New Delhi, May 10
A new law is expected to be in place by next week to provide short-term relief from the court-ordered sealing and demolition drive in Delhi, Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said today.

The Minister told a news conference that a Bill seeking relief from the municipal drive is likely to be introduced in Parliament tomorrow.

“It shall be our endeavour to have it passed in the current session, may be next week,” Reddy said but emphasised that the proposed legislation offered no permanent solution to the decades-old problems of housing and work space in Delhi.

The Bill, he added would seek to provide short-term relief to shopkeepers and their employees, slum dwellers, violators of certain building plans and hawkers and vendors.

There will be no relief whatsoever for encroachment of public land.

The Minister did not elaborate on the spectrum of relief the proposed legislation would offer as Parliament is in session.

Traders will observe a ‘Delhi Bandh’ tomorrow in protest against the sealing and demolition drive launched by the MCD. The bandh call was given by the Confederation of All India Traders.

The confederation has demanded the introducing a Bill in the current Parliament session to end sealing and demolition drive launched by the MCD.

They will also be holding a massive ‘Sangharsh Rally’ at Jantar Matar, where thousands of traders are expected to reach and will raise a voice in support of their demands. All big markets such as Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, etc will be closed, the general secretary of the federation said.

New Delhi, May 10
The Delhi Jal Board has taken special permission from the Central Ground Water Board to bore hundred tubewells in different areas of the national Capital to overcome the perennial water crisis. The majority of these tubewells have been bored in South Delhi areas where the water problem continues to be acute and people do not have even water to drink, sources said.

In effect, in some areas of Delhi the residents are using ground water that is not fit for human consumption.

According to a study conducted by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and Central Pollution Control Board, the official said ground water in most parts of the Capital is contaminated with fluoride and nitrate and is unfit for drinking without treatment.

At least 13 per cent of the people in Delhi do not receive water everyday. In some areas of South and South-West Delhi people do not receive water at all for their household work, sources said.

According to official figures, the total demand of potable water per day in Delhi is 850 million gallon, but due to unavailability of water in sufficient quantity it is difficult for the Jal Board to meet the demand. The national Capital is fully dependent on Haryana for its water supply and in summers the matter attains serious proportions as Haryana too needs water to meet its domestic demand.

The water in South Delhi is supplied from the treatment plants in North Delhi. However, due to the long distance covered the water does not have sufficient pressure, resulting in majority of the areas going without it. Leakage in water line and illegal “cuts” in pipelines by slum dwellers are another reason for the residents of south Delhi citizens not getting water, a JAL Board official said.

To meet the water demand of south Delhi, the Delhi Government has constructed Sonia Vihar water treatment plant with an expenditure of Rs 900 crore.

The UP Government has to supply water for this plant from the Tehri Dam, but it has not yet been worked out. The residents of South and east Delhi will not get sufficient water until this project starts functioning, the official said.

The official said that recently the Delhi Government had discussions with Union Water Resources Minister to put pressure on UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for supply of water from the Tehri Dam.

New Delhi, May 10
After a cool interlude, sweltering heat again threw its stranglehold on Delhiites forcing them to stay indoors, away from the dust haze and the rising mercury inched over 40 degrees Celsius.

Parts of the Capital were covered in the dust haze on a day of mainly clear skies as the maximum temperature settled at 40.8 degrees, a notch above normal, the Weather Office said.

The weatherman has forecast dust and thunderstorms accompanied by squalls late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

“There is a cyclonic circulation over Haryana, north-west Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, which is moving towards the north-east that could bring windy conditions back to the capital,” the weather office said.

Strong winds had lashed the city in the wee hours yesterday, bringing down night temperatures by a few degrees.

Nights continued to remain balmy with the Capital recording a minimum temperature of 27.7 degrees, three degrees above normal.

North India has been reeling under blistering heat wave conditions for the past several days with the mercury crossing the 44 degrees Celsius mark in the national Capital during the weekend.

New Delhi, May 10
In a decision that is likely to bring relief to tiny tots and their parents, the Delhi High Court today directed that no private schools should conduct interviews of either children or their parents at the time of admission to the nursery classes.

A Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice S N Aggarwal granted four weeks time to the management of the private schools to end the practice of interviewing parents and children at the time of admissions to the schools. The Bench expressed anguish at the failure of schools’ management to come out with any suitable reply on the issue despite the court’s earlier direction on December 9, 2005, banning such interviews.

The court recalled that even though the ‘Association of Unaided Private Schools’ had assured in an affidavit that suitable parameters would be evolved to dispense with the practice yet no such efforts had been made even four months after the assurance.

The directions of the Bench followed a PIL filed by an NGO ‘Social Jurist’ through its counsel Ashok Aggarwal highlighting the practice of the private schools to interview both parents and children of tender age at the time of admissions. The organisation complained that the practice not only caused embarrassment and inconvenience to parents of the tiny tots, but also subjected the children to severe mental trauma.

