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Centre to send 300 mt. t. onions to Delhi
Chill continues to freeze Delhiites
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No headway in teenage murder case
BJP decries admission system
6 of family jailed for dowry murder
IMA protests Clinical Establishment Bill
Walia examines facilities at night shelters
50 candidates vying for DERC chief post
5 JeM men convicted
DTC bus catches fire
MCD seals 38 illegal properties, razes 9
Ram Krishna Mission exempted from tax net
Youth commits suicide
Rs 55 lakh looted from liquor vend staff
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Centre to send 300 mt. t. onions to Delhi
New Delhi, January 3 A spokesman for the government said the union government had decided to send 300 metric tonnes of onions to Delhi that was to be imported through the State Trading Corporation (STC). Delivery of the imported onion will start from January 7. The cost of delivery at Delhi is Rs 33 per kg and local transportation and handling charges to be done through the Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED. It is hoped that this would bring down the cost of onions in Delhi and make available extra 300 metric tonnes of onions available through more than 300 outlets of the Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED. However, Delhi Agriculture Board Committee member Rajinder Sharma said 800 tones of onion had been imported from
Pakistan. But this was not going to affect the prices in the retail market. It would take a few weeks to come down the onion prices. Traders here say the prices are likely to see a sharp fall by January 20. An association of Delhi's wholesale traders said the prices would come down as fresh crops arrive, including from various states. "With the crops being harvested in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, we expect more onions to arrive by January 15-20," said Rajan Sharma, general secretary of the Chamber of Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Traders. He said it would take another 10-15 days for the price to trickle down to Rs 25-35 in retail outlets. "The price of onion might have come down in the retail market but the supply of onions from Rajasthan to Delhi is very low due to higher retail prices in Jaipur and the Gujjar agitation," said Sharma. Gujjars demanding job quotas have blockaded highways and rail tracks in parts of Rajasthan. Onion prices began shooting up from the last week of December. Prices zoomed to Rs 80-100 per kg but came down marginally after a week. |
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Chill continues to freeze Delhiites
New Delhi, January 3 During the morning hours, the city saw a cover of mist while cold winds brought down the day temperatures, said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official. The maximum temperature recorded today was 14.6 degree Celsius, six degrees below the average for this time of the season. The minimum temperature recorded was 8.2 degree Celsius, one degree above average. The humidity was recorded at 98 per cent. The weather department has predicted that the coming week will be much colder. However, the weatherman said the overcast conditions were here to stay and the sun would come out only if the clouds cleared. So far, there is no prediction of heavy fog. For tomorrow, the maximum and the minimum temperatures are expected to oscillate between 15 and 8 degree Celsius. |
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No headway in teenage murder case
New Delhi, January 3 Moreover, the police that sent the body for the postmortem say that it is not sure if the victim was raped before being murdered. "We have detained four suspects from the locality of the victim who went missing soon after the incident. We are interrogating them," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Sharad Aggarwal. "The preliminary medical reports states that the girl had sexual intercourse prior to her murder but there were no injuries on her private parts. The matter is being investigated from other angles. We cannot confirm this to be a rape till the post mortem reports are out," he added. The police found the battered body in South-West Delhi's Dwarka area on Saturday afternoon after a passerby saw it at 3.30 pm. The victim used to live with her brother in the servants quarter of the Lady Hardinge Hospital. She had gone out for a party on the New Year eve. Surprisingly, no complaint of missing person was registered under any police station by the relatives of the deceased after she failed to return home. The Delhi police, which claimed to have succeeded in maintaining peace and crime-free Delhi on the New Year Eve, failed terribly after the case came into light. It is to be noted, that the incident took place when more than 20,000 police personnel were deployed at every nook and corner of the city to ensure that no untoward incident takes place and when special measures are been taken by the Delhi police to ensure safety of women in the city. |
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We won't give up, say Talwars
Ghaziabad, January 3 "We want justice for our child and we will not let it go so easily," Rajesh Talwar, Aarushi's dentist father, told reporters outside the Ghaziabad court. The Talwars are seeking the closure report from the court to examine its contents after the probe agency named Rajesh Talwar as the lone suspect in the crime. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in her Jalvayu Vihar apartment in Noida, Delhi's suburban town in Uttar Pradesh, on May 16, 2008. The family's domestic help, Hemraj, was also found killed on the flat's terrace a day later. The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday moved a Ghaziabad court seeking its permission to close the Aarushi murder as an unsolved case on grounds of lack of conclusive evidence.
