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TOI : PUNE: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president R R Patil has said the Congress should come clean on having an alliance with the NCP for the impending state assembly polls, in view of the repeated statements by senior Congress leaders favouring their party to contest the polls on its own strength.

Patil’s remark comes against the backdrop of senior Congress leader and Union minister for heavy industries Vilasrao Deshmukh reiterating at regular intervals the need for the Congress to go alone in the assembly polls. Others, like former Union minister of state for finance Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil have favoured the idea.

The state NCP chief was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the party’s western Maharashtra conclave to prepare for the assembly elections. Senior NCP leaders, including former state chief Arun Gujarathi, state ministers Jayant Patil, Dilip Walse-Patil, Ajit Pawar and Balasaheb Thorat, were also present.

“At a time when it is settled that the two party chiefs (Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi) will take a final call on the pre-poll alliance, responsible Congress leaders have continued to talk about their party going alone. This may be their personal opinion but, the NCP as a party can not afford to be complacent considering that little time is left for poll preparations,” said Patil.

“The NCP has always stood committed to a combined front, which is also the need of the hour for Maharashtra. However, if responsible leaders continue to speak like this then we have to be prepared for any eventuality,” he added.

Patil also made a significant policy statement that the NCP won’t have any “direct or indirect tie-up with communal parties in future” in all polls including the local self-governing bodies across the state.

In the process, Patil put a question mark over the NCP’s existing tie-ups with saffron parties, like the Shiv Sena, at various local bodies. “We will study…More

TOI : PUNE: Both H1N1 influenza patients in the city tested (turned) negative after they were quarantined and treated with Tamiflu tablets. Of them, the first patient, a 24-year-old IT professional who had tested positive on June 22 was discharged from hospital, while the second patient will be kept under observation for two more days, said D V Barathe, medical officer of Naidu Hospital on Sunday.

“The throat swab tests of both patients tested negative after they were put on Tamiflu tablets for three days at a stretch,” said Barathe.”

The IT professional from Pune who flew in after a short stay in the US and UK had tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) influenza on June 22 and became the first case of H1N1 flu in the city. The man had arrived in Mumbai on June 15 and later travelled to Lucknow and Delhi and had returned to Pune on June 18. He developed typical symptoms of H1N1 flu during his stay in Delhi. After returning to Pune, he volunteered to get himself examined at Naidu Hospital, a designated H1N1 flu treatment centre in Pune, following which he was quarantined on June 20.

The other patient, a 29-year-old man had tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) flu on June 25. He had landed in Mumbai from the US via Hongkong at 3.30 am on June 24. He came to Pune the same day and developed H1N1 flu symptoms.

“We have been taking their throat swab tests on a regular basis. Both of them, who had earlier tested positive for H1N1 flu, have turned negative after a few days of treatment,” Mandeep Chadha, deputy director of National Institute of Virology (NIV) told TOI. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The director of technical education has extended the deadline for submission of forms for the Centralised Admission Process through Counselling at Autonomous Institutions (CAPCAI) till June 30.

As per the previous schedule, the last date for submission of admission forms was June 28. However, there was demand from several students and their parents to extend this deadline in view of the problems they have encountered in securing the non-creamy layer certificate from the district collectorates.

Speaking to TOI on Sunday, CAPCAI admissions in-charge N B Dhokey said, “The DTE has sent a fax to the effect that the form submission deadline has been revised to June 30.”

”As per the revised student intake sanctioned by the All India Council for Technical Education, 2,687 seats at the six autonomous engineering colleges in the state are up for grabs,” he said.

”Till Sunday evening, 12,544 admission forms were sold for the CAPCAI for which the College of Engineering Pune is the nodal agency,” he added. “The extension of deadline would see more forms adding to this number,” he said.

Dhokey said, “Due to the deadline extension, the provisional merit list, which was to be released on June 30, will now be released on July 1. However, there will be no other change in the CAPCAI schedule that was declared earlier.”

”The final merit list will be released on July 4 and the counselling-based admission rounds would commence from July 6, he said. All the 2,687 seats would be on offer from the Round I stage of the CAPCAI,” he said.

”This year, the only change in the intake effected by the AICTE is the conversion of the 40 sugar technology engineering seats at the Shri Guru Gobind Sinhji Institute of Engineering and Technology (SGGSIET) into that for chemical engineering branch and an enhanced 20 seats for the same institution in the production engineering…More

TOI : PUNE: Mired in controversies over the past few years, the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) now claims that it is taking efforts to make the exam schedule less time consuming, updating the syllabus on lines of the UPSC and also introducing online application facility a move that will benefit rural students.

The MPSC has been battling a series of problems since 2001 when the Anit-Corruption Bureau caught officials rigging marks for cash, enabling certain candidates to join the bureaucracy fraudulently. The scam seemed to have had a ripple effect on the system first, the examinations were not held for a few years and then each exam cycle took two to three years to complete. The irregularities left the candidates feeling uncertain about writing the exam.

