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TOI : PUNE: Conservancy employee Hassan Shaikh (24) of RSI club in Pune cantonment was allegedly murdered due to previous enmity near the race course on the Pune-Solapur road on Thursday night.

The police have taken two suspects into custody, but refused to reveal their names as they are on the look out for the other suspects.

Following a complaint by the victim’s brother Hussain Shaikh of Mundhwa, the Wanowrie police have registered a murder case against Paya alias Vishal, Abbas, Prem and others.

According to the police, the suspects attacked Shaikh with sharp weapons as they had had some dispute with him on Ambedkar Jjayanti. Shaikh died on the spot.

Inspector Ajit Khadke (crime) said Shaikh has received about 35 injuries. The suspects had a scuffle with Shaikh at West End chowk on M G road two days prior to the incident. The motive behind the dispute is not known.

The cantonment police had taken two suspects into custody, following a tip off. They have been handed over to the Wanowrie police.

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TOI : PUNE: “I gave him whatever he demanded, but could do nothing when it came to saving his life,” said a sorrowful Kishore Waghmare, father of six-year-old Yash, who was killed in an accident on JM road on Saturday. Waghmare was clearly in a state of shock as he relived the horrific moments during which his son was lost to him.

This has been the second tragedy in the Waghmare family in six days. Waghmare’s cousin, Mohan Vishnu Waghmare of Wakdewadi, had passed away on August 31, following a brief illness.

“Today I did not want to take Yash with me. But, he forced me and I took him. Now, looked what had happened. Even God did nothing to save the life of my son. I have lost everything,” said Waghmare.

Waghmare had rushed his son to a private hospital immediately after the mishap. Yash’s mother too rushed to the hospital. She wanted to see her son but could not as his body had been taken to Sassoon hospital for a post mortem. Her relatives took her home.

Ashok Kamble, a relative, told TOI, “The Waghmare family is well-known in the Sane Guruji Colony because of their helpful nature. Kishore Waghmare is a conservancy worker at the Pune Municipal Corporation. Recently, he had purchased a two-wheeler, the first vehicle in the family.”

Arun Thorat, a neighbour said, “I have known Yash since he was a little boy. He was very sharp boy and popular in our colony.”

According to Yash’s uncle Atish, “Yash was a first standard student of Navin Marathi school in Shanivar Peth. He has three sisters. His last rites were performed at Thosar baug crematorium on Saturday evening.”

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TOI : PUNE: As compared to India’s status as the country with the highest density of vultures back in early 1980s, there remain but a few 1,000s of these scavengers.

One of the main reasons for the decline in the number of vultures is the use of the drugDiclofenacfor veterinary purposes, said the Chief Conservator of Forest Akhouri Subir Kumar Sinha at a press conference on Saturday, which was observed as the World vulture awareness day.

The Forest Department of Pune used the opportunity to alert the general public about the decline of the scavenger and its consequences. “We are appealing the general public to inform us in case they spot a vulture. We are constantly monitoring the population and we need to find more in order to help them survive,” said Sanjay Kumar Pathak, conservator of forests, Pune. He is also a part of the state committee that was formed in 2006 for study and protection of vultures.

“As per our latest figures there are some 16 vultures in Pune district,” added Pathak. A short film on vultures, made by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) was also shown during the press conference. It highlights the alarming reduction in the number of vultures due to use of the drug, Diclofenac, that is commonly used to treat livestock.

“It was noticed that this drug was gradually killing the vultures who feast on livestock. The drug has killed 99 per cent of our vultures. That’s why the central government has banned the use of this drug for veterinary purposes,” said Sinha. India has nine species of vultures in the wild. Out of these, the number of White Blacked, Long billed and Slender Billed vultures has declined drastically over the past decade.

In Pune and Solapur, work is on to collect and collate data on existing vultures. “Despite the ban of Diclofenac, the old stock of the drug is…More

TOI : PUNE: A group of Puneities have contributed significantly to the restoration and renovation of the only secondary school in Panchnadi village of Dapoli taluka, which predominantly consists of children from the backward classes.

