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| Wednesday,
August 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Gurgaon
law college strike ends Gurgaon, August 6 The students had been on strike since Friday last. There was much discontent among the students over some demands, but the alleged harsh behaviour of the Director of the College, Prof. L.C. Dhingra, towards them, became the last straw. Consequently, the students made themselves scarce from the classes. Prof L.C. Dhingra has since been removed and succeeded by Dr A.S. Rana, a reader in economics department on the MDU campus. Although Prof Dhingra had been removed on the first day of the strike after an on-the-spot inquiry into the allegations against him, the students continued with the strike and clamoured for the acceptance of other demands. The students made it a point that they would air their grievances in front of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Major-General(retd), N.S. Suhag, only. The students did not budge from their stand even when a former Director of the College, Dr K.P.S. Mahalwar, intervened to defuse the crisis at the behest of the university on Monday. They refused to voice their demands to him. The Pro-Vice Chancellor appeared to be enjoying credibility with the students as the committee headed by him gave its findings against Prof Dhingra which culminated in his removal. He was able to persuade the students to relent and not to stick to their point of having the Vice-Chancellor himself on the campus to listen to their grievances. Mr Jai Kishan Sharma reasoned with the students that the Vice-Chancellor was away today to Hisar and tomorrow he would have to go to Chandigarh. Significantly, Mr Sharma is the second in pecking order in the administrative hierarchy after the Vice-Chancellor. According to observers, his soft but firm approach appealed to the students. Taking note of the demands, Mr Sharma assured the students that the university would consider their demands sympathetically. The demands include reduction in the number of papers to be cleared for being promoted from semester IVth to Vth; doing away with the system of mandatory uniform for them on the campus; immediate appointment of computer teacher; uniformity in the fee structure for all the batches of admitted students and adequate provisions for sports. Some of the students said that they were satisfied with the ‘pro-students’ approach of Mr Jai Kishan Sharma. |
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Faridabad
railway station is bone-dry Faridabad, August 6 The majority of the taps remain without water and the passengers pay through the nose for the mineral water sold at platform, or simply, they have to bring their personal water bottles with them. The station manager, Mr Pritam Singh, admitted that there was no proper drinking water supply at present. However, he claimed that potable water would be available in about a week. He said that the tubewell installed on the station premises was inoperative as the well had dried up. This is attributed to the receding underground water table. The station master informed that a new tubewell would be made operational soon. Water supply has been erratic since April this year. The department has been getting its supply of water through private water tankers only, he said. The railway station authorities have installed about four water coolers besides several water taps and tanks on various platforms. It is also alleged that water available in the tanks and coolers was not checked or treated properly with the result that the passengers choose to depend on mineral water bottles. Owing to acute shortage of water, the toilets and bathrooms at the station stink. A commuter to Delhi said that the station toilets were hardly used by passengers for want of water. This has led to growth of water-bottle sellers at the station who demand a fancy price for a bottle. There are also reports that spurious mineral water-bottles are sold openly, especially during the night. Many unauthorised persons out to make a quick buck, fill the tap water in the bottle and then seal it with an
adhesive tape. They sell it at a rate ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 20. The cleanliness at the station that receives about 20,000 passengers every day is not up to the mark, claimed a daily passenger. The waiting hall had just a few chairs, which too, often remain dusty. The waste could be seen scattered everywhere, the passenger said. The station has a total income of Rs 2.20 crore a month, including freight income of Rs 80 lakh. A total of 69 trains halt here daily and 40 bogies get loaded or unloaded. |
