Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: Left with red face over shoddy construction of roads resulting in riddles of potholes showing their ugly face with the first showers of monsoon, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to put its foot down against the truant contractors and babus as well. The Mayor and Standing Committee Chairman called a meeting of officials in haste and issued a diktat to carry out survey of all roads in all zones within 2-3 days and submit the report to Chief Engineer of the civic body. The Chief Engineer has been directed to study the report and put the guilty contractors in “black list” as well as take stern action against those officials who submitted “quality control” reports.

NMC has decided to check quality of roads. If the roads arefound to be in bad shape within 24 months of tarring, NMC will initiate action against contractors concerned. Apart from NMC, the roads in city are constructed by NIT, PWD, MSRDC and National Highways. The roads should withstand onslaught at least for 24 months.

The Chairman of Standing Committee Sudhir Raut the other day inspected the poor condition of roads personally. During inspection, Raut came to know that a road constructed by a contractor named O G Bajaj had given up within 16 months. The contractor, to escape punitive action, offered to construct the said road afress but the NMC Administration reportedly spurned the offer.

In the meeting, the Mayor asked the NMC engineers to conduct the survey in this regard in their respective zones and submit the report to Chief Engineer within 2-3 days. The Chief Engineer should study the report minutely and the contractors who built the roads poorly should be put in “black list” if damage to road is severe. Also the NMC officials who submitted quality control reports of such poor roads will face the music as well.

“The roads are made keeping in mind the load and frequency of vehicles plying on them. However, if more number of heavy vehicles like trucks are plying on these roads and those trucks also are overloaded, the responsibility rests with Regional Transport Office. It is because of plying of overloaded trucks that goes unchecked on part of RTO that the condition of roads in city get worsened rapidly,” Raut stated.

Raut further said that the contractors submitting ‘below’ rate tenders will have to remit the ‘below’ amount along with their tenders in the form of deposit. A decision regarding this aspect was taken by the Standing Committee two months ago. The tenders of such contractors will be opened only after completion of this formality, Raut said.

Mayor warns of stern action against truant contractors, babus over poor roads

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has hiked the charges of shops/ottas/spaces in its markets based on Ready Reckoner (RR) rates. The Standing Committee, in its meeting held on Thursday, cleared a proposal in this respect.  The hike will be 8 to 10 times the existing charges.

The Chiarman of Standing Committee Sudhir Raut said that the hike was effected as per the Section 79 (d) of Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act. The effective hike in charges for use of market space in areas like Sitabuldi and Gokulpeth will be 10 times the existing ones, and that in areas like Gol Bazar and Kamal Square will be eight times the existing charges, he said. The hike will also be effected in transfer charges. In case of transfer of permit/lease in favour of a person from the family of user, one month’s charges will have to be paid to NMC as per RR rates. If transfer of lease/permit is to partner or a partner wants to leave partnership in lease/permit, user charges for two months will have to be paid to NMC. In case of transfer of lease/permit to person other than the above two, user charges for three months will have to be paid to NMC. To enable the users to avail of new system, NMC is conducting special camp from July 17, Raut said.

The special camp, organized by NMC’s Market Department, will be held on July 17 from 9.45 am to 5.45 pm at its headquarters in Civil Lines. The license transfer process will also be initiated in the camp.

Till now, the NMC earned Rs 3.30 crore from shops, Rs 1.38 crore from ottas and Rs 1.10 crore from open spaces.

Following is the position of NMC shops, ottas and open spaces in its markets in all 10 zones:

The proposal to recover market charges on the basis of ready-reckoner rates has a provision to slap two percent penalty per month on the defaulters. Those who failed to renew their licenses will be served notices under Section 81(B) of Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act and thereafter one month after, the shops will get vacated. At present the Market Department has 84 personnel but the NMC administration plans to reduce it to half.d

NMC hikes its market charges as per Ready-Reckoner rates

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: Jaripatka police on Thursday busted a vehicle lifters’ gang by arresting two of its teenage members and recovered 15 two-wheelers of different make from their possession. One minor boy too was detained for his involvement in the crime. The action was the outcome of a tip-off that a boy was trying to dispose of a two-wheeler and was searching for a customer. Armed with the information, a team of Jaripatka police, led by PSI S V Raut, kept a close watch during patrol. The police team spotted a boy near Maruti Showroom riding an Avenger motorcycle without registration number plate. Out of police instinct, the cops stopped the boy and demanded papers of the vehicle from him. But he failed to produce any papers forcing the cops to detain him and bring him to police station. After a sustained interrogation, the boy spilled the bean s and confessed that the vehicle was a stolen one.

