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TOI : PUNE: The Shiv Sena MPs will press for resignation of Nationalist Congress Party MP Padmasinh Patil, executive president of the Sena, Udhhav Thackeray, said here on Tuesday.

“The NCP should ask Patil to quit the party for his alleged role in Pawanraje Nimbalkar’s murder,” Thackeray added.

Thackeray was talking to the media after inaugurating an exhibition of photographs of forts in Maharashtra clicked by Shramik Gojmangude at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium, Kothrud. Historians Babasaheb Purandare, Ninad Bedekar, Pandurang Balkwade and actress Mrunal Kulkarni shared the dais.

“The NCP is claiming that their party has no connection with the Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder. If they want to prove this claim they should expel Patil from the party,” Thackeray said.

“NCP chief Sharad Pawar is saying the Patil is a respected personality, but people of Maharashtra don’t want to see such respected personalities like Patil representing our state in Parliament.”

He added that since the NCP is an ally of the Congress party, the Congress should also take this matter seriously.

“The NCP is guarding Patil for a long. If his name was in the controversy, why did the party give him ticket for the Lok Sabha elections?” he asked.

Thackeray also criticised the people who have raised an issue over the inclusion of Babasaheb Purandare in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial committee. Some organisations had demanded removal of Purandare from the committee, saying that he is not a historian.

Prove Kondadev is not Shivaji’s guru’

PUNE: Reiterating the Shiv Sena’s stand on the removal of the reference to Dadoji Kondadev as the guru’ of Shivaji Maharaj from school textbooks, Thackeray said the reference should re-included.

Thackeray appealed to the people, who are instrumental in removal of the reference, to come on a joint platform with proofs that Kondadev was not the guru of Shivaji Maharaj. Let there be a brainstorming session on…More

TOI : PUNE: Suggesting the functional structure for the proposed Pune Metro Rail Corporation (PMRC), the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) final draft report envisages that the Pune metro project can be completed by 2014-2015 at a cost of Rs 8,401 (corridor -I) and Rs 9,534 (corridor II).

The report says that the Pune metro, like the DMRC, can ask for concession on value-added tax as well as concession in electricity and other municipal taxes.

“The PMC needs 64,435 hectares of land for the metro. Beside this, there is a need for another 4 hectares of land which could come from the Agriculture college land. This 1,04,435 hectares could be commercially exploited and developed by allowing 4 FSI. Around Rs 600 crore could come in this way,” says the report.

In practical terms, however, this might not be so easy. The agriculture college has already announced that it will not give its land for the project.

“The area, along with the metro corridor, could be commercially exploited by giving additional FSI. Rs 2,000 crore could be raised in this way within the first four years of implementation of the project,” the report goes on to say.

It suggests that a special purpose vehicle named the Pune Metro Rail Corporation (PMRC)’ be formed as per the Company Act 1956 and representatives of the state and central government should be appointed as directors of the special purpose vehicle. The state nominee will be the managing director of the PMRC and the board of directors of the PMRC will hold the authority to implement the project. A high power committee should be also formed under the leadership of the chief secretary of the Maharashtra government.

As per the DMRC model, funds could be raised where equity by the government of Maharashtra and the Government of India will be 40 per cent and other funds could come from property…More

TOI : PUNE: Their job is to listen. For, they believe the simple act of attentive and patient hearing can do a world of good to a person in distress. Interjecting with a few non-judgemental suggestions, they help the needy in that moment of despair and prevent them from going to extremes.

The Connecting helpline, which celebrates its first foundation day today, has reached out to over 500 people-in-distress in the year-long journey. When asked about them the challenges ahead, the founder-member and noted sportswoman Arnavaz Damania, said: “Generating funds to train more volunteers and make it a 24-hour toll-free helpline to address the feeling of isolation and prevent people from committing suicide. We are also in the process of having our syllabus for volunteers recognised by a reputed university. We hope it will be recognised by hospitals as well, so that the training programme will serve as a value-addition to our volunteers’ resumes.”

Damania said that while the number of volunteers has increased from 20 to 30 in last six months, enabling them to increase their working time by two hours, they need many more people.

“We have a six-week programme that trains volunteers in what we call mindful listening.’ This is vital to creating that space for the callers to listen to themselves, and clarify their own thoughts and feelings. There is a sense of relief in having shared their feelings, and that moment of hopelessness, passes,” said psychologist and Connecting’ member, Sandy Dias Andrade.

