News

TOI : PUNE: The cyber crime cell of the city police on Saturday arrested software engineer Samir Inamdar on charges of violation of copyright laws allegedly leading to a loss of Rs 100 cr to a city-based e-learning firm. Inamdar was on Sunday remanded to police custody till December 6.

According to a press release by the police, Inamdar had been dismissed from Brainvisa in 2006 and formed his own e-learning company subsequently. However, he illegally retained possession of Brainvisa’s product demonstrations and their source codes, and later tried to pass these off as his company’s products to potential clients.

Inamdar’s lawyer and friend refuted the charges, saying that he was “innocent” and was “being framed”.

According to a press release issued by Brainvisa, Inamdar was employed in key positions in Brainvisa Technologies Pvt Ltd, Pune and Brainvisa Inc, US. During his stint in the company, he had access to its products, demonstrations, source codes, proprietary data and confidential information. After being dismissed from service, he illegally copied this data and information.

The press release further said that Inamdar then started his own e-learning company, Enthuse Technologies Pvt Ltd. The Brainvisa management recently learnt that Inamdar and his associates had uploaded product demonstrations originally developed by them, along with their source code, on Enthuse’s official website. Inamdar was allegedly soliciting clients by passing off the products as Enthuse’s own, the press release stated.

Brainvisa expects to potentially suffer business losses to the tune of US $ 9.5 million annually as a result, the release added. The company has pegged the value of the intellectual property and confidential information allegedly in Inamdar’s possession at US $ 500,000.

Milind Pawar, who represented Inamdar in court, stated that all charges against him were false. “He has been framed in the case. There was no need to remand him to police custody. We…More

TOI : PUNE: Reshma was just five month old when her parents brought her to hospital to find out why she had not gained weight. After a clinical examination and laboratory investigation, she was diagnosed as being HIV positive. The parents were also found to be HIV infected.

The baby was treated with anti-HIV drugs, her health started improving and her immune system normalised within a few months.

Reshma is now seven years old and looks like any other child. “She is enjoying her childhood to the fullest,” said paediatrician Jitendra Oswal, head of the paediatric HIV clinic at Bharati Hospital and Research Centre. “She is always happy to meet us and takes her medicine as a part of her diet.”

According to Prakash Sabde, state project director of the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), “Maharashtra has a high number of HIV-infected patients. Mumbai has the most and is followed by Pune and then Sangli,” he said.

“Among the total number of HIV positive children, 85 to 90 per cent get the infection from their infected mother. These children are innocent bystanders caught up in this HIV epidemic,” said Veda Purandare, senior medical officer at the ART centre at Sassoon General Hospital.

“The remaining 10 to 15 per cent get the infection from the use of blood. This includes children who require repeated blood transfusion for diseases like thalassemia or haemophilia,” said Purandare.

According to Oswal, a few cases have been documented in which the route of transmission is not known. The only effective way to prevent paediatric HIV is to reduce HIV transmission from pregnant mother to baby. “For this, our national programme of maternal and child health has to be strengthened. Also, it needs to be more effective in order to reach the masses,” said Oswal.

In India, a large number of pregnant women…More

TOI : PUNE: In a major drive launched by the city traffic police against drunken driving, as many as 150 people were arrested on Saturday night.

The special drive, which was under taken at all major junctions in the city, started at 8 pm and lasted till midnight. It was the biggest action so far against drunken driving on a single day, said the traffic authorities.

On Sunday, the police released a list of 150 persons against whom action has been initiated. According to deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil, the offenders include blue collared people working in banks and other commercial establishments, software professionals, autorickshaw drivers, and even students.

Apart from initiating legal action, the driving licences of these offenders would also be cancelled, Patil said.

He stated that in the past four months, the traffic police had booked as many as 1,000 people. Drunken driving has been creating a lot of problems and as a result the campaign against such offenders will be intensified, he said.

“The main objective is to prevent accidents due to drunken driving,” he added.

HEAD: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The offence of drunken driving attracts a punishment of six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 if the person is caught for the first time. If the same offence is committed for the second time, the person is liable to face two-year jail and a fine of Rs 3,000.

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TOI : PUNE: One of the few Christian missionary schools established by an Indian in the city during the 1900s, the St Helena’s, located in Pune Cantonment, will celebrate its centenary on December 2 and 3.

The Anglo-Indian Christian minority school, which is an all-girls’ school, was started by Susie Sorabji in 1908.

The centenary programme will offer a glimpse into the school’s academic history and a melange of cultural programmes. Richard Sorabji, the founder’s nephew, will address the students on December 2. “He will hand over the manuscript of Susie Sorabji’s autobiography, which she had written towards the end of her life. The school plans to publish it in the near future,” said Olive Das, the school secretary.

