New Delhi, November 21
The Congress election manifesto released yesterday has no vision. It is just a repeat list of old promises that the party fails to keep. There is clarification on privatisation of water which has resulted in whooping bills, said Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel here today.

The manifesto exposed its anti-people approach as it does not talk about reduction of power and water tariffs and bringing down prices of essential commodities. No concrete vision or plan about ensuring safety of women is mentioned in it. Only lip service has been paid.

While addressing people during his "padyatras" and election campaigns in Babarpur, Rohtas Nagar, Seemapuri and the Gokulpuri Assembly constituencies for BJP candidates Naresh Gaur, Jitendra Mahajan, Rampal Singh and Ranjeet Kashyap, he lambasted the Congress for its doublespeak in the manifesto.

The Congress manifesto provides no solution to the problem of price rise. Only lip service has been paid by promising subsidised pulses and edible oil. The subsidies are not sustainable in the long run. This shows that the Congress is least bothered about finding solutions to the problems of price rise. The BJP would ensure proper supply of essential commodities round the year. Long-term contracts will be done with suppliers to bring down costs, the Public Distribution System will be revamped and made corruption and leakage free, cooperative stories on the lines of super bazars will be encouraged with financial and technical support from the Delhi Government, Goel said.

Despite the government facing flak for failing to crack down on crime against women, the Congress manifesto seems to have failed to come up with any promise to make Delhi safer for women.

The manifesto's five point agenda on "law and order: focus on women" includes rather uninspiring measures such as special training of police force, gender training and to increase number of women in the work force. The BJP strongly feels that there has to be complete modernisation of the police force in Delhi and a special protection force for women is to be required. And there should be fast-track courts for such cases. But none of these measures are listed in the manifesto.

In 2008 election, the Congress had made promise to get full statehood for Delhi. This is again mentioned in the manifesto.

The Congress has promised to extend Ladli Scheme (that provides Rs 1 lakh financial assistance to a girl child who completes Class XII) to Qabil Ladli (of additional Rs 50,000 to college going girls), but even the existing scheme has proved to be a complete flop. The CAG report clearly says that almost half of the beneficiaries are getting dropped out of the scheme, Goel added.

He also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for trying to misguide the people of Delhi by making promises on aspects, which fall outside the purview of the Delhi Government.

New Delhi, November 21
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that her party will make Delhi a more prosperous and people friendly city as the city can boast of its strong economy and the highest per capita income.

She expressed these views in a public meeting organized by the Congress in support of the Chandni Chowk Congress candidate for the assembly election at Tikona Park, Kashmere Gate.

While referring to the composite culture of Shajahanabad, She added that the Congress has nurtured the values of harmony and brotherhood. "Ours is the only party which has been keeping alive the spirit of unity and secularism. Our government is being complimented for ensuring non occurrence of any communal trouble," she said.

"We have has ensured a uniform development in the city. As far as the walled city is concerned, our government would strive to revive tram ways as the same would prove to be more suitable due to the logistic of the old city. We have been shifting age-old water pipelines with the new ones," Dikshit added.

Lauding the government's achievements, she said that the living condition in the Katras has improved and the Shajahanabad Development Corporation has also been working on the revival of the old glory.

She reiterated that the Congress is all set to meet any challenge from the Opposition. "The people remember the development undertaken by the Congress, hence, they cannot afford to slowdown the pace of development," she said.

New Delhi, November 21
Keeping in view the rush of contenders for the Delhi Assembly elections, the Delhi Electoral Office might have to install more than one Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at polling booths. Around 810 candidates were left in the fray after the final scrutiny.

An EVM can represent a maximum up to 16 candidates. As one button will have to be reserved for "None of the Above" (NOTA) option this time, only 15 names will be represented in the balloting unit.

According to the final list, there are about 15 constituencies which have more than 15 contenders fighting for the polls. A few of these are Narela with 16 candidates, Burari (25), Mundka (19), Kirari (21), Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Rajouri Garden (17) and Matiala (20).

"If there are more than 15 contestants from a particular constituency, a parallel EVM will be installed to accommodate all the contenders," said senior official of Chief Electoral Office (CEO).

According to election department officials, two balloting units can be joined to accommodate name of up to 31 candidates and the last 32nd button can be reserved for the NOTA option.

Out of the 900 candidates who filed valid nominations, about 90 withdrew their papers, which brought the final figure to 810, informed the official. Of the total figure of 900 valid nominations, 296 were by independents and 300 by those of small parties.

Earlier, the election department had received 1,748 nomination forms during the process.

After the time of withdrawal of nomination ended yesterday, the returning officers of the 70 constituencies checked the entire data and have prepared reports for the Election Commission.

There were 875 candidates in the fray in the 2008 elections.

"The final collection of data took long as there was an over 30 per cent increase in the number of nominations filed for these elections, as compared to 2008," he said.

In the 2008 assembly elections, 1,134 nominations were filed out which about 17 per cent (194) were rejected. There were 65 withdrawals on the last day in 2008, leaving 875 candidates in the fray.

