Vikas Vaidya

By Vikas Vaidya Even though there are enough facilities for starting a Government-run Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre in city, the plan is yet to take off for reasons best known to the authorities concerned. Surprisingly, in 2015, former Maharashtra Minister Shobhatai Fadnavis had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister regarding the centre but the plan continues to gather dust. Dr Sunil Naredi, an Ophthalmologist who is a frequent traveller, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’, said, “Yellow fever vaccine protects one suffering from the viral infection (yellow fever) which is mostly found in people in African and South American countries. Most people develop immunity within ten days and 99% are protected within a month of the vaccination. Anybody who travels to above mentioned countries has to be administered Yellow Fever vaccine. A vaccination centre provides a certificate to the traveller which he/she has to carry along while travelling to the above countries.” The State Go...

By Vikas Vaidya The Public Health Department of Maharashtra has constituted State Mental Health Authority for taking measures for the implementation of guidelines given in Mental Health Care Act 2017. Apart from the officials, the authority will also have two persons representing who have had mental illness, to be nominated by the State Government. The Mental Healthcare Act came into existence in 2017. But the guidelines in it are not yet implemented. To address the guidelines properly in society, in medical fraternity and in Government officials, now the committee has been constituted. Dr Abhishek Somani, Professor at the department of Psychiatry, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) said, “After coming the act into existence the step of implementation was much needed. The committee now will chalk out how the rights of mentally ill patients would be addressed, whether any kind of forced treatment is being given to such patients, whether the proper care ...

By Vikas Vaidya Elaborating the concept of SWAYAM by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Dr Manpreet Singh Manna, Director, PMSSS and SWAYAM said, “SWAYAM is massive open on-line course (MOOC) aimed at unlimited participation and open access initiated by Government of India. It is designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy. As this project has brought school students into its ambit, it will have larger impact.” The SWAYAM has completed one year and it celebrated it at Jhulelal Institute of Technology (JIT) during the AICTE-sponsored One Day Swayam Workshop for National Resource Centres (NRCs) on ‘How to Create E-Content’. JIT, being the only fourth college in the country to hold it, had organised it Dr ...

By Vikas Vaidya Two morning flights—IndiGo and GoAir— coming to Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport were diverted on Friday due to heavy rains resulting in poor visibility. The flights were taken to Hyderabad and later brought to Nagpur after the weather conditions improved. All the evening flights however came on time. In the morning owing to incessant rains Wardha Road stretch of National Highway no. 7 got submerged under water. The Traffic Control Branch of Nagpur City Police promptly suspended traffic on road from Raddison Square onwards and road ahead was heavily flooded. Air travellers find it difficult to reach airport to board the flight. When the IndiGo flight came to Nagpur from Pune the passengers were asked to go through Sonegaon to reach city. The Pora river that flows through Karve Nagar and adjoining area, overflowed and its water came on Wardha Road. Sonegaon police station too remained under four to five feets of water for four to five hours. The wa...

By Vikas Vaidya The flight that took off from Agartala, reached Nagpur almost after 9 hours. The passangers were in a position to accept the delay but the airline sent their luggage to totally different location. This is the brilliant example of how an airline can make its passangers suffer so much! A Ashraf, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief General Manager, Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) told the whole story of sufferings to The Hitavada. The IndiGo flight took off on Sunday at 12.15 pm from Agartala. The flight was supposed to pass through Kolkata and reach Nagpur by around 4 pm. But this did not happen. The flight reached Kolkata and passangers were asked to get down and board the flight to Delhi. Another IndiGo flight took the passangers to Delhi. The passangers had to wait for long time during all these developments. They were suffering physically and mentally. Surprisingly, the airliner personnel were rude and not responding to t...

By Vikas Vaidya Coming heavily on the medical colleges in Maharashtra, Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) has warned private medical colleges that charging extra fees than the approved one would be termed as illegal. Actually, FRA has already relaxed the conditions with regards to fees being charged for the seats under Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and the institutional one, than the one fixed by the Authority. Colleges only have to declare the fees prior on their websites. Private professional medical colleges and other institutions are charging the fees in multiples of the regular fees approved by the FRA from the students admitted under the quota of NRI and institutional one. This issue was discussed in the meeting of FRA chaired by Justice M N Gilani who is Chairperson of FRA. FRA through a clarification has made it clear that it received lot of complaints mainly from Post Graduate students of medical course that the management was demanding higher fees than the fees approved by FRA...

