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indianexpress: With the countdown for the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT)-Pimpri Chinchwad Transport Corporation (PCMT) merger already begun, the task for the new company — Pune Metropolitan Transport Corporation Limited (PMTCL) — is clearly cut out. The hitherto elusive financial turnaround for the two utilities will prove as difficult for the new company which is starting off with a huge workforce that is set to burgeon further once 700-odd temporary workers are allowed onboard.

The new company will be inheriting, along with the historical baggage of poorly thought out routes, a yawning gap on the revenue vs expenditure front, say transport sector experts. While the gap between revenue and expenditure for PMT was Rs 26 crore, in the case of PCMT it was Rs 10 crore.

Among the focus areas for the new company will be zeroing in on routes where PMT and PCMT do not ply buses and starting services there. PMTCL will also be required to increase the frequency of buses on the basis of demand. The proposal to flag off PMTCL is pending with urban development department in Mumbai.

According to Pune Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi, the rate of loss for PMT is as high as Rs 4.5 -5 per km.“We have to incorporate all the daily and contract workers into PMT as permanent employees. Also, we have stopped fresh recruitment and purchase of new buses. We will float tenders for running around 400 buses through private transport companies, where we are looking to earn Rs 4 per km,” Pardeshi said.

indianexpress: THE ambitious ring road project which falls outside the city jurisdiction is likely to get stuck with the Congress joining the BJP in opposing the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) proposal to pay for the project.

“The road passes outside the city limits and there is no need for the PMC to pay for the land acquisition for the project,” Congress leader Ulhas Bagul said on Thursday. The BJP had opposed the proposal tabled for approval to spend civic funds for the project before the Standing Committee. Bagul said the PMC was yet to implement the Development Plan (DP) for the city in totality.

The PMC would have to spent Rs 9,000 crore to acquire 1,800 hectare for constructing roads marked in the DP, he said.

The estimated burden on the PMC for acquiring land for the 117 km long and 90 metre wide ring road will amount to Rs 500 crore, Bagul said, adding that the civic administration should first think of development projects within city limits. All political parties should come together and urge the State government to either carry out the project on its own or seek grant from the Central government, he added.

Reacting to the growing opposition to the proposal, NCP leader Anil Bhosale said the ring road should be considered as infrastructure development for the city as it was for reducing traffic congestion by diverting traffic from outside the city limits.
 

indianexpress: THE Citizens’ Facilitation Centre (CFC) at the Pune district collectorate plans to reach out to students and issue caste and domicile certificates at special camps to be held at schools. The move aims at easing the situation at the CFC, which has been of late under pressure to issue these certificates that are mandatory for higher education.

District Collector Prabhakar Deshmukh said on Thursday that most people queued up at the CFC during the rush season despite requests to parents to visit during the lean period after September. Talks are on with heads of institutions about the camps, he said.
 
The collectorate will obtain permission from the education department and the CFC staff will conduct the camps. “A schedule will be put up at each school. The children will be asked to get the documents required for the certificates on the days fixed,” said Deshmukh.

“We will officially streamline these camps once the rush period is over,” said Resident Deputy Collector Chintamani Joshi, who hoped the move would ease pressure off both the CFC and the citizens. “Our staff will plan out these camps in schools itself and the certificates will be issued the next day,” he added.

The CFC has been facing flak from citizens over the last few months. In June, Newsline highlighted the activities of touts on the premises, following which the collector took action to evict them. In July, a student turned violent at the CFC and attacked a woman staff member with a sickle for not giving his certificate and was arrested. The district collectorate beefed up security and deployed more staff at the centre to cope with the huge number of applicants. The officials then began issuing the certificates the next day.

indianexpress: The city police, under pressure to keep a check on the rising number of break-ins and dacoities that has been on the rise of late, is now faced with the rising number of accidental deaths where the cause of death cannot be established. The Bundgarden police station, that handles most of the accidental death cases in the city and situated close to Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), accounts for about 200 such cases, some pending for years together. Most of these cases are held up as post mortem reports do not state the cause of death.

Even as the cops are under pressure to perform by way of early disposal of cases, they in turn blame the SGH for inordinate delay, saying ‘proper’ post mortem reports are not handed over to them. The net result is that the status of these cases remains ‘pending’ in their monthly reports submitted to Commissionerate.

But the SGH that receives almost 5,000 dead bodies a year for post mortem, has a different story to tell.

“It is the policemen who do not collect reports in time. There are post mortem reports of 2000-2001 that have not been collected as yet. We cannot post it to the police, as they are confidential papers. The police should seek the report, sign our register and take the copy. We also have to send viscera for chemical analysis to ascertain cause of death,” said a senior official in Sassoon’s post mortem department

indianexpress:  PMT’s new general manager Subrao Patil seems to be firm about the work culture of Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) employees. After joining the transport body post his transfer on June 3, Patil has already suspended around 53 employees.

The cause of issuing suspension orders are complaints received from commuters. PMT’s complaint department receives around 40 complaints on a daily basis.

Speaking to Newsline, Patil said the complaint department had received several complaints like buses taking off before departure time, conductors taking money without issuing tickets, behaving rudely with commuters and several other complaints of such kind.

“Action was taken after the employees were found guilty by the PMT administration,” Patil said. He added that there have been requests to induct these employees again. “But we will not do so,” he said.

