BUKAD NEWS

There is some good news for the suburban residents. The central government has sanctioned funds to some second-tier cities in order to aid their transition into solar cities. The cities to receive financial aid, which include Kalyan-Dombivli from Maharashtra, are among the 43 selected from across India for the ‘solar city’ programme, under which, the cities will have to meet at least 10 percent of the incremental energy needs through renewable sources over the next five years.

The initial amount of Rs 50 lakh, to be handed over to the civic bodies, will be used for activities such as setting up a dedicated ‘solar cell’ in KDMC and for preparing a master plan for meeting targets and promoting this unique programme. It is an initiative by the ministry of new and renewable energy, under a long-term plan to augment solar energy production capacity in India.

The ministry, which is executing an ambitious project to take India’s solar production capacity from around 50 megawatts to 1,300 megawatts (MW) over the next few years, has plans to identify more such city corporations with a “high level of commitment in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy” to serve as examples for the remaining areas. Around 34 cities were identified as of the end of last year and the number will keep rising in the near future, according to information released by the ministry.

The cities, which have population in the range of 5 lakh to 50 lakh, will be identified and funds will be allocated by the year 2013. Maharashtra has five cities approved for inclusion in the project, including Thane, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nanded apart from these suburbs. The ministry aims to include at least one city from each state.

Meanwhile, Japan has also shown interest in developing these futuristic solar cities of India. Japan wants to promote “Midori no Bunken”, which aims at changing a centralized society into a community based one, in order to enhance self sufficiency within a region through maximizing natural resources (ie forest, sea, food) and energy, besides emphasizing on electricity generated by renewable sources like solar, wind, micro-hydel and biomass energy.

The two countries have also agreed to strengthen cooperation in research and development for promoting renewable energy.

BUKAD NEWS

Aspiring under-19 cricketers left in a lurch at trials

If you were surprised to find a huge rush for the selection trials of Mumbai Cricket Association’s summer vacation coaching nets in the under-19 section over the last two days, then don’t be.

The MCA’s coaching sub-committee has pruned down the number of centres from 16 last year to eight this year to help churn out the best possible cricketers during the vacation.
It may have been a decision to set up a proper structure, but cricketers who participated and were not picked up for the trials were left complaining as they hardly got a couple of deliveries to showcase their skills.

Take the case of MIC CC, Bandra centre for areas between Bandra and Andheri area. Around 200 turned up for the trials. “I hardly got to bowl only two balls to show what I was capable of. This is not done,” said one of them.

One of the coaches at the centre lashed out at the logic behind having just eight centres. “Two centres have been merged into one. You can’t have something like this as around 200-300 cricket enthusiasts turned out and they hardly got to show their skills.

Last year, there were 16 centres. That was better,” said the coach on condition of anonymity. “You might lose some talented youngsters. Also, you can’t blame the coaches for being rude since we hardly have the time. To pick up 25 from 300 is not a joke,” he said.

MCA joint secretary PV Shetty defended the decision of reducing the number of centres by half. “We have created a pyramid. The U-14 and U-16 age groups have 16 centres each, but we have reduced U-19 to eight and U-22 to two. We have a pyramid so that we can get the cream of Mumbai cricket,” he said.
On the aspiring cricketers being given the cold shoulder, Shetty said: “Different coaches have different style. You can’t blame the coach,” he said.

Grounds where trials were held:
Karnataka SA: Churchgate to Elphinstone (WR) & Colaba to Parel (CR)
DPCC, Matunga: Parel to Sion (CR), Sion to GTB Nagar & Worli to Mahim
MIG Bandra: Bandra to Andheri
Payyade SC, Kandivli: Jogeshwari to Dahisar
Virar-Sainath SC: Nala Sopara to Virar
Boisar-Tata SSL: Vaitrana to Dahanu
RCF Chembur: Chunabhatti/Chembur, Kurla to Ghatkopar & Mankhurd to Panvel
Dadoji Konddeo Stadium, Thane: Dombivli to Badlapur, Bhivandi to Khardi, Vikhroli to Mumbra

BADLAPUR NEWS

Mumbai's train trouble: Scorching heat, crawling trains make life hell

Every day, IT professional N Raja takes an hour to travel by train from his Badlapur house to his workplace in Vikhroli.

But, on Wednesday, the same commute ate into five hours of his time.

While most of the 70 lakh Central Railway commuters preferred to stay home or take other modes of transport on learning of the disrupted signal system at Kurla on Wednesday, a few, like Raja, decided to hop on the train.

“First I had to wait for 40-45 minutes to catch a train at Badlapur station. Blank indicators added to the woes as no one knew what time a train would arrive. Even though announcements were being made, trains still came in late,” he said.

Train services were running smoothly only between Karjat and Thane stations, he added.

“The actual problem was between Thane station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). As trains were crawling ahead, commuters were getting restless. We could see trains lined up between Mulund and Nahur stations. Many people jumped on the tracks and walked to the nearest station,” said a commuter, who did not want to be named.

He refused to blame the Central Railway for the chaos as the services disruption was due to a fire.

But, Dombivli resident Rakesh Shah was not so kind.

Shah, who took five hours to reach his office in Byculla, slammed the railway authorities for not making alternative arrangements.

“It was a minor fire. The problem could have been fixed by Wednesday morning. Lakhs of commuters were troubled because the authorities did not have an alternative plan in place to tackle emergency situations like this,” said Shah, pointing out that if the Central Railway had kept the emergency tracks between Thane and Kurla stations functional, commuters would not have suffered.

Shah said though the BEST did a commendable job by plying extra buses from Mulund, Kurla, Sion and Vashi stations, it was not enough to accommodate the huge number of railway commuters.

Autorickshaws and taxis also came to the rescue of students and office-goers who decided to not take the train on Wednesday.