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DU hopefuls begin vigil
Girls school minus a mathematics teacher
Delhi-Gurgaon expressway to be
Two-wheelers account for 68% of traffic violations
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Gurgaon to soon get hydraulic platform fire machine
Wanted: A Mayor in Faridabad
Engineering cluster project for Faridabad
DJB building underground water reservoirs in
Cops nab wanted gangster
DCW expresses concern over increase in incidence of rape cases
Burglary in Faridabad house
Woman’s body found in Safdarjung Hospital
Trial held for running local train on CNG
Lecture on Indo-US educational ties
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DU hopefuls begin vigil
New Delhi, June 15 The Delhi University had received a total of 94,000 ICR forms till today evening, with more expected to come in by today. “We are yet to receive forms from centres that accepted forms till late evening. These forms will be picked up tomorrow morning and then we shall have the final figure,” said Amit Bardhan, Deputy Dean of Student’s Welfare. While most students chose to fill in the ICR form, which allowed them to apply for up to 10 courses and 8 colleges of their choice, many also applied to individual colleges selling their own forms. “Last year there was some confusion over the ICR forms so we decided to fill both the ICR and college forms. In any case, I wanted to apply through the ECA category and there is some confusion as far as this category is concerned,” said an aspirant, Sumit Singh. Accepting that some colleges have already announced their trial dates for selection through the ECA category, Prof S. K. Wig, Dean of Students’ Welfare, said, “This year the process has been smooth, unlike last year when the ICR forms had no provision for ECA and sports categories. This year, we have ensured that the data reaches all colleges.” “Though we had asked all colleges to announce their trial dates only after the June 25, it has been brought to our notice that some colleges have already announced the dates. But information about students seeking admission through the quota will be sent to all colleges,” he added. Prof Wig said that while it is not possible to have college-specific variations in the ICR forms, the university would try and modify the procedure for the convenience of the students. “This year, students have shown more confidence in the ICR forms. Though I do not have the data to qualify this statement, I think a greater number of students have used the ICR forms than last year,” Prof Wig said. He was commenting on whether the sale of individual college forms had dipped with the introduction of the ICR forms.
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Girls school minus a mathematics teacher for 14 years
New Delhi, June 15 The school has been functioning without a mathematics teacher for the last 14 years. In the absence of a regular teacher, 32 students have been placed under compartment in the CBSE class X results this year. The school principal, Ms Aaliya Begum, claimed, “we have been requesting the authorities to allow us to hire a teacher, but they have not done anything thus far.” Aaliya Begum also claimed that the school has been without a regular mathematics teacher “only for the last two years”. Refuting her claims, sources said that the post has been “lying vacant for the last 14 years and that the government has nothing to do with the recruitment”. “The post is reserved for SC/ST candidates and the school management has not found a single eligible candidate despite conducting interviews more than once in the past”, the sources said. In the absence of a regular teacher, the school hires a private tutor to coach its students. “This has become a routine here. Each year, a private tutor is hired, who charges Rs 150 per student. Parents of these students, most of whom are not from well-to-do families, have to cough up money every month, since they have little choice,” it was pointed out. Poor results in mathematics apart, the school, which receives 95 per cent of its funding from the government, is also in the thick of controversy owing to the allegations of “manipulating the identification of surplus staff”. “The Directorate of Education had asked all schools to identify surplus staff, which could be accommodated in schools where there is a paucity of teachers. The school manipulated the list and identified those teachers who have been teaching in the school for the last 25 years,” sources said. It was pointed out that “teachers who teach Urdu have been shown as English teachers and they have now been asked to teach in Hindi medium schools. The school has hired two PGTs when there was no requirement of even one. To make up for it, they have identified two TGTs as surplus and sent them away. There are just 60 students in classes XI and XII and the school has placed a demand for seven PGTs, which is more than required”. The principal, however, denied these allegations and said she is trying to persuade the DoE to “allow her to retain the teachers”.
