Noise levels during Janmashtami and Ganapati festivals go up in Mumbai

MUMBAI: The noise levels during Janmashtami and Ganpati festivals went almost twice that of the prescribed tolerable levels this year as well. Decibel levels recorded by the Awaaz Foundation, an NGO working against noise pollutions, showed that the dB levels were way above the levels prescribed by the World health Organisation (WHO).

According to Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation, the noise readings at Janmashtami this year were highest in many years at 117.3 dB. Levels recorded during Ganapati festival were 121.4 dB. These levels were recorded at residential places in many instances.

As per WHO, the dB levels in residential areas have to be in the range of 40-45 dB. "Levels higher than this can make people living in the area prone to irritation, annoyance and unexplained anxiety. If closer to the source of noise, the ear drum can also get perforations," said a noise-pollution expert. The dB levels during the ongoing Navratri festival have also gone up significantly.

Activists said that people can measure the dB levels in their areas and can file a complaint with the police as well.

"Anyone who has an android phone, and iphone or an iPad can download a free application to measure noise levels. It would be very useful if complaints can be made to the police on 100 with decibel readings," said Abdulali in a press release sent to the media.

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Noise levels during Janmashtami and Ganapati festivals go up in Mumbai

MUMBAI: The noise levels during Janmashtami and Ganpati festivals went almost twice that of the prescribed tolerable levels this year as well. Decibel levels recorded by the Awaaz Foundation, an NGO working against noise pollutions, showed that the dB levels were way above the levels prescribed by the World health Organisation (WHO).

According to Sumaira Abdulali of Awaaz Foundation, the noise readings at Janmashtami this year were highest in many years at 117.3 dB. Levels recorded during Ganapati festival were 121.4 dB. These levels were recorded at residential places in many instances.

As per WHO, the dB levels in residential areas have to be in the range of 40-45 dB. "Levels higher than this can make people living in the area prone to irritation, annoyance and unexplained anxiety. If closer to the source of noise, the ear drum can also get perforations," said a noise-pollution expert. The dB levels during the ongoing Navratri festival have also gone up significantly.

Activists said that people can measure the dB levels in their areas and can file a complaint with the police as well.

"Anyone who has an android phone, and iphone or an iPad can download a free application to measure noise levels. It would be very useful if complaints can be made to the police on 100 with decibel readings," said Abdulali in a press release sent to the media.

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Air India employees may resort to 'no pay, no work'

All employee unions of Air India (AI) on october 18 sent a statement saying that they would resort to "no pay, no work" if the airline management did not resolve the issue surrounding the payment of their salary.

In a press statement, the unions unanimously said that their meeting with the airline management failed to resolve the issue of payment of their salary on time. The demand to clear their salary backlog also did not yield any result. the employees had also demanded the implementation of the Dharmadhikari report on AI. The management reportedly did not agree to the demand as yet. The employees said that since the meeting has been a failure, they would start their protest against the management's "indifference" to their situation.

The employees are now making their discontentment felt by wearing black badges of protest to work. They are also planning a silent march against the management. A rally of AI emplyees and their family members wll also be planned to agitate against the non-payment of salaries. In case of no result, the employees may resort to "no work, no pay" policy.

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Premium travel rises in August 2012 compared to last year: International Air Travel Association

MUMBAI: Premium class travel in the month of August rebounded in August, with 8.5 percent year-on-year growth, compared to 0.5 percent contraction in July, as per estimates by International Air Travel Association (IATA). Economy class travel was also up, with the market 6.2 percent higher than a year ago, compared to July's 3.0 percent increase.

However, IATA said that the growth may not necessarily signify a robust market. "We are cautious about extrapolating the improvement in premium travel into the months ahead. The modest improvement in business confidence doesn't justify the significant rise in business travel in August," said a statement by IATA. "The rebound was narrowly based, with much of the increase coming from within Europe and across the North Atlantic," the statement said.

IATA said that since the Eurozone is still in slow economic growth mode, the rise in the figures does not look sustainable. The increase from August last year to this year could also have been prompted by Hurricane Irene which had reduced the traffic in Europe last year.

