Reporter’s Notebook

In exam limelight

SSC toppers may not be in the limelight as the board has stopped announcing their names and instead gives out only regionwise performance assessment. Board officials,however,get their own share of limelight and do not mind some extra efforts. On Friday,when some TV channels wanted board officials to repeat results in English,Hindi and Marathi,they obliged after the official press conference. When a reporter told the officials it must be very tiring to go through the same thing a number of times,they smiled and replied.” It’s just twice a year when we can shine….so no issues.’’

Congress self goal

With opposition parties already having taken to the streets ahead of the civic polls to demand answers to civic problems of citizens,the Congress city unit this week held a morcha outside PMC headquarters to raise water shortage in Kothrud. Even as leaders of the city unit seemed pleased with the publicity,they were caught unawares when mediapersons politely reminded them that Congress shared power in the PMC and the agitation was simply a way of displaying their own inefficiency. At this,most party leaders avoided answering any queries on the issue,leaving the Congress city chief Abhay Chhajed to cover up. He said,“Whether in power or not,the Congress is committed to raising issues of the public.” It remains to be seen whether the party continues to raise civic issues on the streets in future.

‘No-award’ function

A woman corporator recently organised a function to felicitate outstanding women’s self-help groups (SHGs) in Pimpri-Chinchwad. She sent letters to hundreds of SHGs informing them they had been selected for the award and a minister would hand them over. The turnout was massive. At the function,some SHGs were felicitated but scores of them returned empty handed. No amount of pleading with the organisers worked as SHG members,who had taken family members along to witness the proud moment, returned angry and embarrassed.

It was after someone heard the minister complimenting the corporator for galvanising a huge gathering for the function that realisation dawned. “Women politicians have really come of age,” said an acitivist sarcastically. Her SHG was among those “selected” for the award but got none.

Fruitful Mulshi visit

It was fun-and-learning for journalists on their recent visit to Mulshi for the inauguration of the Tata solar power plant. They were taken to a huge field where they saw an amazing array of solar panels connected to the transformer that supplied power to the grid. Inside the control station,engineers were seen before computer terminals and panels controlling power supply. After witnessing the high-tech generation of power from a solar power plant,the journalists were taken to a different track altogether and called upon to witness plucking of jackfruit from trees at the Tata guesthouse. The fruits were given to them to be taken back to the city. Fruitful trip in more ways than one,someone was heard commenting.

(Contributed by Pupul Chatterjee,Nisha Nambiar,Ajay Khape,Ishfaq Naseem and Manoj More