UGC chokes aid to teach college lesson
Gaurav Choudhury
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3
Hundreds of employees of the School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education of Delhi University may have to prepare for an irregular and delayed salary schedule, thanks to the discontinuance of ‘maintenance grant’ by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on grounds that authorities say are “flimsy and unsubstantiated”.

Sources in the university said that the UGC had decided to temporarily stop the release of maintenance grant, meant primarily for salaries and staff remuneration to the school, on the ground that it already had a “significant amount of unused funds”.

“Up to 1997, the school used to get about Rs 2.5 crore as maintenance grant annually from the UGC. Although the requirement was much more, the balance was met after raising loans from the development fund and other sundry sources. However, after 1997, the UGC told us that we needed to exhaust the idle funds lying with us. But while these funds, generated from various sources, including students fee, were exhausted by 2000, the UGC has still not thought it fit to resume the release of maintenance grants,” the principal of the School of Correspondence, Dr R. K. Anand, told NCR Tribune.

Dr Anand said that the school authorities had been running from pillar to post to resume the flow of funds. The immediate cash flow problem has been “somehow managed” by raising loans from the development fund of the institute. The minimum annual expenditure of the institute at present is in the range of Rs 7 crore, he said.

“The UGC has been refusing to release the grants on flimsy grounds. For instance, the UGC has questioned us on the additional recruitment of non-academic staff, even though these were approved and sanctioned by the Executive Council of university,” Dr Anand pointed out.

There are over 350 staff, both academic and non-academic, at present. Sources said that while the number of students getting enrolled had increased manifold, the decision of the UGC not to grant funds on the basis of the number of employees was acting as a serious constraint for fresh recruitment.

“Several times, to reduce workload, we have to get the work done by employing staff on an ad hoc basis. However, ad hoc employees are not accountable and this presents another set of problems,” Dr Anand said.

The school is also awaiting final approval from the university authorities to convert it into a `Campus of Open Learning’ from the current status of School of Correspondence Courses.

“The status of a `Campus of Open Learning’ will enable us to introduce more courses, especially in the vocational stream, and set our own syllabi. Under the present system, we are tied to the formal departments in the university and have to act in accordance with their directions. For instance, we cannot even introduce conventional postgraduate courses without the approval of the regular department. This is one reason why we have not introduced many courses at the PG level,” Dr Anand said.

About 1,34,000 students are enrolled in the school at both the undergraduate and post-graduate level at present. The courses offered at the undergraduate level are BA (Pass), BCom (Pass), BCom (Hons), BA (Hons) English, and BA (Hons) Political Science. The courses offered at the post-graduate level are MA (Political Science), MA (History), MCom, MA (Hindi) and MA (Sanskrit).

Centre, Delhi slug it out over Capital’s poor 
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3
Who should be eligible for the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and how is a “below the poverty line” household to be defined? Even as the Centre and the Government of NCT of Delhi slug it out, the fate of the beneficiaries hangs in balance.

The process to identify the BPL population was announced by the Centre in 1997 and the Antyodaya scheme in December 2000. The target of 4.9 lakh was set for Delhi out of which 15 per cent (62,000) were to be covered by the Antyodaya scheme. According to the Government of NCT of Delhi, 7.93 lakh applications were received out of which 2.18 lakh applied under the Antyodaya scheme.

After verification, 30,285 applicants were found to be eligible under the scheme.

The Union Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs is of the opinion that the BPL tag is to apply to ration card holders whose annual income is up to Rs 24,200 only.

However, the Government of NCT of Delhi has taken a divergent stand. It feels that in a metropolis like Delhi it would be very difficult to identify people in the aforesaid slab and, in fact, an annual income of Rs 50,000 should be the prescribed benchmark.

According to Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf, the BPL cards would be laminated and provided free of cost to the beneficiaries.

The Government of NCT of Delhi, he said, had already met its target of December 31, 2001 for identifying the Antyodaya beneficiaries.

For BPL households, the minister said, about 50 per cent of the applications had been scrutinised and verified. Meanwhile, pending the micro level identification of BPL population in Delhi and the computerisation of ration cards, the Government of NCT of Delhi had already implemented the Targeted Public Distribution System in the first phase that began in March 2000 among the 3.36 lakh ration card holders living in JJ clusters who are covered in the BPL scheme.

