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Lid off credit card racket
Centre to save ancient buildings
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Sickening notice makes nurses knock on NCW’s door
MCD health sector ailing despite massive budgetary allocation
35 industrial plots cancelled in Gt Noida
Rush for Congress tickets for Faridabad Assembly polls
77,000 new names in voters’ list
Five held for stealing mobiles
Time for theatre buffs to pick and choose from 56 plays
Sunny spells for a few days
DTC drivers ditch passengers
Shalaka Samman for Nemichand Jain
Four kidnappers get life sentence
Child dies
in fire
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Lid off credit card racket
New Delhi, January 7 The accused has been identified as Manoj Kumar Shastri, resident of R K Puram. Acting on a tip-off that one person was engaged in drug trafficking and fake credit cards, the sleuths laid a trap and nabbed him near Bahadurshah Zafar Marg. During interrogation, he disclosed that he has been working with the BSES on contractual basis and prepared a fake salary slip and income tax returns to procure credit cards in collusion with other persons. Initially, he procured seven credit and debit cards based on documents of fictitious persons. Since the major banks were in the process of issuing bulk credit cards for the corporates without looking into formalities, the accused also prepared a fake identity card and a letterhead posing himself as the CEO of the BSES and procured as many as 70 Manhattan credit cards with the credit limit of Rs 50,000 on each card. With the credit cards, he had purchased items worth several lakhs of rupees and also prepared a draft of ICICI Bank for Rs 3.70 lakh. The sleuths have also identified his accomplices and a massive hunt is on to trace them.
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Centre to save ancient buildings
New Delhi, January 7 This information was given by the Union Urban Development Ministry to a Bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice D M Dharmadhikari which was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach). Intach had alleged that these buildings, not being included in the list of ancient monuments of the Centre, was facing the wrath of time and their lifespan was being further shortened by the assault of encroachers and builders. The ministry said that the 14-member committee would include the Director of National Museum on Natural History, environmentalist M Shaheer and conservation architect AGK Menon apart from various officials of the Urban Development Ministry and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Following the petition and the monitoring of the apex court, the ministry had amended the building bye- laws to exclude historical buildings of Delhi from being demolished for erecting modern buildings. It said the task before the newly set-up committee was to scan Delhi for ancient monuments and take action for their preservation. With this statement, the court disposed of the PIL.
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Sickening notice makes nurses knock on NCW’s door
New Delhi, January 7 Ms John, a trained nurse at the Moolchand Hospital, found the notice listing her new job responsibility sickening. As did many others, who were asked to “stand at one place, without moving for eight hours at a stretch”, and still others who were posted to remote areas, “where after walking for hours, they were restricted to a small, cramped room with no facilities for even a decent toilet”. The agitated nursing staff after approaching the National Federation of Indian Women are now banking on the National Commission of Women’s intervention. “The first hearing of the case was on December 24, the second on January 5 and the third on January 15, the management is responding to the three-member committee constituted by the NCW,” said the NCW Chairperson, Dr Poornima Advani, commenting on the case. The committee, which has KTS Tulsi, Supreme Court advocate and Shanker Sen, former DG of NHRC apart from Dr Adavni is now looking into the complaint filed by the woman staffers. The harassment, including dismissal orders against 63 staff members on various grounds, registering FIRs on false grounds and postings in distant places like Mandola and Hapur. The alleged witch-hunt started after they had demanded for a salary revision according to the Fifth Pay Commission. “When we first raised the demand for salary revision in 1995, the management declared a lockout. This was repeated in 1998, when again with the help of the police, we were locked out and the services remained closed for three months. It was only after the labour court intervened that we were reinstated,” recalled a hospital worker. She said, “No salaries were, however, paid during the period and suspended and dismissed workers have not been reinstated and the management continues to harass the remaining staff who are still working on old salaries, without statutory increase in DA, bonus and increments.” It was also pointed out that when the staff filed a contempt petition in the court against the management for violating the High Court’s order of maintaining the status quo of the Labour Court, the management “responded by staging a drama on the pretext of conducting negotiations and then proceeded to file FIRs against numerous staff members many of whom were not even present in the hospital”. The grievances are many, but Sheela is does not know whether “perceived leaning” against a chair for support after standing eight hours on her feet, is a reason good enough for getting a memo.
