At present, Pune city’s rainfall is 9 per cent short of normal and the city’s seasonal rainfall (till September 20) is 459.3 mm.
Pune News Today Highlights and Updates: Pune city and ghats, among other areas in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan, will receive moderate to heavy rain till Thursday. This could be among the last spells for the city during this season, which ends next week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that rainfall will be fairly widespread over these meteorological subdivisions whereas rainfall activity will continue over Vidarbha till Saturday.
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Tuesday reported 159 new Covid-19 cases and 4 deaths while the Pune region reported the highest 1,135 new Covid-19 cases, along with 11 deaths.
Meanwhile, Pune city and ghats, among other areas in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan, will receive moderate to heavy rain till Thursday. This could be among the last spells for the city during this season, which ends next week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that rainfall will be fairly widespread over these meteorological subdivisions whereas rainfall activity will continue over Vidarbha till Saturday.
In other news, a 45-year-old man headed to Prayagraj from Pune airport on Tuesday morning was not allowed to take his flight after the scanner showed that his luggage contained 12 live rounds of 0.32 caliber. Upon inquiry, the CISF and local police found that the man was a security contractor operating in Bhosari MIDC, and had the requisite licence to possess firearms.
A view of racecourse road when the rains lashed the city Tuesday. (Express photograph by Arul Horizon)
Unions of employees of Bank of Maharashtra held a protest in the city on Wednesday to press for their demands, which include recruitment of staff to fill vacancies, withdrawal of administrative transfer policy and making security arrangements at bank branches and ATMs.
The protesting unions included All India Bank of Maharashtra Employees Federation (AIBOMEF), Bank of Maharashtra Karmachari Mahasangh (BOMKM), Bank of Maharashtra Karmachari Sena (BOMKS) and Mahabank Navnirman Sena (MNS).
The unions held the protest at Lokmangal Building, the head office of Bank of Maharashtra. Dhananjay Kulkarni, convener of the United Forum of Employees of bank of Maharashtra, said, "On the the one hand, the bank's turnover and profits are increasing. In the banking sector, Mahabank is considered the best bank. In this achievement, the contribution of every employee is notable. Employees are doing well despite the uncertainty everywhere due to privatisation and the pandemic. Instead, the bank is not recruiting clerical staff. Also, vacancies due to death, resignation, retirement and promotion of employees have not been filled. As a result, there is stress on employees when it comes to customer service. Despite the desire, there are limitations on employees providing good service. So, it is necessary to recruit clerical staff as soon as possible. We are also demanding withdrawal of administrative transfer policy, security at bank branches and ATMs."
Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 19-year-old woman married to his cousin at Ghorwadeshwar Hills on Sunday. The other accused, a friend of the arrested man, is absconding.
The police said that the main accused offered a room to his newlywed cousin and his wife at Thomas Colony in the Dehu Road area. On Sunday morning, the woman and the main accused went to the ancient cave temple on the Ghorwadeshwar hills. The accused and his friend, identified as Akshay Karande (24), allegedly demanded sexual favours from her there.
"When she refused, the duo allegedly raped and killed her by strangling her with a scarf. Once dead, they smashed her face with a stone to conceal her identity. The body was thrown behind the bushes on the hills," said Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner Krishna Prakash.
Amid a letter war between Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of crimes against women, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said the CM should respect the governor's post.
Days after Koshyari wrote a letter to Thackeray for convening a special session of the state Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, the CM on Monday hit back, saying the governor should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.
In his letter to the governor, Thackeray gave figures of crimes against women in BJP-ruled states, including Uttarakhand, the home state of Koshyari.
(PTI)
Within hours of Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant announcing a Janta Darbar to be held in Mumbai tomorrow (Thursday), teachers and students from across the state have flooded his timeline with requests for resolution of pending issues.
The Shiv Sena MLA had held several such open meetings across the state in the past also, including one at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) last year. On Tuesday night, Samant tweeted that he would be holding a Janta Darbar at the Shiv Sena party office, Shivaalay, in Mumbai from 9 am to 11 am on Thursday. The meeting is open to all and will follow Covid-19 protocols like masking and social distancing.
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Pune city and ghats, among other areas in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan, will receive moderate to heavy rain till Thursday. This could be among the last spells for the city during this season, which ends next week. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that rainfall will be fairly widespread over these meteorological subdivisions whereas rainfall activity will continue over Vidarbha till Saturday.
At present, Pune city’s rainfall is 9 per cent short of normal and the city’s seasonal rainfall (till September 20) is 459.3 mm.
