Pune City

Power Policy Of Divide And Rule

Harshad Oak

Maharashtra State Power Policy Of Divide And RuleMaharashtra again suffers from acute electricity shortage and extended power cuts. While the govt. hasn’t shown much innovation or vision when it comes to power supply, it has been ingenious in managing the power cuts. It’s relying on good old “Divide and Rule”.

Considering that the entire state of Maharashtra is short on electricity, an outsider would think that all parts of the state will be facing equal power cuts. But the reality is that the power cuts vary inversely to the political importance of a place in the state.

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Power Politics – Divide and Rule in Maharashtra

Harshad Oak

This year the state of Maharashtra again suffers from acute electricity shortage and extended power cuts. While cities are facing 2-6 hours of cuts, the villages have to go without power for 10-16 hours a day.

As most in India are aware, the reason for this situation is the incompetence of the politicians and the state run power company they control.

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Drive the development of your part of Pune city

Harshad Oak

Pune Municipal Commissioner Nitin Kareer has announced that citizens can give written applications suggesting developmental works in their wards to the extent of Rs 15 lakhs.

The application forms which include space for name, address and other details are available at all 14 ward offices. The form explains how citizens can make suggestions for development work, based on which they can give their own suggestions.

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Congress NCP reject electoral verdict – Do a policy volte-face

Harshad Oak

The Congress led by Suresh Kalmadi and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar had both promised the electorate that they would not join hands with each other post elections, as they thought the other party was responsible for the ruin of Pune.

The electorate voted under the impression that they won’t come together post election. However like the stereotypical politicians in Hindi movies, both the Congress and NCP now seem keen on coming together in an attempt to grab power. The same leaders who had indulged in extensive name-calling are now on the verge of forming a coalition. You should soon see statements saying that they have come together “For the development of Pune” or “To keep communal forces at bay” or “Our high-command said so” or some such corny line.

While poiliticians continue to behave in this fashion, one can’t really blame the masses for losing faith in Indian democracy.

Deccan Gymkhana (Ward No 67) and Law College (Ward No 56) Candidates – Open Debate and Discussion

Harshad Oak

Wards 56 & 67 mohalla committee has set up a platform for candidates contesting the pune corporation elections. Each candidate will be given 5 minutes to outline his/her development plans for his/her ward.

  • place: kamala nehru park
  • date: january 24, 2007
  • time: 5:30 p.m

The mohalla committee has a google group at http://groups.google.com/group/5667mc

I wasn’t aware of the existence of such a mohalla committee, but this attempt at providing a common platform for candidates is surely a commendable undertaking.

I hope there’s a good turnout and no fist fights at the meet.

Pune City Municipal Corporation Elections 2007 – Deccan Gymkhana

Harshad Oak

Pune Municipal Corporation elections last happened 5 years back, i.e in 2002. I have hardly any memory of that election, because I didn’t quite care back then.

Things have changed a lot in 5 years. I not only intend to vote but I also plan to first study the candidates contesting the election in 2007. I have repeatedly written about how Pune city is crumbling, primarily because of incompetent administration. So I guess now’s the chance for Pune citizens to have an impact on the future of Pune.

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Using Right To Information Act To Get Better FootPaths for Pune

Harshad Oak

Anybody who has been to Pune would know that the Pune Municipal Corporation is not a very competent body. The city is going down rapidly and hardly anything is being done to stop the slide.

I have been reading up on the Right to Information for quite some time and now intend to use it to get some answers on an important issue, Footpaths. I have written about this before “Pune Corporation – The Art of Converting Public Parking Spaces Into Private Property” and “Footpaths are for pedestrians and not illegal chaat stalls”

All over the city, builders are converting footpaths into parking places or approach roads for their buildings. I intend to get the following info under the Right To Information Act

  1. Details of new footpaths created in the last 2 years
  2. Details of repairs done to existing footpaths in the last 2 years
  3. Want to know if it is legal for footpaths to be paved by the builder instead of the PMC
  4. Has any action been taken against any building / builder for paving a public footpath without PMC permission?
  5. What action has been taken against PMC staff for failure in stopping encroachment and misuse of footpaths?
  6. Are footpaths designed so as to prevent any vehicle parking or their use as approach roads to buildings / parking areas?
  7. Which roads will get new footpaths in 2007?
  8. Is PMC bound to develop and maintain footpaths for all new roads in the city?

I might rephrase things a bit. But this is more or less the info I would be ask for.

