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TOI : PUNE: The forest department, Pune, on Friday issued witness summons to the four policemen who were suspended for allegedly demanding bribe from the suspects in the peahen hunting case.

Summons were issued to assistant sub-inspector Prakash Pandurang Ahivale and constables Sharad Ingole, Nandu Kadale and Samir Shabbir Chaman Shaikh, as they did not turn up to record their statements at the forest department’s office on Senapati Bapat road on Friday afternoon, said assistant conservator of forest Popat Bhalekar, who is investigating the case.

Speaking to TOI, Bhalekar said, “I had send a letter to the Pune rural police requesting them to secure the presence of the policemen at 3 pm, but they did not report.”

“The policemen have now been asked to appear on September 22. If they fail to appear, the department will then take up the matter with the police higher-ups to secure their presence before deciding on the future course of action against them,” Bhalekar added.

Last Saturday, forest officials had arrested the suspects, including Chetan Nimhan, the son of a former corporator, and national shooter Shehzad Mirza for hunting two peahens at Kondhawale village in Paud on September 6.

Superintendent of police Pratap Dighavkar of Pune rural police on Tuesday had suspended the policemen as they were indicted in a preliminary inquiry conducted by the Dehu road division sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Shrikrishna Kokate for suppressing the case with a view to favour the suspects.

Dighavkar has now directed the SDPO Ravindrasinh Pardeshi of Haveli division to institute a departmental inquiry against the policemen and submit the report at the earliest.

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TOI : PUNE: The octroi department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has issued notices to 29 banks for not paying octroi on the gold coins sold in their banks. The department has also sought details from many banks about their transactions regarding sale of gold.

Speaking to TOI, head of the department Rajan Muthe said that most banks get the gold coins from outside the city, but they have not been paying octroi.

“We have sought information from most banks and have issued notices to some others seeking explanations. The gold is delivered in the same vehicles in which their cash arrives, and we do not check those vehicles,” Muthe said.

He added that further action will be taken only after the banks respond to the notices. Meanwhile, the department on Friday seized 50 kg of silver from two companies who have evaded Octroi.

“Two Octroi inspector Ganesh Bhujbal and Ramdas Bade seized 40 kg silver at Kasturi chowk, Ravivar peth. The offendors have paid fine of Rs 55,000. Another inspector Milind Thigle seized 10 kg silver in Aundh from Udaipur based company who have been asked to pay Rs 17,000 as fine. We had received tip off about both the cases,” Muthe said.

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TOI : PUNE: A 19-year-old youth was killed on the spot and 31 others were injured when the private luxury bus they were travelling in, fell in a 20-ft gorge at Katraj ghat around 4.30 am on Friday. The bus was carrying 45 passengers from Kolhapur to Pune.

Police identified the deceased as Deepak Sarwan, a resident of Someshwarnagar in Pashan here. A hunt has been launched for the bus driver, Hrishi Kale of Saswad, who fled immediately after the mishap.

All the passengers were stuck as the bus fell sideways. One of them, Deepak Pavashe, who sustained minor injuries, called the city police control unit from his cell phone. Soon, the Bharati Vidyapeeth police and the PMC fire brigade rushed to the spot. Meanwhile, some passengers had managed to come out of the bus. The police and the fire brigade rescued the remaining passengers by cutting open the bus. All the injured have been admitted at a private hospital at Katraj.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Kalyankumar Lavange said, “The driver must have lost control on the sharp turn near Samrudhhi restaurant at Mangdewadi. It seems that instead of turning left, he drove straight into the gorge.”

Deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Dyaneshswar Phadtare also reached the spot. Senior inspector Nagnath Wakude said, “With the help of the firemen, we rescued the passengers and sent them to hospital. There were 45 passengers in the bus, out of which 31 sustained injuries. Deepak Sarwan died as he got crushed under the mangled parts of the bus.”

Pavashe told TOI, “Our group of eight friends from Someshwarnagar had gone to Tirupati on September 13. We returned to Kolhapur on Thursday morning and took the private bus, which left Kolhapur around 12 at night.

Pavashe added: “I was fast asleep. A loud noise woke me up and within seconds the bus was overturned.”