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Delhi-Gurgaon expressway to be ready in a year
New Delhi, June 15 “We will identify land belonging to different agencies and request them to spare some space for landscaping and plantation to develop the expressway at par with international standards,” Mr Walia said after the presentation. During the presentation, Chief General Manager, NHAI, Mr S. P. S. Bakshi, said the stretch would have eight elevated lanes for heavy vehicle traffic and 10 surface lanes for slow vehicular traffic. Mr Bakshi said that the construction, which was started on June 2003, has progressed well and 85 per cent of the construction will be finished by December 2005. The remaining 15 per cent would be completed by June 2006. The vehicles can move at a speed of 100 km per hour on the elevated expressway on which slow moving
traffic would not be allowed to ply. The expressway would reduce the time to reach Gurgaon from Delhi from one hour to 15-20 minutes. The government also plans to construct a 32-lane toll-plaza on the Haryana border at a cost of Rs 555 crore. The toll-plaza will have three counters at the Delhi-Gurgaon border, near 42nd milestone and near IGI airport, and the stoppage time for each vehicle would be five seconds. The government officials said that the toll-plaza, which would figure as a model construction anywhere in the world,
has been conceptualised keeping in mind traffic considerations 50 years from now.
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Two-wheelers account for 68% of traffic violations
New Delhi, June 15 Of the 5,75,901 vehicles booked for violations since January this year, 392,313 were two-wheelers, according to the Delhi Traffic Police. Light Goods Vehicles (LCVs) came next in the list of ‘defaulters’ with 282,562 challans in their names followed by 1,11,520 heavy traffic vehicles. The buses, including chartered, bluelines and Delhi Transport Corporation, came fourth in the list of defaulters with a total of 84,062. Unbelievable as it may appear, the least number of traffic violations were committed by the three-wheeler Scooter Rickshaws (TSR), numbering just 71,950.
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Gurgaon to soon get hydraulic platform fire machine
Gurgaon, June 15 The machine, which is to be inducted in the Gurgaon fire-fighting department, was to be purchased through the DGSD in the capacity of a mere facilitator as the state was to foot the bill. The DGSD came into the picture as the machine was to be imported. The money for the machine, about Rs 8 crore, had already been deposited with the DGSD by the state government. The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, today said that the DGSD has expressed unwillingness to do the needful after sitting on the matter for about three years, obliging the state government to act on its own on the issue. The Directorate of Urban Development, Haryana is said to have asked the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to finalise the specifications and other formalities for purchase of the machine. According to an official source, the Gurgaon Municipal Council and HUDA possess 10 fire-tenders in all. Apart from them, Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has four and the local Air Force Station has three fire tenders. All of them are of the simplest model, called “fire-tenders”, and can carry out fire-fighting operations effectively only up to seven-storeyed buildings in case of a fire. But a “hydraulic platform machine” can carry out operations effectively up to 18-storeyed buildings. There is a crying need for this machine in Gurgaon which is crawling with high-rise buildings. The meager infrastructure here for tackling fires in such high rises was exposed a few months back when a fire broke out on the eighth floor of a high-rise building in the posh DLF area, and help had to be requisitioned from Delhi. It is a different issue that the fire was brought under control by the time a fleet arrived from Delhi. But the fire could well have spread to higher reaches of the building and even other buildings, leading to a tragedy.
