 |
|
|
Holy book is human heritage, says Kalam
Curbs on discoms to check action |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arjun Singh calls for
Former AIIMS MS plea against departmental action dismissed
Rising number of old-age pensioners foxes officials
Two rob Delhiite, shot
Confusion over British nationals’ ‘disappearance’ clears
Trade tax officer beaten up
Plot allotment: Clean chit given in 294 cases
Industrialist gets award for quality
One killed in truck accident
Girl stabbed to death by cousin
Gang of robbers busted
|
|
Holy book is human heritage, says Kalam
New Delhi, September 1 Guru Granth Sahib is a symbol of national integration and human heritage, Mr Kalam said, greeting devotees. “It is a very important day as 400 years back Guru Arjan Dev had evolved the holy Granth on this day which contains hymns by saints from different religions and faiths,” he said. The President, who was at the gurdwara for nearly 40 minutes, also read out a poem, “ Guru Prakasam”, which, he said was written by him yesterday during his visit to the
Golden Temple. Guru Granth Sahib was compiled and installed at Harmandar Sahib in Amritsar in September 1604. The holy book contains hymns written by saints and scholars of different religions. Mr Kalam said he was highly impressed by Guru Arjan Dev, who, he said, had done two great things, made the Golden Temple and written the holy Granth. The president was presented a siropa, a shawl, a sword and a photograph of the Golden Temple by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Parhlad Singh Chandok. Mr Chandok also submitted a memorandum to the President, appealing for the allotment of 400 acres of land in lieu of the area which was taken from Gurdwara Rakab Ganj by Britishers for constructing the President House and Parliament. While urging the President to evolve a package for 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, Mr Chandok also requested the President to pardon Prof Davinder Singh Bhullar, who has been given death penalty for conspiring to murder a politician. While the main function was held at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, elaborate functions were also organised in all major gurdwaras in the city. Buildings of all gurdwaras were illuminated and langars and kirtans organised. The morning functions began early at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and Gurdwara Rakab Ganj with processions and nagar kirtans. At Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, langar and sweets were served and a fireworks display was held at night. At a meeting of the Shiromani Gurdwara Sewadar Committee held today, president of the panel Raja Singh Sethi congratulated the people and appealed to them to follow the teachings contained in the holy book.
Stone laid for GGS varsity campus in Dwarka After running for six years from a makeshift campus, the foundation stone for a new campus of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University was laid here today. Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh laid the foundation stone of the campus, expected to come up within three years in Dwarka, West Delhi. The ceremony, held on the occasion of the quadricentennial celebrations of the Guru Granth Sahib, was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar and the Indraprastha University Vice-Chancellor K K Aggarwal. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Singh said, “It is indeed significant that the foundation stone for the new campus of the university named after Guru Gobind Singh has been laid on the 400th anniversary of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the core of the Sikh religion.” The new campus of the university in Sector 16 C, Dwarka, will enhance the educational infrastructure of the new residential colonies coming up in the area, he added. When completed, the university, which now functions from the old campus of the Delhi College of Engineering, will shift most of its academic activities to Dwarka. “We want to instil values in the new generation by providing them with the best education,” said Ms Dikshit. A number of new vocational courses like hospital management will be introduced from next year, she added. The university will add an East Delhi Campus in Shahdara at a later date. Established in 1998, the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has more than 70 institutes in Delhi and nearby areas affiliated to it.
