News

Explaining the reason for imposing the new tax, Ashish Sharma, commissioner, PCMC, told reporters on Monday that the municipal corporation needed funds for new infrastructure projects. For instance, the corporation collects water tax, which is used to maintain the water supply network. But the municipal corporation also needs to make provision for new infrastructure for the water supply and the money collected through imposition of a capital tax could be used to conduct these works, he said.

On the subject of a loan, Sharma said that negotiations with the bank would conclude by the end of this month. The corporation is also negotiating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). "We find the offer of the World Bank more competitive. The rate of interest of the soft loan will most likely be below half the market rate," said Sharma.

On the failure of the BRTS in Delhi and the recommendations of the parliamentary committee to scrap it, Sharma said, "Delhi made the same mistake as Pune. The width of the roads in Pune remained the same and part of this width was used for the BRT route. This led to traffic problems. The PCMC has widened the highway three times and is implementing the BRT on it. As a result, we will not face the same problems as that faced by the BRT in Pune."

The PCMC has proposed to implement BRT on roads that have a total length of 130 km. The BRTS is vastly economical than metro or monorail, he said.
Asked to comment on the fact that corporators were opposing the civic administration's proposal to give blanket powers to the municipal commissioner when negotiating with financial institutions for loans, Sharma said he did not require such powers.

The move is aimed at streamlining the process of issuing the cards. The food distribution and supply office (FDO), which issued over 1 lakh cards in 2007, faces difficulty in handling the enormous volume of applications. Besides, residents of the distant suburbs also find it troublesome to travel to the FDO to obtain ration cards.

"We have decided to decentralise the application and distribution procedures of ration cards to simplify the process and bring down the waiting period," Pradeep Patil, food distribution and supply officer, Pune, said. "We approached the PMC in this regard and the process of issuing of cards will now be undertaken jointly."

In the first phase, eight CFCs -- located in Shivajinagar, Yerwada, Kasba Peth, Ghole road, Bhavani Peth, Aundh, Vishrambaugwada and Tilak road -- will offer the facility. Residents of the respective areas will be able to apply for and collect their ration cards from these centres. "Trials will begin soon at these centres, while the actual services will start in the next few weeks," Patil stated.

"The FDO will collect the applications from the CFCs daily. After being scrutinised by our officials, the cards will be issued at the CFCs. This will reduce the burden faced by the FDO. Besides, citizens will get the cards in their own localities," Patil further said.

The services were launched at CFCs in Pimpri-Chinchwad last month, he added.

The seventh Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) is set to kick off on 8 January with the screening of approximately 150 films from 42 countries.

PIFF will also give away lifetime achievement awards to actors Sulochana, Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini.

The festival, which ends on 15 January, will screen films under categories like World Cinema, Student Films- Live Action and Animation, World Showcase, Country Focus, Retrospective, Tribute, Indian Showcase, Focus on Director, Gems from NFAI and Marathi Cinema Today.

PIFF will showcase 109 films under the World Competition section from 30 countries while in Marathi section 30 entries have been received.

Starting this year, the festival has also introduced a new segment on Football wherein three films based on the game will be shown.

PIFF will be inaugurated by Minister of State for External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma.

Indiantelevision.com

According to the Financial Express, the central government has approved and cleared the creation of the Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) at Pune in Maharashtra. This board will greatly aid the wine sector in the form of R&D, the Indian wine industry's sustainable development, Indian wine promotion within the country and outside, quality upgradation, extensions and market research and information.

The board is also expected to raise awareness and capacity building amongst processors, farmers and various stakeholders; this will lead to a rise in productivity, less wastage and global quality grapes and wine. Maharashtra produces almost 97 per cent of the total wine made in India.

One of the two largest home loan lender ICICI Bank has given a New Year gift to its borrowers. The bank has cut its home loan rate by half a percentage points to 11% for loan up to Rs 20 lakh and to 12.50% for loan more than Rs 20 lakh. Despite the cut in the rate, the home loan offered by the bank will be costlier than its rival HDFC Ltd and other public sector banks.

The bank on Wednesday has cut its floating reference rate by 50 basis points to 13.75% from 14.25%. The bank has also cut its deposits rates by up to 75 basis points. In August 2008, the bank had increased its home loan rates by one percentage point. This is the first time the bank has responded to the liquidity infusion by RBI in last three months.

