the rooms have been unoccupied.”

MANAGEMENT SPEAK Registrar Batra reiterated that their priority was defence students. He said, “It’s not that civilian students are our enemies, but this a defence institute after all.” The students’ protest is baseless, he feels. “They are supposed to get scholarship at the DRDO, not the MHRD rate. We are trying to get them their hiked scholarship. But suspending classes and lab work is not the right way,” he said. “We have the students’ welfare at heart so we have not asked them to return the money we paid them from June as hiked fellowship,” he said.

No action is being considered against the students, he said.

Students are subjected to non-functional lifts and water purifiers, leaking roofs, while departments are arbitrarily shut

was asked to take in a fellow again for a second year, to which some agreed and the others declined. The total strength of the department’s PhD students was six in 2013 and it stayed the same till 2014. “We were working on Biotech and Bio-protein projects and the institute had even procured equipment worth Rs three crore. However, we knew that our guides’ term was only till December 2015. We were always by our guides and the Registrar’s office that their contracts would be extended, but in May 2015, all four faculties’ contracts were terminated, and the department itself became defunct.

We were told that our projects would not be affected, as that they would be taken up as our co-guides even if they joined other universities,” a student said. The students were shifted to different departments and asked to change the topics of their projects. The prospect of the old faculty as co-guides failed for the unwillingness of the management for collaboration with the

DEPARTMENT SHUT The management inaugurated a Bioscience and Technology Department in 2011. The four faculty members were employed on contractual basis. Though such contractual faculty cannot appoint PhD students as assistants, they were told to do so by the management, in 2012. The faculty

universities. “Though my PhD would have Bioscience and Technology as my subject, my project would have no relation to it,” said a third year student.

The students were told that their PhDs would be in jeopardy if they protested. “We were just six and the new guides were very understanding.

We didn’t raise the issue but this was an undesirable experience at the institute,” the students say.

NAAC ACCREDITATION The institute’s NAAC accreditation has dipped from A to B recently. The NAAC team visited the institute in May-June 2015. “Only two hostel rooms were superficially renovated. We were paid our hiked fellowship in June, and all our issues were resolved so that we didn’t have anything to complain about. But we did voice our grievances to the NAAC team,” said the students.

MINISTRY INTERVENTION The students had written to the Defence

Ministry, PMO and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, to which the defence ministry replied after over a month. Batra said, “We have received a letter about the issue from the ministry, and we have sent a detailed reply. We hope to sort out the issue with the ministry help.”

The city police and the State Intelligence Bureau personnel visited the DIAT campus on September 24.

The students and administratio0n were quizzed. “We were alarmed, but it is in our interest if the police and the IB department understand our side of the issue,” said the students.

THE ISSUE Seventy PhD students of the DIAT had declared an indefinite strike against the management over nonpayment of stipend and allowances by the management for two months.

The students’ grouses also include the institute’s arbitrary decisions, unavailability of hostel rooms, and the shutting down of a department. “We never raised our voices before because we trusted the system. But our trust has evaporated after the issue over our scholarship,” said the students. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

LEGAL NOTICE The students consulted Advocate Asim Sarode. “We have sent a legal notice through our lawyer to the Registrar and the Vice Chancellor. However, we are not considering legal action as we hope that the management will listen to us,” said the students. The legal notice hasn’t reached the institute yet. The Registrar

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“There is a need to have a proper study to understand the requirements of a city and, accordingly, power, energy, water, waste-disposal and a disaster management cell are a must.”

— Suresh Prabhu, Union Railway Minister

‘60-70 per cent cases received by NCW are from North’

US presses India to speed up economic reforms

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Female blood not acceptable Blood banks in Pune are not exactly rolling out a red carpet for would-be donors in spite of the dengue and swine flu outbreaks, and there seems to be gender bias as well

rahul raut

BY Gargi Verma @missgverma

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Rotaract Club of Pune Pride in association with Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) will organise a cycle rally to promote cleanliness on October 2. The day also marks the anniversary of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rotaract Club of Pune Pride is working in the field of providing personality development training, community service and leadership skill development. The 26-member club shares the common vision of

down the women’s phone numbers, assuring them that they’d be called in an emergency. The men were also told about adequate blood stocks but were accepted as donors though their blood groups were the same.

The blood bank doctors, however, refuted any gender bias. The doctor on duty on the morning of September 25, who refused to be identified and was not wearing a name tag, said, “There

must have been complications with the women involved otherwise we never turn away blood donors.” We told her about the TGS women reporters incident, but she refused to comment.

The State Blood Transfusion Council head Satish Pawar says that no blood bank would turn away donors.

“It is clearly stated in our public outreach statements, website and other documents that the blood bank should accept blood donations even if the donor is from a common blood group, as it may be needed in emergencies.”

The Pune Municipal Corporation health officers also deny such a gender bias. A health department official said, “The blood donation situation in Pune is better than in many other cities.

People are more aware and even the blood banks are more active. So such a gender issue has never come up as far as I know.”

Medical practitioners are also of the same view. Consulting physician at Inamdar Hospital and Ruby Hall Clinic, Dr Amit Majumdar said that the only relevant for blood donation is the haemoglobin count, previous medications, infections and other issues common

MTDC Ganesh Darshan tour plan fizzles out again

There’s no hurry…

Poona Hospital and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital showed a rather lax attitude to blood donation.

TGS reporter was told by Poona Hospital blood bank technicians to come in later in the afternoon. In the afternoon, the blood bank premises were deserted.

Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital blood bank staff wasn’t available and we were asked us come back another day.

A signboard claims Deendayal Hospital on FC Road to be a blood bank, but the receptionist said that the blood bank was discontinued two years ago. to both male and female donors. “The women who were turned away may have been anemic. So the doctors must have taken the easy way out by quoting adequate blood stocks.” However, he expressed his opposition to gender bias in context of blood donations. Whatever the case, the reality is that women blood donors are not really welcome at the Sassoon Hospital blood bank. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

MTDC blames city Ganesh mandals for having to call off tour at the last moment for the second year in a row Aniruddha Rajandekar

BY PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation’s (MTDC) ambitious Ganesh Darshan plan has come to nought, just like the Wari Darshan. The Wari Darshan plan fell through owing to the lack of tourists.

Now, the MTDC shelved its Ganesh Darshan tour in Pune for the second year in a row at the last moment. It was disappointing for the tourists that the MTDC plans fizzled out in Pune.

The MTDC officials, however, has blamed the city’s Ganesh mandals for the fiasco, alleging that they did not grant permissions to bring in the tourists to see the show put on by the five ‘manache Ganpati’, like Kasba Peth and Dagdusheth Halwai.

Pune MTDC head Vaishali Chavan said that they had received a barrage of calls regarding the Ganpati Darshan tour in Pune.

“We had to call if off this year as well, as we were unable due to unavoidable reasons,” she said. However, MTDC project manager Ravikant Jangale (Mumbai) told TGS that the MTDC Pune office personnel failed to

“The Pune office staff failed to seek the permission and we had to cancel Pune tour at the last moment.”

— Ravikant Jangale, MTDC Project Manager

working towards betterment of society. The cycle rally event is an endeavour to promote the importance of cleanliness.

The rally aims to inspire people to use bicycles to commute rather than travel in vehicles propelled by petrol or diesel, which are in itself vastly depleting and non-renewable resource.

The event is open for people from all walks of life. Many cycling groups have confirmed their participation.

The rally will flag off from BMCC at 7am. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com rahul raut

It’s not easy being a blood donor in Pune. With the spate of diseases like dengue and swine flu whose victims need blood transfusion, one would think that hospitals would welcome donors with open arms. Zeroing in on the reasons for this state of affairs, it becomes clear that it is the concerned authorities and their attitudes that have turned blood donations arduous, rather than an unwilling public.

It’s even more shocking that gender matters when it comes to donating blood at the Sassoon Hospital blood bank. Pune hospitals which undertake blood donation campaigns generally decline voluntary women donors.

The family members of a dengue patient were told by Sassoon Hospital authorities to avail of blood from a ‘male donor to avoid ‘complications’.

TGS Team including two males and two females decided to find out the truth for ourselves. The Sassoon Hospital authorities, on cue, turned away both the women, but accepted blood from the male donors. The women were told that the bank had adequate blood reserves. One of the blood bank doctors without disclosing her name, said, “The blood packets generally become useless after 35 days.

Currently we have enough stock so you donation may go waste.” They took

Cycle rally for environment awareness on Oct 2

Constables finally get to breathe on their day offs Earlier they were called in for duty even on their weekly holidays. Now, that their compensation has gone up from Rs 64 to Rs 900 per day, state cannot afford to make them work overtime rahul raut

By Gitesh Shelke @gitesh.shelke

persuade the Ganpati mandals in Pune after a spate of letters seeking permissions for the tour. mandals blamed Jangale said, “We sent a sample letter from the MTDC head office to the Pune office, seeking permission from the five prominent Ganpati mandals , as these are the major attraction. However, the Pune office staff failed to seek the permission and we had to cancel Pune tour at the last moment.” He said that such initiatives could be undertaken only with the co-operation of the Ganpati mandals, which refused to co-operate.

Ganpati Darshan The MTDC introduced the Ganpati Darshan tour last year in association with the Ganesh mandals to bring in more tourists. The one-day tour costing Rs 1151 per head, included a tour of the five prominent Ganpati pandals in Mumbai, namely Lalbaugcha Raja, Siddhivinayak Temple, Andhericha Raja, Girgaoncha Raja and Mumbaicha Raja, without the bother of waiting in serpentine queues. In Pune the tour was to include Kasba Ganpati, Guruji Talim, Tulshi Baug, Kesriwada Ganpati and Dagdusheth pandals. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

Along with the devotional fervour and festivities, the yearly Ganeshotsav also adds to the city police workload.

But police constables who work on their weekly holidays, are now eligible for a day’s pay, according to a new state government resolution. This has caused a situation where police constables are availing of their weekly holidays, while their superior officers have to handle the extra load of maintaining security during the festival.

Police constables were generally paid Rs 64 as compensatory allowance for working on weekly holidays.

The constables are now paid Rs 900-1200 for working on their weekly holidays. “This allowance was not a burden on the state treasury earlier, but the new government resolution has raised the amount significantly.

As a result, constables are not being called in for work on their weekly holidays even for security arrangements for the ongoing Ganeshotsav,” a senior police officer said.

The 9000 constables of the city police force are therefore,

free to join in the festivities on their weekly holidays.

However the constables will be called in for work on the ninth and tenth days of the Ganeshotsav, which culminate in the 28-hour immersion procession ceremony involving over 3800 Ganesh mandals. But the constables who will accordingly be working on their weekly holidays, will not get paid but will get a compensatory holiday.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) Pradeep Raskar said that the constables have been allowed to avail of their weekly holidays during the first eight days of the festival. “However, leaves and

weekly offs of the constables have been cancelled for the ninth and tenth days, which will be adjusted next month.

But they will not be paid,” he said.

The reasons for this are that the authorities can only cancel eight weekly holidays of constables in a year, that they are to be compensated financially, and that the state does not want to burden the constables, Raskar said.

But the police officers above the rank of sub inspector have forfeited their weekly holidays for the 10-day Ganeshotsav. gitesh.shelke@ goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

“Sanatan Sanstha has freedom to follow their ideology but they cannot kill anyone for just endorsing the opposite thoughts; hence State government should put a ban on Sanatan Sanstha without wasting time.”

— Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra Congress Chief

Yogesh Malkhare, 34, believes in the religion of humanity. And the social worker living in Pimpri has set an inspiring example of celebrating the traditional Ganeshotsav. Instead of bringing home the idol of Elephant God, Yogesh has made 12-year-old Akash Pawar his guest for 10 days.

“Our Ganesh idol talks, does your?” laughs Yogesh. “We invited home Akash the same way we used to welcome our favourite God,” he said.

So what made Yogesh to celebrate the festival this way? “We spend a lot of money during these 10 days and it feels nice. But sharing the joys of the festival with a needy person feels better,” he said.

Yogesh spotted Akash near Pimpri Station a couple of days ago. “He was walking barefoot. Looking at his face did something to my heart that I can’t explain. I was moved to love him, to take care of him. I felt overwhelmed.

And I decided to bring him home for Ganpati,” he said.

WE ARE A FAMILY “Th is is my second family now,” said Akash, whose father works at a tea stall near Pimpri Station. “I have been eating pizzas and burgers,” he proudly said. A glad heart makes a cheerful face and Akash, who is a standard V student of Kamla Nehru School, is in awe of his new family.

It has just been four days that Akash has found a new home, but for them he was never a stranger. Akash is treated as one of the family member.

“I love playing with him,” says Adha,

RAHUL RAUT

“This is my second family now,” said Akash (C), who plays with Adha (R), daughter of Yogesh Malkhare (R) at the latter’s home

Yogesh’s two-year-old daughter.

Yogesh’s family made sure that they offered Akash the same sweets and food that Lord Ganesh loves.

“We are not hindering his daily schedule but try and spend more time with him to know him better,” said Yogesh. The family finds time to take Akash to the nearby gardens.

selfish obsessions and serving others,” he said. For him and Akash, it is more of a give and take relationship. Having learnt the value of being self-sufficient and content with life, Yogesh hopes to continue his relationship with Akash for years to come. “In just a matter of days, Akash has taught me the most important value of life,” he said.

