Mayor shares failures, achievements

KANPUR: Mayor Jagatveeer Singh Drona on Saturday conceded that in the first year of his tenure, the municipal corporation had failed to meet people's expectations in the cleaning of nullahs and lifting of garbage. However, his first year as mayor had several achievements, said the mayor citing enhanced co-ordination among the corporators, officials, employees and the public.

The first person of the city said that desilting of nullah and lifting of garbage were hampered because of several reasons. However, the situation was better than previous years. He attributed his failure to perform up to expectations to limited resources, manpower and staff crunch.

He said city produced 1,200 tonnes of garbage daily. Despite efforts the corporation managed to life merely 1,000 tonnes of the garbage on daily basis. He said that A2Z and corporation employees both had been deployed to life garbage. "We are unable to lift the entire garbage produced by the city in a day. Hence 200 tonnes of garbage that is left in the city every day appears to be a big heap," the mayor said.

Blaming early monsoon for disturbing nullah cleaning exercise, he said that daily arrear of garbage was seeping into the nullahs with rainwater. When his attention was drawn towards the inquiry conducted by the commissioner, he said commissioner might not be satisfied therefore he ordered a probe.About staff crunch he said several posts were lying vacant. Six posts of deputy city commissioner were lying vacant along with two posts of assistant municipal commissioner. Every section of the corporation was battling staff crisis, he added.

Citing his achievements, Drona said municipal corporation realized around Rs 90 crore in previous financial year which was a record. Payment of Rs 28 crore arrears of VIth Pay Commission was also cleared. Developmen work worth Rs 114 crore was either finished or was underway. Every newly constructed road had a life of three years. When his attention was drawn towards roads being constructed without drains had led to waterlogging, the mayor said that bills of those roads were yet to be cleared. About error in house tax bills he said that round figure was allowed by him and it did not make much of a difference in the total bill amount.

Anti-Naxal cops form anti-Romeo squads

NAGPUR: Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district police have formed their first anti-eve teasing squads, with a woman officer and five constables, to rein in the road Romeos this week.

The formation of the squad, along with the women's helpline 1091, was announced during the tri-monthly meeting of the 'mahila suraksha samiti' or women security cell comprising of volunteers working in tandem with police department. The cops, who so far concentrated on Naxal issues, have vowed to give attention to women's issues.

The meet was told that the helpline 1091 would be a toll free facility available round the clock. The cops would attend and reach the place immediately after receiving a call on 1091, which would be meant only for women-related issues.

It was also decided that the newly formed squad, along with Mahila Suraksha Samiti, would visit schools and colleges to apprise students about the rights and privileges that government and judiciary extends to women under special and other general provisions.

The squad would also undertake measures to spread awareness through programmes organized on the roads and other public places too.

Also at the meeting, two members were felicitated for their contributions and awards received. Surekhatai Barsagle was felicitated for her nomination in the Ahilyabai Holkar award for working on women issues at the district level. Sudha Seta was also honoured for receiving best teacher award. Seta has also won the best scout guide and leader trainer award.

World's first trip to Moon's south pole planned for 2016

WASHINGTON: The world's first mission to the south pole of the moon to install a permanent telescope on the lunar surface, to aid professional and amateur researchers, has been announced.

The private enterprise mission, announced by the International Lunar Observatory Association and Moon Express, will be both scientific and commercial, and plans to deliver the International Lunar Observatory (ILO) aboard a Moon Express robotic lander.

Moon Express will also utilise the mission to explore the moon's south pole for mineral resources and water. Lunar probes have provided compelling evidence of mineral and volatile deposits in the Moon's southern polar region where energy and resources may be abundant, Phys.org reported.

The ILO, with its 2-meter dish antenna, will be the world's first instrument to conduct international astrophysical observations and communications from the lunar surface, providing scientific research, commercial broadcasting and enabling Galaxy 21st Century education and "citizen science" on the Moon.

The announcement was made during a NASA Lunar Science Institute conference at Nasa Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

"The ILO will demonstrate the value of the Moon for scientific study of the galaxy, moon, earth, sun and stars," said Steve Durst, founder and director of the ILOA and Space Age Publishing Company.

"We are a global consortium of scientists, educators, entrepreneurs and visionaries who seek to establish a scientific presence on the Moon followed by human exploration and eventual settlement."

Space Age Publishing Company, ILOA's commercial affiliate, intends to broadcast its Space Calendar weekly and Lunar Enterprise Daily via the ILO. ILOA expects that the south pole mission could take place as early as 2016 and contribute to humanity's growth as a multi-world species.

Moon Express will send a series of robotic missions to the Moon in support of science, commerce and exploration starting in 2015.

