Citybriefs

Special Women’s Day Deccan Queen
As a special women’s day initiative by the Central Railway,the Deccan Queen from Mumbai to Pune was driven by a woman,Surekha Bhonsale Jadhav. Jadhav has been a driver for local trains for the last 20 years. “She drove the train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Pune station on Monday evening and will take the train back on Tuesday morning,” said AK Jain,senior PRO,Central Railway. Women’s day is on Tuesday.

Mercury soars
The first week of March has seen mercury soar as high as 37.2 °C — the highest for the season so far — in the city. The Met department said temperature went up on Monday from 35-36 °C last week. “The temperatures have started rising as usual in March. Monday recorded the highest for the season,” said Medha Khole,director weather central of IMD,Pune. Elsewhere in the state,Raigad recorded 41 °C on Sunday,Kolhapur 42 °C,Sangli 39 °C and Aurangabad 37.5 °C.