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indianexpress:  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that rules the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has promised pothole-free monsoon to Puneites.

“I can’t promise 100 per cent pothole-free roads. But the situation will be much better compared to the last few years and hardly any pothole will be seen during this monsoon. I promise Puneites pothole-free and trouble-free monsoon,” said Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale while talking to the media on Wednesday.

By next year the PMC plans to set up four hot mix plants in addition to the existing two so that road repair work can be carried out swiftly, she said.

“We had promised good roads to citizens and ahead of monsoon the administration is putting every effort to complete tarring and repairs of major city roads. Twelve contractors and their staff, 11 hot mix plants and 20 paving machines are busy day and night to complete roadwork before May 31. The entire road repair and tarring is being done scientifically under strict monitoring of PMC officials,” Bhosale said.

The mayor blamed the earlier rulers of PMC with failure to synchronise the road department work and hence citizens had to suffer during monsoon. “Considering the disgust of people for bad roads, we decided that road work should be our priority. The administration is playing a facilitating role by helping contractors complete the roadwork before the May-end deadline,” she said, adding that the PMC has given the responsibility of repairing roads to those contractors who had expertise.

Vivek Kharwadkar, development engineer and in- charge of roads department, said, “PMC has 120 km of storm water drains of which 75 km drain is already cleaned. Laying of additional 50 km drain is in progress.” With storm water drains getting cleaned, there will be no water logging on major roads, he said.

Junior engineers at ward level would be held responsible for debris dumped on roads and also in the river. “A nominal fine is proposed for junior engineers who fail to control debris dumping. Also the fine slapped on engineers will be registered in their service books,” said Kharwadkar.

To tackle any emergency situation during monsoon, the municipal commissioner has asked ward officers to keep ready vehicles equipped with road repair material. Special staff will be appointed for this task.

indianexpress: The state government has formed a seven-member committee to take action against bogus institutions running courses without prior approval of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). This comes in the wake of a Bombay High Court order on March 29, which pulled up the state government for allowing such institutes to flourish.

In its order, the High Court had directed the state government to “take appropriate steps in accordance with law and initiate criminal proceedings against all such bogus institutions”. Accordingly, the government formed a committee last week to look into the matter, headed by former Mumbai University Vice Chancellor V N Gupchup. A government resolution to this effect had also been passed on April 27.

The committee comprises former Mumbai University Vice Chancellor Snehalata Deshmukh, former SNDT Vice Chancellor Rupa Shah, Directorate of Technical Education in-charge joint director Abhay Wagh and former engineering college principals VR Iyer, VS Bhat, and BN Naik. “Joint Directors in each district have been asked to inspect the colleges listed by the AICTE. Based on their reports submitted to the committee, appropriate action will be taken,” said Director of Technical Education NB Pasalkar.

The state government had filed an affidavit in response to the PIL filed in the High Court. Referring to the affidavit, the HC Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice JN Patel and Justice SC Dharmikari, said, “Prima facie, we are of the view, that allowing such institutions to flourish is aiding and abetting the offence of cheating. We are really surprised in the present case by the affidavit-in-reply filed in response to the petition… wherein it is nowhere mentioned that the Education Department has lodged criminal complaints against the management of such institutions. We expect the state of Maharashtra to take appropriate steps in accordance with law and initiate criminal proceedings against all such bogus institutions who represent to the public at large as universities and colleges.”

indianexpress: An MBA student and her boyfriend were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly murdering her ex-boyfriend. All three were students of first year MBA at IIHM, Wakad.

The Nigdi police identified the arrested students as Aditi Basu Deo Sharma (24), a resident of Sainik Colony, Jammu & Kashmir and her boyfriend Praveen Premswaroop Khandelwal (24), a resident of Jaipur. Police said the victim was Udit Ashwin Kumar Bharti (25), a resident of Trikut Nagar in Jammu. Aditi and Praveen allegedly murdered Udit at Macdonald Hotel near Chinchwad Station at 8.30 pm on April 22.
 
According to Nigdi police, Udit had an affair with Aditi. The affair ended recently, but he kept on pestering her. She then conspired with her new boyfriend Praveen to kill him with poison.

Investigating officer police inspector RS Bhamre said: “Aditi, Praveen and Udit were first year MBA students of IIHM, Wakad. Aditi and Praveen got jobs at Gurgaon and moved there. But their intention to kill Udit prompted them to return to Pune on the pretext of clearing dues. They mixed arsenic in prasad and served it to Udit, causing his death.”
 

indianexpress: Thanks to Pune Zilla Parishad’s Malnutrition Eradication Campaign, the district can boast of there being no ‘severely malnourished’ or Grade IV children.

