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MCD announces end to demolition, sealing drive
Cyclist crushed to death; villagers block highway
UP releases 210 cusecs of water to Delhi
Mother-son duo get life term
for murder
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‘Rationalise land use policies in Capital’
Nine held for illegal sand mining in Dadri
Criminals kill
servant, decamp with valuables
New directorate to handle women, child welfare
May phase of pulse polio campaign launched
Centre finalises proposal for regularising colonies
Schoolteachers get Yoga training
Angry entrepreneurs shut power station
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MCD announces end to demolition, sealing drive
New Delhi, May 20 After President A P J Abdul Kalam gave his assent to the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Bill, 2006, which was notified by the Centre immediately, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi ordered forthwith cessation of its drives that have triggered a series of protests, mostly by shopkeepers, in the Capital. Premises sealed in accordance with court orders post January 1, 2006 will be eligible to be reopened, the Centre said in its notification. Also, all establishments required to cease commercial activities by June 30 this year can now continue functioning for one year. Besides, the legislation suspends for one year demolition drives against constructions beyond sanctioned plans as existed on January 1 this year. However, there will be no leniency in drives against encroachments on public land as the Centre directed local authorities to continue action as per relevant sections on unauthorised development. Local authorities have been also directed to submit a monthly report to the Centre on such action. Union Urban Development Minister Mr S Jaipal Reddy told reporters that the Centre could also facilitate bank loans for reconstruction to homeowners whose properties have been demolished in the MCD drives for building law violations but now qualify for regularisation under the new law applicable from January 1, 2006. “We will try to provide loans to those people whose houses have been demolished but can be regularised now for reconstruction,” he said. The Minister emphasised that the Centre would use the one-year period to overhaul Delhi’s town planning. Also, he spoke about classifying varying violations of building laws in accordance with the Tejendra Khanna Committee recommendations on the city’s housing and work space. This is a problem that we cannot solve overnight. The unauthorised development that we have to tackle now has taken place over the last 40 years,” Mr Reddy said. He also said the draft Master Plan for Delhi-2021 will be finalised soon after consultations with all sections of society such as citizen groups and RWAs. The Minister had last evening called on President A P J Abdul Kalam to discuss the bill passed in the Lok Sabha on May 12 and in the Rajya Sabha on The Act provides for status quo as on January 1, 2006 on unauthorised development in respect of mixed land use, construction beyond sanctioned plans and encroachments by slum dwellers, hawkers and street vendors in the Capital. Acting on court orders, the MCD has so far taken action against 2,642 illegal constructions since its demolition drive began on December 19 last year. The civic body has sealed around 15,000 commercial establishments functioning in residential areas. The Centre’s decision to come out with a Bill to stop the demolition and sealing drives followed the Supreme Court turning down the government plea to suspend the municipal action for months. In the face of large-scale protests against the MCD drives, the Union Urban Development Ministry set up the Tejendra Khanna Committee to study the problem of illegal constructions and rampant commercialisation of residential areas among others and offer its recommendations. The Centre also notified mixed land use on select roads in the Capital to give relief to shopkeepers from the MCD’s sealing action. The MCD said it would begin desealing on Monday of establishments it had shut on court orders for carrying out commercial activities in Delhi’s residential zones. An MCD spokesman, however, cautioned that shopkeepers should not break the seals on their own. “Desealing of premises is likely to start on Monday. Nobody should deseal their sealed premises as the MCD itself will deseal the 9,000 sealed shops after working out the modalities,” he said. During its drive, the MCD sealed about 15,000 shops of which about 6,000 were desealed after receving affidavits by the owners. The MCD, however, will keep its drive on against encroachment on government land and any illegal construction being carried out after May 19, 2006,
he said. Also, the MCD will allow no new commercial activity in residential zones, the spokesman added.
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Cyclist crushed to death; villagers block highway
Gurgaon, May 20 The villagers threw stones and broke windowpanes of half a dozen buses. A person on a bicycle was hit by the DTC bus at Sukhrali village crossing and subsequently succumbed to injuries. The residents of the village informed the police of the incident. But the police allegedly delayed in reaching the site. This angered the villagers who first blocked the highway from 32nd Mile Stone to IFFCO Chowk and then Gurgaon-Mehraul Road. The villagers relented only after the officials who reached the spot accepted their demand for constructing a road-breaker near Sukhrali. In fact, they left the site only after the construction works started. The three-hour blockade gave a testing time to the district administration and the police. It was a serpentine line of vehicles on the highway as well as on Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road. It was utter chaos. The public in the vehicles were put to inconvenience in the scorching sun. The incident occurred in the forenoon and dragged on after 2 pm. The villagers lifted the blockade within half an hour, but continued with the agitation on the highway.
