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| Thursday,
February 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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House completion certificate must for power link New Delhi, February 13 According to Urban Development Minister AK Walia, in the Government of NCT of Delhi, henceforth No Objection Certificate (NOC) for regular water supply and electricity would be issued only after the completion certificate is produced by the owner of building or house. Also, the owner through his architect / engineer / supervisor would have to give notice to the local bodies in the proforma as per Appendix B-1 on completion of work up to the plinth level to enable the local body to ensure that work conforms to the sanctioned building plans and Building Bye-Laws. Also stipulated is a certificate by the owner and architect / supervisor / engineer for covering up the underground drain, sanitary and water supply work, under their supervision and in accordance with Building Bye-Laws and sanctioned building plans. The minister said the modifications were necessitated as Delhi fell in Zone IV and violation of building norms could prove fatal in the event of an earthquake. However, the modifications incorporate a cryptic clause that it will be obligatory on the part of the local body to inspect the work and submit the objection, if any, to the owner and architect/engineer within 30 days from the receipt of such notice in Form B-2, failing which work will deemed to be cleared for further construction. The minister added that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) have been entrusted with the task of implementing this scheme. |
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Minority panel has a code for
parties, but will it help? New Delhi, February 13 “We would keep a close watch on the activities of the parties during the polls, so that they do not rake up communal issues during campaigning,” said Mr Navinpal Singh Bhandari, member of the Delhi Minorities Commission. Asked about the kind of punitive action the commission intends to take against parties or individuals who rake up communal issues, he said the commission would bring such acts to the notice of the Election Commission. “All acts of omission and commission would be reported to the Election Commission, which has the powers to debar them from contesting,” he said. Sources said the commission members were concerned at the nature of campaigning in the Assembly polls in four states. With the Vishwa Hindu Parishad threatening to go ahead with the temple construction in Ayodhya from March 15, the sources said the members of the commission were worried that political parties could raise sensitive issue during the MCD polls. The civic polls for the 134 municipal wards are now almost certain to be held around March 24. The sources said the commission would also keep a tab on the media, which during the polls identifies pockets dominated by members of one community and focuses on specific issues affecting that community. The members felt that such writings divide rather than bridge the differences between communities. Even community-specific promises would come under the microscope of the commission, the sources said. With the elections round the corner, parties have started voicing their concerns about the plight of 1984 riot victims, the standard of education in madarsas etc. |
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For how long will they
make a monkey of us? New Delhi, February 13 To save ourselves the embarrassment and the trouble, we have, rather our government has, time and again executed plans to curb the burgeoning population of the assiduous raiders. From caging to chasing, various plans were devised to ferret them out, yet the result is for all to see. Says environmentalist, Dr Iqbal Malik, who has carried out extensive research on monkeys: “The steps taken by the government so far are ridiculous. First, they devised a plan to cage these monkeys, which was horrible and involved spending large amounts of money. Then, they brought in langurs to chase the monkeys, which again failed. In fact, this has increased the problem, as it has caused the menace to spread”. Dr. Malik had submitted her plans of monkey management to the government in the 80s, but in true bureaucratic fashion the plan was buried in never-to-be opened files. “ The government never carried out my plans. Instead they did what I had specified was not to be done”. Unable to manage the monkeys, the government has gone knocking on Malik’s door. “ I have been approached by them and I have devised a new plan, which is the first of its kind and I have also applied for a patent”, reveals Dr. Malik, in what appears to be a case of once bitten twice shy. Having been approached by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Dr. Malik has come out with a new plan. According to it, NGOs, the government and the Committee to Protect, Monitor and Control Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) will work in tandem to solve this problem. “ The 5,000-odd monkeys in Delhi need to be carefully and thoughtfully moved to proper places. We have to plan and establish a transit home, where we can transfer those monkeys which have been trapped through conciliatory methods. Then, ailing monkeys will be quarantined and a medical checkup will follow. With the help of CPCSEA, we will identify the institutes which carry out research on monkeys and some of them will be sent there. The others, after sterilisation, will be left in the forest areas that have been mapped and found suitable to sustain them”. Dr Malik has already drawn up a plan to establish a model transit camp in a two-acre wasteland area in Rajokri. If the plan is adhered to, we can look forward to far less monkeying around. |
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Mobile phone company told to raze towers Sonepat, February 13 The warning has caused a panic in the owners of the mobile telephone companies. Mr Gupta said here today that the notice followed a series of public complaints that the mobile companies had been functioning without licences and that they had constructed the towers without seeking permission from the authorities concerned. He said that the Sonepat Municipal Council was authorised to get Rs 80,000 for each tower as licence fee. Thus, it had lost revenue worth Rs 4 lakh. According to another report, the officials of the Sonepat Municipal Council, reached the site of a tower under construction on the Old DC Road near Deepak Mandir. Accompanied by a strong contingent of police, the officials reached the site to demolish the structure as it was being built without permission. The owner of the tower, however, assured the officials that he would deposit the licence fee and seek
permission. Thereupon, the officials left the site. |
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Briefly... Faridabad The district administration, on a complaint, conducted an enquiry against the Sarpanch Vikram Singh who had become father of a third child in 1998 but gave a wrong information. In fact, it was found that the Sarpanch had sired four children, while he stated that he had only two. The deputy commissioner recently ordered his removal from the post. Some panches and members of other local bodies have also faced the music under the Act.
