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Jagmohan in
row over ‘misuse’ of position New Delhi, November 30 The inquiry was ordered by the Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Mrs Alka Diwan. ‘’I have asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) and the Station House Officer of Mandir Marg police station to inquire into the allegations and submit a report,’’ she said. The inquiry was ordered following a complaint submitted by the Congress Party in which it alleged that the bags distributed in Harijan Basti area of the constituency contained a request from Mr Jagmohan seeking a vote for the BJP candidate. The Congress alleged that the Union Tourism Minister
was distributing glossy paper bags and other publicity material
published by his ministry to the voters in the Gole Market constituency. ‘’We have written to the Election Commission seeking action against Mr Jagmohan and BJP candidate Poonam Azad,’’ Congress leader and eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal said at a press conference last night. Mr Sibal alleged that Mr Jagmohan had used the bags to
send letters to individual voters, requesting them to elect the party candidate. ‘’Party pamphlets and Indian Tourism Development Corporation publicity materials were sent in the same bag,’’ he alleged. He said that he also feared that the BJP would use the
police machinery against them during the December 1 elections. The party MP said that after the election notification was issued, the government was not expected to use the administrative machinery for publicity purposes. It was a ‘’corrupt practice’’ under the Representation of People’s Act, but one could approach the court only after the election process was over. |
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Tight security in place for polls today
New Delhi An estimated 35,000 security personnel would be deployed in the NCT of Delhi. A reserve of 20,000 personnel would be on stand by to meet any eventuality as 29 polling booths have been declared as hyper-sensitive and another 211 as sensitive. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be used in all the constituencies. While 12,500 EVMs have been delivered to the District Polling Officers, 2,500 EVMs have been arranged from Haryana as seven Assembly constituencies have more than 16 candidates in fray.
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Dreaded criminal shot in encounter Ghazibad, November 30 According to City S P, Mr Umesh Srivastava, some miscreants in a Santro car had tried to loot a
vehicle on the Vijay Nagar bypass near the Hindon Bridge at 9.45 pm last night. The occupants of the car had informed the police control room about the attempt to loot them. Meanwhile, the Vijay Nagar police S O, Anil Samanya, had reached the bypass area. He chased the criminals, forcing them to turn towards Santosh Medical College, but as the road was blocked their vehicle could go no further; driven into a dead end, the three miscreants started running even as they fired at the police team which was in hot pursuit. One of the criminals was killed in the shooting, but his two companions gave the police the slip. The police have recovered a rifle, a local pistol and a stolen Santro car. The slain criminal has been identified as Jatinder, alias Jeeti, son of Rattan Singh, a resident of Dadri. According to police, the slain criminal had looted a petrol pump cashier in Mandola village on November 22, along with his six companions. Jeeti is described as a dreaded criminal who had looted three petrol pumps in Dadri area in one evening six weeks earlier. He had kidnapped a trader in his own car in Palwal. There are 14 cases of heinous cases registered against Jeeti. Many of his companions were history sheeters. The police of three districts is relieved over Jeeti’s death in an encounter.
Two girls crushed
under bus A woman and her two daughters, waiting for a bus at Pilkhua, were crushed by a bus; the two girls died on the spot while the badly injured woman is struggling for her life in Yashod hospital, Ghaziabad. The accident took place on the Lalkhan Gallant village bus stop on the national highway at about 2 pm yesterday. Shanti Devi, 40, wife of Phool Chand, along with her two daughters, Varsha, 10, and Divya, 8, was waiting on the footpath. She had to go to Meerut for a marriage when the speeding UP Roadways bus (No UP-620-6733) ran over them. |
IN A NUTSHELL Ghaziabad: The District Magistrate has ordered an inquiry into a devastating blaze triggered by a gas tanker’s explosion in village Vet Mode under Simbhawali police station. The explosion had occurred when some anti-social persons were stealing gas from the Indane tankers. In another fallout, the local farmers jammed the national highway to press for payment of compensation for damage to their crop, which was gutted in most places. The ADM (City), Mr Jatinder Bahadur Singh, has been asked to submit his inquiry report within 15 days. The probe will also bring out the role of the police in the incident. It is understood that the fire has caused a loss of at least Rs 50 lakhs. A large number of people injured in the explosion and the resultant fire have been admitted to various hospitals. It took the fire brigade seven hours to control the blaze. The debris of gas tankers was scattered in distant fields, which gives an idea of the extent of damage caused by the explosion. It is believed that portions of the tanker went flying as far as half a km, gutting the crop wherever they fell.