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Should DU thoroughfares be blocked? New Delhi, August 6 The incidents have renewed the debate on turning the North Campus into a cloistered varsity, a la JNU, and shutting all thoroughfares. “The campus ambience is fast degenerating and if this continues girls will soon have to move around with escorts and even that might not help as an uncouth cop could be on the prowl”, a DU official said with a hint of sarcasm.. Already, girls are victims of lewd comments and have to experience unpleasant situations while commuting by public transport, she said. There have been attempts at curbing the menace. For instance, the DUSU last year organised martial arts workshops for girls that imparted training in Judo, Karate and Taekwondoo. The police, too, was doing its bit to eliminate the menace. Skeptics, however, point out that such measures may not yield the desired results. as the recent incident had shown. Nor is the molestation the first incident of its kind. “A few years ago, a girl student was killed in a bizarre accident on the periphery of the campus when a reckless driver knocked her over as she was crossing the road. Not much has happened since then, except for naming a road (Shriya Mishra Marg) after the victim and planting two speed breakers in front of the University Hostel for Women on Chattra Marg”, a former student, who is now a teacher in the University, said. Speed breakers notwithstanding, snazzy cars continue to zoom past with the music blaring in this stretch. While blocking outside traffic is one of the options being considered, town planners caution that it is a long-term solution. Already, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Project has affected the traffic on the campus, leading to many diversions, including one road that passes through the northern ridge forests. |
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Home ministry briefed on Shivani case New Delhi, August 6 Several crime branch police parties continued their efforts to trace Sharma who has apparently gone underground since the arrest of Shri Bhagwan on August 2. Officially, he continues to be on leave till August 11. Meanwhile, the officer had applied for anticipatory bail which was rejected and the Haryana Government has directed him to make himself available for investigations. Police sources said that several parties had fanned out in the neighbouring states to trace the senior police officer. Officially, the police maintained that they were not overly worried as he had limited choice and would have to surrender eventually. On Monday, the police had alerted all the immigration centres in the country just in case the officer attempted to leave the country along with his wife. The police which has visited his Panchkula house several times in the last few days claimed that the staff had no idea of his whereabouts. |
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IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, August 6 The seven-km road is designed for 6000-7000 passenger car units during the peak hours and the colonies that would get connected en route to South Delhi will be Vasant Kunj, Saket, Mehrauli, Mahipalpur, Munirka and other colonies on the eastern side of NH8, Mr O. Rajagopal, Minister of State for Urban Development, said. A total of 24,000 houses of different categories are under construction in the Capital and would be completed by March 2005, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. The houses are being built in areas like Dwarka, Rohini, Narela and Vasant Kunj with a view to ensure that the waiting lists under New Pattern Registration Scheme, 1979, Ambedkar Awas Yojana, 1989, and Janata Housing Registration Scheme 1996 get shortened. The Archaeological Survey of India is formulating perspective conservation programmes for centrally protected monuments, including the Red Fort and Qutab Minar in Delhi. While Rs 96.98 lakh and Rs 18.28 lakh were spent, respectively, on the fort and the minar during 2001-2002, the allocation for the current year is Rs 1.05 crore and Rs 43.30 lakh, respectively, Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan said. The Archaeology Department of the Delhi Government has approached the National Museum to provide expertise for retrieving and preserving two human skeletons of the late Harappan period found at Bhorgarh in the Capital’s Narela area so as to display those in the National Museum or the city Government’s Department of Archaeology Museum, he said. The Ministry of Urban Development has asked the CPWD to examine the feasibility to put in place rainwater harvesting in government colonies, Minister of State for Water Resources Bijoya Chakravarty told the Lok Sabha. A Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research is proposed to be set up at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the Capital but the details are yet to be finalised, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare A. Raja informed the House. |