The minister informed that the applications now invited from the BPL population cover not only the JJ clusters but also the rural areas and resettlement colonies, so that the benefit is extended to the eligible BPL population of Delhi.

Convict out on bail shot dead 
Tribune News Service

Cops examining the site where Deepak was shot dead.

Deepak was immediately taken to the Safdarjang hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Fog invites ban on schools in Sonepat
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 3
The District Magistrate of Sonepat, Mr S. N. Roy, has promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, closing down all schools in the district for four days in view of the inclement weather. But, as luck would have it, the sun was beaming brightly by 10 am in the region, bringing residents the much-needed respite.

According to official sources, the order, which comes into force with immediate effect, will continue till January 6. However, the order will not apply to any scheduled external examinations.

The District Magistrate has also ordered that no activity, which is normally planned during vacations, requiring the movement of children for trips, picnics, cultural programmes etc, would be undertaken by the schools during the period. The step comes in the wake of Tuesday’s accident when a school bus fell into a ditch, killing one student and injuring 14 others near Shahzadpur village. The order is aimed at avoiding similar accidents during the foggy weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Sonepat city and its adjoining areas continued to be in the grip of a severe cold wave for the 10th day today. Temperature continued to dip as a dense fog enveloped the region. It also continued to play havoc with the rail and road traffic in the area. Vehicles with their headlights on moved at a snail’s pace on the National Highway No. 1 and other state highways.

Rail traffic on the Sonepat-Delhi section of the Northern Railway remained badly hit. The worst hit were the Delhi-bound Muri Express, Jammu Mail, Jhelum Express and other long distance superfast and Shatabdi trains. Similarly, the Baroni-Amritsar Express and Unchhar Express were also delayed for several hours.

Almost all the suburban trains to Delhi and Panipat also passed through Sonepat an hour behind schedule, leaving a large number of passengers, mostly government servants and schoolteachers, stranded at Sonepat and other nearby railway stations.

The cold wave and foggy weather have hit the standing Rabi crop, especially sarson and vegetables. Most of the farmers were not able to irrigate their land and many of them stayed indoors due to the inclement weather. They also fear that if the situation persists, the Rabi crops would be ruined.

A cop, at his foggiest best
Our Correspondent

Noida, January 3
Fog not only makes the going tortuous for the pedestrians and drivers on the road, but it can also leave policemen on duty in a tizzy. It had the in charge of the Phase-II police station in Gautam Budh Nagar, Mr B. B. Jual, and other cops wandering all over the place last night when they lost both their way and bearings in the dense fog.

Out on patrol duty last night, the brave cop – who else would have ventured out in the cold – and his men had to combat an enemy of a different kind. Mr Jualal’s frustration knew no bounds as he repeatedly sought help from friends and colleagues on the mobile. Finally, good sense dawned and he asked the headquarters on his wireless set for directions: He explained coyly that he was lost and that he could not identify the land markings. But the elaborate instructions failed to bail him out and he kept meandering in the maze of katcha roads, possibly going about in circles.

Soon a rescue team was despatched by the obliging headquarters, but it too could not proceed beyond a distance. The gallant band was later advised to stay put till daybreak.

With their jeep crawling at a snail’s pace in the fog – visibility almost two to three metres in the open countryside — they were able to identify location only in the morning.

Land worth Rs 127 cr recovered
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 3
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) here has been able to recover about 70 acres of land worth Rs 127.05 crore, after removing encroachments present since April 1, 2001.

According to Mr Vijayender Kumar, Administrator, special demolition drives were undertaken in the last eight months to recover some of the prime land of HUDA, allegedly occupied by residents.

The department came into news in September last when the department razed almost 3000 houses of Shiv Sharda colony of Ballabgarh town. The colony had come up on the land of the general bus stand of Haryana Roadways. The department also removed thousands of jhuggis and kutcha houses, reportedly constructed on open plots and parks of urban sectors developed by it over the years.

The revenue receipt position of the department has been quite positive in this period. 

Clamp down on buses without permits
Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, January 3
The district administration has launched a drive against transporters, especially private bus operators, who are plying their vehicles without permits. According to sources in the administration, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr A. K. Singh, has directed officials to take strict measures against such vehicles.

