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TOI : PUNE: Security arrangements for the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) to be held in the city in October could run into trouble. The city police claim that the required infrastructure, including protective walls and perimeter roads, has not been provided and they have sent a letter to Pune divisional commissioner Nitin Kareer, explaining this.

Police officials said that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has identified 22 acres of land for parking 10,000 four-wheelers and 20,000 two-wheelers, but till date it has not taken steps to develop the area.

If necessary measures were not taken on a priority basis by May end, the rains would make the matter worse, the police said.

Meanwhile, Nitin Kareer said that the works related to the CYG were reviewed every week and the additional commissioner of police attended the meeting. All works were progressing smoothly.

He hadn’t received any complaints from police officials about lack of infrastructure facilities, Kareer added.

The main works like erecting a compound wall, watch towers, close-circuit cameras, perimeter roads, temporary control rooms and security cabins are on schedule and tenders process is on Kareer said.

When asked about the letter from the police chief, Kareer said he hasn’t received any such letter so far.

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TOI : PUNE: The Hinjewadi police have arrested a 48-year-old man, Deepak R. Chavan of Udaynagar in Pimpri, on charges of sexually assaulting and harassing a 32-year-old woman with whom he was involved in an extra-marital affair.

The incident came to light on Monday when the woman, who hails from Mahadev Colony in Thergaon, lodged a complaint alleging that she was carrying Deepak’s child and that the latter was forcing her to undergo a medical termination of pregnancy. When she refused, Deepak started harassing her, the complainant said.

Investigations revealed that Deepak’s first wife had died in a fire mishap. Later, he married again and has been staying with his second wife at Megha Heights at Udaynagar in Pimpri. Deepak did not stop at this and got into an affair with a third woman — the complainant in the present case.

PSI G.T. Aamne, who is investigating the case, told TOI that the complainant claimed that she came to know Deepak six years ago and the duo got married in a temple. “We have to examine the veracity of this claim.”

The complainant has charged that Deepak would often abuse and beat her besides sexually assaulting her at regular intervals. An offence of rape, harassment and assault has been registered in this connection. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: One of the country’s premier deemed universities, the Symbiosis International University (SIU) is on course to extending its footprint beyond the city.

The SIU’s Bangalore campus, a fully residential facility, is to go functional from June, 2008, while two similar campuses are coming up at Hyderabad and Noida from 2009-10.

Next, it is eyeing Gujarat for its fourth campus outside Pune, Symbiosis joint director Vidya Yeravdekar told TOI on Tuesday. “Demand for quality education as well as institutions for foreign students is driving our expansion strategy,” she explained.

Since its inception 25 years ago, the Pune-based SIU has grown to having 25,000 students for its various academic programmes at campuses in five locations across the city. The flagship institution is the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), which annually draws nearly 1 lakh MBA aspirants from across the country for admissions.

On April 9, Andhra Pradesh (AP) chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy laid the foundation stone for Symbiosis’ proposed campus on 40 acres of land in Hyderabad given by the AP government.

“SIU was among the three premier institutions (Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management and Tata Institute of Social Sciences being the other two) invited by the AP government to set up academic campuses in Hyderabad,” said Yeravdekar.

“We have got possession of the land and plan to develop five acres of the same in the first year to start SIBM-Hyderabad,” she said. The campus will have an academic building and residential facilities,” she said. Symbiosis institutes for law and engineering studies will begin from 2009-10 at Hyderabad. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: Here’s good news for Puneites. The water level in the wells has increased. The reason: citizens are more dependant on water supplied by the municipal corporation.

This was revealed by civic officials on Tuesday. Their reaction came as the first of its kind comprehensive survey on the status of thousands of existing wells in the city is almost complete.

The findings will be announced in two to three weeks’ time, civic officials told TOI.

There is a flip side to this as well. Apparently, with increasing pollution, water contamination is high and therefore water from some of the wells is not fit for consumption.

The officials said that there are at least 5,000 wells in the city. The survey work was assigned by the municipal corporation to the state government’s Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) and thousands of wells were surveyed in the last nine months. The salinity levels of water in all the wells was also recorded during the survey.

The officials said that there have been some old observation wells of the GSDA and based on the studies and observations, an inference could be drawn that overall the water levels have increased. This however is not true to all wells, the officials added. Some new water hotspots too have been identified.

Possibilities of old wells being closed down, either due to construction activity or because wells becoming redundant, have been ruled out. New wells however are not being constructed now as the preference is more on tapping groundwater by borewells.

The findings of the survey will be vital to the city in many ways, civic officials said. It would help the corporation in planning for the future and explore how water from the wells could be used for different purposes. Also, it would help in identifying areas…More

TOI : PUNE: City police commissioner Jayant Umranikar has sent a strongly-worded letter to Pune divisional commissioner Nitin Kareer, saying it would be difficult for the police to make security arrangements for the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) as the infrastructure required is not in place. The CYG will be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City at Balewadi here in October.

Speaking to TOI, Umranikar confirmed dispatching a letter to Kareer but refused to divulge details.

TOI has learned that the letter gives a detailed description of the infrastructure required by the police for making foolproof security arrangements for the CYG. This include construction of protective walls, perimeter roads inside and outside the sports complex and “holding areas” meant for screening the players, tourists and visitors.

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TOI : PUNE: In a shocking incident in NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s stronghold, the vice-chairman of Baramati’s agriculture produce market committee and her husband were thrashed and paraded in Pandare village of the taluka on April 10, allegedly by the family members of a girl who has eloped with their son.

According to political workers, a mob went to the house of Alka Jagtap in the morning and thrashed her and her husband, Suryakant. The woman’s saree and her husband’s shirt were ripped off and they were paraded through the village.

The trouble began after Jagtap’s son, Sachin, and one Mayuri Kokre eloped recently. While the Jagtaps are Marathas, the Kokres belong to the Dhangar community. The Kokres were upset with this inter-caste alliance. Sachin and Mayuri remain untraceable.

The police arrested 12 persons, but they were released on bail the very next day. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More