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TOI : PUNE: The growing factionalism in the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) once again surfaced on Thursday with newly-elected rebel MLA Laxman Jagtap openly challenging the leadership of party’s PCMC unit president Azam Pansare.

“I will resign from the legislative assembly if Pansare gets elected as corporator in the next municipal polls,” Jagtap told reporters here on Thursday.

It may be noted here that the cold war between the two leaders, which started during the Lok Sabha polls, became more after the assembly polls, particularly after Jagtap won the elections as a rebel candidate. Though Jagtap has asserted that he will remain loyal to the NCP, his supporters are demanding that Pansare should be asked to step down from the post of NCP’s PCMC unit chief.

Jagtap, who is already a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), has now been elected as an MLA from Chinchwad constituency.

When pointed out that an elected member can not retain both the posts, that of an MLA and MLC simultaneously, Jagtap said, “I have been elected as an MLA for five years. My tenure as an MLA is longer than my remaining tenure as an MLC. Thus, the choice is obvious. Moreover, an MLA is elected directly by the people.”

Asked if he will remain with the NCP, Jagtap said, “The party has given me various opportunities and posts. So why should I go to others? I have become what I am because of Ajit Pawar. I will be always with him. I will be with him even if my demand (to remove Pansare from the post of president of Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of NCP) is not fulfilled.”

PCMC is facing financial difficulties due to the reduction in octroi income and increase in expenditure on development projects. Reacting to it, Jagtap said, “I will try to get the funds from state government for development projects….More

TOI : PUNE: Vidyapeeth Vikas Manch (VVM), a state-level academic forum, has decided to file a writ petition in the Bombay high court challenging the state government’s move to amend the Maharashtra Universities Act of 1994 by redefining qualifications for membership aboard various statutory bodies of the state universities.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, VVM’s Dhananjay Kulkarni, a former member of University of Pune senate, principal Nandkumar Nikam and education baron Gajanan Ekbote said that the amendment has not been effected as per the due legal processes and was not legally tenable.

On September 14, the government issued a resolution (GR) declaring the amendment by which Ph.D qualification will be a must to secure membership on board statutory bodies like Senate, management and academic council. “This tends to create a divide between PhD and non-PhD degree holders for no good reason,” Ekbote said.

“The very change of basic definitions relating to teachers, academic officials etc. can not be effected by mere GR but has to be done by way of bringing a bill in the state assembly,” Ekbote said.

According to Nikam, the government should reconsider the move in view of the larger interest of the teaching community and academic institutions vis-?-vis getting apt reprsentation of the key bodies.

The VVM had recently organised a seminar at the Modern college to highlight various issues arising from the amendment move. More Stories from this section Income-tax offices open today Flu management: Folk art to the rescue Three more H1N1 deaths in city 15% water cut likely after November 4 Promotion issue to be s…More

TOI : PUNE: The Union ministry of health and family welfare has extended its recognition to the post-graduate (PG) and super-speciality courses under medical faculty offered by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).

So far, all medical PG courses like MD, MS and Diploma, as well as super-speciality studies like DM and MCH were being run by the traditional state universities, despite the Nashik-headquartered MUHS coming into existence in 1998-99 as a dedicated varsity for medical studies in the state.

A mention of the MUHS-offered PG and super-speciality courses in the official schedule of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Government of India (GoI) was critical from the viewpoint of registration of the PG degrees with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC).

The MMC enrolment enables the PG degree holder to practice his/her profession in the specialised area in the state.

Speaking to TOI on Friday, MUHS dean for medical faculty Shashank Dalvi said, “The MUHS, so far, had all necessary recognition from the regulatory council and the GoI for its undergraduate (UG) courses like MBBS, BDS, etc offered under the five faculties, viz. medical, dental, ayurved and unani, homeopathy and alliance health sciences.”

However, for PG and super-speciality studies, the students had to turn to the traditional state universities, he said. The MUHS covers 283 government-run as well as private affiliated colleges that are into offering courses for health sciences in the state.

On October 31, 2005, all PG and super-speciality courses were shifted from the traditional state universities to the MUHS and the first batch of students to these courses was admitted in June 2006.

Dalvi said, “Close to 950 students from this batch at colleges across Maharashtra appeared in their final-year exam in June and their convocation ceremony is due later this year. This made it imperative for the MUHS to secure to health ministry’s recognition to the PG…More

TOI : PUNE: Three suspects in the case of gang-rape and murder of software engineer Nayana Phatak-Pujari have been booked in another case for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman and attempting to kidnap her from her residence in Vishrantwadi on October 7.

The police have identified the suspects as Yogesh Raut and Mahesh Thakur, both residents of Khed, and Vishwas Kadam of Satara, who is absconding in the Pujari case.

The new case was registered with the Vishrantwadi police as the victim, a housewife, had approached the police and lodged a complaint, deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) Jalindar Supekar said on Friday.

