New Delhi, October 5
Taking exception to the reduced supply of water from Uttar Pradesh for Sonia Vihar plant during the past nine days, the Union Minister for Water Resources, Mr Saifuddin Soz, has called upon the state Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to restore the supply of 300 cusecs of water for the plant in Delhi from the present 100 cusecs.

In a hard-hitting letter to the UP Chief Minister, Mr Soz said Tehri Dam Project was techno-economically cleared on the basis of an agreement that the UP would reserve 300 cusecs of water for drinking water requirements of Delhi.

Rejecting claims about reduction of supply having been caused by less outflow from Tehri Dam, Mr Soz said the discharge data of Central Water Commission (CWC) showed that nearly 6000 cusecs of water was being released below

Tehri Dam at present.

“It is strange that a small requirement of 300 cusecs for Sonia Vihar Plant is not

being met,” he said.

Asserting that drinking water for common people constitutes a basic human right, Mr Soz called upon Mr Yadav to issue instructions to the concerned officials to release 300 cusecs of water to Delhi at the earliest.

Mr Soz reminded Mr Yadav of the formulation arrived at a meeting held in the Power Ministry on May 10 this year which said water was to be released to the plant in stages beginning with 70 cusecs from May 14 and 300 cusecs around

June 20. “Accordingly, 300 cusecs of water was released by UP with effect from June 28, 2006,” he said.

Mr Soz said some time was taken in initial flushing and testing of the plant and distribution of water from it started in the first week of August.

Gurgaon, October 5
Six more patients suspected of being infected by dengue have tested positive at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

However, health officials here are stumped by the alleged symptoms of Chikungunya disease, which is also a viral disease in nature and spread by mosquitoes. The disease affected three patients today who are suffering from high fever. The development has caused alarm in medical circles as this disease is generally prevalent in southern states like Kerala. During the last floods, it was found in Gujarat also.

According to the District Malaria Officer, the occurrence of the disease is rare in this region. The samples will have to be confirmed or negated by NICD.

According to the official version, the cases were reported by a private hospital, Paras, to the health department. The department has issued a directive to all private hospitals and clinics to report any cases of mosquito-related disease in patients to the local civil hospital.

The three suspected patients, affected by Chikungunya, reside in Princeton Estate (DLF-Phase V), Sector 43 and Nathupur village which is part of Gurgaon Urban Estate.

As of date, 87 suspected cases have been sent to NICD out of which 17 have been tested positive and 12 negative. In other cases, results are awaited.

Three of six patients who have tested positive for dengue reside in DLF Phase V and II. 

Noida, October 5
Two more patients, including a child, died of dengue while four more patients were confirmed in Greater Noida. All these patients are admitted to a hospital in Greater Noida.

Dengue has spread its tentacles in Dadri. Sukhbir’s six-year-old son, Narinder had developed fever on Tuesday night.

He was rushed to a Delhi hospital where dengue was confirmed. He succumbed to the disease yesterday.

In the other case, Sube Ram of Andpur village, had died of dengue late yesterday. Tests on two dozen patients are underway to determine whether they are infected.

In view of increasing number of dengue patients, more beds have been arranged in hospitals. 

New Delhi, October 5
The police have sought the original unedited tapes of the sting operation carried out by a news weekly which has claimed that some witnesses in the Jessica Lall murder case were bribed to change their statements before the court.

A police official visited the news weekly’s office with a letter requesting handing over of the original tapes of the sting operation for further investigation in the case.

“We have requested the news weekly to give us the original tapes of their operation,” Mr U. K. Katna, head of the SIT probing the case, said.

The news weekly has agreed to the request.

The news weekly claims to have carried out a three-month long sting operation against three key witnesses – Shyam Munshi, Karan Rajput and Shiv Das – who had turned hostile in the murder case of ramp model, leading to the acquittal of all the accused in the case.

The operation sought to reveal how money and muscle power was allegedly used to coerce the three witnesses into changing their stand in court despite having given statements to the police accusing Manu Sharma of committing the crime.

New Delhi, October 5
The Amity Institute of Advanced Forensic Science Research and Training is organising a three-day workshop on ‘Forensic Investigation of Rape Cases’ in which scientists from all over India and neighbouring countries such as Maldives and Bhutan are participating.

The special guest on the occasion, Supreme Court advocate Pinky Anand, lauded the efforts of forensic experts in helping the judiciary and said, “In our country, rape is a serious offence. Many cases of sexual harassment of women at workplaces at the hands of superiors are reported everyday; such cases have created a strong public awareness to fight this evil. The Government of India has taken a serious view of fighting this evil and specific provisions have been made in conduct rules, which are based on guidelines and norms laid by the Supreme Court. 

Gurgaon, October 5
Residential properties are being used for commercial purposes in many colonies developed by the private developers here.

As per the latest surveys conducted by four different urban authorities, privately developed colonies have 950 violators, sectors developed by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) have 250 persons using their houses for commercial purpose, Municipal Council areas have 687 violators while Housing Board Colonies have around 100 violators.