Read more
The Pune unit of the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has arrested two policemen attached to the Haveli police station of the Pune rural police for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a person booked in an accident case.
ACB has identified the two cops as Shripati Kolte, assistant sub-inspector, and police naik Shivaji Jagtap.
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A farmer couple was killed and another woman seriously injured in a lightning strike on a farm field in Baramati taluka of Pune district on Monday evening.
According to officials of the Vadgaon Nimbalkar police station under Pune rural jurisdiction, the deceased have been identified as Balasaheb Vandiba Ghorpade (54) and his wife Sangeeta (45). The injured woman was identified as Padmini Ghorpade. All three were residents of Kuranewadi village, near the farm fields at Sadobachiwadi, around 100 km from Pune city.
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A special blood donation drive is underway across 13 tehsils in the district. The district administration has urged the tehsil level officers under the Pune Zilla Parishad to mobilise donors at the blood donation camp.
The directive issued by Pune district collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh said that there had been a rise in cases of dengue and chikungunya.
Health officals said that there had been an increase in demand for platelets. They said that blood donation drives had been affected after colleges shut and several organisations were unable to mobilise donors. The officials added that the special drive was underway in association with Aundh district hospital along with various blood banks.
For the second consecutive day, Pune city will witness cloudy sky conditions with a possibility of light to moderate intensity rain. Over the past 24-hours, rainfall was recorded in the areas of Lohegaon (14.6mm) and Magarpatta(8mm). The maximum temperature on Wednesday would remain close to 28 degrees.
A barber from Pandharpur, who was sentenced for culpable homicide of his wife in 2016 and completed his prison term at Yerawada Prison in Pune, is embarking on a new chapter in his life, with some help from the state Prison Department and Pune-based NGOs, who are helping him start a salon in Sangli.
Santosh Atkar, 40, came to Yerawada Central Prison in 2016 after he was prosecuted for culpable homicide of his wife in December 2013. Atkar had hit his wife during an argument at their house in Pandharpur town of Solapur district. She succumbed to her injuries seven days later and he was arrested on charges of culpable homicide. Since his arrest till the conviction in the case in July 2016, Atkar was lodged at the sub-jail in Pandharpur. He was moved to Yerawada Central Prison after sentencing.
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Payal’s joy knew no bounds when a gender identity card certifying her transgender status was given to her by District Collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh in Pune on Tuesday. Along with Payal, 11 other transgender persons received their gender identity cards and certificates on the same day. “I am very happy today. My only request is that the government should provide employment so that we can stop collecting alms to earn our livelihood,” said Payal (32).
This is the first time a large group of transgender persons has been issued gender identity cards and certificates in the state. Thane and Solapur district administrations have issued three and four such certificates respectively till now, Sangeeta Dawkhar, assistant commissioner of Social Welfare Department, Pune district, told The Indian Express.
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After a man from Chennai was arrested for allegedly cheating a woman in Chinchwad, a probe by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police has indicated that the suspect could have cheated more than 100 women after contacting them via matrimonial websites and defrauding them of crores of rupees.
Last week, the suspect, Premraj Thevraj, a resident of Chennai, was arrested for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 11 lakh by entering into a fake marriage with her. He had met the woman on a matrimonial website in April, police said.
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Pune Municipal Corporation Tuesday reported 159 new Covid-19 cases and 4 deaths. Pune region reported the highest 1,135 new Covid-19 cases, along with 11 deaths.
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel grounded a 45-year-old man headed to Priyagraj from Pune Airport on Tuesday morning after the baggage scanner showed his luggage contained 12 live rounds of 0.32 caliber. Upon inquiry, the CISF and the local police found that the man was a security contractor operating in Bhosari MIDC and had the license to possess firearms for providing them to the guards supplied to various establishments.
After the CISF team at Pune Airport handed him over to them, Vimantal Police issued him notice and investigated the incident.
"The man runs a security agency in Bhosari MIDC area. He produced all the required licenses to possess firearms. He told us that in the rush of packing the luggage, his wife had erroneously packed the cartridges in the bag," said Bharat Jadhav, Senior Police Inspector, Vimantal Police Station.
The Bombay High Court issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and directed it to file a reply to the bail plea of Virendrasingh Tawade, a prime accused in the 2013 case of killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.
The central agency had arrested Tawade in 2016 and said in its charge-sheet that he was one of the masterminds of the conspiracy to kill the rationalist.
