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HC notice to private schools over free education issue
24 lose jobs for failing to stem power theft
Demolition drive begins in Jama Masjid area
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Royal welcome awaits
Dossiers to keep record of Gurgaon cops’ health
‘Hut’ to deliver mothers from untrained midwives
Special CBI courts to handle cases of fake ST certificates
Discoms notified of govt’s subsidy decision
Hassle-free pollution control
certificates for units
Battle of Saragarhi remembered
No land, but plots aplenty for
allotment
793 cases settled by Lok Adalats
Man found dead in police lock-up
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HC notice to private schools over free education issue
New Delhi, September 13 The court has asked these 100 defaulting schools – giving only zero to 10 per cent seats to poor students – to submit their replies by September 28, explaining why they have not given admission to even one student under the freeship quota. As per the quota, schools that have received land on concessional rates from the DDA have to admit 25 per cent of their total intake of students from the underprivileged sections and provide them free education. Justice BA Khan, the acting Chief Justice and Justice Madan B Lokur also directed the Delhi Government to call a high-level meeting under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister within the next 10 days to discuss the issue of freeship in schools. The meeting will include Director of Education, MCD Commissioner, Law Secretary, Vice-Chairperson DDA, advocate Ashok Agarwal of the Social Jurists and Salman Khurshid. It will also be attended by petitioner’s counsel Ashok Agrawal and DPS counsel K C Mittal and Puneet Mittal. It will discuss the implementation of the freeship quota in schools and Among the schools who figure in the defaulters’ list are DPS, Safdarjung Enclave, Mount Fort School, Modern School, Vasant Vihar, Mother’s International, Mirambika Free and Progressive school and Frank Anthony Public School. The order was passed after senior counsel Salman Khurshid submitted on behalf of the schools that such a meeting could lead to resolution of the issued involved in the case. Earlier, DDA Vice Chairman, Director of Education and Land & Development Officer were summoned by the court on August 25. The authorities have already submitted the list of defaulting schools. Ashok Agrawal, counsel for petitioner Social Jurist, urged the court to expedite the matter as the process
of admission for the next academic session had already begun. He said schools did not adhere to the land allotment condition and the authorities failed to enforce it despite court’s order. The court had on August 18 observed that it was needless to say that “public land has been allotted to these schools on the condition that they would grant freeship to poor and weaker section students, the obvious object being to provide free education to them”. “The object of allotment has allegedly not been achieved because of the private commercial interest of the schools. It is also alleged that the municipal authorities were watching this breach as spectators leaving no option to the court but to intervene in the matter,” the Bench had observed. Earlier, the court had asked the city Government to probe if over 1500 such schools, allotted land on the condition of giving about 25 per cent seats to poor students and grant them freeship, were complying with it. Disposing of the petition, the court had on January 20 last year asked the Directorate of Education to give copies of the report to DDA for taking action against “erring” schools.
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24 lose jobs for failing to stem power theft
Noida, September 13 The Secretary, Power, Mr Atul Gupta, the UP Power Corporation CMD, Mr Deepak Singhal, the MD of Paschimachal Power Corporation, Mr Alok Sinha, had reviewed the power supply and consumption position in Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad and Agra divisions. The Muzzafarnagar distribution division came in for appreciation for its good work. Mr Gupta and Mr Singhal, however, said that as compared to the previous year the power theft scenario this year was much improved and the revenue receipt had also increased. The services of meter reader Irfan, linemen Ramesh Chand, Ram Avtar Saxena and Mehboob Ali had been terminated. They were all posted at a feeder. Cold stores, rolling mills, ice factories, milk plants etc were found to be indulging in power thefts on a large scale. All such units would be given new connection from 11 KV lines to stem the rot, Mr Gupta said. Two meters inside the premises and one on transformers would be fixed to monitor the position. Action for setting up customer care centres in Noida would be initiated soon to improve the power position, Mr Singhal said. The Muzzafarnagar division had registered 51 per cent improvement in revenue collection while power theft had reduced from 42 per cent to 29 per cent. “People using power will have to pay the bills. There won’t be any concession on this score”, Mr Singhal stressed. He said there was a demand for 6000 MW power against a generation of 2300 MW in UP these days. As many as 70 million units of power were being purchased daily at Rs 15 crore out which only Rs 7 crore was being earned back. Departmental action had been taken against 36 employees, Mr Singhal said. Under the rural electrification programme of the UPPC, 30,800 villages would be electrified in the state, he added.