This paper had reported on Tuesday that buses are plying between Gurgaon and Delhi without permits, robbing the government of a huge amount of revenue.

In an unrelated development, the district administration has declared the Mahavir Chowk, an important junction in the city, as a no-parking and no-traffic zone, eliciting a sigh of relief from the commuters and residents. This will be especially applicable to buses going to Delhi from Gurgaon via Mehrauli road.

It is learnt that this step is a part of the New Year resolve of the administration to make Gurgaon a better place for the residents. The direction makes it mandatory upon all the buses, including those of the Haryana Roadways, and other vehicles running on commercial lines, to take the Sheetla Mata road route to go to Delhi. In the past, the buses and public carriers used to stop at the chowk, to pick up passengers bound for Delhi, converting it almost into a bus stand. This was the reason for the frequent traffic jams and chaos on the arterial roads around the chowk. Although the general bus stand is just a few yards away from the chowk, the buses of the Haryana Roadways had to compete with the private buses for cornering the passengers. In such a scenario, the buses of the Haryana Roadways were the losers.

Auto drivers give the pre-paid system at rly station the go by
Rohit Wadhwaney

New Delhi, January 3
Ask an auto-rickshaw driver to drop you inside the New Delhi Railway Station, and the chances are that you may get stranded. The reluctance of auto-rickshaw drivers in the national Capital to drop passengers inside the New Delhi Railway Station is the fears of being put in the pre-paid queue for several hours by the traffic police.

Prakash Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver, said: “If I go inside the railway station, there is no way I could come out from the railway station before three hours. The queue for the pre-paid auto takes up much of our time. It is extremely difficult for autos in the pre-paid queue to leave without passenger, which could mean spending hours in the queue. This is so unfair.”

“So naturally, I cannot drop the passenger inside. We don’t enjoy troubling the passengers. But we have no other choice,”said Kumar.

Explaining the frustrations of auto-rickshaw drivers held up at the railway station, Kumar feels they loose out on a lot of business because of the “compulsion of standing in the pre-paid queue.”

In the pre-paid system, passengers pay fixed amounts for their destinations at the railway station booth itself and get a receipt.

The auto driver gets the cash only after the passenger is dropped at his destination and he shows the receipt at the same booth Actually, auto-rickshaw drivers find it more lucrative to drop their passengers outside the railway station and look for passengers inside the railway station.

In this way, he gets to tap the heavy load of passengers arriving by trains and at the same time, are under no compulsion to wait in the queue.

One can spot scores of men standing at the platform gates saying, “Boss, auto Bahar Khara Hai. Pre-paid Mein Jaaoge to Rs 60 Lagega. Samaan Ke Saath Rs 70 Bante Hain, Lekin Aap 60 Hi Dena. Mere Saath Aajao.”

Verifying this, Raju, an auto-rickshaw driver, who lives near the railway station, said he always parked his auto outside and walked inside to get passengers.

“Not aware of the consequences, once I did go inside to drop a passenger. I never knew it was compulsory for every auto that comes inside the railway station to stay there until he gets pre-paid passengers. I had to wait there for four hours before I was able to get a passenger,” Raju told the NCR Tribune.

The problem, he further added, did not end there. “Once I dropped the passenger, it was irritating to go all the way back to the railway station to get my pre-paid receipt encashed.”

Raju admitted that if was forced to drop passengers inside the railway station, he demanded Rs 20 extra for it. He had an interesting reason for demanding Rs 20 extra. “Rs 10 to give to the policeman” for allowing him out of the station without standing in the serpentine queue, and “Rs 10 for taking the risk, just incase he is not allowed out.”

Most of the auto-rickshaw drivers, standing in the queue, felt the government should open other booths at different places in the city where the auto-drivers could encash the pre-paid receipts.

“That way, we won’t have to come all the way back to the railway station to encash the receipt. We could easily encash receipts from other pre-paid booths convenient to us,” said Majid Khan.

Though the receipt was valid for a month, auto-drivers, short of cash, found the present system inconvenient.

Giving an example of Mumbai, Khan said: “The pre-paid auto or taxi drivers in Mumbai get the money at the exit point when they are leaving with the passengers. Why can’t that happen here?”

