mrityunjaybose

September 3, 2008 ENCOUNTER COPS From: MRITYUNJAY BOSE Last Sunday when at the stroke of 1 am, when Pradeep Sharma heard the knock at the door of his flat, he had no idea what was coming. When he opened the door, he was shocked – he found that he has been dismissed from the Mumbai Police, which he served for more than 25 years. The reason – links with underworld. Like Sharma – several of his trigger-happy colleagues and contemporaries are booked in some or the other cases or totally sidelines within the force barring a few. During their heydays, these "encounter specialists" together killed more than 700 criminals of different gangs - now-a-days, they just kill time. They were the poster-boys of Mumbai Police and performed the role of "Dirty Harry", came to be eulogized as "encounter specialists" or "encounter cops" and earned sobriquets like "super cops" – but today if one rewinds to the period of late nineties and compare with the pr...

September 1, 2008From: Mrityunjay Bose MUMBAI POLICE Marked improvement in response timeReaches crime spot in seven minutes; inching towards the international standard Mumbai: In a major achievement for Mumbai police - which is ranked next only to Scotland Yard in crime detection, the city cops have improved the response time to nearly seven minutes - inching towards the international standard of five minutes."The response time is a major factor in policing. In Hindi films we often see the police arriving once everything is over," joint commissioner of police (law and order) K L Prasad said. "We need to reach the scene fast, though in some real cases, it may not happen," he added.Prasad said that as far as the best was concerned - in Mumbai in some cases it is two to three minutes, while the maximum was 12 to 13 minutes. "On an average, the response time that we currently have is six-and-a-half-minutes to seven minutes," he said, pointing out that internat...

September 7, 2008 From: Mrityunjay Bose Centre approves upgrading of Mumbai museum MUMBAI: The Centre has given approval to the Rs 12.43 crore financial assistance for the upgradation and modernization of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, earlier known as Prince of Wales Museum. The Ministry of Culture, Government of India will spent the amount during 2008-10. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India) situated in a heritage precinct known as the "Crescent Site" is one of the more important Museums of the country and a prime cultural institution of the city of Mumbai. The building is declared as an A grade heritage building by the Heritage Committee of Mumbai and is in itself an attraction for the visitors. The building is situated in an area of about 3 acres covering a built up area of 12,142.23 sq.m. The Museum began its modernization program seven years ago to keep pace with the changing needs a...

September 9, 2008 From: Mrityunjay Bose MOBILE TRACKER Your cell phone can be managed remotely! Mumbai: Those whose mobile phones have been lost or stolen will narrate how much data and telephone numbers they have lost. But now one can overcome this fear - Mumbai-based Micro Technologies (India) Ltd on Tuesday launched Micro Mobile Controller System (MMCS), a software that can remotely manage your cell phone. India is adding somewhere around eight to 10 million mobile connections every month and according to estimates total connections are likely to reach 600 million by 2011. The flip side of such an unprecedented growth in the number of mobile phone users is an equally unprecedented growth in instances of lost and stolen mobile phones. "MCCS above all existing features gives an extraordinary back up facility of contact details to the registered user," says Mukund Gupta, COO, Micro Technologies. The software manages the mobile handset with the help of an add on recipient mobi...

September 29, 2008From: Mrityunjay Bose RESEARCH REPORT - 'Prevent Urali-Devachi from being a toxic Mumbai/Pune: The solid waste dumped by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at the landfill at Urali-Devachi village in Pune district threatens to make it a 'toxic bomb' in future - and efforts needed to be initiated to convert waste into fertilizer, according to a new research report. The site is being used since 1983 - more than two decades now and 1,000 to 1,200 tonnes of garbage is disposed at Urali-Devachi everyday. The report published in the latest issue of 'Current Science' reveals the problems of air and groundwater pollution caused due to unscientific disposal of solid waste at Urali-Devachi village.Ragpickers, workers, vehicle drivers, and those residing in the nearby areas of the village are continuously exposed to air pollution. It has been found that leachates originate from solid waste landfill-contaminated groundwater. Well water found in Urali-Devachi...

November 17, 2008 BLUETOOTH WONDER Blue-tooth installed at Siddhivinayak, Mahalaxmi temples Mumbai: Now one can receive pictures of Gods and Goddess, bhajans and security instructions free on their bluetooth-enabled cellphones when they visit the famous Siddhivinayak, Mahalaxmi and Mumbadevi temples. Similar technology is also being used at the malls to attract a clientele. "This is probably one of the best ways to send messages to devotees and buyers. And the message is free because the revenue model is interesting," says Anshuman Sharma of Equifone Solutions Pvt Ltd, which has installed these devices. Moreover, those who don't want the messages on their cellphones, would not get – and would not be disturbed. The service works on Bluetooth technology and creates a Bluetooth zone where visitors can download infotainment content like live news, weather, stocks, games, ringtones, movie clips, themes etc. on their mobile phones free of cost. "In this case our revenue mo...