The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Big ‘B’ breeding mosquitoes, challaned by MCD
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11
In its drive to check dengue and malaria in the national Capital, the overzealous Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is not sparing even the VIPs.

The civic body has issued challans to superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Union Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley on finding their premises infested with the mosquito larvae. Their houses were found to be virtual breeding grounds of the malarial parasite, sources said.

“While a challan has been issued to Mr Bachchan for his premises in South Delhi’s Gulmohar Park, Mr Jaitley has been challaned for his New Friend’s colony house,” Director, Health Services, Dr K.N. Tiwari said.

“They were challaned last week when 3,000 others were served notices by the Health Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. A date has been fixed for their appearance before the corporation magistrate,” Dr. Tiwari added.

The other high-profile recipients of the notice include Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), various Supreme Court lawyers, Delhi Public School (East of Kailash) and various bank premises, an official in the Health Department in South Zone said.

The issue of dengue had figured in the last meeting of the Standing Committee of the corporation when Municipal Commissioner Rakesh Mehta disclosed that this year 15 dengue cases were reported in different MCD-run hospitals. He had then assured members that all precautionary measure would be taken to control the disease in Delhi.

Dr Tiwari said that people were being made aware through advertisements that mosquitoes breed in the monsoon season. The corporation has underscored the need for people to adopt certain measures to prevent the mosquito larvae from breeding.

As a part of this drive to prevent the spread of dengue and malaria, 15,541 notices have been issued this year, resulting in 5,114 prosecutions, he said.

Dr Tiwari stresses that the weather at this time of the yearis very conducive for the spread of malaria and dengue. He lamented that people were not cooperating with the corporation, even though its staff was going from door to door explaining the risk involved.

Six lakh bogus voters enlisted: BJP
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11
Even as the BJP got down to drawing up its strategy for the Assembly elections in NCT of Delhi, it fired another salvo alleging that the Government of NCT of Delhi had included fictitious names in the voters’ list. Delhi Pradesh BJP President Madan Lal Khurana, who was joined by BJP Spokesman Mukhtiar Abbas Naqvi, on Thursday told a news conference that some six lakh fictitious names had been listed.

The duo claimed that many of those listed in the ration cards were not living in NCT of Delhi. Naqvi said the party had sought an appointment with the Election Commission to lodge a complaint.

The party, they said, had sought time with Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh to apprise him of the six lakh forms filled for issuing ration cards to fictitious persons.

Union Minister of State Vijay Goel, BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan, Delhi Election Campaign Committee Chairman VK Malhotra, Anita Arya and Naqvi met at Khurana’s residence for the meeting.

The brainstorming session, they said, would continue on Friday when the office bearers would give the party’s strategy a final shape. Also to be discussed are the issues to be raised in the other states going to poll.

Naqvi and Khurana told media persons BJP President Venkaiah Naidu would be participating in the Parivartan Yatra on September 14. Prime Minister Vajpayee is expected to join the yatra later.

They said corruption would be the party’s major plank in the Assembly elections in NCT of Delhi and other states. The party, they added, was preparing a report on corruption during the Congress tenure.

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Arun Goyal said some 12,000 names had been removed after verification of electoral rolls in NCT of Delhi.

Goyal told reporters Electoral Registration Officers had removed the duplicate entries after verifying the computer-generated lists. The process was still on, he informed.

He said the District Commissioners, poll observers and other officials had had meetings with the officials from the Election Commission (EC) in this regard.

Goyal said that acting on the directions of the Election Commission, the poll authorities had organised meetings with Resident Welfare Associations and Gram Sabhas for the purposes of inclusion and deletion of names.

Such meetings would also be organised on Saturdays and Sundays so as to ensure larger participation. Already more than 2.5 lakh forms had been received from people for including / shifting their names.

When appointment rules are rewritten to appease a chosen few
Parmindar Singh

Noida, September 11
Hundreds of appointments, allegedly made during Ms Mayawati’s tenure in clear violation of all rules and norms, have landed the Noida Authority’s recruitment department in a soup. The cushy appointments, promotions and recruitments have exposed the culture of favouritism and nepotism in the autority.

Ms Mayawati’s brother, Anand, reportedly had a hand in some appointments. A complaint lodged by the Association of SC and BC employees to Chief Minister

Mayawati was disdainfully ignored, the association members have alleged. As per an order issued on July 11, 2002, the Noida Auhtority had spiked the existing recruitment procedure on various grounds and new rules were spelled out.