Public sector banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and others have already cut their lending rates by up to 150 basis points since RBI infused liquidity in the financial system. The home loan rates offered by large government-owned banks like SBI, PNB, UBI and Bank of Baroda vary between 9.5% and 11%. HDFC Ltd, the second largest player in home loan market, has also cut its rate by half a percentage point to 10.25% for loan up to Rs 20 lakh and 11.25% for loan more than Rs 20 lakh. In fact, HDFC Ltd had not increased its rates as sharply as ICICI Bank when RBI had tightened the liquidity in the system during initial months of 2008. That is why, HDFC's home loan product is cheaper than that of ICICI Bank. The rate cut will benefit the existing customers too as it will be passed on to them also.

It will reduce the EMI of a 20-year loan by Rs 35 per lakh to Rs 1,136. That means, on a Rs 50 lakh loan for 20 years, the EMI will come down by 3% or Rs 1,772 to Rs 56,807. But, if somebody wants to continue to pay the same EMI and reduce the tenure of the loan repayment, the fall in the interest rate by half a percentage points from 13% to 12.5% will lead to reduction in the period by 28 months. But as the bank has kept its home loan rates higher than other banks, clearly suggests that it would not like to be very aggressive in home loan segment. Till early 2007, ICICI used to offer home loan at one of lowest rates. But, later it changed its focus as liquidity situation tightened in the money market.

Fortunately, India's GDP has an extremely large component of domestic consumption, and as we see the reality of the global meltdown being completely absorbed and factored in to our future projections and expectations, we will see the result of the strong domestic demand.

2009 will be a year where we will see the results of the active government intervention in fending off the global crisis. While there is still a lot more that the government can and claims that it will do, the fact that customers still need homes will set in. This, complimented with lower real estate rates, lower interest rates and better incentives to customers to purchase homes will go a long way in rebuilding the entire real estate industry.

We have already seen a change in the customer sentiment towards purchasing a home and expect that the currently visible trickle of change in customer sentiment towards purchasing a home will translate into a normal buying cycle. The reality is that customers are astute and have started to realise that while buying at the absolute bottom is a near impossible task, the downside risk from current levels is fairly low. Further, the purchasing power has improved substantially with the current market scenario.

The drop in interest rates from 11.5% to 9.25% combined with a reduction of 15% in real estate rates has resulted in an increase in purchasing power of 33%. The same EMI would, at a lower interest rate provide for a higher loan. The higher loan used to purchase a home at a lower price would enable the customer to purchase more square feet.

The transition of the real estate market will however lead to some fundamental differences this time. Customers will purchase based on need rather than based on the euphoria and hype we saw in 2006-2007. Already, sizes of homes have reduced and customers will be more circumspect in their purchase decisions. At the developer end, the indiscriminate growth will also give way to more rational and safer growth plans. Plans that are not based on arbitrage between cap rates between domestic and international markets and excel spread sheets but on the fundamentals of brick and mortar.

I believe 2009 will see the customers who have deferred their home purchases in 2008 take the decision and purchase their homes given the affordability impact as well as the tremendous need for homes in the country. As a result of the reduced number of projects launched in the last 12 months, we will see better projects developed by reputed developers being sold out sooner.

The Pune District Molkareen Sanghatana, an association of maids, on Monday welcomed the state assembly's approval of the long-pending domestic workers' bill, which has sought to organise domestic labourers in the state.

Speaking to TOI, Medha Thatte, general secretary of the 13,000-member-strong labour organisation said, "We are happy that the assembly has finally taken cognisance of our struggle, which is two-and-a-halfdecades-old. Though it is early, and the fine print of the bill is yet to be clarified, we are optimistic that it will do a lot for our members."

Amongst other things, the approval of the bill means the constitution of the Domestic Workers' Welfare Board, across all districts of the state, which will ensure a measure of social justice and job security for its members, by providing them pension, maternity benefits and insurance and paid leave. The welfare board will be of a tripartite composition, and will have representatives of the government, domestic workers and employers.

The best feature of the bill, according to Thatte is that it covers domestic workers, both part-time and full-time, across the state.

To educate their members about the provisions of the bill, the association is planning a state-level meet of all its members, next month, though the details of the time and venue have to be worked out.

Housewives have reacted with caution to the passing of the bill.

