All shops and commercial establishments in 100-metre radius of the polling booths of Kasba Peth constituency byelection to remain closed on the voting day, February 26. (Representational/ File)Pune News Highlights: As the Kasba and Pimpri-Chinchwad bypolls near, the Pune City Police Thursday issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) directing all shops and commercial establishments in a 100-metre radius of the polling booths to remain closed on February 26. The voting for the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad Assembly bypolls will be held on February 26 and the counting will be held on March 2.
In other news, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at three locations in Pune and Mumbai in connection with a bribe demand of Rs one crore by officials from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Pune. A sum of Rs four lakh, gold ornaments were recovered from the premises of former Deputy Director DGGI (GST intelligence) Vimlesh Kumar Singh, CBI said.
The health sector in the city has positive news as Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions is launching three new rapid kits for the early and fast detection of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), and Syphilis. The tests are easy to use, capable of being stored at room temperature and can be deployed at point of care in resource-limited settings. The test kits will be available at hospitals and labs by the end of this month.
A farmer from Maharashtra's Solapur was in for a rude shock when he got to know that he has earned a profit of merely Rs 2.49 against the sale of his 512 kg onions to a trader in the district.
The farmer, 63-year-old Rajendra Chavan who resides in Barshi tehsil of Solapur, said his onion yield fetched a price of Rs 1 per kg at the Solapur market yard and after all the deductions he received this paltry sum as his net profit last week. (PTI)
Campaigning for the Assembly bypolls in Kasba and Chinchwad in Maharashtra's Pune district ended at 6pm on Friday, with voting set to take place on February 26.
The bypolls in Kasba and Chinchwad have been necessitated due to the death of Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap, respectively. (PTI)
Ahead of the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad assembly bypolls in Pune district, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party gives a communal colour to the political discourse when it is not confident of winning.
Talking to reporters here, the senior NCP leader said it is not new for the BJP to divert attention towards communal issues if it is not confident of a victory.
Bypolls to the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad constituencies, scheduled to be held on February 26, were necessitated following the death of BJP legislators Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap respectively. (PTI)
Businessman Hasan Ali Khan, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2011 and remained behind bars till getting bail in 2015, died in Pune on Thursday night, a special court in Mumbai was informed on Friday. His trial had not begun.
The ED case was based on an investigation by the Income Tax Department, which claimed his income was Rs 1.1 lakh crore and that he had $8 billion in the United Bank of Switzerland in 2007. It was subsequently claimed that the charge was made on the basis of a letter written by the bank to Khan, which was later alleged to have been forged. Read more
The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, will celebrate National Science Day, which falls on February 28, this Sunday (February 26).
Exciting research that is underway regarding the Aditya L-1 mission will be showcased to everyone. There will be models and 3D printed demos along with posters. Special public interactions with the scientists and engineers who are actually leading the work on this have also been arranged. The Indian Solar Astronomy and Aditya-L1 mission is planned to be launched by ISRO very soon. Read more
The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association is all set to bring tennis action to the city by organising the PMR Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s International Tennis Championship. The championship will be held from February 26 to March 5 at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.
Players from 25 countries will be seen in action and the 108-ranked Tsen Cheun Hsin (21) from Taipei will be the top seed. James Duckworth of Australia (137), Sebastian Ofner of Austria (152), Ryan Peniston of Great Britain (159), Italians Luca Nardi (164) and Flavio Cobolli (172) are the probable seeds of the event. Read more
A speeding car overturned on the Pune-Solapur highway in Bhighwan area of Indapur taluka of Pune district Friday, causing the death of three persons, including a man and her mother.
The police have identified the deceased as Sandip Rajabhau Mali (35), his mother Saraswati (61) and Balaji Kerba Tidke (48), all residents of Latur. One more person identified as Chandrakant Gawli (54) was left injured in the mishap. Read more
To prevent fraudulent practices on the part of builders and developers, the Urban Development Department of the Maharashtra government has directed all local bodies to upload permissions granted for commencement of construction and occupancy to builders for new and upcoming residential and commercial projects on their website and integrate them with the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) before March 31, 2023. Read more
State Industries Minister Uday Samant has said the state government will provide all possible support to entrepreneurs to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for environmental protection measures and environment-friendly work.
