Nagpur Discussion and News

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[_GrapeWine_]

Nagpur, a destination for pure sciences

Source - TOI
Payal Gwalani, TNN | Feb 28, 2012, 07.34AM IST

NAGPUR: From mining to environment, archaeology to agriculture technologies, there is a whole array of institutions in the city engaged in research based on pure sciences. However, not many from the city know of these institutions and the work they are engaged in.

The scientists from city believe that Nagpur can very well be called a 'destination city' for pure sciences. However, the institutes engaged in research have so far been downplaying themselves.

"With institutes like National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri), Geological Survey of India, Indian Bureau of Mines, Central Mining Research Institute, Central Institute of Cotton Research and National Research Centre for Citrus among other, the city sure offers some good opportunities to students of geology," said Arindam Chatterjee, director of GSI and founder member Gondwana Geological Society.

Deputy regional director of Atomic Minerals Directorate (that is also housed in the city) Amit Majumdar believed that the education system does not lure students into taking up a career in sciences. "Unfortunately our universities are not wooing the right kind of students. We need to showcase our work to students so that they know of the careers available with subjects like physics, chemistry, geology," he said.

Work has already begun to change this scenario believed NEERI scientist Pawan Labhasetwar. His institution organizes an open day every year wherein common people can come and get a glimpse of the work done in the institution. He also interacted with students at a recent expo held at Raman Science Centre to introduce career option as a scientist to students.

"Right after their post graduation, students seem to be wishing to get well paying jobs. They do not have proper guidance or the opportunities coming their way, too," reasoned Jyotsna Meshram chemistry teacher at the RTM Nagpur University.

Her views were echoed by Vilas Deshpande, professor of applied physics at VNIT. "Despite their low scores students are opting for a degree in sciences. Besides, the parents wish children to be doctors and engineers rather than a scientist," he rued.

[_GrapeWine_]

Greenwood High International School to expand

Source - Business Line
Anjana Chandramouly

Bangalore, Feb. 27: Real estate developer Salarpuria Sattva Group, which runs the Greenwood High International School in Bangalore, is looking at expanding into other cities.

For this expansion, “we have earmarked an investment of Rs 200 crore for the next two years,” Mr Bijay Agarwal, Managing Director, Salarpuria Sattva Group, told Business Line.

Expansion plan

The Greenwood High International School in Bangalore has 1,900 students.

The Greenwood High brand offers two separate schools — pre-school and main school.

The plan is to have six Greenwood High campuses and 15 pre-schools in the country in the next two years.

In Hyderabad

The company has already acquired one more school in Bangalore, he said.

“We are also in talks with one more school in Hyderabad,” he added.

Greenfield model

Salarpuria Sattva Group is looking at the greenfield model for Nagpur and Kolkata, and has already acquired land in these cities. “We have acquired 30 acres in Nagpur, and 10 acres in Kolkata,” said Mr Agarwal.

Siliguri campus

The company plans another school in West Bengal with a campus in Siliguri. “We are on the look out for a school or land for this purpose,” he added.

The campus in Siliguri aims to cater to students from the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country, who form about 15 per cent of the student population in the Bangalore campus, said Mr Agarwal.

[siddhant4u]

Originally Posted by _GrapeWine_

Greenwood High International School to expand

with 30 acre land are they opening 'Farming School' ? I think all these big businesses are just buying cheap land in name of school. 1-2 acre should have been more then sufficient for a school. correct me if I'm wrong.

[jateenb]

Originally Posted by siddhant4u

with 30 acre land are they opening 'Farming School' ? I think all these big businesses are just buying cheap land in name of school. 1-2 acre should have been more then sufficient for a school. correct me if I'm wrong.

I second you on that.Most of these companies, institutions buying more than required land. The are eyeing emerging cities, cities which will grow in next 10 yrs. Obviously they know that land is gold mine in India....

[siddhant4u]

They don't understand the fact that cities get vegetables from the farms surrounding the cities. If you convert all these farm land to SEZ's or 30 acre school, Vegetables are going to get costly as you will now have to source further from the city.

