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TOI : PUNE: A standard I student of a zilla parishad school in Junnar taluka and a girl studying in a kindergarten at Bhosari besides a three-year-old child and a 17-year-old boy were among five people who succumbed to the H1N1 flu in the city on Thursday. With this, the total number of those who died due to the contagion in Pune has now reached 40.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old woman of a village in Satara district, who died on September 8, was declared H1N1 positive late on Wednesday night, taking the toll in the district to three.

State health services joint director Ashok Mehta said, “The senior KG student, Vidya Bajirao Vatore (5), a resident of Kuruli-Bhosari, breathed her last at 7.30 am. Within four hours, Om Pravin Kurhe (6), the standard I student of the ZP primary school in Savargaon village of Junnar taluka, died at 10.40 am. Seema Ravi Shirsat (3) of Khudewadi-Chandannagar died at 1.30 pm. All of them had been admitted to the Sassoon hospital.

A 48-year-old man, who had been admitted to the Sahyadri Munot hospital for H1N1 treatment, died at 12.30 pm, Mehta said, adding that he was an HIV patient. “All the four patients had tested positive for the H1N1 influenza,” he said.

Amar Khalkonikar (17), who had been suffering from muscular dystrophy for four years and was bedridden for a few months, died due to swine flu at the Jehangir Hospital here at 2.30 pm, said D D Chandakkar, deputy health officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation. He was admitted to the hospital at 9.15 am on Thursday, he said, adding that he did not know the details of the boy’s residential address since the same “were not furnished to the hospital”.

According to Mehta, Vidya showed swine flu symptoms and she was first admitted to a private hospital in Bhosari on September 2. “She was treated at…More

TOI : PUNE: The issue of wrong diagnosis and delayed treatment resurfaced in the city with the deaths of Vidya Vatore (5) and Om Kurhe (6) on Thursday.

“In both the cases, the general practitioners should have referred them to the designated swine flu treatment centres as both of them did not show any signs of improvement even after 48 hours of treatment,” joint director of state health services Ashok Mehta said.

Mehta said that all the general practitioners will again be given instructions to refer patients with H1N1 symptoms to designated centres. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: The Lonavla Municipal Council (LMC) on Thursday decided to shut down all schools in Lonavla till September 18.

LMC chief officer Yogesh Godse said, “A meeting of school principals was held on Thursday during which it was decided to shut the nearly 35 schools till September 18. The schools will reopen on September 22, after the week-end holidays on 19 and 20.”

The decision was taken after one student from Don Bosco School and Junior College in Lonavla tested positive for the H1N1 flu. Fifteen more students have shown flu-like symptoms. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: Troubled private carrier Jet Airways’ flights from the city remained affected for the third day in succession
on Thursday owing to the pilots’ strike.

Passengers who were to fly on board the airline’s early morning flight to Hyderabad were rebooked on low-cost
carrier Jetlite’s afternoon flight (No S2 6642) to the same destination. While scheduled take-off of the Jet Airways Pune-Hyderabad daily flight is 6 am, the JetLite flight, which operates six days a week barring Saturday, lands here at 2.20 pm and takes off for Hyderabad at 3.10 pm.

Besides, the airline’s flights to destinations such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore were cancelled on Thursday.
Jet Airways operates two flights each from Pune to Mumbai (at 11.10 am and at 5.40 pm), to Delhi (11.05 am and 7 pm) and to Bangalore (6.20 am and 1.35 pm). All these flights were cancelled. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: Around 1,100 landline connections of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in Dehu Road went dead after thieves stole three telephone cables on Wednesday. Around half of these connections were restored on Thursday.

Speaking to TOI, RR Kattamani, sub-divisional engineer, Dehu Road, BSNL, said unidentified thieves cut three 800 pair telephone cables near the Dehu Road railway bridge alongside the Pune-Mumbai highway on Wednesday. As a result, over 1,100 phone connections became non-operational.

Kattamani added that services to around half of the telephone connections have been restored. The services to the remaining connections are likely to be restored by Thursday evening.

The areas where the connections were affected included Kinhai, COD, Zendemala, Malwadi, the area near the Ordnance Factory and Chincholi.

Telephone services in Kinhai, COD and Zendemala have been restored, Kattamani said. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday alleged that the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are backing the Republican Party of India-led Third Front in the state.

Speaking at a press meet, state BSP president Vilas Garud also said that the party will contest all 288 seats in the coming state elections.

“The constituents of the Third Front have not come together to raise their voice against injustice meted out to the deprived classes. Instead, they have joined hands as some of their leaders have been defeated (in the Lok Sabha elections) and feel injustice has been done to them. The people, therefore, will not vote for this alliance,” Garud said.

“The alliance is backed by the NCP and the Congress with an aim to create an opposing force to the BSP,” he further said.

Garud said the BSP will contest all 288 seats in the state. “Interviews of aspirants from western Maharashtra will take place soon and the final list will be declared after that,” he said.

When asked if party candidates who had contested the Lok Sabha (LS) elections would be given a chance again in the state polls, he replied a final decision on nominations would be taken after the interviews.

