Mayor’s bandh peaceful,gets a good response

NCP city chief Vandana Chavan thanked citizens for supporting the bandh that did not see any untoward incidents. “There was support from everywhere and the protest was without any violence,” she added.

Cops on alert

Police said barring some instances of stonepelting,the bandh was peaceful. Makarand Ranade,deputy commissioner of police (special branch),said,“We had deployed nine companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and six Quick Response Teams (QRTs). Some cases of pelting of stones at buses and a private car were registered. A total of 4,000 personnel from Pune police were deployed as a part of the bandobast.”

Few PMPML passengers

Window panes and windscreens of about eight buses of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses were damaged by protesters,taking the total to 18 including those damaged on Thursday. On a normal day,PMPML runs around 12,500 buses in the morning,which came down to 1,000 on Friday.

Giving reasons,officials of the transport utility said the number of commuters at most major bus stops in the city was low on Friday. They said good police bandobast had kept the situation under control.

Low turnout in schools

Schools saw thin attendance,while some colleges cancelled classes due to the bandh. However,university exams at various colleges were not disrupted. Symbiosis International School saw about 45 per cent attendance,while Huzurpaga Girls School had about 50 per cent. Kendriya Vidyayala Ganeshkhind had 60 per cent attendance and Vikhe Patil Memorial School registered 70 per cent. No classes were held at Sinhgad Springdale School,Bishops School and DAV Aundh. A lot of schools carried out sports and cultural activities instead of holding regular classes.

Authorities from Wadia College said they had “non-instructional” closure of the college on Friday. Senior officials of Fergusson College said there were no classes on Friday as it was the college annual day. Arvind Gore,city president,Nationalist Students’ Congress,said,“We went to various colleges and asked them to suspend classes for the day as a mark of protest against the attack on Pawar. He is like a father figure to us and such incidents should not be taken lightly.”

Officials of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and the Pune division of the Central Railway,however,said there were no disruptions on Friday and no cancellations or delays.

Nitinkumar Gokawe of the crime branch of Pune rural police said,“No untoward incident was recorded in Pune rural jurisdiction. Bandh was observed at Jejuri,Yavat,Chakan,Otur,Loni Kalbhor and Junnar.

At a couple of places in Saswad and Waki,traffic was blocked for some time in the morning.