New Delhi, November 28
In a fine example of projects gathering dust and awaiting their execution even after months of inauguration, the redevelopment plan of Chandni Chowk takes the cake.

The project has been hit by financial crisis and blame game between the state government and various civic agencies involved. It was inaugurated over three months ago by union HRD minister and local MP Kapil Sibal.

Attributing the reasons for delay in the implementation of the project, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has said the Delhi government is yet to sanction Rs 32 crore for redevelopment of Chandni Chowk.

The amount includes Rs 19 crore for redevelopment and Rs 13 crore for taking electric and telephone cables underground.

The plan for redevelopment of the area was finalised in consultation with the MCD, Delhi Urban Art Commission and the Archeological Survey of India and it had to be implemented under overall monitoring of the Shahjahanabad

Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) which was set up to improve infrastructure in the area.

"The SRDC delayed the entire process. The state government has to release the money for the project. We had also appointed the consultant last week after getting clearance from the SRDC," said Jagdish Mamgain, chairman of the MCD works committee.

While, Sibal had promised at the time of inauguration that the work would start within a month, the MCD officials have now said the work was unlikely to start before January.

Putting the blame on the Delhi government, the MCD officials said the role of the corporation had to be played only in the end.

"It was agencies like BSES, NDPL and Delhi Jal Board that have to do their work and only then work like repair of roads and pavements and beautification can take place. The MCD's work will start later. But because the Delhi government did not release money, the whole project got delayed," said Mamgain.

However, according to the government officials, the MCD has delayed the process as it didn't do the paperwork on time. "The civic agency submitted all the documents only last week," said a senior government official.

In the first phase, the utilities like telephone lines, electric cables, etc, will be taken underground. For this, the SRDC will release Rs 13 crore. A total of 533 km of cables will have to be shifted underground in the Chandni Chowk area while 410 km of cables in the Daryaganj area. The cables of all the transformers in both the areas will have to be put underground. Around Rs 19 crore will be spent on laying new footpaths, repair of roads, installation of new signage and streetlights and improving the public utilities.

New Delhi, November 28
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at a board meeting of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) today approved a long-pending proposal to involve private sector in the command areas of Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi underground reservoirs and water treatment plants.

Senior board officials said the private sector would be involved in water distribution, management and maintenance of the DJB's infrastructure in Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nangloi areas in public private partnership (PPP) mode. The private companies will be paid a "fee" for their services.

The Chief Minister is doing privatization of the water sector on the lines of power sector done a few years ago, said a BJP leader.

The main areas falling under the Malviya Nagar command area are Malviya Nagar, Chirag Delhi, Lado Sarai, Sheikh Sarai Phase I and II Said-ul-ajab, Saket, Navjeevan Vihar, IGNOU, Khirki, Panchsheel Park, Katwaria Sarai, Qutub Institutional Area, Neb Sarai, Adhchini, Geetanjali Enclave and adjoining areas, while the main areas under the Vasant Vihar command are Shantiniketan, Anand Niketan, Westend, Vasant Enclave and Vasant Vihar.

The board also approved a project of Rs 145 crore on the PPP model for improving the supply infrastructure in Mehrauli. The cost of the project includes operation and maintenance of infrastructure for a 12-year period.

Besides, it approved a project to modernise the Bhagirathi water treatment plant and its major booster pumping stations and underground reservoirs at an estimated cost of Rs 271.80 crore.

The DJB also gave approval to several key projects, including a rebate scheme, to facilitate the government institutions to clear pending water charges.

The rebate of 100 per cent in surcharge amount will be granted if the complete payment of water charges is made by March 31, 2012.

Citing various projects that have been planned in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for water in Delhi, the DJB gave approval for improving the supply in Mehrauli Township at an estimated cost of Rs 145 crore which includes Operation and Maintenance (O & M) for a 12-year period.

With the objective of replacing the defective meters, the DJB gave approval to the revised proposal amounting to Rs 364.50 crore for supply, installation and maintenance of eight lakh domestic water meters.

The other key projects passed in the meeting include replacement of water mains from Wazirpur depot to Shakurpur village. 

New Delhi, November 28
Thousands of people under the aegis of the All-India Confederation of Schedule Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) Organisations today assembled at the Ramlila Ground, here to press for the approval of their version of the Lokpal Bill-- the Bahujan Lokpal Bill-- in this session of Parliament.

A good number of minorities and OBCs participated in a march from the Ramlila Ground to Jantar Mantar.