|
|
Curbs on discoms to check action against users
New Delhi, September 1 The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (DERC’s) draft metering and billing regulations 2004, for which public comments have been invited, have a number of safeguards to protect customers from arbitrary action of the discoms. According to the draft, no one can walk into the premises of a customer to inspect report of theft of power unless he shows a photo-identity card and hands over a business guard. According to the regulations which came into force in August 2002, the discom officials only needed to show an authority letter before searching the premises. Moreover, now no case for electricity theft can be registered only on account of seals on the meter being missing or tampering or breakage of the glass window or a hole in the meter body unless corroborated by the consumption pattern of the consumer. Even if a case has to be registered, the discom has to serve seven working days’ show-cause notice within a week of the date of inspection as to why the case of theft should not be booked against the consumer. It also has to arrange personal hearing with the customer within four days of submission of complaint. These clauses are not present in the regulations currently in force. The draft regulations have also clearly laid out the number of instalments through which a customer can pay his arrears. If the arrears are for a period up to 12 months, 50 per cent has to be paid in the first instalment and the balance in two equal instalments. In case arrears are for more than 12 months, it has to be paid in four equal installments. “Earlier, there was no clear guideline for payment of arrears and customers had to haggle with the discoms. This step should save them any harassment,” a DERC official said. If the arrears for which payment had already been made within the due date again appears in a later bill, the discom will have to pay a compensation at the rate of 10 per cent of the arrear amount with a ceiling of Rs 500 to the consumer. In case this happens a second time, the compensation will be 15 per cent of the arrear amount with a ceiling of Rs 750, according to the draft regulations. The discoms will have to pay to the tune of Rs 500 for delay in raising the first bill, transferring ownership, load reduction and in case provisional billing continues for more than two billing cycles. “At present, if customers face these problems they can claim penalty of same amount but as this can be a long process, we have substituted it with a compensation clause,” the official said. The draft regulations had already been approved by the three discoms in Delhi and would be notified soon.
|
|
Arjun Singh calls for balanced growth
New Delhi, September 1 In his address on the occasion of the UGC National Hari Om Ashram Trust and Swami Pranavananda Saraswati Awards, 2002-03, Mr Singh apologised to the awardees for the delay in the presentation of the awards. “We are now entering a global age, where concerns of all communities and countries are expanding and infringing upon concerns of the other parts of the world. Mankind is bonded into a relationship, which is both baffling and volatile. It is this bonding that has to be mastered, so that ultimately the world enters an era of lasting peace,” the Minister said. There were seven recipients of the UGC Hari Om Ashram Trusts Awards for both the years. Among the awardees were Director, IIT, Delhi, Prof. R. S. Sirohi, Dr R. Madhubala, School of Life Sciences, JNU, and Dr. P. Kar, Professor of Medicine, MAMC. The Ved Vyas Sanskrit Awards were presented to Prof. D. Prahlada Chari, former VC, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, for the year 2002 and to Dr Keshab Chandra Dash of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri, for the year 2003. The UGC Swami Pranavananda Saraswati Awards were presented in the fields of Education, Sociology, Economics and Environmental Science and Ecology for the years 2002 and 2003. There was no recipient for the award in the category of Sociology for the year 2003.
|
|
Former AIIMS MS plea against departmental action dismissed
New Delhi, September 1 Justice Manmohan Sarin dismissed the petition saying the criminal prosecution as well as departmental proceedings could run at the same time on the same charge. Now both criminal prosecution by the Delhi Police’s Anti-Corruption Branch and the departmental proceedings by AIIMS would go on simultaneously against Dr Anand for allegedly accepting Rs 10,000 as bribe for awarding a cotton gauge supply contract in 1998. In April this year, the Supreme Court had overruled the High Court’s May 2003 order that had set aside his criminal prosecution on the ground that ‘valid sanction’ had not been granted for it. Departmental proceedings had been stayed after the petitioner had moved the High Court in 2001 seeking to quash the institute’s decision to initiate departmental proceedings. Earlier, the High Court had set aside the Dr Anand’s prosecution and also ordered a review of his suspension on his petition filed in 2000. The court had said, ‘’To our mind, the sanction once declined by the Disciplinary Authority could not be granted by the Governing Body without assigning good and cogent reasons, hence the grant of sanction to prosecute the petitioner could not be sustained. ‘’Even otherwise the impugned decision of grant of sanction to prosecute cannot stand in the eye of law because the material document (the alleged tape conversation in which commission was demanded by Dr Anand) was not placed before the Governing Body. It was a material evidence of the 1998 incident,’’ the court observed. The High Court also agreed with the petitioner’s contention that the President of the Disciplinary Authority, while rejecting the grant of sanction to prosecute Dr Anand, nowhere sought the confirmation of his decision by the Governing Body and he simply asked it to ratify its decision. Further saying that continuous suspension was bad in law, the court had directed a review of the petitioner’s suspension continuing since April 2000. However, the apex court reversed the High Court’s order.