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MCD health sector ailing despite massive budgetary allocation
New Delhi, January 7 A total of Rs 2874.50 lakh was allocated and only a mere Rs 115 lakh was spent for the betterment of health centre and hospitals run by the MCD. No new dispensary was opened in the national Capital. Three or four hospital buildings have been constructed for the purpose, but they are lying vacant. According to the sources, a sum of Rs 384.84 lakh was spent so far to purchase allopathic medicines; Rs 577.58 lakh for Ayurvedic; Rs 8.43 lakh for Unani; and for homeopathic, nil. There are only three months left to end the financial year of 2004-2005. If the rest of the money was not spent, it will go back to the Delhi government. Sources said that the corporation did not have shortage of money, it was only the lackluster attitude of the officials and members of the health committee which was the cause of no improvement in dispensaries and hospitals run by the MCD. The Central Government makes financial arrangement for construction of a building for a new dispensary or hospital and it also finances the running of these institutions for five years, but the MCD officials are reluctant to do even the ground work. In the budget of 2004-2005, the corporation had allocated Rs 130 lakh for Rajan Babu T.B. Hospital while the expenditure was only Rs 11.79 lakh, for G.L. Maternity, the budget was Rs 50 lakh and the expenditure was nil. The sources said that the corporation always showed exaggerated figure of planned estimated budget and it was never successful in collecting that much amount. Last year, an amount of Rs 1,500 crore was spent for the administrative work, Rs 80 crore for electricity, water and other workers, and only Rs 100 crore was left for the development work. The sources said that the position would be the same in the coming year also. Mr Jagdish Pradhan, Chairman of the Health Committee, said that the corporation could not open new hospitals, but the conditions of the existing health centres had been improved. The latest medical equipment has been purchased and there is no dearth of medicines in the hospitals.
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35 industrial plots cancelled in Gt Noida
Greater Noida, January 7 Even as most of the allottees had failed to pay their installments, a number of them had failed to comply with some of the other terms of allotment, said Mr Arvind Singh, OSD, Greater Noida Authority. All such allottees have now been informed of the cancellation of their plots through separate letters, he added. Some of the allottees had even failed to get their plots registered. Quite a few allottees had deposited only the first installment and had not bothered to deposit the remaining installments. The Greater Noida Authority had to cancel the allotment of over 60 allottees in this category. Through this action, the Greater Noida Authority hopes to get back up to 25 acres of land for which hundreds of applicants are waiting, added the OSD. Four plots have been cancelled in the women entrepreneurs’ park while 19 plots in Udyog Vihar stand cancelled. Four plots in Sector-31 and 7 in Toy City Industrial Centre also stand cancelled, Singh said. The survey work pertaining to industrial plots is also under way in other sectors and areas in Greater Noida, the officials said. The industrial plot allottees are normally given two years time to start their units in the plots allotted to them, the OSD added.
Rampant burglaries worry Noidaiites
The residents of Noida are worried at the rampant burglaries here and the failure of the police to apprehend the culprits. Robbers struck at three houses, one each in Noida Sectors-25, 27 and 30. Miscreants reportedly decamped with jewellery and valuables worth over Rs 8 lakh from house No.504, Sector-25. The theft was discovered when the owner of the house, Mr S. K. Sharma, returned from his office in Sector-18 in the evening. He found the house ransacked. The other two thefts were at E-313, Sector-27 and A-27, Sector-30. Here also jewellery and cash worth lakhs was reportedly stolen. Besides, the Maruti Esteem car of a resident of Sector-51 was also stolen. Last month, a cash collection centre in Sector-18 market was also looted. The sensational loot from where precious diamonds worth lakhs had been stolen by criminals is still fresh in the memory of the citizens here. The Federation of Noida Residents Associations have had several meetings with the police officials in order to tighten up security in the city. Retired Commodore L.K. Batra of Senior Citizens’ Forum laments that the Noida police have failed to improve the security scenario in the city so far. According to Commodore Batra, the police verification of servants and those occupying servant quarters can go a long way in making the residents feel safe.
