New Delhi, December 28
Racket of e-ticketing for airlines was busted with the arrest of four suspects, including a woman. This racket amounted to Rs 5 crore, said police.

The arrests have highlighted lapses in the ticketing system being followed by commercial airlines in India and across the world.

Naeem Ahmed, the prime suspect in the case, and his accomplices, Shahid and Feroz, were arrested from Kolkata while Kanika Bidhiraja was nabbed from Rana Partap Bagh in Delhi.

The gang used to buy airline and rail tickets on the Internet using credit card details obtained fraudulently.

Most of details were procured by the gang from their accomplice in Bangkok. The gang took cash from the customers promising them cheap and discounted tickets.

The credit cards preferred by the gang were American Express, ABN Amro Russia, Citibank USA, Banko Santiago Chile, ANZ Grindlays Bank, ICICI, HSBC, Zion’s Bank and many others.

The airlines affected are Deccan Air (now Kingfisher Red), Kingfisher Airlines, Spicejet, Indigo Airlines and Indian Airlines.

The police said that Naeem Ahmed who belonged to Bara Kashinath Malik Lane in Kolkata procured data of credit cards from a woman, Manjit Kaur, from Bangkok.

He bought airline as well as rail tickets using these stolen credit card details on the Internet and provided these tickets to his accomplices who further sold these tickets to customers.

Initially, American Express Bank, Kingfisher and Spicejet airlines gave a written complaint about the misuse of credit cards to the Crime Branch of Delhi police.

The Crime Branch constituted a special cell to investigate the cases. During investigation, the police found that the culprits were operating from Kolkata.

The police reached Kolkata and after sustained efforts succeeded in busting the gang. Three persons were arrested in Kolkata on December 20 in a joint operation with the local police. It was found that the gang had been operating for the past one year.

Kanika Budhiraja was arrested at their instance on December 26 from her house in Rana Pratap Bagh in Delhi.

In the investigation conducted so far, it has been found that the gang had been using stolen card details of more than 40 national and international banks.

More than 5,000 airline as well as train tickets have been bought on the Internet using these details.

Other than Indian Railways, the airlines affected are Kingfisher Red, Jet Airways, Indigo, Kingfisher Airlines, Spicejet and Indian Airlines, the police said.

New Delhi, December 28
Delhi unit chief of the BJP, Harsh Vardhan, has decided to return to his old medical profession as he told his bosses in the party to relieve him from current responsibility of the party.

Speaking to The Tribune, Harsh Vardhan said that he had been chief of the party for the last five years.

Now he has planned to come to health services. As an ENT specialist, he believes that he will be able to serve the needy.

Harsh Varshan who is MLA from Krishna Nagar, said that political activities would go side by side. He has a clinic in Krishna Nagar where he will practise.

Under his leadership two major elections – Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi assembly were conducted.

In the MCD election, the BJP defeated the Congress wining two-thirds seats out of 274 and formed government.

But in assembly elections, the BJP was defeated and managed to win only 23 seats out 70. Accepting the defeat, the party leadership said that there were many reasons to be defeated in the assembly elections.

Selection of candidates was one of the major reasons. In many constituencies, the BJP had field weak candidates. The differences had surfaced even during the distribution of tickets.

A few influential leaders of Delhi registered their anger after their men had not been given tickets. It is not yet confirmed who the next president of Delhi BJP will be.

The chief project manager is conducting an enquiry into the incident, said the CPRO.

New Delhi, December 28
Chartered accountant students of Delhi and surrounding areas in the Capital, organized a peace march against terrorism.

Chartered accountant Parveen said, “Our cause is noble and heart is true. We seek wholehearted co-operation to spread the message of oneness across the nation.”

He added, “We propagate the idea of peace, and our community wants to fight against terror.”

New Delhi, December 28
Apart from deciding to throng night clubs or luxurious lounges on this New Year, Delhiites are busy making their resolutions before stepping into 2009.

Taking up resolution on New Year has become a tradition which starts from young kids and ends up to the oldies.

Every year it seems to be almost the same scenario, resolutions are broken, forgotten, or simply ignored. Why? Because they are just so hard to keep! But then too the spirit with which one takes it up, never dies.

