Keeping track of this week's snakes and ladder score:
UP:
Traffic de-congestion, with the proposed Katraj-Loni-Kalbhor easterly by-pass being granted Rs 32 crore by the Ministry of Surface Transport. In cold storage since 1994, the by-pass will go a long way in diverting the heavy traffic that clogs up the roads in the area. Finally, breathing space!Safety for citizens from natural disasters, with the Maharshtra government being the first state government to set up a disaster management plan to deal with exigencies during natural calamities. This is in response to the Supreme Court's directives following the Bhopal Gas tragedy. First things first, huh!
Road conditions, with the Pune Municipal Commissioner promising to take up road repairs on a war footing. The PMC has also set up various area-specific complaint centres where citizens can call up with specific complaints about specific roads. On the road to recovery?
Netizens, with the bioinformatics centre of the University of Pune about to set up mirror sites which will contain information that is available on the original sites. This will help improve conditions on the information superhighway and put an end to the traffic jams and incessant waiting that one has to go through to get to a web-site. A welcome site!
Disease control, with the Maharashtra State Health Services department launching a biological warfare on mosquitoes with the deployment of the Guppy fish hatched in and around Pune. This is the first ever biological warfare on a state-wide scale.
Security, with the police setting up village defence groups, comprising local youths and social volunteers, to battle the spate of dacoities that have hit Pune and its surroundings in the past couple of months. Security, they say, begins at home.
DOWN:
Postal services, with the postal employees going on an indefinite strike from July 9. With the strike, important monetary transactions and other essential postal services have taken a severe beating and the department has been losing revenue amounting to Rs 10 crore on a daily basis.
The Maharashtra State Electricity Board, whose promise of no more load-shedding seems to have come to naught as the residents of the city are still being subjected to innumerable power cuts. Cut those empty promises!
Tennis enthusiasts, as the Batra Tennis Academy has landed itself in the middle of a property dispute. The academy, ranked third in the country as far as coaching institutes go, is sitting on dangerous ground with two rival parties claiming the lease to the land housing the academy.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