The detained boy identified himself as Mohd Azhar Ansari (19), resident of Sangharsh Nagar, Yashodhara Nagar area. Further probe revealed that an offence 396/16 regarding theft of a two-wheeler was registered at Jaripatka Police Station. The accused was produced in a court and his PCR was secured by the cops. During his custodial interrogation, the accused Mohd Azhar Ansari informed police that he and his minor friend had stolen a total of 15 two-wheelers including two Bajaj Avengers, eight Activa mopeds, one Jupiter moped, two Bajaj Pulsar motorcycles, one Passion Pro bike and one Suzuki Access moped. Out of these stolen vehicles, three motorcycles were sold to a person named Mohd Rihan Iqbal Quereshi (23), resident of Nayi Basti, Teka in Pachpaoli area. The accused Mohd Rihan Iqbal Quereshi too was arrested and the 15 stolen vehicles were recovered from the possession of all the accused.

The other members of the Jaripatka police team, apart from PSI S V Raut, include Head Constable Parmeshwar Kadu, Naik Police Constables Bandu Kalambe, Nitin Chaudhary, Constables Shailesh Kumbhalkar, Arun Chandne. The action was initiated under the guidance of DCP (Zone 5) Abhinash Kumar, ACP Ramesh Taiwade, Senior Police Inspector Chakshupal Bahadure.

Jaripatka cops bust vehicle lifters’ gang, 15 two-wheelers seized

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

FedEx copied Indian Night air mail service 30 years later (Representational Pic)

Nagpur: Old time Nagpurians will remember a sight we saw daily at 12 midnight that filed us with pride. We took all our outstation guests to look at it – “this is OUR Nagpur; you can see this only here!”

What was the unique scene?

It happened at the Nagpur Airport, otherwise a nondescript place, but at midnight it came alive. Lights were blazing on the tarmac, within the airport building and there was always a throng of people.

On the dot at this hour, four ‘jumbos’ would land at the airport one after the other and then line up parallel facing the main building. Men would jump out of the planes carrying sacks and boxes and get busy. They would carry them inside the terminus and sort them out with the speed and efficiency of robots at work. No soon they were done, these would be loaded back on the planes, and then they would take off again – back to where they came from.

These were planes coming to Nagpur from Delhi, Madras ( now Chennai), Bombay and Calcutta. This was a unique Night mail service of India with Nagpur at its hub. As ‘Tales through times’ describes the operation:

‘On 30 January 1949 the government inaugurated the Indian Night Air Mail Service- the world’s first overnight air mail service- keeping in mind, that FedEx as Federal Express launched its overnight package delivery service only in 1973 at Memphis, Tenessee. Since space was a premium at daytime flights, it was decided that air mail would move at night and this had the added advantage of making overnight delivery possible in what may very well be also the world’s first example if not one of the earliest examples of a hub-and-spoke operation. Under this system, the four main cities of India also happened to form each of the four corners of a diamond- New Delhi to the north, Bombay to the west, Calcutta to the east, and Madras to the south. Connecting these cities was a central location at the city of Nagpur in central India.

The system was quite simple- letters postmarked for overnight air mail were delivered to each of the corners of the NAM system in the evening and loaded on aircraft. These aircraft, all then flew in the first part of the night to the central processing and sort facility at the Nagpur Airport. Mail would be offloaded and sorted to waiting aircraft that would return to their origin airports in the second half of the night. The following morning, the mail would be delivered- a speed and convenience not only unheard of in India’s business environment of the day, but probably in just about any business center worldwide in 1949! For an aircraft like the Douglas DC-3 that was ubiquitous in those days, each leg would take about four hours, making overnight delivery possible. To facilitate the sort process, any aircraft leaving any of the cities already had the mail sorted and stowed aboard in batches, minimizing the ground sort and loading time at Nagpur. ‘

This system was later discontinued, but restarted briefly in the 1980s.

Taking inspiration from this successful and innovative operation, international consultancy firm Ernst and Young suggested a modern take on this that would exploit the unique position of Nagpur in India to make it a cargo and logistics hub. But this time, on an international level. Thus was born the idea of MIHAN – multi modal international cargo hub and airport at Nagpur.

The idea was simple. As Nitin Gadkari and other politicians of Nagpur explained to the local populace, more than 200 aeroplanes criss- crossed over Nagpur airspace everyday. Most of them needed to land once midway in their journey for re-fuelling. Cities like Mumbai and Delhi charged exhorbitantly for landing and fueling services since they were very busy international airports already and space was at a premium. Nagpur had no such issues and moreover there would be no detour involved since they were already flying over the city. They would be offered very lucrative and unbeatable fees for the service. And since they were going to be landing anyway, why not use Nagpur as a destination for exchanging and carrying cargo? On the very lines of the Night air mail service…

And since these were going to be mostly commercial, passenger planes, why not promote Nagpur / Central India as a destination for foreigners aboard the planes? Why not indeed? Nagpur could be the epicenter of ‘Tiger and wild life tourism’ – a kind of tourism that is taking on globally. ( Tourism is the fastest growing international business). Also, since Nagpur already has a huge Govt. Medical College and attracts patients from all over Vidarbha, M.P. and Chattisgarh, why not make it a destination for international ‘Health Tourism’ too? To this end, the world famous John Hopkins teaching hospital of USA was also enticed to open up a large Hospital in collaboration with the Care group, H.Q. in Hyderabad and big facility in Nagpur already, at MIHAN.

