New Delhi, June 8
The weather today played spoilsport for thousands who had gathered at the Nehru Planetarium here to witness the once in a life time event of Venus transit, with clouds suddenly blocking the view and a dust storm reducing the visibility.

However, there was a silver lining to it all as there were short, clear periods in which the clouds dispersed, exposing the sun in all its glory, to the delight of the viewers. Those who were fortunate enough to view the phenomenon were visibly overawed by it. “ It was like a cute black mole on a fair face”, was how one viewer described the celestial event. Others, not given to such flourish, said that they clearly saw “ a small black dot” on the face of the sun.

Scientists, too, were excited as they monitored Venus, the evening star, moving slowly across the face of the sun in the form of “a round black spot,” after its first contact at 10.43 a. m.

A cluster of clouds moved towards Delhi and the adjoining areas from Punjab and Haryana and continued to hover overhead for most of the time. Attributing it to western disturbances, the Met office said that the clouds may continue to hover for another day as well.

The curtain went up on the Venus transit — a landmark event after 122 years — at 10.43 am and came down at 4.30 p.m. The “bad weather” intervened at about 12.10 pm. However, in the last couple of hours before the finale (final contact) the clouds dispersed, providing the eager beavers an opportunity to view the transit

Thousands of people, including students, had gathered at the Nehru Planetarium to witness the event. The planetarium had made elaborate arrangements to enable people to view the transit.

The Director, Nehru Planetarium, Dr N Rathnashree, said “We will show visitors the recorded portion of the Venus transit as clouds are blocking their view now.”

Since the experts had warned that watching the event directly through x-ray films or dark glasses could harm the eyes, many preferred to stay indoors, glued to the television screens for a sighting.

Those who ventured out dutifully avoided looking at the sun, clearly heeding the warnings of the doctors and eye experts.

Meanwhile, the mercury plunged sharply in the Capital, following a dust storm around midday, bringing much needed relief.

The Met office said the temperature dropped by six degrees after winds of speed 70 km per hour hit the Capital. The temperature, which had soared to 36.0 degree Celsius, plummeted to 30.1 degree Celsius after the storm.

New Delhi, June 8
With the arrest of two persons, the East district police claims to have solved a case of kidnapping of a five-year old, who was safely rescued from Mumbai in coordination with the Mumbai Police.

The accused persons, who were arrested in Mumbai, have been identified as Suraj, alias Bubai Piramani (21), and Arjun (24), both residents of West Bengal.

On June 1, the police had received a complaint from one Shankar Samui, a goldsmith of Gandhi Nagar, that his two employees had decamped with 70 gm of gold and had also kidnapped his child Suman Shankar Samui.

The police had immediately mounted surveillance at the ISBT, railway stations and other places but failed to trace the child. The police later questioned one Mahadev Mandal on whose recommendation the accused persons were employed by Shankar Samui.

While questioning Mandal the police got some definite clues that the accused persons could be staying in Mumbai and immediately a special team was sent there for further investigations. In the meantime, the kidnappers had made their ransom call, demanding Rs 50,000 for each of them and two hundred gm of gold.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Nuzhat Hassan said that the East district police had passed the information to the Crime Branch, Mumbai Police, and requested them to provide assistance to nab the kidnappers.

On June 7, the Mumbai Police received information that the kidnappers would be reaching Bhayandar West, where they were swiftly nabbed. The child was also rescued from their clutches.

During interrogation, the employee, Babui Pirmani, revealed that he needed money for his sister’s marriage. Therefore, he, along with his associate, had planned to kidnap the child. Since both the accused were familiar with Mumbai, they took a bus to Mathura and reached Mumbai via Indore.

New Delhi, June 8
Perturbed by reports of moves in the Delhi government to discard the Ambassador car, the manufacturer, Hindustan Motors, today disputed the state government’s contention that the vehicles were unreliable and expensive to maintain.

