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Industrial waste: DSIDC caught
in the mire
Stir threat over closure of industries
‘Dead’ criminal jailed under NSA
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R.K.Bhardwaj, president, Ghazipur Slaughterhouse Protest Forum, Laxmimal Arya and Mahendra Arya of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, addressing a press conference against the proposed slaughterhouse in Ghazipur, at Constitution Club in the Capital on Tuesday. — A Tribune photograph
Rs 12 lakh misappropriated from welfare schemes
Villagers nab criminals, cops free them
Five cases of dengue
in Noida
EC directs admn to remove Mussori SO
Residents rue poor upkeep of flats
Expecting a call on your way? No way, your cell is deactivated
Minor rape victim bears a child
‘Young Discoverers’ for children
‘Journalist’ held for extorting money
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested a ‘journalist’ on charge of extorting money from a scrap dealer in Netaji Nagar.
Betting racket busted
Traffic parks for commuters
Slum renewal programme in the offing
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Industrial waste: DSIDC caught
in the mire
New Delhi, October 12 The industries in the ‘A’ to ‘F’ categories in Delhi have time till October 15 to contribute their share towards setting up of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) and operate the CETPs according to “We are seized of the matter … we are doing our utmost to get all the parties involved including industrial societies to arrive at an amicable solution and at the same time honour the directions of the Supreme Court on setting up of common effluent treatment plants,” Chairman and Managing Director of DSIDC Jalaj Srivastava told The Tribune. Explaining the problem, he said the Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court wants industry to adopt a CETP of a certain design, which the DSIDC will set up and operate on a trial basis for sometime before handing it over to respective industrial societies. The industry says the extra expenditure is avoidable. With the result, the DSIDC is caught in the crossfire, with nowhere to turn to except the apex court. Sources quote officials involved in this exercise as saying that the DSIDC would rather wait and watch. They said that the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government has been apprised and that the Supreme Court’s directions are awaited. The sources said that a part of the problem lay in the fact that the DSIDC, by virtue of being the agency entrusted with the task of executing the apex court’s directions, was caught between two committees–the Bhure Lal Committee and the Monitoring Committee–and
was therefore, anticipating a further direction from the court. Compounding matters for the DSIDC is the reluctance of the industrial societies to bear 50 per cent of the project cost, leave alone compensate the DSIDC for the escalation in cost over the years insofar as conveyance, electrification and land are concerned. “The industry,” says Mr Srivastava, “owe DSIDC a lot of money”. According to a rough estimate, the industrial societies owe the DSIDC Rs 45 odd crore. This, the sources said, is besides the cost of land and other expenses that the Delhi Government has agreed to bear in the larger interest of all parties concerned. Consequently, the DSIDC is having to spend close to Rs 50 lakh per month from its own resources. However, the industry claims that the cost of setting up a CETP is steep. Moreover, the CETP designed by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has a capacity for treating 40 million litres of waste per day whereas the effluent discharged from industries barely crosses 11 mld.
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Stir threat over closure of industries
New Delhi, October 12 Participating in a demonstration to protest against the Delhi Government’s drive against the industries, they demanded that the Centre bring an Ordinance to amend the Delhi Master Plan, which prescribes closure of non-conforming industrial units in residential areas. Announcing this at the rally organised by the party, Sitaram Yechury of CPI (M) threatened that a Delhi bandh will be organised and more than 1.5 lakh people will take to the streets if the government did not come up with an Ordinance within 10 days. “We will submit these demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the co-ordination committee meeting this evening,” he said. “There is no other solution to this. We will fight both from within Parliament and outside it,” Yechury said and called on all trade associations and manufacturers to join the agitation. Mr Singh demanded that the sealing of industrial units in non-conforming areas should be stopped immediately. “This is a common struggle for both entrepreneurs and the workers. For every manufacturer, there are 10 workers in these industries and the livelihood of lakhs are at stake,” Singh said. “We have spoken to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad but to no avail. The provision in the Master Plan is not in the interest of the traders, industrialists and the common people,” D Raja of CPI said. Raja also urged that the issue should not be politicised and said a “practical approach” should be adopted to solve the problem. The Supreme Court has directed the Delhi Government to close all industrial units in residential and other non-conforming areas as per the Delhi Master Plan of 1957.