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CBI files gutted New Delhi: Office records and computers were gutted in a fire that broke out in the CBI headquarters here this afternoon. No major loss was reported as it was controlled within 20 minutes. The fire broke out on the first floor of the CBI Headquarters at around 1.30 P.M. The Delhi Fire Service rushed five fire fighters which took 20 minutes to control the blaze. According to a preliminary inquiry, short circuit could be the cause of fire, a spokesman of the Delhi Fire Service said.
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Park
Residency case cracked: Contract killers involved New Delhi, November 30 The accused, Manoj Kumar alias Chavanni (25), a resident of Loni district, Ghaziabad, and a contract killer, belongs to the Jagwinder alias Jaggu alias Pehlwan – Manoj gang from Western Uttar Pradesh. Another person, Manoj Yadav, a resident of Gurgaon, has been also apprehended; the murder weapons were recovered from his possession. Jagwinder and his gang associates were involved in several cases of murder, dacoity, robbery and kidnapping in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) B K Gupta said that since Dilip had some land dispute with one Joginder and Tule Ram, the latter hired the contract killers and struck a deal for Rs 10 lakh. They contract killers receed the area for two days before shooting Dilip, a few meters away from his house at around 10 am. Immediately after the incident, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch and a special team under Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deependra Pathak was constituted. The team, during preliminary investigation, found that the deceased had two restaurants in Delhi, including the Park Residency in Green Park. It also came to light that Dilip owned some land in Gurgaon area and was negotiating some deal. The sleuths also learnt that Dilip wanted to sell his plot worth Rs four crore, situated on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road. However, Joginder and Tule Ram, who had encroached on a part of the land, were against the deal. They threatened Dilip of dire consequences if he sold the plot. When Dilip did not heed their threatening calls and decided to go ahead with the deal, the duo decided to eliminate him by hiring contract killers. Accordingly, they approached the Jagwinder alias Jaggu-Manoj gang. The sleuths suspected Manoj’s hand in the crime and apprehended him. Initially, Manoj did not confess to his role, but when the fingerprint lifted from the cars and motorcycle matched, he broke down and confessed to the crime. It was subsequently learnt that Joginder and Tule Ram had only made an advance payment to the contract killers. The balance payment had not been made. Manoj disclosed that Joginder approached them for the job and provided them the necessary logistical support. Finally, he and Jagwinder came on a motorcycle and shot dead Dilip. Later, they abandoned the motorcycle and fled the area in a car. The motorcycle was stolen from the Kasna area in Noida. A massive hunt is on to trace Jagwinder, his associates, and Joginder and Tule Ram. |
Yet another inquiry hangs fire in MDU Rohtak, November 30 There were seven charges. The first charge was that of “fictitious demand of AC pipes”. The second charge relates to “deliberate delay in repair of main sewer line”. Non-procurement of electricity meters, irregularities in payment to contractors and their harassment, irregularities in purchases, illegal splitting of work and non-preparation of cases of completed construction works for technical sanction were the other charges against Mr Virmani. A retired Engineer-in-Chief, Mr Nihal Singh, was appointed the Inquiry Officer whose first sitting was held at Hisar on December 28, 2001. But on January 16, 2002 a retired Additional District and Session Judge, Mr M L Sharma, was appointed the Inquiry officer in place of Mr Nihal Singh and told to conduct the regular departmental inquiry against Mr Virmani. Mr Sharma submitted his report on May 16, 2002. This report was considered by the Executive Council of the university in its meeting held on December 12, 2002. The Executive Council directed that a copy of the inquiry report be supplied to Mr Virmani, asking him to show cause as to why the report be not accepted. The university gave a show-cause notice for major penalty to Mr Virmani on January 2, 2003. Mr Virmani gave his reply to the show cause notice on January 15, which was considered by the Executive Council in its meeting held on February 4, 2003. The Executive Council decided that a sub-committee, comprising three of its members, one legal expert and a technical expert, be constituted by the Vice Chancellor to examine the reply furnished by Mr Virmani and its report be brought before the Executive Council for consideration. It