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Panel finds DSIDC guilty of mismanagement
Chief of riot victim panel meets PM
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Khurana not to hold any party post before resolving SSI issue
Despite court ruling, doctor yet to receive dues
Apathy ails child hospital
Contractors clash, one
shot dead
AIDS staring Faridabad in the face
‘Padyatra’ for clean Delhi
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit during the ‘Clean City Campaign’.
Attendant rape case solved,
one held
RWA thanks Shastri
Prabodh Sahitya Samman
Brick body’s distress
Rich heroin haul
‘New era medicine’ to check incurable diseases
IOC ‘star’ plan to encourage distributors
Students injured in group clash
Ghaziabad at its polluted worst
IG gives an earful to
Noida police
A hellhole of a road to test driver’s skills!
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Panel finds DSIDC guilty of mismanagement
New Delhi, November 1 The report, which has been prepared for the benefit of the Monitoring Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, observes that “none of the CETPs are functioning properly” and that “lack of accountability” insofar as DSIDC is concerned has contributed in no small measure to the ad hoc measures taken by the government. The Monitoring Committee is meeting later this week in the Capital to take stock of the situation arising out of the expiry of the October 15 deadline for making 10 CETPs operational. The industrial societies also had to contribute their share (50 per cent of the total cost) towards setting up of the CETPs. The surveys were conducted in 10 industrial areas of Delhi, specially looking at areas where CETPs are operational or are nearing completion (undergoing trial runs). They are: Wazirpur, Okhla, Najafgarh, Jhilmil, Mayapuri, SMA, Mangolpuri, Nangloi, Lawrence Road and GT Karnal Road. The report recommends that closure of industries is “not” a solution to the problem of hazardous waste generation. “Either the industry will come up elsewhere or it will restart through extra-legal means. In either case, the environment and labour will both suffer the consequences,” reads the report, which will be made public tomorrow. “The previous actions of closure, or threat of closure, are resulting in a change in the profile of the industrial areas, with banquet halls, showrooms, and commercial complexes replacing manufacturing enterprises …. Hence, adequate, proper, and regular monitoring by the regulatory agencies is essential if the system is not to break down.” “To allow this state of affairs to continue is going to be disastrous,” the report states. It also observes that transparency and accountability are of crucial importance. “It is only continuous vigilance by all stakeholders that is going to ensure the sustainability of environmental improvement”, reads one of the recommendations. The report also observes that disposal of waste, including sludge, within units or in municipal Dhalaos or temporary sites and landfills is no “solution” to the problem. “There has to be a long-term plan for engineered sanitary landfills as well for reduction of waste through process changes,” it reads.
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Khurana not to hold any party post before
New Delhi, November 1 Reacting to press reports that BJP President L. K. Advani had not included him in his team, Mr Khurana said he had not come here to become “either a vice-president or a general secretary in the party”. “I have come here not to seek any position in the party but for the cause of the small-scale industries giving employment to about 20 lakh people and for the regularisation of the unauthorised colonies,” he told newspersons at his Kirti Nagar residence in West Delhi. Former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, along with several former BJP MLA and MLCs, were also present. Mr Khurana said that when he was Rajasthan Governor, he had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to express his concern over the situation arising out of the closure of the small-scale industries. He had informed that the problem of shifting these industries would have not arisen if the government had made a provision for land for these industries in the second Delhi Plan. As there was no further expansion of the industrial areas, people had started setting up industrial undertakings in the residential areas, he had stated. He made available to the press the acknowledgement of his letter by the Prime Minister. He would study the issues of industries and unauthorised colonies before announcing his action plan, Mr Khurana said. He would also meet Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and even the Prime Minister, if the need arose, and urge that the industries not be dislocated, he said. Referring to the Centre’s recent initiative to resolve both the issues, Mr Khurana said there was nothing new in it and the previous NDA government had taken a similar decision. Mr Khurana and Mr Verma claimed that the BJP would not have lost the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections if the NDA government had addressed these two issues.
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Chief of riot victim panel meets PM
New Delhi, November 1 The memorandum included a demand for the punishment for those guilty of taking part in the massacre, waiving of the loan provided as grants for the rehabilitation of the victims and erecting a national memorial for those killed. It was pointed out that of the 2,733 admitted killings in Delhi itself, only three cases involving the killing of 20 persons have resulted in conviction.
