New Delhi, June 23
Much to relief of the consumers, the Delhi Government today decided to sell tomatoes at a special price of Rs 20 a kilo from tomorrow.

“The government will set up special stalls, outside the main wholesale vegetable markets in the Capital, which will sell tomatoes at Rs 20 a kilo,” an official statement said.

The prices of tomatoes had soared to Rs 22-23 per kilo at wholesale markets. They would now be sold for Rs 20 a kilo at special stalls which would be set up outside the Azadpur, Okhla, Ghazipur and Keshavpur markets, the statement said.

Observing that the current rise in tomato prices was owing to decreased supply in the Capital, it was pointed out that even the wholesale markets, which were earlier getting a supply of 525 tonnes of tomatoes a day, were now receiving less than half of the quantity.

The decision to set up special stalls was taken after a high-level meeting chaired by Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Mr Rajkumar Chauhan and attended by Delhi Government officials and wholesale market representatives.

The prices for the vegetable in the retail markets varies between Rs 40-45 per kg.

The ministry has also instructed its officials to conduct regular inspections of the wholesale markets to prevent hoarding. Meanwhile, an NGO, People’s Action, has written to Mr Chauhan asking him to explain the increase in vegetables and commodities prices.

Alleging that prices of vegetables in Delhi had risen 10 times in the last 40 days, the NGO termed it as an example of the paralysis of the state administration.

“The nearly ten times increase in prices of vegetables and commodities — the Department of Civil Supplies had declared the wholesale rate of tomato at Azadpur Mandi at Rs 2.50-Rs 4 on May 9 while today it is selling at Rs 25-30 in wholesale markets and Rs 45 in retain — evidences the fact that the entire administration is paralysed and Government control is almost defunct. They have no idea of what is going on and they have no explanations,” said Pankaj Gupta, group coordinator of People’s Action.

Criticising the massive price rise, members of the group said, “The Delhi Government is now a slave of cartels, be it the trader cartel or the transporter cartel. Thanks to the support, or at the very least the active indifference of the Minister and his administration, everyone is having a field day, except the citizens of the state, who are paying through their nose,” said members of the group.

The letter to Mr Chauhan also asks him to order an enquiry into why mutton prices did not deflate after the bird-flu scare abated while chicken prices rose to earlier levels.

New Delhi, June 23
In a good news for Delhiites, two bridges aimed at decongesting the busy trans-Yamuna and Vikas Marg areas, are nearing completion and would be opened for vehicular traffic by December, 2007.

With both the projects costing an estimated Rs 230 crore, the Geeta Colony Bridge over river Yamuna will have ten lanes, including two for cyclists and an equal number for pedestrians.

The bridge would be inaugurated by December 2007 though the targeted date is first quarter of 2008, Delhi Urban Development and PWD Minister Dr A K Walia told reporters today after taking a round of the bridge site.

The progress of the work is two months in advance with respect to the target, he said adding the bridge would facilitate smooth flow of traffic from trans-Yamuna area as the Old Railway Bridge has outlived its life.

It will also replace the pontoon bridge which is being reconstructed every year, Dr Walia said.

Giving details of the Rs 96 crore bridge over a disused canal from Karkari Mor to Marginal Bandh Road, Dr Walia said the new road would take 40 per cent burden of traffic at Vikas Marg and hence decongest it substantially.

Meerut, June 23
The Meerut district administration had not sought clearance from the Fire Department before granting permission for holding the Brands India Consumer Fair, an official today told the inquiry commission probing the death of over 60 people during a fire at the exhibition.

Deposing before Justice O P Garg, appointed by the Allahabad High Hourt to hold a judicial probe into the devastating fire that broke out during the fair, Chief Fire-Fighting Officer Arun Kumar Chaturvedi, said that neither the district administration nor the organisers of the fair had sought any report from his office.

More than 60 people died and many were injured in the fire mishap that occurred on April 10 during the exhibition held at the Victoria Park Grounds here.

Chaturvedi said that upon his directions, the fire station in-charge Naresh Kumar Singh personally inspected the site and directed the organisers to ensure that all arrangements for fire fighting were made.

The organiser Lakhan Tomar told Singh that 25 fire extinguishers had been obtained after permission from the district administration.

The Fire Officer told the inquiry commission that after the organisers of the fair showed the written permission from the district administration, he did not think it proper to intervene.

He said that in such cases, the administration usually sought report from the Chief Fire Officer, but in this case, no such report was sought and even the copy of permission granted by the ADM city to the fair organisers was not sent to his office.

