06 | metro | H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M B A I

W E D N E S DAY, A U G U ST 1 2 , 2 0 0 9

Women addicts
VOT E TACT I C S

More regions may be

declared scarcity-hit
HT Correspondent
■ htmetro@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: The ministers, espe-
cially from regions other than
Marathwada, who wanted Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan to
declare a scarcity-like situation
in their regions prior to the
Assembly polls, have prevailed.
The Cabinet sub-committee
of relief and rehabilitation on
Tuesday overruled the govern-
ment resolution that declared
129 of the state’s 355 tehsils,
mostly from central
Maharashtra, as water scarci-
ty-hit on Friday.
Hindustan Times had report-
ed on August 8 that many min-
isters were not happy with
Chavan’s decision and wanted
him to change it immediately.
Chavan was unavailable for
comment.
“We have asked for more
information from collectors
because we feel that low rain-
fall should not be the single
parameter for identifying
BENEFITS FOR REGIONS
■ Benefits to scarcity-hit
■ Waiver on land revenue
■ Subsidy on agri power bills
■ Waiver on wards’ school fees
■ No forced recovery of loans
■ Subsidised/ free supply of
seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc
■ Extension of payment dates of
crop insurance premium
■ Quick payment of crop insur-
ance
Minister Patangrao Kadam.
“There are many other things
such as no availability of fod-
der, drinking water and bad
crops that were not considered
while taking the decision last
have no help in city
anonymity that the committee
wanted more regions to be GOVT-FUNDED rehab homes needed as housing both genders together not viable
included prior to Assembly polls
because it would save them vot-
ers’ ire and could fetch more drugs
votes.
A scarcity-like situation can
lead to scarcity if crops wors-
& the city
en due to low rainfall. If the sit-
uation prolongs, it can assume
proportions of drought.
In 2003, the state had
declared a scarcity-like situa-
tion in 77 tehsils.
Of the 129 tehsils, 107 are in PART-3
Chavan’s home region —
Marathwada besides Karthik Balasubramanian
Chandrapur and Yavatmal in ■ htmetro@hindustantimes.com
eastern Vidarbha.
A disgruntled minister from MUMBAI: Women with an alcohol
western Maharashtra, who or drug abuse problem has no
belongs to the Congress, said options in Mumbai if they want
on condition of anonymity that to be rehabilitated at some gov-
the situation was no better in ernment-funded centre.
other districts. “Surprisingly, She has to go to Pune, to the
tehsils where situation is much only such centre for adult
better are in the list while some women run by the Bandra-
affected places are missing.” based Kripa Foundation.
The committee will meet According to the National
again on Wednesday and cor- Addiction Research Centre, ■ A group counselling-cum-education session for inmates at NARC’s Andheri rehabilitation centre. PRASAD GORI / HT PHOTO

scarcity in any particular tehsil,”
said chairman of the Cabinet
sub-committee and Revenue
week,” said Kadam.
A minister who attended the
meeting said requesting
rect the earlier decision for the
Cabinet to approve on August
Thursday.
( )
teenaged girls and women in
their early 20s are rapidly falling F I RST- P E RS O N AC C O UN TS
into addictive patterns of behav- Girls came to us after
iour. Organisations like Support
and Sankalp Rehabilitation the October rave party From austerity to Menstrual pain led handle the withdrawal pain.

It’s official: Bandra-Worli hookah joints her to pill addiction Taken to hospital
Trust help young girls with drug
problems not women.
drug bust, many with
addiction problems. We
Organisations like the
National Addiction Research had to turn them away.
MEENA (18) GEETA (22) after party in Goa

