New Delhi, March 3
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s corridor connecting south Delhi with central Delhi will pass through posh areas of Udyog Bhavan, Race Course, Jor Bagh, INA Market, AIIMS, Green Park, IIT and Police Training School, Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken said today in Parliament.

DMRC’s phase II line from Central Secretariat to Qutub Minar with eight intermediate stations was targeted to be fully completed by June 2010 before the Commonwealth Games began, he added.

In response to a question whether shopping areas of Yusuf Sarai and Safdarjung Airport would be affected by the proposed project, he said though the Metro corridor in this stretch would be underground, some land would be required for entry/exit to the stations and technical facilities for underground stations.

However, details would be known only after the exact design of the route and stations were completed.

In reply to a question in Lok Sabha, the minister denied that there was any shortage of coaches with the Delhi Metro. There were 220 coaches under operation at present with the DMRC, he added.

Taking up another issue, the minister said that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had taken up development of hotel sites in different parts of Delhi to meet the requirement of additional hotel accommodation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The DDA had already developed 22 plots for construction of hotels in Delhi, Mr Maken told Parliament.

The DDA proposed to offer these plots for development through auction in which private individuals or companies could participate, the minister said in reply to a written question.

The minister said the Delhi Government had prepared an action plan for creation of various infrastructure facilities such as roads, water supply, sewer disposal, transport, health and power for the Commonwealth Games and had sought additional funds of Rs 1,340 crore.

The Centre had set up a committee comprising experts and elected representatives under the chairmanship of former Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna to assess the magnitude of the problem and issues involved in the matter of unauthorised constructions and misuse of premises in various parts of Delhi to suggest a comprehensive strategy to deal with it, Mr Maken said in reply to another question. The committee has been asked to submit its recommendations within three months.

In a major policy change and in furtherance of its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land for primary schools in Delhi would henceforth be given only to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which would build and operate schools on them.

Mr Maken told the Lok Sabha that as per the January 2006 resolution, it had been proposed that henceforth all primary school plots of the DDA in Delhi would be offered to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

In case of senior secondary schools, 50 per cent of the school sites in every neighbourhood would be offered to the Government of Delhi, while the other 50 per cent would be auctioned, he said.

Of the seven purposes for which it allots land — hospitals, clubs, community halls, schools, higher and technical educational institutions, religious purposes and social and cultural activities, the DDA had switched to ‘auctioning of land’ for hospitals, clubs and higher and technical educational institutions.

For community halls, sites would be offered to local bodies or auctioned, the minister added.

The Centre had taken several measures to make Delhi greener and environment-friendly, the minister said. The measures included undertaking plantation drives by various agencies in areas under their jurisdiction in accordance with the Green Delhi Action Plan, distributing seedlings to the public free of cost to encourage plantation on private lands, involving the local public, citizens forums, residence welfare associations and schools in tree plantation drives.

New Delhi, March 3
In an evidence of the water table in the Capital going menacingly deep, only 18 out of the 495 tubewells bored in Delhi in 2005-06 yielded water.

Providing this information in the Delhi Assembly today, Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit made a pitch for the Delhi Water Board (Amendment) Bill, 2005, which seeks to regulate use of groundwater in the Capital. The Bill has been rejected by a Select Committee of the House.

“There is water scarcity in the city and we want people to get sufficient water. But the groundwater level has gone very low,” Ms Dikshit told the Assembly in response to a query. She informed that in 2004-05, 281 tubewells were bored, but water was found in only seven cases.

Ms Dikshit said the Water Bill rejected by the Select Committee was in keeping with the need for a policy to conserve groundwater. “The Centre sent the Bill to all states. The aim of having this law is to conserve groundwater and ensure that there is no indiscriminate use of the resource,” she said.

Ms Dikshit also said the government was studying a HUDCO proposal for creating ponds in east Delhi along the Yamuna to store water on the lines of the lakes in Mumbai.

She said that while Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was in a position to supply 221 litres per person per day in the Capital, the problem lay in not being able to plug leakages.

Meanwhile, power troubles are far from over for the Chief Minister, with Vidhan Sabha today adopting a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report recommending inquiries by CBI and CVC into power privatisation in Delhi amidst vociferous demands by the Opposition BJP that the Congress government should resign.

The Third Report of PAC presented in the House yesterday was adopted by voice vote, and immediately, the BJP members were up on their feet shouting anti-government slogans.

“Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her government have no moral right to continue after adoption of this report by the House,” Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Mukhi said.

The BJP legislators rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans against Ms Dikshit and her government, following which Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh issued directions that the Opposition MLAs be marshalled out of the House.