By Vikas Vaidya Medical Council of India (MCI) has increased the teacher:student ratio in medical colleges resulting in increase in Post Graduate medical seats in Maharashtra. The PG seats increased by 74. It has been decided to increase the teacher-student ratio from 1:2 to 1:3 for professors and 1:1 to 1:2 for associate professors (team leaders) to ensure more PG seats. The MCI has given its nod to increase 74 seats to various post-graduate courses for the 2018-19 academic year in different medical colleges managed by the state. The state directorate of medical education and research (DMER) intimated Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS). Dr Dileep Mhaisekar, Vice-Chancellor of MUHS told ‘The Hitavada’ that MCI approved 74 PG seats. The university had proposed an increase of 100 seats for the 2018-19 academic year. With this increase of 74 seats, the total number of PG seats in government colleges has gone up to 1,564, added Dr Mhaisekar. There are 25 Government Medi...

By Vikas Vaidya Government Dental College and Hospital (GDCH) decided to give 27 rooms of its hostel situated near the hostel number 3, for the students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Nagpur. This will be a first batch of AIIMS at Nagpur. Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has already allotted the class rooms, space for practical, wards to AIIMS as a temporary arrangement. The admissions to 50 AIIMS seats are underway. The counseling is being done at GMCH only for which Dean Dr Abhimanyu Niswade constituted a committee. Dr Viral Kamdar, Health Advisor to Union Minister of Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari and Coordinator for AIIMS said, “The issue of stay for the AIIMS students was troubling us. GDCH earlier had given 18 rooms for AIIMS students. So we could have accommodated 36 students had two students shared one room. I then requested GDCH administration to give seven more rooms and it was kind enough to give 9 more rooms.” Till its own building comes int...

By Vikas Vaidya The Medical Education Department (DMER) of Maharashtra Government made one year bond compulsory to the students of private unaided and government-aided medical colleges who avail the benefits of various scholarship schemes. This will be applicable from the academic year 2018-19. The students after completing MBBS have to render their services in rural areas as a Government assignment. Around 500 such MBBS doctors graduating from private medical colleges across Maharashtra availing of scholarships and freeships will be included. Till this year the bond was not mandatory for a single student from private unaided or Government-aided medical colleges. The demand was being made from all quarters that the students of private medical colleges should not be exempted. In fact this year DMER had come out with the circular according to which it did not allow students to appear in the Common Entrance Test for the admission to Post Graduate medical education. The circular had exe...

By Vikas Vaidya The solution regarding high rise buildings near funnel area of Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport is still not in sight. These buildings have now emerged as biggest threat to the growth of the airport and very survival as an important airport. Meanwhile Nagpur Municipal Corporation has decided to convene a joint meeting of civic authorities and airport related units like MIHAN India Limited (MIL), Airport Authority of India (AAI). MIL that runs the airport, has even mooted a proposal to reduce the length of runway that will disallow the landing of big aircraft. When contacted Virendra Singh, Municipal Commissioner replied very positively. He told ‘The Hitavada’ that since his joining though he did not receive any letter, he was a bit aware of some developments. He further assured that he would soon convene a joint meeting of stakeholders so that some solutions could be find out. Whenever any construction is taken within the 20 km area of any airport...

By Vikas Vaidya Maharashtra Government has asked 12 schools in Nagpur to return the money given as grant. The schools were earlier considered eligible to receive the grants, but subsequently Government felt that the approval process was flawed. Though the exact amount due from each school is not known, the total recovery is pegged at Rs 3.5 crore. Long back Government had decided to sanction new schools provided they would not take grant. Accordingly they were given status of permanent un-aided. After the clear stand of Government, schools still started demanding the grants. Finally it was decided that the grant would be given to the schools, if they should fulfill the conditions put by Government. The grants were to be given part by part— 20 per cent in one year, 40 per cent afterwards, 60 per cent later. This way schools were supposed to get 100 per cent grant. But Government took a U-turn and in September, 2016, it decided to give only 20 per cent grant to these schools. Last yea...

