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TOI : PUNE: Well-known water conservationist Rajendra Singh lamented the sorry state of rivers in Pune here on Sunday.

In the city to receive the Late Madhukar Sukhatme Puraskar for his contribution to the field of environment and community leadership, Singh said, “There is an urgent need to demarcate the river bed area in the Mula and Mutha rivers, and stop pollution of the river water.” He said experts should find out the environment flow parameters in the Mula and Mutha.

Also known as the waterman of India, Singh likened rivers to mothers. “Rivers are like our mothers. They nurture us. We should return the favour and respect them, ensuring that they live in good health.”

Singh, who has worked extensively in water management, spoke about his various projects, including the revival of seven major rivers in the country. “It took me around 25 years to bring to life seven rivers. I was also involved in reviving the river Yamuna.”

Speaking about his project regarding the Yamuna, he said, “When we started work on the project, we found to our dismay that the government had given around 10,000 hectare of land to companies in the river bed. We started to plant trees there to save the river bed.” He said humans must return to nature what they take from it.

Singh received the award from Chandrasekhar Dharmadhikari, retired chief justice of the Bombay high court. The programme was organised by the Rotary Club of Pune Uptown and Herringer Bright Private Limited.
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TOI : PUNE: A 20-year-old student of information technology engineering allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan with her dupatta’ in a hostel room in Kolhapur on Sunday. A suicide note found in the room said that she could not realise her parents’ dreams as she had failed in four subjects in her examinations.

The Karvir police said that the girl, Vidya Kshirsagar, hailed from Latur. She was a second-year student of the Kolhapur Institute of Technology and was staying at the New J S Girls’ Hostel.

“On Saturday, the deceased saw her exam results on the internet and found that she had failed in four subjects. She had been upset since then,” assistant police inspector Bhagvat Vasekar said.

He added that Kshirsagar was to go to college with her friends for some work on Sunday morning. “Around 8.45 am, when her friends arrived, she asked them to wait outside the hostel. When she did not return for a long time, they went up to her room and found it empty. They discovered that the neighbouring room was locked from inside and informed the hostel rector,” he said.

The rector broke open the door of the room and found Kshirsagar hanging from the ceiling fan. She was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead. “We have registered a case of accidental death,” Vasekar said.

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TOI : PUNE: A recent research conducted by consulting firms in the realty sector have shown that the return of the IT sector and IT-enabled services and an overall positive perception about economic recovery has had a benign impact on the city’s commercial real estate sector, including the retail space. The survey adds that that in spite of the lift in demand for office and other commercial spaces, the lease rentals have remained stable, helping occupiers plan their acquisition better.

According to Jones Lang Le Salle Meghraj, leasing activity in the entire Asia-Pacific has gained momentum since the last quarter, as larger emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil are expected to recover from the downturn faster than the rest of the world. The comeback is, predictably, led by India’s IT sector, with many leading firms such as TCS wanting to hire people in large numbers.

Talking to TOI, Mohammed Aslam, head of Jones Lang Le Salle Meghraj in Pune, said, “IT/ITeS sector has been a major occupier of office space in Pune. Over 80 per cent of office space absorption has been by IT, BPO and other knowledge-driven industries. About 10 million sq.ft. of commercial office space supply are under various stages of conception and construction, and are likely to be delivered over the next two years.”

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s Pune Market Report for the last quarter 2009, the city is witnessing a marginal rise in absorption of commercial office space. The slower absorption in the earlier quarters has however resulted in increased availability and pressure on lease rentals, the report said.

“With renewed interest from prospective tenants, rental values are expected to stabilise across most micro markets in the short-term,” the report said, adding that rentals will remain weak in the central business districts due to reduced demand and high vacancy levels.

Satish Magar, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’…More

TOI : PUNE: The Environmental Information System (ENVIS) centre at the Indian Institute Of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, which has been disseminating information about acid rain and atmospheric pollutant modelling so far, has widened its scope to include the topic of climate change and atmospheric environment.

There are more than 40 ENVIS centres across the country that cover different subjects. The role of the centre is to ensure integration of national efforts in environmental information collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination to all concerned.

The high-level committee that monitors ENVIS, which come under the ministry of environment and forest, have recommended the Pune centre at IITM to change its subject profile. The ENVIS website is also being revamped accordingly to have additional inputs on climate change.

