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TOI : PUNE: The city-based B J Medical College (BJMC) is one of the top four destinations in the state for courses in health sciences. This fact is apparent from the MHT-CET cut-offs, ie the percentage point where admission ends at a given institution.

According to the last year’s cut-offs among government colleges, Mumbai’s G S Medical College finished with a cut-off of 188 marks, Lokmanya Tilak Medical College in Sion finished with 185, followed by the Grant Medical College, Mumbai with 179 and the BJMC at 176 marks.

According to Kalpana Kelkar, the liaisoning officer for Pune for the MHT-CET examination, “Students in the state give first preference to GS Medical college while the Grant Medical College and BJMC get second preference.”

The MHT-CET is a combined entrance test conducted by the Maharashtra government for admission to the first-year degree courses in engineering, pharmacy and health sciences. The test annually draws more than 2 lakh students not only from all over Maharashtra but also from other states.

Kelkar added, “Mumbai gets first preference because of its location. Most students within the state as well as from outside Maharashtra prefer Mumbai for its charisma. Pune is their next preference, since it is an educational hub and close to Mumbai.”

Last year, 3,785 medical and 3,935 pharmacy seats were up for grabs at various colleges in the state. Besides MHT-CET, another aptitude examination by the Association of Managements of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges (AMUPMDC), called Asso-CET, is conducted yearly for private colleges.

While K J Somaiya College in Mumbai is largely preferred by medical aspirants and had topped the cut-off list last year with 184 marks, the Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education & Research (MIMER), Talegaon Dabhade, also stands among the top three private medical colleges in the city.

An official at the admissions department of MIMER said, “Both Somaiya College and MIMER…More

TOI : PUNE: The Cantonment police on Thursday traced a 17-year-old girl from the city, who had gone missing, to Nashik. Her 23-year-old boyfriend, who went with her, after promising to marry her, has been arrested on charges of abduction.

Assistant police inspector B M Mule, who is investigating the case, said the girl and the youth, Rahul Vahale, of Nana Peth, had become friendly some two years back since they visited the same dargah’. On May 17, they eloped to Nashik. When the girl did not return home till late in the evening, her father, an employee with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), lodged a complaint with the police.

Investigations revealed that Vahale, who earlier lived with his sister at Undri, had relocated to Nashik. Acting on this information, a police team traced Vahale and the girl to Nashik. Vahale was arrested on charges of abduction since the girl is a minor. The youth used to work as a welder in Nashik.

Drama prevailed at the Cantonment police station with the girl requesting her parents to withdraw their complaint against Vahale. She claimed she had married the youth. However, the parents were in no mood to listen to her and asked the police to take strict action against Vahale for eloping with their daughter.

The girl told TOI that she had married Vahale in Nashik and that he had converted to Islam before a maulana’ there. She said he had changed his name to Anwar Habib Shaikh. “The legal complications because of me being a minor cannot separate me from my husband’. I will support him no matter what. I don’t care about the case registered by my parents,” she said. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: Although there are 23 acquisition cases creating an impediment to the completion of the Paud road concretisation work, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has declared that the 4 km road project will be complete by January 2010.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Vinay Deshpande, officer on special duty for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) road works said that there were acquisition issues at some 23 spots, which also included eight temples.

“Moreover, work is also going to be taken up to lay Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL) pipelines. There are around 150 small and big trees which are in the way and we have to resolve that issue as well, since we need the high court’s permission to cut or transplant trees,” Deshpande said.

When it was pointed out that there have been allegations from elected members about the quality of work being done, Deshpande said that the PMC has adopted proper technology in the work.

“There are two ways to do concretising work. If the base of the road is already strong, the concrete layers are directly laid over it. This is the overlay method. In case the base is not good, then it is crushed, properly surfaced and then concretised. In the Paud road case, only around 1,100 meters of the road had a strong base so the overlay method was adopted,” Deshpande said.

However, he admitted that on 200 meters of the road, near the Vanaz factory, it was found that the contractor had done hasty work, so his payments had been held back.

“We haven’t paid him around Rs 20 lakh. The surfacing has not been done smoothly, and he has promised to repair that. Except for this problem, all the work is being done properly. We are using the best technology,” Deshpande repeated.