So, soon after the idea of the international hub was envisaged during late 1990s, when BJP – Shiv Sena were in power in Mumbai for the first time, and Nitin Gadkari was the popular PWD Minister, the above plan was firmed up.

As author and entrepreneur Amar Vyas, who is now writing a book on the subject called ‘Mera Bharat Mihan’ noted in his research paper on MIHAN for IIM, Ahmedabad in 2010-
‘The idea for the multimodal hub at Nagpur was first floated in the 1990s. On November 25, 1997, the government of Maharashtra originally appointed City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) as its nodal agency for the development of the cargo hub at Nagpur. However, due to paucity of funds, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was appointed nodal agency on June 7, 1999. In 2002, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADCL) was constituted by the Government of Maharashtra as a Special Purpose Company. In 2000, pre-qualification bids were invited for conducting the techno-economic feasibility studies (TEFS) for the MIHAN airport. Twenty-one private sector companies submitted pre-qualification bids in July 2000.

The bid for the TEFS was won by a consortium of consultants, lead by L&T Ramboll (a joint venture of L & T of India and Ramboll of Denmark) along with Unique Zurich Airport, and Crisil Advisory Services.

The TEFS recommended developing the existing domestic airport of Nagpur as an International Passenger and Cargo Hub Airport, including a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Incentives to attract investment
In order to attract investors, the MADCL offered to hold a 49 percent stake in all projects that were to be developed on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The than Vice- President and Managing Director of MADCL, R.C Sinha, informed the media in an interview that MADCL would float a special purpose vehicle for each facility of the project. MADCL also offered to pay a penalty at the rate of 10 percent per annum if it was unable to complete the infrastructure development works in time, after private agencies had purchased land within the MIHAN area.

Early developments in MIHAN
In 2006, US based computer manufacturer Dell showed an interest in setting up a manufacturing facility on 70 acres of land. DLF, the largest real estate company of India offered to develop a 140-Acre SEZ in Nagpur. The company planned to invest an estimated Rs 2,000 crore on developing this project and generate employment for about 50,000 people. The total work within the IT Park was planned to be 8.5 million sq ft, and was scheduled to be completed in three years.

In November 2007, the government of Maharashtra proposed to develop a mass rapid transport system (MRTS or Metro, as we call it now) to cope with the growing demand and population of the city. The MADCL along with Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and Maharashtra Industries Development Corporation (MIDC) were the main agencies responsible for coordinating this

The planned development of MIHAN sparked a real estate boom in Nagpur area. The Gurgaon-based Radisson Group started work for a five-star hotel with over 200 rooms. Mumbai-based Fariyas Group,having premium properties in Mumbai and Lonavala, acquired lands to set up a 200-room five-star hotel in Nagpur. Other hospitality majors such as The Kamat Group, the Orchid chain of hotels, the Sun and Sand Group, Hyatt & Leela purchased land and planned to develop hotels near MIHAN. The Taj Group also proposed a hotel a development known as Empress City. The conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar was developing Sahara City Homes, a 106 acre development, which included amenities such as schools, parks, swimming pool, and a sports stadium. Sahara planned to complete the project in 2011. Mantri Realty, a Mumbai-based real estate major, planned to invest around Rs 1,600 crores for a 300-acre township project near Nagpur.’

All sounds very wonderful and exciting for Nagpur, doesn’t it?

If only the story had developed as per this script! But it did not…

What were the reasons for the delays and derailments of planned projects?

Was it that after the Congress- NCP alliance came back to power the new government put this project on the back burner? But looking to all the subsequent developments after change of governments, this does not seem to be the main reason. Remember, MIHAN seemed like the cash cow of not just Nagpur but entire Vidarbha then and everyone wanted to grab the credit. The first decade of 2000, in fact saw BJP and Congress Nagpur politicians vying to take credit for MIHAN and coming together often on the same stage to attract investments, from private citizens for real estate, as well as big conglomerates.

(As happens in India unfortunately, as soon as some mega development of some area is slated, but not yet disclosed publicly, politicians with friends and family start grabbing land at cheap rates from unsuspecting local farmers. They build a good ‘inventory’ without actually doing sale deeds, only MOUs, so they can unofficially carry the deal forward at enhanced rates and get their ‘commissions’ on the deals. So all ‘leaders’ have a vested interest in seeing the project go through so their investments can pay off.)

There were some state vs. centre hurdles too. At the core of MIHAN was the Nagpur Airport that had to be either built anew or expanded and modernized for the grand plans to be implemented. But all airports come under the purview of Airport Authority of India, which falls under Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. For the sake of cohesive planning and implementation it had be brought under the jurisdiction of the state government. The ‘handing over’ wasn’t smooth and still isn’t complete! (Whether Prafull Patel and NCP were to be blamed for it is a point that has been argued ad infinitum.)

Secondly, MIHAN M.D.s changed and the one perceived as being dynamic and decisive, Sinha, came under a cloud for some allegedly ‘dubious deals’ and had to leave.

Internationally, the economic scenario changed and depression hit USA badly with the collapse of Lehman brothers. As a result John Hopkins hospital backed out of their joint agreement with Care.

