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Lid off 363 gold seizures at IGI Airport
BJP demands all-party meet on water scarcity
Exempt Sikh women from wearing helmet, DSGMC to LG
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Minor fire outside Rajiv Chowk Metro station
Four held for robbing Afghan businessman
Attack on Congress legislator condemned by DPCC
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Lid off 363 gold seizures at IGI Airport
New Delhi, April 19 The Customs department at IGI Airport said that it has seized 352 kilograms of gold between April 1, 2013 and March 31, this year. Three hundred and sixty-three cases of gold seizures were registered during this period. The gold that was to be smuggled into the country was worth Rs 98 crore. In the financial year of 2012-13, the Customs had seized 6.8 kilograms of gold at the airport that was worth Rs 1.5 crore. The seizures were lesser in 2011-12, when the Customs had recovered 2.1 kilograms of gold worth Rs 0.6 crore. Sources in the Customs department at the airport said that the ratio of seized versus unseized gold is 1:12, which is an indication to the amount of gold that is illegally hitting the Indian markets. The data has been collected from the department. There have been several attempts to smuggle gold at IGI Airport this year. The Customs department caught 10 Afghan nationals, including nine women, on March 16 this year for allegedly trying to smuggle 38.4 kilograms of gold. The seized gold is worth Rs 10.6 crore, which has been the highest seizure this year from a passenger at IGI Airport. The Afghans were caught when they did not declare gold. According to the laid-down procedures, a passenger has to declare at the airport's "Red Channel" that he is carrying gold. Furthermore, a passenger can carry only a kilogram of gold, if he has been staying abroad for at least six months. The second highest amount of gold was seized from a Syrian national on March 28 this year, according to the Customs. The gold seized from this passenger was 18 gold bars, each weighing a kilogram, valued at Rs 4.9 crore. The Customs department said that for the past few months, the smugglers have been using the airport as a transit point. On February 16, the Customs had seized four kilograms of gold worth Rs 1 crore from five people at IGI Airport. They had travelled from different airports in India and abroad and their flights were timed to reach within an hour of each other.
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BJP demands all-party meet on water scarcity
New Delhi, April 19 Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the LG should also call former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the meeting so that he might explain on what grounds he had promised to supply 680 liters of water per day to each consumer. Incidents of fighting are often reported from various areas of the Capital in summer when people do not get sufficient supply of water. Some days ago, a woman was killed after a fight over water. In this season, Delhi is likely to face shortage of water. Keeping it in view, the LG should call a meeting to find out the solution, said Vardhan. The authorities concerned get as many as 45 complaints about scarcity of water, supply of sewage-mixed water, etc. The reality is that the water treatment capacity of Chandrawal plant is 90 million gallon per day, Wazirabad 131 mgd, Haiderpur 216 mgd, Nangloi 40 mgd, Bawana 20 mgd, Bhagirathi 110 mgd and Sonia Vihar 140 mgd. These water treatment plants do not work to their full capacity at any time. At best they treat 500 to 600 mgds of water daily. Additional 100 mgds of water is procured through rainy well, tube well, etc. The total supply of water per day is between 600 and 650 mgd. Out of this, 40 per cent water is lost in theft and leakage, he said. According to the data of Delhi Jal Board, only 60 per cent people are supplied water by the board. The rest of them depend on the tanker mafia and the private water suppliers. The condition in the areas like Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Shahjahanabad, etc., is worse where people thirst for even a bucket of water at times, Vardhan said.
