New Delhi, March 31
Having completed 100 glorious years of its existence, the Indraprastha Hindu Girls’ Senior Secondary School is ready to celebrate.

The Capital’s first girl’s school is nestled in an 1857 Haveli close to the Jama Masjid. A brainchild of freedom fighter-educationist Annie Besant, the school owes its origin to an idea for an exclusive girls school in Delhi, mooted by Dr Besant in a meeting of the Delhi branch of the Theosophical Society of India in 1903.

The Indraprastha Kanya Shikshalaya was founded on May 21, 1904, in the Haveli owned by a rich theosophist, Lala Balkrishan Das. And accepting the challenge of bringing the girls to schools was theosophist, Lala Jugal Kishore, who took it upon himself to convince parents to send their daughters to school.

And today, 100 years later, Kishore’s grandson is overseeing the centenary celebrations. The school, which began with just seven students, boasts of an alumni which has earned laurels. Kamala Nehru, Kapila Vatsyayan are just some of the names. Moti Lal Nehru is reported to have sent donations to the school all the way from Allahabad, since the it had groomed his daughter-in-law.

Apart from disseminating education, the school also offered a platform for freedom struggle. It is pointed out that the Delhi branch of the Theosophical Society of India functioned from a room in the school.

Visitors to the school included dignitaries, who not only had some thing to share, but also something to take back from the school. Dr. Besant records one such instance in the visitor’s book in 1918, “I spent two hours yesterday in the school and watched the Montessori method of teaching with much interest and pleasure. The little ones evidently take delight in play-work method and are learning with keen amusement things that normally wear them down”.

Tagore, during his visit in 1914, wrote, “My visit to the Indraprastha Hindu Girls’ School has inspired in me a deep sense of admiration, not only for the method and manner of teaching followed in this institution, but also for the spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice working at the centre of it”.

An institution in itself, the school today has more than 500 girls on its rolls. It continues to be housed in the three-storeyed haveli, which has been declared a heritage building by the government. Indraprastha College, the city’s first college for women, also began in the third floor of the school in 1924, before it was shifted to the Civil Lines in 1936.

New Delhi, March 31
The Leader of Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Mr. Subhash Arya, today alleged that the corporation had failed to deposit deductions on account of provident fund contributions of its employees into their General Provident Fund (GPF) accounts. No provision was made either in the budget estimates for payment of interest on loan taken from the GPF account of the municipal employees.

He said that Rs 100 crores, deducted from salaries of municipal employees for the last four months, has not been credited to their GPF accounts. He recalled that the Delhi High Court had directed the MCD to credit the deductions of the GPF in the accounts of the employees. Also, a detailed statement upto March 31 would be handed over to each municipal employee within four months as per the court directive.

The High Court has further directed the MCD to credit the money deducted from the s employees’ salaries towards contribution to the GPF accounts and update their passbooks within four months. This direction came on a petition filed by the MCD General Mazdoor Union and three employees of the corporation who had complained that MCD was not issuing details of amounts deducted from their salaries for the GPF contribution. The passbooks should also be signed by an authorised officer and bear the stamp or seal of the civic body.

He said that in his budget speech he had warned that no provision had been made in the budget estimate for payment of interest on loans amounting to Rs 150 crore drawn from the GPF account. Last week, Rs 30 crore was transferred to the GPF but no interest was paid.

Sonepat, March 31
The entire old section of Sonepat city, which has a population of nearly one lakh, was waterless last evening, following a disruption in the water supply system. However, no reason has been assigned by the officials of the Public Health Department for the disruption.

According to a report, on Rammnavmi Day, thousands of people, particularly women, were seen carrying pitchers on their heads and fetching water from distant places to meet their requirement. Many residents alleged that the water supply is still erratic and the pressure is always low.

Their complaints in this regard to the officials concerned have fallen on deaf ears. Some residents blamed the officials and employees of the PHD for the man-made water crisis. According to them, the senior engineers seem to have little control over the supply system. They chose to watch from the sidelines when public complaints poured in. The district authorities had also failed to take any action against the erring officials of the PHD.