New Delhi, November 21
In the wake of "inadequate and insensitive response" of the Delhi University authorities in matters of Pavitra Baradwaj and complaints of sexual harassment by Aruna Kumar of Delhi University ARSD College against the OSD, the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has decided to take a pro active stand on the matter and to work towards proper implementation of the Ordinance XV-D on Sexual Harassment.

According to DUTA and the Delhi University and College Karmachari Union (DUKU), both the instances have brought forth the fact that even after 15 years of Vishakha Judgement, which mandated institutions to address the problems of sexual harassment at the place of work, the institutions have "failed to deliver justice" in these cases.

"DU, which adopted Ordinance XV-D a decade ago, has failed to ensure proper implementation of the Ordinance," said DUTA president Nandita Narayan.

As a first step, the DUTA organised a workshop on the implementation of Ordinance XV (D) in DU on Tuesday in which teachers from more than 16 colleges and several university departments participated.

Following the first workshop, the DUTA has resolved to take up the matter with the Apex Committee and send a list of suggestions given by various participants to urge it to play a more pro-active role in not only monitoring the functioning of the Gender Sensitisation Committees (GSCs) and Complaints Committees (CCs), but also ensure the correct enforcement of the Ordinance and check violations.

It was also decided to draw up a list of resource material like films, etc., which could be used by GSCs in the campaign for gender awareness as well as a list of scholars, lawyers and activists who could be invited for such campaigns and as external members on CCs.

New Delhi, November 21
While keeping in view of a perceived security threat to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and an intelligence agency's hangar due to their proximity to a chain of hotels at Aerocity, the Delhi Police have made an elaborate plan to secure the complex.

The security plan was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation and the two agencies responsible for the security of the IGI Airport - the Central Industrial Security Force and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. "The plan was made in June and will be implemented," said a police officer, privy to the security plan.

The police in 2011 had objected to the setting up of Aerocity, where nine hotels are being presently constructed and five have already been made.

The police asserted that Aerocity posed as a security hazard, because it was a few hundred meters away from the airport runway and the hangar of the Aviation Research Centre of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

The hotels also have to receive a security clearance from the police before becoming operational. Only the J W Marriott has received the clearance.

The police estimate that after the completion of Aerocity there is likely to be a footfall of at least 50,000 people there.

According to the security plan, about 100 CCTV cameras will be installed at Aerocity, said the officer. There will be a central CCTV control room, which will be constructed by DIAL (the IGI airport operator) and supervised by the Delhi Police. This control room will be connected to the CCTV control rooms of all the hotels. The footage of the cameras can be viewed in the central control room.

"The CCTVs will focus on the rooftops of the hotels. We will be able to see who is going there and if that person is carrying something. A register will be maintained to record the names of the people who will go to the rooftops. The entrances to the rooftops have biometric systems and only certain people such as security officer of the hotel can enter the rooftops," explained the officer.

There will also be a perimeter-fencing- about 8 ft in height around Aerocity, according to the plan. The officer added that there will be four entry and four exit points, where hydraulic security bollards and CCTV cameras will be installed.

"Right now, there are only aluminium sheets around the complex that have several openings. And we recently did an inspection and saw only a few security personnel were present at the complex," said the officer.

Both the ministries are presently contemplating if private security guards or a government security agency such as the CISF be deployed at Aerocity.

New Delhi, November 21
A married woman was allegedly gangraped by three men at a office of property dealer in Vasant Kunj last evening. The police have arrested two of the accused, Ravinder and Sunny, who are property dealers. Their friend, who is the third accused, is still at large.

The victim knows the two property dealers. She and her husband would visit them at their office for a deal.

Last evening, she went alone to their office. They allegedly gave her juice laced with sedatives. After consuming the drunk, she fell unconscious and then the three accused allegedly gangraped her.

When she regained consciousness she reported the matter to the police. Ravinder and Sunny were arrested within hours of committing the crime. The police are searching for the third accused, whose identity has not been revealed.

New Delhi, November 21
A 30-year-old woman sustained several facial injuries when she resisted an attempt to sexually assault her by her husband's employee in the Ranhola area, west Delhi, last month, said a police officer today. The accused allegedly tried strangling her before stealing cash and jewellery from her house.

The police have arrested three men in this case. They have been identified as a contractor, Ram Prasad (25) and labourers, Om Prakash (19) and Sita Ram (22). Ram has claimed that he was angry with the victim, Tara Devi's husband Mahesh Kumar, over the employment of labourers, said the officer.

"Ram was jealous of Mahesh who had recently brought 10-15 labourers from his native place for employment," said DCP (West) Ranvir Singh.

On October 11, Ram allegedly conspired with Om to kill Mahesh or his wife and promised to give Rs 10,000 to Om. The next day, Om with Sita went to Mahesh's house, where they met Tara.

Finding Tara alone, Om allegedly attempted to sexually assault her, but she resisted. Om then tried strangling her and attacked her with an iron rod. They broke the lock of an iron box and decamped with cash and jewellery.