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Bamboo treatment plant gathering dust at FDCM | Nagpur News - Net4news

Nagpur: Maharashtra Bamboo Development Board’s (MBDB) Rs39 lakh has gone down the drain. The oxyhydrogen-driven system, which was given to the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) by the MBDB, is gathering dust in Paoni. Information received by social worker Manoj Wahane under the RTI Act revealed that the board procured one oxyhydrogen-driven system for treatment of bamboo for Rs39.12 lakh on November 11, 2018, and handed it over to FDCM for operations. The National Bamboo Mission’s (NBM) guidelines have a provision of 100% grant for government sector purchase of bamboo treatment and seasoning plants under the head of promotion of bamboo treatment and preservation, but the maximum cost considered by NBM for one unit is Rs20 lakh. Wahane said, “It has been over two-and-a-half years since the oxyhydrogen bamboo treatment plant was delivered to FDCM by MBDB. However, it has not been used even once. It is lying idle at FDCM’s Paoni premises. There is no expertise to operate this equipment.” Pratap Goswami, bamboo expert and Sanghatan Mantri of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who raised irregularities in MBDB, said, “The bamboo sector has never heard of or seen such oxyhydrogen bamboo treatment system. The machine has never been tried in the past and how this equipment was procured is not clear.” The RTI information further revealed that FDCM is now in the process of identifying around 2,000 sqft land on the 25 hectares non-forest land available at Gorewada for the oxyhydrogen plant. The divisional manager, Gorewada, has been entrusted to prepare proposals for obtaining permission from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health. “Permission shall be sought under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980, for this unit. The process for selection of an architect has been initiated. The appointed architect shall select a suitable land for installation of the plant,” the RTI says. “This means the machine was handed over two years ago and the land is being identified to operate it now. There is no commitment when the oxyhydrogen plant will be operational,” said Goswami. Goswami demanded that performance guarantees be collected from suppliers of faulty and substandard machines should be invoked. He also demanded that new machines with proper specifications should be procured at the risk and cost of the defaulting suppliers and officials related to procurement. Source link Read the full article

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‘Urban Naxalism bigger enemy of India than Pak’ | Nagpur News - Net4News

Nagpur: “Urban Naxalism is bigger enemy of India than Pakistan as it poses internal security threat to the country compared to cross-border terrorism,” claimed director, screenwriter and author Vivek Agnihotri here recently. He was speaking on ‘India’s integrity and Urban Naxals’ at a webinar organized by department of humanities of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University. Agnihotri, who has authored a book ‘Urban Naxals: The making of Buddha in a traffic jam’, explained how Naxalism started from Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal, in 1960s. He said, “Today, India’s biggest problem, which should be the country’s strength, is our youth. India has the world’s largest youth population. There is bubbling energy among students that keeps the country young. The youth belonging to middle class are aware of the hardships their parents go through. But when they enter college, the proponents of Left leaning ideology “brainwash” them, just like the Taliban groom children to become suicide bombers.” “Thus colleges become the door to Urban Naxalism,” he claimed, adding this is the condition of all universities in metro and mini-metro cities. “Slowly, they start focusing only on the fault lines in the country like casteism, poverty, women’s rights issues etc. They fail to acknowledge the country’s greatness, where it stands and what the future holds because they have been “brainwashed”. This is India’s biggest threat,” he said. Agnihotri added, “The style of communism to sprout internal war in a country is by planting the seeds of revolution. The fire of revolution is set in a way that it continues to burn and communist countries like China dominate with fuelling anarchy and keep an administrative influence on internal security.” RTMNU pro vice-chancellor Sanjay Dudhe chaired the online lecture. Senate and management council member Vishnu Changde and former city mayor Kalpana Pande were also present. Dean of humanities Prof Nirmal Singh was the convener. Dudhe said, “Country faces two types of threats — internal and external. External forces can be dealt with as these are recognizable. But it is not easy to tackle internal ones. Earlier, presence of Naxalites was limited to tribal communities living in forests. But now they are pervading cities in order to advocate their ideology among the masses and they are targeting students.” FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail Source link Read the full article