[_GrapeWine_]

The mathematics is not that straightforward always
DY Patil Intl School in Mihan is on 25 Acres of land.. Most of the residential schools outside city will usually have this much of land (though 30 acres is little on the upper side). And these will not be farm lands definitely, even if they are, they must be relatively less productive. Why would a farmer sell productive agricultural land anyways.. and this is not government acquisition also to do it forcibly.

[_GrapeWine_]

NMC, CR survey for new RoB at Ajni

Source - TOI
TNN Feb 29, 2012, 05.12AM IST

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Central Railway (CR) have decided to conduct a joint survey for construction of a new railway over bridge (RoB) at Ajni.

A joint meeting was held at the office of divisional railway manager Brijesh Dixit on Monday for this. Municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, additional deputy municipal commissioner Ravindra Kumbhare and other officials were present.

A press release by NMC said the existing RoB at Ajni will soon be reaching the end of its useful life. "CR has proposed to construct a new RoB and asked for NMC's consent. Therefore, there would be a joint survey to take a decision," said NMC officials.

On a request by Jaiswal to take immediate steps to expand railway crossing at Manish Nagar, Dixit promised to issue tenders as soon as possible. Meanwhile, CR has requested a separate water pipeline from Rajbhavan to railway station, on which NMC assured positive steps. Decisions were also taken regarding shifting of godown t Cotton Market, shops on west side of the station and other issues.

[siddhant4u]

Originally Posted by _GrapeWine_

The mathematics is not that straightforward always
DY Patil Intl School in Mihan is on 25 Acres of land.. Most of the residential schools outside city will usually have this much of land (though 30 acres is little on the upper side). And these will not be farm lands definitely, even if they are, they must be relatively less productive. Why would a farmer sell productive agricultural land anyways.. and this is not government acquisition also to do it forcibly.

Farmer would sell land because he is getting high price and he can't get enough from farming. If you have access to Google Earth, look at the timeline from 2002 to 2007 across various places out side nagpur and you will see that how Green land has been turned into barren land within 2 years in some places just so that it can be converted to 'NA'. Specially see this place in Google Earth between 2002 to 2007 and see yourself how de-forestation is related to land prices.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=21.1291604...9&z=16&l=0&m=b

The example in above location will show how big grown-up trees were chopped off to make way for expansion.

I'm not against development but the cost we are paying. We should be planting more trees in new development areas specially around Wardha Road/Mihan. I fear IT companies will be more inclined towards landscape gardens with small grass and plants rather than big trees. It will be trouble for those who will work in these offices during April-May.

[dumbassmus]

Garbage heaps making life hell for city residents

All localities in North Nagpur are fast turning into garbage dumps as regular pick-up of garbage has almost been suspended due to Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC) apathetic attitude.

A case in point is Jaripatka, where heaps of garbage can be seen lying on every street corner. Residents are irate because they accuse the civic body of an apathetic attitude towards lifting of garbage.

One can easily gauge the ineffectiveness of NMC's garbage lifting system from the huge heaps of garbage lying at a corner of the internal road near Dayanand Park, Jaripatka. The place has become an ideal spot for stray cattle. The foul smell from these garbage dumps has made lives of residents a virtual hell.

According to residents, though they have reminded NMC officials about the issue a number of times, nothing has been done so far.

The residents point out that NMC is not short of resources to handle a situation like this. The BJP-ruled NMC has appointed private firm Kanak Resources Management Limited for lifting and disposal of garbage. However, citizens believe it is the lack of will among sanitary workers deployed by NMC and the apathetic approach of supervising NMC officials that is causing this problem.

The apathy of the civic body is also apparent from the public garden that has almost turned into a garbage dump yard.

The residents fear outbreak of an epidemic if the problem is not resolved at the earliest. "It is more than two weeks since garbage was collected from our locality. Though we have brought the problem to the notice of NMC officials, nothing has been done so far," said S Khaparde, a resident of Kasturba Nagar in Jaripatka area.

The situation is no different at many places on Ring Road, where also huge heaps of garbage can be seen.

A senior NMC health officer claimed that sanitary workers are lifting garbage from these areas regularly. When asked about the heaps of garbage lying in many areas of Jaripatka, he answered, "Let me take a look at the situation. If there is garbage lying anywhere, I will ask the concerned zone officials to lift it at the earliest."