“Everybody was…More

TOI : PUNE: The Khadki Cantonment Board-run Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital has been facing a shortage of medicines compelling patients to buy medicines from outside. Speaking to TOI on Thursday, S C Kaushik, chief executive officer, KCB, said he has approved the proposal of purchasing medicines and the shortage would end soon.

Kaushik said: “I met the resident medical officer of the hospital and have sanctioned the purchase of medicines.”

He stated that it took time to sanction the purchase. “The hospital officials submitted their requirements which was scrutinised by KCB officials before it came to my approval. We have to follow the rules,” said Kaushik.

Speaking to TOI on Thursday, Babloo Polkam, social activist and a resident of Khadki, expressed unhappiness about the shortage of medicines since the past one month.

Pandurang Garsund, member, Common People’s Front, stated that while medicines have been in short supply, renovation work of the hospital has been going on smoothly. An official in the cantonment health department stated that marble was being fitted on the walls to make them easy to clean. The proposal to fix marble was sanctioned by the cantonment few months ago.

Parashuram Wadekar, Republican Party of India (RPI) leader, pointed out that the Ambedkar hospital is the only government hospital in Khadki and nearby areas, serving the poor people.

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TOI : PUNE: In a significant development the lodging of a first information report (FIR) has been made mandatory in all the cases of power theft detected under section 135 of Electricity Act 2003.

Henceforth, irrespective of the size of a theft and the amount involved, the FIRs will be registered against all culprits by the Maharashtra state electricity distribution company ltd (MSEDCL) officials across the state. The MSEDCL headquarters has issued relevant instructions to all its officials.

A statement issued by the MSEDCL on Friday said that earlier, MSEDCL officials used to grant exemption from filing an FIR in certain cases provided the amount of assessment of the theft and compounding charges were paid by the accused. The exemption, however, was for first-time thieves and at the discretion of the assessing officer. However, now there will be no exemption from filing an FIR for any of the cases under section 135.

Provision for filing an FIR already exists in the Electricity Act 2003 as the offence has been categorised as cognisable and non-bailable, the statement said. The MSEDCL has resorted to this step with a view to put an end to power thefts.

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TOI : PUNE: The auspicious nine-day Navaratra festival that commences today will witness muted celebrations on the backdrop of the H1N1 scare in the city.

A press note from the Sri Mahalakshmi Mandir, Sarasbaug, said that the celebrations, to be held from September 19 to 28, would be on a very low scale to avoid crowding, and the consequent spread of the virus.

While the Ghatasthapana would take place in the morning, the nine-day reading of the Atharvashirsha, and bhajans rendered by assorted women’s bhajan groups, would not take place this year.

However, the kanya pooja will take place on panchami, wherein orphan girls will be given items of day-to-day use, following the puja, the press note stated.

In order to avoid vehicular congestion, the lights and pandals will be toned down as well. Instead of the usual 10 to 12 stalls, there will be only two stalls to provide flowers, fruit and other items of worship.

Apart from this, an insurance worth Rs two crore has been provided for all devotees.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Lakshmi Mata Mandir, Shivadarshan, Sahakarnagar said while the Ghatasthapana would take place as usual, the cultural programme had been postponed till after Diwali, so as to avoid the spread of the H1N1. However, the idol of the Devi will be beautifully decorated as usual, and all her nine avatars will be represented.

Similarly, Datta Gaikwad, former president of the Chatushrungi Mata Temple said: “Devotees will be able to avail of darshan throughout the nine-day period, but we appeal to them to avoid crowding in keeping with the civic authorities’ instructions. All arrangements to ensure safety and comfort of the devotees are in place, including police patrolling, fire fighting equipment, adequate lighting and so on. There will be stalls to provide all the auspicious items of worship, but food stalls have been given a miss this year.” The…More

TOI : PUNE: The OBC Party of India announced its executive president Ashok Sonawane as its candidate for the forthcoming assembly elections. Sonawane belongs to the Ahmednagar constituency. The young candidate is also a journalist and a businessman, informed Pralhad Wadgaonkar, national president of the OBC Party of India, at a press conference on Friday.