Not only do the maximum numbers of violators fall in private colonies but the scale of violations is also maximum which crosses all limits in these areas.

It may be recalled that Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed closure of commercial activities in residential areas in the state.

The court had asked such owners to stop commercial activities and file affidavits before the authorities concerned. If the affidavits are not filed by the violators, the competent authorities will disconnect the sewerage, water and electricity connections of the premises, ordered the court.

The Administrator, HUDA, here, informed that in HUDA sectors, out of total 250 violators, 57 violators had taken permission from the department for converting 25 per cent residential areas for small consultancy activities.

It has become clear that the residential property owners in private developed colonies are flouting all rules to serve their vested interests, claimed Mr R S Rathee, president of DLF Qutab Enclave Welfare Association.

He said that the rates of properties in residential areas in private colonies have skyrocketed as a number of persons use their properties commercially.

He revealed that a comprehensive survey must be carried out in all private developed colonies to find out as to how these buildings got completion certificates from the District Town and Country Planning department.

A numbers of violators have converted even their 500/1000 square yard residential plots into hundred per cent commercial activities, alleged the RWA president.

He lamented that their delegation had requested various officials to check the misuse of residential properties, but no action has been taken against them by the Town and Country Planning department.

When asked to comment on the situation, the HUDA administrator said that there were different rules for HUDA sectors and private colonies. He had recommended to head office to frame the same rules for these two separate urban areas, he claimed.

Sources in the department revealed that there was no supervising administrative officer in the Town and Country Planning Department who can directly look after the day-to-day activities of these technical persons, thus encouraging corruption.

Faridabad, October 5
As many as 38 officers have served as Administrators in the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) office here over the past 27 years. While the average tenure of any officer on this post is well below a year, the last incumbent served for fewer than three months.

The new Administrator is likely to take charge of the office in a couple of days. The frequent transfer of senior officers has led to adverse effect on the functioning of the department.

The Haryana government set up the office of HUDA here in the late 1970 to promote building activity and carve out industrial and residential sectors when the town was the leading industrial township of the state. Though the first Administrator of HUDA here was posted in 1978-79, the government decided to post an IAS officer to head the office here. But since the posting in Faridabad and Gurgaon for IAS and Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers was considered a plum posting, there is hardly an officer who has been able to complete a three-year term on this position as per the available records of the office.

This year itself, three officers have been posted as administrator here. The average tenure of these officials has not been more than four months.

The last incumbent, Mr B.S. Malik, took charge on July 7, but he was posted as Deputy Commissioner, Karnal, on October 1. Thus, his tenure had lasted just two months and 25 days. His predecessor, Mr Mahtab Singh Sehrawat, who had been given additional charge as Administrator, HUDA, besides his job as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, in March this year, remained on this post for about four months. “Every time I visit the office for some work, the staff say that a new officer had taken over as Administrator or Estate Officer (EO),” says a resident of sector- 21- C here.

She claimed that she had been running from pillar to post to get a completion certificate from the HUDA office for over five years, but the officials here had been making excuses of all kinds. Sometimes they say that the file was lying in the office of the Administrator, she said.

She said when she visited the office on Thursday, she was told that as the new Administrator had not joined, she would have to wait further.

A prominent social activist here pointed out that the government needed to transfer the clerical staff and non-gazetted officers frequently rather than the Administrator to try to discourage the formation of vested interests which leads to corruption.

New Delhi, October 5
Sharmila Chanu’s frail frame belies the grit behind her six-year-old struggle against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Sharmila, the face of Manipur’s struggle against the Act, has finally been released from jail and has now shifted her protest to the Capital.

Thirty seven-year-old Sharmila has been observing a hunger strike ever since the army in Malom, a small town in Manipur, allegedly shot 10 persons. Her six-year-old fast is now the focus of the road-side protest venue in the Capital, Jantar Mantar.

Sharmila, who is a Nobel Peace Prize 2005 nominee, comes from Kongal Kongkham in Manipal east. She was among 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 and has been the face of Manipur’s struggle to repeal the Act, which gives sweeping powers to the army in the state. She has also written several poems on human rights and social changes during her stay in jail.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act only applies in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency-affected northeastern states.

Soon after her arrival in the Capital yesterday, she visited Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi at Rajghat and now plans to continue her strike here.

“Gandhiji taught us many things. I just want to remind the corrupt politicians and the people what all he taught us,” she says.

Constant fasting and the jail term have taken a toll on her health, but not her resolve. “I just want to talk about justice for the people,” says the rather frail-looking woman, lying on the footpath at Jantar Mantar covered with a sheet. She believes that if Mahatma Gandhi was alive today, he, too, would have agitated peacefully, just like she is, against the “oppressive Act”.

She reached the Capital yesterday after an Imphal court released her from judicial custody. Incidentally, she has been on the hunger strike for six years, except the time she was force-fed in jail.

She began her fast on November 6, 2000, following which the police arrested her on charges of attempting suicide. Sharmila was forcibly fed through her nose, released several times and arrested subsequently.

