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| Wednesday,
September 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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BJP accuses Congress of enlisting bogus voters New Delhi, September 23 Even the senior BJP leader and Chairman of the Election Campaign Committee for Delhi, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who accused the ration officers of colluding with the ruling party, said the party will scrutinise the parliamentary voters’ lists and claimed “more than 10 lakh bogus voters would be found there.” Claiming that in the given situation, free and fair polls in Delhi were “impossible,” Mr Malhotra regretted that the Election Commission had not responded to their repeated representations. Even the MPs from Delhi have not been able to meet the EC. |
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Narco-terror circuit with ISI links busted New Delhi, September 23 The Crime Branch inter-state cell, which had been working on the case under the supervision of ACP Ravi Shanker, spent many days in Punjab. It found out that one Raj Kumar Mehta, resident of Harsh Vihar, was the main conduit acting at the behest of the ISI in Delhi. Mehta, who used to get heroin from his Pakistani contacts, used to route it to European countries through a Nigerian national. The Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Mr B. K. Gupta, said the sleuths on September 20 received secret information that Mehta would be coming to the Sarai Rohilla railway station to deliver consignments to his associate. On the assigned day, the police party at around 1.15 pm spotted Mehta with his accomplice. The sleuths immediately overpowered both of them. Mehta’s accomplice was later identified as Pradeep Kumar Mehta and the two seized packets contained one kg of heroin and US $ 23,000, respectively. During interrogation, the accused spilled the beans about two of their associates, Inder Singh, resident of Rohini, and Harjinder Singh, alias Jinda (47), resident of Amritsar, who resided in the Gol Dak Khana area. The sleuths seized one kilogram of heroin from each of the two accused. The arrests led to the nabbing of one Mohammad Hanif, a Pakistani national residing in Rohini, and two kg of heroin was seized from his possession. Subsequently, Harley, a Nigerian national, was arrested on September 22 near Jawaharlal Nehru University and 300 gm of heroin was seized from his possession. Interrogation of the accused also revealed that they were in touch with Bhola, Tariq and Abdul Razak of Lahore for the consignments. The drugs used to be smuggled from the border areas of Ferozepore and
Amritsar. |
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Reliance plans thermal power plant near Delhi New Delhi, September 23 The BSES Director (Business Development), Mr J. P. Chalasani, said here today the company was currently exploring various options for setting up a gas-based thermal power station at a location in and around New Delhi. Mr Chalasani said the company’s board had in principle granted approval to the project and the company was now looking at possible sites for locating the project. He said the plant, with a capacity of at least 1,000 MW, would require an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore. BSES Ltd, rechristened Reliance Energy, was identifying sites in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for the project for which it would draw on gas reserves recently discovered in the KG Basin, he added. The energy would be used primarily to supply its existing and future distribution networks in and around the Capital region. BSES acquired majority stake in two distribution networks in Delhi following last year’s privatisation of the business. The proposal comes close on the heels of Tata Power – the third distribution license holder — announcing plans for establishing a plant with a similar capacity in Delhi.
Power privatisation
above board: Sheila The Delhi BJP’s allegations of corruption in the privatisation of electricity distribution in the Capital were today refuted by the Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit. She said the process had been fully transparent. Ms Dikshit told mediapersons, after commissioning a new 66/11KIV grid substation in Dwarka, that she would give her response to the charges in one or two days. |
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Dengue spreads its tentacles Nodia, September 23 But sadly very little in being done by the health authorities to control the fever, especially in rural area of the district. The three private hospitals in Noida have confirmed 18 dengue patients, most of whom are “on the way to recovery”. There being no health officer in Noida, the post having been abolished during Ms Mayawati’s regime, the situation is rather alarming. The Noida administration is hardly in a position to do anything concrete in the matter. The waterlogging in Sector 62 is particularly worrying the residents as the sector has all conditions conducive for the spread of dengue and other infectious fevers in the city. Unfortunately, authorities at the government hospital in Sector 30 here are shying away from confirming dengue cases for some inexplicable reasons. |
