Kartik Lokhande's blog

‘Enrol under DBTL scheme, or get non-subsidised LPG cylinders’ * Chief Secretary Jayantkumar Banthia reviews preparations for launch of Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumers in Nagpur from October 1 Staff Reporter While taking stock of the preparations ahead of launch of Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumers (DBTL) in Nagpur city and district from October 1, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra Jayantkumar Banthia said that those not enrolling under the scheme would have to pay full price for LPG cylinders from January 1, 2014. To avail of the direct transfer of subsidy for LPG cylinders, LPG consumers will have to enroll under DBTL scheme. For the purpose, they will have to link their gas consumer number with Aadhaar Card, and then link the same to their bank accounts by December 1, 2013. Else, from January 1, 2014, they will get non-subsidised LPG cylinder. That is, they will LPG cylinder as per the market rate, said Banthia while addressing the officials who attended the mee

Central team wants ‘accurate’ data on damage caused by rain fury in Vid * Visits affected areas of Nagpur city including Dharampeth, Mankapur, Kamptee Road, Nari etc * Asks State Government to follow SOP in disaster situations Staff Reporter The Central Government team, on Thursday, sought ‘accurate’ data from the administrative authorities in Vidarbha on damage caused by excessive and high-intensity rainfall in the region so that further procedure regarding aid could be initiated. Headed by Joint Secretary of Union Home Department Gopal Reddy visited nine out of total 11 districts of Vidarbha region on Wednesday and Thursday. The team was divided into four sub-teams for visiting different districts. These teams visited Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, and Washim districts. A sub-team headed by Reddy himself had visited rural areas of Nagpur district on Wednesday, and it visited different areas in Nagpur city on Thursday morning. The sub-

Elected representatives seek aid for affected farmers * MLAs Sudhir Parwe and Vijay Ghodmare, ZP chief Sandhya Gotmare demand ‘wet drought’ to be declared in Nagpur district Staff Reporter The team sent by Central Government, on Wednesday, started its two-day visit to rain-hit parts of Vidarbha region. On the first day, one of the four teams visited affected villages in Bhiwapur, Umred, and Hingna tehsils of Nagpur district. During its visit, the team interacted with affected farmers, elected representatives, and also took stock of damage caused by excessive and high-intensity rainfall. Rain fury had wreaked havoc in Nagpur district in the months of June and July. Apart from causing widespread damage to property, the rains had shattered farmers’ hopes of a good crop. Soyabean, cotton, chilli were the hardest-hit crops. At many places, fertile layer of soil was washed away. The situation was the same across Vidarbha region. Taking cognisance of this, Maharashtra Government sought

11,36,000 LPG consumers to get DBTL scheme benefits Staff Reporter With barely 20 days in hand, the district administration has started preparations for Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumers (DBTL) scheme. A total of 11,36,000 LPG consumers from Nagpur city and district are expected to get benefited under the ambitious scheme for direct transfer of subsidy to bank accounts of consumers. Nagpur city has 8,60,000 LPG consumers while the rural areas have 2,76,000. They are supplied LPG cylinders through 51 gas agencies in Nagpur city and 22 in rural areas. To facilitate implementation of DBTL scheme from October 1, the district administration held a meeting of all gas agencies and oil marketing companies. In the meeting, necessary instructions regarding proper data collection, processing, and submission were given. Besides, oil marketing companies were asked to launch a massive awareness campaign for LPG consumers. “In collaboration with oil marketing companies, the

Dear friends, Making a statement in Parliament on September 6, 2013, Defence Minister A K Antony made it clear that there was no question of India ceding any part of Indian territory to China. At the same time, he said that the report submitted by NSAB Chairman Shyam Saran did not state that ‘China has occupied, or has denied access to India to any part of Indian territory’. Here is the full official statement of Defence Minister released by Press Information Bureau: Statement by Raksha Mantri on the Report by Shri Shyam Saran, Chairman, National Security Advisory Board New Delhi, September 06, 2013: Shri Shyam Saran, Chairman, National Security Advisory Board visited Ladakh from August 2 to 9, 2013. He has submitted a report on infrastructure in Ladakh, a copy of which has been sent by the Prime Minister’s Office to the Ministry of Defence, among others, on the 2nd September 2013. The report is primarily focused on the border infrastructure but also deals with several aspects relati

'Festival' or 'show off'? By Aboli Lokhande The other day, in the morning, a group of chanda collectors knocked our door. “Madam ‘Ganpatichi Vargani’”, they said. “How much?”, I asked “This year rs. 600 m’m, compulsory”, said the group “Pardon me? Are you joking?” I said “It’s too much to afford” “M’m, we have chalked out the plan and we worked out 600rs contribution per family”, they said firmly. “It’s impossible, we have to celebrate Ganapati at home too, we can’t afford”, I continued The conversation between me and the group went on for near about 15 minutes. The group and I both felt that we were losing our good terms because of money. Is it really worth to spend so much money to come closer as society members? When the festival was conceptualized originally by Lokmanya Tilak, the idea was entirely different. The tradition started several years back, his idea was to make people aware and unite them for freedom