— IANS |
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Women's commission confident
of justice
New Delhi, January 3 "I have full faith in the court and am sure that she
(Aarushi) will get justice. The culprit will be punished," Vyas told reporters. A special court in Ghaziabad registered the CBI's report seeking closure of the case as an unsolved one. The CBI special court has deferred its hearing in the case. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in her Jalvayu Vihar apartment in Noida on May 16, 2008. The family's domestic help,
Hemraj, was also found killed on the flat's terrace a day later. The CBI filed its closure report on Wednesday. It has named Aarushi's father, Rajesh
Talwar, as the lone suspect. The Talwars have denied the allegation. — IANS |
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Two millionaire robbers held in Delhi
New Delhi, January 3 According to a senior police official, a sum of Rs 21 lakh, two luxury cars bought from the robbed money and gold worth lakhs have been recovered from their possession. According to Chhaya Sharma, DCP (Outer), the accused identified as Vishal Sharma (25) and Varun Kumar (25) were arrested yesterday from the Mangolpuri area while they were fleeing after failing to snatch a gold chain of a woman. "The duo was arrested by the plainclothes policemen from near Mahavir Hospital in Mangolpuri when they tried to snatch the gold chain of a woman. Immediately, the team chased the accused and nabbed him. The black Pulsar motorcycle they were riding was found to be stolen," said Sharma, adding that further investigation into the antecedents of the arrested revealed interesting facts. According to Sharma, the duo lived in houses worth crores of rupees in Sector-12 of Sonepat (Haryana) and moved in cars fitted with red lights and sirens to avoid checking by the police at Singhu border and other police pickets in the Capital. "They used to park their car at Ramesh Nagar near Metro station and pick up their motorcycle (black Pulsar) already parked at the station. Subsequently, they reached the bank as per their plan and kept track of the bank customers. After identifying a soft target who withdrew lots of money from the bank, they would chase him and rob his money," Sharma revealed. The accused moved about in crowded and big markets such as Pitampura, Rajouri Garden, Paschim Vihar, etc. and target the purses/chains of women. According to the police, the accused used to visit a jeweller in Patel Nagar to get the gold jewellery recycled of their own choice. The accused used to organize Mata Ki Chowki, Sai Sandhya, etc. and donate money for religious activities. "They pretended to be property dealers, tour operators and financiers, close to politicians of Haryana. They indulged in gambling in the evening at their office in Sonepat," said the officer. Both the accused are relatives, married to real sisters, the police official added. |
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Harried parents scurry from one school to another
New Delhi, January 3 Rajinder Goyal, a parent who has to get his four-year-old son admitted to school this year, said, "Both my wife and I have taken leave from office today to collect forms from various schools. We have already collected forms from eight schools so far and as nursery admission is going to be even more fiercely contested this year, we are not taking chances and are applying at ten schools so that our son gets admission." Nursery admissions are even more competitive this year as the RTE Act put in place a 25% quota for students from economically weaker sections. Besides, many schools have a 20% management quota and as such only approximately 50% seats are available for most students in the general category. Goyal said, "The school of my first choice is Springdales School, Pusa Road, but this time round, there are just 52 seats available out of 102 for kids in the general category at Springdales. My son will get points for siblings' category, we have still applied at many other schools as admission this year is very competitive." Springdales School, Pusa Road, is offering 35 points for siblings' category, 24 points for alumni, five points for girl child and 10 points for minority status. The school also has 25% seats reserved for EWS students and a substantial management quota leaving only 52 seats out of 102 available in the general category. Another parent Reena Chhabra who is planning to get her three-year-old daughter admitted, said, "I have taken leave from work for two days to get the admission formalities completed. So far I have collected forms from six city schools and am planning to collect a few more. This year parents cannot afford to take chances as in most schools, only 50% seats are available in the general category. My first choice is Vasant Valley. My daughter will come in for points from the alumni category and firstborn. Let's hope she makes it." Vasant Valley School has some 46 seats available in the general category out of 90. Vasant Valley has set aside 25 points for neighbourhood, another 25 points for siblings, the firstborn has 10 points, alumni five points, some 25 points have been kept for parents' contribution to country or community and another five points have been kept aside on compassionate grounds.The rush of parents at DPS, RK Puram, is particularly high. The school has 50% seats available in the general quota after taking out the EWS and management quota seats. DPS is awarding 26 points for neighbourhood, another 26 points for siblings, 24 points for alumni, six points for girl child, six points each for single parent or children with special needs and lastly another six points for participants of Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games. |
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BJP decries admission system
New Delhi, January 3 Parents are running from pillar to post and private schools are behaving in an arbitrary manner. The government should immediately open helpline for the help of parents, demanded Gupta. Like previous years, lakhs of parents are scurrying from one school to another for the admission of their children. The promises made by the Delhi government to the parents are not being kept in reality, said Gupta. Thousands of parents have complained that private schools are behaving in an arbitrary manner in case of nursery admissions, he claimed. |
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6 of family jailed for dowry murder
New Delhi, January 3 The court also sentenced victim's brother-in-law Paramjit Singh and her maternal uncle Raghubir Singh to 10 years of jail term, while awarding a seven-year jail term to her sister-in-law Kanwaljeet Kaur. "A young woman died only for dowry and the convicts did not think even once that an innocent child in the family will be devoid of love and affection of his mother," the judge said. A fine of Rs 10,000 was also slapped on each of the convicts. The court noted that all the convicts were living in the same house in the Tilak Vihar area and had set Amarjit ablaze after strangulating her. "All the accused were living there in the house, hence there is no escape from the conclusion that the accused put Amarjit Kaur on fire after strangulating her. The accused used to torture, harass and even beat her for dowry," the court said. According to the prosecution, Amarjit, who was married to Gurwant in October 2003, was murdered in January 2006 by her husband and in-laws, who had been harassing her for dowry. Gurwant's family started demanding dowry from Amarjit just after three months of the marriage, the prosecution said.
