News

TOI : PUNE: A 15-year-old was allegedly molested by a lab assistant at a hospital in Hadapsar on Sunday afternoon.

The Hadapsar police have filed a complaint of molestation against Arvind Chauhanke (21), who works as a lab assistant at a pathology lab located near by. Sub-inspector M.N. Sanadi, who is investigating the case, said that the girl, a school drop-out, has been working as a baby-sitter for a doctor couple, who work at the hospital, for last one year.

“The girl knew the suspect as she would often visit the hospital with the baby. However, in her complaint, the girl said that she has never been hasseled or approached by Chauhanke,” Sanadi said.

He added that she was alone at the hospital on Sunday afternoon when Chauhanke came and forced her into a room where he molested her. “We are investigate if the girl was approached by Chauhanke at an earlier date,” Sanadi said, adding that they are trying to gather info about her parents. B…More

TOI : PUNE: A police team raided a massage parlour near Aundh octroi post on Sunday and arrested nine people including seven women. The suspects were allegedly involved in prostitution.

The police have arrested owner of the parlour, Mahesh Patil (25) and his wife Rani (24) and a client, Shaitansingh Rajput (40), a resident of Ganesh Peth.

DCP (zone-III) Mahesh Patil got a tip-off about Sanjana massage parlour in Vasudha building near Aundh octroi post. On Sunday at around 3 pm, they sent a dummy client to the parlour. After confirmation, the parlour was raided.

The police team was led by DCP Patil and comprised inspector Tele, constables Jeetendra Koli and Avinash Shevale. The suspects were remanded to a one-day custody.

In another action, the Rural police raided Vaibhav lodge in Ravet village on Pune-Satara bypass. The police has arrested three men and same number of women along with the lodge owner Raju Sharma. B…More

TOI : PUNE: The railway ministry has decided to run an air-conditioned super fast train between Pune and Nizamuddin (Delhi) in the view of Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG), to be held in Pune between October 12 and 18.

This will be the second train introduced especially for the mega sports event after Pune-New Delhi train was made operational last week. The AC train will cover distance between Pune and Nizamuddin in just 22 hours where other trains take more than 28 hours, said an official of the Pune railway division.

The Nizamuddin-Pune (2148A) AC super-fast will run every Saturday and Wednesday. The train will start on October 1 and will leave Nizamuddin on October 4, 8, 11, 15 and 18th. The departure time of the train from Nizamuddin will be 12:10 hrs while it will arrive at Pune next day at 10.30 hrs. This train will run via Nagda-Ratlam-Baroda-Vasai Road-Pune route.

The Pune-Nizamuddin (2147A ) train will run every Sunday and Thursday on October 2 , 5, 9, 12, 16 and 19th. Departure from Pune will be 15.20 hrs. Fares are; AC I-Rs 2,768, AC II-Rs 1,637 and AC III tier -Rs 1,196. B…More

TOI : PUNE: At least 19 degree examinations in arts, science, commerce, pharmacy and law besides degree and post-graduate (PG) courses of Ayurveda for the October/November session have been postponed in view of the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The CYG is scheduled to be held from October 12 to October 18 while the Diwali vacation is from October 25 to November 3. Examinations are usually held before the Diwali vacations, but due to the all-important event, the exam dates have been pushed ahead, a press release issued by the UoP controller of examinations (CoE) stated on Monday. Many of the university students will take part in the CYG either as volunteers or in various cultural events.

Earlier on Sunday, the CoE officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the postponment and the revised dates that were to be effected on account of the schedule change.

Details of the revised schedule of examinations have been posted in the ’students helpline and examination info’ section of the UoP’s official website – www.unipune.ernet.in. The university has asked the colleges to take note of the change in dates and make the exam arrangements accordingly.

It may be noted that the dates of only those papers which were earlier scheduled between October 12 and 18 and October 25 and November 3 have been changed, said UoP public relations director Arvind Nerkar.

