PASSES AWAY

We are sorry to report the sad demise of our esteemed  alumnus and reputed  civil engineering consultant and forensic lab in construction expert in India and abroad MR RAMESHCHANDRA NARAYAN RAIKAR  [ 1939-2008]. He was the 1962 alumnus; we had felicitated him  few years back for his lifelong achievement in civil engineering.

From the modest start as an engineer in MUMBAI PORT TRUST, Mr.Raikar started his consultancy career in Mumbai, expanded it , had offices in Nariman Point, in Navi Mumbai, in Pune. Later  he constructed on a precious and spacious plot on

As a social engineering aspect Mr.Raikar initially worked for Institution of Engineers [India]; Mr Raikar was Convenor for 10 years of its Civil Engineering Division; Chairman of Maharashtra State Centre. Later he laid the foundation of the Indian Chapter of American Concrete Institute and  on   its aegis held umpteen number of seminars, conferences, workshops and special felicitations of U.K. / U.S.A. based toppers in ACI and other  organisations. All his seminars were grand sessions, where flew the Ganges of Technology. India Chapter of ACI snatched quite a few times the best Chapter Award. Mr.Raikar was at a special function cited the Honorary Membership of Amecian Concrete Institute in its special function in U.S.A. Mr.Raikar could bring together reputed engineers in India and also from abroad under India Chapter of ACI. Indian technocrats could interact with international experts on quite a few such occasions.

Concrete Cube testing was made popular in India. Engineering Institutes and Construction firms participate it in a big way. His technical books: ‘Technology of Building Repairs, ‘Learning from Failures’ [1987 and 2002] and others became the benchmarks of references in India and aborad.

Mr.Raikar analysed and designed a number of multistoreyed buildings, utility structures, industrial complexes.  Rehab of structures was his superspecialisation  and he was specially invited for all such events. Mr Raikar was   always called  by Govt and National level bodies– maybe as a one-man team to investigate collapse  and malfunctioning of buildings .

Alumni Association offers heartfelt condolences to Mr. Raikar and his family. May his soul rest in peace.

*

One of the most dynamic and vibrant personality of the Dept of Applied Mechanics of College of Engineering Pune in the period  1966 – 1988 was Prof Mrs Rekha Telang.; she was graduate of Visvesvarayya College of Engineering Nagpur and post-graduate in structures from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. After voluntary retirement she conducted classes in the intricate subject of ‘Applied Mechanics’ till 1995.This was necessitated due to rapid expansion of unaided engineering Colleges in Pune and elsewhere and comparative lack of  experienced faculty members. In Dec 2007 she breathed her last after a long period of illness.

Applied Mechanics  is itself a difficult subject to understand; it is a part of First year. Classes of first year start always late in September; all that results in less lecture hours and covering a bit huge teaching schedule. However, Prof Mrs Rekha Telang with her proficiency in teaching had won the hearts of first year students. She was also teaching strength of materials to second year students. Her teaching was so effective that even the students of other divisions used to attend her lectures to clarify the doubts. Sometimes, Prof Mrs Rekha Telang used to conduct classes early in the morning at 6.30 am as special or extra classes and again the attendance was more than full. That was due to skill in simplifying the difficult subject. All this she did with a typical philosophical way- she chanted in mind the inspiring ‘Aum’ to commence and always ended by saying ;Idam na mama’ [this is not mine] – the detachment attitude.

It was this attitude towards her profession combined with her proficiency that make her fondly remembered by all her ex-colleagues and ex-students.

She is survived by husband and two sons.

Alumni Association offers condolences to the family of Mr. Ramesh Telang.

May her soul continue its journey towards divinity.

* LATE MR. ANAND K. PATHAK

Mr. Anand Pathak one of our outstanding alumnus passed away on September 6, 2008 at his age of 63 years. It was very tragic and shocking news.

Mr. Pathak graduated  in Mechanical engineering in the year 1967 and completed his post-graduate Degree in Mechanical (Design Engineering) in the year 1981. He started his career as Maintenance Engineer and then as Asst. Lecturer in Govt. Polytechnic, Pune. He did Computer courses in Pune University which was the turning point in his life from where his career path changed all together towards Computer Technology and then to IT applications.

He took a challenge of developing computer programme for compilation of results in SSC Board of Maharashtra and also developed a computerized system in the year 1970. He was heading Computer Department for few years in SSC Board. Due to his intelligence and hard work, he rose to topmost position in the Computer & IT field. He was elected as President of ‘Computer Society of India’ for two consecutive terms.

He was holding a post of Systems Manager and then CIO-General Manager at Cummins Diesel Sales and Service and Cummins India Ltd for over 23 years.

In the field of computers, Prof. Pathak has carried out everything from the earlier ‘card printing’ inputs to present day Oracle Applications. This is a vast field of computer applications where technology and system is improved everyday and obsolescence is fast.

He was conversant with number of computer environments, operating systems, software packages, database systems and workflows. He had achieved a great success in his professional life and immerged out as a leader in Information Technology field. He implemented ERP Systems concerning manufacturing, finance, distribution and service modules for industries. He also completed many computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) projects. He was considered to be a Profit Center Leader and established overseas contacts through several visits to US, Bangkok, Singapore, Nepal. He successfully implemented IT strategic plans for Cummins India Ltd.

He was Fellow of  a number of organizations such as Institution of Engineers, Computer Society of India and has participated in several “Information Technology” related workshops, International Conferences, Seminars, etc. He had contributed number of technical papers and written few books on IT related topics.

Alumni Association offers condolences to his family members and would like to share their sorrows and grieves. May his soul rest in peace.