crime-interstate gang arrested

Three interstate gang including two naval employees arrested on the charge of dacoity

The city police arrested three inter-state gang members including two Indian Navy employees working in Visakhapatnam who were involved in a dacoity at a jewellery shop

in the city on September 25.

  Addressing a press conference here today, City Police Commissioner J.Purnachandra Rao said  based on some clues, the police visited Bhind in Madhya Pradesh and with their help arrested one Manish Chowhan of Bhind town.

    During the investigation,Manish confessed to the crime and revealed the involvement of two Naval employees-- Santosh Kumar Singh, Leading Seaman and Jagatha Ramakrishna working as chief petty officer.  Police recovered 1.5 kgs of gold ornaments from their possession.

    These two naval employees harboured the dacoit gang, guided and moved with them in the city.They also participated in the crime that took place in Madhavadhara, under Fifth Town Police station``Search is on for the other accused and to recover the remaining ornaments,’’ the commissioner said.  It may be recalled that in a daring daylight robbery, these dacoits looted over two kilos of gold and one kilo silver ornaments all worth Rs 70 lakh  by threatening the owner of  Nandini  jewelry shop with guns in Muralinagar.

     The owner of  the shop Reddipalle Venkata Rao gave away the ornaments without offering any resistance. The incident took place between 2.30 pm and 4 pm when the power was off and the CCTV cameras were silent.

       The five member gang came in a vehicle and robbed the shop after gagging and tying the owner and his wife Snehalatha.

      Later they abandoned the vehicle.

Yavatmal MLA to tour U.S. as observer of U.S. Presidential Election campaign

The sitting Congress MLA of Yavatmal
Nilesh Parvekar is invited to visit the United States under the
auspices of the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) for
a three week tour programme entitled “U.S. Presidential Elector
Process for Young Political Leaders” during October 22-November 9.
2012. The IVLP was first established in 1940 and is one of the U.S.
Govt’s most prestigious professional exchange programmes for
international opinion leaders. This information was given to the media
persons by Legislator Nilesh Parvekar here in press conference on
Wednesday evening. He is scheduled to leave the country along with his
team on October 20.
This programme envisages exploring the political environment in the
U.S. during the presidential elections.  The team will observe the
run-up to the elections and witness how candidates and politcal
parties conduct campaigns and respond to the electorate. The team
members will also be able to observe the role of political parties,
the media, state caucuses and conventions and grassroots political
organisations on the US presidential electoral process. The programm
also aims to give insights into strategies for organising political
campaigns, recruiting volunteers, monitoring public opinion polls and
managing public relations campaigns.
The U.S. Department of State will borne the cost of the team trip,
informed the Minister Counsellor for Public Affiars Walter Douglas of
the Embassy of the United States of America at New Delhi.
Nilesh Parvekar is the only representative of the entire Maharashtra
State. The other members of his team are Dr. Poongothai Balaji (Tamil
Nadu), Fnu Chandy Oommen and Pallottu Vishvanathan (both from Kerala),
Manish Kumar and Kanna Babu (both from Andhra Pradesh) and Nitish
Mishra, Minister of Rural development, Govt of Bihar respectively.
Parvekar is inclision in to the team has widely been welcomed from his
friends and wel wishers.

Police slap MOCCA on Rajan gang men who attack Sena leader

The Thane police have slapped charges under the Maharashtra Organised Crime  Control Act (MOCCA) against thirteen persons said to be of the Chotta Rajan gang for their involvement in the attack on Shiv Sena leader from the city in July last the police said.

The officials of the Anti Extortion Cell who arrested the alledged accused said that they had organised the attack on the Shiv Sena Deputy Region Chief Rajesh Ghatge of Kopri in the eastern part of Thane city.

The murderous attack along with firing from which Ghatge had a miraculous escape was an outcome of the previous enemity the police said and added that Ghatge was an Octroi agent operating in the city.

Ghatge who survived the attack by chopper and later firing from revolver was treated at the local hospital and he recovered and menwhile the police nabbed one by one and ended with thirteenth person.

The arrested accused have criminal records of serious crimes within the  limits of the police stations of Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai the police said.

Only minus point of being son of Vashu Bhagnani is people take away your hard work from you, says Jackky

Actor Jackky Bhagnani who was launched by his father a veteran producer Vashu Bhagnani in ‘Kal Kissne Dekha’, he went on to do two films – ‘Faltu’ and the upcoming release ‘Ajab Gazabb Love’ that his father backed, feels, it is all profit to be a son of producer but the negative part is people don’t see your hard work.

