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TOI : PUNE: The ruling Congress-NCP alliance finds itself up against widespread rebellion in all the five districts of the western Maharashtra region on the last day of filing of nominations on Friday.

The Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance has also not been an exception to the rebel phenomenon, which has acquired a more pronounced overtone for the October 13 assembly elections due to the redrawing of political constituencies and growing political aspiration of ticket-seekers.

In Pune, the NCP was forced to reverse its earlier decision of denying ticket to sitting MLA from Khed-Alandi constituency Dilip Mohite Patil in the wake of intense pressure from party workers and the state unit. The party had announced candidature for Khed panchayat samiti president Suresh Gore, who was all geared up to file his nomination on Friday.

However, in a last-minute change the NCP announced a change of nomination and granted a renomination for Mohite, who had earlier quit his party post as a mark of protest. On Thursday, Mohite had a meeting with Pune’s district guardian minister Ajit Pawar and urged the latter to reconsider the party nomination from Khed-Alandi. Mohite’s supporters had also taken to the streets, demanding that the ticket be given to their leader and not Gore.

In all 1,031 nominations were filed across Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Solapur districts. The number of nominations from 21 assembly constituencies in Pune district was being processed late Friday evening.

Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter, Praneeti, was among the prominent faces to get party nomination in the last-minute declaration of the final list of candidates by the Congress. Praneeti, whose name was in circulation for party nomination from Solapur during the Lok Sabha elections held in April, filed her nomination from the Solapur City Central assembly constituency.

She started taking an active role in the political affairs of Solapur a few months before the Lok Sabha elections….More

TOI : PUNE: The non-stop bi-weekly train between Pune and Delhi Duronto’ will make its maiden trip from the city on September 29. The train will run every Tuesday and Friday and will take 20 hours to reach Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi). The Pune-Delhi train is one of the 12 Duranto’ trains announced by Railway minister Mamata Banerjee in this year’s railway budget.

According to the communication from the Central Railway, the Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin (2263) will leave Pune on September 29 at 11.10 am and will reach Hazrat Nijamuddin at 7.10 am the next day. The Hazrat Nijamuddin-Pune (2264) Duranto’ will leave from Hazrat Nijamuddin on September 28 at 11 am and will arrive here at 7.20 am the next day. The train from Hazrat Nijamuddin will run on every Monday and Thursday.

At present, there are three daily trains and one weekly train to the National Capital from Pune, the travel time ranging from 26 to 28 hours. The non-stop Duranto’ train will cover the distance in 20 hours. The train will take the Western Railway route via Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam and Kota.

A senior official from Pune railway division said that the train will take around two to three stops, however those will be operational stops. The train will be fully air-conditioned and will have bogies divided in four categories 1st A/C, 2nd A/C, 3rd A/C and 3rd A/C economy, which will be a new category. The fares for these classes will be Rs 3,425, Rs 1,985, Rs 1,455 and Rs 1,405 respectively. The fares of Duranto’ will be slightly higher than the other trains as the fare will include the catering charges.

An official added that the train will have 16 coaches, of which 13 coaches will be for passenger utility. Bookings of reservation will open from September 26.

Incidentally, there was a persistent demand from several quarters for the introduction of a direct…More

TOI : PUNE: Veteran farmers’ leader and Swatantra Bharat Party (SBP) president Sharad Joshi on Friday said his party will be able to realise its manifesto even if it wins just five seats in the coming state polls.

Speaking to the media here on Friday, Joshi said, “The SBP has only one representative each in the state legislature and the Rajya Sabha. Despite this, we could push through our agenda, which included the farmers’ loan waiver and prodding the government to open up the economy further. Even if the party bags just five seats in the coming state elections, it could pressurise the government into implementing its agenda.”

Vamanrao Chatap is the SBP’s lone state legislator, while Joshi himself is a member of the Upper House.

Increased use of technology in agriculture, further farm loan waivers and sugarcane farmers’ right to decide the price of their produce figure in the party’s agenda, Joshi declared.

The SBP, which has tied up with the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, will be contesting 48 seats, mainly in Marathwada and Vidarbha. More Stories from this section Yeravada jail prisoner 61st victim of swine flu in Pune H1N1 claims 3 lives, toll 61 in Pune Sugar bowl may turn bitter for DF Power shut down in parts of city FD…More

TOI : PUNE: The Bhosari police on Friday arrested a 27-year-old woman for her alleged involvement in the murder of her neighbour’s three-year-old daughter in Alandi on August 3.

The police identified the suspect as Shivnanda Shivkumar Kale (27) of Sant Tukaramnagar, Bhosari. Kale allegedly pushed Akshta Shashikant Kale in a well. Earlier, the police had lodged a case of accidental death in this regard.