Finding the most common resolutions of the year among Delhiites, the one that tops the list is ‘No smoking’.

Yes, surprisingly most of the youths have lately understood that smoking is injurious to their health and have made it a New Year resolution to kick the weed.

“This feeling is just awesome. I have decided to quit smoking and in another two days I will come to know who wins—my patience or my desires. It is too exciting,” says Rashbit Khanna, 23.

The government has imposed fine on smoking cigarettes in public this year. “It’s good if the youngsters resolve to stop smoking in the coming year,” says Anuradha Dey, a senior citizen.

There is another resolution which has impressed the youths. This resolution is called, ‘Bring a change’.

“This change is overall. Change in politics, change in our outlook, change in every sector that makes our nation weak, change to fight terrorism and hatred,” explains Nishant Rastogi, 21.

Giving her wishes to all Delhiites, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, “My New Year resolution is to keep working hard and make Delhi a world-class city.”

Even Municipal Corporation of Delhi has taken a New Year resolution. Director PRO of MCD, Deep Mathur says, “We will speed up work for the Commonwealth Games in the city and try to finish it as soon as possible.”

Keeping a sharp eye on parliamentary elections, president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, Jai Prakash Agarwal said, “My New Year resolution is to win seven out of the seven seats in the parliamentary elections.”

Interestingly, spokesman of Delhi BJP, Mewa Ram Arya also made the same resolution. There are some people who decided not to make New Year resolutions.

One among them is actor and model Jas Arora. Enjoying a Christmas evening in town recently, he says, “I have decided not to make any resolutions this year. The fact is that I make New Year resolutions annually—only to break them! At the end of it all, I feel bad. So, I’m going to take it easy this time and go by what my heart says.”

Singer Shibani Kashyap said, “My New Year resolution would be to stay happy and make others happy.”

This year Shibani Kashyap would be performing with actress Malika Sherawat and Pakistani singer Adnan Sami in Dubai, she confirmed.

Social sites like Facebook and Orkut are also seen uploaded with New Year resolutions for 2009.

New Delhi, December 28
Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan has held the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government responsible for the deaths caused by the Blueline buses.

He alleged, “Due to the connivance of the Delhi government, traffic police and Blueline bus operators, more than 121 people have died. But the government is not taking any final decision against the ‘killer’ buses. In spite of coming to power for the third time, this brutal government has not decided any compensation for the kin of those who lost their lives to Blueline buses.”

Demanding Rs 5 lakh compensation for the kin of those killed by Blueline or DTC buses he added, “The acrimony of people cropped up due to the continuing deaths. The government has caught 1,848 Blueline buses during three days.”

It is surprising that 133 Blueline buses that have been caught were such whose permits had been suspended.

This clarifies the connivance among the state’s transport department, traffic police and Blueline bus operators, said a party worker.

According to sources, around 1,848 buses were caught for violating traffic rules, including crossing the red-light, running faster than the prescribed speed limit, wrongly overtaking and not stopping the bus on bus stands.

Disappointed with the statement of transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, Vardhan said it was disappointing that Bluelines would be withdrawn by 2010, as the killer buses would continue claiming many more innocent lives.

It seems the government and the bus operators pay no heed to the directions issued by the Supreme Court, he commented.

Ghaziabad, December 28
Three young men were mercilessly beaten to death with stones and bricks in Avantika Puram, under Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar police station area.

All the three were reported to be property dealers in Chiranjiv Vihar. Police said the main reason of the assault was a monetary dispute.

The relatives of the deceased jammed Hapur Road in protest. The bodies of three young men were found near overhead water tank in Avantika Phase-II on Saturday.

Their heads were crushed with bricks and stones. Two empty bottles of liquor, four plates and four glasses were found near the bodies. A bike and a scooter were also found parked nearby.

One of the deceased, Satish was a resident of Mehrauli, Neetu was currently living in Charanjiv Vihar while Billu was a resident of Sector-23, Sanjay Nagar.

It appeared some people had consumed liquor on the spot, the night before. SSP Ghaziabad felt there must have been more than five people to subdue and murder three realtors. Some vital clues about the killers have been found, police said.