"We have got everything. The office has sanctioned us an amount of Rs 5 lakh and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has allotted the land, but we need to build a foundation for installing the board at a height. We approached the executive engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD)'s Pune office, but they (PWD officials) refused to execute it by calling it too small a task," said P K Mirashe, regional officer of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

Air pollutants -- sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) --have been identified for regular monitoring and displaying.

"The board will flash latest emission levels every second minute. It would be set up at a conspicuous location and will definitely help in pricking public conscience," said Ramakant Sorte, scientific officer of the MPCB.

The MPCB has continuos ambient air monitoring station (CAAMS) equipped with automatic imported analyser located at the zonal office of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Karve road. It is a part of Air Quality Management System (AQMS), Sorte added.

The place for setting up the display board is identified near the traffic signal opposite Vimalabai Garware Girl's School on Karve road. "If the PWD officials continue to be adamant, then we may assign the work to a private contractor," said Mirashe. Despite repeated attempts, PWD officials office could not be contacted.

Unlike the older system where candidates used to be informed by post about their selection, the new system ensures that the candidate selects the village and taluka of his/her choice on the computer before taking a print of the appointment letter, said Sham Wardhane, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pune Zilla Parishad.

The Parishad recruits teachers for its schools in 14 talukas like Ambegaon, Shirur, Daund, Bhor, Junnar, Khed Maval and Baramati. "Candidates are usually reluctant to serve in talukas far from their residence or talukas like Velha with high rainfall or arid regions like Daund," said S N Pandhare, district education officer.

"To overcome the problem, we call all selected candidates for teachers' post to a high school; call them merit-wise to select the taluka and village option in the excel-based computer software after which the print of appointment letter is handed over," Wardhane said.

The principals' promotion is done the same way, on the basis of seniority, he added. The new system has been in place for six months during which around 300 teachers and principals have been recruited or promoted.

Earlier, the Parishad used to manually decide the posting of candidates and sent out appointment letters. "Many candidates used to come to us demanding a change in the village or taluka, which was a tedious job to handle. If they did not get the location of their choice, they refused to join. Hence, many posts remained vacant," Pandhare said. The computer-based system is helping in filling the vacant posts, he added.

The MOB mooted for computerisation as it was it facing difficulties in maintaining manual records of each and every criminal. Providing information to police stations quickly was also an enormous task as the bureau had to scan through all the profiles of criminals before providing the relevant details.

The bureau had sought permission from additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajender Singh and deputy commissioner of police (crime) Anil Kumbhare to computerise details of the criminals. Senior crime branch officials gave the green signal to inspector Rajendra Joshi, the MOB head, to go ahead with the project, when they realised its benefits.

MOB officials then upgraded the profiles of 7,000 criminals in a record time of 10 months, from February to November, 2008. Now, 28 police stations in the city can access these records.

Hailing the MOB officials' initiative, deputy commissioner of police (crime) Anil Kumbhare told TOI on Saturday that the bureau has upgraded the records of criminals, including photographs, present address, telephone and mobile numbers, details of present activities, number of cases registered against the offender and details of other accomplices if the criminal heads a gang.

Kumbhare said the records of criminals actively involved in property offences like house break-ins, thefts, robberies, dacoities and murder cases between 1998 and 2008 were computerised in order to provide instant reference material to policemen investigating similar offences. He said, "The data will also help the police understand the modus operandi of a criminal and analyse the crime patterns in the city.

Rajendra Pawar, chief executive officer (CEO), DCB, said that the drive started at 6 am and continued till 10.30 am.

It was conducted near Central Restaurant and two garages, one hotel, one vegetable shop and two stalls were demolished. Around five unauthorised shops were also brought down near LIG quarters.

Twenty cantonment staff, including sanitary officer and engineers, participated in the drive, Pawar said.

He added that the cantonment has sent show cause notices to people having unauthorised constructions.

The cantonment staff was conducting surveillance to identify the illegal constructions and encroachments and strict action against would be taken against violators.

Independent corporator Maruti Bhapkar and NCP corporator R S Kumar had tabled a proposal stating that citizens should be charged at a flat rate of Rs 2.50 per 1,000 litres for all types of water consumption, instead of the current slabs which are inconsistent.

Bhapkar said that the corporation annually collects Rs 1,160 per household as water tax which is quite exhorbitant. The PCMC has already collected the tax for the year ending March 2009. Still, the civic body will charge (tax) as per the meter readings from this month. Citizens will have to pay exorbitant charges and corporators will have to answer their questions, he said.

