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Capital breaks out in rain dance
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Four injured as vehicles waylaid, looted in Dadri area
RWA body warns against power tariff hike in city
MCD identifies three new
Experts lay stress on holistic care of cancer patients
Malaysian delegation visits IGNOU
Wanted: More teachers for Kadipur school
Govt urged to include daughters in pension list
Function held to mark ‘International Day Against Drug Abuse’
Changes sought in Delhi Master Plan 2021
DVB body meets CM
Wrong map displayed on PWD site
Artscape
Driver killed as trucks collide
Two arrested for chain snatching
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Capital breaks out in rain dance
New Delhi, June 26 The rains, which were described as pre-monsoon showers, brought down the maximum temperature by several degrees, although humidity levels are still on the higher side. There was waterlogging in several parts of the city, but for once, Delhiites were not complaining. Meanwhile, there was some good news from the Delhi Zoological Park, which reported that due to use of a new innovative measure, there was not a single animal fatality this summer. This is the installation of pressure pumps in enclosures of animals like tigers and lions which spray water on them to ease the ill-effects of heat. Installed last year, the pressure pumps were used extensively during the last two weeks when the region was simmering from heat wave conditions. According to the zoo director, Dr BS Bonal, they also diverted water from the moats, which separate animals from visitors, from enclosures of animals that do not require much water to those of water-loving animals like rhino and hippopotamus. These moats, incidentally, no longer use water from the Yamuna, but rely on DJB water and their own groundwater. “The Yamuna water was filthy and polluted. It’s not fit for animals,” he says. The zoo authorities have also planted trees and climbers in enclosures of animals like leopards and jaguars to provide a comfortable habitat. |
Rainfall brings relief and cheer
Faridabad, June 26 Though the intensity of the downpour was not heavy, the light but
continuous drizzle went on for about five hours, bringing visible relief on the faces of the residents here who have been braving extremely hot weather conditions and a power crisis for the past fortnight. Rajender Nagar, a farmer, said that the rains were welcome as there had been an acute shortage of water and power supply especially in the rural areas for the past month. “It was really a nice surprise for the people as they woke to see a rainy Sunday morning, after being a victim of nearly unbearably hot conditions prevailing for the past two weeks,” said Sharad Bhasin, a resident of sector 9 here. He added he was, however, a bit surprised as the met department had not predicted rains. Reports of rainfall have also come from other parts of the district. |
Four injured as vehicles waylaid, looted in Dadri area
Noida, June 26 The criminals attacked the inmates of two cars and looted thousands in cash, jewellery, watches, cell phones, etc. When they resisted, they shot at them, wounding four persons. According to available information, Yudhveer of village Gori-Vachhera had gone to village Govila to perform some rituals in connection with his son’s wife who was in the family way. Chhinda Rawal and Gajinder Rawal were also returning with Yudhveer and his family in a Maruti van. The vehicles was signalled to a stop by some people near the canal on Raipur and Ghori Vachhera road at about 11 pm. As soon as Deepak, who was behind the wheel, stopped the car thinking it was for some checking, eight armed persons surrounded the vehicle and asked everyone to come out. When Deepak tried to drive away in opposite direction, the dacoits opened indiscriminate fire, hitting Deepak in his chest. Three others were also wounded with bullets. After this the criminals deprived every one of all valuables. Deepak was rushed to Kailash Hospital, Noida. The other three wounded persons
–Yudhveer, Chhinda, and Gajinder – were admitted to Dadri government hospital from where they were referred to District Hospital, Ghaziabad. Prior to this, the same criminals had looted inmates of another car, depriving Vipin, Deepak, Bhupinder and Shakti of their valuables. The criminals had also allegedly looted some railway passengers. In spite of having been informed, the police had not stirred till this morning. |
RWA body warns against power tariff hike in city
New Delhi, June 26 The letter, whose copies have been sent to the Chief Secretary, MCD Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board, pointed out that the problem of water, electricity, commercialization of residential colonies and security of women have assumed alarming proportions. Residents of the Capital have certain misconception and misunderstanding about the government which the government should remove by interacting with the Resident Welfare Associations, the DRWAJF’s letter advised. In a meeting held at Anand Niketan Club, the RWAs expressed their resentment at ‘non-cooperative attitude and non-transparent functioning’ of various service departments, and ‘growing trend’ among their functionaries in keeping out RWAs from implementing development programmes in their respective colonies despite government’s written and verbal instructions to the contrary. The RWAs decided to resist execution of such projects in the colonies which are being undertaken without consulting RWAs as provided in the order of Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government last year. They also decided to identify the issues on which they would like to have information under the Right to Information Act. In case information sought by the RWAs is not provided within the stipulated time, the matter would be brought before the Joint Front of the