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Rush for Congress tickets for Faridabad Assembly polls
Faridabad, January 7 The hopeful candidates are busy peddling theories how they fit the bill for the party ticket. Even as more than 200 candidates have applied for the Congress tickets for the six seats in the district, the Screening Committee is reported to have shortlisted at least six candidates in each of the segment. However, all the hopefuls have continued to meet the leadership in the state and explaining the various advantages enjoyed by them. The rush for the Congress ticket has become particularly valuable after the tremendous performance of the party in the last Lok Sabha elections in the state. Candidates have also tried to impress upon the party leadership the caste composition in the district and the advantages enjoyed by them. The Faridabad Assembly segment, which is also known as NIT seat, is a prestigious seat, where at least five candidates have been trying their luck. With large number of Punjabi voters, candidate from the Punjabi community start off with an obvious advantage. A large number of migrants from Pakistan have settled down here after the Partition in 1947. As such, candidates from the Punjabi community have been successful in staking their claim on this seat for the past many decades. The Congress party has been able to win four times from here while the BJP has been successful on three occasions. The incumbent MLA from here, Mr Chander Bhatia, belonging to the Punjabi community, has been able to win the last two elections. However, the supporters of Pandit Shiv Charna Lal Sharma, Senior Deputy Mayor, believe that the caste factor have limited role to play in the election in this segment as majority of the 2.70 lakh voters were poor and lived in the slum and undeveloped colonies. For them developmental issue was of importance and not caste considerations. The votes were divided in all the communities here and this segment being a Hindi-speaking belt, a person like Mr Sharma, with connections in all the sections, was a good candidate, feels Mr Daya Chand Giri, a Municipal Corporator. He claimed that as many as ten Corporators have written to the party High Command to consider Mr Sharma, a veteran Congressman, from this segment. A former minister, Mr A. C Chaudhary and Mr Bhuvnesh Dhingra, both considered close to the HPCC chief, Mr Bhajan Lal, and Mr Vasdev Saluja, a supporter of senior party leader, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, are among the main aspirants from here. It may be recalled that the BJP has again fielded Mr Chander Bhatia from here and the main contest here will likely be between the Congress and the BJP.
Medical camp
for children
The National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), a social organisation running a hospital in Sector-23 here, has decided to hold a free medical camp for children on January 9. According to Mr Navdeep Chawla, head of this institution, the patients will be examined by specialists for various disorders. He said the children below five years will also be administered pulse polio drops at the centre on January 9. Inviting registration for the camp, the authorities of the institute have claimed that the services provided at the hospital were quite affordable.
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77,000 new names in voters’ list
Faridabad, January 7 According to the details provided by the officials concerned, the total number of voters in the district has gone up to 12,13,769 from 11,36,597, an addition of another 77,172 new voters. The list includes about 6,67,986 males and 5,43,240 female voters. The number of voters in the defence forces are 2,543. The District Election Office has asked the people and the representatives of the political parties to check the new list and register their complaints and objections as soon as possible so that these could be removed. There are a total of six Assembly constituencies in the district at present, and according to the revision, the total number of voters in the Faridabad Assembly segment has gone up to 2,59,728. In Mewla Maharajpur, which is one of the largest segments in the State, the total number of voters have risen to 3,36,191 with about 1,85,889 and 1,49,983 male and female voters respectively. The breakdown for other constituency in the district are: Ballabhgarh—2,06,293 voters; Palwal—1,48,591; Hassanpur (reserved)- 1,38,072; and Hathin n – 1,24,694 voters. The district has a total of 1,091 polling stations, of which 1,084 are regular and the rest supporting type. While 279 polling stations were located in Mewla Maharajpur constituency, 129 booths were located in the Hathin segment. The administration has also started a training programme in connection with the use of the Electronic Voting Machines.
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Five held for stealing mobiles
New Delhi, January 7 On January 6, the police on patrol duty noticed some juveniles moving in a suspicious manner near the CNG petrol pump at Ambedkar Nagar and when subjected to search, they were found in possession of some mobile phones. When questioned about them, the juveniles could not give a satisfactory reply. They were in the age group of 14-16. During interrogation, they disclosed that they were forced into the crime by one Anish. The police are looking for their other associates to recover some more stolen property.
Youth held for stealing bike
The East district police has arrested one Rohit Jain (19), resident of Shankar Nagar Extension and recovered a stolen motorcycle from his possession. During a routine check near Krishna Nagar, the police found the boy riding a motorcycle and when questioned about the ownership of the vehicle, he could reply satisfactorily. During interrogation, Rohit told the police that he and his associate had stolen the motorcycle from the Krishna Nagar area and took it to Meerut and Ghaziabad for disposing it of as he could not do so in Delhi.