The maximum term for her offence is one year and it appears that the police was in the habit of releasing her every year, only to re-arrest her the following day.

New Delhi, October 5
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Delhi, today demanded changes in the electoral rolls meant for the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee elections. The Gurdwara elections are likely to be held in November-December this year. In a letter addressed to the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, the secretary of SAD (B) alleged that there were errors in the electoral rolls and it was necessary to rectify them. However, the work of revising the Electoral Rolls of Sikh voters has already begun. 
— TNS

New Delhi, October 5
The Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, has announced that senior citizens would be eligible for travelling free in city buses.

Addressing a workshop organised by the Department of Social Welfare on the occasion of International Elders’ Day, Ms Dikshit said that Delhi Government would set up recreation centres for senior citizens in all 70 Assembly segments in the Capital. Senior citizens in Delhi have also been extended the facility of free medical treatment in hospitals run by Delhi Government.

She called upon people to benefit from the rich experience of senior citizens and extend due recognition and honour to them.

Ms Dikshit also expressed confidence that the Senior Citizen Council would be able to address problems faced by the elders. She said that the Department of Social 
Welfare had been granting pension to a number 
of elders apart from providing Old Age Home facilities.

All the departments under Delhi Government had been instructed to give due respect to senior citizens visiting their offices, she added.

The Chief Minister also said that the government would expedite issue of identity cards to senior citizens. She exhorted senior citizens to keep a watch over the implementation of welfare schemes and render constructive cooperation in the implementation of government programmes.

Speaking on the occasion, the Delhi Social Welfare Minister, Dr Yoganand Shastri, called upon people, especially the youth, to imbibe good habits from senior citizens. 

New Delhi, October 5
Pointing out that women, who will constitute 51 per cent of the elderly population in India in 2016, experience lower mortality levels and better health than men, the Centre for Social Research (CSR) has sought greater economic security for them.

“Since several researches suggest that women live longer than men, it is important that policies are formulated for elderly keeping the gender dimension in mind,” says Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, CSR.

According to the CSR, women are more prone to age-associated physical and mental disabilities and dependencies. “There is an increase in proportion of older women who are widows living without the social and economic benefits of spousal support and lack of assets. Lower income group women become more vulnerable to poverty. As a consequence, a number of older women have to live with less than $1 a day in the country,” the CSR claims in a report.

Ruing the changing social security system in India, where a traditional joint family system was often a safety net for the elderly, the CSR says that India has failed to have a comprehensive old age income security system. “A demographic study of aging in India indicates that nearly 60-75 per cent of the elderly population is economically dependent on others and a large proportion of this population is still living in rural areas which makes the service delivery more challenging,” the CSR report claims.

The National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), which was launched with the aim of extending financial assistance to old destitutes having little or no regular means of subsistence, covers around 40-60 per cent women, it was mentioned.

It was also mentioned that “there is a lack of gender sensitivity in health security policies offered by the private and public sector as well. Old women are often not included in insurance plans.”

The CSR further claims, “When National Sample Survey was analysed from a gender perspective, it was found that about 11.3 million of males and 8.3 million females in rural areas would need medical care. About 3.6 million males and 3.4 million females in urban areas would need medical care”.

Seeking a change, the CSR is advocating for a policy which should include universal coverage of the elderly under the National Pension Scheme, promotion of public-private and civil society partnerships, conduct researches, especially on gender aging and community involvement in rural health care. “Private insurance companies should come out with innovative schemes for the elderly, especially poor women, and special attention to vulnerable groups such as children, women, the disabled and the aged,” it said.

New Delhi, October 5
With the arrest of seven persons — Suneel Kumar (32), Subhash (27), Daya Ram (25), Dharmatma (38), Ravinder (25), Mani Ranjan (23) and Pramod Kumar (25), the North–East district police today claimed to have busted a gang that was allegedly indulging in pilferage of LPG cylinders.

Gas refilling iron pipes, a large number of empty and filled cylinders and other instruments have allegedly been recovered by the police from their possession.

Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid in Jagatpuri area and arrested the gang members.

On interrogation, the accused allegedly revealed that they used to sell refilled cylinders to customers at a higher price, especially in rural and semi rural areas. For this purpose, they had rented a complex of one Suneel Kumar in Jagatpuri area, a police official claimed.

In another incident, the police claimed to have busted a gang of robbers and arrested two of its alleged members, Ballu (22) and Ram Kumar (21). Stolen goods worth Rs 14 lakh have allegedly been recovered at their instance.

On the basis of a complaint made by a truck driver at Seemapuri police station that goods from his truck had been looted at night, a raid was conducted at a godown in Dallupura village, from where the looted goods were allegedly recovered. The accused were also apprehended from the godown.

On interrogation, the accused allegedly revealed that they used to spot trucks being loaded.

Then they used to follow the vehicle and loot the goods on the way. The owner of the godown, Sanjay Bhatti, was also named as one of the accused, said a police official.