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TOI : PUNE: In an all-party meeting organised by a media group on Wednesday, politicians slugged it out in a battle of words to defend the developmental work they have done in the city.

Issues like poor public transport, insufficient power supply and law and order problems, especially those pertaining to the land mafia, were discussed in the backdrop of the forthcoming assembly elections.

Though aimed to be a public-politician interaction, party leaders ruled the debate and used it as the perfect platform for propaganda, both positive and negative, in the absence of any active participation from citizens.

The discussion was attended by Congress MLA Balasaheb Shivarkar, Ravindra Dhangekar of the MNS, Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe, BJP MLA Girish Bapat, CPI (M) candidate Kiran Moghe and NCP leader Ankush Kakade. Civic activist Anita Gokhale-Benninger participated in the debate as the people’s representative.

Opening the meeting with reference to Pune’s most pressing problem, that of vehicular traffic, Shivarkar said that the ruling Democratic Front government in the state has constructed flyovers to smoothen the traffic flow. “The Katraj-Hadapsar connecting roads and widening of Baner road have benefited Puneites,” he said.

Shivarkar’s claim was shot down by Girish Bapat and Gorhe, who stated that the said development was just an implementation of the state and central government schemes, and that the Congress-NCP have not solved any of Pune’s traffic problems.

Highlighting the PMT-PCMT merger as a solution to a weak public transport system in the city, Ankush Kakade, state spokesperson of NCP, said, “Before 2007, the city was facing a lot of problems in terms of public transportation. After we took over the charge of the Pune Municipal Corporation, we merged the PMT and the PCMT to float the PMPML. The NCP promoted purchase of buses and soon there will be a fleet of new buses for Pune.”

Holding both the Sena-BJP and the Congress-NCP…More

TOI : PUNE: City-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for the cause of traffic and transportation have sent a letter to the secretary, Union urban development (UD) department, M Ramchandran stating that there is divergence between the transportation policy formulated at the Centre and the actual schemes implemented by the urban local bodies, including Pune.

The NGOs demanded that the urban development department must ensure that all urban transport projects funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission are in tune with the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) and general principles of sustainability.

Citing the example of the one-way scheme on JM and FC roads, the NGOs, including Parisar, Pedestrians’ First and Nagrik Chetana Manch, stated that, “We are extremely concerned about the divergence between the policy statements being formulated at the Centre and the planning and implementation of schemes by the urban local bodies in the area of urban transport.”

“The NUTP clearly states that the focus of transport planning and implementation must be moving the people and not vehicles. Therefore, there is a need not only to strengthen the public and non-motorised transport, but also to ensure that this results in reduction in the number of personalised transport on the road, especially during peak hours.”

Sujit Patwardhan of Parisar said that the latest example of such divergence in Pune consists of converting two roughly parallel roads (JM and FC roads) into one-ways, ostensibly for decreasing congestion’ and improving traffic flow’. “Effectively, what the scheme has done is to increase the speed of personalised transport, endangering pedestrians and cyclists, while buses have to take a detour adding Rs 75 lakh per year in fuel costs, and bus passengers walk longer distances to reach bus stops.”

“The majority of projects and schemes such as road-widening projects and flyovers typically favour personalised transport and compromise the safety, comfort and convenience of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport commuters…More

TOI : PUNE: Two cases of kidnappings, of a 19-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, have been registered at the Vishrantwadi and Kondhwa police stations in the last two days. The girl, however, managed to escape from her abductors

According to the police, the 19-year-old girl, who hails from Khed, was involved in a brawl with Sumed Kamble, who resided in the same area and has been harassing her. Following the brawl, Kamble’s relative Sharda Randhve had threatened the victim’s mother with dire consequences.

The girl was allegedly kidnapped while she was walking towards a gymnasium between Vishrantwadi bus stop and fish market on Monday, the police said. The kidnappers had drugged and blind-folded the girl and took her to a flat and later to Alibaug and Pen.

