New Delhi, July 28
In the first breakthrough in the probe into the malpractices in the Common Entrance Examination for admissions to Delhi College of Engineering, CBI has arrested an accomplice of the kingpin Pankaj Dahiya and secured seven days’ police custody from a Delhi court today for his ‘intensive’ interrogation.

Himanshu Kumar, who allegedly played a “pivotal role in the entire episode” was arrested by the CBI from Bangalore yesterday and produced before Special Judge Prathiba Rani who remanded him to police custody till August 5.

The agency said “sustained and intensive interrogation” of Himanshu, the first to be arrested in the case, was necessary “to know how he secured the question paper, exact number of beneficiaries and to arrest other accomplices”.

The CBI told the court it had seized “several incriminating documents” during a raid at his house in Bhawana in North Delhi on July 27 which pointed to his active role.

Meanwhile, the court would hear the anticipatory bail plea of Dahiya tomorrow. CBI has already opposed it saying he “was the brain behind the whole operation and his custodial interrogation was necessary especially since the investigation was as its initial stage”.

CBI, on the basis of a complaint from the Registrar of the Delhi University and subsequent investigations, had on July 19 registered cases against 21 students and some unknown officials of the University for allegedly indulging in malpractices during the CEE for admissions to DCE.

It was allegedly found that the students had used unfair means to get through the competitive exam with the help of Dahiya, a former student of the DCE, Himanshu and some others in lieu of Rs four lakh each.

CBI said the accused had given to each candidate a Hutch SIM through which they got the answer keys of the question booklet in the form of SMS.

The matter came to light when it was found that 11 candidates, all ranked 56, scored the same set of marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) in the CEE conducted in May.

Three other students ranked 25 with similar scores in the three subjects. Again, five students, all ranked 13, scored the same marks in PCM.

Several parents and students had lodged complaints with the university in this regard.

Following the CBI report, the Delhi High Court had on July 25 directed the Delhi University to cancel the offer of admission of the students who were found to have indulged in malpractices.

New Delhi, July 28
The Delhi BJP today demanded that the Delhi Assembly be called for a day to discuss various issues affecting the common man.

Delhi BJP President Dr Harsh Vardhan today said that the power and water situation have worsened in the Capital.

Accusing the state government of concealing facts on water privatisation, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit should call a special session of the Delhi Assembly to discuss the issue which was hurting the public no end.

As there is growing resentment among the public, Dr Vardhan said that the Congress legislators should make their stand clear on the tariff hike, adding the Delhi Government had got the Delhi Water Supply & Sewerage Project prepared on the orders of the World Bank and it was important that they speak out their mind on the issue.

With privatisation coming in, another bout of tariff hike would be inevitable with no guarantee of regular supply, and the worst sufferers would be the ‘jhuggi-jhopri’ dwellers who would have to cough up several times the cost they were paying today, he said.

He also added that the irony is that despite there being a provision of penalty for not discharging their ‘responsibility’, the clause does not mention what the penalty would be.

Alleging that the companies being assigned the job of water distribution here had tainted records for their performance in other countries like South Africa, Brazil, Bolivia, Phillipines, where they were either penalised or their contract cancelled, Dr Harsh

Vardhan cautioned against the move, saying this would prove disastrous for the people.

New Delhi, July 28
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has a backlog of 14,039 houses that had been committed to people registered with it under various housing schemes but have not been provided to them.

At present there was a backlog of 14,039 flats that had been created due to various reasons, which was expected to be cleared by the end of this year, sources said.

In order to solve the housing problem in the capital with its ever-increasing population, DDA had been making efforts to provide housing by way of built-up flats of various categories under different schemes, they said.

Land was allotted under various schemes like land allotment to cooperative housing societies, plotted land allotment under the Rohini Residential Scheme 1981, development of resettlement colonies, rehabilitation or relocation of slum and JJ clusters, allotment of alternate residential plots in lieu of land acquisition, the sources added.

However, the authority allotted 53,551 plots out of a total of 82,384 registrants under the Rohini Residential Scheme 1981. At present, there is a backlog of 27,043 plots under the scheme, which was expected to be cleared by the end of next year.

From 2002-03 to 2004-05, 17,093 houses of various categories (High Income Group, Middle Income Group, Low Income Group and Janta or Economically Weaker Section) had been constructed by the DDA and during the same period, 39,184 houses were allotted.

22, 244 flats were under construction. In addition, DDA had planned to construct multi-storeyed single room tenements for relocation or resettlement of eligible JJ dwellers.

The DDA also allotted land to various categories of institutions, including social or charitable organisations and local bodies for many purposes.