The Chief Fire Officer also stated that had the district administration not ignored fire fighting rules, such a big tragedy could have been averted. Chaturvedi also claimed that he rushed to the spot within five minutes with fire brigade vehicles.

At least 50 persons, mostly women and children, died and more than 100 were injured in the fire which tore through a consumer goods fair at the Victoria Park in Meerut on April 11.

The fire, suspected to have been caused by short-circuiting, broke out in one of the stalls around 5.30 p.m. when there were an estimated 2,000 visitors at the `Brand India’ fair, where multinationals displayed electronic goods and kitchen appliances.

The blaze also led to the explosion of cooking gas cylinders at some makeshift eateries at the site. It soon engulfed the area, turning the Victoria Park into an inferno.

There were as many as 36 split air-conditioners at the venue, leading to electrical overloading, catering to 130 stalls made from highly combustible material.

Norms call for an exit gate every 50 feet, fifty per cent open area in the structure and minimum use of combustible material. The fair was being held in an area of 20,000 square feet, calling for at least a dozen exits. Instead, three conjoined pandals, fully covered from above, were set up in a U-shape, with just one entry-cum-exit gate of four feet width at the start of pandal number 1.

Moreover, all three pandals were fully covered from above; smoke had no escape route and caused asphyxiation deaths. There were loads of combustible material — wooden flooring, synthetic cloth pandals, wooden pillars, thermocol for good cooling and LPG cylinders.

New Delhi, June 23
Acting on tip-offs, BSES enforcement teams raided four ice factories in Najafgarh and caught them red-handed stealing power of over 300 KW by hooking from the nearby BSES LV mains. A cumulative penalty of over Rs 2.78 crore is liable to be imposed on them.

The raiding team also seized illegal wires and incriminating documents proving that the ice factories were operating round the clock. An FIR under the Electricity Act 2003 has been lodged at the Najafgarh police station.

This is not the first time that these ice factories have been raided. In 2004 and 2005 also, BSES enforcement teams had raided them, and been assaulted by their employees. Even then, FIRs were registered at the Najafgarh police station.

In East Delhi, in a joint raid with the Delhi Police, an BSES enforcement team swooped down on four illegal dyeing units and caught them red-handed stealing electricity of over 145 KW by directly hooking from the nearby BSES L V Mains. Cumulative penalties of more than Rs 45 lakh are liable to be imposed.

“These factories, situated in Biharipur near Karawal Nagar, used to colour and dye jeans on behalf of large garment exporters,” said a BSES official.

Meanwhile, in South Delhi, in a day-long operation, a joint BSES-Delhi Police team detected and removed 500 illegal tappings from three slum clusters situated near Ashram Chowk and New Friend Colony. The slum clusters, situated in Sunlight Colony, Siddhartha Colony and Budh Basti, were cumulatively and illegally drawing 400 KW of electricity from the nearby BSES LV Mains. About 1,000 kg of wire used for the illegal tappings was seized by the enforcement teams.

Noida, June 23
Noida tops Uttar Pradesh in employment generation while Ghaziabad is at fifth place. UP as a whole is at fifth slot in setting up industrial units in the country. The state is the most populous in the country.

In Gautam Budh Nagar, 214 persons per every 1,000 are employed in industries with Lucknow being at No 2 position with figure of 107 per thousand which is followed by Aligarh, Kanpur City, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Meerut, Jyotiba Phule Nagar and Bagpat.

According to the economic report for the years 1998 to 2005, the average annual industrial development has been at 5.14 per cent as there was no significant growth in employment generation in the state which could not cross 3.03 per cent. The economic study was made from July 2005 to November 2005. These facts are contained in the report presented by UP Minister of State for Finance and Population Dinesh Singh two days ago.

According to the report, the trend for putting up industries in rural areas was higher than in urban areas–4.98 per cent in rural areas as compared to 1.40 per cent in urban areas. The setting up of the industries in the state as a whole has registered a growth of 42.03 per cent in which the rural sector has shown a growth of 61.36 per cent while the urban areas have lagged behind by 24.12 per cent. This is being considered significant growth in rural sector.

The report says that 85.40 lakh workers are employed in industries in the state as against the national percentage of 8.63 for the whole country. For Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, this percentage is 11.5, 9.97, 9.42 and 8.96 respectively.

New Delhi, June 23
The Delhi High Court today passed an injunction restraining a website, Cobrapost.com, from making public transcripts of a sting operation allegedly conducted by a private website against a prominent corporate hospital and diagnostic centre in the Capital.