By Vikas Vaidya Department of cardiology in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH-SSH), has added another feather in its cap by successfully implanting a percutaneous device for closure of a paravalvular leak in a patient who had a  mitral valve replacement surgery 10 years ago. This 38 year old female patient came with a history of haemolytic anaemia and heart failure due to development of a hole beside her replaced valve and was in sick condition. The development of hole is generally due to dehiscence of suture line, or by infection, said Dr P P Deshmukh, working as Associate professor in the department. Generally such holes need another surgery which has a mortality of nearly 50%, and more so, in sick patients. Surgeons are reluctant to take such patients as it may entail same problem after redo surgery and it is technically extremely challenging, explains Dr P P Deshmukh. This case was successfully done by percutaneous route in local anaesthesia via a device which wa...

     Girish Mahajan By Vikas Vaidya Except five medical colleges run by Government and Municipal Corporation that too in Mumbai and Pune, no other Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Maharashtra has Post Graduation department of Psychiatry. On the contrary, every private medical college does have PG in Psychiatry. Considering the need for the PG, the Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan has decided to bring PG course in Psychiatry in all the GMCs. Girish Mahajan told ‘The Hitavada”, “The increasing number of patients suffering from various mental disorders is the issue of concern. The need for having PG in Psychiatry has arisen. Some GMCs in State fulfill the necessary conditions, some don’t. We will upgrade the departments in the GMCs where the facilities lack. At some places arrangement like tie-up can be made. For example, in Nagpur’s Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH), the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being signe...

Arundhati Sathe By Vikas Vaidya How should be the smart city? How should be its roads? How should be its square? There are lot many questions to ask about to-be smart city. Arundhati Sathe, present Secretary of Indian Institute of Interior Design (IIID) has come up with some ideas from the designer perspectives. She herself is Interior Designer. Electric Friction Panel Sathe has put an idea regarding generating the electricity through the cars which remain static when signal is red. She revealed, “Open space in the middle of square gather a continuous flow of traffic. Considering the situation and the number of vehicle pass create friction and so use of friction panel, which can create electricity, is nothing but an advanced technology. Putting this, will generate another 10 KW of energy. On an average 25 KW of electricity is required to lit the lights and traffic signals in a junction.” Roof Shades with solar panel Government at Centre and State is promoting use of sola...

By Vikas Vaidya The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has already developed a system, SkyRev 360, which ensures automatic data collection from various electronic systems being used for control of aircraft, invoicing and collection under Make in India initiative last year. Now AAI has come up with yet another innovative concept ‘SKYBOOKS360’ which is an integrated 3-Business solution for Airport Operators. On Friday at Nagpur, AAI and Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) signed an agreement for  Skybooks360 in presence of S Suresh, Board Member of Finance, AAI and Suresh Kakani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).  He is also the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of MIHAN. V M Mulekar, Sr. Airport Director of MIHAN India Limited (MIL); Chandrashekhar Tewari, AGM, Business Development; Shwetali Thakare, Chief Finance Officer, MADC. Skybooks360 i...

By Vikas Vaidya The Public Health Institute (PHI) that has been upgraded to State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra is running without teaching staff. The institute is expected to impart training to medicos, paramedical staff of whole State to bring the quality in healthcare. This is the only institute throughout the State and it is lacking the required manpower. Earlier the institute had a nomenclature as PHI. It is among the few old institutes of Maharashtra. Recently it was upgraded to State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra (SIHFW) with three other sections were merged into it. They include Health and Family Welfare, Leprosy Training Centre and RCTC health services. The Principal of PHI is upgraded to the post of Director. The expectations from the institute is national level training and state level training to be imparted to doctors and paramedical staff. It also runs courses like  Diploma in Public Health and Health Education. The Insti...

    By Vikas Vaidya Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) (erstwhile VRCE) is listed at number 5 among 20 Government run universities by the India Today survey. The speciality of VNIT is that it never stops progressing. Now, it has got a dynamic Director in the form of Dr Pramod Padole who himself is its alumni. Many people are not prepared to take charge of top posts. But a simple looking Dr Padole is different. VNIT is his soul and so the road map to make VNIT a world class institution is already in his mind. While talking to ‘The Hitavada’, Dr Padole unveiled his plans those he would be implementing. Dr Padole has successfully completed more than 14 consultancy projects in the areas of appropriate technology, design and finite element analysis which were funded by DST, MHRD, KVIC and AICTE. Dr Padole has received “Academician Par Excellence” award from Institute of Engineers in 2017 for the life-time contribution in the areas of product development, ...

