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Gurgaon Metro line delayed by 2 months
Cashier looted of Rs 27 lakh in Noida
Make farmers partners in research: Patil
Black and yellows out in Delhi,
radio cabs are in
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Couples paint town red
DU students to celebrate
for two days
Young women donating eggs for money
Allow blacklisted Sikhs to return to India: SAD
Man held for murder of friend
Undertrial escapes Tihar by showing fake papers
Why no admission to poor students, HC asks schools
No approval for Gzb Metro extension plan
Man shot at, car robbed
in Gt Noida
Wanted burglar held
Fire at govt factory; 6 hurt
Girl crushed by water tanker
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Gurgaon Metro line delayed by 2 months
New Delhi, February 13 The line, covering 14.47 kilometre, was supposed to open in February, but is still not ready even though the trail runs on the line began on January 29. The opening of the line has been postponed to May this year, official sources said. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said the delay was due to the additional time taken for the construction of the Chhatarpur station. “The DMRC got the land to construct this station only in October last year. We could not have finished building a station so soon,” said sources in the DMRC. The construction of a station is generally done in two phases—construction of the station building and construction of via-duct. The Metro sources said the construction of the via-duct alone takes at least four months. As the time for constructing the station was running out, the DMRC officials decided to find out more time-saving and innovative ways to build the station. “We finally resorted to constructing the station in steel as it would cut down the time required to build a concrete station,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC, adding that it was first-of-its-kind innovation in the country. The Metro could not get in time the land that it wanted for the Chattarpur station due to the newly-built electric sub-station around the same spot. “We were planning to open the stretch from Sultanpur to HUDA City Centre by this month, but now we have decided to open the Qutab Minar to Gurgaon stretch together by May this year,” said DMRC sources. The officials added that the opening of the Sultanpur- HUDA City Centre stretch would not have helped the passengers much as it would have connected only the MG Road stretch. The opening of the whole 27-kilometer-long stretch from Central Secretariat to Gurgaon is scheduled for July this year, but sources said it could be opened a month before the scheduled opening. “The rest of the line connecting Jehangirpuri to Gurgaon should open by June,” he said. The cost of the line till Qutab Minar is Rs 2,400 crore and another Rs 1,320 crore till Gurgaon. The expected ridership of the line from Central Secretariat.
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Cashier looted of Rs 27 lakh in Noida
Noida, February 13 Kafil Quereshi, cashier of one Al Nafeez Frozen Foods Company, was returning to the company factory in Ghaziabad after withdrawing cash from the Corporation Bank branch in Sector 18 at Noida. As their Maruti van reached near Birla Software Ltd in Sector 63, two bikers forced them to halt. As soon as the driver, Tausif, stopped the car, the robbers, brandishing pistols, forced open the van’s door and snatched the cash from the cashier and fled the spot. The victims then immediately informed the police and the company manager. A police teams immediately reached the spot and combed the area, but could not trace the robbers. The police has formed teams and has launched a manhunt to arrest the robbers, but till late evening they were not traceable. |
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Make farmers partners in research: Patil
New Delhi, February 13 “Empowering the farmers would bring about inclusive growth and food security. Research institutions should develop partnership with the farming communities. Agencies closely linked with agriculture like the National Rainfed Area Authority and other stakeholders should evolve a basic model to rope in farmers into partnership arrangements,” said the President. She was speaking at the 48th annual convocation of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute here. She said the Green Revolution might have augmented the country’s food capacities; there is a lot more to be accomplished, in terms of bettering the productivity, generating income and employment opportunities for the rural populace. “Agriculture engages around 60 per cent of the workforce and contributes almost 18 per cent to our gross domestic product. And to reap the maximum benefits of the biggest private enterprise in India, it is imperative to bring about rural development,” she underlined. In rice and wheat produce, India lags behind China and Bangladesh and to bridge the gap, it is important to go for innovative agricultural strategies that would not only maximise productivity but also generate income and employment for the rural people, said the President. Also present on the occasion was the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. When quizzed about the moratorium imposed on the introduction of genetically-modified Bt brinjal, he said the scientific community didn’t understand anything about the moratorium. A total of 75 degrees for PhD and 69 degrees for MSc were awarded to students, and besides, five gold medals were conferred each in PhD and MSc levels by the President. |
