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Transportation experts and activists were puzzled in the past few days, after the earlier reports, as to how it would be possible to lay monorail tracks in congested peth areas. However, municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi told TOI that the presentation by consultants of the CMP has suggested that monorail is feasible on the outer ring of central Pune.

The route goes through Senapati Bapat road, university junction, Khadki, Alandi road, jail road, Nagar road, Solapur road, Kondhwa road, Satara road, Sinhagad road and Karve road, in the outer parts of city.

Pardeshi said the traffic growth and population growth have been simulated by the consultants (Infrastructure Leasing and Finances Services) while suggesting different transport systems for different corridors. "The final report is yet to be prepared, which will be tabled before the party leaders next week. It will be discussed by the PMC general body before finalising."

Pardeshi pointed out that, while there were discussion about three routes for metro rail earlier, the consultants have suggested just one metro rail route from Swargate to Pimpri.

The other suggestions in the draft CMP are 25 pedestrian sub-ways at critical junctions, pedestrian plaza on Laxmi road from Alka talkies to Nehru road junction, outer ring road and nearly 40 routes for bus rapid transit.

However, speaking to press reporters, Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Ujwal Keskar said the plan was very vague and did not mention how it is going to be implemented.

"They have said in the presentation that CMP does not define the final system configuration of a corridor, it will not conduct feasibility analysis of projects, will not prepare cost estimates and will not include detailed project reports. Then what exactly is it going to do? Were they not supposed to do these things as well?" Keskar asked.

With inflation pushing up project costs and consumer forums penalising builders for delayed delivery of flats, many developers are now hiring the services of foreign project management consultancy companies and techno construction firms for faster implementation of projects, which come with cost advantages.

Some of these foreign companies include Australia's Sterling Construction System (SCS), Meva global leaders in framework solutions known for constructing an entire floor in three days and large project management consultancy companies like Leighton of Australia and Turner of the US.

"We focus on rapid, reliable and cost effective construction. Having successfully used our technology in Australia, West Asia, Vietnam, Philippines and other countries, we have the capability in India to complete projects at half the time of traditional mode of construction and with 10 to 15 per cent cost advantage for large scale projects," said Salman Sayeed, Vice-Chairman SCS Ltd.

Sterling, which is now involved in two projects in Maharahstra includ ing a large-scale low cost home project in Karjat, applies its proprietary "concrete building" technology in erecting walls and building floors.

The system is based on pre-engineered formwork systems to build walls. In such cases bricks and traditional labour intensive methods like putting columns, beams and plastering are not used to save time and cost.

"The four inches thick walls are made of solid concrete as compared to 8 to 9 inches walls through the traditional route. Thus the buyers get 10 to 12 per cent extra carpet area," said Sayeed.

Such construction is of high quality and reliable. The buildings have lower maintenance cost to the consumer for example SCS building will never have plaster cracks on the building facades, which are always evident in conventional buildings.

"Speeding up construction for a demand driven market like India is the need of the hour and technology based companies like us have a bright future," Sayeed added.

Meva for example has been deployed by Kashliwal's Shri Ram Urban Infrastructure to build India's first green residential building called Palais Rayole in Worli, Mumbai.

Some of the renowned projects executed by MEVA include the world's tallest tower Burj Dubai Skyward (532 slabs poured in a three-day cycle), and the structural works for the Tower of Dubai. Meva as said earlier has the capability to construct one floor in only three days.

The first major event since their launch - IYCN's Delhi Youth Summit on Climate (DYSoC) - will be held on May 28 and 29, in Teen Murti Bhawan. Eighty young people will come together to set the agenda on climate change for Delhi.

The DYSoC is in association with UKbased Lead International's India chapter, Fountain of Development, Research and Action, the UNESCO and the Youth Parliament Foundation. Registration forms can be downloaded at iycn.in.

"There has been no real `Indian' youth movement on the issue of climate change. When Kartikeya, a key member of IYCN, attended the UN Cli- mate Change Conference in Bali in De- cember as part of a US youth delega- tion he was shocked that there was no representation of the Indian youth at such an important conference," says Govind Singh, a Ph.d scholar at Delhi University's School of Environ- ment Studies.

And so Kartikeya Singh, a Compton Mentor fellow (a US fellowship) who is working on renewable energy resources in India, and Govind envisioned this youth coalition.