Morning walkers on Saturday were shocked to see three bodies of men from 25 to 30 years of age lying a metre or two from one another near the overhead water tank. The police identified those killed from the three mobile phones lying nearby.

Munesh, wife of Satish, said her husband had left for office at 7 pm the previous evening. However, he did not return. The family members of the deceased reported the killing due to enmity.

Angry relatives blocked the road opposite Chiranjiv Vihar, demanding immediate arrest of the killers.

A long queue of vehicles could be seen on either side of Hapur Road. Senior police officers somehow persuaded the protesting people to lift the barricades.

Noida, December 28
Two years after a businessman and his domestic help were accused of slaughtering several poor children and young women, a special court is set to pronounce the first verdict in the gruesome Nithari episode that shook India.

Millions across the country and abroad were horrified as the police on December 29, 2006, began uncovering the remains of 19 children and young women from a drain next to businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Nithari on the outskirts of the Indian capital.

Pandher and his help, Surinder Koli, have since been in jail. And the families of the victims are desperately hoping that they will be brought to justice.

The first verdict to be pronounced by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the killings relates to the case of a 14-year-old victim, Rimpa Haldar.

“The arguments in the case of Rimpa Haldar will be completed in the first week of January. We (prosecution) have presented our case and now the defence is recording its final arguments,” said Khalid Khan, advocate for families of the Nithari victims. “The judgement is expected by January-end,” Khan added.

Rimpa was among the 19 children and young women whose skeletal remains were discovered from a sewer behind Pandher’s plush D-5 bungalow in Noida’s Sector 31.

The skulls stuffed in 57 gunny bags containing almost 700 bone pieces kept tumbling out of the drain for the next few days.

After two long years, the families of the victims have faith in the judiciary but not in the CBI which is investigating the cases.

“I believe the court will certainly punish Pandher and give justice to my daughter. But the CBI has left no stone unturned in saving his skin,” said Anil, who vividly remembers February 8, 2005, the day his daughter did not return home from work.

She used to work as a domestic help with her mother in bungalows near D-5. Her identity was established after the CBI recovered her clothes from Pandher’s house.

Soon after the discovery of the killings, the Noida police arrested Pandher and his domestic aide Surider Koli on charges of rape, murder, abduction, immoral trafficking prevention act and criminal conspiracy.

Within a few days the case was transferred to India’s premier investigation agency CBI after the Noida police was accused of accepting huge kickbacks from Pandher for not initiating any action against Koli and him.

Till date the CBI has filed 15 chargesheets in the sensational killings, exonerating Pandher from murder and rape charges.

However, the special CBI court rapped the agency and Pandher was made a co-accused with Koli in at least six cases. — IANS

Noida, December 28
Though no polio case has come to light in this satellite town adjoining the national Capital, Noida and other areas of western Uttar Pradesh continue to be danger zones for polio.

The state’s health department keeps an eye on the situation in the area as over 50,000 labourers, including couples work at over 500 construction sites. Many bring along their small children, including infants to construction sites.

Besides, workers continue to troop in from various other states and areas keeping the risk of bringing the polio virus along.

Additional CMO Dr P.K. Singh says labourers from other states are always exposed to the risk. Over 3,85,000 children were given polio drops during the latest polio campaign in the district.

But a large number of kids could not be administered with the anti-polio drops Dr Singh said. This time the target was 4.96 lakh children.

A campaign is being launched from December 30 that would administer polio drops to children who were left.

Though the campaign was more systematic this time, over 10,000 kids could not given polio drops, Dr Singh said.

Noida, December 28
The industrial production is reported to have fallen by at least 28 per cent in NCR, including Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad during the past two and a half months.

This fall in industrial production is attributed to the non-availability of adequate power supply to units.

In its latest reports, Assocham has blamed this fall in industrial production on erratic power supply.

Should the power scenario remain un-remedied, the resultant loss in industrial production could surpass 35 per cent or even higher.

In its report about industrial productivity released on December 26, Assocham said Noida (including Greater Noida), Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad are lagging behind in industrial production for want of adequate power supply.

According to Assocham’s general secretary, D.S. Rawat, from October 1 to December 15, an eye was kept on the power supply scenario in these towns.

It was found that apart from the industrial sectors, even the power position in residential sectors was no better.