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‘Dead’ criminal jailed under NSA
Ghaziabad, October 12 According to the SO Loni police station, Mr Vishesh Kumar Singh, the criminal and his gang had stolen a large quantity of electric cable. The gang included Hemant, alias Mukesh, of Bulandshahr, Devinder, Rama Shankar and Nanak Chand of Delhi. The SO said the gangsters were living in Delhi. They had been jailed under NSA. Hemant, alias Mukesh, was a history-sheeter of Ahmedgarh police station in Bulandshar district. The Bulandshahr police had declared him dead some 10 years ago and his criminal record had been filed by the police. According to police sources, one unidentified person had died in a road accident a decade ago in Bulandhshar. A driving licence and a photograph of Mukesh were recovered from the body of the deceased. It is now learnt that Hemant himself had planted this document on the person of one of his victims who could not be identified, to mislead the police who were in hot pursuit. But the Loni police seem to have shocked the Bulandshahr police by arresting Hemant, alias Mukesh, declared dead earlier. The police confirmed after investigations that the detained criminal was indeed Hemant, the history-sheeter.
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Ghazipur forum up in arms against proposed abattoir
New Delhi, October 12 Citing figures of milch cattle at about 200 million today, as compared to 370 million in 1947, Mr Laxmi Chandra of the International Arya League, said: If the decline of milch cattle continues, it would spread the culture of synthetic milk and endanger the public health. However, with the proposed slaughterhouse at Ghazipur in East Delhi falling within the 10-km radius of the “banned area”, as mentioned under the 1988 amendment of the Indian Aviation Laws, R. K. Bhardwaj of the Anti-Abattoir Committee, said that besides causing problems for landing planes at the Hindon airbase, the move would endanger the lives of people in case of an accident. Expressing concern over the plan for slaughterhouse, once shelved by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1982, as “anti-people”, Ms Asha Rawat of Ghazipur Slaugtherhouse Protest Forum, said establishing the abattoir would lead to the spread of jaundice, brain fever, pneumonia, typhoid and skin diseases in the area. Demanding that the Ghazipur slaughterhouse be shifted, and the constructed building be converted into an animal shelter, they said the anti-people move would have disastrous consequences for the government if it went ahead with the scheduled abattoir there. However, the Supreme Court has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to construct the slaughterhouse by January next year. The MCD has also assured that construction will be completed within a given time. The Central agencies have funded for the construction. It will be a modern slaughterhouse on the basis of new technology brought from Germany, the Municipal Commissioner said.
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Rs 12 lakh misappropriated from welfare schemes
Noida, October 12 About 15 days ago, a complaint was made that money had been misappropriated from the consolidated development funds. The report was sent by District Magistrate Santosh Yadav to the state administration in which the accounts officer, the chairman and the officer in charge had been found guilty. The state government had allotted Rs 56.28 lakh to the Dadri Municipal Committee for development works. But the chairman, the executive engineer and the accounts officer of the Municipal Committee had allegedly siphoned off about Rs 20 lakh by showing it as some expenditure. On the basis of the complaint, a two-member committee has been appointed to look into the swindle.
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Villagers nab criminals, cops free them
Greater Noida, October 12 They were professional cheats who had reportedly defrauded some people in Haryana of Rs 2.50 lakh recently. When Circle Officer Triveni Singh came to know that the police had let the thugs off, he reprimanded the cops and ordered a probe. Eight robbers had descended on one Mehram Singh’s house in a Maruti van on Saturday evening and told him that they are expert in smelling out treasures buried underground. After going around his house, they told Mehram Singh that the treasure was at the back of the house and started digging it up. Later, they produced some gold coins out of the slush and claimed that the treasure had been located. They told Mehram Singh that he could take all the gold coins by giving them Rs 10 lakh. When a Dadri goldsmith was asked to examine the coins, he said they were fake. But by then, the four cheats had left the van on way to Dadri. At this, villagers pounced upon the cheats and thrashed them thoroughly before handing them over to police. Two bags full of similar coins were discovered by the villagers in the van. The thugs were handed over to Dadri police. But the police reportedly did not take any action nor registered the FIR against the cheats. Later, the villagers alleged that police had released two of them along with the van after “some settlement”. When the villagers complained to the Circle Officer Triveni Singh, he reprimanded one SI and other cops and ordered a probe into the matter.