Life term for killing wife, infant Faridabad: The District and Sessions Judge, Ms Nirmal Yadav, has sentenced a person to life imprisonment on charges of murdering his wife and a three-month-old daughter in April 2000. The accused, Laxmi Kant, confessed to his crime during the court proceedings. On the basis of the evidences and witness statements, the court held him guilty. Hailing from Madhubani district in Bihar, the convict was living in Faridabad. Laxmi Kant was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 and in case of failure to do so, he would have to serve the sentence for another two months. According to prosecution, the convict had strangulated his wife and minor daughter, reportedly due to poverty on April 5, 2000. After the act, he fled away but was arrested after a complaint had been lodged by a resident of nearby Sihi village. In another case, the Additional District and Session Judge, Mr S S Lamba, awarded seven years’ imprisonment to one Vijender of Uncha village on charges of death of his wife. The deceased Kusum’s father, in his complaint to the police, alleged that the accused and his parents had poisoned his daughter to death on April 15, 2000, for not bringing adequate dowry. It was alleged that an attempt had also been made earlier to burn her alive. Finally, she was poisoned to death when she was also pregnant. The court found the husband guilty and sentenced him to seven years in jail along with a fine of Rs 1,000. However his parents were acquitted in the case.
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Yama’s sister badly requires the kiss of life
New Delhi, February 13 The first, it is said, will add to the pollution in the Yamuna; and the second will be only marginally effective unless the river itself is resuscitated and its bed becomes the facilitator of regeneration of ground water by additional storage capacity. Experts laugh at the proposition that what exists can be further polluted. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) asserts that what exists is nothing but a drain and up to 490 kms downstream, it is a cocktail of poisons not all of which can be filtered out and made totally safe for drinking by the kind of technology currently being used for filtration and chlorination. A 22-km stretch of the river bisects the National Capital Territory, the population of which is rising exponentially from 9.37 million in 1991 to 12.8 million at the end of the millennium and is expected to be 20 million by 2010. Several lakhs of the marginalised denizens live in shanties on the riverbed itself, eating into the space that has traditionally been used to grow vegetables for an exploding metropolis. Pollution is poured into this stretch of the river basin through 18 drains, including the Western Yamuna Canal, that carry industrial effluents, sewage and the leaching of pesticides from agriculture. The water treatment plants are woefully inadequate and need to be shut down on occasions when effluents overload its capacity. In January, 2000, the Supreme Court banned industrial discharge into the Yamuna but the policing of that ban has become a farce. For the river to clean itself, it requires a flow of 285 cubic meters per second. In Delhi, it is only 50 cum per second and that falls to 5 cum in summer. With three barrages at Wazirabad, ITO and Okhla it is nothing but a series of cesspools. According to Dr Manoj Nadkarni, Coordinator, River Pollution Unit of the CSE, Haryana and UP siphon off algae soup from the Yamuna which at Agra is pure poison. Other water experts point out that the Yamuna receives only a very small fraction of its flow from the snows of the Himalayas, the bulk is from monsoon rainfall which is seasonal. Proper husbanding of this precipitation can help ensure that there is adequate flow throughout the year with its consequent sanguine effect on pollution control, resuscitation of groundwater, and adequate drinking water for the approximately 57 million people dependant on the Yamuna for existence. The National Workshop on conservation of Rivers and Floodplains in India in November adopted a resolution which made comprehensive recommendations for holistically improving the state of rivers and
water bodies in the country including one for declaring certain rivers as “National Heritage Rivers”. The Yamuna would qualify for that status. While there is recognition among experts that the burgeoning problem of river pollution and diminishing water assets need to be tackled by a dedicated national entity for the conservation and restoration of inland waters, there is no gainsaying the responsibility of local municipalities for the current mess. The measures being suggested for encouraging colonies to implement water-harvesting schemes borders on the coercive because it is not usually possible to make the investment in such projects. Sewage disposal and pollution control require macro-management and current problems have become worse confounded mainly because municipal and autonomous bodies like the Delhi Pollution Control Board have fallen down on the job even in the face of court orders. The Centre for Science and Environment points out that the monitoring and control of pesticide pollution in river waters itself is a daunting task and not easily amenable to solution. For sewage treatment while 12 plants are required, under the Yamuna Action Plan only two are available. Under the Yamuna Project, it was proposed to block dairy effluents from flowing into the river by setting up gobar gas plants in the vicinity of the dairy colonies created under a resettlement programme but the Delhi Energy Development Agency, an autonomous body set up to promote the use of non-conventional sources of energy, is dysfunctional. So that is out. In the context of the riverfront, when the shrine for Jawaharlal Nehru was planned in 1964, CPWD architect M.M. Rana had mooted a promenade along the river as part of Shantivana. In the decades since then, both banks of the Yamuna have become infested with humanity that lives in sub-human conditions, one aspect of which is that the people have to take shelter on the bridges during the monsoons because their habitat lies in the flood plains of the Yamuna and is soon
