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IndianExpress:  A day after district guardian Minister Ajit Pawar decided to intervene and play mediator in the the Pune Bus Rapid Transit pilot project imbroglio, arch rival MP Suresh Kalmadi succeeded in getting six tenders of the Rs 65 crore project approved in the Pune Municipal Corporation standing committee on Tuesday. Adding to the glee of Congress ranks was the fact that two Shiv Sena members — Dipak Gawade and Raja Balkawade — rebelled and joined hands with the ruling party.

The standing committee also cleared disbursement of Rs 10 crore to the Pune Municipal Transport for purchases of buses, approved by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

IndianExpress: The tree authority of the Pune Municipal Corporation is again finding itself in the midst of a controversy. This time for having a lunch at the Pu La Deshpande Garden in the name of a special meeting to work out its budget for the fiscal 2007-2008.

The meeting, held on Tuesday afternoon, was attended by a good number of tree authority members. However, Municipal Commissioner Nitin Kareer who heads the tree authority was not present.

The meeting was followed by a lunch and on the menu card were items of fish and chicken. The meeting has evoked sharp reaction from activists who alleged that the food was cooked on the lawns at the garden.

IndianExpress: Three incidents of burglary were reported in the city on Monday. In separate incidents, thieves fled with ornaments worth 2.6 lakh from Chatuhshrungi, Rs 49,500 from Nigdi and Rs 60,000 from Yerwada.

In the first incident, Dushyant Dattatreya Borse (53), a resident of Old Sangvi, lodged a complaint with Chatuhshrungi police saying an unidentified thief broke open the lock of his flat when he was away and decamped with gold ornaments and cash worth Rs 2.6 lakh

IndianExpress: The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Crime Branch on Tuesday, seized 170 gms of brown sugar worth Rs 15,000 in the domestic market. They have arrested Chetan Adagle (21) in connection with the drug peddling.

The ANC team headed by police inspector Sheshrao Suryavanshi raided the residence of Savitribai More (61), grandmother of Adagle, at the Indira Nagar slums on Tuesday afternoon and recovered packets of brown sugar

IndianExpress: Close on the heels of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers assaulting civic staff carrying out road repairs in Kothrud area, workers of the Shiv Sena ransacked Pune Municipal Corporation’s Sahakarnagar ward office on Tuesday afternoon.

Ward officer Sunil Kesari said the workers of Shiv Sena’s Sukhsagar Nagar unit barged inside the ward office during lunch time and damaged the furniture.

TechNews: Microsoft has launched its fall Xbox Live Update loaded with new features designed to attract nonmembers to the gaming service. With 1080p resolution, gamers can have the best high-definition view of game and video content currently available. They can also stream video from a Windows PC, or play video files from data CDs and DVDs, or from storage devices like USB 2.0 flash drives.