First-year (FY) B.Com – October 3 to November 21
Second- and third-year (SY/TY) B.Com – Oct 3 to Nov 20
FY B.Sc – Oct 3 to Nov 17
SY B.Sc (Semister I) – Nov 11 to December 12
SY B.Sc (Semister II) – Oct 3 to Nov 10
TY B.Sc (Semister III) – Nov 4 to 17
TY B.Sc (Semister IV) – Oct 3 to Oct 24
FY B.Sc (Biotech) – Oct 3 to 20
FY B.Sc (Comp…More

TOI : PUNE: Bio-medical waste continues to haunt the PMC, which was forced to take some steps following an accident at a treatment facility here that claimed seven lives recently. The latest headache for the civic body: find a new place altogether for setting up a waste treatment facility.

In its directive on September 20, The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has told the PMC that the new common bio-medical waste treatment facility (CBWTF) should meet all the norms and come up within two months, failing which it will be prosecuted.

The treatment facility at the Kailash crematorium on the Rajabhadur Mills road was shut following the accident on September 11. A youth died when one of the body spray containers he was opening exploded. Six other workers succumbed to their injuries later.

“We found several lacunae in the present set-up. The PMC will have to find a new place and upgrade the existing facility within two months. Otherwise, we may file a criminal case against it,” said P.K. Mirashe, regional officer of the MPCB.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) framed the guidelines for effective management of CBWTF in 1998 and the PMC also started setting up its facility around the same time. Hence, CPCB guidelines should have been complied with, he said.

“The area of land (at Kailash crematorium) is inadequate. Moreover, it is located near the Mutha river, which is against the rules,” Mirashe said.

When contacted, Pramod Dhaigude, chief health officer of the PMC, said the process of shifting the facility has been initiated. Currently, bio-medical waste is being disposed of at the centres in Pimrpi, Talegaon Dabhade and Satara, he said. B…More

TOI : PUNE: One person was charred to death while another sustained burns after a four-wheeler caught fire on the Pune-Mumbai expressway on Saturday morning near Ozarde village, 80 km from Pune.

Talegaon Dabhade police officials said the car was on the Pune corridor when the driver lost control and the car hit the railing at the side of the expressway. “The car rolled over and then caught fire,” the officials said.

“The people in the car were rushed to Lokmanya hospital,” the police said. They said they could not ascertain the vehicle’s number as it was completely burnt.

The deceased was identified as Shrikant from Mumbai (full name not known) and the injured man was identified by the hospital as Sahdevan Ramswamy (54), a resident of Bhandup in Mumbai.

In another incident, the Hinjewadi police booked a truck driver for allegedly hitting a motorcyclist, Nilesh Eknath Shelke (19), from Akurdi. Shelke died as a result of his injuries. B…More

TOI : PUNE: First the good news. The customer satisfaction index (CSI) for the city’s Lohegaon airport has been put at 81 per cent by a New Delhi-based independent consulting agency, Spectrum Planning (India).

Pune airport director G. Chandramouli told TOI that the survey was carried out in April and its outcome is 13 per cent more than the CSI that was assessed a year ago.

Spectrum Planning has been engaged by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to carry out periodical CSI surveys at airports across the country.

The focus remains on parameters ranging from cleanliness, facilitation and sinages to the quality of audio announcements, security, on-time operations of aircraft and handling of passengers, among other things.

Performance of operational facilities like x-ray machines, lighting level and security gadgets, leading to minimal irritation to passengers, are other aspects. The bad news is that, despite expansion of the existing main terminal building and creation of new facilities, the airport continues to grapple with the problem of a severe space crunch.

This problem often gets reflected in the commotion at the passenger hall and traffic congestion and chaos in front of the terminal building during peak-time operations, ie afternoon and evening. Admitted Chandramouli,
“There is scope for improvement. After completing the upcoming international terminal buildings (on either side of the main terminal), we will break the 90 per cent barrier for CSI.” However, this won’t happen soon, as the new buildings are to go fully functional by early January 2009.

Pune’s average daily air passenger load (arrivals and departures) is 5,000. At any given time, at least three aircraft go through the turnaround phase (passenger deboarding and boarding), which translates into an average of 400 passengers coming in and going out. This is considering the aircraft’s passenger capacity that ranges between 170 and 125.

