New Delhi, April 30
Taking up the issue of regularisation of services, contractual employees, mostly nurses and paramedical staff of many government hospitals and dispensaries, today went on strike while the patient-care services were hit hard during the day.

The employees demonstrated almost the whole day at Samta Sthal on Ring Road under the Contractual Health Employees' Union (CHEU). Their representative V.S. Dahiya said that they will continue the protest tomorrow. Amidst slogans, he said, "We have approached the government and even submitted our demands. But, no action has been taken and the government continues to be indifferent."

Earlier, a meeting of the representatives of the protesting employees was held with Principal Secretary (Health), Government of NCT, but it resulted in a stand-off. Following which the core committee of the unions of contract employees, including CHEU, has also given a notice of indefinite strike from May 14 if their demands are not met.

Protestors said as radiographers, lab technicians, operation theatre technicians, assistants, physiotherapists and nursing staff were on strike, patient-care services remained badly affected in many hospitals such as G.B. Pant Hospital, L.N. Hospital, Patel Nagar Hospital, L.B.S. Hospital, Acharya Bhikshu Hospital, Jagpravesh Chandra Hospital, Hedgewar Hospital, Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Ambedkar Hospital, Rao Tula Ram Hospital, Dada Dev Hospital, DDU Hospital and GTB Hospital.

At LNJP, one nurse orderly on the condition of anonymity said, "We have been demanding regularization of services. Now we get meagre pay of Rs 7,000 with Rs 6,200 in hand. Our salaries often get delayed and whenever there is a government holiday, we too have to be off work."

New Delhi, April 30
Four people, including a Delhi Police Head Constable, were killed in three road accidents across Delhi.

The first incident was reported from outer Delhi's Mundka area on Tuesday morning. A couple was killed and their son sustained severe injuries when the car they were travelling in rammed into an unidentified vehicle.

According to the police, the deceased are identified as Head Constable Satender (47) and his wife, Nirmala Devi (40). Satender was posted at the Nangloi police station in outer Delhi. Their son, Manoj (21), is undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri.

He is in a critical condition.

"They were returning from Haryana after attending a religious function in Sirsa. Their car rammed into the rear of a heavy vehicle and overturned," said a police officer.

In the second incident, a 35-year-old man was killed when his motorcycle collided with a road divider on Monday. The deceased is identified as Bittal, who is a resident of Mahavir Enclave in Uttam Nagar.

He works with a private firm. He was returning to his residence when the accident took place.

According to the police, he was killed on the spot.

In the third incident, a 40-year-old woman named Manju was hit by an unidentified vehicle near gate number six of the Kashmere Gate Metro station on Monday morning.

According to the police, Manju stays in Usmanpur. "A woman at Kashmere Gate said the victim collected garbage from there. We have not found the vehicle, as no one could note its registration number," said a police officer.

A case of rash driving and causing death by negligence under the Indian Penal Code sections has been registered at the Kashmere Gate police station.

The incident took place at about 1.15 am. The police were informed about it at 2.45 am.

The woman was rushed to the Sushruta Trauma Center in Civil Lines, where she was declared dead.

Her body has been preserved at the Sabzi Mandi mortuary.

New Delhi, April 30
An alleged former terrorist, who was involved in several bomb blasts, and a man, who is wanted in 38 criminal cases, mainly robbery, and had outwitted the police by escaping from their custody five times, were apprehended in Delhi today.

The two men are named Baljinder Singh, an alleged bank robber from Amritsar, and Kulvinderjeet Singh, a former terrorist from Ludhiana.

The special cell of the Delhi police was tipped off that the accused would arrive at Delhi in a Swift car on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. The police intercepted the car at a bus stop of Saroop Nagar in Delhi. The accused were arrested from there. Baljinder had fired at police personnel while trying flee the spot, but was overpowered, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (special cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

The police seized two pistols with 16 live cartridges from the accused. The car was stolen from Bihar. Kulvinderjeet had a forged identity card of the Punjab police and was impersonating inspector Paramjit Singh. Baljinder also possessed a fake identity card of the Punjab police and was posing as head constable Baldev Singh.

Between 2008 and 2009, Baljinder was involved in six cases, including robberies and dacoity, in Delhi. In one of the cases, he faces charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, said the official.

"In July, 2008, Baljinder committed a bank dacoity in Gurgaon and looted Rs 1.48 crore. In that robbery, a Sikh terrorist, Sajan Singh, was one of his associates," said Yadav.