However, the government was tight-lipped on the report, with Ms Dikshit refusing any comment when asked about it.

The PAC report on the privatisation of power supply has recommended a CBI inquiry into the biddings for the Capital’s power utility and separate investigations into what it has found to be a cheap sell-out to discoms.

“The committee recommends that the government should approach the CBI for an enquiry to ascertain the circumstances that led the members of the core committee to go against the interest of the public exchequer by favouring conditional bidders,” the report states.

The PAC also recommends that the Delhi government should seek a CVC inquiry into the role of power officials three years preceding the DVB’s privatisation as it found them guilty of massive accounts mismanagement.

New Delhi, March 3
The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Union Government and four others on a PIL alleging that under the cloak of acquiring agricultural lands, some officials had siphoned off over Rs 200 crore of public money in connivance with the land mafia.

A Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice S N Agarwal which issued the notices asked the respondents — Union Ministry of Urban Development, NCT Government, DDA, MCD and the Commissioner of Police to file their replies with affidavits within eight weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 11.

The petition filed by Lokesh Srivastava, president of the Resident Welfare Association, Utsav Vihar through their counsel Surgriv Debey and Namita Roy complained that during the past one decade over Rs 200 crore “compensation” had been paid by government officials to various land mafia, conniving farmers and gram sabhas under the garb of acquiring agricultural lands in and around Delhi where over 1,700 residential colonies have already surfaced.

It was submitted that the modus operandi of the alleged racketeers was to convert thousands of acres of agricultural land into small plots and sell them to private individuals and housing societies for the purpose of constructing houses and residential colonies. While the illegally-converted land is shown as being transferred to the individual buyers in sale deeds, the names of the original farmers are retained in the revenue records. 

New Delhi, March 3
The Supreme Court today directed the municipal authorities to free roads, footpaths and public streets in the national Capital from unauthorised hawkers and squatters within two weeks and formulate a policy for them keeping the welfare of general public in view.

While passing the order, a Bench comprising Justice B P Singh and Justice Arun Kumar warned that Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Delhi Administration and Delhi Police that they should not adopt the policy of pick and chose for removing the hawkers and squatters.

If it was found that the authorities have not taken the steps properly, suitable action would be taken against the concerned officials under the Contempt of Court Act, the Bench said.

It asked the MCD and NDMC to file a compliance report in the matter within four weeks. Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran and advocate Sanjib Sen, appearing for MCD, contended that hawking and squatting was a social problem as large number of immigrants come to the Capital every year. However, the court said it could not allow the public land to be encroached.

The court granted eight weeks to MCD and NDMC to frame a policy for hawkers. The scheme should include how and what types of activities will be allowed, it said.

During the hearing, the court observed it wanted to make the Capital free from unauthorised hawkers and spoke about the markets in Lajpat Nagar and Sadar Bazar where the footpaths and even some parts of roads are occupied by squatters.

New Delhi, March 3
An expressway project aimed at linking four national highways along Delhi is scheduled to take off in July.

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry project would be executed on a built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken informed the Lok Sabha today. Work on the four-lane 269-km peripheral expressway, to be built outside the Delhi territory, was scheduled to begin in July, Mr Maken said, citing information he received from the Road Transport and the Highways Ministry.

In a reply to another question, Mr Maken said more than 8,000 applicants were still caught in the DDA’s backlog for a housing scheme launched 27 years ago. He said as many as 8,327 applicants were yet to get houses for the DDA’s New Pattern Registration Scheme of 1979. —TNS

New Delhi, March 3
With the arrest of three persons, the Delhi Police have rescued a six-year-old child from the clutches of the kidnappers. The accused have been identified as Najakat (22), Kaafil (21) and Anwar (19).

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh for the safe release of Allaudin, kidnapped on February 26. —TNS

Noida, March 3
The Noida Authority has cracked the whip on builders of group housing flats who have allegedly cheated the authority of crores of rupees. It has ordered that 13 flats in Sector-48 built by Mandeshwari Sehkari Avas Samiti (Kesar Garden) and Gulmohar Park society in Sector-48 be sealed forthwith.

Based on the orders of OSD, Residential Plots Department, R. S. Yadav, eight flats in Kesar Garden were sealed by the Noida Authority officials. In the Gulmohar Park society, five vacant flats have been sealed.

Apartment dwellers here are an extremely worried lot, given the ‘fraud’ perpetuated by the builders and the non-cooperative attitude of the Noida Authority towards defaulting societies.

In spite of having deposited the full amount with the builders, the residents of flats in these multi-storied buildings are not being allowed to obtain the registries of their houses nor are they being given the no-due certificates.

