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CM takes stock of water supply New Delhi, April 25 The scarcity of water in many of the Capital’s colonies has become an issue even in the Lok Sabha elections with many BJP candidates accusing the Congress-led Sheila government of mismanaging the situation. Ms Dikshit asked the officers to draw out a coordinated plan of action for water supply in the residential areas, keeping in view the various grievances received at the redressal fora. She also directed the Jal Board to step up inspection of pipelines and carry out repairs, where required. She was informed that a thousand tankers were being operated for supplying water to different localities. The Chief Minister also came out with various steps to check water-borne diseases. The authorities concerned were directed to intensify testing of water samples. Ms Dikshit instructed that a joint coordinated effort be made by the Jal Board, the MCD and the Health department to prevent the spread of diseases by contaminated water and the food being sold by vendors. The meeting was attended among others by Health Minister Yoganand Shastri, Chief Secretary Shailja Chandra, Delhi Jal Board CEO P K Tripathi and MCD Commissioner Rakesh Mehta. |
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Verma tells EC to take action on CM’s pix on school bags New Delhi: Charging the INC with trying to ‘bribe’ the voters, the BJP candidate in the Outer Delhi parliamentary constituency, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, today said he has complained to the Election Commission as school bags embossed with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s picture were being distributed in the constituency. “I have written to the Election Commission, complaining about the attempts of Congress to bribe voters and I would meet Chief Election Commissioner TS Krishnamurthy tomorrow for make the complaint,” he said at a news conference. Verma displayed two green-coloured bags, carrying the Chief Minister’s picture and a message to keep the city clean. He claimed many such bags had been distributed in the government schools in Madipur yesterday in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. “A parent of a child studying in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in the area came to me and showed the bag which was given to the girl yesterday,” he said, adding that the parent has lodged a police complaint in this regard. Verma said the police then raided the school and seized 200 bags. TNS
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Get rid of anti-farmer NDA govt, appeals Cong nominee Sonepat, April 25 In support of his plea, Mr Malik cited the examples of a steep hike in the prices of agriculture inputs. Also, the minimum support prices being announced by the central government were not at all remunerative. “Even the farmers suffering due to natural calamities like drought are not being suitably compensated in Haryana,” he added. He chided the BJP leadership for fomenting communalism in the country for political gains and hijacking the issues of unemployment, uplift of rural economy, social amity and fulfilment of the aspirations of the common people. Coming down heavily on the Vajpayee government at the Centre, Mr Malik cautioned the farmers that if the BJP was returned to power it would totally abolish the subsidy on agriculture and impose income tax on the farmers. He also held the Chautala government squarely responsible for helping the BJP in implementing anti-farmer policies. He said the BJP was an equal partner in the anti-people, anti-employee, anti-trader policies of the Chautala government. “The BJP parted company with the INLD after realising that the people were determined to teach a lesson to this partnership in the state,” he remarked. He pointed out that Mr Om Prakash Chautala had given the party ticket to the wife of the DGP, Mr M. S. Malik, because the DGP had ordered firing on the agitating kisans at Kandela in Jind district while obeying the directions of the CM. “Chautala has obliged the DGP in this way otherwise there is hardly any contribution of INLD candidate Krishna Malik in any field”, he said. |
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DM imposes curbs on indiscriminate use of loudspeaker Sonepat, April 25 The order says the use of loudspeakers, whether fitted on vehicles of any kind or in static position, used for public meeting for electioneering purposes, is permitted only between 6 am and 11 pm in the rural areas and between 6 am and 10 pm in the urban areas falling within the municipal limits till May 13 next. The order also says that all political parties, candidates and any other persons using any loudspeakers on moving vehicles would have to intimate the registration identification number of those vehicles to the authorities granting permission to use the loudspeaker and such registration identification numbers of the vehicles would have to be indicated on the permits granted by the authorities concerned. The order also directed the authorities granting permits for the use of loudspeakers and the police authorities to enforce the order strictly and take penal action against those who found violating the order as well as confiscating the loudspeaker and the apparatus used along with it. According to the order, no loudspeaker fitted on a vehicle of any kind is permitted to be used round the clock except the period fixed for its use and any violation would attract penal action against the violators. |
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Riot-tainted key issue: Badal New Delhi, April 25 “The Congress has rubbed salt on the wounds of the Sikhs by naming these two leaders as its candidates in the Lok Sabha elections”, Badal told media persons after his whistle-stop tour of the Capital to canvass for the BJP candidates. Both Kumar and Tytler have faced allegations of involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and have been served notices by the Nanavati Commission probing afresh the massacre that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “The 1984 episode can never be rejected as a dead issue and the Congress cannot ever walk away from it,” he said. The INC’s move to field the two controversial men demonstrated its “anti-Sikh stance”, he said in his reply to reporters’ questions. The Akali chief expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, citing his “accomplishments,” ranging from a booming economy to the Central funding of the 1999 Khalsa Tercentenary Celebrations, installation of Sikh portraits and statues in Parliament. Badal, who has been shut out of power at the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) for the last two years, also claimed his party would regain control of the powerful religious administration in its next executive elections.
