New Delhi, May 21
Expressing concern over increasing number of missing children in the city, the Delhi government today opposed the Delhi Police's decision to close such cases after one year.

The number of missing children not being traced in the past five years has registered a steady increase with over 3,700, majority of whom are girls, went missing from Delhi homes and are still untraceable.

The police has recently issued a circular regarding investigation cases pertaining to missing children pending more than one year, whereby it authorized the investigating officials to close the cases after expiry of one year.

The circular issued by the police on April 9 states that if senior officials of the rank of Additional Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police are satisfied after the expiry of a period of one year that investigation into all aspects related to the case has been completed, they may authorize preparation of the final report in the case.

The Ministry of Women and Child Welfare has written a letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner, stating that the circular is against public interest and likely to be misused by the investigating officials. "We have asked the Delhi Police to take back the order as it will be misused by the officials by not taking concrete action in recovery and rescue of missing children. They may also wait conveniently for one year to enable them to file final closure of the report," said a senior official of the ministry.

A time period can not be fixed to deal with such cases. Many cases are tracked one year after their institution. It will take many pending cases out of the ambit of investigation, he said. The letter also challenged the legal applicability of the circular, saying that the decision needs to be examined under legal point of view as well.

However, a senior police official said that the circular was issued as it was noticed that the number of pending cases of missing children is increasing steadily because there is a doubt in the mind of the investigating officials and the supervisory officials about the time period after which such cases can be closed.

In 2008, a total of 413 missing children remained untraceable, of which 222 were girls. In 2009, the number of untraceable cases of missing children was 485, of which 213 were girls, in 2010, 854 children, of which 416 were girls, 981 in 2011 with 559 girls and in 2012 the figure rose to 1,139 of which 623 were girls.

New Delhi, May 21
The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructural Development Corporation (DSIIDC) today extended payment time for allottees of Bawana-II (Bhorgarh) under relocation scheme.

An official of the DSIIDC said that this is the last opportunity for depositing the full cost with interest, failing which allotments shall stand cancelled without further correspondence in this regard, as notice for cancellations have already been served on such defaulters.

The official said that the allottees of Bawana-II (Bhorgarh) were given ample opportunities through various communications and public notices for making payment of cost of their plots to avoid cancellation of allotments. About two third allottees, out of 4,400, have already paid the cost of their plots and this opportunity is for the rest of one third defaulter units.

"On the representations from various allottees and associations, the corporation has decided to give one more but last and final opportunity for making the payments with usual interest latest by June 30. In this regard, individual notices to all defaulters have also been issued and the list is also displayed on the corporation's website," said a senior DSIIDC official.

Bhorgarh Industrial Area, under relocation scheme, is a newly developed area and recently the construction of factory buildings have also commenced by the allottees.

New Delhi, May 21
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has property tax worth Rs. 25 crore pending from four five-star hotels and Rs 509 crore against government properties, said Rajesh Bhatia, chairman of the High Powered Property Tax Committee.

Bhatia said that for the year 2012-13, property tax worth Rs. 25.52 crore is pending from four five-star hotels situated in the area under jurisdiction of the NDMC.

Located in Pitampura of Rohini Zone, City Park Hotel has to pay the property tax worth Rs 5. 80 crore, while Hotel Premiere Inn in Shalimar Bagh is to pay Rs 2.37 crore. Hotel Raddison Blue in Paschim Vihar and Hotel Crown Plaza in Rohini, Sector 10, are liable to pay property tax worth Rs 10. 62 crore and Rs. 6. 72 crore, respectively.

He said that similarly property tax of Rs. 509 crore is pending against different government organisations. This includes Rs 7. 83 crore against the Delhi Police, Rs. 77. 63 crore by the Northern Railway and Rs. 20. 27 crore against TPDDL. BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna have to pay property tax of Rs. 3. 46 crore and Rs. 2. 88 crore, respectively. Delhi University is yet to pay the property tax of Rs. 66. 48 lakh, Prasar Bharti has to pay Rs. 115. 37 crore and DDA Rs. 216. 99 crore as their property tax arrears.

He said that for 2013-14, the corporation has set the target of collecting property tax of Rs. 400 crore. "The aim is also to multiply the number of tax payers," he added.

