New Delhi, May 31
The Annual Plan for 2013-14 was approved at Rs 16,000 crore today which is 21 per cent higher than the plan expenditure of Delhi in the previous financial year. The plan was finalized in a meeting held between Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission also approved an amount of Rs 626 crore under the PSU plan which includes Rs 106 crore for Delhi Transco Limited, Rs 500 crore for Pragati Power Corporation Limited and Rs 20 crore for Delhi Financial Corporation.

About 93 per cent of the Annual Plan for 2013-14 would be financed through government's own resources.

A presentation was made by the Principal Secretary (Finance and Planning), Shakti Sinha, to highlight the status of various development projects and the initiatives taken by the city government. The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary D.M. Spolia and all the principal secretaries and secretaries of government.

Dikshit, speaking to the mediapersons after the meeting, said that the Planning Commission was requested to look into the difficulties being faced by the city government due to non-commissioning of Munak Canal, delay in completion of peripheral expressways, non-availability of gas for Bawana and the proposed Bamnauli plant.

She stressed the need for allocation of due share, which has been frozen at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02 in lieu of Central Taxes to Delhi.

The Planning Commission called upon the city government to concentrate on sewerage projects and improvement in water distribution.

It also took note of the ongoing Yamuna Interceptor Scheme and appreciated the proposed Delhi Metro expansion project.

"It appreciated the new initiatives such as e-governance, the new women technical university, regularization of unauthorized colonies, ownership rights in resettlement colonies, accelerating the pace of construction of EWS houses," the Chief Minister said.

New Delhi, May 31
A cab driver employed by Genpact, a business process management company in Gurgaon, was apprehended for allegedly dropping a female employee about a kilometre from her house in southeast Delhi's Amar Colony in the early hours on Thursday.

The driver, identified as Sunil Kumar, is a resident of Indira Colony in Faridabad. He was held under Section 188 (disobedience of an official order) of the Indian Penal Code.

After the Dhaula Kuan rape case, Delhi Police had issued an order in December, making it mandatory for BPOs, corporate and media houses to drop their female employees at their doorstep at night. Genpact allegedly violated the order and is liable to be punished under Section 188 of the IPC, according to the police.

"The company did not deploy either a security guard in the cab, which is in violation of the prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 of the CrPC," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast District) Gaurav Sharma.

A case has been registered against Sunil at the Amar Colony police station. "Investigation of the case is in progress and the role of the Genpact management for defying the prohibitory orders is being explored," said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East District) Gaurav Sharma.

The incident came to light when Assistant Sub-Inspector Subhash Chand and Constable Virender, posted at the Amar Colony police station, were patrolling Amar Colony A and B Blocks early on Thursday morning.

At about 4.40 am, they saw that a Mahindra Xylo car dropped a female employee at a deserted place on the main road. The area was located about a kilometre from her house.

When the woman narrated her plight to the officials, they chased the cab and the driver was apprehended. 

New Delhi, May 31
Offering discounts of 60 per cent to frequent Airport Metro users, the Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RInfra), through its Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), has introduced a new value-based 30-trip monthly pass.

With the pass, the cost of travel for a passenger from Dwarka Sector 21 to Shivaji Stadium (Connaught Place), for example, will come down to Rs 53 as compared to the single journey fare of Rs 150.

"Designed to make the daily travel more affordable in Airport Metro, commuters opting for this monthly pass will save more than 60 per cent over the existing single journey fares. The pass will cost between Rs 400 and Rs 2,000 for 30 trips, depending upon boarding and alighting stations," a spokesperson said. Apart from single journey tickets, Delhi Airport Metro Express offers various Smart Card options like stored value card and monthly passes for its customers.

A stored value card acts like a debit card with prepaid values loaded by the customer.

The fare is deducted automatically from the smart card at the exit. A 20 per cent flat discount is offered on a stored value card bringing in huge cost benefit to the commuters "Monthly passes are available in the denomination of 45 trips and 60 trips.

“While a 45 trip pass costs between Rs 500 and Rs 2,500, a 60-trip pass is priced between Rs 600 and Rs 3,000, depending upon boarding and alighting stations," the spokesperson said.

Reliance Metro also launched the Family Fare scheme recently where discounts can be availed of by a family or a group of two and above.

New Delhi, May 31
Recognizing the dearth of toilets in JJ clusters and slums of Delhi, whereon an average 37 persons use the same toilet, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has decided to come up with bio-degradable toilets in these areas.

To ensure efficient operation and maintenance, the proposal for provision of bio-degradable mobile toilet vans will be implemented on the public-private partnership basis wherein private partner will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the bio-toilets, said a senior DUSIB official.

The model of eco-friendly bio-degradable technology for human waste disposal has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and successfully adopted by the Armed Forces and the Railways.

"This technology is environment-friendly, maintenance-free and efficient without depending on conventional energy sources," said the official.

There are over 685 JJ clusters having about four lakh slums which are home to around 20 lakh people, whereas there are only 10,759 toilets available in these areas. As per the norms prescribed under the Environment Improvement of Urban Slums Scheme, minimum one toilet is required for 25 persons.

"Going with the estimate, there is a huge deficit of facilities for the residents of slums as 80,000 more toilets are required to be built," said the official.

This deficit occurred due to the fact that either sufficient space is not available in these clusters to build toilets or because of the objection of land owning agency or sewerage is not available to connect the effluent of mobile toilet vans, he added.

The DUSIB invited expression of interest to ascertain the availability and willingness of manufacturers to supply such facilities in JJ clusters in Delhi. Around 12 manufacturers have come forward for the supply and maintenance of the bio-toilets.

Non-availability of toilets is forcing the majority of slum dwellers to use open spaces with great sufferers being women.

The temporary facility created by the DUSIB, in the form of mobile toilet vans, is not environment-friendly.

Apart from providing toilet facilities, the board is mandated to prepare schemes for improvement of drainage, street paving, disposal of garbage, etc.