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TOI : PUNE: The elected members of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) passed a resolution on Thursday to form a committee of corporators under the chairmanship of mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale to study the Rs 19,000-crore Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) which is currently awaiting the General Body’s approval.

The CMP, which deals with the overall development of the public transport systems in the city, was passed by the standing committee in June and was expected to be implemented by year-end. However, it has been lying before the GB for approval for the last four months.

On Thursday, when the proposal was taken up for discussion during the GB meeting, corporators created a din as some wanted to know the details of the plan, while others criticised it. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Ujwal Keskar said that the civic administration has tabled the CMP just as it was prepared by the consultants without making any value addition. The Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (IL&FS) had prepared the proposal.

“The consultants may have prepared it, but shouldn’t the civic officials who are ultimately going to implement the plan have any say in it. The standing committee approved the CMP in a hurry and its members blindly okayed it,” Keskar alleged.

Standing committee chairman Sham Deshpande vehemently defended the allegation, saying that a detailed presentation of the CMP was made by the civic officials before it was approved. However, the elected members unanimously decided that a ten member committee — two from each party — headed by the mayor should be formed to study the plan and submit its recommendations within a month.

The CMP has been prepared to ensure that there would be one public transport facility within 500-metre radius of every household in the city. The first phase was expected to start in 2008. The phase one of the plan includes purchase of…More

TOI : PUNE: Malegaon blast suspect Sameer Kulkarni and two others, who were arrested for allegedly attacking pastor Peter David Silway, were granted bail on Thursday.

Kulkarni and his accomplices Rajendra Ramhari Lonari (37) and Santosh Kisan Kasbe (25), both from Moshi, were released on a solvent surety of Rs 25,000 each.

The Khadki police had obtained Kulkarni’s custody from a Nashik court and brought him to Pune on a transit warrant. The others were arrested on the basis of information provided by Kulkarni on late Wednesday night.

Inspector Pandurang Sahane (crime) produced the trio before judicial magistrate first class Renuka Satav of the Khadki Cantonment court at 2.45 pm.

The police filed a report for remanding the suspects to magisterial custody for conducting identification parade. Defence lawyers S G Gawli, Sunil Jhape, Dharmendra Khandare and Laxman Nalawade filed bail applications after their clients were placed under magisterial custody. The lawyers told the court that section 324 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was not applicable against their clients as the stump allegedly used for beating the pastor was not a dangerous weapon.

The lawyers also said the offence under section 323 was bailable in nature and assured that if granted bail, their clients will co-operate with the police.

Meanwhile, around 150 activists of the Bhartiya Janata Party and Hindu Rashtriya Sena demonstrated outside the court premises and shouted slogans in favour of Kulkarni. They raised slogans against the ATS and even burst crackers and drew rangoli for welcoming the suspects, when they were produced before the court.
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TOI : PUNE: The re-routing of traffic and conversion of MG road into a completely one-way route will start from Monday, said Pune traffic branch deputy commissioner of police Manoj Patil on Thursday. The traffic on MG road will run from Golibar maidan chowk to Ambedkar chowk directly without having to take any diversions.

The one-way traffic system on MG road between Ambedkar chowk and Nusserwanji chowk was introduced way back in 1984.

The traffic coming from the MG road and Golibar maidan chowk was diverted to East Street via Nusserwanji chowk.

The new arrangement is being made keeping in mind the increase in traffic congestion on MG road and other parts of the Pune Cantonment area, Patil said adding that it will be of convenience of the public.

On the measures to streamline traffic on Tilak road, Patil said there are about 11 traffic signals and there are plans to do away with some signals as it will help in reducing the congestion and increasing speed.

Patil explained that the roads linking Tilak road would remain ‘two-ways’, but the roads linking Jedhe chowk and Sarabaugh will be converted into one-ways. The new system to streamline traffic on Tilak road is expected to be introduced in 10 to 15 days’ time.

On the arterial road concept, Patil informed that there were plans of giving status of arterial road to several city roads as per the Indian Road Congress norms. The concept will increase speed limit, reduce traveling time and congestion. The concept which was earlier introduced on JM road, Jehangir hospital road and Golibar maidan chowk has given excellent results, he said.
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TOI : PUNE: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay high court (HC) seeking to prevent Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) from converting industrial land into residential.

The PIL has also sought an inquiry into the PCMC’s policy of converting industrial land into residential. Advocate Sachin Patwardhan has filed this PIL, which was heard on Wednesday.

Speaking to TOI Ajay Suryavanshi, legal advisor, PCMC, confirmed that hearing on Patwardhan’s PIL was held in the high court. Suryavanshi said, “The next hearing is scheduled after two weeks. We have not received any show-cause notice from the court as yet but the PCMC will explain its position when asked to do so.”

The PCMC has received permission from the state government for amending the Development Control (DC) rules to convert land in industrial zone into residential. Patwardhan has challenged the state government’s order as well as the PCMC’s proposal.

The PIL states that the proposal of changing the DC rules was tabled before the PCMC’s general body (GB) meeting in 2001. A supplementary to this proposal to grant permission to construct residential complex on industrial land in the municipal limits was approved at short notice.

The petition said that the PCMC made changes as per clause 37 of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966 and made a new rule M-6.5. The state had made it mandatory that the developer had to transfer 10 per cent of the land to the municipal corporation if it wanted to change the use of industrial land for residential purpose. The government had also stated that the municipal commissioner should accept suitable charges from the developer for making such change in the use of land.

Patwardhan has alleged in the PIL that the decision of the state government and its implementation by the PCMC in this regard is illegal. The PCMC has…More

TOI : PUNE: A special drive against drunken driving on Wednesday night has led to the arrest of 147 people, including a large number of government officials, software engineers and students.

Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil said traffic officials and senior police officials participated in the drive conducted between 9 pm and midnight to keep a check on drunken driving.

While 15 people were arrested at Brehmen chowk, 17 each were nabbed at Chandni chowk and Koregaon park. The police pressed into service five breath analysers and a speed gun for checking the motorists.

Patil said they were arrested under sections 184 and 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act. The arrested people, who were kept in the lock up after medical tests, included an assistant commissioner of the food and drugs department, officials of the district collectorate and the MSEDCL, software engineers of various infotech companies and students from engineering colleges. They were produced before the Motor Vehicle court and were released on bail on Thursday.
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TOI : PUNE: About 50 per cent of Pune’s wireless network (Wi-Fi) connections are not secure and can be hacked into any moment, said city police commissioner Satyapal Singh on Thursday.

He appealed to the government and private firms to strictly follow the guidelines for securing Wi-Fi connections.

Singh told reporters that a sample survey conducted by the police has revealed that out of the total Wi-Fi connections in the city, 31% are partly secured while 19% fully secured.

He said the police, in collaboration with a private firm called ClubHack, conducted checks to find out measures taken for protecting wireless connections. The survey was conducted following several incidents of hacking of the Wi-Fi system for allegedly sending terror e-mails.

The police chief said the issue needs to be dealt on a priority basis because “the city was slowly turning out to be a base for cyber terrorism”.

He said, “The survey was conducted on November 10, primarily to take an overview of implementation of security measures for Wi-Fi connections. However, many loopholes were exposed.”

Singh said that with the increasing number of wireless connections, the city was facing the challenge of fool-proof Wi-Fi security. “Various steps have being taken by the police to make the city safe and secure. The recent survey is one of the such initiatives taken in,” he said.

The police chief said pamphlets on precautionary measures will be distributed among the Wi-Fi users soon. The police will also display similar information on its website,” he said.
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