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TOI : PUNE: District collector Chandrakant Dalvi on Sunday said that special arrangements had been made to facilitate voters in finding their names in the voter’s list as well as at polling booths.

Helpline: Voters can call 155212 to find out details of their polling booth. To avail of this facility a voter will have to provide his/her name, address and the name of the constituency. If calling from a mobile phone, a person has to dial 020-155212.

Internet: Details of the voters and their polling booths are available on websites. The voter’s list including supplementary voters’ lists I and II have been made available at these websites. The websites are http://pune.nic.in, http://pune.gov.in and http://ceo.maharashtra.gov.in

SMS service: To avail of this service a voter has to type nm_space_full name. If a voter holds a voter I -card, he will have to type the EPIC number after his/her name, ie nm_space_full name_voter I-card (EPIC) number. The message has to be sent to 9860875129.

Voter’s list available at office of returning officers: The voter’s list has been made available at the offices of the returning officers of all 21 assembly constituencies.

Topics: Voting Chandrakant Dalvi More Stories from this section Collection of PCB’s vehicle entry tax falls Cities in state to emulate PMC’s eco-housing programme Campaign ends with rallies across Marathwada region Congress woos ex-servicemen Congress-NC…More

TOI : PUNE: Even as campaigning drew to a close on Sunday evening, the district administration claimed to be all set to conduct free and fair elections on Tuesday in the 21 assembly constituencies in the district. As many as 42,372 staffers have been deployed at 6,692 polling booths in the district, district election officer Chandrakant Dalvi said on Sunday. “Besides, over 8,300 police personnel have been stationed across the district,” the collector further stated. The district has over 64.57 lakh voters.

Addressing a press conference, Dalvi said polling will take between 7 am and 5 pm on Tuesday. Urging the public to vote, he said they will have to furnish voter I-cards or any of 14 identification proofs named by the Central Election Commission. Citizens will not be allowed to use mobile phones while voting.

“In all, 980 booths have been identified as sensitive, and will have additional staff and security personnel. Besides, 473 micro-observers have been deployed at these centres. Over 580 sensitive polling centres will have digital cameras to take photographs of voters, while 64 booths will have video cameras. This will help maintain law and order and curb incidents of bogus voting and booth capturing. Paramilitary forces will also be posted at over 100 booths.”

Voting will be conducted by electronic voting machines (EVMs). Over 9,300 EVMs and 6,360 control units have been dispatched, Dalvi said. Over 3,095 vehicles have been pressed into service to transport staff and material.

As many as 637 sector officers, he added, have also been deployed in the district to prevent untoward incidents. The officers have been conferred powers associated with the magistrate rank. Further, 125 quick response teams are present in the district to ensure enforcement of the election code. Topics: voters Booths More Stories from this section Collection of PCB’s vehicle entry tax falls Cities in state to emulate PMC’s eco-housing programme Campaign ends with rallies…More

TOI : PUNE: Two-and-a-half-year-old Sameer Devidas Salgar, who went missing from his residence in Ambegaon Pathar on October 8 was found dead in a septic tank near his house on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Haveli police, after Sameer went missing, his parents had lodged a missing person complaint on Thursday. The complaint stated that Sameer had gone to see an election rally at Ambegaon Pathar with his elder sister. He went missing after the rally, the police said.

The police said the family conducted an extensive search in the locality. They even searched at several other places in the city, but to no avail. On Sunday morning, his father woke up with a foul smell emanating from the septic tank of an under construction house next to his residence. Sameer’s body was found floating in the tank. He immediately called the police and the fire brigade.

Fire brigade personnel, along with the police, fished out the body on Sunday evening, the police said. Fire brigade officials said the tank was filled with water and was four feet deep without a lid on it. A case accidental death in this regard has been lodged at the Haveli police station.

Sameer’s father is a labourer. He is survived by his mother and two elder sisters.

Topics: Tank Sameer Devidas Salgar More Stories from this section Collection of PCB’s vehicle entry tax falls Cities in state to emulate PMC’s eco-housing programme Campaign ends with rallies across Marathwada region Congress woos ex-servicemen Congress-NC…More

TOI : PUNE: The news of attack on Ajay Bhosale, the Shiv Sena candidate from Vadgaon Sheri, emerged as a blot on the otherwise peaceful election campaigning which ended on Sunday. The campaigning, as a whole, was mostly lacklustre as candidates got less than 20 days to reach out to the voters.

Nominees had to rely more on padyatras’ and door-to-door campaigns, as very few rallies were addressed by national political leaders. Even the big rallies held, evoked a lukewarm response.