The girl in her complaint said that the five of the kidnappers alighted from the jeep for some work at Pen. Seeing the opportunity, she bit on the hands of another man in the jeep and ran to the nearby police station.

The police have booked Sharda and others on charges of kidnapping.

In another incident, the Kondhwa police have booked a US-based software engineer for allegedly kidnapping his son from the school bus on Tuesday.

The boy’s parents are divorced.

The police said that the suspect Nitin Khanna, along with her sister Preeti George and two others, forcibly took away the boy Kevin after intercepting the school bus near DSK garden road in Kondhwa Khurd.

Bus driver Somnath Limbote has registered a kidnapping case against the suspects.

Police have send teams to different places trace the boy. More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine flu in city, toll reaches 44 Zagade’s appeal: Avoid crowds during festival IEX starts power trading on term ahead basis Budding engineers to get a taste of stock trading Alliance deadlock:…More

TOI : PUNE: Acting on a tip-off given by the Indian Music Industry (IMI), the police seized pirated CDs worth Rs 5.05 lakh from two music shops in Aundh recently.

The police have seized a total of 4,533 DVDs, 791 MP3 and 211 VCDs. The raid took place on Saturday, September 12, and a case against the owners of the properties at the Sanghani police station.

Commenting on the raid, Savio D’Souza, Secretary General, IMI, said, “IMI is committed to its fight against piracy and will ensure that 2009 yields quality results. Indian music industry is suffering from huge losses because of piracy that not only hurts the commercial interests of licensed manufacturers but also has the potential of damaging the country’s economic and social fabric. Such raids not only prove to be a benefit for the industry but also boost the morale of artists.”

D’Souza told TOI: “The IMI has always followed a zero-tolerance apprach towards the issue of piracy. Over the last 10 years, we have carried out over 17,0000 raids and been instrumental in bringing about 3,000 convictions.”

Despite the pro-active approach, the losses faced by various industries due to piracy continue to be immense. For instance, the music industry alone loses about Rs 900 crore annually to piracy ( Rs 600 crore by way of physical format piracy and Rs 300 crore by way of mobile chip piracy). “Apart from the music industry, the issue of piracy is a matter of huge concern for four other industries, namely the film industry, the gaming industry, the software and book publishing industry. The film industry alone loses about Rs 16,000 crores annually.”

He added that the industries were responsible for the state of affairs because they did not have a policy to address the issue of piracy, nor a budget to protect the intellectual property. More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is contemplating action against approximately 100 property owners who have allowed telecom companies to erect towers without taking prior permission from the corporation.

In addition, the civic administration will undertake scrutiny of applications received from over 220 property owners for regularising the towers by paying the necessary charges.

As per last year’s records, the PCMC has said that of the total 343 mobile towers in the city, only 17 have been erected with prior permission. The PCMC had initiated preliminary action against the remaining 326 unauthorised mobile towers by serving notices to the property owners. According to civic authorities, the notice period for regularisation of the towers by paying the stipulated charges had already ended.

On Tuesday, the civic authorities had said that action will be taken against all the unauthorised mobile tower owners. When contacted, officials from the building permission department said that over 220 property owners have submitted their applications for regularising the towers. As no application has been received from the remaining 100-odd property owners, the corporation is planning to take action against them, officials said.

Incidentally, in all the applications that have been received, the owners have stated that they would be paying charges as per old rates, and not the increased revised rates. The PCMC has not yet taken a decision on whether the old rates should be accepted.

Earlier, the PCMC in a joint drive with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) had disconnected the power connection of three unauthorised mobile towers in the municipal limits on August 7. It had also sealed these mobile towers located in Kasarwadi and Phugewadi areas. This was the first time that the PCMC had taken a major action against such unauthorised structures. More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine flu in city, toll reaches 44 Zagade’s appeal: Avoid crowds during festival…More

TOI : PUNE: Teachers of municipal and private schools as well as balwadis in Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal limits, who have been trained to identify students suffering from H1N1 flu-like symptoms, started checking students from Wednesday.