(PTI)
The top brass of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday denied allegations that hospitals under the civic body were being privatised. “We are not privatising our hospitals and are only outsourcing manpower,” the additional municipal commissioner of PCMC, Vikas Dhakane, said. The response came after opposition parties accused the BJP-led civic body of promoting privatisation.
The general body of the PCMC on Monday had given a formal approval to the proposal to appoint private agencies for providing manpower to civic hospitals in the industrial city. The YCM hospital with 750 beds is the biggest hospital run by the PCMC. There are also civic hospitals in Pimpri, Bhosari, Akurdi, Chinchwad and Thergaon.
Dhakane said that PCMC hospitals had faced severe shortage of staff since the outbreak of the pandemic. “We had appointed staff on a temporary basis. However, many employees left their jobs suddenly and we faced problems in finding their replacements. In order to streamline the recruitment process and overcome such hurdles in future, we have appointed three private agencies to provide us with staff as and when required,” Dhakane added.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has vaccinated 4,835 citizens as part of its Covid-19 vaccination drive conducted across 29 residential societies over a week.
Senior assistant medical officer Dr Laxman Gofane said the drive aims to cover as many people as possible depending on availability of vaccines. “PCMC is providing the medical staff necessary for the drive. The residential societies have to make space available for the same at their club houses or anywhere within its premises,” he said.
A ‘hand workstation’ has been installed at the Sancheti Hospital to help patients with grip and upper limb weakness and poor coordination. The goal behind this ‘Hand Workstation’ is to ensure restoration of the actual performance of joint movements of hand through activities.
Dr. Arvind Chopra, Director and Chief Rheumatologist, Center for Rheumatic Disease, and Dr. Parag Sancheti Chairman of Sancheti Institute of Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation inaugurated the ‘Hand Workstation’ on September 15.
The ‘Hand Workstation’ mimics screwing and unscrewing that are required in work environments. The patients are asked to make a model tree by joining PVC pipe segmentally. The gross handgrip, wrist movements, and functional proximal stabilization provided by this activity help to improve finger, hand, and wrist coordination, visual comprehension, and fine movements of a hand.
Take a look at Pune's spike in daily Covid-19 cases since September 11, 2021.
Pune district recorded 508 new covid-19 cases, and five fatalities in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday. This takes the total tally of cases to over 1.13 lakh along with total 18,854 deaths. There are 6,971 active cases in the district, while 1,10 lakh have recovered after testing positive.
A Pune-based company that aims to revolutionise bone repair and soft tissue regeneration by using natural silk proteins is in the running for a $100,000 prize money event in Dubai.
Serigen Mediproducts, founded in 2015 by Dr Anuya Nisal with fellow scientists Swati Shukla, Premnath Venugopalan and Ashish Lele, won the Pune round of the TiE Women’s Global Pitch Competition, trumping 58 other companies. In October, it will compete with more than 1000 other women-run companies from 26 countries for the global title in Dubai. (Read more here)
There are more than 55 million people living with dementia across the world, with a new case developing every 3 second, the World Health Organisation has said in a report on the public health response to dementia.
Unfortunately, despite being the 7th leading cause of death and a major cause of dependency amongst elderly, public awareness about early signs and symptoms of dementia remains incredibly low, says Dr Jayashree Dasgupta, Project Director and Co-Founder, Samvedna Senior Care.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and accounts for over 60 per cent of cases of dementia. (Read more here)
Pune city will mostly experience cloudy sky conditions on Tuesday, the India Metereological Department has said. The Met department has forcasted light to moderate rain (2.4mm to 64.4mm in 24-hours) within city limits on Tuesday. Ghat areas of Pune district could witness isolated heavy spells (upto 155mm in 24-hours).
Due to overcast skies, the day's maximum temperature will remain around 29.7 degrees.
A sound mapping exercise by researchers from the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), has found a drop in the noise levels on Laxmi Road on the concluding day of Ganesh festival for the second consecutive year. The exercise, which has been conducted for 20 years on the day of Ganesh immersions, has seen its lowest average of 59.8 dB this year.
Over the years, efforts have been taken to curb noise pollution and ensure permissible levels are maintained during the day in silent zones (50dB) and in residential areas (55dB). ThIn a first, this year saw noise levels dipping close to an average of 60 decibels. (Read Anuradha Mascarenhas' s report here)
Among the 41,672 active cases in Maharashtra, Pune district has the highest number of 11,193 active cases. At 11,04,924, Pune district has the highest number of recovered patients in the state.
The mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Usha Dhore, inaugurated the Padmavati Hospital last week. The hospital was set up as part of a joint collaboration between the civic body and the Nuance India Private Limited. Notably, it is the first modular hospital in Maharashtra. A modular hospital consists of independent container cabins that can either function as standalone units or be connected to a bigger facility.
The company donated Rs 2.5crore for the construction of the hospital and the PCMC earmarked land for the project at Vadmukhwadi in Charoli. The project was conceived and executed in three months’ time. Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge also helped in the execution of the project.
The hospital has 20 beds, of which eight are reserved for the ICU unit. The PCMC has sanctioned a total staff strength of 60 to run the hospital.
Vishrantwadi police have booked a man for allegedly submitting forged documents for ‘relation recruitment’ at the Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) centre of the Indian Army in Khadki. ‘Relation recruitment’ is a drive to recruit persons who have immediate relatives in the Army.
The police said the date of birth of the accused, identified as Parasram Baliram Dongre of Beed district, is August 1, 1997, and since he was ineligible for the recruitment drive, he submitted a fake relation certificate that showed his date of birth as December 26, 2002.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole hit back at his BJP counterpart Chandrakant Patil over his statement that "irregularities" of two ministers of Congress serving in the state government will be exposed soon, saying the time has come to "unearth corruption of erstwhile Fadnavis government".
Patil has accused MVA ministers of "deep in corruption" and said they were not worried that their "misdeeds" can be challenged in court.
"In some days, irregularities of two Congress ministers will be exposed," he told reporters in Pune without taking any names.
(PTI)
Two tourists died after the car they were travelling in fell into a creek in the Arpora area of North Goa in the early hours of Monday. The deceased, identified as Shubham Dedge (28) and Ishwari Deshpande (25), were residents of Pune.
According to officials, the incident took place around 5.30 am near Arpora or Hadfade village in the Bardez taluka.
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Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya claimed he was stopped by police at Karad in Maharashtra while he was on way to Kolhapur, after the district authorities cited law and order as well as security concerns following his allegations of corruption against Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif.
After being stopped, Somaiya addressed a press conference in Karad, alleging that attempts were made by Mumbai police on Sunday night to prevent him from boarding a Kolhapur-bound train and he was also jostled.
The BJP leader also said he would soon go to Kagal in Kolhapur, the Assembly constituency represented by Mushrif, and file a police complaint against the minister over alleged irregularities committed by him.
A few days back, Somaiya had accused Mushrif of indulging in corruption and holding 'benami' entities in the name of his kin, allegations dismissed as baseless by the latter.
(PTI)
Covovax vaccine trials for children is going on smoothly in India and if all goes well, the vaccine could be recommended by January or February next year, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), has said.
“Several volunteers have been injected and the trial is going on smoothly. A review will be taken by the end of the year,” he said while responding to a query by The Indian Express at a virtual media conference held on Friday.
More than four lakh students across Maharashtra are set to take the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test, MHT CET 2021, for engineering, pharmacy and agricultural courses, beginning today (Monday).
This year the exams will go on till October 1 as students are being called in batches on different days to maintain social distancing norms in place due to Covid-19. At 4,24,773, there has been a considerable drop in the number of candidates registered for the exam this year from last year’s 5,42,431. (Read more by Alifiya Khan here)
The Pune Municipal Corporation on Sunday recorded 145 new covid-19 cases, taking the active case count to 1,725. Over 190 patients recorded in the day. The areas also recorded 4 new fatalities.
A teenager died and a man in his late thirties was reported missing after the two drowned during the immersion of a Ganesh idol in the Indrayani river at Alandi Road area in Pune district on Sunday evening.
According to Pimpri Chinchwad police, the incident took place at around 6 pm when a group of four people had gone to Indrayani river at Hawaldar Vasti on Alandi Road, around 30 kilometres from Pune city. (Read more here)
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to open swimming pools for training purposes from today (Monday) considering the downward trend in active Covid-19 cases and test positivity rate in the city.
Municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar said in an order that it is mandatory for the coaches and trainees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 for swimming training. The decision would be applicable to Kirkee Cantonment Board (KCB) and Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) too.
Earlier, the PMC had opened up all the sports premises that do not require close contact between two persons. The parks and playgrounds have been open to the public. It has also permitted the opening of all commercial establishments, including shops and malls, while insisting on strict enforcement of Covid-appropriate behaviour.
Pune district recorded 708 new Covid-19 cases, along with 6 deaths in the 24 hours ending 8 am Monday. Out of these, 883 people have recorded while 7,346 cases are active currently.