A meeting of some societies was held at Kesar Apartments in Sector 48. Societies from Sectors 44 and 62 had also attended this meeting. The residents expressed resentment and shock at the fraud committed by the builders and the resultant non-cooperative attitude of the Noida Authority.

The residents had two marathon sessions of three hours each. The second meeting was held at Gulmohar Apartments, Sector 44. The residents were unanimous in their view that all of them had long back paid full amounts to the builders but the latter had not issued no-due certificate without which they could not have the apartments registered in their names.

Faridabad, March 3
Haryana occupies second place in the country in terms of per capita consumption of milk, with 660 millilitre (ml) per person daily. The national average is just 232 ml per person.

As many as 935 small dairy units had been set up in the state in the past few years and a large number of persons, including women, have taken to this business with proper training and infrastructure.

Revealing this, a report on dairy development states that over 7,040 persons had been trained in dairy work over the years with proper support to those actively involved and interested in setting up independent dairy units at the local level. The report states that while more than 4,030 cooperative milk societies had been functioning in the state, milk plants located in various parts had been supplying a large quantity of milk and milk products to neighboring states like Delhi.

The milk plants at Ambala, Rohtak and Ballabhgarh have already been given the highest quality certification certificate of ISO–9001-2000 and ISO-1500. The milk plant at Ballabgarh town here gets its supply from 335 milk cooperatives in which about 1,600 families are directly involved.

Though the total number of cooperatives societies in the field here has gone up to 660, as many as 109 societies are being run exclusively by women in the region covering Faridabad, Gurgaon and Mewat districts. The total number of individuals connected with the work is around 32,917, including 6,312 women.

According to the report, the daily milk supply to the plant by the societies had risen to a record 94,000 litres. The milk plant authorities here have provided as many as 105 milk testing equipment to the societies so far. The Ballabgarh milk plant also packs around 1.43 lakh litres of milk for Mother Dairy brand which markets the products in Delhi and nearby areas. The authorities have also installed automatic milk collection units at 15 centres in the region recently.

While the authorities have set a target of setting up around 750 new milk cooperatives in the region in the near future, the officials have started a group insurance scheme for its members.

Gurgaon, March 3
The district administration is all geared up to improve the infrastructure in the city. According to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr R.P. Bhardwaj, the road from Rajiv Chowk to Badshahpur, which leads to Nuh, will be eight-laned. There is also a plan to make the Meharauli-Gurgaon road free of traffic signals.

Moreover, the Haryana Urban Development Authority will also spend about Rs 40 crore on carpeting and widening of roads. The PWD will spend Rs 20 crore on development of roads under their jurisdictions.

Interacting with mediaperson, Mr Bhardwaj said that the old city area will also be developed. According to him, the road connecting Mahavir Chowk and Rajiv Chowk will be widened.

Moreover, the Sohna-Pataudi and Basai road will be widened.

In a major decision, which will decongest the Old Railway road and New Railway road, roads in the old city area will also be widened.

Noida, March 3
Noida seems to have broken not only NCR but the entire country’s record in the matter of land prices. The price of land in Sector 18 here is said to be on the higher side of Rs 5 lakh per sq mt. The commercial land in this sector is evaluated at Rs 5.21 lakh per sq mt.

The Noida Authority had pegged the reserve price at Rs 3.65 lakh. In all, some 16 plots are to be allotted in an open auction. As a result of the high price, tenders of only eight parties were included for consideration.

M/s Poorvanchal Construction Works had quoted the rate of 5.21 lakh per sq mt. for a plot of 136 sq mt. This company had bought this plot of 136 sq mt. for Rs 7,08, 56,000. The lowest bid was made by Delhi-based M/s Sports Technology which had quoted Rs 3.31 lakh per sq mt for a plot of 96 sq mt.

The Noida Authority had kept the reserve price of this plot at Rs 3 lakh per sq mt. Other plots were sold at a rate between Rs 3.11 lakh and Rs 4.75 lakh per sq mt. The Noida Authority had made an income of Rs 30,27,93,000 from the seven plots of 96 and 136 sq mt sizes.

According to property watchers, Noida land prices had exceeded even Mumbai and Kolkota land prices.

Gurgaon, March 3
In a sensational development, a US-made pistol was found on the premises of Bhondsi Jail on Thursday evening. The police have registered a case and started investigations. The pistol was found hidden underground outside cell number six.

Scavenging work was in progress on the jail premises. The workers engaged in the scavenging job got suspicious finding loose mud and dust at a place. When they dug up, the pistol was found.

Stung by the development, the police are reportedly combing the area to ascertain if any other weapon has been hidden on the jail premises. The police authorities were on the jail premises as part of the investigation.