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L-G reviews pace of flyover work New Delhi, August 6 The Lt-Governor emphasised that the social cost of flyovers should always be kept in mind and contractors for these works should be asked to complete their project within schedule. The time and cost overruns in the construction have to be curtailed. Incentives for early completion and penalties for delay should be introduced in wall contracts. Though one lane of the Safdarjung/AIIMS flyover has been opened to traffic, the underpass along Aurobindo Marg is expected to be completed by March 2003. Instructions were given to the PWD to ensure that no more delays were allowed. In the first phase the PWD and the DDA have completed five flyovers each that have been opened to traffic. Seven flyovers of the DDA and the PWD would be commissioned shortly. The Lt-Governor directed the PWD to expedite the Kalandi bypass. The agencies concerned should review the project and remove the bottlenecks coming in the way of implementation. The PWD, in the second phase, is already constructing flyovers at B Avenue, flyover and subway at Moti Nagar intersection at Ring Road and at Briitania Chowk. Besides, construction work of flyovers at Kalkaji Temple Marg, Khel Gaon Marg on Outer Ring Road and ROB at Marginal Bandh Road would be taken up shortly. Besides, six more flyovers at Moolchand underpass at Ring Road and NH-8 intersection near Dhaula Kuan, Bharon Road-Ring Road intersection, ROB at Wazirabad Road on Delhi-Saharanpur line and ROB on Road No 58 passing below Delhi-Ghaziabad railway line are in various stages of implementation. The DDA, in the second phase, would take up construction of seven flyovers at Nizamuddin Bridge, at the entry to ISBT Sarai Kale Khan, Delhi-Rewari Railway Line level crossing (Pankha Road), Station Road, Pankha Road, G.T. Road and Road No. 56, G.T. Road and Road No. 66, underpass on National Highway 24 at Ghazipur Freight Complex and at Lala Lajpat Rai Marg (Central School). The DTTDC would construct flyovers at Peeragarhi, Madhuban Chowk and Lajpat Nagar. |
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DPCC demands Naik’s resignation New Delhi, August 6 The DPCC said the cancellation of all allotments done since January 2000 by the Prime Minister was itself an admission of the wrong doings. The Union Petroleum Minister should own moral responsibility for the scam and resign from the Cabinet. The party workers carrying placards and banners raised anti-BJP and anti-RSS slogans as several persons affiliated to these bodies had been given petrol pumps during the past two
years. The Congress said during the regime of the BJP several scams had come to the fore like Tehelka, the coffin scam and now the petrol pump
scam. The party said the shortage of CNG in the Capital could be because of the artificial scarcity created by the BJP. The ruling Congress in the state, which had been cornered in the past few weeks by the BJP following the change in the party’s leadership, did not waste anytime to attack the BJP-led central government as the petrol pump scam came to the
fore. With the two political parties planning to outdo each other to garner political mileage in the run up the assembly polls scheduled for next year, the Capital could witness a number of demonstrations, bandhs and dharnas in the coming months. |
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Govt at Centre is anti-farmer, says Tikait Faridabad, August 6 He said while the loss and damage to kharif crops had been widespread, the authorities were taking their own time to provide relief to the farmers. Taking a `dig’ at the survey and compensation work, Mr Tikait said there was lot of corruption in these long drawn out survey works. He said the farmer may not receive their due as there were several persons, especially the revenue employees, who had their eye on the money (aid) meant for the farmers. He said there was no direct means or channel, which could provide help to the affected persons. He said that the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, had been a pro-farmer leader and had tried to highlight the problems of the farmers at the highest level. Among Prime Ministers, he said Charan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda had shown interest in issues relating to farming community. About political situation in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Tikait said “when Chief Minister Mayawati was not safe, then who was safe there.” He said while the politicians could increase their security set-up, the common man, who were the first victim of the deteriorating law and order, could only hope for the best. |
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Delhi Govt may privatise marketing New Delhi, August 6 Delivering the keynote address at the seminar on Strengthening Agricultural Marketing Facilities in Delhi that was hosted by the Government of NCT of Delhi, Development Minister Haroon Yusuf on Tuesday said private and corporate sectors should be welcome to generate that much more competition among the players. “We need to seriously look into as to how we can reorganise ourselves and our services to face the competition in future and also to serve consumers and farmers better,” he said, adding that if this was not given serious thought “our survival and existence in future may become uncertain in the face of mounting global competition.” Another innovation, the minister said, could be the introduction of electronic auctioning. Networking and bringing traders online, he reasoned, was a must for incorporating transparency for the benefit of home-grown traders and also for foreigners. The minister also said direct markets where farmers could bring their farm produce for selling their produce to buyers could be explored still. “These markers are called Apni Mandi in Punjab and Haryana, Rythu Bazars in Andhra Pradesh and Uzhaver Santhtalgal in Tamil Nadu. We have provided such an opportunity to our farmers for selling their produce directly in our markets and we need to further strengthen it,” he added. |
