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Thick fog hits flight, trains
A heavy blanket of fog disrupts vehicular movement in New Delhi on
Sunday morning. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui
NCR goes without power for 12 hrs
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Akshay runs for special athletes; Aamir turns barber
SC approval needed to ply autos in NCR
Botanical garden unlikely in Noida till 2010
Dumping ground threatens groundwater
3 robberies in 24 hours in Noida
Lok adalat settles 27,372 cases
Jagatpuri rescue operation called off
One killed, another shot at in two incidents
Car mirror thieves arrested
IGNOU to start science & technology channel
HC raps cops over rights of juvenile delinquents
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Thick fog hits flight, trains
New Delhi, December 21 “The heavy fog cover in the Capital in the early hours of Sunday was highest at around 7 am when visibility was less than 50 meters. The fog subsequently cleared up by late morning (9 am) and visibility was 500 meters then,” said an airport Met office official. At least 10 international and eight domestic flights were delayed owing to the fog cover. These included Jet Airways and Indian flights from Delhi to Mumbai. Some of the international flights were delayed by six hours, leaving passengers distraught, an airport official said. “One domestic and three international flights were also cancelled, as visibility was not conducive for flight take-off operations,” the official said. “Several landings were also delayed,” he added. The official said the fog had cleared up by 9 am and flight operations had resumed. Some of the inbound trains from the northeast were running late as well. These included Poorva Express, Malwa Express and Lakshmi Express. Purushottam Express, Shramjeevi Express, Mahabodhi Express, Bihar Sampark Kranti, Kashi Vishwanath Express and Jansadharan Express were also delayed due to the poor visibility. The minimum temperature recorded was 13.5° C. The maximum hovered around 20.7° Celsius.
— IANS |
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NCR goes without power for 12 hrs
Noida, December 21
“Although we restored power supply in certain sectors on emergency basis but normal power supply could only be restored by 4:00 pm on Sunday. The problem arose after the insulators of the power supply conductors developed faults,” K.G. Puri, deputy general manager for power, Noida, said. Dense fog and dust mixed with moisture led to the technical fault in the breaking system of the power supply unit, officials said. Around 1:30 am on Sunday the entire area of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida went without power and the supply could be restored only in phases by 4:00 pm. Some areas of Noida and Ghaziabad were still without power, officials said. The power cut in these regions also led to water supply being disrupted. The water supply too was restored in phases by late evening. — IANS
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Akshay runs for special athletes; Aamir turns barber
New Delhi, December 21 The torch made its way to New Delhi on Sunday, where 150 Special Olympics athletes, law enforcement officers and residents joined Kumar as he carried the torch on a 2-km run through Chandni Chowk. It was a part of the Global Law Enforcement Torch Run — a signature event honouring the Special Olympics movement. Kumar is the celebrity supporter and brand ambassador for the event that is being organised prior to the world games set to be held in Boise, Idaho, US, from February 2-13 next year. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the event at the Red Fort. Craig Grossgart, country manager of DHL Express India and Air Marshall Denzil Keelor were also present. The actor asserted that he was not here to promote his upcoming film ‘Chandni Chowk to China’. “It is just a coincidence that I am here at Chandni Chowk for this event and that the torch will next be taken to Shanghai. I am here to support the event and the athletes,” he told mediapersons. Athlete Achint Babbar was among the special athletes to share stage space with the star and was overjoyed when Akshay commended him on having won in the swimming category of the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2008. His mother said, “Achint was happy to meet the star. Seeing a star like this in their support, the athletes will feel motivated.” The Flame of Hope was lit on November 12 at Athens in Greece, using sunrays in accordance to the Olympic tradition. The flame then left Greece to begin a 60,000-km journey across five continents. Carried by members of the global law enforcement community and Special Olympics athletes, more than 12,000 people around the world will participate in this pivotal event for the Special Olympics movement delivering hope, inspiration and encouragement to all people with intellectual disabilities. The ‘Ghajini’ cut
