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Capital the most unsafe city in the
Widow robbed, raped in Mongolpuri
Tension in Loni as woman killed in clash
Set up planning board for better growth of Gurgaon, Hooda urged
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Probe absolves ACP of assault charges, HC told
Bharti Yadav is material evidence in Katara murder case: Prosecution
Romance with the ‘mother
Newspaper workers demand fulfillment of charter
‘Indian textiles will be promoted abroad’
Students protest over admission row
Drug syndicate unearthed, Nigerian held
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Capital the most unsafe city in the country: Experts
New Delhi, September 29 Three or four storey vertical encroachments coming up in various parts of Delhi like Laxmi Nagar, Kalkaji, Shakarpur and many urban villages were the most unsafe and posed the biggest danger to the city. Most of these vertical encroachments had three-inch wide walls, which could collapse any time. With the Capital being in high earthquake risk category, the collapse of numerous illegal buildings would make rescue work also a very difficult task. The most vulnerable were the buildings with parking on the ground floor. Speaking on the occasion, the Delhi Fire chief, Mr R. C. Sharma, said more than 40 per cent of the buildings in Delhi were unauthorised and their poor quality construction was the biggest danger being faced by the city. The quality of construction was so poor that they collapsed even when pressurised water was sprayed on them for dousing fires, he said. In most places, the lanes and by-lanes were so narrow or encroached upon that fire tenders could not reach in times of need, he added. Contrary to the common belief, most of the buildings constructed by private builders were unsafe, as they ignore or violate ‘building norms’. Speakers at the seminar also highlighted that people living in urban villages were at grave risk as such places were full of unauthorised buildings. More than 500 experts participated in the seminar organised by ‘Safety and Quality Forum’ of the Institute of Engineers.
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Widow robbed, raped in Mongolpuri
New Delhi, September 29 The police said that the victim, a teacher in a school, was allegedly raped by two armed men at her ‘S’ Block Mongolpuri residence at about 2.30 a.m. while she was sleeping. According to the police, the two men had sneaked in her house for robbery. After robbing the woman of her earrings and other small ornaments that she was wearing, they also reportedly took a watch and some cash from the house. Before leaving, both took turns to rape the woman. The police said that a PCR call was received by them at around 3 am about the alleged gang rape and robbery. Later, the medical examination of the woman confirmed the sexual
assault. The police have registered a case of rape-cum-robbery and launched a massive hunt to trace the suspects who had committed the crime.
— TNS
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Tension in Loni as woman killed in clash
Ghaziabad, September 29 The SP City, Ghaziabad, Mr Ram Chander Yadav, said the situation was under control and as a precaution PAC jawans had been deployed in the area along with the police. Bobby, son of Mani Ram, and
Sadudam, son of Shukar, had quarrelled yesterday. The dispute was settled by the people in the locality. But by the evening both the families confronted each other with
lathis, clubs, etc. In the melee, Shahjahan, 45, wife of Shukar, was seriously wounded and later died on the spot. After this, Mani Ram’s family fled from the scene. A large crowd had collected at the place. The SP City, the Deputy DM (Sadar), Mr D. P. Singh, the CO Police, Mr Dinesh Yadav, rushed to the spot. The SP City said the situation was under control and the police and the PAC had been deployed in the area as a precautionary
measure. Nur Mohd, son of the deceased has named Mani Ram, Pratap and Dharminder in his report for the killing at the police station. The deceased was reportedly a heart patient, the police said.
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Banking, telecom and insurance sectors hit by strike in Faridabad
Faridabad, September 29 The transport services of the Haryana Roadways were also hit as buses on several routes did not ply. Though employees in some of the leading and medium industrial units struck work, the majority of the units functioned as usual. The district administration had taken several measures to ensure that there was no forcible disruption of work anywhere in the city or the district. The essential services such as water, power and movement of the rail and private vehicles remained unaffected. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere. According to reports, the strike call had severely affected the work of most of the state and Central government offices here as the employees were seen boycotting the work by assembling outside or taking part in the demonstrations held in several area in the city. The normal functioning came to a standstill in many departments, including the Municipal Corporation Faridabad, Tourism, PWD (B&R), Public Health, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the state power department. Nearly all the banks and their branches, public sector insurance companies and the offices of the Telecom department took part in the strike. Though it hardly had any effect on the functioning in the BSNL offices, claimed a senior official. The services of the department of the Posts also remained unaffected as the majority of the staff was present in their offices. A spokesperson of the Joint Trade Union Council, which played a key role in mobilisation the support in many government offices, claimed that the strike was near-total and its impact was quite positive. He said the employees staged dharnas in support of the demands raised by the trade unions and the employees’ organisations. Their demands include stopping privatisation and contractual system in employment, curbing economic liberalisation, creation of more government jobs and providing social security to the workers. The spokesperson said the government must learn
a lesson after the ‘success’ of strike. It ought to solve the pending issues of the staff, including reinstatement of the retrenched or dismissed government staff, he added. While the council claimed that the strike had paralysed the transport services as no bus came or left the depot here, the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs
G. Anupama, claimed that the impact on bus services was partial as many buses left for various routes in the morning. Claiming that the essential services remain unaffected, she said the police and officials of the district administration had been deployed in various places to check any disruption. The strike had hardly any impact, the Deputy Commissioner added.