While some of the callers come over to the Connecting office, others prefer not to reveal their details, and carry on the communication over the phone. “That’s fine with us. Either ways, the process of counselling is completely confidential,” says Sandy (the group members prefer to be called by their first name), adding, “after all, to make that deep human contact, you do not need names and particulars.”

Significantly,…More

TOI : PUNE: Unidentified thieves broke opened the window of a car owned by RPI activist Parshuram Wadekar and fled with Rs 4 lakh and a cell phone worth Rs 70,000. The incident happened near the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch late on Monday night.

According to Wadekar, he was at the Manch for the closing ceremony of Bhim Festival’. He said he had brought the cash to pay for the pandal and the sound system, which were used for the festival.

The car was parked in the parking lot and the thieves used a glass cutter to break open the window. “I realised about the theft when I came to pick up the cash after the function, ” Wadekar said.

A case in this regard has been registered with the Swargate police station and sub-inspector P B Jawale is investigating the case.

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TOI : PUNE: As part of an internal reshuffle, the Pune police have transferred 27 police inspectors.

Their transfer orders were issued by joint commissioner of police (law and order) Rajendra Sonawane.

Sonawane has also rejected the plea of 11 others that they be considered for the post of senior police inspectors, on the grounds that there were no posts vacant.

The move has disappointed a large number of inspectors, particularly those who had been transferred out of Pune on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections but who were then told they could come back to Pune after they obtained an order from the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT).

The men said that they were earlier transferred twice because of the elections and that they had to approach the MAT twice in order to come back to Pune.

They said that they had approached MAT because they were transferred before they could complete their tenure of six years in one city.

The officials said that they had taken charge of their respective postings after the MAT order, and were intensely disappointment at being transferred again in the internal reshuffle.

Interestingly, Sonawane’s order states that the officers have been transferred either on administrative grounds or on an a request made by them.

The inspectors transferred include V R Gaikwad, A P Shivtare, M A Vidhate, D T Kurawale, A Y Rajshirke, S S Neve, S N Deore, P M Shahane, A S Shinde, B S Tele, Sangeeta Alphonso-Shinde, A D Kshirsagar, R M Gaikwad, F I Kazi, S P Asphat, A H Shaikh, D K Chate, A G Pathan, K S Umbarje, A V Akoskar, D B Patil, V S Nanavare, R P Kunte, R F Yadav, D S Chougle, S M Deshmukh and U V Gite.

The inspectors who have not been transferred, despite making a request and have been refused the…More

TOI : PUNE: Citizens of Pimpri-Chinchwad can hope to get better services as the civic body gets an ISO certification (9001:2008).

Municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said that the ISO certification is something that the municipal corporation should be aiming at because of various people-friendly measures that are being implemented. “We are going in for implementing a citizens’ charter as well as service-level benchmarking. Besides, the PCMC has also implemented solid waste management practices in an efficient way,” he said.

To obtain ISO certification, the corporation will first impart training in quality improvement to around 400 class I and class II officers. The next phase will include all the employees.

The PCMC is likely to get an ISO certification within a few months. If it actually gets it, it would become the first corporation in the state to achieve the feat.

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TOI : PUNE: An appalling riot of colours: This is what best describes Laxmishwar Mandir’s present condition. A jarring and discordant palette of oil paint mercilessly obscures the elegance of the original building. Glazed tile cladding to an inner stone wall of the temple makes one wish that donations from devotees were put to more sensible use.

This Shiva temple was built a stone’s throw away from Raste Wada in the early 1780s by Anandrao Bhikaji Raste, a scion of the Raste family that formed the second echelon in the then power hierarchy. He also constructed three big cisterns in front of the temple, supplied with water brought several miles from Mauje Kondhwa. It was one of the 16 prominent temples that dotted Rasta Peth by AD 1810-11. The Rastes were in charge of Rasta Peth till 1860, nearly eight decades after Anandrao founded it.

The two-and-a-half-foot north-facing Shivalinga is housed in a square, east-facing stone gabhara (sanctum sanctorum), abutting a rectangular portico with an open frontage, spanned over three arches. The gabhara is capped by a corbelled stone dome with a central lotus pendant. On the lintel of the gabhara door is a Ganesha relief and the threshold bears karmukha (a bow-shaped semi-elliptical projection). The sabhamandapa (anterior hall) rests on plain shaft pillars and has an almost flat domical ceiling. Evolving from a square base to a polygon towards the pinnacle, the Maratha style shikhara in plastered brickwork comprises tiers embellished with imagery and stucco figures.