was further decided that Mr Virmani be given a personal hearing before the Executive Council. A sub-committee, comprising of Prof Ravi Parkash , Dr S B Dahiya and Dr S K Bedi, all members of the Executive Counci, P SD Dahiya, the technical advisor, and Mr Hari Ram, the legal advisor, was constituted. This sub-committee submitted its report on September 25,2003. The 641-page agenda of the Executive Council meeting, scheduled for December 5, has 360 pages devoted to the case of Mr Virmani. People in the university are wondering how long it will take to decide the case. One thing is certain: That the Executive Council, in its forthcoming meeting, cannot finally dispose of the case as it is yet to give a personal hearing to Mr Virmani, if he at all desires to have one. |
Most petrol pumps selling adulterated fuel Sonepat, November 30 According to a report, the owners of the filling stations also sell short weight fuel to the customers since there is no arrangement for the public utility at the filling stations. The vehicle owners are thus forced to buy petrol and diesel mixed with solvent which increases the air pollution in the area. It is alleged that about 90 per cent of the petrol pump owners are allegedly involved in this malpractice. They also allegedly sell adulterated lubricants to the two-wheelers which render the vehicles out of order very soon. One can see the movement of the trucks and tankers loaded with solvent around the petrol pump stations particularly late at night. One such tanker was apprehended by the police on a petrol pump situated on the Sonepat-Meerut inter-state road between Khewra and Bahalgarh villages during May this year. The solvent is available in the market at a low price and by selling one tanker of the chemical, the dealers earn a profit of about Rs 1 lakh. Anil Kumar, a resident of the city said that he bought 30-litre petrol for his car and proceeded to Agra. But when he reached Mathura, the engine of his car stopped working. It could be started when a mechanic drained out the solvent mixed in petrol and changed the fuel. The vehicle owners of Ganaur, Bahalgarh, Murthal, Rai, Biswan Meel, Pio Munyari, Kundli, Kharkhauda and Gohana towns also complain that the petrol filling stations staff do not give receipts after purchasing the petrol from them. On the instructions of the present Deputy
Commissioner, Mr Balwan Singh, the authorities of the Food and Supplies Department had taken samples of petrol sold at these filling stations and sent them to the laboratories for testing. However, the owners of the petrol pumps raised a hue and cry for taking samples and threatened the officials with serious consequences. Under the Essential Commodities Act, action could be taken against the owners of the petrol pumps and the authorities could take the samples of petrol and diesel and issue notices to the guilty owners. Meanwhile, it is alleged that all the petrol pump owners regularly pay illegal monthly amount to the officials. When asked whether they pay bribe for ensuring free sale of adulterated petrol, a dealer replied that they do so to save themselves from harassment by these officials. He said that no check of any petrol pump on various state highways and the National Highway No. 1 has been made for the past one month or so. |
CAMPAIGN TRIAL New Delhi, November 30 Just hours before the Capital goes to polls, Defence Minister George Fernandes decided to do a little cleaning job. But that was not to be. He faced some ugly scenes in the Mandawli constituency. Just as the Minister arrived to inaugurate a programme of clearing garbage near schools in the East Delhi constituency, a number of Congress workers gathered there protesting against the move which they said was ‘motivated’. The slogan-shouting activists wanted Fernandes to go back and not ‘’try to influence the voters at the last moment’’. After a lot of brouhaha, the Congress protestors went back and then the Minister was ready to participate in the programme. Meanwhile, the Congress candidate from Rohini Badli, Dharamveer Yadav has claimed that the Federation of Rohini Societies Welfare Associations has assured him of “full support”. It was pointed out that the residents of these societies have decided to vote for Yadav, who has promised them development, safety and amenities—denied till
date. |
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Poll surveys doctored: BJP New Delhi, November 30 Addressing a news conference on the eve of the polling, Delhi Pradesh BJP president Madan Lal Khurana and the party’s members of Parliament (MPs) Sahib Singh Verma, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Lal Behari Tiwari and Anita Arya claimed that there was a strong undercurrent in favour of the BJP and the results would prove all these surveys wrong. “These surveys appear to be manipulated to influence the voters, as was done in Punjab,” Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said. Mr Khurana said the predictions made by these surveys were beyond his comprehension and that the response the party had got during campaigning clearly indicated a Congress rout in the election. He said the Congress workers were demoralised in view of a lack of direction from the senior leaders. |