Following that, recruitment was made to 33 posts, 32 out of which were from Scheduled castes and one from the backward classes.

It may be mentioned that the SC/ST quota was factored into the recruitment policy in the Noida Authority since its inception in 1976. On December 11, 1993, the SC and ST quota was fixed at 21 per cent and 6 percent, respectively, for all Noida Authority posts. Thus, the SC/ST candidates were being extended a benefit of 27 percent quota. With the change in rules, 10 jobs reserved for open candidates got converted in favour of SC and ST candidates. Most of the Noida Authority employees consider these orders as high-handed and patently wrong.

One such case related to the appointment of an electrician belonging to the Ramgarhia caste of Punjab. According to rules, only members of scheduled castes from UP can get the benefit of the quota. The Ramgarhias are not included among the SC and ST groups in Uttar Pradesh.

Another glaring instance of high-handedness was the appointment of Rampal Burman to the post of accounts officer in the Noida Authroity. Burman had joined as Assistant Accounts Officer on November 17, 1989. In the seniority list of the accounts department officials, released on Jan 5, 1991, he was ranked 52.

Last year, Burman had applied for the post of accounts officer. Curiously, he was selected despite his low rank and issued an appointment letter by the Noida Authority. Incidentally, Burman had been suspended in 1997 when serious charges were leveled against him.

However, Burman’s promotion and annual increment had were restored in Sept 2002 with retrospective effect from Jan 30, 1997.

	5-yr-old raped by priest Meerut In a gruesome incident, a five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by the priest of a local temple here. Later, the residents of the locality caught hold of the pujari and gave him a thrashing. A local doctor tried to intervene and help the pujari escape, but the livid crowd handed over the culprit to the police. The victim is still in a state of shock. According to the police sources, the girl had gone to the temple to deliver the pujari’s lunch in the temple on Wednesday noon. The pujari, Rishiraj, allegedly took her inside a room on the temple premises and raped her. The girl returned home crying bitterly, with blood stains on her clothes. When she gave an account of her harrowing experience, the parents and some family members stormed the temple and caught the pujari while he was washing his clothes and started beating him up. OC
	Barrier-free access for disabled in Capital only on paper Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 11 Despite a legal right to an accessible environment, public transport and roads, the near one million disabled people who live in Delhi are still struggling for a barrier-free access. Public places, schools, colleges and most of the high rises are still beyond the reach of the disabled. Activists claim that in the absence of a barrier-free environ, the Disability Act of 1996, which gave people the right to accessible built structures, remains a paper tiger. They, however, add that PILs and public appeals have evoked an encouraging response and given an impetus to the cause of a disable-friendly social environ. Taking up the issue of an accessible city, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation has developed a document, “Accessible Delhi – A road map 2003-08,’ with the hope of making the city disable-friendly. The document, which was released by the Congress President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, earlier last month, has been handed over to the Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, who on her part has declared the year starting August 20, 2003, as ‘Accessible Delhi Year’. The plan is based on the concept of universal design that integrates different categories of users and envisages that all public places, including parks, are barrier free. The document, which is essentially a blueprint for making places disable-friendly, has been drawn up in collaboration with the Council of Architecture (CoA) and the National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP). A steering committee, consisting of town planners, architects and representatives of organisations working for the disabled, was also constituted to develop the plan. However, the foundation is now concerned about the implementation, having found the preparation part rather easy. The Secretary General of the Foundation, Mr. Manmohan Malhotra, pointed out that the implementation of the plan is the harder part, as it involves both the public and the political support. He went on to say: “We should never forget that we, the non-disabled, can join the disabled community overnight, by illness or accident or old age. The facilities that the disabled require today maybe needed by us tomorrow”. The foundation, for now, has its fingers crossed for a barrier-free Delhi and hopes that the access plan that has been drafted keeping in mind the priority areas would be implemented by 2008.
	ADMISSION OF HANDICAPPED Commissioner told to take action against headmasters Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 11 The Leader of the House and Chairman of the Standing Committee in the Corporation, Mr Ram Babu Sharma, today directed Municipal Commissioner Rakesh Mehta to take action against the headmasters in the MCD schools if they refuse to admit handicapped children. Giving primary education in the Capital is obligatory function of the Corporation, he said. He further directed that a circular would be circulated in all the MCD schools that handicapped children should also be admitted in the schools. The Corporation should make arrangement of special technique for handicaps, if it is required, Mr directed. Municipal Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said that teachers were required to be given special training to teach handicapped children. This arrangement will be made soon. This issue was raised by the Leader of Opposition in the Standing Committee, Mr Vijender Gupta, a BJP councillor, that handicapped children were refused to get admission in Corporation schools. He cited four examples of Jahangirpuri, where headmaster allegedly refused handicapped children for admission. Giving example of United Nations Conventions of Child Rights 1989, he said that every child, whether he was fit or physically handicapped, had right to take admission in government schools. This was also adopted by Parliament in 1992, he said. There are nine lakh handicapped children in the national Capital. Of them, only 1.8 per cent, who belong to well-off families, go to schools.
	CLUELESS Rising Noida crime: Police stumped Our Correspondent Noida, September 11 The local police is stumped by the rising incidence of robberies, murders and other criminal activities in Noida. Notable among these were the three murders in the rural area in the last fortnight and the gunning down of a leading entrepreneur in broad daylight. The police have not only failed to arrest any of the suspects, but have also failed to gather any clues. The policing in the area has touched such abysmal depths that the residents have often taken the law in their own hands and lynched the criminals. The police, invariably, arrives late on the scene. After the change of guard in Uttar Pradesh, on Sept 3, criminals had looted the family of businessman, Sunil Kumar, who resides in the Kasna police station area. The police have so far drawn a blank in tracking down the criminals. Next, criminals had looted a businessman, Manoj, in the Dadri grain market of Rs 50,000 in broad daylight. While fleeing, they had grabbed a motor bike in Jarcha police area when their car had got punctured. In both these cases, the police is yet to show any definite results. Again, a leading businessman, Surinder Pal Singh, was gunned down in a hail of bullets near Pepsi’s bottling plant in Surajpur police area on September 9 when he was driving his Indica car. This murder has created panic among entrepreneurs and industrials of Greater Noida. Though administration is claiming that law and order is under control, the common man blames police laxity and inefficiency for the deteriorating law and order.

