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TOI : PUNE: The Pune police have begun questioning members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in the city to find out if any of them had met or had aided Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley during his two visits to Pune in 2008 and 2009.

Vijaysinh Gaikwad, police inspector who heads the special branch cell which monitors the activities of SIMI members, would not say whether the police had received any specific inputs hinting at possible links between SIMI and Headley. “I received orders from my seniors to question SIMI members. SIMI has been involved in anti-national activities in the past. I do not know if my seniors received any specific inputs,” he told TOI on Thursday.

Gaikwad also refused to divulge details of the information the police may have received after questioning SIMI members.

A special branch official, on condition of anonymity, said there were 46 SIMI members on their records, of whom six have moved to Gulf countries. “We keep a close watch on these members and their day-to-day activities. Whenever we find anything suspicious or find that these members have gone missing, we conduct a check at their residences. Some SIMI members are often involved in underground activities and work with a changed identity,” he added.

Another officer said that besides the SIMI, the police were also checking on Bangladeshi immigrants who may be staying illegally in the city. “They too will be questioned to know if they had any links with Headley,” he added. Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section MSEDCL suffers losses worth Rs 80L due to rains PCMC’s secondary schools to get Rs 13 crore grant Minimum temperature above normal Satara teacher surrenders, gets bail PCMC chie…More

TOI : PUNE: Security at Chabad House in Koregaon Park and Ohel David Synagogue, popularly known as Lal Deval, on Ambedkar road in Pune Camp will be reviewed soon, joint commissioner of police (law and order) Rajendra Sonawane said on Thursday.

Deputy commissioner of police Ravindra Sengaonkar, in charge of the special branch, will submit a report, following which it will be decided whether security at these two places should be continued or discontinued, Sonawane told TOI.

During a visit, TOI found Osho International Meditation Resort and Hotel Surya Villa authorities more alert. Terror suspect David Coleman Headley had visited the Osho centre twice in July 24, 2008 and March 16, 2009. He had also stayed in Hotel Surya Villa.

Ma Amrit Sadhana, spokesperson of the Osho centre, says the daily entries and exits by visitors at the centre will henceforth be more stringent in view of the visits by Headley. “As per instructions from the Pune police, more strict security measures are being taken on the premises. We are also being very careful with the screening of new visitors, especially foreigners,” she said.

Foreigners are allowed at the centre after their passports and visas are checked, while also going through the compulsory AIDS test. They often come here on different types of visas: business, tourist or any other.

“We don’t know what Headley did at the Osho centre then. But from now on, besides the visa and passport, we will also check other important documents related to foreigners,” said Sadhana.

The situation at Chabad House, a few blocks away from the Osho International Meditation Resort, looks calm.

Rachel Kupchik of Chabad House said, “We have not received any communication from the National Investigation Agency. The security has been lessened in the last three days. Right now, there are only three to four cops guarding the place round-the-clock.” Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save…More

TOI : PUNE: The Dattawadi police arrested a man near Dandekar bridge and recovered two pistols from his possession on Thursday.

The police have identified the suspect as Gopinath Narayan Yenpure (20) of Warje Malwadi. Acting on a tip-off, the police team led by assistant police inspector B R Naikwadi of Dattawadi police station, laid a trap and nabbed the suspect. However, his accomplice managed to flee from the spot.

“Investigations have revealed that the duo had came with the pistols to threaten a builder following a land dispute,” API Naikwadi said, adding, “We are looking into the suspects’ involvement with a criminal gang involved in several crimes in the city.” Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section LPO firms in city upbeat about future Does your workout regimen hurt? Entry, exit point on service road on highway to be closed Rains claim two more lives in …More

TOI : PUNE: In order to inculcate traffic discipline among motorists, the traffic police along with the Science and Technology Park, in a first of its kind initiative in the country, will launch a project titled Trafficop’ in the city on Friday.

Under the hi-tech mobile-governance project, the traffic police will be able to maintain a history of all traffic violations by every individual motor vehicle user. Beginning Friday, the traffic policemen will be provided with smart mobile phone devices by which they will be able to record traffic violations.

Speaking to TOI, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil said the initiative will help in bringing about a major change in maintaining traffic discipline. “One of the main hurdles in taking action against traffic violators is that the traffic police do not have access to past violations by them. Under the Trafficop system, a record of traffic offences will be maintained which will be of immense help to the traffic police department,” he said.

The traffic police will be in a position to produce a record of traffic violations on the spot. Information about all such traffic violations will be stored on a computer server on a daily basis. “This initiative is the first of its kind in the country,” Patil said.