Replying to a question, Garud said the social engineering formula had worked in the state in the parliamentary polls.
“In the 2004 parliamentary elections, the BSP polled 3% of the votes; in the 2009 LS polls, this figure went up to 5%. We have emerged as the third largest party in the state as per vote share,” Garud stated. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: Though the overall rainfall activity in the state is likely to remain subdued for next few days, a spell or two of rain can be expected in many places, including Pune, said officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here on Thursday.

“The low pressure area currently lies over north Madhya Pradesh. But it has not affected the rainfall activity in Maharashtra,” an IMD official told TOI.

Though there is a feeble off-shore trough at sea-level, extending from the coast of Maharashtra to Kerala, it may not prove to be very effective as the area is less-marked, the official said.

According to the daily weather report, the southwest monsoon has been vigorous in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and east Madhya Pradesh. It is active in Assam, Meghalaya and west Madhya Pradesh, but it has been subdued over Jammu, Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Meanwhile, the total availability of the water in city dams is 21.11 TMC right now. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: The 20 per cent water cut in Pimpri-Chinchwad township continues at least till September 15 when the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) reviews the situation.

Speaking to TOI, Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said the civic administration will not withdraw the water cut now, but will examine the situation and take a decision after September 15.

The township is entirely dependent on Pavana dam for its drinking water needs. It draws around 340 MLD water daily from the Ravet bund on Pavana river. There was a long dry spell in June and July due to which the civic administration had imposed a 20-per cent cut in water supply to the residents. The cut was imposed on July 7 when the dam was filled to 46 per cent of its capacity.

However, the catchment areas of the dam saw good spell of rain towards the end of August and beginning of September. As a result, the water level at the dam has risen significantly. The weather department too has predicted that the south west monsoon will retreat towards the end of September. As a result, there will be more rain in different parts of the state in the coming days.

Speaking to TOI, Mustafa Phadnis, assistant commissioner, PCMC, said the Pavana dam is 85 per cent and a little more filled to its capacity.

Sharma said: “We are bringing changes in the water supply timings to stabilise the supply after the 20 per cent cut was imposed. We used to get complaints of low supply from areas like Wakad, Pimpale Gurav, Rahatni and Sangvi. But now, there are no complaints from these areas even after the imposition of water cut.”

He said that the civic body has changed the timings of some areas that received water supply in the morning. “Now, these areas are being supplied water in the evening. Some people have complained…More

TOI : PUNE: Former corporator and president of the Samast Hindu Aghadi, Milind Ekbote, held a one-day hunger strike on Thursday to protest against the one-way scheme on JM and FC roads. Ekbote held the protest at the spot where six-year-old Yash Waghmare lost his life in an accident last week.

Ekbote has demanded to deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Manoj Patil to cancel the one-way traffic plan and had threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike if the plan is not withdrawn. Ekbote said citizens are facing severe problems because of the plan and officials must withdraw it.

“Is one accident not enough for them? We have given the officials a week’s time or me and other members of our group will go on an indefinite hunger strike,” Ekbote said.

He said the one-way plan is going to affect all kinds of commuters because taking a detour has become expensive for all.

“The PMPML is consuming additional 600 litres fuel every day. It won’t be surprising if they hike their fares citing this as the reason. Ultimately the entire city will suffer. Even rickshaws are saying they are facing problems so they won’t think twice to charge more,” he said.

He added that the students of the Modern high school are worst affected. Therefore, the authorities should rethink about the plan.

Meanwhile, another group, the Shivrajya party, held protests near the Modern high school on Thursday morning. Members holding banners and placards lined up on the road demanding withdrawal of the plan. City president Santosh Shinde said if the traffic police do not withdraw the plan, they will forcefully resort back to the two-way plan. More Stories from this section Two children succumb to H1N1 virus, toll rise to 37 Schoolgirl tests H1N1+ve, health department not informed Dengue on the rise Bodies of two youths fished out of Indrayani Shantigiri Ma…More

TOI : PUNE: A survey based on responses from citizens and motorists has reiterated that converting JM and FC roads into one-way streets had resulted in overspeeding, thus increasing the possibility of accidents.

The survey was carried out by students of the department of social work of the Tilak Maharashtra University. The students spoke to motorists as well as residents staying in the vicinity of both the roads. As many as 290 drivers were asked various questions regarding the one-way plan. Similarly, responses from 372 residents were gathered in the survey, which was conducted by 60 students.

Responding to the question whether overspeeding resulted in more accidents on the two roads, 53 per cent motorists said yes, while 46 per cent said no. One per cent of the respondents said they were not sure about the issue.

Based on the responses to various questions, the department has concluded that the reactions from citizens were negative to the one-way plan. The survey stated that travel time and fuel consumption had increased due to the one-way plan and that, it was causing crowding on internal roads. The survey also claimed that there was an increase in air and noise pollution on internal roads and motorists were facing parking problems due to crowding on the roads.

The department stated that the survey was conduced to gain an insight into the reactions, experiences and opinion of the people and the affected citizens regarding the one-way plan, which has been implemented on a trial basis.

Incidentally, motorists were divided over the convenience factor of the one-way plan. Half of the respondents said it was convenient, while the remaining said no. When the same question was put to residents, the results were slightly different. Fifty-four per cent said yes, while 46 per cent said no.

A majority of vehicle users, 75 per cent, said that fuel consumption had increased. While 23…More