News

IndianExpress: AFTER a respite from excessive downpour for a few days, the city got another spell of heavy showers that brought in 46.8 mm of rain and resulted in heavy discharge from all dams. With water entering several low-lying areas along the Mula, the Mutha and the Pavana, over 1,058 families had to be evacuated after a flood alert was sounded in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad on Sunday morning.

In Pune, the usual suspects — dwellings on Sinhagad Road, Pulachiwadi, Kamgar Putla and Patil Estates — were inundated and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) shifted over 673 families to temporary shelters. Similarly, over 385 families living close to the Pavana and the Mula riverbed at Sangvi, Pimpri, Dapodi and Phugewadi were shifted to transit camps by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

IndianExpress: ROYAL Western India Turf Club (RWITC) managing committee member and Raymonds Group chairman emeritus Vijaypat Singhania on Sunday resigned from the committee.

The resignation comes after a two-week battle between the industrialist and other members of the RWITC committee, following Singhania’s letter to the State Finance Minister suggesting that the Mahalaxmi Race Course be shut down. The letters had sent shock waves through the club members who had subsequently demanded that Singhania be asked to step down as committee member.

IndianExpress: SCIENTIFIC research can be conducted even at the secondary school level, Department of Science and Technology Secretary T Ramasami said, while inaugurating the International Nanobioscience Conference (INBC) 2006, organised jointly by the Maharashtra Association for Cultivation of Science’s Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), along with the Asia-Pacific Nanotechnology Forum (APNF) on Sunday.

Speaking of the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology to develop quality manpower in the field of science, Ramasami said that permission to conduct research would be granted to secondary schools in order to attract students towards the field of science. He also said that greater job opportunities would be created for science degree-holders.

IndianExpress: In a shocking incident, a father and a son were brutally murdered by four unidentified people in Bhosari in the wee hours of Sunday. Rajkumar Rajkaran Agarwal (45) — a child specialist — was declared dead when he was brought to the YCM hospital, Pimpri while his son Amol (18) succumbed to his injuries later.

Agarwal reached his Indrayani Nagar bungalow on Sunday midnight after attending a discussion on AIDS at Haveli Hotel.

According to the complaint filed by Agarwal’s wife, Sunita, four unidentified people entered the bungalow using the door of son Amol’s bedroom, which was left open.

As they entered, they threatened Sunita to hand over her ornaments. When Agarwal protested, two of them attacked him using sharp weapons causing injuries on his stomach and head. They also attacked Amol who started screaming for help after seeing his father injured

IndianExpress: An announcer of Pune Fire Brigade was thrown in flood water by angry residents of Gandhinagar slums on Sunday evening when the firemen had reached there to rescue them.

According to the trade union secretary of firemen Ajay Goye, when firemen reached the slums on Sunday evening, the residents were fuming for the delay in help reaching them. ‘‘One of our firemen — Tulshidas Gopaldas Swami — was announcing on mike for the families to leave the place and help us in the rescue process,’’ Goye said.

As a handicapped person was rescued, other residents who were upset because they were not helped, threw the announcer in the water that had accumulated, Goye said

IndianExpress: Dr Suresh Advani, oncologist inaugurated the cancer day care centre of Ruby Hall Clinic. Day care concept for cancer has been popularised in the west and now Ruby hall is introducing the same for the first time in India.

Day care is a specialized oncology unit that provides highly skilled protocol based convenient and pleasant chemo administration for cancer patients without hospitalisation.

 The day care centre aims at domiciliary treatment where the patient gets more time to spend with family and loved ones at home rather than being hospitalised.

Advani said that cancer treatment generally would involve the patient to visit or stay in a hospital for a few weeks, but the day care concept has changed it all.