The Government had accorded in-principle approval to DDA to take up a pilot project for construction of multi-storeyed tenements for relocation of slum dwellers at Tehkhand using land as resource.

An area of 16 hectares had been identified for the purpose which would provide 3200 Economically Weaker Section tenements of about 25 sq metre each in a multi-storeyed complex for slum relocation. The cost details had yet not been finalised.

The authority had made a provision of one per cent reservation for physically handicapped people in the allotment of flats.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had taken up a survey in respect of residential properties being used for commercial activities and action had been initiated against 655 properties during 2004, the sources said.

New Delhi, July 28
The Department of Posts has opened four Finance Marts in Delhi Postal Circle at New Delhi GPO, Lodhi Road, Sarojini Nagar and Parliament Street Head Post Offices.

These post offices, in addition to providing small savings facility to the public, will advise investors and accept their investments for further investing in the products of their choice.

For this purpose, the select Post Offices have, on Behalf of different organisations like RBI, SBI Mutual, UTI Mutual, ICICI Prudential, IDBI, Principal, etc, already been selling their investment schemes.

With the setting up of Finance Marts in these Post Offices, all the activities of investment schemes and transactions can be done under roof.

The facility would enable an investor to get personally acquainted with investment choices as he would be doing so after having detailed discussions and evaluation of the different options available with the Finance Marts since a customer cannot make all these kinds of discussions over the counter.

For this a suitably qualified official well versed with the different investment products available at Post Offices is deployed at the Finance Marts for expert advice to the public and selling them the product of their choice.

Besides this, payment of international money transfer through Western Union Money Transfer can also be taken from the Finance Marts, a release said.

New Delhi, July 28
The Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, who is also Chairman of the Steering Committee, today submitted a report to Delhi Lt. Governor, Mr. B. L. Joshi, on the New Regulatory Framework for Building Regulations in Delhi.

The report was submitted in presence of Ms. Rebecca Black, Director, USAID; Mr. R. M. Kapoor, Chief of Urban studies Centre, Times Research Foundation in Kolkatta and Bimal Patel, Managing Director of Environment Planning Collaboration in Ahmedabad.

The USAID had provided funding support for the project apart from identifying many experts for the project, Mr. Rakesh Mehta said.

The Municipal Commissioner informed the Lt. Governor that the project was started in December 2003 and took one and half years to complete. This report seeks to replace the existing Delhi Unified Building Bye-Laws 1983, which are outdated.

The report is divided in four parts. One relates to the Legislative Amendments to the MCD and NDMC Acts, which are required to be made to implement the new building bye-laws. The second relates to the New Building Bye Laws drafted by the experts. The third relates to the local area plan which are mandatory in the Bye Laws. And the fourth is the expert of CRISIL detailing the setting up of a rating agency to regulate professional involved in building activity.

The Lt. Governor emphasized the need to make the necessary amendments in the acts and bye-laws at the earliest. He said that the pace of urban development had outdated the ability of governments to regulate it due to archaic laws, long-winded procedures and lack of professional approach.

He expressed satisfaction that the new bye laws seek to rectify this lacuna by involving architects, engineers and other experts in the process of granting building permits and use permits. He emphasized the need to have an effective enforcement agency to ensure strict compliance of laws.

New Delhi, July 28
A city court today sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for murdering a 30 year-old-lady in Sangam Vihar in South-west Delhi two years ago. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Lal Singh held Dwarka and Surender guilty of murdering Asha and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 4000 on each of the convicts. A minor called Munna, the other accused in the case, is facing trial in the Juvenile Court.

Asha’s son Sonu Kumar and Anil Kumar deposed in the court that on July 03, 2003, Dwarka, Surender and Munna trespassed into his house. While Dwarka and Surender held his mother, they said, Munna attacked her with a sharp-edged weapon and killed her. Meanwhile, their father Om Chand arrived on the spot, prompting the three to flee. Asha was taken to AIIMS where she was declared brought dead.

Munna and Dwarka were arrested on July 4 while Surender was arrested on July 15. The convicts had no motive except to render assistance to their friend,

Munna, who had some kind of enmity towards the deceased, according to the Prosecution. There were eighteen Prosecution witnesses in the case. Dwarka and Surender were convicted under Sections 452 (Trespassing), 302 (Murder) and 34 (Common intention to commit a crime) of the IPC.

New Delhi, July 28
A Delhi court today sentenced an employee of the Punjab National Bank to two years’ imprisonment for cheating the bank of lakhs of rupees in 1991.