THE STRONG BOND Yogesh feels that many are living life in the fast lane and it is an age of excess.

Yet being self-serving is fundamental to the nature of what it means to be human. “It is called a different way of living, a way lead by setting aside our

DANCING STAR “I want to be a part of one of the biggest dance groups when I grow up,” said Akash. His love for dancing is immense, and Yogesh has assured his support. Featuring in popular television reality show ‘India’s Got

All in teen years, EKTA Pune members are on a social mission

wafer packets, glass bottles, kitchen tiles, polythene bags, hospital and hotel waste like saline bottles, cotton wool, toilet papers and tablets, broken commodes and even undergarments in their cleanliness drive.

Doremi Bala (extreme left) along with her friends, the EKTA family, who undertook the cleanliness drive on the Mutha river banks at Aundh recently

At a time when students of her age are busy spending time in career planning, attending tutorials and attempting competitive exams, Doremi Bala, 17, is serious about studies and also doing her bit for society. The standard XII student of Bharati Vidyapeeth Secondary School, Balewadi, is grateful to her school for ‘sowing the seed of social responsibility’.

The aim of ETKA, the non-profit, student-run organisation started by Doremi in March 2015, is to resolve all the muddles being encountered by our society today.

THE SPARK Spending time with HIV-positive children at the rehabilitation centre run

by Mamta Foundation at Kondhwa during one of the visits organised by the school in 2014 was the starting point for Doremi. “Spending time with an organisation that dedicates it’s time to educating and caring for these children was a learning experience. Initially, I didn’t know how to react to such a sad environment but it really wasn’t like that at all. In fact, the children there are quite

Online bridge for NGO and volunteer ‘ColoringLIFE’ allows volunteers to find NGOs that best suits their interests and vice versa

BY SALONEE MISTRY @Sal0412

Young minds driven by the vision of a clean city

BY JAMES MATHEW @mathewthejames

P13

P12

Pimpri resident brought home a 12-year-old underprivileged boy instead of a Ganesh idol for Ganeshotsav

BY EKTA KATTI @ Ektaak

Pune must live up to its potential

Procurement, finance top India graft chart

Humane Ganesh devotion

happy and believe in living their lives without feeling sorry for themselves and do not want anyone else to feel sorry for them either. The way these kids handle their situation and how they chose to look past it was an inspiration for me. It felt good to know that I was also able to brighten their day even the slightest bit by playing games with them. That day changed my perspective of the world and of myself.

THE PLAN Doremi shared her desire to take up social work in the neighbourhood with her friends and many joined her. And the EKTA team visited Sparsh Balgram in Khadki on March 26. Later, they undertook a cleanliness drive on the banks of Mula river at Aundh on April 5. Recalling her experience, Doremi said, “Seeing our efforts to clean the river banks, some youths who were to take part in another social initiative ‘Happy Streets’ joined us. The sight of 15-to-18year-olds collecting garbage on street sides must have been their motivation.”

Keeping the health quotient in mind, the young group carry ID cards, wear gloves and masks during their cleanliness drives. They collected tetrapaks, plastic,

THE FAMILY The XII standard student insists of calling her team the ‘EKTA Family’.

The family includes Rucha Patil (CEO), Neha Gawali (Chief Creative Head), Sohail Patel (Coordinator), Amey Wacky (Chief Visual Editor), Yash Jagtap (HR head), and active volunteers Sheetal Borkar, Narasimha Vijay and Akarsh Bharadwaj. And they feel that there is a need to clean up our Pune city.

“Even educated citizens throw trash everywhere making any available space a dumpsite. People must know that a polluted and unhygienic environment ruins all chances of our survival. Public have to understand that if they pollute their surroundings they would be the first ones to be victimised,” Doremi said, adding that parents of every volunteer have wholeheartedly supported their cause.

DOWN THE LINE Members share the expense of projects carried out by EKTA. “We save money that is usually spent on eating out and other fun activities. And no one regrets about it but feels a sense of responsibility towards society. As most of our members are high school and college students, we can organise our campaigns only during vacations. We plan to hold a one-day environment and road safety awareness campaign in municipal schools soon,” said Doremi, who is a science student but plans to pursue degree in economics and aspires to serve the nation as a financial advisor. james.mathew@goldensparrow.com GET IN TOUCH Email: ekta.pune2k15@gmail.com Facebook Page: https://www. facebook.com/pages/EKTAPune/346329445577600

Talent’ was the best day of Akash’s life.

“I want to be a professional dancer or choreographer.”

HARD TO BID ADIEU And when the time comes to bid adieu, Yogesh said, “It will be a sad moment for all of us but our bond has grown stronger.”

“All my school friends are jealous of me. Now I know why. It will be hard to say goodbye to my second family,” said Akash. Th is kind act has led the parents of Akash, Renuka and Datta Pawar, to believe in the goodness and realness of humanity. ektaakatti@gmail.com

PUNE

It only took a few conversations with friends and acquaintances working with NGOs for Mayank Bhatia to know his calling. And a thorough study cemented the 24-year-old’s resolve to fill the prevalent NGO-volunteer gap.

He launched the social platform ‘ColoringLIFE’ (www.coloringlife. in) with his friends in January 2014.

Beginning with Pune, the initiative has now spread across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mayank Bhatia Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and NCR, Mayank’s hometown.

BACK TO BASICS Noticing a lack of common platform to connect those that want to help with those who needed help, Mayank found the solution online. “Most of the people we knew complained about spending a lot of time on travel to take part in projects undertaken by NGOs. That’s when we realised that if I had someone to inform these people of how they could volunteer efficiently in their neighbourhood itself. And ‘ColoringLIFE’ was born,” said Mayank, who spend three months analysing people’s feedback on the issue before starting the online platform.

EFFECTIVE PLATFORM “We have got about 10 volunteers with the help of ‘ColoringLIFE’. Th ree are active while others help as and when they can. Th is social cause platform helps find volunteers who actually want to work and are not just whiling away their time.”

-Usha Pillai, Founder, IDEA Foundation THE PERFECT MATCH Mayank hopes to establish a perfect NGO-volunteer relationship, like a matchmaking website. He wants to use the interests of volunteers to bode well with NGOs’ needs and foster an effective long-lasting union that serves society. Catering to almost everyone’s needs, ‘ColoringLIFE’ covers NGOs that look after education, empowerment of women, animal welfare, youth development, help for the elderly and environment.

THE PROCESS Registering as a volunteer or an NGO is easy. Login either via Facebook or e-mail id and enter your preferences.

The website selects NGOs that fit your choices and shows you a list. NGOs can also find volunteers depending on their interest. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

PUNE

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

PUNE

pics by Aniruddha Rajandekar, rahul raut and shailesh joshi

Railway station shelter

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andip Bagade of Ekta Gramin Vikas is among those running the night shelter in the Pune station area. It is the second largest night shelter with 49 beds.

“Being near the Pune railway station, we get many women coming here. But we send

them to the Senadatta Peth night shelter, which has provisions for women but the problem is that it is quite a distance away,” said Bagade.

The Ekta Gramin Vikas group began working with the night shelter one and a half years ago. “In the beginning we had to urge homeless people to avail of the night shelter, but now they come willingly. However, we can only cater to 49 people. There is a crying need for more night shelters in the city,” Bagade said.

Warden of the shelter, Rahul Mahajan, said, “We allow people in after 7.30 pm.

Homeless beggars make up the majority of those who use this shelter. We do not let in drunks or drug addicts as they are prone to cause trouble or misbehave. We also have the details of those who live here documented along with photocopies.”

Senadatta Peth shelter

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heir (civic authorities’) responsibility does not end with handing over the maintenance of night shelters to us,” said Ishaq Shaikh, social activist of Pune Youth Foundation, which tends to the running of the Senadatta Peth night shelter.

“We do ensure that anti-social elements do not enter the shelter and disturb the smooth functioning of this place. But the police do not intervene if some quarrel or dispute breaks out, and we have to sort it out ourselves,” Shaikh said.

The night shelter is set up in what used to be a hall for cultural activities for the residents of Senadatta Peth. It is the only night shelter in the city with 20 beds meant exclusively for women, while 40 beds are reserved for men. “We do not get adequate support from the PMC. We have a lot of issues when it comes to our staff salaries,”

Yerawada shelter PriyankKa Deshpande, Gargi Verma & Ashish phadnis @TGSWeekly The Bombay High Court recently directed the state government to seek land in Mumbai for the construction of night shelters. Though not applicable to Pune, the Pune Municipal Corporation would do well to give heed to the night shelters concept. With only four night shelters for a population of over 30 lakh, hundreds of homeless people are impelled to sleep on the streets at present, according to PMC statistics. There has been no thought given to homeless women either. There is only one night shelter that provides exclusively for women, so most homeless women are forced to take shelter in those occupied by men. And if there are risks and issues involved with this, they really have no choice or options.

The PMC announced plans to set up ten night shelters for the homeless and beggars a couple of years ago, after the tragedy involving a four-year-old girl on the river banks near Baba Bhide bridge in Deccan Gymkhana area. The PMC survey then revealed that there were 854 homeless people living on city footpaths, which was in contrast to the census report statistics that put the number of homeless people in the city to be 1454.

Instead of the ten that were planned for, the PMC has been able to set up just four night shelters at Senadatta Peth, Yerawada, Pune station and Bopodi, which have different but limited capacities. The locations of the shelters are surprising, to say the least. The Senadatta Peth shelter is in an upper middle class locality, where there are no pavement dwellers in a three-kilometre radius. The Bopodi night shelter meanwhile, is quite a distance away from the railway station, bus stops and government hospitals areas, where there are large numbers of pavement dwellers. That is a key reason why it is never occupied to its full capacity.

Entry to these shelters is given on a ‘first come first served basis’. Apart from beggars, poor people from outside of town who arrive in Pune for one reason or another are the ones these shelters are meant for. It also means that the population of vagrants and destitute cannot be accommodated by the night shelters on a long-term basis. The PMC has deputed city-based NGOs to run these night shelters. But the social activists representing the NGOs say that the civic authorities have placed the entire responsibility of running the night shelters on them without showing any concern for the issues the NGOs face. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Why do so many homeless

sleep on Pune streets?

The PMC has just four night shelters in a city with a population of over 30 lakh, and what’s even more surprising is that many homeless people are not aware of such facilities

Bopodi shelter

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he location of the night shelter at Bopodi is all wrong.

Dr Vikram Gaikwad of Janhavi Foundation which runs the night shelter, said, “It’s far from the Pune railway station and government

hospitals. And being on the third floor, the aged and ailing are unable to climb up the flights of stairs.

Though it’s a joint venture between the Pune Municipal Corporation and our NGO, in practice, we run

the shelter by ourselves. The PMC only takes care of the finances. But does their responsibility end there?” he asked.

The Bopodi shelter, launched in May 2014, can accommodate 22 people, but it is seldom fully occupied. “The location is all wrong.

We never have more than 8-10 people. If we were located elsewhere in a more appropriate location, I am sure that more needy people would come here,” Gaikwad said. The other issues that the shelter faces include inebriated people who are prone to pick fights and misuse the facility. All of this adds to their responsibilities, Now the staff try and make sure and screen out the drunk and disorderly to avoid such troubles.

The three-storey building housing the shelter has a tin roof and it is located in an alley near the railway crossing. On a wall is a newly painted sign that reads ‘Bopodi Ratri Nivaran Prakalp’ aka Bopodi night shelter.

Manager Rehman Mahat thinks that being on the third floor makes it difficult for old and sick people to reach the night shelter.

Warden Raviraj Shinde seconds the opinion. He said that they regularly tell homeless people about the shelter, conduct meetings, distribute pamphlets and even bring the homeless people to the shelter themselves. But it is a far cry from homeless people willingly and freely coming to the shelter of their own accord.

“Our centre is far from the

T

he night shelter at Mother Teresa Hall in Yerawada was started a year ago by the John Paul Slum Development Project (JPSDP). It has 22 beds, but can accommodate 32 in a crunch.

The NGO has been working on AIDS awareness campaigns, and initially had to coax the homeless to come to their shelter.

“We had to convince the homeless and migrants to use our shelter initially. They had never slept in clean beds nor did they know how to use the toilets,” said George Swami of JPDSDP, who worked with the PMC officials from the inception and setting up of the shelter.

“The PMC officials were planning to put in bunk beds, but we

thought that they would be a hazard as occupants could fall off and be injured. Instead we got cots and put them in a single row.” Lauding the

Taking shelter civic body’s role, Swami said, “We receive good support from the PMC.” When TGS team visited the shelter around 9.30 pm, most of the cots were empty.

“We normally don’t let the people go out once they register their names. So, before registering we ensure that they had their food and then allot them the cots,” says Tushar Bhosale, who manages the shelter. He is aided by warden Praful Parkhe.

The Mother Teresa hall is also a venue for family get-togethers and parties for residents in the vicinity.

The shelter staff give away the left over food from the parties, and even share their food tiffins with the shelter’s inmates.

proof from everyone who comes to the shelter, and gets them to complete a form with their name, address and purpose of visit. He also maintains discipline and throws out the drunks and disorderly people.

The shelter’s staff includes a cleaner, sweeper, housekeeper and security person,

besides the warden and manager. Four of the staff are Pune University students.