undated. Their presence will affect plans for cleaning up the Yamuna the condition of which needs to be tackled “on a war-footing”, according to some experts. Ideas that have been mooted include a high dam upstream-a site has been identified at Lakhwar Viyasi in Uttaranchal — and to pipee the water to Wazirabad waterworks for distribution in Delhi and for flushing the Yamuna. Ironically, the burning ghat at Nigambodh on the right bank of the river, receives piped water from the Ganges for purifying the bodies of the dead before cremation. Suggestions to clean up the Yamuna range from lining the riverbed and creating ghats (both as an anti-pollution measure as well as beautification project to give Delhi a wholesome waterfront); upstream effluent control in keeping with the Supreme Court ruling; adequate number of sewage treatment plants, and water-recycling plants to purify the discharge from the drains. This is to be backed up by the water conservation methods developed by the CSE. The suggestion for lining the riverbed is a corollary of the concept of conserving water in the riverbed itself. However, a major constraint is the colonisation of the riverbed. On the one hand, the shanty townships will have to be removed and on the other, embankments will have to be constructed, particularly on the left bank which is the low-lying segment of the National Capital Territory. The same applies to the Hindon River which has dried up. There is thus an organic relationship between water harvesting and pollution control. As things stand, folklore has it that the river at Delhi’s doorstep is named after the sister of Yama, god of death. If one bathed in the river one could stave off death. That is a myth long buried. |
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Sonepat drive against power thefts pays off Sonepat, February 13 The officials, he said, had imposed a penalty of Rs 18.56 lakh on the erring consumers and recovered Rs 5.25 lakh on the spot. The officials had also lodged FIRs against 28 consumers who failed to pay the penalty on the spot. Two cases of overloading were also detected in the period and the nigam imposed a fine of Rs 12,000 on them. The officials, he said, had recovered Rs 1,000 on the spot from the erring consumers on this account. According to the DC, the officials of the nigam had checked 729 power connections in the urban areas of Sonepat Division during the month under review and detected 116 cases of power thefts. The officials, he said, had imposed a penalty of Rs 4.22 lakh and recovered Rs 3.03 lakh on the spot. Only one case of overloading was detected in the division. He disclosed that the officials of the nigam had checked the premises of 1,126 consumers in the rural areas of the division and detected 193 cases of power thefts during the period under review. The officials, he said, had imposed a fine of Rs 10.09 lakh and recovered Rs 1.81 lakh on the spot. The Deputy Commissioner further said that the officials had checked 277 power connections in the Gohana Division and detected as many as 71 cases of power thefts last month. The officials, he said, had imposed a fine of Rs 3.44 lakh and could recover only Rs 41,000 from the erring consumers on the spot. The officials had lodged FIRs against 28 consumers who failed to pay the penalty on the spot. One case of overloading was also detected during the campaign and the officials imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 on the consumer. |
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Govt giving the go-by to Rewari roads Rewari, February 13 The authorities have not paid heed to the repeated requests of the residents for their repair. Similarly, the link roads of Tankri, Narsinghpur, Rajgarh, Mohanpur and various other villages are in a shambles. Flaying the state government and the administration for the sorry state, the Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (United) chief, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, said the claims of the Chautala Government were hollow that the roads were in an excellent condition throughout the state. He said the maintenance of the national and state highways was not enough and there was an urgent need to fully repair the link roads also to provide a much-needed relief to the ruralites and the vehicle operators. |
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Haryana staff union to
continue stir Rohtak, February 13 Divulging details of the meeting, Mr Bharat Bhushan, assistant press secretary of the sangh, said the high-powered action committee of the organisation had been authorised by the state executive to chalk out the future course of action. Mr Bharat Bhushan said it was observed at the meeting that the recent dialogue between the sangh leaders and state Chief Secretary could not bring about the desired results. He said it was decided at the meeting that the Chief Minister would be apprised of the matter and would be asked to consider their long-standing demands. He warned that the members of the sangh would march towards the state assembly for the proposed demonstration if their demands were not accepted by then. Faridabad:
Meanwhile, members of the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana (SKS) staged a dharna and demonstration here at Sector 12 yesterday in protest against the police action at Khanak village in Bhiwani district recently. Criticising the government for not taking action against the police officials concerned, the sangh leaders described the incident as a “blot” on the state. Alleging that the government had been following an anti-employee policy, they said the people who dare to oppose the injustice were beaten up or thrown behind the bars. They claimed that a large number of labourers, their wives and even children were beaten up mercilessly by the police at
Khanak, Dadum, Baganwala, Kanwari and Saral villages of Bhawani district on February 2.