His debut film ‘Kal Kissne Dekha’ bombed badly at the box office. However, he bounced back by delivering the surprise hit of last year – ‘Faltu’ which was loved by the youth. Jackky is now back with his third film – ‘Ajab Gazabb Love’.

“It is all profit to be his son. The only minus point is people take away your hard work from you.  How much ever you work hard people think you are his son.  Vashu Bhagnani is a big name but then he is my dad and that takes away from me sometimes that he will do something for his son,” Jackky told in an interview.

Coincidentally, all three films that Jackky has acted in till date are backed by his father. On this he says, “No it is not like that. I don’t look at it that way. I think at the end of the day he is businessman he is not here to do charity. For my first film he did back me as a father. I think who better candidate for ‘Faltu’ like me. If you would have taken a star then it wouldn’t have worked out.”

 Presently, he is looking forward to the release of ‘Ajab Gazabb Love’ which is directed by Sanjay Gadhvi of ‘Dhoom’ fame.

“It is a good thing to work with an established director. As in my two films I have worked with new directors. So to work with an experienced director is a good thing, it helps you a lot in the process of doing the film. Also there is some credibility,” Jackky said.

Jackky will be seen opposite south actress Nidhi Subbaiah who is making her full fledged debut in Bollywood with this film.

“She is my best co-star, she is fun to work with. She has no tantrums, does no drama, straight to the point she is just like me, that is why we get along very well,” he said.

“This is her first Hindi film but she has done seven films down South and is a big name in the Kannada film industry. She knows her job well. As she has worked in the film industry down South, she is damn punctual and professional,” he added.

The film a romantic-comedy is set to release this Dusshera (October 24).

“I am nervous, anxious…lot of emotions are going on in mind and heart. We all have worked hard. The response to the promos is good, just hope that people like the film,” Jackky said.

chilli board

Senior  Congress  M P  Rayapati  Sambasiva  Rao  (  Guntur)  has  underscored  the  need    to  constitute  a  separate  chilli  board .  with  turmeric  in  its  purview.  delinking  them  from  the  unwieldy  Spices  Board  which  deals  with  as  many  as  52  spices  including  cardmom,  custard,cloves,saffron, ginger,pepper,  coriander  and  tamarind

                  In  a  letter  today  to  the  Central  Government    the  MP  pointed  out  that  chilli s  share  in  the  total  exports  of  spices  from  the  country  in  the  year  2011-12  is  22  per  cent  and  that   Andhra  Pradesh  accounts  for  54  per  cent  of  total  turmeric  production  in  the  country.  However,  the  Spices  Board  with  its  head  office  in  Cochin  is  not  able  to  pay  adequate  attention  for  the  development  of  these  two  important  spices,  he  observed

         The  letter  says  that  Indian  Chilli  consignments  are  sometimes  rejected  in  the  world  market  on  the  ground  that  the  chili  fruits  contain  pesticide  residues  and  the  cost  cultivation  of  chilies  is  prohibitive.  "  By  educatiing  the  chili  growers  and  research  these  problems  can  be  addressed",  he  opined

            

  The  letter  explains  that  turmeric  finds  a  pride  of  place   in  Ayurveda  for  its  anti-bacterial,  anti  fungus  and  anti  cancer  properties  and  advocates  that  its  full potential  in  the  cosmetics  sector  should  be  utilised  .  He  laments  that  the  spices  park  in  124  acres  near  Guntur  is  making  snails  pace  for  want  of  effective  monitering  and  foundation  stone  for  park  was  laid  four  years  ago   

    The  MP  says  that  Spices  Board  is  over  burdened  with  53  offices  dotted  all  over  the  country  from  Kashmir  to  Kerala  and  Assam  to  Gujarat  and  pleaded  for  reducing  its  workload   by  removing  chillis  and  turmeric  from  its  urview  and  constituting  separate  chilli  board.

ochin (Kerala  )  is  not  able  to  pay  adequate  attention  to  the  development  these  important  spices.

BIODIVERSITY-LECTURE

 G Ananda Raju, Municipal Environmental Engineer, Narsapur Municipality said that biodiversity is the nature of our earth which balances climate, regulate the nature and stabilize the land. Many of the species on the earth helping us to balancing the oxygen, fertile the land, absorbing the harmful gases etc., and they are giving support to the human life on the earth

              A  one lecture on “The Relevance of Biodiversity” was arranged by the Departments of Biosciences and Organic Chemistry of Dr.CSR PG Centre, Sri Y.N.College, Narsapur in the college PG Seminar Hall today. where.G.Ananda raju, Municipal Environmental engineer, Narsapur Municipality, attended as Resource Person and given the LCD presentation to the students.