Septuagenarian Vishwanath of Solapur uses the Bopodi shelter whenever he visits his only daughter in the city. “I come here at night and leave in the morning. Nobody troubles me here,” he said.

Arun Belavi, 19, from Belgaum came to Pune for a medical check-up for recruitment in the Army. “When I came here for my first medical test, I slept on the roadside near Command Hospital,” the teenager said. A friend told him about the night shelter near Pune railway station and that is where Belavi was staying, until he completes his medical and secures a job in the armed forces.

Yashwantrao Chavan Law College student Rajesh Raimale from Jalgaon cannot afford hotel lodgings so he makes use of the shelter near Pune railway station. “It is perfect for me as it is peaceful here, so I can study in the night,” said Raimale. But a question hangs over how long he will be able to make use of the shelter, as the completion of his law course may take years.

Shashikant Bhavsar, 65, of Kharadi has quite another reason for living at the Senadatta Peth night shelter. His own house is very small and he does not get along with his daughter-in-law who lives in the city, so he prefers to stay at the shelter. “I have been making use of this facility for over a month. The people here at the shelter are kind and I prefer the peace here rather than have constant arguments with my daughter-in-law at her home,” said Bhavsar.

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station and bus stops, which is another reason why people do not come here,” said Raviraj.

The night shelter is well ventilated and has 11 bunk beds and even cupboards. “People who can’t afford hotels or lodges come to our shelter,” said Raviraj. He demands identity

Rambhau Magar, 41, hails from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh and the situation there is so desperate that he has been forced to come all the way to Pune in search of a job. “I am a cook and came to Pune for a job. I slept on Pune railway station for a night but came to the Pune railway station night shelter the next night. This is really a big help for people like me,” he said, and he is still optimistic enough about landing himself some kind of a job that will earn him enough to keep body and soul together.

Mandabai Kale from Nevasa taluka in Ahmednagar has come to Pune to undergo surgery for tonsillitis. The night shelter has proved to be a real godsend for the ailing Mandabai as she awaits her medical treatment. “My son and some family members are here with me. We do not have the money to afford to stay in a lodge. My son-in-law told me about the Senadatta Peth night shelter and we are all staying here,” said Kale. They will leave the shelter once she is admitted to the hospital for her surgery.

The pavement dwellers ubhash Kale, 36, has been living along with his four children and wife under a makeshift plastic tent, on a footpath in front of Pune Municipal Corporation for ten years. Originally from Barshi taluka in Solapur district, Kale sells balloons and also is a daily wage labourer. He earns Rs 100-150 a day. The PMC staffers keep driving him away from the footpath, and at times have even taken away his utensils.

“Instead of driving us away from the footpath, the PMC workers should provide us a place to stay,” said a visible stressed Kale. So why does he not move to a night shelter?

He seemed to be taken by surprise by the question.

“What is that? I do not know about any night shelters,” Kale said.

Pune railway station has been home for Suman Satav, 70, since she was disowned by her children.

She had no clue that such a thing as night shelters existed.

“I never know there are shelters for homeless people like me,” she said. Living on the platforms is no

Shaikh said.

Warden of the shelter, Sayyad Irfan, said, “Our shelter has a capacity of 60 beds, of which 20 are exclusively reserved for women. It is the only night shelter which provides for women,” he said. It gives women inmates a sense of security to be living in a place inhabited by other women.

Daily wage labourer Dashrath Shelke, 73, of Mulshi comes to Pune for work. “I used to live at the Swargate bus stand until I heard about this night shelter at Senadatta Peth. Now when I get some work in Pune, this is where I sleep at nights,” he said. At his age, the night shelter is a haven and a solace, the place to retire to after a hard day’s toil.

Bapu Shendge, 44, has come from a village near Indapur to Pune for work. He is one of the large influx of people from drought-hit areas who are migrating here in search of job. But work is hard to find and he has almost reached the end of his patience. Asked what type of work he is willing to do, Shendge said that he is ready for any type of work, right from farming to working at a construction site. “I need work so that I can buy food for myself. I am thankful that the Mother Teresa Hall shelter does not charge any money for the facilities they provide,” he said.

Official speak bed of roses either. “The police keep harassing us and driving us away,” Satav said.

The problem Kale and his family or Suman Satav would face,

is that the night shelters are meant for people in emergencies who are in dire need of shelter, and they would not accommodate people for an indefinite period.

PMC’s Social development Officer, Hanumant Nazirkar, said that that there are 950 people sleeping on Pune streets. “We have four night shelters and we are looking for other places to set up new night shelters,” said Nazirkar.

But the PMC has been making such promises for years on end.

And until their plans reach fruition, it is a given that the pavements of Pune will continue to be the places where the homeless sleep at night.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

tECH/start-up

PUNE

The Dvorak keyboard is known to be more efficient and 20 times faster than Querty. http://geekofreak.com

Sebi fines PACL Rs 7,269 crore P 12

‘UNGA decision on UNSC reforms is not conclusive model’ P 11

NASA technology to help airlines cut fuel consumption

For airlines with Internet connectivity in the cockpit, TAP also can access information such as real-time weather conditions

Virgin America and Alaska Airlines will use the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) application to make ‘traffic aware strategic aircrew requests’ (TASAR)

potential conflicts in any proposed flight path changes, making it easier for air traffic controllers to approve a pilot’s route change request.

For airlines with Internet connectivity in the cockpit, TAP also can access information - such as real-time weather conditions, wind

forecast updates and restricted airspace status - to further increase flight efficiency.

The software is loaded onto a tablet computer, which many airline pilots already use for charts and flight calculations.

Wing and his team have tested the TASAR software twice aboard a Piaggio

All-optical on-chip memory made

Start-ups to reel off innovations before PM Modi in US

With optical elements, computers can work more rapidly and efficiently

Ten Indian start-ups will showcase their most outstanding innovations at the Silicon Valley at a programme to be presided over by PM Narendra Modi during his US visit on September 27.

“An event that I am enthusiastic about is the ‘India-US Start-up Konnect’,” Modi said last week about the event where Indian start-ups will also forge partnerships with the vibrant American start-up industry.

He had said India is emerging as a hub of start-ups in a wide range of areas and “we aspire to take this further”.

The delegation, supported by the Indian Department of Science and Technology and defence major Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, has been sponsored under the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP). “IIGP is a unique bilateral programme that identifies core competencies of institutions both in India and the US,” Rajiv Sharma, Executive Director at Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, said.

PTI

Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have created the first all-optical permanent on-chip memory that can store data for decades, an advance that may lead to the development of optical computers.

With optical elements, computers can work more rapidly and more efficiently.

Optical fibres have long since been used for the transmission of data with light. But on a computer, data are still processed and stored electronically.

Electronic exchange of data between processors and the memory limits the speed of modern computers.

To overcome this, it is not sufficient to optically connect memory and processor, as the optical signals have to be converted into electric signals again. Scientists, hence, look for methods to carry out calculations and data storage in a purely optical manner.

Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Munster, Oxford University, and Exeter University have now developed the first alloptical, non-volatile on-chip memory.

“Optical bits can be written at frequencies of up to a gigahertz. This allows

C. Rios/Oxford University

All-optical data memory: ultra-short light pulses make the GST material change from crystalline to amorphous and back. Weak light pulses read out the data

for extremely quick data storage by our allphotonic memory,” said Professor Wolfram Pernice, who headed a working group of the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) and recently moved to the University of Munster.

“The memory is compatible not only with conventional optical fibre data transmission, but also with latest processors,” added Professor Harish Bhaskaran of Oxford University.

The new memory can store data for decades even when the power is removed.

Its capacity to store many bits in a single cell of a billionth of a metre in size (multi-level memory) also is highly attractive.

Transparent coating cools solar cells to boost efficiency (Illustration: Fan Lab/Stanford University)

Solution is based on a thin, patterned silica material laid on top of a traditional solar cell Stanford engineers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a transparent coating that cools solar cells to boost efficiency. The hotter solar cells get, the less efficient they become at converting the photons in light into useful electricity, a problem that has long vexed the solar industry.

Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering, research associate Aaswath P Raman and doctoral candidate Linxiao Zhu at Stanford University in US, have found a solution which is based on a thin, patterned silica material laid on top of a traditional solar cell.

The material is transparent to the visible sunlight that powers solar cells, but captures and emits thermal radiation, or heat, from infrared rays.

“Solar arrays must face the sun to function, even though that heat is detrimental to efficiency,” said Fan. “Our thermal overlay allows sunlight to pass through, preserving or even enhancing sunlight absorption,

P180 Avanti aircraft, a high-performance technology test bed owned and operated

by Advanced Aerospace Solutions, LLC of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The system worked well on its initial test flight from Virginia to Kentucky, according to its test pilot.

“We used it to make a route change request from air traffic control, which they granted. We got a shortcut that saved four minutes off the flight time,” the test pilot said. Even four minutes of flight time shaved off of each leg of a trip made by an airline could result in massive fuel and time savings, according to researchers.

The software provided similar results as flight tests continued in the northeast corridor. A second round of flight tests was recently completed to ensure readiness for operational use by partner airlines.

The TASAR flight tests came after a dozen pilots provided feedback on the technology in a simulation at the University of Iowa Operator Performance Laboratory.

Aerospace systems manufacturer Rockwell Collins analysed TASAR to make sure it is safe and can be readily certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. PTI PTI

NASA

Two passenger airlines in the US will soon test an application developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that is designed to help carriers save time, substantially reduce fuel consumption and slash carbon emissions.During the next three years, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines will use the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) application, to make ‘traffic aware strategic aircrew requests’ (TASAR).

“TAP connects directly to the aircraft avionics information hub on the aircraft,” said David Wing, TASAR project lead at NASA’s Langley Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia.

“It reads the current position and altitude of the aircraft, its flight route, and other real-time information that defines the plane’s current situation and active flight plan,” Wing said.

“Then it automatically looks for a variety of route and altitude changes that could save fuel or flight time and displays those solutions directly to the flight crew,” Wing said.

TAP also can connect with the plane’s Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) receiver and scan the ADS-B signals of nearby air traffic to avoid

Stanford engineers have invented a transparent material that improves the efficiency of solar cells by radiating thermal energy (heat) into space

but it also cools the cell by radiating the heat out and improving the cell efficiency,” Fan said.

In 2014, the same trio of researchers had developed an ultrathin material that radiated infrared heat directly back toward space without warming the atmosphere. They presented that work in the journal Nature, describing it as “radiative cooling” because it shunted thermal energy directly into the deep, cold void of space. In their new study, the researchers applied that work to improve solar array performance when the Sun is beating down.

The team tested their technology on a custom-made solar absorber - a device that mimics the properties of a solar cell without producing electricity - covered with a micron-scale pattern designed to maximise the capability to dump heat, in the form of infrared light, into space. Their experiments showed that the overlay allowed visible light to pass through to the solar cells, but that it also cooled the underlying absorber by as much as minus 5 degrees Celsius.

PTI

Instead of the usual information values of 0 and 1, several states can be stored in an element and even autonomous calculations can be made. This is due to so-called phase change materials, novel materials that change their optical properties depending on the arrangement of the atoms: Within shortest periods of time, they can change between crystalline (regular) and amorphous (irregular) states.

For the memory, the scientists used the phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST).

The change from crystalline to amorphous (storing data) and from amorphous to crystalline (erasing data) is initiated by ultrashort light pulses. For reading out the data, weak light pulses are used.

Permanent all-optical on-chip memories might considerably increase future performance of computers and reduce their energy consumption.

Energy-intensive conversion of optical signals into electronic signals and vice versa would no longer be required.

The study is published in the journal Nature Photonics.

PTI

US to help provide skills training to 400 mn Indians

BY LALIT K JHA In a boost to India’s ambitious skill development programme, the US will collaborate with it on a number of education-related projects to help the country achieve its goal of providing such training to 400 million people in the next decade. “We recognise that higher education and vocational training are essential to economic development, and we remain committed to strengthening our exchanges of students, scholars, and technical knowledge,” the State Department said.

The new six-week Community College Administrator Program, sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, started on September 20 this year, the US said.

Through this programme, Indian administrators from post-secondary vocational and technical institutions and Indian officials with higher education planning responsibilities intend to complete a program of professional development with Florida State University and Santa Fe College.

The US has announced a study tour for officials from Indian state-level skills development entities to study the US network of community colleges with the objective of developing expertise and contacts to help the state build a more effective vocational education system. Building on its long-standing partnership and support for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has said that it intends to partner with Duke University and Research Triangle International to support the IIT Gandhinagar.

PTI

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ENVIRONMENT

Nearly 3,000 people have died due to Acute Respiratory Infection in 2014

Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) cases have shown an “increasing” trend in the country, even as researchers have “unearthed” wide array of health effects associated with air pollution exposure over the last 30 years.

As per the ‘National Health Profile 2015’ published

by Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), nearly JP Nadda 3,000 people have died due to ARI in 2014. The data released by Union Health Minister J P Nadda showed that 3,48,14,636 ARI cases were reported in 2014, out of which 1,67,90,438 were females while the total number of deaths were 2,932.

The number of ARI deaths in 2013 was much higher as it stood at 3,513.

The number of reported ARI cases in 2013 were 3,34,23,107, the study said.

In Delhi, 3,90,170 ARI cases were reported in 2013 even as the national capital witnessed 175 deaths due to ARI while the latest data showed that in 2014, 3,39,506 cases were reported in which 104 deaths were reported.