This correspondent made many attempts to contact the officials of the PHD - from Superintending Engineers to the junior engineer concerned - but failed to get any response as none of the officials was available at their residence on account of the gazetted holiday. Moreover, the department had failed to set up a complaint centre which could function on such holidays.

New Delhi, March 31
The Delhi High Court has asked the students of National Institute of Open School (NIOS) to make efforts in future to locate examination centres near their centres of enrolment. The court gave the directive in view of the problems faced by the students.

The Court has said, “In future, all efforts should be made by the school well in advance, especially in view of the problem faced this year, to locate centres within the same town where the centre is located in which the candidates are enrolled,” observed Justice S K Kaul, while disposing of a petition filed by two NIOS students.

Ashu Virmani and another student had approached the Delhi High Court, complaining that they were facing problems in appearing for class 10 and 12 examinations beginning on April 8 as examination centres were located at a distance of 25 km.

Petitioners’ counsel Ravinder Sethi and R K Saini argued that a number of poor students, including the petitioners and girls from rural background, were facing difficulty in travelling to examination centres at far-off places. NIOS counsel Anil Kumar argued that the examination centres were shifted to distant places after the students were found indulging in mass copying and other malpractices.

Noida, March 31
In a fire in an electric fan manufacturing factory in sector-10, seven persons were charred. Out of them, two are stated to be in a serious condition; they have been admitted at Kailash Hospital.

Goods worth lakhs were gutted. Four fire tenders had to struggle for three hours to bring the blaze under control.

In another fire in sector-22 market, goods worth lakhs were destroyed.

According to Fire Station Officer RP Gupta, the fire started in the fan factory following a big explosion near the gate where the motor starters of the fans were kept for drying near a furnace after a wash. All the inflammable items lying near the furnace caught fire following the explosion.

The workers in the factory immediately ran out in panic. Three fire brigades reached the factory gate within minutes of receiving the information.

The fire brigade broke open the main gate to control the fire. Then, seven unconscious workers from the first floor were rescued and rushed to hospital. Four workers, who were shouting for help from the terrace, were also rescued.

Puppu, Santosh Shah, Santej, Bachhan Thakur, Ashok Shah, Om Prakash and Raj Kumar have been admitted to Kailash hospital. Their bodies had turned black. Bachhan and Santosh are reportedly critical and they have been shifted to the ICU.

Modi Nagar (Ghaziabad), March 31
Some shopkeepers and villagers returning from the Sarkri Fair gave a sound thrashing to policemen, out on an illegal collection spree, in the railway compound of Modi Nagar.

The glass panes of the control room and of the station superintendent’s office were smashed in the fracas.

Since the visitors to the fair take the railway road, stalls are usually put up on the route despite railway authorities orders to the contrary. The Railway Protection Force and the Nagar Palika Parishad staff are known to clash every year on the question of collecting illegal gratification from the shopkeepers.

On the last day of the fair, at about 11.30 pm yesterday, when the shopkeepers were packing up, RPF jawans started asking them for money. When shopkeepers protested, a policeman started beating them up; in the ensuing scuffle, half a dozen traders were injured.

Loni (Ghaziabad): The 12-year-old daughter of a bank daftri in Indirapuri colony was killed last night and her body was dumped in the corner of a street.

According to the police, the girl has been killed by her family members. The police have sent the body for an autopsy and arrested the father and brother.

According to available information, Jarnail Singh, s/o Bhalu Ram of Jangpur, Delhi, is employed as a daftri (class IV office hand) in PNB and lives in his own house in D block of Indirapuri colony.

Jarnail Singh was sleeping in one room with his wife and son; his two other sons and daughter Tanu were sleeping in the adjoining room. Tanu was found missing in the room in the morning, according to the family.

She was subsequently found dead in a corner of the street in a semi-naked condition. There was a deep wound on Tanu’s head. The police reached the spot immediately on being informed and sent the girl’s body for autopsy.

