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BMC’s P-South ward office to set up solar plant on roof, save up to Rs 3 lakh/year

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The Times of India       19.01.2023 

BMC’s P-South ward office to set up solar plant on roof, save up to Rs 3 lakh/year

SANJEEV DEVASIA / TNN / Updated: Jan 19, 2023, 08:25 IST

MUMBAI: The BMC’s P-South ward will soon set up a rooftop solar plant at its office    or its power needs. It is expected to recover its investment in the plant in about five years by way of savings on energy expenditure.

The civic body will install a 25KW on-grid rooftop solar plant at its ward office building at Goregaon (West). It is expected to spend between Rs 18 lakh and Rs 20 lakh to set up the plant. Municipal officials claimed the plant would help save between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh per year.

“The ward office building and premises consume over 50,000 units of electricity per year and this solar plant, which will be connected to the grid, will help us save big on energy. We have enough space on our rooftop, and we will be using about 1,200 square feet to install the solar panels,” a P-South ward official said.

“The solar panels have a life of about 25 years and a rough calculation taking into account the projected rise in power tariffs annually indicates that the ward will save about Rs 1 crore in the next 20 years,” the official said. The ward has followed the guidelines of the central and state governments while setting up the solar plant, he added.

 According to the official, the power generated by the plant will be supplied to the grid and the electricity supplier will provide the ward office a rebate in bills commensurate with the power supplied.

Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of Zone-IV, said, “We wanted to implement some new initiatives. Therefore, we zeroed in on the solar plant, which will help us in saving on the expenditure incurred on power consumption.”

Last June, the civic body’s G-South ward office had commissioned a 20KW solar plant on its building rooftop. The office consumes about 25,000 units of power a year and the plant is expected to help it save between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh per year in terms of expenditure on energy. 

 

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation passes administration report, financial statement

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The Hindu       04.08.2021

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation passes administration report, financial statement

BJP alleges discrepancies in number of vehicles owned by civic body

A council meeting of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation on Wednesday passed the annual administration report for 2019-20 and the annual financial statement for 2020-21, after more than two hours of intense debate.

Mayor Arya Rajendran said that amendments, if required, would be made in the financial statement, based on some discrepancies as pointed out by some of the Opposition councillors.

The reports were placed in the council for discussion as per the demands raised by the Opposition councillors at a previous council meeting. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors Anilkumar and Karamana Ajith alleged that there were discrepancies in the number of vehicles owned by the Corporation, as per the administrative report and in replies to RTI queries.

Some vehicles were indicated as missing in the administrative report. The councillors demanded that the Corporation file a complaint with the police and take action against the officials responsible, for failing in their duty. Works standing committee chairman D.R. Anil said that he had revealed the issue of the missing vehicles in a previous council meeting and hence the BJP councillors should desist from presenting it as their finding.

Ms. Rajendran said that a search committee had been constituted to ascertain which vehicles were actually missing. Some of the vehicles had been found to be abandoned at various locations, as they were earlier used for decentralised waste collection, which was not happening any more. The possibility of reusing some of these vehicles would be looked into. A complaint would be filed with the police only for vehicles which had actually gone missing.

Housing projects

BJP councillor M.R. Gopan also questioned the figures regarding housing projects in the administrative report. He said that hardly any house had been completed under LIFE project in the Corporation. Welfare committee chairman S. Salim countered these allegations, saying that the state had increased funding for PMAY housing projects too, in line with the LIFE projects, and hence gave more funds to the beneficiaries for house construction than all other States.

Tax liability

In the discussion on the annual financial statement, BJP councillor P. Ashokkumar alleged that the report was ridden with errors. There was a large tax liability of ₹200 crore in the report. The details of the persons or the institutions which owed taxes had to be publicised, he said.

The Deputy Mayor ₹55 crore was part of the outstanding tax amount which had been passed down over the years. However, the rest of the amount included the funds anticipated from the government this fiscal.

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 August 2021 06:01
 

Government tells Parliament there have 941 deaths related to cleaning of sewers and septic tanks

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The Times of India         04.08.2021

Government tells Parliament there have 941 deaths related to cleaning of sewers and septic tanks

NEW DELHI: The Central government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that while there are no reports of death due to manual scavenging, data shared by states shows that the number of deaths related to cleaning of sewers and septic tanks is 941. The maximum number of cases are from Tamil Nadu (213) followed by Gujarat (153) and UP (104). The national Capital has reported 98 cases.

To a question whether the government has data on the number of people engaged in manual scavenging who lost their lives in the course of employment, the minister of social justice and empowerment Virendra Kumar said "there is no report of death due to manual scavenging. However, we have reports regarding deaths of workers while being engaged in cleaning of sewers and septic tanks." He has shared data of 941 deaths based on reports from 21 state governments.

As far as the number of manual scavengers is concerned, the government has informed parliament that as per the two surveys conducted by local authorities in 2013 and 2018, 58098 persons were working as manual scavengers.

"All identified and eligible, 58098 manual scavengers have been paid one time cash assistance of Rs 40,000. To enable rehabilitation, skill development training has been provided to 16057 manual scavengers and their dependents," the minister for social justice said. He also shared that 1387 manual scavengers, sanitation workers and their dependents have been provided capital subsidy for self employment projects, including sanitation related projects.

Last week, the government's response to a similar question on manual scavenging in Rajya sabha had stirred a controversy with activists lashing out at the government.The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act 2013 bans the practice. On July 28, to a question about the number of people engaged in manual savending who died in the last five years, minister of state for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athawale said, “no such deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging.” The statement immediately set off comparisons with the Centre's recent "no deaths due to oxygen shortage" statement.

TOI had reported on July 30 that in a reply to a similar question in Lok Sabha in February last year, while maintaining there had been no reports regarding deaths due to manual scavenging, the ministry said that “the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis has received reports regarding the death of persons while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.” The differentiation indicated that deaths due to surface scavenging might be rare. But it was not clear why this explanatory information which formed part of the reply last year was not specified in the July 28 response. Now in the reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the ministry while responding explains that while there are no reports of deaths due to manual scavenging there were reports of deaths related to cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

Earlier this year during the Budget session the ministry had informed Lok Sabha that as many as 340 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks during the last five years as per the cases reported by the states and UTs upto December 31, 2020. Maximum cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh at 52 deaths followed by Tamil Nadu (43), Delhi (36), Maharashtra (34), and 31 each in Gujarat and Haryana. The February 2020 answer also gave state-wise details of deaths and compensation paid.

Under the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Rules, 2013” the employer who engages workers for cleaning sewers / septic tanks is obliged to provide the safety gear, devices and ensure safety precautions as prescribed in the rules."

To a query on whether government has formulated any new plan to prevent manual cleaning of sewers, the ministry had informed Lok Sabha in February this year that a national policy for mechanised sanitation eco-system has been formulated in consultation with the ministry of housing and urban affairs, department of drinking water and sanitation which envisages appointment of a sanitation authority in every district and response units in each municipality equipped with necessary devices and vehicles.

 
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