The Hindustan Motors (HM), in a statement here, asserted that the Ambassador cars were valued by nearly 6.5 lakh people for “easy and cost-effective reparability”, besides “reliability, space, sturdiness and comfort.”

“Therefore the issue of discomfort and high cost of maintenance does not arise,” HM General Manager (Corporate Communications) Soni Shrivastav said today, responding to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s reported statement that the official vehicles of her ministers would be replaced with modern cars as Ambassador “faces problems like frequent breakdowns and was expensive to maintain.”

Reports that the ministers of the National Capital Territory of Delhi have indicated their preference for more elegant cars have been doing the rounds for the last couple of days. However, with the Congress party president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, deciding to stick to her Ambassador car, even though she was offered one of the six BMWs in the prime minister’s secretariat, has slowed down the process of procuring new vehicles for the Delhi government ministers and officials.

Shrivastav said “owing to 100 per cent localisation, not only are the Ambassador spare parts very affordable but any roadside mechanic can repair these.In addition, realising the needs of our government customers, we provide prompt at-your-door-service for our VIP customers”.

New Delhi, June 8
Almost all the 185 small and five big musical fountains, constructed in different parts of city by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), as a part of its beautification drive initiated about five years back, have been reduced to junk due to insufficient funds required for their maintenance and operation.

According to official sources, the corporation had spent about Rs. 1.5 crore on the construction of each big fountain and Rs 4 lakh on each small fountain. The fountains functioned properly for some time. However, in absence of proper maintenance, the fountains fell into disuse.

Last year, the corporation had allotted only Rs.5 lakh for their operation and maintenance. After hue and cry, this allocation was increased to Rs. 15 lakh for the current year. However, officials say this allocation is still insufficient for smooth operation of the fountains. According to official sources, around Rs 4 lakh is required for operation and maintenance of big fountains and nearly Rs 1 lakh for small fountains.

New Delhi, June 8
At a time each university and institute, private or government funded, is keen to increase the number of seats, to accommodate more and more students, the Delhi University has been steadily decreasing its number of seats.

Going by the official figures, the number of seats has decreased by 2000 in the last five years, which some claim is a shocking figure.

According to sources, there were in all 45,000 seats for both graduate and post-graduate students in the Delhi University, but now the numbers have dwindled to 43,000 which is surprising considering that the demand is increasing day by day.

The university authorities officially remained unavailable for comment but confirmed that the seats had dwindled over a period of time.

The first choice of students residing in Delhi and adjoining areas is Delhi University. Thereafter, they approach Jamia Millia, which has a limited number of seats compared to Delhi University. Moreover, Delhi University is the only university that has been attracting students even from overseas and that too in a good number.

When contacted, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) President, Aditya Narayan Misra, said, “The university needs to increase the number of seats, instead of reducing them.”

Last year, a proposal was tabled in the Academic Council to axe 50 seats of M.Com on the South Campus, even though there are just 150 seats in M.Com course in the entire university.

The teacher community has alleged that the University Grants Commission (UGC) plays a big role in reducing the seats in colleges. Earlier, the colleges could admit 10-15 per cent extra students but now the UGC has directed all the colleges not to admit more than the specified numbers. The result is that in Delhi University, if a student has to get admission in B.Com course, he has to secure more than 65 percent, otherwise his chances are negligible. There is, therefore, intense competition for the limited seats in Delhi University.

Besides, last year the university wound up the M.Phil. courses in Psychology and Political Science. Interestingly, both the courses were closed without the approval of the Academic Council.

Noida, June 8
The farmers of a number of villages held a demonstration, followed by a Panachayat, in Javer police station in protest against the local cops who had arrested and sent to jail a man and his relatives for the murder of a woman and her child a month back.

The villagers alleged that the police had framed the husband and his relatives. This was done by the cops to cover up their failure to bring the real culprits to book. Later, SSP Bulanshahar Anil Das personally came to the Javer police station and recorded the statements of the villagers. Only after the SSP had promised suitable action in the case, the villagers lifted their siege of the police station and dispersed.