The campaign, which was launched by the ZP’s Rajendra Chavan in 2003-04, has been such a success that out of 3.5 lakh children between 0-6 years in the district, only 70 children find themselves in Grade III, while 15,117 are in Grade II or ‘moderately malnourished’. From 37 Grade IV children in 2003 there are no severely malnourished children in the district. The ZP officials’ innovative approach of adopting malnourished children and then strengthening them with the right diet and immunisation services has since been applauded by none other than the World Bank, who has urged other districts in the country to emulate the Pune model.
 
Phase III of the World Bank-assisted Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) had aimed at accelerating improvement in nutrition and health status of children 0-6 years. The project, made effective in 1999 for five years in five states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — was restructured in 2003. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttaranchal were included in the third phase.

So how did Pune achieve this? Simply by ‘adopting’ a malnourished child and then attending to his or her needs like an improved diet, regular immunisation, providing ayurvedic medicine kits, health check-ups and regular weight measurement. “By adopting the children — which meant selecting a malnourished child from the tehsil areas and then regularly visiting them at their homes and coordinating with the ICDS supervisors about their weight gain,” says U G Karpe who was the then Deputy CEO of Pune ZP. Presently, there are 1,397 officials including Gram Panchayat committee members, district officials including the CEO, Deputy CEOs and other workers at the ZP who have officially ‘adopted’ the malnourished children and looked after their needs for the last three years.

indianexpress: The Pune-Mumbai Railway Pravasi Sangh has demanded that more Pune-Mumbai trains and coaches be launched in the wake of an increasing passenger rush over the months. Statistics show that the number of passengers travelling on this route has increased manifold even though the number of trains has remained the same during the past five years.

According to sources, there has been a steady increase in the number of reserved tickets from 18.14 lakh in 2002-2003 to 22.50 lakh in 2006-07. Even the unreserved tickets’ sale has shot up from 5.6 lakh to 8.21 lakh during the same period.
 
Pravasi Sangh secretary Prakash Sankpal, also on Pune’s Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC), said they have urged the Mumbai and Pune railway officials to increase the number of coaches for pass-holders on the existing trains.

“We have (also) been asking for an additional train between Mumbai and Pune especially for the morning hours — in the slot between the Sinhagad Express and Deccan Queen,” said Sankpal. The idea is to introduce a train at 6:45 am from Pune, besides changing the timings of both Sinhagad and Deccan Queen to suit people’s office timings in Mumbai.

Sankpal said that in absence of trains, passengers were facing major inconveniences. “Even pass-holders are forced to stand during the entire four-hour journey as the compartments are packed to capacity, especially on Mondays and Fridays,” he said. “The officials, after an initial reluctance, have agreed in principle to check the passenger-flow and do the needful in three months,” he said. Presently, six trains — Sinhagad, Deccan Queen, Pragati, Deccan Express, Intercity and Indrayani Express — run exclusively between Mumbai and Pune.

Railway officials said the introduction of the Expressway in 2003 had caused a dip in passengers for the railways on the Pune-Mumbai section which is no more the case, according to Pune railway division spokesperson Y K Singh. “The drop in passengers was limited to those travelling to Khopoli and Navi Mumbai,” Singh said.

indianexpress:  A massive fire in Shelarvasti area of Kothrud destroyed over 27 shanties on Wednesday morning. According to fire brigade officials, the fire began at around 10.30 am from one of the shanties and gradually engulfed the surrounding ones. It was brought under control at about 11.30 am. However, no casualties were reported.

A total of five water tankers and eight fire engines were rushed to the spot to extinguish the blaze. Meanwhile, fire brigade officials have estimated the total loss of property to the tune of Rs 8.4 lakh. Fire engines faced a tough time entering Shelarvasti due to congestion around the area.

PMC Central Fire Brigade’s Deputy Fire Officer Suresh Sagavekar said, “Primary investigations reveal that a burning lamp that was left unattended in one of the shanties resulted in the fire. Four cylinders blasts also took place as fire spread from one hut to another. Wooden planks, iron sheets and plastic material used in the construction of the huts caught fire easily,” Sagavekar said.

However, the exact cause of fire could not be ascertained till late evening.

indianexpress:  Farmers from Lonikand, Wagholi, Kesnand and Bakuri will be organising a morcha to the office of the district collector on Monday to oppose the land acquisition for the proposed SEZ by Videocon. This was decided at a meeting of over 1,000 farmers at Shankar Parvati Hall in Wagholi on Wednesday.

The meeting witnessed a few tense moments when some farmers blamed NCP president Sharad Pawar and Pune guardian minister Ajit Pawar for the SEZ proposals in Pune district. NCP MLA Vilas Lande said baseless allegations should not be hurled against the Pawars. The commotion only settled down after intervention from other leaders present at the meeting. “I will sacrifice the post of MLA for the cause of farmers. No land acquisition will be allowed in our villages,” Lande assured farmers.
 