On August 20, Kale’s husband Shivkumar contacted the deceased’s father and revealed his wife’s involvement in the murder. The suspect was untraceable since then.

The Bhosari police then sent a team to Karnataka to search for her. On Thursday, the police received a tip-off about Shivnanda that she would be coming to the Pimpri court to seek interim bail. The police laid a trap and arrested Shivnanda.

During sustained interrogation, Shivnanda confessed her involvement in the crime.

According to sub-inspector M K Naikwadi, “The suspect revealed that she threw the girl in the well under frustration as she was unable to conceive after marriage.”

The suspect Shivnanda was produced in the magistrate court on Monday and was remanded to police custody till September 30. More Stories from this section Yeravada jail prisoner 61st victim of swine flu in Pune H1N1 claims 3 lives, toll 61 in Pune Sugar bowl may turn bitter for DF Power shut down in parts of city FD…More

TOI : PUNE: With the process of filing nominations, which was characterised by widespread rebellion across parties, coming to an end on Friday, as many as 20 candidates are now in the fray for the Kothrud assembly seat.

Pune Municipal Corporation corporator and BJP rebellion Ujjwal Keskar is among the 11 independent candidates fighting from here. Keskar’s nomination against the official BJP-Shiv Sena candidate Chandrakant Mokate was the highlight of the day.

A staunch supporter of BJP leader Gopinath Munde, Keskar said, “You cannot call me BJP rebel as I am not contesting against a BJP candidate. I am contesting against the candidate of the alliance. I am very much with the party,” Keskar said, adding, “I am contesting the election with a positive approach and as a representative of the middle- and higher middle-class people in the Kothrud.”

Keskar said he was initially told to contest from the Shivajinagar constituency, but was later shifted to Khadakwasla. “I received a call from a senior BJP leader two days back informing me that I will not be contesting from the Khadakwasla constituency too as the party didn’t want to give tickets to candidates from same community. I had made all the preparations and had distributed about one lakh pamphlets in the constituency.”

Keskar blamed MLAs from the city for not raising the issues related to the city in the state assembly. “Most of the parties have the same manifesto they had during the last assembly elections,” Keskar said. “The city’s MLAs don’t think beyond their constituencies,” he added.

Asked about the poll pact with the Shiv Sena, Keskar said, “The Sena is contesting against the BJP candidate in Khadakwasla constituency. I have the full support of residents from Kothrud and all BJP votes in the constituency will remain intact”.

Keskar has declared assets worth Rs 12 crore. According to his affidavit, Keskar has Rs 24.57 lakh…More

TOI : PUNE: The battle lines in all the three constituencies of Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari in the Pimpri-Chinchwad township were drawn on Friday, with candidates of major political parties (most of them facing rebellion in their ranks) filing their nomination forms.

The suspense of six days over the NCP candidate from Bhosari and the Congress candidate from Chinchwad ended on Friday, the last day of filing nomination forms. Former mayor Mangala Kadam was given the NCP ticket from Bhosari, while Bhausaheb Bhoir, president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the Congress party, was chosen as the Congress candidate from Chinchwad .

Kadam will be facing Sulabha Ubale of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. Other candidates in the fray are Shaikh Abdul Sayed Talukdar of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Sukumar Damle of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Rekha Ubale of Janata Dal (United) and four others.

There is dissidence in the NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena and the BJP in the Bhosari constituency. While NCP MLA of Haveli constituency Vilas Lande has filed nomination as an independent, NCP corporators Mahesh Landge, Dattatreya Sane and independent corporator Vasnat Londhe also filed nominations.

Corporator Hanumant Bhosale of the Congress has also filed his nomination as an independent as the constituency has gone to the NCP as per the seat-sharing pact between both the parties. BJP corporator Asha Landge has filed her nomination as an independent though the constituency has been given to Shiv Sena. Landge is the wife of late Ankush Landge, who was the president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the BJP. A Shiv Sena worker Dattatreya Gaikwad also has filed his nomination as an independent.

In Chinchwad, Bhausaheb Bhoir’s name was finalised in the early morning on Friday. His main rival is Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne, who has defected from the Congress a month ago. Others in the fray include Vijay Waghmare (BSP), Sunil Walhekar (MNS), Rekha Shinde…More

TOI : PUNE: In a novel move to keep a tab on activities of foreign national visiting the city and to help them during their stay here, especially in finding an accommodation, the Pune police have decided to launch a website at the earliest.

Deputy commissioner of police (special branch) Ravindra Sengaonkar, in a statement issued on Friday, said that the foreigners registration office of the city police will soon launch the site. The police have appealed to property owners, hostels and lodges and guest houses to submit proposals on renting their premises to foreign nationals to the office of the special branch, Pune police, located at the Sadhu Vaswani chowk at the earliest.