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Wanted: A Mayor in Faridabad
Faridabad, June 15 The elections for the Faridabad Municipal Corporation (MCF) were held on March 30, but despite a lapse of 45 days, the Mayor of this civic body has not been elected, leading to a breakdown in the development and maintenance of civic amenities. As the elected MCF corporators are divided in various groups owing affiliation to various parties or individuals, no consensus could be reached among the members. The attempt of the authorities to hold election in the first week of this month too was torpedoed, mainly due to lack of unity among the political quarters as only two elected members had turned up at the meeting. Everyone now seems to be looking up to the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to intervene in the matter. On his part, the Chief Minister, it is said, has not yet been able to pay attention to this issue due to the recent by-elections to the state assembly and the ongoing assembly session. The result is unfortunate for the residents who have been awaiting a speedy development of the works, pending for months. “It is like cheating the people who have elected the corporators. They have been paying various taxes, but are not provided with any benefit,” said Kailash Sharma, a resident of Sector 10 here. The roads are in disrepair and there is no sign of any improvement, he claimed. Admitting that most of the elected corporators have been facing questions from the residents on the development issue, Mr Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, a former Senior Deputy Mayor and elected member from the ward number five, said that any work having a budget of over Rs 5 lakh could only be passed by the Finance Committee of the MCF and the committee could be formed only after the mayoral election. Claiming that there is an acute shortage of drinking water in various colonies, Mr Sharma said the project of laying water pipes under Rannywell Scheme in Jawahar Colony here has been hanging fire for the past two years. As a result, people were forced to buy water from private suppliers. It is reported that while the Faridabad Municipal Corporation is still to take up the cleanliness drive of all the drains in view of the rainy season ahead, most of the safai workers have been engaged in the census and survey works.
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Engineering cluster project for Faridabad
Faridabad, June 15 According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs
G. Anupama, the project had been approved under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme
(IIUS) after a meeting held recently. It was attended by the senior officials of the Union Government. Claiming that the project was likely to provide a thrust to the manufacturing activity of the related products, she said the scheme was launched sometime back for upgradation of the industrial infrastructure in selected clusters across the country. Though the entrepreneurs here had been seeking special measures to tone up the industrial and business activity, the announcement of this cluster has come as a relief to many. Mr Rajiv Chawla, general secretary of the Faridabad Small Industries Association
(FSIA), expressed happiness over this development and claimed that if taken up in a proper manner, the project could serve like a lifeline for several industrial units here. He said most of the industrial units here had been in the small and medium sector and many of them have been facing tough times due to several factors, which include lack of proper infrastructure and support. Describing the recently announced Industrial Policy of the Haryana Government as growth-oriented, he said the authorities concerned should speed up their efforts to remove various bottlenecks, which include immediate construction of the Badarpur flyover, removal of the traffic congestion within the city limits and regularisation of thousands of units working in the non-conforming zone in the city. Regarding the project of the Light Engineering Cluster here, the authorities concerned claim that a proposal in this regard had been prepared and submitted to the Union Government several months ago. A body named as Faridabad Light Engineering Society
(FLES) has already been formed under the chairmanship of a local industrialist, which will coordinate the process of setting up the cluster.
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DJB building underground water reservoirs in trans-Yamuna area
New Delhi, June 15 The entire trans-Yamuna area has been divided into two zones by the Delhi Jal Board - the East Zone and the North - East Zone. Six such water reservoirs are being constructed at different locations of the East Zone with a combined storage capacity of 11.11 MG. They are at Kanti Nagar (1.5MG), Chitra Vihar (1.2 MG), Kondli (0.5 MG), Gazipur (2.43 MG), Mandawali (2.4 MG). The Mandawali reservoir will supply water to its adjoining areas like Vinod Nagar, Ganesh Nagar, I. P. Extension besides Mandawali. Apart from these reservoirs, the biggest water reservoir will be at Suraj Mal Vihar. Its water storage capacity will be 3.08 MG. Another six such reservoirs are also under construction in the North-East Zone. The construction work of Shastri Park-based reservoir (Capacity 12 ML) and Tahirpur-based reservoir, with the capacity of 10 ML, is almost complete. Another such reservoir with the capacity of 12 ML is also under construction at Tahirpur. Apart from this, other reservoirs are being constructed at Sonia Vihar plant ( 10 ML), Bhagirthi Water plant ( 24 ML) and at Shastri Park (10 ML). “The main source of water of these reservoirs is the Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant. So the function of these reservoirs are totally based on the operation of that plant.
