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TOI : PUNE: Starting Monday, Pimpri-Chinchwad residents will be able to pay property tax online on the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC’s) websites.

The payments can be made on the websites www.pcmcindia.gov.india.gov.in and www.pcmcgisda.org.in. Payments can be made using any major credit card or the net-banking facilities of over 25 banks. The online tax payment service will be launched at a function at the Autocluster office in Chinchwad on Monday.

Mayor Aparna Doke and municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma will be present at the function. The day will also be celebrated as Infomation Techonology Day by the PCMC.

Incidentally, beginning Monday, the PCMC will also introduce an online service on the two websites for the submission of statement of accounts and octroi returns by traders, and transporters and others. The relevant forms could also be downloaded from the websites.

According to Sharma, the PCMC plans to introduce several e-governance services for the octroi and tax collection departments. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The city police on Sunday night acted against 21 dahi handi groups from various parts of the city and seized their sound systems for allegedly violating the noise pollution norms laid down by the pollution control board.

Speaking to TOI, joint commissioner of police, Rajendra Sonavne, said all police stations in the city were directed to strictly observe the noise levels at various dahi handi celebrations. Also, section 144 of the code of criminal procedure, 1973, was imposed, which gives the police the power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger.

According to the rules, the maximum height at which the dahi handi could be hung was 25 feet whereas the cap for music was 5,000 watts. The time limit was 10 pm.

“We are checking all sound systems and are taking action against those who have violated the rules,” Sonavne said. He added that the drive had mainly focused on the areas of Ganesh Peth, Khadak, South Main road and Faraskhana.

In Faraskhana police jurisdiction alone, the police initiated actions against 13 groups for violating various norms. “We confiscated amplifiers and issued strict warnings for the groups,” inspector V.T. Pawar of the Faraskhana police station said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: In a tragic incident, a 14-year-old boy and a youth were run over by a speeding train while they were answering nature’s call on the railway tracks near Dapodi on Saturday night.

The deceased were identified by the police as Prasad Waghmare (14) and Narayan Pardeshi (22), both residents of Jai Bheemnagar in Dapodi.

The police said that after the victims did not return home on Saturday, their relatives looked for them. On Sunday morning, their dead bodies were found on the railway track, the police said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: All roads lead to Khadki as the Red Ribbon Express (RRE), passing through 16 states in a fight against AIDS upholding the slogan ‘Zindagi Zindabaad’, chugged into Khadki railway station on early Sunday morning. The district administration accorded a befitting welcome to the HIV/AIDS awareness express which will stay at the station for another 48 hours.

Apart from an exhibition on AIDS, the seven-coach train incorporates a counselling centre, a group of artists who will spread awareness about the disease.

Exhorting people to join hands against the deadly disease, minister for marketing Harshawardhan Patil stressed the need for open discussion about AIDS. He inaugurated the two-day-long awareness programme and exhibition of the RRE at the Khadki station on Sunday.

“Most of the states in the country are rapidly turning ‘red’ - that indicates the high prevalence of the disease. And that is the reason that the train is named Red Ribbon Express to unite people in the fight against AIDS. Just a few districts like Amravati and Wardha are in green zone, otherwise most of the districts are rapidly turning red in Maharashtra, he said.

Very few states like Kerala have fought the disease well to remain green. This was made possible with high awareness among people. “Awareness plays a key role and the RRE has consolidated the efforts towards this end,” Patil said.

Mayor of Pune Municipal Corporation Rajlaxmi Bhosale said that understanding the disease and ways to keep it at bay should be the sole aim of every individual.

President of Zilla Parishad Vaishali Abne said that people should avail of the opportunity to know more about HIV/AIDS and its prevention by visiting the awareness train in large numbers.

District collector Chandrakant Dalvi said that the awareness train has adopted all methods to drive home the idea of HIV prevention. Meanwhile, three…More

TOI : With seven suicides reported in the city in the last two weeks, the police are trying to figure out the genesis of a trend which is fast gripping the society across all age groups.

Increasing incidents of suicides in the city is a cause for concern. But more worrying is the rise in the number of well-educated youngsters taking the extreme step. After two deaths on Friday, the number of suicides in the last two weeks stands at seven, including two software engineers.

According to the Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB), as many as 529 people committed suicide in the city last year. Comparatively, 582 and 506 cases were reported in 2006 and 2005 respectively.

The PCB annual survey for 2007 says that around 161 took the extreme step due to family problems, 116 due to prolonged illness, 33 due to mental disturbance, 25 due to drug addiction, 16 due to unemployment and 14 following failed love relationships. Meanwhile, reasons like sudden change in economic conditions, marital problems and children related problems too played a role in certain cases.

The incidents of suicides due to drug addiction and unemployment dropped in 2007 as compared to the previous year. In 2006, around 23 people committed suicide due to unemployment, which came down to 16 in 2007. Similarly, people committing suicide due to drug addiction went down from 33 in 2006 to 25 in 2007.

However, the present trend shows that even the educated are opting for the easy way out, police officials said. “In 1999, on our records, around 400 people had committed suicide. A large number of them came from lower income groups. Now, even educated youngsters are taking the last recourse,” the officials added.

The recent deaths of two software professionals is an indicator of the changing trend. Sandip Shelke, a techie with Persistent Systems, ended…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Rural police have nabbed seven absconding suspects during a massive raid operation on Wednesday night in the run up to Ganeshotsav and Ramzan. Interestingly, two of the seven people arrested were on the police’s wanted list for the past 27 years.

Additional superintendent of police Ashok Morale said such mass raids will continue. “We conducted a mass raid at Narayangaon on Wednesday night, where we nabbed seven people who were on our wanted list,” Morale said, adding that they will continue with the raids periodically.

