Maharashtra News Archive: August 2006

Marathi actress Pallavi Subhash in an Ekta serial
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 | AY

Marathi television actress Pallavi Subhash is Ekta Kapoor's new find on prime time with her new serial "Karam Apna Apna" which goes on this month air on Star Plus. Star Plus will introduce its new prime time star Gauri (played by Pallavi Subhash) in the forthcoming serial of the channel with Balaji Television starting August 29 at 2130 hrs. Before being spotted by Ekta, the dimpled actress featured in two Marathi daily soaps "Char Diwas Sasuche" on ETV Marathi and "Adhuri Ek Kahani" on Zee Marathi.

Maati Maay
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 | AY

Acclaimed Marathi scriptwriter Chitra Palekar's directorial debut Maati Maay, starring Nandita Das and Atul Kulkarni, will be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8. Based on Mahasweta Devi's short story Baayen, the Marathi film revolves around Chandi, a beautiful young woman from a lower caste whose family has traditionally been in charge of a children's graveyard. The film also has Kshitij Gavande who plays Nandita's son Bhagirath. Music is by Bhaskar Chandavarkar and cinematography by Debu Deodhar.

Maharashtra Information Technologies Award 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006 | AY

Micro Technologies India Ltd has announced that the Company has bagged the prestigious "Maharashtra Information Technology Award 2006" for its innovative initiatives and outstanding performances under the category of IT-Research and Development. Over the years, the Company has developed a wide range of security and IT products using its leverage over various state-of-the-art technology platforms such as Embedded, Web-based and client server applications. This award has brought the Company, its achievements and endeavor for excellence in security and life-support product in to limelight and has won appreciation of Maharashtra Government.

18th Pune Festival being organised
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 | AY

The 18th Pune Festival 2006, will be held between September 1 and 5. However, the highlight will be a performance by the Chinese National Acrobatic Team to commemorate the Sino-India Friendship Year. The chief coordinator of the festival says that, by bringing these international artistes to Pune, thet are trying to leverage Pune Festival and the city on the international map. This will also help them in terms of the Commonwealth Youth Games that will be held in Pune in 2008. The inaugural ceremony will see a melange of performances, starting with actor Meenakshi Seshadri, who will perform the Ganesh Vandana. Other performances will include a vani by actor Varsha Usgaonkar and a show by Shiamak Davar and his troupe.

Cable tv goes off the air
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 | AY

Cable operators on Monday night blocked all television channels, except Doordarshan, in protest against police "raids" against major movie channels allegedly showing adult movies in contravention of the Bombay High Court order. President of All Mumbai Cable Operatiors Association, Ganesh Naidu said that, they were merely service providers and not broadcasters. Hence, they had no control on transmission of adult content. He said that, it is for the police to take action against broadcasters and not cable operators.

Mahim sea water proved to be polluted
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 | AY

As large crowds continued to throng the Mahim beach to drink sweet seawater for the second day, the Maharashtra government on Sunday warned people against drinking the polluted water. Scientists clarified that the seawater had turned sweet due to the natural phenomenon of dilution. Dilution is a phenomenon observed all along the western coast of India during the southwest monsoon and occurs when rainwater borne by rivers mix with seawater along the coast. The change in salinity at the Mahim creek could be attributed to the large quantities of groundwater draining into the sea because of the rains. The noticeable drop in salinity levels occurs at low tide when the maximum dilution of seawater by fresh water occurs. The decline in salinity was mainly due to two reasons. Apart from the Mithi river flowing into the Mahim creek, water from the sweet water Vihar Lake, too, was draining into the creek, thereby reducing the salinity. Infectious disease experts have warned that drinking water with an exceptionally low chloride content will increase the risk of diarrhoea, typhoid and other maladies.

K Sera Sera plans to launch music channel
Wednesday, August 9, 2006 | AY

K Sera Sera is putting its expansion plans in place. One among them: the launch of a music channel, for which it is in advanced negotiations with Jhankar TV to acquire a controlling stake. Sera Sera is in talks with Eros International Plc for a deal that in value terms could be around Rs 2 billion over a longer period. Eros, which globally distributes Bollywood content, recently floated an initial public offering and is listed in the London Stock Exchange (LSE). On the music channel front, K Sera Sera plans to run it through a subsidiary company. By being producers of Bollywood movies, the channel will have a synergistic relationship.

