News

TOI : PUNE: Astronomy enthusiasts in the city will celebrate ‘Galilean nights’ on Saturday night during which they will be observe the objects that Galileo Galilei first observed 400 years ago.

Amateur astronomy clubs Khagol Vishwa (KV) and Vishwa Scientific, along with the Rotary Club of Chinchwad, have organised the programme at Pusane village in Maval. Galilean Nights is the cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) and will be a global experience, with more than 70 countries observing it.

The IYA has initiated the event in order to create awareness about astronomy, create interest among students and encourage research in the subject.

Gayatri Urankar of KV, who organised the event in Pune, said, “Galileo’s telescope completes 400 years this year and this is a chance for participants to see what Galileo saw through his telescope at that time.”

Avid astronomers and students from Pune and its vicinity will gaze through a telescope set up by KV.

“We will gather at the Fattechand Jain school in Chinchwad and head towards Pusane. Once we get there, we will spread out mats, mount the telescope and the activity will begin,” Urankar said.

In October 1609, Galileo Galilei began observations with a two-lens telescope that eventually led him to discover the four main satellites of Jupiter and realise that the Earth’s moon was pitted with craters and not a perfect sphere.

The highlights of the Galilean night organised in Pusane include the closest approach to Jupiter, the satellites of Jupiter, the moon, Saturn, star clusters and nebulae through the telescope. Slide shows and lectures on astronomy have also been arranged.

A competition called ‘ME Galieleo’ has also been organised, wherein students will note down their observations and compare them with those of Galileo’s. The closest comparisons will be rewarded. Those interested in participating can contact KV on 9011220542. More Stories from this section…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is facing difficulties in finding suitable locations for setting up sewage treatment plants (STPs).

The ideal location for establishing the units is near rivers, so that sewage can be treated and released into them. But these areas are densely-populated residential districts, making it difficult for the civic body to acquire land there.

VG Kulkarni, development engineer (sewage treatment plant), PMC, told TOI that the plants require huge tracts, acquiring which is a major problem in the city. “Pune is an old city and there is no area left (in the heart of the city). Consequently, the new Development Plan made reservations for setting up the STPs in new areas,” he said.

The city has seven STPs at present, which is woefully inadequate. As a result, the PMC can treat only part of the 560 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage generated daily.

Meanwhile, nine new STPs mooted in 2007 remain on paper. The proposal was sent to the JNNURM — which is funding the projects — two years back. But the report had to be revised and changes made in the capacity of the plants and re-submitted in February. At present, approval is awaited from the JNNURM. The total cost of these nine STPs is estimated to be Rs 235 lakh.

Besides, two more STPs are under construction and two others are likely to be commissioned in January 2010. Another project is in the tender process. Two others were already commissioned in February.
It is alarming to note that only 17 per cent sewage in the entire state is being treated. And 24 per cent municipal solid waste is treated, that too partially. All other waste is either dumped or burnt, which is damaging the general health.

Of the 560 MLD sewage generated every day, the PMC treats 392 MLD. The remaining is discharged into…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) completed two years of its formation — which has been a rough ride so far — it is now working on a ‘vision document’ to improve its services and increase the number of daily commuters from the present 10 lakh to 25 lakh.

However, the implementation of the proposed plan will largely depend on the funds provided by the two municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad as well as the state government.

In the vision document to be prepared in the near future, the PMPML plans to focus not only on how it can increase the number of buses, but also on rationalisation of routes, preparing an advertisement policy for getting more revenue and upgrading of its depots on ‘build-operate-and-transfer’ (BOT) basis.

The PMPML, which formally became functional on October 19, 2007, came into existence after the merger of the erstwhile Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal transport undertakings. It has been a rough ride in the last two years as it continues to be woefully short of the required number of buses as also there have been delay in all its major plans such as upgradation of depots or exploiting advertisement revenue.

Frequent transfers of its managing heads has resulted in the plans getting stuck and left its staff and employees demoralised. Even today, the PMPML does not have a full-time managing director. Managing director of Western Maharashtra Development Corporation, Shirish Karle, has been holding the additional charge of PMPML’s managing director for the last two months.

In the first year after its formation in 2007, hardly any new buses were added to its fleet, even as the management was busy in completing the modalities of the merger. In the second year, the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games provided some relief in the form of over 30 CNG buses and an another 112 buses being provided…More

TOI : PUNE: Jewellers in the city had a lot to smile about this festive season with gold sales during the Navratri-Diwali period increasing by almost 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

It is during this festive period that buyers make a beeline for jewellery shops to invest in the metal, termed by the World Gold Council as a “safe investment”.

In fact, a similar increase has been registered across the country during the Diwali week, according to a study by the World Gold Council, which revealed an increase of 5.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. The period also included gold-buying festivals like Pushya Nakshatra, Dhanteras, Bestu Varas (New Year Day) and Bhai Dooj (Bhaubeej).

Fatehchand Ranka, president of the of the Pune Saraf Association and the Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Mahamanadal, said the increase in demand for gold in the city was definitely more than the average registered across the country. “This increase was registered between Navratri and Diwali. One of the main reasons for the demand is the increasing prices of gold, which has prompted customers to buy or invest before the prices increase further,” said Ranka.

The World Gold Council’s study, which reflected trends in all parts of the country, also showed sales in the western parts of the country comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh as highest. According to the council, 57 tonnes of gold was sold across the country from October 12-19, while 19.6 tonnes was sold in the western parts of India alone.

“This increase in demand can be attributed to consumers’ belief of gold being the only safe investment in the current global market scenario. Based on the existing consumer reaction to gold, we are confident that the trend will continue for the rest of the year,” council MD Ajay Mitra said.

Saurabh Gadgil, secretary of the Pune Saraf Association,…More

TOI : PUNE: The vote share of both the Congress-NCP and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliances in the city has seen a sizeable drop in the state assembly elections. While these two combines still remain at their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions in vote share, debutant Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has convincingly occupied the third slot.

The Congress-NCP vote share fell by 13.14 per cent as compared to the 2004 assembly elections. The combine took more than 47 per cent of the votes in 2004 but managed less than 35 per cent this time. Even bigger has been the drop for the Sena-BJP, which lost 14.76 per cent of its vote share — it had over 44 per cent in 2004 and less than 30 per cent now.

The MNS, in third place, captured 23.43 per cent of the vote share, around 11 per cent less than the Congress-NCP combine and just 7 per cent less than the saffron alliance’s share. The MNS had fielded candidates in seven of the eight constituencies in the city.

Besides the MNS, other parties and independents also ate into the vote share of the two major alliances. The vote share of these parties and independents increased by over five per cent over the 2004 elections.

The total votes polled in this election increased by nearly four lakh even as the number of constituencies went up from six to eight because of the delimitation process. As many as 12,16,935 votes were polled this time as against 8.19,317 votes in 2004. However, the voting percentage remained more or less constant — 45.88 in 2004 and 45.07 now. More Stories from this section MNS strikes gold with this 44-year-old Four dead, two injured in e-way mishap History-sheeter nabbed NCP rebels upset equation Industry…More