MAHARASHTRA

Savitribai Phule Pune University(SPPU) slipped a spot yet again to finish 20th in the list of top 100 institutes overall in the country. The rankings were declared by the ministry of educationsNational Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF).

The university retained its position as the number one state university fromMaharashtrawith Mumbai University coming second at 96. Compared with last year, there has been a mixed response as many institutes slipped, while some climbed in the rankings.

Parameters such as perception, patents-filed, financial Resources and their utilisation for students among others pulled most of the institutes in the city down.

Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed Universitys College of Engineering at the 96th rank among engineering colleges said that the competition is increasing every year as more colleges are participating every year.

The debt-ridden AI had floated tenders for the sale of the 23-storey building in 2018, which stands on stategovernmentland, but failed to evoke a good response. AI officials toldKuntethat their internal valuation of the building was more than Rs 2,000 crore to which Kunte asked them to share it with the state govt, official sources said. An official said that the govt had written to AI, quoting a price of Rs 1,450 crore. The actual price would have been around Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,200 crore since the govt dues from AI are around Rs 300 crore.

The state cabinet has okayed two more gravity diversion water schemes forTrimbakeshwar and Dindoritalukas of Nashik district at the cost of Rs 531 crore. These water projects will provide some water to the local residents and a major portion of the water will be for theGodavarivalley.

The has sanctioned a Rs 495-crore scheme for Kalmuste in Trimbakeshwar taluka. It will help in the diversion of water flowing into the Damanganga valley towards the Godavari valley. Similarly, Rs36 crore has been sanctioned for the Chimanpada village in Dindori. This will bring in water from theParvalley to the Godavari valley, said a senior officer of the Resources“>Water Resources department (WRD).

The Maharashtra Cabinet has exceeded a motion plan to shield and hold trees older than 50 years in city areas by way of terming them heritage trees.

Few criteria for considering a tree as a ” heritage tree” are: size, shape, rarity, aesthetical/historical values, affiliation with historic person, region or even myths.

A sure species needs now not be native to a region for this tag.

Components of Plan: The provisions blanketed in the design are the notion of heritage bushes and a diagram of action for conservation, a method to outline the age of the tree, policies to be observed before hacking bushes etc.

Compensatory Plantation: It will include planting the wide variety of timber equal to the age of timber to be cut. The saplings must be six to eight ft in top whilst planting and they will bear geo-tagging with seven years of caring period. The choice of monetary compensation has additionally been given, instead of the compensatory plantation.

State-level Tree Authority:The authority will be fashioned to protect and hold heritage trees.
Tree Census:It will ensure that the tree census is performed after every five years.
Land Use:Ensuring that 33% of government land is used for tree plantation.

The Home department must set up a committee to investigate the increasing incidents of missing Women inMaharashtra, said chairperson of the state commission for womenRupali Chakankar.

Since January 2022, the commission has been writi-ng to various agencies, including the national women’s commission, women and child welfare department and home department, about the missing women. Chakankar said the home department has been directed to submit a report on the progress made in tracing these women every fortnight to the commission. “There is a significant number of women in the 16-35 age group who have gone missing and there are now reports of trafficking too. Around 82 women from Pimpri-Chinchwad, who had gone abroad, have no contact with their families. Between January 1 and 31, around 3,594 women have gone missing,” she said.

The is likely to consider a specialcompensation packageunder the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for the districts affected byCyclone Tauktae.

State cabinet ministerUday Samant, who is also Ratnagiri guardian minister, demanded a specialrelief packageon the lines of that given last year to those affected by Cyclone Nisarga, which had made a landfall in Raigad district.

Last year, in the wake of Cyclone Nisarga, the state government had hiked the per hectare compensation under NDRF for horticultural land to Rs 50,000 from Rs 25,000, for damaged houses to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 95,000, and for partially damaged houses to Rs 15,000 from Rs 6,000.

The state cabinet agreed to declareincessant rainas a natural calamity, which will entitle farmers, whose crops are impacted, to compensation after surveys by the government.

The Centre has declared 12 natural calamities, where compensation is awarded. The state has added excess rain, accidental fires, sea-related disasters and lightning strikes to the list.

Maharashtrahas experienced several spells of continuous rain which resulted in the damage of key crops, including sugarcane.

The MaharashtraLegislative Council passed theMumbai and Maharashtra Municipal Corporations(Amendment)Bill, 2023, making way for increasing the total number of nominated corporators in the BMC from five to ten.

In other corporations and councils, it will be ten or 10% of the elected representatives, whichever is less.

The State Government on Monday tabled a bill to amend the BMC Act, 1888, along with theMaharashtra Municipal Act, 1949 to increase the number of nominated councillors in all municipal corporations and councils in the legislative council.

Experts on urban policy are generally nominated to these posts with the objective of utilsing their Services to assist the administration.

As part of conservation and awareness, theMaharashtragovernment is all set to start atiger safariin 171 hectares of new forest area and a wildlife rescue center in Chandrapur district known for its biggesttiger reserve of Tadoba-Andhari. Besides, a centre to facilitate immediate treatment of wild animals will be set up.

A Gene Bank for the conservation of genetic in the state will also be set up, the state budget presented by finance ministerAjit Pawarsaid. The project will be funded to the tune of Rs 286 crore over the next 5 years.

There is an increase of about 20 Sq. Km. in the Forest area. Forest cover has also increased by 1302 Sq.Km. It has been decided to start Tiger Safari in a 171-hectare forest area adjacent to Chandrapur.

Shri Gadkari said Nagpur city is one of the fastest growing cities of the country. In 2016, the central government passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act for the rights of persons with disabilities. He said this law is to give the disabled the right to live with dignity. Taking initiative under this, the Central Government has created some Divyang Parks in South India and Madhya Pradesh, In this series, this ‘Anubhuti Inclusive Park’ is being built for disabled children and general citizens in Pardi campus of Nagpur ,he added.

The Minister said this is the world’s first inclusive disabled park, a provision of about Rs 12 crore has been made by the Ministry of Social and Empowerment, Government of India, for this park being built in an area of 90 thousand square feet. He said here, various projects have been conceptualized for the disabled as well as for the general public and senior citizens.