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Autos stolen in city, sold in Manipur
Exam centre slams door on 25% students
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Roadways audit throws up glaring anomalies
AIDS: NGOs told to reach out to high risk groups
BJP scoffs at govt defence
CM opens Metro
Molecular biology diagnostics centre opens
Moderate use of pesticides stressed
Differently abled kids exposed to computers
‘Dignity rally’ for Dalits on December 5
Hostel for MLAs likely
Two Bawaria gangsters held
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Autos stolen in city, sold in Manipur
They have been identified as Shankar Sarkar (22), Ravi Kumar (18), T. Othelo (29), Janindro Singh (27), Parminder Singh (27), S. Imo Singh (55) and D.M. Pani (48). The police have traced out 251 stolen vehicles that were sold in Imphal and Manipur and claimed to have worked out 270 cases of auto-lifting. Following a tip-off, the police arrested Shankar Sarkar, Ravi Kumar and Parminder Singh from Sarojini Nagar area and seized a stolen car from their possession. During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had stolen a number of vehicles from Delhi and adjoining areas and taken them to Parminder in Siliguri. There, with the help of S.Imo Singh, they used to take the vehicles to Imphal and Manipur. Thereafter, one D.M. Pani, an inspector, used to help them in getting the vehicles registered in different transport authorities in Manipur and Imphal. It was one of the biggest inter-state rackets in Delhi and other eastern states. The police further claimed to have seized 23 vehicles from their possession and also trying to get other vehicles that had been sold to the people in Imphal and Manipur with fake registration certificates. The police arrested Imo Singh and D.M. Pani from Guwahati. During further interrogation of the two accused, they revealed that the auto-lifters were getting Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh to pick the car depending on the model and the make of the car. The carrier was getting Rs 20,000 per car to deliver it to the purchaser in Imphal and Manipur while the receivers were further selling it from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per car as per the make of the car. In another case, the North district police have arrested two persons allegedly involved in auto-lifting cases. The accused have been identified as Ashok Kumar (20) and Mukesh Kumar (22). The police recovered a stolen Maruti car from their possession. The car was bearing Jammu and Kashmir registration number. The police apprehended them while they were on their way to sell the car in Jama Masjid area.
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Exam centre slams door on 25% students
New Delhi, December 2 These students of Law Centre I, Law Centre II and Campus Law Centre were denied admit cards by the authorities for not having the required attendance. “Nearly 25 per cent of the students from the 1st year were debarred from taking the examinations, but now we have allowed those who have between 50 and 65 per cent attendance to draft a request letter seeking recounting,” said Prof. Rajiv Khanna, Professor-in-Charge, Campus Law Centre. He said these students will be allowed to take the remaining examinations as per the schedule, but will have to sign an undertaking that if their attendance falls short of the required percentage after the recounting, their results will be withheld. “The staff are busy conducting the examinations and will take some time to recount the attendance. Meanwhile, these students can take the examinations. If they fall short on recounting, their results will be withheld,” Prof. Khanna said. It was pointed out that the rules necessitating students to have at least 66 per cent attendance to be able to take the semester exams were framed last year and they became functional from the current academic session.
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Roadways audit throws up glaring anomalies
Ghaziabad, December 2 Besides, lakhs of rupees deducted from employee’s wages on account of Employees Provident Fund have not been deposited in the EPF accounts. There was another instance of the security guards having been paid excess wages. A three-member team led by the Chief Controller of Accounts office had conducted the audit of the roadways office in Ghaziabad. During a month long scrutiny of roadways records, auditors found a number of glaring anomalies and shortcomings. According to available information, the team has expressed displeasure at roadways authorities’ failure to deposit Rs 34 crore in government kitty on account of passenger tax. In UP, passenger tax is charged at the rate of 16% as compared to 2% to 4% in other state. Ironically, the roadways have come up with a fantastic and illogical
argument that since it is a government department itself, why should it
pay tax to another government department. The EPF amount deducted from roadways employees’ salaries from 2000-01 and 2003 from April to June has not been deposited and posted in the relevant ledgers. This amount was to be deposited in Meerut. Now, under a plan approved by UP Roadways headquarters, the amount will be deposited in easy installments. Likewise, some half-a-dozen security guards, including a security supervisor in Koshambi depot, were paid higher emoluments than they were entitled to. Rs 3,916 was the salary fixed by the Headquarters for the security guards, but they were each paid at the rate of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 pm. The auditors have objected to the excess payment, too. The Roadways maintain three guesthouses in Shastri Nagar, Koshambi and Ajmeri Gate, Ghaziabad. The details of the utility of furniture and fixtures of the guesthouses were not provided to the audit team even on demand. The auditors have also taken the roadways management to task for not recovering the balance of Rs 1.50 lakh from the canteen contractor at the roadways bus stand, Ghaziabad, since July 2000.