BRAWL IN LOCK-UP
Undertrials get into scuffle with cops
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11
Seventeen undertrials were injured this morning after a scuffle with the cops over the quality of food provided to them inside the lock-up at Karkardooma court. The undertrials, who mostly sustained head injuries, were taken to the Swami Dayanand hospital and later discharged after first aid. The incident took place at around 9.30 am when 173 undertrials were brought to the Karkardooma court from the Tihar jail. When the cops started distributing food to the undertrials, some of them complained about the bad quality while a few demanded a second helping. Soon, the undertrials got into a heated argument with the warden, Bhupinder Singh; the exchange resulted in one of the inmates throwing dal on the warden’s face.

Some of the undertrials injured in the brawl belonged to Dabbu gang of pickpockets. In the fracas that followed, tubelights, furniture and the toilet wall inside the lock-up were damaged.

To bring the situation under control, the police had to use teargas shells. The undertrials, brought for deposition in the court, alleged that the warden and the cops inside the lockup would often abuse their relatives in filthy language.

The undertrials, after they were discharged from the hospital, were produced in the court for their scheduled depositions.

Foreign languages on offer at NLC

Gurgaon: The Maharshi Dayanad University has decided to start a Department of Foreign Languages. To start with, German and French are being offered at the MDU National Law College here. According to the Director of the National Law College, Dr P.C.Juneja, the course is of 180 hours duration and will start on September 15.

Dr Juneja further said that to cater to the needs of the working strata and full-time students of various educational institutions, the classes will be held in non-working hours. TNS

POLITICS

Panches removed for having more than two kids
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, September 11
Thirty elected members of different panchayats, including 10 sarpanches, have been removed from their posts for having more than two children in violation of Section 175(I) (Q) of Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, in the district.

This Section of the Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court in a recent judgement.

There are 151 panchayats in the district. The total membership in these panchayats is 1,712, which includes 207 Harijan panches, 17 Harijan sarpanches, 120 women Harijan panches and 14 women Harijan sarpanches. The women sarpanches and panches in the general category number 40 and 400, respectively.

In addition to the responsibilities of the panchayat, these women attend to household chores and participate in almost agricultural operations. Though women are increasingly replacing men in many fields and participate with them in social and community work, they still occupy a subordinate position in the social life.

