Latest news with #UTF
Hans India
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
UTF stages protest over education issues
Rajamahendravaram: The East Godavari district unit of the United Teachers' Federation (UTF) staged a protest on Monday, demanding a resolution to various issues arising from school reorganisation, transfers, and promotions. The demonstration was held in front of the District Education Officer's (DEO) office in Rajamahendravaram under the leadership of district president P Jayakar and general secretary A Shareef. Speaking at the protest, UTF state secretary N Aruna Kumari expressed frustration that despite weekly meetings between officials and recognised teacher union leaders to discuss issues, the officials were not considering the union leaders' suggestions. She warned that the irrational decisions of the authorities could severely harm the education system. District president Jayakar criticised the previous YSRCP government for introducing Government Order (GO) No 117, which, he claimed, disrupted the education system. He alleged that due to the reduction in the number of teachers, nearly ten lakh students were forced to enrol in private schools. He further accused the ruling coalition, which had promised to repeal GO No 117 and improve school facilities, of making similar harmful decisions. General Secretary Shareef expressed concern that reducing the number of subject teachers in high schools was severely affecting educational standards. He demanded an immediate resolution to the pending issues of promotions and transfers. Shareef warned that if the government did not respond by the May 15th, UTF would organise a massive protest at Vidya Bhavan, the state headquarters. Vice-president Vijaya Gowri stressed the need to prioritise not just model primary schools but also basic primary and secondary schools. UTF members, including district treasurer EVSR Prasad, secretaries I Srimani, Ch Dayanidhi, K Ramesh Babu, Chilukuri Srinivasa Rao, Ch V Ramana, Manohar, Srinivas Murthy, Narsa Reddy, state executive member J Rupas Rao, and Prakash Rao, participated in the protest and submitted a representation to K Vasudeva Rao, District School Education Officer of East Godavari district.
The Hindu
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Teachers' body to stage state-wide protests today
The leaders of the AP United Teachers Federation (UTF) are gearing up for State-wide protests on Monday against the stand taken by the School Education Department on key issues like school reorganisation programme, teacher transfers and promotions. The federation's state president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said: 'Sit-in protests would be staged at the offices of the District Education Officers (DEO) across the State.' They said that though the department officials had been holding talks with representatives of the recognised teacher unions every week, they were taking a unilateral stand on key issues and this could harm the school education system. The UTF leaders criticised the previous government and said that the policies implemented were detrimental to the education sector, such as the merger of Classes 3 to 5 with high schools, the teacher re-apportionment process through GO 117, and reducing the teacher strength, which led to increased workloads. These measures ultimately led to the migration of 10 lakh students from government schools to private institutions. The leaders alleged that the TDP-led coalition government had promised to repeal GO 117 and introduce new policies to strengthen the education sector, but it was following in the footsteps of its predecessor. The proposal to upgrade 779 high schools and establish 9,652 model primary schools was welcomed. But they opposed the decision to allot a second teacher post to only high schools with a minimum strength of 54 students. They warned that the move would lead to thousands of surplus posts in high schools, especially those of Mathematics, English, and School Assistant teacher posts. They raised concerns about the priority being given to establish model primary schools at the cost of foundation schools and basic primary schools, and called the move 'objectionable'. They said: 'Monday's protest aims to draw attention to these critical issues that need to be resolved immediately. If the government failed to heed to our demands, then we would be forced to intensify our agitation and will stage a massive sit-in at the Vidya Bhavan on May 15.'
