News

punetimes: In a major anti-encroachment drive undertaken from Thursday evening, the Pune Municipal Corporation took action against as many as 877 illegal hawkers, vendors and stall and shed owners in the city.

Deputy commissioner Dnyandeo Thube said the drive will continue for the next few days across the city through the 14 ward offices to ensure that the hawkers do not return after being evicted. The drive was led by an officer of the level of the head of department and the team consisted of a ward officer, five police personnel, 15 labourers, four trucks and one JCB machine.

Action was taken against 434 handcarts, 10 stalls, 198 vendors, 101 sheds and 134 other establishments on Thursday. Details of Friday’s drive were not available.

“We are undertaking the drive from evening to 11 pm because that is the peak time when hawkers and vendors do business,” Thube said.

He said the goods seized will not be returned to the owners and the same will be auctioned by the respective ward offices as a measure to prevent the hawkers to set up business again. In the past, the PMC used to return the confiscated goods after charging a fine.

punetimes: An action plan for the effective implementation of the immoral traffic (prevention) Act will be prepared in two months and will be tabled before the legislative assembly during the next session. The draft action plan has already been approved by the state home department.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the regional consultation on anti-trafficking organised by the Holistic Child Development (India) (HCDI), Aslam Khan, social worker with the women and child development department, police commissionerate, said that the action plan would be ready in two months.

“The action plan includes steps for intervention at every point of trafficking — from the origin to rehabilitation of the rescued. There has to be check at every point to stop trafficking of women and children, which includes boys too,” Khan said.
Measures such as finding out the reasons for trafficking have also been included in the action plan. “For example, if poverty is the reason in some areas, then measures such as providing sponsorships to the children have been included,” he said.

In Mumbai, police squads have been deployed at seven tourism spots as cases of children and women trafficking have been reported from there.

punetimes: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has announced a special scheme for regularising unauthorised connections in Pune and other zones in the state.

In a statement released here, Sudhir Jadhav, deputy chief public relations officer, Pune zone, said the scheme is for farmers who have been using pumps with higher horse power (HP) than permitted. Using higher HP pumps is illegal and a criminal case can be lodged with the police along with imposition of fine against guilty individuals.

“An anti theft drive is on in the Pune zone and the power company decided on this scheme to prevent any loss to agricultural activity,” Jadhav stated. The scheme, titled as ‘Self-respect scheme 2007′, will be in force till September 30. Those wanting to regularise their connections have been asked to contact the nearest sub-division office and submit an affidavit in the prescribed format.

As per the rules, farmers will have to pay a fine for one year to legalise their connections. The rate for the fine in Pune zone is Rs 4,320 per HP per year. As a special concession, farmers will require to pay only Rs 2,880 if they agree to pay the fine in one instalment. They will also have to pay a service connection charge and the deposit amount. They will be allowed to pay up in four instalments

punetimes: In a bid to speed up civic projects and give priority to land acquisition, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) land acquisition department has told other departments to submit a list of important projects to be undertaken in the next two years.

On its part, the department plans to give priority to projects sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) and the Integrated Road Development Projects (IRDP).

“We made it clear to inform us regarding priority projects for the next two years. Once the projects are specified, no other project will be taken up,” Suraj Mandhare, deputy commissioner (land acquisition), said while speaking to TOI.

Mandhare said the request has been accepted by civic commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi and projects relating to bus rapid transit system (BRTS), road connectivity, constructing bus terminals and pedestrian roads, under JNNURM, CYG and IRDP, have found place in their priority list. The list includes BRTS routes like Yerwada-Vishrantwadi, Nagar road, Sinhagad road, Paud-Baner and Karve road in the first phase, while westerly bypass-Baner, Kalyaninagar-Alandi and Bombay-Pune old highway proposals are also to be included.

punetimes: The Akhil law college road parisar rahivasi sangh — an organisation of Law college road residents — has raised objections against the nomination of 11 political workers to the Pune Tree Authority (PTA).

