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Library Book scam
On last day in office, Lokayukta indicts CM
‘BJP MLAs unwilling to engage civic bodies for work in urban villages’
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Drive to encourage voters’ participation in Chandni Chowk
Portal to help voters know candidates
AIIMS to implement curbs on night stay by patients’ kin
Tomato prices touch Rs 80 per kg
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Library Book scam
New Delhi, November 5 "Our vigilance wing has initiated action against five officials who now face major penalty measures, including suspension of three increments or dismissal from their services," said Yogendra Singh Mann, NDMC public relations officer. The officials, including a retired additional director, have been accused of marking up costs of the copies of a book titled "Hamare Rashtriya Pratik", which discusses the country's national symbols. "The issue was raised in 2009 about the accused pushing up the unit cost through binding. The MCD records show that Rs 25 lakh was spent on buying copies of this book in 2009, at the rate of Rs 450 each, after the publisher provided 35 per cent discount on the books," Mann said. The five accused are: additional director (education) RKS Gaur, assistant director Ashok Kumar Sharma, assistant librarians Mohinder Singh Saini and Sartpal Singh and account officer Premlata, he said. "While Gaur is retired now, measures against the rest have been initiated. The effects of the vigilance department action will be for life. Leaving one, all the four officials now fall under the NDMC, post-MCD's trifurcation," Mann said. He said, "The accused will be given option to refute the charges, but if they are proved, it would result in serious consequences." In August, the North Corporation had suspended seven employees, including five engineers, in the bribery case involving Micromax mobiles co-founder Rajesh Aggarwal. In the trifurcated MCD, there are over 1,700 corporation schools with more than 1,200 having a library each, he said. |
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On last day in office, Lokayukta indicts CM
New Delhi, November 5 In a judgement on the last day of his office, Sarin issued the order on a complaint filed by the Delhi BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan against Dikshit alleging she issued provisional regularisation certificates with an intention to lure voters, officials said. "On the question of provisional certificates being issued prior to the election, we have noticed that the conditions of the Supreme Court order have not been complied with. "So we have requested the President that in such cases, the person concerned should be advised to shun these so-called pre-election sops," Sarin told reporters. In his complaint, Harsh Vardhan had said it was a misconduct on part of the Chief Minister and regularisation was wrong and also in contravention to a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that ahead of regularisation of any unauthorised colony, they should provide basic amenities, said Vardhan's lawyer Sunita Bhardwaj. The petition also said that colonies or parts of colonies falling in notified or reserved forest areas cannot be regularised. The Delhi Government had issued provisional regularisation certificates to over 1,218 unauthorised colonies before the 2008 assembly polls and had announced regularisation of 1,639 colonies just before the polls now. These unauthorised colonies in which around 40 lakh people reside do not have basic amenities. In 2010, a complaint was filed before the Lokayukta's court and notices were issued to Dikshit and the Delhi Government.
— PTI |
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‘BJP MLAs unwilling to engage civic bodies for work in urban villages’
New Delhi, November 5 "Harsh Vardhan also objected to get development work executed in urban villages called Ghondli in Krishna Nagar Assembly segment for which the Delhi Urban Development (UD) department had sanctioned
the funds," said Arvinder Singh Lovely, UD Minister. Singh criticized Vardhan for planning to set up an authority like the DDA to take care of development in the unauthorized colonies and villages as it is contrary to his earlier stand. While addressing a press conference today, Singh stated that the saffron party is assuring a gazetted holiday on Chhath once it comes to power. The number of gazetted holidays has been prescribed by the Union Government which cannot be increased without replacing any existing holiday with Chhath, Singh said. "The BJP would have to make it clear as to which holiday it would like to get deleted from the list. The intention of BJP in raising this issue is to mislead people," he said. Agencies, including Irrigation and Flood Department, Revenue Department, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Police, PWD, DUSIB and MCDs, have been instructed to make elaborate arrangements for Chhath Puja. Minister of Public Works Department Raj Kumar Chauhan said that the government has requested the Haryana Government to release extra water for the Ghats. Chauhan expressed surprise over the concern raised by Vardhan on the alleged unsatisfactory conditions in the unauthorized colonies and villages. He stated that Vardhan had always opposed the regularization of unauthorized colonies. On April 2, 2002, he had criticized the Congress Government for its decision to regularize the unauthorized colonies, stating that the move would burden the government which would eventually lose control on these areas. "He was dead against including more colonies under the agenda of regularization," said Chauhan. Out of 1,639 colonies which applied for regularization in 2007-08, as many as 1,218 were issued provisional regularization certificates and 895 colonies were regularized on September 4, 2012. The development works have been carried out in 702 colonies. |