1News
10-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
Three-year flood map legal dispute ends in 'win' for landowners
Tauranga property owners have had a "significant win" after the council agreed to update flood maps, a developer says. Tauranga City Council is making Plan Change 27 — Flooding from Intense Rainfall operative after three years of legal wrangling. The plan change has had legal effect since 2020, when it was notified for public consultation. It introduced rules to manage flood risks and the effects of flooding on people, properties and infrastructure. These impacted what could be built on land deemed a flood risk. The council also released new flood hazard maps for the city based on a one-in-100-year storm scenario and accounting for climate change forecasts. The maps deemed 30,400 properties at risk of flooding — thousands more than under the previous modelling. An independent hearing panel heard submissions on the plan change and the decision to approve it was notified in April 2022. Twenty parties took three appeals to the Environment Court. The cases were settled in mediation, avoiding a hearing. Tauranga's Urban Task Force (UTF), which represents property owners, developers and businesses, was one appellant. The UTF cited significant errors and inaccuracies, claiming the maps did not show the most up-to-date flooding information. The task force also believed the plan change would hurt property values across the city. Through the court process, the council agreed to keep the flood maps updated so they could be relied upon by developers and landowners. UTF chairman Scott Adams, managing director of development company Carrus, said all parties generally accepted there were technical errors and issues with the mapping. "[The] council has accepted through the appeal that a site-specific technical assessment on flooding will now prevail over the indicative maps that are currently shown on the council's online GIS [mapping tool] layer," Adams said in a statement. "This is a significant win for the UTF on behalf of property developers and landowners. "They can now get a simple stormwater engineering assessment to override the mapping. This will be particularly useful where there are errors with the flood modelling and map outputs." The council also agreed that whenever its stormwater model was updated using more up-to-date or site-specific information, this would prevail over the indicative flood hazard areas depicted in its GIS layer. Other concerns raised by UTF about how roadworks might affect flooding were also addressed in the new consent provisions issued by the Environment Court. Adams said roads were designed to help carry stormwater during major floods. UTF's concern was if the council improved roads — like raising the height or adding engineering features — it could cause floodwater to spill onto nearby properties or reduce the ability of stormwater to flow along the roads, he said. Because of this, Plan Change 27 was altered and neighbours must now be notified if roadworks could cause flooding on their properties. Policies have also been updated to focus on reducing flood risks, rather than just managing activities. The goal was to ensure that activity still maintained suitable overland flows that water takes during floods, instead of restricting the activities themselves. The Environment Court consent order was signed off by Judge Kelvin Reid in March. The council approved the plan change at a meeting last week. It would become operative on May 13. City planning team leader Janine Speedy said the process started after Tauranga had significant flooding events in 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2013. The council then looked at how it could better manage risk from flooding, Speedy told the meeting. An integrated stormwater project was started, and Plan Change 27 was the regulatory response for this, Speedy said. Prior to 2020, the council didn't have any flooding rules in the City Plan and Plan Change 27 introduced those rules, she said. The council had an ongoing flood modelling programme to ensure its information was up to date, Speedy said. Councillor Glen Crowther said it was helpful to have the issues dealt with through the legal process. It was important to get it right and there was a lot of effort put into it to ensure that happened, he said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
NZ Herald
09-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Tauranga flood map update a ‘win' for landowners, developers after court case
The council also released new flood hazard maps for the city based on a one-in-100-year storm scenario and accounting for climate change forecasts. The maps deemed 30,400 properties at risk of flooding - thousands more than under the previous modelling. An independent hearing panel heard submissions on the plan change and the decision to approve it was notified in April 2022. Twenty parties took three appeals to the Environment Court. The cases were settled in mediation, avoiding a hearing. Tauranga 's Urban Task Force (UTF), which represents property owners, developers and businesses, was one appellant. The UTF cited significant errors and inaccuracies, claiming the maps did not show the most up-to-date flooding information. The task force also believed the plan change would hurt property values across the city. Through the court process, the council agreed to keep the flood maps updated so they could be relied upon by developers and landowners. UTF chairman Scott Adams, managing director of development company Carrus, said all parties generally accepted there were technical errors and issues with the mapping. '[The] council has accepted through the appeal that a site-specific technical assessment on flooding will now prevail over the indicative maps that are currently shown on the council's online GIS [mapping tool] layer.' 'This is a significant win for the UTF on behalf of property developers and landowners,' Adams said in a statement. 'They can now get a simple stormwater engineering assessment to override the mapping. This will be particularly useful where there are errors with the flood modelling and map outputs.' The council also agreed that whenever its stormwater model was updated using more up-to-date or site-specific information, this would prevail over the indicative flood hazard areas depicted in its GIS layer. Other concerns raised by UTF about how roadworks might affect flooding were also addressed in the new consent provisions issued by the Environment Court. Advertise with NZME. Adams said roads were designed to help carry stormwater during major floods. UTF's concern was if the council improved roads – like raising the height or adding engineering features – it could cause floodwater to spill onto nearby properties or reduce the ability of stormwater to flow along the roads, he said. Because of this, Plan Change 27 was altered and neighbours must now be notified if roadworks could cause flooding on their properties. Policies have also been updated to focus on reducing flood risks, rather than just managing activities. The goal was to ensure that activity still maintained suitable overland flows that water takes during floods, instead of restricting the activities themselves. The Environment Court consent order was signed off by Judge Kelvin Reid in March. The council approved the plan change at a meeting last week. It would become operative on May 13. City planning team leader Janine Speedy said the process started after Tauranga had significant flooding events in 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2013. The council then looked at how it could better manage risk from flooding, Speedy told the meeting. An integrated stormwater project was started, and Plan Change 27 was the regulatory response for this, Speedy said. Prior to 2020, the council didn't have any flooding rules in the City Plan and Plan Change 27 introduced those rules, she said. The council had an ongoing flood modelling programme to ensure its information was up to date, Speedy said. Councillor Glen Crowther said it was helpful to have the issues dealt with through the legal process. It was important to get it right and there was a lot of effort put into it to ensure that happened, he said.
