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TOI : PUNE: It has been a long and successful journey for one of the most loved and well-known libraries in the city, the British Library. Entering its 50th year, the library has seen many changes since its inception in 1960.

As the library celebrates this landmark, the newly-appointed regional director, British Council, India-Sri Lanka, Ruth Gee says that the library aims to “change and reinvent ourselves as we move forward with time”. “I have been told that the Pune centre has something new every other year and that is what our aim is.”

Today the readership base of the library is made up of well over 10,000 members, the number increasing every other day. While the library has around 35,000 books on offer, it also offers an additional 3,500 DVDs to its members.

The Pune centre of the British Library also has the distinction of being the highest ranked among all its counterparts across the country.

Gee, a former English school teacher, calls Pune the brains’ of the country quoting one of her colleagues. “Mumbai has its commerce and glamour, Delhi its bureaucrats and history and Bangalore its BPOs but Pune has the brains, one of my colleagues, Simon Gammell, and I completely subscribe to his view,” she says.

Gee feels that the new line describing the library Be successful, be inspired, belong’ is truly indicative of what the library is. She adds that the library is not just books anymore, it is much more than that. “Books are at the core of what we represent, but everything else spreads out from there, be it our workshops or various other activities,” she says.

The manager of the Pune centre, Kajari Mitra says that with a motive to change, the library has started Monday workshops. “These workshops are on a variety of subjects, like business communication, meant for a people to improve their soft skills….More

TOI : PUNE: Congress MLA Chandrakant Chhajed, who had rebelled against both NCP and Congress candidates in Shivajinagar and Wadgaon Sheri constituencies, sprung a surprise on Tuesday by withdrawing from the fray. However, some other prominent candidates, including Congress corporator Deepak Mankar and BJP corporator Ujwal Keskar, have refused to withdraw from the contest in Kothrud.

Chhajed, who was representing Bopodi, had been aspiring to get official nomination from either Shivajinagar or Wadgaon Sheri, as his earlier constituency has been dissolved after delimitation. However, the Congress nominated Vinayak Nimhan, a loyalist of Congress leader Narayan Rane, from Shivajinagar, while the NCP nominated former standing committee chairman Bapu Pathare from Wadgaon Sheri as the constituency went to the NCP in the seat-sharing agreement.

On Sunday itself Nimhan had given indications that Chhajed would be withdrawing from the contest in Shivajinagar. Chhajed, who had filed his nomination as an independent and as a “candidate of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” was persuaded to withdraw from the fray by chief minister Ashok Chavan and MP Suresh Kalmadi.

In a statement, Chhajed said that he had served the party for over 40 years and that the party was bigger than the individual. “I respected the request of my seniors and withdrew my candidature from both the constituencies. I have no anger against the party and have withdrawn in the best interests of the party,” Chhajed said.

With the last date for withdrawal of nominations now over, the battlelines in the eight constituencies in the city are much clear.

In Shivajinagar, the tussle is between BJP’s Vikas Mathkari, Congress’s Vinayak Nimhan and MNS’s Ranjit Shirole. Shirole had fetched more than 40,000 votes during the last Lok Sabha elections and spoiled the party for BJP’s Anil Shirole. Nimhan is the official candidate of the Congress, but he had won the seat twice on Shiv Sena ticket.

In Kothrud, where the NCP…More

TOI : PUNE: The crime branch has detected the murder of 70-year-old watchman and theft at Mahaveer market at Budhwar Peth on September 22 after they arrested two former employees of the complainant, Zalamchand Jain, on Tuesday.

The suspects, Sureshkumar alias Tiger Bofasingh Rajpurohit (19) and Sanjaykumar Ransingh Rajpurohit (20), were nabbed from Saswad in the wee hours of Tuesday. Both hail from Sakharana village in Rajasthan. One of their accomplice is still at large. The police team was led by inspector Ram Pathare (unit-I) of crime branch.

Watchman Laxman More (70) was found brutally murdered at the Mahaveer Market in Budhwar Peth on September 22. The suspects had entered the four shops owned by the complainant and his brother Zumbarlal Jain. However, the owner could not clearly state the stolen amount and goods.

“Investigations have revealed that after murdering the watchman, the suspects entered the shop but found only Rs 500. They escaped with the cash and a few jeans from the four shops,” said additional commissioner of police (crime) A D Shinde.

“The duo worked at home as well as at the shops of the complainant. However, about 15 days back, they were asked to leave the job. Since then they were jobless. The duo then decided to rob Jain’s shops as they were aware of the places where the keys of the shops were kept,” Shinde said.

On September 21, the duo along with an accomplice, who is missing, managed to hide on the terrace of the market. Around 11 pm, after the market was closed, the trio came down. The watchman had also gone to sleep after closing the main door. “The trio first attacked More with sharp weapons, killing him on the spot. More bore as many as 14 stab injuries in his body. They then went to the first floor and tried to break the lock of Shree Vardhman traders,…More

TOI : PUNE: Aiming to promote the concept of family doctors, the Shivajinagar Doctors Association has mooted “Best family doctor of Pune award, members of the association said.

