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TOI : PUNE: Mercury levels dipped by 3 degrees to 7.7 deg C on Friday, as winter continued to chill inhabitants of the city.

“Prevailing cold wave conditions in parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra are likely to continue for the next 48 hours, making the weather cold,” deputy director general meteorology Dr A.B. Mujumdar told TOI, adding that the northerly flow is playing a major role in keeping the day and night temperatures below normal.

When asked about the repetitive fluctuation in temperature, he pointed out that the presence of a western disturbance in the north was a major factor in this fluctuation. On Thursday, the city witnessed a hike in temperature and recorded 10.9 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature on Wednesday was 8.3 degrees.

Meanwhile, Nashik witnessed the lowest temperature in the state on Friday and recorded 4.6 degree Celsius temperature. Mumbai too witnessed a fall in temperature and recorded 8.5 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1962.

Mahabaleshwar recorded 6.5 degree Celsius on Friday, less than half the normal temperature for Mahabaleshwar.
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TOI : PUNE: In a three-hour rescue operation, the fire-brigade department of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation rescued a 45-year-old labourer, Jayant Bhosale, who had accidentally fallen into a 20-ft deep manhole in Pimpri, along the Pune-Mumbai highway, on Friday morning.

Bhosale, a migrant labourer from Solapur and who stays with his relatives in Pimpri, fell into the open manhole opposite the Vallabhnagar bus stand around 5.15 am, when he left his home in search of work.

According to fire-brigade officer Kiran Gawde, the Sant Tukaramnagar office received a call at 8.50 am informing them about the incident.

A team was rushed to the spot immediately Ashok Ingavale, one of the firemen who rescued Bhosale, said a ladder was lowered into the manhole. But when Bhosale couldn’t climb the ladder, another fireman Bhausaheb Dharade went down the ladder to help him.

Dharade helped him climb the ladder. Bhosale could not climb the ladder on his own as he had become numb due to the severe cold conditions.

Bhosale, who was offered tea after coming up, said he could not see the open manhole as the place around the manhole was not illuminated. He was sent to the Yashwantrao Chavan hospital for treatment.
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TOI : PUNE: The elected members of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) unanimously rejected the civic administration’s proposal to hike water tax by 30 per cent.

Moreover, the civic administration’s proposal to collect Rs 750 as the minimum property tax for old properties, was reduced to Rs 550 by the committee.

The decisions were taken during a special standing committee meeting held here on Friday, to discuss the tax proposals tabled by civic administration.

In order to reduce the disparity in the general taxes collected from old and new properties, the civic administration had earlier tabled a proposal to collect a flat rate of Rs 750 from old properties which have an Annual Rateable Value of Rs 1 to 2,000.

However, the elected members sought the middle path and imposed a minimum tax of Rs 550 from old properties, expected to affect nearly 1,70,000 properties.

The civic administration’s plan to hike water tax, on the grounds that there has been no increase in it since the year 2000 and to make up for the expenditure on water projects, was not accepted by the elected members.

They rejected the proposal stating that it would be unfair to citizens…More

TOI : PUNE: Sixteen-year-old student, Elson Justine D’souza of the Sardar Dastur Junior College, was feared drowned at Kaamre village in Bhor taluka on Friday afternoon. The college had taken 228 students to a hilltop resort near Kaamre, when Elson and 15 other students set out on a trek to reach the dam spillover.

There were conflicting reports as to whether Elson was part of the group that entered the spillover for a swim or he slipped and fell in the waterbody while taking photographs of his friends enjoying the swim. The incident occurred around 12.20 pm.

API Balkrishna Salunkhe of the Bhor police said Elson had entered the spillover for a swim. However, college principal Savita Kamthe said Elson was standing outside and taking photographs of his friends when he slipped and fell into the spillover.

Sardar Dastur Schools Trust chairman Hoshang Moogat said the boys were not supposed to go on their own on the trek outside the resort. He said, farmers from nearby village were rushed to the spillover and managed to pull out one student but could not trace Elson.

Efforts were on till late Friday evening to trace the body as professional and local divers assisted by the fire-brigade personnel, were pressed into service.
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TOI : PUNE: Within 24 hours of the murder of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Anna Laxman Bandal by a group of 10-12 unidentified men at Erandawane, another daylight murder happened in the same area.

This time, six people allegedly killed Sunil Sakharam Dagade (35) of Parvati Darshan with sharp weapons on Friday. The incident took place at Gulavni road at Patwardhan Baugh in between 10.30 am and 10.45 am.

Police suspect that Dagade was murdered for his involvement in the murder of notorious criminal Mahesh Mengade in 2006. The Kothrud police have arrested six people within a few hours of the crime, said deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) C.H. Wakade.

The arrested were identified as Ganesh Sitaram Mengade (24) of Bhusari colony, Sachin Vilas Tupere (23) of Panmala on Sinhagad road, Hanumant Hiraman Satpute (27), Amol Hari Badhe (26), Santosh Nagu Kamble (20) and Datta Kandhu Amrale (25) all from Dattawadi…More