"We are very excited to our announce that our second Moon mission will be to the lunar South Pole to deliver the International Lunar Observatory and to prospect for resources," said Moon Express CEO Dr Robert Richards.

"The mission will provide a historic landing in an unexplored region of the moon that may harbour some of the greatest resource deposits in the solar system," said Richards.

The ILO and its precursor will have an internet-based access and control system and will be the first private space telescope to operate from the lunar surface.

China ready to invest $160 billion in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: China is ready to invest about $160 billion in different sectors in Andhra Pradesh and improve bilateral ties with India, according to economic advisor to the President of China.

Shoosan Maa, the economic advisor to Xi Jinping and also the Member of Parliament, met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Hyderabad and discussed plans to invest in sectors like food processing, small-scale industries, infrastructure and education, among others, a CMO release said.

While quoting Shoosan on China's intention of pumping in $160 billion in the state, the release did not state any timeframe or phases in which such a huge investment could materialise.

"The Chief Minister invited proposals and asked Shoosan to spell out the areas in which they were interested in investing. Shoosan said he would make efforts for promoting investments and improving relations between the two countries," the release said.

Shoosan said his country would send 10,000 students to Hyderabad for education in various streams, according to the release.
PTI

Midday meal safety norms to be painted on Bihar schools walls

PATNA: Facing the ire of people over the midday meal tragedy, the Bihargovt plans to provide printed instructions to school principals about food quality and safety besides painting the norms on the schools walls.

"We are readying detailed instructions about maintaining quality and safety of food served under midday meal scheme in schools," Director midday meal scheme, R Lakshmanan said.

The instructions being prepared with the help of food experts will include giving knowledge to principals about first aid measures in cases like that of Dharmasati Gandaman primary school in Saran district.

In the wake of the tragedy, many medical experts voiced that ORS should have been provided to the ill for immediate relief. These things should be known to school principals to face challenges of such nature immediately, Lakshmanan said, explaining the need for first aid protocol being issued to the principals.

The Bihar midday meal director said that besides providing printed instructions about safety and quality of food to be served under the programme, the details would be painted on the walls of schools for everyone to see and follow.

A forensic report had yesterday confirmed the presence of poisonous pesticide in the midday meal served to the students of the school in Chhapra where 23 children died after taking the contaminated food.

The midday meal scheme, a flagship programme of the Union government, is given in 70,200 schools of Bihar covering more than 1.30 crore children.

Odisha boy addresses UN Youth Assembly

Bhubaneswar: A tribal student from Odisha left his folks proud after participating in the Malala Day United Nations Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Laxman Hembram represented India at the prestigious international event held on July 12 where altogether 120 youth leaders from as many countries participated in the event, said a release from Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS).

He spoke on the topic of 'Education for All' at the Malala Day United Nations Youth Assembly, outlining quality education system and youth union.

Laxman discussed how to eradicate

poverty through education. The release said the visit gave him an opportunity to learn about education systems of other countries.

Talking about his four-day visit, Laxman said he got a chance to talk with Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai and representatives of various other countries.

Laxman's participation in the meet is a matter of great pride for KISS, tribal community and Odisha, said founder of KISS and KIIT Achyut Samanta.

PTI 

50 new ambulances flagged off in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday flagged off 50 new ambulances under the 'Free 108 National Ambulance Service' raising the strength of the fleet to 162 in the state.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh flagged off 50 ambulances, equipped and fabricated to provide emergency medical aid to patients, from the historic Ridge Maidan here.

125 more small ambulances would be purchased shortly to facilitate expectant mothers to reach hospitals and return back to their homes after delivery with new-borns, he said.

The National Ambulance Service has proved a boon for the people and benefited more than three lakh patients besides being used in 2,500 fire and 10,000 police related cases since its inception three years ago, Singh said.

The free ambulance project was a Centrally sponsored scheme but the previous BJP government claimed it as its own scheme for deriving political mileage, he said.

The state government was pursuing the matter regarding increasing 50 MBBS seats each in IGMC and Government Medical college at Tanda (Kangra) with the Union government and hoping for early nod from the Centre, the Chief Minister said.

An approval has been granted to fill 475 vacant posts of various categories in Health department to provide best health care services to the people at their door-steps, he said.

The Chief Minister also launched National Rural Health Mission website (www.Nrhmhp.Gov.In), which would provide all updated health related information to the people.


Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said 200 posts of doctors would be filled up during 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the IGMC would be developed as a Super Speciality Hospital.

He said that ECG machine and snake bite serum had also been made available besides other life saving medicines and equipments in the 108 Ambulance.

PTI