The Javer police had recovered the body of a 30-year-old woman and an 8-year-old child from Kanigarhi on May 2. Jagan Nath of village Nagal in Faridabad had identified the deceased as his daughter Mittlesh and grand daughter Parvesh. The police had later arrested Mittlesh’s husband Shiv Charan and his elder brother Khem Chand and sent them to jail. But before going to jail, Shiv Charan and Khem Chand had said that they were innocent and had not murdered Mittlesh.

According to relatives, Mittlesh was alive on May 3; then, how could the police find her body on May 2. Besides, Mittlesh was married in 1999 and her daughter could not have been more than four or five years old. The autopsy had given the age of the deceased as 30 and eight-years-old, respectively.

Incidentally, Micky from village Azizpur, police station Kosi, Mathura, had corroborated that Mittlesh had attended the marriage of his daughter on May 3. Mittlesh had gone missing from Hodal on May 5 whereas the bodies were discovered on May 2, the SSP was told. Obviously, the body was that of somebody else. In protest against the frame-up, the chairperson of Hodal Nagar Palika, Indira Sharma, and several councilors called a Panchayat in the police station. Later, the SSP recorded their statements and assured them of effective action.

Gurgaon, June 8
The subscribers of Reliance mobile telephone are allegedly being subjected to intimidatory tactics by the firm’s authorised agencies, which collect the company’s monthly dues on its behalf.

Recently, the owner of a firm, AMPK, received an anonymous call on his Reliance telephone; the caller threatened to usurp his property, if he did not clear his dues. The ID of the caller was blocked.

The proprietor claims that he had cleared his dues, which had not been updated by the concerned dealer in his account book. Later, when the proprietor wanted to discontinue with the Reliance service, he was subjected to verbal abuses, it is alleged

Disgusted, the proprietor went to the office of a dealer of Reliance mobile telephony.

An employee of the dealer accepted that they had hired agencies to collect the dues. The troubled proprietor has since lodged a complaint with the police in this regard.

Later, the senior vice-president of the Reliance Group, Mr Alok Goyal, visited the police station and disclosed that action had already been taken against the errant employee of the agency.

He further said that the employees of the collection agency had no business to misbehave with the customers and action would be taken against erring employees whenever complaints were received.

New Delhi, June 8
As many as 732 cases of cholera have surfaced in Delhi with an average detection rate of around 20 cases per day.

The Delhi Medical Association today warned people against water borne diseases and asked them to guard themselves against gastroenteritis, which was on the rise with thousands of cases being reported daily in the Capital.

The association said that other diseases such as hepatitis and typhoid were also on the rise; the actual figures could be much higher as at least half the patients being treated in private clinics and nursing homes usually go unreported.

Calling upon people to maintain hygiene, the DMA warned against eating cut fruits sold by hawkers on the streets. It said people should consume water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board and avoid preparations in which crushed ice was added.

New Delhi, June 8
Mr Analjit Singh, Chairman, Max India Group, has been elected Chairman of Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce. His appointment was ratified by the newly constituted governing body of the college at a meeting held here today.

Mr. Analjit Singh is co-chairman of Confederation of Indian Industries’ (CII) healthcare committee, member of the microbiology advisory council of Harvard Medical School, executive board member of Indian School of Business and member, board of governors, Welham Girls’ School, Dehradun.

Faridabad, June 8
Even as the Faridabad police grapples with recent cases of loot and dacoity, a group of four armed persons escaped with gold jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh and Rs 2.30 lakh in cash from the office of a finance company. The company deals in money transfer and keeps jewellery as collateral for loans.

According to information, four youths entered the office of the company located on Nehru ground in the NIT area on the pretext of opening an account. Armed with revolvers and country-made weapons, the youths asked the manager to hand over the jewellery and the cash kept in the lockers and the safe.

Faridabad, June 8
The government doctors in Haryana are unhappy with the Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) being paid to them. They have sought the NPA at the rate of 25 per cent of the basic pay and called for its merger with the latter.