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Students step out to clean city New Delhi, September 23 With the beginning of the nine-day ‘Clean City’ campaign the students from 13 schools have taken the initiative to rid the city of some of its dirt and piles of garbage. Carrying placards, banners and charts, hundreds of children from public schools in Delhi, Faridabad and Ghaziabad congregated at Buddha Jayanti Park to pick up the littered garbage and mark the initiation of the campaign. The ambitious project, which will save the city from wallowing under heaps of garbage and dirt that accumulates everyday, is being supported by the Australian High Commission. The programme, which is a part of the ‘Clean Up the World Program 2003’, was today inaugurated by Australian Charge d’Affaires Michelle Marginson. With its ever-increasing pollution and population problems as also the lack of interest shown by its people, the city has emerged as one facing serious environmental challenges. Environmentalists and nature lovers are steadily roping in children to not just spread awareness about the environment issues, but also to pave the way for the others to emulate. Students from various schools have been encouraged to do their bit for the city through these cleaning drives. Earlier, the students have contributed to the preservation of the environment through drives like saying no to plastics and firecrackers and also by helping clean the Yamuna. The latest campaign is a part of the campaign which started in Australia with support of the United Nations Environment Programme. Speaking about the event, Ms Marginson said it had become a worldwide movement. She said it was most satisfying to see that the campaign had been taken on in real earnest by the schools of Delhi. Ms Marginson said she was impressed with the enthusiasm the campaign had generated. It was pointed out that when the campaign started in 1993 as many as 80 countries were enlisted and now in its eleventh year more than 100 countries were taking part, mobilising around 40 million people. The heartening news was that many organisations were starting clean-up activities this month, with an aim to sustain them throughout the year. |
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Brazen Assault Sonepat, September 23 According to a report, the alleged assailant, who belonged to the same village, managed to escape immediately after the ghastly murder. The police have registered a case against him and launched a massive hunt to apprehend him. Reportedly, the victim, along with another student Krishan, was going to the school on his bicycle. However, on the way he was stopped by the alleged assailant who asked him for a lift but Sandeep declined. Thereupon, Anil started beating him with a rod. When Krishan tried to save his friend he, too, was attacked by the alleged assailant. On hearing a hue and cry some passers-by intervened and saved Sandeep from further thrashing. The alleged assailant, however, fled. Thereafter, the injured student was rushed to the local Civil Hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on the way. The victim, it is stated, had a quarrel with the younger brother of the alleged assailant a few days ago. According to another report, Vinod, a youth of Mundlana village, situated about 45 km from here, allegedly committed suicide by taking sulphas tablets in his house yesterday. It is stated that the youth had thrown acid on the wife of his brother near the bus stand in a bid to prevent her from going to her parents’ house.
Saroj, who sustained burn injuries, was immediately hospitalised. She is stated to be out of danger. The police are still investigating the case. The incident has cast a pall of gloom in the house of the victim. |
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Youth murders issueless uncle Ghaziabad, September 23 The aunt of the assailant, Shahid, who has since been nabbed, is struggling for her life in a private hospital. The murder is being linked to the youth’s wish to usurp the land belonging to his uncle, who was childless. The Police Circle Officer of Pilkhua said 43-year-old Abrar of Kushalya village, who was employed at the Hamdard factory in Ghaziabad, had no child even after 17 years of his marriage to Tasleeman. Abrar owned 40 bighas of land which he had given to his brother Iqbal for farming. The issueless couple had adopted the eight-year-old daughter of his brother in-law a few days ago. This had reportedly annoyed the nephew. Iqbal’s son Shahid attacked his uncle Abrar in the head with an axe as a result of which the latter died on the spot. Shahid had also attacked his aunt, Tasleeman. |
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CM to voters: I accept your demands, you accept mine Sonepat, September 23 During his two-day tour of the villages of Kailana assembly constituency, Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala mouthed these words in almost every village before taking up the demands of the villagers. At his meeting in Gannaur Mandi, Mr Chautala announced that the government would ensure proper facilities of sewerage, drinking water, and streetlights in Gannaur town besides starting road repair works on a war-footing after September 30. He informed the people that the government had already spent Rs 2.81 crore on various development works including Rs 93 lakh on improving the sewerage system of the town. He accepted the demand for a sports stadium and sanctioned the development of a park in the town. During his speech, Mr Chautala said that he had accepted all their demands and asked them if they would accept his one demand. The people in the meeting then raised their hands in acceptance. But the Chief Minister did not miss the moment and said, “Some Congressmen are still keeping hands in their armpits.” If you want to keep me in the same position, then put your stamp on ‘einak’ at the right time, he added. Later, the Chief Minister distributed sewing machines to the deserving women of 166 families living below the poverty line. He also gave away sanction letters for construction of 47 houses under the Indira Awas Yojna and 61 work-sheds under the self-employment scheme. The two-day visit of the Chief Minister in around four dozen villages of the area has brought a great relief for the villagers as the administration had worked day and night for the repair of roads, streamlining the power and water supplies and in completing the pending development works. |