* The proposal is likely to pave way for creation of new universities through division of existing ones like RTMNU and SGB Amravati University * RTMNU has over 200 colleges affiliated to it from Nagpur city alone By Kartik Lokhande Soon, Nagpur city may have its own university. For, the city has more than 200 colleges affiliated to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU). The reason behind coming to the conclusion about city having its own university is the latest move of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), which has   proposed to put a ceiling of maximum number of colleges to be affiliated to any university at 200! The proposal has been submitted following several State Universities having a large number of colleges affiliated to a single university. RUSA has cited examples of Osmania University (901 colleges affiliated to it), University of Pune (811 colleges), RTMNU (800 colleges), and Rajasthan as well as Mumbai University having 735 a

* The scheme has been launched in Wardha and Amravati districts of Vidarbha from June nad September Staff Reporter Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme is being extended to 30 more districts of Maharashtra by January 1, 2014 in a phased manner depending upon Aadhaar Card penetration. In the immediate phase, the scheme will be launched in Nagpur and Gondia districts of Vidarbha region from October 1. The scheme was first launched in Wardha and Amravati districts of Vidarbha region from June 1 and September 1 respectively, in the first phase. Now, remaining 30 districts are being covered in a phased manner. In the second phase, the scheme will be launched in Nagpur, Gondia, Dhule, Ratnagiri, Thane, Jalgaon, and Sangli from October 1. Prashant Kale, District Supply Officer (Nagpur) told ‘The Hitavada’ that a meeting of the Sales Officers of gas agencies, officials of Civil Supplies Department, and officers of banks would be called soon to gear up for implementatio

* The move raises eye-brows considering the volatile situation in industry sector By Kartik Lokhande  Right from the top leaders to policy planners, everyone agrees that economic situation is shaky and investment climate is rough. However, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) does not appear to be thinking so. In the latest development, MIDC has more than doubled the rate of plots for industries in areas like Butibori. The plots in industrial areas were available for Rs 520 per square metre previously. In the latest board meeting, MIDC decided to increase the rate to Rs 1,150 per sq mtr. Vijay Bhakre, MIDC Regional Officer (Nagpur), confirmed the development. He told ‘The Hitavada’ that the increase was due considering the higher cost at which land for Butibori additional area was acquired and certain other factors. “Still, the rate is just Rs 110 per sq ft. The market rate for land outside MIDC area in the same belt is Rs 700 to Rs 800 per sq ft. Com

* The amount has been released as part of the Rs 200 crore package for rehabilitation of PAPs Staff Reporter Here is a good news for project-affected persons (PAPs) of Multimodal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project. Maharashtra Government has released Rs 100 crore for rehabilitation of PAPs, as part of a package involving higher amount. Rehabilitation of PAPs has been a contentious issue as far as MIHAN project is concerned. When the major part of land acquisition was over, an additional portion of 145.29 hectares of land had remained to be acquired. Initially, the Government had released additional aid of Rs 266 crore for rehabilitation of PAPs. Of this, Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) got Rs 189.20 crore on March 3, 2012. Later on, a provision of Rs 302.61 crore was made for acquisition of remaining 145.29 hectares of land specially in Jaitala and Bhamti area. The provision was made on March 30, 2012. Of this amount, Rs 53.66 crore w

* So far, 31 open spaces and PU lands admeasuring 86,565.72 sq mtr have been taken possession of by NMC Staff Reporter With the growth in realty market, certain practices became rampant. This led to a situation when construction has increased manifold but open spaces and public utility (PU) lands have decreased in availability. Realising this, albeit late, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started taking possession of open spaces and PU lands with an intention to put those to better use. According to sources, so far, NMC has taken possession of 31 open spaces and PU lands. These are in different areas including Chikhli (Khurd), Binaki, Wathoda, Borgaon, Jaripatka, Sonegaon, Police Line Takli, Hazaripahad, Jaitala, Chichbhuvan, Gadga, Nari, and Mouza Nagpur. Of these, maximum eight open spaces/PU lands have been taken in possession by NMC in Mouza Jaripatka. It is followed by five spaces/lands in Chichbhuvan, four in Borgaon and Borgaon-Hazaripahad, three in Sonega

Dear friends,  This is first of my attempts to write an independent opinion article exclusively for my blogspot. I sincerely await your comments on this one... Kartik FREE AND FAIR? The latest recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 61st report on electoral reforms are nothing but one more step of Indian political class towards snubbing institutions set up to ensure free and fair elections.  Snubbing is the only word that can describe the intention of political class. There is no rationale and moral behind recommending to strip the Election Commission of India (ECI) of certain powers vested in it. Stripping off the ECI’s power to de-recognise a political party will create a system wherein any party may get and continue to be recognised irrespective of share of votes it garners.  The Parliamentary panel has observed that ‘persons other than members of the House should not be given powers to m

* Instability looms large with the NCP deciding to break alliance with BJP-Shiv Sena By Kartik Lokhande  Political instability and possibility of change in power-composition loom large in at least five Zilla Parishad (ZP) in Vidarbha, as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to part ways with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena wherever it had trucked with these parties. Wherever possible, NCP and Congress are exploring possibilities of coming together and oust BJP-Sena from power. A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of Coordination Committee of Congress and NCP in Mumbai. “Congress and NCP both have decided to restore confidence in each other. Next two months will see the process of parting ways with BJP-Sena across the State,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik told ‘The Hitavada’. According to him, wherever possible, Congress and NCP would come together and muster enough numbers to oust BJP-Sena from power. While doing so, neither Congress