.Ananda Raju, chief Resource person of the session said that biodiversity is the nature of our earth which balances climate, regulate the nature and stabilize the land. Many of the species on the earth helping us to balancing the oxygen, fertile the land, absorbing the harmful gases etc., and they are giving support to the human life on the earth. If we neglect the biodiversity, ecological system will damage and causes for cancer, diabetics, heart attack and other dangerous diseases to the humans. It also causes for low population, low breeding rate, affect by natural disasters and narrow geographical area etc. If we don’t protect the biological species on the earth there will be a question of human existence on the earth, he said.

 He exposed the threat of species in India is 50 to 59%. We have 149 verities of birds of which only 7% at present surviving. He has given the statistical data on the survival of various mammals, animals, species etc., in various countries.

He also said that Biodiversity gives us life to human society, thus it is our moral responsibility to protect and sustain the biodiversity on the earth. So far as India is concerned, there are very few laws which are related to protection of environment and biodiversity.

He suggested that for the need of sustainable biodiversity there should be long term plans and cooperative effort among the global countries in coming future.

 Dr.N.Chinta Rao, Director, Dr.CSR PG Centre, Sri Y.N.College presided over the session and highlighted the need of protecting the rare species on the earth and preserve the forests which gives the shelter to the many species on the earth.

          .Ch.Rayudu, Head of the Biotechnology proposed the vote of thanks. In this programme Prof.D.Venkateswara Rao, director, gandhian studies Centre, Kalyan Krishna, Durga, Prasanna, suresh, Venkateswara Rao and other teaching faculty and students participated.

Aamir does not the pressure get to him

 He is ruling the box office with almost every film of his like '3 Idiots', 'Taare Zameen Par' and actor Aamir Khan still feels the pressure of delivering his best but insists that he does not let it affect him.

"There will always be pressure which is in a good as people expect more from me. but it is scary too. but i try that this pressure does not come my way," Aamir told reporters here at the music launch of his upcoming film 'Talaash'.

joining the bandwagon of cops donning Khaki uniform is the trend in Bollywood as actors like Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar in films like 'Dabangg', 'Singham' and 'Rowdy Rathore' respectively. And now Aamir is the latest entrant as he plays the role of a cop in 'Talaash'. 

"I don't think I am competing with anyone of them. though Salman, Ajay and Akshay have played the roles of a cop but my role is different. it is not an out-an-out entertaining film in that way but i liked it and agreed to be part of it," Aamir said. 

"I did not has to prepare for my role in this film much. I did that when i played a cop in 'Sarfarosh'. i feel no role is easy;" he said. 

In Reema Kagti's 'Talaash' a suspense drama stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee in the lead. 

Aamir feels Kareena and Rani were apt for the roles that they have played in the film and he can't chose who is best or better. Kareena plays the role of a hooker while Rani plays Aamir's wife. 

the music of the film was released today at a suburban hotel. The event was earlier suppose to take place at the famous red light area in the city - kamathipura. But the makers felt it was in appropriate to do so. "That was one of the ideas but then we felt it would be insenstive to do so. We dont want to use anyone's misfortune to our benefit;" Aamir said.

 Kunal Kapoor  planned for doing supporting roles

 Actor Kunal Kapoor has been part of big banner movies like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Aaja Nachle’, ‘Don 2’ and others but in supporting roles and the actor insists there is no game plan in doing so.

He played a role of a college student in Aamir Khan starrer ‘Rang De Basanti’, the film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra was a huge hit. Then came three films with Aditya Chopra’s home production Yash Raj Films – ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’ with Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee and Jaya Bachchan, he played Konkan Sen Sharma’s love interest, ‘Aaja Nachle’ which was Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film both the films turned out to be box office failure. But the third film with the same banner – ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba was a hit, where he played the role of Minissha’s husband. Then it was Sanjay Dutt starrer ‘Lamha’ which did not do quite well at the box office and Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Don 2’, computer hacker which was a huge hit.

“The criteria for doing a film is that whether the script and the people that I am working with are interesting it or not. And whatever films I have done till now I have had the opportunity to work with interesting people in good films,” Kunal told in an interview.

“The roles that I have done so far are distinctively different from each other, that was more important for me. It was not that I had planned for doing supporting roles in big films and then move on to big roles,” he said.

Presently, the actor is looking is forward to the release of his upcoming film ‘Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana’, which happens to be a food film.