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Set up planning board for better growth of Gurgaon, Hooda urged
Gurgaon, September 29 The proposed board should comprise only international-level city planners and representatives from the resident bodies on it. In a letter to Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the convenor of NGO, Mr Shashi Sharma has appealed to form the overarching institution whose only function is to prepare Gurgaon for the future. Expressing concern over poor planning and an insufficient infrastructure of the so-called millennium city, Mr Sharma has sought his attention over the issues, ranging from the large-scale change of land use, deforestation and non-conforming to the laid-out plans by private builders, growing crime, depleting electricity and water, and traffic issues. The letter mentioned that the development in these areas has been going on at a snail’s pace. He regretted that there has been no concerted effort to solve the problems of Gurgaon created over the last five years. People’s Action expressed anguish over some of the statements made by the Chief Minister after taking over office. These remarks had made an impression that Gurgaon has had “enough attention” and it was time perhaps to shift focus to places like Sonepat. The NGO showed its concern towards Sonepat wished it to grow like Gurgaon. At the same time, the interests of residents should be protected as they had made huge investments believing in the promises made by the erstwhile regimes, it added. The convenor has demanded an action, latest by September 30, to check the growing frustration among the people of the city.
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Probe absolves ACP of assault charges, HC told
New Delhi, September 29 “There is no evidence, except the version given by the family members that Rajbir Singh had threatened and beaten them up. Inquiry also shows that there was no high-handedness on his part,” the report filed before Justice R S Sodhi said. Singh was transferred from the elite special cell after the incident. The court had on September 26 rejected a plea for a CBI probe into his role. Meanwhile, the Judge quashed the FIR filed against four of the family members — Gurbax Singh, his two sons Pritpal and Yuvdhir Singh and Daljeet Singh Chaggar— for allegedly assaulting some policemen and asked them to surrender before Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on October 1. The court asked the police not to arrest them on that day. According to the petitioners, it all began after Daljeet Singh (owner of B-14) and Rajesh Kumar (owner of B 15-A) approached area SHO against illegal construction on B 15-B owned by one Manjit Kaur. Later, on a suit filed by Rajesh, a Tis Hazari court stayed construction on B 15-B. The petitioners alleged
the policemen wanted them to withdraw the case and allow the illegal construction.
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Bharti Yadav is material evidence in Katara murder case: Prosecution
New Delhi, September 29 Appearing before Justice R S Sodhi, Delhi Prosecution said the deposition of Bharti before the trial court was essential and she should not have been dropped on the request of the prosecutor from Uttar Pradesh. Counsel Mukta Gupta appearing for Delhi Government said it showed the malafide intention of the Uttar Pradesh Prosecutor to request for dropping of Bharti as the witness. Counsel appearing for Neelam Katara, the mother of slain Nitish Katara, said Bharti had been prevented from coming to India from England to depose in the case. Countering the arguments of Counsel P N Lekhi and Dinesh Mathur, Mrs Katara’s Counsel said she had appealed the trial court 39 times in the case mentioning her difficulties in coming to India. Mr Mathur argued that the summon was never served to Bharti as she had already left for England before proceeding to call her for deposition was moved. Ms Katara’s Counsel said she knew that she was a witness in the case, so she had engaged a lawyer to represent her in the case during the trial. Mr Mathur argued that the accused had been languishing in jail without trial for more than a year as the prosecution failed to summon Bharti for deposition. The Judge reserved his order in the case till tomorrow after hearing the arguments. Earlier in January, 2005, the High Court had dismissed the bail plea of Vishal Yadav, who was nabbed four years back on charges of brutally killing Delhi-based executive Nitish Katara in adjoining Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Vishal, along with his cousin Vikash, had allegedly killed Nitish for his alleged friendship with their sister Bharti Yadav. Bharti, the daughter of former Rajya Sabha MP, fled the country after her friend Nitish was allegedly murdered on the intervening night of February 17-18, 2002. Vishal had sought bail as he had been ailing for some months and claimed to have no role in the murder. On the application of Mrs Katara, the Supreme Court had ordered for the transfer of the case for trial to the Delhi District Court.