TOI

[dumbassmus]

MSEDCL promises no power cuts in summer

State-run power distributor MSEDCL has claimed that the power situation will not worsen in the summer months and load-shedding will remain at present levels. At present, MSEDCL enforces load-shedding of 1,500 MW in morning and evening peak hours. The load-shedding has increased to 850 MW from nil in early February. Most of load-shedding is done in villages and small towns. If the power shortage does not increase much, Nagpur will not face any power cuts.

A MSEDCL official said that the company was keeping the power situation under control by buying short-term power from the market. "We have tied up 700 MW till March end. Another 250 MW has been secured for this month and negotiations are going on for purchasing 700 MW for the months of April, May and June."

The official further said that MSEDCL was expecting increase in Mahagenco power when the 500 MW Khaparkheda unit starts generating power smoothly. "We are also expecting some power from the first 500 MW of Bhusawal plant," the official said.

MSEDCL managing director Ajoy Mehta said that the power situation could have been far better if Dabhol had got its full share of gas. "The generation capacity of Dabhol is 1,900 MW. All the turbines are ready but due to shortage of gas, the plant is producing only 1,100 MW."

Mehta said that reduction in gas supply was due to decrease in output of Reliance KG basin gas field. "The output was expected to increase to 60 mmscmd by this time. However, it has reduced to 35 mmscmd and may reduce further. As it is a central government matter, MSEDCL does not have any role," he explained.

Another MSEDCL official said that if gas supply to Dabhol reduced sharply, then power shortage and, consequently, load-shedding would increase in the state.

The Khaparkheda unit started generation in mid-2011 but has never been able to generate at full capacity at a stretch. The Bhusawal unit, which was started in February, too is experiencing starting troubles. The coal-fired generation of Mahagenco is between 5,000 to 5,300 MW at present. This figure had touched 6,400 MW in April 2009. Meanwhile, the biggest power plant of the state - the 2,340 MW plant at Chandrapur will not face generation problems due to shortage of water. This has happened in summer of 2010. At present four old units of Koradi power plant are offline. They can be revived if the power shortage increases too much.

Power situation of the state has improved tremendously since mid-2010 through demand side management ( DSM) schemes and increased availability from various sources. Two power plants - JSW at Jaigad and WPCL at Warora - have started generating in 2011 and the capacity is being increased.

TOI

[dumbassmus]

New body should find new route to good roads

The BJP-led Nagpur Vikas Aghadi (NVA) had miserably failed to improve city roads over last five years. Now back in power with a strong personality like Anil Sole as mayor, the NVA faces one of the biggest challenges in ensuring crater-free roads.

NMC has to manage 2,273km roads, including tarred 1,876km, metalled 32km and cement 165km. Besides, it is also responsible for 46 roads stretching over 107km constructed under IRDP. One of its major challenges is to ensure other agencies like Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and public works department (PWD) to ensure roads maintained by them in city limits are proper. Some 2,386km of internal roads in unauthorized layouts and 11 IRDP roads are under NIT. Two roads stretching to 43km are with PWD.

In five years, NMC failed to undertake repairs in time, causing inconvenience not only during monsoons but in other seasons too. There was a rise in number of mishaps too due to potholes.

The big challenge is to improve quality of road works. Existing contractors have been engaged in the same works for last many years, and dominate the administration. Work orders are taken well below the project cost, resulting in substandard work. Zonal engineers never visit roads during repairs and pass bills without inspections.

Only a strong administration can ensure important things like pressing of road shoulders properly, high surface level on curves, laying of tar before bitumen etc. It also requires follow up and regular inspection by office bearers.

The BJP-led NVA had also promised to construct 100km cement road before the election. Funds were approved and cement roads project started from Vyankatesh Nagar T-point to Jagnade square, but not a single kilometre was completed. The new body has to ensure this project is completed properly. Besides, BJP had also vowed to construct 135km more cement roads in its manifesto. So, now NVA faces the challenge of completing 235km of cement roads.

NMC is also hamstrung by lack of funds, and had asked the state to sanction Rs 200 crore for repair of IRDP roads, but did not get any. Without the funds, improvement of IRDP roads seems a remote possibility.

