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TOI : PUNE: The Dattawadi police have booked six people, including the chairman and directors of a co-operative credit society, for allegedly duping 87 depositors to the tune of Rs 42.56 lakh on the pretext of giving high interest rates.

The suspects were identified as chairman of Bhartiya co-operative credit society Sambhaji Patil, vice-chairman Sanjay Patil (both from Islampur, Sangli), manager Shivaji Patil of Dhankawdi, divisional head Archana Gund, directors Usha Patil and Rahul Nangre.

According to the police, the suspects had given advertisements in newspapers last year asking people to deposit money with their three schemes, namely, Bhartiya Udyog Samuha’ Bhartiya Shikshan Sanstha’ and Bhartiya Nagari Path Sanstha’, promising high interest rates on returns.

Inspector Ashok Kshirsagar (crime) said: “Ranjan Utpat (55) of Bibvewadi, lodged the complaint, had been voluntarily retired last year and ever since had been involved in social work. Reading the advertisement of the credit society, he deposited Rs 15,000 last year. The directors had asked him to canvass members for the scheme and offered him handsome commission for this.”

“As many as 87 people deposited their money in the society for one year. However, after a year, when they went to collect their money in December, they found the credit society closed and its six founding members missing,” Kshirsagar said.

The six suspects have been booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: In a major haul, the Pune rural police on Monday recovered 40 kg of ganja (marijuana) worth Rs 80,000. The police said the contraband was smuggled to Kamshet for selling to the tourists celebrating the New Year’s Eve.

Additional superintendent of police Ashok Morale told TOI that the police have arrested Maruti Pandurang Bingude (54) of Kamshet, a former employee of the Central Railways, on charges of drug peddling. Morale added that the police have also recovered Rs 90,000 in cash from Bingude, which he allegedly received by selling ganja.

The investigations have revealed that Bingude had smuggled the narcotics to Kamshet from Natepute village in Solapur for selling it to tourists at Kamshet, Lonavla and Wadgaon Maval area on December 31.

Following a tip-off received by superintendent of police Rajendra Kadam that the suspect had stored two boxes of ganja at his residence, a police team comprising deputy superintendent of police Vijay Sagar, inspector Rajendra Galanade, sub-inspector D S Patil and others arrested Bingude on Monday. A case under the relevant sections of the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances Act was registered against the peddlar with the Wadgaon Maval police.

The police are now trying to find the source from where the suspect had brought the drugs and who are the other persons involved in the peddling racket, Morale said.

Meanwhile, the rural police have launched a special drive by pressing into service 150 policemen for checking hotels and lodges within the limits of the rural police as preventive measures. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The state human rights commission, Mumbai, has directed its special inspector general of police to ensure that the deputy commissioner of police (zone), conducting an inquiry against inspector Ukaji Sonawane of the Bhartiya Vidhyapeeth police station, submit his report on January 26.

The commission had directed the deputy commissioner of police to investigate a complaint against Sonawane filed by Sunil Pawar of Katraj.

When the inquiry came up for hearing before the commission’s chairperson, justice Kshitij Vyas on December 15, the complainant’s lawyer Anil Pawar pointed out that the deputy commissioner of police had not filed the report.

Pawar also said that his client was been pressurised by sub-inspector Nalawade of the crime branch, Pune unit II, to withdraw the complaint filed against Sonawane.

Pawar complained that his client was illegally detained for seven days and was threatened with dire consequences if he did not withdraw the complaint.

The commission, which took serious note of the allegations, directed the additional commissioner of police (crime) to file a report on the inquiry conducted against Sonawane and about Nalawade’s conduct on January 6.

The commission’s special inspector general of police has also been directed to ensure that its order of submitting both reports were complied with on the next date of hearing. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: This New Year’s eve, your favourite joint in the city might serve you the best wines and food in the backdrop of a stony silence.

Some of the major hotels and pubs in the city might not be allowed to play music on December 31. The reason being that the licensing arm of Indian Music Industry, the music industry body, has served legal notices to them for allegedly failing to pay the copyright licence fee for playing music at their year-end bashes.

The licensing organisation, Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), has threatened legal action against those establishments which still go ahead and play music.

“The music industry is going through a very bad phase and it is unfair that while individuals don’t mind paying a bomb for food and drinks, they hesitate to pay for intellectual property,” Vipul Pradhan, CEO, PPL, said.