RWAs. The RWAs offered their services to the government to promote the culture of governance, provided the departmental functionaries are co-operative and responsive. The meeting strongly protested against the reported proposal to hike the ‘already exorbitant’ power tariff and regretted that the problem of fast running of electronic metres resulting in inflated electricity bills had yet to be resolved by the government. It also discussed the water supply crisis in the city and regretted that instead of taking corrective measures to improve the water availability, water tariff had been considerably enhanced. |
MCD identifies three new landfill sites
New Delhi, June 26 Sources said that corporation has decided to start Bhatti Mines in Mehrauli and a remote area in Najafgarh for new landfill sites as these places are away from urban and rural population and have enough capacity
to store garbage for many years. Recently the corporation had identified a landfill site in Jaitpur and started throwing waste of South Delhi garbage after closing the landfill site in Tughlakabad. The corporation has also identified a landfill site in East Delhi but it has not been made public. Finding out new landfill sites was a crucial issue for the Municipal Commissioner as Bhalswa-Jahangirpur and Ghazipur were full of garbage. This issue was also raised by the opposition party in the Standing Committee. Later the Commissioner, Mayor, Leader of the House and Chairman of the Standing Committee discussed the issue and identified the new places. The sources said that landfill site at Bhalsawa-Jahagirpur will be closed in 2008, Narela in 2010 and Ghazipur from the next year. Meanwhile, sources said that the corporation has also decided to establish a power plant in Okhla Industrial Area in which garbage will be used to generate power. The project is worth Rs 800 crore. The construction work of the plant will begin soon as the corporation has made arrangement for finance and is in touch with experts, the sources said. The corporation already has a power plant in Timarpur area which was closed due to certain reasons but may soon be
restarted. |
Experts lay stress on holistic care of cancer patients
Noida, June 26 Experts from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and Moolchand Hospital, Delhi, also participated in the discussion. “The cure rate in cancer has increased to 80%, but quality of life of the patient is also important for all those who get cured and those who don’t,” said Dr. Jyoti Badakera from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. “Cancer is a chronic disease that requires holistic approach to restore the physical, emotional, social and spiritual need of individuals suffering from the disease and their family members through a comprehensive oncology rehabilitation programme,” she said. “A cancer patient suffers severe pain very often. He /she is hopelessly lonely and dejected. Besides this the stress on the family, with the associated emotional disturbances, financial problems and social isolation makes every living moment in his/her life miserable. In India, there is practically no facility to help the patient with cancer to live with dignity. Patient-comfort is an important part of the recovery process”, said Dr Alok Roy, Chief Operating Officer, Fortis Hospital, Noida. Fortis Hospital, Noida is committed towards providing integrated patient care where all aspects of cancer treatment are taken care of under one roof. “We have a multi-speciality programme, which aims at giving better quality of life to people suffering from all kinds of cancer,” said Dr. Loraine Kalra, Senior Consultant, Surgical Oncology, Fortis Hospital. “The objective of the programme is to improve the patient’s quality of life. It focuses on the need for early detection of cancer and the quality of the patient’s life post- treatment. Our Cancer Care Programme entails better recovery of the patient through the entire continuum of care.” Dr. Alokanda Banerjee, Head, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Fortis Hospital, Noida stressed that a cancer patient is subject to various treatments like radiology, chemotherapy etc resulting in both physical and psychological side effects. Rehabilitation helps the patients and their families to cope with the traumas of the disease by providing holistic care and counselling to them. The discussion stressed upon the importance of early detection of cancer, nutrition of patient, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, psychological support and quality of life. |
Malaysian delegation visits IGNOU
New Delhi, June 26 The delegation, led by the university’s chairman, met IGNOU Vice Chancellor Prof. H P Dikshit and visited various divisions of the University. The visitors were explained how the University was using the reach of the electronic media to take higher education to the remotest areas of the country, said an IGNOU official. The delegation was also told that IGNOU was in the process of establishing
a satellite-based video conferencing network with its footprints in the sub-continent. |
Wanted: More teachers for Kadipur school
New Delhi, June 26 “The result of the school in the last few years has been extremely poor. Last year the girls recorded a pass percent of six percent, but the boys showed absolute zero”, complained Vikas Saini, member of the Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti (VKS) of Government Girls/Boys Secondary School, Kadipur. Angry with the government’s lackadaisical attitude, Saini said instead of trying to improve the condition of the school, the government has gone ahead and transferred 24 teachers from both the shifts of the school. “The school had barely 13-14 teachers for over 1200 students. After much persuasion and struggle
we managed to get some 20 teachers transferred to this schools. Now a year later, 24 teachers have
