News

punetimes: A day after the second class compartment of a local train went off the track near Malavli, another single engine derailed near the Ghorpadi railway level crossing on Friday afternoon. Senior railway officials said the incident happened at around 2.45 pm at the Ghorpadi Loco yard, near the level crossing. “However, the driver was quick to react. Only a single front wheel of the train went off the track,” an official said. Since the accident happened at the yard, commuters who cross the tracks near the Ghorpadi level crossing were not endangered. “The vehicular traffic, as also the south-bound trains, was not affected,” the official said.

punetimes: Pass by any of the major Bengali pockets in the city such as Vimannagar, Aundh, Khadki, Vishrantwadi or Lohegaon and it’s hard to miss the bouyant mood on the occasion of Durga Puja.

Everything synonymous with the Bengali culture like food, music and cultural programmes have come alive with more than 20 major Durga Puja mandals scattered across the city.

According to the Bangiya Samsad, an association of the Bengalis, the community’s population stands close to 10 lakh, underscoring the fact that for Bengalis, Pune means much more than a lucrative job destination or an education hub. The connection dates back to the pre-independence days, feel a large chunk of Bengalis here.

“As we go down history, the two states which had a major contribution of freedom fighters are Maharashtra and Bengal. These two states share a lot of cultural heritage and thought process,” said R.N. Das, president of the Bangiya Samsad, Nagar Road.

While the Bengalis mostly came to Pune for jobs, in the education sector as well as the government sector, many of them decided to permanently settle in the city. Over a period of time, the Durga Puja culture also started flourishing here. And as it conincides with the Navratri festival in Pune, more, definitely, was merrier.

Every Bengali would vouch for the fact that music and literature run in their blood and it is imperative to make it an integral part of the Durga Puja celebrations.

Cultural activities like dramas, one-act shows, musical programmes, dance and art competition are arranged by most mandals. “The main aim is to enjoy, participate, and reintroduce the old cultural values to the younger generation. It also gives an opportunity to budding artistes,” said Das.

punetimes: The city police will close down the controversial Bharati Vidyapeeth road (which passes through the Vidyapeeth) from Monday following a state government order.

The police officials said that all sorts of vehicles would be banned on the road while pedestrians will be allowed. The government published a resolution in this regard recently, and the police would implement it, they added.

For the first 15 days, the police will provide bandobast and will guide motorist to take diversions.

Motorists staying behind Bharati Vidyapeeth (Ambegaon and neighbouring areas) will have to take diversion via Katraj or other routes.

punetimes:  The traffic police took stern action against rickshaws ferrying up to 16 school children in the Deccan area and old parts of the city in the last two days.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Sangramsinh Nishandar said action was taken against 90 rickshaws operators on Wednesday and 95 were booked on Thursday.

He said that each of the rickshaws was ferrying about 15 students, which is far beyond the limit of six prescribed by the regional transport office.

Nishandar said it is the responsibility of parents and school authorities to check how many children are being carried in the rickshaw. “By ignoring how many children are being packed into a rickshaw, they are endangering the lives of students,” he said.

The police have decided to write letters to school principals in this regard.

punetimes: The complex is called Swapnanagari (dream city). But over 250 families staying there had to face something they never dreamed of — six days without power.

People at the residential-cum-commercial complex near Annasaheb Magar stadium in Pimpri suffered tremendous hardships following failure of transformers installed by the builder.

A pregnant women staying on the seventh floor and senior citizens had to use the staircases as the lifts stopped functioning. Students preparing for terminal examinations were also hit hard.

Officials of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) told TOI that it was the builder’s responsibility to replace the transformer as he had installed the original one. “The problem was not from our side,” said Chandrakant Gurav, deputy chief public relations officer, adding that the MSEDCL immediately restored supply once the transformer was replace.

Amit Jindal, marketing manager at the DBS developers, promoters and builders, said “we were trying hard to get a replacement but could not get it in time, so the residents had to suffer inconvenience.”

There are 16 buildings in the complex being developed by DBS Developers Promoters and Builders. “The problem began on October 11 at 11 am when one of the transformer failed. Fortunately the water pumps were drawing power from the second transformer, so we could at least get water,” said one resident who refused to be identified. However, the second transformer could not take the additional load and developed a fault.

punetimes: The 6th Jal Dindi — the annual 450-km journey from Alandi to Pandharpur through the rivers Indrayani and Bhima — will start from Alandi on October 22.