He, however, said that industries should also ensure that they take measures to protect the environment.
Samant was speaking at a special conference for entrepreneurs and industrialists held in Pune on Thursday on the occasion of Sumangalam Panchamahabhoot Lokotsav, organised by the Siddhagiri Math at Kaneri. Read more
A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar urged the minority community not to support the BJP in the bypolls in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday raised the ‘Hindutva issue’ while seeking votes for BJP legislator Hemant Rasane in Kasba constituency.
Fadnavis said there were many attempts by the Opposition to set wrong narratives. “Kasba is Hindutvawadi. I am confident that whatever narrative is set, it will not work. Yesterday, NCP chief held a meeting and some leader of their party made casteist comments that they will bring Muslims from the entire country to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP,” Fadnavis said. Read More
It isn’t just wheat that is at risk from the surge in temperatures since the middle of this month. At Pural village in Deogad taluka of Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, Sudhir Gadi is concerned about the developing fruits in his 2,000-trees mango orchard spread over 20 acres.
In a normal year, the 55-year-old harvests about 750 mangoes from each of the trees, with the individual fruits weighing 300-350 gm. But with the mercury touching 38 degrees Celsius in his area, the fruits that have now reached about 200 gm are starting to drop off the trees. Read more
As reported by Loksatta, around 40-50 Maharashtra Navanirman Sena(MNS) workers have resigned after seven workers from the party were expelled after campaigning in favour of Ravindra Dhangekar, Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) candidate for Kasba bypoll. The main fight in Kasba bypoll is between Hemant Rasane of BJP and Ravindra Dhangekar of MVA. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has supported the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate without fielding a candidate for this by-election. However, seven workers of MNS from Kasba Assembly Constituency campaigned for the candidate of Mahavikas Aghadi as reported by Loksatta.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has dared the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government to probe the alleged corruption in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) during the BJP’s five-year tenure from 2017 to 2022.
“They (BJP) keep talking about corruption in the Mumbai civic body. But what about the corruption during the five-year term of the BJP in PCMC? Does the government have the guts to probe the corruption in PCMC during BJP tenure,” Uddhav asked in a video message released ahead of the Kasba and Chinchwad bypolls. Read more
Dr Devisingh Shekhawat, former MLA and husband of India’s first woman President Pratibha Patil, passed away at KEM Hospital in Pune on Friday morning. He was 89. His last rites will be held at 7 pm at Vaikunth crematorium, family members said.
In a statement, KEM Hospital said, “Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat was admitted with a cardiac issue. He recently had a fall resulting in hospitalisation for fracture fixation. During recovery, he had cardiac symptoms and was also diagnosed with a chest infection and was shifted to KEM Hospital. His health deteriorated as he developed kidney complications and he passed away around 9.30 am on February 24.” Read more
Pune City Police has start patrolling on foot in 32 police stations distributed across five zones in the city. They have taken to twitter to inform the citizen of this initiative and also inviting requests to cover a specific area on foot.
A man who allegedly stole a donation box from a temple in the Ghorpadi area has been arrested by Pune city Police today. Officers identified the accused as Anil Haushilal Chavan, 22, a native of Parbhani district who lives on the footpath in Yerwada.The police then recovered the donation box, Rs 500 in cash and a CCTV camera worth Rs 4,000 from his possession, stated a press release issued by senior police inspector Bhausaheb Patare on Thursday.
BJP attacks Congress for communal polarization in Kasbapeth and Pimpri-Chinchwad assembly by-elections. The BJPs Chitra Wagh takes objection to Congress's Usman Hiroli urging party to get voters from Dubai, Muskat if you have to win by polls.
Later, Congress clarified Hiroli's statement was misinterpreted by BJP. What he mean was large number of Muslims from Pune have migrated for work to Dubai and Muskat. These migrants should be called back for voting.
However, BJP has seized this remark to attack Congress.
The deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, " Congress, NCP are deliberately trying to polarise the by-elections."
