Shaded by a canopy of trees is the Ranade Institute building on the road to Fergusson College. The Institute now houses the University of Pune’s Department of Communication and Journalism and the Department of Foreign Languages, in a new adjacent building.
In the early 1900s, politician and reformer Gopal Krishna Gokhale aimed to establish an industrial and economic institute in honor of his mentor, Judge Mahadev Govind Ranade. Gokhale, one of the great men in Indian public life, was introduced to Ranade at the age of 21, and there existed a close association between the two.
READ | Know Your City: Judge Ranade, the social reformer who played a pivotal role in shaping modern Maharashtra, and the building of the Ranade Institute
The NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena, which together form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, held a meeting of the ‘People’s Civic General Corps’ on Saturday at the Acharya Atre hall in Pimpri-Chinchwad to protest against the refusal of the ruling BJP to hold a special civic general meeting to discuss the budget proposals.
Alleging that the BJP had “falsified the budget proposals” submitted by the Pimpri-Chinchwad civic administration, NCP spokesman Yogesh Behl said, “When the civic general assembly was held in February to discuss budget proposals, the mayor adjourned the meeting until March 17, but the mandate of the civic general body ends on March 13, which means that the ruling BJP had no intention of holding the meeting.
READ | Pimpri-Chinchwad: MVA to hold ‘People’s Civic General Assembly’ today