"Although the seat mix has improved, it is hard to rationalize with current business conditions suggesting the opposite trend. But routes connected to emerging economies continue to show robust performance, with solid growth in August. Air travel performance reflects a combination of downward pressure from Europe, and support from emerging economies and, to some extent, the US," the IATA statement said.

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Sharad Pawar busy in defending his party colleagues

MUMBAI: Lately, India's agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has been liberally giving out "clean chits" to his acolytes as soon as serious charges are levelled against them. The embattled Maratha strongman is busy defending his party colleagues involved in alleged graft. First it was Sunil Tatkare, the state water resources minister, whose family's unusually large land holdings and dubious companies were exposed by this newspaper a few months ago. Pawar immediately rushed to his party colleague's defence and said these were "baseless and malicious allegations."

Soon after, it was the turn of state PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who faced allegations of corruption and nepotism in the construction of Maharashtra Sadan, the state guest house in Delhi. Yet again, the NCP leadership brushed off the charges.

The senior Pawar was at it again, this time to protect his nephew Ajit Pawar, who resigned as deputy chief minister following the mega irrigation scam. On Saturday, the NCP chief said the minister could not be blamed for the quality of works. Last week, Pawar also refuted allegations of violations in the construction of hill township Lavasa near Pune.

The Mr Teflon of Indian politics has had a long and often controversial association with matters pertaining to real estate. If Pawar's current tenure as Union agriculture minister has left the Congress squirming (the alleged wheat scam that took place under his tutelage and rising foodgrain prices), his earlier avatar as Maharashtra's chief minister in the late 1980s witnessed a humungous 'land dereservation scam' in Mumbai. As many as 285 plots earmarked for various public amenities like parks, gardens, schools, hospitals and markets were dereserved by the Pawar government, leading to a major public uproar and charges of nepotism against the chief minister. The plots were to be parcelled off to builders for commercial exploitation. This was perhaps Pawar's first major brush with Mumbai's lucrative real estate and land deals. But more were to follow. When he was defence minister in the Narasihma Rao government, there was an audacious move to exploit the sprawling cantonment land in Pune for commercial purposes. Fortunately, it was nixed after the Army strongly opposed it.

Last year, it was revealed that Pawar had direct links with the Pune-based City Corporation -- his family holds a 16% stake in the construction company controlled by his close aide Aniruddha Deshpande. Not surprisingly, the first project to be approved by the government was the 400-acre Amanora Park township in Pune, which is promoted by none other than City Corporation.

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Woman's body found near Film City Complex in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A body of a young woman was today found in forest near Film City Complex in suburban Mumbai, police said.

The partially decomposed body of the woman, believed to be 25-30 years of age, was spotted by security guards of the Complex when they were patrolling the area, they said.

"We have sent the body for the post-mortem which would ascertain the nature of the death," said a police officer, adding the body was wrapped up in a gunny bag.

"The woman was dressed in salwaar kamiz. Three gold rings on her fingers were intact which rules out that robbery was the motive," the officer said.

Police suspect that the woman might have been murdered and dumped at the spot around a fortnight ago.

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Campaign against manual scavenging deserves national outcry

MUMBAI: The students of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) and IIT Madras have come together today to brainstorm and campaign on the crucial issue of manual scavenging in India.

Often swept away from the glare and nearly two decades after a law banned the practice, an estimated 1.3 million people across the country, particularly belonging to lower castes, are still forced into manual scavenging-- to clean human excrement with their bare hands.

There are many shortfalls evident in the implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act, 1993 and designing of government schemes which have allowed this practice to flourish over time. Many of the schemes for instance, target men, completely ignoring the fact that many women are employed as scavengers.

"No national or state-level body exists that will monitor the implementation of the act," points out a report released by the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan (National Campaign for Dignity and Eradication of Manual Scavenging) in January 2011. Shamefully, government agencies themselves, particularly the railways have often been criticised for employing manual scavengers to clean sewer lines.

