The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

	SC expresses concern at power crisis in Capital Govt urges consumers to conserve power Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and Delhi Government to file separate affidavits within two weeks about the steps being taken to enhance power generation and supply to meet the increased requirements in the Capital. The direction came from a Bench of Justice Ruma Pal and Justice A K Mathur during hearing of a PIL regarding power crisis in the Capital. The Court wondered that if the situation continues and the Capital continued to be power-starved, “how will we organise the Commonwealth Games in the year 2010 here?” The Court, which is monitoring the power situation since 1999, observed that then Delhi did not have adequate power because it was exporting power. It was pointed out that non-availability of power was due to electricity-theft and distribution losses. However, despite the distribution system having been handed over to private companies, the situation has not improved, the Bench observed. On behalf of the power distribution companies, senior counsel Aryam Sundaram submitted that his clients could not be blamed for the crises as they were supplying what was being made available to them by Delhi Transco. Senior counsel Ranjit Kumar said that in fact, the Capital was facing a shortfall of 500-600 megawatts of power and that was why most parts of the city faced power-cuts for hours on end everyday. The Court wanted to know if it was possible to involve private companies in power generation to improve the situation and if smaller power plants based on gas-turbines could be set up to meet the challenge. Meanwhile, Delhi Government today issued a number of guidelines to cut down on the peak power demand in the national Capital. “While the peak power demand recorded today was 2,976 MW, there was a shortfall of more than 400 MW,” a senior Transco official told reporters, adding the electricity authorities had to resort to a loadshedding of 356 MW due to low frequency in the Northern Grid. Considering the acuteness of the problem, a high-level meeting was convened by Delhi Power Minister Mr Haroon Yusuf to review the situation arising due to the power shortage in the Capital and come out with solutions to provide relief to the Delhiites. Following the meeting, Delhi Government issued a set of dos and donts for commercial as well as residential consumers to tide over the power crisis, urging them to rationalise their use during peak hours. To deal with the crisis, government offices in the Capital have been directed not to use their air conditioners after 6.30 PM while shops and business establishments will have to shut down before 7.30 PM as per the new guidelines issued by the Power Ministry. Industrial units have been barred from functioning between 6.30 PM and 11 PM and shops across the city will have to remain closed for a day in a week apart from the normal market holidays. Advertisement hoardings will not be allowed to draw power for illumination. Residents have been urged not to use air conditioners before 9 PM. All these efforts, Mr Yusuf said, would lead to conservation of 250-300 MW of power. The instructions to the shop owners and industrial units will remain in force till July 15, he said. He claimed that the city is likely to receive more power in the coming weeks. Himachal Pradesh has agreed to provide 200 MW of power from next week in addition to the 190 MW supplied by the state, he said. He added that the Dadri plant will also start functioning from May 15 and will generate 210 MW of power. Delhi Government has also instructed the discoms to ensure continuous electricity supply to the water treatment plants. “The distribution companies have been asked to see to it that there are no power cuts at water treatment plants because a disruption in the power supply for even five to ten minutes leads to a shut down of the plant for as much as half-an-hour to carry out checks,” Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO Mr Arun Mathur told reporters here after a meeting with Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit. He admitted the Capital was facing a shortage of water and informed that the water authority had pressed into service 1200 tankers to serve the areas that were suffering from an acute water shortage. Mr Mathur also appealed to the people to take water only from DJB tankers as the Board was providing treated water. “We are insisting on equitable distribution of water across the city. We appeal to the public to cooperate with us,” he said.
