News

indianexpress: THE maxim, If you can’t bring Mohammed to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammed, seems to have struck a chord in the ‘Gaon Bhet Yojana’, to be implemented for the first time in the State in Pune district. The project will see officers from various departments regularly visit remote villages to give a patient hearing to everyday problems faced by villagers. For the villagers, for long at the receiving end of the lackadaisical attitude of the sarkari babus, this will be a refreshing change.

District Collector Prabhakar Deshmukh, who issued a circular to this effect on October 10, said this unique scheme will reach out to even the remotest village in the district.

The Pune district, arguably the only one in the State to have revenue officials visiting the villages from August 2004, will now have officers form all departments join the Gaon Bhet Yojana.

The revenue department officers had received 2,38,976 appeals of which 2,18,658 appeals were resolved during their village visit in the last two years. “With the revenue department receiving good response we decided to extend the same to all departments. This scheme will ensure that issues of the villagers are settled in the village itself,” Deshmukh said.

Thus, one will soon get to see teams of officers from agriculture department, irrigation, health, land records, cooperatives, animal husbandry, revenue, police and water works visiting the 1,911 villages on a rotational basis once a month to hear out the grievances of the villagers.

indianexpress: THE monsoon is over but the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), which had launched a drive to remove all encroachments along the various nallahs after it led to flooding in some parts of the city, is yet to initiate strong action against 146 of the total 321 illegal structures.

“The PMC had issued notices to 321 structures encroaching the nallah land while creating obstruction to the smooth flow of water, but it has failed to take any strict action against 146 structures even when the monsoon season has come to an end,” president of city unit of BJP Sandeep Khardekar said in a press conference quoting information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

He further said that the PMC informed that action has been taken against 175 structures found obstructing the nallah path and the remaining structures will face action during the nallah channelisation work to be undertaken by the civic body.

Demanding action against all illegal structures, Khardekar sought clarification from Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi on what action would be initiated against structures that were legalized by the PMC.

indianexpress: IN a response to the ‘ community participation fund’ programme announced under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) where NGOs, mohallas and citizens can suggest projects worth Rs 10 lakh, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has invited applications from the citizens group to set up a development project in their ward or area.

T C Benjamin, Principal Secretary, Urban Development (UD) said that this was in line with the department directive that municipal corporations should submit at least two proposals under this programme by this month end.

Citizens can set up the public project in their area, on their own and without any tangible intervention of their civic body. The important criterion is that there should be consent from 51 per cent voters of the area where the project is being planned.

PCMC assistant municipal commissioner Sudhir Joshi told Newsline on Wednesday that the central government would provide 90 per cent of the project cost while 10 per cent would have to be borne by the citizens groups.

“The PCMC will have a sort of advisory and watchdog role. We will provide technical support to citizens on their demand. Otherwise, they will have to do it on their own,” he said. The citizens groups will have to submit the project report to the PCMC, which would forward it for JNNURM funding.

indianexpress: All shops in the city will remain shut on Monday as The Federation of Trade Association of Pune has announced a one-day strike to protest against the new rules and regulations pertaining to octroi as framed by the Pune Municipal Corporation. The new rules and regulations for octroi in PMC passed by the legal committee empowers the civic officials to enter the shops and verify the amount of goods. It also increased the octroi on gold from 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent – a move that will result in gold prices shooting up by Rs 500 per 10 gram.
“There are only five per cent traders who evade octroi and the new rule is unjust to the other 95 per cent who pay octroi,” Popatlal Oswal, president of The Federation of Trade Association of Pune, said at a press conference here on Wednesday.

The empowerment of civic staff to visit shops and check bills along with goods will lead to unnecessary harassment of the traders and affect their business, he said.

The protest will be intensified if the municipal corporation fails to withdraw its decision, he added

indianexpress: AS a measure to motivate more citizens to avail of information through the Right to Information Act, the city-based Sajag Nagarik Manch has announced two awards on the occasion of its first anniversary, in the first week of November.

“After the establishment of the Manch, we came across many activists and citizens who are active in the field of RTI,” said the Manch president, Vivek Velankar. “Besides the applicants, the awards will also felicitate those government officials who have contributed to the effective implementation of the Act.”

The ‘Sajag Nagarik Mahiti Adhikar Award’ will be conferred on that candidate who has used the RTI, generated awareness about it as well as brought about some social awakening through the Act. Similarly, the ‘Sajag Nagarik Mahiti Adhikar (Mahiti Adhikari) Award’ will be conferred on a government official who has addressed the RTI petition, legally and satisfactorily within the stipulated time period. The award being given to an ordinary citizen, will comprise a memento, a certificate, a shawl and a cash award of Rs 11,000. “Awarding a cash prize to government officials will be inappropriate and come under scrutiny, hence they will be felicitated without it,” said Velankar.

