Looking back…

* Agashe dead; depositors now pin hopes on IOB

Death of Suvarna Sahakari Bank founder won’t affect takeover: IOB With the demise of the former founder and chairman of the now-defunct Suvarna Sahakari Bank,Dnyaneshwar Agashe,depositors waging a battle against him are now pinning their hopes on the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). The IOB has got the consent from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take over the assets and liabilities of the cooperative bank.

Thursday,Jan 08,2009

* Brrr… even Mahabaleshwar can’t match Pune for coldness

Mahabaleshwar might be just a drive away for Puneites wanting to feel the chill,but observations by the Meteorological Department may just make them do an about turn. The reason: Pune has just scored over the popular hill station when it comes to low temperatures. The minimum temperature of Pune has remained consistently lower than that of Mahabaleshwar for the last 15 days. This winter season has seen Pune’s temperature hover almost five°C below that of Mahabaleshwar. According to temperature records,the minimum temperature over the last two weeks was 9°C for Pune. For Mahabaleshwar,however,it has not one below 12°C.

Thursday,Jan 08,2009

* Truckers’ nationwide strike affects supplies to city

The nationwide strike by truckers is beginning to tell an effect on the supplies coming into the city. On Wednesday,the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) president Shivlal Bhosale said that the supplies have reduced by half. The transporters have said that the strike will continue till the government agrees to their demands. “As on today,there has been a 50 per cent fall in supplies. Existent stocks have depleted and new stocks are not coming in,” said Bhosale. Shashikant Dombe,secretary of the Pune Motor Goods Transport Association,said that all trucks have been grounded and the chakka jam andolan has been receiving wide support.

Saturday,Jan 17,2009

* Osho foundation loses ‘Osho’ trademark

The Osho International Foundation (OIF) Zurich,that is largely run by the Pune Meditation Resort’s management team,have lost the trademark of the word Osho in the US in a court case spanning almost a decade. The Trademark and Trial Appeal Board in the US,where the case was filed,has found that the term Osho is generic for the meditations devised by the mystic Osho and the meditation and religious movement arising from there. As a result defendant OIF cannot foreclose others from utilising the term OSHO to describe their own goods and services based upon such meditations and movements. The decision is the result of an opposition lodged by Osho Friends International against Osho International Foundation in a case registerd in 1999.

Jan 17,2009

* Rent rebate after phones go dead

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has issued an interim circular to give a “rent rebate” to 22,700 customers whose telephones had gone dead for three or more days in a row. Caused by technical faults,this had happened intermittently over a 14-month period. In December,the BSNL deputy general manager wrote the general manager (finance) urging him to sanction a rent rebate to all customers whose telephones had been dead for more than three days. In July 2008,Sajag Nagrik Manch president Vivek Velankar had sought to know — under the Right to Information (RTI) Act — about the telephone connections in the city that became non-functional for more than 15 days at a stretch in the period between April 2007 and July 2008.

Monday,Jan 26,2009

* Student slapped 46 times on teacher’s directives

Time: 7. 30 am. Place: Camp Education Society’s Abhinav English medium school,Nigdi. Class 4. 46 students. One by one,they step forward and slap 10-year-old Junied Sayyed. And the reason: Junied had forgotten to bring his classwork book. This had angered the teacher no end. She ordered Junied to stand near the blackboard,herself looked on like a spectator even as Junied’s classmates took turn to a deliver a slap.

Monday,Jan 26,2009

* Five city cops selected for President’s police medal

Police inspector Ramchandra Shivaji Jadhav (crime branch),deputy superintendent Ranjit Pandurang Abhyankar(railway police),inspector Vijaykumar Vasantrao Palsule (traffic police),assistant sub inspector Bhagwan Hande (state reserve police force),and police inspector Suhas Madhukar Nadgauda of Bund Garden police station from the city are among the 33 policemen from the state selected for the President’s police medal for their distinguished service.