Vacation Judge Justice R S Sodhi also admitted a writ petition filed by the complainant T B S Buxi seeking the court’s intervention in formulating proper guidelines to curb such sting operations which the petitioner claimed was part of blackmailing tactics and sullied the image of respectable individuals.

Justice Sodhi ordered that the website and its staff shall not in any manner release, telecast or transmit the reported sting operation either on its site, any TV channel or other print medium until further orders.

The directions were passed on a petition filed by Buxi, wherein he alleged that certain members of the website using the name of a popular satellite channel recorded interviews with him and activities at the diagnostic centre and hospital.

He claimed that the website was now threatening to release to all TV channels trascript copies of the interviews with a view to project the hospital and the diagnostic centre in a poor light.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that under the Cinematograph Act and Cable TV Network Regulation Act, 1975, no pre-recorded film can be exhibited without prior approval of the Central Board of Film Certification. 

New Delhi, June 23
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today issued notice to Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul and sought within four weeks a report on a complaint that five children were illegally detained and tortured in jail.

After going through the contents of the case, the Commission sought information about the incident in which the children, all below 12 years, were picked up by the Vasant Vihar police on June 16 and produced before a Metropolitan Magistrate the next day.

The petitioner has sought an independent inquiry and action against the guilty police officials for illegal detention and torture in custody and compensation of victims.

The complaint alleged that the children were picked up on the complaint of Rajya Sabha MP Mahender Singh and his gatekeeper.

The petitioner alleged that in prison the children were not provided food and under pressure from the MP implicated in a false case.

The children were subject to cruelty and beating, the complaint said. —TNS

New Delhi, June 23
A city court today sent a Delhi Police Sub-Inspector, arrested while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25,000, to a day’s police custody. Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Gaur granted the prosecution request for custodial interrogation of Sub-Inspector Rajendra Singh till tomorrow.

Singh, posted at police station Sultanpuri in North Delhi, was arrested today while allegedly taking bribe of Rs 25,000 by complainant Veerawati. According to the prosecution, Singh was demanding Rs 50,000, which was later settled at Rs 25,000, as illegal gratification for not arresting the complainant in a cheating case.

Veerawati had purchased a plot through a property dealer Rajesh, which was later found to be belonging to someone else, the prosecution said.

Ghaziabad, June 23
Three youths working in a Noida shopping mall drowned in the Ganga while taking a bath at Rishikesh.

According to the police, five colleagues working in Noida’s Sector-18 shopping mall, identified as Kuldip Tyagi, Amit Varma, Jai Singh Bisht, Gagan Rekhi and Hitesh Kumar, had gone to Rishikesh on a holiday.

They were in the age group of 20-22 years and belonged to Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad.

According to information, the five friends were taking bath in the Ganga river near the Gova beach, which had been declared as a prohibited spot by the police.

Even as Kuldip and Amit Sharma were being swept away by the strong current, Jai Singh Bisht jumped into the water to save them. However, all three of them were swept away with the strong current.

Gagan Rekhi and Hitesh Kumar, who did not know how to swim, ran to the nearby police post and informed the policemen about the tragedy. 

Noida, June 23
The Noida police have arrested two brothers accused of having swindled traders of electronic goods to the tune of crores of rupees. Even the police in Delhi, Chandigarh and Rajasthan were reportedly hunting for them.

In Noida, the duo had pulled the wool over the eyes of several businessmen and duped them of goods valued at lakhs of rupees.

According to S.P. City, three cases of fraud have been registered in Sector-20 police station against them for having cheated traders. They used to make payments for the goods procured through fictitious cheques.

On a tip-off, Pawan and Aman, the duo, were arrested from near H-75 Sector-15-A. On being questioned, they put the blame on the area manager Ranjeet Singh and manager P.K. Agarwal of an electronic company. They said these managers had taken their cut by arranging for the delivery of the goods on credit. They used to sell the goods obtained on credit at 75 per cent of the market rates and issue fake cheques to the dealers.

The CO City said the cases against the cheats were registered in various police stations of Delhi, viz Connaught Place, Desh Bandu Gupta, Basant Vihar, Narayana, Rajinder Nagar, Prasad Nagar, besides Sector–17 Chandigarh and Agra and Jaipur where they are wanted for similar crimes.

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police is looking for them in cheating cases worth Rs 43 lakh. The Delhi and Chandigarh police have been informed of the brothers’ arrest. On getting the news of their arrest, a large number of people who had been their victims thronged the Sector-20 police station Noida and demanded strong action against them. The cheats had fleeced Sidant Electronics of Rs 31 lakh, Polar Fan Company of Rs 1.25 lakh and Delhi-based Sycura Co. of Rs 34 lakh.