New Delhi, July 18
As heavy monsoon showers lashed the national Capital today, several places were waterlogged, throwing the morning peak-hour traffic out of gear.

Waterlogging at the busy ITO junction, Bhairon Road near Purana Qila, IIT, Adhchini, Lajpat Nagar and Greater Kailash areas led to long traffic snarls as office-goers had a harrowing time reaching their workplaces.

The Weather Office said the city received 20.6 mm rainfall between 8.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. The mercury dipped marginally as rains lashed the city, bringing relief to Delhiites who had been experiencing sultry weather conditions over the past couple of days.

As the city began receiving rains at about 8.30 am, the mercury began its downward spiral from 29 degrees Celsius to reach 27 degrees by 11.30 am.

“It took me at least three hours to reach office, almost double the time it normally takes. The traffic situation was very bad,” said Seema, who travels from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad to Nehru Place in South-West Delhi.

The Met Office has forecast cloudy skies with rain or thundershowers for the next two days. The situation was quite grim under the ITO Bridge and the road in front of the Delhi Police Headquarters where knee-deep water had collected, making it difficult for vehicles to ply. Many vehicles broke down as they tried to negotiate the submerged stretch of the road.

Irate commuters questioned the efficacy of the department responsible for maintaining the road. “Every one knew that the monsoons were here so why did the authorities not take any preventive measures. After all, this is not the first time that this has happened," said an irate East Delhi resident who was caught up in the traffic snarl for more than an hour while on his way to his Connaught Place office.

New Delhi, July 18
Heavy rains lashed the national Capital today, nearly a week after the last spell of monsoon showers last Wednesday.

The rains, accompanied by a heavy squall, brought about a sudden coolness in the air, bringing down the maximum temperature to 32.6 degree Celsius today, from 34.6 degree Celsius yesterday. The minimum temperature also dropped to below 28 degree Celsius, from 29.5 degree Celsius yesterday.

Weathermen said a total of 21 mm rainfall was recorded till 11.30 am. Today’s spell of heavy rains, which began at around 7 am, follows light rains in the Capital last afternoon.

It was the first spell of heavy showers after almost a week of a lull in rainfall activity in Delhi since last Wednesday’s heavy showers.

Weathermen say the sudden burst of rainfall in the Capital was because of the movement of low-pressure area, that led to heavy rainfall over Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and east Madhya Pradesh in the past few days, in a west-northwesterly direction.

The axis of the seasonal trough passes through Anupgarh, Churu, Agra and Kanpur, centre of the above low pressure area, and thence southeastwards. Under its influence, scattered to fairly widespread rains are likely over northwest India in the coming days.

The Weather Office has forecast more rains and thundershowers at many places over Delhi, Haryana, Uttaranchal and western Uttar Pradesh during the next 24 hours.

Gurgaon, July 18
Haryana government has notified the Gurgaon master plan and invited the objections from the masses to be filed up to 10 August.

Mr S P Gupta, Administrator, Haryana Urban Development Authority, (HUDA) informed the mediapersons that as per the new master plan for the city, a total of 33,726 hectares of land has been earmarked for different purposes, expecting a population of 37 lakh till 2021.

In the old master plan which was valid till 2001, a total of 9,881 hectares of land had been earmarked.

There is a provision for 14,380 hectares of land for residential purposes, 1,199 hectares for commercial, 7,023 hectares for industries, 4,299 hectares for transport and communications, 469 hectares for public utilities, 2,462 hectares for open space, 106 for special zone and 1,460 hectares of land for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), informed the officer.

Keeping in mind the increasing traffic movement, it has been decided that the new roads would be 150-metre-wide instead of 100 metre.

In the new sectors, the main roads would be wide enough which have been expanded from 60 to 75 metres. If possible, the existing roads would be widened as per the new policy, claimed Mr Gupta.

Another significance of the master plan would be the buffer zone which has been marked on the pattern of Chandigarh.

The officer informed that the government has marked a buffer zone between the industrial zone to other zones. This zone would remain green and later develop as a leisure valley.

It starts from the railway line near Dhanawas village and ends near Sikhopur village crossing National Highway No 8.

It would be roughly half a kilometre wide and around 13 kilometre in length, added the officer.

The HUDA Administrator informed that in the new master plan, there is a provision of around 7 per cent open space, compared to around 2.3 per cent in the old master plan. There would be more greenery in the urban area to be developed as per the new master plan, added the officer.

The officer added that the government delayed while making the plan final as it was previously finalised expecting a population of 22 lakh of Gurgaon city in 2021. But later on, it was observed that the population would increase more than expected. Thus, the government revised the whole planning and then the master plan was prepared adjusting a population of 37 lakh in 2021, claimed the officer.

The road linkage between Delhi and Gurgaon would also be increased. Three new roads connecting the national capital has been planned. One 150-metre-wide road would connect Delhi near Vasant Kunj to DLF Phase 3, Gurgaon. One road of 75 metre would connect Dawarka, Delhi to Palam Vihar, Gurgaon. And the third road would connect Mehrauli, Delhi to DLF City, Phase 1, Gurgaon. Metro train from Mehrauli, Delhi to near IFFCO Crossing, Gurgaon has already been approved.

Faridabad, July 18
While most of the government-owned or recognized training institutes lack employment-oriented courses, the private institutes offering such facilities face the problem of having no authority or independent body which could hold examination or certify the authenticity of any such curriculum.

Thousands of students especially the girls enrolled in such institutes not only face an uncertain future but also get duped on various occasions.