Addressing a news conference here on Saturday, Sundarrao Rane, president of the Lokmanya Lokopakarak mandal that runs the Shri Yashwant Ramchandra Kutrekar secondary school in Panchnadi, said the school was set up in 1978 by a group of like-minded individuals in order to fill the need for a secondary school in the village that would gainfully engage the children and veer them towards a path of empowerment and education.

Apart from a school upto std VII, the village, that predominantly houses the backward class communities, then had no secondary school and after passing out the children would while away their time.

Kutrekar secondary school has three classes std VIII, IX and X that are run by just four teachers who also manage the hostel, library and administrative work, said Rane.

Rane added that despite the fact that 99% of the school’s population comes from backward classes, the efficiency and quality of its education can be gauged from the fact that they have consistently recorded a 100 per cent result at the SSC level.

However, the school building has become dilapidated over the years and was in urgent need of renovation. “Had we allowed the school to close down because of the dilapidated state, the children would have been deprived of higher education,” he stated.

Rane added that Pune based noted structural engineer Y S Sane has donated Rs 10 lakh towards renovation of the school which will meet half the renovation cost. “Similarly, city-based writer Sharad Bapat, who pays regular visits to the school has helped in collecting donations for the school, as well as in preparing the plan of the new school building,” he added.

Rane said that…More

TOI : PUNE: Four students from the B K Birla Centre for Education a residential school in Talegaon Dabhade have tested positive for H1N1 influenza, said district collector Chandrakant Dalvi on Saturday. The students have been given Tamiflu. The condition of all the students is improving, Dalvi added.

Of the four students, three are from Pune and one is from Dhule. The students from Pune have been sent home while the student from Dhule has been kept in the quarantine ward of a private hospital in Pune.

Seventeen more students from the school have exhibited flu-like symptoms and 11 of them had been sent home. The remaining have been kept under observation at the hospital within the school premises. The swabs of six students have been sent for testing for the H1N1 virus, as a precautionary measure. All students are under medical observation, said Dalvi.

According to the district collector, the students are from standards IV to IX. He said that since the school is residential, the parents of each of the students have been informed.

“The first case was detected on August 29 and a swab was sent for inspection,” said Dalvi. “A team of medical doctors has visited the school and we are monitoring the situation,” he added.

“No other cases have been registered in the district as well as within the city since the re-opening of schools and educational institutions,” said Dalvi.

All schools and colleges had been closed in the city for 15 days in August, following the H1N1 flu outbreak in the city. The educational institutions were re-opened on August 25.

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TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will be holding a contest for housing societies constructed for slum rehabilitation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme to inculcate the habit of paying maintenance charges regularly among the new residents of the societies’.

Speaking to reporters, municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said that the PCMC has built flats for slum rehabilitation under the JNNURM scheme. “The beneficiaries will have to pay monthly maintenance charges that will be used to keep the premises clean, pay electricity bills for common lighting and other activities. The beneficiaries should pay the monthly charges regularly so that the housing society can function properly,” he said.

Giving details of the scheme, Sharma said, “We have identified ten things that every housing society has to follow. We will check how many beneficiaries pay their bank instalments, the monthly maintenance charges, water tax and electricity bills on time. The top three housing societies will be given cash prizes. The cash prize will be equivalent to the amount that a housing society spends on its maintain.”

“We have designed this new incentive to encourage the beneficiaries to pay this amount regularly,” Sharma said.

He stated that the civic body has already given possession of 400 flats to slumdwellers and has formed five housing societies. These housing societies will be assessed a year from the date of getting possession of the flats.

“The PCMC will soon hand over another 720 flats, being built at Sector 22 for slum rehabilitation. There are nine buildings that have been constructed. Each beneficiary will receive a bank loan to pay his share of the cost of flat. We will later demolish their huts to construct new flats for others,” Sharma said.

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TOI : PUNE: Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Babar and office-bearers of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Shiv Sena met party leaders Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai in Mumbai on Friday to air their grievances.

Speaking to TOI, Babar said, “We are unhappy as the party leadership did not consult the local leaders in Pimpri-Chinchwad before appointing the deputy city chiefs. The Shiv Sainik who had defected to Congress and later returned to Sena has been appointed as deputy city chief. Those who worked consistently for the party in the last few years were not given a chance.”

“We felt it was injustice on us so we met the top leaders and conveyed our grievances. We are Shiv Sena loyalists and have full faith in party supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. Don’t we have the right to air our grievances to the higher party leaders?” said Babar justifying the discontent in the party.

