Kartik Lokhande's blog

* No pre or post LS poll alliance with any party, says AAP Maharashtra Convener * The activist claims that Anna’s supporters are joining AAP with his blessings Staff Reporter Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has been targeting former National President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nitin Gadkari, now has decided to ‘expose’ the ‘nexus’ between Gadkari and Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar. “Both, the BJP and the Congress, are on the same plank for AAP. Soon, we will be exposing nexus between Gadkari and Muttemwar,” said Maharashtra Convener of AAP Anjali Damania. She was responding to a question during ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by Nagpur Union of Working Journalists (NUWJ) at Tilak Patrakar Bhavan here on Saturday. Photo courtesy: Satish Raut Stating that AAP would not opt for any pre- or post-poll alliance, Damania said, “If any outfit or party wants to join us, that is possible only through its merger with AAP.” Asked about Congress’ support to AAP in Delhi, she maintaine

History buried those wanting to finish Congress: Rahul * Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi addresses national meet of party members elected to Panchayati Raj and municipal bodies * Calls ensuing Lok Sabha as a ‘battle of ideologies’ * Stresses on need to think about MPLAD Scheme as funds provided under it are ‘inadequate’ for a Lok Sabha constituency Staff Reporter SEWAGRAM (Wardha), Jan 24: During freedom struggle, the then All India Congress Committee (AICC) top heads had come together at Sewagram and had finalised strategy for Independence under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Years after, in Independent India, AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi addressed a national convention of Congress members elected to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and municipal bodies on Friday. The convention was organised to draw up ‘People’s Manifesto’ with inputs from Panchayat and municipal body members of Congress party. Rahul used this occasion to send a ‘message of change’ to pa

Special Report By Ramesh Marulkar and Kartik Lokhande Sometimes, good start does not lead to equally good result. This applies aptly to the Bill proposed by Maharashtra Government for effecting amendments to age-old Indian Forest Act of 1927 in its application to the State of Maharashtra. The committee appointed to suggest changes did its job quite well, but its recommendations included in the Bill are ‘diluted’ in nature. The result is loopholes in the Bill. As several provisions of the Indian Forest Act have become outdated, amendments were effected previously its its application to Maharashtra to address the conditions at relevant point of time. Still, several changes were needed considering new challenges. To study the situation and suggest changes to the existing law in its application to Maharashtra, Forest Department had appointed a committee headed by Tasneem Ahmad, the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Production and Management); and comprising A K

State releases additional aid of Rs 60 crore for MIHAN Staff Reporter State Government has started expediting release of funds required to complete different tasks pertaining to various projects. As part of this marathon release of funds, it has released an additional aid of Rs 60 crore for expediting the process of acquisition of land for ambitious Multimodal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN). As far as approval to land acquisition proposals is concerned, State Government had given a nod to Rs 302.61 crore for acquisition of 145.29 hectares in the year 2012. As against this, the Government had released Rs 53.66 crore in the financial year 2011-12. For the year 2012-13, the Government released Rs 50 crore, and later released Rs 100 crore on August 30, 2013. So far, thus, the Government has released Rs 203.66 crore for land acquisition under MIHAN project. In the year 2011, the Government had sanctioned Rs 266 crore as ex-gratia to project-affected pers

After 5 years, President gives assent to Money Lending (Regulation) Act * The law provides for five years’ imprisonment and fine up to Rs 50,000 to unauthorised money lenders * At present, there are 12,000 authorised money lenders who have lent farmers Rs 737 crore By Kartik Lokhande It is five years since the announcement for a stringent law to punish private money lenders exploiting farmers. In October 2013, the Centre returned the draft of this much-awaited law to Maharashtra for the seventh time. After such a long wait and several changes, the President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to Maharashtra Money Lending (Regulation) Act on Friday. In 2008, the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had announced to amend Bombay Money Lending Act to incorporate stringent punishment for private money-lenders exploiting farmers. His announcement had come after the then Deputy Chief Minister (now Home Minister) R R Patil had announced to punish money lenders hard, f