According to PPL, pubs and hotels rake in substantial revenues through customised New Year’s eve packages, priced between Rs 1,500 to 20,000. They, however, often fail to pay the licence fee, which starts at Rs. 40,000. The fee varies depending on the number of hours for which the music is played. By not paying the amount, the establishments are flouting the Copyright Act, 1957, and eating into the royalties of the artists, PPL said.

Elaborating on the issue, Avinash D’Souza, business manager, PPL, said, “Playing commercial music without paying the licence fee is liable to contempt of court under Section 35 of the Act. To curb the practice, we have expanded our operation against violators to a national campaign this year conducted in all major cities.”

D’Souza pointed out that the licence is specifically meant for events to be organised on December 31. “The establishments may have a licence to play background music. But if they are holding a New Year’s eve party, they must obtain a separate licence,” he added….More

TOI : PUNE: Onions are set to bring tears to consumers’ eyes once again as prices in the retail market rose to Rs 22 per kg as a result of the new crop being hit by a fungal infection.

Earlier, heavy rains during Diwali and Dussera adversely affected the onion crop in Nashik and other parts of the state causing major hike in retail prices. The rates will continue to be on the higher side for next couple of months as over 30 per cent of the crop has been affected by the fungal disease called Karpa’. Besides Nashik, Ahmednagar and Pune districts, some parts of Satara district also grows onion.

Shivlal Bhosle, chairman of Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Market yard Commission Agents Association said, “In November this year prices suddenly shot up to Rs 1,800 per quintal, due to which prices in retail market rose to Rs 22 per kilogram. Today’s situation is identical but the possibility of prices coming down in the days to come is remote.” In normal circumstances onion prices range between Rs 800 and Rs 1,100 per quintal.

On Sunday, the rate of onion at local agriculture produce market committee (APMC) was close to Rs 1,700 per quintal, which came down slightly on Monday at Rs 1,500. But, apart from such marginal lowering of prices, the overall prices will remain high for another two months, said Bhosle.

Bhosle said, “In November, many farmers released their stock because prices were high. The increased supply could bring down the rates to some extent. The farmers were banking on the mid-December harvest but unfortunately over 30 per cent of the sown crop is affected by the fungus.”

The stock is about to be exhausted while there is a significant reduction in fresh crop. Even supply from some northern states has dipped making the situation worse, he added.

At present, Pune consumes 20 truck-load of…More

TOI : PUNE: As many as 481 child labourers have been found in Pimpri-Chinchwad in a recent survey conducted by the municipal corporation. The civic body has decided to provide education and other benefits of government schemes to these children.

Subhash Machare, worker welfare officer and assistant commissioner, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) told TOI on Monday: “The survey was conducted by the All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) on behalf of the municipal corporation. The PCMC will try to give education to the children under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of the Union government.”

Machare said, “For getting information about child labourers, the PCMC had issued a public notice to various organisations, offices and other establishments. It has also put a condition in the contracts it signs with contractors that they should provide education to child labourers employed in their organisations as per the Child Labour Prevention and Control Act.”

The AIILSG conducted the survey in industrial units and processing units. It also gathered information about school dropouts, as well as details of their families.

S.G. Chavan, regional director, AIILSG, said: “The survey was conducted at two levels. As many as 270 anganwadi workers conducted the survey in slums and other parts of the township. Around 30 MSW students conducted the survey in industries. It took six months to complete the survey, while another two months were needed to computerise the data and analyse it.”

Most of the 481 child labourers live in slums. Children who work in hotels stay in the hotels or in nearby areas. The involvement of anganwadi workers helped as they knew the locality well and people did not hide information from them, Chavan said. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: Residents of Talegaon Dabhade, known for its developed and rapidly expanding industrial area, are up in arms against a proposed six-lane expressway project to be initiated by the state public works department.

The proposed 123-km expressway will link Talegaon on the Mumbai-Pune highway to Shirur, along the Pune-Ahmednagar highway and further up to Shikrapur, Nhavara and Chouphula, on the Pune-Solapur highway. In a way, it would be an easterly bypass for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, as it would divert heavy traffic and thus help reduce traffic congestion.

The expressway is to be built at a cost of Rs 1,220 crore on a build operate and transfer (BOT) basis and involves the construction of four flyovers, five big bridges, 38 small bridges, 16 underground tunnels and 34 bus bays.

Residents have demanded that the expressway be diverted from residential areas to industrial areas.

Political groups as well as citizens organisations, have formed the Talegaon Action Committee in order to take their demands to the state government. While residents are not against the expressway project per se, they have pointed out various reasons why the six-lane road should not pass through residential areas in Talegaon. An 8-km stretch of the proposed expressway, from Malwadi (on the Talegaon Chakan route) to Talegaon goes through a residential area, which has a number of housing colonies as well as schools, the committee said.