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Black and yellows out in Delhi,
radio cabs are in
New Delhi, February 13 A majority of commuters in this sprawling city travel by bus or auto-rickshaw, but a large chunk of business and middle-income group travellers use taxis regularly. Many feel that the conventional back and yellow cabs for which people first need to identify a reliable taxi stand cannot cope with the lifestyle changes the city dwellers have undergone in the past few years. “Delhi is getting crowded by self-driven cars and roads are getting blocked. Driving is no more a pleasure. Nowadays, many people in Delhi are gradually opting for hired cabs for commuting to make their lives hassle-free,” said Naresh Chand, managing director of Savaari Car Rentals. Business for car hire and radio cab services like Meru, EasyCabs, Delhi Cabs and many more is thriving. Gavin D’abreo, vice-president (marketing) for Meru Cabs said, “Consumers are looking for reliability. They don’t want tampered meters or any haggling or rash unskilled drivers. We ensure this through a service which is monitored and controlled by our server. We have fixed metered rates.” Meru has increased its fleet from 150 cars to nearly 2,000 in just 14 months, he said. A Delhi government official said that in all, there would be around 5,000 radio cabs in the Capital by October this year. “Our business in NCR is very beneficial. We have made services professional and our drivers know how to speak English,” a spokesperson of Delhi Cabs Service said. Ratri Nag, a marketing executive who takes a radio cab at least twice a week, said, “It is so much simpler to hire a radio taxi, especially when I have to go to the airport in the middle of the night. They may charge a little extra, but it’s definitely much safer and more convenient.” While most customers go in for economy cars like Tata Indica and Maruti WagonR, some business travellers opt for luxury sedans like Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Verna. “Today radio cab services provide well-maintained and comfortable cars of various new models. The chauffeurs are well-mannered, helpful and reliable. These guys maintain good standards where we don’t have to think twice before hiring a car,” said Arupjyoti Gogoi, a public relations executive who arranges high-end travel for clients daily. The fare for radio taxis is Rs 15 per kilometre or a certain fixed rate for eight hours. The local taxi stands for the classic black and yellows, where often you find drivers cooking, sleeping and bathing, are feeling the pinch from competition. Surjit Singh, owner of the Heera taxi stand at west Delhi’s Rajendra Place, said, “For the past six years, since I opened the stand, I have seen a lot of changes in our business. Many are opting for private radio cabs. But our business isn’t that bad and we are still following our tradition and plying the black and yellow taxis.” Singh is making a few changes, inducting a few professional-looking white cars for day hires. But the traditional black and yellow taxi is still a favourite of visiting foreigners. “Most of the time foreigners come to our taxi stand and they ask for a black and yellow taxi instead of the new branded cars, because they see it as a sign of our Indian taxi service. So our business in this competitive market is still going well,” said R.S. Sawhney, owner of another taxi stand.
— IANS |
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Couples paint town red
New Delhi, February 13 Even as these conventionalities will stay, most Delhiites say that they have learned that the eve is much more than spending a special day. “Bomb blasts rocked Delhi the year before. But I remember that the very next day there was a bunch of students who held the banners of “free hugs” across markets. It is all about spreading love, and Delhi has learned it,” said
Chestha, an LSR student. Dating or no dating, most Delhiites are widening their circle of love, trying to spend the eve with people close to them. “I am not seeing anyone as of now. But that is no reason why I shouldn’t be out having fun. We have an amazing group of friends who make pledges to stick together. We will be enjoying a karaoke night,” says
Manik, a south Delhi resident. Adds Trisha, “There are sale offers exclusively on V-Day at most outlets. My idea of V-Day is pampering myself. I will be out shopping tomorrow with friends and family, buying the best of the gifts for myself and my loved ones. There is a sense of deep
satisfaction.” Pratap and Veena Mathur have been married for more than 30 years. Now in their early 60’s, this couple still has the Valentine spirit alive. “We were married after eight years of courtship. We have been happily married for so many years now. But valentine is not about your partner only. We make it a point to invite our children, throw a big party and spend the eve with all those beloved to us,” says
Veena. So that the singles in the city do not feel left out, most restaurants, spas, beauty parlors have accommodated packages for singles. People can hit several joints at Defence Colony, New Friend’s Colony, CP, Greater Kailash and many other places. “We believe that everyone has that special someone in their lives. One just has to look around in the right way. We see families, young couples, married couples and friends just enjoying themselves. It does not matter with whom. What matters is that they are happy, and we try in our little ways to add to their smiles,” said
Ritam, managing staff at Moets Restaurant, Defence Colony. |
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DU students to celebrate
