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Two quacks held trying to sell a
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Hundreds of objections to Master Plan for Delhi 2021
New Delhi, July 14 On April 8, 2005, Delhi Development Authority released the draft Master Plan for Delhi 2021. Under the Public Notice Process of the Delhi Development Act, the citizens of Delhi were given a period of 90 days to file their objections to the Plan.
New canal for southern districts
I’m no ordinary Imam, Bukhari tells High Court
Demand for restoring Hartron centres to Gurgaon
Emergency Response Groups set up in Gurgaon
Move to exclude localities from LBZ
Two dozen villages flooded by Ganga water
Abduction, murder accused gets bail
Gang of human traffickers busted
Illicit liquor seized
MCD school inspector arrested
Electricity workers to launch agitation
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Two quacks held trying to sell a baby girl
New Delhi, July 14 The sleuths received a tip-off that two quacks running a clinic in the style of ‘Navjeevan Clinic’ in Sultanpuri area were looking for a prospective customer to sell a newly-born infant for Rs 15,000. A decoy customer was sent to the ‘clinic’ to strike a deal with the suspects. The suspects told the decoy customer that they could provide a female infant for Rs 15,000 and a male infant for Rs 35,000. The decoy customer paid Rs 5,000 as advance and the quacks were nabbed when they came to deliver a female infant. During interrogation, it was revealed that one Ms Rizwana hailing from Shahjanpur in UP gave birth to the girl baby on July 12 in a hospital arranged by Shaukat. Hatching a conspiracy, Shaukat and Saleem took away the baby from the mother on the pretext of getting some treatment for her. Later, it seems, they convinced Rizwana that the child died due to some complications.
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Hundreds of objections to Master Plan for Delhi 2021
New Delhi, July 14 Hazards Centre, a Delhi based civil society organization, providing technical, research and advocacy inputs and support to community groups in Delhi and other parts of the country, carried out a comprehensive study and analysis of the Draft Master Plan. On the basis of this study, the centre conducted workshops and meeting with a large number of groups in all parts of the city. A number of workshops were organized with the assistance of elected representatives of Delhi, notably Mr Kapil Sibal, MP from Chandni Chowk and Mr Sandeep Dixit, MP from East Delhi. As a result of this process, hundreds of objections to the plan have been filed by various organizations and individuals. On July 6, 2005, a day before the period of filing objections to the plan closed, Hazards Centre organized a convention on “Citizens’ Response to Delhi Master Plan 2021” at the Speaker Hall, Constitutional Club, New Delhi. The objective of the convention was to bring together residents of the poor and lower class settlement, grass root activists, civil society groups and experts/academicians from universities and research institutions to share their objections to the Plan and prepare a collective citizens’ response to DMP 2021. The convention began by the release of an edited book titled “Draft Delhi Master Plan 2021: Blueprint for an Apartheid City” prepared by Hazards Centre. The book was released by Ms Shantaji, a well-known activist associated with Ankur. The book release was followed by theme presentation on the subject by Mr. Dunu Roy, Director, Hazards Center. Analysing the provisions of the Plan, Mr Dunu Roy showed how the plan has been designed in such a way that the poor and working people of Delhi will have no place in the so-called ‘World Class City’ that the Plan is aiming for. The vision of the Master Plan, Mr Roy said, is not to provide a decent life to all citizens of Delhi but to reserve the city and all its resources for the elite class. He also showed how the Plan is aiming for a wholesale privatization of land and civic amenities like water, electricity, sanitation etc. He said that going by past experience, privatization will not only worsen the situation, but also exclude the poor. He further said that the proposed Plan will render a majority of Delhi’s population jobless and homeless. Mr. Roy also pointed out that the planners did not cite any primary study to substantiate norms for land use and service provision. He said that in view of these facts, the period for filing objections should be extended to six months. The second session began with Prof. K.T. Ravindran, Head of Urban Design Dept, School of Planning and Architecture, objecting to the very process through which the Plan has been prepared. He said that instead of asking citizens to file objections, the Plan should be made in the first place with the active and informed participation of ordinary people. He said that the DDA penalizes ordinary people for violating the Plan, but there is no penalty for the DDA which has failed to implement its own Master Plan. He said that the DDA should be held responsible for implementation failures. Speaking on the transport planning in the Draft Master Plan, Prof. Dinesh Mohan of IIT Delhi, said that the Plan promotes motorized vehicles at the cost of non-motorised vehicles. This, he said, would not only further pollute the environment, but also put the lives of pedestrians and commuters of non-motorised vehicles at risk. The emphasis on Metro also, he said, is misplaced because at a fraction of the cost of Metro, an excellent bus service can be provided in the city which would cater to the needs of more commuters and in a much better way.