Other vital parts of the roads, like street lights, removing electricity poles on roads, road dividers, traffic signals, markings etc too need improvement. Work orders to strengthen street lights and remove poles from roads were given in the end of 2011. But NMC does not have funds to undertake the works. A proposal sent to the state for permission to raise loans of Rs 50 crore to remove poles from the roads is pending for the last one year.

For NVA, proper management of funds is the need of the hour. For the first time, former chairman of standing committee Sandip Joshi had made provisions for traffic signals. Similar steps are required to ensure smooth traffic.

Sole told TOI that hassle-free roads are one of their top priorities. "Every effort will be made to resolve problems. Regular inspections and meetings will be held to ensure quality. We promised to construct cement roads and will fulfil out promise," he said.

Leader of opposition Vikas Thakre said the BJP had failed completely in making the city free from potholed roads in last five years. "Cement roads project is controversial as it involves huge amount of funds. Priority is to bring back the glory of IRDP roads. Besides, the quality of works is a major issue. We will always press for proper roads in the city," he said.

Problems

* Tar roads, including IRDP roads, full of craters

* Poor quality of repairs

* Roads under NIT and PWD too not maintained

* Not a single km of 100km cement road project completed

* Over 30% street lights not working

* Slow pace of work on railway over and under bridges

Solutions

* Get state's clearance for Rs 200 crore for IRDP roads

* Complete railway over and under bridges

* Get sanction for more projects from central government

* Complete 100km cement road project, and start promised 135km roads using national-level company

* Complete removal of poles on roads

* Office bearers should inspect roads and call for feedback from citizens

* Form committee of experts from other government institutions like PWD, VNIT etc to give report on quality of road works before paying bills

Citizens Speak

Modern and eco-friendly technology should be used for smooth and safe roads with long life. Cement roads should be avoided in internal areas to save money and ecology. Prosecute officials and contractors compromising on quality

Avinash Kapgate, lawyer, Narendra Nagar

Roads are not in good shape. Plan each road separately. Pratap Nagar cement road is a fine example of lack of planning. First the road divider was constructed and now it is being breached at a number of places, making it useless

Avinash Prabhune, RTI activist, Pratap Nagar

Lack of planning leads to roads being dug up soon after asphalting. Besides, water network and cables etc are under the roads. There should be proper service line for this, so roads are not damaged

Thirupati Goskula, Asst Professor, Sadar

I have never seen any road in proper condition after IRDP in 2002. New body and office bearers should ensure that money is spent properly

Shehbaz Siddiqui, social activist, Jaffar Nagar

New body should improve quality of works. South Ambazari road developed craters within months of repairs. Why not ask a committee of experts to check roads before paying contractors

Tapan Suryawanshi, System Administrator, Abhyankar Nagar

TOI

[dumbassmus]

Time to 'park' the public transport problem

Sarika Shrivastav (name changed) is worried whenever she moves out on her two-wheeler. She fears her two-wheeler being lifted by traffic police. In March alone Shrivastav's two-wheeler has been lifted twice from Ramdaspeth area. Each time the cops claimed she had parked in a no-parking zone, which is not marked. Shrivastav is not the only such victim, since the civic body has not designated parking places on any road.

With rise in vehicles, there is a desperate need for off-street parking. But in the absence of a parking policy there is no way to regulate on-street parking or build more off-street parking facilities. Almost all commercial areas witness competition between hawkers, unregulated parking and pedestrians.

The civic body had in June 2007 paid crores to L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers Ltd to prepare a master plan for transport system of Nagpur city 2031. The study was to form long-term transportation strategy for NMC and identify practicable and effective investment programme up to 2031, including the parking situation.

The consultants recommended 18 off-street parking slots in various parts of Nagpur, including six on Central Avenue (including vacant space along CA adjacent to Arya Samaj Mandir, opposite Arya Samaj Mandir and an empty space near Nagpur Chamber of Commerce), one near Gangabai Ghat, NMC school ground at Dr Munje Square, strip of land outside Patwardhan ground (near Yeshwant stadium), existing off-street parking bay on Wardha road at the foot of Gowari flyover near Rahate Colony.

