PUNE: Water expert Rajendra Singh on Tuesday said that the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic administrations need to draft a policy to restore rivers passing through city areas.

He also stressed on the need to restrict encroachments on river beds which hamper flow of water and said that many rivers in Maharashtra were in a pathetic condition and the government needs to take steps to restore them.

The infection rate of swine flu continues to hover around 10%, scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) here said on Thursday. This means, of the total suspected H1N1 patients, 10-15% are testing positive.

Since January, 76 of the 345 swine flu patients in the state have succumbed to the infection, making for a mortality rate of 22%. Pune city has reported 172 cases and 22 deaths so far this year — a mortality rate of 12%. Among the 76 casualties, the highest, 59, have occurred in March and April alone.

PUNE: The city continues to report malarial infection this month as well. As many as 33 cases of malaria have been reported in Pune city since January.

"As many as eight persons were found infected with malaria in April so far. The sporadic cases were observed in last three months as well," said S T Pardeshi, medical officer of health (MoH), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

PUNE: The city recorded 84 new cases of dengue fever in last three months. Going by the Pune Municipal Corporation's records, cases have gone down over the last three months.

"There were 36 dengue fever cases in January. The number came down to 18 in February. There were 23 dengue cases in March," said S T Pardeshi, medical officer of health, of the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Suggestion came when neither the NHAI nor the Pune civic body was willing to undertake the task of replanting trees

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday suggested the Pune Municipal Corporation to take the help of school and college students for replanting of those trees which shall be cut for the road widening project on the 800-km Mumbai Bangalore highway. A division bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Amjad Sayed was hearing an application filed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) seeking permission to cut 1,307 trees falling in the jurisdiction of the Pune civic body for widening the highway from four lanes to six lanes.

Pune: The municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have been told to implement pay-and-park scheme in congested areas.

This is one of the 12-point action plan finalized at a high-level meeting convened by additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan for solving traffic problems of the city last week. The two corporations have also been asked to ensure there are no encroachments affecting movement of pedestrians and traffic.

New Delhi: In sharp contrast with the findings of the first Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems, Surat and Ahmedabad topped the list of 11 cities in the public survey on quality of life and city-

Civic Body Plans To Mop Up 25 Crore In Penalties By Levying Taxes On 1,250 Towers

Pune: The vexed issue of taxing mobile towers located in the city is likely to be resolved as the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday gave a green signal to penalise illegal towers and regularise them. The committee expects collect Rs 25 crore from the drive.

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.