Keeping track of this week's snakes and ladder score:
UP:
The Maharashtra State Electricity Board, which has promised the beleaguered citizens of the city an end to those familiar dark days. The entire state will now be spared of load-shedding as the demand and supply ratio, which had been disturbed due to increased demands, has now been restored. We'll see how it works, if there's light, of course!Jockeys and race-horses, with the inauguration of the brand new 2,400-metre racecourse in the city heralding safer days for the two. This all-weather sand track, prepared from high-quality sand mixed with organic material, is reported to provide more safety than the older track.
Cops, whose alertness foiled the attempts of dacoits to rob passengers of the Pune-Miraj-Kolhapur and the Pune-Daund-Kurduwadi trains in two separate incidents occurring in a span of six hours. Carry on, cops.
Patients of the Regional Mental Institute, Yerawada, who will now be spared the crude shock therapies, owing to the advent of new drugs that will aid their cause. Finally, a treatment that is more patient-friendly.
Traders Chandulal Shah, Suresh Bora and Harnarayan Tripathi, who have been chosen as the Poona Merchants Chamber's model traders for the year for their work in the field of social service and trade.
Anti-narcotic operations, with the installation of a dedicated telephone line to enable the public to provide information on instances of drug-dealing in the city. Time for the public to get a move on.
The anti-encroachment drive, with the Pune Municipal Corporation issuing show cause notices to the owners of about 400 unauthorised constructions in the 38 fringe villages that merged with the PMC.
DOWN:
The 6,000 residents of 23 villages around Panshet, caught between the waters of the Veer Baji Pasalkar reservoir and the western ghats, who will now have to do without vital medical services. This is because the state's first floating dispensary, on the Panshet Dam waters, has been grounded, thanks to the Pune Zilla Parishad's failure to repair it for over a year.
The Pune Municipal Transport, after one of its mini-buses was stolen from the Swargate bus depot. It was part of the outfit's mini-bus fleet that plied on the Sinhagad route. Mini-bus, major problem?
Buyers, with the delayed monsoons sending the prices of vegetables soaring to a new high. In fact, the elegant beans cost the consumer a rather phenomenal Rs 100 per kilo. Life's not bean too good, huh?
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