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L-G concerned over illegal entry of liquor New Delhi, September 23 Taking stock of the law and order in the Capital in view of the upcoming festival season, Mr Kapoor noted that in recent weeks the incidents of robbery and snatching had increased not only in Delhi but also in the adjoining cities. The Lt-Governor, being the representative of the Union Government, is responsible for the law and order situation in the city. Owing to the limited statehood, law and order of the city rests with the Union Government. Senior Delhi Police officials said an action plan had been chalked out to check the same and assured it would be implemented soon in co-operation with police of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, according to sources. The Lt-Governor took a serious view of the unauthorised entry of liquor into the national Capital and cited recent seizure of 1,080 cartons of country liquor brought from Madhya Pradesh, sources said. The illicit flow, besides defrauding the government exchequer, could also lead to problems in management of law and order in the forthcoming festival season and malpractices in the run-up to the Assembly elections, the meeting noted. The Excise Commissioner has been instructed to curtail period of validity of permits for transport of liquor, ensure checking of stocks in the bonded warehouses and undertake other necessary measures in cooperation with the police so that no unauthorised flow takes place. The Lt-Governor pointed out that building material on roads and pavements were causing problems to the people and sought its removal and completion of digging work by September 30, failing which strong action would be taken. |
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Memorandum highlights increase in attacks on journalists Sonepat, September 23 In the memorandum, it is pointed out that the incidents of murderous attacks on journalists and their implication in false and fabricated cases were on the rise for the last two years. Parmanand was the second journalist to be murdered and attack on journalists, including police lathi charge on them, reflected the apathy of the government machinery in curbing such incidents. The incidents of murder and attacks on journalists were aimed to terrorise the Fourth Estate and curb the freedom of the press, the memorandum stated. |
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DPRO pulls out all stops for Karnal rally Panipat, September 23
The rally would be organised to mark 90th birth anniversary of the former Deputy Prime Minister Tau Devi Lal at Karnal on September 25. The newspapers offices had been inundated with official press notes quoting the INLD functionaries and appealing to the public to attend the “massive” rally to make it “historic”. On the other hand, the police had gone a step further and urged the residents to use the G T Road to the minimum on September 24 and 25 so that there were no traffic jams as thousands of vehicles carrying the rally participants from at least eight districts would pass though this stretch of road. A press note issued by the SP, Dr Suman Manjari, advised the handloom manufacturers and trading community to minimise the use of horse-driven carts, rickshaws, rehris and other slow-moving traffic on the G T road and use alternative routes. The handout is silent on which alternative routes the entrepreneurs, especially those situated on the G T Road, should use. She warned that the vehicles parked on the four-lined road would be impounded. Singing praises of the late leader, various INLD office-bearers explain through press notes how elaborate arrangements had been made for the transportation of thousands of the party workers to the rally venue. A couple of days back, the president of district youth wing of the party, Mr Nishan Singh Malik, termed the late leader as “yug purush” who had following all over the country. He claimed that Tau Devi Lal was the pioneer of the “khula darbar” concept, which had become a mass movement in the state now. He made it a point to mention that special transport had been arranged for the women party workers. |
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Land mining
allotments cause huge revenue loss Noida, September 23 Alleging that since it was causing a revenue loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer, Mr Nagar called for a probe into the matter by an officer of principal secretary rank. He said in Raipur Khadar, Chak Basantpur and Asgarpur villages on Yamuna bank, all allotments for land mining have been given, violating the UP rules and regulations of 1963 on the subject. Ex-minister Nawab Singh Nagar alleged that as per the administration letter No. 3023/77-5-3003-343/2003 of June 16, 2003, hundreds of acres of land have been given to Okhla Sand Supply Company, National Sand Supply Co and Oriental Sand Supply Co. These allotments were made by District Magistrate Gautam Budh Nagar on June 26, 2003. All these permissions had been granted without going through the procedure of inviting tenders, Mr Nagar alleged. He called for a departmental inquiry against the guilty. He had raised this issue first during the Kalyan Singh’s regime when an inquiry was conducted by the then Gautam Budh Nagar DM Manoj Singh who had recommended the cancellation of all allotments. |