“Initially, the victim was not firm on making a complaint as she was threatened by the suspects. After coming across an appeal made by us in newspapers to register complaints against the suspects, she gathered courage,” Supekar said.

According to the complaint, the victim’s husband, who is a driver, and the suspects were friends and they used to visit his house frequently. On October 7 at 11.30 am, the suspects came to the victim’s residence. Finding her alone, they molested her and attempted to kidnap her. However, when she raised an alarm and her son started crying they fled from the scene.

“The suspects had threatened to kill her husband if she disclosed the incident to anyone. On the same day evening, they kidnapped Pujari and killed her after gang raping her. This reveals that the suspects had conspired to commit an offence against a woman,” Supekar said.

The police have intensified the hunt to trace Kadam and appointed woman sub-inspector Varsha Deshmukh to conduct investigations in the case, Supekar said.

The DCP once again appealed to the victims who have suffered injustice at the hands of the suspects to register complaints against them. He promised them protection if they apprehended threat to their life. More Stories from this…More

TOI : PUNE: Two days after the ruckus in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) general body meeting about octroi evaders, the octroi department on Friday declared the names of 20 biggest octroi evaders.

Head of the octroi department Rajan Muthe said that while about Rs 23 crore was collected as octroi from transporters last year, this year, in the first six months itself, Rs 14.7 crore has been collected.

Similarly, Rs 5.4 crore was collected as fine for evasion last year, while Rs 8 crore has been collected in the first six months of this year.

“We have time and again been declaring the names of offenders. Some of the biggest and repeated offenders are Syndicate Transport and Siddhivinayak Transport of Sahakarnagar, Cheema Transport of Chinchwad, Ashirwad Transport of Ramwadi, J.D. Transport of Bhavani Peth, Chintamani Transport of Mangalwar Peth, Vijayraj of Bibvewadi, Mauli, Shivshakti and Shinde transports of Hadapsar,” Muthe said.

During the general body meeting on Wednesday, allegations about involvement of department officials and also of a corporator in evasion were made. When asked about the allegations, Muthe said that his department had no such information and had not received any complaint about any corporator.

“There were also allegations that some the octroi department staff have been working in the department for many years. However, I would like to stress that in the last six months 225 employees have been transferred and whoever was found involved in malpractices was taken to task. We have also suspended 14 employees and taken other actions like stopping increments, etc,” Muthe said.

On Wednesday, pandemonium had broken out during the general body meeting when allegations were hurled on the floor of the house about involvement of a corporator in octroi evasion. The names, however, were not declared then. More Stories from this section Income-tax offices open today Flu management: Folk art to the rescue Three more H1N1…More

TOI : PUNE: City-based Aashay Sanskrutik on Friday named renowned classical singer Kishori Amonkar for the Pu La Smriti Sanman’ award this year, to be conferred during the annual Pulotsav’, a 11-day festival of documentaries, plays, audio-visual programmes, and other event, celebrated in the memory of the legendary P L Deshpande.

“The award distribution ceremony will be held at the Tilak Smarak Mandir on November 11, whereas the festival will continue from November 8 to 18,” said Virendra Chitrav of Aashay. He added that Amonkar was selected for the honour for her significant contribution to Hindustani classical music. More Stories from this section Income-tax offices open today Flu management: Folk art to the rescue Three more H1N1 deaths in city 15% water cut likely after November 4 Promotion issue to be s…More

TOI : PUNE: The leaking water pipeline on the Pune-Mumbai highway at Morwadi in Pimpri was repaired by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on Thursday. However, the authorities have expressed fear that if the pipeline is not shifted from the middle of the highway to the edges, there is possibility that leakage might occur again.

R S Potdar, junior engineer, PCMC, said, “The leakage was due to the slipping of the lead joint which occurred due to the vibrations of the vehicles passing over it on the highway. We have covered the pipeline after the repairs and informed PCMC about it. The PCMC will tar the surface.”

He added: “Since the vibration continues on the highway, the pipeline may leak again in 15 to 20 days time. The permanent solution is to shift the pipeline to the edges of the highway.”

The MIDC has a main water pipeline with a width of 375mm from Bhakti-Shakti chowk, Nigdi, to Phugewadi that supplies water to the industrial belt of Pimpri, Chinchwad, Bhosari and Phugewadi. The pipeline passes through the service road and is parallel to the Pimpri grade separator.

Earlier, the MIDC water pipeline was on the edge of the Pune-Mumbai highway. But now, it is in the middle of the road after the widening of the highway to 61 metres. The pipeline burst in Morwadi on September 8 which was later repaired by MIDC. The leakage had affected the traffic on the service road as half of the road width could not be used throughout the day.

