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Civic body turns off 47 street lamps to fix faults

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 11:42 administrator
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The Times of India           05.02.2014

Civic body turns off 47 street lamps to fix faults

VASHI: A month after six-year-old Babu Piraji Kale in Turbhe was electrocuted after he had touched a streetlight pole installed by the civic body, the report pertaining to his death is still awaited. But the civic administration is not willing to take any more chances.

The incident has prompted the department to issue strict directives to engineers, forbidding them from operating any streetlight poles that require maintenance and repairs.

The civic engineers said that 35 streetlight poles between Vashi and Turbhe and 12 poles between Belapur and Nerul have been switched off.

The engineers have cited reasons like rusting of electricity boxes attached to the pole, replacing the boxes to a certain height.

Even Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has been asked to remove the wires dangling from the poles.

"Most of the streetlight poles have MSEDCL wires, which have to be removed at the earliest," said an engineer.

"The report of the unfortunate accident is expected to be released in a few days. But prior to that, specific guidelines have been given to engineers with regard to maintaining the streetlight poles. Engineers have been instructed against switching on the streetlight poles that may have even minor problems," said head of electrical department GV Rao.

 

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to submit Rs 2k-cr draft budget

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 11:41 administrator
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The Times of India           05.02.2014

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to submit Rs 2k-cr draft budget

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is expected to submit the Rs 2,000-crore draft budget to the standing committee for approval on February 11.

Municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi said, "The code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections is expected to come into force at the end of this month. The civic body wants the draft budget to come up for approval at the general body meeting to be held on February 20. The administration needs to table the draft budget before the standing committee on February 11 and if the committee approves it on the same day, we can table it at the general body meeting."

But if the approval takes time, the administration will have to convene a special general body meeting for approval.

Pardeshi said the draft budget will consist of two parts: the civic body's draft budget and the draft budget for works under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The budget for the current fiscal had an outlay of Rs 1,926 crore with carry forward balance of around Rs 70-80 crore.

"There is always natural growth of 10% in the annual budget every year so the draft budget for 2014-15 may have an outlay of around Rs 2,200 crore. But the civic body is expecting a deficit of Rs 325 crore in local body tax (LBT) which we plan to reduce to Rs 175 crore by increasing the income of building permission and property tax departments," Pardeshi said. He said the total income of the civic body in this fiscal is expected to be around Rs 1,700 crore and it will be difficult to have a budget with an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore.

He said there were only a few JNNURM projects that needed to be completed and they include development of bus rapid transit system (BRTS) routes, housing scheme for economically weaker sections and slum rehabilitation projects.

 

24x7 drinking water, toilets a must at fuel stations on highways

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 11:40 administrator
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The Times of India           05.02.2014

24x7 drinking water, toilets a must at fuel stations on highways

PUNE: All fuel stations along national highways are required to have round-the-clock drinking water and toilet facilities as well as display boards stating that these facilities are available.

The Union ministry of road transport and highways recently issued a circular in this regard to all chief secretaries of states, chief engineers and other officials of public works departments and all units of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The ministry said that the unified guidelines for access permission to fuel stations had been issued in July 2013. It said it is mandatory in the licence deed agreement to have drinking water and toilet facilities at all fuel stations as per approved drawings and specifications, to the full satisfaction of the highway administration.

"A display board showing availability of such facilities shall be installed before the entry to the fuel station," says the circular.

A senior official of NHAI, Pune division, said all fuel stations on the Pune-Satara stretch of NH-4 are being inspected, and similar checks will be carried out on the Pune-Solapur highway (NH-9).

"We will notify the fuel stations about the shortcomings after our inspection and give the owners and managers of such fuel stations some time to take appropriate action. We will create a database of the fuel stations and facilities," the official said.

The ministry has directed all the departments concerned to bring to its notice all instances of non-availability of these facilities.

Frequent users of highways say that such facilities are available at some fuel stations. "However, there aren't any display boards and people have to ask fuel station workers about it. Also, the facilities need to be maintained properly," said one highway user.

All fuel stations on the Pune-Satara stretch of NH-4 are being inspected. Similar checks will be carried out on the Pune-Solapur highway (NH-9). We will notify the fuel stations about the shortcomings after our inspection and give the owners and managers of such fuel stations some time to take appropriate action.

 
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