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Villagers lathi-charged; eight held Ghaziabad, September 23 About a dozen villagers were injured in the lathi-charge. At Kamla Nehru Nagar power substation, an employee of power contractor Islam was repairing the fault when the current was switched on at the substation by some workers. As a result, Islam received the shock. He was rushed to Devya Nursing Home. The incident infuriated the villagers who collected at the Kamla Nehru Nagar substation and raised slogans against UPPCL. Later, the people blocked the traffic on the road. The Kavi Nagar police lathi-charged the villagers and arrested about eight of them. “Three employees of the power department were found drunk at the substation,” alleged Manoj Chaudhry, Pradhan of Raispur Gram Sudhar Samiti. The power was switched on by these drunk employees which almost resulted in the death of the electrician, Manoj Chaudhary said. |
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Special Focus on
Gurgaon Gurgaon, September 23 Addressing mediapersons, the GIA president, Mr Jagan Nath Mangla, said that the local Municipal Council had identified 575 industrial units falling in its jurisdiction in 2002. However, most of these identified units were not industrial units, said Mr Mangla. Mr Mangla further revealed that the MC had even included small establishments such as floor mills, wielding shops, dry cleaners shops and dubbed them as polluting units. The GIA pleaded before the High Court that these units should not be included as polluting units. In its direction, the High Court observed that only 92 units should be treated as the polluting units. A resident of Gurgaon, Mr S. P. Kohli had written a letter to the High Court in 1995 appealing to the court to close down the polluting units near his house in Shivpuri. The court had treated the letter as a public interest litigation. The GIA president said that in the final judgement passed by the High Court yesterday, it had provided relief to the polluting units. The court has directed that the 92 identified polluting units could approach the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and represent their cases within a week. In turn, the Pollution Control Board would submit its status report to the court within three week as to why these units should be considered as polluting units. Mr Mangla said that most of the polluting units functional in the residential areas date back to more than fifteen to twenty years. However, he said these units were ready to shift to places provided by the district administration. We had requested the administration to provide the plots at cheaper rates to these small units. But the plots were provided at the market prices and no incentive and commissions were given to these polluting units, which were ready to shift to industrial estates, said Mr Mangla. |
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NCR BRIEFS Ghaziabad, September 23 The fire in oil tankers had spread to some neighbouring factories also. No employee was, however, injured in the fire, though 25 workers were working on the premises at the time of the incident, the mill management said. Three fire tenders had to fight the blaze for about two hours. There are some large boilers in the mill which caught fire along with mobile tankers of petrol, diesel and mobile oil. The generator room was also completely gutted and the thick smoke and flames could be seen from a distance. But fire brigade officials were able to control the fire in oil tankers soon with the help of the factory workers.
MBBS seats Rohtak: The Union Government has allocated four seats of MBBS from the central pool for the spouse/children of civilian victims of terrorism to Mahavir Medical College at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. In a press statement released this evening, Dr Dhruva Chaudhary, Public Relations Officer of the PGIMS, said the PGIMS Rohtak received the government communique today. He said the eligible candidates should apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs through the state government by September 25. He said the proforma could be obtained from the office of Director, PGIMS, Rohtak.
Student beaten up Sonepat: Mohit, a class IV student of a school on the Sonepat-Gohana Road, was allegedly beaten up mercilessly by a teacher today. According to a report, the student who sustained injuries was rushed to the local civil hospital. The parents have made a complaint to the police in this connection. However, no arrest has been made so far. It is stated that the student had forgot to take the homework copy to the school for which the teacher punished him. |
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DELHI DIGEST New Delhi, September 23 The supervisor is missing along with his belongings. A case of murder has been registered in Okhla, police said.
Cleanliness drive Keeping in view the festival season, the Mayor of Delhi, Mr Ashok Kumar Jain, has launched a sanitation-cleanliness drive to make the Capital clean. The campaign was launched from Safdarjung Enclave to Africa Avenue Marg. The Mayor appealed to the citizens to render all possible assistance to the MCD to make the drive successful.
Hunt for truck driver The Defence Colony police have launched a hunt for a truck driver on the charge of causing death due to rash and negligent driving. According to police, the driver hit a scooter near Moolchand flyover last night. The scooterist, Pappu alias Bal Bahadur and a pillion-rider Satish were admitted to AIIMS where Pappu was declared brought dead. Satish was discharged after the first-aid.
TU office ‘damaged’ The Indian Federation of Trade Union general secretary, Dr Vikas alleged that the union office located in front of B-126, Mayapuri
Industrial Area, was damaged by the police. The IFTU activists have been fighting for the welfare of workers in the Industrial area for several years. The local police act as agents of the factory owners and its office was damaged to make the factory owners happy, the general secretary alleged.