New Delhi, May 10
In an effort to inculcate awareness about art and culture among children, the New Delhi Municipal Council is organising one-month summer workshops for children at three of its schools. The workshop will start from May 15, 2006.

The workshops will be held in the respective centers from 8.00 am to 11.00 am dally excluding Sundays.

Interested children may obtain prescribed performa and get themselves registered by May 12, 2006. Interview of the selected children for participation in the workshops will be held on May 13, 2006.

After completion of the workshops, an exhibition of paintings and production of dance/drama will also be organised. —TNS

New Delhi, May 10
A DUTA delegation met the Chief Minister, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, and presented their demands related to issues they had earlier raised in a memorandum already submitted to the Delhi Government some time back. The DUTA had also organised a dharna earlier this March on these very issues.

Detailed discussions were held in this key meeting on Monday, including the problems of the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE), the incomplete implementation of the AICTE career advancement scheme, denial of incentives for higher qualification, poor functioning of the DCE administration, particularly the delays in the recruitment of teachers and officers in the administration, the re-employment of teachers and the derogatory system of marking of attendance of teachers.

The Chief Minister assured the DUTA delegation that all problems being faced by the DCE will be looked into soon. She deputed the Secretary, DTTE, to take a personal interest in the matter and she also agreed to the proposal that the DCE teachers association will be involved in future discussions to resolve their long pending demands at the earliest.

The DUTA delegation also raised other pending issues with the Chief Minister, particularly one relating to the arbitrary functioning of the principal’s of the three Delhi administration colleges – Shivaji College, Bhagat Singh College and the MV College of Education. The DUTA has demanded inquiries against these three colleges and has asked that the demand of 5 per cent financial contribution that the Delhi Government has to make in some colleges should be made in a prompt and timely manner.

New Delhi, May 10
Special classes in government schools are continuing even after the order of the Education Department to close down all schools in Delhi due to the prevailing heat wave conditions in the national Capital.

Even as it violates department’s order, a teacher said that there were no electric fans in the schools, making life difficult for students and teachers in the scorching heat. The general secretary of teachers association, Mr D.K. Tiwari, said while all private and government aided schools had been closed after the direction issued by the Education Department, children of poor families enrolled in government schools are being forced to attend classes in the prevailing heat
wave conditions.

This is injustice with the poor children as they should also be given summer vacation and re- examination should be conducted in the month of July, he demanded.

However, the spokesperson of the Education Department said that the students of class VI and class IX, who have to appear for re-examinations from June 5, are being prepared for it.

Greater Noida, May 10
The Greater Noida Authority has decided to meet a longstanding demand of the farmers to allot 5% of the land acquired from them as a residential plot.

The Authority will allot 600 residential plots to the farmers over an area of 40 acres. A special residential scheme is being brought up for the farmers of the area.

The Authority has also approved allotment of 5% of the land acquired from the farmers for the Container Corporation of India.

According to the Additional CEO, Greater Noida, Mr Anil Garg, seven of the total 11 proposals kept on the agenda of the board meeting had been approved this time.

Fifty per cent of the land of the residential scheme will be reserved for the farmers who had given land to GNIDA before 1997. Surprisingly, this scheme has been brought for the first and last time. Farmers should not hope for a similar bonanza in future, the Additional CEO said.

The farmers will not be allowed to sell these plots for five years from the date of allotment neither could these plots be used for running a realty business. Besides, 12.5 per cent land in this scheme has been kept as reserved.

The farmers from outside areas who had bought land here before 1991 would not be entitled to 5% land. For Tilpatta and Pali farmers also, a scheme has been approved. They will be given 5% of 102 hectare land given by them for the Container Corporation of India.

The Greater Noida Authority has also amended the house building laws. The height of basements in institutional and industrial buildings has been fixed.

Noida, May 10
The Sector-39 police have busted a gang of criminals who used to steal and sell government building material. The police have arrested two persons, including the driver of the truck who was being used for transporting the material.

Iron rods worth lakhs of rupees have been seized. The rods were being taken to Delhi for selling. The gangsters used to sell the building material at half the market rate.

SO Har Prasad Singh said the driver of truck No. HR 55 B-1711 was overtaking other vehicle at a high speed. When the police tried to stop the vehicle, the driver speeded up in order to flee.

On being apprehended, truck driver Javed and contractor Sewak Ram were asked to produce the documents which showed that the loaded material was being transported from Greater Noida, P-5, IFS site to Noida Sector-62.

However, the truck was heading towards Delhi when the police seized it.

On being questioned, Sewak Ram told the police that they were transporting the material to JRC Grid Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Co in Delhi. One consignment was delivered to the same company on May 6.