One of the biggest pitfalls in the fight against scavenging has been a government scholarship scheme offered to children of the victims, which requires that the family seeking the scholarship be manual scavengers for 100 days of the year. Such ill-conceived schemes only perpetuate the bias and force vulnerable groups to remain in such inhuman occupations.

The Centre is in the midst of proposing a stricter law to end the practice - Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012. An online petition has already garnered 40,000 signatures. But it is perhaps time for the common man on the street to raise his voice for abolition of this practice.

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Youth arrested for abducting boy in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old youth and his girl friend were today arrested for allegedly kidnapping a seven-year-old boy and demanding a ransom of Rs five lakh for the release, police said.

The child was rescued within 24 hours of the abduction in suburban Kandivali.

According to police, Saeed Ali Choudhary was today picked up on suspicion and during interrogation, he confessed to have kidnapped his neighbour's child.

Choudhary wanted money for his girlfriend, who has a daughter and has left her husband, police said.

According to police, Choudhary, who is also married, made a phone call to Ramsagar Prajapathi, a resident of Gandhi Nagar area in Kandivali, at 9.30 PM yesterday and told him that his child Ajaykumar was kidnapped.

"Choudhary demanded Rs five lakh for the release of the child. Initially, Prajapathi did not take it seriously but when his child did not return home, he started searching for his son in the area but in vain. At about 3.30 AM today, Prajapathi complained to police," said N Pimple, senior inspector at Kandivali police station.

The investigators traced the owner of the SIM card by which the accused made the phone call. On enquiry, police learnt that the SIM card was taken from the owner by his friend Saeed.

Subsequently Saeed was nabbed, who admitted that he kidnapped the child and hid him at his girlfriend's house in Dahisar.

The boy was rescued from there safely and handed over to the parents, police said adding that, "Saeed wanted money to take care of Nafeesa and her five-year-daughter, as Nafeesa's husband left her husband."

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Minority status for Jain educational institutes

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will grant minority status to Jain educational institutes if they apply for it, said state minorities minister Naseem Khan.

Khan was addressing a camp organised by the Jain community on minority status at the Mahapragya Public School, Kalbadevi. He said the Maharashtra government was the first to grant the community the minority status and would lobby with the Centre to give a similar status to the Jains at the national level.

He said the community must encourage its youth to take up jobs with the government so that it gets integrated into the main stream, adding that the government was already conducting preparatory exams for the IAS, IPS and the MPSC of which the community must take advantage. He added that several students in the community were already taking benefit of the scholarship programme while schools had applied for funds to improve basic infrastructure.

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MTNL introduces new plans for Mumbai consumers

MUMBAI: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Mumbai has introduced new Broadband and landline Plans in different combo and non-combo versions.

Unlimited combo plan with a monthly rental of Rs 550 and another unlimited monthly rental plan at Rs 450 offered unlimited download from evening 6p.m. to 8a.m.with a speed of 1Mbps. The speed offered during day time under these plans will be 512 Kbps.

Similarly, under another Xpress Unlimited 650 plan monthly charges recovered are Rs 650 but customers will get super speed of 2 Mbps till 12 GB and unlimited download after 12GB with speed of 752 kbps. For combo plan the speed will be 512Kbps after 12 GB .

In another Xpress Unlimited 800 plan at monthly charges Rs. 800 customers will get super speed of 2 Mbps till 18 GB and unlimited download after 18GB with speed of 752 kbps (under combo plan speed will be 512Kbps after 18GB .)

Under the combo version of Broadband Plans customers will get rent Free Landline. For Combo Unlimited 650 and 800 Plans the outgoing call charges are Re.1 per pulse. And for Combo Unlimited 550 Plan customer will get 25 free calls and calls after free calls will be charged @ Re1/pulse. Upload speed for all these plans is 512Kbps.

Customers under the old plans can enjoy these benefits after migration to the new plans. Similarly, MTNL Mumbai has introduced two new plans for Landline customers. The first plan 550 offers unlimited Free calls on MTNL Mumbai network. And 100 calls Free to other network. Call charges beyond free calls to other network are charged Rs 1.10 per pulse. The plan 179 will have only incoming calls facility, where the monthly rental for the customers will be Rs 179 per month.

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