Reporter’s Notebook: Palkhi close up

Civic concern

Everyone is busy assessing the fire safety norms at various government offices but the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has another peculiar concern to ensure the safety of people visiting civic headquarters. The four-storey main building of the civic body has tiles on its outer wall. However,two tiles of at least 2 sq ft came down from a height of 50 ft recently. Fortunately,there was no one standing below when the loose tiles came off and fell on the floor or it might have resulted ina serious injury. The civic administration has now barricaded the area and has also begin to repair the tiles.

Cop at work

In a bizzare incident,a PMPML passenger refused to get down from the bus as he had missed the stop where wanted to alight. “It’s not my fault…You did not stop the bus at the stop where I wanted to get down,” he yelled at the driver who refused to budge. Even as the heated argument ensued,the commuter demanded that the driver take the bus in reverse gear. The driver,who halted the bus at the next bus-stop,repeatedly threatened to take the bus further ahead if the commuter did not get down. The commuter too remained adamant and the drama continued,making the other commuters restless. A policeman,who was returning home from his duty,then got up from his seat and asked the commuter to get down or threatened to take the bus to the police station. His threat worked and the commuter walked out of the bus.

(Contributed by Sushant Kulkarni,Ajay Khape,Manoj More)