The standing committee is the most sought after by corporators as it is considered to be a lucrative post. The elections to the standing committee and of the chairperson were held as per schedule. But due to the unwillingness of corporators, elections to the other four committees have been held up by almost two months.

Speaking to TOI on Monday, town secretary Subhash Kale said elections would be held for nine seats in each of the four committees. Seven seats in the women and child welfare committee are reserved for women.

The NCP and its allies are entitled to nominate candidates for six seats in each of the four committees. The Congress is entitled to nominate candidates for two seats in each committee, whereas the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is entitled to nominate candidates to one seat in each in the four committees.

It's a great opportunity for automobile and component manufacturers to interact with the world's best in the business. An expo on automotive industry will be organised at the auto cluster exhibition centre from Wednesday. Incidentally, it's the first international automotive engineering show at the centre.

The theme of the event is 'Solutions for automotive manufacturing'. It will showcase high-end technology solutions in robotics, automation, engineering services, painting and welding solutions and machine tools for the automotive industry.

The four-day event, that begins at 10 am on Wednesday, would display products of automotive technology vendors such as L&T, Siemens, PARI Robotics, Kuka Robotics, Motoman Robotics, Gudel, ABB Robotics, Rockwell Automation, Honeywell Automation, Fraunhofer (Germany), CETIM (France), Jyoti CNC Automation, Electronica Machine Tools, Mitutoyo and so on.

The meeting witnessed presentations by stakeholders including the state and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and various sub-committees detailing the progress made in their respective functional areas. These included security and traffic, doping control and medical services, licensing and merchandising, accommodation, hospitality, technology, accreditation, sponsorship and marketing and the volunteer programme.

Addressing the meeting, Suresh Kalmadi, MP and chairman, OC, CYG said, "This is an ambitious project and will leave a tremendous legacy. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has budgeted Rs 1,500 crore for extensive upgradation and construction of the city infrastructure and civic amenities to get ready for the games. He thanked all the stakeholders including the army for having co-operated.

Vilas Kanade, deputy commissioner (special), in charge of the tax department, said, "We normally distributed bills in June. But this year, we did it in April itself. A total of 5.72 lakh bills have already been distributed and the remaining 26,000 will be distributed soon."

He said some citizens paid the tax online, although they had not received the bills.

Kanade said the concessions given by the PMC to those who implement eco norms like solar water systems, garbage segregation and rainwater harvesting is generating encouraging results.

"This year, nearly 300 property owners have sought concessions for implementing eco norms. They send us applications, which is forwarded to the health department. The claims are verified before giving a concession in the property tax," he said.

Kanade said that for those citizens who implement the eco norms after the bills are prepared, they are given corrected bills for the next term.

MSEDCL officials stated that the 132 KV supply line broke down at around 5.30 pm resulting in power failure at Bhairoba Nala, Alankar talkies, Rasta Peth and St Mary's sub-stations. The supplies to other sub-stations were also affected as Mundhwa is the main sub-station for east city.

Areas like Pune Station, Camp, Hadapsar, Pune -Solapur road were without electricity till last reports were received. The failure also affected working of commercial and government offices. The restoration work was in process till last report was received late in the night.

Those having the card can directly enter the VIP lane, swipe and proceed. The cards, introduced a week back, are presently available for a maximum of ten journeys (to and fro).

Speaking to TOI, chairman and managing director of Ideal Road Builders, D.P. Mhaiskar, said the cards are available at the main toll posts for all vehicles. They can also be exchanged with friends or used for different vehicles owned by an individual. In addition to the VIP lane, another lane would soon be opened for card holders, he said.

There is respite ahead for people who want to invest in residential property in metros. According to experts, this segment of the market is set to witness a slide in prices soon. That's because over five million sq ft of residential space is under construction currently in areas in and around Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore. They say a majority of this supply will hit the realty market over the next 6-12 months. Since there are fewer takers for residential property in prime locations right now, it could force developers to bring down prices.

Pankaj Renjhen, MD, Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj, Mumbai, said, "In certain markets the reason is oversupply. In certain markets the size of the market is very small and the number of projects that have been announced, or which are being sold in the market are much more. Secondly, there is an absence of investors in the market, so it's a purely end-user market. The stock markets have corrected, peoples' perception that they have lesser wealth right now, also effects the real estate market."

Currently, an apartment in the prime locations of Chennai would cost about Rs 4,100 per sq ft, while the same in Hyderabad would cost around Rs 2,500-3,000 per sq ft. Mumbai and Gurgaon are on the higher side, with prices currently ranging between Rs 5,500-7,000 a sq ft.