IT raids on plywood trader net tax evasion of crores
Noida, December 2 At the residence of Ankur Agarwal, the property dealer, in D-4 Ram Vihar, Sector-30, Rs 50 lakh in cash and property worth crores of rupees is reported to have been seized. Another IT team under Additional IT Commissioner (Investigation), R. C. Gupta, is conducting raids in Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Bulandshahar. Ankur Agarwal has several shops, showrooms and godowns in Kirti Nagar, Delhi, Noida, Meerut and Kanpur. The IT sleuth from Ghaziabad, Meerut and Bulandshahar raided his residence at Ram Vihar in Noida. The trader is alleged to have tried to conceal some property and documents pertaining to his assets. But the raiding squad, rendering his efforts futile, seized the documents. Sources said that Rs 50 lakh in cash was seized from Agarwal’s residence. The sleuths confiscated documents pertaining to property worth cores of rupees from his residence and shops. The raids, which listed till late in the evening, will continue today also at different locations, a report said.
— OC
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AIDS: NGOs told to reach out to high risk groups
Faridabad, December 2 Even as the District Red Cross Society was actively involved in various programmes to spread the message about the killer disease, the lack of facility to provide ‘counselling’ and treatment to the affected ones is conspicuous here. Many felt the NGO’s and government agencies should contact the ‘target’ people and make them understand the problem, besides helping the affected people to recover from the ‘trauma’ and pain associated with the menace.’ A spokesperson of the ‘Shakti Vahini’, an NGO based here, said the agencies involved in the campaign against the HIV menace should spread out in the rural areas, where the ‘reality’ about the menace was still unknown. In this effort, he highlighted the role of ‘special camps’ and programmes. The spokesperson highlighted the fact that Faridabad was an industrial city, which plays host to a large number of migrants who regularly visit the red light areas. Besides, he also emphasised the need to spread awareness among truck drivers and cleaners, who are vulnerable to this disease. Apart from distribution of ‘condoms’, the spread of awareness among the vulnerable sections was equally important, he said.
Call to pull AIDS medicines out of Patents Act
Noida, December 2 At a programme organised in a sub-mall in Sector-18, Noida, on World Aids Day, Nafisa said considering that the AIDS scourge has affected all countries of the world, there is no logic in keeping the AIDS medicines manufactured in a few countries within the purview of the Patents Act. A film, ‘Phir Milenge,’ starring Nafisa Ali, was also shown in Wave Cinema in Sector-18, Noida. The film has been produced by an NGO, Active India, for creating general awareness among people about AIDS. Nafisa Ali said an Indian pharmaceutical company, Cipla, has claimed to have manufactured preventive medicine for AIDS priced at Rs 1,000 in the Indian market. But some vested interests had seen to it that this medicine was excluded from the list of approved medicines for AIDS, she said. This, despite the fact that the composition of the medicine and the approved ones were practically the same. Medicines imported from foreign countries are at least 16 times costlier than Cipla manufactured medicines, Nafisa Ali claimed.
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6,000-km walk on AIDS awareness
New Delhi, December 2 With financial support from Indian and multinational corporations and foundations, the unprecedented walk—whose walkers will include trained AIDS educators—will follow the entire route of the Golden Quadrilateral Highway, the new transportation artery that forms a diamond around the heart of the country and cuts through 13 states. Along the way, walkers and support staff will spread awareness about the disease by means of street theatre, videos and the distribution of educational material. They will be accompanied by a health van that will provide general medical care as well as treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Participants will cover about 20 km per day, sleeping in schools and other public buildings, or campaign in tents where no such facilities exist. The AIDS Walk is being organised by Project Concern International
(PCI) India, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) headquartered in San Diego, USA that has been fighting the AIDS epidemic in India since 1997, “It’s a massive logistical undertaking, but we think the payoff in terms of AIDS awareness could be huge,” said Dr Henry
Alderfer, the Country Director of PCI/India.
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BJP scoffs at govt defence of water hike
New Delhi, December 2 The party said that the losses suffered by the Delhi Jal Board were on account of corruption and mismanagement and that the government could have cut its losses by providing potable water and saving the money it spent on treatment and prevention of water-borne diseases due to contaminated water. “Hardly 50 per cent population of the Capital is in a position to get potable water. The Health Department and the MCD spend crores of rupees on treatment and further prevention of water-borne diseases. Instead, the government can save Rs 100 crore by providing potable water,’’ said Leader of Opposition Jagdish Mukhi. The flat owners of lower income group would have to pay Rs 228 per month and owners of middle income group flats would have to pay Rs 263 per month. Similarly, owners of houses with 150 square metre area shall have to pay Rs 288 per month; owners of houses with area extending beyond 150 sq m would have to pay Rs 338 per month.
CPI raps hike
The Communist party of India has condemned the ‘unprecedented’ increase in water tariff. In a statement, the party said that the government okayed the hike “disregarding continued protest by the people of Delhi since the proposals for such a move were made”. It said that the suggested hike was five to 10 times and that 90 per cent of the domestic consumers pay without meter as claimed by the Delhi Jal Board. “It proposes to have fixed charges until meters are rationalised which, it accepts, is not likely to happen for quite a long time,” read the statement. “That means swindling would be going on,” it added.