The consultants cautioned NMC to act promptly or risk the land being encroached upon by squatters. The firm also advised NMC to levy parking fee near commercial complexes. The consultant also asked the civic body to remove encroachments on parking places. However, nothing has been done, leading to motorists being fined at will by traffic cops in no-parking zones that are not marked.

Autorickshaws also suffer due to lack of designated terminals. They are usually parked randomly at any available space to pick up passengers. The woes of local residents are compounded by unauthorised hawkers in commercial areas.

Mayor Anil Sole and standing committee chairman Dayashankar Tiwari need to find a solution to the parking problems across the city.

Starbuses need their own solution

Though bus service introduced in the regime of BJP-Sena alliance at the NMC in 2007 has solved transport problems to some extent, there are many problems that need to be addressed urgently.

In fact, the NVA-ruled NMC has failed to provide basic infrastructure, including a permanent bus stand or land for a workshop for Starbuses, leading to haphazard parking on roads. Mayor Anil Sole, who had headed an inquiry committee into the transport system in his last term, had admitted many glitches in Vansh Nimay - the private firm operating the city bus service.

Earlier, the city bus service was operated by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). It failed in providing a good transport system. Moreover, it was incurring huge losses and decided to discontinue the service.

NMC's private operator Vansh Nimay started operations with 10 buses, and increased the fleet to 230 by March 2009. Within a year, NMC received another 240 buses from the central government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Mission, taking the number to 470. Today, on an average, around 1.50 lakh persons commute using Starbuses on over 250 routes.

Though MSRTC has recently provided two platforms to operate Starbuses, the civic body is yet to find a permanent parking area for the city bus operator. Without a 'centralized' bus stop, services are being operated from Maharajbagh. The move has helped commuters, but the patch between Variety Square and Nagpur University Square has gone from bad to worse.

Starbuses plying on this stretch cause traffic jams from morning till late in the evening. Vansh Nimay is now being forced to park buses on roads due to lack of an option.

Due to lack of a full-fledged workshop, maintenance of the buses too has taken a back seat. Automatic washing units, which NMC had promised to set up, have not been made available. At present, the buses are cleaned manually, leaving many of them unclean on journeys.

Mayor Anil Sole and standing committee chairman Dayashankar Tiwari have assured that they will give more priority to better and safe city public transport. They point out that the state government has already provided two terminus of Mor Bhavan bus stop for Starbus operation.

TOI

[_GrapeWine_]

Source: Hitavada

[_GrapeWine_]

VEOLIA ENVIRON. : India: first "full city" public-private partnership

About VEOLIA ENVIRON - (source Wikipedia)
Veolia Environnement S.A. is a multinational French company with activities in four main service and utility areas traditionally managed by public authorities - water supply and water management, waste management, energy and transport services. In 2009, Veolia employed around 300,000 employees in 77 countries. Its revenue in that year was recorded at €34.6 billion. It is quoted on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

Source
Paris, March 13, 2012

Veolia Water takes up the challenge of providing a continuous supply of drinking water to the population of 2.7 million in Nagpur.

Veolia Water India, a Veolia Water subsidiary, has been awarded the drinking water service operation and maintenance contract by the city of Nagpur for 25 years. A multi-local player, Veolia Water India has set up a special purpose entity, Orange City Water, in a joint venture with Vishvaraj Environment Ltd., one of India's leading civil engineering and services companies.

Orange City Water will have to deliver a continuous supply of drinking water to the homes of the 2.7 million people living in Nagpur, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, up from the current two to 12 hours a day. The service will be provided to the entire population of Nagpur, including the third of the population living in the city's slums. This will be a first in India.

It is estimated that the cumulative revenue for Veolia Water will be 387 million euros.

Awarded following an international call for tenders, the contract includes an initial five-year works program, mainly to rehabilitate and upgrade the network and connections to homes, at a cost of 60 million euros. This part of the contract will be 70% funded by the Indian government, through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and Maharashtra State, and 30% by the operator.

Located in the heart of India, Nagpur is the country's tenth largest city and the second largest in Maharashtra State. Nagpur is experiencing very rapid urban growth (the population is expected to reach 5 million within the next 30 years), and has a highly dynamic economy.

This is the first time that an Indian city has decided to outsource the entire operation and maintenance of its water service to a private operator for such a lengthy term.

