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indianexpress: THE Rs 1,700-crore Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP) for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad first envisioned in 2004, and stuck for long for a variety of reasons — divergent political views, inability of the local civic bodies to pay their dues — may soon get all obstacles cleared.

Guardian minister Ajit Pawar has set August 15 for all political parties opposing the IRDP to accept the project. At a meeting of leaders on Friday morning Pawar said, “We have supported the Rs 1,700 crore IRDP planned by the MSRDC. Congress MLA Balasaheb Shivarkar has also backed it. Now, other parties need to support it. The BJP and Shiv Sena can come to a consensus for Pune’s development,” he said.

At a press conference later on Friday, Pawar said the Pune Municipal Corporation has decided to pay Rs 10 crore per month to the MSRDC to ensure completion of projects. “I have spoken to municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi. The PMC has accepted that it will give Rs 10 crore every month,” he said.

The University flyover which was started in 2004 and thrown open to the public on Friday cost Rs 21 crore. It was part of the MSRDC’s Rs 260-crore IRDP planned in 2000 which would include 15 flyovers, 9 railway over-bridges, two bridges over Mula and Pavana rivers and widening of six roads. The MSRDC has completed four flyovers, four railway overbridges, widening of three roads, one river overbridge and widening of Wadia overbridge till date. The work on Uday Baug railway overbridge is nearing completion. Till now, MSRDC has spent Rs 140 crore.

indianexpress: Ajit Pawar has his way with the proposal to impose an additional cess by way of octroi, the cost of petrol in Pune, already among the highest in the country, will be Rs 50.90 per litre while that of diesel will touch Rs 36.15 a litre. Currently, the price of petrol is Rs 49.42 a litre while diesel costs Rs 35.78. In the case of high octane petrol, the price will go up from Rs 50.67 to Rs 52.20 a litre.

“The State government was planning to impose the cess on petrol and diesel to fund MSRDC infrastructure projects. But this was being delayed due to procedural reasons. Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad can go ahead and impose the cess under the head of octroi and avoid delay in project implementation,” said Pawar told The Indian Express.

“The civic body can levy cess of one paise for every Re 1 (diesel) and three paise for every Re 1 (petrol). If people can ply vehicles on the city roads they can also pay cess,” he said at the press conference earlier.

For the common man using a petrol-fuelled vehicle it will mean an additional outgo of Rs 1.50 per litre on his fuel bill, while in the case of diesel vehicle owners, it will pinch to the tune of 35 paise more for every litre of diesel that he buys.

Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi said: “The cess will be charged under the head of octroi. We will move the proposal to the standing committee after which it will have to be approved by the general body”.

indianexpress: WITH several complaints of water-borne diseases increasing after drinking turbid water supply from the Wadgaon Water Pumping Station, guardian minister Ajit Pawar on Friday directed the PMC to undertake setting up of a filtration unit at the pumping station.

“The Wadgaon Pumping Station was started overnight by the previous ruling party in PMC and the water supply was made without setting up a filtration unit at the plant,” Pawar told reporters after a meeting with the civic officials.

Pawar, who is also the water resource minister, said there has been several complaints of water-borne ailments among residents of Sinhagad Road and Katraj getting water supply.

The setting up of the filtration unit and providing clean drinking water from the Wadgaon pumping station would take time, he said adding, “The water is being chlorinated, but the residents should take utmost care and drink only boiled water.” The turbidity was due to the monsoon and it would reduce after the mud settles, Pawar also said.

Meanwhile, PMC corporators raised the issue in the general body forcing Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale to direct the civic administration to initiate steps to provide clean water.
 

indianexpress:  PETROL pumps in the city and district will remain shut on Sunday. The Pune Petrol Dealers’ Association, which covers 390 pumps, decided to close down to protest against the failure of the police to solve the recent cases of looting at five city petrol pumps.

A delegation of the dealers that went to meet police commissioner Jayant Umranikar on Friday could only meet the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Anil Kumbhare. Association president Baba Dhumal said: “Though we had sought prior appointment with the police commissioner, he did not meet us. The attendant informed us that he was busy.”

Dhumal said the association would strictly keep petrol pumps open from 7 am to 9 pm till the police expedited investigation of the cases.

He said: “Petrol pump staff work under constant fear of robbers who attack them and escape with the cash. Moreover, there has been no detection of any of the five cases of looting at city petrol pumps. Neither do the police carry out night patrolling nor do they investigate the cases properly.”

Association treasurer Ali Daruwala said, “’The final plan will be chalked out by the general body of the association. Looting of petrol pumps needs to viewed seriously as robbers are getting bolder. They know that ready cash is available at petrol pumps. It is becoming difficult for petrol pump staff to work.”

The delegation then met Pune district collector Prabhakar Deshmukh in the afternoon and handed over their memorandum of demands to him.

indianexpress: THE Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) General Body on Friday granted sops to owners of new properties by cutting the upper limit for property tax from Rs 2.60 per square foot to Rs 2.25 per square foot. Tax exemption for institutions offering education up to higher secondary was also continued.

For new properties, the tax will be from a minimum of Re 1 to maximum of Rs 2.25 per sq foot per month instead of Rs 2.60 per sq foot per month. The tax is collected as a percentage of ARV and the reduction may lead to a fall by about 10 per cent in property taxes.

“There will be no tax hike and instead the proposal will provide relief to new properties,” Leader of the House Anil Bhosale said at the General Body (GB). The proposal was approved unanimously.

The approval of the proposal has ensured that the 15 per cent hike in water cess proposed by the administration stands rejected.