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Cops nab wanted gangster
New Delhi, June 15 The accused has been identified as Intzaar Khan. He was an active member of Ayub Chikna gang of Mumbai. The police claimed to have seized a country-made pistol and two live cartridges from his possession. The police said that the accused was a native of Muzaffarnagar in UP and was a school dropout. He had joined the Ayub Chikna gang through one Hussain, who took him to Mumbai. He was allegedly involved in a number of criminal offences including murder, dacoity and robbery.
Two held for illegal manufacture of health drink
New Delhi, June 15 The two accused were identified as Sunil Goel and Hemant Bansal. The police also claimed to have recovered 4000 packed boxes of ‘Glucose-D’, loose ‘Glucose’ powder and around 48,000 empty boxes. Besides, around 32,000 packed boxes of ‘Glucose
Sandoz’ have also been recovered from the manufacturing unit. The police said that the accused was preparing the health drink illegally at his manufacturing unit in name of Bhushan Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Samaipur Badli.
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DCW expresses concern over increase in incidence of rape cases
New Delhi, June 15 The meeting, presided over by the Chairperson, DCW, Prof Kiran Walia, was attended by the Member Secretary, DCW, Mrs Parminder Singh, all members of the DCW and representatives from NGOs including Swanchetan, Prayaas, Naari Raksha Samiti (NRS), Prayatn, Pratidhi, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), Centre for Social Research (CSR) and Angaja Foundation among others. Prof Kiran Walia expressed serious concern on the increasing incidence of rape in the Capital, and on the abysmally low conviction rate in rape cases. She was anguished over the fact that a number of accused went scot-free, and sought better networking of CICs with other support agencies to bring the culprits to books. In the meeting that lasted well over three hours, the participants put forth their concerns on issues that were deterrent to the effective functioning of the CICs. The Naari Raksha Samiti at Raj Niwas Marg complained that the government hospitals in their areas do not sufficiently stock special medicines and injections required for rape victims. As such, the victims have to face harassment and distress in arranging for these from outside. Representatives from Pratidhi also brought to notice the fact that the provision for medical kit for the Delhi Police had been abolished in their last standing order, although the kit approximately cost only a nominal Rs 100 and also included comprehensive guidelines for handling a rape case. However, some participants suggested that one of the practical reasons for the police to do away with the medical kit was that it was time-consuming. They suggested that even if the kit could not be re-instituted, at least reporting of the Medico-Legal Case (MLC) could be made more detailed and purposeful. “At present, the MLC does not even register any fresh physical injuries to the victim,” said Dr Rajat Mitra of Swanchetan. Participants from the NRS said they have never seen the police using a medical kit. Another issue that came to the fore was that often the hospitals treat rape victims just like other cases. Sharing her experiences, Prof Walia told that on her surprise visits to some hospitals, she has herself seen cases where the victim was being discharged without given a proper counselling. At times, the medical superintendent is not even aware that a rape case has been admitted in the hospital. The medical superintendents and gynecologists of all government hospitals need to be sensitised to overcome this callous attitude towards rape victims, added Prof Walia. Commenting on the lack of support from the police in some instances, the CICs pointed out that at times the police stations do not bother to timely inform the concerned CIC in the area about the rape case and they have to rely on third-party sources such as the media and the community for such information. Treating this as a serious impediment to the functioning of CICs, Prof Walia directed all centres to immediately and formally bring to the notice of the DCW any such lapse of information on the part of a police station. She assured that the DCW will take up each such individual case with the higher authorities in the Delhi Police so that the police take this matter more seriously. She also suggested that each centre should conspicuously put up their centre’s name, address and contact numbers in the police stations in their vicinity to help the police officials and victims reach them easily. In order to provide them financial assistance, the DCW also suggested that all centres should submit a budget proposal on the approximate costs incurred in providing transport facilities and medical help to the rape victim. This would cover the transportation cost for the victim accompanied by the NGO counselor to the police station, hospital and court, and also the actual cost of any immediate medical help provided to the rape victim, said Prof Walia.
