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TOI : PUNE: Concerned about the upward swing in sugar prices, the department of food and public distribution in the Union agriculture ministry has decided to increase the free sale sugar quota for September to 12 lakh tonnes.

Following the extra release, sugar prices in open market, that have witnessed an increase of Rs 400 per quintal since last month, are expected to reduce.

A statement released by the department of food said in addition to 12 lakh tonnes, it is expected that 4 to 5 lakh tonnes of non-levy sugar will be sold by the sugar factories out of the dismantled first buffer stock of 20 lakh tonnes. Besides this, at least 4.5 lakh tonnes of non-levy sugar from the dismantled second buffer stock of 30 lakh tonnes is also expected to be sold by factories, thus taking the availability of non-levy sugar to 20 to 21 lakh tonnes for the month of September.

The statement said the Union government has already released 2.08 lakh tonnes of levy sugar (to be sold through ration shops) for the month of September. The government has also made advance allocation of 2.27 lakh tonnes of levy sugar for the month of October, which includes festival quota of 57,000 tonnes.

The government has also decided that any unsold/undispatched stock of dismantled first and second buffer stock and unsold/undispatched normal monthly quota, which are required to be sold/dispatched by September 30, would be converted into levy sugar.

“Besides, penal action will be taken against defaulting sugar factories under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The government will be monitoring the prices in the open market closely and shall not hesitate to release additional non-levy sugar if prices show sharp increase,” the statement said.

Reacting to the development, Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, member, All India Congress Committee, said the extra availability will bring down sugar prices by…More

TOI : PUNE: To make way for pedestrian traffic during Ganeshotsav, the police have decided to de-tour traffic from Laxmi road, Bajirao road, Shivaji road and parts of Satara road from Sunday evening onwards. As a result, the stretch from Hamkhej Khan chowk to Tilak chowk on Laxmi road will be closed for motor vehicles.

Those going towards Tilak chowk from Kelkar road should take the Dulya Maruti chowk route to Daruwala bridge and travel further to Sinchan Bhavan, cross PMC building to reach Deccan, or take the Maharana Pratap road via Tophkhana chowk to reach Shankarseth road.

Similarly, those approaching Swargate from Shivaji road should take Surya hospital route to Yojana hotel and turn right to reach Maharana Pratap road. Motorists can head to Shankerseth road from Danglewadi via Hamejkhan chowk.

Vehicular traffic wanting to go to Appa Balwant chowk should travel via Puram chowk to Tilak road and take Kelkar road to reach their destination.

The traffic between Jedhe chowk, Swargate, to Puram chowk will be closed. Those who want to reach Tilak road from Swargate should take the approach road to Sarasbaug passing the Nehru Stadium and Jamnalal Bajaj Statue.

The stretch from Volga chowk to Jedhe chowk on Satara road will remain open only for State Transport, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Pvt Ltd (PMPML) buses and auto-rickshaws. Other vehicles should travel via Mitra mandal chowk and Sanas statue to reach Shankarseth road.

Similarly, narrow stretches like Jogeshwari road, Sanas road and parts of M.G. road will also be closed for traffic. Motorists are requested to use alternate routes. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Well-begun is half done, thus goes the adage. This was exactly the case when the 10-day Pune Festival opened with pomp at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch here on Thursday evening.

The hall was packed to capacity, with celebrities and foreign dignitaries as an added attraction. Great performances by artists and celebrities held the audience spellbound.

Compered by well-known presenter Sudhir Gadgil and former Miss India Amrita Thapar, the programme was an array of colour, dance and music, with a special mention for the dhol and tasha players who put up a great show.

Starting off on a musical note with a sanai vandan was well-known sanai player Tukaram Daith-ankar, followed by the Ganesh Vandana by danseuse Yogini Gandhi and vocalist Devaki Pandit.

Following this was a captivating fusion of sound titled ‘Taal Chakra’ by tabla player Pt Vijay Ghate accompanied by Sridhar Parthsarthy on the mridangam and percussionist Ranjit Barot.

The festival was inaugurated by state minister of co-operation Patangrao Kadam in the presence of MP Suresh Kalmadi, state marketing minister Harshvardhan Patil and actors Jackie Shroff and Raima Sen among others. The Pune Festival award for the year was presented to actor Nilu Phule and Olympian wrestler Harsichchandra Birajdar.
Addressing the audience, Patangrao Kadam lauded Kalmadi’s efforts in organising the event. “It is easy to start something but what has to be appreciated is the fact that the festival has grown every year. The credit goes to Kalmadi and the people of Pune,” he said.

Kalmadi not only assured the citizens that the road work would be completed in time, but also said that the city would have its own metro system soon. This prompted Jackie Shroff to say that during his next visit to Pune, he might travel in the metro!

“The Pune Festival is now called the mother of…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is set to draw up a master plan to redevelop around 10,000 old properties in the city (majority of them old wadas). The decision follows the Supreme Court’s order on Thursday upholding state government’s Development Control Rule 33(7) allowing builders to avail of virtually unlimited floor space index (FSI) in Mumbai while redeveloping all pre-1940 buildings, including chawls.

City engineer Prashant Waghmare says, “The DC rule 33(7) is Mumbai-specific and has no implications for Pune. However, the ruling sets a precedent for the PMC to look at similar policy decisions to redevelop old dilapidated wadas here and a master plan is a major step towards achieving this.”

