TIMES CITY

THE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015

PAWARS GUIDANCE IMPORTANT TO TACKLE

AGRICULTURAL ISSUES, SAYS FADNAVIS I 4

PUNE RAILWAY STATION SOON TO HAVE WI-FI,

REMODELLED PLATFORM NUMBER ONE I 8

9 billion light years away, giant radio galaxy dying

SwatiShindeGole
@timesgroup.com

Pune: A giant radio galaxy

dying nine billion light years
away has been discovered by a
team of astronomers of the
National Centre for Radio
Astrophysics (NCRA) here.
Budding scientist Prathamesh Tamhane, a former student of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, led the project under the supervision of Yogesh
Wadadekar at NCRA.
Wadadekar said, "When
we see the sun, it is a mere

eight light minutes away, while the discovered galaxy is nine billion light years away. We
see it as it was nine billion years in the past. Compare this
to the age of the universe,
which is about 14 billion years
old. So, the galaxy is seen by
us today, as it was, when the
universe was about one-third
of its present age."
Astronomers claimed that
such giant radio galaxies were extremely rare, especially
in the distant universe. Spotting such a rare object in its
short-lived dying phase is an
absolutely unique phenome-

non. Such galaxies harbour a

super massive black hole at
their centre.
Astronomers used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) for observing this
galaxy, emitting powerful radio waves. It has an extent of a

RARE DISCOVERY
whopping 4 million light years. Hence, it is called a giant
radio galaxy. These results have been published in the November issue of the international journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomi-

cal Society, London.

The team has used these
observations to understand
the properties of the magnetic field in the region between
galaxies in the distant universe, a frontier area of research
in astronomy. Wadadekar said, "This galaxy provides us
with a unique space laboratory. We can gain a better understanding of its formation and
evolution by carefully studying its properties."
While radio galaxies with
size less than a million light
years are common, giant radio galaxies are extremely ra-

re, even more so at large cosmic distances. This galaxy,

known by the scientific name
"J021659-044920", is the newest
member
of
this
elite
group.
Tamhane said, "What makes J021659-044920 special is
that it has been caught in dying phase. Such dying radio
objects are best studied using
a low frequency radio telescope such as the GMRT."
For their analysis, the team combined their GMRT observations with previous observations made with a slew
of international ground and

space based telescope facilities XMM-Newton Space Telescope in X-ray, the Japanese
Subaru telescope in optical,
UKs Infrared Telescope in near-infrared, Nasas Spitzer
Space Telescope in mid-infrared and the Jansky Very Large Array (USA) in high frequency radio bands. By using data from multiple telescopes
spanning across the electromagnetic spectrum, they were able to carry out a comprehensive and incredibly detailed analysis of the physical
conditions around this distant galaxy.

Times of India, Pune, November 7, 2015 Pp.2

The giant radio galaxy

Shoppers hit streets for Diwali gifts, cars crawl

Shyam Sonar

Festival
fever
grips
roads

Some respite from

water cuts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: The arterial roads in

the city were chock-a-block on
Friday evening, primarily because of festival shopping.
Traffic moved at snails pace on most of the streets in
peth areas, including Shivaji
Road, Bajirao Road and Tilak
Road. There was bumper-tobumper traffic on Sinhagad
Road, Jangli Maharaj Road,
Karve Road, Fergusson College Road and University Road
as well. All roads heading to
Pune railway station and those in Pune cantonment were
also congested.

We deployed
additional men for
managing traffic. Traffic
signals were switched off
because there was heavy
load of vehicles from all sides
Senior traffic official
The traffic police attributed the congestion to festival
shopping and holidays.
"Holidays of schools and
colleges have started. People
are moving out in large numbers for holidays. A large
number of vehicles, particularly cars, plied on roads on
Friday," a traffic official said.
"People came out in large
numbers for Diwali shopping.
Many people came out with
their cars, increasing the traffic load," another official said.
Several commuters were
stranded on roads for hours
on Friday evening. Vikrant, a
resident of Kothrud, said peeping out of an ambulance,
"My father has to be admitted
to hospital, but I have been
stuck in this place for more
than 20 minutes."
Traffic officials said the
congestion was cleared on
most of the roads by 8.30 pm.
"We deployed additional men
for managing traffic. They were asked to work overtime.
Traffic signals were switched
off because there was heavy
load of vehicles from all sides," a senior traffic official
said.

ouseholds will get water

once a day during Diwali,
after the all-party committee of
the Pune Municipal Corporation
(PMC) approved a proposal on
Friday.
According to PMC officials,
the four dams thats supply water
to the city Khadakwasla,
Temghar, Varasgaon and Panshet
have a collective stock of
around 15 TMC, which can be
utilised till the next monsoon.
A group of elected members
across party lines had submitted
a proposal before the all-party
committee saying that the PMC
should restore twice-a-day water
supply during Diwali.
After discussing the matter,
the committee decided to
introduce once-a-day water
supply on the five days of Diwali
(November 9 to 14) instead of
alternate-day supply.
The city is currently drawing
850MLD and the volume will be
increased to 1,100 MLD after
Fridays approval. For
twice-a-day water supply, the
city would have needed around
1,250 MLD water.

