New Delhi, February 9
Students of leading educational institutes in the Capital are lending a hand to government agencies and other civic bodies by helping them in conducting several studies, including one that would observe the pollution levels at the Metro stations. Another study focuses on remedies to minimize road mishaps in the Capital while a third study aims at attempts to learn the extent of proper implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) in the schools.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, is conducting a study on the reasons behind the road accidents in all the traffic circles in the city. The Delhi traffic police aims to analyze all fatal and non-fatal accidents with the help of this report and will then deliberate on possible solutions.

"For example, if accident analysis found that over speeding is the reason, we will ensure that motorists do not cross the speed limit. If the fault is in the road design or engineering, the traffic police will approach the road owning agency to rectify the problem. Even a marginal decrease in accidents will immensely be beneficial if the implementation of finding in the studies help us save a few lives," said a senior traffic police official, explaining how the survey would be useful.

In another study, 50 students from different colleges, including IIT, Delhi School of Economics, Lady Sri Ram and St Stephen's, are conducting an in-depth survey of government schools in the Capital. From each district, nearly 200 families are being interviewed on school infrastructure, quality of the mid-day meal, water and toilet facilities, teachers and cleanliness.

The trends emerging from the six surveys will be published next month. However, students say that the results so far are very discouraging. "It has been three years since the RTE Act was passed and it is very shocking that the national Capital is one of the worst performing states when it comes to the RTE implementation," says Abhishek Upadhyay, an electrical engineering student from IIT and also coordinator of the project.

The surveys have been conducted in Rithala (northwest), Nizamuddin and Malviya Nagar (south), Timarpur (north), Daryaganj (central), Munirka (southwest) and Trilokpuri (east). Commenting on some of the early trends, Upadhyay says: "Mid-day meal is a big concern in schools in all areas, except in south Delhi. In many schools, children are bringing their lunch boxes. Cleanliness is another major issue. While there are separate toilets for girls and boys, they are not clean. Schools have infrastructure but their maintenance is poor."

Civil Engineering Department of IIT-Delhi and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation have also undertaken a study to find out the levels of pollutants in the air at the Patel Chowk and Chandni Chowk stations. IIT will also formulate an indoor air quality monitoring protocol - the minimum air quality limits - for the Metro stations and precautionary measures to be taken.

"Worldwide, Metros have similar standards and the moment the pollution level crosses the minimum limit, automatic measures come into effect to neutralise the rising level. Through the study we want to know the level of pollution at underground Delhi Metro stations," said IIT Prof Mukesh Khare.

New Delhi, February 9
On the penultimate day of the World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan today, major publishers gave heavy discounts to lure visitors. It being a Saturday, more people visited the fair.

At Hall Number 1, Sage Publishers, Penguin India along with other e book stores started discounted schemes to increase the sales. However, a stall at Hall number 2 that featured used books at just Rs 100 each remained a favourite throughout the day.

"There is no place to stand and quietly surf through a book. There is taker for every kind of book. We are selling books like hot cakes. It has been the busiest day for us so far," said a volunteer at the stall today.

From Self help, Fiction, Non Fiction to Indian and international writers, biographies and hobby books, the fair offered some of the best deals to the visitors.

Stalls selling audio and e-books also witnessed a brisk business today attracting a steady stream of booklovers. Many students looking for e-books and sample papers to prepare for their CBSE exams also thronged the fair.

"Most of those buying audio books are busy professionals who prefer to listen to books on the move as they may not have time to read. We have sold about 1,000 audio books at the fair. We soon plan to launch audio books in regional languages as well," said a sales executive at Elsevier, one of the exhibitors.

Stalls of leading national and regional magazines and newspapers also came forward and offered discounted subscriptions, along with a free copy of their current issue in some cases.

The fair organizers are expecting much heavier rush on the last day of the fair tomorrow.

"We will visit the fair tomorrow as well. Discounts are likely to further jump up and this is one of the best places to find such distinct variety of books at one spot. Even as several favourite authors have sold out today itself, we are expecting more stock tomorrow," said Prakarti, a visitor at the fair today.

New Delhi, February 9
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today laid the foundation stone for the extension of elevated Barapulla flyover from Sarai Kale Khan to INA Market in a function organized at Sarai Kale Khan.

She said that the city government has, in principle, also agreed to extend the elevated road from Sarai Kale Khan to Mayur Vihar under the IIIrd Phase.

The cost of the first extension would be Rs 530 crore and it would be commissioned at the earliest.

The commissioning of all the phases would reduce the distance between East Delhi and Noida resulting in a big relief to the commuters and saving of fuel.

PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan presided over the function whereas local MP Sandeep Dikshit and MLAs Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Neeraj Basoya and Secretary PWD Arun Baroka were present.

The extension starting from Sarai Kale Khan to INA Market at Aurobindo Marg has already been cleared. The 3.98-km-long extended elevated road would have a dual carriageway of nine meter each.

Total six loops would be constructed to provide connectivity from the elevated road.

New Delhi, February 9
Reacting to the hanging of Afzal Guru, BJP Delhi Pradesh president Vijender Gupta has said that the people at large and the families of the victims of terrorism would get peace only if terrorism is finished in India totally.

To get rid of terrorism, the government will have to act seriously and take decisions fast, he said.

He said that the way in which the Pakistan-trained terrorists dared to attack the Parliament of India on December 13, 2001, one cannot find a comparison anywhere. Afzal was the mastermind of this incident.

He was awarded capital punishment by the Supreme Court of India years ago and today he was hanged. Afzal should have been hanged during the tenure of President Pratibha Patil.