If business and share market is all about sentiment, this sentiment of optimism around Nagpur began to rapidly decline.

Sahara City languished for its own reasons. ‘First City’ to build which mandate seems to have been given to Reatox Builders with technical and legal flaws was withdrawn from it in some years. Now after two court cases, one in the Supreme Court, it seems the same builder is back in favour again! (With another change of governments after 10 years).

And meanwhile, the first premise on which the international hub was planned – that planes flying intercontinental distances need to refuel – became redundant with latest technology aircraft able to fly long distances non-stop.

The work that should have gone it to develop Nagpur as the ‘Tiger capital’ of the world never began and the concept of Medical tourism also fell by the way side with Hyderabad, Banglore, Delhi and Pune developing as more reliable destinations for health care.

In short, MIHAN is living proof that governments, for all their good intentions, do not have the systems in place for effective industry and business management. A C.M. and his Ministers have to look after a lot of other issues and do not have either the time or inclination or discipline or frame of mind for fast track development of Business models. Specially if it is located far away from your centre of power, which in the case of Maharashtra is Mumbai.

Can MIHAN still be revived? What are the options? We shall explore them in subsequent write ups.

MIHAN – Too many slips between the cup and the lip

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: Jaripatka police, in a midnight swoop on Friday, recovered a cache of lethal arms from the house of a teenage boy in Misal Layout area. Four minor boys, including the teenager, have been arrested in this connection. Apart from the weapons, cops have seized an arms-making machine.

Naik Police Constables Gopal Mankar and Surendra Shukla were patrolling in Misal Layout area on Friday night. During patrolling, the two cops received information that arms are being manufactured in the house of a teenage boy. Based on the information, the police raided the house and carried out a search. The search led to recovery of six lethal weapons and also the arms-making machine. The accused teenager and his three minor accomplices were detained in this connection and have been sent to a remand home. However, the particulars of the recovered arms could not be ascertained.

Jaripatka police are investigating the matter further. The focus of police probe is centred around as to why the four accused were making the arms and for whom?

Cops recover lethal arms from house of a teenage boy in Jaripatka

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: In an interesting incident, a 50-year old, who had snatched cash from a woman in a bank, was chased hotly by alert people and caught. However, the accomplice of the accused managed to escape and is now being searched by cops.

The woman named Bilkish Begum Nazim Sheikh (36), resident of Raipur in Hingna, on Friday around 11 am, had gone to the Hingna Branch of Bank of India for depositing cash. While Bilkish Begum was counting cash, the 50-year old accused Aziz Ali alias Juli, resident of Sakil Bibi Colony, Yerkheda, Kamptee and his accomplice Salim Khan, snatched Rs 12,000 from her hand and started running. However, Bilkish Begum raised an alarm and alerted the nearby people. Hearing her shouts, people gave a hot chase to the fleeing accused and succeeded in nabbing Aziz Ali. But another accused Salim Khan managed to dodge the people after him and absconded. The caught Aziz Ali was given a dressing down and later handed over to cops.
Hingna API Niswade, on oral complaint of Bilkish Begum, has booked the accused Aziz Ali under Sections 392, 34 of the IPC and arrested him. Search has also been launched to apprehend the absconding accused Salim Khan.

Man snatches cash from woman in a bank, caught by people in Hingna

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Representational pic

Nagpur: In a bizarre incident that could be termed as a case of “honour killing,” a woman murdered her young daughter who was in love with a boy. The accused woman, who committed the brutal crime to “save the prestige of her family,” has been arrested.

The accused, identified by the first name only as Muktabai (45), resident of Wadi area, strangled her 19-year old daughter with the help of an odhni in the midnight of July 13. The gruesome murder of the girl has turned out to be a case of “honour killing” to save the prestige of family as the deceased was having love affair with a boy. The accused Muktabai was reportedly dead against her daughter ‘s love affair and, as a result, allegedly committed the brutal crime

Wadi WPSI Kutemate, based on a complaint lodged by a 52-year old unidentified man, most probably father of the deceased, registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC against the accused Muktabai and arrested her.

‘Honour killing?’ Woman murders daughter over her love affair, arrested

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: Beware, two-wheeler riders! City cops have resumed drive against helmetless ride. The decision to make helmets compulsory was taken after the Maharashtra government issued a circular on December 31, 2015. The Nagpur city traffic police had been conducting road safety awareness programmes for motorists for over a month before enforcing the rule. City cops had launched a concerted campaign against two-wheeler riders to ensure effective enforcement of the mandatory helmet rule.