Loadshedding The NDPL today announced loadshedding on Wednesday due to installation of new Ring Main Units at Subzi Mandi, Naraina village substation and revamping of I-Block substation in district Moti Nagar. The affected areas will be Naraina village and Cantonment Board Area along with Ring Road from 11 am to 3 pm, a press release said.
Road safety programme In order to minimise the accidents, the Indian Aspirant Association organised a road safety programme at Narela market. The organisers fixed reflector tapes for better visibility on cycles and cycle rickshaws mudguards. If the reflector tapes are fixed on all cycles and rickshaws, drivers of the motor vehicle will see them easily at night and drive their
vehicles carefully, the organisers said. |
Widow stabbed by relatives Ghaziabad, September 23 Hearing her screams, the villagers took her to Babu Garh police station and later rushed her to a nursing home. Asha Devi said her late husband Fauji had left her nine-bigha land. Later, she acquired three-bigha more. Since she was not having any issue, her family members were trying to forcibly annex her land. She alleged that her relatives have, in connivance with the police, attempted to kill her many times, but the police have not taken any action on her reports. |
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Unidentified man’s body found in well Sonepat, September 23 Country liquor seized The Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested one Ramrup of Bhatana village following the recovery of 10 bottles of country liquor from his possession. According to a report, the culprit was apprehended by the police when he got down from a train. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against him. |
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HSIDC languishes as infrastructure remains a distant dream Sonepat, September 23 The industrialists and the workers here commute daily between Delhi and Kundli in the absence of residential facilities at
Kundli. The much touted “growth centre”, Kundli has about 100 industrial units, some of them outside the industrial complex, employing about 8,000 workers. Located on the Haryana-Delhi border, it has a great potential to develop into a high growth industrial complex. However, due to the lack of basic industrial infrastructure, its growth as an industrial centre has been limited over the years. Many industrialists alleged that the authorities of the HSIDC had adopted an “indifferent attitude” towards their problems and had failed to solve them inspite of repeated representations made to them. In 1979 when the complex had come up, the government had promised to provide basic infrastructures, including roads, electricity, drinking water, sewerage and storm water drains. However, in spite of its prime location, 24 years on one finds that Kundli has grown at a snail’s pace. The promise of providing the basic infrastructure has not
materialised. The roads here are in bad shape and the power supply is inadequate and erratic. Sewerage system is incomplete and storm water drains are choked. The HSIDC complex lacks fire fighting and medical facilities for the workers. No housing accommodations are available for the workers. As there are no DTC bus services through the industrial complex, the buses terminate at the Singhu border, two km short of the village, with the result that the workers have to walk the distance. Transportation is a major problem faced by the industrialists. Transport operators have been charging exorbitant rates for carrying goods from the complex. It is alleged that the ESI dispensary has been of “no use“ for the workers as it is always short of life-saving drugs, with the result that the patients have to be shifted either to Sonepat or Delhi. The industrialists have demanded uninterrupted power supply and end to voltage fluctuations, which have damaged machines in the complex. They have also demanded the construction of sewerage system and storm water drains at the earliest. Industrialists have complained that the nearest telegraph office was 22- km away at Sonepat or 8 km away at Narela (Delhi), which hampered their business interest. Though some units have their own effluent treatment plants, the HSIDC had failed to construct the promised common effluent treatment plant. Many industrialists said that they had already converted their units into godowns or shifted their offices elsewhere due to lack of basic industrial facilities here. |
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CLI-based Internet service launched Rohtak, September 23 Explaining the scheme, the general manager, BSNL, Rohtak telecom district, Mr Suresh Bhargava, said that the service could be accessed from any PSTN line by dialing access code-172222. The service allows automatic registration to any PSTN subscriber on the basis of CLI, user name and password. He said that the authentication would be done at Elite Radius and it would generate the CDR for the access. The CLI based Internet service has already been introduced in Gurgaon, Ambala and Panipat in Haryana, he said. Following the introduction of this scheme, there is no need to purchase Internet account and there is no chance of account being misused. Besides free online registration, there is also no need to fill any form. The user will get the Internet bill along with his telephone bill. The CLI based BSNL Internet access is fast, cheap and reliable, Mr Bhargava said. He said that under the CLI-based Internet service, the charges are at the rate of 10 paise per minute. The CLI-based Internet services can be used only from a telephone line. Mr Bhargava said that with a view to improve the BSNL mobile services in the district, the department has decided to install new towers at Lakhan Majra, Jassia, Macchrauli and Deeghal. He said that the WLL would be introduced in the district by Diwali. The total capacity available in Rohtak telecom district is only for 17,500 connections. |
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