In 2013, 753 deaths were reported in West Bengal - the highest from ARI, while in 2014, 625 and 619 deaths were reported from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh

Acute Respiratory Infection cases have shown an “increasing” trend in India due to wide array of health effects associated with air pollution exposure

respectively. The digital version of the annual document, which has been prepared for the first time, was also released.

The National Health Profile covers demographic, socio-economic, health status and health finance indicators, along with comprehensive information on health infrastructure and human resources in health sector.

Nadda said that data is an important source of navigation and helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses while it is also an important means to strategize.

He noted that the e-book is a step towards realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Digital India’ as digital documents give an

Naga forests rich in bio-diversity covers

access to safe and private toilets.

“It is also heartening to see water and sanitation being included as Goal 6, which is crucial to achieve all other indicators related to health and nutrition,” Neeraj Jain, Country Representative of WaterAid India said.

The 17 Global Goals on Sustainable Development aim at tackling extreme poverty, inequalities and climate change, including the water and sanitation crisis which kills half-amillion young children each year from

preventable diarrhoeal diseases.

It affects women and girls most as they are most often tasked with collecting water at higher risk of illness or infection in the absence of safe water, basic toilets and good hygiene, and are made more vulnerable to attack if they must relieve themselves in the open, Jain said.

In India, 5.9 per cent of households do not have access to clean water and 60.4 per cent do not have access to sanitation.

PTI

It affects women and girls most as they have to collect water

WB team visits seawall project site A team of World Bank visited the seaerosion-affected pockets in Odisha’s Kendrapara district and inspected the Pentha coast, the site of the state’s geosynthetic seawall project.

The four-member team headed

by Project Technical Adviser (World Bank), Micheal Hanui on a visit yesterday to the natural-calamityprone district also assessed the extensive sea erosion trend in the seaside hamlets.

“World Bank will fund the projects to reduce vulnerability to cyclone and other hydro-meteorological hazards of coastal communities in Odisha.

Comprehensive project to tame the magnitude of sea erosion also stays on our agenda,” said Micheal Hanui.

The World Bank panel suggested the expeditious implementation of geo-synthetic tube seawall project in sea-erosion-hit Pentha coast. Pentha coast in Kendrapara district is being constantly battered by marauding sea waves, prompting the state government to install geo-synthetic buffer on the embankment to arrest sea erosion.

Over a dozen thickly populated human settlements are still lying exposed following massive erosion.

PTI

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Dr Vijaypat Singhania’s grandchildren from his estranged son Madhupati have moved Bombay High Court seeking their share in ancestral property. They have filed a suit against their grandfather, father, mother and Raymond Limited. Detailed story on p7 TGS LIFE

When hunger strikes past midnight

NATION

CITY

Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings P 12

Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days?

P3

DITCH THE

AUTO,

HAIL A

CAB

GAUTAM SINGHANIA

or long distances (depending on their mood), overcharge or ask for obnoxious fares, often refuse to ply by meter – the list is endless.

TGS Team members decided to give the ‘victimised’ autorickshaw drivers a chance.

Five members of the team tried hiring rickshaws for distances ranging between 1.5 and 20 kms. All the members came back irked and disgruntled. The autorickshaw community let

Intentions of Dr Singhania were ‘malafide and illegal’ with a motive to grab the share of Madhupati and Anuradha as well as grandchildren and to achieve the same he directed that his son and daughter-inlaw move to another country ‘instead of Collectively Pune Municipal continuing to stay in India with the family.

DEHU

6

Corporation, PimpriChinchwad Municipal Corporation and Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited have spent `1,816 crores on constructing dedicated corridors and flyovers along major routes, erecting bus shelters, and buying buses.

Despite this not a single route is operational or has succeeded in years. Citizens residing in twin cities continue to cry foul over pathetic public transport system. And from the looks of it nothing is going to change in near future.

See Spotlight on p8&9

ALANDI

AKURDI

CHINCHWAD

RAVET

BHOSARI

4 THERGAON HINJEWADI VILLAGE

KALEWADI FATA

WAKAD

DIGHI

NASHIK PHATA

5

LOHEGAON

DAPODI 50

PIMPLE GURAV

WAGHOLI

3 4 BANER

VISHRANT VIMAN WADI NAGAR YERWADA

AUNDH

2

SANGAMWADI PASHAN

AH47

WADGAON SHERI

MUNDHWA

SHIVAJI NAGAR

GHORPADI

9

BAVDHAN

CAMP

HADAPSAR

KOTHRUD

SWARGATE PARVATI

WANOWRIE

1

NANDED AMBEGAON BUDRUK

KONDHWA

UNDRI

KATRAJ

4

Sab golmal hai...

Had it not been for a Pune-based activist everybody had forgotten about a film on Lokmanya Tilak commissioned in 2001 by Central Government at the cost of 2.5 crores. Three years after Vishnu Kamalapurkar raised questions about the film,

said director of the school, who

fi led the FIR and kept in touch with “We are feeling the investigating officer and public prosecutor The director is let down by the PUNE, MARCH 14, 2015throughout. | www.thegoldensparrow.com yet to get a copy of the order. prosecution The case dates back to February 2013 when some of the students and the system. studying in class five walked up to their class teacher and alleged that It is upsetting their creative writing sir had touched because we do them inappropriately. The class teacher in turn informed the principal and not how to face management.

School authorities spoke to several other students and the parents and found that 22 girls in all had levelled similar allegations. Director of the students who school approached Chaturshrungi came forward police station and lodged an FIR under the Protection of Children from to give their Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA).

The investigation was carried out by statements.”

DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL

CHIKHALI

KIWALENIGDI

~ Suit filed by the siblings

The creative writing teacher from a reputed school in Baner was booked and arrested in February 2013. A special court acquitted him on the grounds that police bungled up in collecting evidence

RITU GOYAL HARISH

Parents teach them more than exams do P 10

`1,816 1,816 crores spent on BRTS,

Precious man hours are lost every day at Hinjewadi just because planners forgot to make more entry and exit points. Over a decade after Hinjewadi was planned to house country’s best IT firms and saying is true. But what they are not telling us or willing to talent, planners have finally woken up to the plight of citizens. concede is that their enemy lies within. Their enemy number one They have now planned five alternative roads. But the authorities is not private cabs but members of their own ilk – many of whom are in no hurry to complete them. See spotlight on p8 & 9 are rude, refuse to ply short

The case created ripples across the city. A teacher was accused of sexually abusing 22 students all from fi fth standard of a reputed school in Baner.

In February 2013, Chaturshrungi police registered a case of sexual abuse against the creative writing teacher and arrested him immediately. Two years after the cops went all out to claim that they had a watertight case, the teacher has been acquitted by a Special Court. The court ruled that the prosecution made out a weak case. The management of the school and parents of students are not only disappointed but also irked with the outcome.

“We are feeling let down by the prosecution and the system. It is upsetting because we do not how to face the parents and students who came forward to give their statements.

We believe we were on the right,”

Truly, a tree lady P4

~ Suit filed by the siblings

What a mess!

Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

CITY

TGS LIFE

Hum Saath Saath Hain

And yet no respite for commuters

DR VIJAYPAT SINGHANIA

Madhupati Singhania (57) and his wife Anuradha (54) with their children Ananya (29), Rasaalika (26), Tarini (20) and Raivathari (18)

Rickshaw unions across the city want us to believe that private cab service providers or radio cab operators, as they are popularly known as, are villains.

Around 12,000 radio cabs have made their lives miserable for 50,000-odd autorickshaw drivers in twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The auto drivers want us to believe that corporate houses with deep pockets behind the cab services are eating into their share. Essentially poor rickshaw drivers are getting poorer because of stiff competition from private cab operators.

While Gautam Singhania ‘in a span of 14 years as CMD of Raymond Limited has built a personal net worth of `1.4 billion, Madhupati belonging to the same family was struggling to settle down in a new country, educate his children and make a new life.’ Gautam and his family led a luxurious life ‘with fancy cars, private jets, yachts and expensive holidays.’

PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

WaterAid India has appealed to the political leadership to deliver on Goal 6 of ‘Global Goals for Sustainable Development’ by ensure basic access to water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone and everywhere by 2030.

The NGO said there should be indicators to monitor progress in access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in homes, schools and health care facilities, besides ensuring that developing countries are prioritising water and sanitation programmes and fi nding new and effective ways of mobilising domestic resources.

The inclusion of this goal is a victory for more than 650 million people in the world today without access to clean water and 2.3 billion people without

approved in principle Chutka MP Atomic Power station project based on pressurised heavy-water reactor (PHWR) to come up in 1,200 acres of land area, including private, forest and state government land.

The state government, after acquiring the lands of private persons and forest department, will transfer it to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited for the atomic project.

Chutka was having ample water - a prime requisite to run an atomic power station as it was situated close to Narmada river.

PTI

RAHUL RAUT

WaterAid stresses global goals for sustainable development

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to allot over 41 acres of land to the fi rst nuclear power station in the state, which will be set up in tribal dominated Mandla district.

The 1,400 mega watt (MW) project, is being set up in Chutka village.

“The Cabinet has allotted more than 41 acres of land to the nuclear power station coming up at Chutka village in Mandla district,” state Health Minister and government spokesman Narottam Mishra told reporters here.

The Centre had, five years ago,

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

about rapid threat assessment of wild medicinal plants.

Retired PCCF of Himachal Pradesh, Vinay Tandon spoke about having a national perspective for conservation of threatened medicinal plants. CAMP is a process that helps in identifying the species and to draw attention for informed conservation action.

PTI

India will miss its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal mortality rate to 109 per 1,00,000 live births, according to National Health Profi le-2015 released recently.

National Health Profi le-2015, published by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), said India will miss the MDG target on maternal mortality by 31 points.

“From an estimated MMR (maternal mortality rate) level of 437 per 1,00,000 live births in 1990, India is required to reduce MMR to 109 per 1,00,000 births by 2015. At the historical pace of decrease, India tends to reach MMR of 140 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, falling short by 31 points,” the report said.

It further said that in India, infant mortality rate (IMR) has reduced by nearly 50 per cent during 1990-2012 and the present level is at 42.

“As per the historical trend, the IMR is likely to reach 40 deaths per 1,000 live births, missing the MDG target of 27 with a considerable margin. However, IMR is declining at a sharper rate in the recent years,” it said.

The report further said that Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) has declined from an estimated level of 125 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 52 in 2012. Given to reduce U5MR to 42 per 1,000 live births by 2015, India tends to reach 49 by 2015 as per the historical trend, missing the target by seven percentage points.

“However, considering the continuance of the sharper annual rate of decline witnessed in the recent years, India is likely to achieve the target,” the summary of the report said.

PTI

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Nagaland’s forest cover forms a part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot

MP to allot land for N-power project

India will miss MDG target on maternal mortality: Report

DJB sewage treatment plant biogas used to generate electricity Biogas from the Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) sewage treatment plant in Yamuna Vihar is now being used to generate power, which will bring the water utility s electricity bill down by Rs 1.5 crore annually. According to officials, current power generation of the plant is 1,500 kilowatt hour (kWh) per day and the electricity generation was expected to increase soon.

“Power generation will increase to 5000 kilowatt hour (kWh) per day by end of this year. Thus the plant will produce 18 lakh units of electricity every year and will save Rs 1.5 crore annually to DJB on account of power cost,” senior officer said.

Th is is DJB’s fourth bio-gas based power generation plant, other such Plants are located in Okhla, Kondli and Rithala. The Plant produces electricity from the bio-gas produced in the Sewage Treatment Plant. “The Plant will also help in reducing air pollution by capturing and burning Methane produced at Sewage Treatment Plant for power production,” he said.

PTI

PUNE

“The objective of Environmental Guidelines for Buildings was to enable green construction through reduced use of natural resources, recycling, and reuse of water.”

— Sushil Kumar, Secretary, Environment Department

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Forests of Nagaland are one among those having the richest biodiversity in the world, state’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest M Lokeswara Rao said.

Inaugurating a four-day workshop on Conservation Assessment and Management Prioritisation (CAMP) of Medicinal Plants in Dimapur district, the Head of Forest Force said Nagaland is located in one of the 25 hotspots of the world in terms of biodiversity with forests covering an area of 13,318 sq km corresponding to 80.33 per cent of the state’s total geographical area.

He said the state’s forest cover forms a part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, which is one of the 25 recognised biodiversity hot-spots of the world and rich in Medicinal Plants.

Prioritisation of Medicinal plants is essential for their conservation, he said.

Advisor from Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, D K Ved spoke

opportunity for wider dissemination of information. “We now need to work towards converting documented data into ‘real-time’ data. While digital data helps us to be more efficient, real time data helps to monitor our schemes and efforts in real time.

“Analyses of the data, to understand what is narrates, is equally important.

Interpretation of data enhances its value.

It is necessary for people who work with data to be skilled in its analysis also,” he said. Nadda congratulated the CBHI team for their initiatives of using geomapping of four different districts of the country, from the north-eastern region, south region, desert area and Jharkhand.

PTI

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Supriya Bhoite from Chaturshrungi police station.

Contd on p4

advance, and second instalment was to be released after completion of certain formalities. The very next year second instalment was also disbursed.

Cut to October 2012 – Kamalapurkar fi led an RTI with chief public information officer (CPIO) of Ministry of Culture seeking information about the fi lm on Tilak.