— PTI |
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IMA protests Clinical Establishment Bill
New Delhi, January 3 Feeling cornered, especially in the recent notification of CE Bill after the Lok Sabha passed it in this winter session, IMA, comprising 1.9 lakh registered doctors across the country, is currently involved in garnering support from medical students and mobilising village panchayats against the government's proposed rural model of MBBS course. Accusing the ministry of arbitrary functioning, members of IMA today strongly opposed the bringing in of the CE Bill and cautioned that the step would bring back the 'licensing raj' and promote corruption through backdoor entries. "Even as the Clinical Establishment Bill is a state subject, the government has taken over the role and through this it has been trying to deter the private sector's growth. It is actually trying to bring the matter under bureaucratic administration, which would result in red tape and corruption," said Dr Vinay Aggarwal, who recently took over as the IMA president on December 27 in Rajasthan. Besides, the IMA members apprehend the Bill, which mandates all the clinics and hospitals to renew their licences after every three years, would add up to the increasing incidence of quackery. "IMA members would be visiting gram panchayats to bring masses together against the introduction of Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS). We are trying to sensitise the rural masses along with resorting to legal remedies. IMA is mooting the idea of setting up state health centres to give momentum to the campaign. In protest, we would be holding a nationwide protest on January 22," added Dr Aggarwal. IMA members feel the government's ambitious proposal of introducing the 3½ years Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) course, sources said, would actually result in compromised medical education and training. According to them, the government is sidelining the healthcare needs of the rural folks and contradicting its own healthcare education and system by bringing in exit test prior to registration of the MBBS qualified doctors. "The government is trying to create a divide among doctors and healthcare delivery. Also, the pre-registration exit test for the doctors is highly abusurd" said the newly elected secreatry general of IMA, Dr D R Rai. Along with attempts to build public mandate over the issues in conflict, IMA demanded that the six-member board of governors of Medical Council of India should be disbanded. "The dissolution of the 58-year-old MCI was unlawful and new board, a bunch of corporate lobbyists, is actually a step towards bureacratising the healthcare system. The government should replace the new body of MCI with a democratically elected MCI," rued Dr
Aggrawal. |
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Walia examines facilities at night shelters
New Delhi, January 3 The city government has already released Rs 2 crore to improve infrastructure at permanent night shelters. The government would do its best to provide shelter to all the homeless people in the city so that they could protect themselves from the cold. Eighty-six temporary night shelters have been functioning in the Capital at present against 24 last year. Reputed NGOs have been given responsibility to operate the night shelters. Walia said that 64 permanent night shelters are being operated by Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board which functions under the Delhi government. Earlier, these shelters were run by Slum and JJ wing of MCD. He also instructed the officers to deploy mobile health check-up vans at every night shelter at least twice a week. |
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50 candidates vying for DERC chief post
New Delhi, January 3 The commission has been headless since the retirement of Berjinder Singh in September last year and the first major task of the new chief would be to finalise a revised tariff. A panel comprising Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, CERC chairman Pramod Deo and a Delhi High Court judge is currently scrutinising the applications, a top official of the Delhi Government said. The contenders for the top post include several top officials in the city government as well as members of various powerful committees and commissions, he said. Sources in the commission said the process for announcing a new tariff structure for the year would be finalised after the appointment of a new chairman. Contrary to its earlier stand, two members of the commission in a letter to the government last month had justified the demand of private discoms to hike the power tariff, triggering speculation that the rates may be hiked soon. The DERC in its letter had said the tariff during previous years had not been cost reflective because of which three private discoms had to resort to extensive borrowing to sustain their operations. However, the commission's current stand contradicts its decision to go for a cut down of the tariff in May this year with the then chairman emphasising that the discoms have been earning healthy profit. Although the DERC had decided to bring down the tariff, the city government using a special power had stalled the move of the regulator apparently coming under pressure from the discoms. The DERC, which was making last minute preparations to announce the new tariff after receiving the directive on May 4 last year, had indicated that it had planned to cut down the tariff by 20 to 25 per cent as discoms would have a surplus of around Rs 4,000 crore if the existing tariff was not tinkered with. "The entire issue of tariff will be deliberated upon after the appointment of the new chairman," sources said. They said even if the commission decided to hike the tariff, it should not be more than 5 per cent as discoms had been earning a lot by selling excess power to the neighbouring states. |
