TOP STORIES

MCD ELECTIONS
Scramble for MCD tickets as parties raise bogeys
New Delhi, January 17
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday were engaged in shadow boxing with each accusing the other of trying to get the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls postponed even as both raised issues which could delay the elections to the civic body.

OUR REPRESENTATIVES! Congress ticket aspirants jostle for election forms which were distributed at the DPCC office on Thursday in the Capital. Party's Delhi unit president Subhash Chopra began doling out the forms, which will be distributed till January 22. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Schoolchildren rehearsing for the Republic Day parade at Rajpath in the Capital on Thursday.

Women dupe salesman, walk away with saris worth Rs 3 lakh
Noida, January 17
There is no end to the ingenuity of cheats and thugs this part of the state. Three well-dressed women, accompanied by a man, adopted a novel method to loot clothes worth about Rs 3 lakh from a textile showroom, ‘Image,’ in Jai Palace, not far away from the police post in Sector 27, last evening.

Parents too can breed violence in children
New Delhi, January 17
Lack of communication, extra burden, unfriendly environment, strained relations between mother and father and unrealistic expectations could be the main factors responsible for the violent actions of children – be it suicide or physical assault on parents and close relatives, psychiatrists of the Capital have said.

FARIDABAD
Centre opens purse for power supply
Faridabad, January 17
The Union Power Ministry has reportedly sanctioned Rs 80 crore for the development of power infrastructure in the district. The provision has been made under the Accelerated Power Development Programme (APDP) and it will focus on strengthening the distribution network and reducing transmission losses, it is learnt.

COMMUNITY

Where am I going? This question was uppermost in the minds of the motorists on Thursday morning in the Capital as dense fog reduced visibility to a few metres. — Tribune Photo Mukesh Aggarwal

Demolished structures keep rising from the debris in Capital
New Delhi, January 17
Several demolition drives have taken place in the national Capital in the past couple of years. However, it seems that most of the demolished illegal constructions have come up again on the same spot.

Credit card scheme benefits farmers
Sonepat, January 17
The Central Cooperative Bank Limited, Sonepat has advanced a total loan of Rs 54.05 crore to farmers, artisans, petty shopkeepers and other poor people in the district for launching self-employment ventures during the current financial year.

The lines and life of K. C. Aryan
Gurgaon, January 17
The sad demise of K. C. Aryan, a veteran modern Indian artist, will be mourned by all lovers of art, particularly by those in North India.

NCR BRIEFS
SYL canal decision hailed
Faridabad , January 17
Leaders and activists of the District unit of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) distributed sweets in the NIT Area here last night, in wake of the Supreme Court’s directive to the Punjab Government to complete Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal within a year.

• Anniversary
• HVP flays govt
• Chairman elected
• Robberies
• Factory gutted

Compost plant inaugurated
New Delhi, January 17
A compost plant for converting huge quantities of wastes generated by the Capital’s major fruit and vegetable markets into rich organic manure was inaugurated at Tikri Khurd, Azadpur by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today.

Police gears up to enforce civic sense
New Delhi, January 17
Even as the burgeoning traffic in the Capital is becoming a heavy burden, the Delhi Traffic Police is all set to meet the challenges despite the lack of adequate traffic police personnel.

CRIME

Two held for extortion racket on bus route
New Delhi, January 17
A special team of the Crime Branch today claimed to have busted a gang of extortionists and robbers operating in the buses plying between Karol Bagh-Ambedkar Nagar route and collecting ‘haftas’ from bus operators.

• Killers held

• Child rescued

• Cheat arrested
  
  

Delhi industrialists walk out on underdeveloped Bahadurgarh
Jhajjar, January 17
The Modern Industrial Estate (MIE) of Bahadurgarh, which was considered to be one of the fastest growing industrial towns of Haryana, is passing through a very critical stage, as development in terms of basic facilities still eludes it, thanks to the lethargic attitude of the authorities concerned.

BSNL fails to connect senior citizens
Faridabad, January 17
The performance of the government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has `failed’ to improve much, as far as releasing new connections and providing a trouble free service to its consumers are concerned. This is despite the recent announcement by the telephone provider that all the phones booked up till March 31, 2001 would be released soon and fault rate in the district would be brought under control soon.

LG amenable to allowing units to reopen: Khurana
New Delhi, January 17
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, today said that those polluting small scale and cottage industrial units, which were closed as per the Supreme Court directive, could resume work if they intended to begin production adopting non-polluting technology.

COURTS

Life term for attack on IT officer’s wife
New Delhi, January 17
A city court today convicted three accused, Raj Dahiya, Sanjay Singh and Anindo Ghosh, for the murderous attack on the wife of a Deputy Commissioner (Income Tax), Amitabh Shukla, and for killing their domestic servant, Vijay Kumar, on January 21, 1997.

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Death of an artist – Ashutosh Upadhaya
A fortnight back, Ashutosh Upadhaya regaled theatre lovers in Delhi with his cameo performance as the vivacious chairman in Ranjit Kapoor’s hilarious political satire, Aik Sansadia Samiti ki Uthak Baithak. When hordes lined outside the Sri Ram Center auditorium to greet this exceptionally talented actor, industrialist and philanthropist, few knew it was the artist’s last act.

Ashutosh Upadhaya’s (3rd from left) theatre group, The Entertainers.

Art for a restless mind
As you enter ‘Gallery Espace’ at New Friends Colony, you will probably ask the curator: ‘Where are the paintings?’ A trifle taken aback by your query, she will point at Seema Ghurayya’s huge abstract works of art that bedeck the gallery’s wall.

SPORTS

JRA lift Teri Super Sixes Cup
New Delhi, January 17
JRA (Jai Ranganathan Associates) humbled hosts Teri (Tata Energy Research Institute) by 18 runs to lift the third Teri Super Sixes Tournament at the Teri Oval in Gurgaon.

SPORTS BRIEFS
Hitesh Sharma appointed referee

• Delhi Police beat N D Heroes

• SRCC, Jamia win in Zakir Husain Soccer
  
  

Speaker wants LG to take nod on Master Plan
New Delhi, January 17
Reacting sharply to the Capital’s Master Plan 2020 announced recently by Lieutenant Governor Vijai Kapoor, Assembly Speaker Prem Singh has demanded that approval of elected representatives should be taken before finalising the Plan.