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indianexpress:  THE Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has decided to reserve shop space in the newly-constructed Ghorpadi Market for schedule castes (15 per cent), scheduled tribe (seven-and-half per cent), ex-servicemen (three per cent), locomotive disability (three per cent). In each of these reserved categories 30 per cent of the seats have been reserved for women. This is for the first time that shops in a market have been reserved for the socially disadvantaged groups.

“We want to give equal opportunities for disadvantaged sections. In the last PCB board meeting of the PCB it was recommended under rule 267 of the Cantonment Act that the board lease out 124 shops/covered ottas constructed at Ghorpadi village,” said PCB CEO S K Sardana on Friday.

The project was taken up primarily to rehabilitate hawkers. Till now, 65 shops have been allotted after proper screening. The PCB was left with more shops and decided to allot the other stalls to the underprivileged.

The board has not yet decided on the rate for shopowners. “The board has decided to give them on lease permanently but the rate is yet to be fixed,” Sardana said. However, it was decided to keep the rent low since small stall holders would occupy the shops. The rent would be decided within two months, he said.

By reserving the shops for the disadvantaged, the PCB is trying to relocate some illegal hawkers from other Cantonment areas to Ghorpadi. “The main beneficiaries would be small stall-holders having legal permit to do business in the Cantonment but targeted during anti-encroachment drives. Although they have licences we cannot allow hawking on footpaths anymore. It is a big nuisance and the board has evicted such people from their old places,” he said.

indianexpress:  PUNE’S claim to have become the first city in the country to have implemented Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) has been put under a cloud by a team of central government officials, led by S K Lohia, Director, Urban Transport. According to the central government team that inspected the BRTS on Wednesday, what Pune has on two of its city roads, the Swargate-Katraj stretch on Satara Road and Swargate-Hadapsar stretch on Solapur Road cannot be called BRTS. The team, that visited the two routes where the project is currently being implemented, said that it was merely a dedicated service route.

Curiously, it was only in January that Lohia, after visiting the Katraj-Swargate-Hadapsar corridor and inspecting the lanes, had declared that the city BRTS model would be implemented in 18 other cities. The latest decision has come as a salve to many city activists who have been shouting at the top of their voice for long that what the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been hoisting on its citizens is a poor imitation of the genuine item.
 
The central government team that reviewed the project on Wednesday directed PMC to set up an independent cell for the effective implementation of the ambitious project being implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

“The central government team expressed its dissatisfaction with the implementation of the BRTS, saying that introduction of new buses and dedicated path for them on city road does not mean BRTS,” a senior PMC official said.

indianexpress: THE Pune Traffic and Transport Forum (PTTF) has censured the proposal made by Congress leader Aba Bagul seeking action against multiplexes and other commercial establishments for high parking charges. The Forum argues that the move will in a way result in a rise in use of private vehicles in the city.

Recently, Bagul had submitted a proposal to Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi and City Improvement Committee (CIC) demanding legal action against such establishments for illegally collecting parking charges since the PMC was offering floor space index (FSI) to them free of cost.

The release issued by Sujit Patwardhan, founder member PTTF, argues that anyone visiting a mall, multiplex or hotel can afford to pay Rs 20 as parking charge and there is no need for the city to bear this cost. “The ever- increasing number of vehicles in the city lead to severe traffic congestion, a rapid decrease in open spaces, pollution and roads that are increasingly unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists,” the release says.

The forum has suggested that the PMC should instead charge commercial establishments for any FSI provided to them for parking. “We think it would be better for the PMC to retrospectively charge even existing establishments for parking FSI rather than providing it free,” release mentions.

indianexpress: THE Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pune Police has uncovered a racket in which students seeking admission to a reputed MBA college at Hinjewadi were promised seats but swindled of lakhs of rupees.

The police arrested five people from Salisbury Park, Wadgaon Budruk and Baner on Friday evening. Earlier, 21 year-old Nitin Shanti Jagetiya of Jaipur approached the EOW and the Cyber Crime cell alleging that five people —Samrat Tapan Chatterjee (28), Saikat Tapan Chatterjee (24), Ashish Kaluram Goyare (30), Vijay Bhikan Bengle (39), Sagar Sakharam Bengle (22)— had duped him after promising to get him an MBA seat in ‘Symbiosis College, Hinjewadi’, the press release said.
 
Jagetiya alleged that he had given them Rs 4.40 lakh as fees and Rs 12 lakh as donation totally amounting to Rs 16. 40 lakh.

But he did not get the admission nor his money back, he said.

The accused had been given a receipt on the college’s letterhead as well as a letter bearing the signature of the college director.

DCP (crime) Sunil Phulari, who also heads the EOW and Cyber Cell said Goyare, a standard X dropout, was the kingpin while Vijay Bengle ran a coaching class and his nephew Sagar is an first year law student.

Samrat who holds an MBA degree, has a real estate business while his brother Saikat holds a degree in law. The brothers are from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.

Phulari said the police have received more complaints about such deals promising students admission in the same college. “This is a big racket targetted at duping students from Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur and Delhi. The accounts of the accused have been frozen and investigation is underway,” said Phulari.

indianexpress: AFTER citizens, it is now the turn of Pune City Autorickshaw Association to wield the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The association has sought details regarding cranes used by the traffic police to tow rickshaws. The association alleges that the towing vehicles themselves are illegal as they are private vehicles indulging in commercial activity.

The association has collected information regarding the vehicles used for towing vehicles. According to the record books of Regional Transport Office (RTO), two vehicles - MH-12JA-4853 and MH-14B-4792 - are private vehicles.
 
