The civic budget has crossed Rs3,000-cr mark for the first time

Citizens have been spared from paying higher taxes this year.

Standing committee chairman Shyam Deshpande on Friday presented a Rs3,027.41-crore budget for 2009-10, which is a little over Rs346 crore as proposed earlier by municipal commissioner Praveensingh Pardeshi.

This is the first time that the civic budget has crossed the Rs3,000 crore mark. In the budget tabled before the general body, a sum of Rs1,929.86 crore has been earmarked for development works.

The move comes in the wake of ongoing talks on seat-sharing for Lok Sabha with its alliance partner NCP

Even as the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are busy sorting out the issue of seat-sharing, the district unit of INC has prepared a list of its probable candidates for the general election from Baramati and Shirur, from where NCP president Sharad Pawar intends to contest.

INC's district unit president Devidas Bhansali told DNA that neither he nor the party activists wanted any alliance with NCP in the elections. "Our demand is to fight on our own," he said.

He said that the final decision on the alliance would be taken by the party high command.

Various institutions in the city have made elaborate preparations to celebrate the National Science Day on Saturday.

The day is celebrated every year on February 28 to commemorate the Raman's effect discovered by India's ace scientist CV Raman in 1928.

The National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Metereology (IITM) however celebrated the National Science Day on Friday itself.

At the Nutan Marathi Vidyayala (girls), school authorities said the entire week has been devoted to the promotion and understanding of science.

Principal Madhura Kulkarni said, "Starting with a science quiz for the students of standard VI and VII on Tuesday, we also had a lectures by experts."

He was involved in a mishap which killed a student

A second year engineering student Sameera Samel (19) of Mumbai, currently staying at the college hostel at Balewadi, was killed in an accident on February 12. The scooter pillion rider Shilpi Singh (19) escaped with serious injuries, when an unidentified motorcycle rider collided with them on Baner road.

The Chatuhshrungi police registered a case in this regard on Thursday after the pillion rider recovered from her accidental injuries.

A fight for a place on the bench leads to the incident

A fight between two students at a school took a tragic turn here in which a 15-year-old student lost his life on Friday.

Akshay Potti (15) and his classmate in class IXth C at St Francis High School, Rane Nagar reportedly fought around 7 am in the school. The brawl is believed to have started for a place on the bench and took an ugly turn with Akshay being rushed to the hospital.

The school authorities informed his parents and took him to Sahyadri Hospital where his father Anilkumar Potti also arrived.

Four-wheelers worth Rs20 lakh seized, three arrested

The city crime branch officials on Thursday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves following the arrest of three suspects. The trio is allegedly involved in forging documents and selling the vehicles in other states.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajender Singh said one of the suspects was caught red-handed in November 2008 while stealing a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) at Bhosari. During the course of investigation, the crime branch arrested two more suspects from Nashik.