The Bahujan Lokpal Bill was submitted before the standing committee of Parliament last month. It seeks reservation for OBCs, Dalits and minorities in the Lokpal Committee.

"This will not only ensure the participation of these communities, but also reflect the plural character of society. If these communities feel left out, there are chances that the anti-corruption law, when made and enforced, may fail," said Udit Raj, president of the confederation.

The confederation has also demanded the inclusion of the sub-tribal plan and the special component plan under the ambit of the Lokpal.

"The draft of the Lokpal will be prepared by November 28, and after consultation with the members, given the final shape by November 30. We are quite hopeful that our demands will be met," said Udit Raj.

New Delhi, November 28
While discrepancies at the semester exams continue at Delhi University, colleges are struggling hard to cope with the issue of students' shortage of attendance. While some colleges are sympathetic, there are others acting strictly according to the university norms.

According to the rule, students having attendance below 40% have to seek fresh admissions next year. Every student has to attend a minimum of 66% of the classes in a semester to be eligible to sit for the exam. Anyone below 66% is not allowed to take the exam. However, colleges are divided in their approach towards the issue. Till now, close to 400 first year students have been detained by colleges. But there are some colleges which have taken a rather lenient view as they feel that since the attendance was tabulated very late this semester, it would be unfair to bar the students with attendance between 40% and 66% from taking the exam.

"We have detained 44 students. They will be required to seek admissions afresh next year," said SK Garg, principal of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.

Miranda House has barred only those students whose attendance is lower than 40% in the first semester and 55% in the second.

Dyal Singh College has detained as many as 190 students, across the first and third semesters. Principal Inderjit Singh Bakshi said, "Nearly 10% of the students are being barred. We will forward the names to the university."

Colleges who have completely barred the students from taking the exam are Dyal Singh College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Miranda House and Janaki Devi Memorial College.

On the other hand, colleges like Ramjas, Gargi and Kamala Nehru have not barred any student.

Gargi College principal Meera Ramachandran said, "The staff council decided not to stop any student from taking the exams. Teachers felt that it was unfair to inform students just two days before the exams that they were short of attendance. The calculation was done too late, just two or three days before the exams. The staff council decided against any detention and in March if the students are short of attendance, we will inform them that they will be detained."

However, the students are in a fix. "We will end up losing a year. It will really dent our career. DU could have tried giving some sort of conditional admission next year. Next year, colleges will have much higher cutoffs and they will obviously prefer fresh students to us," said one of the students of Dyal Singh College.

Gurgaon, November 28
Authorities in Gurgaon today imposed a ban on the running of hookah bars in the district with an immediate effect.

District Magistrate PC Meena today invoked Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to impose the ban.

The order issued to this effect says that hookah bars were serving tobacco molasses containing nicotine which is injurious to health of the people, especially the college students and youth.

"The people and young generations are being spoilt by these illegally running hookah bars," the order said.

Meena said taking the health hazards caused by tobacco into account, the operation of hookah bars has been prohibited in the district with an immediate effect.

Health and district authorities in various districts of Haryana, especially Gurgaon and Panchkula, had last month conducted raids on hookah bars following complaints that these were promoting tobacco products.

Following test reports, two bars in Panchkula were asked to close shop as the quantity of nicotine in their products was found to be more than the permissible limit. — IANS

Greater Noida, November 28
A software development company in Greater Noida has allegedly cheated its 300 employees of crores of rupees.

The firm, which had allegedly taken Rs 40,000 as security from each of its employees at the time of hiring, declared itself bankrupt and shut the office in just two months.

The victims approached the Kasna police station yesterday.

According to victims, the senior officials of the company locked the office of the company on Saturday and have been on the run since then.

Station officer of the Kasna police station Jagat Sharma said a team had been formed and the matter was being investigated.

The police said the company had its office at the Krishna Apra Plaza complex in the Alpha-I commercial sector, here. The company had a branch office at Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi.

Nearly 300 people had been hired for the Greater Noida branch of the firm over the past six months.

The victims alleged that the company had taken Rs 40,000 from each of them as security money at the time of joining the company. According to the offer letters, the applicants had been offered salaries up to Rs 13,000 a month.

The police added that the students had applied for the jobs after seeing advertisements in newspapers. Things were fine during the first month.

But from the next month, the company started making excuses.

"After paying salary for one month, company officials told us that the firm's financial position was not sound and that our salaries would be paid after a while," employees complained.