"Baljinder was appointed as a special police officer in the Punjab police in 1992. He worked under head constable Joginder Singh, who was later dismissed from the service due to excessive absence. Joginder and Baljinder committed several robberies together. Later, Baljinder started his own syndicate and committed several armed robberies," said Yadav.

He allegedly came in contact with Punjab-based terrorists.

According to Yadav, Baljinder's associate Kulvinderjeet said he was a member of the Ikhwan-ul-Musalmin, a Kashmiri terrorist organization. "In 1995, Kulvinderjeet and other militants came to Delhi to execute bomb blasts. He had also planted a bomb near the Delhi Darbar Restaurant in Connaught Place in 1995, causing several casualties," said Yadav.

New Delhi, April 30
A fleet of around 3,000 autorickshaws will hit the city roads soon. The Delhi government has decided to grant permits to three-wheeled scooter rickshaws (TSRs).

The permits would be exclusively released to a TSR buyer who has purchased the vehicle, but could not get it registered.

Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami today stated that the city government has decided to approach the Supreme Court to remove the limit on the number of permits of TSRs in Delhi as there is no such restriction on the registration of other type of vehicles.

The department feels that with the grant of permits for more TSRs, there would be less pollution as these vehicles are propelled by CNG.

"The commuters have been experiencing a shortage of autorickshaws in Delhi. The transport department has been receiving representations from the public to grant more permits of TSRs in order to cater to the increasing number of commuters," said Goswami.

It has also been felt that the commuters prefer a TSR to reach near destinations.

Gowami stated that Supreme Court had allowed permission to grant additional 45,000 permits out of which 3,000 were kept unallocated, which would now be granted to eligible applicants.

Strict action would be taken against TSR dealers who have sold vehicles to people without caring about the non-availability of quota, he said.

"As sufficient permits are available in the reserved category and the number of takers is very less, the department decided to give sufficient publicity through leading newspapers to invite them to avail the quota provided to them," he said, expressing hope that these steps would go a long way in overcoming shortage of TSRs in Delhi.

New Delhi, April 30
A 32-year-old man llegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at the Jhandewalan Metro station this morning.

According to police, the victim has been identified as Keshav Chung a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase-I.

He came to the Jhandawalan Metro station at around 9:30 am and jumped in front of a train. The driver applied the emergency brakes.

Chung was critically injured in the accident and rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in New Delhi, where doctors declared him dead.

New Delhi, April 30
DU will start registrations for admission to its undergraduate courses for academic session 2013-2014 on June 5 and the first cut-off list will be declared by colleges on June 27.

Dean of Students' Welfare Professor J M Khurana today announced the schedule of admission to various undergraduate courses till the fifth list that will be out on July 11.

The registration forms will be issued and accepted from June 5 to 19 between 9 am and 1 pm excluding Sundays and after the list is out for admission those who make it can deposit fees from June 27 to 29 up to 1 pm. The second list will be notified on July 1 and those whose names figure in the list can go for admission during July 1 to 3 till 1 pm.

Then while the third and the fourth cut-off for various courses will be declared on July 4 and July 8, admissions for the same will happen between July 4 and 6 and July 8 and 11 respectively. For the admission going by the fifth list, students can complete the submission of fees during July 11-13.

For evening colleges, the timing for depositing fee has been kept: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm and further lists and conversions of OBC seats will be notified later, if required.

"There is no alternation in the date of admissions, though changes have been made in the registration process as this year forms will not be sold by post offices. However, the number of colleges where the forms will be available has been raised to 18. In the last academic session, forms were sold at 10 colleges and 10 post offices," the Dean said.

While the common pre-admission forms will be available both online and over the counter, this time DU has made the admission process easy for students by giving them a wider option of colleges.

Prof Khurana said, "Many times students fail to get admission even though they meet the cut-off percentage. So this year we have done away with that bar due to which the students just have to opt for a discipline in which they can take admission in any college whose cut-off percentage they qualify."

Meanwhile, registration forms will be available at Faculty of Arts, Miranda House, Kirori Mal College, Swami Shraddhanand College, Zakir Husain Delhi College in North and Central Delhi while in South Delhi, the points will be Joint Dean Students' Welfare Office, Deshbandhu College, ARSD College, Gargi College, PGDAV College and College of Vocational Studies.

In East Delhi, students can get the forms from Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Shyam Lal College, Vivekananda College and Maharaja Agrasen College and for West Delhi, the centres marked for the purpose are Rajdhani College, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College and Bhagini Nivedita College.