News

TOI :
PUNE: Close to 150 first- and second-year students of the Sinhagad Dental College (SDC) launched an indefinite protest in front of the college building on Tuesday following the college’s refusal to give them the university exam forms in the wake of the ongoing dispute with students over revised tuition fees.

In December, 2007, the SDC management had asked the students to pay a differential fee running into Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 2.90 lakh per head, following the Supreme Court-assigned and the state-appointed Shikshan Shulka Samiti’s (fee fixation panel) approval of the revised fee.

The college started in 2006-07 with a batch of 50 students, who were admitted against an ad hoc fee of Rs 94,600 each and the same was continued while admitting another 100 students in 2007-08 as the fee panel had not given its decision on the ‘cost-based’ fee structure for SDC. This was primarily because the college was only able to prepare and submit its maiden audited balance sheet for 2006-07, days after the commencement of 2007-08 academic year. The balance sheet forms the basis for the panel to work out and approve fees for colleges.

In November, 2007, the panel approved an interim fee of Rs 2.40 lakh per student for the 2006-07 batch and Rs 2.58 lakh each for the 2007-08 batch. The differential works out to Rs 1.45 lakh per student each year i.e. the first batch students, now into their second year of studies, have to pay over Rs 2.90 lakh while the 2007-08 batch students have to pay over Rs 1.45 lakh.

Terming the hike as highly “unreasonable”, the students have been agitating against the same and they have moved a review petition before the fee panel in Mumbai. The students got professional chartered accountants (CA) to decipher the balance sheet submitted by the SDC to the…More

TOI :
PUNE: Hundreds of farmers, led by former state minister Bhai Vaidya, on Tuesday protested at Karegaon, in Shirur taluka, about 50 km from here, opposing the special economic zone (SEZ) schemes of the government.

The agitation began at 11 am even as the protestors moved to Shikrapur and later to Phutanwadi on the Ahmednagar highway. The protest was part of a nationwide campaign against SEZs. The main demands are that the SEZ Act should be withdrawn and a national debate should be held on agriculture, land acquisition and development.

The government is acquiring about 4,000 acres of land under SEZ in Karegaon alone against the wishes of the farmers. Vaidya said, “The government calls it ‘engine of growth industry’. But countries like China and Cuba have developed solely on agriculture. Only because a nation is rich does not mean it is a developed country. But, believe it or not, few years from now, India’s progress will completely depend upon farmers.”

The protestors want the government to withdraw the land acquisition notices issued to people in the village. Vaidya said the government must not endorse this acquisition. “By taking to the streets, the people have shown their displeasure and the government has to acknowledge this. SEZs and contract farming acts should be scrapped. Many factories have come up on agricultural land in villages, but it is disappointing that villagers have not got employment. The factories are automated and manpower is hardly required, and the farmers stand to lose.”

The village women, who also gathered here, shouted slogans like ‘chale jao (go away). Rekha Chand said, “If we sell our land, we will be left with nothing. Where will we go and what will we do? Agriculture is our only occupation. What will we eat after selling our land?” Some of the villagers have about four acres of…More

TOI : PUNE: A three-member gang owing allegiance to gangster Ravi Pujari allegedly opened fire on a police team after the team thwarted their attempt to eliminate a Mumbai-based builder in front of Clover Heights on the NIBM-Mohamedwadi road at 12.30 in the afternoon on Tuesday.

The trio fled on two motorcycles, but the policemen gave them a hot chase and opened fire in retaliation. A bullet pierced the tyre of one of the bikes and it went out of control and fell down. The man on the other motorcycle stopped to help his accomplices. The police managed to overpower the trio and recovered two imported pistols, each worth around Rs 1.5 lakh, and 10 live cartridges from their possession. The police also seized the bikes.

The suspects were identified as Asif Yusuf Khan (28) of Lonavla, Kiran Nandu Kumar Salvi (25) of Yerawada and Ravindra Macchindra Helkar (40) of Nagpur Chawl. All the three are criminals on police records.

The trio had come to eliminate the builder, whose construction work is in progress at Mohamedwadi, for not paying extortion money to Pujari who is reportedly operating from Malaysia.

According to the police, Pujari has been demanding money from the builder for quite sometime. He has allegedly threatened the builder with dire consequences and had ordered his men to teach him a lesson for not meeting his demands.

The builder visits Pune twice a week for supervising the construction work. On Tuesday, the gang, armed with pistols, went to the construction site and inquired about the whereabouts of the builder. The security men at the site suspected some foul play and tried to intercept the gangsters during which one of the suspects opened fire at the gate before fleeing, said Sachin Bhosale, manager of the Central Investigation and Security Services Limited which is providing security at the…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as the PMC’s ‘No-vehicle day’ entered its second week on Tuesday, elected members continued to turn a blind eye to the green initiative.

A large number of four-wheelers were seen on the premises of the PMC headquarters, even though an appeal was made by municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi and standing committee chairman Shyam Deshpande that either bicycle or public transport should be used to come to the PMC on Tuesdays.

The PMC’s administrative staff responded well this week too, with as many as 885 employees, including senior
officers, coming on bicycles or buses. Most of the corporators preferred to use their cars.

Deputy mayor Chandrakant Mokate said he was not supportive of the idea because it is very difficult to cycle such a long distance from his residence in Kothrud to the PMC.

“Such an event is fine if it is held once a year. However, on a regular basis, I think it is highly impractical. We as elected members have to travel to different parts of the city and reach places on time. How will that be possible if we use bicycles. It is okay for those who only travel to work and back home during the day,” Mokate added. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: A 13-year-old from Kolhapur, apparently suffering from a psychological disorder, was allegedly raped by a 28-year-old man in a city lodge. The girl had fled home following a dispute.

Sub-inspector D.G. Pisal said the victim suffers from a psychological disorder of getting agitated over small issues. “Following a fight, she left home in a fit of rage on March 11. She took an ST bus and reached Swargate on March 12,” he said.

The girl was not sure where to stay in Pune. She then took another bus to Kolhapur and stayed at the ST stand there on the night of March 12. However, instead of returning home, she came back to Pune on March 12.

She was sitting on a bench at the Swargate ST stand on March 13 when Santosh Tukaram Ghadge-Patil (28) sat beside her. He picked a conversation with the girl and convinced her to stay with him.

“The accused consoled her and promised to purchase a mobile for her. He also said he would not scold her and won her confidence,” Pisal said. Ghadge-Patil took her to a lodge on Satara road and repeatedly raped her till March 19. The accused, hailing from Sangli, has been staying at the lodge for some time.

Meanwhile, the victim, during the accused’s absence, got hold of his mobile phone and called one of her school friends. The friend informed the victim’s parents, who approached the Kolhapur police, where a missing complaint was already filed.

The Kolhapur police then traced the mobile number of the accused. Finally, Ghadge-Patil was nabbed and the victim was rescued. The case was then transferred to the Swargate police station.

Ghadge-Patil is said to be working at the Bharati Vidyapeeth as a lab technician. He has been remanded to
judicial custody till March…More