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BSP leader gunned down near Dadri Ghaziabad: A BSP leader and scrap contractor of a multinational company, L.G. Electronics, Farman, was shot dead by five assailants in a hail of bullets near Dadri yesterday. Farman (37) is the second BSP leader to have been shot dead within a month. As a result, Noida-Dadri Road was jammed for four hours by the traders. The assailants had decamped with a mobile phone, a briefcase and other valuables from Farman’s car. The criminals who had been demanding Rs 5 lakh from the BSP leader for a couple of days, killed him when Farman failed to deliver the money. OC Hunt for doctor’s killers New Delhi: A massive hunt is being launched by the South-West district police to apprehend the suspects involved in the murder of 23-year-old Dr Sumit Chikara whose charred body was found in a burnt car in the morning on April 24 in Sector–23 Dwarka. The victim had gone missing three days ago before his body was found beyond recognition inside his Maruti car on Saturday at around 9 am. The victim who passed out from the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) was supposed to leave for the US to pursue his MS.
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HC clears air on farmhouse tax New Delhi, April 25 In a judgement having far-reaching implications, the court ruled that half an acre around the dwelling house constructed on a farmhouse would be taken for the purpose of calculating property tax. Justice J D Kapoor said that for proper and convenient enjoyment of the dwelling house, the size of land appurtenant to such a unit of the maximum permissible limit constructed on a farmhouse, having a minimum size of 2.5 acre and above, would be half an acre, including the land over which the dwelling unit was built for the purpose of levying property tax. The remaining land on the farm would have to be preserved as agricultural land. While deciding a case, the judge said the court could not be oblivious of the fact that the dwelling unit on a farmhouse was not at par with a dwelling unit on a residential plot. The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that once it was known that there was a dwelling house on a farm, no further enquiry was needed to find out whether the land was being mainly or pre-dominantly used for agricultural purpose or not. It was enough that there was a dwelling house, and therefore, became eligible to general tax. The apex court had also held that for the purpose of general tax, the dwelling house included within its ambit such appurtenant land as was necessary for a proper and convenient enjoyment of the dwelling house and left the question to be decided on the facts of each case as to how much of the adjacent land should be treated as an integral part of the dwelling house. The size of appurtenant land was taken by the tax authorities as half an acre in some cases, one acre in some others and more than one acre in a few, while farmhouse owners always pushed for as less land as possible to be included for the purpose. In the instant case, the assessing authority had taken up 2.5 acre out of the total of 2.68 acre farmhouse as the size of appurtenant land of the dwelling house. |
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Residential Paharganj turns into one New Delhi, April 25 If unchecked immediately, the phenomenon could make a mockery of the newly introduced ‘Unit Area Scheme’ for the self-assessment and payment of property tax within the NCT. A case in point is the Amrit Kaur Market in front of the New Delhi Railway Station on the Paharganj side. Apparently taking a cue from the NDMC decision some years ago to allow shopkeepers of the Yusufzai Market on the outer edge of Connaught Circus to add another floor to their shops, those in Paharganj have done the