sealink to host F1 event

Dharmendra Jore
■ dharmendra.jore@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: Soon, sedans and hatch-
backs will make way for a
Formula One car on the
Bandra-Worli sealink.
On Wednesday, the
Maharashtra State Road
Development Corporation
(MSRDC) board will formally
approve a proposal allowing F1
team Red Bull Racing — one of
the 10 teams in F1 — to host a
promotional event on the 5.6-
km-long sealink.
“My department approved
the proposal today (Tuesday)
and we expect our board to
endorse it tomorrow (Wed-
nesday),” said Minister of State
for Public Works, Dr Sunil
■ Hindustan Times story on
August 1.
Deshmukh.
Hindustan Times had report-
ed on the plan on August 1.
Red Bull’s famous drivers are
expected to take part in the
event that’s slated to be held in
the coming months.
The government will take a
final call on the dates as it will
have to ensure traffic diversion
for over 30,000 vehicles that
use the sealink daily and take
proper crowd control measures.
Deputy Chief Minister
Chhagan Bhujbal, who heads
the Public Works Department,
said several F1 teams had
approached the state to either
hold a promotional event or cre-
ate a permanent racing facility
near Mumbai. “I hope such
events will help the city’s econ-
omy and tourism to grow fur-
ther,” he said.
Deshmukh said the state
would earn money through the
event. “We can benefit more if
we graduate to a fuller F1 track
in future,” he added.
Centre (NARC) and other rehab
centres are unable to help. Their
funding is for male adults only.
“As it is, the social stigma dis-
courages women from coming
forward about their addiction.
Lack of government-funded
rehab centres for women in
Mumbai adds to the problem
as rehabilitation at private hos-
pitals is expensive,” said a coun-
sellor from Kripa Foundation,
who requested anonymity.
Sharvari Gokhale, addition-
al chief secretary of the state’s
Public Health department
declined to comment.
As NARC is a government-
funded project specifically for
males, it raises ethical issues in
housing women. Shobhana Man-
nadiar, executive director, NARC,
said: “Many girls came after the
Juhu rave party drug bust in Oct-
ober. We had to turn them away.”
Mannadiar said in the past
when they did take women
SHOBHANA MANNADIAR,
executive director, NARC
addicts, conducting sensitive ses-
sions with male addicts was dif-
ficult as withdrawal patterns in
women could be different from
men. “While male libido gener-
ally decreases as a result of drug
withdrawal, female libido seems
to increase,” said Dr Shanti Nair,
a counsellor with NARC.
There are also physiological
characteristics in women that
could be the cause for addic-
tion. “A girl we admitted said
she got addicted to an analgesic
after initially taking it for men-
strual pain,” said Dr Nair.
HELPLINE
Kripa Foundation, Pune:
020-24347080
020-24348090
Meena came from a respectable,
upper middle-class family with
stringent values, which got dilut-
ed when she started attending
junior college and started hob-
nobbing with the ‘in’ crowd.
One of her friends’ birthday
parties took place at a hookah
bar, an experience she liked and
returned to repeatedly.
Soon, she had to give hookah
parties herself, but her parents
refused her the money for it,
and she resorted to stealing.
Soon her father realised Meena
wasn’t attending classes or
tuitions. Her father once fol-
lowed her and saw he at a
hookah bar.
After fierce denials initially,
Meena confessed to being
addicted to hookah. Her with-
drawal symptoms during reha-
bilitation at NARC included hal-
lucinations which are otherwise
characteristic of charas with-
drawals.
In early June, a family brought
their only daughter to NARC.
The daughter had been battling
a painkiller addiction since the
age of 15.
Asked about her reason for
being addicted, Geeta said that
menstrual pain drove her to the
powerful painkiller, which
relieves muscular spasms.
Her addiction intensified after
she realised she could sleep well
after taking the pill.
National Addiction Research
Centre made a special effort to
house Geeta on the premises in
a room away from the male
ward at the centre so that she
would come out of her
dependency, but she could not
TOMORROW:
How an IIT-graduate kicked
an addiction that lasted two
decades
ASHA (20)
A college girl who was studying
in Goa, Asha was brought to
NARC by her parents who lived
in Mumbai, after they found out
that she had been hospitalised
in Goa after a party.
Her friends also informed the
parents that Asha was abusing
some drug and her condition
was deteriorating.
Asha was, in Dr Shanti Nair’s
words, ‘high as a kite’ when she
was brought to NARC. Neither
the parents nor the hospital in
Goa nor Dr Nair knew what
drug Asha had been taking. She
fell asleep a day later.
When she woke up, she told
them that she was addicted to
ketamine, an anaesthetic. She
refused rehab and walked out
of the NARC premises.
(Names have been changed
to protect identities)
(Source: NARC)

