Scores take part in peace rally

pune: a large number of puneites participated in a ‘sadbhavna rally’ organised by national integration committee in the city on sunday. the rally, which was flagged off by pune university vice-chancellor ashok kolaskar from near the pune municipal corporation (pmc) building at 11 am wound its way to maldhakka, where it turned into a large public meeting.prominent puneites, including film and theatre people dr shriram lagoo,amol palekar, nilu phule, rickshawmen union leader dr baba adhav, social activists mohan dharia, g.p. pradhan, freedom fighters kusum randive, kamlabai bhagwat, pannalal surana, freni tarapore from the sndt university, and heads of various departments in pune university and scientists from inter university centre for astronomy and astrophysics (iucaa) walked along with scores of common citizens. while city mayor dipti chaudhary and deputy mayor dilip barate brought in the political touch, representatives of non government organisation were also their in full force. at maldhakka, the participants took an oath reiterating their commitment to a secular and democratic society and the indian constitution. they condemned the recent communal frenzy in gujarat and vowed to make every sacrifice in the fight against communal forces. later, floral tributes were also paid at the statue of dr babasaheb ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary. the participants carried placards drawing attention to problems like unemployment, recession and hunger, and urged people to concentrate their energies towards solving them.the participants said the rally was a success by every definition.