I went through Right To Information Info at –

  1. Consumer Forum Procedure for request of Information
  2. Parivartan – How To Apply
  3. PMC Egovpmc – RTI Officers
  4. Model application Format for obtaining information under “RTI Act, 2005”
  5. Right To Information Act
  6. Right To Information FAQ
  7. Right To Information Campaign Workbook

While most of my queries have been answered. I still could not find a satisfying answer to –

  • How much to pay as RTI fees and what’s the easiest way to pay them?
  • None of the docs state clearly what is the amount I need to pay. They state that I will have to pay Rs 25 + photocopying/ postage on actuals. If this amount is going to change from case to case, it means I have to personally go to the PMC office and ask the bureaucrat what amount I need to pay. I would then have to pay it by standing in queues and filling more forms.
  • This I think is a big flaw as it eliminates the option of me getting things done by post and without having to suffer the irritations that inevitably follow a visit to a govt. office.
  • There’s no provision for electronic money transfer. It might seems elitist to talk of electronic transfers in a poor country, but the act should provide for it.

Ideally I should be able to make an online payment for a flat fee of say Rs 100. Then fill up a form on a central RTI site. The site should be well aware of the Public Information officer (PIO) to contact. The PIO should get anemail and I should get a confirmation.

Looking at the government’s e-awareness record, e-Right to Information is unlikely to happen in the near future, so I guess I should start planning my visit to the PMC office.

Any suggestions on how I could simplify the process or make better use of my application, are most welcome.

Pune Corporation – The Art of Converting Public Parking Spaces Into Private Property

Harshad Oak

As per construction rules in cities, all buildings need a certain parking capacity to be approved by the corporation. Although even these standards seem inadequate to handle the traffic mess in Pune, builders have found a way to make it appear as if they are conforming to the law without doing anything of that sort. They just convert the parking potential of the public road into a private parking facility.

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Pune Power Cuts

Harshad Oak

My letter published in the newspaper Sakal Herald dated 29th Sep 2006.
——
“MSEB or whatever it is known as these days issues these expensive ads every week announcing that it will switch off power for several hours every Thursday for so called “maintenance activities”. Puneites also
seem to have accepted these Thursday cuts as a fact of life. No resistance either from the people or the people’s representatives.
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PYC Sports Gymkhana Pune stops serving alcohol – Is the focus back on sports?

Harshad Oak

A few days back I heard that the PYC Gymkhana located in the Deccan Gymkhana area in Pune has stopped serving alcohol. This came as a pleasant surprise and compeltely against recent trends in Indian cities.

Pune Youth Club (PYC) Hindu Gymkhana was formed in 1934 and for over 70 years has been a sports organization. PYC was once about cricket, badminton, table tennis and tennis.

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Please Do Not Litter – Waste bin just 1 minute away

Harshad Oak

One of the big problems in Indian society is the lack of civic sense. This manifests in various forms, one of the most common being the way in which we litter and convert roads and neighbourhoods into garbage bins.

The common argument is that the administration isn’t doing its job of keeping the city clean. However that argument has no substance. We spit on the roads, dispose plastic, paper and even daily household garbage by the road side.

How can India possibly become a developed nation if we do not fix these basic flaws in our society? It’s not just illiteracy and poverty that’s the cause, as I have seen even rich and supposedly well educated people do the same things.

I feel the solution lies in a change of our prioirty list. Development issues always must be top priority. Basic things like water supply, clean and habitable cities, power supply… should be the only things that matter at election time.

Anyway, garbage dumping is a big problem on the road beside my building. We try telling people to stop and instead use the corportation bin just a minute away, but that hasn’t really worked. So I have now created and put up the following posters on the road. I am hoping that this will lead to some improvement in the situation.

1) Poster 1 (English) – Please Do Not Litter (WASTE BIN JUST 1 MINUTE AWAY)
2) Same mesage in the Marathi language

Thank you Pune Municipal Corporation for the nice new footpaths

Harshad Oak

It feels good to finally be writing something positive about the Pune Municipal Corporation. Have you noticed the number of new footpaths being created and the resurfacing of some old ones?

The new footpaths opposite Deccan Gymkhana and BalBharti on Senapati Bapat Road, the resurfacing of the Bhanadarkar Road stretch are very heartening and reassuring changes.

Footpaths I think are the key to any city being well organized. The reason why Kothrud seems such a mess is the lack / absence of footpaths and trees by the road side.

I hope this is just the beginning of a PMC drive to create new footpaths and improve existing ones. Please also plant trees by the road and ensure that these nice new footpaths don’t end up being hawker zones.