Keeping track of this week’s snakes and ladder score:
UP:
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, that has collected a record Rs. 1.45 crore in property tax in a special drive launched from August 1. It has seized 58 properties as part of this drive, recovered part dues of Rs. 13.64 lakh and served notices to 198 defaulters, several of them major and small-scale industries.

The Armament Research and Development Establishment, with this premiere institute on the verge of developing Smart’ munitions. This weaponry involves highly innovative kill-mechanisms. This will help the armed forces come a step closer to becoming a leaner but meaner’ force and cut down the expenditure of maintaining huge stockpiles of conventional arms. Also, this development brings India closer to other defence-technology-savvy countries, giving a major boost to self-reliance. Getting smarter by the minute!

Patients requiring nuclear medicine, with the inauguration of the nuclear medicine centre at the Sassoon General Hospital, which will help the poor avail of highly-advanced nuclear medicine. As a first step, the centre will provide diagnostic services followed by therapeutic services, which will be added in the next phase.

Traffic control during the Ganpati Festival, with the traffic police being provided with a sophisticated direct trunk system for communicating, designed for individual-to-individual contact. Popularly known as the Smart Mobile’ system, this will go a long way in ensuring traffic discipline during the 10-day festival.

Curbing noise pollution, with the city police planning to videotape the proceedings of various mandals and use them as a tool to discuss and educate the mandals and their workers about noise pollution. The tapes will not be used for legal action but only to initiate a discussion on good behaviour during the festival so as to help mandal volunteers become sensitised to the problems faced by citizens due to the noise.

Netizens, with Microsoft and Compaq joining hands under the leadership of Vijay Bhatkar to set up a private Internet service with its headquarters in Pune. Subscribers will thus be able to browse the net, send mail, chat with people across the globe, conduct net meetings, do video-conferencing and visit a host of personal and commercial websites. A welcome site!

DOWN:
The Rs. 1,500 mega-water scheme, as it ran into rough weather with the general body of the Pune Municipal Corporation taking objection to many of its facets. The delay in the first phase of the project has already led to costs spiralling from an envisaged Rs. 450 crore to Rs. 735 crore.

Retirement blues, with corporators rejecting the Pune Municipal Corporation’s proposal to increase the retirement age-limit to 60 years. With this move, those who were expecting to work another two years will soon face retirement.

The Pune Municipal Corporation, that was caught off-guard and ill-equipped in dealing with the flooding of the areas around the Ambil odha. Accepting the lapse, municipal commissioner Rajiv Agarwal has promised to take action against the concerned officials.