Pune: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation is planning to purchase 500 CNG buses, the tendering process for which is expected to start from March. While most of the buses will be used in Mumbai region, at least 15 of them will be introduced on the Pune-Mumbai route on an experimental basis, said officials.

MSRTC’s daily expenditure on diesel has increased after the government slashed subsidy on the fuel for bulk buyers. The officials, however, said there was no immediate plan to hike fares even though all depots were purchasing diesel at a higher price.

Will Set Up Demo Projects In Pune, Mumbai To Study Technical Feasibility Of Power Generation

Pune: The Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) will install two grid-connected solar rooftop photovoltaic systems as demo projects in two government buildings, one each in Pune and Mumbai, in a bid to study the technical feasibility of these projects. The study is necessary to help kick-start large-scale implementation of grid-connected solar rooftop photovoltaic systems in the state, which, said MEDA officials, is a viable option since these systems help generate power through solar energy and do not require land for installation.

Pune: The environment department of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) came under severe attack from corporators at the civic general body meeting on Monday.

Shiv Sena corporator Ashwini Chinchwade Patil had sought to know the functioning of the environment department, environment conservation works implemented, if the civic body had taken any action on the annual Environment Status Reports (ESR), functioning of sewage treatment plants (STP), among other things.

PUNE: A 61-year-old woman from Khutgaon village in Pune district died on Monday due to dengue haemorrhagic fever at the KEM Hospital, a civic health official said on Tuesday.

This is the fifth dengue death confirmed by the Pune Municipal Corporation since January. While a 23-year-old man from Solapur district also died of dengue shock syndrome at KEM Hospital on Monday, his death was confirmed by civic officials the same day.

Several species of Asian birds are likely to lose their habitat due to climate change, says a research published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) decided to take up development projects of Pavana, Indrayani and Mula rivers during the general body meeting on Monday.

Sanjay Kulkarni, an environment engineer, PCMC said, “The civic body had prepared a feasibility report in 2009, wherein it had arrived at a preliminary estimate of Rs 497 crore for the Pavana river development project.”

Pune: A recent study by citybased Ela Foundation and MES Abasaheb Garware College, to assess the impact of wind farms on birds at the Bhambarwadi Plateau in the northern Western Ghats, found 27 bird species out of 89 at the risk of collision with the rotor blades of the wind turbines.

Out of the 12 birds (belonging to seven species) that were found dead, five were raptors belonging to three different species. Also, out of five Indian endemic bird species observed in the study area, the Malabar Crested Lark (endemic to the Western Ghats) was recorded in the risk zone. The study also reported a reduction in the birds in the study area due to the increasing wind farm construction and associated infrastructure development. But the drop in the number of birds in the region is gradually reducing.

Pune: The shortcomings in the technology used by rose growers to set up polyhouses have cost them dearly this year. About 400 polyhouse owners in Talegaon Dabhade industrial area, who use naturally ventilated polyhouse technology for rose cultivation, have suffered as warmer climate in December advanced the maturity cycle of the roses. The buds bloomed before attaining maturity, thereby reducing the flower size.

Roses specially grown in polyhouses for Valentine’s Day celebrations were affected and farmers were forced to export the buds almost a week in advance. The small flower size means lower income for the farmers.

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will construct dedicated Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) lanes on the Pune-Mumbai highway and Aundh-Ravet Road at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore.

Shirish Poreddy of the civic engineering department said, "The 12-km stretch of the Pune-Mumbai highway from Bhakti Shakti chowk in Nigdi to Harris bridge in Dapodi lies in the municipal limits, as does the 14.5-km stretch of the Aundh-Ravet Road from Rajiv Gandhi bridge on Mula river to Ravet. The PCMC will develop these roads as BRTS routes. The civic body has widened the Pune-Mumbai highway to 61 m and it has 10 lanes."

Setting Up Saw Mills, Industries May Soon Be Banned

Pune: Activities such as commercial mining and setting up saw mills, large hydroelectric projects and pollution-causing industries may soon be banned in the eco-sensitive zones around the main sanctuaries in the state, including the Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve, Melghat tiger reserve and Sanjay Gandhi national park in Mumbai.