The Times of India                16.05.2013

AMC to guide career growth of sanitation workers' children

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad municipal corporation (AMC) is planning to provide a platform to the wards of its sanitation workers so that they could be exposed to better career options.

Municipal commissioner Harshdeep Kamble said that they should think of better career opportunities instead of eyeing a job of a sanitary worker in the municipal body on compassionate ground. "The young generation should opt for new and challenging careers on offer in the new global markets," he said while addressing the participants at a career guidance seminar organized by AMC at Eknath Rang Mandir hall on Wednesday.

Kamble said that the municipal body would facilitate the wards in exploring options. "We are planning to create an online gateway facility for uploading resumes of the candidates. The civic administration will maintain the data bank of the wards and share it with prospective employers," he said.

"We are ready to provide means for lifting the socio-economic status of the families of AMC's sanitary workers. The municipal body will also organize training programmes for those who wish to start their own ventures," he said highlighting the importance of small businesses which require less than Rs 1 lakh. Kamble added that the AMC would make available for them several self-employment schemes of the state and central governments.

Kamble expressed disappointment at the number of participants in the seminar, but said that the civic body would organize one more guidance programme for the candidates.

Representatives of district industries centre, Maharashtra industrial development corporation, Annabhau Sathe Mahamandal, Khadi village industries corporation and others spoke about various schemes for scheduled caste and other backward class candidates.

Nitesh Bhalerao, a participant, whose mother works as a sanitary worker in AMC, said that he found the event quite motivating. "I am doing my graduation in commerce and I don't want to take up a job in the AMC. My aim is to become a chartered accountant," he said. Rashmi Thorat, daughter of another sanitary worker who is doing engineering in computer science, said, "I am looking forward to the assistance which the AMC has promised. It will be a great help for us."

However, Kishore Sutare said that getting a job in the AMC after his mother retires was his top priority. "Nevertheless, if something lucrative comes my way, I would grab it," he said, adding that the AMC's initiative was encouraging. 

The Pioneer              15.05.2013

Sanjeev Vijay Vargiya elected new RMC Dy Mayor

The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) backed councillor of ward-10 Sanjeev Vijay Vargiya was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) in an election held on May 14.

The election turned out to be a test of strength of political parties who threw weight behind their respective candidates. While Md Aslam was backed by Congress, Pradeep Kumar was said to have the support of AJSU party.

The city unit of the Congress has accepted the results with a pinch of salt and termed the win as insignificant. "A deputy mayor is a symbolic post with absolutely no power," said city president of Congress, Surendra Singh adding “we still have the numbers in the municipal board.”

Although, Congress feels the post to be insignificant, for BJP the win will help in strengthening party’s base at the grass-root level. “A Deputy Mayor plays an important role in the development of the city and if works well the party will surely get benefit of that,” said Gama Singh, BJP office bearer.While the new Deputy Mayor Vargiya got 24 votes, Aslam got 16 and Pradeep Kumar bagged only 14 votes.As many as 55 ward councillors of RMC took part in the voting which took place at the Collectorate however, vote of one councillor was rejected for not specifying the choice of the nominee.

Additional District Magistrate (Law & Order), Dhramendra Pandey presided over the election.

The newly elected DyM was administered oath of office by Divisional Commissioner of Ranchi Vandana Dadel in the presence of acting Administrator of RMC, Dipankar Panda who is also CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of RMC.

Incidentally, the State Government had proposed the Divisional Commissioner as the oath administering authority in the absence of Mayor.

The post of mayor is lying vacant as the mayoral election was rescinded by Governor Syed Ahmad and no fresh date for the election has been announced by the State Election Commission.

Earlier on the day, the newly elected ward councillors reached at the Collectorate alongwith their supporters and relatives for taking oath of the office. The oath taking ceremony lasted for around an hour.

Meanwhile, several aspirants pulled back from race due to lack of support and voted the DyM candidates instead. "I tried but could not manage enough supporters so I decided not to file nomination," said Arun Jha, who a day before election had expressed his intention to contest elections.

Elated with his win Vargiya said, "Ranchi is facing is a lot of problem like shortage of drinking water, frequent power cuts, congested roads and many more and it is time to think how we can deal with the problem to make our city better."

Vijay Vargiya, a businessman by profession, is known for working in the interest of the electorates of ward-10.