News

IndianExpress: Putting Pune firmly in the global auto map, world’s largest car manufacturer General Motors bypassed 20 other locations across various states to ink a deal with the State government for setting up its second manufacturing unit in the country. With an investment of over $300 million or around Rs 1,250 crore, the greenfield project to come up at Talegaon — nearly 30 km from the city — will initially provide employment to 1,000 people.

GM officials said the new plant will create 20 additional indirect jobs for every one of its 1,000 employees.

The State has not seen major investment from foreign companies in the past few years. Last week, the State was able to attract another global major — software giant Microsoft which will be investing close to Rs 1,000 crore for setting up a development centre again in Pune.

IndianExpress: The Tata Group that has a huge presence in Pune added another segment to its already existing line of auto and IT investments by setting up a drug discovery facility at Hinjewadi biotech park on Thursday. The facility of Advinus Therapeutics Private Ltd, a venture promoted by the Tata Group with former research head of Ranbaxy Rashmi Barbhaiya, will attract an investment of $5-10 million initially.

‘‘Looking ahead into the future, the group is committed to being in new high technology and knowledge-based industries and pharma is one such area,’’ Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said.

 Advinus Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company catering to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Spread over an area of 20,000 sq ft, the discovery arm of Advinus will undertake novel drug discovery and generating IP primarily in the area of metabolic diseases and inflammation.

IndianExpress: Roads have become the greatest levellers in Pune. The Baner-Warje-Bhandarkar roads story finds a reflection in Kondhwa and Salunke Vihar roads. Only, the potholes and bad patches on Kondhwa Road which claimed three lives including that of an 18-month-old last month, are bigger and deeper.

Salunkhe Vihar Road mohalla committee member Colonel A K Bajaj (Retd) says there’s nothing left to call a road. ‘‘It is Salunkhe Vihar pothole,’’ he said. The road was fixed by the PMC’s road department before the monsoon but the stretch from Kondhwa Road to the nala park has been completely washed away. ‘‘Waterlogging is 3-foot deep on this stretch,’’ he says. Last month, after some local corporators raised the accidents issue, the PMC had promptly begun fixing the Kondhwa Road which crumbled with a few spells of hard rain.

IndianExpress: With monsoon being the most preferred time for picnics, travel operators in the city are luring tourists with convenient packages. For those wanting to visit the cool locales in the State, the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has introduced special package tours for the monsoon. Special buses would leave every Sunday for Malshej Ghat, Lonavla-Khandala, Harihareshwar and Baneshwar-Ketkawale-Narayanpur-Jejuri-Morgaon-Bhuleshwar-Theur from the Swargate ST stand at 7 am.

Since Goa is also becoming a preferred destination in the rains, the Indian has introduced attractive tickets. The fares for the Airbus A 320, the only flight from Pune to Goa that operates six days a week, have been slashed by over 50 per cent from Rs 4,780 to Rs 2,205 for travel before September 30. The airlines has opened bookings for the sector and has announced two categories of ‘last day’ fares available at Rs 2,710 and Rs 2,205.

IndianExpress: A tourist from Mumbai, who was enjoying the monsoon at the hill station of Lonavla, was rescued by police after he slipped and fell off a cliff on Wednesday.

Police said the tourist, Ashok Sakharam Jadhav (45) from Santa Cruz in Mumbai, was strolling near Duke’s Hotel at Lonavla when he slipped and fell into Kachal valley from a cliff.

 Luckily enough, Jadhav caught hold of a boulder after sliding some 50 feet down the valley and clung to it. An employee of the Ideal Road Builders company, who spotted Jadhav, alerted Assistant Police Inspector Devidas Sonavane at Khandala outpost. The rescue operation went on for nearly two hours.

IndianExpress: With over 10 lakh two-wheelers ploughing through Pune’s roads everyday, the city has begun looking to alternative fuel sources of the illegal variety, to buck the rising petrol prices.

Following in the footsteps of Gujarat, which has a thriving illegal two-wheeler LPG conversion market, a number of agencies in the city have started offering illegal LPG kits for two-wheelers.

For an estimated cost of Rs 4,500, one can install these 3-kg kits at a number of LPG conversion agencies dotting the city. Equipped with an LPG storage tank and a vapouriser, this mini-kit can be fitted into the storage compartment of the two-wheeler. The kit can be installed in any two-stroke or four-stroke vehicle that does not need oil to be mixed with the fuel.

IndianExpress: The city urgently requires an independent international airport, preferably one with a single runway at the proposed Chakan site, but needs to concurrently strengthen the Lohegaon airport.

A stakeholder’s discussion on the urgency of an international airport for Pune — organised by The Indian Express — saw prominent representatives from the corporate, defence, education, tourism and land development sectors chalk out a plan to put Pune firmly on the international map.

While there was an agreement that a twin runway international airport at Chakan was ruled out due to technical reasons, industrialists felt that a new single runway airport can be constructed.

TechTree.com: Microsoft has reportedly just rolled-out Windows Live Spaces, the next generation of its popular blogging service, MSNR Spaces. The new service includes social networking features that are designed to help users discover and connect with friends through trusted contacts. Users can also personalize their Windows Live Spaces.

Windows Live Spaces is designed to allow consumers to add and upload up to 500 photos per month, free-of-charge; organize photos into albums; display them as slideshows; submit them as blog entries from mobile phones; get unique email addresses for blogging and emailing photos; etc. Windows Live Spaces allows users to edit as they post, plus crop, resize, flip, brighten, and recolor photos. Buddies can add captions, comments, and quips to users’ photos.

The new service is integrated across Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, and other services.

Spaces enables users to express themselves with colorful themes and gadgets; select whom they want to connect with; control who can connect with them; discover what’s new; share stories with blogs; build Windows Live Spaces for the team or group; write about the team s work; and blog from mobile phones.

TechTree.com: Abacus Peripherals has reportedly launched the ASRock 775i945GZ motherboard.

Significantly, ASRock 775i945GZ supports Core 2 Duo Desktop (Conroe) CPU for greatly improved performance. It is Windows Vista Premium Logo Hardware Ready, and would enable users upgrade the operating system to the new Windows Vista Premium version.

The specifications of the 775i945GZ include: LGA 775 for Intel Dual Core Pentium D/Pentium 4/Celeron D, support for Core 2 Duo Desktop (Conroe), Intel 945GZ Chipset; support for FSB 800/533 MHz processor, EM64T CPU and H-T Technology; support for dual channel DDRII533 x 2 DIMM slots; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Pixel Shader 2.0, DirectX 9.0 and Max shared memory 192MB; 1 x AGI Express slot; Hybrid Booster - Safe Overclocking Technology; Untied Overclocking: during Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses; 4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors; 7.1 Channel with High Definition Audio; Windows Vista Premium Logo Hardware Ready; and HD 8CH I/O: 4 ready-to-use USB ports, HD 7.1 channel audio jack.

TechTree.com: Dell has launched the Dell Precision 390 workstation, which according to the company, delivers improvements up to 63 percent in compute performance, up to 56 percent in application benchmarks, and up to 88 percent in graphics performance.

The Precision 390 features Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors, high-performance OpenGL graphics for high-resolution images, an improved chassis for excellent flexibility, and large front bezel vents plus a real-time thermal sensor for improvements in airflow and fan efficiency.

The Dell Precision 390 is immediately available for prices beginning Rs 80,763, inclusive of taxes and delivery charges. With Dell’s Advanced Configuration Services, customers can modify and customize operating systems at the time of purchase. Besides, Dell offers comprehensive support including complimentary DellConnect remote assistance during the period of limited warranty.