Gufran Beig, scientist and coordinator of the centre at IITM, said, “Looking into the public interest and data requirement, this decision was taken by the committee of ENVIS. Climate change is drawing more attention these days and people want to know more about it and its impact. There is no other ENVIS centre in the country addressing the issue of climate change and atmospheric pollution together.”

The website that was launched to promote awareness among the students and common public, is in Marathi and Hindi language, apart from English. It is an interactive site where one can ask questions related to environment and the queries are replied by experts of IITM in 24 hours, he said.

Beig said since the last few weeks the website is being revamped to provide information related to climate change in addition to acid rain and atmospheric pollutant. The new link is data repository’ that divulges details on weather and rainfall stations in India, secondary rainfall data sets, all-India temperature, district wise rainfall, time series data, total rainfall in India, among others.

“The idea is to educate the public about the impact of acid…More

TOI : PUNE: A constable attached to the Bund Garden police station was arrested late on Saturday night for allegedly raping a 35-year-old woman on the pretext of marrying her.

The police have identified the suspect as Adam Chand Shaikh (45) of the Somwar Peth police colony. Shaikh was arrested under sections 376 (for rape), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 417 and 418 (punishment for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), after the victim lodged a complaint against him on Saturday. Shaikh was produced in the court on Sunday and remanded to police custody till February 2.

In her complaint, the victim has alleged that Shaikh had been raping her since 2007 on the pretext of marrying her. According to the complaint, the victim, who was working as a house help, came in touch with Shaikh in 2007, when he was attached to the Council Hall police chowkey.

The police said that on the pretext of marrying the victim, who was a divorcee, Shaikh allegedly raped her. When the victim asked him to marry her, he allegedly assaulted her. After he refused to marry her, the victim lodged the complaint with the Bund Garden police station.

Senior police inspector Suhas Nadgauda said, “We have arrested the constable under section 376 of the IPC. He was produced in the court and remanded to police custody till February 2.”
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TOI : PUNE: The ashes of Grote Reber, the world’s first radio astronomer, will be presented to the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) to be placed at the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) site in Khodad.

The GMRT, designed, built and operated by NCRA and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, is the world’s largest meter wavelength aperture synthesis radio telescope.

NCRA is the first observatory in the country to bag this honour after leading observatories around the world including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and Arecibo Radio Telescope, both in the US and the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK. Grote Reber’s ashes are presented to observatories doing breakthrough work in radio astronomy by the Grote Reber Foundation.

“This time, the foundation decided to present the ashes to NCRA. The ashes will be placed at the GMRT site in Khodad. We are completely honoured to be amongst the best observatories in the world to have received the ashes of a great man,” said Jairam Chengalur, dean of NCRA.

The Grote Reber Foundation, established in the astronomer’s memory, undertakes two major programmes to commemorate his life and work. Aside from distributing Reber’s ashes, trustees of the foundation administer the Grote Reber medal, given for innovative lifetime contributions to radio astronomy. Past recipients of this award include Govind Swarup, founder-director of the NCRA, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and GMRT.

Reber was an amateur radio operator and worked for various radio manufacturers in Chicago. He designed and built a parabolic sheet metal mirror 9 metres in diameter, focusing to a radio receiver 8 metres above the mirror. This was the world’s first radio telescope and was completed in September 1937. In the 1980s the Reber

Radio Telescope was reconstructed and is now placed at NRAO, Chengalur said.

After two failed attempts at higher frequencies, Reber was finally able to detect cosmic radio waves…More

TOI : PUNE: The department of marketing, Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, will hold its Marketing Week’ from Monday. The annual event will begin with an exhibition and will be followed by competitions, workshops, guest lectures, and other assorted events. The event is on till February 5.

Organised by the third year B.Com. students, who has opted for marketing as a special subject, the exhibition will be inaugurated by principal Hrishikesh Soman. The judges for the event are advertising and marketing consultant Julian Thadathil and innovation and creativity professional Milinda Natu.

More than 200 third year students will participate in the corporate communications exhibition. As part of the exhibition, groups comprising six students each choose an organisation or a brand and create actual corporate communication plans for it. The theme this year is to launch an Indian brand abroad. The groups create advertisements, sales promotion, POPs, supportive communication, branding and packaging and a host of other material which is displayed at the exhibition held on campus. Follow us on Twitter for TOI top stories Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section At 89, this athlete’s on a winning spree State recovering from financial crisis’ Those who bounce back after defeat can make history’ Pvt firm bears brunt of mob fury Drives against haphazar…More

TOI : PUNE: Some unidentified suspects broke into three flats in Chinchwad area and fled with booty worth Rs 5.41 lakh. The incident took place during the wee hours of Friday.