In the meanwhile, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court itself admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No. 50/2016. During the hearing on the said PIL on Thursday (July 14, 2016), the High Court referred to its earlier directives on a PIL (86/2003) delivered on March 3, 2005. The Court had directed the city police to create awareness among citizens about safety aspects of wearing helmets. The High Court had also asked the citizens to lodge their formal complaints with Transport Commissioner, Mumbai, City Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Nagpur and Director, Bureau of Indian Standards against the sale of inferior quality of helmets.
Accordingly, the city police created awareness among common people about safety aspects of wearing helmets while riding two-wheelers. And now, the cops have resumed the drive against helmetless riders from Saturday(July 16). The DCP (Traffic) Smartana Patil said that special teams will be deployed at various junctions to ensure effective enforcement of the mandatory helmet rule. Earlier, the traffic police had penalized thousands of two-wheeler riders for riding without helmets. Emphasis would also be on ensuring that four-wheeler drivers fasten their seat belts while driving. Violators would be slapped with a fine of 100 under Section 129 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Cops resume helmet drive after High Court nod

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: A mess created by Market Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) over renewal and transfer of market leases has come to the fore. The Market Department, which has announced holding of a special camp on Sunday (July 17) for renewal and transfer of market leases, owns open spaces, ottas (platforms) and shops and had leased them out for 11-month period 20-25 years ago. However, surprisingly, except a few lease holders, the lease period of majority was not renewed for various reasons including political pressures. Now, after years of dozing, the special camp is being held on Sunday by the Market Department for renewal and transfer of leases of its 1419 open spaces, 834 ottas and 2485 shops.

However, the goal of completing the process in one day is nothing but laughable, to say the least. When the Chairman of Tax Committee Girish Deshmukh and Head of Tax Department Milind Meshram were posed with a pointed question as to why punitive actions such as slapping of penalty, seizer and auction of spaces of lease holders were not initiated after the end of 11-month lease period, they first tried to avoid an answer and then resorted to misleading tactics. When the two officials were asked to come out clean with perfect figures, both of them fumbled. Deshmukh and Meshram laughed away another question as to why no action was initiated against the irresponsible and guilty officials who put the NMC in financial loss since the past 20-25 years.

Now, according to new rules and regulations drafted by the NMC, the open spaces, ottas and shops of those who fail to renew lease period will be seized, auctioned and the pending amount will be recovered with interest. After renewal, the rent/lease charges will increase fivefold as compared to present rent/lease charges.

The Market Department of NMC has decided to give unique identity (ID) to each lease-holder having lease for shop/otta/open space in NMC’s markets in the city. This is being done to streamline monitoring of these leases. Once the unique ID is issued to a lease-holder, he/she will have to pay the user charges at the bank counter directly. The move will reduce the burden on Market Department’s dwindling work-force. At present, Market Department has sanctioned staff strength of 84. However, in the draft staffing pattern being prepared, the strength has been reduced by 55. With the unique ID being issued to lease-holders, the department will be able to function well despite reduction in field-level staff.

Penalty:

The proposal to recover market charges on the basis of ready-reckoner rates has a provision to slap two percent penalty per month on the defaulters. Those who failed to renew their licenses will be served notices under Section 81(B) of Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act and thereafter one month after, the shops will get vacated. At present the Market Department has 84 personnel but the NMC administration plans to reduce it to half.

Zone-wise number of NMC market spaces given on temporary lease:

• Dharampeth Zone           75 shops              52 ottas                142 open spaces
• Hanuman Nagar Zone    95 shops              17 ottas                3 open spaces
• Dhantoli Zone                   769                       217                         373
• Gandhibagh                       396                       172                         393
• Satranjipura                      97                          03                           51
• Lakadganj                          232                        77                           283
• Ashinagar                           12                          36                           120
• Mangalwari                       779                        55                            84

Market Department mess over renewal of leases comes to the fore

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: The activists of Aam aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday staged demonstrations in front of office of Nagpur Municipal Corporation in Civil Lines and protested against the poor condition of roads across the city. The agitators lamented that the newly constructed roads that were meant to last at least for 2-3 years in good condition were riddled with potholes with the onset of monsoon. “Some roads that were given a facelift just before the recent visit of Vice President of India were damaged by the first showers of rain. Nothing is more unfortunate than this phenomenon,” the AAP activists stated.

“Traversing on pothole riddled roads has become dangerous. The potholes could prove ‘death traps’ if an accident were to take place. The poor condition of roads coupled with dust makes use of roads a perilous proposition. It is in fact invitation to trouble. On a rainy day, the water-filled potholes pose grave hazards to vehicle riders and accidents could claim lives of citizens,” the Convener of Cityb AAP Ashok Mishra lamented.

In a letter addressed to Municipal Commissioner, the AAP activists have demanded an enquiry by an independent agency into construction of poor quality roads, filing of criminal offenses against the guilty contractors, officials and recovery of money from them as a penalty, ‘black listing’ of guilty contractors for the next 20 years, making public the expenditure on construction of roads since the past five years, compensation to accident victims among other demands.

AAP activists stage demos at NMC against poor condition of roads

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: A slew of works being undertaken in the name of development is, in fact, pushing the citizens of Mahadula, Koradi on the edge. The development works being undertaken by Public Works Department (PWD) has thrown the basic ameneties such water supply, telephone services, traffic etc on main road to the haywire.