The CPIO was clueless about the project and sought information from his colleagues in other department in the same ministry. But none of them knew about the existence of fi lm. In January 2013, the Culture

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

ARI on rise in India, death toll grows

H EALTH

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

“States should be pro-active in ensuring compliance with green construction norms in view of the commitment of the Central Government to mitigate emission of Green House Gases responsible for climate change.”

— Durga Shankar Misra, Additional Secretary, Urban Development

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Hum

the project in 2012 from the Central Government only to be told that they had no records left, the concerned ministry had been wound up, and that fi lm-maker could not be traced.

Essentially, the government acceded that it had been duped of `2.5 crores, the sum that was transferred to the fi lm-maker.

It has taken Kamalapurkar three years since he sought details about the fi lm under Right to Information Act to get the government to launch a fullfledged investigation. Dhumale has

finally been traced by the government with the help of police and claims that the fi lm will be released in “next two to four months”. He still hasn’t answered several questions raised by the government about the script and the star cast.

It all started in December 2001, when Commemoration Bureau under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture commissioned a fi lm on Lokmanya Tilak. A sum of Rs 1.25 crores was paid to Dhumale immediately as an

Saath Saath

When

HUNGER STRIKES past midnight

A family that prays together stays together. Pune’s joint families on why they agree to disagree

TGS takes a night trail around the city to look for places that will silence a grumbling tummy in the dark of night

The Kamdars

Run for…

yourself

Puneites are running to fight depression, lethargy, even physical disadvantage. Marathoners are taking over the street and making the city fitter than it has ever been

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PUNE

“ You are talking about ending reservations. We’ll increase the reservation percentage for different communities pro rent communities proportionate to their population.”

— Lalu Prasad, RJD Chief

‘60-70 per cent cases received

by NCW are from North’ Lot of complaints of violence against women come from Uttar Pradesh BENGALURU: National Commission for Women Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said about 60-70 per cent of cases that the commission gets were from north Indian states, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list.

“UP (Uttar Pradesh) is the state from where we get lot of complaints of violence against women,” she told reporters here in response to a question.

Lalitha She said Kumaramangalam “...after UP it is GurgaonHaryana, and from Delhi itself we get huge number of cases, also Rajasthan and Bihar.”

“About 60-70 per cent of cases are from these states which I have told you; this is a very conservative estimate,” she said adding that commission receives comparatively less complaints from the southern states.

Stating that the commission gets very few complaints from North Eastern states, Kumaramangalam said there may be an issue of accessibility also.

According to her, out of 200 odd complaints that the commission gets every day, 60-70 per cent of them are domestic violence related cases.

Responding to a question on performance of the states in response to the commission with the action taken reports, she said “In certain states we always get replys back, but the worst state is Uttar Pradesh. With 82 districts, we hardly get any replys.”

Stating that NCW had come out with a new way to address this, she said “....we have now initiated a new try sort of thing where we will work with the state authorities and come down to the state-more than one member depending on the size of the state and where ever possible include state

Odisha draws up five sub-schemes

commission also and try and do what is called Lok-adalats...”

Advocating for more powers to the NCW, Kumaramangalam said according to information that she has it was in the process of being finalised.

She said “What was being suggested is that the national commission for women will have the powers to search and seize, and ask for documents, and

also t o recommend arrest which will be mandatory....the others are all smaller administrative details.”

Asked by when she feel it would come into force, Kumaramangalam said “it is very difficult to put a time line, but I hope it will be done with in my term.”

Expressing her disappointment over delay in fi ling charge sheet in a sexual abuse case fi led by a woman against the seer of Ramachandrapur Mutt in Shimoga district where she was a singer, despite seeking Law Minister intervention, she said “Th is time I have received another complaint from much younger girl against the same swamiji.”

“I’m unable to understand why the police have not fi led the charge sheet after one year of fi rst complainant giving her complaint, and in this case it is almost a month....I hope they will fi le a charge sheet quickly,” she said. Stating that both women are “fearful” of their safety, Kumaramangalam said “In this case unfortunately political will does seem to be lacking.”

Kumarmangalam said she will also be writing to the Chief Minister and the Governor regarding these cases.

Noting both women were subjected to “two-finger test” which is now illegal, Kumaramangalam said “we will take up the issue and will seek action. I have asked both the complainants to give it in writing.”

PTI

Unplanned growth clouds city’s charms P 13

Sanitation plan falls short of targets

Audit conducted in eight districts of Rajasthan JAIPUR: Major gaps in the implementation of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) or Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in Rajasthan were noticed in the audit of Comptroller and Auditor General of India on local bodies.

Performance audit of the TSC was conducted in 8 districts of Banswara, Bhilwara, Churu, Jalore, Karauli, Sikar, Sriganganagar and Udaipur in which several gaps were found in implementation, revealed the CAG report which was tabled in the legislative assembly.

The report for the year ending March 31, 2014 said average shortfall in construction of toilets in schools in the eight districts was 50.21 per cent while overall shortfall in construction of toilets at Anganwadi centres was on an average 70.71 per cent.

Achievement in construction of toilets under individual household latrine (IHHL) was less than 50 per cent of the target.

On physical verification of 1309 IHHLs, about 46 per cent of constructed toilets were found not being used by beneficiaries though incentives were paid to them and 56

Average shortfall in toilets in schools was 50.21 per cent

GOLDEN JUBILEE OF 1965 WAR

Plan to empower the transgender community BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to empower the transgender community in Odisha, the state government has decided to implement five sub-schemes launched by the central government.

The sub-schemes will be implemented by the state government through its newly-created Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD).

The department has drafted a proposal for recognition of transgenders and subsequently providing them certificates as third gender.

The parents of every transgender will get a financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per month. For pre-matric scholarship (Class VIII to X) the day scholar will get Rs 150 and the hostelers Rs 350 for 10 months in a year.

Similarly, the transgender students will get monthly post-matric scholarship (XI and above) of Rs 550 for day scholar and Rs 1,200 for hosteler for 10 months and there is reimbursement of compulsory refundable fees during higher study, an official said.

For their skill development, Rs 15,000 will be given per transgender trainee for 200 hours of the course.

There will be 30 trainees in one batch.

The trainee will get stipend amounting to Rs 1,000 per month. They will get subsidy linked to loan at a maximum Rs 5 lakh to be an entrepreneur. There are also pension schemes for transgenders at Rs 1,000 per month, he said.

Welcoming the state government’s decision, the All-Odisha Eunuch Association (AOEA), which is fighting for the rights of 15,000 transgenders in Odisha also demanded immediate formation of a welfare board to focus on the development of the community.

“Our appeal before the state government is to provide homestead lands and houses for the transgender persons who have been deserted by their families,” said AOEA president Pratap Sahu.

Noting that the socio-economic condition of the transgenders in the state was very poor, Sahu said the association had already submitted a 15-point charter of demands for the development of eunuchs. While 3,000 transgender persons live in Berhampur town, their number in Bhubaneswar has been estimated to be 15,000, the association said.

PTI

per cent IHHLs were not connected with piped water supply.

Almost 36 per cent school toilets in Sikar, Churu and Sriganganagar were not being used as they were not connected with water supply, the report highlighted.

It was also noticed that irregular payment of Rs 14.43 crore was made to 62 NGOs for construction of 59,585 IHHLs in four districts during the year 200914, instead of direct payment of incentive to the beneficiaries.

In the audit of management of Panchayat land in 14 districts, it was found that no consolidated database was available in any of the test checked Gram Panchayat and such database was not maintained even at the state level. In the audit on economic sector for the year ending March 31, 2014, the report revealed that as against the approved relocation plan for 20 villages situated in critical tiger habitats of Ranthambhore and Sariska tiger reserves, only six were completely relocated and the remaining 14 villages were in the process of relocation.

PTI

A proposal has been drafted for recognition of transgenders

Students viewing a photo exhibition organised to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of 1965 war in Jalandhar on Tuesday

Return of ‘dead man’ spooks locals in outer Delhi NEW DELHI: In a bizarre case of mistaken identity, relatives of a 30-year-old man - who was reported missing for almost a month - cremated the body of another man, beaten to death by a mob after being caught during a theft, in outer Delhi’s Samaipur Badli area, police said.

It turned more bizarre when the missing man returned home nearly four weeks after the cremation and locals subjected him to almost an hourlong questioning to ensure that he was not “a ghost”, said a police officer.

The missing man and the deceased had striking similarities - a missing finger which tops the list, followed by a scar on his leg and overall similarities in facial features. The body was handed over to relatives following a proper identification process. According to police, locals in Samaipur Badli area had allegedly beaten to death a thief after he was caught redhanded and his accomplices managed to flee on August 27.

PTI

Now, a completely virtual Literature Festival NEW DELHI: In the age of social media, it is not surprising that a festival of literature has hopped on to the digital platform with Amazon partnering with Leapvault, a knowledge media fi rm, to announce today the fi rst virtual literary festival in India.

Called ‘Kindle LitFestX’, the

festival is scheduled from October 23 to November 1 and will see participation by authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Raghav Bahl, R A Mashelkar and Deepa Prahalad.

The event will leverage digital platforms including YouTube Live, Google Hangout, Facebook, Twitter, amongst others to offer an interactive

experience for readers and authors including book readings and virtual book launches. “The focus is to encourage and inspire readers and non-readers across geographies to read, discuss and debate on a common platform,” organisers said.

Sanjeev Jha, Director, Kindle Content, said, “Kindle LitFestX

celebrates the love of reading.” Kumaar Bagrodia, CEO, Leapvault, said he wanted to “create a platform that would provide an opportunity for people across India and abroad to get access to literary works and thinkers in a format that this generation understands and are comfortable with: digital and social.

PTI

Hooch crackdown lands 800 in hospital Vol-II* lssue No.: 15 Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867) Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed at PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411 030, Tel: 020-2432 4332/33.

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of people including women have been hospitalised in various districts of Telangana due to “withdrawal symptoms”, after government crackdown on illegal manufacturing of liquor and adulterated toddy, state officials said.

At last count, the number of those receiving treatment in districts of Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Nalgonda, topped 800 in the past two weeks, state Excise Enforcement Director Akun Sabharwal told PTI. Such cases have also been

reported in the districts of Medak and Karimnagar, besides neighbouring Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

Five deaths have been reported, but state officials have clarified that it is yet to be linked to complications associated with withdrawal symptoms, which had reportedly led to sudden change in their behaviour as well as “mental problems”.

“We are waiting for medical reports (on these deaths)... only after that the causes of deaths will be determined,” they said.

The trigger for withdrawal

symptoms that led to their hospitalisation was government action, stepping up drive to check mixing of some chemicals/drugs into liquor and toddy that gave the “drunkards” some type of kick.

The Prohibition and Excise Department over the past two weeks has intensified enforcement against manufacturing of ID (illicit distilled) liquor and adulterated toddy particularly in the districts of Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, and Nalgonda, among others, Principal Secretary Excise and Prohibition

Ajay Misra told PTI. “We are taking action against adulterated toddy and illicit liquor manufacturers, who mix different harmful chemicals with liquor. Cases are also being booked under relevant sections of NDPS Act,” Misra said.

The Department, which held meetings over the matter, has issued directions to all district Collectors to make necessary rehabilitation/ facilities in medical centres for those who reported withdrawal symptoms, he added.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

India taking to football in a big way P 14

PUNE

“The US would increase the number of worldwide refugees it will take in over the next two years. We are ready to help in dealing with the crisis.”

— John Kerry, US Secretary of State

US presses India to speed up economic reforms

BY Lalit K Jha WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday asked India to speed up the pace of economic reforms, with special emphasis on ease of doing business, as American Vice President Joe Biden underlined the need to do more to protect intellectual property and liberalise trade with shared rules of the road.

Biden, who described the first Strategic and Commercial Dialogue as beginning of a “new era” in the Indo-US ties, also sought greater cooperation on the issue of climate Joe Biden change which, he argued, would unleash a new era of economic growth in the two largest democracies of the world.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are representing India at the first India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue here.

“The rules of the road have to be universally followed.

So we need to see more reforms to protect intellectual property,” Biden said in his key note address to the 40th annual gala of US India Business

Council (USIBC).

“We have to ease limits on foreign investment and make it easier for businesses to sell their products and services in the marketplace. More bilateral trade in my humble opinion - it s for India to decide -- is in the overwhelming interest of both our countries. And that can only occur if we continue to liberalise trade with shared rules of the road,” he said.

“There is going to be some hard discussions here. This is difficult work,” Biden said.

“This, in my view, is a propitious moment for the US-India relationship.

We’re in a new era as we kick off the first Strategic and Commercial Dialogue between our two countries,” he added.

Swaraj said India offers immense opportunities and asked American companies for a massive investment in the country.

“We see business between our two countries not simply as transactions, but as yet another manifestation and another multiplier of that very important strategic convergence. We hope this will be reciprocated by the businesses,” she said.

In her address at the USIBC event, Swaraj said the US businesses are best placed to make their business decisions.

“We have plans to boost urbanisation and we are determined to provide affordable power and housing for all. We want to connect

PTI

American Vice President Joe Biden underlined the need to do more to protect intellectual property and liberalise trade

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (second from left) said India offers immense opportunities and asked American companies for a massive investment in the country

manufacturing in India with global supply chains and target to develop product based and service based industrial and governance platforms around Digital India,” she said.