Special CBI Judge Pratibha Rani also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000 on Manjit Singh Alag, who while being posted at the Connaught Place branch, opened a fake account in the name of Harjit Singh and manipulated the master ledger showing bogus credit entry.

According to CBI, the accused withdrew more than Rs 7 lakh from the account. However, he returned Rs 4.5 lakh after being caught. The investigating agency produced 20 witnesses in support of the case. —TNS

Faridabad, July 28
The district administration here heaved a sigh a relief today as there was no 
strike or ‘bandh’ by the industrial workers or the commercial establishments in protest against the Gurgaon incident.

The majority of the industrial units functioned as usual and there was no impact on the trade and business whatsoever.

It is reported that the Joint Trade Union Council which had given a call for the strike and rally, last night decided to cancel the agitation plan and announced to hold just a public meeting of the trade unions and employees near Bata factory in the evening.

A spokesman of the council admitted that the plan to take part in the strike was called off.

He, however, said that the workers and residents would be taking part in the public meeting, despite the Section 144 imposed by the administration.

Section 144 also failed to dissuade the workers of a political party from taking out a demonstration outside the Mini-Secretariat here yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs G.Anupama, said today that the administration had been prepared well to deal with any ‘bandh’ programme.

She said measures had been taken to check any untoward incident. While additional police force had been requisitioned, the police had increased patrolling.

The officials also claimed that there was no impact of the strike call in the district, with all the educational institutions and commercial establishments open. Traffic movement was normal as well, they added.

Faridabad, July 28
The Gurgaon incident may not have any effect on the labour scenario and the industrial production here in near future. Labour unrest has hardly bothered the majority of the units in the past two decades in Faridabad, though closure of many units did affect the overall growth of the industry here.

This has been the view of the newly elected president of the Faridabad Small Industries Association (FSIA), Mr Rajiv Chawla, who himself is a prominent entrepreneur here.

Speaking to The Tribune here today, Mr Chawla said the clash between the industrial workers and the police on Monday had been quite unfortunate, he did not see any Gurgaon-like development here despite reports that the industrial workers of certain units in Faridabad had united to launch a major agitation.

Mr Chawla said that the labour unions and their leaders here have been quite mature in their dealings and would not let the things go out of control at any stage.

He added the industrial peace in the town, once known as the ‘Manchester’ of India’. could not be disturbed by any agitation so long as there was no political interference.

Mr Chawla claimed that the reports from Gurgaon also suggested that the matter went out of control only after there was an outside interference.

He said there had been no violent incident involving factory employees here in the past about 25 years though the union did resort to agitation and strikes in support of their demands from time to time.

He said it was mainly due to the approach of the unions and the management that the things got settled in most of the cases.

Citing the example of strike in certain units, he said some of the agitation had been quite long as in the case of ‘Class India Limited’, but he claimed that the issue had been settled at last.

Regarding the ongoing agitation in some units, including in the Escorts Group, he said the government and the authorities concerned should take initiative to resolve the matter and ensure that it does not go out of control.

He added that the prominent union leaders here, despite their affiliation to the Left Front, had acted in a matured manner so far and the interaction with the industry leaders and management had proved fruitful.

There were about 12,000 industrial units in the district, which provide jobs to about two lakh workers and an indirect employment to many others.

The district provides a revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore annually to the Central and the state exchequer.

Ghaziabad, July 28
A woman and two girls were crushed under a wall that collapsed in Nandpur village, Dholana. One of the girls was daughter of the house owner. The villagers performed the last rites of all the three without informing the police.

According to Dholana SO, Harpal of Nandpur village was going to Hardwar to get ‘kanwad’. His wife and some villagers were returning home after seeing him off. When they reached near Riazuddin’s house, a wall collapsed, burying three persons, including Riazuddin’s own five-year-old daughter Gulistan.

Hearing the sound of wall collapse, people rushed to the spot, but by the time they pulled them out of the debris, they had all died.

The villagers did not inform the police and mutually agreed to perform the last rites of the victims, quietly.

New Delhi, July 28
The trend of increasing obesity among children and adolescents has alarmed health experts who warn of serious repercussions for the next generation which prefers cheese-layered burgers to green vegetables.

Taking cognisance of the problem, an NGO Navdanya launched ‘Good Food Programme’ here today in association with Diabetic Foundation (India).

The programme is intended to curb the adverse and serious consequences of childhood obesity, which is growing at a rapid pace in pre-teen and teen ages, due to various food habits and lifestyle changes in children.