same. However, in recent years behind the façade of ‘Shudh Vegetarian’, they show their carnivorous intent, as it were, by gobbling up the skyline. In fact, the whole of Paharganj has been turned into one big hotel with five-storeyed structures, occupying the narrow bylanes. The whole residential space is in the mire of commercialisation. It is not as if the MCD staff are not aware of this. Collections are being made, but it is a moot point how much is going into the municipal coffers. With reference to the ‘Unit Area Scheme’, what is likely to happen is that in the process of self-assessment, only the land area of the original allotment (approximately 25 sq yards) will be mentioned and paid for, even though the property has changed hands and mutated several times over and grown to the illegal height of three storeys which normally should attract property tax on the additions as well. Then it will be back to the ‘inspector raj’ which the ‘Unit Area Scheme’ is supposed to end. The ‘field staff’ are going to make a killing and the calculations will be on the basis of “as is, where is”. However, the official records will continue to show the original area of the ground floor and the collections will conform to the ‘area’ to which the property is categorised. It will not end the illegal construction and will, on the contrary, accelerate it once the nexus between the shopkeeper and the municipal staff is firmly established. Many years later, as in Lajpat Nagar, it will become necessary to petition the courts to end the racket of illegal constructions and the cycle of stay orders, inordinate delays in hearings, and the final order for demolition of the illegal additions. Would it not be better for the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi to act forthwith and ensure that the illegal construction is nipped in the bud and the ‘Unit Area Scheme’ fulfils its full potential and augments the municipal revenues in consonance with the actual built-up area in every locality? |
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twin tragedies New Delhi, April 25 The police said that the trawler with a sealed container with threads was coming from Himachal Pradesh and was supposed to reach the Tuglakabad extension depot. The incident occurred at around 12.20 am when the trawler overturned near the Nigambodh Ghat and the container, not locked properly, fell down on the victims who were fast asleep on the footpath. The container belonged to the Delhi Engineering Company, Noida. Soon after the incident, a large number of people gathered on the spot and helped the policemen recover the bodies. The police found six bodies with the help of a crane and the other three were later recovered with the help of two cranes from the Delhi Metro. The police have arrested the driver Shambhu Choudhury from Bihar and a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving has been registered against him. Woman sets her two kids, self on fire Faridabad:
A 30-year-old woman of Khambi village in the Palwal subdivision allegedly set her two minor children and herself on fire yesterday. The cause of suicide is not known. All three died from burns before they could be rushed to a hospital. It is learnt that Guddi, wife of one Devi Ram, a teacher in a primary school, tied her two children, Krishna (5) and her son Mithun (4), inside the house. She then set them and herself on fire. The house was locked from inside. While the owner of the house was away, the neighbours rushed after they saw the blaze and heard the cries. As the door was broken, the fire had already engulfed the victims. All of them had died before they could be taken to the hospital. A case has been registered in this connection. Meanwhile, one Sanjay Kumar, working with a tent house was electrocuted while he was connecting some wires in Sector 11 here yesterday.