The farmers reiterated that the State should not impose SEZs on them. “We will lock horns with the state government and its officials who want to grab our land,” they said.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Pune unit chief Vikram Boke, Shetkari Sanghatana state unit chief Raghunathrao Patil and former MLA Kumar Saptarishi addressed the meeting.

The proposed SEZ by Videocon is to be set up on over 844 hectares land at Lonikand, 568 hectares at Wagholi, 283 hectares at Kesnand and 185 hectares at Bakuri located on the eastern outskirts of Pune.

techtree: Logitech has just announced their ‘fun mice’ series that according to the company, will turn the workstation into a ‘fun station’.

Introduced in four different designs; namely the Racer mouse, the Tiger mouse, the Zebra mouse, and the Spot mouse, all ‘fun mice’ are made to fit into small- and medium-sized hands, and can be easily ferried around.

The Racer mouse is about two-thirds the size of a standard Logitech mouse, and can fit into even a child’s hand, says Logitech. Besides, it does not require either set-up software or a mouse pad, and can be connected as a second mouse for kids.

The Zebra mouse can fit into smll- and medium-sized hands, and like the Racer mouse, does not require any set-up software. The Zebra mouse can be controlled on virtually any surface according to Logitech. It can be used with a notebook, and makes for a great travel companion.

A colorful mouse, the Tiger mouse is designed to add a ‘fun edge’ to computing. As the name suggests, it looks like a Tiger, and promises optimum performance on practically any surface, without needing set-up software. Again, this mouse too makes a good travel companion, else it can be used as a second mouse for the family computer.

The Spot mouse, according to Logitech, is for those who feel normal mice are too big for their hands. Similar to other ‘fun mice’ the Spot mouse too works sans set-up software, and can be attached to either a notebook or a computer.

All Logitech ‘fun mice’ are immediately available through Neoteric Informatique for an approximate price of Rs 995 each, with a 3-years replacement warranty.

To make their offer more exciting, Logitech is offering a Racer/Zebra/Tiger/Spot ‘fun umbrella’ along with the corresponding ‘fun mouse’ (limited edition).

techtree: Canon India today announced the launch of ‘eCopy Share Scan Open Platform’ (SSOP) solutions.

The company says that the ‘eCopy SSOP’ solution is a technological innovation that integrates network printing with centralizing cost control for printing, and provides security for multi-location and multi-level user base.

Besides, ‘eCopy SSOP’ is a document management solution, which enables the user to extend the capabilities of any digital peripheral device to act as a bridge between paper and electronic workflows to seamlessly integrate with other critical business applications.

Speaking on the occasion, Kensaku Konishi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canon India, said, “The launch of the Canon-eCopy solutions emphasizes the company’s commitment to provide the most advanced management solution to face day-to-day challenges and growing competition.”

The ‘eCopy SSOP’ solutions will enable customers to scan paper-based information with a networked image runner multi-functional device, and integrate into their own workflows, thereby saving time and money, speeding up business transactions, and ensuring privacy and security of information.

Talking about the solution, Som Gangopadhyay, Director of Business Imaging Solutions Division, Canon India, said, “The Canon ‘eCopy SSOP’ solutions enable businesses to transform full-color or Black and White paper documents into electronic images.”

“Moreover, for document intensive sectors like banks, financial institutions, BPOs, law firms, etc, this solution would provide integration into their workflows, and real-time authentication,” Gangopadhyay said.

techtree: Epson’s new Stylus Photo 1390 A3+ printer featuring six-colour dye-based inks, faster print speeds, and a host of advanced features has been launched.

Targeted at photography enthusiasts, small businesses, and design houses, the Stylus Photo 1390 offers print resolutions of up to 5,760 x 1,440dpi (dots per inch), along with advanced Variable Sized Droplet Technology (VSDT), which dispenses five different droplet sizes as per image requirements.

The new printer prints at a speed of 15 pages per minute for both monochrome and colour print-outs. When printing A3 glossy full colour prints, the new printer takes just 173 seconds, more than 250 percent faster than its predecessor, the company said.

According to the company, the powerful combination of high printing resolution and advanced VSDT, with advanced Micro Piezo technology, results in superior print consistency.

The Stylus Photo 1390 comes bundled with the company’s Creativity Suite, and gives a choice of five colour output modes, including Vivid, Photo Enhance, Adobe RGB, Epson Standard, and no colour adjustment to suit the nature of source material for optimum image quality.

Notably, the Adobe RGB support for SLR class digital printing, and RAW file support is a welcome inclusion, as it supports a wider colour gamut and optimises colours in digital prints for even greater colour accuracy.

The new Stylus presents a savings opportunity to customers with its low cost genuine cartridges and six-colour INKdividual cartridge system.

This requires users to replace only colours that have depleted, instead of the full set. Additionally, it features the USB2.0 hi-speed port for speedy file transfer.