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Water flows into Sonia Vihar treatment plant
Watch to be kept on six corruption-prone depts
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Demolitions: Mayor asks MCD to desist from bias
Court rejects CBI closure of MCD corruption case
Shivani case: Expert says he was pressurised
Katara case: Fresh warrants issued against Bharti Yadav
Cong MLAs seek more time from EC
BSNL waives reconnection charges
Four held for selling cassettes of porn films
ISI agent held in Faridabad
Empty cartridge shells recovered
Appeal to hold special camps on Guru Arjan’s martyrdom day
Man falls into his own trap, gets killed
Meritorious students felicitated
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Water flows into Sonia Vihar treatment plant
New Delhi, May 22 UP will release a further quantity of 35 cusecs of water by May 31 by which time one unit of the Tehri project will be ready for commissioning. The Chief Minister mentioned that it was a proud day for Delhi Government as it had been able to redeem its pledge to the people of the Capital by addressing their water needs. She also praised the officers of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) who had been instrumental in putting up the plant in record time. She was also appreciative of the efforts made by her Cabinet colleagues and several other MPs and legislators who had diligently pursued for water at various political and other levels with the The water was received on Sunday night and was used for cleaning out the 30-km-long conduit which had been lying unused since the past two years. Ms Dikshit pointed out that the NCT government had planned for the project well in time and its commissioning was supposed to synchronise with the commissioning of Tehri Hydro Project (THP). While the Sonia Vihar project got ready on time, the THP got delayed due to some technical snags. Now, with the reservoir level of the Tehri dam reaching up to a point from where power generation was expected to commence by the first week of June, not only would UP receive the needed power but additional water would also be available to UP for irrigation and 300 cusecs to Delhi for meeting the drinking water supply needs of its citizens. She also pointed out that with water from Sonia Vihar plant, the gap between demand of around 900 MGD and the current supply of 675 MGD would be considerably reduced as the Sonia Vihar plant added another 140 MGD. The water from the plant would ensure the people of South and East Delhi would no longer have to face water shortage any more. She also pointed out that most of the works connected with the Sonia Vihar plant like underground reservoirs and the pipeline networks were ready. For the remaining leftover works, she had given instructions to the DJB to ensure that these were completed urgently. The Chief Minister also advised the DJB officials to ensure that the necessary process of flushing of the treatment plant was completed expeditiously so that water could be made available for distribution to the people of city. She also said that message of conservation of water was important and the people would do well to ensure that they treated water as a precious resource and made conservation an essential ingredient of their daily life. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh government today alleged that the Central and Delhi governments were not honouring the power-for-water agreement. “The centre has promised to give 600 Mw of additional power to UP, but till date, only 50 Mw has been given,’’ said state energy minister Mr Shivpal Singh Yadav. Addressing a news conference in Lucknow, Mr Yadav said the Centre and the Delhi government were not honoring the agreement, even as UP was giving enough water to the national Capital. “We know water is essential for man and UP is trying to provide adequate water to Delhi, so that there is no scarcity of drinking water,” he claimed. UP government and the Centre had reached an agreement on Friday, under which the state would release water for Delhi’s Sonia Vihar Plant in return for additional power. Under the agreement, UP had already released two cumex (cubic metre per second) of additional water for Sonia Vihar on Saturday. Although UP had initially raised the demand for additional 700 Mw, the same was brought down to 600 Mw. |
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Watch to be kept on six corruption-prone depts
Gurgaon, May 22 He reiterated the policy of the state government to provide a corruption-free and fear-free administration for the citizens of the state. According to highly placed sources, the vigilance department had identified six departments, including revenue, tax, health and HUDA, where cases of rampant corruption come up regularly. Senior officials of the vigilance department would be asked to keep a close watch on these departments and also suggest ways to check corruption in them. Mr Dalal directed the officials to start a dedicated exclusive telephone line (like 100 for general police help) for the vigilance department so that any one could call and complain against any government official if he demanded some favour for executing his work. The DGP, Vigilance, further directed all officials to ensure speedy trial of all pending cases in different courts of all accused arrested by the department under the Anti-Corruption Act. He said the police must provide police protection to any complainant if he needed it. He must not feel intimidated by the accused. The government advocates must be asked to ensure that justice must not be denied to the complainants, said Mr Dalal. Mr Dalal said that though