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TOI : PUNE: In a double tragedy, Santosh Pawar (29) of Kasewadi slums, a murder convict undergoing life imprisonment in Yerawada central prison, died at Sassoon hospital on Monday, while his grandmother (83) died of the shock from the news next day.

Pawar, who was in the jail for seven years, was suffering from jaundice for 15 days. He was shifted to the hospital on Saturday only after his condition got worsened.

Pawar’s relatives blamed negligence of jail authorities for his death but the authorities refuted the allegations.
“If he would have been hospitalised in time he wouldn’t have died,” said Pawar’s brother.

When contacted, jail superintendent Rajendra Dhamne refuted all the allegations. “Jail authorities took all the precautions and provided all the facilities to Pawar,” he said. Santosh’s grandmother of Mirabai Pawar (83) lost her life in the shock of her grandson’s death on Tuesday, said Rahul Chinka, a friend of Santosh. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : PUNE: A major tragedy was averted on Wednesday after alert residents prevented the public from setting ablaze a gas tanker which knocked down and killed a nine-year-old girl on the Pune-Mumbai highway.

An irate mob had gathered after the girl, identified as Sonali Das, was run over by the truck when she was going home around 4.30 pm.

The mob destroyed the windscreen of the tanker and was about to set the vehicle ablaze when passers-by on the highway intervened.

The Khadki police said that had the mob set the vehicle ablaze there would have been more fatalities.
According to the police, the truck driver lost control over the vehicle and hit the girl as she was crossing the busy road. Sonali, a resident of the Patil-Estate slums near Wakdewadi, died instantly.

The police said that Sonali’s father, Ajay Das, runs a tea stall near Wakdewadi subway on the old Mumbai-Pune highway. Sonali, who assisted her father in running the stall, was on her way to get milk when the accident occurred.

After the mishap, the driver, Ravindra Yadav, ran to safety after a mob threw stones at the vehicle.

The police have taken Yadav into custody for reckless driving under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More

TOI : Shridhar Kamble TIRAVADE/KOLHAPUR: An insolent society would not permit him and his ancestors basic human contact, keeping him in a ghetto outside his village in Kolhapur district for centuries. Fortunately, celestial wonders are devoid of such bias, allowing Dalit boy Shridhar Kamble to have his head in the stars, literally.

Impressed by 17-year-old Shridhar’s theory of galaxy evolution, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invited the farm labourer’s son into their fold as a junior scientist.

“It’s a proud moment for all of us. We feel like touching the stars ourselves,” say people from the Dalit basti in the dusty Tiravade village as people from neighbouring villages and the media make a beeline to visit Shridhar’s tiny mud house.

Shridhar, who has appeared for the HSC exams, took part in a research competition where he submitted a summary paper on galaxy evolution called ‘Huge black holes stifle star formation’. This won him a $10,000 scholarship. The doors of Colorado University have also opened for Shridhar to join their Bachelor of Science (Astronomy) course. He will be joining the course in August 2008.

“I always believed that education alone would open the doors of opportunities,” says Shridhar’s mother Kanchan. “Shridhar was always a bright child and we put in all efforts to give him an education. Today, our efforts have paid off.”

In fact, Shridhar had won the young scientist award from the Bhabha Research Institute when in the eighth standard. Since then, astronomy has been his passion.

But the US sojourn will come at a price. “I have to bear the cost of education for the first two years,” says Shridhar. “For the third year, NASA will give me a scholarship. For the visa, I need a bank statement showing $45,000 in my parents’ account or in the account of a sponsor. We have sold…More

TOI : PUNE: The frequency of the lone international flight service from Pune to Dubai stands curtailed from four-times-a-week to a bi-weekly service, with effect from May 18.

The Dubai service will now operate on Tuesdays and Sundays instead of Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, Air India’s (formerly Indian) area manager Dhairyasheel Vandekar told TOI on Wednesday.

“There will be no change in the flight timings,” Vandekar said and added that the flight will take off from Pune for Dubai as usual at 3 pm on the two designated days. He attributed the curtailment to ‘operational reasons’ as well as the 11 am to 5 pm closure of Pune’s Lohegaon airport on Saturdays.

However, sources pointed out that dwindling passenger load was a key factor behind scaling down the frequency of the Pune-Dubai service. Air India has been operating a 120-seater Airbus 319 aircraft with an average passenger load of 100 for the existing four-times-a-week service.

The service has been prone to delays and erratic operation ever since it was launched amid fanfare on December 12, 2005. On Tuesday, the Dubai-Pune flight had to be diverted to Mumbai, from where the passengers had to travel to Pune by car, owing to a ‘technical snag’ in the aircraft. Similarly, on several occasions the flight to Dubai has taken off from Pune at least an hour or more behind schedule.

An airline official explained that much of these delays were due to the involvement of Mumbai in the flight route. “The flight route is Mumbai-Dubai-Pune-Dubai-Mumbai,” he said and added, “Wherever Mumbai is involved there are issues of air traffic congestion and the flight turnaround i.e time taken for disembarkment of passengers and boarding by new ones for take-off,” he said.

Referring to the instant case of curtailed service, the official said that operational reasons involved several parameters like single aircraft operation…More

TOI : PUNE: Annoyed with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC’s) delay in completing the long-pending work on Karve road, traders and shopkeepers will ‘celebrate’ the fourth anniversary of an incomplete Karve road.

The PMC started widening work on Karve road on May 16, 2005. The deadline for completion of the work was nine months from that day. The work was to be done under the integrated road development project (IRDP). However, for the last four years the work has been lingering on for various reasons.

Considering the heavy flow of traffic on the road, the continuing work is a major source of trouble to commuters. The work is being carried out between Khanduji Baba Chowk and Paud flyover. On Friday, traders and shopkeepers on Karve road will ‘celebrate’ fourth anniversary of the incomplete road work.

In an effort to draw the PMC’s attention to finishing the work as soon as possible, traders and shopkeepers have decided to ‘celebrate’ the fourth anniversary on Friday.

Former mayor of the city, Bhausaheb Khilare, will be the chief guest of the programme organised at 10 pm at Sonal hall footpath on Karve road. Print Save EMail Write to Editor Get personalised news s…More