|
|
Rising number of old-age pensioners foxes officials
Faridabad, September 1 The authorities have now ordered a fresh survey and scrutiny of the new applicants. According to the official reports, the committee engaged in the detection of fresh persons for this scheme, made an addition of about 13,528 residents of the district in the list after the survey which ended recently. However, the officials of the department concerned have reportedly objected and claimed that the number was too much compared to the statistics regarding the population and estimates prepared by the department. It is added that the percentage of new applicants should not be more than 11 or 12 per cent of the existing number of the persons drawing such pension, while the new figure was 25.11 per cent. The total beneficiaries under the scheme at present had been 53,862, who draw a pension of Rs 200 per month. The survey to find new eligible persons is done annually and the district authorities had completed this year’s survey in July last, through the offices of the tehsildars of each subdivision. All the 13,628 persons have been asked to join the survey and the scrutiny to be conducted by six teams constituted at various spots from September 2 to 13 next. While the residents of the rural areas will have to report at the tehsil office, those residing in the urban areas will have to be present in the office of the Municipal Committee or the Municipal Corporation. The committees asked to conduct the survey will be headed by the tehsildars, naib tehsildars and the heads of the municipal bodies of various towns. While the district administration has claimed that the names of the eligible candidates will not be struck off, it has, however, not held any official responsible for the alleged inconvenience caused to several senior citizens of the district. The MLA from Ballabhgarh, Mr Rajender Singh Beesla, has condemned the action and demanded that the district officials should visit the residence of each applicant instead of asking them to be present at their offices for the scrutiny. Mr Beesla claimed that the old people were not responsible for any lapse in the survey.
|
|
Two rob Delhiite, shot dead by police
Ghaziabad, September 1 Khazan Singh was an accused in the murder of BSP leader Lalit Mohan Joshi last year for which IG Nainital had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 on him. He had looted Rs 6 lakh from Cooperative Bank, Kala Dhongi under police station Beri Nag. He was wanted in three other cases, including a murder. According to police, armed with automatic weapons, these criminals had looted a Delhi civil engineer A.K.Pande, his wife and sons on Tuesday morning. Pande was on his way to Delhi from Ram Nagar in his car. The criminals had looted a jewellery shop after braking open the shutters. They had assaulted and kidnapped the security guard who was later dumped near Bachhlota canal. During a police encounter later, the two were killed. The police seized the car, cash, jewellery, one stungun and rifle along with some live and empty cartridges. Pande, a resident of Raja Garden in West Delhi, was returning in his Wagon-R car with wife Rashmi and sons Samarth and Sidharth from his sister’s house in Ram Nagar. The family had gone there on the occasion of Rakhi. Pande’s car was blocked at 3 am by the criminals armed with automatic weapons in another car a little away from Babugarh police station.
|
|
Confusion over British nationals’ ‘disappearance’ clears
New Delhi, September 1 The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West), Ms Shalini Singh, said that the British women tourists, 80-year-old Olive John and her daughter Jene (55), were safe. They had not checked in a hotel in Karol Bagh where they had their bookings, thus creating the confusion. Olive and Jene had booked a room in the guesthouse before their arrival in India on the intervening night of August 27 and August 28. The Additional DCP said that the guesthouse had sent a taxi to the airport to fetch them, but the vehicle broke down en route and, after waiting for some time, Olive and Jene took another taxi. However, since they were not aware of the location of the guesthouse, they had booked and checked into another hotel. Jene’s daughter called up the guesthouse yesterday to talk to her mother and when told that they had not checked in, she informed the British High Commission, which approached the South-West District police yesterday, Mrs Shalini Singh said. She said that the police had traced the duo by last night. The two left by air for Khajuraho today, Shalini said.
Racket in spurious CSD liquor busted
The Southwest district police has busted a gang which was allegedly involved in the sale of spurious liquor. The arrested persons have been identified as Dinesh Kumar Rana (30), a resident of Poultry farm, Delhi Cantt-10, and Chander Shekhar, alias Chandan, a resident of Uri Enclave, Delhi Cant. Incidentally, Dinesh is working in Military Engineering Services and was posted in the same area. According to the police, the special staff of southwest district had been tipped off that a gang was engaged in sale of spurious liquor of CSD make in the area. Incidentally, the Military Intelligence services had also received a similar tip-off. Subsequent investigations revealed that an employee of Military Engineering Services was allegedly involved in the racket. On August 31 the special staff got to know that Dinesh had stocked a huge consignment of spurious liquor at his house. On the basis of the information, a joint team of Southwest district police and Military Intelligence Services raided the premises of Dinesh Kumar Rana and arrested him with the spurious liquor. Chander Shekhar, who was also present on the premises at the time of the raid, was also arrested. The police arrested them while they were allegedly changing the labels of the spurious liquor. During the search, 180 bottles of spurious Contessa XXX rum, Bagpiper and other brands were recovered. The police had also seized 785 stickers of different brands of liquors. Dinesh revealed that he is the lone bread winner in a family comprising three sisters, mother, wife and a child. In 2004, one Jinda, a resident of Bahadurgarh, asked him to deliver spurious liquor. Later Dinesh asked Jinda to provide labels of CSD canteen liquor. Jinda reportedly started providing the labels. Later, he roped in Chander in his illicit business.