An official at the Saket pre-paid booth, near PVR cinema, said the system of paying money after the passenger had reached his destination, was followed because there were a number of complaints that pre-paid auto drivers did not drop passenger at the place they were paid for.

Therefore, the pre-paid receipt, a copy of which the passenger is given has phone numbers where he could complaint and the auto driver appropriately penalised.

“It might be a bit troublesome for the auto drivers but it is a fact that there are a very few complaints as a result of the present system,” explained the traffic official.

Auto-rickshaw drivers at the railway station complained that while receipts from local pre-paid booths, like the one near PVR in Saket, could be encashed at the railway stations and bus stands, pre-paid receipts from the railway station could not be encashed at any of the local booths.

According to auto-rickshaw drivers, this was one of the reason making them reluctant to drop passengers inside the railway station.

Admitting that the traffic police at railway stations pre-paid booths have become extremely strict in implementing the various rules and regulations, an official at the New Delhi Railway Station pre-paid booth said: “It has been done so that auto-rickshaw drivers do not harass passengers who come from out side the national Capital. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with that.”

Heavily chlorinated water, take it or leave it
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 3
The residents of the city here are peeved at the supply of heavily chlorinated water by the Public Health Department (PHD) for the past one week.

They alleged that the tap water was heavily chlorinated and could not be used for drinking or cooking. They said that the repeated complaints made to the authorities had not borne any fruit.

Enquiries have revealed that officials of the Health Department began chlorinating the water after receiving complaints about the supply of contaminated water in the Prabhu Nagar Mandi area. They feared a major outbreak of water-borne diseases.

The exercise was apparently carried out to cover up the lapses of the officials of the department. Unfortunately, officials have taken note of the problem only after it was reported the print media.

The Superintending Engineer of the PHD, Mr Goel, took a serious note of the complaints. He directed the subordinate officials to take immediate steps to check the supply of contaminated water to the residents of the Prabhu Nagar Mandi area and other parts of the city. Consequently, the subordinate officials started chlorinating the water supplied to residents.

Meanwhile, the Residents Welfare Association, the Citizens Welfare Forum and other organisations on Tuesday expressed their anguish at the supply of such water and urged the authorities of the PHD to stop the supply and take appropriate action against the guilty officials.

The organisations warned that if the water supply was not stopped, they would have no alternative but to launch an agitation. They also appealed to the Deputy Commissioner to intervene in the matter and do the needful.

Telecom district turns around a fortune
Tribune News Service

Noida, January 3
The Gautambudh Nagar Telecom district had considerably improved its performance during 2001 as compared to that in 2000. As against a revenue collection of Rs 110 crore in 2000, the telecom district earned Rs 138 crore during the past year, said Mr A. K. Garg, general manager of Telecom, Noida.

A field in which the district had a good going was in the sale of VCC cards per month which went from 2 lakh in 2000 to 14 lakh in December 2001.

While the capacity of the district went up to 1,15,728 lines last year from 1,07,248 in 2000, the working connections were 94,837 and 85,834, respectively.

The number of telephone exchanges had gone up from 22 to 24 in 2001 with telephone density of 7.96 as against 7.2 in 2000. Last year, a total of 343 villages were provided telecom connectivity as against 213 in 2000.

The staff ratio per 1,000 lines is 3.8 as against four in 2000. The pending demand in 2001 was 4,104 as compared to 4,640 in 2000 while the number of PCOs has gone up to 2,309 in 2001 from 1,973 in 2000. On March 2001, ISDN connections rose to 462 in 2001 from 324. The department claims that it had earned Rs 1,358 as revenue from each connection against Rs 1,304 previous year. The outstanding had also been reduced from Rs 41 crore to Rs 36 crore in 2001, Mr Garg added.

NCR BRIEFS
Road safety week to be observed in Faridabad from January 7
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 3
Road safety week will be observed in the district from January 7 to January 13 in order to make the public more conscious of the various rules, regulations and safety norms.

According to an official here today, free camps will be held to check the eyesight of drivers. Moreover, the residents will be given information and guidance about the rules and norms for averting violations and accidents. The district administration also plans to highlight speed breakers and put up reflectors on roads during this period.

Jawan cremated

Havaldar Deepchand (40) of the Indian Army, who was among the three jawans, who were kidnapped and murdered by extremists in Imphal recently, was cremated with full state honours at his native village, Banchari in Hodal Sub-division of Faridabad district today. He leaves behind his parents, wife and six children.