been transferred from here to other schools. It is back to square one for us”, said Saini. “We have approached the Directorate of Education, but nothing is being done”, alleges Saini. While a staff member of the school doubled up as the “clerical staff”, class four employees were roped in to teach Home Science. “The situation will be
the same once the school reopens; the students will continue to suffer in the absence of teachers”, said Saini. “Only when the media highlighted the condition of this school did the department wake up and posted more than 20 teachers. But such instances indicate that the government’s promises to impart quality education are a mere eye wash”, he added, seeking the intervention of the Education Secretary in the matter. |
Govt urged to include daughters in pension list
New Delhi, June 26 Delhi Social Welfare and Legal-Aid Society (DSWLS), a voluntary agency, has urged the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and Ministry of Law and Justice to include unemployed and unmarried girls above 25 years as beneficiaries of the family pension. Since January 19, 2003, the government had included the widowed and divorced daughters in the list of beneficiaries of family pension on the memorandum of the society, said Secretary General of DSWLS Kamla Jit Chibber. “On study of the different orders passed by the Government on the matter of family pension as mentioned in Rule 54 of the CCS Pension Rules, it has been observed that the attitude of the authorities is very sympathetic towards the government employees,”’ said the representation given to the government. |
Function held to mark ‘International Day
Faridabad, June 26 This seems to be the gist of a study conducted by experts at the Drug Rehabilitation Centre of the Red Cross Society at sector 14 here. At a function held on the occasion of the ‘International Day against Drug Abuse’ here today, it was revealed that since 1989, the centre had treated as many as 27800, a majority of whom were aged between 13 and 30 years. Almost 62 percent of them were victims of addiction to alcohol. About 20 percent of the patients had been addicted to drugs like poppy husk and charas. The district has two state government run centres to treat addicts, but it has been found that their general success rate had been far below expectation, mainly due to family and social conditions which did not prevent addicts from restarting their addiction, says the study. The total bed capacity of the Rehabilitation Centre at sector 14 here and the De-addiction centre at Bal Bhawan is 40. As many as 668 persons were registered at the Bal Bhawan for treatment during the year 2004-05, of which 306 were indoor and the rest were outdoor patients. Of these about 295 persons had been a victim of alcohol addiction and 217 were addicted to opiates and marijuana. According to the study, as many as 60 percent of the addicts had been educated upto graduation, while 48 percent were either illiterate or had education upto matriculation. The study says that the most popular reason for the addiction had been peer pressure in schools and colleges. It added that 84 percent of the addicts had been married and a majority of these had been engaged in some work or job. Four percent of the victims had been housewives. Economically, 20 percent had no source of regular income and 40 percent had been earning between Rs 1000 to 3000 per month. Speaking at the function, the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs G. Anupama, said that the problem had assumed a serious proportion and it was the duty of everyone to do something to save our future generation and the social degradation. She appealed to NGOs and social bodies to launch a campaign, especially among the children and youth, over the issue and provide guidance and counseling to the affected families. She said the parents should be very cautious and should maintain a proper balance between their social, professional and cultural aspects. The Deputy Commissioner also gave away prizes to the winners of a Rangoli and painting competition organised on the occasion. |
Changes sought in Delhi Master Plan 2021
New Delhi, June 26 He also demanded that maximum coverage for religious premises should be as 70 per cent, for dharamshala, barat-ghar and night shelter as 70 per cent, 150 per cent and height 26 metre respectively. The new Master Plan has ignored all these realities. It should include the recommendations as approved by the MCD. He has stated that categories of auditorium, community hall, religious premises, dharamshala, barat ghar and night shelter are of special categories in itself and may not be clubbed with the buildings being used as shopping centres, commercial, factory and residences. Majority of residents prefer to organise functions in community halls as they are unable to offer banquet halls. Due to practical reasons all religious places and community halls should be allowed to have extra coverage. |
DVB body meets CM
New Delhi, June 26 The Secretary of the Association Kuldeep Kumar handed over a letter of the association explaining the same demands. In turn, the CM has assured to look into the matter and also assured to fulfill some of their demands at the earliest. Sanjay Sharma, the press secretary of the association said that they have also given a letter explaining their demands to the LG also. He said that in case the government did not take any early action, they would resort to other measures to ensure fulfillment of their demands. Presently, they are on relay dharna since June 20 at the BSES headquarters in Nehru Place. |
Wrong map displayed on PWD site
New Delhi, June 26 The Home Page of the PWD site, part of Delhi government’s main website, shows India without Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and depicts the Line of Control (LoC) as the border. The website has been developed in 2002 by Path Infotech Ltd, which maintains it as well. “Ever since the website was developed, the Indian map has been shown in this form only,” sources said. However, nobody in the government was willing to comment on this issue due to its sensitivity. According to Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh, wrong depiction of the Indian map is an offence under the law. |