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UP releases 210 cusecs of water to Delhi
New Delhi, May 20 The construction of Sonia Vihar water treatment plant, built at a cost of around Rs 800 crore and touted as being capable of solving the Capital’s water woes, was completed in December 2004 but has since been waiting for water from UP to become functional. Welcoming the news, Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit said that “By releasing water to Delhi, UP has fulfilled a commitment it made four years back. Our efforts have borne fruit and the water will come as a big relief for Delhi which is facing a severe water scarcity”. UP and Delhi are supposed to share water from the Tehri hydel project with the two states getting 300 cusecs each. UP has released the water following the water sharing formula agreed upon in a meeting of the two states called by the Union Power Ministry. The water released also comes on the promise of additional power supply to UP, which is reeling under a mammoth 1500 megawatt deficit. As per the formula, UP will supply 210 cusecs water to Delhi till June 15, which will be progressively increased to 300 cusecs. The initial supply of water will be used for testing and commissioning of the Sonia Vihar plant, officials said.
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Mother-son duo get life term
for murder
New Delhi, May 20 Abaas Ali was an auto-rickshaw driver. His father Liyaqat Ali was always asking Abaas to give money for his expenses. On August 9, 1999, there was an altercation between both of them on this issue. Liyaqat threatened to leave the house. Abaas with the help of his sister Saboo Jahira and mother Par Jahira murdered Liyaqat. Saboo poured kerosene oil on her father and Abaas set him ablaze. He succumbed to his injuries on August 12. Saboo died during the trial. The court also hauled up the investigating officer and pulled up the cops for registering the FIR after five years of the incident. “It was a case of total collapse of investigation. The concerned investigating officer suppressed all the relevant documents and facts of the case. The higher official also ignored the evidence. For an effective criminal justice system, the police should check the facts of each FIR registered during last 30 years. “It is up to the police personnel to ensure that each FIR reaches its logical conclusion,” the judge said in his order. In another case, a Delhi court today sentenced a man to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for the rape of a physically-handicapped teenage girl three years ago. Special Judge B R Kedia also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on the convict, 43-year-old Prakash Bharati alias Mottu, a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The seventeen-year-old girl was brought to Delhi from her village by a tout in the year 2003 to work as a domestic help. She was brutally over-worked by her employers and had to quit the house. Following this, she began living by a neighbouring temple, eking out a meager living on handouts given by worshippers. The convict, on the night of December 22, 2003, lured the girl away from her usual spot on the temple grounds to a desolate place in the neighbourhood on the pretext of giving her food and forced himself on her. The girl was later found in an injured state and taken to the hospital, where she lodged a complaint with the police. The prosecution examined 13 witnesses during the trial.
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‘Rationalise land use policies in Capital’
New Delhi, May 20 Delhi’s development through proper planning will also put an end to artificial commercial and residential land shortage. That has gripped the Capital resulting in exorbitant property price escalation in the NCR. Addressing a conference Mr Rana, who was also member of Tejinder Khanna committee, and senior Vice President of Indian Building Congress pointed that Delhi was the first city in the country to have a Master Plan way back in 1961. There has been subsequent Master Plans, latest one is Delhi Master Plan 1991. But non-implementation or rather piece-meal implementation of the Plans led to only 16 per cent of allotted land for commercial usage being developed leaving a huge gap of 84 per cent. “This led to major shortage in commercial land availability and forced people to start commercial operations from residential premises. The only beneficiary of this situation has been property agents and profiteers,” he added. Mr Rana said that problem of Delhi has been compounded due to existence of monopolistic supplier of land, the DDA. He suggested that policy making and execution should be separated. He said that if competition is ushered in the property market in the true sense of the term, Delhi would see a dramatic fall in property prices as well as easy availability of houses and commercial premises. “If right policy decisions are taken, availability as well as buying and selling of property will be as easy as buying a car,” he said. Mr Rana pointed out that with the right mix of policies, “we can easily see commercial rates falling below residential rates as is common in countries with rational land-use policies.” Mr. K. K. Kapila, Vice-President of Indian Building Congress said that given a choice, citizens would avoid messing up with the law and would opt for peace of mind but when they are faced with existential choices, they are forced to violate the law. He said that this can easily be overcome by modifying current land use laws and regulations in a practical manner while balancing environmental and social sensibilities. He added that current land use laws were discriminatory against certain professionals like lawyers, architects, engineers etc.
