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Yamuna water unfit for drinking even after treatment: Report
Salaried class expecting small mercies in Budget
Jessica case IO transferred
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Pollution Board officials deprived of special scheme
Noida trader robbed of cash, jewellery
2 injured in cylinder explosion
‘Jansunvai’ on education reforms
‘Flower Fest’ gets good response
Case registered after DCP’s intervention
Wanted criminal held in Ghaziabad
Ashok Vihar sari merchant’s house robbed
Agitated villagers block road
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Yamuna water unfit for drinking even after
New Delhi, February 26 As per the CPCB’s best use classification, the quality of water in the river in the stretch between Wazirabad and Okhla was class E, which meant the water was only suitable for irrigation, industrial cooling and controlled waste disposal, the report said. However, the quality of water as it entered the city at Palla till Wazirabad, from where industrial activity and dense settlements began, was classed C, indicating it was suitable for drinking after conventional treatment and disinfection. To prevent the growing water pollution in the Yamuna, the centre started the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) project—Phase II from December 1, 2004 at a cost of Rs 624 crore. It was being implemented in the national capital as also upper riparian state of Haryana and downstream Uttar Pradesh. Setting up sewage treatment plants and replacing old trunk sewer lines were the major works to be implemented in Delhi under the project. Cost of works under YAP II was being shared between the Central and state governments in the ratio 85:15, and according to which Delhi’s share came to Rs 387.17 crore. The project was scheduled to be completed in September 2008, well before the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In addition to the YAP, the Delhi Government has also taken up large-scale sewage treatment, along with some non-sewerage cleanliness works from its own plan fund. However, out of 135 urban villages in the city, only 105 had sewerage facilities till now while there were over 200 rural villages in the Capital that did not have sewerage system. Meanwhile, the state government said it was maintaining strict vigil to ensure that there was no mining activity in its green belt, the Ridge, which was an extension of the old Aravalli mountains. Joint patrolling was being done by the forest department and the police. The forest department had also hired the services of ex-servicemen as well as Eco Task Force or Territorial Army to ensure protection of the Bhatti mines area.
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Salaried class expecting small mercies in Budget
New Delhi, February 26 Senior Assistant Director, FICCI, Mr Rajpal Singh said that as a citizen of the national Capital, “I expect the budget to be in favour of the organised sector, particularly the service class people as they are the victims whenever new taxes are levied or rate of inflation increases. They cannot escape from the tax as their income is on record. The tax is deducted by the department concerned,” he said. It is said that the new tax is levied to generate revenue so that the increased expenditure of the government may be covered up. “Instead of putting burden on the salaried class, the government should exploit its other sources of revenue like imposing income tax on professionals whose income record is not maintained. The government should make a policy to maintain a record of their income and drag them in the tax net. For instance, builders who earn lakhs of rupees within a month do not deposit tax. Civic authorities have the list of builders and it is easy to find out that how many flats they have disposed of,” Mr Rajpal said. Senior Consultant with the Sarvsiksha Abhiyan launched by the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development, Mrs Talha Malik said that before tabling the budget, the government should ponder over the rate of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and petrol as their prices have already risen too much. The LPG cylinder, sold at Rs 261, is now available at Rs 294. If the rate is further increased, it will be difficult for the serving class to manage their house. As far as petrol, its price affects every kind of business. Prices of all goods and commodities are increased as transporters charged more due to increase in the rate of petrol per litre. Daleep Singh, a senior advocate, said that before presenting the budget, the authorities concerned should think of people of all strata of society. They should also keep in mind the purchasing power of citizens of different states so that people should feel easy after the budget is presented. It should be a balanced budget showing an upward rising of the economy, added the legal luminary.
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Jessica case IO transferred
New Delhi, February 26 Orders for the transfer of Sharma, whose probe in the high-profile murder case did not hold water in the trial court, were issued from the Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul’s office last night, police sources said. All nine accused in the murder case were acquitted by the trial court after witnesses turned hostile. Paul, who was the Joint Commissioner (Crime) when the murder case was being investigated in a report to the then Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma, had questioned the intention behind sending empty rounds of bullets fired at the Tamarind Court party for forensic examination to the CFSL when the weapon of offence had not been recovered. He had also suggested an internal probe against officials investigating the case. “There has obviously been a conspiracy between the accused and certain officials which is to be investigated. This is not in direct continuation of the original offence, hence the need for a separate case,” Paul had said.