In fact, the MPSC results that were declared about a fortnight ago have also been withdrawn as selected candidates have complained about the posts that have been offered to them.

However, MPSC chairman Madhukar Kokate said that efforts are being made to streamline the system. “We will soon be introducing an online facility to apply for the MPSC exam. This is being done especially for candidates from rural areas, who face problems while purchasing the forms and sending the filled applications. Also, the biggest problem arises when their applications are rejected because of small mistake in the form. The online system will not accept any application if a column has been left empty and students will be able to rectify the mistake there and then,” Kokate said.

Pointing out the problems faced by candidates because of delays in exams and the time taken for one exam cycle to complete, Kokate informed that this year onwards the entire exam schedule will not stretch beyond a year like that of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

“We plan to complete one exam cycle (preliminary exam, main exam and final interview) within a…More

TOI : PUNE: The monsoon is likely to cover the whole of Maharashtra in the next 48 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday. Barring some parts of Vidarbha, most parts of the state have been covered, it said.

According to IMD officials, the monsoon made good progress on Saturday. Usually the monsoon covers the whole state by June 10. Today, 19 days later, it has still not reached some parts of the state.

Since Friday, the southwest monsoon has been making continuous progress. After moving for two days, it halted on Sunday. On Friday, the monsoon had reached most parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai. It further advanced to some parts of Vidarbha on Saturday.

“Conditions are favourable for further advancement into parts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and the remaining parts of Orissa, West Bengal & Sikkim. Vidarbha and some parts of Jharkhand, Bihar and east Uttar Pradesh also should get rains in the next two or three days,” the IMD said.

A B Mazumdar, deputy director general of meteorology at IMD said that showers could be expected in the city during this period.

“Rainfall is likely in the state and nearby areas,” he said, “A cyclonic circulation now lies over Kutch and the neighbourhood. Along with that, there is an off-shore trough at sea level running from the north Konkan coast to Kerala coast. These pro-rainfall systems are present. So, the situation is slightly better as compared to situation some days ago.”
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TOI : PUNE: Gangster Feroz Rahim Bangali (43) of Kondhwa died at the Sassoon general hospital in the wee hours of Sunday. The cause of death is yet to be ascertained. Bangali was rushed to the hospital from Yerawada central prison in a critical condition on Thursday morning and had been on ventilator ever since.

B B Kadam, head (medicine), Sassoon general hospital, said: “The cause of Bangali’s death is not yet ascertained. His brain and heart were not functioning when he was brought to the hospital and he was put on ventilator. He died during the wee hours of Sunday.”

Deputy inspector general of police (prison) Ravindra Kedari stated that the matter was under investigation. “Bangali had gone out of the prison on Wednesday to attend a court hearing. He returned around 7 pm. We are inquiring about his activities on that day. It will take two-three days to complete the probe,” Kedari said.

After the news of Bangali’s death spread, police bandobast was put up at Kondhwa as a precautionary measure. Speaking to TOI, superintendent of police (zone IV) Jalindar Supeakar said, “An assistant commissioner of police from the zone, two police inspectors, eight sub-inspectors and 50 men were deployed at Kondhwa. We sent some personnel, including those in plainclothes, at prominent areas in Kondhwa like Mithanagar, Kausarbaug and Kondhwa Kamela.”

“We have filed an accidental death case in this regard at Yerawada police station,” he added. Senior inspector Prasad Hasabnis of Yerawada police station said Bangali’s viscera sample has been sent for chemical analysis after the post-mortem.

The police had recently arrested Bangali and five others under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The others arrested include builder Akram Isaque Shaikh (40), painting contractor Yunus Ibrahim Shaikh (28) and drivers Fareed Khalil Shaikh (29), Imtiaz Salim Shaikh (24) and Mohsin Salim Shaikh (24), all residents of Kondhwa Khurd. The stringent law…More

TOI : PUNE: An ever-growing mountain of garbage confronts you as you enter the Shivajinagar police lines. Stray dogs feast on the bits of food they can find and broken stone benches and construction debris dot the landscape.

“We are used to this,” says a 32-year-old home-maker, a constable’s spouse. “But my friends are not. They are planning to come over but I wish they’d change their plans,” she says, covering her nose with the pallu of her sari. “It’s not just us who are suffering, police lines across the city are in similar states of dilapidation – some more, some less,” she says.

This seemingly constant state of squalor is what the families of the 7,000-strong police force spread over the 13 police lines in the city have resigned themselves to. The responsibility of the repairs and maintenance of the police lines rests with the State Public Works Department (PWD). However the maintenance of the residential quarters – despite payment of Rs 60 per month contributed by each police personnel – leaves a lot to be desired.

Built over different time spans, what seems to unite each building are the common factors of leaking roofs, open garbage dumps, poor lighting and inefficient drainage.