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CM opens Metro hospital branch
New Delhi, December 2 She said on the occasion that private hospital should come forward to provide basic health care facilities to the people of the lower strata of society as there is ample scope besides the government initiatives. The chairman of the group, Dr Purshotam Lal, said that as an inaugural bonanza, we are going to give 25% rebate on every heart check-up. Special concession will also be given on angioplasty and bypass surgery.
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Molecular biology diagnostics centre opens
Noida, December 2 A direct inspection of nucleic acids, known as molecular genetics or DNA diagnosis, has a prominent role to play in a number of clinical areas, including oncology (cancer), infectious disease, forensics and the general study of patho-physiology. According to Dr Khan and Dr Yaqin of the Microbiology Research Lab, which has pioneered the Molecular Biology Diagnostics, PCR has revolutionized the way DNA analysis is performed and has become the cornerstone of molecular biology and genetic analysis. The basis of molecular diagnostics rests on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methodology, introduced in 1985, said Dr Khan. He said cancer is curable, if detected early. PCR has opened new horizons for the detection of changes at the level of DNA in breast cancer and colon cancer patients, he added. They can be tested for mutational gene, often responsible for development of cancer in the later years of the patients, said Dr Khan. He said PCR provides a rapid way of amplifying specific DNA fragments in a laboratory for diagnostic and research purposes. It can amplify from a variety of tissue sources, including blood samples, biopsies, surgical or autopsy specimens or cells from hair or saliva. PCR can detect the infectious organisms present in the human body, which cannot be detected by other methods, emphasised Dr Khan.
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Moderate use of pesticides stressed
New Delhi, December 2 Highlighting the need to reduce pesticide residues in the environment below toxic levels, the participants said minimum residue limit could be achieved by moderating the use of pesticides at the point of application. It was important to ensure that the post-spraying period be adhered to before the crop was harvested so that chemicals could disintegrate naturally before entering the food chain Reacting to the popular belief that farmers in India use excessive pesticides, Mr S. Ganesan of the Indian Chemical Manufacturers Association said, if Indian farmers started using pesticides like their counterparts in the USA, the pesticide industry would be worth Rs 40,000 crore per annum and not Rs 3,500 crore as it presently was.
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Differently abled kids exposed to computers
New Delhi, December 2 The programme that aims to bring nearly a lakh people into the IT fold in the coming year was attended by enthusiastic children at a special workshop held here yesterday. Coming from different schools such as Akshay Pratishthan, Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust and National Institute for Hearing and Handicapped, the first day of their computer is aimed at providing them with the opportunities that their counterparts in regular schools have. These children began their training on Swift Jyoti, a simple programme designed to teach the basics of computers in an interactive manner.
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‘Dignity rally’ for Dalits on December 5
New Delhi, December 2 Having decided to organise the “People’s Dignity Rally” here on December 5 at the Ramlila Grounds, the organisation is also holding a Dalit Muslim Mahapanchayat. Founder and national convenor of
NACDOR, Ashok Bharti said, “The rally is not just to highlight the suppression of the Dalits, but of all those people who have been marginalised.” He added, “The government has never allocated more than two per cent of its resources for improving the lot of Dalits in the last 50 years.” Bharti said that Dalits want equal rights and should not be considered “objects of charity, especially by the state”. He added, “NACDOR is a national network of more than 200 grassroot Dalit organisations spread all over India. It is committed to fighting against caste injustice, communalisation and globalisation besides strengthening democracy, Dalit culture and secularism.” Numerous Dalit organisations, which could be instrumental in preventing ‘Politico-Centricity’ of Dalit Movement, remained limited to reservation, atrocities and celebrating days associated with Dr Ambedkar, said Bharti who was also critical of the National Commission of
SC/STs for “having failed in its purpose of stopping atrocities on Dalits. Kamala Puri Sabharwal Memorial Lecture
New Delhi, December 2 Dr Shetty will speak on ‘Food and Nutrition Challenges for the Urbanising Developing World’. The lecture will be chaired by Dr C
Gopalan, President, Nutrition Foundation of India.
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Hostel for MLAs likely
New Delhi, December 2 The accommodation is likely to include a bedroom and a small drawing room. While some MLAs are happy, others are clamouring for something bigger like an apartment. The demand for an official accommodation is longstanding. Some MLAs had demanded for it a few years back, but the proposal fell through for certain reasons. The clamour for a hostel grew louder after ministers secured for themselves palatial bungalows in Rouse Avenue and elsewhere in the city. The most recent case is that of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who moved into a bigger bungalow after living in AB-17 Mathura Road residence for the last about five years.
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Two Bawaria gangsters held
New Delhi, December 2 Police said that the PCR staff members were patrolling the area at night when they saw the suspects sitting in a car parked in front of a shop, Bansal Store, WZ-99, at Posangipur village. When they saw the PCR van coming towards them, they tried to run away. The policemen chased and overpowered them. The suspects were identified as Rameshwar and Durga. During interrogation, they disclosed that they belonged to Bawaria gang and were committing theft in the shop. The shop owner, Kappor Chand Bansal, also reached the spot and confirmed the burglary. Two housebreaking rods were also recovered from their possession, the police said.
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New Delhi, December 2