Ghaziabad/Noida, August 24
Even as there was increase in voters turnout, the third phase of the Panchayat elections was marred by violence. Four persons were reportedly killed while more than 50 were injured in different places.

At six places polling had to be suspended. However, according to official spokesman, the voting was peaceful by and large in different parts of the state.

Even as official circles confirmed the death of two persons in poll related violence, according to reliable sources four persons were killed in different places in the state.

In Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar voting was peaceful, with minor skirmishes and clashes reported from certain areas. There was more than 76 per cent polling in 115 villages of Garh Mukteshwar and Simbhawali blocks in Ghaziabad.

According to reports, in many villages including Adsoni there were clashes and firing in the air. The police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse violent crowds at many places.

In village Dotai the police arrested four candidates and their supporters. In Dankore block in Gautam Budh Nagar, there were clashes triggered by allegations of fake voting.

In village Atta Fatehpur a ballot box was “looted” by supporters of two candidates after allegations of impersonation in voting.

When the police intervened, one cop and five persons were injured. The police arrested five persons here. Devinder Singh in Ferozabad and Dharmpal Singh in Pilibhit were among those killed.

New Delhi, August 24
The CBI has registered a case of misconduct against three officers of the MCD, Punjab Test House in Ludhiana and government Quality Marking Centre (QMC), Panipat in Haryana who were alleged to have been involved in the purchase of substandard cloth for uniform of school students of the corporation.

Cases have also been registered against the firms which supplied cloth to the corporation. The firms have been identified as M/s Mittal Processors Private Limited, Panipat; M/s Vineet Cotex Private Limited, Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra and M/s R.K. Silk Mills (India) Limited in New Delhi.

The FIR, which was registered on August 3, said that “sub-standard cloth is being supplied to the Education Department of the MCD by different suppliers. A joint surprise check was conducted in the Central Education Store of the MCD, Dev Nagar and Zonal Store of Karol Bagh and Green Park on April 4 this year and samples of the shirting and suiting material were collected and sealed.

The samples were got tested at IIT, New Delhi and Textile Committee Laboratory, Mumbai, which conform to the ISI specifications set in the supply order, had failed the crucial parameters.

The FIR said that Education Department had awarded a supply order in January 2005 for supply of 40.22 lakh meters cloth to three suppliers. The supply order of suiting cloth was awarded to M/s Mittal Processors Private Limited, Panipat and supply order for shirting cloth was awarded to M/s R.K. Silk Mills India Limited in New Delhi and Vineet Cotex Private Limited Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra.

The total estimated cost of the cloth was Rs 16.79 crore.

“It was learnt that the supply orders were awarded by manipulating the tender process and ignoring the fact that the suppliers did not have required capacity to produce and supply the cloth within stipulated 60 days. Samples of cloth were got tested in the Punjab Test House, Ludhiana and QMC Panipat who had passed the samples without proper testing,” the FIR further said.

The subsequent testing carried out by the Textile Laboratories of Central Government has confirmed the substandard nature of the cloth and their non-conformity to ISI specification.

The FIR further said, “ the facts prima facie reveals commission of conduct by unknown officers of the MCD, unknown officers of the Punjab Test House, QMC Panipat and firms who supplied the cloth material.

This issue was raised today by the Leader of Opposition in the Standing Committee, Mr. Vijender Gupta and BJP Councillor Mr Narain Singh who sought status report of the case. They demanded Municipal Commissioner’s statement over the issue.

Chairman of the standing Committee Mr Mukesh Goel and Leader of the House Mr Jitender Kochar said that everything would be clear after the CBI submitted its report before the concerned authority.

New Delhi, August 24
Making promises is not enough: Making tall claims about the ‘achievements’ seems just as important. While the contenders are busy firming up their agenda, the NSUI, in a self-congratulatory mood, has come up with a list of “achievements”, before announcing their future plans.

If the list is to be believed, the party has to its credit 20 “achievements”, which include getting an insurance scheme implemented for the students, scholarship programmes for visually challenged students, collection of funds for the construction of hostels for North-East students and collecting money for the tsunami victims.

The party’s claims have few takers though. “We are not taken in by their claims. The insurance scheme is only for the students of colleges, which come under the Delhi Government. Their endless list of achievements apart, the outgoing DUSU did nothing substantial in the wake of fee

hike in most colleges and as for the DUSU members, one has even forgotten what they look like,” said a group of students from Hansraj College.

Needless to say that the opposition too is quick to point out that the outgoing DUSU led by NSUI, “failed to address the fee hike issue”.

The United Students’ Front (USF), taking advantage, has professed to take on the challenge. Pointing out that “everyone should have an equal right to education regardless of the economic status”, the USF has sought a rollback in the fee hike.

And there is more. The party has also taken the credit for the construction of the girls hostel in Ramjas College.

Incidentally, the college principal, Dr Rajendra Prasad, doesn’t seem to agree. “They have absolutely nothing to do with it,” he affirms.