The scheme, initiated under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), is in the limelight due to various allegations regarding inferior quality of work and wrong choice of sites. While the Union government has sanctioned only Rs 359 crore as per the initial project cost, the municipal corporation is spending Rs 592 crore due to cost escalation. The additional cost will be borne by the PCMC.

The municipal corporation has also appointed a one man committee to look into the allegations about inferior quality of work. And its report is still awaited.

Pimpri-Chincwad has a total of 71 slum areas with a population of over 1.47 lakh. Of the 71 slums, 36 are "officially declared slum areas". The municipal corporation has already made a list of eligible slum dwellers who have been staying in slums before the year 1995.

This is not the first time that the corporation has run into controversies in undertaking rehabilitation projects. The PCMC spent crores of rupees on two projects -- one at Sector 22 (called Ota Scheme) and the second at Bhatnagar Pimpri. There have been allegations that outsiders have encroached in to the Ota Scheme tenements. Similarly, the buildings at Bhatnagar are in bad condition due to lack of maintenance.

Sudhir Joshi, assistant commissioner, PCMC, said a total of 207 buildings would be constructed, out of which the construction of 35 buildings was in progress. The construction of 468 tenements also is in final stages. The beneficiaries of the scheme will have to pay Rs 10,000 as cost of the tenement, measuring around 270 sq ft.

Under the project, six slums at Ajanthanagar, Udyognagar, Vetalnagar, Milindnagar and Vitthalnagar are being rehabilitated. The PCMC will construct 1,680 tenements at Ajanthanagar and Udyognagar, 1,568 tenements at Vetalnagar, 1,456 at Milindnagar, 1,568 at Vitthalnagar and 11,760 at Sector 22.

BPOs, IT firms and enterprise users of Internet should brace up for higher prices of bandwidth if they want capacity that is disruptionproof even in case of disasters like the latest undersea cable cuts in the Mediterranean region. Operators are mulling increasing prices for offering round-the-clock or restorable leased line services, top industry sources told ET.

Leased lines are dedicated circuits which provide permanent Internet connectivity and are heavily used by IT and IT-enabled services industry for voice and data transfer.

The simultaneous disruption of services on submarine cables SeaMeWe3, SeaMeWe4 (backed by 16 telecom companies) and Reliance Communications' Flag in the Mediterranean region has highlighted the need for submarine cable operators to have capacity on cables on different routes. While it will provide full redundancy (back-up) in case of a disaster, it will jack up costs for operators. This is because they have to keep capacity free 24X7 on a different cable route. This cost of keeping spare capacity will be passed on to end users.

 "Operators are thinking that enterprises must pay more if they want highly secure and reliable connectivity amid increasing incidents of cable cuts. Service providers will keep back-up on another route, rather than on nearby cables, which may also be affected in a disaster," said the source. While SMW3 and SMW4 have restoration contracts, meaning that one will take the load of another in case of a disaster, in the latest incident, both the systems have been impacted at the same time and in the same region. Coupled with breakdown of Flag, around 80% of users were affected in India.

Complaints of instances of bribes can now be registered at its Pune office, which will become functional at the Government Pool Office Accommodation in Akurdi from January 1.

People from far away places like Kolhapur can also register their complaints here.CBI superintendent of police, Pravin Salunkhe, told TOI over telephone from Mumbai on Monday that the agency's anti-corruption bureau will focus its attention even on minor complaints of bribes at its Pune office.

Salunkhe said that earlier people had to travel to Mumbai to make complaints against government officials demanding bribe or illegal deeds.

Salunkhe said the agency used to spend thousands of rupees while investigating petty cases of bribe like Rs 500 because the officials had to travel extensively whenever any complaint against a government official was received.Now, people can save time and money if they approach the CBI's Pune office.

According to Salunkhe, the new office was being opened in public interest. The place houses a large number of central government offices, including defence establishments.

The office will entertain complaints from people residing in western Maharashtra, like Pune, Sangli, Satara, Solapur and Kolhapur, and Marathwada region, like Aurangabad, Jalna, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed, Hingoli and Parbhani.
The CBI office will be headed by an officer of the rank of superintendent of police. It will have officers of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, inspectors, sub-inspectors, among others. The telephone numbers will be made available to the public as soon as the office starts functioning.