	MCD schools fare poorly in report card Smriti Kak Ramachandran Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 A student of class IV in a government-run school who has been taught English from Class I onwards fails to explain what a donkey is. In another such school, a student urinates right outside the toilet. In a third school, classrooms are covered in cobwebs and windows have no panes. This dismal state of government-run schools has been highlighted by the Right to Education Task Force, an NGO, in a report submitted to the High Court today. A team of RETF members, consisting of advocate Ashok Agarwal, Mr Suraj Kumar and Ms Kamla Sharma, accompanied by the District Education Officer and a school inspector, Department of Education, MCD, have tabulated the lack of basic amenities in these schools and submitted the report to the Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, and the MCD Commissioner. The team had inspected three MCD schools, in Vasundhra Enclave, Dallupura and Khichripur. “We were greeted by the insensitive teaching staff apart from dirty toilets, students easing themselves in open, dirty classrooms, no electricity, no drinking water,” said Ashok Agarwal, who has filed a PIL in the court seeking basic amenities and quality education in government-run schools, pointing out that despite the court’s directives to do the needful, the authorities have failed to provide the necessary facilities to the students enrolled in these schools. “Each time the court asks them to provide children with quality education, they follow by filing affidavits. The condition in these schools has not changed for the better at all,” rued Mr Agarwal. Citing the examples of the authorities’ apathy, he said, “In the school in Vasundhra Enclave, there is enough space, but 75 per cent of it is not being used as it has a huge trench, which creates a duststorm daily in summer and becomes dangerous when it becomes a pond during the rains.” Unavailability of electricity, portable water and safe infrastructure were common to all three schools, Mr Agarwal said. Highlighting the extent of official apathy, the report mentions, “The First-Aid Box had rusted and expired medicines could simply be disastrous. All the rooms, including the principal’s, are full of dust and it seemed that they are never cleaned properly.” The report adds, “In Dallupura, the drinking water tank has not been cleaned for the last one year. There is garbage lying everywhere in the school which has not been removed for years. Computers installed in the principal’s room for children’s use are lying unused.” Construction material lying all over in the MCD Primary School, Khichdipur, is a health hazard, the RETF’s report says. “Cement bags are kept in the class rooms. All the rooms are full of dirt, desks are lying upside down and the teaching staff, including the head of the school, is totally unconcerned about the education and well-being of children,” Mr Agarwal said. He went on to add, “In the absence of sensitisation, the standard of education in MCD schools can never be improved. We have suggested that the existing recruitment rules for the post of the head of the school should be amended to the effect that 50 per cent are taken in by direct recruitment and the other half by limited departmental examination”. Claiming that the MCD schools cater to more than 10 lakh children, Mr Agarwal said these schools can be improved substantially if the faculty members of NIEPA, NCERT, SCERT and DIET are called upon to act as friends of neighbourhood school and regularly monitor these schools. “This may help develop community intervention in school education, which will not only improve the existing standard of education in these schools, but will also help in eradicating the evil of child labour,” Mr Agarwal said.
	Metro to build tunnel under Najafgarh drain Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 The Delhi Metro is constructing a tunnel for the Vishwa Vidyalaya-Jahangirpuri Metro corridor of Phase–II, which will also pass under the Najafgarh drain. Over this drain, ahead of Delhi University towards Kingsway Camp, passes the busy Mall Road bridge. To carry out the work under the drain, the Delhi Metro had to first change the course of water and the Mall Road passing over the drain. Incidentally, the DMRC opted for this alignment primarily as it did not want to demolish any of the buildings located next to the bridge. To achieve this goal, two temporary steel bridges were constructed on the sides of the existing bridge, all within just 60 days. The work included foundation, supporting structure and decking. Besides, utilities such as electrical, telephone cables and gas pipelines had to be diverted. Another major task was to restrict the flow in the Najafgarh drain. The DMRC managed to restrict it to only one-third of the width of the drain, using a special technique driving wooden piles, ‘ballah’, into the bed of the drain. Special labourers were brought from the coastal areas who are adept in doing such kind of work. The labourers built special wooden platforms from which the wooden piles were driven into the bed of the drain. The next step will be to demolish the existing bridge for the construction of the tunnel using the cut and cover method. The tunnel will be built below the two-thirds portion of the drain, which is now dry after the flow has been diverted. After the tunnelling work is completed, the drain will be allowed to flow as before and a new bridge built in place of the existing bridge. Eventually, It will be a three-tier crossing with the Metro running 0.5 m below the bed of the drain and the newly-constructed central bridge deck at about 9 m. above the bed of the drain. The length of the bridge will be 38 m. and will cost about Rs 3 crore. The entire work in the Najafgarh Bridge area will be completed in 24 months. The target date for completion of Jahangirpuri-Vishwa Vidyalaya corridor in which this site falls is October 2009. The superstructure of the temporary bridge consists of vertical steel posts embedded in the RCC piles at the bottom. For smooth movement of traffic and to reduce noise level due to steel bridge, dense asphalt concrete layer has been laid over the steel deck.
	Pali Power Project to ease crisis in Noida Our Correspondent Greater Noida, May 5 The Pali Power Project is reported to have started generation, which is likely to add 45 MW power to Noida and 15 MW to Greater Noida by Sunday. It is expected to provide considerable relief to the residents and the industries, which have been starved of power. The capacity of the Noida Power Co. Ltd will be boosted to 270 MW while Greater Noida will have 60 MW power to supply from May 7. The distribution director of Paschimanchal, Mr. A.K. Pradhan, inaugurated the Pali Power Project yesterday which was originally scheduled to be commissioned in June 2004. As per the government instructions, it had to be started by May 1, but due to technical shortcomings in transformers it could not be commissioned. Mr Avineesh Awasthi, Managing Director of UPPC had instructed B.K. Pande, the Executive Director to start the project by Thursday evening. When the Pali Power sub station attains its full generation, 610 MW power will be supplied to Delhi and other cities of UP. However, this transmission will have to wait, as the load capacity of line from Noida to Surajpur is not of the required standard. UPCL is supplying 45 MW power for the time being, which will be boosted to 60 MW with the power supply from Pali power sub station. The requirement of Greater Noida at present is 76 MW. Therefore, power cuts from two to three hours in residential areas and five to six hours for industrial sectors will continue to tie up the shortage. The supply from Pali power house has not come a day too soon. As a matter of fact, many industries were on the brink of closure.