The initiative will be launched by state minister for energy and water resources Ajit Pawar at the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy for Development Administration, Baner. Hi-tech mobile phone devices will be distributed to the traffic policemen. Among others who will be present on the occasion include: H K Mittal, advisor and head of department of science and technology’s national science and technology entrepreneurship development board, divisional commissioner Dilip Band and police commissioner Satya Pal Singh.

The traffic police, in the meantime, have launched the Accident Response and Analysis System (ARS), which helps in maintaining a record of all road accidents. The accident cases are…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune police on Thursday issued instructions to the special branch to get detailed information on terror suspect David Coleman Headley’s visits to the Osho International Meditation Resort at Koregaon Park here.

According to police officials, the special branch will seek an explanation from the Osho centre as to why it concealed information from the police that Headley was on a business visa and why it entertained him.

The special branch has also been told to find out from the Osho centre as to who was the instructor and foreigners present when Headley attended the meditation session, the officials said on the condition of anonymity.

Headley, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative who has been arrested in the US on charges of plotting terror attacks in India and abroad, had visited the Osho centre in Pune twice July 24, 2008 and March 16, 2009.

Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Rajendra Sonawane confirmed that instructions were deputy commissioner of police Ravindra Sengaonkar, in-charge of the special branch, to collect relevant details from the Osho centre. Sonawane, however, refused to elaborate on the issue.

Investigations have revealed that the resort charges foreigners an entry fee of Rs 700 and Indians Rs 500. The police have been asked to collect photo copies of payments made by Headley, the officials said.

The police are collecting details about the past and present activities of the resort to determine whether it is doing charitable work or is into commercial activity as it collects entry fee from visitors.

The officials said the police are also finding out how much time Headley spent at the resort during his two visits, whether he was served food there and whether he purchased any compact discs or books from the resort.

The special branch will find out who had referred Headley to the Surya Villa Hotel at Koregaon Park and…More

TOI : PUNE: A seven-member team of the University of Pune’s (UoP) five-year integrated M.Sc biotechnology course outclassed their more established counterparts from globally-renowned universities to win a bronze medal at the annual international genetically-engineered machines (iGEM) competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston in US, recently.

The gold and the silver medals went to the Cambridge University, UK, and the Heidelberg University, Germany, respectively.

The iGEM ranks among the most prestigious research competitions for undergraduate biotechnology students who work on genetic engineering of DNA molecules to build useful and standard biological parts i.e. synthetic DNA molecules called Biobricks.

These designed parts (Biobricks) being simple, interchangeable and universal can be used in biological (living) systems like bacteria and can be made as a Living Machine’ with applications in fields as varied as medicine, agriculture, industry and environment besides furthering scientific research.

The UoP team, which developed 26 Biobricks, had submitted a research project to the MIT in March, dealing with the first-ever attempt of using biological system (bacteria) for stimulating the simplest computational module involving human cell-to-cell signalling principle. “This has wide-ranging applications for development of futuristic super bio-computers,” said B A Chopade, head, Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBB) at UoP.

The research has now been incorporated in the iGEM parts registry for use by scientists anywhere in the world on an open access basis (http://2009.igem.org/team:IBB Pune/Parts).

Presenting the medal-winning team to the media on Thursday, UoP’s officiating vice-chancellor Arun Adsool said, “A part of the overall research work was not disclosed even at the competition owing to intellectual property rights (IPR) issues as the team is now seeking a US patent for its work.”

The team members Swetha Srinivasan, Mandar Pathak, Samit Watve, Chinar Patil, Amrita Oak, Sharvari Sathe and Rahul Bhosale were led by advisors Chopade and Ph.D research fellow Praveen K Sahu to the MIT for a presentation…More

TOI : PUNE: The central sanctioning committee of the Union government has approved grant of Rs 68.72 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme for developmental projects of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Neelkanth Poman, chief of PCMC’s JNNURM cell, said that the state urban development department sent a letter on Monday informing the civic body about the approval.

“The Union government has approved grant of Rs 15.08 crore for the phase II of sewerage system projects, Rs 44.82 crore for water supply projects and Rs 8.8 crore for solid waste management projects,” Poman said. He added that the PCMC is likely to receive the actual amount in December.

Civic officials said that the PCMC has received sanction for projects with a total expenditure of Rs 2,546 crore. So far the corporation has received grants of around Rs 679.48 crore, with which it has undertaken road development projects, four sewage treatment plants, augmentation of water supply and solid waste management projects.

Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section ‘Trafficop’ to be launched on Friday Two pistols recovered, one held Security at Chabad House, synagogue to be reviewed: Police Youth killed in m…More

TOI : PUNE: One of Asia’s top business schools, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) has announced its presence in the city by getting into a tie-up with academic group Edvance Learning to introduce a one-year international executive diploma in business management (EDBM) course, starting February 2010.

The Manila-based AIM, which was established in 1968 with the help of the Harvard Business School and the Ford Foundation, ranks among the world’s top 100 B-schools and is known for its graduate as well as executive education in management.

Grace S Ugut, associate dean of AIM’s executive education and lifelong learning centre, announced the launch of the EDBM course, which is targeted at transforming corporate-sponsored young professionals and executives into business leaders and managers for different levels of activities in an organisation. Edvance Learning’s group chairman Arun Arora and chief executive officer (CEO) Ajay Mehra were present.

Ugut said, “The EDBM is part of our flagship one-year courses and will be delivered entirely by our won faculty, which will be flown in from Manila. The programme, featuring four training modules of varied durations, is to be completed in 16 weeks of classroom work.”

Edvance will provide all the logistical support in terms of infrastructure and learning facilities. It has developed a three-storeyed campus at the Shivaji housing society off the Senapati Bapat road. This will also be the main hub for the AIM-Edvance joint initiative in management studies from February 2010.

Corporate professionals and executives with six years of working experience, including three years at managerial level, will qualify for the EDBM programme on the basis of recommendation by their respective organsation and clearance of an AIM entrance test as well as interview.

Ugut said, “The executive diploma would enable companies nurture and retain young talent as agents of change to further the cause of company expansion.”

She added, “The business landscape in India has been…More

TOI : PUNE: While the environment ministry has announced tougher standards of air quality norms, uniformly applicable to residential and industrial areas, a plan to install an automatic air monitoring display board in the city has been biting the dust for over a year. If the board is installed, it will be the second such facility in the state after the one at Bandra in Mumbai. The move initiated by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) is aimed at raising awareness about increasing pollution by constantly flashing emission levels.

“We will soon install the automatic air monitoring display board on Karve road. Since building a solid platform for installation of the board costs more than Rs 5 lakh, we need to float a tender. The tender floating process will soon start in a month,” said P K Mirashe, regional officer of the MPCB.

Despite the money sanctioned and location to put up the place identified, work on installing the display board has not taken off. “We have got everything. The office has sanctioned an amount of Rs 5 lakh and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has allotted the land, but we need to build a foundation for installing the board at a height. We approached the executive engineer of the Public Works Department’s Pune office, but they refused to execute it saying that it is too small a task for them,” said Mirashe.

Air pollutants sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and respirable suspended particulate matter have been identified for regular monitoring and displaying. “The board will flash latest emission levels every second minute. It would help in pricking public conscience,” said Ramakant Sorte, scientific officer of the MPCB.

The MPCB has continuous ambient air monitoring station equipped with automatic imported analyser at the zonal office of the Pune Municipal Corporation on Karve road. It is a part of the air quality management system, Sorte added….More

TOI : PUNE: Even as cases of H1N1 influenza and dengue fever continue to surface now and then in the state, another viral disease chikungunya has become a cause for concern. So far, 193 cases of chikungunya fever have been detected in the state. The districts of Thane and Beed have topped the chart, with as many as 42 and 30 cases respectively being reported from the two places.

The districts in western Maharashtra and Konkan region, like Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri, which had no cases till last year, have registered a sizeable number of cases this year.

According to state entomologist A S Bhosale, “Intermittent rains in the western parts of Maharashtra and Konkan region this year was among the conducive factors that led to the growth of the mosquito which spreads the disease. Similarly, intense scarcity of water in other parts of the state encourages storage of water, which eventually worked as breeding areas for the vector.”

“That’s primarily the reason why a few districts in western part and Konkan region, like Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri, as well as some districts in Marathwada, like Beed, Osmanabad and Latur, witnessed a sizeable number of chikungunya cases this year,” Bhosale said. Health authorities have been monitoring patients complaining of fever with arthritis from all these areas, Bhosale added.

Bhosale said, “As many as 16 sentinel centres, with adequate testing facilities, have been set up in the state. Whenever blood samples are received at these testing centres, they are checked for malaria, dengue and chukungunya in that order. Hence, for example, if a blood sample tests negative for malaria, it is tested for dengue and chikungunya.”

Till last year, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) was the only lab in the state where tests for chikungunya were being carried out. “The NIV has helped with testing kits in forming the sentinel centres at…More