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Five cases of dengue
in Noida
Noida, October 12 The Noida authority sources have, however, confirmed that three dengue cases had been reported. The recent rains have falsified the authority claims about fogging and anti-malaria sprays. Till now, five dengue cases have come to light. Out of these one woman from Sorkha village had died in Shivalik Nursing Home while another patient died in government hospital Sector-30, Noida. The medical authorities are reluctant to acknowledge any of these cases as dengue positive. According to CMO MP Singh, a patient with fewer than 20,000 platelets can be considered a dengue positive case. No tests conducted in private hospital or pathology labs will be accepted. The tests have to be conducted in a government hospital or laboratory, the CMO said. Dr MP Singh said besides the platelet count, reports of IGG and IGM tests should also be positive. He said the authority claims are baseless in view of increasing dengue cases. A letter has recently been sent to the Noida authority from the CMO’s office, stressing the need for increasing fogging and anti-larvae campaigns. Dr MP Singh said since it is the responsibility of the health department of Noida authority to take precautions against dengue; the authority will be held responsible if the incidences of dengue increase. The authority’s head of health department, RS Yadav claimed all possible steps are being taken in this direction. He said anti-larvae and fogging operations are being carried out in Noida town and the affected villages.
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EC directs admn to remove Mussori SO
Ghaziabad, October 12 It is understood that the order has been passed because Mrs Ashok Pandya, wife of the SO, is a member of the executive committee of state Samajwadi party as well as a member of the UP Women Commission. SSP Jai Narain Singh said that Mr Pandya was being shifted and the names of three police officers have been submitted for the Election Commission’s approval to post Pandya’s successor in Mussori police station. As soon as the EC’s nod is received for the new SI to be appointed as SO Mussori police station, Mr Pandya will be shifted, the SSP said.
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Residents rue poor upkeep of flats
New Delhi, October 12 The families living in the flats have complained that the overhead tanks of most of the quarters are in a pathetic condition, with little or no water stored in them. Some of the water tanks are leaking, the residents allege, and need to be either replaced or urgently repaired but complaints to the authorities concerned go unheeded.
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Expecting a call on your way? No way, your cell is deactivated
New Delhi, October 12 Alarmed by the increasing incidents of accidents caused by use of cellphones while driving and motivated by his son who had a narrow escape, a technocrat’s sustained efforts have resulted in the outcome of a small, but effective devise, which prevents drivers from talking on their cell phones while behind the wheel. “Driving is a full-time job and there is no scope for any distraction. Accidents owing to a mechanical failure or a natural calamity are unavoidable, but those caused by recklessness are a senseless loss of innocent lives,” complains Dr Yash Pal Singh, the inventor of the devise called ‘Auto Profile’. The former Professor from IIT Kharagpur has filed a patent for the devise, which is also inexpensive to boot, and for which surprisingly, the cellphone companies have shown little admiration. “It is a chicken or the egg theory, what with the automobile and the cellphone companies waiting for each other to make the first move,” he says. The prototype of the devise, which is currently under production, is an answer to the prayers of law enforcers who despite stringent punishment are yet to rein in erring drivers. The devise, which on the basis of a signal deactivates the cellphone, is the first and the only one of
its kind. “The system has two components, a special signal generator located in the driver’s seat and a chip located in the cellphone. When the ignition is switched on and the vehicle is moving the signal automatically disables the phone. The driver in this case can neither make or receive a call,” says Singh. While the devise allows the passengers in the vehicle to use the phone, it allows the drivers to use the phone in certain emergency situations, “There is a sliding switch that the driver has to push and this
will connect him to the nearest hospital or police station. But in case of misuse, the police can take strict action against the erring driver.” Further, while the drivers who own handsfree sets can still escape the prohibition of the devise, those who take the handsets from a passenger will have their calls deactivated immediately. “The signal will be received as soon as someone hands over the set and those calling on that number would receive a feedback that the person is driving,” says Dr Singh. Having received no assistance from the government or elsewhere, Singh is perturbed that cellphone companies, who earn about 60 per cent of their revenue from callers who talk while driving, are awaiting the laws to be framed for implementing the use of the devise. The automobile industry, too, awaiting a similar enforcement.