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Voters skipped PM’s meetings: Cong New Delhi, November 30 “The Prime Minister’s meetings,” Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Prem Singh said, “are flop shows ... the BJP has no popular leader who could sway the voters like Congress president Sonia Gandhi did at her rallies, which were attended by large crowds”. Hopeful of a landslide victory in the NCT of Delhi, He told media persons that Delhi Pradesh BJP president Madan Lal Khurana should be ready to take ‘sanyas’ from politics. The DPCC president said Khurana had “stooped down to the lowest level” by misusing a section of the media to get a computer-generated photograph published as if to show that the man who criminally assaulted a minor girl was a Congress sympathiser. Singh said Khurana was so desperate that he was indulging in ‘cheap’ and ‘highly objectionable acts’ unbecoming of a leader of his stature to drum up sympathy for the BJP on the eve of the election. “Such cheap politics,” he said, “only alienated even the BJP sympathisers”. He condemned the misuse of official machinery by Defence Minister George Fernandes, who visited Mandawli in the morning to muster support for his party’s candidate. Singh said the Minister indulged in ‘political gimmicks’ on the eve of the polling. |
SPECIAL FOCUS ON SONEPAT Sonepat, November 30 Giving this information, Mr Ishwar Singh Rathi, president of the district unit of the U.T.U.C. (Lenin Sarani) told mediapersons here today that the leaders and the workers of the AITUC, CITU, NMS, UTUC, Haryana Karamchari Maha Sangh, Sarv Karamchari Sangh, Banks and LIC employees Union would take part in this convention. The ‘anti-worker’ policies of both the BJP-led NDA Government and the INLD government, headed by Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister would also be opposed by the convention, he added. He said that a meeting of the office-bearers of the above-mentioned unions would be held on December 6 in the Municipal Park to chalk out the programme for making the December 21 convention a success. Mr Rathi disclosed that an all India convention of these union would also be held on February 11 to register its protest against the banning of hartal by the apex court. A state level rally would also be held on February 1 at Jind in which thousands of workers would join and express their solidarity on this issue. He made a fervent appeal to the working class to join the conventions and rallies on this issue in large number. |
Members demand cancellation of shops’ auction Sonepat, November 30 The members - Narender of Khurrampur Balraj of Sohti, Ghoghri of Sisana, Rajwanti of Gopalpur and Ramesh of Pahladpur, have stated that a meeting of the block samiti was held on September 5, on the Block Office, and there was no discussion on the auctioning of shops in the meeting. They have explained in their reply that generally the signatures of the members, attending the meeting, are taken in a separate register and the resolutions passed in the meeting are not written on the same day. All the proceedings of the meeting are written on later dates so that the members should not know how many resolutions were passed in the meeting. Moreover, they stated that the members are not being given the copies of the resolutions of the previous meetings in the next meeting of the samiti. The chairman of the samiti had not sent the agenda and the proceedings of September 5 meeting to any member of the samiti, they added. They claimed that the lease, which has been entered in the register on October 3, was wrong. Narender of Khurampur has pointed out that he himself was present in the Block office on October 3, from 9.30 am to 11.45 am, and there was neither any information about that day’s meeting nor anyone was present to give auction. They have mentioned in their reply that there was neither any announcement nor any advertisement in the newspapers about the auctioning and concerned government authorities, like Tehsildar and the police SHO, were also not informed about the said auctioning. They have also pointed out that auction has shown on October 3, but the security amount of Rs 30,000 was deposited in the bank on October 6. The members have demanded cancellation of the said auction and action against the erring officials of the samiti. |
It’s a nightmare
to travel in