Redevelopment of old properties in Pune has remained entangled in legal and policy matters for many decades. As per the PMC Development Plan (DP) of 1987, it was decided that wada dwellers would be rehabilitated within the old city limits, but things never moved beyond the planning stage. In 2005-06, the civic standing committee made a budgetary provision of Rs 1 crore to repair dilapidated wadas, but these funds were never utilised. The PMC took an initiative in 2007, where the City Improvement Committee drafted a policy which is still awaiting government approval. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Waking up to the need for a direct and easy link road to the Pune-Mumbai expressway from the Pimpri-Chinchwad township, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has proposed a six-km road from Nigdi to Kivale junction.

The new road will be 45 metre wide and will also have lanes for running the bus rapid transit system, civic officials told TOI. The road will start from the Bhakti-Shakti garden along the Mumbai-Pune highway in Nigdi. Parts of the proposed road will run parallel to the railway line to reach Kivale junction, the starting point of the expressway.

As of now, there is no direct and easy link to the expressway from Pimpri-Chinchwad. State transport buses from Pimpri-Chinchwad to Mumbai travel via the highway stretch and catch the expressway at Somatnephata near Talegaon. For private vehicles, there are some alternate routes, such as the road from Chinchwad (Valhekarwadi) to Kivale (via Ravet), and the other road via Thergaon and Wakad. However, these roads are not direct routes to the expressway.

Apart from benefiting state transport buses and motorists, the new road will also benefit goods and industrial transporters which have their offices at the transportnagari at Nigdi.

According to civic officials, a rail overbridge has also been proposed near Akurdi along the proposed road for crossing the railway line. The proposal has been included in the comprehensive mobility plan of the PCMC. However, financial estimates for the road and the railway overbridge are yet to be calculated. Once the CMP is approved by the Central government, the road will be completed in two years time.

The new road will also serve as a link between Kivale and the Talawade industrial area, the officials added. Incidentally, the corporation has also decided to widen and reconstruct a road between the temple towns of Dehu and Alandi. A spine road between Nigdi and…More

TOI : PUNE: The city police on Wednesday took 154 persons, involved in unlawful activities, from various parts of the city into preventive custody in view of the ongoing Ganeshotsav.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajender Singh said 84 hotels and 112 lodges in the city were checked on Wednesday. Such exercises will be carried out throughout the festivity, Singh said.

He added that orders have been given to all police stations to conduct nakabandis within their jurisdiction during the festival period. On Wednesday, nakabandi was conducted at 35 points in the city.

On the same day, the crime branch carried out 11 raids in various parts of the city and seized over 300 litres of spurious liquor and arrested 11 persons, Rajender Singh said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: An man, who was arrested on Sunday for raping a 14-year-old, had one more complaint registered against him on Wednesday apparently for raping a minor again.

Vyankappa Hanumant Dhotre (63), a resident of Ajantha Nagar in Nigdi, was arrested on Sunday for outraging the modesty of a minor a year ago.

Dhotre had proposed to marry the girl, but when her father refused, he raped the girl, the police said. Besides, Dhotre’s two sons had also been accused of assaulting the victim’s father when he tried to approach the police.

The other girl, who happens to be the first victim’s friend and lives in the same area, lodged a complaint of rape against Dhotre on Wednesday. Assistant inspector Anagha Deshpande of Nigdi police station is investigating the case. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) land allotment policy is once again mired in controversy.

A day after the civic standing committee passed a resolution to amend the lease period clause in the policy from 30 to 99 years, civic activist Vijay Kumbhar, who was instrumental in getting the policy made, has raised objections to the amendment.

After years of debate, the PMC had finally framed the policy which was approved by the state government barely eight months ago.

According to the original policy, the PMC could lease out its properties and redevelopment projects for a period of 30 years.

However, since the PMC was facing hurdles in leasing out its ‘Build Operate Transfer’ projects as per the 30 year lease clause, it was decided by the standing committee to amend the clause. The PMC will now once again have to seek the state government’s approval to finalise the amendment. Kumbhar has asked municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi to declare the resolution void as it was an illegal one.

“The policy in the first place was framed as per HC directions. Making such an amendment is contradictory to the directions HC had given. It is absolutely wrong on the part of the PMC to do that,” Kumbhar said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The youth baton relay symbolising the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) entered the state on Wednesday when it reached Talasiri (Thane) on the outskirts of Mumbai. Having been flagged off from the Delhi University campus on August 1 and traversing the length and breath of the country for 34 days, the baton will now travel to the Konkan region.

The baton aims to spread the message of sports culture and also create awareness among the masses on the green initiative of the CYG as well as the Save Tiger mission.

The CYG, which will see participation from 71 nations , is scheduled to begin at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City in Balewadi on October 12.

The baton relay comprises 90 runners backed by 27 vehicles. It will be escorted by 40 athletes from the state.

As part of the ‘Green Games’ initiative, the baton is collecting water from various rivers along the route of the relay. The water thus collected, along with water from 71 participating nations, will be used to create the ‘Fountain of Youth’ at the CYG opening ceremony.

When the baton reaches Pune, it would have crossed nine states, 199 cities, towns and villages and covered a distance of over 8,000 kilometers with over 7,500 volunteers helping the its progress. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The city police on Wednesday took 154 persons, involved in unlawful activities, from various parts of the city into preventive custody in view of the ongoing Ganeshotsav.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajender Singh said 84 hotels and 112 lodges in the city were checked on Wednesday. Such exercises will be carried out throughout the festivity, Singh said.

He added that orders have been given to all police stations to conduct nakabandis within their jurisdiction during the festival period. On Wednesday, nakabandi was conducted at 35 points in the city.

On the same day, the crime branch carried out 11 raids in various parts of the city and seized over 300 litres of spurious liquor and arrested 11 persons, Rajender Singh said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More