Phursungi-Uruli Villagers Warn Of Agitation If Blaze That Broke Out On Sunday Is Not Put Out

A huge fire that broke out at the garbage depot in Phursungi-Uruli on Sunday afternoon was not completely extinguished till late Monday evening, villagers said. They complained of irritation in the eyes and difficulty in breathing as the smoke pervaded the area surrounding both villages. The villagers, who have been protesting for years against the very presence of the garbage dump, have threatened to block garbage trucks from entering the depot if the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) fails to put out the fire by Tuesday evening.

Temperature Fluctuation, Depleting Immunity Contributing Factors

Pune: Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have seen a rise of 10% to 15% in swine flu cases in March. “The virus transmission earlier was not more than 2%. We have observed a sharp rise in the transmissibility of the swine flu virus since March,” NIV deputy director and senior scientist Mandeep Chadha told TOI on Monday.

Pune: The number of swine flu deaths in Maharashtra in March this year was more than thrice the number registered in the same month last year.

Pune: Swine flu has claimed 20 lives in the state since January, nine in March alone, say state health officials.

Among the total number of casualties, Pune district accounts for the highest number (10), said state surveillance officer Pradip Awate. “Six people died of H1N1 influenza within Pune municipal limits while four were from Pimpri-Chinchwad,” he added. Following the recent spurt in cases, doctors have warned citizens to be vigilant and take precautionary measures. “The virus has infected 170 people across the state since January,” said Awate.

SURGE IN CASES OF CHRONIC CONJUNCTIVITIS THAT TAKE MONTHS TO CURE

Pune: It took almost seven months for 32-year-old Bharati to fully recover from conjunctivitis, a common eye infection. The initial redness in her eyes subsided within seven days but she continued to experience pain, irritation and blurred vision for a couple of months. Bharati’s case is not an unusual one,say doctors, who have been receiving a slew of patients where conjunctivitis - an otherwise self-limiting and harmless eye infection – has turned chronic and,in some cases,even damaged the cornea and taken as long as a few months or even a year to get cured.

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)'s Rochem Green plant to generate energy from waste will soon start generating 10 mega watt electricity.

"The plant currently uses 300 metric tonne waste to generate 3 mega watt electricity. It will soon upgraded to take 700 metric tonne waste to generate 10 mega watt electricity," said Suresh Jagtap, joint commissioner and incharge of municipal solid waste at PMC Pune city generates around 1,600 metric tonne garbage every day. Of which, waste to energy projects make use of 375 metric tonne waste.

Task Involves Door-To-Door Inspection Of Houses, Spraying Insecticides And Creating Awareness

Pune: The Rs 1 crore ‘zeromosquito project’ of the Pune Municipal Corporation this year will become operational next month. This is the second time that the civic body approved the project’s implementation. A work order for the project was issued to Dhankawdibased Deesha Agency on February 26.
“We have issued the work order to the agency to carry out indoor vector control programme under the zero-mosquito project, on February 26.

Pune:The country’s food safety and standards regulator has allowed use of higher levels of caffeine in energy drinks. The set standard of 145 parts per million (ppm) of caffeine has been relaxed up to 320 ppm for energy drinks, said Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials on Thursday.

The regulator, however, has stipulated that manufacturers infusing energy drinks with higher amounts of caffeine will have to print warnings such as-—‘caffeinated beverage’, ‘use not more than two cans a day’, ‘ingredients of this product consumed through other sources may also be kept in view’, ‘not recommended for children, pregnant and lactating women’, ‘not for persons sensitive to caffeine,’ and ‘caffeine consumed through this and other sources not to exceed 160 mg per day’—prominently on the label of the energy drink products.

State To Screen Over 1.95 Cr Children; Programme To Be Launched Tomorrow

Pune: The state health department is set to screen over 1.95 crore children below 18 years of age across the state and provide free follow-up treatments if required through district and tertiary level hospitals as part of a new scheme under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Called the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), the scheme, with an estimated state budget of Rs 130 crore for 2013-14, will be formally launched at Palghar, a tribal block in Thane, on Wednesday.

PMC Analysed 35 Child Deaths, Below One Year, Between May 2012 And January 2013

Pune: Low birth weight, a common cause of infant death in rural areas, is also the leading factor linked with infants’ death in Pune, states the latest child death audit report of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). What is more worrying is that preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and jaundice continue to cause child deaths in the city.