* The Buddhist spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient will stay at Nagaloka Centre on Thursday, and will address a public meeting at Bhandara on Friday, before proceeding to two-day visit to Gothangaon Staff Reporter His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, arrived in the Orange City on Wednesday. He was welcomed with showering of Rose petals on his convoy at Indora Square here. The Dalai Lama, who is on Vidarbha tour, arrived in the city from Himachal Pradesh via Mumbai in a chartered plane at 4.35 pm. From the airport, he proceeded straight to Nagaloka Centre situated on Kamptee Road. The Buddhist spiritual leader arrived in Vidarbha after a few years. Last time, he had visited Vidarbha to meet revered social worker late Baba Amte at Anandvan, Warora in Chandrapur district. As soon as the news about his arrival at the airport spread, scores of Buddhist followers gathered at Indora Square from where his motorcade was to proceed towards Nagaloka Centr

* Since 2011, the annual signature cultural event of Nagpur has not been held * Collector says, he is ‘positive’ about organising the event this year and is in touch with MTDC bosses By Kartik Lokhande Signatures often fade away into history. The same thing is happening with Nagpur’s signature cultural event ‘Kalidas Festival’. Since February 2011, when it was last organised, the festival has found no place on the city’s events calendar. This year also, the festival faces similar fate as the administration is citing the reason of ‘paucity of funds’. ‘Kalidas Festival’ is organised by the district administration in collaboration with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). Every year, MTDC allocates a sum of Rs 5 lakh for organising the event. Over the years, as the expenditure involved increased, the district administration tried a hand with finding sponsors and the event was held on a larger scale in February 2011. However, since then, ‘Kalidas Festival’ has

Staff Reporter “The Government of Maharashtra is keen on leveraging Vidarbha’s inherent strengths and facilitate the region’s transformation into a premium investment destination for a host of industries,” observed Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in his message in the study ‘Advantage Vidarbha - An Emerging Business Destination’ conducted by KPMG. However, the Government of Maharashtra does not appear to be serious enough in transforming Vidarbha region into a premium investment destination. Else, how can one explain over 40 per cent posts lying vacant in Regional Office of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC)? Of a total 32 sanctioned posts in MIDC Regional Office at Nagpur, 13 are vacant. In fact, with expiry of the contract of six employees, more posts are vacant now. According to sources in Industries Department, Nagpur Regional Office of MIDC has to take care of 800 legal matters pending in different courts of law, interact with investors, look i

* The cost of commercial utility space in Variety Square to Lokhandi Pul area pegged at Rs 1,15,000 per square metre! * Land under ‘No Development Zone’ or agricultural use cost the highest Rs 2.60 crore in Mouza Babulkheda while it costs the lowest Rs 1.02 crore in Mouza Bharatwada By Kartik Lokhande The new rates of Ready Reckoner (RR) reflect that the areas on the periphery continue to register better rise compared to those in the core of the city. However, with rise in economic activity, commercial space in heart-of-the-city areas like Panchsheel Square, Variety Square to Lokhandi Pul, West High Court Road has become costlier. The newly announced RR rates reveal a rise of an average 9-30 per cent in the city areas and increase of an average 25-40 per cent in peripheral areas. A comparison with previous two years shows that Central Avenue, Variety Square to Lokhandi Pul, West High Court Road, Mangalwari, Onkar Nagar, etc have been attracting more attention of propert

* Four of top five districts with maximum seeding of LPG, bank, and Aadhaar numbers are from Vidarbha Staff Reporter In what could be a respite for those who are yet to link their LPG consumer number with bank account and Aadhaar number for obtaining subsidy under Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme, the deadline has been extended by a month. So far, in State, only 39.44 per cent of LPG consumer numbers have been linked with Aadhaar numbers. For Vidarbha, however, there is a good news. Four of the top five districts with maximum seeding of LPG, bank, and Aadhaar numbers are from Vidarbha region alone. Overall, seeding percentage of LPG consumer numbers with Aadhaar numbers is 54.80 for Vidarbha, which is way ahead of state average. The top five districts include Wardha (with 87.02 per cent seeding of LPG-Aadhaar numbers), Gondia (69.61 per cent), Amravati (62.80 per cent), Nandurbar (58.78 per cent), and Nagpur (57.09 per cent). Of 11 districts in Vidarbha reg