The Diwali shopping frenzy led to a traffic congestion on Fergusson College Road on Friday. Traffic signals had to be switched off

This holiday season, short breaks in vogue

Graphic: Abir Bhaduri

Neha.Madaan@timesgroup.com

Pune: Short breaks, preference for destinations at drivable

distance and those with direct
flight connection from Pune
are the rage this Diwali.
Dubai and Singapore have
made it to the top international travel spots, while Rajasthan, Goa, Coorg-Kabini and
Delhi-Agra circuits are the
most preferred among domestic destinations. The extent of
research done by travellers in
choosing the destinations
they travel to and hotels they
pick has increased. But the
travel business has been just
about average, claims travel
companies.
Nevertheless,
shining bright on the holiday horizon this Diwali
is Rajasthan, while Kerala reported a drop of
5% to 15% in tourist
numbers from Pune. Tour operators attributed
the drop in its tourist numbers to negative publicity the
state got over the stray dog
culling issue as one of the reasons.
Apart from Rajasthan, the
other hotspots trending this
year are Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and the northeast to an extent. "Most travellers are opting for a short

GET, SET, GO
TOP SPOTS THIS DIWALI
DOMESTIC

Rajasthan Goa
Coorg-Kabini
Delhi-Agra
Himachal Pradesh
Kashmir

INTERNATIONAL

AIRFARE

RETURN AIRFARE PER PERSON (LOWER FARE

LEVELS WHEN BOOKED IN ADVANCE)
Mumbai to Singapore `20,000-25,000
Mumbai to Thailand `18,000-22,000
Mumbai to Sri Lanka `18,000-22,000
PUNE TO DUBAI
`17,000 to 20,000

Dubai Singapore
Thailand Sri Lanka

SHINING BRIGHT ON
THE HOLIDAY HORIZON
THIS DIWALI IS

RAJASTHAN

Diwali break. They have planned their travel before Diwali,

so that they can celebrate the
festival in Pune. Most people
are opting for domestic destinations at drivable distance
or those having direct flight
connection with Pune, such
as Jaipur, Goa, Bangalore and

Chennai," said Nikhil Thakurdas, owner of city-based

Odyssey Tours and Travels.
Thakurdas said Rajasthan
was almost on a par with Goa
in terms of tourist preference.
"Among international destinations, Dubai, Singapore,
Thailand and Sri Lanka have
had many takers this Diwali.
Dubai has emerged as the
number one spot among the

international
destinations
particularly because of the direct flight connection from
Pune. Thailand is cost-effective, though one has to travel to
Mumbai," he said.
Travel companies say business this Diwali is average.
G Krishna, the chairperson of
the Pune chapter of Travel
Agents Association of India
(TAAI) and general manager

at Travel Masters, said, "International destinations include

Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia
and Maldives, while Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir
are attracting many in the domestic circuit. We have, however, seen a 10% to 15% drop in
tourist rush to Kerala."
Krishna said with November 10 to 15 a holiday in many
companies, people are planning short breaks, including
travel to destinations they have already explored in the
past.
Sujit Katre, the general
manager at Guardian Holidays, also reported a rise in impulsive holidaying and said
his company was taking several last-minute bookings.
"There is a general slowdown in business transactions during the festive season. Rather than sitting in offices, many have decided to
put on their traveling shoes
for some time out of the city,"
said Katre.
Zelam Chaubal, the director of Kesari Tours Pvt Ltd,
said that travel to Madhya
Pradesh and Gujarat had
especially picked up this vacation period, as tourism boards
in the two states had done some extensive advertising of
their tourist spots this year.
"Rush to Kerala has dipped
by 5% and we have not witnessed a tourism boom this Diwali, particularly because people travelled extensively in
the summer of 2015," said
Chaubal.

Packed with love,

loads of goodies
travel miles away
Meenakshi.Rohatgi
@timesgroup.com

Pune: Courier agencies in the

city are swamped by eager parents and siblings lining up to
send festive goodies to their loved ones miles away.
Clearly, the growing number of packages being sent to
recipients, living in India and
abroad, is an indicator of how
crucial a role courier services
play in celebrating festivals
these days. Sweets and savouries, gifts, clothes and even jewellery is delivered almost overnight through these services.
In fact, people wait patiently
for their packages to be weighed, safely packed and booked
for delivery.
The demand for courier service has increased so much in
the city that service providers
have had to book
marriage halls to
accommodate
the excess load.
Every year, we have to hire
a marriage hall to handle the
volumes of outbound packages
during Diwali. A larger place
helps us demarcate areas for
packaging, weighing and backend operations as well as arrange for a seating area with refreshments for our customers
since the entire process may take between one to two hours,
said Nilesh Deshmukh, the founder and managing director
of Unique Courier.
The Shaniwarpeth-based
courier agency is among the
popular services that also delivers larger packages to international destinations. Deshmukh said, Until this week,
3,500 boxes, containing 30 tonne material, have already been
booked for delivery in the international courier service. We
are expecting another 1,000 or-

ders in the days to come. Most

of our customers include people whose children are studying in the US and cannot travel
back home for the festivities.
Although it costs her Rs 495
per kg to courier a parcel of home-made goodies to her children living abroad, Swati Rane
has been working hard to ensure the package reaches them on
time.
It is the least we can do. I
dont want my kids to miss their favourite sweets while enjoying Diwali here," said Rane,
whose children are employees
of IT firms in foreign
countries.
Usually, customers send
about 6 to 8 kgs of items abroad.
The couriers are delivered within a span of four days. The prices have, however, increased
over the last year
due to increased
dollar prices, said
Deshmukh.
Shrikrishna
Chitale of Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale shared that the firm
had received almost 50 orders
till now and people were buying sweets and savouries to add
to their homemade fare. We
have ready boxes and gift packages with a mix of items that
people like. For couriers, we have tied up with a company as
they are experienced in handling big orders.
Prashant Kumar, the owner
of Koregaon Parks Multinational Courier, said his company was one of the few that arranges packaging and delivery
of delicate items such as crockery.
The rush begins around a
fortnight before Diwali and the
rates depend on the location
where the courier is to be delivered. We lay out rules and rates very clearly for the customers.
Mandar Deshpande

Courier agencies doing brisk business ahead of Diwali