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IndianExpress: With Sangli district having taken the lead in approaching an external consultant — IIT-Mumbai — to prepare a permanent solution to combat floods, the other four districts in Pune division seem set to follow suit. “We can think of it in other districts too. After last year’s floods too this thinking has been on at the government level,” divisional commissioner Prabhakar Karandikar said.

Though there has been no decision on the government level as yet on engaging an external consultant to prepare a foolproof disaster management plan, Karandikar said the immediate priority would be to have a resettlement policy. “You cannot have a uniform policy, but what we will propose to the government is to have a resettlement policy that is location specific,” he said.

Karandikar said they could look at selective relocation of some of the villages. “We cannot tolerate encroachers particularly in places like Pune and Sangli. The first priority is to relocate and resettle them,” he said.

IndianExpress: The march towards a bigger, better Pune gained pace after the Centre approved in principle the first phase of the Rs 1000-crore Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for the city that will improve the chaotic traffic situation. On Friday, the Centre okayed the first tranche of Rs 65 crore under the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for the pilot projects that will run from Swargate to Hadapsar and Swargate to Katraj.

The Centre has already sanctioned Rs 99 crore for the construction of five sewage treatment plants under the same scheme. The approval was a shot in the arm for the Pune Municipal Corporation that feared a thumbs down from the Centre since it had failed to comply with the tax reforms like raising the property tax. which was not accepted by the general body.

 The civic body had mooted the BRTS as a solution to the city’s traffic problems and later this project was included in the JNNURM road network plan. The project comprises a 100-km bus network including a ring road and river side road.

IndianExpress: Pune’s Microsoft connection just got stronger. After the global IT giant’s decision to set up its first research centre in the city by this year-end, three IT students from Pune have come up with projects that will soon be released as online tools for users worldwide by Microsoft.

While Archishmat Sharad Gore of Fergusson College has devised a news aggregation system online that would help users get news in tune with their individual need rather than being swamped by thousands of irrelevant articles available online, Pratik Stephen of Army Institute of Technology has come up with a web application that allows a viewer to navigate deeper into satellite images of Virtual Earth. For instance, one can see the floor plan of a building or the seating inside a restaurant.

IndianExpress:  Three members of a family — two of them women — were killed and one injured due to electrocution from a malfunctioning fan at their residence. The incident took place at Bavdhan early on Friday morning.

Police said identities of the deceased have been ascertained as Kisan Baji Adhav (77), his wife Chhabubai (55) and their daughter-in-law Bhagyashri alias Nisha Somnath Adhav (20). Kisan’s son Mahesh (20), who suffered injuries due to the electrocution has been admitted to the Sassoon hospital. His condition is stated to be serious, police said. The Adhavs’ live in a rented room at Rambhau Dagade chawl in Bavdhan.

IndianExpress:  Deepak Sundar Gogadiya, a 25-year-old resident of Yavat on Pune-Solapur road, has been arrested by Khadki police for alleged involvement in kidnapping a teenaged relative, restraining her in a room at Yavat for almost three months and raping her on several occassions. Police said the arrest was made after the victim, an 18-year-old girl living at Khadki, lodged a First Information Report against him at Khadki police statioon.

The girl, a fourth standard dropout, lives at Khadki along with her mother and two sisters. Deepak called her to Yavat on April 25 under the garb of attending to his ailing wife. The girl alleged that she was restrained in a room till July 7 and raped on several occassion. The girl alleged that in a bid to hush up the matter, Deepak threatened to harm the girl’s family and insisted that she returns home and tells her mother that she had eloped with a boy. The girl initially told her family that she had eloped with a boy to Mumbai. However, she said she revealed the truth after her mother disbelieved her and threatened to go to Mumbai and verify the facts.

IndianExpress: The whole area from Vishrantwadi junction to Dhanori Road in Bhairavnagar has had no power from 9 am on Thursday causing enormous discomfort to the residents. Irate residents in areas like Khese Park complained that the power cut meant a water cut as well since water is drawn from a borewell.

When contacted MSEDCL officials said that due to the recent flooding, water had seeped inside the cables at three to four locations in the area and had therefore damaged them. Superintendent engineer of Rastapeth Circle S A Chowdhury said, ‘‘Our engineers have been working since Thursday and we expect that we will be able to restore supply by tonight.’’

IndianExpress: The workers of Maitri, a Pune based NGO, and volunteers of Eradicate Drought: Save Humanity NGO who are working together to provide immediate relief for flood affected people in Marathwada region, have appealed to people to provide voluntary and financial help. The two organisations are working in four districts of Marathwada. The volunteers are providing plastic sheets and water purifiers and are spreading awareness about water purification and sanitation measures.

Medical camps are also being conducted to address immediate needs like skin rash, fever, cough, dysentery, diarrhoea and joint pains. Community kitchen and a temporary shelter camp are also being run. For more information contact Maitri office on 25450882.

TMCNet: IBM has acquired Costa Mesa-based publicly held company FileNet Corporation in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $1.6 billion or $35 per share.

However, FileNet shareholders have to approve the acquisition. Regulatory reviews and other customary closing conditions will also play a vital role in finalizing the deal. FileNet offers business process and content management solutions.

According to a press release, the acquisition is a part of IBM’s (News - Alert) Information on Demand initiative launched in February 2006. The Information on Demand initiative integrates IBM’s software, services, partners and industry consulting expertise to enhance clients’ business performance. IBM claims that strategy will help clients improve their business processes, quickly respond to market needs and identify new business opportunities fast.

TechWorld: Skype has started marketing an application that puts its contact list, VoIP and instant messaging services on high-end mobile phones.

The program, called iSkoot, will allow users to have the same Skype features on a mobile phone as on a PC, said Jacob Guedalia, CEO of iSkoot.

Skype and iSkoot will market the application to mobile operators, who could eventually offer service packages that include iSkoot, Guedalia said. iSkoot would share in that revenue, he continued.

Handset manufacturers will also be courted to preload iSkoot on devices.

Skype’s phone book has become an integral part of some users’ lives, Guedalia said. The application allows the “ability to continue to interact with a group of people that you used to have to be sitting in front of a PC to have access to,” he said.

The iSkoot interface allows users to see who on their contact list is currently online, and to check their SkypeOut account balance

TechTree: Kingston Technology has announced the launch of its K-PEX (read Kingston Personal Entertainment experience) Personal Media Player (PMP).

According to Kingston, this stylized and ultra-slim PMP will allow users to watch videos, listen to music, play video games, and view/store photographs.

With dimensions around 3.7 x 1.8 x .57-inches, and weighing about 2.2 ounces, the new PMP features a multi-region FM radio and a high resolution 2-inch color LCD video screen.

K-PEX can playback most popular formats, including MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV audio; MPEG 1&2, AVI, WMV, and ASF video; JPEG image; and TXT documents. The PMP includes a miniSD slot for easy downloads of music, video, and photos directly onto the memory card.