By Vikas Vaidya Primary Surveillance Radar System at Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport will strengthen the already equipped Air Traffic Control (ATC). The existing old system will continue to serve but Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) will be added to its kitty apart from other equipment. DVOR is a standard International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ground based radio navigational aid that provides bearing information to aircraft to define air traffic control routes for en-route, terminal and instrument approach/departure procedures. DVOR when collocated with DME (Distance Measuring Instrument) provides both the angle and slant distance of aircraft with respect to ground station. Yudhishthir Sahu, General Manager, Air Traffic Management (ATM), Airport Authority of India at Nagpur said, “ The land identification for the new system is done. It will be erected on the land situated behind office of  India Meteorological Department (IMD) for whic...

By Vikas Vaidya Out of the 10 buildings constructed near Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, on which MIHAN India Limited (MIL) raised objections, four got No Objection Certificate from Airport Authority of India (AAI). ‘The Hitavada’ tried to investigate and it was found that AAI gave NOC to those four buildings but MIL noticed illegalities in them. How come it happened? Secondly Nagpur Municipal Corporation is trying to get away from its responsibility by saying that it is not the authority to certify Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL). Technically it is correct, but then how could such illegal constructions be stopped? This is absolutely the classic example of passing the buck. A building on Hingna road got approval with permissible height of 340.291. Accordingly Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) gave permission to it. It started construction and probably MIL noticed that the building had 11.38 meters obstacle height. There are four such buildings which got NOC from AAI for th...

Dr Shivkumar Utture By Vikas Vaidya The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) is contemplating to bring big private institutions that provide medical treatment, various diagnostics centres under its ambit. This will pave the way in fixing the responsibility about any medical negligence or any such violation on the hospitals or centres too. The MMC Act came into being in the year 1965 when doctors were doing individual practice. The hospitals functioning then were negligible in number. So strict action by MMC on the doctor if he or she found guilty was enough. Now, with the rise in the number of hospitals, some of the doctors take the support of their unit where they work to save themselves from being punished by MMC. MMC can cancel the registration of the doctors if charges are proved. MMC in the past had taken such kind of action many times. While talking to ‘The Hitavada’ Dr Shivkumar Utture, Chairman of MMC threw light on this aspect. He said, “In many cases in the recent ...

Dr Abhay Wagh By Vikas Vaidya The condition of technical education is in jeopardy and if targeted changes are not incorporated then it would become worst. The technical institutes are facing problems of vacancies, rising lack of employability among students, falling standard of education, untrained staff etc. Considering these aspects, Dr Abhay Wagh, Director of Technical Education, Maharashtra has decided to implement five point revamp plan in technical education to bring it up and should meet the global standards. “When I took over as Director many things came to my mind to be implemented in technical education for its quality improvement. I chalked out most important five points on which I shall be emphasizing more. They include perspective plan, curriculum that includes industry internship, training the staff, employability, incubation centre,” Dr Wagh unveiled his own plans while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ at Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management (RCOEM)...

By Vikas Vaidya As far as Air Quality Index (AQI) of Nagpur city is concerned, it is not in danger zone but can not be called as non-polluted. According to statistics regarding pollution level of city registered by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the pollution in city is moderate. According to environment experts, the increasing pollution level in city is attributed to road construction work, Metro rail work and other works of infrastructure development. On its website MPCB posted details of its survey conducted in  Civil Lines, Divisional Commissioner Office area, North Ambazari road, Hingna Road, Sadar. The survey was conducted between May 4,2018 and June 4, 2018. The survey shows the AQI of various parts of city ranging from 59 to 120 on different days. The fluctuation of AQI varies from area to area. In Civil lines the AQI ranges between 47 and 81 while the Hingna road premises where maximum road construction and Metro works are going on the range of AQI...