the department did not have its office in the Palwal and Mewat areas the department needed to be extra cautious in these areas to check corruption. The officer further directed the range officials to ensure wide publicity about the vigilance department so that any one who was being harassed by the officials of any department could approach them directly without any hesitation or hindrance. The Additional Director-General of Police, Vigilance, Ms Deepa Mehta, the Commissioner, Gurgaon Range, Dr Avtar Singh, the Inspector-General of Police, Gurgaon Range, Mr Mohinder Lal, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R. P. Bhardwaj, the HUDA Administrator, Mr S. P. Gupta, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Hanif Qureshi, the Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, Mr Rajbir Deswal, and other officials were present at the meeting. The SP, Vigilance, Mr Rajbir Deswal, informed that the department had decided to expand its horizons, ensuring that the lay man came forward to complain against any official, whoever he may be. He clarified that there was no political interference in the working of the department. |
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Demolitions: Mayor asks MCD to desist from bias
New Delhi, May 22 This issue was raised by the BJP-led Opposition at the meeting. The Opposition also demanded that action should be taken against the Metro Rail Corporation which took land from the MCD for the purpose of metro rail but it was auctioned to private businessmen on commercial rates. All commercial establishments constructed on the land should be sealed, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Subhash Arya, demanded. The Opposition also demanded constitution of a committee on 32 acres located at Tehkhand village. The MCD was the owner of the land but the DDA had given it to private builders to construct flats. The desilting issue of drains was also discussed. The Opposition claimed that desilting work had not been started yet though the monsoon was likely to arrive in Delhi on June 30. Contractors were not ready to do the desilting work as their last year’s payment had yet not been made. However, the Municipal Commissioner assured completion of the work before the beginning of the monsoon. The Opposition alleged application forms to deposit house tax were not available in the MCD offices. Private shopkeepers were selling the forms at the cost of Rs 5 each form though it was given free of cost by the house tax department. The mayor had sought an inquiry into the case. Meanwhile, the MCD announced today that it will begin desealing of commercial establishments sealed as part of a court-ordered drive against unauthorised use of residential premises from tomorrow. The civic body’s decision to deseal the properties follows notification of a bill passed in Parliament providing a one-year moratorium on demolitions and sealings in the Capital. “The commercial establishments existing as of January 1, 2006 in residential areas, which were sealed following Supreme Court orders, will be desealed beginning tomorrow,” an MCD spokesman said. MCD Commissioner A K Nigam today held a meeting with the Additional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners in which the modalities for desealing of the commercial establishments were worked out. The civic body has, however, cautioned the shopkeepers against breaking seals on their own. The MCD will also not allow any new commercial activity in residential zones, the spokesman added. During its drive, the MCD has sealed about 15,000 shops of which about 6,000 were desealed after receiving affidavits by the owners. |
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Court rejects CBI closure of MCD corruption case
New Delhi, May 22 Ordering re-investigation into the case by a senior official of the CBI, Special Judge Vinod Goel observed that the Investigating Officer (IO) had failed to even “interrogate the officials concerned and deliberately exonerated all the responsible persons”. A surprise check on an apartment at Raja Garden area here by an MCD-CBI team on December 19, 2002 had revealed that MCD officials in charge of the locality had permitted unauthorised construction in the building from August eight, 2000 in connivance with its owners. Subsequently, the CBI registered a case on February 20, 2003 against nine officials, including executive engineer Brij Pal Singh, for criminal conspiracy and offences under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. “The aforesaid officials in conspiracy with the said owners of the property allowed unauthorised construction in violation of the approved plan for extraneous consideration,” the CBI had said in its FIR. However, the IO did a U-turn by requesting closure of the case quoting lack of evidence necessary to prove that a conspiracy existed between the officials and the owners. Highlighting the “flagrant” lapses in the probe, the court said that the IO had not even bothered to seize the Building Watch Register of the area maintained by the MCD detailing the construction activities in the locality and the official monitoring each of them. “The IO failed to seize the Building Watch Register of the area concerned for the period from August 8, 2000 to date of the raid. This document would have helped to hold the accused responsible,” the court said. Moreover, it observed that the IO had failed to even question the accused persons as to why they did not take action to demolish the unauthorised structure during the two years of its construction. Instead, the IO had made efforts to clear the names of two accused, junior engineers A K Mittal and Jagat Singh, who had only issued the demolition order days before the surprise check, the court observed. “It is not a mere lapse on the part of the accused but a flagrant abuse of their official position,” it added. |