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5 JeM men convicted
New Delhi, January 3 The accused were also charged under the Explosives Substance Act for possessing huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including grenade-launchers. For the verdict, the court relied on the submissions of the accused who confessed to the crime while recording their statements. "The confessions of the accused recorded under POTA were admissible and relevant not only against the makers of such statements but also against other accused…The facts and circumstances establish the existence of a criminal conspiracy, showing all the accused to be a member thereof," said the court. The police had recovered Rs 19.20 lakh in cash from the prime accused Tantre, who was apprehended from Sadar Bazaar, besides arms and ammunition, the chargesheet said. According to the prosecution, the police had seized a truck containing explosives in a parking lot at Sadar Bazaar. The seized materials included hand grenades and one grenade-launcher. The rest of the convicts were arrested on the intervening night of August 30-31, 2003 after a brief encounter in the Millennium Park near Nizamuddin Bridge. |
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DTC bus catches fire
New Delhi, January 3 "Two fire trucks were used to douse the fire which took about 10 minutes to control the flames. None was hurt in the incident," said the fire official. According to information, the driver of the bus first noticed smoke emitting out of the engine and immediately asked the passengers to de-board
it. Jewellery shop burgled
Cash and jewellery worth around Rs 6 lakh was found stolen from a shop in the Chandni Chowk area of Central Delhi. According to police, the incident came to light yesterday when owner of the shop Mohammad Ismail opened the shop after a rest on New Year
Day. "Ismail owns a shop of polishing jewellery and keeps
jewellery, both artificial and gold, in his shop. When he reached the shop, he found that the lock was broke open and jewelleries were missing. He claimed that cash and valuables worth around Rs 6 lakh was missing," said a police official, adding that a case in this regard has been registered. |
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MCD seals 38 illegal properties, razes 9
New Delhi, January 3 MCD officials said the exercise took place in Rohini where four shops of one property were sealed in addition to demolising four other properties in the area. Apart from this, action was taken against the owners of 34 properties in Sanjay Nagar and Gulabi Bagh areas for misusing residential properties by the MCD's Civil Lines zone. Further, the civic body's building department also demolished unauthorised constructions in five properties in Roop
Nagar, Subzi Mandi and Malkaganj. Meanwhile, the MCD invigourated its sealing exercise and cracking down on unauthorised constructions after a building collapsed in the Laxmi Nagar area of east Delhi in November last year killing 71 people. |
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Ram Krishna Mission exempted from tax net
New Delhi, January 3 The decision was taken today in a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. While briefing the media after the meeting, Dikshit and Delhi finance minister A. K. Walia stated that this decision had been taken in view of philanthropic motive of the RKM. A representation was received from the secretary, Ram Krishna Mission, New Delhi, requesting for grant of exemption on sale of cassettes, CDs, etc. Walia stated that with the inclusion of Ram Krishna Mission in the 5th schedule, it has become entitled for exemption on sale of cassettes, CDs and laminated photos prepared by the mission. The DVAT Act was implemented from April 1, 2005. The schedules appended thereto have been amended from time to time. Walia further stated that the estimated financial implications on granting exemption of VAT by placing it in the 5th schedule would come up to be Rs 1.06 lakh approximately at the rate of 12.5 per cent per annum. |
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Youth commits suicide
New Delhi, January 3 The incident was reported from Madhuban locality at 2.30 pm here and the victim has been identified as Manish Kumar, who use to live with his family at Vinod Nagar in the neighbourhood. "He was found hanging in a room of his grandmother Bhageshwari Devi. He came here this afternoon and after some time went to the room where he committed suicide. No suicide note has been recovered from the spot," a senior police official said. Manish went in for the extreme step in the absence of his grandmother and younger brother, who stays with her, the official added. |
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Rs 55 lakh looted from liquor vend staff
Gurgaon, January 3 According to a complaint filed with the police, the incident took place around 10.30 am when the two employees were on their way to Bank of India here. "Rajesh, the accountant in a wine shop, with his assistant Shyamlal, was going to the bank in a car to deposit the cash collection. Near Sectors 4-5, the three men came on a bike and one of them broke the rear glass of the car with the help of his gun. Then they snatched the bag and fled with the cash," a senior police officer said.
— IANS |
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