-DNA   The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), an umbrella organisation of farmers in Maharashtra, has claimed that the builders lobby was pushing for the Rs500-crore closed water pipeline project of the PIMpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Addressing a press conference on Friday in Pune, BKS president Mauli Tupe said farmers of Maval taluka are protesting against the water pipeline project for the last three years. “Over 15,000 acres of agricultural land in Maval taluka depends...

-DNA   The Maharashtra government on Wednesday ordered a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge into Tuesday’s police firing that killed three farmers, including a 45-year-old woman, while the Pune district collector ordered the PIMpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to stop the water pipeline project. The collector also ordered an inquiry by the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Maval into the firing incident. On Tuesday, Sandeep Karnik, Pune (rural) SP, said the...

-The Times of India   District collector Vikas Deshmukh on Wednesday instructed the commissioner of the PIMpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to stop the ongoing work on the Pavana pipeline project that led to a violent protest by farmers from Maval taluka on the Pune-Mumbai expressway on Tuesday. The collector also announced the appointment of sub-divisional magistrate of Maval Sanjay Patil for conducting a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Speaking to TOI,...

Four farmers were killed in police firing as a protracted farmers’ agitation against an urban water-supply project in Pune district turned violent on Tuesday afternoon. Several farmers and 20 policemen were injured, two of them seriously. More than 300 protesters were rounded up. A strong crackdown restored traffic on the blocked Pune-Mumbai expressway, Pune rural police said. Around 1.30pm, more than 400 villagers, agitating for years against an urban water supply project they...

-The Hindu   Adding a new twist to the farmers' protest in which three persons were killed on Tuesday near Pune, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that first there was private firing from an Indigo or Indica car and that person fled after injuring a local. The injured person filed a police complaint and pieces of the bullet were found and sent for examination, he...