These members were speaking at a press meet organised at the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ) on Monday. Organisation’s president R B Zine and association member Shailesh Patni were also present on the occasion.

“The concept of a family is very wide. The treatment in case of a family is not limited only to treating a patient, it has to deal with the attachments in a family. We want to promote this concept,” Patil said.

“A committee of experts has designed 40 parameters to judge family doctors. The award will be given on November 24,” he added. More Stories from this section Relief for DF as Chhajed withdraws from fray British library celebrates 50 year in Pune AI cancels Pune-Delhi flight Rs 21L challenge for astrologers Woman succumbs to s…More

TOI : PUNE: Additional sessions judge V V Joshi on Tuesday granted bail to national shooter Shehzad Mirza (26) and six others in a peahen hunting case. The others who got bail are former corporator’s son Chetan Nimhan, Avinash Gothkule, Shyam Chavan, Vitthal Chive, Balu Manjulkar and Kunal Kamble.

The suspects were released on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each with one or two sureties of the like amount. They were directed to give attendance at the forest department office on Mondays and Thursdays between 11 am and 1 pm. The court has warned them not to tamper with the prosecution’s evidence and influence witnesses.

The suspects had moved the district and sessions court as a magistrate court had rejected their bail pleas earlier.

The court will hear the bail application of the eighth suspect, Suresh Hulawale, on Wednesday.

Mirza’s lawyer Shrikant Shivade told the court that there was no evidence against his client and that he was implicated in the case merely because he was a national-level shooter.

According to Shivade, the investigating officer has not collected any evidence that the peahens were killed. Finding the feathers in the forest does not indicate that his client had hunted them for meat, he added.

Submitting that there was an inordinate delay in lodging the complaint, Shivade raised the issue that the statement given by the co-suspects against Mirza was not admissible before the law as his client had not given any statement to the investigating officer.

Lawyers Arvind Dhakate and Deepak Patil, representing the six other suspects, argued that their clients had not committed any offence and that they were implicated in the case due to political rivalry.

The lawyers submitted that the alleged offence, punishable up to three to seven years, was triable by the magistrate court and hence their clients were entitled to claim bail.

The forest department’s counsel…More

TOI : PUNE: The Kasba Peth constituency, considered a safe bet for three-time BJP nominee Girish Bapat, could see some excitement this time with Rohit Tilak, great grandson of Lokmanya Tilak, fighting on a Congress ticket and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) fielding Ravindra Dhangekar.

While Bapat and Dhangekar filed their nominations much earlier, Tilak’s candidature was announced late, surprising a section of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers.

With a voter base of 3,14,948, major candidates are a busy lot with just 11 days in hand.

The much discussed factor is the MNS impact. Notably, Raj Thackeray played a spoilsport for the saffron alliance in recently held Lok Sabha elections and Dhangekar is campaigning aggressively with this fact in mind. Dhangekar said, “We are going to continue the momentum gained during Lok Sabha elections. Along with strong support of youth in Kasba, there is a significant section in the constituency that is unhappy with the sitting MLA. I am banking on these votes.”

Tilak said, “My campaigning started a couple of years before. Through NSUI, many people are in my contact and they will certainly vote for me. After 15 years, the issues in the constituency are same, hence people need a change.”

The history of the constituency favours BJP. Out of 10 elections since 1967, BJP candidate has won six times. It includes the 1978 election, when Arvind Lele had won election on the ticket of Janata Party with a margin of 23,780 votes.

When Anna Joshi, the then sitting MLA from Kasba, contested and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1991, Girish Bapat contested assembly elections for first time but was defeated by Congress candidate Vasantrao Thorat by a margin of just 5,325 votes. Thorat had secured 37,100 votes. But since 1995, Bapat has retained his supremacy in the constituency. In last two assembly elections, the Congress and NCP had contented separately…More

TOI : PUNE: A magistrate court here on Tuesday granted bail to three suspects in the case of allegedly making MMS clippings while indulging in obscene behavior with an 18-year-old schoolgirl and circulating it.

The suspects have been identified as Rajendra Bhate (25), Mayur Kunjir (23) and Rahul Tamble (26), all from Urali Kanchan. They were sent to magisterial custody and, later, released on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.

The suspects’ lawyer, Kailash Makare, said the court released them on bail as the charges levelled against them under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code and 67 of the Information Technology Act were bailable.

The Loni Kalbhor police had arrested two of the suspects on Sunday and one on Monday for allegedly filming the girl without her consent. The incident came to light after the school authorities contacted the police. More Stories from this section Relief for DF as Chhajed withdraws from fray British library celebrates 50 year in Pune AI cancels Pune-Delhi flight Rs 21L challenge for astrologers Woman succumbs to s…More

TOI : PUNE: The Pune cantonment court on Tuesday remanded 18 employees of a private contractor of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), who were arrested on Monday for allegedly issuing fake receipts and over-charging entry tax from commercial vehicles passing through the cantonment, to police custody till October 1.

