Keeping track of this week's snakes and ladder score:
UP:
The 25,000-odd residents of Bhosari, near the Dighi magazine depot - declared a Red Zone - whose demands for the implementation of civic amenities in their area might finally get around to being met, following Union Defence Minister George Fernandes' promise to convene a meeting to discuss the same. Better days in the offing?The Muktangan English School, which had the highest number of students in the SSC merit list this year. Out of 117 merit holders, Muktangan led the tally with 11. Top of the charts.
The anti-corruption drive, with the Pune Divisional Commissioner Arun Bhatia launching a massive operation to check the records of talathis in about 6,000 villages in five districts of the Pune Division in an effort to check corruption at the grass-root level, and streamline the functioning of the administration.
Petrol-users, with the State Government now equipped to impose heavy penalties and even cancel the licences of those petrol pumps found guilty of selling adulterated petrol. Welcome, Petrol Patrol.
DOWN:
Four-wheeler owners, who have not paid their vehicle tax to the Regional Transport Office in five years, with the arrears amounting to a substantial Rs 18 crore. Taking the RTO on a good ride, are we?
Commuters, with the Pune Municipal Transport's decision to cancel three major bus routes likely to hit the former hard. The outfit has also warned that 50 more routes could receive similar treatment since the traffic police branch has ignored its consistent demand to exempt the city transport buses from adhering to the one-way traffic system that has been introduced on major road links in the city's downtown areas. No way out!
Admission vagaries, with the University of Pune's decision to not centralise the first year degree course admissions this year, to ensure preference to its in-house students, leading to admission problems for students from other board of examinations.
The Rs 5 Pune Municipal Transport complaint forms, which seem to have found very few takers, as a majority of passengers prefer to lodge their complaints on plain sheets or over the telephone, with the PMT proformo not being mandatory. Form, not quite in form, huh?
Litigation period, with the court granting the wife and children of Zakeer Mohammed Ali Baig, who died in a road accident on the East-West Solapur Highway, a compensation of Rs 1,49,800, but only after nine long years. Talk about justice delayed!
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