The five-year-old son of the deceased lit the pyre. The marriage of his eldest daughter had been fixed for March. A large number of residents of the village and nearby areas had assembled for the cremation. Senior district officials, including the Deputy Commissioner and Soldier board employees paid floral tributes to the martyr.

Fake licences

The crime branch has arrested a youth of Palwal town in connection with making fake driving licences.

The accused, identified as Sunil Kumar, was arrested after a complaint was lodged by one Sattar Khan of Asirpur village of Gurgaon district. A case under Section 420 has been booked and the police is investigating the case.

PF disputes settled

Rohtak
Nearly 3800 disputes related to provident fund were settled and an amount of Rs 5.98 crore were disbursed among the employees during the last month.

The Assistant Commissioner and In Charge, Sub Divisional Office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, K. C. Mehta, said a special campaign was launched to dispose off the pending cases during the last month. He claimed the number of cases settled during December 2001 was unprecedented in the last three years. He said special attention was paid towards the pending disputes and 31 out of a total 40 complaints were settled.

He informed that 726 complaints were returned to the employees on account of various discrepancies in the application forms.

Mr Mehta appealed to the employees to despatch monthly reports before 25th of every month so that the details could be fed into the computers.

Girl dies

Sonepat
A 15-year-old girl student of Happy Child School, Sonia, died after receiving injection for fever at a private hospital at Ganaur town, 16 km from here, yesterday.

According to a report, the girl was suffering from fever and her parents took her to the private hospital for treatment. The doctor gave her medicines and an injection. The parents then returned home. But on the way, the condition of the girl worsened and she was again rushed to the hospital. However, she died before reaching the hospital.

The parents of the girl then lodged an FIR with the police against the doctor and the police sent the body for a post-mortem examination. Further investigations are in progress.

Scooterist killed

A scooterist, Pawan Kumar, was killed when he was knocked down by an unknown vehicle at Hullaheri village, about 10 km from here, on the Sonepat-Gohana road last evening. The youth was on his way to Gohana when the accident occurred. The police have registered a case and further investigations are in progress.

According to another report, a woman, Mrs Shanti Devi, sustained injuries when she was hit by a dumper truck near Nangal Kalan village, about 15 km from here, on the G. T. Road last evening. She was immediately hospitalised and was stated to be out of danger. The police have registered a case.

BKU protest

The district unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union today protested against the police action of allegedly beating up Mr Braham Singh Dahiya, a leader of the union, and instituting a false case against him. In a press release, the union also demanded a high-level probe and withdrawal of the case against him. The union also decided to take up the matter at its meeting of the BKU to be held on January 7.

Thefts galore

Thieves have been active in and around the judicial complex and the residential colony of government and judicial employees in the mini-secretariat here for the past few days. This has caused panic among the employees and residents of the colony.

According to a report, thieves are reported to have taken away the electricity motors from the houses of two Judicial Magistrates and one employee living in the colony. The colony is situated near the residences of the Deputy Commissioner, the Superintendent of Police, the District and Sessions Judge and the Deputy Superintendent of Police. The residences of these officers, it may be recalled, are guarded by the security personnel round the clock.

Farmers' camp

At least 30 progressive farmers participated in a one-day agriculture training camp organised at Kakroi village, 9 km from here, yesterday. According to a report, scientists of the Agriculture Department acquainted the participants about the latest methods and use of fertilisers for boosting the farm output.

Jail computer centre

Mr S. K. Sardhana, District and Sessions Judge, inaugurated a computer centre and a yoga centre in the district jail here yesterday. Mr S. N. Roy, Deputy Commissioner, was among those who were present on the occasion. At another function, Mrs Sangeeta Roy, wife of the Deputy Commissioner, distributed blankets on behalf of the District Red Cross Society among 52 child prisoners of the State After Care Home here yesterday. Speaking on the occasion, she also called upon them to shun criminal activities and become good citizens of the society.