Seeking seven days of police custody for the suspects, assistant public prosecutor Rajani Naik told the court that custodial interrogation of the suspects was required as three bags of fake receipt books have been recovered from them. The suspects had printed receipts of Rs 165 and Rs 220 for collecting tax instead of the PCB norms of Rs 20 from heavy vehicles and Rs 15 from small vehicles, she added.

The police have recovered the monthly pass register, four driving licences and a copy of the agreement between the contractor and the PCB, Naik said, and prayed to give sufficient time to the police to find out where the fake receipt books were printed.

The prosecutor also sought time to arrest the contractor and to find out where he had invested the extortion amount collected from the vehicles.

Defence lawyers N D Patil, Pandit Dhumal and Vijay Thombare argued that custodial interrogation of the suspects was not required as they had acted as per the direction of the contractor and they had no role in the crime.

The lawyers submitted that their clients had not breached the contract and that the PCB had permitted them to print receipt books and hence their clients cannot be charged with issuing fake receipts. But the prosecutor argued that they had printed some sections of the Cantonments Act, 2006 on the receipt books without any authority and hence they have committed forgery.

The court upheld the prosecution’s plea and send the suspects to police custody for three days.

The suspects are Arvindsingh Rathodradhi (22), Hemant Joshi (32), Vishnu Rajput…More

TOI : PUNE: Has largescale rebellion in both the Congress and the NCP forced warring leadersSuresh Kalmadi and Ajit Pawarto patch-up?

This is what one can conclude as Pawar junior, on Tuesday, declared that he will meet the Congress MP on October 2 to “ensure that official candidates nominated by both the parties win the assembly elections.”

Pawar was speaking to media after a meeting organised for its Kothrud candidate Anna Joshi on Tuesday. Several NCP and Congress leaders were present on the occasion.

The rivalry between Pawar and Kalmadi began in 2007 after the NCP joined hands with the BJP and Shiv Sena at corporation level, famously called the Pune Pattern. The relationship turned bitter after Pawar refused to campaign for Kalmadi during the recent Lok Sabha elections. This when NCP supremo Sharad Pawar himself addressed a public meeting for Kalmadi and also issued a warning to party workers to fall in line.

In this backdrop, when Ajit Pawar was asked if he will meet Kalmadi, Pawar said, “We are doing everything to win the forthcoming assembly elections. I had sent NCP leaders Ankush Kakde, M V Akolkar and Krishnkant Kudle to meet Kalmadi, but he was busy as he had to rush to Delhi. However, it was decided that I will personally meet Kalmadi after he returns from Delhi.”

Pawar added, “We will be meeting on October 2 and chalk the strategy for all eight assembly constituencies in the city.”

When asked about the equations in the PMC, Pawar said, “Let us finish this assembly elections. We will decide about the PMC after the elections.”

Pawar also said that both the NCP and Congress will prepare a list of rebel candidates in every constituency. “We will take stringent action against all rebels by sacking them,” Pawar said.

Meanwhile, Pawar appealed party workers to work hard for the victory of Anna Joshi….More

TOI : PUNE: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has failed to quell rebellion among its ranks as party MLA Vilas Lande and MLC Laxman Jagtap, who are in fray as independents from Bhosari and Chinchwad respectively, did not withdraw their nominations on Tuesday the last day for setting out of the electoral race.

Nominations of 31 candidates in Bhosari constituency were found to be valid out of which 15 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving 16 candidates in the ring for the October 13 elections. Those in the race include 11 independents. Congress corporator Hanumantrao Bhosale, NCP corporators Mahesh Landge and Datta Sane, Baban Badhe, Baban Bhosale and Pandit Gawli, who had filed nominations as independents, withdrew.

Sulabha Ubale, group leader of Shiv Sena corporators, is contesting on the Sena ticket. Sukumar Damle is contesting as Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate; former mayor Mangala Kadam is the NCP candidate along with Shaikh Abdul Sayed Talukdar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Kaluram Tapkir of Hindustan Janata Party (HJP).

NCP’s Lande is the most prominent dissident in Bhosari constituency from where BJP corporator Asha Landge, Dattareya Gaikwad of Shiv Sena and independent corporator and NCP supporter Vasant Londhe are contesting as independents. Speaking to reporters, NCP corporator Datta Sane said that he was withdrawing his nomination in favour of Lande.

In Chinchwad constituency, nine candidates withdrew their nominations. Babasaheb Tapkir, corporator Machhindra Tapkir and Haresh Tapkir of Congress withdrew their nominations in favour of Bhausaheb Bhoir, president of Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Congress who is the Congress-NCP candidate. BJP corporator Sharad Barhatte, Anil Sonavane of NCP, Dilip Kale of BJP, Sheshrao Gawli, Maruti Dakhale of Shiv Sena and Republican Party of India (RPI)’s Lata Ovhal and Bapu Kedari also withdrew from the race.

There are 14 candidates left in the ring for Chinchwad constituency including Appa Barne of Shiv Sena, Bhausaheb Bhoir of the Congress, Vijay Waghmare…More