|
|
Trade tax officer beaten up
Noida, September 1 The officers did not listen and allegedly ordered the vehicles to be brought to their department in Sector-2 Noida. The traders alleged that the officials had demanded illegal gratification for releasing the trucks. It seems that the traders had made up their mind to teach the officials a lesson. Khurja traders went back only when the officers ordered their inspectors to return the documents and release both the trucks parked at the office gate. A bribe of Rs 5,000 taken by an official sometime ago is also reported to have been extracted from
the officials. The senior officials of the mobile unit are reportedly shocked by the event that they have chosen to keep silent. Meanwhile, S.S. Sinha, Joint Commissioner of mobile and inspection unit of the trade tax department, has feigned ignorance of the development while the departmental employees said that the Joint Commissioner himself was present in the office on Friday night when the traders had created a commotion. It may be added that the traders are fed up with the ‘overbearing’ style of working of the trade tax officials vis-à-vis traders. In view of the tension, the police had also reached the Sector-2 office of the trade tax department. Senior departmental officers are reportedly trying to find an excuse for the allegations levelled by the traders.
|
|
Plot allotment: Clean chit given in 294 cases
Noida, September 1 It may be recalled that these 51 cases pertain to the last days of Mayawati government and allotments to 51 industrialists were approved on a single day. After the clean chit, hundreds of allottees who had been worried during the past 12 months have heaved a sigh of relief. With the Mathur Commission probing these allotments, the work in this connection had come to a standstill in the authority. Some allottees used to visit the authority for possession letters while others were keen to get the possession of the plots. During August 2003, 51 industrial plots were allotted in a single day, ignoring all rules by the authority brass. A one-man Vijay Shankar Mathur Commission had been set up by the state government to probe the allotment of these plots.
|
|
Industrialist gets award for quality
Gurgaon, September 1 The award, given a couple of days ago by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has been instituted by the Ministry of Small Scale Industries, Government of India. The firm is located in Roz-Ka-Meo Industrial Area (Notified Backward Industrial Area), and was established in 1995. Incidentally, Mr Yadav was also awarded the “National Award for excellence in Small Sector” on an all India basis in 2003. Talking to newsmen, Mr Yadav said that Paltech is constantly striving to upgrade its services, quality and performance.
|
|
One killed in truck accident
New Delhi, September 1 The police said that the accident took place at 11 pm. The truck was coming towards Apsara Border and had to cross the railway crossing which was closed as Muradabad Passenger train was crossing. The truck driver applied the brakes, but they failed and the vehicle hit the
‘rehriwalas’. A passer-by was also hit and died on he spot. The truck broke the barrier and rammed the moving train, the police said. Just after the accident, people from the nearby areas gathered and helped the police protect the victims. The people caught hold of the truck.
224 persons held for eve-teasing
In a special drive launched by the East district police, 224 persons were arrested for eve-teasing. During the special drive launched between August 16 to 31, there was increased patrolling in the area, particularly in the colleges, schools, bus stands and market places.
|
|
|
Girl stabbed to death by cousin
New Delhi, September 1 The preliminary investigations revealed that Suman’s
brother, Rakesh, was also attacked by Sanjay when he came to her
rescue. Police said that the neighbours thrashed Sanjay before handing
him over to the police. Rakesh was admitted to a hospital, where his
condition was said to be under control.
|
|
Gang of robbers busted
New Delhi:
The South West district police busted a gang of robbers operating in the Mayapuri Industrial Area. The gang was mainly involved in stealing goods from the factories of the area.
The arrested gang members were identified as Jai Kishan, alias Chotu, Badru Jamal and Shiv Kumar.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