At the Swargate Police lines, another young wife, a resident of the Haveli building, which houses 40 families mostly from the Pune rural police, shares her woes. “My husband came home from duty after two days, and had to go back to work without a bath. Erratic water supply, at very low pressure, has been our lot for at least two or three years now,” she says. Shortage of water is just one of their problems. “Leaking roofs, choked drains and garbage dumps in the vicinity of our homes, are other major issues,” she adds.

“What to do?” sighs her neighbour. “This has been the condition for years now. Complaining to the…More

TOI : PUNE: If you thought addiction to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol were the only evils, think of gadget obsession. Affecting children and adults alike, the craze is catching up fast with the Puneites. Starting from mobile phones and internet to Blackberries and PlayStations, more and more people feel that life without their fancy gadgets is impossible.

Says IT professional Devraj Roy, “Right from the time I wake up, these gadgets play an important role in my life. Starting from the morning alarm to checking and replying to e-mails on my Blackberry, gadgets have made life so much easier. Also, I can’t think of leaving home without plugging on to my i-pod.” Is he an addict? “Even though I would not like to admit it, I think I am. I can’t help checking my Blackberry every 5-10 minutes for new mails or texts,” he admitted.

Another gadget fascinating the audiences is the playstation. With prices of playstations (PS) coming down from Rs 14,000 Rs 8,000 recently, the demand has shot up considerably. “In the last one year we have seen a 40 per cent rise in demand for PS2 and it’s still on the higher side. And surprisingly, the demand is more between the age group of 21-30 instead of teenagers,” says Atul Deshpande, owner of a shop selling PSs on the FC road.

Playstation enthusiasts, however, do not consider it as an addiction, but as just another way of passing time. “Last Saturday, my room-mate and I played on the playstation for 14 hours straight, taking breaks in between just to go to the washroom. I don’t call it an addiction because it does not happen every day, due to lack of time,” says a 27-year-old IT professional.

However there are a few who admit it openly. “What if it is an addiction? It’s better than getting hooked to cigerettes or alcohol,” argued one mobile addict….More

TOI : PUNE: With colleges opening for the new academic session, students have started preparing themselves for the most coveted prize in theatre. Purushottam Karandak, the prestigious inter-collegiate theatre competition organised by Pune-based Maharashtriya Kalopasak, is calling for entries from interested college teams to showcase their theatrical skills.

Entry forms for the competition will be available for two days July 14 and 15 at the Maharashtriya Kalopasak office in Subhashnagar, from 6 pm to 8 pm. Colleges that have participated earlier will be given preference in selection of registration for the competition. A waiting list of colleges participating for the first time will be prepared on July 14 and 15.

“Every year, we get around 45 entries for the competition. The winner and the first runner-up of last year’s competition will be given preference. So far, we have received fresh enquiries from two colleges in Ahmednagar and a couple of new colleges in Pune,” said Hemant Vaidya, secretary of Maharashtriya Kalopasak.

Teams willing to enrol will have to submit their scripts with Maharashtriya Kalopasak by July 26. “We will send these scripts to the censors for clearance soon after,” Vaidya said. Selected entries will be announced on August 2 and 3.

The preliminary rounds of the competition will be held from August 8 to 14 and from August 16 to 21. The final round of Purushottam Karandak will be held on September 5 and 6 at the Bharat Natya Mandir. The awards distribution ceremony will be held at the same venue at 5 pm on September 13. They will be conferred by veteran singer, Ramdas Kamat, who will chair the evening.

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TOI : PUNE: The Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS) on Friday demanded stringent action by the University of Pune (UoP) against the Symbiosis arts and commerce college after a two-member inquiry panel of the university said the college had flouted the state government’s 10 per cent admission quota for outside Maharashtra students (OMS).

The panel has detected 214 excess OMS admissions effected between 2002-03 and 2007-08 by the college to the first-year commerce degree course. Based on the panel’s report, the UoP management council passed a resolution on June 6 slapping a monetary fine on the college at the rate of double the course fee for each excess admission.

The Symbiosis college, however, categorically denied having effected any excess admission. “We haven’t yet received any letter from the UoP regarding the management council’s decision. Hence, we don’t know what has happened,” said principal Hrishikesh Soman told TOI on Friday.

Soman added: “The entire issue was based on misunderstanding and misguided interpretation of admissions effected by the college during the six-year period in reference. We haven’t effected even a single excess admission than what has been sanctioned to us.”

At a press conference here on Friday, BVS state chief Abhijit Panse and city unit chief Sunil Jagtap said that the UoP action of monetary penalty was too lenient considering the repeated offence’ in terms of excess admissions effected by the college over a period of six years. “The university needs to take more stringent action against the college,” Jagtap said.

Earlier, BVS activist Angad Bhosale had filed a plea under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the UoP seeking details of excess admissions at various affiliated colleges. Responding to the plea, the UoP released the inquiry panel’s report as well as the management council’s June 6 resolution.

The panel, comprising principals Shah Shabbir A. Yaseen and Anant G. Gosavi, has concluded that the college did not…More