School girl attacked, robbedPune: A teenaged school girl was attacked and robbed of her gold earrings worth about Rs 3,000 by a man who was allegedly lurking in the parking space of her residence at Kondhawa in broad daylight on Friday.The Wanowrie police have launched a hunt to track down the culprit after the 16-year-old girl, Shraddha Suhas Gaikwad, lodged a first information report (FIR). However, no arrests were made till late Saturday evening.Police said they were facing difficulties in tracing the identity of the culprit as there were little clues left by the robber except for his sketchy description provided by Shraddha.Police said Shraddha, who studies in standard X, stays in a flat on the third floor of the Madhumilind building on NIBM Road along with her mother. She had gone to the parking space around 4.30 pm to fetch an eraser which she had accidentally dropped from the window of her flat when the incident took place.Shraddha stated in her FIR that the man pounced on her as soon as she reached the parking lot in the ground floor of the building. The man gagged Shraddha with his hand and threatened to harm her if she did not hand over her earrings, the FIR said.The robber was wore black colour jeans and a grey colour T-shirt. He spoke fluent Marathi, the FIR said.Alert soundedPune: The PMC has alerted the residents and slum dwellers living along the river bank since irrigation department on Saturday opened the gates of the dam for the first time in the current monsoon.A press note issued by the PMC has warned the people that water level of both the rivers was likely to be increased because of incessant rains in the catchment areas of the dams. The people have been asked to contact flood control cell on telephone 5532521 and 5532541.Meanwhile, Irrigation Department today started releasing water from Khadakwasla dam at 4 pm because of heavy rains in the catchment areas of Khadakwasla, Panshet and Varasgao dams. The rainfall recorded in the three catchment areas since June 1 is - Panshet- 709.40 mm, Varasgao - 738 mm and Khadakwasla - 176.2. The officials said the present water storage at Khadakwasla dam is 1907 million cubic meter while water being discharged was at 2202 cusex.Rickshaw stirPune: The Pune city autorickshaw federation, an union of autorickshaw drivers, has decided to participate in the state-wide bandh on July 20 to protest against the state government's decision to allot permits to 12-seater maxi-cabs.The federation in a statement said that it will support the bandh only for one day in case the demands are not considered because of the electoral code of conduct. The call for the state-wide bandh of the autorickshaws, taxis, and private buses has been given by the Maharashtra State Autorickshaw Taxi Action committee. The federation at its meeting held today has urged the action committee to submit a petition to the State Transport Authority. The federation has also decided to boycott the general elections and not vote for any party.
