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TOI : PUNE: The Baner citizens’ forum, which managed to save the hills from further constructions, is now gearing up to execute its plan of setting up bio-diversity parks (BDPs) on the hills.

The mood has been upbeat among the residents of Baner since last month when the state government approved the proposal for BDPs on the hills in the fringe villages of Pune as part of the development plan (DP).

Forum president Lt. Col. (retd) Ashok Thombre said the battle to save the hills began in 2000. “We objected to a notification to change the zone of the hill tops and hill slopes. We pursued with the matter since then, firm in our decision not to let the hills fall in the hands of builders,” he recalled.

Thombre said it was the forum that had initially come up with the idea of having nature parks on the hills. “More than five years ago, we asked the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to incorporate the idea in the DP. The term BDP was coined much later,” he added.

The forum was formed ten years ago with the aim of improving the Baner-Balewadi area and to preserve its natural beauty in particular. The forum embarked on a three-pronged strategy to save the hills — regularly approaching the PMC officials for the BDPs; formulating their own action plan of planting trees; and, ensuring that the DP had adequate provisions for the potential green belt.

“We wrote innumerable letters to the state and civic officials and held campaigns which finally bore fruit in the form of the government’s approval to the BDPs. We are now ensuring that the BDPs are actually executed and we will not sit quiet till that is done,” Thombre said. The members have now sought information from the PMC under the Right to Information Act regarding implementation…More

TOI : PUNE: The post-mortem report into the death of the leopard that strayed in the Nigdi area on Tuesday and attacked nine persons reveals that the animal died of “haemorrhagic shock due to internal bleeding”.

The report states that the leopard had a lung infection and may also have had a blod clot in the aorta. The internal bleeding could have been caused as a result of the leopard falling from a building, doctors who conducted the post-mortem told TNN.

The doctors denied that an overdose of the tranquilizer used on the leopard could have caused its death. “The leopard was alive for nearly an hour and 45 minutes after it was administered the tranquilizer. Had there been an overdose, the effect would have been visible within five to ten minutes,” a doctor said.

Forest department officials told this paper that proper procedures had been followed during the capture of the leopard and the disposal of its carcass. It may be recalled that animal rights activists were upset over the haste in which the carcass was incinerated barely six to seven hours after the animal’s death. The officials said a detailed inquiry would follow after they examine the details of the post-mortem report.

Shirish Asthana, chief conservator of forests, Pune, told TNN that he had given permission for the post-mortem. He said no separate permission was required for the disposal of the carcass after the post-mortem is conducted. Asked whether there was any stipulated procedure on when and how to dispose the carcass, Asthana said it was for the first time that such a situation had arisen…More

TOI : PUNE: Girls from standards V to XI in schools managed by the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) will be imparted regular training in various self-defence techniques beginning next month. The first phase of the programme will commence next week under the guidance of Deepak Dubey, India’s only kung fu grandmaster trained at the famed Shaolin temple.

According to S.K. Sardana, PCB’s chief executive officer (CEO), around 1,500 girls studying in high-school standards will undergo the training. It will be implemented in the three cantonment-run high schools, including the Mahadji Shinde high school at Wanowrie Bazaar, the Ghorpadi village high school at Ghorpadigaon and the Dr Ambedkar memorial high school at Solapur Bazaar.

Jabalpur-based Dubey, who has spent a number of years in China to master kung fu at the legendary Shaolin Temple, has given quite a few performances in Pune over the past five months. Last week, the city police department had organised a special session by Dubey for the police personnel at the Shivajinagar parade ground.

According to Sardana, the first session in February would be conducted for four days at the Wanowrie Bazaar football ground. “We are only following an example set by various state education boards and private institutions to train school-children, especially girls, in some art form or the other,” said the CEO. He added that the PCB was spending Rs 15,000 for the first session.

Besides helping the schoolgirls brave any untoward situation, including assault and harassment, this courses in martial arts will help cultivate a skill, which greatly moulds an individual, according to PCB officials.

Asked about the inclusion of kids from the seven PCB-run primary schools and the two Urdu-medium schools at Camp, Sardana stated that Dubey’s session would only mark the initiation of a project which will be long-drawn.

“During vacations we may go for longer…More

TOI : PUNE: Eight people were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly trying to murder one Abasaheb Baburao Gaikwad of Dhayari, taluka Haveli, due to old enmity.

The suspects were identified as Ramesh Baban Khedekar, Sachin Baban Bhagwat, Nagesh Shivaji Kadam, Badal Prakash Pardeshi, Vivek Mahadeo Bhoite, Praveen Sunil Hande, Sagar Subhash Theurkar and Bablu Kadar Shaikh.

According to the Haveli police, Khedekar first shot at Gaikwad’s son Sandeshwith a country made revolver, but he escaped unhurt. The other accused, armed with sticks, stormed Gaikwad’s residence and assaulted Abasaheb, his wife and daughter. The accused later set Gaikwad’s shop ablaze. Abasaheb was admitted to a private hospital in Anandnagar…More

TOI : PUNE: Civil judge C.G. Saurkar on Wednesday sentenced former PCMC corporator Jayashree Gawli of Bhosari to six months of simple imprisonment and ordered her to pay a compensation of Rs 6.75 lakh to builder Nilesh Bhujbal in a cheque bounce case.

Gawli and her husband Tukaram had asked Bhujbal to construct a marriage hall at their plot in Bhosari. Out of the total construction cost of Rs 29.92 lakh, the couple paid Rs 15.67 lakh and promised to clear the remaining Rs 6.25 lakh.

Gawli had issued two cheques for Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh to Bhujbal in 2005. However, the cheques bounced due to insufficient balance. Gawli had been booked under the Negotiable Instrument Act…More