An airline official…More

TOI : PUNE: The Deccan Gymkhana police have failed to turn up concrete evidence in the case involving the mysterious death of 16-year-old Vidhi Chawda. However, sources say that the police have detained two students in this connection.

Vidhi, an 11th standard student of Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce and a resident of Bhelkenagar, Kothrud, was found dead on Friday evening in the compound of Sneha Avishkar building, off Prabhat road.

Talking to TOI, senior inspector Jaywant Deshmukh of the Deccan Gymkhana police station said, “A preliminary post-mortem report of the girl’s dead body states “traumatic shock due to multiple injuries” as the cause of death. Her viscera has been reserved and we are awaiting a doctor’s opinion. Further investigation will only be possible after we receive the doctor’s report, which is due in two days,” Deshmukh said.

The Deccan Gymkhana police on Saturday recorded the statements of five of Vidhi’s friends. The police also recorded the statements of her uncle and cousin. “Her parents’ statements are important, but we couldn’t record them on Saturday as they were in a state of shock,” said inspector (crime) Vijaykumar Palsule of the Deccan Gymkhana police station.

“We have received some clues from her friends’ statements, but we are trying to ascertain why she came to
the building,” said Deshmukh. “We are investigating the case from all possible angles.”

According to sources, the Deccan Gymkhana police have detained two college students in this connection and are interrogating them.

Palsule said that till now, investigations suggest that the girl fell off the terrace. “I checked all the windows of the building and each one of them has a fixed grill. This suggests that the girl must have fallen from the terrace. I even reconstructed her fall using a stuffed gunny bag. When the bag was thrown from the terrace it fell exactly…More

TOI : PUNE: Though the city is waiting in anticipation for the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) to begin next month, CYG-related works have become a nightmare for Baner residents – there are frequent power cuts, the phone lines go dead regularly and the roads leading to their homes are often blocked.

In fact, on September 18, beginning 4 am, electricity to all houses in the Pallod farms area, off Baner road, was cut off for around 64 hours.

Similarly, the telephone lines of around 40 houses have been dead for the last month, because the cables snapped while service lines were being shifted.

The residents here have decided not to take things lying down. Members of Pallod Farms Residents Association (PFRA) and Baner Residents Forum held a meeting on Saturday to discuss what steps should be taken against the authorities to counter the situation.

“The forthcoming CYG is being touted as the next big thing for the city, but the preparations have brought havoc to our lives – especially with the most important road leading to the Balewadi sports complex, the Games’ venue, being built. The 64-hour power cut was the last straw,” said D.V.R. Rao, PFRA president.

He added that residents have collected signatures on a letter which will be sent to the chief engineer of the Maharashtra State Electricity Department Corporation Limited (MSEDCL) claiming compensation for power cut for more than specified number of hours – as per the state government’s resolution.

“We have not decided to seek compensation for the sake of money, but want the authorities to realise that we, as residents of Pune, do not deserve this kind of treatment. We were repeatedly urging officials at all levels to restore power in our area, but they failed to do so for two whole days,” said Rao.

“We have, in fact, been suffering…More

TOI : PUNE: A study on job opportunities in various tier II cities in the country points out Pune as the leading employment provider destination, followed by Lucknow and Pondicherry.

Pune with a share of 16.5 per cent emerged number one job provider while Lucknow and Pondicherry accounted for 12.30 per cent and 10.50 per cent respectively out of the total jobs tracked by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in the last quarter of fiscal 2007-08.

Titled as ‘Tier II and III Cities New Employment Centre’, the study highlights Pune’s top five employment generating sectors comprising IT, ITeS, Banking, Education, and Automobile.

The top five sectors in Lucknow which have created vast employment opportunities in the period under reference include Education, Banking, FMCG, Insurance, and ITeS.

In case of Pondicherry, these are Aviation, Banking, Energy, FMCG and Hospitality, the ASSOCHAM study says.
B…More