Rajesh Shende, president of the organisation, has questioned the appointment of the political workers instead of environmentalists.

“All these 11 political workers have given certificate of the same NGO, Ranjai. In fact, the director of Ranjai, too, has been nominated on PTA. This is violation of the Tree Act, 1975, provision, which states that the PTA members should be from different NGOs,” Shende said.

He added that the commissioner has failed to check whether the “so called environmentalists” had done any authentic work in the field. Shende said he has urged the municipal commissioner to cancel their appointments and sent letters raising the demand to the Chief Minister, governor and the Lokayukta.

reuters: Sony has developed an environmentally-friendly prototype battery that runs on sugars and that can generate enough electricity to power a music player and a pair of speakers, the Japanese company said.

The bio battery’s casing is made of a vegetable-based plastic. It measures 3.9 cm (1.5 inch) along each edge and works by pouring sugar solution into the unit, where enzymes break it down to generate electricity.

Test cells had an output of 50 milliwatts, Sony said.

“Sugar is a naturally occurring energy source produced by plants through photosynthesis,” Sony said in a statement.

“It is therefore regenerative, and can be found in most areas of the earth, underlining the potential for sugar-based batteries as an ecologically-friendly energy device of the future.”

The company said it aims to produce the batteries for commercial use, without specifying when.

Sony was hit last year by the recall of millions of laptop batteries over fears they could catch fire.

techtree: IDLDPL has reportedly introduced the Logic 3 family of iPod speaker systems in the Indian market.

Logic 3 i-Station products are available in six models, including i-Station, i-Station 9, i-Station 8, i-Station 7, i-Station 3, and i-Station Traveller. The i-Stations recharge the iPod battery while it plays, and they all feature plug-n-play.

According to IDLDPL, the most advanced speaker system for iPod is the i-Station 8. The i-Station 8 is fitted with a backlit LCD to show track information, and display commands when using the multi-function remote control. The i-Station 8 operates from a combination of active sub-woofer, passive bass-radiator, and 8 neodymium drivers strategically placed in a vertical-line-array to deliver clear sound.

IDLDPL says with Logic 3 i-Stations, it is possible to play other mp3 players as well.

Logic 3 i-Station 9 and i-Station 8 are immediately available through retail stores (Reliance, Planet M), and some B2C Web sites.

techtree: Nikon has reportedly unveiled its D3 and D300 digital SLR cameras.

The 12.1 effective mega pixels D3 digital SLR camera features Nikon’s new FX-format CMOS sensor, measuring 23.9 x 36 mm, which is almost identical to the size of a 35mm film.

The D3 has a start-up time of 0.12 seconds; fastest viewfinder blackout time; shutter lag of 37 milliseconds; and can shoot up to 9 frames per second at full FX-format resolution, up to 64 consecutive frames for JPEG and normal compression, and up to 20 or 17 consecutive frames for NEF or RAW files.

Nikon claims the D3 is the world’s fastest digital SLR camera.

With an exterior made of Magnesium alloy, and a 3.0-inch LCD strengthened with tempered glass, the D3 introduces several new features including: a 3D Focus Tracking feature; two new LiveView shooting modes; Scene Recognition System; Multi-CAM 3500FX auto focus; Picture Control System; and Active D-Lighting.

When used with conventional AF-Nikkor lenses, the D3 delivers full resolution 12.1 mega pixels images at up to 9 frames per second. When used with DX Nikkor lenses, the D3 automatically switches to the DX-format mode, which uses a cropped portion of the sensor to generate 5.1 mega pixels resolution images.

Other features of the D3 include: viewfinder that provides virtually 100 percent coverage for accurate framing; 920,000-dot VGA LCD screen at the rear of the camera; 170-degree wide viewing angle; unique Virtual Horizon digital level sensor; and two CompactFlash card slots.