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Time for theatre buffs to pick and choose from 56 plays
New Delhi, January 7 The festival, representing diverse cultural and linguistic traditions, will continue till January 20. It
will feature plays from Japan and Nepal besides Indian productions. Acclaimed theatre actor, Zohra Sehgal, who was the chief guest, the event is a success story that will continue to inspire generations of theatre-lovers and
an opportunity to learn from others. Said writer U.R. Ananthamurthy: “Theatre will keep all the languages alive. The only way to counteract the hegemony of English is through theatre. Theatre should become alive not only in India but in the whole of the world.” In his written message published in a souvenir brought out on the occasion, Anupam Kher, Chairman of NSD, said: “A festival of this magnitude has important academic inputs for students pursuing their training at the school.” The plays will be performed at four different venues including Sri Ram Centre, Kamani and Abhimanch auditoriums. Theatre lovers are in for a feast, with highly acclaimed plays like ‘Taj Mahal Ka Tender’, ‘Andha Yug’ and ‘Agra Bazar’ in Hindi; ‘Antigone’ in Manipuri; ‘Sesh Sanglap’ in Bengali; ‘Madhavi’ in Malayalam; ‘Khuma’ in Nepali and ‘Patay Khan’ in Urdu. Two awards, instituted by the NSD for outstanding contribution to theatre, were also presented. The B.V. Karanth Smriti Puraskar was presented to B. Jayashree, a creative director with theatre group Spandana. The Manohar Singh Smriti Puraskar
was presented to Bahurul Islam for giving Assamese theatre its distinctive idiom and form. The NSD will also felicitate five eminent theatre persons for their lifelong contributions to theatre on the concluding day of the festival. Their names have not been announced so far.
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Sunny spells for a few days
New Delhi, January 7 Visibility was reduced to 800 metres for a short period, but it witnessed an improvement after 8.30 am. The forecast for the next few days is mist or thin fog in the early hours, followed by a clear sky and sunny day. There were no fog-related disruptions in air operations with the RVR (Runway Visibility Range) being normal. However, three trains were cancelled and several delayed because of fog in parts of north India. Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in the Capital rose from yesterday’s 5.6 degrees Celsius to 7 degrees Celsius, which is normal, the Met department said. The maximum was 20.2 degrees C, a degree below normal.
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DTC drivers ditch passengers
Noida, January 7 The passengers, many of whom had come from other states had boarded the bus at the New Delhi Railway Station, were informed by the driver that his duty had ended. The second driver, who reported for duty after sometime, refused to take the bus any further on the plea that the head lights of the bus were are not functioning and could not drive in the dark. It is learnt that the bus conductor took charge of the bus and drove it to a bus stop where the passengers alighted. The two drivers were seen quarrelling between themselves in public while the stranded passengers were left to fend for themselves. A number of passengers, aboard the bus had come from different parts of the country.
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Shalaka Samman for Nemichand Jain
New Delhi, January 7 Mr Jain (86), who is a recipient of Padmashri, has also contributed immensely to theatre by his writings and reviews. The vice-chairman of Hindi Academy, Dr Mukund Dwivedi, said that Prof Mujib Rizvi, Dr Mastram Kapur, Prof Surajbhan Singh, Dr Harikrishna Devsare, Mrs Kusum Ansal, Mr Ramsharan Sharma Munshi, Mr Amarnath Amar, Dr Satyamitra Dube, Acharya Guru Prasad, Mr Manoj Mishra and Mr Ballabh Dobhal have been chosen for the Sahityakar Samman for the year 2004-05.
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Four kidnappers get life sentence
Ghaziabad, January 7 The District Public Prosecutor, Mr Mohinder Kumar Mudgil, said that Vishal Salhot, a resident of Raj Nagar under Kavi Nagar police station, was kidnapped in June 2002 while he was going to the market. His father Nepal Singh, owner of a brick kiln, had filed a missing report with the police when Vishal had failed to return home. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from his family, which was scaled down to Rs 32 lakh later. Even as Vishal was being released on the payment of the ransom, the police reached the spot and nabbed the four accused, identified as Ram Veer Rana, Satish, Ashok
and Vicky. The police also seized the ransom from the accused after an encounter. The case was being heard in a Ghaziabad court
since then. The judge of the Fast Track Court-l, Ghaziabad, Jai Sheel Pathak, sentenced the four accused after the completion of
the hearing.
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Child dies
in fire
New Delhi, January 7 It was brought under control at around 6.20 pm. Fire sources said that a short circuit could have been the cause.
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