Teachers were seen asking students and checking if they were suffering from any flu-like symptoms as soon as schools started. Parents of sick students were told to take their wards to the nearest screening centre for treatment.

Bhavana Jhamtani, supervisor of Jai Hind English school, told TOI that the school had stopped morning assembly. “If we notice any child suffering from cold and cough, we call his/her parents and ask them to take their wards to doctor,” she said.

Subhash Dahiphale, principal of PCMC-run Vidyaniketan, told TOI that a standard V student was sent home after teachers found that he was suffering from cold and cough. Navmaharashtra school principal U B Newase said a parent teacher meeting has been organised on Thursday to create awareness about H1N1 flu.

Earlier speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Ashish Sharma, municipal commissioner, PCMC, said the civic health department had provided training to the teachers. Nearly 216 teachers of PCMC-run balwadis were trained, while 134 headmasters of all the PCMC-run primary schools received a two-hour training on Monday.

Headmasters of all private secondary schools within the PCMC limits were also provided training on Monday which was attended by 192 headmasters. Total 542 teachers were trained in two days where R R Iyer, medical director, PCMC, and other health department officials acted as resource persons.

Speaking to TOI, Hari Bharati, administration officer, primary education department, PCMC, said, “The teachers and headmasters have been trained to identify students suffering from H1N1-like symptoms. They will check students every day when the school opens for the day and send suspected cases to nearest H1N1 primary screening centres.”

Bharati added: “The identified students will be classified into three categories….More

TOI : PUNE: The Sassoon General hospital recorded two suspected H1N1 influenza deaths on Wednesday.

The swab reports in both the cases, which were sent to the National Institute of virology (NIV), for testing are awaited, said joint director of health services Ashok Mehta on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a student from a school in Khadki reported positive case of H1N1 on Wednesday.

Mehta said, “A 50-year-old woman from Wadgaon Budruk and a 18-year-old girl from Parvati succumbed to H1N1 at Sassoon hospital. Both the cases showed symptoms of severe breathlessness, coughing and fever.”

Elaborating the school case, Mehta said that a 13-year-old girl of Alegaonkar Girls High School in Khadki tested positive for H1N1 flu. The health official conducted checking at the school on Wednesday. No symptomatic cases have been found at school during the checking, said Mehta.

Meanwhile, as many as 10 persons tested positive on Wednesday, taking the total number of positive cases to 1,034. There are 17 critical patients currently being treated at various hospitals in PMC and PCMC limits. Of which 10 patients are put on ventilators.

Mehta said, “Around 9,260 people were screened at the centres across the district, taking the total number of screened patients above 3.98 lakh so far. Around 318 persons were found suspected and have been administered Tamiflu. More than 18,040 patients have been given Tamiflu in the district so far”.

On Wednesday some 42 people were discharged after completing the treatment. At present there are as many as 184 patients admitted at various hospitals in city for the treatment of H1N1 flu, of which 60 are positive for H1N1. More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine flu in city, toll reaches 44 Zagade’s appeal: Avoid crowds during festival IEX starts power trading on term ahead basis Budding engineers to get a taste of stock trading Alliance deadlock:…More

TOI : PUNE: To avoid possible side-effects of Tamilfu tablets on pregnant women, the Directorate of State Health Services has decided that throat swabs of expectant mothers, with symptoms of H1N1 infection, will be tested on a priority, preferably within 10 hours. Generally the report is made available in within 24 hours. The move is significant as the National Institute of Virology (NIV) has once again started receiving samples in increased numbers in the last few days.

“Tamiflu should be used in pregnancy only when the benefit to the mother clearly outweighs any potential risk to the foetus. Indiscriminately administering the drug to an expectant mother can be bad. Hence, we have decided to process throat swabs of pregnant women for testing on a priority basis,” said D S Dakhure, director of the state health services.