“How can a private vehicle do commercial work? They have not yet transferred the vehicles to transport section. They are fooling the State government as they are performing a commercial activity without paying any tax,” said association president Baba Shinde.

In a RTI requisition filed by Shinde on April 16, he had sought information regarding permission given to private vehicles for towing away vehicles especially rickshaws obstructing the flow of traffic. The requisition had also asked information regarding how the crane owner is powered to issue the receipt for towing charges with a government stamp and the amount they have been collecting.
 

indianexpress: THE L18 Pune-Lonavla local (leaving Pune at 1 pm) and L13 Lonavla-Pune local (leaving Lonavla at 2 pm) will be cancelled from July 30 to August 3 due to work of conversion of Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) of Overhead Equipment (OHE) between Pune and Chinchwad.

Meanwhile, some trains in Khadki-Lonavla and Karla-Lonavla section of Pune division will either cancelled or rescheduled on Saturday. In the process, 1029 DN CST Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shahu Terminus Koyna Express will arrive Pune at 1.45 pm instead of 1.05 pm.

On the same day, L11 Lonavla-Pune local leaving Lonavla at 11.50 am and L 13 local will also be running up to Chinchwad. Similarly, L18 Up local and T6 UP Pune-Lonavla local departing Pune at 3 pm will run between Pune-Chinchwad.

On Sunday, L18 and L13 will be terminated at Talegaon due to the megablock.

indianexpress: The Walking Plaza on MG Road, when it takes off next month, will have a lot to offer by way of entertainment. Magic shows, puppetry, juggling, portrait sketches and cartoons are on the cards, along with the regular military bands, one-act plays and fire dancers.

Art of Living, yoga and meditation teachers will also make their presence felt. Senior citizens will get benches.
 
Modular Advertising and Display Solutions (MADS) has obtained the contract for a period of two years, which may be extended. MADS plans to approach shopkeepers to announce lucky draw coupon and likely incentives to increase business during weekends.

The event management company plans to get its revenue by putting up 100 advertisement banners and roping in the corporate sectors for product launches and promotional campaigns. Temporary food stalls are also expected to fetch revenue.

A meeting is being planned between MADS, PCB and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) concerning the tariff to be charged. Dustbins and electric cable boxes will be wrapped with banners of companies, giving a new look to the area.

techtree: BenQ has unveiled its 17-inch “T71W” LCD monitors meant for home and office use.

According to BenQ, the new monitors offer faster response times and superb viewing experience.

They come with in-built speakers, and have a monitor aspect ratio (screen width: screen height) of nearly 16:10.

The wide-screen format monitors are Windows Vista-compatible. The Windows sidebar on the right side of the screen displays multiple applications, and allows easy access to frequently used tools.

The wide-screen reduces problems of overlapping windows and multi-layer window restraints.

Ish Bawa, Marcom Head of BenQ India, said, “The BenQ T71W wide-screen monitors, in addition to looking great, offer increased productivity at work as the user is able to comfortably view two applications simultaneously, which is a very common work place need today where multiple applications are running on PCs.”

techtree: Sennheiser has reportedly launched stereo mini headphones called “PX 100″ in the country.

The design of the “PX 100″ headphones allows the ear cups to be turned 90 degrees closing the headphones. The mini headphones come with a 1.4 m Kevlar reinforced OFC copper cable with 5.3 mm stereo jack plug.

According to the company, the headphones’ Sennheiser “Duofol” diaphragma with spiral embossing produces high-resolution sound, while the Neodymium magnets result in extremely low distortion. The special baffle based on HD 414 ensures balanced sound, according to Sennheiser.

The light weight (60g) headphones sport a robust steel headband with metal joints, as also steel-reinforced headband ends.

The “PX 100″ headphones, priced at Rs 3,490, are available in Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region), Mumbai, and Chennai.

Apart from this, Sennheiser has a sleeve of headphones available in the Indian market.

Amongst these include the “Sport” range of headphones. This range includes five models; namely, the MX 70 and MX 70 VC Sport — earphones with magnetic surfaces that can be casually clipped around the neck; the MX 75 Sport — that offers a “twist-to-fit” feature; the LX 70 Sport — flexible headphones; and the PMX 70 Sport — sturdy headphones designed as neckband.

techtree: Samsung has developed a new 30-inch LCD panel, using the next generation video interface known as “DisplayPort”.

In the new LCD, the “DisplayPort” interface transmits graphics data at a total data rate of 10.8Gbps, says Samsung. This speed enables 2560 x 1600 resolution without any color smear. Only a single DisplayPort interface is required instead of the two DVI (Digital Visual Interface) ports currently used.

The new LCD panel has been developed using a four-lane, 2.7Gbps/lane interface chip. This technology processes 2560 x 1600 pixels of graphics data at up to 10 bits of color depth or 1.07 billion colors.

Brian Berkeley, vice president of LCD Business, Samsung, who leads the company’s “DisplayPort” development efforts, said, “We have received many inquiries from computer integrators interested in ‘DisplayPort’ based LCD panels, which prompted an acceleration of our R&D for this first ‘DisplayPort’ LCD panel.”

According to Samsung, “DisplayPort” is sanctioned by VESA (the Video Electronics Standards Association), and will serve as a replacement for DVI, LVDs, and eventually VGA.

Samsung claims the “DisplayPort” Video 1.0 Interface provides 2x the performance of DVI. The maximum cable length of the “DisplayPort” Video cable is 15 meters.