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indianexpress: THE 22-year-old reign of Congress over the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) came to an unceremonious end on Friday as it was relegated to the third position in the civic polls with 36 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine with 45 seats topped the list while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) emerged the single largest party with 42 seats.

A combination of issues – bad roads, traffic congestion and the BRTS fiasco — saw the Congress slump from 61-strong single largest party pedestal last time round. The BJP too lost seats, from 33 to 25 while the Sena added to its tally of 19 by one. The NCP was the biggest beneficiary, having gained 20 seats from 22 earlier.
 
Victorious NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the victory was a surprise. “I was expecting that both Congress and NCP will get around 50 seats each. The votes got divided between the Congress and the NCP and it was the BJP that benefited,” he said.

Pawar said the NCP will continue to support all developmental projects: “We will also ensure that the funds from Centre keep flowing for Pune’s development.”

 indianexpress: EVER since the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) pilot on the Swargate-Katraj route rolled out on December 4, there have been three deaths on the dedicated lane, leading to anger among citizens and halting of the service temporarily.

Despite this, the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) administration decided to have a trial run of the BRTS on the entire corridor from Hadapsar to Katraj to check the technicalities on Solapur Road on Friday. “We started the route to understand whether buses can turn at narrow junctions in the Cantonment area,” said a PMT official.
 
Officials said they did not know how long the ‘experimental trial’ would last. The PMC has not done much work on the Hadapsar-Swargate corridor especially the 4.5 km stretch of Solapur Road between Bhairoba Nala and Hadapsar Gadital. There are no bus stands and the Mahatma Gandhi stand off East Street where buses will be parked is under construction. PMT officials maintained only the bus shelters needed to be put up after which the route will be opened for operation.

The issue of how to operate the buses on the narrow stretch between Bhairoba Nala and Golibar Maidan has not been decided. During Friday’s trials, heavy vehicles and two-wheelers occupied the BRTS route while the BRTS buses plied on the motor vehicles’ lane.

The buses attracted a large number of passengers. “We had estimated a collection of Rs 3,000 in a single trip. However, the revenue collected was Rs 3,500,” said Hadapsar depot officials. Of the four trips the Hadapsar-Katraj BRTS buses made, one was cancelled mid-way after victorious candidates in the civic elections took out processions

indianexpress: INDIA cannot become a superpower unless women are actively involved in education, politics and society, said President of the National Women and Child Welfare Commission Rajani Patil. She was speaking at a discussion on ‘Women’s Empowerment: New Challenges’ organised by the Pune University’s Department of Adult and Continuing Education recently.

“The falling female sex ratio is a grave threat to the country. To change this, the mentality of the people will have to be changed,” said Patil. She called for more effective implementation of measures like Women’s Reservation Bill, Domestic Violence Act and the Hindu Succession Act. Patil also said the Panchayati Raj movement had enabled the ordinary woman to have equal opportunities.
 
Other speakers at the discussion included Dr Sanjeevani Mule, who reviewed statistical data related to women, while psychiatrist Ulhas Luktuke spoke about ‘Stress and Contemporary Lifestyle’. Director of the Pune University Women’s Studies Centre Vidyut Bhagwat spoke about important women’s movements in history and stressed the need for educated women to study women’s issues closely and create awareness.

indianexpress:  Tension prevailed in Kondhwa after supporters of newly-elected Sena corporator Mahadeo Babar clashed with those of his Nationalist Congress Party rival Sanjay Lonkar on Friday evening. The SRPF were forced to lathicharge a 300-strong mob, and eight sainiks were also arrested for rioting.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ramesh Biwal said: “Some NCP workers lodged a complaint against Sena activists with the Kondhwa police, saying they had been threatened on the day of the election and counting. When the sainiks learnt about this, they indulged in stoning on shops and NCP activists, which resulted in a clash.”

He added that the situation was tense but under control. “We have issued strict orders to quell the violence as the problem is likely to escalate.”

A heavy bandobast comprising two platoons of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and one striking force were deployed in Kondhwa as the police found it difficult to control the mob.