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Pollution Board officials deprived of special scheme
New Delhi, February 26 Except CPCB, the scheme was implemented in the same year in all institutions under the Forest and Environment Ministry. According to the president of the Technical and Scientific Officers Association of the CPCB Mr Paritosh Kumar, it was ironical that they had to wage a long crusade against the authorities concerned to get benefit from the scheme. “After the implementation of this scheme, a scientist can be elevated to the director level post at the time of retirement. In absence of this scheme, hundreds of our fellow officers had to retire as merely scientists. We do not understand the reason why we are being debarred from this scheme,” he said. According to the General Secretary of the association Dr. S. K. Tyagi, they have written dozens of times in this regard to the concerned officials, but to no avail. “In 1997, the then secretary of the Environment and Forest Ministry Mr. T. K. A. Nair had taken this matter very seriously and had personally written to the secretary of the Personnel and Pension Department Mr. Arvind Verma to implement the scheme to all scientific and technical officers of the CPCB. At that time he had also given a note saying that the board is a scientific and technical institution so there is no reason why its technical and scientific officers should be debarred from the existing scheme. Despite this, no action was taken for years,” he claimed. “In 2000, a committee was set up under the then secretary, Science and Technology, Prof. V. S. Ramamurthy. The committee decided to give CPCB the status of a technical institution which was prerequisite for the implementation of that scheme. In 2003, our forum had submitted a memorandum to the then Environment Minister Mr. T. R. Balu, after which he had written to the concerned ministry in this regard. Since then, no further initiative has been taken in this regard,” said Dr. Tyagi.
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Noida trader robbed of cash, jewellery
Noida, February 26 The owner of the house, Mr S.C. Jain, runs a mobile phone shop in Sector-27, Noida. The robbery took place while Mr Jain was at his shop yesterday and his wife Kamla had gone to Delhi with some relatives for shopping. The robbers broke the lock on the main gate of the house, then broke open the almirahs and decamped with cash, jewellery and other valuables. Though Mr Jain’s house is situated opposite the Community Centre, nobody seems to have noticed the robbers. When Kamla Jain returned home at about 7 p.m. she was stunned to see the house ransacked. The police are perplexed because being a ‘VIP’ sector the visitors are checked at the colony gate. The family said a youth was found hanging around near the house. When questioned, he said he had come to deliver a gas cylinder in the colony. According to the police, someone may have tipped the robbers that the inmates were not in the house.
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2 injured in cylinder explosion
Ghaziabad, February 26 According to eyewitnesses, the explosion ripped apart the shutters and the roof of the shop. According to the officials of the fire brigade, as many s 13 gas cylinders may have exploded in the accident. Fortunately, 15 other cylinders kept in the shop did not explode, he added. The illegal gas cylinder shop was being run from the house (RC-248) of one Anil Kumar in Archana Enclave of Khora colony. The explosion took place at 7 p.m. while where Dhanjay was refilling a cylinder in the basement. Both father and son were lucky to have run out of the shop in time. Four fire tenders struggled to bring the blaze under control. According to sources, illegal gas refilling depots were being run in the city with the connivance of the police and other authorities.
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‘Jansunvai’ on education reforms
New Delhi, February 26 The programme was organised by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) as part of its Education Choice Campaign to bring to the fore the problems plaguing our education system while drawing out solutions to better it. A play followed by a Jansunvai that tapped all issues concerning funding and delivery of education for the poor was also staged. The panelist of the Jansunvai were MLA Amrish Singh Gautam from Patparganj constituency, T.K. Mathew, social activist and Managing Director of Deepalaya; Ashok Pandey, principal, Ahlcon International School; Vivek Bharati of FICCI; Ashok Aggarwal, social jurist and, chairing the discussion was CCS President Parth J Shah. The play broadly covered the ongoing quality of education schools and also put forth a wide spectrum of choices that an ‘Education Voucher’ can provide to school-going children, especially the poor. An Education Voucher is a coupon offered by the government that covers full or partial cost of education at the school of the student’s choice.
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‘Flower Fest’ gets good response
Faridabad, February 26 The flower show divided into two main categories – institutional and individual —included flower arrangements, potted plants, cut flowers and hanging baskets. A baby show, rangoli competition, fancy dress show and painting competition were also held on the occasion. The Deputy Commissioner distributed the prizes in the evening. The town park in sector 12 has been developed by the horticulture wing of the Huda. Even though the ‘Flower Fest’ attracted quite a number of visitors, it was marred by the presence of vendors and even beggars in the park. Vendors selling ice-creams, fast food items, cold drinks and other eatables stationed near the main flower show did not go down well with the visitors to the ‘Flower Fest’. A visitor to the show suspected the ‘hidden role’ of the organisers in allowing the vendors “so close to the fest in order to make some fast money”. When one of the visitors objected to the overcharging, an ice-cream seller said that the rates had been decided by the officials. Another visitor said that it was “improper on the part of the authorities to allow such people inside” when the residents had come to enjoy the flower show.