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Now, a garbage station at Khan Market New Delhi, August 6 The garbage station has been constructed in a plot area of 300 sq ft at a cost of Rs 41 lakh and completed in a short period of two months. The objective behind setting up of this garbage station is to segregate the solid waste in the short term at the primary collection stage. This station will provide facilities of segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes with colour coding system i.e. red for metal and glass, yellow for plastic materials, green for paper, gutta and organic waste and blue for mixed waste. With the setting up of these garbage stations the environment will be upgraded and a self-sustainable, eco-friendly atmosphere will be developed by the successful functioning of these garbage stations. For the segregation of garbage rag pickers are being trained by an NGO. M/s Fumes International, a pioneer in the field of BOT-based public amenities has been entrusted the task of construction of 10 garbage stations on experimental basis, out of which this is the eighth one. |
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Forum condemns Amarnath killings New Delhi, August 6 Dr Kachroo added that the valley stood on a tinderbox and the media drew unwarranted fascination by highlighting the ambiguous normalcy by frequently projecting those who have had lucky escapes. The general secretary of the forum, Mr Sanjay Wali, said that the authorities should wake up to the fact that no amount of security was enough to prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate events. |
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NCR BRIEFS Faridabad, August 6 He asked the district administration to start local bus service from Badarpur border to various sectors to check traffic rush.
Youth killed Jhajjar
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Dacoity in Dilshad Colony foiled, 4 nabbed New Delhi, August 6 The accused, Jaheer (22), resident of Seelampur, Gulfam (20), resident of Seemapuri, Yameen (22), resident of Seemapuri, and Abbas Ali (19), resident of Sahibabad, had gathered at a park near the DTC depot in New Seemapuri. From their they all planned to loot the house of a businessman on the tip-off provided by their associate Ajay, alias Ajju. Ajay earlier worked as a bus driver and a builder till last month.Since he came to know that the builder had a large amount of cash at his house, he told them to loot the same. However, Ajay and Shammi managed to escape from the police. The police have booked a case under the Arms Act against the criminals. Illegal exchange:
Acting on the complaint filed by the Manager, Vigilance, VSNL, Mr G. S. Sharma, a raiding party comprising the Special Cell sleuths with officials of the DoT, the VSNL and the MTNL unearthed the illegal exchange. The exchange was found to be running with the help of sophisticated high speed equipment like Neura packetisers, date satellite modem and satellite antenna by passing regular gateway of the VSNL. The accused, Robert Richard Filip, resident of Defence Colony, was caught while he was operating the illegal exchange who had obtained 24 Touchtel telephone lines. During sustained interrogation he disclosed that he had been staying in India for the past three years and came into contact with US nationals Trevor Deer Man, John Parkinson and P. B. Vaz, who had reportedly brought the equipment to India. All three Americans entered into tenant lease deed with the owner of the house in Kailash Colony and entrusted him the task of looking after the exchange. |
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Bike thieves’ gang busted, 4 held Meerut, August 6 Senior police official Mukul Goel told mediapersons at a press conference that he had constituted a team of four cops with Mr Narendra Pratap Singh as the head to hunt down the other culprits. Constables Rakesh and Prakash had got a tip-off that same bike thieves would pass through the Khirwa road at 5 am on a bike. A police party cordoned off the area. Two persons on a CBZ (UP-14-3914) were asked by the police to stop. But both the persons opened fire on the police. The SHO, Kankerkhera, Mr Gajendra Singh Chauhan, also opened fire in self-defence. The police arrested the bike rider and seized a countrymade revolver and six cartridges of 315 bore from his possession. The arrested thief spilled the beans about his accomplices in a Meerut college. A total of 15 Hero Honda bikes were seized. These included seven CBZ and eight Hero Honda Splendours. All bikes were seized from an underground shed in a house in Kankerkhera. Later, the PRO to the SSP, Meerut, said that 27 dies to counterfeit the chassis and several forged registration papers of the bikes were seized. The gang members used to counterfeit the original chassis number of the bikes as well as the engine numbers. |
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Police