Similarly, the GB passed the amendment suggested by NCP corporator Dilip Barate and BJP corporator Dilip Umbarkar to continue tax exemption for institutions offering education up to higher secondary and are registered under Bombay Public Trust Act.

An amendment to adjust extra dues collected from residents while charging tax for 2007-08 was accepted.

indianexpress: THE Friday hearing of the first case registered by a protection officer under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, was adjourned till July 18, as the respondent was not issued the mandatory notice.

Mahendra Gaikwad, the protection officer has pleaded before the magistrate that according to Rule 12 of the Act, it is he who is required to serve the notice to the respondent. Gaikwad collected the order on Friday, with the first hearing slated for July 18.
 
The case of Surekha Mote from Yerawada was registered by Gaikwad on July 7 with the help of the Chetana Mahila Vikas Kendra. This is the first case to be registered under section 12 of the Act after the May 22 Government Resolution (GR) which directed officers from the Woman and Child Development Department, Revenue and Forestry, Rural Development, sub divisional officers, tehsildars, naib tehsildars, block development officers and circle officers to work as “protection officers” till further notice.

No protection officers had been appointed even after the law came into force on October 26.

techtree: SanDisk Corporation has announced availability of its sleek ‘Cruzer Contour’ USB flash drive.

With a glossy Black top and Silver metallic body, the main feature of the ‘Cruzer Contour’ is it’s unique sliding USB connector.

Available in 4GB and 8GB models, the ‘Cruzer Contour’ delivers a read speed of 25MB per second, and a write speed of 18MB per second.

The USB flash drive supports Microsoft Windows Vista’s ReadyBoost feature thus tapping unused storage space to improve system performance.

With U3 technology, applications can be run directly from the ‘Cruzer Contour’ without requiring them to be installed on the computer. ‘Cruzer Contour’ is password-protected through U3, backed by AES hardware encryption.

The drive bundles free U3-compatible software including: PC phone service Skype, SanDisk’s CruzerSync for synchronizing files between a PC and the drive, SignupShield Passwords from Protecteer, and a trial version of anti-virus software.

Speaking at the launch, Manisha Sood, country manager, India and SAARC, SanDisk Corporation, said, “Since last October, SanDisk has been very well accepted in the market, and we have consolidated our position considerably. With ‘Cruzer Contour’, we will further strengthen our position in the highest capacity drive segment.”

techtree: Mouse in the air… yes… Logitech’s made it possible…

The company has introduced it’s ‘MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Mouse’, a versatile laser mouse able to work on the desk and in the air. So people can sit back and navigate the computer with ‘MX Air’ like they do a television with the remote…

‘MX Air’ has a polished Black semi-transparent top case, a Silver base, and a svelte contoured shape. The innovative air mouse uses Logitech’s 2.4GHz Digital Cordless technology with a range of up to 30 feet, and comes with a sleek charging cradle. The 2.4GHz micro-receiver allows plugging it into a desktop or notebook PC.

Significantly, the new air mouse combines 3 technologies: freespace motion-control, gesture command, and wireless.

Freespace motion control technology attempts to provide accurate and responsive navigation sans the limitations of earlier in-air pointing devices. The technology is in itself a combination of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors, DSP (digital signal processing) technology, and RF (radio frequency) wireless technology.
It also uses sophisticated algorithms to cancel the slight involuntary tremors that almost everyone experiences. With Freespace technology, users can hold the air mouse in any way, point it in any direction, and enjoy intuitive cursor control.

bbc: The Jules Vernes cargo ship has been packed up ready for despatch to the European spaceport in French Guiana.

The vehicle - the biggest, most complex spacecraft ever built in Europe - will launch in January with up to 7.5 tonnes of supplies for the space station.

The ship has been under test for three years at the European Space Agency’s technical centre in the Netherlands.

Late on Friday it began the transfer by road and canal to Rotterdam, from where it will go by sea to South America.

The Jules Vernes - or Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to give it its generic name - has been split into three parts and put in containers for the journey.

  The ATV is a premiere in many respects

The craft heads to the Kourou spaceport as part of a 400-tonne, 50-case shipment that incorporates all the associated parts, apparatus and tools needed to reassemble it and check it prior to launch.

“One of the major issues has been getting the customs paperwork in order,” explained Stefan Brosze, ATV transportation manager. “There are members of our team who know exactly where to find everything, right down to the very smallest items.”

The Jules Verne is the first of at least five ATVs that will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) over the coming years.

Developed at a cost of 1.3bn euros (£0.9bn), the ship incorporates sophisticated automated rendezvous and docking systems. Once launched on an Ariane 5 rocket, the craft can find its own way to the ISS, to deliver air, water, fuel, scientific equipment, food, clothing and even personal items to the platform.

It will also reboost the station, which has a tendency to drift back to Earth over time.

technewsworld: Banking that users want the ability to step away from the desktop when mousing around on the computer, Logitech has unveiled the MX Air cordless mouse, which lets the user control the cursor on the screen using hand movements and gestures. The company said the computer’s place as the media hub in many households means users want to have control from the couch as well as the desk chair.

Boldly claiming “the future of PC navigation starts now,” peripheral vendor Logitech has unveiled a laser mouse that uses motion-control and wireless technology so users can click, scroll and perform other control functions while holding the unit in the air from across a room.

The new Logitech MX Air rechargeable cordless air mouse will become available in August for US$150.

In announcing the device, Logitech noted computers are now much more than productivity tools found at desks. They are increasingly being used as hubs for digital media and are being installed in living rooms and home theaters.

Standard mice do not lend themselves well to those uses, since they usually need to be attached to, or in close proximity of, the computer and often need pads or other flat surfaces to work properly. Its new device overcomes those issues, Logitech said.