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TOI : PUNE: The anti-extortion cell of the Pune police has arrested three people for kidnapping a cellphone shop owner from Balajinagar on Friday evening and holding him hostage at Wakad. The accused were nabbed when they came looking for the victim, who had managed to escape from their clutches, at the Pune railway station on Saturday.

Police inspector Bhanupratap Barge said Jitendra Tandale (23) was kidnapped from his shop on the Pune-Satara road on Friday evening for not paying extortion money.

Around eight people barged into Tandale’s shop and took him to a place near Jagtap Dairy in Wakad. Two other men were waiting in the room where Tandale was beaten black and blue. “The accused snatched Rs 3,000 from him and forced him at gun point to call his family to give them Rs 1 lakh by Saturday evening. They kept on beating him the whole night,” Barge said. The accused had earlier demanded Rs 30,000 from Tandale, but he had refused to yield to their demand.

Tandale managed to escape on Saturday morning when his abductors left for Yerwada. He then reached Wakad chowk and sought help from passers-by. A four-wheeler driver took him to the Wakad police chowky, from where he was taken to the Sahakarnagar police station.

The police arrested the three accused from the Pune railway station when they had come there thinking that Tandale would come to the station to leave the city. The arrests were made within four hours of the crime being registered at the Sahakarnagar police station.

The accused have been identified as Aditya Kamble (26), Sidheshwar Gunecha (18) and Nilesh Chavan (21).

Kamble and Gunecha are on police records for extortion and Kamble was externed once. The police are now on the lookout for the seven others involved in the crime…More

TOI : PUNE: Civic activist Vijay Kumbhar has decided to slap a legal notice on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for leasing out prime properties violating the orders of Bombay High Court and the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (BPMC) Act.

Kumbhar, who is currently inspecting the civic records along with other Right to Information (RTI) activists, told TOI: “We found that many prime properties owned by the corporation were illegally given on lease. If the PMC fails to clarify its stand on the matter within a month, we will approach the high court.

On December 17, 2003 the high court had ordered that municipal properties should be leased only through a tendering system. “The PMC has ignored the order and also breached the BPMC Act. It is surprising that the then municipal commissioner who signed the lease contract didn’t bother to bring the issue to the notice of the standing committee,” Kumbhar said, adding that any matter which involves More than Rs 5,000 should be brought to the notice of the committee.

“Many of the lease contracts are not available with the PMC. When the contract with Sai Services was signed on October 2006, the property was already with the firm. How could the commissioner agree for a contract where the amount involved was Rs 84,829 (rent). The matter should have been brought to the standing committee,” said Kumbhar.

The PMC has leased out more than 1,100 prime properties worth crores of rupees to various people and organisations mainly related to politicians. The contracts of many properties have expired but the PMC has not bothered to get back these properties.

The high court had asked the PMC to frame a policy on leasing out properties. “We don’t know why the PMC is leasing out its properties when the policy is not framed.�…More

TOI : PUNE: Aiming at strengthening its vote bank in western Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has announced a ‘halla bol’ rally from Shivneri fort in Junnar on January 16 to protest against the indifferent attitude of the government towards farmers.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil said the rally would cover villages of Pune, Kolhapur and Sangli as the incidents of farmers’ suicides were reported from these regions too.

The rally will start in the presence of the leader of the opposition, Ramdas Kadam, and will conclude on February 3 in Pune in the presence of party president Uddhav Thackeray. “This is the first agitation for farmers to be held in western Maharashtra. Like their counterparts in Vidharba and Marathwada, farmers in western Maharashtra are also suffering under the burden of loans and suicides are increasing,” Patil said.

The government was showing very little interest in farmers’ issue, Patil said. “They have almost forgotten the promises they had made during the elections. Farmers’ loans are not waived, they are not getting enough electricity and their produce is not getting a good price.”

MLA Arvind Sawant said, during the rally, farmers’ meetings would be held in the talukas places of the three districts and at every village of Pune district…More

TOI : PUNE: The states and municipal corporations can expect more funds from the Union government in the days to come, said Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state (PMO) while speaking at the meeting of Congress party corporators and office-bearers at Hotel Kalasagar in Kasarwadi on Saturday. He attributed the expected hike in funds to improving reserves of the Union government.

Speaking about the constraints of the coalition government, which is giving less opportunities to Congressmen in the ministry, Chavan admitted, “There is imbalance in allocation of ministerial positions in the state. As a result, every deserving Congressman does not get ministerial position. There is a Congress-led coalition government at the Centre too and there too we need to make adjustments,” adding that “governance would improve if there was a single party government at the Centre.”

Chavan expressed concern over increasing gap between the rich and poor and also regional imbalances. The industries are not coming up in rural areas. The economy is growing despite political instability but hurdles exist on the way of taking these benefits of growth to the common man, he added.

Chavan also admitted said that the Congress is facing hardships in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad township. He, however, appreciated the works done by Congressmen in such adverse conditions.

Earlier, Bhausaheb Bhoir, president of Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Congress said that no one is above the party. He, however, asked Chavan to give important positions to Congressmen from the township in various committees as recognition of their hard work.
Malayalees from the township felicitated Chavan on the occasion. Speaking to TOI, Congress corporator Babu Nair said that he has submitted a memorandum to Chavan demanding increase in the frequency of Pune-Ernakulam Purna express. He has demanded it to be run daily for the benefit of four lakh Malayalees living in Pune. He has also asked to divert…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation Engineers’ Association has threatened a ‘stop work’ agitation demanding removal of the state-deputed officers, municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi warned that action would be taken against those participating in the agitation.

On Thursday, the engineers’ association issued a statement that they oppose the deputation of state government officers in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

“Two officers have been sent on deputation few months back. We were told that they are on temporary posting until the projects allocated to them are completed. But, now, an additional city engineer has also been deputed. We will not accept this. If these officers are not removed within 15 days, we will go on stop work agitation,” said Mukta Manohar, chairman of the association.

Pardeshi, however, said on Friday that the agitation would be considered illegal and action would be taken against them.

“There is no reason for anybody to agitate as the deputed officers are not substitutes to anybody. I have not taken any decision on their demands yet, but it will be ensured that the pace of work in the city is not hampered,” Pardeshi said.

The conflict between state-appointed officials and PMC engineers has time and again surfaced since June, when two state engineers were handed over the charge of a separate cell for JNNURM projects.

The appointment of ‘outsiders’ has spread discontent among PMC engineers, although the state-deputed officials were not appointed as replacements…More