Sengaonkar said the proposals offered by landlords will be posted on the website for enabling foreigners to choose property of their choice on a given rent. The move will also prevent foreigners from being cheated by real estate agents and others who charge huge sum of money as brokerage to locate places for accommodation.

According to Sengaonkar, large number of foreigners visiting the city for education and employment purposes face troubles in finding an accommodation on rental basis.

The new website will guide foreigners to get in touch with property owners and others directly and will end the menace of real estate agents who cheat them, Sengaonkar stated.

He added that it is necessary for the police to maintain a systematic record of foreign nationals in the city as it will help the police keeping a tab if they are involved in any illegal activities. Sengaonkar gave an example how on Tuesday, a group of foreign nationals were beaten up by a group of citizens in Fatimanagar for indulging in rash and negligent driving on Pune-Solapur raod.

The website will enable the police to maintain residential record of foreigners in the city, he added. More Stories from this section Yeravada jail…More

TOI : PUNE: Following the arrest of a gang of four suspects, the Chinchwad police on Thursday claimed to have detected bag-lifting crimes in the city. The police also recovered cash worth Rs 70,000 from the suspects.

The police have identified the suspects as Sagar Subhash Kale (21), Vishwnath alias Nana Kisan Pise (23) and Navdeep Vijay Lavande (23), all from Chinchwad and Tushar Bhausaheb Kamthe (23) of Nidgi. Acting on a tip-off, the police team, led by senior inspector Mahesh Joshi, laid a trap and nabbed the suspects from Chinchwad.

The police have managed to detected three crimes of bag-lifting from the gang.

In August, the suspects had robbed Rs 70,000 from a van in Chinchwad. Later, they lifted a bag containing cash worth Rs 90,000 at Akurdi and in September attempted to loot a bag containing cash worth Rs 10.50 lakh belonging to an auto company in Pimpri.

Speaking to TOI, inspector Joshi said after receiving the tip-off a trap was laid and the suspects were arrested. “During the sustained interrogation, the suspects have agreed their involvement in three crimes. The suspects had looted cash worth Rs 1.60 lakh in two incidents. We have managed to recover only Rs 70,000 as the remaining amount was spent by the suspects in merrymaking,” Joshi said.

Joshi said, “The suspects used to get tip-off about the cash that was being transferred from companies to banks. Accordingly, they used to set a trap and rob the victims. We have recovered three two-wheelers from them.”

Joshi has appealed that while transferring cash, company employees should always change their routes. Every day different person should be appointed for the job and the employees should always change the timings while going to deposit cash in banks.

The investigating team comprised of police inspector Rajendra Sawant, assistant inspector Vishwas Jatak, police constables Nandu Kadam and Uttam Pathare. More Stories from…More

TOI : PUNE: A major power failure hit several parts of Pimpri, Bhosari, Shivajinagar and Ganeshkhind divisions of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) from 1.30 pm to 5.10 pm on Friday due to breakdown of two transformers in the Chinchwad extra high voltage (EHV) sub-station.

Another power failure lasting two hours was also reported in padmavati division following a breakdown at MSEDCL’s Lullanagar sub-station in the evening.

A statement issued by the MSEDCL said transformer number five and eight in the Chinchwad EHV sub-station broke down and affected power supply to major supplylines and the Ganeshkhind and Pimpri sub-stations. The areas affected included Pimpri, Pimpri-Waghire, Chinchwad, Pimple Gurav, Saudagar, Tathawade, Thergaon, Pirangut, Walhekarwadi, Punawale, Shivajinagar, Model Colony, Ashoknagar, Bhosalenagar, F C road, Dnyaneshwar Paduka chowk, Wakdewadi, Shivajinagar bus stand, Agriculture college, Senapati Bapat road, Ganeshkhind road, Wadarwadi, Shivajinagar gaothan, Ghole road, Tofkhana, J M road, Narayan Peth, Shaniwar Peth and parts of Laxmi road.

Later, another fault at Lullanagar sub-station at 4.10 pm affected several areas coming in Padmavati division and power supply was disrupted for over five hours.

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TOI : PUNE: Sangeeta Ganje, a housemaid, on Friday inaugurated the website of Communist Party of India (M) candidate from Parvati constituency Kiran Moghe. The site will carry information on Moghe and her party.

On the occasion, CPI (M) state committee member Shubha Shamim said: “The party is focusing on the poor public sector services like health, transportation and foodgrain distribution. The party’s candidate would strive to get government help for the community of unorganised construction workers, domestic help and labourers. More Stories from this section Yeravada jail prisoner 61st victim of swine flu in Pune H1N1 claims 3 lives, toll 61 in Pune Sugar bowl may turn bitter for DF Power shut down in parts of city FD…More