The campaigning picked up momentum only in the last week with leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray arriving in the city. BJP leader L K Advani addressed a public meeting in Pimpri, but did not campaign in Pune city. On Sunday, he addressed a public rally in Aurangabad. BJP member and actor Smruti Irani, Congress MP and former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin were some of the star campaigners.

Others who addressed public meetings include Union home minister P Chidambaram, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma, energy minister Sushilkumar Shinde, minister for heavy industries Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister Manohar Joshi, BJP leader Gopinath Munde, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayavati and CPI (M) leaders Brinda Karat and Prakash Karat. District guardian minister Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule also addressed a few rallies in the city. On Sunday, only Uddhav Thackeray addressed a meeting in Kothrud.

The delay in announcement of candidates was a major blow for all parties. For preventing rebels from entering the fray, the names were announced just a few days before filing the nominations. Despite this, discontement was witnessed among a large section of party workers across parties. The party leaders had to face a tough time pacifying the rebels and initiating action against those who refused to withdraw their nominations. Unseasonal rains also played a spoilsport.

Topics: attack Ajay Bhosale More Stories from this section Collection…More

TOI : PUNE: Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy’, made over a period of eight years, lent new meaning to world cinema, vis-a-vis Indian cinema. Starting with Pather Panchali’ and followed by Aparajito’ and Apur Sansar,’ the films defined new milestones in cinematic style, aesthetics and technique.

In order to capture the essence of the trilogy, film experts Satish Bahadur and Shyamala Vanarase are working on a book called, A Textual Study of the Apu Trilogy’, to be published by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) next year.

According to Bahadur, who was in charge of the film appreciation course at FTII from 1964 to 1984, the book will be ready in a month or two.

Selecting films for the appreciation course was always a big challenge, says Bahadur. And in Pather Panchali’ he found the perfect example of exquisite film design and structure. Bahadur has seen the trilogy more than 50 times and can recall each scene in detail. The notes he made to understand and teach the films have come in useful in writing this research book. “For the last 20 years, I’ve wanted to write a book on the Apu Trilogy’. This year, my wish finally materialised,” says Bahadur.

Bahadur and Vanarase have outlined the narrative, structure and function of the images, music and other elements of the trilogy. The book also analyses recurring motifs as well as the sense of space, time and properties used by Ray in all three films. “All good films are layered, which gives them a sense of depth. The Apu’ Trilogy has this characteristic. Our book discusses the films’ narrative, visual and sound composition, editing, cinematography and other aesthetics,” says Bahadur. He says his favourite film is Aparajito’ because, “Ray has been able to effectively depict the most difficult phase in Apu’s life adolescence.”

According to Bahadur and Vanarase, Pather Panchali’ is the first Indian film to…More

TOI : PUNE: District collector Chandrakant Dalvi announced a holiday on the day of polling i.e. October 13. As per the provisions of the Public Representation Act, all workers and employees of commercial establishments should compulsorily be given a paid holiday, he said.

Dalvi said that quick response teams (QRT) of the district administration jointly with the vigilance teams of labour commissionorate would take up continuos monitoring in the district to see the closure is strictly adhered to. Action will be initiated against the establishment, which is found violating the law. He said the holiday is also applicable to private establishments.

The idea behind declaring a paid holiday on October 13 is to ensure employees can exercise their right to vote. A control unit has been established by the district administration for the purpose. The people can contact on 020-20260007 for any complaint regarding the closure.

Also, the labour department has provided the following telephone numbers of officials if there are any complaints. Assistant commissioner, M T Janrao (9552191476), assistant commissioner B V Wagh (9322434655), labour officer D D Pawar 9850651477, and shop inspector S M Gaikwad (9423237806).

Chief election commissioner Navin Chawla, during his visit to the city last week, had said that voters are enable to execute their right to vote if they are given just one hour leave on the day of voting. Chawla had said that many complaints were received during the general elections from voters that the one or two hours leave on the voting day proved insufficient.

District collector Chandrakant Dalvi appealed voters to excercise their right to vote on October 13. He said, “The district recorded lowest voting during last general elections. The city recorded around 40% voting. This was the lowest voter tunout among cities across the sate. I appeal voters to come forward and execute their right.” Topics: Collector Holiday More Stories from this section Collection of…More

TOI : PUNE: Among the 8,000 people surveyed in Pune city, about 10 per cent complained of one or the other kind of rheumatic pain. The data, which is part of an ongoing study, revealed that most of the people surveyed consumed tobacco in one form or the other.

“The study to measure burden of rheumatism on the Indian population at 17 cities/towns shows that at least 10-15 per cent of the population suffers from arthritis or some form of rheumatism. And the use of tobacco has emerged as a leading risk factor for rheumatic pains. This public health issue is yet to be recognised by the Indian medical faculty and community,” said rheumatologist Arvind Chopra.