“I think every film is a risk. It is very interesting and exciting time that we are living in as audience is accepting all kinds of films. Also small films are doing well today. I don’t think there is any better time to take risk then now. If you are not taking risk then you end up doing boring work,” he said.

The film a romantic-comedy is a story about a Punjabi family, the Khuranas, who run a dhaba and take pride in their food, especially the family recipe Chicken Khurana.

“It is not a typical comedy. Humor is associated with loud and over the top, it is not like that. Like in 70s and 80s Hrishkesh Mukherjee used to make films where humor used to come from situations and characters and the story, this is our attempt to doing that again,” Kunal said.

Kunal plays the role of a Punjabi boy. He stars alongside Huma Qureshi of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ fame in the movie, which will hit the theatres on November 2.

THEFT-SEARCH

search is still on for  foreign currency theft of nine countries from spectrum foreign currency office here at crowded canada corner, near police commissionerate,where unkown thieves broking shutter of said office stolen foreign currency of 09 countries of rs 32 lakh (indian value) alongwith office's heavy 40 kg treasuer and theft was noticed yesterday, when  office staff resumed on their duties.

    foreign currency were dubai's dinar, canadian-dollar, uro currency, british pound, hong kong dollar,  singapur dollar,  thailand bath,  malesian, us,, police added.

    police said that there was not central locking system to the shutters, no cctv cameras were installed and office was closed for one and half day and theft was noticed on monday after staff resumed on their duty -- sagar girish chitnis, head of the office informed police.

MORE DEMAND FOR COAL

The coal reserves in India will be sufficient for 100 years more, told Union Minister of State for Coal, Prateek Prakash Babu Patil, at Godavarikhani today. Addressing a press conference at Godavarikhani, after visiting 11 incline, Minister has said that  the environmental clearance is not given to set up new Coal industries and therefore the establishment of new coal industries is kept pending. He told that there is lot of demand for the Coal. He stressed the need for commissioning new power projects than thermal. Patil has told that we can reduce the demand for Coal, in case Hydal, wind and polar power projects are established instead of Thermal based power projects. He told that he will visit South Africa on October 24 and 25 to have a study and observation on the Coal Industries and power projects. Singareni Collieries Company Chief Managing Director Sutheerth Bhattacharya and other officials were present at the meet. Earlier, Union Minister and his wife Patil Aishwarya have made a visit inside the 11 incline coal mine.

Ajit Pawar resigns, but gives hard blows to his uncle

A typical phrase defining the current situation would be, ‘young lion trying to kick the old lion out’. This seems to be what finally happened in the NCP, and the turmoil it caused in the politics of Maharashtra. For the Congress, the NCP is a good ally. As long as you do not get in the way of their portfolios and money-making, the NCP really does not object to most items. Sharad Pawar is fine as long as you don’t target him; there was a case a couple of years back where the Congress tried to target him as the main person who would reply to problems about food inflation, but he refused to take that responsibility and pushed the entire decision making process onto the cabinet. However, earlier this year, things started getting more critical for the NCP after the Congress in Maharashtra got the green light from Sonia Gandhi to not hesitate from targeting the NCP. Promptly, the Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chauhan started making more critical remarks on the NCP ministers, and then moved further into territory dangerous for the NCP by probing into funding for irrigation (and Ajit Pawar was the irrigation minister for most of the time). Even a direct protest from Sharad Pawar was turned aside by using the RTI as a fig-leaf for the continuous release of information.

Even when the last protest from Sharad Pawar was quietened, it was mostly turned into collaboration issues with allies at the national level, and hence the need for a coordination committee. The Congress accepted this, they are pretty comfortable with as many committees as you would like. However, in a shock for Ajit Pawar, his uncle did not make a push for pulling in the tactics of the Chief Minister, and this gave Chauhan further impetus to step up the attacks on Ajit Pawar, including the need for a white paper on money spent for irrigation vs. returns (and the media had covered many of these irrigation projects and found all sorts of issues in them).
For Ajit Pawar, it was the increasing push by the Chief Minister along with more signs that Sharad Pawar was looking to make his daughter his heir rather than Ajit Pawar, something that would have been very surprising for him. And hence this stroke. By pleading that he stepped down for staying out of power during the inquiry, and telling the party cadre that he had made a sacrifice, Ajit Pawar consolidated his position. The biggest demonstration of power that Ajit Pawar showed was to get all the ministers from the NCP to send in their resignations even when Sharad Pawar denied that these ministers had resigned. For good measure, outside legislators who were backing the Government also threatened to withdrew their support if Ajit Pawar was not taken back.
In the end, Ajit had to go. His position will get more untenable if the white paper reveals more problems and also because it became a prestige issue for his uncle. At the same time, by ensuring that his portfolios go to his chosen people and with no replacement deputy chief minister, Ajit has put himself in the same level as Sharad Pawar even though both he and his uncle deny it. The end solution was a compromise within the NCP, but you would expect that even though Sharad Pawar will try and reverse the losses he has made in this recent turmoil, Ajit will try to move more and more support his side.