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TOI : PUNE: Amidst the debate over the proposal to buy 650 buses including 200 air-conditioned (AC) vehicles under a public-private partnership (PPP) model it appears that the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) would now be playing a significant role in taking the proposal forward.

A civic proposal states that the PCMC would be issuing a letter of appointment to an independent agency, Crisil, to prepare tenders for the purchase of the buses under a public-private partnership model. The municipal corporation would also pay Rs 15 lakh from its coffers as consultancy fees to the agency.

This proposal has been tabled by municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma before the civic standing committee, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

The proposal further says that divisional commissioner Dilip Band, in a letter dated May 16, asked the PCMC to issue the appointment letter and consultancy fees to Crisil. The amount of Rs 15 lakh to be paid by the PCMC will be adjusted from the amount that the municipal corporation extends to the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited. The proposal adds that Crisil has expressed its readiness to carry out the work. The firm had made a presentation in this regard on June 6.

Incidentally, on Tuesday, when the standing committee meeting would discuss the proposal, various civic groups have planned an agitation at the council hall, where the office of the divisional commissioner is located, to protest against the purchase of AC buses under the PPP model. They have demanded that an order for the purchase of the 650 regular buses, including semi-low floor ones, be placed immediately.

Earlier this week, Band, while speaking to TOI, had justified the purchase of the AC buses under the PPP model. He had insisted that the proposal is in sync with guidelines issued by the Union urban development ministry. Besides, Union urban transport director S K Lohia told TOI earlier that…More

TOI : PUNE: The BJP has warned that it will agitate if the civic administration withdraws its proposal to provide free travel to school children in Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) made a provision of Rs 9 crore towards the scheme, but the PMPML administration has calculated that if the scheme is to be implemented, it would require Rs 48 crore.

“Last year, 95 schools in Pune had hired 80 PMPML buses which incurred a cost of Rs 1 crore. The PMC and PMPML administration is exaggerating the figure by saying that they will need Rs 48 crore for a free bus service for the students,” said BJP corporator Ujwal Keskar.

The PMPML administration is likely to place the proposal demanding Rs 48 crore before the PMC administration. “There is no need for such a huge amount. If the administration utilises the allotted amount of Rs 9 crore, the students could avail of the benefit of free travel,” said Keskar.

He added that schools will start next week and the PMC and PMPML should immediately act on the decision taken earlier.

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TOI : PUNE: As many as 80 construction contractors stormed in the Reliance Communication’s office at Kalyaninagar demanding delayed payments for the communication towers constructed by them.

The contractors, who came from various parts of the state, claimed that the total amount of unpaid bills amounted to a few crore rupees.

Speaking to TOI, contractor Mohan Sheshadri from Pune said, “We have been working with Reliance Communication for the last few years. However, since the last two years we have not received payments for the communication towers which were installed by us at various parts of the state. We have tried to contact company officials, but in vain.”

Dinesh Gupta, a contractor from Amravati said, “Most of us have taken loans from various banks for the construction work. We have taken material on credit. Because of this delay in payment, we have to face the bank officials as well as the suppliers.”

He added, “We gathered here for our payment since morning, but not a single official from the company has responded to us. We have decided to wait on the premises till we are paid.”

When contacted, a Reliance spokesperson said, “We are in the process of completing the payment procedure which involves examination of submitted bills meeting all conditions and compliances, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the work order. The bills will be paid expeditiously on completion of the examination procedures, on all work that fulfils the completion criteria.”

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TOI : PUNE: The civic administration tabled a proposal on signing a 30-year contract with Selco International Limited for landfill development and maintenance at Urali Devachi.

The proposal, which will come up for discussion during the standing committee meeting on Tuesday, states that the Selco’s processing plant is expected to process 500-tonne garbage daily. The Union government has sanctioned Rs 34 crore for waste processing in Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Cantonments.

As per the plan, the civic body will not pay Selco in the first five years. But it will pay Rs 25-35 per tonne of garbage in the subsequent years as per the terms and conditions in the contract.

It may be noted that the civic body already has approved the proposal to sign a concession agreement of thirty years with Hanjer Biotech Energies Private Limited for upgrading the waste processing plant at Urali Devachi. A memorandum of understanding has also been inked with the National Building Construction Company (NBCC), a Government of India enterprise, through which Hanjer Biotech has been appointed.