register case against Tehelka scribe New Delhi, August 6 The police registered a case under various sections of Indian Penal Code against Bahal after a deputy superintendent of police in CBI lodged a complaint on Monday night that he was abused and manhandled by the Tehelka scribe. A complaint filed at the Malviya Nagar police station, has registered a case against Bahal under Section 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his public function), 353 (assaulting or using criminal force to any person being a public servant in execution of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. The complainant, CBI DSP N S Kharayat, is the Investigation Officer in the Official Secrets Act (OSA) case, involving a story done by the portal on funding of militants in North-East. The police officials pointed out that the investigations had begun into the case and it was likely to examine the staff at the news portal. |
Korean company’s ATMs to be marketed in India New Delhi, August 6 Synkey Group is a 45-year-old Korean firm with vast experience in developing various currency handling devices for the banking segment. Synkey has an installation base of 1000 plus ATMs in the United States alone and over 1000 plus ATMs in Asia and offer the latest state-of-the-art facility for manufacturing ATMs. The company has claimed to have set new growth pattern in the retail information business. The company which was incorporated in 1994, bought over the ECR divisions of Kelvinator and Larson and Toubro along with fully trained and established manpower, a move which provided Tyche immediate national presence across the country, according to a release. The company subsequently entered into a strategic alliance with Samsung Electronics, Korea, which enabled it to bring in state-of-the-art ECR technology in India at affordable prices. The agreement with Samsung has since translated into a very meaningful relationship and the probability of entering into a major joint venture is not ruled out. Tyche also has exclusive marketing rights for Electronic Cash
Registers(ECR) and POSS printers in India and other SAARC countries. In order to expand its product profile and to exploit the market potential of transaction automation segment, Tyche has launched cash counting machines. The aggressive marketing strategy and excellent product quality has enabled Tyche to establish itself as one of the leading players in currency handling devices market. Presently, with a network of 42 branch offices and service centres all over India and with an efficient service backup infrastructure, Tyche has an excellent reach all over the country. Tyche’s brand name Cashtron is a well accepted brand in all major markets and institutions for ECRs, point of sale systems and cash counting machines and is steadily making inroads into the market and ensuring unprecedented growth for the company The present list of customers includes leading public sector banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and private sector banks such as IDBI, UTI, HDFC, as well as ABN AMRO. For its point of sale systems, the client list includes BSES, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, (MTNL) Delhi Jal Board, UPSEB, Surat Electric Corp. and a host of departmental stores, restaurants and other utility services providers. Tyche has also entered into a technical collaboration with M/S Global Talent Ltd., for manufacturing bundle note counting machines at its factory in Hyderabad. The collaboration has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India which makes Tyche, the first company in India to manufacture the vacuum type bundle note counting machines. |
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Expedite
work on western peripheral New Delhi, August 6 In a representation to the Delhi Lt-Governor, Mr Vijai Kapoor, the chamber has suggested that the 3-4 km link road behind Badarpur/ Sarita Vihar should also be developed immediately as a direct link between Noida and Faridabad to facilitate smooth movement of traffic. Steps should also be taken to improve other alternate road networks in a time bound manner, it added. The Delhi Metro is being viewed as a much awaited and viable solution to the traffic problem in the city. According to Phdcci, necessary measures need to be taken to provide linkage of MRTS to the NCR towns. The Chamber stated that the development of new industrial areas need to be expedited and also the land made available, due to shifting of industries, should be better utilised for commercial centres, entertainment parks, IT centres etc., and adequate provision for this should be made in the Master Plan. There is a need for public-private partnership to upgrade the infrastructure and for regular maintenance of the existing 28 approved industrial areas that are in a poor condition and contracts should be accorded to reputed maintenance agencies, allowing imposition of reasonable user charges, the chamber suggested. It also highlighted the need to accord contracts to reputed maintenance agencies and allowing imposition of reasonable user charges, the chamber suggested. |
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