A souvenir, The Helenite,’ will be released during the function and will feature the school’s milestones. The celebrations also include an alumni meet, with some 600 former students expected to attend.

The school had started on a small plot of land that belonged to Sorabji. Today, it spreads over an area of 1.5 acre and has around 3,000 students and 89 teachers.

BOX:

HEAD: Looking Back

Susie Sorabji, a Parsi spinster who converted to Christianity, established the school in 1908. Her bungalow stood on this very land, which was demolished to make way for the school. The school was started to provide education to the Indian elite.

A number of children from the then princely states like Baroda, Gwalior, Audh, Kolhapur and Talegoan sought admission at St Helena’s, which was co-educational then. In those days, there was a dearth of prestigious educational schools for Indian children.

Sorabji also founded the St John’s School near the Shivaji Market, to educate the underprivileged children.

Initially, St Helena’s received funding from England, US and Canada. It was a generous…More

TOI : PUNE: Neighbours and acquaintances of the Shitole family of Nana Peth described them as socially active and said they maintained cordial relations with everyone.

Six members of the family were killed in a road accident near Solapur early on Sunday morning, while two members sustained injuries. The family was on its way to the pilgrimage centre of Tuljapur in Osmanabad district at the time.

“Haribhau, who was 77 years old, was physically fit and very active. Despite his advanced age, he worked as a carpenter,” Vijay Jadhav, the Shitoles’ neighbour, told TOI. “Just hours before they left for Tuljapur, I met them at a birthday party nearby.”

The Shitoles, who hailed form Solapur district, had been living in Nana Peth for the last forty-odd years, neighbours said. At present, they were staying in Shah Planet near Doke Talim in the area.

“The family participated in various social programmes organised by the Ganesh mandals in the area. They had a good rapport with the people in the locality,” Vanraj Aandekar, a resident of the area and member of a local Ganesh mandal, said. “Haribhau was respected for his age and hardworking nature. He would often guide us in organising various events.”

Their neighbours heard about the mishap after one of them received a call from a hospital in Solapur at around 7 am, while others saw the news on television. As word spread, people gathered at the Shitole home.

“Some of the family members have gone to Solapur to bring back the bodies of the victims and are expected to be back late in the night. The last rites will be performed only after that,” another neighbour, Rahul Khopade, said.

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TOI : PUNE: The city unit of the Indian Red Cross Society will launch a six-day AIDS awareness campaign mainly targeting the youth on the occasion of World AIDS Day on December 1.

Addressing a media conference here, R V Kulkarni, honorary secretary of the city unit of the Red Cross, said the drive is part of its HIV/AIDS Youth Peer Education Programme (YPEP). “The programme involves activities like rallies, street plays, lectures, poster exhibitions etc.,” he added.

On December 1, the society will spread its message at the Pune railway station through posters, pamphlets, street plays and condom demonstrations. “We will also organise a visit of a group of HIV positive individuals to the All India Radio to see the functioning of the organisation,” Kulkarni stated.

An HIV/AIDS awareness session for the inmates of Yerawada jail will be conducted on December 2. On December 3, a fund-raising activity and a programme to raise awareness among college students will be held. A general health check-up camp and street plays on HIV/AIDS are scheduled for December 4 in Jejuri.

The following day, an HIV/AIDS awareness session and a quiz competition will be organised at the Kasturba Gandhi Ashram School for Girls in Saswad.

December 6 will see performances of street plays on the stigma and discrimination faced by HIV/AIDS patients at the Swargate and Shivajinagar bus stands.

On the same day, a care and support meeting for service providers at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre and NGO members will also be arranged.

The YPEP is one of the Red Cross’s major activities and was launched in 2003, Kulkarni said.

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TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) has extended the last date for the payment of pending instalments for houses leased in instalment-based housing schemes and the fines imposed due to the delay in payment till December 31.

The PCNTDA has leased houses and tenements on monthly instalment basis in scheme no 1 in Sector 1, scheme no 2 in Sector 2, scheme no 5 and 9 in Sector 21, low income group (LIG) scheme in Sector no 25, LIG scheme 2A in Sector 27A Ota and sector no 28 (meant for the economically weaker sections).

Some of the lessees are yet to pay their monthly instalments and the fines to the PCNTDA. Early this year, the PCNTDA had announced an amnesty scheme for the defaulters wherein they could pay the arrears between June 1, 2008 and November 30, 2008 and get a 50 per cent discount on the fine amount. Following public demand, the scheme has now been extended till December 31.

The PCNTDA has, however, warned that the allotment of houses will be revoked and the houses seized if the defaulters fail to clear the dues before December 31.