Why Barfi deserves Oscar?

Barfi deserves Oscar! Yes, there’s no reason to be dumbstruck. Barfi in the tradition of so many enthralling drama in the last few years that made Indian film grow bigger in stature in the world cinema, is just on its way to produce another success story for Indian film in the global space in respect of critical reception and artistic appraisal. The film is already in the 100 Crore club as one of the highest commercially successful Indian film in the last few years, but more than just being another commercially hit cinema it exhibited all dramatic and cinematic qualities for critical appraisal of highest order and that made it a contender for Oscar award for best foreign picture in 2012.

Gas cylinder cap has lessons for the future

If the government could create a convincing case for capping gas cylinder numbers, there is no reason why the government cannot build a solid case, using similar methods, for a further increase in diesel price.

Of all the decisions that the United Progressive Alliance government took last week to end a long period of policy paralysis, the one that has caused the least provocation to opposition political parties is the annual capping of the supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders.

This is surprising, as its net effect on a householder's annual budget will likely be substantial.

 After consuming six cylinders in a year under the administered pricing regime, a householder's cost of acquiring every additional cylinder during the year will be 88 per cent more than the subsidised price.

For a householder consuming an average of 12 gas cylinders in a year, therefore, the annual outgo on cooking gas would be higher by 44 per cent once the new system is put in place.

This is much higher than the 12 per cent increase in diesel prices.

 This approach has many lessons for the government in tackling several other similar reforms whose implementation would hurt vested interests.

For an important and tough decision to have a smooth ride, the government needs to build a strong case for it through all-party consultations and dissemination of information that secures a buy-in from important stakeholders.

Supriya Sule- Parbhani

Opposition is trying its level best to create rift between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party NCP, but they would not succeed. Today or tomorrow the bickering would be sort out said Supriya Sule. She was addressing media here on Tuesday during here visit to attend the female youth meet in the city. She said that wrong charges of corruption are leveled against the leaders of both the congress parties and trying to keep them apart. Replying to a question she said ‘The task of uniting the female youths of the state by NCP is really praiseworthy and I would also help the party in doing so. I am not interested in getting involved in the state politics by utilizing the female youth support more ever I am interested to work for Maharashtra from Delhi she said. She said that NCP wants to empower the party through the female youth and as a part of this they are making these girls aware of their rights. 

 two todlers molested in just htree days time in the home town of union home minister shinde

Two incidents of molestations of toddlers in a row in three days in the home town of the union home minister sushilkumar shinde,has shaken the entire state on Monday .just three days ago,a thirteen month old baby was allegedly raped by a youth vishal shivaji kamble in the broad day light.  both the victim and the culprit are resident of fakhroddin slum.

The citizens has hardly forgotten the incident ,a fresh incident of same sort on Sunday night ,mounted tension in the city threatening law and order situation in danger . radheshyam kisan yemul [61] a resident of bidi gharkul caught red handed while trying to molest a toddler. According to the midc police chowky, yemul took the kid in a room and made her naked luring her for biscuits and allegedly molested her but due to screaming of the toddler,she was saved by  the residents.yemul was first roughed up by the ersidents and then handed over to the police.

The incidents ,however, has irked the citizens who pelted stone on police station near zindashahmada chowk and other places.the situation came under control only after policerestored batten charge.the cpm former mla narsayya adam has came down heavily on the union home minister shinde for the detorioting condition of law and order situation in the city.”two toddlers are raped in three days in brought day of light in the home town of the union home minister.what could be the situation of country?’he said.

Meanwhile, the police commissioner pardeep raskar has said that the life has come to normalcy and the culprits have been booked under the law for further process.

HANDCUFF FOUND LYING DESERTED: COPS CLUELESS ABOUT THE MISSING HANDCUFF

A handcuff was found lying deserted in the vicinity of the Mahagaon MSRTC Bus Station on Friday by one alert ‘bhel’ vendor Ramlal operating on the platform. He set his hand on the deserted handcuff and handed over it later to the canteen proprietor Raju Narayan Wakode who passed a tele-message to one of his familiar cops attached to the Mahagaon Police Station. But the cop paid no heed to his message forcing Raju to alert another cop. But he too turned a blind eye at the message. A much baffled Raju has then decided to take the handcuff bearing No.161 to Yavatmal and started on his bike.