Among the 30 disqualified panchayat members, 10 are women, including Ms Meena, member, Panchayat Samiti, Sampla, and Ms Sumitra Devi, sarpanch of Bhaisru Khurd village. The women sarpanches removed form their posts are Ms Darshna Devi, Ms Sunita Devi, both belong to Samargopal Pur village, Ms Bimla of Samargopalpur Kalan village and Ms Ram Murti, sarpanch of Samargopalpur Kalan village. Mrs Nisri Devi, sarpanch of Nindana-Teegri, Ms Raj Wanti of Madina Gindhran, and Ms Gita Devi of Indergarh village, are the other women village leaders who have been disqualified for violating Section 175(1) (Q) of the Panchayati Raj Act.

Mrs Anita Devi, member, Panchayat Samiti, Meham, Mrs Sunita Devi, sarpanch of Lohli, and Mrs Sheela Devi, member, panchayat, Sundana, are among 14 members of different panchayats, whose cases are pending in the court of the Deputy Commissioner.

The other persons against whom the action is likely to be taken include Mr Sanjay, member, Panchayat Samiti, Rohtak, Mr Vijender, sarpanch of Seesar Khaas, Mr Ram Mehar, sarpanch, Mokhra-Khaas, Mr Satyavan, panchayat member, Lahli, and Mr Krishan, sarpanch of Katesra village.

Interestingly, not a single member of Zila Pariashad has violated the provisions of Section 175(1) (q) of the Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.

Employment exchanges at block-level abolished
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, September 11
The Haryana Government has reportedly abolished all the employment exchanges functioning at the block-level in the state with immediate effect. According to a report, these include the employment exchanges at Rai and Kharkhauda in this district.

This move has caused widespread resentment among the unemployed youths, who would now have to go to Sonepat to get their names registered with the District Employment Exchange in Huda Sector- 14. Those against this move point out that they would have spend extra money on transportation, food etc., for commuting to Sonepat.

Inquiries have revealed that as many as 36,531 unemployed youths had registered their names with the district employment exchange in this City, including 6,523 women, 5059 Scheduled Castes and 3,228 people from the Backwards Classes.

It was revealed that though 12,082 unemployed youths had registered their names with the employment exchange at Sonepat during the past 18 months, only 151 youths managed to get employment through the exchange.

As many as 8,797 unemployed youths were registered with the employment exchange in the year 2002, include doctors, engineers, M.Com and M.Sc students. Of the 3,286 youths registered during the current year, only 141 persons have been able to get employment through the district employment exchange, Sonepat.

Student injured

A student, identified as Himanshu, sustained knife injuries when he was allegedly attacked with a knife by another student in the hostel of the CR State College of Engineering at Murthal, about 8 km from here last night. According to a report, the injured student was hospitalised and is stated to be out of danger.

NCR BRIEFS
Eight labourers taken ill after food poisoning
Our Correspondents

Sonepat, September 11
As many as eight labourers were taken ill after eating their meals at Kurar village, about 10 km from here yesterday. According to a report, the labourers who were residents of Bihar, were rushed to the local civil hospital for treatment, where the condition of two labourers was stated to be serious. The labourer admitted in the civil hospital were identified as Kuran, Chaleen, Jeetan, Luxman Kajo Prasad and Jogi.

Doctors attending on them believe that they had eaten some poisonous foodstuffs. The police are investigating into the case.

Protest by Youth Congress

Jhajjar: The Youth Congress activists took out a procession here in protest against oppressive policies of the Chautala government. They also sent a memorandum to the Governor in which they demanded the dismissal of the state government. The procession led by the vice-president of the state unit, Mr Anand Sagar, started from the local Punjabi Dharamshala and culminated at the DC office. The Youth Congress said in its memorandum that the people of state were fed up with the anti-people policies of the state government. It demanded the roll back of the fee hike in higher education, setting up a new university in south Haryana in stead of the Sirsa University.

It also demanded the cancellation of all criminal cases being ‘slapped’ against the students during their current agitation.

Medicine Samples Fail Lab Test

Ghaziabad: Samples of medicines collected from Ghaziabad from different localities failed the lab tests. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Inderjit Yunhani, has confirmed that the sample of Cholestrine tablet(Batch NO. 086) collected last year, failed the lab test. He, however, refused to pinpoint the area from where the sample was lifted, as the probe was still in progress. The sample of Belargin medicine lifted from Nai Basti was found to be containing improper colour ratio. During the month of August, 74 medicine samples were collected from different places in the district.