"We continued working for the company. But on Friday, we were told that the company had gone bankrupt. On Saturday, when we reached the Greater Noida office, we found that the furniture was missing and the office was locked," victims said.

After this, the employees decided to approach the police and move court against the company.

New Delhi, November 28
Two people were arrested for allegedly stabbing to death one person and injuring his friend after a fight at a 'paratha' stall in Govindpuri early this morning.

The accused are identified as Chetan, a dropout of Acharya Narendra Dev College, Delhi University and his friend Vijay. The latter works with a BPO and is a resident of Jalandhar, Punjab. Chetan is a resident of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, according to the police.

They have been arrested for allegedly stabbing to death Shailesh (27) and injuring his friend, Siddharth Roy (27).

When the staff of the stall was about to serve parathas, a dispute arose between the two groups on who will be served first. The dispute snowballed into a clash.

Overpowering Shailesh and Siddharth, Chetan and Vijay hit them, before fleeing the spot.

The two assailants used an iron rod to hit out at the victims, said additional commissioner of police Ajay Chaudhary.

According to an eyewitness, there was a heated argument between the victims and some other people over food at the stall.

"About 5 am, I was washing my car parked near the stall. My sister-in-law who was strolling around the same area saw two people lying on the ground near a black Santro car. One of them was bleeding profusely from a head injury," the eyewitness said.

Bina with her sons, Kalu and Raman, owner of the stall, said she had also seen two bleeding men lying on the ground.

"I open my stall about 8 pm every day and close it around 2.30 am. My sons and I sleep there. When we wake up at 6 am, we clean the stall and leave for home. During early this morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom. It was then I saw two men lying on the ground. One of them was screaming in pain, while the other lay unconscious near a black Santro car," she said.

Bina was in tears and feared for her sons, who were detained by the police for questioning.

The police said that the two victims were found in an unconscious condition. Shailesh and Siddharth were rushed to the AIIMS. The doctors declared Shailesh brought dead while Siddharth was transferred to Batra Hospital. His condition is reportedly stable.

"The two victims had gone to the stall as they planned to get some food packed," said a friend of the victims.

Siddharth is a fashion designer and completed his graduation from Delhi University. He stays with his family at Chittaranjan Park. Shailesh belonged to Siliguri and stayed in the same locality. 

New Delhi, November 28
A 30-year-old motorcycle-borne man who crashed into a road divider near Akshardham temple last night, lay bleeding for an hour as the police didn't reach the spot on time. He passed away while being rushed to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital.

The victim is named Chandan. The police said that a call to the Police Control Room (PCR) was placed by an eyewitness about 9 pm yesterday. Investigations revealed that he was coming from Noida on his motorcycle. One of the tyres got punctured and he lost balance and collided with a road divider. When the police reached Chandan, he was bleeding profusely. He had sustained severe head injuries.

An eyewitness, Amarinder said that the police came late. "The accident occurred about 9 pm and the police took about an hour to reach the spot. When the police finally reached, an infuriated crowd that had gathered around Chandan tried to attack it. If he had been taken to hospital on time, he could have been saved," he added.

Chandan had a furniture business in Noida. He was a resident of Shakarpur. 

New Delhi, November 28
A tragic love affair came to light recently when the bodies of two minors, who had reportedly eloped from Lucknow to arrive at Delhi, were recovered from the railway tracks near Hari Nagar Ashram in south-east Delhi.

The police said prima-facie it appeared that the victims had committed suicide.

The minors have been identified as Anamika (15), daughter of a Lucknow-based lawyer, and Akhilesh Yadav, son of a patwari in Lucknow.

A police official said, "On November 15, around 10.40 pm, the driver of the Indore Intercity informed the Okhla station master about the two bodies lying on the tracks. It appears that they had jumped from a train and were hit by an oncoming one."

Their bodies were kept at the Sabzi Mandi mortuary. The parents of the minors identified the bodies on November 24.

The medico legal certificate (MLC) confirms that the girl was not sexually assaulted. The police also denied that the minors were robbed.

The official added that the victims probably had a love affair.

"They were studying in class XI at a school in Lucknow. On November 9, they ran away from their homes," said the official.

The families of both the victims have registered cases at the Bantra police station in Lucknow.

While Akhilesh's parents have lodged the case under Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) of the IPC, Anamika's parents have lodged the case under Section 366 of the IPC (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her for marriage).