Abhyankar stressed that rather than the prospective candidates describing their ‘achievements,’ the citizens who know of such people should contact the Manch describing the candidate’s work. An expert committee will also be set up to screen and evaluate the candidates’ accomplishments and emerge with the winners.

indianexpress: Two school kids were killed after being run over by a speeding sand-laden truck in Wakad on Wednesday morning. The deceased, identified as Kumari Pooja Gokul Kaspate (6) and Kumari Snehal alias Didi (4), were on their way to a local nursery school when the truck ran over them near Sonigraha Homes Castle near Kaspate Vasti road in Wakad around 8:45 am.

PSI R.R. Daundkar of Hinjewadi police station, who is the investigation officer in the case, said that Pooja, the elder sister was taking Snehal to the school and were on the left side of the road when the truck driver while negotiating a sharp right turn mowed them down resulting in their death on the spot. Pooja was a Std II student of a neighbouring PCMC school while Snehal was in the nursery school,” Daundkar said.

A formal complaint against the truck driver was lodged by their aunt, Mangal Manohar Gaware (37), a resident of Kaspate Vasti in Wakad. Meanwhile, the police have arrested the truck driver Bapu Ramkrishna Koli, who earlier had fled from the accident spot and charged him with rash and negligent driving. The police have also seized the truck bearing number MH-14 AH 6972.

techtree: Raritan has launched its T1700, a 17-inches LCD KVM Drawer, which can help IT managers replace keyboard and mouse to support multi-language keyboard layouts.

The T1700 comes with nearly 104 to 106 keys with number pad, and supports multiple languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.

It has a touch pad mouse with three buttons, and comes with a feature to have fixed position to prevent drawer movement.

Features of the T1700 include: a 17-inches Samsung A++ grade LCD without dead pixels, 300 nit brightness, 700:1 contrast ratio, a LCD OSD membrane button and micro switch for screen auto power off, and support for up to 1280 x 1024 resolution at 60/70/75 Hz.

The T1700 package comes with a 17-inches LCD KVM drawer, rack mounting bracket, power cord, PS/2 or USB KVM cable, and user guide.

The device is available along with a two to three years’ warranty through Raritan’s authorized channel partners.

techtree: Kingston Technology has announced the launch of its high performance 1800MHz DDR3 and low-latency 1625MHz HyperX memory modules.

Nitin Malhotra, country manager (India) of Kingston Technology, said Kingston is taking next generation memory to new levels with the 1800MHz HyperX 14400 series DDR3 memory.

Lower CAS latencies typically drive better performance even when a module’s speed is slower, without creating thermal conditions that need extra cooling.

Kingston claims both the 1800MHz and low-latency 1625MHz HyperX are tested on Asus P5K3 Deluxe class (P35-based) motherboards. The memory modules are shipping in 1GB- and 2GB- memory kits.

They come with a lifetime warranty and free technical support through Avnet India, HCL, Ingram Micro, Kobian Electronics, and Transtek Infoways.

bbc: Apple boss Steve Jobs has said that outside developers will now be allowed to make add-on software for the iPhone.
The move follows criticism that Apple was previously not allowing outsiders to make programs that would run easily on the popular mobile phone.

Last month Apple warned iPhone users not to hack into the gadget to install unauthorised programs.

Apple said that such moves would render the phones “permanently inoperable” when it releases software updates.

msnbc: It’s official: touch screens are the big new thing in cell phones this holiday season.

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced Wednesday it is jumping on the bandwagon with the Touch by HTC. Like Apple Inc.’s iPhone, this smart phone has only a few buttons and is designed to be controlled by touching the screen.

The Touch will go on sale Nov. 4 for $250 with a two-year contract.

The announcement makes Sprint the third of the three largest U.S. wireless carriers to introduce a cell phone with a large touch screen designed to be controlled with fingers rather than a stylus. The iPhone, which launched this summer, is exclusive to AT&T Inc. Verizon Wireless said two weeks ago that it would introduce the LG Voyager in time for Thanksgiving.

The Voyager has a large touch screen, but differs from the iPhone in that it folds out to reveal a hardware keyboard. The HTC Touch lacks a keyboard, but it still has a stylus. A version has been on sale in Europe since this summer.