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Demolition drive begins in Jama Masjid area
New Delhi, September 13 It’s a three days drive. Today 119 kiosks will be removed. The eviction drive, for removing 319 illegal structures erected by ‘tehbazaris’ in the area, was started this morning amidst tight security. “The MCD had served notices to the squatters to evict the area asking them to remove their kiosks before September 13. Since they failed to follow direction of the MCD, the department has launched the demolition drive,” City Zone District Commissioner Rahul Dua told reporters He said enough police personnel have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order during the eviction drive, which is in pursuance of the directions of the Delhi High Court to remove illegal structures from Jama Masjid area by September 15. The exercise is part of the process to decongest and beautify old Delhi area. Earlier, roadside hawkers in Chandni Chowk had been removed following a court order. Along with the MCD, the DDA and the Wakf Board are also involved in the anti-encroachment drive.
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Royal welcome awaits Queen’s Baton
Noida, September 13 At 7.15 am, Delhi will hand over the Queen’s Baton to UP at the DND toll plaza, Noida. Mr Kalraj Mishra, Chairman, UPOA, Mr Mohd Aslam Khan, president, UPOA, and Mr Anandeshwar Pandey, general secretary, UPOA, will receive the Queen’s Baton first and then pass it on to Mr Sanjay Garg, UP minister and chairman of the QBR Welcome and Celebration Committee. At the DND entrance, the IAF band will welcome the QBR. Legendary athlete Vijay Singh Chauhan will carry the baton towards the Noida stadium. Following him will be hundreds of kids. During its journey to the stadium, sportspersons of Uttar Pradesh who had made India proud with their performance at the international level would take part in the relay stretching to 5 km from the DND toll plaza to the Noida stadium. Throughout 5 km of Queen’s Baton Relay in Noida, schoolchildren will follow the relay besides lining up the route along with residents. Various associations, including the Noida Entrepreneurs Association and residents welfare associations, would put up 10 welcome arches en route the Queen’s Baton Relay. Thousands of children from more than 25 schools would wave the flags of India and Australia to cheer these runners and welcome the QBR here. More than 5,000 schoolchildren would be taking part in the welcome and celebration of QBR in the Noida stadium where Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, MP, would receive the QBR. Thereafter, various celebration programmes would be performed by schoolchildren. Mr Awanish Awashti, CEO, Noida Authority, would hand over the baton to Rakesh Bahadur, Chairman of Noida Authority, who would then pass it on to the QBR team to take it forward to Agra through Mathura. Meanwhile, the Delhi Traffic police have made adequate arrangements on the occasion of Queen Baton’s Relay that is being organised on September 14 at the Red Fort. The Queen Baton’s relay shall start at 16.30 hours from the Red Fort and reach National Stadium at 18.40 hours through the following route: Red Fort-Subhash Marg-Jawaharlal Nehru Marg-Ranjit Singh Flyover-Tolstoy Marg-Raisina Road-Vijay Chowk-Rajpath and culminate at National Stadium. The police have requested the commuters to avoid the above route.