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Exempt Sikh women from wearing helmet, DSGMC to LG
New Delhi, April 19 In a letter written to the LG, Manjit Singh said "amritdhari" and baptised women wear headgear. So, it is not possible for them to wear a helmet on turban. This is against the Sikh religion and such order cannot be made compulsory. Having got the information for compulsory helmet wearing by pillion riding women, there is great resentment among the Sikh women who are up in arms against this issue. Manjit Singh appealed to the LG that the proposal must be reviewed. He also said that the previous government led by Sheila Dikshit had exempted the Sikh women on religious grounds by making amendment to Section 115 (2) of the Delhi Motor Vehicle Rules, 1993. He also said that wearing helmet by a woman should be left to her only. But Sikh women in general should be exempted from the law. A proposal making it mandatory for women travelling on two wheelers to wear helmets has been sent to the Election Commission for approval, pending which the transport department will come out with a notification. A month after the notification, the rule will become applicable, sources said. |
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Minor fire outside Rajiv Chowk Metro station
New Delhi, April 19 According to fire officials, a rubber mat near gate number 1 and 2 caught fire and thick smoke emanating from it entered the station due to which the fire alarm was sounded at the station. Passengers were evacuated as services were interrupted briefly and later resumed by 1.28 pm. Three fire tenders were rushed to the site and the fire was brought under control. Rajiv Chowk station is a main interchange station on busy Dwarka and Nodia City Centre/Vaishali route (Blue Line) and Jehangirpuri and HUDA City Centre route (Yellow Line). A DMRC spokesperson said that the fire or smoke did not emanate from the Metro system. However, as a precautionary measure the station was closed at 1.22 pm and reopened at 1.28 pm as everything was under control and safety ensured. The spokesperson claimed that the smoke emanated due to burning of PVC material outside the gate in Central Park, which also opens in the station toward B-block of Connaught place. Incidentally, "Fire Safety week" is being observed by Delhi Metro from April 14 to April 20. Earlier, on April 11, passengers noticed sparks and smoke emanating from the last coach of a moving metro train from Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre (Yellow Line). The train was halted between the two stations and the passengers deboarded the train after some sparks were seen in the rear car causing panic among passengers.
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Four held for robbing Afghan businessman
New Delhi, April 19 The arrested men have been identified by the police as Arif Khan (38), Yashvir Singh (43), Agha Khan (42) and Wali Agha (25). While Arif and Yashvir are Indians, Agha and Wali are Afghans, according to the police. They were arrested from Nizamuddin yesterday. "The police are searching for the group's mastermind Nadeem. We are trying to verify if they are involved in earlier incidents of crime," Yadav added. The police said that Agha had allegedly approached Arif and Yashvir with a plot to rob Afghan businessmen, who often stay at the Sameer Guest House in the Ballimaran area of Chandni Chowk. Agha informed the two men that his cousin, Wali, works at a restaurant called "Kabul Zaika", which is located near the guest house and he could point out the customers who carry large amounts of cash. According to the police, Wali had allegedly informed the other accused about an Afghan businessman named Shamim, who would be travelling to Kabul, Afghanistan, with a heavy amount of cash. On the morning of April 8, when Shamim left the guest house to go to the airport, he was stopped by three of the accused who introduced themselves as police officers. "These men who were posing as police officers told him that he was carrying drugs or fake currency and he had to be searched. Shamim became suspicious and raised the alarm. Some locals gathered there. A Head Constable from the nearby police booth also came to the spot," said Ravindra Singh Yadav, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime). The accused acted confidently when the Head Constable came to the site of the incident. They told him that they were from the Special Staff (of the Delhi Police) and have information that Shamim was carrying drugs and fake currency. The Head Constable asked the accused to frisk the man at the police booth and not on the road. "They went to the police booth where the accused men searched Shamim. When they found huge amount of foreign currency, they told the Head Constable that they are taking the Afghan national to their office as he was carrying fake currency. The accused who were in a red Indica car forced Shamim to sit inside it and left the police booth. They drove the car towards Delhi's IGI Airport and on their way, thrashed, robbed him of 1,27,500 US dollars and dumped him near Mahipalpur," added Yadav. The police apprehended the four accused from Nizamuddin and allegedly recovered Rs 16,00,000, a Honda motorcycle, a LED TV, a DVD player, an Indica car that was used in the crime.
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A minor fire today broke outside the Rajiv Chowk Metro station here, forcing authorities to halt the train service and close the station for a while.
According to fire officials, a rubber mat near gate number 1 and 2 caught fire and thick smoke emanating from it entered the station due to which the fire alarm was sounded at the station.