Bhagwan Walhekar, president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Shiv Sena said, “We told Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai in the meeting that the local unit chief in Pimpri Chinchwad and the local MP Gajanan Babar should have been taken into confidence while making the appointment of three new deputy city chiefs of Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Shiv Sena. We had called for 10 minutes from the party leaders to air our grievances on Wednesday. But we did not get it as a result we send the fax of resignations of the officebearers of the local unit to Mumbai.”

Walhekar said that Desai on Friday conducted physical verification of the office-bearers who had resigned. Three divisional chiefs, one deputy city chief, 17 deputy divisional chiefs, two corporators and others were present at the meeting. Around 200 party workers were present at the meeting. “We informed Desai about the prevailing condition of the party in Pimpri-Chinchwad. He told us that he will speak with executive president Uddhav Thackeray and convey the…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has taken a decision to accept payment for securing information under Right To Information (RTI) Act 2005 through postal order.

Additional commissioner Subhash Dumbre confirmed that such a decision has been taken.

Shriram Pande, president of Right to Information Act (RTI) forum of senior citizens, said, “The PCMC is the first municipal corporation in the state to issue such an order and provide such a facility.” He also said that the PCMC will take action under section 20 of the RTI Act against the official who refuses to accept the Indian postal order.

Pande said that a person has to pay Rs 2 as charges per photocopy of any document. This amount has to be paid in cash or through a demand draft or banker’s cheque.

“Any applicant who receives a letter from the PCMC about payment of charges for documents sought under RTI Act can go to the nearest post office and buy a postal order on the name of Accounts Officer, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’ and send it through post to the PCMC office. If the applicant is going in person to PCMC office then he should take the postal order to the office and get the requisite information,” Pande said.

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TOI : PUNE: Two weeks after the one-way system was implemented on the J M and F C roads, the municipal corporation has finally started putting signages on the J M road, informing people about speed-breakers and pedestrians crossings.

However, few motorists stop at the pedestrians’ signal that has been erected, as the crossing has not been painted and is not visible even to pedestrians. In fact, most pedestrians do not even know that there is a dedicated crossing for them.

Citizens’ groups have been pointing out that pedestrian crossings, lane markings, and stop lines near traffic signals should have been marked clearly before the implementation of the one-way plan. At many spots, it is very risky for pedestrians to cross all the four lanes.

Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrians First said that motorists should maintain traffic discipline because the average speed of vehicles had increased due to reduced signal timings and traffic clash’ points. Lane indiscipline and overspeeding had become rampant on these two roads, Inamdar added.

Soon after the one-way system was implemented, the civic body had to make speed-breakers on J M road because of the increasing vehicular speed. Initially, even these speed-breakers were not visible because they had not been painted.

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TOI : PUNE: Did poor public transport in the city prompt the traffic police to implement one-way plan on the JM and FC roads?

Yes, say the traffic authorities, who think one of the major causes for rapid increase in number of vehicles is a poor public transport system. Private vehicles have to be given space or else there would be chaos on roads, say traffic authorities.

While the one-way traffic plan has been opposed by citizens’ groups because of the inconvenience caused to pedestrians and commuters, the traffic authorities have asked citizens to understand the reasons why the need for such a plan was felt in the first place.

According to deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil, poor public transport is one of the major reasons for chaos of private vehicles on roads. “If Pune has to develop and progress, the city needs a good public transport system,” says Patil.

Speaking at a discussion on the one-way plan early this week, Patil said the number of vehicles is increasing constantly. The city needs to have at least 3,000 buses.

Patil says that while the number of private vehicles continues to increase, the road network and the width is much less than what is required. Invariably, some way has to be given for the increased number of vehicles or else there would be congestion and traffic chaos, he said. Patil said that while the traffic department did not wish to force any decision on the citizens, in future, there is a need to make changes in traffic wherever necessary for improving the traffic flow.

Convenor of Pedestrians First Prashant Inamdar agrees that the main responsibility for providing traffic infrastructure as well as improving public transport is with the Pune Municipal Corporation and that the traffic department is only meant to regulate traffic. “The PMC has continued to keep a very low profile in the…More