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Dossiers to keep record of Gurgaon cops’ health
Gurgaon, September 13 The proposed psychoanalysis entails preparing a dossier on the medical and health status of the personnel. The details would be incorporated in a booklet and would be known as medical record in police lingo. This booklet would act as a reference document on their health and overall medical status. Each of the personnel would have his/her own booklet. The district police chief, Mr Hanif Qureshi, said the process for preparing
the booklets had started and the system relating to the entire exercise would be in place shortly. According to him, the booklet would have standardised columns on various aspects relating to health and possible diseases and medical disorder. The personnel would have to fill them. The authorities would keep an update on the progress in the treatment. The authorities would organise periodic health and medical camps to enable the personnel to get themselves diagnosed. According to sources, the authorities had been jolted by recent instances of indiscipline manifested by the police personnel as well as reports of them indulging in crimes. There was a growing feeling that a good percentage of incongruities in the force personnel could be minimised, if not eradicated, if the medical dossier was in place and the personnel tackled accordingly. There is a possibility that the personnel may be suffering from high sugar or blood pressure. Also, they could be suffering from mental diseases, some of them having genesis in hypertension and stress. The focus on diagnosis of the maladies and their medication on the part of the personnel under the watching eyes of the authorities could just as well put the latter in a better position to decide on the work-assignments to be given to the personnel.
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‘Hut’ to deliver mothers from untrained midwives
Faridabad, September 13 It is hoped that the rural women would use the facilities at these centres so that the life of both the mother and the child was safe. Hopefully, it would reduce the dependence of the rural women on the untrained midwives or ‘Dai’s’ during the delivery period. Aimed at providing better healthcare for rural women, the ‘hut’ will have proper facility for safe child delivery. It has been planned to set up 14 such huts in the villages of the district. According to the authorities, these “delivery huts” will be located mainly in the Primary Health Centres (PHC) and at least one doctor along with paramedical staff would be posted there in order to ensure safe delivery. It is reported that only 37 per cent of women in Haryana give birth to their new-born in hospitals. In comparison, the figure in Punjab is 47 per cent and 67 per cent in Himachal Pradesh. As an incentive, the Health Department has announced an offer of Rs 200 to anyone who motivate a woman to have her delivery at these ‘huts’. It is stated that the person in-charge of these ‘huts’ can also call private doctors and hire a vehicle to carry the patient if need be. The expenses in such cases would be borne by the Health Department. Such ‘huts’ would be set up in several villages including Kheri Kalan, Anangpur, Pali, Korali, Panhera Khurd, Karnera, Dudhola, Alawalpur, Solra, Hodal, Tappa, Aurangabad and Hassanpur in the district besides Mandkola, Ghahlab, Andhrola, Bhanguri, Malai and Hathin in the region. Even as the authorities are determined to ensure the success of the scheme, experts believe that “great effort and discipline” would be required if the women in the rural areas are to fully benefit from the scheme. A senior doctor said that getting the services of private doctors and gynecologists at odd-hours could be a hurdle in view of the high consultation rates. Moreover, the work culture in the government hospitals would have to change to make an effective use of the scheme, he said.
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Special CBI courts to handle cases of fake ST certificates
New Delhi, September 13 The Delhi Cabinet, headed by the Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, decided to set up the courts that would exclusively take up cases arising out of alleged incidents of people getting into jobs on forged ST certificates. In all, 20 posts would be created out of which two would be of the level of Metropolitan Magistrate. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had directed the CBI to investigate and take immediate action on a PIL, claiming that thousands of unscrupulous people were using forged ST certificates from Bihar for gaining employment in various government departments and agencies in the Capital. The High Court had told the investigating agency to ensure that such things did not happen in the future and the wrongdoers were punished. Such people were denying the bona fide ST candidates from getting employment they deserve, the court observed. Petitioner Chandeshwar Prasad (a government employee working in Delhi and hailing from Bihar) had sought a probe into lakhs of general category people having been absorbed (now also claiming promotion) into the Delhi Development Authority, MCD, NDMC, AIIMS, schools and colleges in the Capital before 1990 on fabricated ST documents, purportedly issued from various places in Bihar. The petition claimed that such documents were made by a mafia operating from Delhi using duplicate rubber stamps and copied formats of various caste certificates.