Currently, the PWD has undertaken laying of sewage pipelines along both sides of the main road. However, due to lack of coordination between the PWD and Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and Mahadula Nagar Panchayat, the drinking water pipeline was damaged resulting in deprivation of drinking water to citizens since the past seven days.

Moreover, the tormented citizens when contacted the officials of Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran for lodging their complaints, the authorities raised their hands and directed the aggrieved citizens to approach directly to PWD, Mahadula Nagar Panchayat or the contractor who is carrying out pipeline laying work.

Drinking water supply scheme is implemented by Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and hence complaints are lodged with it. But instead of resolving the plaints, the authorities were found shirking their responsibilities and putting the citizens in a fix.

The PWD on its part too played truant. The Department without prior notice, information and intimation, undertook the sewage pipeline laying work. When bombarded with the complaints, some officials of PWD visited the spot for inspection “helplessly” and returned “hastily” without even talking to the aggrieved citizens, forget resolving their complaints.

With rainy season on with its furiosity and the streetlights playing ‘hide and seek’ frequently, traversing on the main road in the dark has become perilous.

The dug up road on both sides for laying of sewage pipeline could prove graveyard if an unfortunate vehicle rider were to meet an accident. In the absence of regular Chief Officer in Mahadula Nagar Panchayat, the working of the civic body has come to a standstill, virtually. In this situation, the harassed citizens have no other option to bear the brunt and curse themselves.

A ‘development work’ puts Mahadula citizens in a fix!

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: That the much cherished 10-day Ganesh Festival is around the corner could be sensed from the fact that the idols of Lord of Wisdom are taking shapes. The idols of Bappa are being made from a specific clay to be installed at almost all the corners of the city as well as hundreds of thousands of homes of devotees. Making of Lord Ganesh idols from Plaster of Paris (POP) has been banned from pollution point of view. Hence the special class of clay and the idols made of it are great demand. The 10-Day Festival is commencing from September 5 this year and the air is filled with enthusiasm and ecstasy in anticipation of fun and frolic the festivity will bestow.

Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi popularly, is one of the biggest and important festivals, celebrated not only by Hindus but by a cross section of communities. The festival is being celebrated from ancient times to honour the Elephant-headed God also called Sukha Karta, Dukha Harta, Vighna Harta, Lord of Wisdom, God of First Puja and many, many other holy names. The festival arrives usually in the months of August or September according to Hindu calendar. Celebrations traditionally begin on the fourth day of the first fortnight (Shukla Chaturthi) in the month of Bhadrapad. The festival generally lasts ten days, ending on the fourteenth day of the fortnight i.e. on Anant Chaturdashi. As the Vinayak Chaturthi comes nearer and nearer, devotees go enthusiastic in anticipation of fun and frolic the 10 days of festival will offer. In the 10 days of festival, clay idols of Ganapati Bappa in various sizes, forms are installed in lakhs of aesthetically decked up homes and hundreds of attractively decorated pandals of Sarvajanik Mandals. The idols are worshipped by devotees with all religious fervor and gaiety.

Importance of Ganesh idol immersion:

Ganesh immersion holds importance in Hindu religion. Once the clay idol of Lord Ganesh is immersed in water, the shape gets defiled. It means, everything in the universe will get defaced (Moksha or mukti) one day or on a decided day. The process of forming and destroying is a continuous one (chakra). The Lord Ganesh comes on earthly sojourn every year to throw light on this eternal truth of the life.

Devotees sense 10-Day Ganesh Festival around the corner as idols take shape in clay & colour

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Arun Lakhani represents FICCI at Indo-German Event on Water, Waste Water & Sanitation at Berlin (Germany)

Nagpur: After receiving many awards and recognitions, The Orange City Water (OCW) has added yet another feather in its cap by being showcased and receiving ‘Thumbs Up’ for its ongoing “Uninterrupted Water Supply Project (commonly known as 24×7 project) at prestigious ‘The Indo-German Partnership meet in Water, Waste and Sanitation Event’ held in Berlin (Germany) recently.

Arun Lakhani, lead Promoter of OCW (CMD of Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd) represented Indian delegation and gave a detailed presentation about various issues and solutions in the Indian Water sector at the event.

Addressing the meeting Arun Lakhani, stated: “India is going through major shifts and mega changes such as rapid urbanisation leading to acute resource scarcity. The idea should be to supply water to more people while using the same capacities rather than waiting for new infrastructures to be built. Projects worth over US$15 billion are up for grab in over 10-15 years.”

Arun Lakhani mentioned that German companies should take note of the market developments in the water and waste sector in India which is rapidly changing. He advised German companies to adapt as well as improve their technologies and solutions to suit the
Indian conditions. He suggested for adoption of successful business model including PPP modes
to be successful in India.

Arun Lakhani represented FICCI as an Industrial Speaker for the event titled “Opportunities for Indo-German Partnership in Water, Waste and Sanitation”. The event was organised by the Embassy of India in partnership with the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) for the German investors and technology providers in the water and waste water sector.

Various German companies have expressed interest to participate and contribute to Ganga Rejuvenation Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Smart Cities Mission of the Government of India. Vishvaraj Infrastructure has done studies on 100 cities in India, most of the cities have ample water resources but citizens are still facing water shortages due to poor water
management.

