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TOI : KOLHAPUR: Nine people were booked under charges of murder after a suspected thief, who was injured in an assault by a mob, died in the government hospital here on Wednesday.

The victim’s relatives, who are from a backward community, said he was not a thief and was beaten up due to personal reasons. They demanded that the suspects be booked under the SC and ST Atrocities Act.

The victim, Prasad Tarachand Shinde (21) of Sangavde village of Karveer taluka, was beaten up by the mob in Chavanwadi village on March 12. The mob suspected that Prasad and his accomplice Sachin Sanadi (22) were involved in the theft of electricity cables in the village.

The police rescued Prasad and admitted him to the government hospital. Prasad, who was discharged from the hospital, was later readmitted on March 21 and died on Wednesday morning.

The suspects Ashok Tirpankar, Sandeep Kashinde, Kuber Walve, Vishal Patil, Sukumar Patil, Santosh Patil, Balgonda Patil and Sanjay Patil were booked for murder under IPC 302. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: The much-awaited Pune-Nashik daily express train will finally begin on March 31. And, this will also be the first passenger train to go via the Karjat-Panvel route.

Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathwa will flag off the train from Nashik road junction at 11 am on Monday. This will be a special run. From Pune, the train will start from April 1 onwards. The Central Railways had said that the train would be introduced by the end of this month. Previously, the introduction of the train had been delayed for over a year.

The timings of the train have been changed following representations made by citizens in Nashik. As per an earlier schedule announced by the Ministry of Railways, the train was supposed to leave Pune every morning and reach Nashik road in the afternoon. However, as per the revised timings, the train will leave Nashik road at 5.35 am.

The train will cover a distance of 291 km in six-and-a-half hours. It will have 12 coaches, eleven second-class chair cars and one AC chair car. Reservations for the train will begin at 8 am on March 29.

Expressing satisfaction at the introduction of the train, founder president of the Pune Pravasi Sangh, Kanubhai Trivedi, said he had been making the demand for the Pune-Nashik train for the past 30 years.

“This is among the 26 trains which have been introduced due to the efforts of the Pune Pravasi Sangh,” he said. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Information Technology (IT) and ITES units, hitherto considered non-polluting industries and therefore exempt from getting no-objection certificates from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will now have to comply with the pollution control norms.

The MPCB, in a recent directive, said that the provisions of the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act, Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act, and Environment Protection Act are applicable to IT and ITES industries.

The MPCB authorities have observed that IT and ITES units do generate pollution during the establishment and the operational phase. The consumption of water and subsequent generation of waste water and solid waste through canteens is sizeable and this requires proper treatment and disposal. IT units will now either have independent facilities to treat domestic effluents or have a common facility for all industries.

The MPCB authorities have also said that IT industries install high capacity generators for uninterrupted power, and this gives rise to air as well as noise pollution. They also generate e-waste and this requires proper treatment and disposal.

IT and ITES units with canteen facilities will be required to submit applications to regional officers for processing. The regional officers will also monitor the compliance by industries.

Significantly, MPCB authorities were induced to take a review on the issue of pollution by IT industries after it received a complaint against a unit of an IT major at the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Hinjewadi last year. The complaint was that the company was releasing untreated domestic effluents from its canteen causing pollution. Acting on the complaint, the MPCB authorities directed the IT major to construct its own effluent treatment plant.

The ambiguity on whether pollution control norms were applicable to IT and ITES industries was because one of the points of the Maharashtra IT and ITES policy, 2003,…More

TOI : Vineeta Deshpande (TOI Photo) PUNE: City-based Vineeta Deshpande, a clerk with the Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB), has achieved the rare distinction of becoming the first woman from cantonment boards in Pune and the third in the country to be promoted as chief executive officer (CEO) of a cantonment board.

Speaking to TOI , she said that she has received a photocopy of the letter from Southern Command stating that that she has passed the examination for CEO and would receive the official promotion letter soon.

Deshpande is a clerk in the accounts department of the KCB and joined as a junior clerk in 1985.

She would be promoted gazetted officer of the Indian Defence Estate Service (IDES) B Group. She could be appointment CEO of any one of the 62 cantonment boards in the country. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: With the higher secondary certificate examinations getting over on Friday, it’s time for students to gear up for the plethora of career-charting entrance exams for professional courses like medical and engineering.

A total seven common entrance tests (CETs) of significance for students in and around Pune are lined up within a span of 55 days - between April 6 and June 1.

In fact, the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College’s (AFMC) as well as the Association of Managements of Private Unaided Medical and Dental Colleges, ASSO CET 2008 are scheduled for the same day on May 4.

To the relief of the students, the timings of these two exams are not clashing and are spread over morning and afternoon sessions.

The AFMC will be filling up 130 seats (105 boys and 25 girls) through the all-India entrance exam, which is regarded as the toughest of the CETs.

The ASSO CET 2008 is expected to draw a much larger number of students considering that the exam is the gateway to 5,975 health science courses seats at 110 private unaided colleges across Maharashtra.

This includes 970 seats at 10 unaided medical and 1,630 seats at 19 dental colleges. The rest are for courses in Ayurveda, physiotherapy, occupational medicine and nursing.
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TOI : Rani Mukherjee (TOI Photo) AHMEDNAGAR: Bollywood actor Rani Mukherjee will have to pay Rs 66 lakh to the state government to regain possession of a plot that she had ‘purchased’ from a real estate agent in Shirdi.

The government had attached the plot after it was found that the land originally belonged to the Maharashtra state farming corporation and was extended on a lease.

The leased land changed hands twice thereafter, before it was divided into 17 plots and sold to various people, including the actress.

Shrirampur sub-divisional officer Nandkumar Suryavanshi told TOI that the ownership claimed by Mukherjee and 16 others was illegal. She and others will have to pay as per prevailing market rates to reclaim the plots. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More