Staking a claim to the DUSU office on the basis of these achievements might prove difficult for the party, if the students are to be believed. “Doing their bit for the tsunami victims is not an achievement; it is a duty. And getting funds from a minister of a party that openly claims to foster the NSUI is not exactly what they should be bragging about,” said a second year student of Miranda House.

The party’s other achievement that of ensuring “full transparency in admissions of the students from the reserved sections” too is dismissed by the members of the Ambedkar Students’ Organisation, which has joined the USF, after “being let down by the NSUI”.

“In the last elections, we supported them, hoping that they will support us, but we were disappointed. It was the ASO, which took up the cause of the SC/ST students this year. We were in the forefront seeking transparency in the admission and end of harassment,” said an ASO member.

With the list of rebuttals being just as long if not longer than their achievements, the party hoping for a hat trick in this election may need to go in for more brainstorming to come up with a winning formula.

New Delhi, August 24
With revenues being shored up by 15 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal and 90 per cent of the implementing states putting the new tax regime into operation “very effectively”, the Chairman of the Empowered Committee on VAT today described the implementation of the tax regime as a “success story”.

Speaking at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the State Finance Ministers at Delhi Secretariat today, Mr Dasgupta said, “There is also greater eagerness on the part of non-implementing states to take the cue from the states’ successful implementation of VAT. This is the impression I gather from the officials of these states.” He said that growth in revenue in Q1 of this fiscal year has been of the order of 15 per cent and the June figures show the growth rate jumping to 21 per cent.

“In the coming months, I expect a further step up in revenue growth in the implementing states,” he said. He also stated that the deviations have not been significant.

The economist said VAT has not impacted on prices as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been consistently coming down. Mr Dasgupta said it was heartening that the representatives of the non-implementing states were present at the two-day meeting of the Empowered Committee.

The West Bengal Finance Minister said he would be visiting three states—Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradeshh–in September and convince them of the efficacy of the new regime. VAT is a modern system of taxation, being implemented in more than 130 countries of the world.

He said, “The thrust now will be on the quality of implementation of VAT,” adding “that the Tax Information Exchange System will become operational from October 1, 2005.”

Mr Dasgupta said the Empowered Committee will resort to much more stricter monitoring of implementation of VAT in commodities and classification of their groups.

Ghaziabad, August 24
Violence broke out in Modinagar after a nurse, Sanju, was allegedly strangled to death by her husband. The Modinagar bypass was blocked by a large number of agitated people who placed Sanju’s body near the Sikri octori post.

Livid people torched the Modinagar SDM’s vehicle, who had come to disperse the crowd. At least 12 cops were injured in stone pelting. In the police lathi charge a number of people were injured. Later, people were persuaded to disperse by District Magistrate Santosh Kumar Yadav and SSP J. N. Singh who had rushed to the spot.

The parents of Sanju alleged she was murdered by her in-laws for dowry. Living in a rented house in Gali No 5, Santpura, Sanju’s husband, Arjun Upadhya, had allegedly strangled his wife on Monday night and surrendered himself to the police the next morning. He told the police he had suspected his wife Sanju of having loose morals and had thus killed her. They were married on January 24 this year.

Sanju’s parents reached there on getting the news. Sanju’s father alleged that his daughter had been killed for dowry. On Tuesday evening as soon as Sanju’s body was received after the postmortem, the atmosphere became charged. People from many colonies, after placing Sanju’s body on a trolley, blocked the traffic.

SDM Sunita Singh and CO police Anil Kumar Jha reached the spot and promised to take action against her husband. But the crowd became more volatile and started pelting stones.

The SDM’s vehicle was torched and at least six cops, including the SDM’s driver, were injured in stone pelting. The crowd could not be controlled for a few hours by a small police force.

New Delhi, August 24
Delhi Pradesh BJP today alleged that BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd have “miserably” failed to provide regular power to consumers in Delhi and even “forged” annual revenue records to get approval for increasing power tariff.

“Not only have both your companies miserably failed in their mission, but they have become a symbol of loot and exploitation of the common consumer. Every power consumer of Delhi is thoroughly frustrated with the working style of your companies,”

Delhi BJP chief Mr Harsh Vardhan told Mr Anil Ambani, who runs the two power companies, in a letter.

Vardhan told reporters here that he had demanded withdrawal of the third increase in power tariff announced by the power companies.

“On the basis of forged ARR prepared by your company, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has approved the third increase in power tariff, behaving like a puppet. Chief Minister Mrs. Sheila Dikshit and Power Minister Haroon Yusuf have also approved this increase,” he said in the letter, a copy of which was released to the media today.

The BJP leader alleged that the power situation in Delhi was going from bad to worse with each passing day and in the areas where the companies supply power, transformers, electric poles, electric wires, electronic meters and the employees of the companies have become a “cause of headache”. Urging people not to pay the enhanced power tariff, Mr Vardhan said Residents Welfare Associations, Industry and Trade Organisations, power consumers and others have decided to join the BJP’s movement against the power tariff hike.

New Delhi, August 24
Two incidents of daylight dacoity have been reported in Krishna Nagar in East district today. The dacoits in both the cases managed to escape.