By Vikas Vaidya Registering strong objection over the delay in finding out solution to scholarship issue, Bombay High Court on Monday warned Government not to think about Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme till it comes up with proper plan. A division bench consisting of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Bharti Dangre while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by educational institutions questioning the recent directive to deposit entire amount in students’ bank account heard the side of Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhkoni wherein he told High Court that Government could not stop DBT scheme. The High Court immediately questioned him who would be held responsible if students fail to transfer the tuition fee amount in the accounts of colleges? Court further reminded Advocate General that it had instructed Government to come up with solution by convening a meeting under Chief Secretary and it was not done. Advocate General finally assured court that he would instruct Chief Secretary...

Now institutions can charge fees from Reserved category students n limit for SC students to avail scholarship increased to 2.5 lakh n Central Government’s Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has issued circular with changes in scheme of scholarship to be given to SC students Staff Reporter The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India has proposed that States can allow institutions to charge fees from the students belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) during the admissions. Their fees will be reimbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme by depositing the amount into their accounts. The states have been asked to deposit the required amount in students’ accounts in time. This is the one of the recommendations made by Central Government through the circular that has incorporated some changes in the scheme of Post Matric Scholarships to be implemented by various State Governments. The Ministry in on October 6, 2010 had come up with the Governme...

By Vikas Vaidya Under the National Programme for Healthcare of the Elderly (NPHCE) floated by Central Government, the Maharashtra Cabinet had given approval to set up Regional Geriatric Center at Nagpur’s Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). Now Government has issued Government Resolution (GR) in that regard. The Center will help to provide universal health facilities to the elderly independently. The Cabinet had already given approval to State’s fund and creation of posts. The Cabinet also authorized the Directorate of Medical Education and Research for signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The centre will need to create posts for which a proposal will be sent to high level committee for the approval in next three years. The posts will be filled on contract basis and after three years the review of the posts will be held to get those regularised. Under this programme, the Geriatric Centre will get funds from Central as well as State Government. The Centre’s share ...

By Vikas Vaidya The Higher and Technical Education Department of Government of Maharashtra has declared the plan to give scholarship dues of the colleges of the year 2017-18, according to which agencies and officials of related department have been asked to deposit the pending amount in the colleges’ accounts to be done under certain conditions. Maharashtra Government in cabinet had decided to credit scholarship dues in accounts of colleges. Tuition fees and examination fees will be deposited in the accounts of colleges while maintenance allowance will be given to students directly. ‘The Hitavada’ has been raising the issue constantly. Earlier Government had declared the plan for the disbursement of the scholarship dues come under Social Justice Department. On Thursday the plan for the disbursement of the scholarship given under ‘Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Tuition Fee Scholarship Scheme’ related to higher and technical education department has been unveiled by the Governmen...

By Vikas Vaidya Due to the penetrable rules in Government system, the fake beneficiaries are availing the scholarships provided to people of various categories while taking education. Surprisingly, the same student who claims scholarship during Centralised Admission Process (CAP) proving his non-affordability, pays full fees when he or she takes admission in institute-level quota. At institute-level quota one does not get scholarship benefits. There are various criterions for getting scholarships in various categories. The reserved category students (SC/ST/OBC/VJNT) get scholarship on the basis of the caste validity certificates. The condition of income limit is applicable to reserved category students too. For SC, ST the income limit is Rs 2 lakh while for OBC, VJNT, the limit is Rs one lakh. The students of SC category can get the scholarship benefits if their income is upto Rs 2 lakh, above this limit, these students get freeship (tuition fee is waived but don’t get maintenance...

By Vikas Vaidya Non-application of mind by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) in sanctioning high rise buildings near funnel area of Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport  has now emerged as biggest threat to its growth and very survival as an important airport. Due to such sanctions, the MIHAN India Limited (MIL), that runs the airport, has even mooted a proposal to reduce the length of runway that will disallow the landing of big aircraft. The MIL had identified 10 buildings whose heights are above the prescribed level. The same MIL has planned to conduct re-survey to see whether there are more such buildings being constructed near the funnel area. V M Mulekar, Sr Airport Director of MIL told mediapersons, “Before taking final call, we want to check where there are more buildings whose height is in the objectionable zone. We had already issued notices to 10 buildings asking them to reduce the height of their buildings. They c...