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Burglary in Faridabad house
Faridabad, June 15 The family members who were asleep in another room came to know of the theft this morning. The police have booked a case. According to the report, the theft took place in house number 956 of one Rajender Ohri around midnight when his family was sleeping. It is learnt that the thieves entered his house from the rooftop of a neighboring house and broke open the grill of the room in which no one was present. As the
air-conditioner of the room had been off, it was assumed that there was nobody. The thieves collected the cash and valuables kept in the almirah and slipped away. The family came to know of the burglary this morning when they woke up as the door was found open and the clothes were lying scattered.
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Woman’s body found in Safdarjung Hospital
New Delhi, June 15 According to police sources, the body is of a woman in her early twenties. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Although the body has been sent for postmortem, the preliminary investigations revealed that the body had injury marks. “There is a burn mark on the stomach also. Presently, we can say nothing, as the victim does not seem to be a vagabond. Her dress suggests that the body could be of a patient, who died due to her illness. We have sent the body for postmortem,” said a police official. The police said that from its appearance, the body seems to be of a south Indian woman. The police are verifying whether it was of any nurse or any other staff member of the hospital.
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Trial held for running local train on CNG
New Delhi, June 15 Sources in Northern Railways told TNS that Indraprastha Gas Ltd has provided CNG for the engine during the testing phase free of cost. Sources said that trials are on for running a four-compartment train from the Shakurbasti railway shed here. A Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) engine is being run on CNG. Sources said that the use of CNG would enable the railways to save upto Rs 24 lakh per train every year as CNG costs Rs 16 per kg as compared to diesel that costs about Rs 30 per litre.
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Lecture on Indo-US educational ties
New Delhi, June 15 Indian students have formed one of the largest group going to the USA for
professional education. The lecture was meant to provide students with an exposure about the education system in the US and help them seek answers to their queries. It was pointed out that AIT offers affordable education for professional degrees from reputed and accredited universities in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK through its international twinning programme. In the last few years a large number of students from the institute have gone to the USA for further studies.
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Guru Arjan Dev’s martyrdom day today
New Delhi, June 15 The programme will begin with Sukhmani Sahib and Nitnem. A lecture will also be delivered on the occasion.
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Nirankari Mission devotees donate blood
New Delhi, June 15 blood collecting teams came from the leading hospitals of Delhi, including AIIMS and AFTC. The World Blood Donor Day celebrations by the Mission were marked by four rallies taken out from different parts of Delhi and one from Ghaziabad. The participants riding their motorcycles, scooters and cars carried banners to inspire public to participate in this noble task. They
carried placards with slogans such as “Give the gift that costs
nothing”. The rallies were received at the venue of the camp, Sant Nirankari Senior Secondary School, Sant Nirankari Colony in North Delhi, by Mr Mangat Ram Singhal, Minister of Industries, Labour and Employment, Government of NCT of Delhi. While addressing the gathering, he complimented the Mission on organising such camps. In fact, he said, the Mission is trying to set up a society where every individual is guided by the spirit of selfless service. On this occasion, a special message was read out on behalf of the Head of the Mission Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj. The message said blood donation is the noblest gesture towards suffering patients. Baba Ji hoped that the celebration of this day will create awareness among all future donors. Speaking
on the occasion, ‘Thalassemics India’ secretary Shobha Tuli
appreciated the role of the Mission in blood donation.
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Destitute women get monthly pension
Faridabad, June 15 According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs G. Anupama, an amount of Rs 84.51 lakh was released towards the pension of such beneficiaries during May 2005. She said the officials receive applications for such pension on every second Wednesday in a month. Though there were separate days fixed in each of the sub-division for the purpose, the selection of the beneficiaries was done on a set standard. A sum of Rs 300 per month is given to the beneficiaries, she said. During the last month, as many as 265 applications had been received under the widow pension category and 34 applications were received for pension for the physically challenged. There were about 4,382 beneficiaries in the district under the scheme.
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Policy to narrow urban-rural divide
New Delhi, June 15 This decision was announced by Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit after a Cabinet meeting called to review the performance of departments under Delhi Development Minister Rajkumar Chauhan.
— TNS
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