In the first incident, two youths forcible entered a house and decamped with cash worth Rs 2.60 lakh, gold bangles and two jewellery sets. The victim, identified as Sadhana Khattar, was alone in her house when the incident took place. According to the police, two youths knocked at the house of Sadhana Khattar (35-B, Gyan Park, Krishna Nagar) and asked her to attest some documents.

Before she could close her door, the duo pushed her and whipped out a country-made pistol and entered her house.

While one assailant remained at the door, the other took the lady inside and tied her with a cloth. He asked her for the keys and then opened the almirah and decamped with cash and jewellery. A case of dacoity has been registered in the Krishan Nagar police station.

In a similar incident, four assailants entered another house in West Azad Nagar and decamped with cash and jewellery at gunpoint.

Kamla, wife of Shree Pal Jain, was alone at her house when one person knocked at her house and asked her to sign some documents. Even as she opened the door to inform him that she did not know him, three other assailants who were hiding entered the house. One of them whipped out a pistol and looted gold jewellery and cash from the house. Both the incidents took place within a gap of just 10 minutes in the same area.

New Delhi, August 24
A Kashmiri militant, who planted a bomb near a building in the busy Connaught Place area here in 2001,was today sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court.

“The act of the accused was so heinous that if he had succeeded in it, many lives as well as properties would have been lost,” Additional Sessions Judge Suresh Chand Rajan said, convicting 27-year-old Azad Ahmed Qureshi, an activist of Kashmir-based militant outfit ‘Islamic Front’.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 6,500 on the convict who was punished under various provisions of the Explosives Act and the Arms Act.

The court, however, acquitted him of charges under Sections 121 and 121 A (waging war against Government of India) of the IPC saying “the prosecution could not prove the specific accusation”. “I find no evidence that the accused intended to wage a war against the country,” the Judge said.

The accused, who hails from Srinagar, had pleaded guilty during the course of recording of evidence saying he “now wants to lead a peaceful life with his aged parents and discharge his responsibilities as the eldest son in the family”. Acting on a tip-off, a police team had recovered an explosive device containing one kilogram of RDX near a building in Connaught Place.

New Delhi, August 24
Two drug peddlers, from whom heroin worth Rs 17 crores was seized four years ago, have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 16 years and 11 years respectively by a city court.

Additional Session Judge at Patiala House Courts Mr Dilbagh Singh awarded 16 years rigorous imprisonment to Vimal Kumar Behl, who had earlier spent 31 months in a US jail in connection with another narcotics case. Behl’s accomplice Surinder Raj Singh was awarded 11 years rigorous imprisonment.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively on the convicts.

The duo was arrested by sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on April 17, 2001 on Delhi-Gurgaon road near Mahipalpur in South Delhi and 17.5 kilograms of the contraband was recovered from them.

Behl is also being tried by a Mumbai court in a case of smuggling hashish from Afghanistan to Moscow and Holland. The prosecution examined 12 witnesses to prove the case.

New Delhi, August 24
The Municipal Commissioner of Delhi, Mr Rakesh Mehta, today confirmed that cases of dengue had increased this year. A total of 34 cases have been reported from different hospitals of Delhi.

Of them, 22 were from the national Capital while the others came to Delhi for treatment from the neighbouring states.

Last year, only six dengue cases were reported. The Municipal Commissioner said that despite providing proper treatment, three patients had died. The corporation took preventive measures like spraying of liquid medicines in stagnant water where mosquito breeds, fogging machines have been used in sensitive areas of the Capital. Advertisement have appeared in the daily newspapers informing the citizens of the Capital to keep overhead tanks covered and do not store water in open containers. — TNS

New Delhi, August 24
In a freak incident, a chimney of the Indraprastha power plant here toppled over today. However, no casualties were reported.

The chimney toppled at around 11.15 a.m. bringing down with it part of a roof, with debris covering the entire area.

A senior police officer said all persons working in the vicinity had been accounted for. “However, we can say with certainty that there are no casualties only after all the debris have been cleared,” he said.

Fire brigade and police teams were involved in clearing the debris. It was not yet clear how the chimney toppled over, officials at the plant said.

Faridabad, August 24
The police, which had failed to trace the nine-year-old student of DAV public school at Hodal, who had been allegedly kidnapped for ransom over six months ago, has now recovered the body of the boy. It had been buried in a field near Godota village of the district. Three persons have been arrested in this connection while the hunt for another accused is on. The victim, identified as Anand, alias Golu, son of Mr Kishan Chand, a serving Army personnel, had been missing since February 7 this year.

It is learnt that the breakthrough in the case came after the police detected the use of the SIM number by some persons by which the only call for ransom had been made on February 9 last. — TNS

Noida, August 24
The Allahabad High Court today deferred till tomorrow hearing on the petitions challenging the recent cancellation of allotment of plots through lottery here.

A bench comprising Justice B S Chauhan and Justice Dilip Gupta passed the order to this effect on a PIL filed by an NGO Manav Seva Samiti and Noida resident Deepak Sharma.

The petitioners, besides challenging cancellation of plot allotments, have alleged largescale irregularities in the same and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.