There are over a dozen institutes mainly the privates ones in the city and nearby areas here, which run courses like Nursery Teachers Training (NTT), Art and Craft Teachers’ Training, Dress Designing, Cutting-Tailoring, Embroidery and Knitting, Fashion and Apparel Designing, Textile Designing, Beauty Culture and Hair Dressing, Office Management, Jewellery Designing, Commercial Art, Interior Designing and various courses of certificate and diploma level.

According to Mr S.N. Duggal of the Savitri Polytechnic for Women here in the NIT, which has been offering more than 16 job-oriented diploma courses and certificate courses, including those recognized by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the main concern for both the management of such institutes and the students had been the lack of any state-level authority which could be accountable for holding examinations and certifying the courses which had been in demand and attracting the students especially the girls to be economically independent. He said his institute had been in this field for 14 years and had trained more than 9,000 students in various fields.

He added that the institute had been among those hundreds of training bodies in the state which sought the role of the state or the union government to make this type of education more practical.

He said while many of the students passing out from the institute had been absorbed in well-known organizations, there was no organisation recognized by the government, which could hold the annual exams independently to the satisfaction of both the students and the employing bodies.

“While it has been a fact that there had been hardly any government-owned or recognized institute which offers such courses for women, a majority of such candidates turn to the private ones, thus putting at risk both the career and the money, claims a resident here, whose daughter had been enrolled in one of such institutes. He said the government should immediately set up an independent authority in the state which could monitor such an education or training.

Dozens of private institutes offering expensive courses have emerged in the city over the past couple of years, with no job or money-back guarantee, he added.

New Delhi, July 18
Anganwadi workers in the Capital announced today that they were gearing for direct action and confrontation against “arbitrary and stepmotherly treatment being meted out by the Sheila Dikshit government to its women workers”.

There are at least 8,000 Anganwadi workers in Delhi who claim that their duties over the years have extended beyond provision of supplementary nutrition to cover a wide range of social welfare schemes.

The general secretary, All-India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers, Ms K. Hemlata, says that Anganwadi workers have become the principle cadre for the delivery of social welfare and healthcare for women and children from poor and weaker sections, including the empowerment programme for women.

“All workers are women and it seems that because they are women they have been denied the entitlement that is normally granted to male workers or to common cadres of male and female workers,” she said.

To protest against the government’s “callous attitude”, the workers will hold a demonstration on July 20 and submit a charter of demands, signed by thousands of workers, to the Delhi Chief Minister.

New Delhi, July 18
The CBI today admitted before the Delhi High Court that some of its investigating officers probing the multi-crore rupees housing scam were involved in bribery.
Appearing before a Division Bench headed by acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain, CBI counsel Harish Gulati said two inspectors — N. M. Sharawat and Yoginder Kumar — were arrested on April 24 for obtaining and attempting to obtain illegal gratification by corrupt or illegal means or by abuse of official positions. —TNS

New Delhi, July 18
The BJP Delhi Pradesh president, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has asked the central government to immediately implement the recommendations of the Justice Tejendra Khanna committee and save lakhs of the people of Delhi from the future action of bulldozers.

He said the central and the state governments wanted to take political advantage of the chaos prevailing in the Capital. The framing of laws by the government has not provided any relief to the lakhs of people of Delhi. People are fear-stricken again due to the decision of the court. —TNS

Greater Noida, July 18
Three children have lost their lives after snakebites. They were inhabitants of slum clusters in Knowledge Park II and III in Greater Noida. With the rainy season having set in, snakes and reptiles have inundated the residential areas.

In spite of repeated requests, the authorities had not cleared the jungle of shrubs and wild growth in the area.

Interestingly, there is no government hospital in the vicinity and the poor cannot afford to take the snakebite victims to private hospitals. Not all hospitals have anti-snakebite vaccines and the victims have to be rushed to hospitals and administrated vaccines within half an hour of the bite. While the people had been pressing the authorities to clean up the area and provide anti-snakebite vaccines in dispensaries, no step was ever taken, wailed the parents of the victims.

In a large number of vacant plots, shrubs and wild grass have grown. The rains have further complicated the matter as snakes and other reptiles have multiplied manifold, making the people panicky.

On Sunday, a snake had entered the house in Sector P-III B-139 of Hemant while another was found in a house in Delta Sector making the inmates run out in panic. In past three days, three children of the area have succumbed to the snakebites. They were all rushed to Sharda Hospital, but died a short while later.

According to the people, a cleanliness campaign for removing the wild shrubs and grass has never been undertaken in the area. Lack of a government hospital in the area and absence of anti-snake bile vaccine have complicated the matter. Some private hospitals which have the vaccine charge exorbitant rates beyond the reach of poor people.

Noida, July 18
The Sector-49 police have arrested an employee of a company in Noida Phase-II for having threatened the proprietor of the company with death if he did not shell out a fat amount.

Police said one Anish was holding out threats on phone to the vice-president of an industrial organization that he would be killed if he did not shell out the money.

New Delhi, July 18
A woman committed suicide by jumping in front of the Metro train at the Chandni Chowk Metro Station here this morning. This was the first incident of its kind since the Metro started operating in the Capital.

The police said 25-year-old Paramjeet Kaur went to the rear end of the underground station, where passengers normally do not go, and jumped before a train running from Central Secretariat to Vishwa Vidyalaya at about 9.20 am.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the incident was a case of suicide.

Paramjeet, resident of Ganesh Nagar in West Delhi, was missing from home since last night, the police said.

Metro operations on the line were affected for 32 minutes and the trains were running on single line in the stretch between Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate stations, Delhi Metro Rail Corp sources said.

Normal train services were restored at 9.52 am. The DMRC has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The Director (Operations) and other senior officers also visited the spot.