German companies are global leaders offering advanced solutions in the water and waste sectors. Senior officials from German Water Partnership and German Waste Industry Association (ReTech) participated in the event and identified potential areas of cooperation with India leveraging the strengths of the German industry in water and waste sectors.

The Berlin event was attended by Ambassador of India to Germany Shri Gurjit Singh; General Manager, German Water Partnership, Christine Von Lonski; MD and CEO, Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd., Goutham Reddy; German Recycling Technologies and Waste Management
Partnership e.V., Melanie Köpke; Second Secretary (Economic& Commerce), Embassy of India, Berlin, Vikram Vardhan among others.

During the event a Panel Discussion was also held on “Opportunities for Indo-German Partnership In Water, Waste and Sanitation”. Along with Arun Lakhani, the fellow panelists were Dr. Michael Kuhn, Managing Director Kuhn GmbH, Kai Ressel, Project Manager, Harbauer Gmbh, Andreas Waldraff, Managing Director, UBF.B GmbH, Dr. Thomas Probst, Federal Association Secondary raw materials and Waste management (BVSE), Goutham Reddy, MD and CEO, Ramky Enviro Engineers & Member, CII.

Nagpur’s “24×7 water supply project” get’s ‘Thumbs Up’ in Berlin, Germany

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS appears to blurring out, as people are now opening up to share their experiences about coping up with condition, which was otherwise associated with depression and fear of losing life. Two such HIV survivors have stepped up to talk about this condition of body, and give out the message loud and clear – live can also be worth living even with AIDS.

Nagpur HIV Survivors share tips to lead happy life with AIDS!

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Representational Pic

Nagpur: The much-awaited results of “Selfie With Tree” Contest organized by Forest Department will be declared on Friday (July 22). The competition was organized by the State Forest Ministry as part of week-long tree plantation drive undertaken from July 1 to 7. A total of 2692 enthusiasts took part in the competition from Nagpur Division and the selfies clicked during the tree plantation were sent to the Forest Department.

The winners of the contest will be declared through a lucky draw to be held at Van Bhavan on Friday. In all 25 winners will be declared by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Forest Force Chief Sarjan Bhagat. The winners will enjoy a safari at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and nearby forests.

“Selfie With Tree” Contest results on July 22

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) Vishwas Patil reviewed the progress of MIHAN Project in high-level meetings held on July 20 & 21, 2016. The visit of Patil assumed importance in view of providing momentum to the various development works going on in the MIHAN Project. During his visit, Patil interacted with all the senior officers of MADC and MIHAN India Limited (MIL) and had a look at all developmental works related to Power, Road Networks, Internet and Telecommunication, various facilities at Nagpur Airport and Rehabilitation works of MIHAN project affected people.

S. K. Chatterjee, Chief Engineer, Rajni Lonare, Superintending Engineer, Ashok Chowdhary, Deputy. Collector, C. Bankar, Sr, Architect, Atul Thakre, Marketing Manager, Deepak Joshi, Public Relations Officer, K. R. Ingole, Consultant (Power), B. R, Tiwari, Consultant (Water Supply), Balwant Moharil, Consultant (Rehab), Gajanan Yempalliwar, Security Officer MADC were present in the meeting.

Patil also visited the project sites including Chinchbhavan PAP rehabilitation area, AIIMS site, proposed Food Park site, proposed Health City site, Reatox First City site, Metro station site near Khapri and near Chinchbhavan Flyover. He directed all the concerned officers to speed up different works of rehabilitation and resettlement of MIHAN project affected people and other infrastructure development.

Later on July 21, 2016, he convened a review meeting of MIL, a JVC operating Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport Nagpur. Patil is also the Chief Managing Director ( CMD) of MIL. V. S. Mulekar, Sr. Airport Director, Abid Ruhi, GM, Navin Baxi, Company Secretary, Laxminarayanan Bhat, Sr. Manager, (Airport Safety and Operations), Suraj Shinde, Sr. Manager, Engineering and Commercial, Amit Kasatwar, Sr. Manager, (Civil and Terminal), D. M. Tarte, Advisor (Fire) and other officers of MIL were present in the meeting.

MADC chief Patil reviews MIHAN Project progress

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: With the onset of monsoon, the rains appear to be moving in the right direction in Nagpur, in terms of quantum and pace. Nagpur Met Office has predicted heavy rains at many places on Thursday and heavy to very heavy rains at most places in the district and entire Vidarbha in the next 48 hours.

Till now, Nagpur city has received 514.8 mm rains while Nagpur district has received 512.7 mm rains till now which is 10% above normal rains which is usually 375 mm till this time of the season. “However we consider the departure of up to plus 10% is normal but there is significant departure in Vidarbha region. Excessive rainfall has been received till now and the estimate puts it 38% above the normal,” a source at Nagpur Met Office told Nagpur Today.

