Retire and log in for new career

Twilight years needn’t mean the end of the day for careers, says a website meant to give the elderly a shot at jobs.

Dignitysecondcareers.org, launched here recently, brings together companies open to the idea of tapping into the experience of those who have retired but are keen to work.

The site is a joint initiative of Chennai NGO Dignity Foundation and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which gets 30 per cent of its business managing pension money.

On the site, senior citizens can upload resumes that will be accessed by companies, said Sheilu Sreenivasan, president of the foundation, which has lined up training sessions in 10 cities soon to promote the concept.

“The site will give an opportunity to retired citizens to get employed. The portal has been launched in Chennai but is meant for the entire country,” Sreenivasan said.

ICICI Prudential Life CEO Shikha Sharma said the site was the company’s way of giving back something to the elderly.

Green light for metro builder

Hyderabad metro’s legal foundations were laid recently when the state cleared a pact with the firm that would build its first phase.

Under the agreement, approved at a cabinet meeting headed by chief minister Y.S.R. Reddy, the Navabharat-Maytas consortium is expected to complete work by 2012.

A 4.77km extension of the project was also cleared, taking the total to 75.93km across three routes. This would make it the country’s largest such mass transport network.

Finances for the Rs 12,100-crore project will be tied up within six months, information minister A.R. Reddy said.

The Navbharat consortium had quoted the lowest cost among the four bidders in the fray. They included Anil Ambani’s Reliance Energy, which is building the first phase of the Mumbai metro.

Court light on choked caves

There appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel for the heritage, but endangered, caves of Mumbai.

The state government recently told Bombay High Court that it had “succeeded in removing” 3,052 of the 5,000 encroachments choking the caves.

The state’s lawyer submitted a plan for the conservation of Jogeshwari caves, one of those under threat of being overrun by the squatters. The state, Archaeological Survey of India and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai have drawn up the blueprint.

The government has agreed to resettle the families under “its prevailing policy” and the area around the caves that now have encroachments will be turned into gardens.

The state said it would require six months for the plan to roll but the judges insisted on a progress report within three months.

Last year, the court had ordered the removal of encroachments from the cave area and appointed a committee to suggest steps for the preservation of the heritage structures “through minimum intervention”.

Ganesh drill

The countdown to Ganesh Utsav has begun in Mumbai.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recently announced its annual Ganeshotsav competition, in which a panel of the civic body announces the best puja or “mandals”. Entries will have to be submitted by August 25.

The first prize will carry a cash award of Rs 35,000, the second Rs 25,000 and the third Rs 20,000. The winners will be chosen on the basis of the materials used (safety), social message and the decorations.               (UNI)

MUMBAI: This Sunday, make time for Giribala, a Hindi play about a young bride who finds her wealthy college-going husband drifting away once his father passes away, leaving him with the family fortune. The venue is Juhu’s Prithvi Theatre. Time:11am. Call 26149546 for more information.