Infinite thoughts

After Pune Traffic Police, it is now PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Pariwahan Mahamandal Limited) who has started using the social media to promote their drives and improve their services through crowd sourcing. Pune Traffic police conducted some nice initiatives by inviting the citizens to post the photographs of offending vehicles (parking in no-parking area/non-standardized number plates/encroachment by private offices/restaurants on public parking space etc). The police ensured that the complaints registered so are addressed, the update is posted on the Facebook along with the action taken and the concerned police station/police officer's name/contact no. Although this is just a start, if continued persistently, this will go a long way to help improve the traffic chaos in the Pune city. Now that PMPML has also launched its own facebook page , we'd see some similar action on this front from PMPML. I have my own reservations about PMPML and hence about this initiative too. As part of...

While shifting to the new place near chandani chowk, we didn't know that we would need to struggle even for easy things. Since both of us work in a software industry, availability of the internet connection at home was a MUST. Nope, none of us is a workaholic, but it gives us the flexibility of working from home at times. Considering the fact that we were the first movers to our society, I was sure that no one would be providing broadband services to my locality. So I opted for Reliance data card , which is supposed to give you high speed internet connection, although not a broadband. The promise about the speed looked attractive, even if it was on a costlier side. The promised figures were in the range of 60-70+ Kbps. However, on an average, we get not more than 25-30 Kbps. If you are really lucky, then only one could see the speed exceeding 60Kbps for few minutes. Otherwise it was always a spike going to maximum speed of 150Kbps and for rest of the duration hovering around 20-30...

Seems to be a season of additional taxes. Everyone is talking about some additional tax. PMC is considering adding vehicle tax to reduce the number of vehicles coming on road everyday. On the similar lines even the state government is thinking of adding congestion tax Mumbai residents. Every individual is already paying up a huge amount of tax for each and every thing that he/she uses/purchases. Here is a list that directly affects a salaried person: Income tax - largest portion on the salary goes under this head Sales Tax - on every legal purchase, you pay this tax Service Tax - Many of the services are under this head. VAT - This was supposed to reduce the tax we're paying. However, what I have observed is I have started paying VAT even on the food items purchased in restaurents, which was not there earlier. Education cess - Many of the tax categories are levied with this cess. One time road tax - when you purchase any vehicle, you pay a lumpsum amount. Road Toll - At various pla...

This one is on infrastructure. 3.a. I heard people cannot use the lane reserved for BRT. How will this be ensured (unless there is a divider on both sides of the lane)? If there is no divider, then I think its not possible to prevent people (at a basic level we have a problem people not obeying signals) from using this lane (at times of peak hours and traffic jams). How is this aspect taken into care? 3.b. Are safe cycle stands planned at the bus stops so people can literally ‘get from anywhere to anywhere in Pune’? 3.c. Now a days buses are flooded beyond their limits, is there any increase in no. of buses during peak hours? 3.d. BRT lane is in the middle of the road, a person has to cross the road and come on the Bus Stand. Is't it risky? 3.e. Having signals etc is fine, but would the duration be sufficient for senior citizens and the el derly to finish crossing the road comfortably? 3.f. Now that the road is being dug up for expansion, any chance of having good ...

सध्या सत्ताधारी पक्षाला 'जलद बस सेवे'चे श्रेय पदरात पाडून घेण्यापलीकडे काहिच दिसत नाही आहे. 'BRT' सेवा अपूर्णावस्थेत चालू करून त्यांनी आपली टिमकी वाजवलीच आहे. परंतु आता त्याच्यामुळे होणार्‍या अपघाताची जबाबदारी कोण घेणार आहे? काल रात्री 'BRT' च्या मार्गावरून भरधाव जाणार्‍या 'PMT' ने एका तरुणाला धडक दिल्याने त्याचा जागीच मृत्यु झाला. 'BRT' साठी वेगळा मार्ग असल्याने त्या वेगात जाणारच, परंतु, त्या मार्गावरुन 'PMT'ने जाऊ नये अशीच माफक अपेक्षा आहे. 'BRT' साठीचा मार्ग पूर्णपणे सुरक्षित झाल्याशिवाय बस सेवा सुरु करायलाच नको होती. कुठलीही योजना चालू करणे सोपे असते, परंतु त्याची बरोबर आणि योग्य अंमलबजावणीसाठी संयम आणि नियोजन लागते, ते सत्ताधार्‍यांकडे आहे का? Ref: http://esakal.com/esakal/12052006/FA9D2F32D9.htm

DNA has mentioned about the congestion tax that is being considered to be levied by airlines. This is to cover the costs that airlines have to born because of the air traffic congestion. The article nicely points out the various impacts on the aviation industry. Few airlines have started thinking of charging passangers a congestion tax which could be Rs. 750/- per passanger per travel to cover the costs incurred because the flight needs to be hovered over the airport. This is becoming a frequent incidence solely because of the lack of infrastructure. There is no question that someone has to pay the airlines for this loss. The question is who. The thought to levy the tax on passangers would just drove them away from the airlines and would force them to choose other modes of transport. Providing infrastructure is government's duty and hence government should be paying for the lack of it. Govt. is already collecting huge sum by direct and indirect taxes in various forms. It is a comm...