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TOI : PUNE: Protesting against the film ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, the Rajput community in Junnar, around 90 km from here, has had its screening stopped since Sunday. This is the only place in Maharashtra where the film has run into trouble.

“The storyline of the film insults our community. We oppose the way Jodhabhai’s character has been portrayed,” president of the youth wing of the Junnar Tehsil Rajput Organisation Baba Pardeshi told TOI.

“The censorship certification of the film should be probed. While giving the go-ahead, the film board needs to look at every aspect. In fact, a cautious approach needs to be taken while clearing a film, which contains issues that may hurt public sentiments,” Pardeshi said, adding that their agitation also questions the issue of clearance by the film censorship board.

The Junnar Tehsil Rajput Organisation took out a morcha to a theatre screening the film on Sunday, following which the concerned theatre stopped the screening.

“Currently, the film has been opposed only in our tehsil in the state. The stir is for a cause and we’ll continue this till we get our desired result. We want to take our agitation to other parts of the district and state,” secretary of the organisation Sanjay Rajput said.

Highlighting the presence of the Rajput community in the Junnar region, Sanjay said the number has increased sizeably over the last few years. Around a thousand people of this community live in the main town area.

Meanwhile, the Junnar police has said that no case had been filed in this matter against any party. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Dilip Band on Monday exposed the ‘fraudulent practice’ of garbage collection and transportation contractors who dump tonnes of construction debris at the Moshi garbage site.

Secret cameras installed at the Moshi garbage depot revealed how contractors dump debris, he said. Of the 700 tonnes of garbage dumped everyday, nearly 400 tonnes is construction debris. The contractors stand to gain more money on the basis of the weight of the garbage dumped.

Taking a tough stand against the contractors who are on strike for the past two days, Band said the municipal corporation will make separate arrangements for disposing of garbage. Band declared the strike as illegal.

A total of 55 trucks are used everyday to transport garbage from the city to the garbage depot. The contractors have been appointed on annual contract. The PCMC spends nearly Rs 4.5 crore per year for transporting garbage.

Band said the PCMC has the necessary number of compactors to collect and transport garbage to the dumping site. The civic body will start a separate system for garbage disposal and will no longer depend on contractors, he added. The contractors resorted to a flash strike since Saturday demanding a hike in their service charges. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: A sudden and steady rise in the temperature has taken citizens by surprise. However, the met department says that it is just a precursor to the summer.

Notably, barring two days, the city has been witnessing a continuous increase in the maximum temperature for the last ten days.

“Clear skies are leading to increase in maximum temperature, which indicates hotter conditions in the days to come. The conditions are likely to remain so for the next 48 hours,” a met department official said, adding that a cyclonic circulation is currently present in Punjab. One trough system extends up to Telangana through Rayalaseema, south interior Karnataka and Kerala.

The city has been witnessing an increase in temperature since February 9. During this period, the city witnessed a very marginal decrease in temperature only once — 33.5 degrees on February 14. With reduction of 0.3 degrees city recorded 33.2 degrees on 15th. The lowest maximum temperature during this period was 25.8 degrees Celsius on 9th. The highest maximum temperature was 34.9 degrees on 18th while on Wednesday it dipped marginally to 34.3 degrees celsius.

Highlighting the other reasons for the rise in temperature, the met department official said the presence of high and medium-level clouds over the city is playing a major role. These clouds did not bring rainfall to the city but helped in the increase of temperature.

Asked if this means an early onset of summer, the official said this is the transition period between winter and summer. “The summer has not started yet,” the met department official said. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as Puneites look forward to the introduction of new trains in the Union railway budget to be presented later this month, the start of the Pune-Nashik daily express train, announced in last year’s budget, has been deferred due to safety clearances.

The train is scheduled to go via the 28-km Karjat-Panvel route, but the railway authorities are still examining the safety aspects related to running of a passenger train on this section. Goods trains already run this route but the Pune-Nashik train may possibly be the first passenger train to do so.

There have been no problems so far regarding running of goods trains. However, for passenger trains the Indian Railways has to make sure that the route is completely safe, a senior railway official told TOI. Authorities point out that just like the Konkan Railway route, precautions have to be taken regarding possible landslides or falling of boulders.

The train will be introduced immediately after the safety clearance is given, the authorities said. Incidentally, the railways has already announced the timings of the train. The train will cover a distance of 291 km in 12 hours and 25 minutes.

Officials said availability of a rake was not a problem in starting the train. Similarly, the introduction of the train has also not been delayed due to other reasons.” If there are any such issues, they can be sorted out. The train needs to be introduced first,” the official said.

When the train finally does start, it will provide easy access to the Konkan Railway route, from where a number of South-bound trains run daily. Similarly, Puneites can take the train early in the morning to reach New Mumbai. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: In a shocking incident, a 23-year-old married woman was gangraped by seven people, including two autorickshaw drivers, on Monday night at an under-construction site on Saswad road. The local residents, after hearing her screams, informed the police who managed to arrest the culprits.

The victim, who hails from Saswad, told the police that she was waiting at an ST bus stop on Saswad road on Monday night when a rickshaw with two passengers approached her and asked where she was heading. When she informed them that she was going to Saswad, the rickshaw driver told her that they too were going in the same direction and told her to board the rickshaw.

However, instead of taking her to Saswad, the rickshaw driver drove towards an under construction site at Behade towers on Saswad road. Soon, four more men came to the place in another auto-rickshaw. The seven accused then took turns to rape her.

When the local residents heard the woman’s screams, they contacted the Gadital police chowky who rushed to the spot and managed to arrest Ajay Shivaji Mitkare (21) and Sadashiv Dynaneshwar Jadhav (24), both rickshaw drivers and residents of Mahatma Phule Vasahat in Hadapsar. Later, two other accused — Balu alias Rajesh Prabhakar Kamble (23) and Santosh Sadashiv Lohikare (22), both residents of the same location, were picked up by the police. The remaining three suspects — Chetan Shelar, Ramesh Bhosale and one Amol (a minor) — were rounded up late in the evening.

The victim, a mother of two, has been deserted by her husband. On Monday, she had gone to Chakan with her aunt to see her nephew. As she had some work in Pune, she told her aunt to go ahead and made her board a bus from the Katraj bus stop. After finishing her work, she was waiting at…More