Office-bearers of the committee, including its president Suresh Choudhary, vice-president Ganesh Khandge, Dilip Rajguru and Ravindra Dabhade said that as per the government’s policy, no expressway or six-lane road should pass through residential areas. “Our main demand is that the road be diverted from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation area, because over 80 per cent of the vehicles will be heavy vehicles, which anyway would either want to go to the companies in the industrial area or further, to Mumbai,” said Khandge. Apart from the possibility…More

TOI : PUNE: Within just two years of its inception, cardiologists at the Fabiani and Budhrani Heart Institute here have managed to perform rare cardiac interventions’ procedures which have been performed by few hospitals in the country.

“Advances in technology have made interventions in congenital heart defect conditions like atrial septal defect (a hole in the heart), ventricular septal defect (a cardiac malformation) and patent ductus arteriosis (abnormal circulation of blood between two of the major arteries near the heart) feasible,” said cardiologist Ritu Dhawan-Bhatia.

The procedure entails treatment of patients, including children, by non-surgical methods, said Dhawan-Bhatia. “Normally these cardiac conditions are corrected by surgical procedures as expertise to deal with them non-surgically is not available in all cardiac centres.”

On a rare cardiac intervention carried out by the hospital, Dhawan-Bhatia said, “A four-year-old girl who was born with a narrowed aorta was treated with balloon angioplasty instead of surgery. The patient was discharged within two-three days.”

Similarly, cardiologist Manohar Sakhare planted an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) a device that monitors heart rhythms on a 62-year-old person. “The patient had suffered a heart attack in 2006 after which he had recurrent episodes of ventricular tachycardia (heart rhythm abnormalities) which was a life threatening condition and required high intensity electric shocks,” said Sakhare. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: A labourer has been booked for allegedly stabbing his wife and killing her on Saturday. The incident took place around 2.30 pm in the Ambedkarnagar slums of Kharadi.

The Yerawada police have identified the deceased as Pama Kutke (30). Her husband, Prakash alias Munna Kutke (30), fled after the incident.

According to sub-inspector M M Patukale of the Yerawada police station, “Prakash, who is an alcoholic, would beat his wife regularly, accusing her of being unfaithful. On Saturday afternoon, Pama was washing clothes in front of her house, when Prakash came up, threatened her to kill her, and went into the house. Pama ignored him, but after a few minutes Prakash came out, stabbed Pama in the stomach and fled,” Patukale said.

Neighbours rushed Pama to the Sassoon general hospital, but the doctors declared her dead on arrival. Pama is survived by a son and a daughter.

In a similar incident, Rama Rodge (38) of Gadital, assaulted his wife Rekha (28) on Saturday morning, accusing her of infidelity. He also attacked his mother-in-law Laxmi (48), when she tried to save her daughter. The two have sustained severe injuries and have been admitted to a hospital for treatment, the Hadapsar police said.

Rodge has been arrested under section 307 for attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The state government is working on a proposal to seek changes in the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, so that punishment is enhanced for traffic violations.
Ramanath Jha, principal secretary (department of transport and excise), has said, “Provisions related to violation of rules were fixed long ago. All over the world, punishment is much harsher. Basically, we want the punishment to be a strong deterrent”.
The offences for which punishment is proposed to be increased include (rule 180) allowing unauthorised persons to drive vehicles, (rule 181) driving vehicles without proper licence or anyone below the age of 18 driving the vehicle, (rule 183) driving at excessive speed, (rule 184) related to dangerous driving, (rule 185) related to driving under the influence of liquor or drugs, and (rule 187) for offences relating to an accident.
When contacted, state transport commissioner Deepak Kapoor told TOI that while he would make a comment on the details of the proposal later, he agreed that the present punishment for traffic violations was less. “The proposed enhanced punishment has to be worked out properly, as anyone can challenge it in court,” he added.
Rash driving, which has become an issue of serious concern these days, attracts a punishment of six months in jail or a fine of up to Rs 1,000 for the first offence. If the same offence is committed again within three years of the previous offence, the punishment is either imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine of Rs 2,000 or both.
While the government is proposing changes in the rules, it will take a few months, if not more, for the law to come into effect. Changes in central laws would require administrative approval from the central government. Later, it will have to be approved by the State Legislative Assembly as well as the State Legislative Council. After this, the state government will seek…More