“It’s important to bring about the social, cultural, political and economic development of the underprivileged and backward masses that comprise upto 85 per cent of our country’s population. We will be able to achieve our party objectives with the coming together of all leftist parties in Maharashtra,” added Wadgaonkar.

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TOI : PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to train students and teachers to work as health volunteers to help combat the spread of swine flu. The municipal corporation is planning to train 3,600 such volunteers.

One student and one teacher from every class in every school within the municipal limits will be selected for training, municipal health officer K Nagkumar said. He pointed out that the World Health Organisation has warned about the possibility of the second outbreak of H1N1. As a precautionary measure, the PCMC has decided to train select students and teachers, he said.

The training will focus mainly on identifying the symptoms of H1N1, finding the possible reasons, and helping patients to contact the designated hospitals. The patients will be categorised and treated accordingly. The volunteers will also find out which students are absent and the reasons why they are absent. If the absent student is suffering from H1N1 symptoms, treatment will be provided accordingly, he said. More Stories from this section Yuvak Kranti Dal names nominees 89 children show flu-like symptoms PCNTDA invites bids for Akurdi subway District administration gears up for free and fair polls Two lab…More

TOI : PUNE: As many as 36 nomination forms were taken on Friday for the three assembly constituencies of Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari within in Pimpri-Chinchwad township. Six forms were taken for Pimpri, 11 for Chinchwad and nine for Bhosari constituencies. Prominent among those who took the forms on Friday include Republican Party of India (RPI) corporator Chandrakanta Sonkamble (Pimpri) Congress corporator Machhindra Tapkir and former NCP corporator Vilas Nandgude (Chinchwad) NCP corporator Mahesh Landge, Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Sukumar Damle and Vilas Madigiri of Bharatiya Janata Party (Bhosari).

Three new assembly constituencies have been formed within the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits after the recent delimitation of constituencies. Earlier, the entire PCMC areas were part of Haveli assembly constituency.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ashok Munde, returning officer, Pimpri assembly constituency, said, “There are 3.43 lakh voters in the constituency. These include 217 defence personnel, 1.59 lakh women and 1.84 lakh men. The polling centre with the highest number of voters is Kamala Nehru school in Pimpri with a total of 3,512 voters. The polling centre with the lowest number of voters is PCMC-run primary school in Bhatnagar area of Pimpri that has 490 voters.”

He said sale and submission of the nomination forms, scrutiny of forms, distribution of election equipment and counting of votes will be conducted at the PMPML bus depot in Nehrunagar for Pimpri constituency.

Total 1,999 officials and employees have been deployed for electoral work in the constituency. There were 11 sensitive polling stations in the constituency during the Lok Sabha elections.

Shahaji Pawar, returning officer, Chinchwad assembly constituency, said, “There are a total of 3.91 lakh voters in the constituency, including 214 defence personnel, 2.12 lakh men and 1.79 lakh women. The polling centre with the highest number of voters is the municipal primary school in Wakad which has 1,549 voters while the lowest number of voters is…More

TOI : PUNE: After creating the Force One battalion to tackle terror attacks, the state government has now decided to impart special training to the special task force (STF) created to take action against the Naxalites. The decision was taken to counter the increase in Naxal attacks at Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Yavatmal and Nanded districts.

Additional secretary (home) Kailash Bilonikar issued a notification directing the Force One battalion to impart rigorous training to the STF at Wadachiwadi in Pune from September 1. The training centre will use the resources of the Unconventional Operation Training Centre.

A team of senior police officers will be constituted to suggest the names of experts in various fields to impart training to the STF. State director general of police (anti-Naxalite special operation) Jayant Umranikar has been asked to take necessary measures in this regard and recruit personnel from various police units for strengthening the STF.

Umranikar was not available for comments. The notification states that the government will create a post of a police officer who will co-ordinate and share intelligence inputs with the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Intelligence Bureau, special branch and the State Reserve Police Force.

The notification has directed the ATS and the Force One to make available basic communication infrastructure, including facilities of jamming and interception, to the STF.

The STF has been allowed to use a helicopter in emergency situations or for carrying out search operations, the notification added.
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