All sights on Pune website

The appeal that went in the form of an editorial written by Dev Nadkarni, editor and director of the e-magazine punecity.com, evoked response from over 200 Puneites across the globe in the span of about 12 hours.

“It was amazing. I put in the editorial late Monday evening and by morning there were 60 messages on the site, many of them sent jointly by 20 to 30 persons. Even now every time I open the site there are at least 10 more messages sent in,” says Nadkarni. The e-mails, all from Puneites who are regular visitors to the site, have come in from the US, Japan, UAE, Australia, New Delhi, Indore and Pune itself.

Every single message received has been overwhelmingly in favour of the reinstatement of Bhatia with the government coming in for flak for the unceremonious transfer. “Perhaps our over corrupt politicians found him too hot to handle. It only adds to the infamous political nonsense going on in India…but I am glad to see that Puneites are taking none of it and fighting back…” wrote Sujeet Sanzgiri from the US.

Another e-mail from Dr Girish Pathak, Morita Laboratory Department of Electricals, Electronics and Information Engineering, Nagoya University, Japan, states: “I completely support the on-going drive to get back Mr Bhatia. Enough of rulers playing with ordinary people like toys. We must stop this nonsense.”

“Even though I do not live in my home in Kalyani Nagar I am aware and concerned about what goes on in my home city. When big companies or rich businesses bribe authorities to get their way around, some person is needed to put an end to these wrongful practises…what Bhatia did was only for the good of the people…I strongly urge all concerned to reinstall Bhatia in his rightful place,” vocifered A Khanna from Finland.

“Every Monday we take up an issue and conduct an opinion poll amongst our readers on it. By the next Monday the results are computed and displayed, " he explains.

"But, this issue was simply too big to be dismissed justby h an opinion poll,” adds Nadkarni. Thus the rare and strongly worded editorial where Nadkarni called upon the readers to lend liberal moral support to the Puneites’ efforts, “to teach the government and influential people that they cannot get away with irregularities…on the basis of their money power’.

The response was unprecedented. “Never before has an issue taken up by us on the website evoked such spontaneous response from so many people across the globe. And that too in such a short span of time,” admits Nadkarni.