According to Dr. Anoop Misra, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who has conducted several studies on the subject, “50 to 80 percent of obese children become obese adults and complications of adult obesity are much worse if the obesity begins in childhood”.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder Director of Navdanya, said that childhood obesity is growing in an alarming manner in India driven by changes in diet, lifestyle and globalisation. “Obese children have considerably higher risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as hypertension and insulin resistance. To secure their future, we need to proactively fight against the causes of obesity. The Good Food Programme is a step taken towards that direction,” she said.

It was pointed out that the Good Food Programme has a multi-level focus, including the individual child, the family, the schools and the community.

The programme aims at imparting knowledge, inculcating preventive behaviour, and increasing awareness on a healthy diet and lifestyle and providing alternatives.

The programme activities depend on mobilising various resources and organisations and institutions to achieve the programme goals, lectures and seminars highlighting link between diet and obesity, diabetes and related problems, students’ participation in health education through food and health related competitions, quizzes, screening of films and ‘The Little Chef’ programme that will organise cooking and nutrition classes for children.

Acknowledging the need for such programs, Ms. Vandana Puri, Principal, Salwan Public School said, “because 50 percent of India’s population is under the age of 25 years, it increases the importance of focusing on children and young adolescents in the primary prevention and intervention in order to improve the overall public health and food practices in the near and distant future. This therefore makes the Good Food Programme an important curriculum for all the schools to adopt.”

New Delhi, July 28
With the arrest of four persons, Delhi Police claimed to have worked out four cases of burglary and one case of auto theft.

Thee accused have been identified as Naim (25), Rakesh (23), Bashir (32) and Mohammed Jaqui (20). They all were arrested by the northwest district police near Nandnagri. Police said the accused were apprehended from a Tata-407 truck after a brief chase following the truck’s failure to stop at a picket near Nandnagri.

The police claimed to have recovered a country-made pistol, two live cartridges, a fired cartridge and 530 kg, stolen copper from their possession. 

Bulandshahr, July 28
A schoolchild was kidnapped while he was stepping out of the school gate to return home in Secunderabad. When he did not reach house, his mother came running to school, but could not find him. It created a commotion in the school.

Police have registered a missing report. The child’s father said he did not have any enemies.

As soon as Nikhil, a student of class IV at Bodhraj School, Secunderabad, and son of Suresh Chand, came out of the school gate, a man in red shirt and black pants called him by name from a shop across the road. The man engaged the boy in conversation and took him towards Hero Colony.

When Nikil did not reach home, his mother Sunita went to school in search of him, but in vain. She then informed her husband in his factory that their son had gone missing. Her husband and his friends looked for the child in all possible places, but drew a blank. They informed the police.

SO police station and police circle officer (DSP) soon reached there. Till late in the night, there was no trace of the child. Police have filed a missing report on the basis of a written complaint from Nikhil’s father.

New Delhi, July 28
Work in district courts at Patiala House and Tis Hazari was partly affected today as lawyers observed a day-long strike to protest the arrest of an advocate who represented the agitating Honda workers in Gurgaon.

The Shahdara Bar Association of Karkardooma had not joined the strike call given by the other bar associations of the capital. Litigants in Tis Hazari and Patiala House courts were helped in the court proceedings by the proxy counsels appointed by the respective Bar Association.

However, the courts passed routine orders and judgements. Lawyers in the two courts had yesterday decided to strike work to protest the arrest of an advocate who represented the agitating Honda employees in Gurgaon on charges of instigating them to indulge in violence.

Gurgaon advocate Rajendra Pathak, an NDBA member, was arrested along with 60 other employees of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Ltd, after the police lathicharge on Monday.

He was produced before the Additional District and Sessions Judge who denied him bail. 

New Delhi, July 28
A Delhi Legislative Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr Charan Singh Kandera has been constituted to provide reservation to those Scheduled Caste members who had migrated to Delhi after 1951.

The committee will provide reservation to the SC members whose castes have been listed in the SC list of NCT of Delhi. Besides, the SC members should fulfil one of the three conditions as stipulated in the para (I) of the circular issued by the Divisional Commissioner, Delhi, on July 27.

The three conditions are such that the applicant should have been born in Delhi or should have studied in Delhi or resided here for at least five years.

New Delhi, July 28
With the arrest of a person, Delhi Police claimed to have solved a theft case involving some cash and electronic items at a shop.

The accused was identified as Arvind Giri (23), a resident of Narela.

Police said that on July 27, a shop-keeper contacted them regarding theft of some cash, a Philips colour television, a CD player and a Motorola phone. It later transpired that a servant from the shop had gone missing. A police team arrested him and recovered the stolen goods from Narela. —TNS