* The year 2013 registers 25-40 per cent increase in sale-purchase of properties in areas on the periphery of the city Staff Reporter Compared to increase of 15-18 per cent in 2013, ready reckoner (RR) rates have been raised by 9-30 per cent in the city areas and by 25-40 per cent in areas on the periphery of the city. The revised rates will come into effect from January 1, 2014. Ready Reckoner provides minimum rate at which stamp duty has to be paid by purchaser of a property irrespective of the price at which deal is struck. Compared to previous year, the rise this year is higher. The rise has been cleared despite the opposition to any increase by almost all the major political parties considering the fact that Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections are to be held in 2014. Based on the property deals in the year 2013, the RR rates for 2014 have been increased from 9-30 per cent for areas in the city and 25-40 per cent for areas on the periphery of the city. Besa-

DF Govt extends term of SIT on irrigation scam, again * The committee headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley, which was to submit its report by December 31, 2013; has been given extension of two months * Main Opposition party BJP warns of rejecting the report and going to court if SIT does not incorporate ‘clinching evidence’ provided by it to the panel By Kartik Lokhande That the Democratic Front (DF) Government is shy in disclosing the contents of reports of various probe committees was demonstrated recently in case of judicial panel’s report on Adarsh scam. However, it is shying away on yet another report by a special inquiry team (SIT) constituted to probe into multi-crore irrigation scam. The Government has given a second extension to the panel headed by eminent water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley. Following the pressure mounted by the media and the Opposition parties, after ‘The Hitavada’ expose of multi-crore irrigation scam in May 2012, the DF Government had constit

NaMo, RaGa prelude to 2014 battle for ballot * Chiefs of major parties including Sonia Gandhi (Congress), Rajnath Singh (BJP), Sharad Pawar (NCP) and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) made it a point to visit Nagpur charging up political atmosphere ahead of elections scheduled in 2014 * BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and Congress’ likely Prime Ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi also made sure that their visit generated positive whiff of air for respective parties By Kartik Lokhande As the nation gears up for Lok Sabha election and Maharashtra for Legislative Assembly polls scheduled in 2014, Nagpur is attracting a lot of attention from all major parties that would matter in these ‘battles for ballot’. The year 2013 saw top politicians from these parties making it a point to visit Nagpur, the focal point of Vidarbha’s politics. In the process, the Orange City also saw the prelude to 2014 polls in visits of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi

Invest life in architecture to make it a social art: Ganju By Kartik Lokhande  For a person who has seen, acquired, and lived architecture, the ultimate task of architects is to invest life in architecture to make it a social art. Believing firmly in principle of urban renewal through empowerment of citizens, celebrated architect Munishwar Nath Ashish Ganju asked fellow architects and students of architecture gathered at Chitnavis Centre lawns on Tuesday evening, to make the art of architecture more significant and satisfying with energy of human relations. Ganju was delivering 12th edition of Mavlankar Memorial Oration organised by Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) Nagpur Centre. A person who has understood the deeper bonding between the art and the science of architecture and their intrinsic relationship with humen activity, Ganju spoke on the unique theme ‘Architecture as Social Art’. Sharing his rich experience in the field and philosophical evolution, the internati

Negligible rise in State’s irrigation potential: PAC * Seeks details of increase in area under irrigation Staff Reporter While the report of special inquiry team (SIT) appointed by the State Government to look into irrigation scam is likely to be submitted to the Government by December 31, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has touched the area. In its latest report, PAC of State Legislature has observed that increase in irrigation potential of the State has been negligible compared to huge expenditure of Rs 70,000 crore in past 15 years. Scrutinising various aspects related to Water Resources Department (WRD), PAC quoted the Economic Survey of Maharashtra report tabled last year during budget session of State Legislature. The survey report stated that there was only 0.1 per cent increase in area under irrigation in past 15 years despite spending huge amount of Rs 70,000 crore. When PAC asked WRD about only 0.1 per cent increase in area under irrigation in last 15 years