Besides the annual Jal Dindi, two more dindis — Vadner-Nimgaon-Pandharpur and Rohu-Walki Samgam-Paargav — will also resume their travel during the same period.

In a statement released here on Thursday by Vishwas Yevale, president of the Jal Dindi Pratishthan (JDP) said that the dindi in kayaks, dinghies, sculls, army BAUTs and sail boats on the Indrayani, Kukdi, Ghod and Bhima rivers aims at promoting positive approach towards health, environment and spiritual development.

He said that from this year onwards, a year round study will be conducted on Mula, Mutha, Pavana, Indrayani and Ramnadi rivers. The first scientific result on the state of these five rivers will be published in September 2008.

Yevale said that besides encouraging and promoting environment protection and conservation, the JDP will also undertake the demonstration of simple water filters made by Srushti eco research institute.

The Jal Stambha scheme — the planting of 5 km marker stones along the entire route — will be inaugurated by completing the 23-km stretch from Alandi to Tulapur this month. These will help locate and map precise pollution sources along the 450 km river journey.

Yevale stated that over 70 organisations have joined hands with JDP to participate in the round-the-year activities.
The Jal Dindi will start from the ghats of the Indrayani river where priests from different religions will gather with water brought from temples, churches, mosques, and gurudwaras. The water containers will be carried in a boat and poured into the river to signify the underlining unity of all religions.

techtree: H T Impex, a computer peripherals company, recently launched its low-cost ‘Smart Value PC’, targeted at both home- and corporate- users.

The specifications of the ‘Smart Value PC’, launched under the brand name, ‘ZEN The Master’, are: a Via C7 1.5Ghz embedded CPU Main board, 256 MB DDR2 RAM (as of now, 512MB with free upgrade as an inaugural offer), 80GB HDD, Combo Drive, MM KB, 15-inches CRT Monitor, optical mouse, and stereo speakers.

The ‘Smart Value PC’ is available for around Rs 11,999, exclusive of taxes and installation charges.

According to H T Impex, ‘ZEN The Master’ has already established presence across several cities including: Maharashtra, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat, Vapi, Cochin, Allapuzha, Kovalam, Bangalore, and Hyderabad

techtree: Creative’s credit card-sized ZEN MP3 player will soon be available through IDLDPL.

About the size of a credit card, just 2.1 ounces in weight, the photo and video player sports a 2.5-inches color screen with 320 x 240 pixels resolution, with support for up to 16.7 million colors.

According to Creative, with the ZEN, one can enjoy up to 1,000 songs, and share hundreds of photos with friends.

The player supports AAC music and unprotected iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store, in addition to MP3 and WMA formats. Additionally, it supports audio books from various Web sites for music enjoyment on the go. The SD memory slot makes for additional storage capacity.

The ZEN supports video formats including WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, compatible DivX 4 and 5, and XviD. A rechargeable, in-built battery provides up to 5 hours of video entertainment, or up to 25 hours of music playback.

In addition, the built-in microphone helps capture notes on the go, plus the built-in FM radio helps users keep updated with what’s going on around them.

msnbc: Tech-savvy teams from across the globe are throttling their sun-fueled engines for the toughest Panasonic World Solar Challenge yet.

The event marks the 20th anniversary of the biannual solar-powered race, and a record number of teams will hurry through 1,863 miles (3,000 kilometers) of the Australian outback this year, organizers said.

The course from Darwin to Adelaide will be the same as in three previous races, but 23 teams this year will compete in a new “Challenge” category. These cars will have 25 percent less solar panel area than the previous 86 square feet (8 square meters) standard.

In addition to the energy-grabbing cut, vehicles competing in the category require upright seating, which organizers consider a more practical position compared to the luge-like seats found in most solar-powered cars.

“We’ve done this to try and increase the level to which people can relate to solar vehicles,” said Chris Selwood, race event manager. Organizers will also host a “Greenfleet” category, in which vehicles must run on fuel made of 60 percent waste mineral oil and 40 percent water.