The Mahagaon police have got the tip off about Raju heading towards Yavatmal to surrender the handcuff and contacted him on his mobile but they could not establish contact till Raju reached Yavatmal.

When they could contact Raju, the power drunk police started dictating him to bring the handcuff to the police station and surrender it to them in their routine style of dealing with a history sheeter.

Much puzzled Raju has then returned to Mahagaon and on reaching there, surrendered the handcuff to the police station of Mahagaon. Raju has thus relieved from the unwanted burden of the handcuff. However, they could not identify the handcuff despite it bears a distinctive number so far.

When contacted, the Mahagaon Police Station Officer Baijnath Latpatte has confirmed of having received the handcuff from Raju and said that there is no missing handcuff from his police station.

“We have sent wireless message to all the police stations and instructed them to verify the stock to ascertain the source of the deserted handcuff,” Latpatte said.

It is pertinent to note that the prisoners are to be taken to the courts from the jail for presenting them before the courts and the prisoners are being handcuffed on their transit. Those who are granted bail by the court are released from the custody and the handcuffs would be taken back to the jail by the cops escorting the prisoners.

The handcuff found in the vicinity of the bus station might be one such handcuff, it is opined. But nobody is ready to accept the responsibility of the custody of the handcuff. Even the District Headquarter sources said that they have no such missing handcuff as per the stock register.

Now the billion dollar question is: The handcuff is of which police station or the jail? And who was the cop guilty of throwing away the handcuff? Or if the handcuff is thrown away by a prisoner managed to skip during his transit from the escort cops custody and is at large now?

Sharad Pawar welcomed FDI

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today welcomed foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, saying it will help in providing good prices to farmers and better choice and low prices to consumers.

The minister added that FDI will be beneficial for both farmers and consumers. He said In Sangli.

"Farmers will gain on at least two counts: significant reduction in post -harvest losses such as loss in transit due to non refrigeration and air conditioning transportation system, and better prices. Consumers will gain from lower prices, greater choice, and higher quality," the minister noted. "Post harvest losses in the country are high. There are losses in the entire supply chain from farm to market. Investment in cold chains is required. More investment to set up such facilities will come with the entry of FDI. This will benefit both farmers and consumers," he has said.

Pawar added that the government's decision of allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail saying that it will boost investment in cold-chain facilities and bring down post-harvest losses.

Sharad Pawar on two days visit on Sangli - Kolhapur districts visit & attended various functions in Sangli.

Inquiry into raods

 District Collector S.Suresh Kumar  said that whenever a serious road accident occurs, a joint committee comprising police, medical, road transport and roads and buildings should visit the scene of tragedy and submit a report. He was speaking at a meeting of officers here today.

He directed the District Medical officer to ensure that the private doctors do not decline to treat the injured on the ground they are medico-legal cases.

Rural superintendent of police S.Satynarayana revealed that 403 persons have been killed in road accidents in Guntur district so far in the year 2012, that the Macherla-Nagarjuna sagar road has several hazardous bends and that 2000 cases of drunken driving have been registered. 

secretary-lavasa

Former Maharashtra Revenue secretary Ramesh Kumar today said that he had highlighted irregularities in his report on Lavasa Hill city in 2010.

 According to him,  Krishna Valley Development corporation leased out a sizeable portion of the government and gram panchyat land on a lease of Rs. 3.28 lacs for a 30 year period.  Surplus land of 300 hectares was bought by Lavasa Corporation and they failed to pay 75% payable as premium  to the government. They also bought land from 100 tribal cultivators without following the due procedure.

Kumar also refused to comment on whether he feltvictimised since he was not given posting in the Maharashtra administrative tribunal after retirement. " I can't comment on this,"he said.

Earlier in the day, Industries Minister Narayan Rane,who earlier held revenue portfolio, said he had acted on kumar's report by recommending disciplinary action against officials who did not follow due procedure regarding tribal land.

65 year old lady brutally killed in Thane.....

A senior citizen lady aged 65 has been brutally killed by some unknown persons in the Nalla Sopara locality of Thane districts eastern part on Friday, the district rural police reported today.

PI Mukund Mahajan of the Nalla Sopara police station said that the victim Vasanti Shekar Roy, was alone at home in the afternoon as her son and daughter in law had gone to office.