The accused told the police that the theft of material had been continuing for the past many years with the connivance of company directors, government contractors, project managers and other officials.

Stolen goods were also sold to the one offering the highest rates. The arrested duo told the police they used to finalize the contract for lifting government building material even before the start of the construction at site.

Gurgaon, May 10
Industries’ positive attitude and support would improve the labour situation in the state, mentioned Mr Birender Singh, Finance, Labour and Employment Minister, Haryana, at a high-profile CEOs interaction, organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) last evening.

The minister urged the entrepreneurs to lead from the front and foster an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding. The need of the hour was to create confidence among the employer, the employee and the administration for better labour relations, and consequently growth of Haryana.

Mr Birender Singh, Finance, Labour and Employment Minister, Haryana, added that the government would ensure proper law and order in Haryana and work towards maintaining Haryana’s image of having a ‘zero per cent strike rate’.

He also urged the industry to provide training to the workers with the state government acting as a facilitator.

Mr Singh denied that Haryana was losing its shine due to labour problems. Rather, he mentioned that these were only aberrations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, past president, CII, mentioned that the government had to formulate a flexible policy, and instead of protecting individual jobs, ways to improve overall employability should be focussed.

He added that Haryana had the capability to set an example and lead from the front.

Mr Munjal stressed that the labour situation had indeed become a serious issue with the industry. To tackle the malaise, quick availability of police force was necessary, he maintained.

The police should work proactively with the labour. This would help supplement Haryana’s investor-friendly image and lead to an overall growth, Mr Munjal added.

Earlier in his address of welcome, Mr Adesh Gupta, Chairman, CII (Northern Region) and CEO, Liberty Group, mentioned that in spite of numerous achievements of the Haryana government, the labour issue had become an impediment affecting the development of the state.

He added that the stress should be on making Haryana a strike-free state, ensuring proper law and order, increasing the police force, deploying separate crack team to handle such issues and the administration playing a fair and active role.

Mrs Promilla Issar, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Labour, while answering the queries, mentioned that the labour issues were not in any way associated with the law and order.

She stressed that new ways and means had to be deployed to find out as to who were responsible for instigating the workers and the unions.

She asked the industry to devise methods based on recent happenings and find solutions on how to improve the labour situation in Haryana.

Concluding the session, Mr Jatender Mehta, Chairman, CII, Haryana State Council, mentioned that the workers had the right to strike, but not the right to damage property.

Other issues such as adoption of ITIs, making IT industry a public utility service, amendment of Industrial Act 1947, etc were also discussed at the interaction.

A concept note containing recommendations to improve the labour situation in Haryana was also submitted on the occasion.

Also present at the interaction was Ms Sharda Rathore, Principal Secretary Labour and Legislative–Haryana.

The interaction was attended by more than 70 CEOs representing the industry of Haryana.

Ghaziabad, May 10
Four of a marriage party were killed and six injured in a head-on collision between a car and a mini-truck near Phaphunda village of Meerut. The party was returning to Hapur after the marriage on Tuesday night.

The wedding of Neeraj Saini, son of Kanti Saini of Mohalla Shiv Charanpura, Hapur, had gone on Monday evening to marry Ms Priyanka, daughter of Kotal Saini of Meerut.

The party was returning after all the ceremonies in Meerut.

As the Scorpio car, carrying the members of the party had overtaken a bus, also carrying a marriage party, at about 2.30 am near Phaphunda village, it had a head-on collision with a Tata-405 mini-truck coming at a high speed from the opposite direction.

Car driver Anil Saini of Hapur, cousins of groom, Priyanka and Pinki, and Sounja, daughter of a neighbour Mamchand were killed. Neeraj’s two aunts and Renu, daughter of Rakesh, Neeraj’s sister Pooja, and Yoginder and Sheetal were all seriously injured.

They were rushed to different hospitals in Meerut. The accident caused gloom in the house of Kanti Saini and Mohalla Shiv Charanpura Hapur.

Faridabad, May 10
There may be several formalities and conditions that need to be fulfilled by a consumer to get a power connection, but few know that they could also claim an interest on the security deposit made to the department for the meter or power consumption.

As a result of a move by the Faridabad Industrial Association (FIA), the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has agreed to revise the rate of interest payable on the advance consumption deposit and the security on the meter provided by the Nigam.

Though the new rate of interest on such deposits is still to be made public, it has been revealed that the industrial and commercial consumers are feeling cheated by the Nigam as no interest has been paid to them by the Nigam. The guidelines have provided an interest rate that is equivalent to the one year fixed deposit rate of the State Bank of India.

The FIA office-bearers raised this issue with the senior officials of the power department in a meeting held here last month and sought the revision in the interest rate immediately. It is learnt that the Nigam also pays interest to the domestic consumers, but hardly anyone claims this benefit at the time of change of ownership of the meter due to lack of awareness, said sources in the department.