While many star-struck youths visited salons to get the perfect ‘Ghajini’ cut, two lucky fans got their hair buzzed by superstar Aamir Khan himself at a market in the Capital. “Quite a lot of people are getting this ‘Ghajini’ haircut from various places, so I thought I will give the cut to some of my fans myself. I felt very light when I got it done — there was no need to comb my hair after the bath,” said Aamir, who gave hair cut at Bengali Market in Central Delhi as part of his promotional activity for ‘Ghajini’. Aamir gave hair cut to Shamshir, a hairstylist, and Shivek, a grade five student in presence of a huge crowd. “I felt very nice when Aamir cut my hair. It is like a dream come true. I was waiting for him since 5 am and I will definitely watch ‘Ghajini’ on the first day,” said Shamshir after his 15 minutes of fame. While Shamshir was keen to get the nearly bald look, Aamir took special care before snipping Shivek’s hair. He took permission from Shivek’s father before cutting his hair. After doing his bit as a barber, Aamir said that it was a fairly simple job. Several others were craving to sit on the hot seat, but the actor could not oblige all his fans. But he compensated by singing a few songs including “Guzarish” from ‘Ghajini’. Apart from adults, children were present in huge number. Some of them sat and stood on their parents’ shoulders and shouted “Aamir bhaiya! Aamir bhaiya!” until they managed to establish eye contact with the star. Four-year-old Kavya came with her father just to catch a glimpse of the star, but managed to reach his arms when Aamir said he was keen to give the “Ghajini” look to a woman. Kavya was the only one sporting enough, but Aamir did not quite want to spoil the little one’s soft hair. Lots of other kids came with autograph books, but returned dismayed because of multiple barricades and heavy security. About ‘Ghajini’, Aamir said, “It is an action film yet deals with a lot of human emotions. It is a beautiful love story.” Aamir has teamed up with South Indian actress Asin and Jiah Khan in the film.
— IANS |
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Aamir lived on egg whites
New Delhi, December 21 The “perfectionist” actor went on a daily four-hour workout regime to boost his muscle growth and consumed protein-rich in albumen (egg white) to tone up his body, his trainer said. Satyajit ‘Satya’
Chaurasia, who trained the actor for the film, said “Aamir’s body is mostly made on eggs as he used to have 16 egg whites through the day. I advised him to follow a two-egg whites and toast meal every two hours. Besides that, he also consumed 250 gram barbecued chicken for lunch and dinner each.” Chaurasia said, “We used to work on two body parts in a day for around one and a half to two hours followed by 45 minutes of cardio exercises.”
— IANS |
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SC approval needed to ply autos in NCR
Noida, December 21 The three states have already issued necessary ordinances to this effect. But the hurdle is that the application has to be filed through the Bhurelal Committee, set up on the Supreme Court’s order for control of pollution in Delhi. According to deputy commissioner (Transport) Vinode Shankar Singh, as per agreement among UP, Delhi and Haryana, some 4,000 autos will be able to enter Delhi and similarly 4,000 Delhi autos will be allowed entry into UP. One thousand autos from UP into Haryana and equal number of three-wheelers from Haryana will be able to ply into UP under the same agreement. But permits will have to be made for this fixed number of three-wheelers for inter-state plying in NCR. This action cannot be taken unless the apex court grants a clearance for it, the dy commissioner said. The Supreme Court has fixed the number of autos in Delhi at 4,000 while 4,000 autos will enter Delhi from UP taking the number of autos to 8,000 in Delhi. It will be obligatory to seek permission for double the number of permissible autos. No number of taxis has been fixed but an NCR permit will have to be obtained for them, Vinode Shankar Singh added. |
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Botanical garden unlikely in Noida till 2010
Noida, December 21 The garden, a project of the ministry of environment, government of India; with over 3,000 rare plant species will act as the lungs of the area and the entire National Capital Region (NCR). Besides, it will be used for education purpose and aid in eco-tourism. A series of meetings have already been held between the officials of the environment ministry and those of the Noida Authority, but the issue is yet to be resolved. “Initially, the matter could not progress as the authority had to give away some land to the Delhi Metro. But we do not understand as to why the authority is not giving a written permission sanctioning 190 acres for the botanical garden,” said an official of the ministry on condition of anonymity. The ministry has requested the UP Chief Minister and the state chief secretary to speed up the decision. “Early this week we met Noida Authority CEO Mohinder Singh, who assured a positive action,” said Dr Ahmadullah Khan, senior scientist in charge of the garden project. “We have exceeded our target as far as the greening work is concerned. We were supposed to cover 25 acres but have already covered 30 acres. We along with the Citizens’ Environment Improvement Society have also started a vermin-composting project. But a lot more needs to be done,” he added. “The best part is that plants here will have food, medicinal, horticulture or socio-economic value which will go a long way in solving poverty, hunger and providing health care,” added Dr Khan. But he said, “In absence of land, we are not able to carry out infrastructure development for research and development of public interface.” “Construction of conservatories, labs and seed banks need an investment of about Rs 400 to 500 crore, which cannot be started till we get a written permission of land transfer. It would be a big risk that the ministry just cannot take,” he said.