It was between 3.00 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. some unknown persons had entered the flat No A-101 of the Central Park, in the eastern part of the Nalla Sopara and attacked her with sharp weapons on the face and hands due to which she died.

Old lady’s son who came home found his mother lying dead in a pool of blood and he got a shock of his life and reported the matter to the police who rushed and carried out probe.

The motive behind the brutal murder is still not not known and the police are presently exploring all the possibilities including theft, but as per preliminary reports nothing was stolen from the house.

The body of the old lady has been since sent for postmortem the police said and added that an offence under section 302 of the IPC had been registered in connection with the offence, which has baffled the neighbours and locality.

 The police were still enquiring with the watchmen of the society and other frequent visitors to get a clue about the killers, the police said.

At a time when the Home Minister has intiated a programme asking the police to take special care of the senior citizens such incidences have caused a great concern among the locals.

In fact during his visit to Thane to participate in a function to inaugurate the modernized control room of the Thane police commissionerate about an year ago, the Home Minister R R Patil, had directed all the senior police officers to visit the senior citizens in their police station area and instill confidence in them as they are living alone and make a list of them and also keep an extra vigil on them.

But such incidences have given a wrong signal about the policing in the region itself, locals said.

Dreaded woman naxalite facing 22 NBW, 62 offences arrested

 A young woman naxalite who is facing 62
criminal offences and against whom 22 non-bailable warrants have been
issued was arrested in a swift operation by Gadchiroli Police, Police
said today.
  Police said, identified as Vasanti alias Savita Pandu Potem joined
naxal movement in year 2004 and was Dalam Commander in Ganglur in
Bijapur district in neighbouring Chattisgarh
between 2006 and 2010.
  Her husband Madhu was also a dreaded naxalites and operated in Andhra Pradesh
and died in year 2006. Vasanti was produced before a Court in
Gadchiroli and handed over to Bijapur Police, yesterday, Police added.

BIO-LD TALKS

 Capping intense and protracted negotiations that ran for several hours, the Convention on Biological Diversity early today passed the decision to double the biodiversity related funding to developing countries for implementing its goals on conservation.

Developed countries agreed to double funding to support efforts in developing states towards meeting the internationally-agreed Biodiversity Targets, and the main goals of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, a statement issued by the CBD said.

Using a baseline figure of the average annual national spending on biodiversity between 2006 and 2010, developed countries said they would double biodiversity-related international financial flows by 2015. The Conference of Parties (COP) also set targets to increase the number of countries that have included biodiversity in their national development plans, and prepared national financial plans for biodiversity, by 2015, it said.

All parties agreed to substantially increase domestic expenditures for biodiversity protection over the same period. These targets and progress towards them will be reviewed in 2014, it said.

The breakthrough came after several hours of negotiations to reach an agreement on the issue of resource mobilisation (biodiversity funding), which had been the bone of contention during the conference.

The Plenary of the conference began yesterday evening to adopt the decisions but it had to take a break soon to enable the negotiators to thrash out an agreement on the delicate issue of funding.

The funding issue cast its shadow on other matters as well when they were taken up for adoption at the Plenary. With the EU and some others raising objections to certain parts of documents, the matters concerning resource mobilisation, ecosystems restoration, capacity building and the budget of the convention were kept pending by Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, who chaired the Plenary in her capacity as the president of the CBD, for consideration later before announcing the break.

All other matters, 30 of them, had a more or less smooth adoption as consensus was arrived at during deliberations held in the working groups.

India, which assumed presidency of the convention, took the lead in helping the countries to arrive at an agreement on the issue of funding.

The negotiations continued till the small hours of today and the Plenary, when it resumed, passed the decisions on all the pending issues, including funding.

“It is a tremendous matter of pride that we hosted, probably the largest conference that India has had. Over 14,000 delegates, 172 countries participated, 80 ministers,” Natarajan told reporters after the conclusion of the Plenary.

“I think the most important achievement of the conference is that we made it our goal to achieve the unfinished work that was done in Japan which was resource mobilisation, which was very difficult target that we set for ourselves. However, after intense negotiations and tremendous efforts by the entire team and great coordination from all the parties, we did manage to achieve the goal,” she said.

Asked how she proposed to carry out the work during India’s presidency for the next two years, she said the decisions taken at the convention would be taken forward and focus on resource mobilization and achieving the biodiversity targets.

Other key decisions taken at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 11) include new measures to factor biodiversity into environmental impact assessments linked to infrastructure and other development projects in marine and coastal areas, the CBD release said.

Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said: “These results, coming in a period of economic crisis, demonstrate that the world is committed to implementing the CBD.  We see that governments are moving forward in implementation and seeing biodiversity as an opportunity to be realized more than a problem to be solved.”

“We now need to move forward in the next two years, under the able leadership of India, the COP 11 president, to consolidate this work and to advance further.  I look forward to other pledges in support of the Hyderabad call for Biodiversity Champions that will allow us to realize our goals” he said.

For the first time, developing countries at COP 11, including India and several African states, pledged additional funds above and beyond their core funding towards the work of the CBD.

The conference also saw the launch of the Hyderabad Call for Biodiversity Champions. The programme will accept pledges from governments and organizations in support of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced USD 50 million as part of the programme when he addressed the conference on October 16.

The Global Environment Facility, the financial mechanism of the Convention, for the first time, was provided with an assessment of the financial resources required to meet the needs of developing countries for implementing the Convention, the CBD release said.

Tatas return to Nagpur after 125 years with reality project

The Tatas who started their first venture in
1877 with a textile company, Empress Mills by Jamshedjee Tata here in
ctity and folded up years later, have announced a major housing
project, in city, today.
  Tata Reality and Infrastructure Ltd, a 100 percent subsidiary of
Tata Sons, today launched a residential property +Capitol Heights+
having 352 flats besides shopping mall, cinemex and other facilities
and amenities. +There will be 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 BHK apartments on sprawling
9.90 acres of land in Rambagh near Medical College, in southen part of city,  Head
Sales and Marketing, Cyrus Engineer, told a press conference, today.
  A vehicle free podium, jogging tracks, children play parks, cycling
tracks will be unique features of the project. A retail mall, swimming pool and food
courts will be within the project.The project is due for completion
and will be fully operational by the year 2014.Tata Reality will
oversee and run the management of property for a period of 10 yeas
after competion or occupancy, Engineer said. The minimum size of the
apartment will be 1350 sq ft.

Builder's attempt to grab DP Road foiled

Finally the Sub Divisional Officer of
Yavatmal Milind Shegaonkar has, on Friday, ordered the Yavatmal
Tehsildar to demolish and seize the illegally errected permanent
decorative arch, gate and wall fence immediatley from the public
Development Road passing along the boundary of Samadan Nagar layout in
the vilalge Bhosa which was approved by the Additional Collector in
the year 2000.

One Satish Narharshettiwar of Wardha, claimed to be the proprietor of
Narharshettiwar Builders and Land Developers, has made wide and
fabulous advertisements both in print and electronic media in the
region and succeeded in attracting many aspiring land investers and
got the plots booked on a fake layout under the banner of ‘Gajanan
Nagari’. He has deployed local unemployed youths for the marketing and
amassed a humge amount to the tune of crores of rupees under the
pretext of booking advance against the plots in a non exixting layout.
Meanwhile he has filed an application to the SDO Yavatmal through four
persons perhaps the real owners of the agriculture land admeasuring
5.89 hectares for getting Non Agriculture (N.A.) permission which was
rejected by the SDO on June 11, 2012 vide his office order no.
52/N.A.P./34/2011-12 despite he has cheated the land investors by
booking the plots on a non existing layout and pocketed their hand
earned money.
To attract the land investors, the builder has daringly encroached a
DP Road of 15 meters left out by the adjoining layout owner and put up
a fabulous entrance arch, strong gate and compound fence. He has also
laid pavement tiles on the encroached public road and converted a part
of it into a garden as if the road belonged to him.
On a complaint received from an alert plot owner, the SDO has ordered
the Deputy Superintendent of Land Records to conduct an on the spot
inspection and report back to him about the factual position.
Accordingly, one A.K. Chavan of the Land Recotrds visited the site and
submitted his findings stating that the builder of ‘fake’ Gajanan
Nagari has encroached the DP Road and converted the same into garden.
He has also confirmed the illegal erection of the permenant welcome
arch, gate and fence precventing the plot owners of the duly approved
layout of Samadan Nagar.
When contacted, the SDO Milind Shegaonkar told that the illegal
structures would be demolished and seized and the department would
file FIR against the builder and others.
‘I have ordered the Tehsildar Arvind Bhagat to get the illegal
structures removed and release the public road from the possession of
the builder for public utility,” Shegaonkar said.
The builder has also cheated the public by booking plots on his bogus
layouts across the district and the District Collector Ashwin Mudgal
is, when contacted, said that a probe would soon be ordered in to the
illegal activities of all the real estate mafias operating in the
district and advised the public not to invest their money on non
existing layout floated by the builder lobbies.