Of the seven, two — Mahadu Nikam and Gulab Mali from Junnar — were absconding for the past 27 years, Morale said, adding, “These suspects are wanted in cases pertaining to property offences. Another two suspects arrested during the raid are wanted in a case of murder.”

Morale said that the eight crime units of Local Crime Branch, Rural police, headed by six deputy superintendents, participated in the raid along with additional superintendent Pravin Patil and Morale himself.
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TOI : PUNE: Keeping his cards close to his chest about the future of Pune model, state energy minister Dilip Walse-Patil, on Saturday said that some solution to mitigate the city’s load-shedding woes is likely to come up only after the crucial meeting between the concerned stakeholders on Monday.

Speaking to news reporters after presenting the national award for excellence in energy management for the year 2008 by the Confederation of India Industry (CII), Walse-Patil said, “Some solution to the problem would surely come-up after a meeting between members of CII, MSEDCL and other stakeholders on Monday.”

It may be noted that CII Maharashtra council chairman Pradeep Bhargava, Prayas Energy Group’s Shantanu Dixit and Sajag Nagrik Manch founder Vivek Velankar have been invited for the crucial Monday meeting to be held in Mumbai.

Earlier during the function, the minister had said that the state was banking on the Indo-US nuclear deal to overcome its power crisis. “Once the deal is through, the state is likely to get projects which could generate about 10,000 MW of power. Also, companies like Tata and Jindal are investing in the power sector here,” said Walse-Patil, adding that investment worth Rs 18,000 crore is planned for upgrade, which will add about 6,500 MW of power in next 3 to 5 years.

The minister urged the industry to initiate steps towards conservation of energy and help tackle the problem.

Awards in various categories, including innovative energy saving product, excellent energy efficient unit award, energy efficient award, most useful presentation award and innovative energy saving project award were given by Walse-Patil at the function.
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TOI : PUNE: The University of Pune (UoP) has tied-up with a resource firm Global Talent Track (GTT) for offering add-on IT/ITeS courses with support from software giant Cisco. The project also involves leading representatives of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

On Saturday, Jadhav and the GTT representatives signed and exchanged the MoU documents in presence of top IT executives, including Zensar’s deputy chairman and MD Ganesh Natarajan, Uma Ganesh and Deepak Shikarpur.

“Cisco has helped devise a 392-hour IT/ITeS study programme which will be offered as an add-on at the undergraduate level, in three modules viz. foundation, intermediary and advance,” UoP vice-chancellor Narendra Jadhav told TOI.

Jadhav said that a formal launch ceremony for the initiative has been scheduled for October 1. “We plan to cover 30,000 students from 100 colleges in the initial year of introducing this course,” the V-C said.

“The GTT has shown its willingness to accept UoP’s request for commissioning some scholarships for these courses. On our part, we are also contemplating such scholarships,” Jadhav said, adding added that at least 1,000 teachers would be involved in the IT/ITeS training in the initial year.

In a simultaneous development, Jadhav announced an industrial and technical centre (ITC), which is a joint-venture between the UoP and the Union human resource development ministry’s Jana Shikshan Sanstha for offering short-duration, income-generating skill courses in 18 disciplines.

“The focus of this initiative would be training the high school drop-outs in skills such as mobile repairing and servicing, beautician and advance beautician courses, screw driver technology et.al.” he said.

The ITCs are being launched on September 8, which is the International Literacy Day, at 48 UoP colleges.
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TOI : PUNE: The shadows of the recent violence in Jammu and Kashmir have fallen on some sections of people living in the city. Pune, traditionally, has been home to a vibrant Kashmiri population — both Hindu and Muslim. Majority of the Kashmiris in the city are either businessmen or students.

Most of them have migrated to the city due to the insecurities of life back home. Though far away from home, the recent developments around the Amarnath land transfer issue have made them a worried lot.

“Why is the Centre not doing anything? We will not give up our land and we will fight for it till our last breath, says Ved Lal Bhat (88), who still has hopes to go back to his home in Kashmir one day.

“Being a Kashmiri Pandit, feel that the problem has gone beyond the land dispute. Common people on both the sides are suffering. The politicians have hijacked the issue to appease their respective vote banks,” an angry Vikas Raina says. “This has given a chance to the separatists in Kashmir to revive there ‘azaadi’ agenda. The central and the state governments have tackled this issue in a very insensitive manner. It looks like we have gone back to the 90s. This time it is worse. It is on the verge of dividing J&K,” he says.

“People of J&K should respect the decision of transferring the land to Amaranthji Shrine Board. It is the government’s decision and the BJP, as usual, has got a good reason to start violence. If the people want to protest, they can do it in a peaceful manner,” says by Arshad Ansari, an engineering graduate.

“I feel sad that people don’t know about ground realities. Ask them what happened in Russia and they will know, but they won’t know about Kashmir. We are worried about our parents back…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Rural police have nabbed seven absconding suspects during a massive raid operation on Wednesday night in the run up to Ganeshotsav and Ramzan. Interestingly, two of the seven people arrested were on the police’s wanted list for the past 27 years.

Additional superintendent of police Ashok Morale said such mass raids will continue. “We conducted a mass raid at Narayangaon on Wednesday night, where we nabbed seven people who were on our wanted list,” Morale said, adding that they will continue with the raids periodically.

Of the seven, two — Mahadu Nikam and Gulab Mali from Junnar — were absconding for the past 27 years, Morale said, adding, “These suspects are wanted in cases pertaining to property offences. Another two suspects arrested during the raid are wanted in a case of murder.”

Morale said that the eight crime units of Local Crime Branch, Rural police, headed by six deputy superintendents, participated in the raid along with additional superintendent Pravin Patil and Morale himself.
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