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NCR BRIEFS Faridabad, February 13 It is alleged that majority of the employees of the civic body have not received their wages for the past four months. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the town has reportedly assured that their salary will be cleared soon.
Brick
rate fixed The district administration has fixed the rate of bricks at Rs 1,200 per thousand pieces for the construction work in the government and semi-government sector. The cost of transportation will be additional and it is fixed at Rs 150 per thousand up to 10 km and Rs 168 per thousand for a distance of 20km or above. The authorities have warned the brick kiln owners against preparing, mixing and supplying sub-standard bricks to the government departments.
On pollution A workshop on the implementation of `Montreal Protocol on creating awareness and phasing out of ozone depleting substances’ in the country will be held at Magpie Tourist Complex here on February 15. It will be organised by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board under the aegis of the Union Government.
Poet felicitated Noted Hindi poet and lyricist Professor Prabhu Dayal Kashyap
`Pravasi’ was felicitated for his contribution to the genre of Hindi poetry at a function held recently at Modern Vidya Niketan School here. The programme was organised by certain social, cultural and literary organisations. Papers highlighting the work of Mr Pravasi were read by Dr Harish Chander Verma, a retired Dean and Professor of Maharshi Dayanand University. Dr Baldev Raj
`Shant’ delineated the social relevance of Mr Pravasi’s lyrics in the light of the desired social harmony and integration. Mr Murari Lal Tyagi, a well-known educationist, and Mahakavi Shri Gulab
Khandelwal, the chief of Hindi Sahitya Sammelar Prayag (Allahabad), were the chief guest and guest of honour, respectively. Mr Manohar Lal Sharma, Mr Gopal Sharma, principal of Modern Vidya
Niketan, Dr Sudhikant Bhardway, Smt Sneh Prabha Chugh, Thakur Dass
Dinakar, Dr U. S. Bhardwaj, Mr Narender Ahuja, Mr D. R. Khullar, Dr O. P. Sharma and Dr Vinay Pandit were among others who were present.
Pig farming Rewari The trainees will be imparted practical skills in scientific methods of pig-breeding, breed improvement through artificial insemination, breeding techniques and the marketing system by Mr N. N. Pandey, subject specialist, and Dr R. L. Bhatia, veterinary surgeon of the kendra. Aspiring persons may contact for registration on phone (number 22475) of the kendra.
Four hurt in fire Sonepat Assault
condemned The All Haryana PWD Mechanical Karamchari Union today condemned the assault on an employee of the Canal Department by some farmers at Sardhana village and demanded immediate arrests of the culprits allegedly involved in the incident. In a press release, the union also blamed the authorities of the Rai Water Service Division for hushing up the case and threatened to gherao them if no action was taken against the culprits.
Lawyer
vs BSNL Mr Subhash Gupta, a lawyer, filed a complaint with the District Consumers Redressal Forum here yesterday against the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) authorities demanding a compensation of Rs 10,000 for not rectifying the fault in his telephone in spite of repeated representations made to them. According to a report, the forum fixed March 26 as the date for next hearing in the case.
Plea for
amenities The Sant Ravi Dass Harijan Vikas and Samaj Sewa Samiti has submitted a memorandum to the Additional Deputy Commissioner demanding immediate provision of amenities to the people of Aghwanpur village in the district.
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students injured At least six students sustained injuries when the vehicle carrying them overturned on the
Sonepat-Rathdhanna road near Sehrawat Hospital here this morning. According to a report, all the injured students were immediately hospitalised. They are stated to be out of danger.