Dalit party unity faces Ambedkar hurdle BEST BOSS DOES

HT Correspondent THE RPI FACTIONS ed to unify under RPI. elections, the factions have not NOT BACK
SUSPENDED
htmetro@hindustantimes.com RPI leaders like Jogendra managed to win a single seat
HAVE NOT WON A SINGLE
■
Kavade and Rajendra Gavai even though Dalits constitute
MUMBAI: The decision of various SEAT EVEN THOUGH were deputed to make Prakash 13 per cent of the state’s voting
Dalit organisations to come
under a single banner before DALITS CONSTITUTE 13
join the party but were unsuc-
cessful. “Unity efforts are a
population. “We will meet on
August 18 to chart our future STAFFER
the upcoming Assembly elec- PER CENT OF THE sham. These leaders have lost course of action. If Prakash
tions suffered a jolt. their support base and these doesn’t want to come along so HT Correspondent
Prakash Ambedkar, grand- STATE’S VOTING unity moves are being carried be it,” RPI leader Ramdas ■ htmetro@hindustantimes.com
son of Babasaheb Ambedkar, POPULATION out under the directions of the Athavale said.
who heads the Bharip-Bahujan Congress,” Prakash said. The party has tried to come MUMBAI: The BEST General
Mahasangh, said he was not RPI leaders were also losing together thrice in the last four Manager Uttam Khobragade is
interested in joining hands with under a single banner before out on their mass base. After decades. standing his ground in the sus-
“parties that promote the cause the elections, leaders of the 12 managing to win four parlia- Since its inception as a polit- pension of deputy general man-
of single caste”. factions of the Republican Party mentary seats under a united ical front in the ’50s, the party ager S.A. Puranik over corrup-
To consolidate Dalit votes of India on August 6 had decid- banner in 1998 parliamentary has split into over 12 factions. tion charges.
He refused to adhere to even
Mayor Shubha Raul’s demand
to reinstate Puranik. The mayor
had asked Khobragade to take
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA Puranik back into service till
enquiry conducted by BEST is
MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT & HIGHWAYS out. However, at the BEST
Committee meeting on Tuesday,
TRANSPORT BHAVAN, NO. 1, SANSAD MARG, Khobragade rejected this
NEW DELHI-110001 demand.
“I wouldn’t revoke my deci-
sion even if mayor demands. If
INVITATION FOR PROPOSAL they feel that the step taken is
wrong then let them approach
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India the court and the law will then
(MoRT&H), has decided to undertake projects in a length of about take its own course,” said
Khobragade.
7,000 km of national highways through public-private partnership The BEST committee chair-
on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. man Dilip Patel also demanded
MoRT&H will award these projects either by itself or through the the order be revoked and set up
an enquiry into the matter
respective State Governments over a period of one year. An where Puranik has been alleged
indicative list of the proposed projects may be seen at to be involved in 14 cases of cor-
www.morth.nic.in under “What’s New”. The projects would ruption. The committee consists
of people from different politi-
normally be for two-laning and may also include subsequent four- cal parties.
laning in some cases. “Khobragade should have
consulted the committee mem-
To streamline and simplify the process of qualification of applicants bers and even the municipal
for individual projects at the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, commissioner before suspend-
it has been decided to pre-qualify the applicants for a period of one ing Puranik. One cannot mis-
use their powers,” said Patel.
year and also establish their score and net worth. Applicants who However, Khobragade replied
wish to apply in response to this Request for Pre-Qualification saying he has every authority
(RFPQ) are invited to submit their Applications for pre-qualification to take steps against employees
against any wrongful conduct.
hereunder. The objective of this process is to register Applicants When Hindustan Times con-
who will be entitled to make simplified applications for qualification tacted Puranik, he refused to
comment on the issue.
at the RFQ stage of each Project.
The RFPQ documents may be obtained w.e.f. 12.8.2009 from the
Superintending Engineer (NHDP-IVA), MoRT&H, Room No.
342, Transport Bhavan, 1, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001
on payment of Rs. 10,000/- in the form of a demand draft or
banker’s Cheque drawn on any Scheduled Bank in India in favour
of Pay and Accounts Officer, MoRT&H and payable at New Delhi.
The document can also be downloaded from the aforesaid website.
The last date for submission of the RFPQ application is 22nd
September 2009. (1782066_1)