Box: PCNTDA urges people to co-operate with encroachment survey

Suhas Divse, CEO, Pimpri-Chinchwad New Township Development Authority (PCNTDA) has appealed to the people to co-operate with the encroachment survey being conducted in Pradhikaran.

The PCNTDA has appointed Monarch Surveyors and Contractor Pvt Ltd to conduct a survey of encroachments in the area using a total station and a Global Positioning System (GPS) system.

It will survey around 500 hectares, consisting of the villages of Chinchwad, Rahatni, Thergaon, Nigdi, Moshi, Chikhli, Wakad and Bhosari, among others, and several housing schemes located within the PCNTDA limits.

Divse has appealed to residents, tenement holders and farmers to provide the latest information and…More

TOI :

CLEARED BY AJOY

HEAD: Install water meters before December 5: PCMC

times news network

Pune: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) directed the residents of the township to install water meters at their homes before December 5.

Pravin Tupe, the PCMC’s joint city engineer, said that the deadline has been extended from November 30 to December 5 to enable more people to install the meters.

The move will enable the civic body to recover the expenditure incurred on providing water supply to the residents and get central government funds for development projects as per the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission norms.

The PCMC is installing the meters for free. And the contractors will also be providing free maintenance of these metres for five years.

Tupe said that there are 1.08 lakh consumers in the township, and a total of 92,300 water meters have been installed.

“The residents who do not follow the December 5 deadline will have to pay thrice the current water charges. The people should co-operate with the PCMC and get the water meters installed at the earliest. They should contact the zonal offices for any help.”

The people can contact the following civic officials:

Zone A: Sonavane R S: 9922502136, Ramgude D E: 9922501785

Zone B: Mutthal C S: 9922501771, Sharad Yennuwar: 9922501760

Zone C: Garud: 9922501214

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TOI : PUNE: The city is all set to witness a revolution in auto rickshaw services with the implementation of the Scientific management of auto rickshaws’ scheme initiated by the Union government’s Urban Mass Transport Company in association with the Regional Transport Authority (RTA).

The scheme aims at providing a safer and efficient last mile connectivity to passengers. Moreover, it also benefits the auto drivers with provision of facilities like uniform, insurance and accident policies, all free of cost.

In a special programme organised on Saturday, Union urban development ministry secretary R Ramachandran distributed bio-metric identity cards and insurance policies to the first few auto drivers who have registered for the scheme. It may be noted that though the registration process may have begun for the auto drivers, the service would be opened to the public over the next month.

So, consider this. Once the plan rolls out, an auto rickshaw arriving at your doorstep would just be a phone call or an SMS away. The journey would be made more comfortable with facilities like newspapers and water bottles on the way. What’s more, one would pay just by the meter and avoid all chances of over-charging.

Under this scientific management of auto rickshaws’, the movement of each auto will be monitored by a control room and there will be very little scope of overcharging by drivers. The driver will also be given a cell phone. A passenger’s call to the control room, will be directed to the auto closest to that address. This practice will reduce unnecessary plying of autos on roads, thus saving fuel and reducing traffic congestion.

“Effective implementation of this scheme will bring down the pressure on private transport in the city and make available efficient para-transit public transport,” said Ramchandran.

Niteen Kareer, divisional commissioner and president of RTA, said, “The scheme is being implemented…More

TOI : PUNE: A one-year-old infant was among the 10 people from the city killed in a road mishap near Solapur on the Pune-Solapur highway on Sunday around 5.30 am. The group travelling in a jeep was on a pilgrimage to the temple town of Tuljapur in Osmanabad district.
The victims belonged to three families the Shitoles from Nana Peth and the Dholes and Kadams from Maharshinagar near Gultekdi.
According to the police, there were 13 people in the hired jeep. They had left Pune at 11 pm on Saturday. The accident occurred when one of the front tyres of the vehicle got punctured and the driver lost control of the vehicle. The jeep crashed against a tree on the left side of the road. The mishap took place near Kondi village, 5 km from Solapur.
The deceased included five men, four women and a baby girl. According to the police, six of the victims died on the spot and the others succumbed to their injuries while being shifted to a hospital. Of the three who have survived, two are said to be in a serious condition.
The dead have been identified as Haribhau Namdeo Shitole (77), Nilavati Haribhau Shitole (70), Padma Haribhau Shitole (55), Vidya Sadashiv Shitole (22), Vaibhav Duttartay Shitole (16), Gayatri Sadashiv Shitole (1), Babita Arun Dhole (35), Hrushikesh Arun Dhole (12), Shailesh Ankushrao Kadam (19) and driver Vasudev Ramrao Lad.
Three-year-old Gauri Sadashiv Shitole is among the survivors. Her father, Sadashiv Shitole and Arun Mahadev Dhole (38) are the other survivors. All of them have been admitted to a hospital in Solapur. B…More