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Wheat packed in bags damaged by rain Sonepat, April 25 According to a report, this wheat had been procured by various procurement agencies and a large number of wheat bags had become wet. It would not be possible to unpack the heavy stock and dry it. Wheat procured by the state and central government agencies could not be lifted to the covered godowns and was soaked. Thousands of gunny bags filled with procured wheat are still lying in the open at various places in this district and wheat stock has not been covered with polythene sheets. The district authorities and top officials of the procurement agencies have also failed to visit the places where the procured stock of wheat is rotting to take stock of the situation, the extent of damage or loss. Meanwhile, representatives of various political parties, including the Congress and the Haryana Vikas Party and farmers’ organisations, have expressed grave concern over procured wheat not being lifted and urged the state government to order a high-level probe into the scandalous working of the official procurement agencies and punish the officials found guilty of the losses to the procured wheat. In a joint press statement issued here, they also demanded immediate lifting of the procured wheat still lying in the open and rotting due to rain and other weather vagaries. This action, they claimed, would enable the farmers to unload their wheat being brought to the mandis and other purchasing centres set up by the state government in this district. |
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Demand for demolition of illegal constructions in Fatehpuri Mosque New Delhi, April 25 He said that Fatehpuri Mosque is a Wakf property and it is a heritage building. No construction or repair work can be done in the building without the permission of these authorities. He pointed out that before the last Assembly elections in the Capital, the Delhi Wakf Board (DWB) had received an application of one Nuzat Begum, daughter of Muhammad Islam. It is alleged that the lady deliberately and willfully concealed the name of her husband, Mufti Mohammad Mukrram, Imam of Masjid Fatehpuri. Her application was placed by Chief Executive Officer, Qazi Azhar Ahmad before the property committee of the board, which considered all such applications regarding change of tenancy and new tenancy of the Wakf property. The application was rejected by the committee since the name of her husband was missing in the application form. However, the application was again moved before the property committee, when Shakir Ali, one of the members of the property committee, had gone to Saudi Arabia on Haj duty and it was passed. Her application was rejected the first time when Shakir Ali raised objection on concealing the name of the husband of the applicant, Muft Ataur Rahman said. He said that chairman of the property committee and CEO, allegedly acting in gross violation of the Wakf rules and regulations, also issued an NOC to the applicant without getting the resolution approved by the general body of the DWB. |
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Cease fights in the name of god: Nirankari Baba New Delhi, April 25 On April 24, the mission recalled the sacrifices of those devotees who laid down their lives for the noble cause of truth, love, peace and unity. He said the world generally talks of unity within a religious faith, a community, a region or a nation. This, of course, leads to segmentation of the people and conflicts among them. Claiming strong faith and belief in religion, certain elements go to the extent of becoming fanatics and extremists. They suffer from intolerance and hatred so much that they go to the extent of shedding the blood of the people of other faith, exploiting and oppressing them. Baba Gurcharan Singh preached unity of mankind. He wanted that man should rise above narrow considerations and cease the fight in the name of god, caste differences and other such factors. For this, he wanted every individual to realise the oneness of God. |
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ncr briefs New Delhi, April 25 Asha told the police that her own son has been staying in the custody of her in-laws after the death of her first husband. Later, she was staying with her second husband in Bhiwani when she spotted the child. She decided to kidnap the child, as he resembled her son.
HVP candidate declared Independent Sonepat: The Returning Officer-cum-District Electoral Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Mr M R Anand, declared the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) nominee, Mr Jagbir Singh Malik, an Independent candidate while scrutinising his nomination papers on the day of scrutiny yesterday. According to a report, Mr Malik had failed to produce the letter from the party regarding his candidature of the party. The Returning Officer also rejected the nomination papers of four candidates, including an undertrial Suresh Chand. He is involved in a triple murder case and is lodged at the special model jail Burail (Chandigarh). Other candidates are Mrs Sudha Malik, wife of Mr Dharampal Singh Malik, a Congress candidate; Mr Pradeep Sangwan, son of Mr Kishan Singh Sangwan, a BJP candidate; and Mr Tula Ram, son of Mr Sugan Gupta, a BSP candidate. The HVP general secretary, Mr Rajiv Jain, has also criticised the decision of the Returning Officer and demanded stern action against him as he is ‘partial’ and has an ‘anti-HVP attitude’. |