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New canal for southern districts
Faridabad, July 14 The announcement made recently by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, would be a major relief to the farmers of these districts. Stating this, the president of the ‘Gramin Bharat’, a social body and the Congress leader, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, said
for the past 35 years, the residents of these districts had been getting a raw deal. He said the new canal would be constructed at a cost of about Rs 260 crore. It would be completed
in about two years and would get water from the main Bhakra canal passing from a village in Sirsa district. Stating that about 18 lakh cubic feet of water, which was the share of the South Haryana, was being diverted to some districts like Hisar and Sirsa. This canal would bring this water to Anta village in the Jind district, from where it would be discharged into the Western Yamuna System.
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I’m no ordinary Imam, Bukhari tells High Court
New Delhi, July 14 The statement came from Bukhari’s counsel Shakil Ahmed Syed during arguments on his application for impleading him as a party to a PIL filed by an NGO for declaring Jama Masjid a protected monument after the court said he had no locus standi to be before it. “Who are you? You are not a party to the dispute. You are merely an Imam,” a Division Bench of Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said making it clear that it was not inclined to entertain his plea. “He is not an ordinary Imam,” shot back his counsel amidst interruption from Wakf Board counsel Najmi Waziri, who said Bukhari was just a Naib Imam. “Are there various categories of Imams?” the court asked and sought to know in what capacity he was before it. “You are not the owner of the property. If you are an employee of the Wakf Board, you are under the Board,” the Bench said. Terming Syed Ahmed Bukhari as a “self-styled” Imam, Waziri clarified that he was only a Naib Imam and as per the Board’s records his father Syed Abdullah Bukhari was the Imam. In its affidavit filed in the court, the Board said the Imam was not taking a very active interest in the affairs of the mosque and, therefore, it had to co-ordinate with the Naib Imam even as it accused the latter of non-cooperation. The Bench directed the Survey Commissioner (Wakf) to carry out a survey to identify the property of the Board and report back to the court on the next date of hearing. Expressing displeasure over MCD’s “abject failure” in checking unauthorised construction near Jama Masjid, the court said “it is the duty of the Corporation as a statutory body to know when and what unauthorised structure has come up and remove the same”. Earlier, Waziri told the court that Syed Ahmed Bukhari was not co-operating with the Wakf Board and that its officials were being threatened as a result of which they were unable to go to the area. “There has been no co-operation from him (Bukhari) regarding survey of the encroachment in and around the mosque,” the Wakf Board said in its affidavit alleging that the letter of the Board sent to him by its personal courier had been torn in front of people. ASI counsel Sanjay Jain submitted that in view of the onset of monsoon, only minor repairs could be carried out in Jama Masjid and the major ones would be undertaken after the rainy season. Petitioner’s counsel Usha Kumar alleged several illegal structures have come up near the mosque adversely affecting its beauty.
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Demand for restoring Hartron centres to Gurgaon
Gurgaon, July 14 The Congress MLA Mr Dharamvir Gauba, Mr Bhuinder Choudhary, Ms Anita Yadav, Mr Rajinder Joon, Mr Daan Singh and independent MLAs Mr Sukhvir Jaunapuria and Mr Narender Yadav have in a joint letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda made out a strong case for bringing these facilities back to Gurgaon. Former Congress minister Rao Dharam Pal and a former party MLA Mr Zakir Hussain are also signatories to the letter. According to the letter, the two Research and Development Centres of HARTRON were set up by the state government under assistance from UNDP and the Central government in the year 1981 and 1991 respectively. These centres were located in the heart of Udyog Vihar industrial area here, providing various services to small scale industries in the region. These services included imparting skill oriented training to rural women to help them find employment in various industrial units in the area. They have argued that the Centres have imparted training to more than 6,000 females from the villages of Mewat and the Ahirwal belt, who were then able to find employment under various schemes run by
the state and central Government. The MLAs have charged that the two centres were shifted to Ambala by the preceding government with an eye on the prime 3.5 acres of the campus of the centres. The whole operation was carried out in a “questionable” hurry by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) and the IT department of the state, they allege. The political leaders have only voiced the grievances of the local people, including elected members of various village panchayats, including Budhera, Cartrpuri, Mulahera, Sirhol, Kanhi, Jharsa, Khandsa, Wazirabad and Naharpur. Those agitating for restoration of the centres allege that there was no justification for shifting them to Ambala as the services they offer were already being provided by Industrial Design Development Centre (IDDC) there with whom they have been merged. Inquiries reveal that just after the government shifted the centres to Ambala, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was also filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by some residents of village Dundahera – which owned the land before it was acquired to set up the centres – to direct the government to restore the facilities.
