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TOI : PUNE: A nurse, who has been arrested in connection with the murder of garment merchant Dattatreya Peranna Yemul, was remanded to police custody till March 19 by Judicial Magistrate First Class Sanjay Yadav on Thursday.

The suspect, Meena alias Anita Rajendra Khandabale (34), was arrested from her home at Super Indira Nagar in Bibvewadi on the basis of phone records of Yemul. The arrest was made late on Wednesday evening.

Police inspector (crime) Shailendra Shinde said Anita had befriended Yemul during morning walks at Sarasbaug. “Yemul and Anita met about six months ago at Sarasbaug,” he said. She works as a nurse in a private hospital.

Shinde said they are trying to get the details of other two people allegedly involved in the murder. “Robbery could the motive for the crime because the victim used to wear expensive gold ornaments.”

The Sahkarnagar police narrowed down on Anita from the telephone call list of Yemul. Anita had made the last call on Yemul’s mobile and had called probably invited him to the Taljai hill where he was murdered, the police said.

Yemul, a resident of Kotwal residency in Narayan Peth, was found murdered at the hill in Sahakarnagar early Sunday morning. He was the owner of Peshwai creations and Shrimant collections on Kumthekar road.

He went to the hill after attending a book release function at the MCCIA on Saturday evening. Yemul’s scooter at the crime scene helped the police identify him.
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TOI : Aarti Patil, principal of city-based Vidyanchal School is one of the 50 teachers selected from around the world for a scholarship for the advanced space academy programme for educators from NASA at Kennedy space centre, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama in June.

This scholarship is an extension of the educators’ space academy programme 2006 that Patil attended at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Two hundred candidates from 19 countries and 43 US states were selected through a rigorous application and selection process.

Now, out of those 200, total 50 teachers have been selected for the scholarship, and Patil is one of them. The selection was done based on their performance when it comes to implementation of what they learnt and creating interest among students towards subjects like science and mathematics through conducting various activities.

Though Patil says the news came to her as surprise, her activities at the school more than justify it. When Patil took over the principal’s post at Vidyanchal School in 2007, it proved to be a turning point. She introduced a range of activities in the school, which were an improvised version of what she learnt at the programme.

One of the important activities she introduced included establishing a science activity centre at the school. It enabled students to develop interest in science. Sky watching at night at Inter University Centre of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) was a major hit with the students and a learning experience for all. She took the traditional concept of mini-market and took it a step ahead so that children could ‘learn, earn and have fun’.

This year, students, with the help of their teachers, set up food stalls and a fun fair with games related to basic principles of science and mathematics. Patil clearly stated that the objective of the fair was…More

TOI : PUNE: Over 1,700 subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at Yerawada have been facing a tough time for the past few days as their landlines have either been cut off or have turned ‘noisy’.

BSNL has blamed the excavation work being carried out by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for the disruption in the service. R. C. Maheshwari, DGM, BSNL told TOI that the PMC does not inform them about such works.

“On Tuesday, we restored around 600 telephone lines near Deccan College. The line was damaged again at night as the road was dug up by the civic body,” he said.

He said that it is difficult to carry out repairs because the digging of roads is still on. “It will take at least four days to restore the lines as we are running short of cables. The restoration work has started at two places.”

Cables in the Yerawada area were severely damaged at four places, due to which over 1,100 phones went out of order. About 600 connections are down since Tuesday. Residents of Yerawada, Deccan College, Gunjan theatre and Nagar road are the worst hit.

Viraj Deokar said, “The telephone service is down since Wednesday and it has become difficult to establish any contacts. It is frustrating as the connections are continuously getting interrupted. The BSNL officials blame PMC for the interruption of service.”

Commercial offices in the area have also been affected. Sopan Chauhan, a shopkeeper from Yerawada, on Thursday said, “The landline in my shop is down for the last two days. It was restored for a few hours on Tuesday, but stopped again since Wednesday. I am losing business because my phone is not working.”

Pratapsheth Jalinder of Sunshine Systems said that the phones at his office have not been working since Wednesday. “This…More

TOI : PUNE: The 70,000-odd ‘kaamwali bais’ in the city have something to cheer about. If the state government has its way, these housemaids may soon get a fixed, minimum monthly pay, bonus, paid leave and flexible working hours.

The government plans to introduce a domestic worker welfare bill in the ongoing session of the state assembly ensuring stipulated benefits to housemaids in Pune, Mumbai and other select cities.

State marketing minister Harshvardhan Patil told TOI on Thursday that the bill is ready for tabling. Once the bill is introduced, a labour board will come into place, which will include representatives of maids, their employers and government officials.

The board will look into the rights of domestic workers and stipulate norms of payment, bonus, weekly offs and paid leaves.

All housemaids will be registered with the board. Maids working in cities like Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Nagpur and Aurangabad will be among the first to benefit.

The Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana (PSMS), an organisation of housemaids in the city, was a major force pushing the state to frame the bill.

Absence of formal employer-employee relationship, lack of organisation, poor bargaining power, low legislative protection and inadequate welfare measures are some of the reasons cited by the PSMS for the exploitation of maids. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More