In Noida, power was regularly switched off in its industrial sector at night. Power cuts from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily had adversely affected the industrial production, the report said.

In Noida, daily demand was pegged at 400 to 450 mega watts while the supply was from 250 to 300 mega watts.

As a result Noida, Surajpur and Phase-II units were adversely affected. Even BPOs, KPOs and call centers also suffered.

Units of auto-parts, small-scale industry units and export units had come under intense negative affect.

In Ghaziabad, supply was only 200 mega watts as against demand for 400 mega watts. In Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Loni and Mohan Nagar the conditions were even worse. On an average power cuts lasted from 12 to 14 hours daily.

Gurgaon and Faridabad were getting 800 and 300 mega watt power supply as against their requirements for 1200 to 1400 units and 600 to 700 units, respectively.

New Delhi, December 28
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today named the W-point at Tilak Marg after Padma Bhushan Dineshnadini Dalmia whose literary works portray a departure from the trends of her times.

Born in Udaipur, Dalmia started her literary journey at the age of 13. Dikshit said her poem ‘Niraash Aasha’, which was published in her early years, drew the attention of the then veterans Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and Mahadevi Verma.

Her first book ‘Shabnam’ won her the Sakseria Award. She was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 2006.

Dalmia is the first woman poet to write confessional poetry during the period of Hindi romanticism. Not that she was untouched by romanticism, it was discernible in the syntax, diction, subjectivity and emotional intensity of her works.

Author of more than 35 novels and an equal number of poems, she lived and wrote through generations.

Moreover, Dalmia was Rajashtan’s first postgraduate woman. She rebelled against the purdah system and fought against gender bias.

Dalima was the founder member and president of the Institute of Comparative Religion and Literature, Indo-china Friendship Society and Lekhika Sangh.

She also the chief editor of Richa, a magazine that she had started.

Besides, she worked as a literary consultant to several TV serials and her novel ‘Phool Ka Dard’ that was made into a telefilm.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar and Rajya Sabha member Janardan Dwivedi were also present.

New Delhi, December 28
Some two million students are expected to enrol at IGNOU by January 2009, IGNOU vice-chancellor V.N. Rajsekharan Pillai announced in the Capital.

The current percentage of enrolment amounts to over 15 per cent of the entire higher education enrolment in the country.

Rajsekharan further announced in a message to varsity employees that, “with the 11th Plan (2007-2012) in progress, we are working on the ambitious target to ensure education access rate to 15 per cent in the entire country from the current 10 per cent.” IGNOU at present has 62 regional centres and 2,053 study centres.

Further on IGNOU’s agenda are community colleges through virtual campus, which will be an extension of the university’s community radio movement.

“IGNOU will soon start 400 new community colleges to add to the existing 200, which are fast catching up with the information communication technology (ICT) movement,” IGNOU spokesperson Ravi Mohan informed.

“IGNOU has taken ICT and satellite capability to effectively disseminate the open and distance learning. The latest in ICTs is the exploitation of the outreach of mobile phones through broadband,” Mohan added.

New Delhi, December 28
Every three minutes a woman becomes victim of a crime somewhere in India. The highest numbers become targets of their husbands and in-laws.

A total of 1,85,312 incidents of crime against women were reported in the country during 2007 as compared to 1,64,765 during 2006, an increase of 12.5 per cent.

The number of crimes committed against women has increased continuously during the last five years.

In 2007, highest number of crimes against women was recorded in Andhra Pradesh, according to the ‘Crime in 2007’ report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).

Homes were far from being safe havens for women. Last year, 75,930 women became victims of torture and cruelty by their husbands and in-laws, accounting for the highest number of crimes against women.

“This reflects growing disorder in terms of social relations in our society. On the other front our law enforcement agency has also failed to book culprits and our laws, rather than acting as a deterrent, is giving culprits a chance to commit crime and walk away scot-free,” women’s rights activist Ranjana Kumari said.

According to the Centre for Social Research, an NGO working for women’s rights, aspiration for a high standard of living among young couples is an important reason behind rising family discords.

“Globalisation has brought a major shift in our attitude as we are moving towards
a spending culture from a saving culture which is causing inter-personal tensions,”
said Kumari.

