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TOI : PUNE: Swati Phadke (21), a Taekwondo player of international fame and resident of Keshavnagar, Mundhwa, was found dead on the railway tracks near Hadapsar on Friday evening.

According to the railway police, Swati, who was a third-year student of commerce at St Mira’s college, was killed by the speeding JhelumExpress. Her bag and books were found on the tracks.

Swati had won 14 gold, 3 silver and 10 bronze medals in Taekwondo and was the youngest referee of the game in the country. She was also a recipient of this year’s District sports award.

Swati represented India in the 18th World Taekwondo Championships held in Beijing in May. She is survived by her parents, two sisters and a brother. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The agitation against Dow Chemical’s research centre at the Shinde Vasuli village, about 40 km from here, took a violent turn on Friday, with a mob of about 250 people going on the rampage at the company’s construction site.

The attack resulted in major damage to the construction machinery and other material, including glass panels and air-conditioners. The attackers tried to set on fire the temporary shelter erected by the company comprising two rooms.

Assistant police commissioner Shrikrushna Kokate said, “A mob of 200 to 250 people arrived in vehicles and attacked the centre early in the morning. A criminal offence under sections 395, 427, 435, 436, 317 of IPC 149 was filed by the security men of the centre. Ten people have been detained.”

Nandkumar Sangalikar, public affairs director of Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd (DCIPL), said, “A mob of 80 people carrying kerosene cans attacked the centre. The attackers used hammers to damage the building. Water tanks, crane and partly constructed rooms were set afire at the site. The company has filed a complaint with the Chakan police station.”

Most of the attackers were outsiders and not villagers. They came in sport utility vehicles and vandalised the centre, Sangalikar alleged.

However, B.G, Kolse-Patil, retired judge of the Bombay high court who stays in Pune and is against Dow’s centre, said, “The action was taken by the villagers and not by outsiders. Its true that we too are opposing the centre,
but villagers indulged in violence.”

On Thursday, officials from the company had visited the centre in the wake of the high court order to the state government to ensure resumption of work at the construction site. Some of the villagers, who are against the centre, had blocked the road. A police force was called in to control the situation.

In a…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as the state faces a drought-like situation, a review by the resources and livelihood group of NGO Prayas has pointed out that the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) is inefficient, apathetic and ignorant of the grassroots-level disaster conditions in the state.

The SDMA was formed in May 2006 under the Disaster Management Act as separate and permanent machinery to effectively combat disasters like excessive rain, floods and droughts.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, the research associates of Prayas group, Sachin Warghade and Seema Kakde, said the review by the group painted a grim picture as the governance was very slow and shoddy.

“We have been seeking information from authorities through the Right to Information Act about the functioning of the SDMA since its inception. The information we have gathered is appalling. It just reveals the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities towards disaster management,” Warghade said.

He said the review was based on information furnished by 16 out of 33 districts in Maharashtra.

“Some of the serious drawbacks of the SDMA functioning are that they have cared to conduct only three meetings in one and a half years, in which the main target area was Mumbai. Other districts of Maharashtra were given secondary or no importance. The SDMA has also failed to submit any annual report in two years,” Warghade said.

He pointed out that despite the Act mandating every state and district to have a separate and independent disaster management plan, no such plan has been made till date, although the state experienced floods in 2005.

“The SDMA has not bothered to issue any directive in this regard. No financial allocation has been made by the state government for district administration to participate in drawing up plans. The administration in many districts has been apathetic towards workshops organised by YASHADA for disaster…More

TOI : PUNE: As many as 125 personnel from zone-IV of the Pune police were found to be suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes at a health check-up camp on Friday. Medical check-up of 250 police personnel was conducted by the doctors from a private hospital. The tests included random blood sugar checking, blood pressure, ECG and body mass index.

These men were advised to go for a further elaborate check-up, Deputy Commissioner of police (zone-IV) Dr Jalinder Supekar said, adding that the camp was held at K.K. Bhavan, near the Yerawada central prison.

Inaugurating the camp, police commissioner Satyapal Singh told the cops to exercise regularly and eat the right kind of food. Additional commissioner of police (administration) Shobha Ohatker said such camps will be organised for each zone.
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TOI : PUNE: When parents feel the need to get their children into reading habit, they must take to books themselves. This simple idea marked the genesis of Dnyanranjan Granthalay, the library at the Abhinav Vidyalaya pre-primary school (Marathi medium), ten years ago.

What makes this library special is that its vast collection of books is meant not only for students at the school but also their parents. The library celebrates its 10th anniversary on July 26 at Satish Chhatre auditorium, Bharat Kunj Colony near New Abhinav School in Ganeshnagar.

The idea to initiate such as library was floated a decade back by Vidya Satalkar, current principal of the school, a busy parent then. “Parents voiced their opinion during the parents-teachers’ assembly that their children do not read much. The reason was that parents themselves did not follow the reading habit. That’s when we thought of starting a library for the parents,” explains Satalkar.

The library started with a small space at the school’s assembly hall and soon parents began to avail the facilities. From its second year onwards, even students from std I to IV were also made members. Today, the library boasts of around 2,000 books in Marathi and English, on various subjects.

The library is open every Thursday and Saturday from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. To propagate reading habit to the grassroots level, parents’ and students’ birthdays are used as occasions to gift those books.

Reading sessions during recesses at a katta in the school every Tuesday is another interesting feature of the library. “We have children enthusiastically listening to parents reading out to them. This is followed by a discussion on the books in question,” informs Jyoti Mahagaonkar, a parent, who co-ordinates the reading activities
at the katta.

For the last five years, the library as been holding on-the-spot reading competitions for its…More