The property tax department is facing acute shortage of staff with 43 posts of assistant assessor and collector, two posts of superintendents, 30 posts of head clerks and zonal inspectors, 145 posts of upper division clerks and 43 posts of lower division clerks, vacant. Due to shortage of staff, the work of tax collection and property survey is suffering. The efforts are being made to fill up the vacancies at the earliest, he added.

New Delhi, May 21
After the order of the Delhi Court in view of concerns raised about students with disabilities under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), the 14-member empowered committee of Delhi University today in a meeting discussed on how ways could be worked out to address their problems in particular to subjects under the mandatory foundation courses.

"Nothing was finalised while a lot of debate went on, especially with respect to visually challenged students," said a member of the committee.

The committee is to examine the proposed changes currently in place in the internal assessment scheme or examination pattern and suggest measures for modifying the FYUP for improving availability of reading material for students with disability.

A division bench of Justice Darmar Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath of the Delhi High Court has directed the committee to submit the interim report by June 7 on the same and thereafter the Academic Council take a decision on its recommendations.

It further maintained that the committee would examine the syllabus of the upcoming semester of the FYUP on priority basis and submit an interim report on these aspects by June 15. The direction of the court came after Sambhavana, an organisation working for differently abled teachers and students, filed a writ petition in the court, requesting a stay order against implementation of the FYUP.

The NGO is of the view that the current pattern of the syllabi is discriminatory as the programme does not take into consideration the specific requirements and aspirations of the students with blindness and other print-disabilities.

Delhi University today began the online admission process for the bachelors with honours in Management Studies under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). The course introduced from this year onwards, will have to appear in an entrance examination scheduled for June 26. The exam will be held at Delhi, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

"There is no prescribed syllabus or format for the entrance test. The following areas have been usually included in the entrance test in the past: quantitative ability, reasoning and analytical ability, general english, business and general awareness," said JM Khurana, Dean of Students Welfare. "The written test shall be of two-hour duration. It is designed to evaluate the aptitude of the candidates they will be required to attempt 100 questions in 120 minutes. There will be negative marking for wrong answers. Marking of multiple answers for one question shall be treated as wrong answer," read the statement on guidelines issued by the university.

Prof Khurana said that the final selection will be based on the performance in the written test and candidates for the relevant categories shall be called for the interview. The assessment for the final selection of candidates will be made for all categories with a 50 per cent for written exam, 30 per cent for Class XII result and 20 per cent for interview.

New Delhi, May 21
The Delhi government today announced setting up of a call centre for registering complaints on cutting of tree and to ensure better care of trees is under active consideration of the city government.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today discussed the issue at a review meeting on preparation for the next greening drive in the capital city. The meeting was attended by Secretary (Environment) Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests A.K. Shukla and other officials of the Forest Department.

"The residents have been facing difficulties in registering complaints on cutting of tree and apprehensions of such incidents resulting in obstacles for the department in taking a proactive step," said Kumar.

Dikshit instructed the Department of Environment to focus around malls, bus depots, aero city, school and college grounds and government offices, apart from giving more attention on nurturing the planted saplings. The officials were directed to chalk out a comprehensive action plan to plant between 10 and 15 lakh saplings during ensuing monsoon season.

The department will also keep a close eye on the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as around 15,000 trees are proposed for felling under the DMRC Phase-III and the land has also been identified for compensatory plantation by the department. The department had planted around four lakh saplings on different locations at Kakrola, Issapur, Mangeshpur, Sultanpur Dabas, Kharkhari-Jat Mall, Qutubgarh, Revla-Khanpur, Mukhmelpur, Ayanagar, Hindon Cut, etc.

The department is planning a media campaign to exhort one and all to join in the Plantation Drive. The department would made available saplings for free of cost at various petrol pumps, Mother Dairy booths, government offices and would also involve schoolchildren, eco-clubs, RWAs, trade associations, NGOs and all other interested agencies in the drive.

The issue of compensatory plantation was also discussed in the meeting and the department was asked to strictly enforce provisions of the Delhi Protection of Trees Act, 1994. The department has raised 2.54 lakh saplings as compensatory plantation on behalf of the user agencies since 2010-11 as a commitment of raising five tree saplings for every felling permission under the Act.