There were 20,771 cases of rape reported in the country in 2007. In more than 90 per cent of the cases, the victims knew the offenders. The highest number of rape cases was reported from Madhya Pradesh.

Despite the rise in the number of crimes against women, the National Commission for Women believes that laws such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, Dowry Prohibition Act and various sections in the IPC are important legislative measures that provide protection and legal remedies to women. — IANS

The minimum temperature yesterday was 6.5° Celsius and now it is expected to rise till December 31.

New Delhi, December 28
At a time when the world is grappling with exigencies of climate change and global warming resulting from the ever-increasing emission of Green House Gases (GHG), environmental experts across the world are calling for resorting to eco-friendly practices, which would also address the issue of fast depletion of biodiversity.

“Biodiversity plays a critical role in our food production systems, in innovation and manufacture of our pharmaceuticals and in creating a healthy source of air, water and nourishment to keep us alive and fit, and its loss along with climate change could harm the well-being of all creatures,” says Ashok Khosla, who recently took the post of president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The rise in the temperature of earth affects the movement of oceans and rise in sea-level has caused danger to the very existence of low-lying countries like Myanmar, where the latest hurricane resulted in the death of 1,00,000 people.

Even, the Himalayan glaciers are melting fast, and due to this 500 million people from South Asia and 200 million from China may be affected in the future.

On this, R. K. Pachauri, chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says, “Warming of climate is unequivocal, and the depletion of biological diversity poses a serious threat to the survival of all species. In order to address these issues corrective environ-friendly measures are imperative.”

Between 1970 and 2005, the emission of GHG has increased by 70 per cent, and hence to prevent millions from becoming environment refugees, Pachauri suggests, “Infrastructure and climate information systems have to be updated and customised to combat calamities due to heat waves, cyclones, floods, cloud bursts. In India, Mumbai suffered due to cloud burst, and it is becoming increasingly frequent.”

Emphasising the lifestyle change and green building architecture, he adds, “In metros during marriages, people have a tendency to show off, going for unnecessary pomp. Instead of squandering money, people should donate it to agencies, which are serving humanity. Focussing on sustainable development and green buildings can cater to the demands of the current generation without having any adverse impact on the generations to come. Then, people ought to cut down their consumption of meat and use of motor vehicles, which would keep them healthy as well as maintain a clean climate.”

Interestingly, eco-friendly cycling fever is catching more number of youngsters in its grip, and thus saving the country from losing its natural riches.

Many producers of bicycles, like Firefox Bikes Pvt. Ltd, the exclusive distributor for TREK Bikes in India, are gearing to expand their capacities, which will help in tackling shortage of petrol and rising pollution levels in the country.

“The importance of cycle as a medium of transportation in local as well as crowded areas has become all the more critical, especially at a time when cities like Delhi are struggling with pollution problem. Moreover, cycling has its own appeal, and to spread the cycling zeal, we have come up with a new bike station at Rajouri Garden,” says Shiv Inder Singh, managing director of Firefox Bikes Pvt. Ltd.

Meanwhile, Singh informed, “The launch of this bike station at RG would take the total number of bike stations of Firefox to 35 across 18 cities, and the company targets to augment sales growth from 15,000 to 60,000 bikes by 2011.”

New Delhi, December 28
A 17-year-old girl, who allegedly was harassed by her father after her separation from her minor husband, on Sunday attempted suicide by jumping into the Yamuna river but was rescued by some boatmen.

The victim, whose identity is withheld, told the police that she jumped into the river near the Akshardham flyover around 11:30 am.

Dilip Kumar, who was in his boat saved her with the help of some people. She was admitted to a hospital, where she recorded a statement.

“The victim said she was three years old when her mother passed away. At the age of 15 her father Deepak Kumar married her off to a minor in Shahdara. But the marriage failed two months ago and she returned to her father’s home in Mandavali,” said a police officer.

“She said that for the past few months her father had been verbally abusing her. He used to ask her to leave the home,” the officer said.

The police said she decided to take the extreme step today morning following a heated argument with Deepak.

She said her mother had died in a kitchen fire under mysterious circumstances.

“We have registered a case and are verifying her allegations. The victim has been sent to a shelter home,” the official added. — IANS