Chopra has combined his skills with that of the gram panchayat at Bhigwan village, where too 9,000 people were surveyed, to create an exemplary community model of rheumatic disease.

The Bhigwan COPCORD (Community Oriented programme and control of Rheumatic Diseases) programme has completed 13 successful years of providing free of cost arthritis diagnosis and treatment services and acquiring community research data. “Started in 1996 as the maiden Indian programme on arthritis, the programme has covered a population of 9,000 in village Bhigwan and over 45,000 in the neighbouring 187 villages,” said Chopra.

Though initiated in over 19 countries worldwide by the WHO- ILAR (International league of rheumatology) as the arthritis programme primarily targeting rural communities in developing countries, it is only the Bhigwan project that has continued beyond the initial stage of population survey to measure community illness burden, added Chopra.

The WHO used the Bhigwan data to project the rheumatic burden in South East Asia in its seminal technical research publication titled The Burden of Musculoskeletal conditions at the start of the new millennium. Report of a WHO Scientific group, 2003′, added Chopra. Notably, 15 per cent people surveyed in Bhigwan village had complained of rheumatic pain.

The…More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday asked the Election Commission to give a serious thought to the idea of conducting Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously to avoid huge expenditures. He also asked the EC to explore the possibility of government funding the poll expenses to minimise corruption in electioneering.

Advani, the opposition leader in Lok Sabha, was addressing a public meeting at the Ramlila Ground here to campaign for Bhagwat Karad, the BJP nominee in Aurangabad east assembly constituency and other BJP-Shiv Sena candidates in the district.

It was Advani’s last of the four campaign meetings in Maharashtra. Earlier he had campaigned for party candidates in Mantha, Miraj and Sangli.

The BJP has been striving for electoral reforms ever since it was a part of the Jan Sangh, he said. “The Lok Sabha and the assembly elections were conducted simultaneously up to four general polls. But when the elections were to be held in 1972, the country faced emergency in 1971 that disrupted the entire election schedule. Now we have elections every alternate month. It’s high time that we decide a single date for the general and assembly elections in the larger interest of the nation,” Advani said.

Coming down hard on the media, he also demanded the election commission to monitor advertisements being placed by the parties and candidates in newspapers and TV channels, in addition to monitoring the expenditure by the candidates. “I have seen two conflicting reports in a paper for instance one report said the meeting of a particular candidate was a flop, but the same paper carried the story of an overwhelming response in the same edition. This is a very sorry state of affairs and we urgently need electoral reforms,” Advani said.

Advani also criticised Prime Minister Manohan Singh for failing to keep his word on checking price rise. “Instead, the prices have…More

TOI : PUNE: Some unidentified people beat up Vasudeo Hanumant Mane, Shiv Sena candidate from Karad constituency in Satara district, near Rahematpur in the wee hours of Sunday.

According to the police, a group of four-five people carrying sticks and other weapons stopped Mane’s car near Vanyachiwadi village around 1.30 am, while he was going from Masur to Rahematpur. They shattered the windows of the car and beat up Mane and his driver. Both of them have suffered injures and have been admitted to the primary health care centre in Masur.

Tension prevailed in the area as the news spread. Boards condemning the attack were displayed in different parts of the constituency and a bandh’ was observed in Rahematpur area on Sunday.

Topics: Sena Vasudeo Hanumant Mane More Stories from this section Collection of PCB’s vehicle entry tax falls Cities in state to emulate PMC’s eco-housing programme Campaign ends with rallies across Marathwada region Congress woos ex-servicemen Congress-NC…More

TOI : PUNE: A standard VIII student of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya in Khanapur village, Haveli taluka, was among seven people who tested positive for the H1N1 influenza on Sunday. With this, the total number of positive cases reported across the district has reached 1,426, said Ashok Mehta, joint director of state health services.

“The student has been home quarantined. We have initiated medical screening of students of the school as a preventive measure,” said Mehta.

Around 4,758 people were screened in the district, of which 498 suspected patients were administered Tamiflu, said Mehta. Around 29,028 people have been given Tamiflu so far, he added.

Thirty patients are being treated at isolation ICUs of various private and government-run hospitals within PMC and PCMC limits. Of them, 14 patients are critical and are on the ventilator, Mehta said. “Fifty seven patients were discharged on Sunday,” he added.

Around 5.54 lakh people have been screened across the district so far, Mehta said.

Topics: Flu H1N1 More Stories from this section Collection of PCB’s vehicle entry tax falls Cities in state to emulate PMC’s eco-housing programme Campaign ends with rallies across Marathwada region Congress woos ex-servicemen Congress-NC…More