The aim of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, up until now in charge of the service, is to provide sustainable water supply to the city's entire current and future population, and especially to the most underprivileged living in the slums. The water, compliant with WHO quality standards, will be provided continuously at a constant pressure. This marks considerable progress in India where no large city has continuous access to drinking water and where it is at times of very poor quality, leading to the spread of waterborne diseases.

Under the contract, the water service includes management of drinking water production, treatment, transport, storage and distribution through to the consumer's tap.

The technical challenge is considerable, as it involves connecting up 2.7 million people, or 350,000 to 450,000 homes, to the distribution network. The amount of water available per person will be increased from 90 liters a day to 130 liters a day over the next five years. This will be quite a feat as an average of 6,000 to 8,000 water meters a month will have to be installed to meet the target. By way of comparison, in France 2,000 meters per month are installed on average.

Orange City Water (OCW) will invest 18 million euros in the project to renovate the city's six water production plants and repair the 2,500 km of network. The production capacity of the system managed by OCW will eventually be close to 750 million liters a day and leakage from the network, which is currently 60%, will gradually be lowered to international standards.

To be able to complete all of the rehabilitation and extension works in the space of five years, OCW will employ the 430 people who worked for Nagpur Municipal Corporation and who will join the new company over the next few weeks. OCW will also call on the dozens of subcontractors available in the city, thereby maintaining thousands of people in work without them being direct employees. The subcontractors' personnel will receive the same training as OCW's employees, both for technical areas and in how to work safely.

In Nagpur, the needs of the local communities will be the focus of Veolia Water's concern, as it works to provide access to water for everyone. A 24/7 customer service will be set up to meet, listen to and inform users, and to help them understand their new water consumption habits and how to keep control over their water bills.

To better understand the needs of the local population, especially the slum dwellers, and fulfill their expectations as best possible, Veolia Water India launched a wide-ranging study with the ESSEC business school's IRENE institution for research and education in European negotiations. The project's aim is to analyze the conditions for providing service in the slums. An external entity will assess the current situation of water in Nagpur's slum dwellings and the network of existing players involved in access. A report is under preparation and should be submitted within the coming weeks to provide a better understanding of issues of service access, affordability and equality in a very specific local context.

The project is a very big challenge but the personnel on the ground are confident that they can succeed. They are buoyed by the accomplishment already seen in the "demozone" in the Dharampeth neighborhood, which represents 8% of the city of Nagpur. Thanks to the work of Veolia Water India, all households in Dharampeth now have continuous water supply.

Jean-Michel Herrewyn, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Water

"Our responsibility is to encourage access to water for all, whatever people's social level and living conditions. In Nagpur, as elsewhere, we will always ensure we do that, and we will pay more attention than ever before tothe most underprivileged people. That's the challenge we have to take up. But at the same time as extending access to this basic service to everyone, wealso have to take action to limit the environmental impacts of our activities by making sure to conserve water resources and combat all wastage in a country where water is scarce and precious."

[WorldVision]

Great achievement.

This news should have been flashed across the country as headline news.

[dumbassmus]

JNNURM stuck in quagmire of red-tape

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched by the central government to upgrade infrastructure in the rapidly growing cities. But like most other projects, it has sunk into a quagmire of red-tape.

Nagpur had got a fair share of JNNURM projects. Had they been completed even one year behind schedule, the city's infrastructure would have been an object of envy. However, most projects are incomplete and there's no knowing when they will be commissioned.

Only a few projects directly impacting citizens have been completed as yet. These include the Kalamna railway overbridge, Kanhan water treatment plant (WTP) augmentation from 120 MLD to 240 MLD, and expansion and upgradation of water supply distribution network. Some other projects, that are not apparent to the common man, are water leak detection, water audit and energy audit.

However, the success stories are few. The list of pending projects in longer. Maskasath RoB has been scrapped, work on recycle and reuse of water is yet to begin and many others are in various stages of completion.

In the case of public transport, NMC received its share of funds from the central government but most of it was wasted due to the apathy of the civic body and the state government. The Centre had provided 240 city buses to NMC but they gathered dust for months before they were put to use by NMC's private operator. The state government has been steadfastly refusing to hand over the city bus stand to NMC, which has left the entire bus service in a mess.