Workers’ stir turns ugly

Faridabad, January 3
The two-month-old agitation at Bhartiya Cutler Hammer Company here took a violent turn yesterday when two groups of workers clashed, injuring at least two workers. The hapless duo was trying to enter the factory premises when they were allegedly thrashed by the agitating employees. While they have been shifted to the civil hospital here, seven persons were arrested and, in all, 14 booked by the police under various sections of the IPC. Those arrested are Rammehar, Ram Singh, Palak Dhari, Nagender Ramchet, R. D. Shukla, Ramkishan and Balwan Singh. TNS

First woman chief of ICSI

New Delhi, December 3
Ms Preeti Malhotra, company secretary of Modicorp Limited, becomes the first chairperson of the of the Northern India Regional Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). TNS

CRIME

CRIME UNABATED

Petrol pump staff robbed of Rs 3.49 lakh
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3
In a sensational crime, an unidentified person armed with a revolver today snatched a bag containing Rs 3.49 lakh from three employees of a petrol station in broad daylight and ran away after firing at the security guard who tried to stop him in Paschim Vihar of West Delhi. He escaped in a Maruti car waiting for him with two persons in it.

The police said that the incident occurred around 10.15 am when the employees of the Shankar Filling Station, one cashier, two other staff and a private security guard, were on their way to deposit the daily collection in Punjab and Sind Bank in a private vehicle.

One unidentified youth armed with a country-made weapon waylaid the vehicle and threatened the employees to part with the bag containing the cash. When they refused to comply, the youth forced his way and snatched the bag from them. In the process, he shot the security guard, Dharam Pal, in his arm while wrestling with him.

The youth immediately fled in a White Maruti car (HR-26G-8655) which was waiting for him with two more persons. The car was found abandoned barely half a kilometer away from the robbery spot.

The security guard was immediately taken to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital after the incident and was later shifted to the trauma centre. He was reported to be out of danger. The police have registered a case of robbery and launched a manhunt.

DVB Inspector nabbed while taking bribe
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 3
The anti-corruption branch of the CBI has arrested an Inspector of the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a complainant.

The complainant alleged that the accused Inspector came to his residence and, on seeing some computers in the front room, accused him of using the premises for commercial purpose. Therefore the electricity supply would be charged according to commercial rates, he threatened. The accused then advised the complainant to settle the mater with him and also threatened if he was not paid an illegal gratification of Rs 6,000 within two days, he would take action by charging the commercial rates for the electricity used.

As the complainant did not want to pay the bribe, he reported the matter to the CBI. The CBI laid a trap and the accused was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from the complainant, a CBI release said.

The CBI sleuths conducted searches at residential premises of the accused and unearthed Rs 9.82 lakh in cash. Besides, he had over Rs 7.7 lakh as deposits in various banks, National Savings Certificates worth Rs 40,000, three houses of 90 square yards, a Maruti car and documents of payment made to the village pradhan of Dehra Bhati for allotment of plot of 100 square yards, the release said.

Tofeeque gang member held
Our Correspondent

Noida, January 3
The Javer police have nabbed an active member of the dreaded Tofeeque gang of dacoits after an encounter last night. The dacoit, Zile, carried an award of Rs 1,500 and has about 20 cases of murder, loot, dacoities registered against him by police of various districts.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) R. P. Yadav said that the Station House Officer of the Javer police station, Santosh Kumar, while on patrol duty last night was tipped off that members of Toffeeque gang were planning to commit a dacoity in the area.

The patrol party noticed some people coming towards Chhitanga Mode near Mehdipur. When asked to stop, the criminals started firing on the police team. In the process of retaliatory fire, one gangster was nabbed by the police.

A country-made pistol, four live and two dummy cartridges were recovered from the arrested criminal, who has been identified as Zile, son of Ashisev of Mehdipur. He is an active member of notified Tofeeque gang of dacoits.

An award of Rs 1,500 had been announced by the Gautam Budh Nagar police for the arrest of Zile, who is a well- known history sheeter and belongs to Gajarya (H.S.). He was involved in cases of dacoity and murder in Bharatpur, Dheeng and Jurhera in Rajasthan. The police added that he had been booked under the Gangster Act in 1997 in Javer police station.

One member of Tofeeque gang was shot dead in the encounter by the Javer police. Islam, another member of the gang, who carried an award of Rs 2,000 along with Kanwar Pal and Zile have been nabbed. With the latest encounter, the police is confident that the Tofeeque gang has been practically wiped out, SP Rural declared.