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Minor rape victim bears a child
Noida, October 12 Saying this, the young mother, Rekha, (not her real name), broke into tears in the labour room in Sector-30 government hospital, Noida. Doctors said 14-year-old Rekha had been pregnant for
eight months. The victim said her neighbour Amar had been raping her for many months, promising
to marry her one day. Both live in slums of Sector-8, Noida. But when Amar learnt that she was pregnant, he broke his promise and refused to marry her. A case was registered in Sector-20 police station. The police then brought Amar to government hospital for a DNA test
after registering a case against him. However, the CMO told the police that the DNA test is conducted in a Hyderabad-based Central government laboratory
for which a court order is necessary. Meanwhile, Amar challenged the DNA test, disclaiming that he was the father of Rekha’s newborn child. The poor young girl had to go through a lot of mental and emotional agony when the hospital authorities persisted in knowing the name of the father. At last she uttered “Amar Amar” and broke into tears. A disconsolate Rekha had first refused to feed her baby unless Amar came to see the newborn. But the family members and doctors persuaded her to feed the boy, promising her to bring the man soon.
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‘Young Discoverers’ for children
New Delhi, October 12 The series encourages children to read and learn during formative years. The first series covers topics of Life Science, Earth Sciences and Physical Sciences. The books in the series are based on science and nature and focuses on topics including mammals, oceans, weather, climate and space exploration among others. These books have been adapted from Discovery Channel’s Student Activity Books. Initially available in English, these books will be later available in a few Indian languages. These books have been adapted in a reader-friendly format for the children.
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‘Journalist’ held for extorting money
New Delhi, October 12 The suspect, identified as Raj Narayan Mishra, who claimed to work with a TV channel in the Capital, made a video film of the scraps scattered in front of the shop of Mohammad Naushad, a scrap dealer in Netaji Nagar. He then introduced himself as a journalist and threatened to report that bombshells were recovered from the scrap kept in his shop. He allegedly demanded Rs 20,000 and a monthly payment of Rs 5000 so that he would not report the story. However, the shopkeeper reported the matter to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. The sleuths of the Special Cell developed the information and arrested the suspect red handed while allegedly receiving Rs 15,000 from the
victim. —TNS
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Betting racket busted
New Delhi, October 12 Man nabbed for snatching cell
The Delhi Police arrest a man for snatching a mobile phone. The police seized the mobile phone from his possession. The accused was identified as Tushar Dhawan, a resident of DLF phase-III, Gurgaon. However, the police said that Tushar was a student of Class 11 and had no criminal background. He was living alone in his house after the death of his parents. The police said that the victim, Abhijit Shah, was in the Priya Cinema complex on October 11, when a youth snatched his mobile phone.
13 held with illegal iron rods
The Delhi Police have arrested 13 persons for allegedly selling iron bars illegally. The accused persons were arrested from Mayur Vihar-Phase-II.
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Traffic parks for commuters
New Delhi, October 12 As of now, there was only one traffic park and that was established at Roshanara Bagh in 1988. This park was developed to impart the traffic training for North Delhi residents. But for the last one year, this traffic-training park was not operative. The police officials said that the training would be given to the schoolchildren also so that they could negotiate with the road traffic easily and safely. “Such road safety training are necessary as the Delhi Traffic is increasing day by day,” said Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Qamar Ahmed. On the occasion, the traffic police organised an on-the-spot painting competition in which schoolchildren from six schools participated. The police distributed awards to the winner in the competition.
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Slum renewal programme in the offing
New Delhi, October 12
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