All of these initiatives and plans present real commercial and business opportunities for the US industry to partner with Indian public and private sector, and with a larger economy for a win-win outcome, she added.

“The business of diplomacy in India’s present government is business.

The government’s priority from day one has been to make it easy to do business in India - and with India,” Swaraj said. .

SWINGING ALONG FOR THE OKTOBERFEST PTI

People enjoy a swing ride at the opening day of the 182nd Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany. The world’s largest beer festival will be held from September 19 to October 4, 2015

While the two nations need to stand together on counter- terrorism and countering violent extremism, the “definitional issue of our time is” climate change, Biden said.

Secretary of State John Kerry echoed Biden, saying “We have entered a new era marked by a rapidly developing network of commercial ties, a deep well of affection that is growing between our two peoples, and a genuine warmth at the highest level.”

Describing climate change as a great challenge, Kerry expressed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to help India’s economy become more reliant on renewable

Bangla court indicts 13 people for lynching teenager DHAKA: Thirteen people were charged by a Bangladeshi court in the brutal lynching of a 13-year-old boy that provoked a national outrage after a video of him being tortured went viral.

Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Akbor Hossain Mridha framed charges against the 13 accused, including main suspect Kamrul Islam who fled to Saudi Arabia, and said that trial will begin on October 1 by recording statements of the witnesses.

Prosecutor Mokur Ali said that the statements of the witnesses will be recorded till October 15, the Daily Star reported. The boy, Samiul Islam Rajon, died of internal bleeding, after being tortured by a group of persons over an allegation of stealing a bicycle in the northeastern city of Sylhet on July 8. Following a police probe, the allegation was found to be untrue.

One of the accused filmed the entire incident of thrashing the boy using a mobile phone camera and uploaded it on Internet which went viral. The 28-minute video in which the boy was seen crying and pleading to the attackers not to beat him stunned the nation.

PTI

sources of power.

“It is absolutely critical in the end on pure economic terms, but it’s also smart politically, because a recent survey reported that 73 per cent of Indians view climate change as the most pressing global concern,” he said.

“I believe that each of our countries this is really an historic mark and moment, because each of our countries came from the same colonial background. Each of our countries is ethnically and culturally diverse, and each is a labourer for peace, and each seeks a world in which the light of the human spirit overcomes darkness,” Kerry said.

“And although differences of ideology have separated us in the past, we are in the end, and I think that’s what brings you here, the most natural of partners,” he said.

In her address, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker called for taking actions to address the impediments to growth faced by the businesses and economies of the two countries.

“Prime Minister Modi has publicly committed to moving India into the top 50 of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings. Improving contract enforcement and modernising bankruptcy practices are central elements to achieving that ambition,” she said. Today, the World Bank ranks India 186 out of 189 countries on the ease of enforcing contracts.

In fact, it can take years to resolve a contractual dispute with a vendor in India, and terms are too frequently reinterpreted after a deal has closed.

These challenges make it incredibly costly and unpredictable to do business in India, and only serve to impede the operations and investments of Indian and foreign firms alike, she said. “To address these issues, teams from the US and India will work together to share best practices and speed up the enforcement process,” she said.

PTI

India’s fears on Silk Road projects allayed

BY VS Chandrasekar BEIJING: China on Tuesday dismissed any apprehensions in India on its ambitious multi-billion dollar Silk Road projects stretching across continents to build infrastructure and improve connectivity with the avowed aim of expansion of trade and development.

It also sought to assure India that there are benefits for countries joining the projects envisaged under the One Belt and One Road (OBOR) unveiled

by President Xi Jinping two years ago.

“There are some media which say China is in an expansion mode and damaging the world. The key objective of OBOR is to share benefits with all countries involved with China, the second largest economy in the world,” Liu Yunshan, the fifth ranking member of the powerful Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) said.

He was answering a question on apprehensions in India about the OBOR projects that they may undermine India’s strategic economic

and security interests.

Strategic experts in India are divided with some favouring that it should join the projects to reap the benefits while others view them with suspicion.

The OBOR comprises the entire periphery of the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, and also that seeks to connect the east with the west through the central Asian region.

Liu was interacting with a select group of top editors from international news organisations which had come to participate in the media cooperation forum on the OBOR organised by CPC’s organ, People’s Daily, the largest Chinese newspaper.

The meeting was held at the Great Hall of the People. India has not officially commented on the OBOR. Replies to questions in Parliament always elicited the line that India has taken note of it. India is silent on the implementation of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) in the Indian Ocean region.

PTI

Mogens Lykketoft took charge as the President of the 70th session of the General Assembly last week

BY Yoshita Singh UNITED NATIONS: The intergovernmental negotiating text on UN Security Council reforms carried into the current General Assembly session cannot be seen as a conclusive model for a reformed Council, Assembly’s new President Mogens Lykketoft has said, a remark that may not go well with India.

Lykketoft also did not promise any set date for completing the process.

“What we have from last Monday is a roll over of the work done by the facilitator. Of course that is not any kind of conclusions of models and I am not going to try on my own to make that conclusion,” Lykketoft told reporters here in his first formal briefing after taking charge as the President of the 70th session of the General Assembly last week.

The decision last week was welcomed by India for a permanent seat in the revamped world body.

India has been insisting on a speedy process to complete the reforms.

Lykketoft said the Assembly’s adoption of the negotiating text and decision to continue intergovernmenta l negotiations in the current session represents a “strong demand from vast majority of member states of the UN that there should be a reform of some kind reflecting the geopolitical realities of the 21st century.”

“It is obvious what the problems

are... I hope that the process can be continued,” he said.

When asked if he has any date in mind, Lykketoft said, “I would not promise that. You know how many years it (UNSC reform process) has been ongoing already,” he added.

The General Assembly had last week adopted by consensus the text on Security Council, setting the stage for negotiations on the long-pending issue of Security Council reform in the current session.

India has been a leading voice in the UN to commencing th the process of Security Council reform on the basis of a negotiating text. It feels the reform process cannot go on indefinitely and should be completed during the landmark 70th anniversary of the UN.

India says reform process should be completed in 70 anniversary

Last week, on assuming his new role, Lykketoft from Denmark had vowed to continue the work of his predecessor Sam Kutesa on UN Security Council reforms.

“I will follow the track laid out by my predecessor and the work done by the Jamaican Ambassador Courtenay Rattray, which was rolled over yesterday to the General Assembly session.

“I will not take stake or point out a specific outcome but I will certainly try to help the process that was started in the 69th session to continue on the basis of the work done there,” he had said.

Kutesa achieved a breakthrough in the long-pending UNSC reform process when the Assembly adopted by consensus on September 14 a negotiating document, setting the stage for talks to commence on the basis of the text for the first time in the seven years of the InterGovernmental process.

PTI

PTI

‘UNGA decision on UNSC reforms is not conclusive model’

(From left) United Nations General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft, SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon, his wife Yoo Soon-taek, Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall and Herbie Hancock pose for a picture at United Nations headquarters. They were all participating in an event to mark the International Day of Peace

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

PUNE

MONEY MATT ER S

“The Congress is trying to delay the new tax regime.

But one must remember, it is a transactional tax and not an income tax.”

— Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister

Signposts

“India market is second home market to Gionee after China and the investment in India manufacturing is just another step in a line up of much more to come for the Indian market and customers.”

— William Lu, President, Gionee Global

Procurement, finance top India graft chart Rampant corruption has led to a significant increase in the cost of goods and services, reveals an international survey that covered French companies

Bestdealfinance raises USD 3 million Online marketplace for financial products Bestdealfinance has raised USD three million in its first strategic round (series-A) of funding. The funding was led by Kalaari Capital with participation from YourNest Angel Fund, Globvestor and Dexter Angel Circle, the company said. Bestdealfinance provides a technology enabled end-to-end solution that addresses loan needs of individuals and micro, small and medium enterprises.

This funding will enable Bestdealfinance to further accelerate growth and invest in technology infrastructure, people and customer support, it said. Founded in February 2015, the company claims it has disbursed over Rs 150 crore worth of loans, empanelled over 1,000 business associates and has customer base of over 9,400 registered users. Bestdealfinance has partnered with over 40 financial institutions.

PTI

Muthoot Fincorp to recycle 80 kg gold

by March-end With the government notifying the gold monetisation scheme last week, Kerala-based Muthoot Pappachen Group has set itself a target of processing 80 kg jewellery by March next year and 200 kg by March 2017.

The company, which opened its fi rst Gold Point in Mumbai today, has already recycled 45 kg gold at its three centres - Coimbatore, Chennai and Delhi.

The 128-year-old company runs gold recycling business under Muthoot Gold Point, an arm of its flagship Muthoot Fincorp.

The Mumbai centre is the fourth Gold Point and the company plans to open three more by the end of current financial year and take the number to 17 by the next fiscal.

“We will be opening three more Muthoot Gold Points this year in Andhra, Telengana and Gujarat/ Rajasthan. With these seven centres, we hope to recycle at least 80 kg of gold jewellery. Our objective is to recycle 200 kg by next fiscal year end,” Muthoot Fincorp executive director Thomas Muthoot told PTI. As per the World Gold Council, gold recycling is very low in the country with about a paltry 0.5 per cent of total stock of gold of around 22,000 tonne recycled annually. Keyur Shah, chief executive of Muthoot Precious Metals, an arm of Muthoot Fincorp, said most of the 45 kg of recycling has been done at the Coimbatore centre, which was set up six months ago.

PTI

The procurement department is the biggest source of fraud in French companies operating in India, followed by the finance section, leading to an increase in the overall cost of doing business in the country, according to an international survey.

A survey among French companies operating in the country has also found that around 66 per cent respondents believe that this market demonstrates an imbalanced economic development, and 62 per cent of them say corruption has led to increase in the cost of goods and services.

The survey, conducted by EY Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said 70 per cent respondents cited purchasing department as having the highest risk function within a fi rm and being the most susceptible to bribes and kickbacks.

According to data from the French embassy, there are currently 1,051 French establishments linked to around 400 main companies present in

Bajaj Allianz Life settles 98 per cent of claims Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance said it has settled 98.45 per cent of the claims during the June quarter of the fiscal and paid out over Rs 151 crore to the beneficiaries.

Of the total 29,900 notified claims received during the three-month period, 29,437 (constituting 98.45 pc) were settled, the private life insurer said. The company paid claims to the tune of Rs 151.33 crore during the period, individual and group put together, as against Rs 170.52 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, it said in a statement here.

The company achieved the average turnaround time of just 11 days from the date of notification, as against 16 days last year.

PTI

India.

In addition, there are 180 independent French businessmen with their offices here.

“The finance department ranks the second with 14 per cent of respondents stating this function is also vulnerable due to the access they are granted,” Antoinette GutierrezCrespin, partner, Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, EY France, told PTI here today.

It may be recalled that India ranks amongst the lowest, out of 184 countries, in a World Bank list on ease of doing business.

Around 56 per cent of those

India haven for gem trade: De Beers De Beers, the world’s largest diamond miner, sees the industry’s biggest opportunity in India, with its burgeoning economy and emerging middle class.

“Already one of the world’s largest markets for diamond jewellery, the growth of the middle class in India over the next decade is set to make a major contribution to growing diamond demand,” according to De Beers Group of Companies’ Diamond Insight Report 2015.

The diamond industry fundamentals support the long-term confidence in the sector as India presents further growth opportunity, it said.

Indian HR leaders foresee workforce rise Th ings seem to be progressing for human resources professionals in India, as most of HR leaders expect their workforce to increase over the next one year while 45 per cent of the organisations have also increased their recruitment budget, says a report.

According to latest findings of recruitment fi rm Michael Page, about 66 per cent of Indian HR leaders expect their workforce to increase over the next 12 months.

I n comparison, less than half of the HR managers around the world feel that there would be hiring in their profession.

T h e s u r v e y covers over 2,500 HR managers from various organisations ranging from SMEs to bluechip brands in a crosssection of industries across 65 countries.

I nt e r e s t i n g l y, 45 per cent of organisations in India have increased their

surveyed believed they faced losses in business due to unethical practices by competitors, while 62 per cent said third-parties present the biggest risk of bribery and corruption, 24 per cent held the management responsible for such risks.

Similarly, 44 per cent rated obtaining permissions as a source of corruption.

“France and India have very strong business ties and this is visible through significant investments being made in India. Operating in an environment outside one’s own geography does come with a few challenges. However, there are positive ways to overcome these challenges if both parties work together,” said Gutierrez-Crespin.

“Bribery and corruption concerns have risen to the forefront globally, and enhancement of regulations, enforcement and compliance are driving a changed mentality within the corporate world. India is charting a renewed course as well, as displayed through the findings,” she said.

PTI

recruitment budget as against 27 per cent fi rms globally.

Besides, more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of senior HR leaders in India directly report to the highest levels of management, while the global average stands at 63 per cent.

With 12 per cent Indian organisations listing diversity and inclusion as a priority, globally the figure stands at 4 per cent only.

“The Indian HR ecosystem has progressed from using diversity as a mere buzzword to factoring it in as a prerequisite to overall business success,” the report said.

It also obs er v e d that “from being regarded mainly as an administrative function few years ago, HR is becoming a strategic partner, aligned ever more closely with the business and focused on recruiting, developing and managing talent.”