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Romance with the ‘mother of all cells’
New Delhi, September 29 Prof Kannan has spent the greater part of his research life working on Ubiquitin. Incidentally, he had broken fresh grounds 13 years ago when he proved that Ubiquitin cell is involved in holding the stem cell in the bone marrow. His work was reported in the prestigious British Journal of Haematology. Ubiquitin is a protein made of 76 amino acids and is known for its ‘scavenging functions’. It is known to tag proteins for degradation, processing, trafficking and sorting, all inter-cellular processes. However, Prof Kannan has proved that Ubiquitin is not merely a scavenging protein “but one of the most fundamental molecules, which has a role in the life- renewing processes.” Most of the work currently underway at the GGI University has been on this new role — Ubiquitinn’s key function of life giving and not mere scavenging. “After my earlier work at Surat proving that Ubiquitin is crucial in holding the stem cell to the bone marrow, we began to look into its other functions,” said Prof Kannan. In 2002-2004 Kannan’s team began work on the CML or Chronic Mylegenous Leukemia, a strain of cancer. Here the stem cells fail to differentiate between different cells like platelets, RBC’s etc. However, using Ubiquitin, Kannan and his team managed to differentiate these cells. These activities of Ubiquitin indicated that the cell may provide an effective means of treatment for patients with CML cancer. Kannan and his team has further postulated that Ubiquitin is critical in getting stem cells to form blood cells, as also RBC’s. A member of his research team went ahead and proved that Ubiquitin is involved in the processes that brings about the closure of neural tubes. Work is currently underway on Ubiquitin’s emerging role in gene activation. Final touches are being put to a collaborative programme with a California-based company on a programme that targets at developing an array of purified Ubiquitin as a diagnostic kit for bone marrow transplantation. Ubiquitin will essentially purify the cells to be used in treatment. Prof Kannan stresses that another programme is being worked out with the Harvard Research Institute on the identification of a receptor for Ubiquitin on stem cells of the blood.
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Newspaper workers demand fulfillment of charter
New Delhi, September 29 The charter was approved at a meeting organised by the Delhi Union of Journalists, which was also attended by the leaders and workers of various unions. Speakers at the meeting focused on the plight of 362 Hindustan Times employees, who were illegally sacked a year ago.
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‘Indian textiles will be promoted abroad’
Noida, September 29 Union Textile Minister Shankar Singh Vaghela said the government would also make efforts to promote their products and make them popular in foreign countries. The minister was formally inaugurating the Handicrafts and Handloom Export Corporation in Sector 2 here yesterday. Mr Vaghela said there was tremendous demand for Indian handicrafts and handloom products in world markets. “The Government of India will promote the products of our artisans in other countries and make them popular among foreigners”. He said the government was trying to project Indian artisans and weavers internationally. “We want our weavers to export their products to other countries under the Shilp Guru Scheme,” he added. “Our exports from this sector have improved our earnings in foreign exchange in the past years. The artisans and handloom workers can also hope to benefit from their products being marketed in foreign countries”, Mr Vaghela said. Apart from Noida, a handloom products showroom named after Rajiv Gandhi has been opened in Delhi also.
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Students protest over admission row
New Delhi, September 29 Even as the students staged a protest demanding admission for 156 students under the reserved quota, the Dean, Law Faculty, Prof. Nomita Aggarwal, dismissed the allegation and said the list consists of names who did not even turn up for the counseling sessions. Highlighting their demands, the Convenor of the ASO, Mr K. S. Saroha, said, “We want the faculty to give direct admissions to those students who meet the cut-off and also have 50 per cent in their graduation. The Law Faculty was earlier giving them admission under the reserved category, which is wrong, because they met the necessary eligibility criteria”. “Now they have given admissions to only 45 students under the general quota and left out 111 students, who come under the reserved quota,” he alleged. However, the Dean said, “we agreed to their demand to give admission under the general quota to students who merited it and also gave admissions to students under the reserved quota, but the list that they have of an additional 111 students, consists of names who did not even turn up for the counseling sessions. How can we give admissions to those who have not even turned
up". Ruling out any discrepancy in the admission procedure, she said, “thousands of students take the entrance examination and clear it but it is not necessary that all of them will take admission.”
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Drug syndicate unearthed, Nigerian held
New Delhi, September 29 The sleuths said that Francis Okika used to lure innocent people by telling them that they have won some lottery or received a huge consignment from abroad. It may be recalled that in June this year, the sleuths had arrested one Honesty Agnibatse alias Cabar of Nigeria in a black dollar scam. During investigation, the sleuths learnt from the ICICI branch of Vasant Vihar that some more Nigerian nationals could be involved in some cheating cases. Accordingly the sleuths arrested Francis on September 28 from Shanti Niketan branch of the ICICI Bank. The bank manager also complained to the police that she had been receiving complaints that one Francis holding account no. 006501071604 has been involved in cheating. According to the sleuths, one Mohammad Pasha, resident of Hyderabad and Bipin Kumar Singh, resident of Patna were duped by the accused. During interrogation, the accused told the sleuths that he used to send e-mails to innocent people claiming that they had won some lottery or received huge consignment from abroad. Further, he used to provide e-mail address or mobile number to the victims to get in touch with him.
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