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Anita elected Mayor of CMC

Friday, 14 February 2014 07:17 administrator
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The Hindu              14.02.2014

Anita elected Mayor of CMC

Correspondent

Naveen announces her name for the coveted post

BJD corporator Anita Behera of Upper Telengabazar of the city on Thursday was elected unopposed as Mayor of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). The 37-year-old housewife, having two daughters, was elected as a corporator from the Ward No. 21 in the elections held last week.

A Plus II dropout, Anita is a native of Athgarh area of the district and studied in various schools of Dhenkanal district. Marrying Narendra Behera, a businessman in the city, Anita has been staying here for over a decade now.

The election of Anita became a mere formality after the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced her name for the post this morning. The ruling party won 36 seats in the 59-ward council.

Since the post of Mayor in the city was reserved for the Scheduled Caste woman and there are only four SC women in the council (all four of them are from BJD), no other candidate opposed Anita’s candidature and she was declared elected to the coveted post unopposed.

In fact, Anita became the second woman Mayor of the city. Nibedita Pradhan of BJP became the first Mayor and also the first woman Mayor of the city in 2003 after the Saffron party had formed the council of the CMC in alliance with the BJD.

Coincidentally, Anita won from Ward No. 21 this time and her predecessor S.K Ghosh also won from the Ward No. 21 during the 2009 elections but the areas under it were different. More interestingly, Ghosh had won from the same area which was earlier represented by his predecessor Nibedita Pradhan in 2003 elections.

In a three-cornered contest this time in Ward No 21, Anita won by defeating her nearest rival Padmini Behera of BJP by a margin of 574 votes. While Anita had polled 1,603 votes, Padmini got 1,029 votes. Other contender of the ward Sabita Naik of Congress managed to poll only 953 votes.

Felicitated

Earlier in the day, all the 59 elected corporators were felicitated by CMC Commissioner Gyana anjan Das who also administered the oath of office. After assuming charge as Mayor, Behera told the waiting media persons that she would work sincerely for development of the city. The election for the post of Deputy Mayor is scheduled on March 1.

 

PCMC area to get theme park for kids

Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:41 administrator
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The Times of India             13.02.2014

PCMC area to get theme park for kids

PUNE: Pimpri Chinchwad will get a Balnagari, a children's theme park, and a planetarium, in addition to the existing Science Park. The projects were announced in the draft budget 2014-15, which was presented by Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Rajeev Jadhav on Wednesday. The budget has a total outlay of Rs 3,400 crore, including JNNURM projects costing Rs 1,294 crore.

The corporation has also proposed two new flyovers and grade separators at KSB junction in Pimpri and at Sangvi Phata, besides starting work on the 5 km Nigdi-Kiwale BRT route.

Jadhav, who took over as municipal commissioner just two days back, expressed concern over the deficit in the local body tax income in the present financial year as compared to the octroi income in 2012-13. The civic body will emphasize on increasing civic income and has already directed all the heads of departments to widen the tax net. There is no proposal to hike taxes this year.

The administrative expenditure of the PCMC, he said, is 25 per cent of the total expenditure. In major corporations, it is around 10 to 15 per cent of the total expenditure. Civic officials have been directed to reduce the administrative expenditure. Funds will be sought from the state for running government schemes.

He said kiosks assisting people to access online services will be set up in slums and fringe areas to extend the reach of e-governance facilities. The civic body will also implement e-literacy project, he added. "Sarathi and other initiatives undertaken by the former commissioner will be continued. We will try to add more points in his 10-point programme," he said.

The draft budget presented by the civic administration to the standing committee will not be deemed as final. "We will treat this draft budget as a flowing budget, which can be changed later to add new ideas and projects," Jadhav said.

 

Pune civic body to make documentary on Rajiv Gandhi zoo

Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:02 administrator
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The Times of India             13.02.2014

Pune civic body to make documentary on Rajiv Gandhi zoo

PUNE: Citizens and tourists will be able to get information about Rajiv Gandhi National Zoological Park at a click of the mouse now. The civic administration has planned to come out with a documentary on the zoo, which will be made available on CD for the people.

"The aim of making the documentary is to promote the zoo also know as Katraj zoo or Katraj snake park. Recently the standing committee has approved tender for making this documentary. The production company that has got the tender is expected to make this documentary on such lines that it will not only entertain people, but also educate them about bio diversity. The CD will be made available at the zoo so that the people who are visiting the zoo can also buy it," said Vishal Tambe, chairman of standing committee.

He said that the CD will also help in creating awareness about the importance of saving environment. Information about the habitat in the zoo, history and steps for protecting animals specially snakes will be given in the CD.

The documentary will also highlight information about animal adoption scheme of the zoo.The scheme to allow wildlife lovers to adopt animals in the zoo was launched in October 2010 to generate awareness. Every day, nearly 1,600 kg food including meat, foodgrains, grass, fruits and vegetables are required to feed the animals.

The civic administration is also coming up with a documentary on the heritage sites of the city. The documentary will be made available on a CD format for the tourists that visit the sites. Information about heritage sites and their relevance in history will be given in the documentary along with what citizens should do to save these sites. 

 
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