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Emergency Response Groups set up in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, July 14 The Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Gurgaon has been designated as Nodal Agency for training related to Incident Management System. The sources informed that recently Haryana government had deputed its architects and engineers for training at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and CBRI, Roorkee, prominent centers for disaster management in the country. All Deputy Commissioners of the state had been entrusted with the responsibility of setting up of Emergency Operation Centres fully equipped with emergency equipment. Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Mr Sudhir Rajpal informed that District administration has already constituted twelve Emergency Response Group (ERG) to meet emergencies during natural and man-made disasters. The objective behind these groups is to render immediate help to the persons trapped in the disasters like earthquake, fire, explosive, chemical and poisonous gas leakage, railway and road accidents. The sources further revealed that Haryana government was also contemplating implementing the additional provisions in building regulations and byelaws for structural safety in natural hazard zones in India, prepared by a committee of experts constituted by National Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Dr Abhay Kumar Shrivastava, Head, Disaster Management, Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) informed that more than 60 per cent houses and high rise apartments in Gurgaon would fall if a earth quake of magnitude of 6.5 Ritcher or above hits the area. He further added that Disaster Management Act clearly stipulates the plan from state level to village level. There should be a fixed plan and guidelines for disaster management at the commissioner, district, block, panchayat and village level each. There should be a resource inventry at all levels by different departments. Stating an example, Mr Abhay Shrivastava elaborated that the Civil Surgeon of the district must have complete records (address, phone, etc) of all hospitals (both govt. and private) with their facilities and number of beds available in them, all doctors with their specialisations, ambulances, chemist shops, etc for ready reference. It has been noticed at disaster sites that the officers run from pillar to post to arrange the facilities due to lack of knowledge, he said. Likewise, Public Health department would arrange water, Transport department vehicles, Food and Supply department food items, Telephone department communications etc in case of disasters, suggested Mr Shrivastava. He also laid stress for the formation of voluntary teams from village level to district level comprising women, NGOs, youth, religious leaders, political leaders and elected representatives who would work voluntarily to minimise the effects of disasters.
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Move to exclude localities from LBZ
New Delhi, July 14 The vice-chairman of the NDMC Ms. Tajdar Babar and a member of the council Mr. Asok Ahuja recently submitted a proposal to the Central Urban Development Ministry regarding the exclusion of about one dozen posh localities of the NDMC area like Mandi House, Gole Market, Bengali Market etc from the Lutyen Bungalow Zone (LBZ). According to Mr.Ahuja, after the approval of the Central Urban Development Ministry, the proposal will be handed over to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the necessary amendment in the draft. After the amendment, the residents of these area will get some relief as far as the building construction rules are concerned. “The building construction norms in the LBZ area are very stringent,” a senior officer of the NDMC said. “Due to being a very important part of the Capital, all prescribed guidelines and norms are being followed strictly. Commercial construction is almost restricted as the whole area is touted as residential area. Despite this fact most residents of these areas are engaged in commercial activities. There is no denying the fact that the commercial value of the properties falling in these localities has increased many folds in recent times. Due to this reason, the residents have been lobbying for this move for past several years,” he said. According to the president of the NDMC workers Federation Mr. Ganga Ram, the entire move was an attempt to support the building mafias who obviously have a vested interest and want liberal laws so that they can carry on their business.