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Municipal Councillor
killed Sonepat, April 25 Mr Bijender Batra was the son of Mr
R.K. Shashi, chief editor of Daily Vidrohi, published from Delhi. |
Double murder solved, two persons arrested New Delhi, April 25 On the fateful day, the police received a report that a woman, identified as Bindu Tiwari (31), and her son, had been found murdered in their house in the Jagat Puri area. When the police team reached the spot, the husband of the victim, Shisher Tiwari, an engineer with Ceat Tyre, told the police that he had left the house at around 8.30 am and when returned home at around 9.30 pm, he found his wife and son dead. He told the police that their family friend, Neeraj, was spotted by his neighbours near his house. Accordingly, a police team was sent to Etawa to interrogate Neeraj. Since Neeraj worked in a moulding machine factory, a number of his colleagues were also questioned about his whereabouts. During investigation, the police received a secret information that Neeraj was spotted in Bhikam Singh colony. He was later nabbed from the area. During interrogation, he told the police that he had initially planned to commit robbery in the house. However, he decided to kill Bindu when she caught him red-handed. Neeraj confessed that he had killed Bindu with a blunt object. When her son woke up, he was also strangulated. Neeraj, a newspaper hawker in the Vivek Vihar area, had planned to commit robbery along with Ashok. Unfortunately, the robbery finally turned out to be a murder-cum-robbery, said Nuzhat. |
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showcase Capitel Wireless Ltd. has launched India’s first pocket PC with built-in mobile phone and digital camera, the P300. The product, which is one of the smallest information communication devices of its type, is being brought into India in technical collaboration with E-Ten Information Systems, USA. The P300 is as small as any conventional mobile phone and its specialty is the power-packed computing features. Soap with mint extract:
Pears has launched a new soap with mint extract. Enriched with 100 per cent natural mint extract, the new all blue pears is clinically proven to fight germs without being harsh on the skin and retaining its delicate oil-water balance. Pears with mint extract protects your skin from germs. So, embrace the robust outdoors without the fear of germs as pears with mint extract shields your family from germs. Heatblok:
International Chemical Corporation has introduced an innovative technology under the brand ‘Heatblok,’ to reduce temperature. Heatblok is an imported insulating additive for paints. It can be used on walls, ceilings, metal buildings, cold storage, overhead tanks, AC buses, asbestos roofs and mobile homes. It is a blend of insulating ceramics, which when mixed with paint gives a unique energy saving property that can resist and reflect heat while dissipating it. Innovative
collections: Esprit has launched their new trendy watches as part of its spring-summer collection 2004. Esprit timewear presents an outstanding innovative collection bearing the mark of casual, leisure, feminine elegance that defines the contemporary time measurement. Esprit is an attitude–not an age, bearing this in mind the collection offers a variety of watches, such as square watches, fashion statement watches and elegant leather stripe watches. Footwear to suit
all occasions:
TSF collection is a premium offering–a top-of-the-line product with its elegant, scientific designed foot bed, skin friendly leather base. The designs represent a perfect blend of European fashion and Italian design, exuding elegance and sheer sophistication. It is especially designed to cater to all age group and suit all occasions, moods and sizes, with special emphasis on comfort. Travel accessories from Lifestyle:
Raga Miniatures from Titan:
Designed to be the perfect adornment for the feminine wrist, ‘Raga Miniatures’ is a reflection of the superior design and elegant craftsmanship associated with Titan. Silkline for
trendy women:
Designed to reflect the largest trend in the international women’s footwear, Silkline is ideal for trendy urban women, who work hard, play hard and transit effortlessly from their work environment to a leisure setting. Whatever her preferred style or lifestyle might be, Silkline has something that’s just right for her. So Pure for
healthy hair:
The product line comprises ‘Refreshing,’ ‘Renewing’ and ‘Relaxing’ range of hair care products developed after intensive research by the Keune Laboratories. So Pure natural balance creates healthy and shiny hair through a well-functioning scalp with the help of plant extracts. PC with
battery maximizing technology:
The notebook series comes with LG’s proprietary ‘Battery Maximizing Technology,’ which allows the notebook up to 10 hours of battery life from a single charge cycle. Sarees
for marriage season:
Latex Plus range:
Bathroom
fittings from Trot:
Document scanners:
Shampoo with proteins:
Lifestyle products:
Shirts for
corporates:
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