Inspector Vishesh Kumar Singh, Loni police station in charge, has meanwhile claimed that the mystery of the murder has been unravelled.

He said the girl had been killed by her own family members. She had been seen in a compromising position by her father and brothers.

Sonepat, March 31
The Haryana Vikas Party, if it comes to power in the assembly election in the state, which are about a year away, will exempt those house owners in the municipal limits who were personally using them from tax. Also, the party will reduce power tariff across the board besides providing round-the-clock power supply. The tariff of tubewells will be assessed on the basis of slab system and no arrests will be made for the recovery of bank dues.

This was stated by Mr Rajiv Jain, general secretary of the Haryana unit of the HVP, while addressing a series of election meetings in the villages falling in the Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency yesterday.

He said the party had promised jobs for educated unemployed youths and those who had completed plus two would get Rs 200 as unemployment allowance per month while those who had completed BA would get Rs 250 per month.

The halwai tax imposed by the present government would be scrapped. The party, he said, also promised to provide better law and order situation in the state and remove all statues of Devi Lal from public places. The construction of the SYL canal in the Punjab territory would also be completed on priority basis, he added.

The HVP leader also ruled out any possibility of alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha election. He also termed the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, as anti-farmer and alleged that Mr Chautala had betrayed the farmers and arrested them under false criminal cases.

He hoped that the people, particularly the farmers, would vote against the INLD candidates in the Lok Sabha elections and take revenge by defeating them.

Sonepat, March 31
As many as 11,39,771 electorates, including 5,09,778 women and 5,009 service electorates would exercise their franchise in Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency on
May 10.

According to a report, there were 6,24,984 male electorates of general category, whereas there were 3,264 male and 1,745 women service electorates, in the constituency. Nearly 87.21 per cent of the electorates had been photographed for the purpose of photo identity cards.

As many as 509 villages and seven cities/towns fall in Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency having 1,217 polling stations and these include 1,006 in the rural areas, and the remaining 211 in the urban areas. As many as 990 polling stations would be for the electorate of general category and 227 others for the weaker sections.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner of Sonepat has convened a special meeting of the representatives of all the political parties and apprised them the arrangements made by the district administration for conducting free and fair Lok Sabha elections on May 10 next. The DC also gave the details about the number of electorates, polling stations set up for the general categories electorate and weaker sections in the urban and rural areas and asked them to file objections about the mistakes in the electoral rolls with the assistant returning officers concerned by March 10 next.

New Delhi, March 31
Caste, it seems, is not as much a consideration for the political parties in the cosmopolitan South Delhi parliamentary constituency as is the region from where the voters hail from.

The BJP candidate from the South Delhi parliamentary constituency, Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, is taking particular care to interact with the associations of people hailing from various states.

After meeting with the voters from Poorvanchal and the Bengali and Telugu-speaking communities, Malhotra on Wednesday reached out to the Oriya-speaking population.

Seeking to establish a rapport with them, he spoke about his party’s endeavour to give suitable representation to all peoples and commitment to maintaining the cosmopolitan character of the Capital.

Bahadurgarh, March 31
The Krishna Somany Charity Trust has donated an orphanage for children to the district of Bahadurgarh in Haryana.

Mr Mahindra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Jhajjar, and Mr R. K. Somany, who is the Trustee, Krishna Somany Charity Trust as well as the Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Sanitary ware and Industries Limited, inaugurated the orphanage and handed it over to the District Council for Child Welfare, Jhajjar. The function was attended by distinguished government officials and well-known figures of Bahadurgarh and Jhajjar.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Somany said: “The Krishna Somany Chairty Trust is glad to partner with the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Jhajjar, in this small effort to contribute to the welfare of the communities around the HSIL manufacturing plant in Bahadurgarh. We have always endeavoured to improve the quality of life of people closely associated with the company, and this includes people living around our establishments.”

Added Mr Mahindra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Jhajjar, “The construction of the orphanage is an invaluable contribution by the Krishna Somany Trust. This will enable the District Council for child welfare to increase its activities, limited as they were by having just one orphanage earlier.”