Now, along with Hanjer, Selco will process garbage at Urali Devachi. The municipal corporation has asked Hanjer to increase the capacity of its treatment plant to 500-tonne per day by September. Municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade said that the PMC is closely watching the steps taken by the company in this regard.

The PMC is also in talks with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited officials for providing sufficient power supply to the Selco plant.

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TOI : PUNE: Additional sessions judge S S Gadge on Friday granted bail to Ravindra Garud, arrested in the 2007 murder case of Tabaji Badhale. Garud allegedly threw a poisonous snake on Badhale, which bit him and was the cause of his death.

Garud was released on a personal bond of Rs 15,000. He has being warned not to influence the prosecution witnesses and attend the court proceedings regularly.

The Pune rural police had arrested four people in the case. They are Badhale’s wife Sandhya, Kailash Shankar Kale, Pandurang Bhogade and Garud.

The case came to light after the local crime branch of the rural police arrested four people in another murder case reported in 2004.

Defence lawyers Vaibhav Jathar and M L Gargote submitted that there was a delay of one-and-a-half years in lodging the FIR. The lawyers argued that judge P R Bore had granted bail to co-accused Bhogade on May 6 and sought bail for his client on parity.

A fifth suspect Sunil, alias Pappu Balasaheb Vatekar, has obtained interim anticipatory bail till June 15 from the Bombay high court, the lawyers said.

The prosecution opposed the bail on the grounds that Garud had allegedly received Rs 1 lakh as blood money (supari) to kill Badhale.

Kale, one of the suspects, who was allegedly having an affair with Badhale’s wife Sandhya, has confessed to murdering Badhale by throwing a snake on him.

According to the police, relations between the Badhales had deteriorated to a point where they frequently fought over trivial issues.

Sandhya complained about her husband to Kale and Kale gave Rs 1 lakh to Garud and his gang to kill Badhale.

On October 29, 2007, they took a snake in a gunny bag and let it loose on Badhale’s leg as he was sleeping.

When they thought Badhale was dead, they rushed him to the…More

TOI : PUNE: A magistrate court on Thursday granted bail to Pune police stenographer Jamila Shaikh (32) of Pimpri for allegedly threatening Fouzia, the widow of additional superintendent of police Mujeeb Karjatkar.

Karjatkar had shot himself dead with a service revolver allegedly due to Shaikh’s harassment in Nagpur on February 25, 2009.

Judicial magistrate first class Jyoti Purkar released Shaikh on a personal bond of Rs 15,000. She was warned not to tamper with the prosecutions evidence and directed to report at the Bund Garden police station between 11 am and 1 pm daily till the filing of the chargesheet.

According to the police, Shaikh, who had developed a liking for Karjatkar, had gone to his Koregaon Park residence and asked Fouzia to obtain a talaq (divorce) from her husband on January 19.

The police said that Shaikh had abused Fouzia and threatened her with dire consequences. Fouzia registered a case against Shaikh after an inordinate delay on April 28. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday strongly supported the proposed metro project and asked the Congress not to create confusion over the 4 Floor Space Index (FSI) proposal.

The Congress party members in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had opposed the 4 FSI proposal on the grounds that the added population density will burden the infrastructure. “The proposal is still in its initial stage and there is no need to create confusion by opposing the same. A detailed discussion is necessary on the proposal and only then can we can reach some conclusion,” said Anil Bhosale, NCP leader in the PMC.

The PMC commissioner had moved a proposal regarding 4 FSI near metro routes as well as BRTS corridors. The PMC’s rationale is that greater population densification through vertical development of residential and commercial properties will make the two mass transport projects economically viable. And it will also help generate funds.

Bhosale said that all party leaders should go through the proposal and have a collective meeting with the municipal administration to clear their doubts.

Meanwhile, Bhosale said that the PMC’s financial condition was sound and there was no need to put a freeze on this year’s budget works. “The municipal commissioner was misguided on the economic condition of the PMC. We hope that he will withdraw the proposal on freezing this year’s budget works to complete last year’s pending works,” he added. Print Emai…More