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at three locations in Pune and Mumbai in connection with a bribe demand of Rs one crore by officials from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Pune.
The CBI said that the searches led to the recovery of incriminating documents and digital devices. A sum of Rs four lakh, gold ornaments were recovered from the premises of former Deputy Director DGGI (GST intelligence) Vimlesh Kumar Singh, they added. Read more
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at three locations in Pune and Mumbai in connection with a bribe demand of Rs one crore by officials from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Pune.
The CBI said that the searches led to the recovery of incriminating documents and digital devices. A sum of Rs four lakh, gold ornaments were recovered from the premises of former Deputy Director DGGI (GST intelligence) Vimlesh Kumar Singh, they added. Read more
A major fire was reported at a warehouse of wooden items and an adjacent vehicle repair garage in Bhavani Peth area of Pune on Thursday afternoon. While no casualties were reported in the fire, a large chunk of wooden logs and furniture from the warehouse and two cars from the garage were damaged in the fire. Pune Fire Brigade officials said that the fire was reported at 11 am on Thursday and was brought under control within 15 minutes after the three fire tenders from the nearby fire stations were deployed in response. Subsequently a cooling operation was conducted for half an hour to avert any secondary fires.
Image source: Pune Fire Brigade
Pune City Police on Thursday issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code directing that all shops and commercial establishments in the 100 meter radius of the polling booths for Kasba Peth constituency byelection remain closed on voting day on February 26.
In an order issued under the provision, Pune Police's Joint Commissioner Sandeep Karnik has directd that considering the possibility of any law and order situation near the polling booths, all the shops and commercial establishments in the radius of 100 meters of the polling centres remain closed on February 26 from 12.01 am till the time voting gets over.
Officials said that as far as Pune City police jurisdiction is concerned, the polling will be held for Kasba Peth constituency at 270 polling booths housed in a total of 76 buildings in the jurisdictions of five police stations namely Samarth, Faraskhana, Vishrambag, Khadak and Dattawadi. The prohibitory orders will be applicable to all shops and commercial establishments except those providing emergency services.
The TomTom Traffic Index Ranking 2022 has ranked Pune city as the sixth most congested city among 389 cities across 56 countries in the world.
Traffic has been an issue affecting Pune for a long time and the situation has worsened in the last few years due to the ongoing developmental activities, especially the Metro works. As per the TomTom Traffic Index Ranking 2022, a commuter in Pune takes an average of 27 minutes and 20 seconds to cover a 10 km distance which is 1 minute and 10 seconds more than what it used to take in 2021. Read more
Lending support to its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is campaigning in full strength for the Chinchwad and Kasba Assembly bypolls being contested by the NCP and Congress, respectively.
While the NCP is contesting the Chinchwad seat, Congress is contesting the Kasba seat as per the MVA’s seat-sharing arrangement. The BJP is contesting both the seats which were vacated after the deaths of sitting legislators Laxman Jagtap (Chinchwad) and Mukta Tilak (Kasba) respectively. Read more
As reported by Loksatta, lakhs have been spent for campaigning in the Kasba and Pimpri Chinchwad bypolls scheduled to take place on February 26. The upper limit set for campaign expenses for Vidhan Sabha elections is 40 lakhs. 16 candidates are contesting the Kasba bypolls while the number is 28 for Pimpri-Chinchwad. BJP candidate for Kasba has spent 8 lakh 33,000 rupees for campaigning till date while NCP's Nana Kate has spent close to 21 lakhs till 20 February as reported by Loksatta.
Aaditya Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis to hold rallies in Pune today as polling for Kasba and Pimpri Chinchwad by elections will take place on February 26. NCPs youth leader MLA Rohit Pawar, former minister Aditi Tatkare will also campaign in Pimpri-Chinchwad .
Former state minister Aaditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) to participate in roadshow and address rally for Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar in Kasba today. Polling for Kasba and Pimpri Chinchwad by elections will take place on February 26. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis is also set to hold a roadshow in Kasba and rally in Pimpri Chinchwad today. NCPs youth leader MLA Rohit Pawar, former minister Aditi Tatkare will also campaign in Pimpri-Chinchwad today.