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Nine held for illegal sand mining in Dadri
Noida, May 20 Nine trucks of the mafia were seized and nine persons arrested on the spot yesterday. It may be recalled that sometime back also, seven persons were arrested for illegal sand mining and their trucks impounded, but all of them were freed. Land mafia is expert in sand mining along GT Road in Dadri from the banks and riverbeds of the Yamuna as well as the Hindon rivers. The mafia does not any pay royalty or tax and carries out a roaring trade in illegal mining, Asstt DM Ghanishyam Singh said. All the impounded vehicles will remain parked on Dadri Tehsil premises till further orders from the district magistrate, he said. Among those arrested include Baleshwar, Kevinder Singh, Prahald, Lala Singh, Rakesh Singh and Dullva, Charan Singh. Two more persons have been arrested on the orders of the Asstt DM Dadri and their trucks impounded.
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Criminals kill
servant, decamp with valuables
Noida, May 20 The owner,
S.K. Sehgal, a contractor, had gone on a pilgrimage to Jawala Durbar
in Himachal with his family on May 16. He had been in touch with the
servant Raj Kumar on phone on May 16, but his calls went unattended on
May 17. The police said it appeared to be the work of some known persons and the servant had been killed sometime between the night of 16 and the afternoon of May 17. The
crime came to light when the Sehgals returned home at 12-30 am on May
18. Their first floor tenant Mishra has refused to say anything about the loot while the second floor tenant Bansi Dhar is out of station. The body of the servant was recovered from the bathroom. SSP RKS Rathore had immediately reached the spot with his team on getting the report from the Sector 24 police. Fingerprints have been lifted and the police have detained two persons. SP
city Saumitra Yadav said police had recovered three glasses and an
empty bottle of foreign liquor from the room. Mutton and ‘biryani’
had also been cooked in the kitchen, he said. The killers appear to be known to the cook, the SP added. Police teams are investigating the crime.
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New directorate to handle women, child welfare
New Delhi, May 20 Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit today issued direction to this effect in a meeting convened to review functioning of new schemes relating to Education and Social Welfare Department announced in the budget for the year 2006-07. The meeting was attended by Social Welfare Minister Yoganand Shastri, Secretaries with Social Welfare, Education and Culture, and Labour departments and other senior officers. The new directorate would handle all the schemes relating to development of women and children, Stree Shakti Programme and Integrated Child Development Scheme. It would go a long way in gearing up machinery to ensure benefits of the various schemes to the genuine beneficiaries. It was also decided to formally launch schemes of providing books and uniforms to schoolchildren, financial grant on birth of girl child and unemployment allowance to
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May phase of pulse polio campaign launched
New Delhi, May 20 On the occasion, Delhi Health Minister Dr Yoganand Shastri said the new pulse polio round will have a special thrust on JJ clusters and unreached children. Under the present campaign, all the 57 Metro stations will be covered to reach the transit population. Four teams each have been deployed in the around 60 trains to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to cover children in transit. Dr Shastri said as a special initiative, polio booths have been set up at religious places, adding that this time round clinics of alternative system of medicine would provide polio drops to children.
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Centre finalises proposal for regularising colonies
New Delhi, May 20 He said that a Cabinet note had been prepared on the proposal and it had been sent to Delhi Lt. Governor B L Joshi and Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit for their suggestions. Delhi Government has been pressing for free-of-cost regularisation of unauthorised colonies in keeping with the Congress manifesto for the Assembly elections. On the other hand, the Centre is understood to be in favour of levying development charges on the residents of the unauthorised colonies for regularising the settlements.—TNS
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Schoolteachers get Yoga training
Faridabad, May 20 The first of the 10-day-long training camp was started at the sports complex in Sector 12 here today. There are about 245 government schools in the district. The authorities claimed that since Yoga had been getting popular, it was one of the fields in which the government schools in the state might take a lead over the private schools. It is stated that it would not only help the students in various ways, but would also provide an opportunity to the teachers to get a healthy body and mind. According to the education officials, one teacher each from all the government schools in the district would be given the training initially and the training session could be spread in three different camps for 10 days. The teachers enrolled in the camp would be given training for at least three hours daily and while this camp would conclude on May 30, the second such camp would be held from June 1 to 10 next. It is stated that besides the selected teachers, any other teacher from the government schools could take part in these camps. The district has about 95 primary schools, 85 middle and 65 higher secondary level schools at present.
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Angry entrepreneurs shut power station
Ghaziabad, May 20 The Small-Scale Industries Association alleged that the power corporation was meting out step-motherly treatment to the small-scale units. More than 1500 small scale units in Ghaziabad were facing at least 15-hour power cut daily for the past one month, they alleged, whereas large industrial units managed to get power supply for at least 15-16 hours daily. Mr Sudhir Juneja said small scale units had already suffered a loss of Rs 300 crore so far because they were being ignored by the UPPC.
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