for two days
New Delhi, February 13 The two-day celebration “Love in Our Times” is a mark of protest against last year’s attacks on couples celebrating Valentine’s Day. “This year we again join hands to reassert the importance of love in our times. As a political act, this is all the more important when we consider the increased spate of attacks by fundamentalist forces on women,” said Ravi
Rai, general secretary, All India Students’ Association (AISA). As part of the celebration, students would take out a march from the Vivekanand Statue in the heart of DU North campus to Kamla Nagar Market on February 14. On the second day of the celebrations on February 15, a public meeting would be held where poet and academician Rukmini Bhaiya Nair would speak and recite poems at the Arts Faculty. |
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Young women donating eggs for money
New Delhi, February 13 Fertility specialists here are regularly getting requests for egg donation from girls studying in renowned Delhi colleges. About 10 to 12 eggs are extracted from each girl and they are paid somewhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 for it. “This is a new trend and more and more young girls are coming to us for egg donation,” said Shivani Sachdeva
Gour, consultant fertility specialist and gynaecologist with Pheonix Hospital in Greater Kailash I. “In the first week of January, we got four girls from a college on South Campus. Most of them stay in hostels and need money to maintain their expensive lifestyles,” she said. Agreed Indira
Ganeshan, consultant in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) expert with B.L.K Memorial Hospital in west Delhi, “Girls in the age group of 22 to 25 years do come to us for egg donation. A majority of them are single and working and want to donate eggs to get some extra money to maintain a good
lifestyle.” Gour said the trend was catching up among girls in the age group of 18 to 22 years and usually girls keep their parents in the dark. “These girls get 10 of their friends who are also interested in donating eggs but they are kept on waiting as we have enough stock of eggs at present to meet the demand of our clients,” she said. The Phoenix Hospital receives 15 demands for eggs on an average basis per month from across the world. The majority of clients are foreigners and each egg is sold somewhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1,00,000. “Almost 80 per cent of our clients are foreigners from the US, Britain and Australia. We do get some request from Indian couples settled abroad and a few from India also,” said
Gour. There has been an increasing demand for eggs from young, intelligent girls with fair complexion and these girls perfectly meet our clients’ requirements, she said. “Women these days are postponing motherhood for their career and they plan to start their family in the mid-40s. In this age group, fertility is low and they have to undergo
IVF. Young intelligent girls are most sought after as most of the foreign clients want their baby to be fair and with a high IQ level,” said
Gour. According to doctors, there is no harm in egg donation and it’s a minor procedure. And donors can donate eggs after every two months. “A woman produces one egg per month and they all get wasted. So in a way these girls are helping childless couples and in turn are getting a handsome amount,” she said. Explaining the procedure, Gour said donors have to undergo some medical tests and counselling before egg donation. “Girls first meet a counsellor who tells them about the procedure of egg donation. They are then sent to a fertility expert for a complete medical check-up and finally to a psychologist,” she said. “On the first day, a fertility hormone is injected which increases the production of eggs. The hormone helps in the production of 10 to 12 eggs. Egg extraction takes place on the 14th day and in this period they have to visit the doctor on any three days for medical tests,” said
Gour. Girls are expected to stay in the hospital for four hours on the day the eggs are extracted. “There is a minor procedure for extracting eggs from the ovary which requires no cuts or operation and donors are required to stay in the hospital for four hours,” she said.
— IANS |
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Allow blacklisted Sikhs to return to India: SAD
New Delhi, February 13 Union home minister P. Chidambaram offered amnesty to Kashmiri militants who had left the country. The amnesty offer was announced after Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave a proposal to the home minister suggesting that giving amnesty to Kashmiri militants would help in controlling the situation in the valley. President of the Delhi unit of SAD, Manjit Singh (GK), said the government had made amnesty scheme for Kashmiri separatists living abroad though the valley still faced militancy, but amnesty was not given to Punjab separatists though the issue is now 25 years old and there was no militancy in the state any more. He questioned why the government was treating two communities differently. “The government should abolish the list of blacklisted Sikhs. In fact, some of them were listed by the security forces without even getting true information about them,” he said. He said if the blacklisted Sikhs were not allowed to return to the country, it would be clear that the government wanted to appease Muslims to get their votes in the ensuing assembly elections in Bihar. He warned the government to abstain from playing community- based politics.