New Delhi, March 31
The Metro Rail has been extended to Rithala in North-West Delhi with the opening up of the 8.9 km long Inderlok-Rithala section.

The new fares, decided at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Delhi Metro yesterday, also came into effect. Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh took a ticket and travelled in the train from Shahdara to Rithala. The fares range from Rs 6 to Rs 14. However, the Smart Card owners will get a ten per cent discount. The section was inaugurated by Company Secretary P. K. Gupta, the senior most member of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

With the opening of the new section, line 1 of the first phase of the Metro project has been completed. The line, from Shahdara to Rithala, consists of 18 stations covering a distance of 21 km.

Faridabad, March 31
There appears to be a direct co-relation between the religious activities and the poor people, especially the children. In every occasion, whether it is ‘Navratras’ or ‘Jagrata’ or even a marriage party reception, one can notice hordes of poor people waiting outside to seek some eatables or a donation by the affluent or the person holding the function.

This type of activity became prominent on the occasion of the Ramnavmi festival yesterday. While normally the people residing in the ‘kothis’ and the posh areas hate to see the jhuggi people, especially the kids around their houses, the latter were most sought-after on the last day of the Navratras yesterday. Nearly every house of the Hindu families had organised a program of distributing specially-made items.

Children of the domestic help and the housemaids had been invited by the women who had been keeping fast as part of the festival to take their share.

A housewife in Sector-16 said that she and her friends who had been observing the festival had invited the poor kids for having food. Claiming that while the children of her neighbourhood were not available, she said majority of the houses in her locality had invited the kids of the poor families. The well-off families hesitate to send their children for such an occasion, although such families also face similar problem when they want to do so, she added. The guards and gatekeepers stationed at the entrance of many localities in the sectors here had been asked not to stop the children yesterday, said a resident of the Sector- 14 here.

“There is hardly any temple where you do not see dozens of children of poor families waiting outside to get ‘prasad’ or donation on every Tuesday,” says K. L. Gera, a social activist. These children, he said, do wait for hours together to get maximum of what was available. He said begging for alms at any congested chowk or collection of donation on Saturday (Sanidev) had been the main job of hundreds of children living in the jhuggis here. He claimed that while no scheme had been launched or implemented seriously to stop begging and provide free education to the children of very poor families, he said many of the youngsters fell into bad habits and get into various criminal activities later. He said the poor residing in the slum areas, throng at the temples and the spots where any religious or marriage functions are held, to get whatever they could lay their hands upon for their survival.

New Delhi, March 31
A Special Gurmat Samagam was held at Vanjara Hall in Gurdwara Rakabganj here on March 27 as part of the 500th year birth celebrations of Guru Angad Dev.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhai Ranjit Singh, former Jathedar, Sri Akal Takht, said special functions would be held in Khadur Sahib in Punjab from April 14-18. About 200 buses would ply from the Capital taking the devotees to Khadur Sahib.

He said a special diwan would be held from morning till late night at Vanjara Hall on April 18. Ragi Jathas will perform in the special diwans. Bhai Ranjit Singh also released Sis Ganj Diary, which is dedicated to the celebrations of the three centenaries on the occasion.

Faridabad, March 31
An employee of a dyeing unit in the DLF industrial area here was killed after he fell from the rooftop of the factory yesterday. The victim, identified as Sudarshan, had reportedly gone on the roof to put some clothes out for drying. He lost his balance and fell down. He succumbed to his injuries later. The deceased was a resident of Uttar Pradesh but was employed here.

New Delhi, March 31
The Delhi Police Crime Branch claimed to have arrested a notorious gangster, Sartaj, alias Salim (36), along with his accomplice, Arshad (26), both residents of Bijnore, UP, after an encounter. Two countrymade weapons and three live cartridges were seized from their possession.

The sleuths received secret information that Salim along with his accomplice would be entering Delhi to provide musclemen services for politicians in Delhi. Accordingly, a trap was laid in the Bawana area of North-West Delhi and the duo was apprehended after a brief encounter.