Just outside the sabhamandapa is a life-size Nandi bull (Shiva’s carrier), carved with fine detail and seated on a covered pedestal. In the portico are wall recesses with figurines of Shani, Ganapati, Chandika Devi and Dattatreya. The entire complex is about two feet below the road level and enclosed by stone walls. The plinth of the main shrine is about two-and-a-half feet high.

Towards the northeast of the temple stands…More

TOI : PUNE: A conservancy staffer, who had allegedly outraged the modesty of an 11-year-old-girl at a public toilet in Camp, was thrashed by the public and handed over to the police.

Though the incident took place on June 4, the details were not made public because the incident had angered the members of a minority community to which the girl belongs.

The Cantonment police said that Mohan Babulal Chavan (40) of New Modikhana entered the public toilet for cleaning it when he spotted the girl alone, and molested her. The incident occurred around 1 pm on June 4.

After the girl raised an alarm, Chavan took to his heels, but was overpowered by the public and was thrashed, said inspector Vitthal Rane (crime) on Tuesday.

Rane said the police took immediate cognizance of the incident and arrested Chavan in the evening under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for outraging the modesty of a woman. He was released on bail on June 5.

The girl, who is a student of class five, was referred to a city-based government hospital after she complained of severe pain in her private parts.

On getting the medical reports, the police have invoked section 377 of the IPC for committing an unnatural offence. The police have referred the matter to the special executive magistrate.

On the contrary, Chavan has registered a complaint of non-cognizable offence against unknown persons for thrashing and abusing him under sections 323 and 504 of the IPC.

Assistant commissioner of police (Cantonment division) Ashok Gaikwad, who is also holding the charge of special executive magistrate, said the police had suo motto invoked section 377 of the IPC against Chavan after the medical report confirmed that the victim received an injury on her private parts.

Gaikwad denied reports that the incident has angered the members of the minority community, but admitted…More

TOI : PUNE: After completing the work on its first in-house environment status report (ESR) by July 31, the environment cell of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) will plan a comprehensive health survey to assess the impact of air pollution in the city.

“There is a need for a comprehensive health survey, especially regarding the impact of pollution. Once the ESR is complete, we will plan a strategy to conduct such a survey,” environment officer of the PMC, Mangesh Dighe, said. He added that the environment cell will also undertake other projects for creating environment awareness among citizens. “We need to study and redefine carbon footprint (to measure the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced) so that we can plan strategies to combat pollution.”

In 1996, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had conducted a survey on the impact of pollution on citizens and the results were submitted to the then municipal commissioner Ramanath Jha. However, the municipal corporation never acted on the results. Two years ago, city-based Chest Research Foundation (CRF) had conducted a study on the effects of air pollution on health. The CRF and the department of respiratory medicine at the B J medical college had also conducted a research on 325 actively serving traffic policemen and 123 non-traffic policemen.

Since then, however, there has been no concentrated effort by the civic body to initiate a comprehensive health survey. Also, the demand by environmentalists that the environment impact assessment (EIA) for all major development should be done, has been neglected. “All these factors will be considered when we plan the survey on pollution,” Dighe said.

Meanwhile, the PMC is confident of completing the work on ESR by July 31 and table it before the general body. “For the first time, the PMC is working in-house for the ESR. Till last year, tenders were floated and…More

TOI : PUNE: A 23-year-old youth from Pune drowned in a lake at Vehergaon near Lonavla on Monday evening.

The Lonavla police have identified the deceased as Pankaj Pritam Nagpure of Kasba Peth.

Speaking to TOI, Bandu Nagpure, a relative of the deceased, said that on Monday morning Pankaj and six of his friends from Kasba Peth went to Lonavla. After offering prayers to Ekviara goddess at Karla, the youths went swimming in the lake in the evening.

When they were ready to leave they noticed that Nagpure had not come out of the lake. His friends searched for him and found him at the bottom of the lake. He was immediately taken out, but was unconscious.

Pankaj was rushed to a nearby hospital and later shifted to a private hospital at Lonavla but he was declared dead. “When Pankaj was fished out of the lake, he was alive. The local hospital refused to admit him. If he had been treated in time, he may have survived,” Nagpure said.

Pankaj, who was working at a lamination workshop in Pune, is survived by his mother and younger brother.

The Lonavla police have filed a case of accidental death and are investigating the case.

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