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Man held for murder of friend
Ghaziabad, February 13 To divert attention of the police, the accused had thrown a bloodstained shirt at a distance from the scene of the crime and concocted a story that his friend had been attacked by two masked goons. However, he confessed to his crime after vigorous interrogation. Police said Dharminder, 16, used to live with his sister, Seema, 25, in Radha Krishan Colony near Lal Quan. Seema started running a school in the area after the death of her husband Om. A little while ago Dharminder's friend Amit shifted from Secunderabad to Ghaziabad and started living with him. Both of them started a business of sale and purchase of buffalos. According to police Amit was attracted towards his friend's widowed sister. He drifted closer to the woman with a view to usurping her property. Thus, he plotted to kill Dharminder so that his sister would be compelled to take help of Amit. On Thursday night, Dharminder and Amit were sleeping on the ground floor of the house where at about 11 pm, Amit strangled Dharminder with a rope. Later, he crushed his face with a brick. Then he went upstairs where Seema was sleeping and told her that two masked bandits had killed her brother, police said. Seema told the police that she had been informed of the gruesome tragedy at about 12.30 am. According to SSP Raghuvir Lal, the police had all along suspected Amit as he was changing his statements. |
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Undertrial escapes Tihar by showing fake papers
New Delhi, February 13 Lodged in the jail number 8 on kidnapping charges, Sandeep Parmar of Gujarat was presumed to have walked out on February 10 on valid jail papers, but the authorities later realized that they had been duped. He was arrested by Delhi police’s crime branch in a kidnapping-for-ransom case in 2008. The escape came to light when relatives of Parmar’s co-accused Sandeep Singh, lodged in jail number 3, approached the jail authorities with interim bail orders.
“The confusion arose because of the same names. Singh’s relatives demanded his release as they had valid papers. Singh was also released. But when we checked with the district judge, he denied signing interim bail orders for Parmar and asked us to approach cops,” a jail official Gupta said, adding that they registered a complaint at the Hari Nagar police station on February 11. |
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Why no admission to poor students, HC asks schools
New Delhi, February 13 The court directed the principal to appear before it in person on February 24. The court also asked the Modern School and the Indian School to file their replies on the same matter by the next date of hearing. The court was hearing a public interest petition filed by Social Jurist, an NGO, saying that the schools were allotted public land on concessional rates on the condition that they would also admit students from economically weaker sections. Ashok Aggarwal, counsel for Social Jurist, said there were complaints that some schools do not issue admission forms to parents who are poor.
— IANS |
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No approval for Gzb Metro extension plan
Ghaziabad, February 13 Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) officials on Friday denied having received an approval for the second phase of Metro extension plans in Ghaziabad. The GDA has been asked to find out the finance options for the second part of Metro rail, at a meeting with the state officials. The 9.1 km extension into Ghaziabad would cost around Rs 1,000 crore, officials said. In this regard, a variety of measures have been suggested by the GDA officers to the state administration officials, including hiking the fee for the layout plans, imposing a Metro-cess joint- funding between development agencies and borrowings from the NCR Planning Board. Meanwhile, work the 2.57 km Anand Vihar–Vaishali extension to Ghaziabad is still going on. The line is slated to become operational before the Commonwealth Games in October this year. However, sources in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said this route was expected to be completed only in the first half of 2011.
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Man shot at, car robbed
in Gt Noida
Greater Noida, February 13 The victim, Sunil Kumar, was admitted to Sharda Hospital. His condition was stable till late evening. He was returning home at Jalvayu Vihar when the incident took place. Three youths on a bike had forced him to halt and then shot at him when he resisted. They pulled him out of the car and robbed the car. Till late evening, they were not traceable. “Robbers were in the age group of 20 to 25 and were locals. On the basis of description given by the victim, their computer sketches are being prepared,” said S.K.Verma, S.P. (Greater
Noida).
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Wanted burglar held
New Delhi, February 13 The accused, Murshid (26), is wanted in several cases of burglary in banks across Andhra Pradesh, including the sensational burglary of 5.5-kg gold from the Co-operative Bank. Murshid was arrested on February 11 night while the police was conducting a vehicle check in the Jamia Nagar area. The policemen intercepted a person on a motorcycle trying to dodge them.He was identified as Murshid. He was found possessing equipment of house breaking and a knife. Murshid hails from Badaun in UP and is a primary school dropout. |
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Fire at govt factory; 6 hurt
New Delhi, February 13 Four fire fighting engines were deployed to put out the fire. “It took almost 45 minutes to control the blaze. Thankfully, it was not a major fire,” said an official of the Delhi Fire Services. The injured workers were rushed to the Deen Dayal Upadhayaya (DDU) Hospital. “None of the injured has been identified as of yet. An officer is still at the hospital. Nothing can be said till their medical treatment is finished,” said a senior police official from the Kirti Nagar police station. |
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Girl crushed by water tanker
New Delhi, February 13 Khushi is the daughter of Manoj Yadav, a resident of Jhuggi JJ Bandhu Camp. “We are not sure if she was playing on the road or crossing it. The water tanker crushed her and she died on the spot. |
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