Sanjay Dattaji Pawar Patil (50) of Krishkunj society in Shahunagar, Chinchwad has lodged a complaint with the Pimpri police station stating that some unidentified suspects entered in his flat by breaking the window grill. The suspects broke the bedroom cupboard and fled with gold ornaments, cash, an LCD monitor and a two-wheeler, together worth Rs 3.15 lakh. The incident came to light on Saturday morning.

In another incident, suspects broke into two flats at Gangaa Arcade at Bhoir Colony in Chinchwad during the wee hours of Saturday. A complaint in this regard has been lodged by Sheetal Chintaman Subhedar (54) with the Chinchwad police station.

According to the police, the suspects broke into Subhedar’s flat and fled with the gold ornaments worth Rs 1.24 lakh. Later, the suspects broke into her mother-in-law’s flat and fled with gold ornaments worth Rs 1.02 lakh. Follow us on Twitter for TOI top stories Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section At 89, this athlete’s on a winning spree State recovering from financial crisis’ Those who bounce back after defeat can make history’ Pvt firm bears brunt of mob fury Drives against haphazar…More

TOI : PUNE: While no changes have been predicted in the land use pattern because of the metro project in the city, the Environmental Impact Assessment and Management (EIAM) survey estimates that about 685 trees are likely to be lost and 480 structures affected due to land acquisition along the metro route.

The EIAM survey is a part of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the metro train. It states: “The alignment will not have much effect on the land use pattern in the city. The alignment contains both elevated and underground sections along the road divider. There will be land acquisition only near the underground stations and places where there will be interchanges. After a preliminary survey, it has been estimated that 480 structures will be affected due to land acquisition. As compensation, the project involves relocation of shops, commercial cum residential buildings along alignments.”

According to the survey, about 685 trees are likely to be lost due to the project along the alignment. Five times the number of trees is proposed to be planted. Hence, it is expected that some 3,425 plants will be planted at a total cost of Rs 1 lakh. It is presumed that government land will be provided for afforestation and hence no land cost will be involved.

The survey adds that the proposed corridors do not pass through any reserve/protected forest in its entire length. Moreover, no forests are found in its indirect impact zone as well (7km radius). However, significant amounts of road side vegetation are observed in 20 m band of metro corridor. There are over 2500 trees along the project site. The main trees which were found on the site are, Eucalyptus, Sisham, Toot, Arjun, Neem, Pipal, Banyan, Baigad, Kassod. Copper pod, Gulmohar, Silver Oak and Bottle palm, among others.

The survey states that existing water supply pipelines, electrical lines and sewerage lines will have to be…More

TOI : PUNE: The civic administration has failed to recover dues worth Rs 5 crore from advertising agencies that put up hoardings in the city.

Speaking to reporters, Congress leader Aba Bagul said that the civic administration has failed to recover dues worth Rs 5 crore from about 25 agencies that have put hoardings in different areas under six ward offices.

“We had asked the civic administration to present the data of revenue collection from advertisements. On Saturday, when the civic administration presented the collection data of six ward offices, it was clear that the ward offices had shown laxity in collecting fine from these agencies,” Bagul said.

He added that there was no need to hike taxes and burden the citizens further when the civic administration can increase its revenue by strengthening its collection system.

In the recently-presented draft budget of Rs 2,910, municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade has proposed a hike in octroi, water charges and other municipal taxes to mop up funds for executing major development projects costing Rs 1,634 crore.

Zagade proposed a hike of 22 per cent in various taxes, including road and fire cess and proposed that the tax rates for water should be doubled. A hike in octroi rates has also been proposed in the draft budget.

The municipal commissioner said that if the proposed hike is rejected, the draft budget will face a deficit of Rs 377.87 crore, which will directly affect capital works.

“Standing committee members have asked the municipal commissioner to concentrate on stepping up efforts to collect dues in various departments so that there is no need to hike taxes,” said Bagul. He also alleged that the civic administration has only completed 9.28 per cent of roads earmarked in the development plan.

Cash-strapped PMC donates Rs 51 lakh

Notwithstanding its weak’ economic condition, the PMC, on Saturday, handed over a cheque of…More