Municipal chief’s water optimism draws flak
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100325/4924595313294563597.htm
Special Correspondent
Thursday, March 25, 2010 AT 12:56 PM (IST)
PUNE: Municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade's statement at the general body of the Pune Municipal Corporation Tuesday, that Pune's drinking water supply was far in excess to its requirement, has drawn huge criticism from elected members. The office-bearers, now say this highly distorted analysis by the commissioner may become a potential tool in the hands of anyone who wishes to stall the development of Pune BY filing a simple Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
Without quoting any authoritative statistics and relying on his own conjecture, the commissioner had stated that all that Pune needed was 7 TMC of water, while the irrigation department in its munificence was pouring nearly 14 TMC of water every year to quench the thirst of people in Pune.
BJP corporator Vikas Mathkari said Zagade had actually unleashed a huge calamity over Pune through his statement.
''The commissioner's assumption that the PMC serves merely 35 lakh people is fundamentally wrong. He is off the mark by at least 15 lakh from the real figure,'' Mathkari said pointing out that the eight constituencies spread across the PMC have 27.5 lakh registered voters. Normally the population of an area is assumed to be one and a half times its voting list. >>Continued on p3
‘’Add to it the student population coming from outside, the workers, villagers travelling to and fro, tourists, floating population and the fringe villages to which PMC is obliged to supply water and we arrive at a figure of at least 50 to 52 lakh,’’ Mathkari said.
And when you sit down to calculate the amount of water that these people need it comes to nearly 14 TMC per year. By the irrigation department’s own admission nearly 2 TMC of the 14 TMC of water it supplies goes waste in transmission losses, Pune is actually running short by 2 TMC of water, Mathkari said. ``Instead of channelising his energies to procure more water for Pune, the commissioner is working in the opposite direction,’’ Mathkari said.
MIM, TDP welcome Supreme Court order
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article304481.ece
The Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order lifting the stay on implementation of four per cent reservation in jobs and education for economically-backward Muslims and said this should be an “eye-opener” to those who opposed the reservations.
“The Supreme Court’s order today should be an eye-opener to those who opposed the reservation. Reservation is very much essential for the uplift of socially and economically-backward Muslims,” MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi told PTI.
With the Supreme Court lifting the stay on the High Court judgement quashing the reservation, the academic future of thousands of Muslim boys and girls would be protected, he pointed out.
“It is high time that the Government of India implements the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Committee in relation to reservation for Muslims,” Mr. Owaisi said.
The Telugu Desam Party too welcomed the Supreme Court order.
“The government should argue the case more effectively in the Supreme Court and ensure that the reservations for Muslims are fully protected,” TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said.
Kolkata fire: Court stops demolition of
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/kolkata-fire-court-stops-demolition-of-stephen-court-18409.php
NDTV Correspondent, Thursday March 25, 2010, Kolkata
The Calcutta High Court has ruled that no part of
On Thursday morning, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) began bringing down the top floors of the building in which 24 people died after a massive fire on Tuesday. Residents objected, and went to court to stop the demolition. Worried members of the Corporation say the fire-ravaged parts of
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team has been formed by the
The fire allegedly began in the lift of the building, above the city's landmark confectionery shop, Flury's. Ten people are still missing.
A series of lapses prove that the six-storey
Bhattacharjee said the Municipal Corporation's own role will be investigated, along with that of the owner, Sanjay Bagadia, who is still missing. Caretakers Tarun Bagadia and Ram Shankar Singh were arrested on Wednesday.
Now under attack, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation insists that the top two floors had been regularized. In response to visible proof that these floors had exposed and ancient wires, and that exit routes were blocked, the Corporation, says, inexplicably, "There are 10 lakh buildings in the city, 800 are heritage...30 to 40 people cannot go to each and every building and check them for violations, this does not happen anywhere in the world."
The Corporation claims that after the top two floors were added, the owner paid a penalty, which legitimizes the construction, according to the city's laws.
As a special team of the Corporation began demolishing the damaged parts of the top fifth and sixth floors of the building, a section of the residents demonstrated demanding that they be allowed access to the building before the demolition began to collect their valuables.
The police and KMC officials had a tough time pacifying the demonstrators some of whom, including women, were seen lunging at the officials present to oversee the exercise.
A senior KMC official announced through a megaphone that only damaged parts of the fifth and sixth floor of the building, and not the entire two floors, would be pulled down.
He said the demolition became necessary as the fire-ravaged parts were in a precarious condition which might further endanger lives.
Himachal Pradesh HC seeks details on power lines through forest
http://www.indlawnews.com/newsdisplay.aspx?d226cb49-d2b2-4a98-ac75-e4fc372e3f3b
3/24/2010
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the IG Forest and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to inform the ways and means being adopted to protect trees while laying down power transmission lines on the banks of the Satluj river.
The recently constituted Green bench comprising Justices Deepak Gutpa and Sanjay Karol yesterday directed Central Government officials to inform the court about the authority and basis of determining the height of the transmission towers by the Jay Prakash Hydro Power Limited.
The High Court sought to know the scope of changing the height of towers in hilly terrain, height of transmission lines and clearance required between top of the tree and transmission lines.
The Green bench also observed that the left bank of the Satluj river was covered with forest while the right bank has very little growth.
However, it said since the company had obtained permission from the Supreme Court, the aggrieved parties may approach the apex court in this regard.
The High Court said the permissions were subject to conditions like ensuring minimum felling of trees and damage to the flora and fauna of the area.
There must be some independent agency to ensure the compliance of conditions. The Inspector General of Forest, Chairmen of Forest and Central Electricity Regulatory Commissions and Power Grid Corporation of
UNI
Madras
PTI
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 21:14 IST
Chennai: The
In his order, justice G Rajasuria said he was granting the interim injunction, effective till March 31, as in his opinion the victims, as of now, 'have been projected in an identifiable manner to their detriment and exfacie and prima facie that might be in violation of human rights'.
The judge, however, made it clear that the injunction restrained the TV channels from telecasting video clippings and not news items. 'The respondent TV channels are at liberty to carry on with any news items which are not defamatory', the judge said.
The judge directed that the two affidavits be filed taking into consideration the importance involved in the case.
Issuing notice to the Centre and state governments, the judge also directedadditional solicitor general and state advocate general to appear in court on March 31.
In his suit,
The plaintiff contended that he and his family members 'are put to great hardship and mental agony by the false, frivolous, concocted and baseless allegations transmitted by the defendants' (TV channels).
http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?7ab8e4f5-aa91-490c-a8e9-3a82447fdd82
3/25/2010
A group of parents moved the Delhi High Court alleging that NDMC is adopting a dual policy regarding the admissions of students in their schools.
About 12-odd petitions filed in the High court have alleged that NDMC’s Navyug school is not admitting their wards even though they stay within a vicinity of 3 Km of the school.
In their writ petition filed through lawyer Ashok Aggarwal, the parents have alleged that their wards are being denied admission in the school, just because their area comes in the Chandni Chowk ward now after the delimitation process took place in 2009.
Earlier, all the residents of
The parents have demanded that the ‘arbitrary admission policy’ adopted by Navyug Schools is violative of the Fundamental Rights and is against the Right to Education of the child and should be stopped forthwith.
The petition will come up for hearing on March 26.
UNI
HC ruling over non-academic tasks of teachers welcomed
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