PTI

“The challenges faced by the sector in 2015 are expected to be short-term and the industry has excellent prospects.

The long-term trend for demand has been positive, with consistent growth in demand for diamond jewellery since the 2008/9 financial crisis. There are also further exciting growth opportunities in the main consumer markets and India is a great example of this,” De Beers Group CEO Philippe Mellier said.

As many as 75 million new Indian households are expected to see income rise above USD 5,000-6,000 in the decade.

PTI

BSE monitoring Amtek; seeks reply on payment default Troubled Amtek Auto, which reportedly defaulted on its Rs 800-crore foreign currency bonds, today informed stock exchanges that it is in advanced discussions with various banks and financial institutions to meet its debt obligations.

“We wish to clarify that the company is in advanced discussions with various banks and financial institutions for realignment of its debt obligations,” Amtek informed BSE and NSE in separate letters.

“We assure that if any positive development takes place, the same will be intimated to the exchange as per the requirement of the listing agreement,” it added.

Amtek also said it was not aware of any information that has not been announced to the exchanges which could explain movement of the share price.

The clarification came after NSE and BSE shot off letters to Amtek seeking clarification on media reports that the fi rm was in talks with banks to find a solution to its financial crisis otherwise it will not be able to service its Rs 8,000 crore loans. The company stock plunged 20 per cent intra-day on the BSE and settled at Rs 45.95, down 11.46 per cent. BSE said it is closely monitoring Amtek Auto and sought clarifications on reported default of Rs 800 crore foreign currency bonds. “The exchange is monitoring the situation closely and would be seeking further details from the company,” a BSE spokesperson told PTI.

FINANCIAL CORNER

Fundamentals for budding start-ups

BY SARANSH DEY @Casaransh Starting business has become easier and alluring in the current economic environment than in the past.

Start-ups are now considered a destination for any graduate and have become more desirable than an MNC job. But it is challenging to make a start-up work. Here are some basic challenges that start-up founders can face during the initial period and proposed solutions.

The biggest task in establishing a business is getting aligned with your co-founders on goals. Start-ups are generally launched nowadays with co-founders. They may be co-workers, friends or family members. The moment your idea starts picking momentum, co-founders may disagree to a decided course of action and the rift could cause a major business setback.

One can avoid this situation by identifying the roles of each co-founder in the initial days itself.

There is always one co-founder who contributes more to the vision than others. This role needs to be recognised and agreed to by other co-founders. And putting the way forward plan on paper in the beginning will check all stakeholders from deviation, an essential factor for successful business.

Another way of tackling this is by setting up a guidance committee or core committee. It can consist of key employees or professional experts or business well-wishers. Presenting the problem to the panel and taking their advice can give a new perspective to entrepreneurs.

Another must for start-ups is financial discipline. Concentrating on financial matters becomes difficult when entrepreneurs are busy devel-

oping the idea. My observation with start-ups is that most of its unplanned expenditure happens during the initial days. Losing out on hard-earned corpus can bleed the business.

The best way to avoid this lapse is to have a very strong finance head.

And the person need not be an employee. He or she could be a parent, an external professional or a friend. The person needs to be an independent thinker who is not influenced by your enthusiasm and idea. This person’s only role would be to ask questions for every expenditure made.

Another problem with most startups is heavy capital expenditure in early days of incubation. Most of them easily spend on office space, servers that are purchased with capacity that would support the full scale of business. My suggestion would be to start with rental space, rental equipment and bare minimum expenditure. Most start-ups calculate the cost of rental and how a 12-month rental could cover the purchase cost of equipment.

But taking things on rental are a stop trigger decision.

Changing or stopping operations are easier in rental decisions. Controlling capital expenditure can ensure that you are not heavily invested in the idea till you have tested its mettle.

Manpower retention is another cause for concern. With start-up scene picking up, it has become very expensive to retain talent. In a hurry to retain or attract talent, start-ups offer unreasonably high salaries to talent leading to heavy load on running costs.

If a talent is costing you too much it would be wiser to hire a consultant with limited hours dedicated to your business with an airtight non-disclosure agreement. Remember, always have a Plan B for every cost you are planning to commit. Your idea is supreme in running a start-up. However, do not forget the age-old practice of working within constraints. Any business demands financial discipline and only a founder can provide it. saransh@goldensparrow.com

Sebi fines PACL Rs 7,269 crore

Firm was asked to refund Rs 49,100 crore last year In its biggest ever fine, regulator Sebi imposed a penalty of Rs 7,269.5 crore on PACL Ltd and its four directors for illegal and fraudulent mobilisation of funds from the public, saying the company deserves “maximum penalty” for such large-scale duping of the common man.

The penalty follows another order

by Sebi last year wherein PACL was asked to refund Rs 49,100 crore it had collected through illicit schemes over a 15-year period.

The refund order was also upheld last month by the Securities Appellate Tribunal, where PACL had fi led an appeal.

In its latest order today, Sebi said that PACL made huge illegal mobilisation of money, leading to consequent profit to the tune of over Rs 2,423 crore in a short span of less than one year.

In a strong-worded order, Sebi said, “Keeping in view the entire facts and circumstances of the case... there can not be a better case than this which deserves the maximum penalty”.

Seeking to send a strong message to the securities market at large that such violations would not be viewed lightly, Sebi said, “In the recent past, the country has suffered a lot in the hands of entities who indulge in such illegal

money mobilisation under various schemes, wherein hard earned money of the common man has been duped”.

“Thus, imposition of deterrent penalty is the need of the hour,” Sebi said, while adding that its Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Regulations provide for “severe to severe penalties” for dealing with such violations.

Under Sebi norms, it can impose a penalty of Rs 25 crore or three times of the profit made by indulging in fraudulent and unfair trade practices and in the present case the regulator has imposed a fine equivalent to three times of the illicit gains.

Sebi said that its probe revealed that PACL and its four directors — Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Subrata Bhattacharya -- had mobilised funds from the general public through illicit collective investment schemes.

PACL and its directors have been told to pay the amount to Sebi within 45 days. The company was running a land purchase scheme, where it was raising money from public to buy land.

In the guise of selling agricultural land, it collected Rs 49,100 crore from 5.85 crore customers over a period of 15 years.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

“Due to lack of assured power supply, most are forced to generate it using DG sets. The cost of diesel and maintenance for generating electricity using DG sets comes to around Rs 14 per unit which is very high.”

— Vivek Velankar, civic activist

“The legal wing has said that police cases should not be filed against schools violating the RTE Act. Rather, the department should file ‘contempt of court’ against these schools.”

— Mahavir Mane, Director, State Education Department

Better public services are essential for a smart city

Pune has made it to the smart city league, but it still lags behind in terms of quality of life. Basic public services and infrastructure have failed to keep pace with the burgeoning population

A

recent seminar that involved prominent personalities, focused on the challenges Pune faces en route to becoming a smart city and the solutions to the same.

But is Pune really going to become a smart city? The city clearly lags behind when Anu Pillai it comes to developmenta l planning and infrastructure.

People keep migrating here for jobs and education, but what about the quality of life? No doubt the city has been booming with townships, IT parks, malls, automobile showrooms and educational institutes, but these don’t mean that the city is developing.

The standard of life a city provides to its inhabitants is what determines if a city is growing and developing in a smart way.

The term smart city defines a city that is self sufficient, well equipped, with all necessary infrastructure, from water to public transport, environment to education, and not only for the current population, but for the future

generations to come. Pune has a water crisis, frequent power cuts, traffic problems, bad roads, and many more issues.

We need to understand the problems fi rst. Our civic leaders and administrative officers travel to developed countries and observe the means they have used to tackle their problems. But they have always failed in providing solutions or implementing them. Our system itself needs to be changed.

All the problems which we are facing today, every city of the world has gone through, be it garbage, traffic or water, but then they have had responsible organisations to deal with them.

The bodies which control development and infrastructure like water, power and communication of Pune city and surrounding areas should

take steps for the city’s development.

The concerned officials of the organisations should have individual development plans of their own and execute them. These organisations collect taxes from residents for the infrastructure they are supposed to be providing. But they all have failed in their duties.

We have MSEB or MSEDCL for power, BSNL for telephones and other private players for mobile services. We have PMPML for public transport, we have water supply in fringe areas with Jeevan Pradhikaran, and roads in fringe areas are being done by Zilla Parishad, which are supposed to be in tune with municipal corporation development plans. And lastly, the water supply of the municipal corporations is governed by the irrigation department and the organisations are at loggerheads over the exact volume of water supplied.

Th is is just the tip of the iceberg; there are many other issues which remain unaddressed, like public health, education, public safety or security as well art, sports and biodiversity, which we never take into account when we use the term infrastructure.

CITIZEN JOURNALIST

Pune must live up to its potential Overcrowding in the streets is causing an outbreak of lawless and dangerous behaviour among the road-users

P

une has developed into an overcrowded city with too many people, and too many vehicles, and the sorry result is that a lot of people now do not care a whit for

LETTERS TO THE

EDITOR

obeying rules. The streets, therefore, are generally in a state of chaos, with long lines of stalled traffic, and vehicle users running red lights, using one ways in the wrong direction, Ruchita Puranik riding over the pavements, while the pedestrians cross busy streets scampering about through

nose-to-tail traffic.

I have lived in many other cities, and therefore, I think I am qualified to comment about the state of affairs in Pune, having also lived here for some time. It is extremely sad that a city with so much potential is falling behind in so many ways. And the main reason is the blatant disregard for rules and regulations, which amounts to anti-social behaviour. Th is law-

breaking on the roads can have serious and even fatal consequences. The lawbreakers seem to completely disregard their own and others’ safety. It is the kind of behaviour one does not expect from a civilised population.

More stringent rules should be implemented and the person who break road rules should be fined heavily. Only when the authorities start fining will people follow traffic rules,

NON-NATIVE

PAROLE

Unplanned growth clouds city’s charms

In the last decade, Pune has grown in leaps and bounds but this growth has taken a toll on its environment

I

came down to Pune in 2006. It was then known for its pleasant climate.

Th is has changed over the years, and it is not as pleasant today.

But it is a place that suits me fine and I think it offers all the features of a big city while retaining the flavor of a small city.

Sheryl Nam I am passionate about horses and riding and the Japalouppe equestrian centre in Talegaon Dabhade and the Pune Race Course are my favourite places. They also have a great atmosphere which is calm and tranquil amidst the bustle of the city.

We get our groceries from Dorabjees and vegetables from Shivaji Market.

The restaurants in Koregaon Park are also favourites of ours with their global cuisine.

What we have noticed in or time here is that Pune needs organised and programmed development. We need better road discipline. In the growing congestion and unplanned development, a lot of the city’s charms are getting lost.

Pune needs to focus on pedestrian safety and it needs more footpaths and walking areas. Two-wheelers on footpaths are an ugly development which we see often.

The city’s leaders must deal with the traffic and infrastructure issues. There are more vehicles on the road every year and commuting is a serious problem. Along with bad roads, the traffic management is poor too. It is an issue, which people have been discussing for ages now, so there doesn’t seem to be much point in me going on about it.

Pune still has a lot going for it and it can still be a lovely place to live in.

and the roads will become much safer.

The conclusion is that the modern way of life has put everyone in such a tearing hurry, that good sense or common sense is now completely forgotten, and hooliganism is the order of the day. What’s remarkable is that this is no restricted to the young ones, but grey-haired people and even women are indulging in rude acts freely and openly. I am sure that commuting would be far less taxing and more comfortable if everyone was to follow the rules scrupulously.

I wonder how much the civic authorities are to blame for the congestion, chaos and lawlessness.

The traffic police and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) must adopt

stringent measures to ensure discipline among road-users, but they should also provide better infrastructure in the form of better roads and such.

Aside from this, Pune is a happening place, and one can get one’s fi ll of music, movies, theatre, shopping, and cultural events. There is so much diversity and the city has interesting things around every nook and corner.

The weather is good almost all year round and the environment is still pleasant despite the growing pollution.

The young population and people from all corners of the world make it also a rich mix of cultures.

It is a city with great potential and I hope that it lives up to it in the times to come.

FROM FOREIGN

SHORES

The lessons to be learnt from the drought situation positive sign that some of the young generation are taking up causes for the betterment of society. These youngsters seem to have their hearts and heads in the right place and it is really inspiring that they will devote their time and energy to such selfless causes. We need more such youngsters who can use their creative side to improve the lot of those who are not so well off. These children are to be lauded for their efforts and I think that their parents also need to be give the credit for bringing them up with the conscientious awareness that enable them to spread a little joy by what they do.

-Rajiv Sahane

The article highlighting the plight of farmers in the drought-affected regions of Maharashtra was timely.

The human race is still completely dependent on nature’s bounty for its very survival. All our technology is of not much use when the rains play truant, the farming lands are parched and the dam waters dry up. We may be thinking that we have made nature our slave and therefore we can do just what we want to. But in the headlong rush for development, we must not denude the land of vegetation. And having a car for every one is good but the carbon emissions mean that we are polluting the very air we breathe and fi lling it with toxins that are sure to take their toll on human health.

And if there is no water supply, are we all going to buy bottled water? How many can afford it? The farmers who

PUNE

have migrated to the city in search of work and money to feed themselves are fi nding it hard to make ends meet. And the conditions they are forced to live in are terrible indeed. I wonder what the government can do to alleviate their hardships. As it is, the most number of farmer suicides are in Maharashtra. I hope that the recent spate of rain will lift the gloom somewhat and that there is a ray of hope for the drought-hit people.