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Dumping ground threatens groundwater
New Delhi, December 21 The Comptroller Auditor of General, in its latest report, has said that the dumping ground in north Delhi posed a major threat to the groundwater resources in the area. According to the report titled “Management of Waste in India”, the total solid waste (TDS) as well as hardness content of groundwater near the site was 800 and 633 per cent respectively, which is more than the permissible limit. Analysis of leachate from Bhalswa landfill site revealed that TDS was higher by 2000 per cent and the hardness content was 533 per cent in excess of the limit, the report says. “The presence of high chlorides 4100 mg per litres and 10995 mg per litres against the desirable limit of 250 mg per litres also indicates the critical condition of the landfill site located in North Delhi,” it adds. Similarly, TDS at Okhla landfill site was also 244 per cent more than the desirable limit. This shows that the groundwater of landfill sites has been critically contaminated with leachate generated from the site. “Ambient air quality monitoring work for the year 2005 has been conducted which indicates critical levels of air pollution in the area,” said the study based on the analysis conducted last year. Delhi is at present producing 6,500 tonnes of garbage daily. In the next five years, garbage collection will increase by 1,000 tonnes. The Regional Plan-2021 of the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) states that the daily generation of solid waste will shoot up to 15,000 metric tonnes by 2021. Presently, Delhi’s garbage is being dumped at Ghazipur in East Delhi and Okhla in South Delhi besides Bhalswa landfill site.
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3 robberies in 24 hours in Noida
Noida, December 21 An Indo-Tibet cop Satinder Yadav was the target of robbery on NH-24 on Friday evening when robbers snatched Rs 8,000 from him after overpowering him. But his report to the police got lost in a jurisdiction dispute between the Noida and Ghaziabad police. In the second incident, armed robbers hijacked a dumper under Sector-39 Kotwali, Noida near Rohillapur village. A resident of Delhi, Jagdish, was transporting some goods on his dumper No HR-38-N-8900 to Surajpur. The armed robbers stopped the dumper and pulled down the driver and his helper. They drove away with the loaded dumper. The police has registered dumper loot as a theft. In the third robbery, bikers snatched a cell phone and cash from a young man in Sector-15. A resident of East End Apartment, Urpit, was returning from Sector-27 on Friday night when some miscreants on a bike snatched his mobile phone and some cash at gunpoint near Sector-15 Noida. Urpit informed the Gole Chakkar police post which has not taken any action so far.
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Lok adalat settles 27,372 cases
Gurgaon, December 21 Stating this here today, the chief judicial magistrate-cum-secretary, District Legal Services Authority, D.N. Bhardwaj said of these, 11,387 cases were solved by the judicial officers, while 12,020 cases settled by executive and revenue officers of the district. Since Nuh and Firozpur Jhirka also come under the Gurgaon sessions division, 1,483 cases were settled in Nuh and 2,482 cases in Ferozpur Jhirka by judicial and executive officers. He said the decision of organising the mega lok adalat was taken in October and since then cases which could be solved through mutual consent were being settled as the number of cases were so high that it was difficult to take up all cases in just two days, i.e. December 20 and 21. Hence, cases decided from October till date will be considered to be part of “Samadhan-2008”.
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Jagatpuri rescue operation called off
New Delhi, December 21 The injured are recuperating at the Hedgewar Hospital, where the condition of two of them is stated as critical. The owner of the unauthorised building, K.K. Bakshi, is still absconding. The rescue operation went on till the wee hours of Sunday. “The rescue operation has been called off and there are no more people buried in the debris,” said a fire official. Two Disaster Management team of NDRF battalion of ITBP with the fire and police department launched the search and rescue (SAR) operation. According to an ITBP official, it was difficult to enter from sides. The team entered the debris from the roof of the fourth floor. “An inspection hole was made first and after assessing the condition underneath a vertical cut was made. After searching the fourth floor with the help of dogs and special equipment, the next floor was breached and sear and debris clearance was carried out,” he informed. The building that was being constructed atop an old house, caved in around 11:40 am yesterday.