	Uphaar case: HC rejects plea to cancel bail Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 The Delhi High Court today dismissed the AVUT (Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy) petition seeking cancellation of the bail to Sushil Ansal, Gopal Ansal and HS Panwar for allegedly tampering with the evidence produced before the trial court. The court also directed the Special Branch of Police, headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police, to register an FIR and complete within three months a probe into the alleged removal/tampering with/mutilation of evidences produced before the trial court. The AVUT had moved the High Court on April 18 to reject bails of Sushil Ansal, Gopal Ansal and HS Panwar for allegedly tampering with evidence produced before the trial court. Justice RC Jain said that the investigating agency shall file a status report before the next date of hearing. He observed: “The court would be failing in its duty if it didn’t exercise its inherent jurisdiction and order registration of an FIR and investigation into this serious episode which has seriously affected the administration of justice and undermined the majesty of Rule of Law”. At the same time, Justice RC Jain spared the accused of cessation of bails. “Assuming that the accused persons were in any way responsible for the tampering with the evidence, much water has flown since then in as much as the documents have been reconstructed and the secondary evidence has been laid. The prosecution evidence has been concluded,” Justice Jain said. “At least at this stage there seems to be no risk of tampering with the record of the case. Therefore in totality, it will not be conducive and expedient in the interest of justice to withdraw the said concession of bail at this stage,” he observed. The trial court had framed charges against 16 accused, including proprietors of Ansals properties Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, for their alleged involvement in the Uphaar fire tragedy on June 13, 1997 in which 59 people were killed and more than 100 injured.
	Doctor fined Rs 3 lakh for medical negligence Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 5 A Delhi consumer court has ordered a doctor to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to his patient for “gross medical negligence” in having incorrectly diagnosed and treated a fracture. Holding Dr A C Khosla liable for deficiency in service, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (Janakpuri) also directed him to pay complainant Pradeep Kapoor Rs 50,000 towards future treatment and Rs 2,200 as litigation cost. The consumer forum noted that the material on record clearly established that the displacement and mal-position with unacceptable alignment of fracture was not taken care of by Dr Khosla, which goes a long way to establish gross medical negligence on his part. According to the complaint, Kapoor had fractured his left leg on September 11, 2003, and was initially treated at the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital. For further treatment, he was brought to Dr Khosla’s clinic in west Delhi, and was under his care from September 26, 2003 to June 5, 2004. The complainant alleged that Dr Khosla was unable to detect the ailment properly for the 8 months he treated him and instead caused further damage, which could have been avoided. In deciding the case, the court relied upon a report by the Head of the Orthopaedics Department, AIIMS, Dr S Bhan, whose opinion, ironically, Dr Khosla repeatedly referred to in his defence. In fact, the court pointed out that Dr Bhan’s observations on the X-Rays actually proved Dr Khosla’s gross negligence, instead of suggesting otherwise. According to Dr Bhan’s examination of the X-Rays there was “acceptable alignment” of the fracture in the plaster. However, after January 10, the X-Rays showed that the fracture had displaced and slipped into “mal-alignment”, with Dr Bhan’s report specifically noting that there was no progress in the union of the fractured bone. Apparently misdiagnosing the X-Ray reports, on May 4 Dr Khosla even advised Kapoor “gradual weight bearing” on his fractured leg. “The treatment given to him (Kapoor) by Dr A C Khosla after January 10, 2004, and the Medical Fitness Certificate issued by him, conclusively prove gross medical negligence on his part which is tantamount to grave deficiency in service,” the court observed.
	MCD seals 226 shops and offices New Delhi, May 5 The MCD today sealed 226 shops and offices operating in residential areas, demolished scores of illegal properties, including one belonging to a Congress MLA, and encroachments in different parts of the Capital. It demolished, either partly or fully, five unauthorised constructions in Saraswathi Vihar, Pushpanjali Anand Lok and Kalkaji areas of Rohini and Central zone respectively as part of its High Court-ordered drive against such structures. Two properties, including one owned by Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal, were party demolised in Saraswati Vihar, while one each was razed in Pushpanji, Anand Lok and Kalkaji respectively, MCD officials said. It also removed encroachments on government land in Sector 4, Rohini, and at Badarpur-Meethapur Chowk and EPDP Colony Market in Chittranjan Park. As part of its sealing drive, the civic body closed down 226 commercial establishments operating in residential areas in seven civic zones, including 76 in Civil Lines, 37 in West, 30 in Rohini, 26 in Shahdara South and 25 in Central.—TNS