Tata BlueScope's Pune unit launched
Tuesday, August 8, 2006 | AY

Tata BlueScope Steel, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Australia's BlueScope Steel, inaugurated its first rollforming and pre-engineered building facility near the IT Park at Hinjewadi in Pune. The new facility will make, design and supply a range of `Butler' pre-engineered buildings and `Lysaght' steel building solutions. The company has announced the setting up of a fourth facility at Jamshedpur with an annual metallic coating capacity of 2.50 lakh tonnes and paint line capacity of 1.50 lakh tonnes. Tata BlueScope will offer a comprehensive range of branded steel products, including the premium zincalum metallic coated and colorbond painted steel, Lysaght and Butler.

Hi-tech visual surveillance gadgets
Monday, August 7, 2006 | AY

Scientists are working on a project to develop gadgets based on sensor technology that could detect explosives or anything that could cause mass destruction and avert a tragedy. The project, undertaken by the Ministry of Science and Technology, picked up steam after the Mumbai bomb blasts. A flurry of meetings of security experts, scientists and officials were held and plans were drawn to make available the technology within the next three years. The devices, developed under the project, can be placed at key installations and public places like railway stations, airports, religious places and alert security agencies about the presence of explosives, biological weapons and the like. The gadgets would have a hi-tech visual surveillance back up, which would be useful to reconstruct the sequence of events in case of a tragedy.

Heavy rains lashes Mumbai
Monday, August 7, 2006 | AY

Heavy rains continued to lash Mumbai as well as several parts of Maharashtra, paralysing normal life as many roads remained under water and several flights were diverted. Water logging was reported in many neighbourhoods of Mumbai including Andheri, Milan and Khar subways as well as Chembur, a central suburb. The roads were submerged around the Sion Circle area, Hind Mata Chowk and Chunabhatti areas in central Mumbai. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has warned citizens that heavy showers might continue and asked them not to venture out of their homes unless necessary. More than 13,000 people have been evacuated from marooned villages in Nanded district, around 650 km from Mumbai, in the Marathwada region where 25 villages were reportedly cut off completely by floods.

Advinus Therapeutics inaugurates Drug Discovery Facility
Saturday, August 5, 2006 | AY

Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, inaugurated the state-of-the-art drug discovery facility of Advinus Therapeutics at a function held in Pune. Advinus Therapeutics is the drug discovery and development company catering to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries promoted by the Tata Group with Dr. Rashmi Barbhaiya. Located in the Biotech park at Hinjewadi, Pune and spread over an area of 20,000 sq.ft, the discovery arm of Advinus Therapeutics will undertake novel drug discovery and generating IP primarily in the area of Metabolic Diseases and Inflammation. The centre in Pune is equipped with state-of-art automated biological testing equipments using multiple platforms, molecular, cell biology and recombinant DNA technology, mass detected purification system and parallel synthesis for medicinal chemistry, 400 MZ NMR, API 4000 LC MS/MS.

Mumbai to host ATP tournament
Saturday, August 5, 2006 | AY

Mumbai will host its first ever ATP Tournament later this year. The ATP Mumbai Open will give a much needed boost to men's tennis in India. The $ 380,000 ATP Mumbai Open will be played this September. Five of the top twenty players have confirmed their participation in the draw, a crucial ingredient that will make this tournament a real sporting extravaganza. The event is filled with many 'firsts'; this is the first time that three of the top 10 players will be seen in the same tournament in South Asia.

Maharashtra bank launches credit cards
Saturday, August 5, 2006 | AY

Public sector Bank of Maharashtra, with the largest branch network in Maharashtra region, will soon launch its own credit card. They are in talks with Visa for launching our credit card business and a decision in this regard will be taken soon. The bank, which posted a net profit of Rs 60.96 crores up by 35.17 per cent in the first quarter of 2006-07, is undertaking a hollistic exercise to revisit its card division. Currently, the bank has 222 ATMs around the country, which will be increased to 350 by the end of December.

Delhi, Mumbai airports getting updated
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 | AY

The modernization of Delhi and Mumbai airports kicks off from midnight Wednesday, when the management of the two metro airports shifts to the joint venture company set up to run them. While a new company Delhi International Airport Ltd, in which GMR has a majority stake, has taken up the modernization of Delhi airport, Mumbai International Airport Ltd, in which GVK has a majority stake, would modernize Mumbai airport. The Airports Authority of India has a 26% minority stake in both the companies. The functions of Air Traffic Control, security, health, customs, immigration and quarantine at the two airports would, however, stay in the hands of the Government even after the transfer.

Tsunami warning system
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 | AY

Prospective victims of cyclones like tsunami will be able to get 30-minute escape time after a new radar detection system is put in place in the country by 2007. The advantages of the cyclone detection radar system is that, within 20-30 minutes we will be able to tell what is going to happen. The indigenous version of the Doppler Weather Radar has not been effective and the government has therefore decided to import 50 Weather Warning Radars, costing Rs 23 crore each, to forecast tsunami-type cyclones.

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