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Two dozen villages flooded by Ganga water
Meerut, July 14 On Wednesday evening, water from the Ganga flooded into the villages following reported discharge of 1.5 lakh cusecs of water into the Ganga. More than a dozen villages including Hadipur Goodi, Jalalpur, Jora, Kheri Kalan, Sirgepur and Manoharpur had already been affected by flood. Thousands of acres of farming land of these villagers is also flooded, resulting in severe damage to crops. According to the irrigation department. the Ganga is flowing 1.5 metre above the danger mark at all places. Mawana and the adjoining link roads are drowned in up to three feet deep water. While thousands of villagers are facing such a grave situation, the local administration doesn’t seem to be much bothered, other than issuing warnings about the flood constituting a steering group to keep a watch on villages drowned in the flood.
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Abduction, murder accused gets bail
Noida, July 14 Om Pal, arraigned for abduction and murder, was allowed bail after he had deposited the bail amount in the court. The court also granted bail on High Court orders to police Sub Inspector SN Pathak. According to prosecution, one Fateh Singh of Khabra had been abducted by Om Prakash, who was later murdered and his dead body hidden somewhere. The police had arrested Om Prakash and recovered the weapon used in the murder of Fateh Singh. His rotten dead body was also recovered at Om Prakash’s behest. The district and session judge Gautam Budh Nagar had earlier rejected Om Prakash’s bail application in view of the serious nature of the crime. A petition was filed in the High Court on behalf of the accused. While allowing the bail, High Court had laid a condition that a security amount of Rs 25000 should be deposited by the accused in the District Court, Gautam Budh Nagar before he is released on bail. SI Pathak was also allowed to be released on similar condition.
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Gang of human traffickers busted
New Delhi, July 14 The accused persons were identified as Gurnam Singh, resident of Karnal, Kabul Singh, resident of Amritsar, Sanjeev Saini, Parul Bali alias Tany, Virender Malhotra alias Vicky, Mohammad Bhola alias Honey, Mohammad Aasim, Gurdev Singh and Mohammad Khalid. On July 7, the French embassy told the IGI police that on June 16, 2 passengers Gurnam Singh and Kabul Singh holding Indian passports were off-loaded by Manager of Uzbekistan Airlines while they were trying to visit Paris via Tashkent. Both the passengers had French Schengen Business Visa issued by French Consulate General in Pondicherry. Since the passengers were unable to speak proper English, the Manager questioned them about the purpose of their visit and they claimed that it was a business visit. During verification, their passports and visas were found to be genuine but the invitation letters which they provided to French Consulate in Pondicherry were found to be fake. During interrogation, Gurnam Singh told police that he had provided his passport and visa to seven others in Haryana and Punjab. Accordingly, the other suspects were arrested by the police.
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Illicit liquor seized
Faridabad, July 14 According to police sources, the illicit liquor was being smuggled in various
vehicles intercepted by the police. One Ajaib Singh of Kush-Baroli and his accomplice Rajesh of Chandila village were nabbed with about 40 boxes of liquor. In the second seizure, about 38 boxes of illicit liquor was found loaded in a car by an accused identified as Ashok of Badoli village, while one Ravi Kumar of Jawahar Colony was arrested with 20 boxes of liquor from another spot. A case under the Excise Act has been booked against the accused. Faridabad is seen as one of the main centres of the sale and trade of illicit liquor in the state, primarily due to a strong nexus between the smugglers and officials of the departments concerned.
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MCD school inspector arrested
New Delhi, July 14 While the sleuths have arrested Chander Dev Meena, two suspects R K Sharma, a Class IV employee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Raj Din an advocate, who are also allegedly involved in the racket, are absconding. The sleuths received a complaint from Mrs Joginder Taluja, Education Officer, South Zone that some forged appointment letters were received in her office and that no such appointments were made in the recent past. During investigation the sleuths found out that several innocent persons were duped on the pretext of providing them employment as class IV employees.
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Electricity workers to launch agitation
New Delhi, July 14 The union, which claims the support of at least 14,500 employees in the power companies – BSES, NDPL, Transco and Genco – in the Capital, said it will first launch a “work as per rule” agitation, and if its demands are not met within 10 days, it will go for a tool-down strike. Power Minister Haroon Yusuf, however, said the union in question is not recognised by Delhi government, adding it has been assured by the four unions it has been negotiating with that they are not participating in the agitation. “The power supply in the capital will remain unaffected,” he
said. — TNS
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