suburban trains Sonepat, November 30 According to a report, there are about a dozen trains linking New Delhi and Delhi stations with Sonepat but the rush is mainly in the morning and the evening trains when thousands of office workers, government employees, schoolteachers, students and milkmen commute. The trains are generally overcrowded but the situation has deteriorated as the authorities reduced the number of coaches in them, forcing the commuters to either huddle into the available space or travel on the footboards of the bogies. The number of second class coaches in most of the suburban trains is insufficient, causing inconvenience to the women passengers. Milkmen invariably hold monthly season tickets (MSTS) but they carry more containers and travel in the second class coaches without booking of the containers. They occupy most of the space by keeping their huge containers on the way to the entrance and the exit of the coaches. In this way, the passengers in general and the women in particular have to face great hardships in boarding the coaches and getting down from them. The situation has become worse in the 1 DPM passenger train since it has been converted into the EMU train. The milk vendors keep their huge milk containers in each of the coach without booking, causing inconvenience to the passengers particularly women who neither enter the coaches nor get down from them easily as the train halts less than 1 minute at the railway stations. On many occasions, the women passengers failed to enter the coaches and get down from them during this period. The railway authorities remained silent spectators and failed to take action. Representations made to the authorities for increasing the number of second class coaches and providing separate coaches for the milk vendors have fallen on deaf ear. Late running of the suburban trains and long-distance trains has become a routine on this section. The railway authorities, on the other hand, have their own problems. Students living in Delhi or the nearby villages and studying in the colleges at Sonepat are responsible for various irregularities like pulling of alarm chain and travelling without tickets. The railway staff are reluctant to take action against the erring students for fear of an agitation by them. The commuters face inconvenience mainly at the Sonepat railway station. The number of sheds provided at the railway station is inadequate. A large number of passengers have to wait for the trains, rain or shine. Water coolers provided at the railway station remains defective in summer. |
NCR BRIEFS Panipat: Six persons of village Nanhera in Panipat district have reportedly been injured when a dozen armed persons from village Kakora of Shamli Tehsil in Uttar Pradesh attacked them on Friday evening. The Kakora villagers were reportedly accompanied by the tehsildar. The incident has created panic among the residents of the villages adjoining the Yamuna belt. After receiving information, a police force from Panipat is camping in the village. According to information, the farmers of Nanhera village have sown sugarcane in about 150 acres in the Yamuna land. On Friday, a number of them had gone to the fields for installation of a tubewell to irrigate the sugarcane fields. When they were about to begin the installation work, around five dozen villagers from Kakora armed with sharp-edged weapons and country-made revolvers attacked them. In the attack, six persons identified as Prem, Ramdhan, Devender, Ravinder, Nakli Ram and Manju sustained injuries. The injured admitted to the local civil hospital have alleged that the UP farmers were accompanied by one tehsildar. The injured villagers claimed that they had been cultivating over 80 per cent area of the disputed 150 acres in the Yamuna for long and there was no threat of an attack. After the incident, the district police and revenue authorities of Panipat district have reportedly taken up the matter with their counterparts in Muzaffarnagar district and a meeting between the officers from both sides was expected soon to resolve the matter.
TNS
Three hurt in
accident Sonepat: Three persons, including the driver of a three-wheeler were injured when it overturned after being hit by a truck on G T Road near Bhigan village about 10 km from here today. According to a report, the truck driver tried to overtake the three-wheeler when it was hit by the truck and turned turtle.
MDS entrance results Rohtak: The Maharshi Dayanand University has declared the results of MDS entrance examination held on November 23. The merit list has been put on display at the enquiry counter of the university. Meanwhile, an inter-departmental debate on the ‘Right to strike’ (reference to the recent Supreme Court judgement) will be organised on December 1 by the Public Administration department and Students Welfare office.
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Three dry days; illicit liquor seized New Delhi, November 30 |
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