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Shivani case: Expert says he was pressurised
New Delhi, May 22 “I merely signed the report prepared by a Sub-Inspector,” R S Bhardwaj, Director of Finger Prints Bureau, told Additional Sessions Judge Rajiinder Kumar during his deposition as prosecution witness. The embarrassing statement for Delhi Police came during the cross-examination of Bhardwaj who said he was presurised to sign the report prepared by the SI Awdesh Kumar of the Bureau as has been done in some of the other cases. “My cell is under the direct control of the DCP, Crime. In many cases as in this case the then DCP, Crime, M S Upadhyay presurised me to sign the report,” he said during his cross-examination by advocate S P Minocha, counsel for the main accused and suspended IPS officer R K Sharma. Bhardwaj’s statement was contradictory to the evidence recorded by him during the examination-in-chief in which he had claimed that he had “independently compared the chance prints with the specimen” and his opinion was same as that of Awdesh Kumar. However, later he said “I have only signed the report. I did not examine the prints”. Along with suspended Haryana Cadre IG, five other accused — Satya Prakash, Ved Prakash Sharma, Pradeep Kumar, Ved alias Kalu and Sri Bhagwan — are facing trial in murder of the Indian Express Journalist who was killed at her east Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999. |
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Katara case: Fresh warrants issued against
New Delhi, May 22 Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur issued fresh NBWs against Bharti to be sent to her last two addresses the court had on record, of London and Leicester in the United Kingdom, to be served through the Home Ministry. This was after Yadav, a former Rajya Sabha MP, appearing in response to a notice issued by the court, was granted time till July 17, more than the month-and-a-half he had sought, to make efforts to furnish her present
address. Yadav’s son and Bharti’s brother, Vikas, is the prime accused in the case, and along with his cousin Vishal and Sukhdev
Pehelwan, is facing trial for the murder of business executive Nitish
Katara, besides abduction and destruction of evidence. A notice was also issued to the External Affairs Ministry to make all efforts to trace the witness’ present address and inform the court of the same by the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, the defence was granted time till July 17 to reply to the prosecution application seeking to summon as a witness a Ghaziabad-based advocate, in whose presence the weapon of offence and watch were allegedly recovered. During arguments today, the defence reiterated its suggestion to use video-conferencing to obtain Bharti’s evidence, to which the court said that she had to be first located before any developments towards her deposition could take place. |
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Cong MLAs seek more time from EC
New Delhi, May 22 The plea by Congress legislators for more time to file their replies follows the passage of a bill by Delhi Assembly on May 19 to exempt as many as 14 offices from the definition of office of profit. The ruling party MLAs, who were supposed to give their response to the EC by May 22, sought two months’ more time to file their replies, saying they needed to refer to certain documents for filing their written statements, sources said. The MLAs said they needed to collect the documents from various departments, which would take some time and requested the Commission to extend time for filing their written statements in the interest of justice, the sources added. The Election Commission had issued notices to the 19 MLAs on the basis of a complaint filed by BJP MLA Vijay Jolly who had sought their disqualification claiming that they were holding offices of profit under Delhi Government. The Sheila Dikshit government convened a special session of the state Assembly on May 18 in which the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006 was passed exempting certain posts from the office of profit definition. The Congress MLAs in question are Naseeb Singh, Narendra Nath, Anjali Rai, Mateen Ahmed, Rajesh Jain, Prahlad Singh Sawhney, Braham Pal, Ambrish Singh Gautam, Rajesh Lilothia, Bijender Singh, Balram Tanwar, Kiran Walia, Ashok Ahuja, Tajdar Babbar, Vijay Singh Lochav, Mahabal Mishra, Kanwar Karan Singh, Veer Singh Dhingan and Bhisham Sharma. |
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BSNL waives reconnection charges
Faridabad, May 22 The General Manager of the BSNL, Faridabad, Mr V. S. Pandey, said here today that as per the policy changes and announcements made by the nigam the department would not charge anything for reconnection from the customers whose phones had been disconnected. Earlier, the nigam had been charging an amount of Rs 100 per connection for such a facility. There had been around 1.05 lakh basic phone consumers of the BSNL in this telecom district against a total working capacity of 1.69 lakh. Mr Pandey, who recently joined as GM here after the transfer of his predecessor, Mr R. C. Hooda, who has joined in New Delhi, said that while all new schemes had been implemented with immediate effect his endeavour would be to improve the nigam services further. According to BSNL officials, the nigam had also been providing a calling card (ITC) worth Rs 500 or a sim