Rs 40,000 looted

Scooter-borne miscreants snatched Rs 40,000 from a man near Raj Nagar police post in broad daylight. The victim, Suresh Kaushal, had withdrawn his pension from a bank in Nav Yug market under Kavi Nagar police station area. After getting down from an auto-rickshaw near the ALT centre, Suresh Kaushal was walking down to his house in Sector-23, Raj Nagar, when two armed miscreants on a scooter snatched the money bag at gun-point and sped away. Later, Suresh informed the police control room.

Six cases of vehicle theft

Faridabad: The police have booked at least half a dozen cases of vehicle theft in the town in the last couple of days. According to information, four vehicles have been stolen in the past couple of days. Besides, two vehicles were lifted about 10 days back. A Maruti car of a lady doctor was stolen from Sector-16, recently. A motorcycle was also lifted by unidentified persons in the same sector. TNS

CRIME

Gang of highway robbers busted
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, September 11
With the arrest of three persons, the Gohana police have busted a gang of highway robbers operating in this district for the past few months.

The Superintendent of Police, Mr Paramjit Singh Ahlawat, told mediapersons here yesterday that the arrested persons were identified as Safeeq and Idreesh of Asalatpur village under the Sahibabad police station area in UP and Islamuddin of Pasonda village in Ghaziabad district.

The police, he said, recovered a country-made pistol, one live cartridge and one ‘Kamanidar’ knife from the possession of the arrested persons. A motorcycle was also seized on the spot.

Giving details of the arrests, the SP said that a police party was patrolling the Gohana-Hassangarh road when the officials received a secret information about some miscreants sitting in a deserted hut on the Khandrai road. The police, he said, swung into action and conducted a surprise raid on the hideout of the miscreants and arrested them from the spot.

Cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Arms Act were registered against them.

The SP further disclosed that the Kharkhauda police have arrested two persons namely Attar Singh and Baljit of Rohna village for allegedly being found in possession of 22 bottles of country-made liquor. A case under the Excise Act was registered against them.

BUSINESS

Surajkund Tradefest begins on Oct 3, entry fee hiked
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 11
The organisers of the second Tradefest (Industrial Fair) to be held at Surajkund here between October 3 and 12, have decide to hike the price of the entry ticket from Rs 10 to Rs 15. However, the cost of ticket for children has been fixed at Rs 5. The charges on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) would be Rs 20 and Rs 10 for adults and children respectively.

The authorities claimed that the rates of ticket were same as during the craft mela held here in February each year.

The mela authorities have decided to erect as many as 370 stalls and 12 pavilions this year.

Last year, about 343 stalls were booked by the participants, which included manufacturers, business and trading companies and various boards and corporations.

The number of visitors to the Tradefest last year had touched about two lakhs and had cost Rs 90 lakh to organise the fair.

The organisers claim that the mela was not a financial burden on the state government, as it has become financially self-sustaining.

The total amount of business churned out last year was claimed to be around Rs 6 crore.

Last year the Tradefest had been held in December, but has been advanced this year keeping in view certain factors so as to make it more attractive and convenient to the visitors.

The various corporations and boards of Haryana have been asked to put up their stalls at the mela. Besides cultural events, the Tradefest will have seminars and a food festival.

Move to choose units for Fest

Sonepat: The Haryana Industries Department has decided to select the industrial units of Sonepat district, which will display their products in the ‘Suraj Kund Fest’ commencing from October 3 to October 12 in the Suraj Kund tourist complex of Faridabad district.

According to a report, the last date for submitting the applications will be September 20. A number of industrial units from all over the state are likely to take part in this festival. The owners of these units can sell their products in the fest.

Six industrial units have been selected in the district so far. They will be allowed to put their stalls and exhibit their products in them. These are: LT Overseas,

Sunstar Overseas, Chaudhary Enterprises, Minda industries, Nikhi Footwear and Homemade Bakers.

Meanwhile, the department has also selected as many as 13 industrial units of Sonepat district, which would display their products in the IITF commencing from November 14 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

The selected industries include the Atlas Cycles (Haryana) Limited, Indo-Asian Fues Gears Limited, and Satnam Overseas. These industries would be authorised to receive contracts from entrepreneurs of India and abroad.

Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs have alleged that they are being harassed by the officials of the District Industries Centre (DIC). They also alleged that their applications for displaying their products in the IITF were rejected on flimsy ground by the DIC officials, as they were only encouraging certain units. A high-level inquiry is likely to expose the misdeeds of the officials in this regard, they said.