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IndianExpress:  RAILWAYS ambitious project to start budget hotels in various cities utilising its surplus land has hit a roadblock in Pune: Lack of space to construct the hotel. The Pune division’s earlier proposal to use its land near Sassoon Hospital was rejected and now it has sent a fresh proposal to its headquarters.

‘‘We had sent a proposal to use the railway land near Sassoon Hospital to the headquarters last year. But it was rejected on the grounds that only free available land should be used for constructing budget hotels,’’ divisional railway manager P K Saxena said. The idea was to demolish the Railway Colony near Sassoon Hospital and construct the hotel.

IndianExpress: WHEN students of Kalmadi Shamrao High School in Ganeshnagar, Kothrud, filed into their classrooms on June 12, the first day of school, they were greeted with cameras and voices with a distinct English accent.

The students soon found out that they were the stars of a documentary being shot for the BBC. Along with Rewachand Bhojwani Academy in Camp, the two schools were selected from lakhs of others in the country to feature in a 10-part documentary series on Schools in India, commissioned by the BBC and the UK Open University.
Pune was the chosen city after the film makers considered schools in Hyderabad and Bangalore. “We wanted a city that reflects fast-paced changes. Pune, being a hub for education, business and communication, was the perfect choice,” says one of the producer-directors Max Baring

IndianExpress: YET another mishap involving a Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) bus took place at Hadapsar on Pune-Solapur Road and claimed the life of a homeless woman on Friday morning.

The identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained. Police said the victim was sleeping along the road near the newly constructed flyover bridge at Hadapsar Gadital around 7.30 am when the mishap took place.

IndianExpress: CLOSE on the heels of guidelines prepared by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Department of Biotechnology involving research projects in embryonic stem cells in the country, Asia’s largest stem cell research centre is set to come up at the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC).

‘‘The site for setting up the centre has been identified and the AFMC, in coordibnation with Department of Biotechnology, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and National Centre for Cell Research will set up this centre,’’ Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services Surg Vice Admiral V K Singh said while speaking to reporters at the AFMC on Saturday.

IndianExpress: THE following changes in the train timetable will be implemented from July 1: 1077 Dn Pune-Jammu Tavi Jhelum Express will depart from Pune at 1740 instead of 1735 hours.

The frequency of the following trains will increase: 1037/1038 Pune-Patna-Pune Express (Weekly) will now run bi-weekly from July 6 onwards on Thursday and Sunday, and from Patna from July 8 on Saturday and Tuesday. 1561/1562/1563/1564 Miraj-Belgaum-Miraj Passenger will run six instead of five days a week. Of these, 1561/1562 and 1564 will run daily except Sunday, while 1563 will depart from Miraj daily except Saturday.

IndianExpress: LEADERS of all political parties in the Pune Municipal Corporation on Saturday approved the plan to purchase 200 new Pune Municipal Transport buses and hire 150 more buses from contractors.
Of the 200 buses which are to be purchased, 150 would be semi-low floor buses and 50-low floor buses. The 150 buses which are to be hired include 25 luxury buses. The luxury buses would ply on the roads where Bus Rapid Transit System would be introduced. The decision on purchase and hiring of buses would be taken after inviting tenders, the meeting decided.