The development has alarmed the security agencies as this is the first time that unauthorised and unaccounted arms have been found on the jail premises.

The finding of the pistol assumes added significance as Bhondsi Jail, along with some others in the state, has gained notoriety on account of dreaded gangsters continuing their nefarious operations outside from within the jail.

Greater Noida, March 3
The Dadri railway over bridge, which was pending for over a decade, has been approved. The Railways, Dadri Container Depot, Greater Noida Authority and the UP Government will be partners in this project. A meeting of CEO, Noida, ACEO, Greater Noida, officials of Container Depot and Railway Board under the chairmanship of Union Commerce and Industries Secretary cleared the project on February 27.

The over bridge project will cost Rs 45 crore and will be completed within two years.

Presently, one has to cross the railway level crossing for going to the GT Road from Greater Noida, where heavy traffic jams are regular. It also hampers the commercial activities in the Container Depot. The construction of the over bridge will result in revenue worth crores for the government.

According to GM, Project, Greater Noida, SSA Rizvi, the Container Corporation will contribute Rs 10 crore, Union Government Rs 12 crore and UP Government and Greater Noida authority will contribute Rs 22 crore each. The Greater Noida authority has been given the responsibility for the construction of the over bridge. 

New Delhi, March 3
A senior Reader in Delhi University’s Hindi Department was beaten up by unidentified assailants in the university precincts yesterday. Prof P. C. Tandon alleged that as soon as he came out after finishing a lecture, he was surrounded by a group of eight to 10 men and beaten up.

“I had noticed them sitting on the stairs of the auditorium in the morning. I felt they were keeping a watch on the building. After I finished teaching my M.Phil class at about 2.15 pm and came out, these men attacked me. They ran away when I began shouting for help,” Professor Tandon said.

The university has filed an FIR with the Maurice Nagar police station and an inquiry committee has been set up. “We have been informed of the incident and we are inquiring into the matter. It is a shocking incident and we suspect the assailants were outsiders,” said the Joint Proctor, Prof Gurmeet Singh.

He went on to add, “We have taken some pre-emptive measures. A cop in plainclothes will be deputed to patrol the area to keep a watch and there will be an additional security guard posted at the Arts Faculty gate”.

Meanwhile, questioning the safety of teachers on the campus, a group of faculty members led by Prof Prakash Narayan today met the Pro VC and sought more security. “The examinations are round the corner and if such incidents occur, we will be forced to say no to examination duty,” said Professor Narayan.

Gurgaon, March 3
Japan-based OISCA International, the first NGO to have received the prestigious United Nations Earth Summit Award Towards Global Sustainability launched its Haryana chapter here on Wednesday.

The chapter was inaugurated by the Vice-President, OISCA, Ms Etsuko Nakano, accompanied by delegates who came here from the organisation’s headquarters in Japan and its functionaries from various parts of India.

OISCA, acronym for Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement, was floated about four decades back. It is also the first NGO from East and South Asia to be awarded the highest “General” consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. Officials of the organisation claimed that it has its base in 25 countries and has about 24,000 workers/volunteers around the world.

Although the OISCA launched its Haryana chapter today, it is working with the Haryana Government on a joint project called Indo-Japan Children’s Forest Programme in Gurgaon and Faridabad since 2004. The project is supported by Japan Bank for International Co-operation and the Department of Forest, Government of Haryana. The five-year project has a target to rope in children from 400 schools in Gurgaon and Faridabad. The functionaries of the organisation said that so far it had roped 160.

The project is tuned to spread awareness on the importance of protecting and preserving environment among children.

Speaking at the public function in connection with the launch of the organisation, Ms Etsuko Nakano said it was on account of disregard to environment that the world was witnessing natural disaster. It was high time that the international community paid more respect to nature and protection of environment.

Noida, March 3
The Paschimanhcal Power Distribution Corporation has increased load sheddings, particularly in the residential sectors. According to an announcement by the corporation, load sheddings will be imposed between 8 am and 6 pm.

According to sources, this is being done to increase the power supply to the rural areas.

In practical terms, it will adversely affect the normal routine of the residents. The student community will be particularly hit during the forthcoming examination season.

According to sources, sectors connected through 132 KV power sub-station in Sector-62 will be adversely affected by the power cuts. The Paschimanchal Power Corporation has been flayed for the unscheduled load shedding.

Ghaziabad, March 3
Two criminals of the Bawarya gang were shot dead by the Special Task Force in an encounter yesterday. However, two of their accomplices managed to escape in the darkness. A pistol and a motorbike were recovered from the criminals by the police.

According to the police, these criminals had participated in a number of dacoity cases in Tamil Nadu.