Confirming this, Mandeep Chadha, deputy-director of the NIV said, “We have decided to take the throat swab of pregnant woman for testing on priority and deliver the report within 10 hours. This because pregnant woman with H1N1 infection are considered among the most high-risk cases.”

Elaborating it further, gynaecologist Sanjay Gupte said “It’s a comparatively new drug hence we don’t know about its possible side-effects. But whenever a drug is to be used on pregnant women, it needs to undergo extensive trials. But considering the present emergency that cannot be done. Taking throat swabs of pregnant women for testing on priority is s significant step as it will bring down the unnecessary use of the drug.”

“Pregnancy itself is a co-morbid condition because it is a sort of stress to the mother. Besides any infection in pregnancy may lead to complication. Hence the step is significant in that sense,” said Dilip Sarda, president of the city unit of IMA. More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine flu in city, toll reaches 44 Zagade’s appeal: Avoid crowds during festival IEX…More

TOI : PUNE: Authorities at the St Mary’s School have decided to extend the 45-day break for pre-school, nursery and upper kindergarten (UKG) classes, allowing students in the age group of two-and-a-half-years to four years, to stay at home till further notice.

In early August, the district civic administration had taken a decision to shut all schools and colleges in the city to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus. After a two-week shutdown, schools and colleges reopened on 24th August.

“However, taking into consideration the fact that younger children tend to catch the virus faster, we decided to ask them to stay at home for a longer period,” said Jessica Simoes, principal, St Mary’s School.

“We have not taken a decision on when to ask these children to report to school. We are assessing the situation and accordingly we will take a decision,” Simoes said.

Meanwhile, one class at the Delhi Public School was also closed temporarily after a student tested positive for H1N1.

At the Hutchings High School, one class has been shut till September 22.

School principal Manju Bhosle said, “We have decided to close just one class as a student tested positive for H1N1 on Tuesday. We have fumigated that particular class and have asked parents of other children to inform the school if their ward shows any of the flu-like symptoms.” More Stories from this section Woman dies of swine flu in city, toll reaches 44 Zagade’s appeal: Avoid crowds during festival IEX starts power trading on term ahead basis Budding engineers to get a taste of stock trading Alliance deadlock:…More

TOI : PUNE: The superintendent of police (Pune rural) Pratap Dighavkar on Tuesday suspended four policemen for allegedly demanding bribe from the suspects to hush-up in the peahen hunting case.

The policemen, attached to the local crime branch (LCB), have been identified as assistant sub-inspector Prakash Pandurang Ahivale, police constables Sharad Ingole, Nandu Kadale and Samir Shabbir Chaman Shaikh.

Forest department officials on Saturday (September 12) had arrested seven suspects, including the son of former corporator and a national shooter, for allegly hunting and later eating two peahens at Kondhavale village in Paud on September 6.

During investigations, it was revealed that the four policemen had brought the suspects to the Pune rural police headquarters and demanded money to suppress the case.

SP Dighavkar had then asked Shrikrishna Kokate, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Dehuroad division, to conduct a detail inquiry of the matter.

“I completed the inquiry and submitted the report to SP on Tuesday,” Kokate said, refusing to give any details of the report’s contents.

As the charges against all the policemen were serious, Dighavkar issued suspension orders on Tuesday evening.

“Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, SDPO Haveli, will now handle further inquiry in this case,” Dighavkar said.

Meanwhile, a magistrate’s court here on Wednesday extended the forest department custody of Suresh Hulawale, a suspect in the peahen killing case, till September 18.

According to the forest department, Hulawale had cut and cleaned the two peahens for cooking at Kondhawale village in Paud after they had been killed by one of the other suspects.

However, the court turned down the prosecution’s plea to extend the custody of the seven other suspects and remanded them to magisterial custody. The court also later rejected their bail applications.

The forest department, Pune, had produced the eight suspects before judicial magistrate first class R B Bhagwat for extending their custody on the grounds that there…More