TOP STORIES

Freeloaders, Beware! 
New Delhi, May 31
Come July 1 the distribution of electricity will go into private hands. What that means for the Delhiite, Tata Power’s head honcho Adi Engineer tells you, is “freeloaders beware !”

BSES, Tata are capital’s new power suppliers
New Delhi, May 31
Three years and three months after bringing out a strategy paper on unbundling of Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB), the Government of NCT of Delhi on Friday inked an agreement to hand over management of the three distribution companies to Tata Power and Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply (BSES.)

FOLLOW UP
Medical ‘college’ gets taste of its medicine
Faridabad, May 31
The local court has put a spanner in the works of ‘Indian Medical College’ (IMC) here. The college used to churn out fake degrees of MBBS, BAMS and MD. The racket was unearthed by the Health and Drug Control officials in March this year.

Blockade continues, Admn on backfoot 
Rohtak, May 31
Even though the agitating farmers of village Titoli and nearby hamlets persisted with their blockade on the Rohtak-Jind highway for the second day today, the district administration, in a perceptible shift, kept a low profile.

Farmers’ stir: Chautala rapped for ‘inept’ handling 
Rewari, May 31
The Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) president, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, has flayed the Chautala government for its “inept” handling of the farmers’ agitation, which had led to the “unwarranted” police firing in which one farmer, Rajbir Singh, was killed and several others were injured at Gulkani village in Jind district on Thursday.

Opening windows of opportunity for the disabled
New Delhi, May 31
The statistics are appalling. Less than two per cent of the 70 million physically challenged people in the country receive education of any kind, there are just about one lakh disabled who have been employed in regular jobs in the last 40 years and a mere 0.4 per cent of such people employed in corporate houses.

Intellectuals give Akalis a piece of their mind
New Delhi, May 31
Apparently concerned over the deteriorating standards, a large number of Sikh intellectuals and professionals have urged the various factions of the Akali Dal in the fray for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections (DSGMC) to shift their focus from mud-slinging and exchange of allegations to constructive issues like education and welfare of the community.

Dreaded criminal killed in encounter
Ghaziabad, May 31
One of the four criminals who had come to loot the Punjab National Bank was killed in an encounter in Sahibabad by Indirapuram police. The criminal belonged to Delhi and carried an award over his head declared by the Noida police.

COMMUNITY

Extension to power dues waiver scheme fails to pay off
Panipat, May 31
Despite the extension for 15 days, the power bill waiver scheme of the Haryana Government, which ended today, has evoked lukewarm response in the district. Till Thursday, about Rs 2.65 crore had been deposited by 7,495 defaulters as against total outstanding amount of over Rs 30 crore in the two divisions, the City Division and the Sub-Urban Division.

Police jobs on sale: Vidrohi
Sonepat, May 31
The Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) president, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, today expressed concern over the ‘deteriorating’ law and order situation and alleged that the people of the state were feeling insecure on account of the increasing incidence of crimes like murders, loot, extortion, kidnapping and rape. 

L-G reviews work of transmission system from Sonia Vihar plant
New Delhi, May 31
The Lieutenant-Governor, Mr Vijay Kapoor, in a meeting with the senior officers of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), DDA, MCD, Railways and UP Irrigation Department held at Raj Niwas today, reviewed the progress in the construction of the transmission system of clear water from Sonia Vihar Treatment Plant to trans-Yamuna and South Delhi areas.

Can a designer wall get rid of city’s filth?
Panipat, May 31
The district administration, infamous for its dithering, seems to have roused itself. In a sudden burst of energy, it wants to beautify Panipat, one of the most unkempt cities of the country.

Shiv Sena demands security for its leaders 
New Delhi, May 31
Demanding the immediate arrest of those responsible for the attack on its Northern India chief, Mr Jai Bhagwan Goyal, the Shiv Sena today said that party activists would not hesitate to take to the streets if adequate security was not provided to its leaders.

Speaking out

This is with reference to the article, “MDU to hike fees of distance education courses” (NCR Tribune, dated 25th May, 2002). In order to provide education to those who were unable to receive regular and part time education, Kurukshetra University established the Directorate of correspondence courses in 1976, just 2 years after becoming an affiliated university. NATURE’S CARPET

Cholera cases on the rise  Caring for the old

Fire fighting Appeal to DVB

Padyatra  reaches Hathwala
Panipat, May 31
The 11-day “march-on-foot” to popularise organic farming and develop the Samalkha block as the Agri-Export Zone (AEZ) reached the Hathwala village today. Led by Dr Jagveer Rawat, Chief Adviser of the HABITAT, an NGO, the 25-member contingent underlined the importance of the food processing industry, especially production of milk products, mushroom and baby corn.