Experts say the demand for houses in the metros has already reduced by 40-50% in the last few months. While investors and speculators seemed to have left the realty market for now, end-users continue to drive the market but they make up only about 30-40% of the total market size.

In two months time, the entire village will do away with the sodium vapour lamps and tubelights and switch over to the energy conserving CFL.

In an effort to address global warming, this village is among the 12 selected by the Relief and Rehabilitation (R & R) Department of the State Government to initiate the pilot project -- of the entire village switching over to energy conserving CFLs. With 35 lakh being allocated for the project, a senior official said this will be a joint venture with the corporates. "Talks were on with the likes of Bajaj Electricals, Crompton Greaves and Philips," he said.

Organiser of the expo and manager of Reify Projects Private Limited R Gandhi said, "Along with the Reify Projects, this expo is being organised by the Express Estates, published every Saturday by The Indian Express and Vasturang published every Sunday by Loksatta."

Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale will inaugurate the expo at 2 pm on Friday. A discussion on "Housing loans-fixed and floating interest rates" will be held during the expo where deputy general manager of Bank of Baroda Subir Das, chairman and director general of Kohinoor Group Krishnakumar Goyal, CEO of India Property Naresh Malkani will participate. Architect and interior decorator Ram Paradkar and landscape designer Bhosekar and Jayant Jadhav will participate in discussion on `Interior-Exterior Decoration'.

Senior citizens, who are residing within the PMC limits, can avail of the scheme's benefits by registering their names at the designated centres between May 15 and May 31. Only those who are over 59 years of age are eligible for registration.

Out of the total annual membership fees of Rs 1,500, the PMC will contribute Rs 300 and the remaining Rs 1,200 will have to be borne by the beneficiary.

Printed application forms are available at Sahyadri Hospital (Kothrud), Surya Hospital (Kasba Peth), Sahyadri Munot Hospital (Seven Love Chowk), Fatima Convent Sahyadri Clinic (Fatimanagar), Sahyadri lab (Dani Bungalow) near Sahyadri Speciality Hospital. The completed forms can be submitted at these centres itself.

While the city's transformation as a major commercial centre has occurred over the last few decades only, Pimpri-Chinchwad has a rich history and culture dating back several hundred years.

As not many people are aware of this, the municipal corporation has taken upon itself the task of coming out with a special memoir which will enlist the facts and features, the traditions and culture of the past to give a clear picture to readers of how the present day city came into being.

25 years of PCMC

• March 4, 1970: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Council was formed after the merger of the four grampanchayats of Pimprigaon, Chinchwadgaon, Akurdigaon and Bhosarigaon
  
• January 7, 1975: Municipal council gets recognition as A grade council
  
• April 20, 1978: First general elections of municipal council
  
• October 11, 1982: Municipal council upgraded to municipal corporation
  
• March 2, 1986: First general elections of municipal corporation

Total area of Pimpri-Chinchwad: 171 sq km

The residents have warned that they would stop all ongoing works at the stadium if the government fails to come out with a development package for the village within a fortnight.

Over a 1,000 residents participated in the protest, which began at 10.30 am and ended at noon. It was led by Mhalunge village sarpanch Rekha Padale, deputy sarpanch Vijay Kolekar, MLAs Vinayak Nimhan and Sharad Dhamale, former MLA Gajanan Babar and PMC employees union chairperson Mukta Manohar.

In a memorandum addressed to the district collectorate, Padale said the stadium at Mhalunge was constructed after acquiring 132 acres of land. Apart from renovation of the stadium, a five-start hotel is being constructed for the CYG to be held in October this year.

He said that while development projects worth over Rs 2,000 crore have been undertaken in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mhalunge does not have basic civic amenities such as proper roads, drainages and streetlights.

Padale lamented that neither the municipal corporation nor the state government is spending a single rupee on the development works in Mhalunge.

Demanding that a development package be announced by the municipal corporation, he said that certain amount be earmarked for the development works in Mhalunge.

Listing the main works that needed to be completed in Mhalunge, Padale said a water reservoir for a population of 20,000 should be constructed and water pipelines laid.

The other demands include asphaltation of roads, improvement of streetlights, laying of drainage lines and construction of school building, primary health centre and a recreation hall.

The residents blocked traffic on the highway and dispersed after handing over the memorandum to government officials.