With this action, message will be clear for other employees to ensure courteous approach towards commuters, Patil added.

indianexpress: WHEN the Akshaye Khanna-starrer Gandhi My Father releases on Friday, five children from Pune who play the roles of the Mahatma’s grandchildren in the movie, will have their first brush with stardom.

On screen, the kids — Subhatrayee Satwe (5), Siddharth Rajput (7), Shreyas Paranjpe (8), Rohan Dave (10) and Nikita Karandikar (14) — play the roles of the children of Gandhi’s son Harilal, played by Akshaye Khanna in the movie produced by Anil Kapoor.
 
“It was a wonderful experience for us,’’ says Shreyas reminiscing about the times he spent shooting for the film in March 2004. “We would play a lot and chat with Anil Kapoor who was very kind to us,’’ he adds. Siddharth and Rohan agree, saying that that the best part was a slush scene where the children were allowed to play in the rain. “Our parents do not allow us to do this that but shooting was real fun,’’ they chorus.

For Nikita, however, the movie was a chance to work with her favourite actress Bhoomika Chawla who plays her on-screen mother. “She asked me to come to her make-up van and signed an autograph for me. But when I wanted Akshaye Khanna’s autograph, his security guards refused to let me enter his van. I cried a lot,’’ recalls Nikita, who is now in Std. X.

Subhatrayee, who was just over two years old during the shooting, does not recollect anything. She simply shakes her head when asked how it was to act in a movie.

techtree: Spice Mobile has newly launched a dual-mode handset wherein both GSM- and CDMA- based mobile connections can be activated. The dual-mode phone is meant for Tier II and Tier III cities, the company said.

During the launch, Kunal Ahooja, chief executive officer of Spice Mobile, said the new phone is targeted at all those who have two cell numbers but want the convenience of carrying just one phone. Ahooja said an estimated 8 percent of the total number of mobile phone subscribers already own two numbers.

Ahooja also hinted at the possibility of the company launching a ‘people’s phone’ to cost less than Rs 1,000. He said Spice would likely start manufacturing these low-cost handsets in 2008.

Meanwhile the dual-mode phone has been launched in two variants: the D-88, which supports both GSM and CDMA active connections at the same time; and the D-80, which supports two GSM active connections, and is useful for travellers operating in the local area.

techtree: Micronet has announced a new EoVDSL (Ethernet over VDSL) clustering switch that aggregates 8 VDSL lines into 2 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks.

The new switch model, SP3508A, promises cost-effective and high-performance broadband and multimedia services, and can be used in multi-unit building environments such as campuses, hospitals, hotels, and the telecom sector.

Empowered with QAM-based 4-band VDSL technology, the switch supports 5M/15M/25Mbps symmetrical bandwidth over the existing telephone-grade wiring up to 1.7 /1.1/0.6KM. It also supports 8 x VDSL ports, and has a data transfer rate of up to a symmetrical bandwidth of 25Mbps with a wiring range up to 1.7 KM, and an auto speed function for the VDSL link.

The SP3508A has a built-in POTS/ISDN splitter for POTS/ISDN telephone service, and allows data transmission and voice service over existing telephone-grade wiring.

Deepak Sharma, business development manager of Micronet, said, “With broadband applications gaining momentum in the country, Micronet SP3508A is going to help bring applications to users in a cost effective manner.”

Other features of the device include SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) with temperature and fan alarm, and spectral compatibility with XDSL, ISDN (2B1Q/4B3T), and on-board splitter. It also features 802.1q/p tag-based VLAN, IEEE 802.1v protocol-based VLAN, IEEE802.3ad LACP, IEEE 802.1d spanning tree, IGMPv2, MAC/IP filtering, port mirror, broadcast storm control, SNMP, and Web-based management.

techtree: Reportedly, the first firmware update for Apple Computer’s iPhone has been released — two days before Apple Computer’s self-imposed deadline for doing so…

Now available for download, update version 1.0.1, addresses security issues with iPhone’s Safari Web browser. The most important being the hijacking of the iPhone, which could happen when a user visits a malicious Web site using the Safari browser, with the hacker grabbing complete access to the iPhone and it’s data.

Update version 1.0.1 also fixes two more flaws in the Safari Web browser; namely in WebCore and WebKit. WebCore is a part of the WebKit application framework that handles HTML rendering in Mac OS.

Apple’s newest update is delivered through it’s iTunes software, and does not appear on the regular software update panel, or on the company’s support download site.

Apple says iTunes will automatically check it’s update servers every week, and download relevant updates. So the next time when users connect the iPhone to a PC, an alert would appear asking them to install the update.

Alternately, users can get the update manually by checking on the “Check for Updates” button under the iTunes Help menu.

technewsworld: Federal authorities sent a loud message to those dealing and playing pirated video games when ICE agents raided more than 30 establishments suspected of distributing modification chips and other devices that help gamers play illegal software. This operation was the largest federal enforcement action to target game software piracy on the part of online retailers.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided more than 30 businesses, storefronts and homes in 16 states Wednesday as part of an investigation into the alleged sale and distribution of modified chips and other devices that enable gamers to circumvent copyright protections and play pirated software on their Wii , PlayStation  and Xbox  consoles.

“Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind — subverting copyright protections,” said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s  Immigration and Customs Enforcement division. “These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually, and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering.”

The raids were the result of a 12-month investigation codenamed “Operation Tangled Web,” which was the largest national enforcement action to target game software piracy committed by online retailers, the ICE said.