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Drive to encourage voters’ participation in Chandni Chowk
New Delhi, November 5 A special camp was organised in the area to enrol homeless citizens and transgenders belonging to Central Delhi. The camp was organized at a "rain basaira" (night shelter), Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency. The SVEEP is an integral part of the voting campaign for increasing voters' turnout in the forthcoming assembly elections to be held on December 4. "The response was very positive and a total 75 homeless and nine transgender voters filled in the form No. 6 for enrolment in voters' list," said a senior official. The camp was organized in collaboration with a non-government organization, Butterfly and Naz. "More such camps will be organised to increase the voting percentage in the assembly elections," he said. |
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Portal to help voters know candidates
New Delhi, November 5 The idea behind the portal, which was launched in 2011, is to empower the voters ahead of the next wave of the elections with 150 million first-time voters as per Census 2011 starting from the upcoming assembly elections slated to happen in Delhi, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram this year. It would help voters know about various candidates in fray for the elections, their assets and criminal charges, if any. There are sections like 'Know Your Candidate' and 'Know Your MLA and MP' that provide relevant information such as assets and liabilities of candidates, their criminal background, etc to help the voter make an informed choice. For the common man, election results mean the implementation of public policies reflecting the already-stated goals and objectives in the manifesto of the political party brought to power. 'Empowering India', an initiative by the Liberty Institute and recipient of the UN World Summit Awards (WSA) in 2012 at Cairo and the 2009 Manthan Award for South Asia in the same category, stands an information bank with reliable source of quantitative and qualitative information on political parties, their candidates and electoral results dating as early as 1952. |
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AIIMS to implement curbs on night stay by patients’ kin
New Delhi, November 5 However, the rule of allowing one member of the family to stay with the patient would still continue, AIIMS officials said today. "The step has been taken to enhance the security on the hospital premises as it is difficult to segregate genuine family members of patients from others," they said. "The outdoor patient department (OPD) services usually closes at 1.30 pm. And the special clinics shut by 6 pm. Yet a large number of people keep loitering around on hospital premises till late in the night. "In the recent past, there have been a few cases of theft too," they added. Moreover, with an eye on maintaining hygiene, the hospital administration has also decided to keep a strict watch on those found occupying certain spots along the corridors for a long time. "It has also come to our notice that there are some people who occupy certain places in the corridor, cook their food, wash utensils and clothes, leading to sanitation problems. "Also, a lot of water gets wasted," they said, adding that the family members were being urged "to go to the Delhi government night shelters situated across the road". The idea is to prevent the spread of infection on the premises and maintain hygiene along with the safety of the patients' belongings.
— PTI |
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Tomato prices touch Rs 80 per kg
New Delhi, November 5 Last week, tomoato prices were ruling at Rs 40 per kg. According to traders at Delhi's wholesale mandi at Azadpur, tomato prices have gone up sharply as arrivals from Himachal Pradesh have almost stopped with onset of winter, while supplies from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are also low. Arrival of tomatoes have declined in Delhi to 15-20 trucks against 35-40 trucks before Diwali, they added. Onion prices have moderated to 60 per kg, down from peak of Rs 100 kg last month. Potato, onion and tomatoes are the three most common vegetables used in every household. As per the government data, tomato was being sold at Rs 80 per kg in Port Blair and Rs 70 in Aizwal. It was cheapest Rs 15 per kg in Bhopal. The average for 57 cities was Rs 40 per kg. Tomato was ruling at Rs 60 per kg in Jammu, Cuttack and Rourkela and Rs 45 in Thiruvananthapuram. The data put price ruling in Delhi at Rs 48 per kg even though retail rates were as high as Rs 80 per kg.
— PTI |
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Shiv Nadar to expand educational programmes
New Delhi, November 5 The outlay will be spread over the Foundation's existing initiatives as well as new ones. This include VidyaGyan-a residential leadership academy for meritorious rural children at Bulandshahr and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, SSN Institutions, Shiv Nadar University located in Greater Noida, Shiv Nadar School and Shiksha, a new initiative to eradicate illiteracy, noted Shiv, who is the first Indian to bag the BNP (global private bank) Paribas Grand Prize for individual philanthropy. Further, while sharing the details about the Foundation's investment account from its first Annual Report with the media, he said the organisation had invested over Rs 1,800 crore till March 2013 with an additional investment of up to Rs 1,220 crore till the end of the current financial year. Roshni Nadar Malhotra, trustee of the Foundation, said, "In the last 20 years of its journey, the Foundation has directly impacted 15,000 students and created 2,000 first generation learners. |
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