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Case registered after DCP’s intervention
New Delhi, February 26 Two persons came on a motorcycle, intercepted a girl, misbehaved with her, snatched her mobile phone and escaped it. When the police was informed, it registered the FIR under ‘Non Cognizable Offence’ (NCO) with DD number 19-B saying that the phone was misplaced while the complainant was on the way to her house. When the Deputy Commissioner of Police, East district, Madhup Tiwari came to know about the incident, he spoke to the victim and ordered to register the case under Sections 379/356 (snatching) of IPC into the matter cancelling the previous FIR. The incident took place on February 22 at 7 pm in Mayur Vihar Phase-3, in the area of New Ashok Nagar police station. One Vibha Mehra, a resident of Pocket A-1 in LIG flats and a teacher by profession, went to the nearby petrol pump in Mayur Vihar. After taking petrol, she stopped her two-wheeler to check the air pressure of the tyres. Meanwhile, two youths on motorcycle also stopped there, passed comments on her. They took out her mobile phone from the upper pocket of her jacket forcibly and started dialling numbers. Vibha shouted for help and the duo then started their vehicle and escaped. “I chased them for some distance but could not catch as they were quite fast,” said Vibha. “I came back and reported the matter to my mother and then went to the nearby P.C.O. to inform the network providing company to disconnect the services of my mobile phone where I saw both the youths sitting near a Mother Dairy booth,” added Vibha. The residents said that they had come forward to help her and managed to catch them. “Immediately one of them ran away and after five minutes arrived with 15 goons from Gharoli Dairy farms. One of the accused was having a loaded pistol in her pocket which we noticed,” said the local residents. The police was called who slapped the two accused and said ‘yeh ladke shararti hain, chalo bhago yahan se’ (these youths are mischievous. Go away from here right now). Residents alleged that one of the youths having pistol was of one Kalu Pradhan of Gharoli Dairy Farms. When the complainant asked for an FIR, the police took her to police station and handed over a copy of NCO saying that they have registered the complaint.
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Wanted criminal held in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad, February 26 He said while Dholana police were patrolling along Sapnavan track, one person atop a motorcycle had tried to flee on seeing the police. But as his bike slipped, the cops overpowered him. On questioning, he identified himself as Rajesh, son of Mange Ram, resident of Loni. The police recovered a revolver and a number of cartridges from him besides the bike which was found to be stolen from Delhi. He also told the police that he had killed Jamshed along with his friends on November 11, 2004 in Bagpat when their attempt to loot his scooter was foiled. He had also killed accountant Kamal Singh along with his accomplices during an attack on a brick kiln in Khad Khari on January 7, 2005. They had also killed policeman Deep Chand in Bagpat police station. Besides, they had made murderous attack on a number of cops in Loni area. SP Shekhar said Ghaziabad SSP and Bagpat police have announced rewards of Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,000 respectively to the police team which had arrested Rajesh. Efforts for the arrest of his other colleagues are on, the police said.
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Ashok Vihar sari merchant’s house robbed
New Delhi, February 26 According to the local police sources, the victim Amit Jain, a sari merchant, had gone along with his family to a marriage party. He reportedly returned to his house around 12.30 midnight. The family members allegedly claimed that they were tired so went to sleep. Next morning when they woke up, they found the entire room ransacked and the cash and jewellery were missing. According to the police, the family withdrew jewellery from their bank locker just three days back. Police officials said that they have some clues and are investigating the matter.
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Agitated villagers block road
Gurgaon, February 26 Tension gripped the village following a truck carrying construction materials hitting a boy of the village on Farukhnagar-Najafgarh road. The truck driver abandoned the truck and escaped from the spot. As the news of the accident spread the villagers blocked the road. They relented only after the SHO (Sector-5), Mohammad Hussain Khan took the initiative and got a speed- breaker constructed on the road. According to eyewitnesses, the villagers were even ready for a ‘showdown’ if their demand was not accepted.
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Japanese company to set up auto parts plant at Bawal
Gurgaon, February 26 The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, would lay the foundation stone of the plant at Bawal on March 6, informed Mr R K Pal, spokesperson of the company.
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