MIDC officials said that most of the water pipeline from Bhakti-Shakti chowk to Phugewadi has been shifted to the edges of the Pune-Mumbai highway. Only a small portion from Morwadi to Kharalwadi in Pimpri is still in its original position.

Meanwhile, there was no water supply to the Bhosari MIDC areas on Thursday during the day due to…More

TOI : PUNE: Thousands of people thronged the village of Hadshi, about 60 km from here, on Friday for a darshan’ of spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who has been in the village for the last three days.

The spiritual leader’s appearance on the stage near the village led to loud shouts of Sai Ram’.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan’s wife Amita Chavan and former Union minister Shivraj Patil were among the politicians and eminent personalities who have come to the little village on Friday to visit Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

During the three-day discourse, other politicians, including ministers Patangrao Kadam, Harshvardhan Patil and Dilip Deshmukh also sought darshan’.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba is expected to leave for Mumbai on October 31.

On Friday, people began gathering at the venue hours before the actual programme started, wherein child stars of a reality show performed a few devotional songs. There were also a number of foreigners among the crowd, who clapped and hummed bhajans along with others.

For Yamuna Deodhar, a resident of Mahad, the trip from her town about 100 km away was one she would always remember simply because she got what she wanted. “A darshan’ of Swamiji was something I had never expected to take place, so this is definitely a dream come true,” she said.

For Mukund Mule, a financial consultant from Sangamner, it was the social work of Sathya Sai Baba that inspired him to become his devotee. “He and his followers are working for the betterment of the society and the deprived class. I respect that,” he said.

Echoing the same sentiments Sunil Ahire said that he has come for the spiritual discourse after hearing about the work carried out by Sai Baba’s various organisations. “I have come to this spiritual discourse for the first time. I wanted to listen to the thoughts of Baba and this was…More

TOI : PUNE: The city is all set to play host to a mix of global intelligentsia, educationists, entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 professionals, who will converge here as part of the SIETAR India annual conference. The event will be held on October 31 and November 1 at the Orchids school in Baner. The conference revolves around the topic, Connecting worlds: Solutions through intercultural insights.’

The Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research (SIETAR), India, is a nonprofit association of educators, researchers and trainers from a wide range of practical and academic disciplines who share a common concern for intercultural relations.

During the conference experts will discuss cultural issues in the new world economy. There will also be discussions on Pune, especially the city’s opportunities and challenges, which is a representation of future cities of India.

The conference, which will be a mix of workshops, presentations and discussions, attended by people from different fields, will also touch upon topics such as education, business, governance, health and tourism, among others.

Rama Bijapurkar, India’s leading market strategist and expert in consumer behaviour and author, will inaugurate the conference and deliver the keynote address. Other participants of the conference include Heather Robinson of Success Across Borders, George Simons of Diversophy, France, P J Lavakare, consultant, Institute of International Education, NY (US), Uma Ganesh, Ravi Pandit, Ganesh Natrajan, Bernhard Steinruecke, director general, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce and Nagesh Rao of the department of communication and journalism, University of New Mexico. More Stories from this section Income-tax offices open today Flu management: Folk art to the rescue Three more H1N1 deaths in city 15% water cut likely after November 4 Promotion issue to be s…More

TOI : PUNE: The Yerawada police on Friday informed a city court of recovering a visiting card containing the debit card password of software engineer Nayana Phatak-Pujari, who was kidnapped and murdered on October 7, from one of the suspects Raju alias Rajesh Pandurang Chaudhary.

Senior inspector Deepak Sawant told the court that another suspect Yogesh Raut had given Rs 16,000, withdrawn from an ATM by using Pujari’s debit card, to his brother for paying an installment of Rs 8,000 of a car loan. Sawant said the police have recovered Rs 8,000 and a receipt of Rs 8,000 from Raut’s brother.

Sawant added that another case of molesting a woman and attempting to kidnap her was registered against the suspects at the Vishrantwadi police station.

Earlier, Sawant had produced the suspects Yogesh Raut, Mahesh Thakur and Raju Chaudhary before judicial magistrate first class S.J. Biyani, following expiry of their 14-day police custody. He prayed to extend their custody for one more day.

Saying that there was sufficient progress in the investigations, assistant public prosecutor Kiran Bendhbar pleaded to extend the custody of the suspects for recovering the knife used for threatening the victim, her cell phone and bangle and for tracing the absconding suspect Vishwas Kadam.

Defence lawyers Biju Aloor and Ajay Wagh opposed the prosecution’s plea saying that the court had given sufficient time to conduct investigations and that further detention of the suspects with the police was not required.

The lawyers contended that there was no progress in the investigations and the police had not cited any new grounds to seek extension of custody.

The court upheld the lawyers’ plea and send the suspects to magisterial custody for 15 days. More Stories from this section Income-tax offices open today Flu management: Folk art to the rescue Three more H1N1 deaths in city 15% water cut likely after November 4 Promotion issue to…More