Artscape
New Delhi, June 26 After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, Mr. L K Advani, earned the wrath of the Sangh Parivar over his remarks about Jinnah during his recent visit to the neighbouring country, it is now the turn of a Delhi playwright and a known theatre group to feel the heat because while one chose to write about him the other opted to stage it for the benefit of the cognoscenti. It took three years of pain-staking research and hard work for a retired Delhi University Hindi professor, Narendra Mohan, to write ‘Mr Jinnah’, a play that claims to analyse his psyche. And it took several months of preparations to ready the play for the stage. But it was not to be. The scheduled world premiere of the play on Wednesday evening at the India Habitat Centre here had to be cancelled with the Delhi Police asking Asmita Theatre to postpone the play because they now want to study the script before the public views it. According to the author, a respectable name in the Capital’s literary circles, the two-act play depicts the trial and tribulations of Jinnah during his life between 1920 and 1948. The play begins with the death of his young Parsi wife and also talks about his transformation from a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity to an advocate of a separate Pakistan. Jinnah, the playwright says, felt isolated after the Partition. He was disappointed that he was given a ‘moth-eaten Pakistan’. At the personal level, Jinnah had to grapple with the loss of his wife and daughter, who eloped with a Parsi boy in 1940. He also spoke against the communal riots in Lahore and Karachi after the Partition, says Prof. Mohan. The play also brings out the little-known facet of Jinnah’s personality— his love for Shakespearean plays. Prof Mohan says Jinnah also enjoyed reciting dialogues of Shakespearean characters like Mark Antony’s famous speech in ‘Julius Caesar’. In the play, Jinnah recites dialogues from ‘Othello’ and
‘Macbeth’. The play was sold out on both days, claims Arvind Gaur of Asmita Theatre, the director of ‘Mr Jinnah’. The theatre group has been working on the play for the past three-four months, says Gaur adding a lot of money and effort by his cast and crew have gone into the making of the play. Meanwhile, the police have set up a committee to study the 50-page script. “The police say the copy of the script which we submitted to them is not legible. It sounds unconvincing,” says Gaur, who had directed Mahesh Dattani’s ‘Final Solutions’ and Manjula Padmanabhan’s ‘Hidden Fire’ earlier. The police, he says, have asked him to postpone the play till they go through the script and take a decision. Meanwhile, the scheduled shows stand cancelled.
‘Figurative Art’
The MEC Art Gallery here is presenting Figurative Art, a group exhibition of paintings by Narayan Acharya, Kayas Saha. J.
Bangani, Atin Basak, Ashok Roy, C. Prakash, Paresh Mridha and Chandrashekhar
Acharaya. The exhibition, which was inaugurated on June 23, will continue till July 15.
Master Strokes, an exhibition of drawings and water colours by some of the known artists is on at the Indigo Blue Art and will remain open for public viewing till June 30. Among the artists whose works are being exhibited there are George
Keyt, Akbar Padamsee, MF Hussain, FN Souza, Jugen Chowdhary and Kishen Khanna.
A small format show
The Gallery Threshold here is showcasing the works of a number of artists in what is being described as a small format show, including Anjolie Menon, Badri Narayan, Gopi Gajwani and Ganesh
Pyne, till June 30.
A tribute to Munshi Premchand
On June 25 and June 26, India Foundation For the Arts in collaboration with Airtel presented Motley Productions’ Katha Collage at the Kamani Auditorium here featuring none other than the living legend of Indian theatre, Nasseruddin Shah. The event was especially organised to pay tribute to Munshi Premchand and of the three plays, two were based on his immortal stories, Bade Bhai Sahib and Shatranj Ke
Khiladi, while the third was based on Sankraman by Kamtanath.
Punjabi devotional
music
Sagarika Music has recently come out with an audio cassette of Punjabi devotional music entitled Wahe Guru
Bol. The cassette offers the most auspicious and blissful beginning to each day. Popular Punjabi devotional singer, Jaspal Singh has given his voice to the songs. The cassette is likely to be popular with all those who like to begin their day by invoking the name of the almighty. |
Driver killed as trucks collide
New Delhi, June 26 The deceased has been identified as Dev Kumar (50), the driver of the Tata 407. Cleaner Pawan (30) who was sitting on the front seat was seriously injured in the accident and taken to the Trauma Centre where his condition is said to be critical. The police said that the accident took place at 11 am last night when both the vehicles were travelling at a high speed. The dumper was trying to jump the red light. As it reached the middle of the crossing, it rammed into the Tata 407 that was coming from the other side. |
Two arrested for chain snatching
New Delhi, June 26 The accused have been identified as Lal Mohammed alais Lallu (22), a resident of Samay Pur Badli and Rakesh (21), a resident of Narela. Police said that Lal Mohammed was a chain snatcher while the other accused Rakesh was a receiver of stolen goods. Police claimed to have recovered three gold chains and one coloured mobile phone of Nokia from their possession. Police said that with the arrest, three cases registered in the Sultanpuri police station have been worked out. |
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