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TOI : PUNE: The Pune police have suggested to the Tambadi Jogeshwari and Tulshibaug Ganesh mandals, who are among the five prominent Ganapati mandals in the city, to change their route from Laxmi road to Kumthekar road during the immersion procession of this year’s Ganesh festival. The suggestion was made during a meeting between the police and prominent Ganapati mandals of the city.

Deputy commissioner of police (zone II) Satish Khandare, who heads Faraskhana and Vishrambaug area, said a large number of mandals pass from Laxmi road on the immersion day. “With Tambadi Jogeshwari and Tulshibaug Ganesh mandals changing their route to Kumthekar road, an attempt will be made regarding equitable distribution of the mandals on all roads,” he said.

Khandare added that with these two ‘manache Ganapati’ heading from Kumthekar road, several others will follow them. “There is a need to create awareness regarding the issue of congestion on Laxmi road on the immersion day. We will arrange another meeting with the important mandals by the month end to take a call on our proposal.”

Every year, the immersion process starts with Kasba Ganapati, followed by Tambadi Jogeshwari, Guruji Talim and Tulshibaug proceeding via Laxmi road to Alka Talkies chowk. The fifth important Ganapati, Kesariwada, has already started taking Tilak road to reach Alka talkies chowk for the last four years. Last year, over 267 mandals passed from Laxmi road, 147 from Tilak road, 72 from Kumthekar road and 12 from Kumthekar road.

The city police have also suggested purchasing door and hand frame metal detector, installing CCTVs, increasing the number of private security and keeping active members who will prevent any desecration of Ganesh idols during the ten-day festival. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Following a high-level meeting held by the chief minister in Mumbai on Monday, the district administration is all set to speed up the land acquisition process for the proposed international airport at Rajgurunagar.

District collector Chandrakant Dalvi on Tuesday told TOI that the administration would soon initiate talks with farmers and villagers regarding acquisition of land.

Dalvi said, “The site for the airport has been finalised near Rajgurunagar, which is about 30 km from Pune. The Maharashtra Airport Development Company has been mandated to develop the airport, while the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation will carry out the land acquisition process. Nearly 3,330 hectares of land from more than seven villages has been identified for the airport project.”

Dalvi said, “Along with the airport work, the administration also has plans to develop the region. This includes construction of roads to other parts of the district. We will ask the respective authorities to chalk out and develop road links to the airport simultaneously. Due attention will be given to finalisation of the plan and submission of the same to the infrastructural development committee for further approval.”

The estimated cost of the airport is Rs 7,000 crore. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: City-based Armament research and development establishment (ARDE) is developing technology which it hopes will turn the future soldier into a “system in himself”.

From computer-monitored body suits conveying details of the soldier’s health to the nearest post to shoes that generate charge as he walks for batteries in the equipment he’ll carry, the future infantry soldier as a system (F-INSAS) project aims to accomplish much more.

Surendra Kumar, director of ARDE, told reporters on Tuesday that the programme will integrate a miniature computer system with the soldier.

While the current cost of indegeniously developing the technology is pegged between Rs 75 and Rs 100 crore, it would cost the country around Rs 500 crore to import the same, said Kumar.

“Currently, the capacity of a soldier on the border is limited to the equipment he carries. We seek to empower him with multi-purpose weapons that will help him through every possible situation,” said Kumar.

The ARDE is working on ‘round the corner combat’ weapons that will help locate the exact position of the enemy and communicate that to the soldier. “The new weapons will have long range and high accuracy,” said Kumar.

Giving details of the body suit the ARDE is developing, Kumar said it will have nodes monitoring the soldier’s health while he is out on the field. In the event of him being hit or injured, his condition will be auto-communicated to the nearest post.

Kumar said that while the weapon prototypes “have been realised”, the ARDE will discuss the designs with the Army. “It will take three years to roll out the state-of-the-art weapons and five years for the entire concept of F-INSAS. We make it a point to involve the ultimate users right from the concept stage,” said Kumar.

‘Invisible’ vehicle The ultimate protection for the soldier is…More

TOI : PUNE: A 21-year-old woman died after a few hours of her newly born’s death on Tuesday afternoon, leading to her family members alleging medical negligence by the authorities of the Dalvi hospital run by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Sarika Ravi Ghorpade of Ashoknagar, Yerawada, was admitted to the Dalvi hospital near the Shivajinagar ST stand on Sunday for the delivery, said her father Raghunath Katkar. On Monday, at around 3 pm, she gave birth to a baby boy. However, at around 7 pm, the baby died. Meanwhile, Sarika’s condition became critical and she was shifted to Sassoon hospital for further treatment. But she died there late on Monday night, said Katkar.
Sarika’s father alleged the Dalvi hospital authorities were responsible for the tragedy. “We will file a police complaint against them for negligence.”

Speaking to the media, Sucheta Parte, gynaecologist at the Dalvi hospital, said that after the delivery on Monday, Sarika had suffered a severe bout of dysentery. “We immediately administered antibiotics. However, her condition became critical and she needed immediate intensive treatment. We didn’t have the required facility in our hospital and decided to shift her to Sassoon. We informed her relatives present in the hospital about the decision.”

She added, “We arranged for an ambulance and with the assistance of a resident doctor shifted her to Sassoon.” She claimed that as per the hospital paediatrician’s report, the baby died due to a cardiac problem.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, Sarika’s family members and neighbours gathered at the Shivajinagar police chowky in large numbers demanding that a case be registered against Dalvi hospital.

Speaking to the media, Sarika’s neighbour and president of Indian Sikalkari Sangh, Sardar Laxmansingh Bawri said that though Sarika was shifted to the Sassoon hospital on Monday night, she was admitted to the emergency ward only after an hour.

Medical superintendent of…More

TOI : PUNE: Farmers can heave a sigh of relief as a forecast system will keep a tab on crop behaviour and, in case of failure, issue a warning before the beginning of the agriculture season.

The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the project to forecast crop condition and drought-like situations with the help of satellite images. The project started last week.

Satellite images of the ground where the crops are harvested will be matched, analysed and calculated with the data provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and a conclusion will be arrived at.
Initially, the project will be carried out in Karnataka on a pilot basis. Later, it will be implemented in other major agricultural states like Maharashtra.

A three-member team of the Gokhale institute, headed by Rajas Parchure, joint director of the institute, will be part of the project. Works such as data analysis, forecasting and methodology will be done by the Gokhale institute team.

“We will mainly receive three types of data — yield, satellite images and data from the IMD. This will be done for rabi and kharif crops. The satellite images of the crop, right from harvesting to its final outcome, will be taken at various phases. These images will be compared with the rainfall data provided by the IMD and the yield of that particular crop from that particular field from where the image has been captured,” Parchure told TOI. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More