Kartik Lokhande's blog

Default higher in other parts of State, but disconnections are more in Vid Water schemes across Maharashtra default payment of power bills of Rs 539 crore, of which Aurangabad and Nashik divisions’s share is Rs 199 cr and Rs 155 cr respectively Staff Reporter Once again, step-motherly treatment meted out to Vidarbha has come to fore. This time, it is related to default of power bills for water supply schemes and disconnections. While the default of bills is higher in other parts of Maharashtra, disconnections are proportionately more in Vidarbha region. According to sources, recently a review of power bills’ default in entire State was taken. The information that was placed on record revealed some interesting details related to default of power bills of individual/regional water supply schemes. Of all six administrative divisions, Nagpur had the lowest default of Rs 6.0987 crore for individual/regional water schemes. However, it saw power supply to 83 schemes getting se...

Area under Bt grows over three-fold in five years Staff Reporter While the debate over advantages and disadvantages of Bt Cotton is still raging, most of the cotton-growers in Nagpur Division have converted to Bt varieties of cotton in past five years. The area under cotton in four cotton-growing districts of Nagpur Division has increased from 1,62,700 hectares in 2008-09 to 4,29,600 hectares in 2012-13, with 98 per cent of it being under Bt varieties. Four cotton-growing districts of Nagpur Division include Wardha, Nagpur, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli. Of these, Wardha has the highest area under cotton while Gadchiroli the lowest. In 2008-09 Kharif season, the total area under cotton in these four districts was 1,62,700 hectares. Then, sources in Agriculture Department said, area under Bt Cotton was almost 60 per cent of this. In the years that followed, area under Bt Cotton went on increasing. Except for the year 2011-12, when there was a slight dip in cotton area over the p...

6,253 Govt, local body consumers default MSEDCL bills    MSEDCL has asked them to pay an amount of Rs 2.22 crore only and avoid disconnection MSEDCL issues ‘disconnection without prior intimation’ notice to Bhandara and Tumsar municipal councils By Kartik Lokhande Shocking information has come to fore that a total of 6,253 Government establishments and local bodies have defaulted payment of power bills to the tune of Rs 15,36,73,712. As the average days of arrears is 54.36 in case of Government establishments, it is surprising as to how the state-run power distribution utility Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has tolerated this. Nagpur Zone of MSEDCL has five circles namely Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli covering these districts. In these circles, there are a total of 4,284 local body/corporation/public sector consumers. These include Zilla Parishad, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP), municipal ...

Wadhwa Committee recommends abolishing APL category for PDS Justice D P Wadhwa Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to study PDS, also recommends formation of Civil Supply Corporation in every state and UT apart from computerisation of PDS operations Remove cap on BPL number, review the list every year By Kartik Lokhande  Do not get surprised if the category of above poverty line (APL) is abolished from the operations of public distribution system (PDS). With rising prices of essential commodities, chorus for universalisation of PDS is growing. However, in its report submitted to the Supreme Court of India on January 7, the Central Vigilance Committee headed by Justice (retd) D P Wadhwa has recommended abolition of APL category. The committee was appointed to look into PDS related issues and submit a report. Accordingly, the committee has submitted its report in which it has recommended abolition of APL category. The report offers reasoning that many APL familie...

Published in The Hitavada on May 9, 2012

Published in The Hitavada on January 30, 2012

Published in The Hitavada on May 14, 2012

Published in The Hitavada on January 5, 2012

Published in The Hitavada on January 11, 2012

Published in The Hitavada on March 25, 2012

27-03-12 Governor asks Chief Secretary to ‘examine’ reasons for unspent irrigation funds Chief Secretary also asked to submit an action taken report within three months By Kartik Lokhande MUMBAI, March 27: Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan has taken a serious cognizance of the fact that hundreds of crores of rupees are lying unspent with various irrigation development corporations (IDCs), and has directed Chief Secretary to ‘examine’ reasons. In the latest directives for financial year 2012-13, the Governor has expressed concern over large unspent balances with the IDCs. According to information furnished by Water Resources Department, an amount of Rs 2,438 crore was lying unspent at the end of 2009-10. Similarly, at the end of 2010-11, unspent balances mounted to Rs 3,496 crore, that is, a rise of Rs 1,058 crore! Interestingly, these official figures indicate shocking apathy towards irrigation development in state, even when the farmers are crying ...