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NDMC to set up garbage stations with separate compartments New Delhi, February 13 While the red compartment would be for metal and glass, yellow for plastic and paper and green for other organic wastes, the NDMC also plans to provide a large compartment for mixed garbage, which would be segregated by organised rag pickers. The compartment garbage station was in its initial phase and the NDMC has so far set up four such stations on Bhagwan Dass Road, Ashoka Road, Aurobindo Marg and in Connaught Place. The civic body introduced the project in Connaught Place to create financially viable and self-sustaining waste segregation and recycling operation by charging Rs 100 per month from waste generating establishments. The collections from the sale of recyclable waste are being spent on welfare/salary and uplift of rag pickers. The NDMC said it had made drastic improvement in solid waste management as per the directives of the Supreme Court orders. The civic body has constructed modern public conveniences and garbage stations on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis; it has also introduced door to door garbage collection in its colonies with the association of NGOs, night sweeping at many of its crowded markets and rag pickers upliftment project in Connaught Place, the agency said. |
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Series of carjack bids in Capital New Delhi, February 13 In one of the incidents, three persons, including two girls, were arrested today for allegedly hijacking the car of a college student in Keshavpuram. The stolen car (DL-2CD-0007) was seized by the PCR van (Commander 69) immediately after giving a chase. The suspects were later identified as Nitin Sharma, Anita and Priya. The police said that the victim, Jitender, was on his way to the college when two girls asked for a lift. When they got in, another two youths on a Yamaha motorcycle started following the car. They forced the car to stop at a deserted area and overpowered Jitender. They left the victim on the spot and sped away with the vehicle. A PCR van, which was stationed near the area, immediately gave a chase and nabbed the suspects. The alert PCR personnel also foiled another carjack attempt and arrested three youths. It happened yesterday. The three were spotted driving a Maruti car, which was later found to be a stolen one. The personnel of the PCR van, stationed near the Peeragarhi Chowk, saw the car and tried to stop, but the driver sped away. Immediately, the van gave a chase and forced the car to halt. The police then nabbed all the three, Sanju, Amar and Sonu, all residents of Vijay Enclave, and seized the car. They disclosed that they had stolen the car from Uttam Nagar. The alert PCR van personnel also managed to foil another crime yesterday, this time a robbery attempt at petrol station in Rani Bagh. When the police got an information that a few criminals were in the process of looting a petrol pump, the PCR van immediately reached the spot and nabbed one among them. However, two others managed to escape. The local police are investigating the case and launched a manhunt for the absconding duo. Held with charas:
A 30-year-old man was arrested by the Bara Hindu Rao police for allegedly possessing charas. The police, acting on a secret information, nabbed the suspect, Bikaruddin, hailing from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, from his rented house in Gali Thelewali and seized 400 gm of charas. He disclosed to the team that he had brought the drugs from his native place a couple of days ago. The police have registered a case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Further investigations are on. |
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Hoshiarpur man tries to fly to UK on fake passport New Delhi, February 13 Gurcharan was trying to board the flight on a passport issued in the name of Vipin Tyagi. He had pasted his photograph on the passport and had managed to get a tourist visa of Britain. During security check up, the immigration officials got suspicious when they compared the name written on the passport and the photograph. They questioned him at length during which he disclosed that he was travelling on a fake passport and it was managed by a travel agent in Hoshiarpur. The travel agent had charged him Rs 6 lakh for a copy of the passport and visa. He said that since he was unemployed here, he was trying to go abroad in search of a job. The travel agent had also promised to help him in getting a job in Britain. The immigration officials said that four other persons, who were husbands and wives, were also along with the suspect. They escaped while the officials were busy questioning Gurcharan. They had left their luggage at the counter. Dairies found in the luggage have addresses of their native places. The Airport Police have contacted their counterparts in Hoshiarpur to nab them and the travel agents who managed to get fake passports for the suspects, the police said. |
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MUL launches resale service in Gurgaon Gurgaon, February 13 A spokesperson of company informed that the MUL, which had entered into the business of pre-owned cars under the brand name `Maruti True Value’, started its services initially in the cities of Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The launch of Maruti True Value at Apra Auto (India) Pvt Ltd in Gurgaon would provide reassurance to existing Maruti customers about the resale of their cars and emphasised the company’s commitment towards enhancing customer satisfaction by continuous association during the vehicle ownership life cycle, said the spokesperson. Mr Jagdish Khattar, managing director of MUL, would inaugurate the service on the occasion. Maruti True Value is one of the four service businesses that MUL has entered into. The others are lease and fleet management for companies, auto insurance and auto finance. Together, these businesses would enable the company to provide mobility-related solutions and extend its relationship with the customer during the entire ownership cycle, informed the company’s officer. |
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