TOP STORIES

NOIDA HELD TO RANSOM
Hooligans take over people’s stir
* Trains held up for hrs * MNC factories stoned * Vandalism in colleges
Noida, January 17
The law and order has been the first casualty of the dissolution of the Gautam Budh Nagar district. The events in Noida took a turn for the worse today with a rail roko stir being launched. Two important trains – the Delhi-Howrah-Rajdhani and the Delhi-Lucknow-Shatabdi Express — were stopped near Dadri at 7 am today.

Statehood is Sheila’s recipe for solving housing woes
New Delhi, January 17
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today demanded that the Union Government get the Bill pertaining to statehood for Delhi cleared by Parliament urgently and also clear the pending Co-operative Bill passed by the Delhi Legislative Assembly as soon as possible.

WATCHING TIME FLIT BY. — Photo by Kamal Singh

Alwar’s NCR link chugs along at 25 kmph
New Delhi, January 17
Even before planners decide to bring Alwar in Rajasthan within the ambit of the National Capital Region, there has been a connectivity retained by the oldest steam engine in the world – the Fairy Queen — which makes a two-day round trip to the game sanctuary in Sariska during the tourist season.

‘Speed’ finance racket busted

New Delhi, January 17 With the arrest of four persons, the Crime Branch sleuths claim to have busted a racket in loans, secured from banks and financial institutions by furnishing fake documents and bank statements. The sleuths have recovered computers, scanners, printers, mobile phones, fake driving licences, PAN cards, press identity cards and fake bank statements from the accused. — Photo by Kamal Singh

Joshi wants IIM courses to be affordable
New Delhi, January 17
In a meeting with teachers from various universities, the Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. M M Joshi, today said that management courses offered by government-run institutions should be affordable.

COMMUNITY

Fairy Queen waiting to go. — Photo by Cecil Victor

SDMs directed to ensure completion of development works by March-end
Sonepat, January 17
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balwan Singh, has directed the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of Sonepat, Gohana and Ganaur to monitor the on-going development works under the “Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar” programme and ensure their completion by March 31.

Police asked to pull up their socks for elections
Bhiwani, January 17
In view of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the Financial Commissioner, Principal Secretary and Administrative Secretary of Bhiwani district, Mr H C Disodia, has directed the police administration to keep strict vigil on the anti-social elements to maintain law and order in the district.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON REWARI
State-of-the-art Bank of Rajasthan inaugurated
Rewari, January 17
The Haryana Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, inaugurated the computerized online branch of the Bank of Rajasthan at Rewari yesterday. This is the ninth branch of the bank in Haryana.

• Military Polyclinic  Established

• Memorandum submitted

• Representation sought

SNAPSHOT

LIC Chairman S. B. Mathur and C&MD of NTPC, C. P. Jain, exchanging documents facilitating financial assistance of Rs 7,000 crore to NTPC. Pallavi Arts organised a function to greet eminent poet Jagdish Chaturvedi on his 72nd birthday and also to congratulate him on receiving Padamshree. In the picture (from left) are noted Hindi litterateurs: Ashok Chakradhar, Kamal Kishore Goenka, Jagdish Chaturvedi and Abimanyu Anant.

Soy Food Festival: The zing thing for healthy lifestyle
New Delhi, January 17
Dilli Haat, the food and craft bazaar, situated in the heart of Delhi will host a unique Soy Food Festival for four days. The bazaar will hold the festival, promoting health among its customers on the occasion of the Republic Day. Starting January 23, the Soy Food Festival will see the participation of corporate houses engaged in the processing, manufacturing and marketing of soy products.

SEARCH WITHIN
Accountability, rule of law and society’s health
Joy, temperance and repose, slam the door on the doctor’s nose, wrote Longfellow a long time ago. In the ancient times, the sun and fresh air were considered good enough for ensuring health. But with the advent of civilization and urbanization, health services have become a vital ingredient in the health of any society.

Decomposed body of kidnapped taxi driver identified
Sonepat, January 17
The police found the decomposed body of a taxi driver, identified as Subhash of Rohat village (Sonepat), from a field at Fazalkpur village under the Baghpat Banoli (Uttar Pradesh) police station. The police have registered a case of murder against the two unidentified youths who had hired the car, which was driven by the victim on December 5,2003.

• Officials absent from ‘Janata Darbar’

• Train services disrupted

• HVP rally

Limestone deposits located for proposed SA cement plant
Faridabad, January 17
In a major achievement, the National Council For Cement and Building Materials, an enterprise of the Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce based here, has been able to establish prima facie suitability of the limestone deposits for the proposed one million tonne per annum capacity cement project in the North-West province of South Africa.