NCR BRIEFS
Kofi Annan asked to rein in Pakistan
Rewari, May 31
In an e-mail, Mr Amit Swami, president of the Young Men’s Association of Haryana, has urged the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, to initiate stringent action against Pakistan to ensure that it curbed its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism, which has been playing havoc in Jammu and Kashmir and various other parts of India.

Fashion show Sub-post office Sarpanches cut up

Transfer urged Wrestler’s murder Dharna staged

CRIME

Car snatched at pistol point
Sonepat, May 31
Three unidentified armed persons reportedly snatched a Tata Indica on G. T. Road near Ganaur, about 20 km from here, from its owner on Thursday night. However, the police swung into action and succeeded in seizing it from near Jaipur (Rajasthan) within a few hours.

DVB engineer held for taking bribe
New Delhi, May 31
The Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Government today arrested an Assistant Engineer of the DVB for demanding and accepting a bribe from a factory owner and resident of East Patel Nagar.

• Man stabs sister-in-law to death

BUSINESS

Lax security makes banks sitting ducks
Noida, May 31
About 106 banks have their branches in Noida, a town which has made a name for itself for being a highly developed industrial area. Ironically, in the area that does not have an enviable record in maintaining the law and order, one police constable is responsible for providing security to six banks on an average.

EDUCATION

MDU students win their spurs
Rohtak, May 31
Six students of the Bio-sciences Department of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) have qualified the CSIR-UGC national eligibility test (NET) held in December last year. These students are Samander Singh, Arun Kumar, Ramesh Kumar, Sandeep Guriyan, Jitender Kumar and Vijay Kalra.

COURTS

Bar members get back voting rights
Rohtak, May 31
Mr Basesher Singh, Additional Civil Judge (Senior division), Bahadurgarh, has ruled that 154 members of the Jhajjar District Bar Association, who were debarred from casting their votes through the illegal proceedings of a meeting held on May 16, are entitled to cast their votes in the elections to the association this year.

HEALTH

Drive to nip waterborne diseases in the bud
Gurgaon, May 31
With the monsoon round the corner, the district health department has launched a campaign to thwart the outbreak of waterborne diseases. The department has cautioned all concerned not to allow the sale of cut fruit and usage of untreated water in order to make cold drinks and others goodies. Besides, those selling meat have also been warned.

SPORTS

Rajeev stars in Salwan Boys’ title victory
New Delhi, May 31
Rajeev Sharma played a fine all-round game (2 for 17 and 26) to help Salwan Boys beat Hans Raj Model School by eight wickets and lift the first Ravindra Malhotra Memorial Inter-School (Under-15) Cricket Tournament trophy at the Roshanara Club ground.

Big response to junior wrestling
New Delhi, May 31
Over 600 boys and girls, representing 25 states and other units, are participating in the 23rd Boys Free Style and Greco Roman and fifth Girls Free Style National Junior Wrestling Championships, which were inaugurated by Union Minister for Rural Industries Karia Munda on Friday.

Zonal Cricket Academy coaching camp concludes
New Delhi, May 31
The Zonal Cricket Academy (North) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India concluded after 45 days of fruitful coaching sessions at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in the Capital.

Abhishek Jain bowls Super Star to victory
New Delhi, May 31
A deadly bowling spell of 4 for 32 by Abhishek Jain enabled Super Star Club beat Professional Management Group (PMG) by seven wickets and enter the final of the B Division Super League in the DDCA League at the Ramjas Sports Complex ground.

• DPS sports camp

ADMINISTRATION

Traffic fine collection kiosk installed
New Delhi, May 31
The traffic police today installed a “touch screen-based automatic payment collection kiosk” at the Teen Murti Traffic Police Lines for making payment on any day by offenders who were fined for violation of traffic rules. 

Drive against fake driving licences extended in Narnaul
Narnaul, May 31
The Narnaul police’ drive against fake driving licences, ‘Operation Checkup’, has been extended till June 15. The drive was to end today. During the ongoing campaign, a total of 15 vehicles without proper documents have been impounded and another 10 fined so far.