New Delhi, September 20
The BJP today promised a number of measures for traders which include abolition of trade licences, survey of unauthorised colonies to identify roads with mixed land and commercial use, simplification of value added tax system, rollback of hike in penalty, etc, if the party comes into power.

At a joint conference with the leaders of three municipal corporations–East, North and South MCD–Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel said that all the civic bodies had decided to abolish the mandatory requirement of getting trade licences after every two years. The MCDs will pass the proposal to amend the relevant Act and send it to the Delhi Government.

He also announced that no MCD official would visit the traders’ establishments till this process reached a logical conclusion so that traders were not harassed in any way.

He also said that the MCD had identified 351 roads where more than 70 per cent activities were commercial in nature. The BJP-ruled municipal corporations have already sent proposal to the Delhi Government for declaring all these identified roads commercial.

The BJP-ruled MCDs will be conducting a survey of all those roads which are eligible, according to the Master Plan norms, to be declared mixed and commercial land use. If the BJP comes to power in Delhi, it will declare all those roads in unauthorised colonies to be under mixed and commercial land use category where commercial activities are more than 50 per cent and 70 per cent respectively, Goel said.

He said filing VAT every two months would be done away with. It will be made simpler for traders to file VAT with the income tax department so that they do not need an expert to file their VAT.

Goel said a revolving fund for social security of small traders will be created with a fixed percentage of VAT and other taxes paid by the traders. The small traders and their families will be provided help in the event of an accidental fire in their shop, theft or accidental death, natural calamities or any other untoward incident which affect their social security.

A high-power committee comprising the representatives of the Delhi Government, the civic bodies and traders will be constituted. The high-power committee will be authorised to take decisions on the matters related to traders, he said.

Announcing these measures, Goel and senior leaders of the three municipal corporations said, “The abolition of trade licences and introduction of a trader information form will go a long way in helping the traders, particularly the small traders in carrying out their businesses. It will free them from the clutches of inspector raj in Delhi.”

New Delhi, September 20
The opposition parties in the city have been misleading people by making false promises of bringing substantial reduction in power tariff on their coming to the power, said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Giving a strong reply to the BJP assurance on reducing the power tariff up to 30 per cent, the Chief Minister said that the BJP and other parties were keen to capture power by instilling false hopes. They can bring down the tariff rates by only effecting longer power cuts up to 10 hours or more. It is for the public to opt between a dark city and an illuminated city.

Inaugurating the work of sewerage system in Kondly in East Delhi, the Chief Minister said, “Our government is sensitive to the needs of the poor and middle class families as it has given relief in power tariff to around 73 per cent households in the city. The subsidy given by the government has been increased from Rs 1 to Rs 1.20 up to 200 unit consumption and between 201 and 400 units, the tariff has been brought down from Rs 5.80 to Rs 5 per unit.

She asked people to keep off such forces as they have no plan of development. The city government during the last 15 years has developed Delhi on all fronts.

Dikshit referred to the development taken place in all the sectors, including transport, education, health, basic infrastructure, unauthorized colonies, economic condition and social sectors.

The Food Security Programme is going to help around 75 lakh persons in Delhi. The government is committed to overcoming hunger in the city, the Chief Minister added.

New Delhi, September 20
A Border Security Force (BSF) inspector was allegedly beaten in a road rage incident that took place in the Dwarka area of southwest Delhi this afternoon.

According to the police, the victim has been identified as G Anand. He is presently posted in Bangalore. The police said the victim was on leave in Delhi. He was heading to a private hospital when the incident took place.

The police were informed about the incident at 12.30 pm. Anand was travelling in a Wagon-R car with his family and was on his way to the hospital. When he had crossed sector-19 Nirankari Chowk, a speeding Swift car coming from the wrong direction, hit Anand’s car.

Anand got out of his vehicle to inspect the damage. As the inspector told the Swift car driver to drive carefully, he allegedly became angry and telephoned his friends. They soon came and beat up Anand while arguing with him. When his wife and other family members tried to intervene, the miscreants also misbehaved with them.

After the incident, the driver and his friends fled from the spot. Anand was admitted to a nearby government hospital. A case in regard to the incident has been registered by the police, who are searching for the culprits.

New Delhi, September 20
Former Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s domestic help allegedly committed suicide at the servant quarters of his official residence in Raisina Road today, the police said. Jiven Sanga (23) belonged to Jharkhand’s Giridih district and had been working at the Raisina Road bungalow for the past one year. The police said he had recently gone to his native village and returned last week.

He used to report for duty at 6.30 am every day, but today he did not turn up. Other staff members went to Sanga’s room and found him hanging from a cloth tied to a window grill. The police were informed. His body has been preserved at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for a postmortem. Investigating officers searched Jiven’s room, but they found no suicide note. The police suspect that he took the extreme step due to family problems. His colleagues told the police that he never confided in anyone, so no one knows about his problems.

Although some injury marks were found on his body, the police have ruled out the possibility of foul play. Jiven’s sisters in Jharkhand have been informed about his death.

New Delhi, September 20
Three more persons were arrested today for allegedly supplying drugs to the friends of a US-based NRI, Anmol Sarna, who according to the police was murdered on September 14 after taking the drugs at a party with his friends in south Delhi’s Kalkaji area.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Bhuvan, alias Poter, Nehul and Dushyant.  “The three accused were caught in Noida, after a tip-off this morning. They sold drugs to make fast money.

One of their accomplices managed to escape and we are searching for this person,” said a police officer.

They are students. Dushyant is allegedly a friend of Anmol’s friend, Madhav, who was earlier arrested for consuming LSD at the party. Anmol’s other friends, Shivang, Rhythm and Pranil, were also arrested for consuming the drug.

According to the police, on September 11, Madhav, Anmol and Shivang had allegedly bought five doses of the drug from the three accused in Noida.

Sources said Dushyant works as an event manager. There is allegedly evidence that shows that he booked consignment of drugs online.

He procured LSD through his Singapore and Hong Kong-based contacts and sold it in Delhi. Generally, he bought the consignments twice a year. 

Sources said there is an e-mail ID through which Dushyant allegedly took orders for drugs and delivered it to addresses. A bank account has also been seized, in which huge money flow from abroad is detected. The police said that there are sufficient emails that can establish that Dushyant procured large quantities of drugs from China, which were sent through courier services.  

Meanwhile, two private security guards, Surender Bali (46) and Naresh Mishra (60), were arrested for allegedly murdering Anmol by hitting his head with their batons, according to the police. Ajit Sahi, an editor with Tehelka, who claims to be an eyewitness to the beating, said that the guards didn’t thrash Anmol on his head, but only on his body.

Sahi further claims that the police have not taken his statement, although they have taken the statements of three people from his locality.

New Delhi, September 20
The debate around the police action against a Delhi University teacher Dr G N Saibaba who has been charged with having links with naxals looks to be deepening with each day.

On the issue, writer-activist Arundhati Roy today lashed the government for its green hunt operation while accusing it and the police authorities of targeting Saibaba for his attempts to organise an international tribunal to look into the matter of atrocities perpetuated in the name of anti-naxal action.

She was speaking during a public hearing on the DU north campus where those backing Saibaba, human rights activists, several Left leaning members of Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), Joint Action Front for Democratic Education (JAFDE), some retired academicians of DU and JNU and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, strongly condemned the developments followed by a raid on the residence of Saibaba on September 12.

Those defending him argue that “having an opinion doesn’t criminalise anybody” and all this are allegedly premeditated attempts to harass, frame and implicate Saibaba under the “draconian provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).”