card of BSNL (on pre-paid mobile connection) to every consumer applying for a connection. However, payment of the first bill makes one eligible for the free gift. The nigam authorities claimed that apart from strengthening the existing WLL service with the construction of at least four new towers in the district the department had also started the expansion work of the GSM service. There were about 7,500 WLL connections against the total capacity of 10,000 at present. Regarding the improvement of the phone services, the General Manager claimed that about 80 per cent of the basic phone services in the district had been made pole-less. The rest of the work would be completed before March-end next year. Though the nigam had started a scheme of providing free caller-ID phone instruments, also known as CLI instruments to those consumers whose billing was Rs 1,000 or more each month, the move seemed to have bounced after reports of faults in instruments and in the absence of immediate response from the nigam office so far. Many consumers had lodged their complaints, the GM said, adding that he would look into the matter before taking any decision. The nigam has supplied a total of 3,575 CLI instruments so far while around 4,183 are pending. Another scheme that appears to have failed to take off is the Unlimited Broad Band Internet Though the nigam claims that it was a better and economical plan for Internet users, the availability of unlimited Internet connection by private service providers at a rate just half of that offered by the BSNL plan seems to be keeping away the consumers. |
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Four held for selling cassettes of porn films
Greater Noida, May 22 SP (Rural) Sudhir Kumar Singh said that SO Surajpur police station Rajeev Yadav was asked to take action against the blue film sellers. He had, thus, organised a police team to nab those indulging in the sale and manufacture of cassettes of blue and pirated films in the area. The police had raided the market and arrested four shopkeepers. The arrested shopkeepers included Seemant Kumar of Munger, Manoj Kumar of Navada, Pintu and Arvind from Bihar. A computer CD writer and a large number of blank cassettes were recovered from the shops besides 3,000 pirated and 55 blue film cassettes These people had been running the business of selling pirated and blue cassettes for a couple of years. During interrogation, they told the police that they had been procuring the films from Lajpat Rai and Palika Bazar markets in Delhi and manufacturing the cassettes themselves. |
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ISI agent held in Faridabad
Faridabad, May 22 SSP Mahender Singh Sheoran said the person arrested from near the Old Faridabad railway station this morning had been identified as
Manazir, son of one Abrar Ahmed. He had been working as a barber here for the past several months. He said Manazir was arrested after the interrogation of Azad, a person arrested on similar charges from Gandhi Colony about four days ago. He said Azad told the police that Manazir (25) had been one of his associates in this work. Mr Sheoran claimed that Azad, son of
Suleiman, was from Lahore in Pakistan and had revealed that he was known as Khalid, alias
Khalidi. He had been residing here for the past eight months. The SSP claimed the arrests could provide vital information about the possible network of anti-national elements. It may be recalled that the police had seized a cache of arm and ammunition from a house in Jagdish Colony of Ballabgarh town here a few days after a Pakistani terrorist, identified as Abu Hamza, was killed by the Delhi Police in a encounter last week. Hamza had taken a two-room set on rent in Ballabhgarh for making it a hideout, said the police. |
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Empty cartridge shells recovered
Faridabad, May 22 SSP M. S. Sheoran said the police reached the spot around 11 this morning after someone informed about the shells lying in a dump near MVN School on the Surajkund road. He said about 60 empty shells were found there which were covered with mud and waste material. The SSP said the possibility of someone dumping such material, could not be ruled out.—TNS |
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Appeal to hold special camps on Guru Arjan’s martyrdom day
New Delhi, May 22 She said that all religions should remember the 400th year of sacrifice of Guru Arjun Dev on June 16, 2006. He was tortured by the then ruler but Guruji preferred to sacrifice his life rather than succumbing to pressure to change his religion. She said 20,000 people from all communities should be allowed to go to Pakistan and visit the holy shrine of Guru Arjun Dev at Dera Sahib, Lahore, on this occasion. She appealed to gurdwara prabandhak committees
all over India and Singh Sabhas of gurdwaras to throw light on the sacrifice of Guru Arjun Dev and hold special camps and langar kirtan on
June 16. |
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Man falls into his own trap, gets killed
New Delhi, May 22 According to the fire department officials, the incident took place at 1.30 pm. The deceased had been identified as Dalip (35) and the injured as Mohammed Hussain (50) and Hakim (22). Dalip was immediately taken to Babu Jagjiwan Ram Hospital where he was declared brought dead.
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Meritorious students felicitated
New Delhi, May 22 The ceremony was attended by Shri Y S Rajan, Principal Advisor, Confederation of Indian Industry and Swami Nikhilanandaji of the Chinmaya Mission. |
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