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Discoms notified of govt’s subsidy decision
New Delhi, September 13 The notification follows the Delhi Cabinet’s recent decision to offer subsidy to facilitate rollback of 5 per cent of the power tariff hike. As per the notification, the subsidy has been announced with retrospective effect, sources said. The remaining 5 per cent of the 10 per cent power tariff hike will be neutralized through rebate to be offered by the Discoms. Endorsing the decision taken at the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting for a rollback in the ten per cent tariff hike for domestic consumers, the Cabinet had decided on the above formula for facilitating the rollback.
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Hassle-free pollution control
certificates for units
Faridabad, September 13 As many as 80 such approvals have been provided to the industrial units here in the past few days. It may be mentioned that such decisions took 30 to 45 days earlier. According to a spokesman of the Faridabad Industries Association (FIA), the decision in this regard was taken after the visit of the Chairman of the Pollution Control Board, Haryana, Mr Samir Mathur, to Faridabad recently. He
said the decision would benefit the entrepreneurs and was aimed at
removing “unnecessary hassles faced by the units”. The spokesperson said the move had provided relief to the industrialists, which was evident from the record number of applicants who have been provided approval by the pollution board deputed at the FIA house here.
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Battle of Saragarhi remembered
New Delhi, September 13 The British High Commissioner, Sir Michael Arthur, presided over the function and other eminent personalities included Mr M.S. Gill, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman, Minorities Commission and Mr Zulfikar Ali Badar, Secretary-General, Pakistan Chapter, World Punjabi Organization. ‘Saragarhi’ is the incredible story of 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh regiment who waged battle with 10,000 Afghans and successfully held their own for days against the Afghans. Till at last, they all laid down their lives in devotion to their duty. Each man reportedly took ‘sawa lakh’ Afghans single-handedly before he died. This key battle has been named as among the 8 stories of collective bravery brought out by UNESCO and mentioned as one of the five most significant events of its kind in the world. Meanwhile, a special Gurmat Samagam was also organised at Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Tilak Nagar to commemorate Saka Saragarhi. It was organised by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. Shiromani Gurudwara Sevadar Committee vice-president Darshan Singh appealed to the Sikh youth not to trim their hair, follow the Sikh code of conduct and abstain from intoxicants.
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No land, but plots aplenty for
allotment
Noida, September 13 Now, the Noida Authority seems to have come out of hibernation. A proposal is being taken to the Noida Board for acquisition of the required land in Sector 72 by CEO Avnish Awasthi, it is learnt. Should the board approve the proposal, 100 allottees would be handed over their plots and the remaining applicants would be adjusted, said an official. At a meeting called by the CEO to find a solution to this ticklish problem, Deputy CEO Tanvir Jafar Ali said the problems of Sectors 46, 48, and 51 were also discussed. Here also, the allottees had not been given physical possession of their plots. Another problem is that the acquired land of the Noida Authority has been illegally occupied by some people, apparently with the blessings of some insiders. Right now, the authority officials are examining the files afresh and soon bulldozers could be pressed into action to retrieve the lost land.
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793 cases settled by Lok Adalats
Faridabad, September 13 According to the Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Member Secretary of District Legal Services Authority, Mrs Anita Dahiya, the Lok Adalat at Faridabad settled 699 cases while 94 cases were disposed off at Palwal town. Of these, 33 cases were related to motor vehicle accident claims, 183 civil cases, 40 criminal and 537 cases were of summary nature. She added that a fine of over Rs 3.35 lakh was imposed in the summary cases.
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Man found dead in police lock-up
New Delhi, September 13 He was picked up last night by the local police and put behind bars under Section 107/151 for breach of peace. Police said that he was a ruffian of the area and had been arrested earlier also by the local police. The police have initiated an ADM inquiry into the incident. Constable Shri Bhagwan and the duty officer ASI Ranbir Singh have been suspended. Another constable Mahender Singh was transferred to police lines.
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