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Journalism of Courage
Extortionists held
Three youths were arrested by police when they made a bid to extort Rs 5 lakh from a cloth merchant near Seven Loves chowk on Tuesday.
According to a complaint lodged by cloth merchant Kirti Babulal Gundecha, the three youths Umesh Chhagan Chavan 23, Shailesh Chahgan Chavan 30 and Baba alias Hussain Zameer Khan 20 approached him and demanded Rs 5 lakh while threatening him of dire consequences last month. When Gundecha kept silent about it, they went again to his shop and threatened him while collecting some material from his shop forcibly.
Gundecha complained to the police when the trio made yet another bid to extort the amount on Tuesday when they were arrested.
Mayor to appeal
Mayor Vatsala Andekar will file an appeal against the court order which has directed that priority questions and point of information should not be admitted during general body meetings.
It may be recalled that the Pune Municipal Court Judge junior division Shiv Motriya8217;s interim order stated that there was no need to secure the presence of all the officers at the time of the corporation meetings. Moreover, the Mayor has also been told not to admit priority questions and point of information.
While corporators have expressed severe resentment against the order, Mayor Andekar told media persons today that an appeal would be filed after the Christmas vacation.
Defence staff stir
Over six lakh defence employees serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Defence Research Development Organisation DRDO, Ordnance factories and depots will go on a day-long strike on January 12 to protest against the negligence of the Government towards their long-pending demands. The All India Defence Employees Federation said in a press statement that defence civilian employees do not get the pay-scale as compared to similarly placed workers in the Railway Ministry.