Governor unhappy with backlog removal speed By Kartik Lokhande MUMBAI, March 26: Maharashtra Government’s lip-service to the cause of removal of irrigation backlog has been exposed in the latest directives of the Governor K Sankaranarayanan. Issuing the directives for 2012-13, the Governor has observed that the phnysical achievement ‘has not been commensurate’ as far as liquidation of backlog in physical terms was concerned. In the latest directives , the Governor has taken a stock of backlog in irrigation sector as well as other sectors, redefining of role of statutory development boards (SDBs) energisation of agricultural pump sets, etc. According to the directives , backlog of Vidarbha in technical education sector is Rs 23.98 crore, followed by polytechnics’ backlog of Rs 15.41 crore, that of technical high schools at Rs 8.57 crore, public health at Rs 122.71 crore, and energisation of pump sets at Rs 128.86 crore. Compared to Marathwada and Rest of Maharash...

Published in The Hitavada on May 13, 2012

4,956 habitations in State yet to get road connectivity Of these, 420 are from Vidarbha including as many as 321 in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district  alone By Kartik Lokhande Maharashtra is a progressive state. It has got express-way, sea-link, broad roads to boast of. And, plans are afoot to have multiple-lane roads to connect major industrial and commercial cities. However, there are still 4,956 habitations across the State that have got no road connectivity, thus depriving the population there of the basic amenity. And, this figure is not derived by any of the activists. In fact, this is the authentic figure from the records of Government of Maharashtra. In a review meeting held recently at Nagpur immediately after winter session of State Legislature, this data came to fore. As per the data, of these 4,956 unconnected habitations, 401 have population up to 500, 608 have population between 300 and 399, 640 have population size between 250 and 299, 803 have...

03-11-09 Naxalite violence: 2009 proves the worst year for Maharashtra   Naxal menace has cost 648 lives, 19.07 cr loss till date since 1980 in Maharashtra By Kartik Lokhande In 1980, the first batch of Naxalites entered Sironcha area in the then Chandrapur district marking the beginning of Naxalite violence in Maharashtra. In 1991, the state witnessed the highest number of incidents involving Naxalites. Almost 18 years later, Maharashtra still continues to fight the Naxalites, who now call themselves Maoists. In all these years, total 648 lives are lost and the total loss of property stands at a whopping Rs 19.07 crore. As is known to all, five districts of Maharashtra are considered to be Naxalite-affected. These include four from Vidarbha region namely Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia, and Yavatmal; and one from Marathwada --the current Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s home-district Nanded. Though the districts of Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Chandrapur remained ...

Published in The Hitavada on January 16, 2012   Maharashtra records only 0.69% conviction in Naxal offences! n Poor investigation, vague chargesheet, weak prosecution, and lack of supportive legal provisions are factors widely responsible for such a poor conviction rate By Kartik Lokhande Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is present in Maharashtra for over 30 years in the form of Naxalites and now Maoists. They have been involved in many incidents of brutal killings of innocent tribals and cops, arson, looting of weapons, assault etc. However, Maharashtra has proved to be a safe haven for them from legal point of view. Reason? Maharashtra scores high on poor investigation, vague chargesheet, weak prosecution, and also lacks supportive legal provisions. As a result, conviction rate in Naxal offences in Maharashtra is a shocking 0.69 per cent, that is, conviction is less than one per cent in Naxal cases!! The shocking data has come to fore from police records obtai...