AT FULL THROTTLE: The Republic Day parade rehearsal at Rajpath in the Capital on Saturday. — Photo by Kamal Singh

Ajit Pathak elected to IPRA board
New Delhi, January 17
Dr Ajit Pathak, Senior Manager (Corporate Communications), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., has been elected to the Board of International Public Relations Association for a two-year term. IPRA is the international association for PR professionals with 986 members from 96 countries, and has introduced a global view of public relations to the business world.

Free medical camp in Gohana Govt College
Sonepat, January 17
A one-day free medical check-up camp was organised on the premises of the Government College at Gohana town, 35 km from here yesterday. According to a report, a team of specialists comprising Dr Manju, Dr Madhu, and Dr Om Parkash Dudeja, examined all the students of the college and treated them by giving free medicines to them.

• Eight hurt in group clash

• Youth hospitalised after taking medicine

• CR college students’ demo

DELHI DIGEST
Make transport the centrepiece of development: L-G
New Delhi, January 17
Asserting that transport should be the centrepiece of development, Lieutenant-Governor Vijai Kapoor today advocated a mission approach in introducing technological innovations in the transport sector within a shortest timeframe and across the board.

• Ascension Day today

NCR BRIEFS
DHBVN worker held for bribe
Faridabad, January 17
An Assistant Line Man of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam was caught red-handed today while taking a bribe of Rs 500 from a resident in A.C.Nagar here. The money had been demanded for resuming power supply to a connection.

• 163 ticketless passengers caught

• Hasya Kavi Sammelan

CRIME

Youth held for rape, murder of child
New Delhi, January 17
The South district police have arrested a 24-year-old youth for allegedly committing rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Ambedkar Nagar last night. The body of the girl was found in the house of the accused Rajiv, alais Sonu, resident of Madan Gir last night following which Rajiv was taken in the custody.

• TSR driver stabbed to death

361 foreign prisoners lodged in Tihar
New Delhi, January 17
The Director-General of Prisons, Mr Ajay Agarwal, said that there were a total of 361 foreign prisoners, of which 272 were Asians, 57 Africans, 28 Europeans, three North Americans and one Australian in the Tihar Jail.

EDUCATION

School for handicrafts near Surajkund soon
Faridabad: The town which is famous for holding the internationally known Art and Craft Fair at Surajkund in February each year, will add another feather to its cap. A school for providing training in handicrafts and rural crafts will soon come up at Greenfields Colony located in the neighbourhood of Surajkund.

HEALTH

BODY & MIND
Orthopaedic meet for national trauma policy
The Delhi Orthopaedics Association concluded its two-day annual conference recently with welcome recommendations favouring drafting and formalisation of a ‘National Trauma Policy’. The conference was inaugurated by Professor P.K. Dave, Medical Director of Rockland Hospital and former Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

• Relief from peptic ulcers

• Getting rid of piles

SPORTS

Malviya Club enter semi-final
New Delhi, January 17
Half centuries by Gagandeep Singh and Rahul Prasad and deadly bowling of 3 for 20 by T Anand and 3 for 28 by Sachin Choudhary helped Malviya Club defeat Khalsa College by 50 runs and entered the semi-final of the eighth Sahibzada Ajit Singh Cricket Tournament at the Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce ground, Pitampura.

Bagrodia edge past Laxman School
New Delhi, January 17
N.K.Bagrodia School, Rohini, scored a narrow one-goal victory against Laxman Public School in a Group C match of the Kangaroo Cup Under-14 Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium on Saturday.

Test players pass on tips to amateurs

New Delhi, January 17 Two former Indian Test players, medium pacer Vivek Razdan and wicket-keeper Saba Karim, donned the mantle of non-playing captains of ESPN Star Sports and Gillette India to turn the pre-quarter-final match of the ESPN Star Sports Corporate Challenger Cup into an enthralling encounter. Former Test players Vivek Razdan and Saba Karim keenly observing the toss in the ESPN Star Sports Corporate

Atwal makes grade on PGA Tour debut
New Delhi, January 17
Star Indian golfer Arjun Atwal strung together a well-compiled two-under 68 to make the cut at the Sony Open in Hawai, his first outing on the prestigious US PGA Tour. Atwal, who at the year-end became the first-ever Indian to qualify for the biggest stage in the world golf, rests on the bubble with a two-day tally of one-under 139, the very score on which the cut was applied.

Najafgarh beat Modern
New Delhi, January 17
Najafgarh Sports Club defeated Modern School, Vasant Vihar, by two wickets and entered the quarter-final of the second Shanti Gyan Niketan Under-15 Cricket Tournament at the Najafgarh ground.