Talking to Nagpur Today, Met Official said that rains at many places means it may cover 51 to 75% of the total centres whereas most places signifies rains in 75 to 100% areas. So while Thursday the forecast is of many places, Friday and Saturday may witness rains at most places.

It is informed that the southwest monsoon may once again become vigorous over the central and northwest India in the next 24-48 hours, as the rain trough moves towards the plains from the foothills, while the cyclonic circulation, brewing over the Bay of Bengal, moves deeper towards the mainland.

“The rains which are at present passing through a slightly weak phase will again become active over south Chhattisgarh, Telengana and parts of Vidharbha over the next 24 to 48 hours because a cyclonic circulation which is stationed around coastal Andhra Pradesh will move inwards,” Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at private weather forecasting firm Skymet said.

Nagpur set to get heavily wet in next 2 days, rigorous rains warned!

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: In an outrageous incident, a 12-year old girl was raped by a criminal at a deserted area of TB Ward here on Wednesday night. The heinous crime has sent tremors across the nearby localities and the enraged residents have demanded immediate arrest of the offender. Cops have registered a case and mounted a massive hunt to apprehend the culprit.

According to Imambada police, the 12-year old girl was raped at a dilapidated and deserted quarter in the premises of TB Ward. The girl is resident of the same area, it is learnt. After the incident, the victimized girl reached her house and disclosed the rape to her parents. Shocked by the revelation, the parents straightaway reached Imambada Police Station and registered a case in this connection.

A social activist and other residents of the area also dashed to the police station and demanded immediate arrest of the offenders. The citizens claimed that such incidents are routine at the deserted quarters of the TB Ward but neither the police nor GMCH authorities take any measures to curb the crime. “The dilapidated quarters should have been demolished and the area cleared of the mess by the GMCH but nothing is being done and thus resulting in such heinous crimes taking place regularly,” the residents said with anger writ large on their faces.

Imambada police have registered a case and mounted a hunt to nab the offenders.

TB Ward area, a hotspot of crimes:
Many residential quarters in the TB Ward area have turned ‘ruins’ because of dilapidated condition but are frequented by anti-social elements. Rapes, murders and other serious crimes are reported in regular gaps. As the dark descends, the ruffians gather in hordes and enjoy a glass or two of liquor. And once inside the belly, the heady stuff creates nuisance to the nearby residents in one way or the other. The rape of the 12-year old girl has highlighted the malady eloquently.

12-yr old girl raped at a ‘ruined’ quarter in TB Ward area

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: The protests over the derogatory remark against Mayawati by former BJP leader Dayashankar Singh who compared the BSP chief to a prostitute and the Una incident in which a group of Dalit youths were assaulted by a cow protection group last week for allegedly killing a cow reached Nagpur with hundreds of BSP workers hit the streets near Collector’s Office. The protesters burnt the effigy of Dayashankar Singh and demanded his arrest immediately under various sections of Indian Penal Code and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

“The atrocities against Dalits are increasing day by day across the country particularly in the BJP ruled states. A pervert minded leader like Dayashankar Singh’s derogatory remarks against Bahenji (Mayawati) is insult of all women. On one hand the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives slogan like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao,’ and on the other hand, the BJP leader makes such crude remark comparing Mayawati to a prostitute. The BSP condemns such remarks and demand immediate arrest of the pervert minded Dayashankar Singh under various sections of the IPC and Atrocities Act,” the protesters said.

The protesters include State In-Charge of BSP Prem Rodekar, General Secretary Jitendra Mhaiskar, Regional Secretary Sagar Dabrase, Uttam Shevde, Nana Deogade, District President Nagorao Jaikar, Gautam Patil, Kavita Landge and other hundreds of party workers.

– Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha ( rajeev.nagpurtoday@gmail.com )

City BSP protests crude remarks against Mayawati, Una incident

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: The City Unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has organized a series of events to mark birthday celebration of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The birthday of Fadnavis falls on July 22 and the week-long programmes will start from Friday across the 72 Prabhags of city.

The General Secretary of the party Sandeep Joshi said that the celebrations will be organized under the leadership of City President Sudhakar Kohale. The week-long celebration includes felicitation of over 1000 meritorious students of Class X and Class XII, health camps, camps on Government schemes such as issuance of Aadhar cards, PAN cards, ration cards, etc. Apart from Sudhakar Kohale, MLAs Sudhakar Deshmukh, Vikas Kumbhare, Krishna Khopde, Dr Milind Mane, MLCs Anil Sole, Girish Vyas, Mayor Praveen Datke, Vidarbha Organising Secretary Dr Upendra Kothekar, Ruling Party Leader in NMC Dayashankar Tiwari, Chairman of Standing Committee Sudhir Raut, Deputy Mayor Satish Holay, and a host of other leaders are lending their support to the week-long celebrations to mark birthday of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Publicity Chief of BJP Chandan Goswami said.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister has appealed party leaders, workers and well-wishers to contribute handsomely towards Jalyukt Shivar Campaign instead of putting hoardings, banners, advertisements, bursting of crackers and other such celebrations on the occasion of his birthday.

City BJP to hold various social events to mark CM’s birthday