There are many projects which are three or four years behind schedule and crucial for the development of the city, including Ramjhoola railway over bridge (RoB), Mangalwari RoB, Itwari RoB, Anand Talkies railway underbridge (RuB), Pench IV water supply project and implementation of 24X7 water supply project.

One of the major reasons for non-completion of these projects has been huge cost overruns. NMC took its own time submitting proposals and then JNNURM steering committee also cleared the projects at a snail's pace. In the meantime, cost of steel, cement and other construction materials had shot up sharply. So, when the projects were finally sanctioned, cost had increased by 30 to 40%.

As per JNNURM norms any cost escalation has to borne by the concerned civic agency. NMC's effective share in the cost increased from 30% to over 50%. The civic agency tried various sources of funding but the cost of projects has only increased over the years.

NMC may only be partially at fault in this regard. However, there is no excuse when it comes to carrying out reforms required to avail JNNURM funds. The central government wants the civic agencies to provide services to citizens on no-profit no-loss basis. This is necessary since the civic agency has pay off the loans taken for the JNNURM projects.

However, NMC did not do much to increase revenue mainly due to three reasons: corporators opposing any increase in taxes, no increase in tax recovery at existing rates due to callous attitude of NMC staffers, and tax evasion in connivance with NMC employees.

Similarly, NMC's experience with e-governance was nothing to write home about. Many staffers simply refused to cooperate as it would reduce their chances of demanding gratification.

Problems

Projects sanctioned at snail's pace, led to increase in cost.

>Hike in cement and steel prices put burden on local bodies which had to bear cost escalation.

>Central agencies like Indian Railways callous in clearing railway over bridges and underbridges.

>Many project delayed due to land acquisition problems.

>State government did not hand over Mor Bhavan bus stand for city bus operations.

Solutions

>Set time frame for civic agencies to send proposal and the centre to clearing them.

>Central and state governments must share cost of price escalation if civic body is not at fault.

>Time frame should be set for railways and other agencies to clear projects.

>Local politicians should take up issues with concerned central and state agency.

>NTPC-like model for acquiring land, with encroachers being evicted in larger interest of city.

TOI

[dumbassmus]

NMC may scrap Moksha contract for city Wi-Fi project

Even as nearly every mobile phone today allows netizens to remain connected on the go, NMC is still trying to find a contractor to provide citywide Wi-Fi connectivity.

Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) had decided make Orange City the first Wi-Fi enabled city in the country with help from local software firm Moksha Communications, but is now planning to scrap this contract. NMC plans to invite expressions of interests (EoI) from other service providers keen to invest in the project.

A proposal has been prepared and sent for approval to municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal and newly elected standing committee headed by Dayashankar Tiwari, said RS Kamble, who is handling the project on behalf of NMC. Kamble admitted NMC has been unsuccessfully trying to provide Wi-Fi services since last three years.

Since the early 2000s, many cities around the world had announced plans for citywide Wi-Fi networks, but none have done it successfully.

In August 2009, NMC standing panel headed by Pravin Bhishikar asked Moksha to set up a wireless connectivity network, scrapping an earlier proposal from Zylog Systems on build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis. NMC proposed to provide seamless Internet connectivity across the city without a landline or modem.

"The joint venture planned to set up 100 towers to serve 217 square km area under NMC. Most towers were to be set up atop NMC buildings. In return, the company assured Wi-Fi services 3G to 4G services to NMC and its associate offices free for two years. The service provider was to pay Rs 200 per node to the civic body as rent after the first 24 months of installation," Kamble said.

New York-based International Communications Enterprises (ICE) had joined hands with Moksha to plan the Wi-Fi service, however since last many months there has been no communication from Moksha officials. The service provider seems to have lost interest in the project, since several reminders have remained unanswered. "So, NMC decided to scrap the contract and invite others," Kamble said.

The company had also promised to provide greater bandwidth, which would benefit desktop users. Kamble said he has not received any response or indication from Moksha regarding launching of services or the project status in last one-and-a-half years.

Despite repeated attempts, Girish Wadwekar of Moksha Communications could not be contacted for comments.

At present, Wi-Fi service is available at only a few locations in the city, mostly luxury hotels.

TOI