-Sujata Jateh

The joys of helping those in need The Utopia initiative is truly praiseworthy and it is even more heartening that the young generation is involved. In today’s age when there are so many distractions, it is a

All students must be treated as equals The DIAT is an institute that should be above such things as discrimination against civilian students and depriving them of their rightful stipends and allowances. It is even more surprising that the institute authorities are ignoring the students’ concerns and do not even provide them the answers to their queries.

Probably the students are left with no option but to resort to protests and a strike. The situation has been going on for quite a while and it is inexplicable why the management cannot resolve the issues by providing the students clear-cut answers over why there are the fi nancial discrepancies. It is not justified that the stand-off should continue as it is sure to take a toll on

the students’ studies as well as putting this institution in an unsavoury light.

-Suhana Jaiswal

on how they go about doing their jobs.

No city is safe, not even Pune

Curbing crime, the CCTV way

The murder of a senior citizen in a Viman Nagar housing society highlights the vulnerability of the weaker sections of society. It also shows that Pune is home to a large and growing population of the criminallyminded who will stoop to any inhuman level for the sake of material gain. No matter how much security housing societies employ, there are lots of desperate people who will fi nd a way to breach it, and prey on such elderly victims. It also means that the security staff at housing societies must do their jobs far more scrupulously and screen every outsider who enters the society for their credentials and purpose of visit. Pune is growing helter-skelter and no one knows how many of the citizens make their living by all sorts of criminal activity. After all, when there are so many jobless and vagrant people around, who have no regular sources of income, it is to be expected that they will resort to such brutal crimes to satisfy their daily needs. Imagine losing your life for just a lakh of rupees! But the truth is that there are lots of people who will mug you and cut your throat for even a fraction of that. The only way we can protect ourselves is to always be vigilant and never make the mistake of leaving one’s fl at door one, which

CCTV cameras installed at strategic locations seem to be the answer to curb the growing incidence of crime, and also trace the criminals, as the case of the Deccan Gymkhana police station nabbing the culprits of car theft in a short time after the crime was committed shows. There are not enough police persons to be present in every nook and corner of the city at all times, and therefore, the CCTV cameras are the unseen eye that will capture any incidents of crime and wrong-doing. CCTVs are indispensable and they are essential at housing societies, school/college campuses, corporate establishments, shopping centres, malls, banks etc.

More culprits nabbed this way will deter other criminals from misdeeds and make the city safer for lawabiding citizens.

-Ashwin Solanki

-Ruchita Bolari

is an open invitation for someone to take advantage of the lapse. Every housing society must have CCTV cameras installed and even the city police could lend a helping hand by patrolling these areas. All that talk of Pune being the safest city in the country is meaningless.

-Jignesh Shoka

The PMC should adopt modern technology The Pune Municipal Corporation should make use of modern technology and computerisation to keep tabs on the green cover in the city, and how many trees are to be trimmed and how many to be felled.

Green cover is essential if we are to preserve the city’s environment and people cutting down trees under the guise of trimming them is really a travesty. If the PMC is unable to regulate the trimming of trees, it is better not to think about what happen when it is dealing with more vital issues concerning the citizens. It just proves that PMC departments and all its staff are prone to take the easy way out as who is there to question them

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, editor_tgs@gmail.com or mailed to The Editor, Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

PUNE

SPORTS

“Sometimes I feel very upset. Some of the referees and judges do not favour me but I don’t mind. Okay I am from North East, no problem, but I am still an Indian.”

— MC Mary Kom, Olympic bronze medalist boxer

Signposts State eves beat Gujarat by seven wickets Maharashtra scripted a seven-wicket win over Gujarat in the women’s under-17 zonal cricket tournament at Rajkot recently. In a low-scoring match, Gujarat posted 98 runs after batting first. Krutika Choudhari was the top scorer with 25 runs. For Maharashtra, Maya Sonawane impressed with a four-wicket haul. In reply, Maharashtra attained the required target, losing just three wickets. An unbeaten 58-run partnership between Priyanka Ghodke (31) and Tejal Hasabnis (38) secured four points for the state team.

Pune Warriors, Sangavi FC seal semi-final spot Pune Warriors and Sangavi FC registered thrilling wins to qualify for the semi-finals in the II and III-Division sections of the 20th Kishorilal Pardeshi Football Tournament at the PDFA ground, Dombarwadi. The clash between Sangavi FC and Nav Maharashtra was nail-bitingly close. While Sangavi FC took the lead through Nikhil Shinde in the 21st minute, Nav Maharashtra equalised fifteen minutes later through Gitesh Pardeshi. With both sides stuck in a deadlock in regulation time, in the ensuing penalty shoot-out, Sangavi FC triumphed 4-3 after conversions from Nikhil Mayane, Chei Gurang, Smitesh Bhatt and Nikhil Nair. Earlier, Pune Warriors beat Finiq FC 2-1 thanks to goals from Jeet Singh and Aniket Bharsakale, to book their place in the last four.

Pune paddlers, a force to reckon with

New generation of players continue city’s rich table tennis tradition with winning ways

ASHISH PHADNIS @TGSWeekly Once upon a time Pune city was home to legendary table tennis stars like Sujay Ghorpade, Sunil Babras, Kishor Ghorpade and Jayant Thatte, who made their mark at state, national and even international arenas.

A few years ago, Ashlesha Bodas, Aniket Koparkar, Sanmay Paranjape and Martand Biniwale were city paddlers who stole the national spotlight, and Divya Deshpande was among the top five women paddlers for a long time.

Another lot of city paddlers is now emerging, who, experts feel, have what it takes to reach the limelight. They include three city paddlers who emerged winners in the recently concluded state ranking table tennis tournament, and Chinmay Datar who bagged a double crown in the previous tournament.

Pune District Table Tennis Association secretary Uday Bhalchandra said, “Earlier we did not have quality coaches, and therefore lagged behind Thane and Mumbai, which had a wider base of players and enough coaches. But

Ten CEOs complete cycle expedition Ten members of Chrysalis Entrepreneur Forum (CEF), who are also CEOs of reputed companies in Pune, completed a tough cycle expedition of 550 km (altitude 18,500 ft) from Manali to Leh to Khardung La in ten days. This is the third year in row that such adventurous expeditions have been completed by the CEF members. World Record skydiving in Spain and biking from Kanyakumari to Kashmir were the other expeditions by CEF.

““What mistake all of us make when we are talking about a particular cricketer is that we say they are trying too much, the control is not there, there is no patience.”

—Ravichandran Ashwin, Indian bowler

Aneeha D’Souza

Defending champs Pune FC juniors start with a 9-1 bang

“Young players play freely without crumbling under pressure.”

- Madhukar Lonare, coach

A file photo of Prutha Vartikar

the situation has changed. Now we have playersturned coaches like Bhushan Thakur, Ajay Sidhaye and Deepti Chaphekar, who run table tennis academies across the city.”

The five local clubs that have been granted temporary affi liations by the association recently, include Vibrant Club, Baner (Deepak Kadam), Creative Foundation, Narayan Peth (Satyajeet Shinde), Sanmitra Sangh, Kothrud (Rohit Choudhari), PYC (Parag Mokashi) and AIMS, Aranyeshwar (Neeraj Honap). These clubs will add significantly to the number of players, especially in the cadet and sub junior categories, Bhalchandra said.

has shown impressive consistency. The pint-sized paddler who has won every district title, has now even claimed state titles.

She claimed the midget girls’ title, beating second seed Arya Songadkar of Thane in straight games 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, at the recently concluded 5th State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Dombivli.

“She has the potential to shine at the national level, but she is still too young. We are focusing on district and state tournaments which she has been dominating,” said Lonare.

Ankita Patwardhan is another paddler, who has proved to be a giant killer in district tournaments. She outplayed fi fth seed Samruddhi Kulkarni of Solapur in the quarterfinal, and in the semis, top seed Manushree Patil of Mumbai conceded the match due to a back injury. Ankita went on to claim the state title, beating third seed Aditi Sinha 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9.

Ankita was joined by city-mate Aneeha D’Souza in the title spree, won the cadet girls’ category, defeating fi fth seed Bhavika Moolrajani of Thane 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 in the final. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE Senior technical official and coach Madhukar Lonare said, “Young players like Prutha Vartikar, Aneeha D’Souza and Neel Muley play freely without crumbling under pressure. They don’t seem to bother about scoring points, but truly enjoy just playing the game. They take on renowned opponents fearlessly, which makes them strong contenders for titles.”

Lonare’s ward, nine-year-old Prutha Vartikar

Vaishnavi claims all-India crown

India taking to football in a big way Acclaimed striker Adrian Mutu believes that football will eclipse cricket in popularity in times to come

The Under-17 squad thrashes Gujarat team at the 13th Administrator’s Challenge Cup tournament in Chandigarh Defending champions Pune FC Under-17 opened their campaign in the 13th Administrator’s Challenge Cup tournament with a 9-1 thrashing of the Gujarat State Football Association team at the Sector-17 Football Ground in Chandigarh.

The big win was powered by five goals from striker Lalawmpuia (14th, 30th, 36th, 56th & 61st minutes) who was supported well by playmaker Omega Vanlalhruiatluanga (33rd & 35th minutes), Sachin K (25th minute) and Buanthanglun Samte (76th minute).

Playing their third tournament of the season, Pune FC got off to a poor start after conceding a goal in the 12th minute due to a defensive lapse. However, they bounced back quickly and pulled level around the quarter hour mark as Lalawmpuia shot home into the top-right corner of the opponents’ net.

Ten minutes later, medio Sachin doubled the lead after a good move down the right

flank, before Lalawmpuia made it three at the half hour mark.

In the final ten minutes of the half, Pune FC struck three more times beginning with playmaker Omega’s brace after good work by Lalawmpuia and Lalrinawma.

Striker Lalawmpuia then made it a tennis scoreline when he fi red home a rebound off Buanthanglun’s shot in the 36th minute.

Pune FC took their massive six-goal lead into the breather.

The second half was a similar story as Pune FC continued to dominate. However, with GSFA defending deep to avoid further damage, Pune FC had to wait until the 56th minute to increase their lead. Once again it was Lalawmpuia who tormented the rival defense with a great solo run before putting it past a helpless goalkeeper.

Five minutes later, the youngster scored his fi fth, before Buanthanglun netted in the 76th minute to round off the scoring. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Pune FC Under-17 sqaud pose for the shutterbugs before leaving for the tournament

TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Cricket is still a religion in India, but there is a big section of the young generation that is enthralled by the 90-minute excitement of football. With stars of the English and Spanish soccer leagues invading Indian shores to showcase their talent, football it set to reach never-before attained heights in India over the next few years.

FC Pune City striker Adrian Mutu agrees. Mutu attended a promotional event at Viman Nagar with his team-mates and club CEO Gaurav Modwel. He said, “The way the popularity of football is growing in India, I am sure that it will eclipse cricket in the next five years.”

Former Chelsea and Fiorentina star Mutu has been roped in as a marquee player by FC Pune City. The 36-year-old Mutu is regarded as one of the best strikers to have played for the Romanian national team.

About the recent training camp in Turkey, Mutu said, “The camp was quite tough and challenging. Though the facilities in Gloria Sports Arena were top notch, the weather in Pune is far more pleasant than in Turkey.

Vaishnavi Adkar in action

TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly City’s Vaishnavi Adkar emerged victorious in the Under-12 category of the All India Championship Series Tournament at Chandigarh recently.

Unseeded Vaishnavi stunned fourth seed Makhana Manna 7-6 (6), 7-5 to lift the trophy.

In the marathon match, which lasted for two hours, the fi rst set went to tie-breaker but finally it was grabbed by Vaishnavi at 7-6(6).

The second set too witnessed a close contest between the two and finally Vaishnavi won it (7-5).

In the past, she has bagged positions like finalist, semi-finalist, quarter finalist at various tournaments, and this was her fi rst major tournament at the national level. Studying at Abhinav Vidyalaya, the 10-year-old was introduced to the sport at the age of six.

Vaishnavi has been a trainee under coach and national-level player Aakash Wagh at Deccan Gymkhana. She is also trained and guided by coach Madan Gokhale.

She is also a part of the Junior Tennis League recently started in Pune, representing ODMT Grizzly Bears.

INDIANSUPERLEAGUE.COM

TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly

Ankita Patwardhan

Adrian Mutu

So I don’t think we will face difficulties in acclimatising to local conditions.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh who has been associated with Pune for a long time, is happy to represent the club in the Indian Super League.

“I had completed my college studies here in Pune. I am well versed with the city culture and fans. It’s very exciting to represent the club and a chance to play with legends like Mutu and Zokora is the icing on the cake,” said Lyngdoh.

LAUNCH OF NEW KIT Adidas has announced a three-year partnership with FC Pune City, beginning with the upcoming season. The club’s home and away kits were unveiled in the presence of its fi rst-team players Mutu, Tuncay Sanli, Didier Zokora, Lyngdoh and FCPC fans at the Adidas store.

The new kit includes the latest in Adidas lightweight and breathable technologies to ensure the players take to the pitch with the most performance-driven design ever. The new kits feature Adidas’ patented Climacool technology that will keep the players dry longer and reduce the amount of weight. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com