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One killed, another shot at in two incidents
New Delhi, December 21 Ganpat Ram, 57, a resident of Shalimar Bagh, was going in his Maruti Swift car when two motorcycle-borne youths allegedly intercepted him around 9 pm in Pitampura, shot at him and fled the spot. Seriously injured, Ganpat Ram was taken to the nearby Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital where he was declared brought dead. A case has been filed with Maurya Enclave police station and an investigation into the murder is under way. According to police, there was no attempt of robbery and past rivalry could have been the reason behind the murder. Meanwhile, in an alleged incident of attempted robbery, a man was shot at by two unidentified men late on Saturday night in east Delhi. According to the police the incident happened at 10.15 pm when Rakesh Kumar, 28, was returning home with his brother after closing his Mother Dairy booth in Mayur Vihar Phase I. “When his brother crossed the road to attend to nature’s call, two armed men on a black Pulsar and wearing helmets tried to snatch the bag which Rakesh was carrying. However, when Rakesh raised an alarm and resisted one of the armed men shot him in the hand,” told a police official. He added that the people in the vicinity were alerted by the noise of fire shot and the assailants thought it best to run away. A case has been registered in the Mayur Vihar police station, while the statement of Rakesh is yet to be recorded.
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Car mirror thieves arrested
New Delhi, December 21 With the arrest of the two accused, nine cases have been solved. Property worth Rs 6 lakh which includes 46 sideview mirrors of Pajero, Honda City, Mercedes, Honda Accord, etc. and other expensive accessories, including stereos, speakers have been seized. For the past few months, this gang had been active in Lodhi Colony and surrounding areas and removed mirrors of cars parked in posh colonies. The sideview mirrors of expensive cars such as Mercedes and Pajero range from Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000. A police team managed to arrest Mohammad Miraz from P V Hostel Colony yesterday and seized several sideview mirrors from him, but his accomplice Shamim managed to escape. His interrogation further revealed that this gang was disposing of stolen mirrors to one shop in Kotla Mubarakpur. At the instance of accused Miraz, the receiver of stolen property and the owner of the shop, Om Prakash Wadwa, was arrested and 44 stolen mirrors were recovered from the godown of his shop, “Hargovind & Sons”. The interrogation of both the accused has revealed that the gang would come out early in the morning in the garb of rag pickers. They would identify the cars whose mirrors fetch them good money. They would sell them for just Rs 200 to Rs 500 for drugs. |
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IGNOU to start science & technology channel
New Delhi, December 21 “The test transmission will start from December 23 from 8 to 10 pm. Initially, the programmes will be in English and Hindi,” said IGNOU vice-chancellor
V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai. “The science programmes would be available on Gyan Darshan-2 which is placed on the DTH platform of DD Direct Plus and it is being also carried by a few other DTH service providers,” IGNOU said in a statement. “The channel will telecast educative and entertaining programmes which would enable people to understand issues of their concerns and address these through a participatory process,” it further said. It would cater to all age groups.
— IANS |
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HC raps cops over rights of juvenile delinquents
New Delhi, December 21 Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar converted a letter written by an NGO into a public interest petition and issued a notice to the police, seeking reply by January 7. Taking suo motu cognizance of the complaint, the bench earlier this week had asked the Delhi police to stop this practice. The NGO, Voluntary Child Rights, in its letter alleged that children in juvenile homes had often complained that the police forced some of them “who were in conflict with the law to make incriminating statements.”
— IANS |
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Table tennis tournament
New Delhi, December 21 The main attraction of the tournament is the special interschool category introduced for the age group of two years to six and a half years as “Frisky Fresher’s Fiesta – Building Tomorrow Champion.
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12 shops gutted in
Sadar Bazar
New Delhi, December 21 |
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A heavy blanket of fog engulfed the Capital today morning, reducing visibility levels and disrupting several flight and train schedules. Met officials said foggy conditions would continue in coming days.
