Vikas Vaidya

By Vikas Vaidya Government has identified a land on Amravati road situated approximately 20 kms away from Nagpur (near Mohgaon) for proposed National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER). Under dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, lands have been already identified for All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) while IIM has already began functioning from VNIT premises. Ending all speculation about location of proposed pharmaceutical institution, the administration has identified a 66 acre land near Mohgaon to house NIPER. Already many national level institutions like NBSS&LUP, NRCC and JNARDCC are located on Amravati road so also the sprawling campus of Nagpur University. Even the National Academy of Defence Production is located within premises of Ambajhari Ordnance Factory and NIPER will be another addition to this list. Union Finance...

Dr T P Lahane talking to the patients while Dr Gopal Arora look on. Dr Tatyarao Lahane and Dr Ragini Parekh checking the patients after surgery. Dr Tatyarao Lahane explaining the case to Dr Pinak Dande. Dr V G Pol look on.   By Vikas Vaidya It was in 1999 when Baba Amte found that the leprosy patients might lose vision after some time as their pupils get reduced. He came to know about Dr T P Lahane, fondly known as Tatyarao Lahane. Tatyarao visited Anandvan, checked the patients and his association with Anandvan began. Dr Lahane started visiting Anandvan every year to give sight to the needy. This particular activity did not remain to leprosy patients alone. The people from near peripherry started visiting the camp to get themselves checked up. Dr Lahane was instrumental in giving smile to them. For the past 15 years, doctors from JJ Hospital of which Dr Lahane is Dean and coordinators from iCare Foundation, a Mumbai-based non-governmental organisation (NGO)...

By Vikas Vaidya The philanthropic approach of Dr Pinak Dande saved life of poor farmer’s wife. Dr Dande has not only came forward to save her, but also gave complete treatment free of cost. Ashraf Bee, the patient was discharged in a glittering function at hospital itself. Tanekhan, a poor farmer of Adgaon, Tahsil Ner, district Yavatmal was facing burden of loan. In between he lost his young married son who committed suicide as he couldnt see plight of his father. To add to the woe of Tanekhan, his wife developed tumor at knee. He took her to Wardha, Nagpur, Yavatmal for the treatment and spent some 4-5 lakh rupees but in vain! Two young professionals came across the plight of  poor farmer’s wife. Sensibility in them did not allow them to sit idle. They approached Dr Pinak Dande. They did not have to convince him, on the contrary Dr Dande himself showed willingness to treat the woman free of cost. Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Satyajeet Jagtap and Anaesthesiologist Dr Girish Thak...

By Vikas Vaidya Taking up the task of putting the ambitious Multimodal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on fast track of development, Maharashtra Government has decided to send a tough signal to 63 companies that have got lands in MIHAN-SEZ but have remained ‘idle’ so far. The Government has decided to issue ‘notice of termination’ to these 63 companies that have not started work on ground. These companies, which are mostly in SEZ area, will get notice within seven days. This was decided in second meeting of Special Task Force on MIHAN, held at Ramgiri on Sunday. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister; Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Surface Transport and Highways; Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Guardian Minister of Nagpur district; Krupal Tumane, Ramtek MP; Vishwas Patil, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), and others were present in the meeting. Gadkari is the Chairman of the Special Task F...

By Vikas Vaidya To resolve the contentious issue of unutilised non-agricultural land for industrial purposes, Maharashtra Government has come up with a novel ‘Udyog Sanjivani Yojna’. All the owners or allottees of industrial plots are expected to participate in the scheme and start their venture within next 15 months, else the Industries department has decided to take back the plot. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had already directed that non-agricultural land earmarked for industries should be utilized only for industrial purposes. Since lot of clearances and concessions are granted for industrial plots, same must be put to use at the earliest, he had repeatedly stated. Though announcement to seize the plots were made, but never put to action fearing backlash from investors. Amidst global slump, the Government was also in a fix as such step would have deterred the investors and small industries. Devising a golden mean in the form of ‘Udyog Sanjivani Yojna’ (USY), the State In...

By Vikas Vaidya Coming down heavily on education barons particularly those running medical and dental colleges, Pravesh Niyantran Samiti, the regulating body to supervise admission in professional courses, has imposed a fine of whopping Rs 41 crore on 13 private medical and dental colleges for 206 illegal admissions done by them. For every illegal admission, the respective college has been directed to pay Rs 20 lakh each. This is a major jolt to these institutions, mostly belonging to political big-wigs cutting across party lines. One city-based private medical college N K P Salve Institute of Medical Sciences has also been hauled up by the panel for 11 illegal admissions to MBBS course for which Rs 2.20 crore fine has been imposed. The committee headed by former High Court judge Justice (retd) D K Deshmukh had requested Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik to keep these admissions on hold for the academic year 2016-17 till the fine is not paid by the institutions con...

By Vikas Vaidya Maharashtra Government has decided to implement the recommendations made by expert committee to ease the school-bag load. Accordingly schools will be given a time of three months within which they would complete the formalities and the compliance should be made by November 30, 2015. Considering the fact that majority of school students are suffering from muscle pain and are falling sick due to heavy bags, Department of School Education had constituted a committee to look into the matter. Apart from other recommendations, the Committee has urged all education boards to reduce the usage of notebooks and textbooks. Education Minister Vinod Tawde was very keen to implement the recommendations. The eight-member committee had submitted the first draft in April. The committee had observed that over 58% of students below 10 years of age have mild muscle pain and 75% of students below 12 years of age were falling ill due to heavy bags. The eight-member committee has submitt...