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Despite court ruling, doctor yet to receive dues
New Delhi, November 1 In May 2005, the court in its ruling said, “The respondent (MCD and others) would re-determine the pension of the petitioner by treating the said period as qualifying service. Arrears would be paid to the petitioner within 12 weeks from today, failing which it shall be paid with interest at the rate at six per annum.” The petitioner, an 80-year-old woman, had approached the court to seek restoration of a part of her pension benefits that the government refused to include while
fixing her monthly pension in 1980. Dr Gupta, who retired from the post of radiologist in 1980, had complained that while fixing her monthly pension, the government refused to count her service rendered in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) between April 1, 1959 to Dec 31, 1964 on the ground that she was not an employee of the Central Government during that period. She said all doctors, who had joined MCD till Jan 1, 1965, had been absorbed in the Health Scheme of the Central government that year. Hearing her plea, Justice Pradeep Nandrajog has directed the concerned authorities to pay her the dues, but Dr Gupta had to recently file a contempt
case owing to sheer government apathy. Urging the court to initiate contempt proceedings against J.V.R. Prasada Rao, Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, for his failure to ensure compliance of the directions, she has sought the court’s help in recovering her dues. The petitioner submitted that she had served a legal notice on July 28, 2004, to the respondent, which was followed by another legal notice on September 10, 2004, but the aforementioned directions have not been complied with till date. Justice C. K. Mahajan has now directed the health secretary to comply with the direction within two weeks, failing which he would be required to be present in the court in person to explain any delay and defiance.
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Apathy ails child hospital
New Delhi, November 1 Despite this, the hospital administration claims to have been running OPDs in almost all departments. The basic X-ray machines, which had been purchased for the hospital, have not been installed as yet. Reason: the hospital administration could not locate a proper place for the installation of these machines. Now, these valuable machines are gathering dust in the storerooms. Dr A. K. Mittal, formerly the dean of Paediatrics Department of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, has recently been appointed as the director of the hospital. Another senior doctor of the hospital K. K. Kalra has also been appointed here in the capacity of Medical Superintendent (MS). The government has sanctioned 216 posts including group ‘D’ posts for this hospital. But most of the appointments are still pending. The hospital is a part of the well-known Maulana Azad Medical College, and Rs 43.45 crore have been sanctioned for this ambitious project. At the time of its inauguration, the Public Works Department (PWD) had announced that the completed building would be handed over to the hospital administration by the end of June this year. Due to delay, the estimated cost of the hospital is also rising. Dr P. D. Garg, a senior paediatrician and the president of the East Delhi branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said that it is being delayed due to sheer negligence by the authorities concerned. However, the MS of the hospital, Dr. K. K. Kalra, is hopeful that all exercises would be completed soon. “We are also planning to start the emergency ward with the capacity of 50 beds very soon.” said Dr Kalra.
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Contractors clash, one
shot dead
Dadri, November 1 A woman sitting on the terrace of her house in the village was wounded during the firing by the rival groups. According to police, Sushil Chaudhry of Bulandshahr, a vice-chairman of Congress, and one Narinder Sharma were getting the Ganga canal cleaned. Both were claiming to have got the contract. Some arguments among them were reported on Saturday, but the matter was later resolved. But on Sunday, Sushil Chaudhry reached there early morning along with his companions and started working with four JCV machines. A little later, Narinder Sharma with his teams also reached there. The members of both the teams waiting in cars were carrying weapons. Soon there was an altercation and the armed people came out in the open and started firing. A bullet from Shushil Chaudhry’s men hit Narinder Sharma’s brother Akshay Sharma, 35. He died on the spot. However, firing did not stop here and continued even after the police’s arrival. A bullet hit a woman Rajini in leg who was standing on the terrace of her house in village Kadera. The incident of indiscriminate firing and the death of a person have created panic in the area.
Notorious criminal nabbed after encounter
Noida, November 1 According to SP City A.K Jain, the Phase-II police had got a tip-off that a dreaded criminal was roaming in the area to commit a crime. When the police team under SO Rakesh Vashishth and DSP Uday Shankar reached the Pushta Kakrala, the criminal tried to hide himself, but later fired on the police party. He was, however, overpowered by the police. He identified himself as Irshad, son of Hawa Pahelwan of Soro town in Eta. After the Rs 5-lakh loot, all his companions had been arrested, but Irshad had eluded the police. Most of his companions are already behind bars. Irshad is wanted in two dozen cases of loot, hold-ups and other cases in
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AIDS staring Faridabad in the face
Faridabad, November 1 Though the state government has opened a centre to facilitate blood test of the suspected HIV cases at
the civil hospital here, there has been no counselling or treatment facilities for the persons who are tested positive. It is learnt that blood samples of at least five donors have been found positive in the district during the past about six months. Two of the samples were found positive in August, while one was found in the camp organised in September. As many as 65 youths had donated blood in these
two camps. Besides, a couple of Ballabhgarh subdivision and a youth of Palwal subdivision had been found suffering from this dreaded disease during this period. A truck driver of a village in the district who had died a couple of days ago in a Delhi hospital is reported to be the latest victim of
the menace. Earlier, a 22-year-old youth had committed ‘suicide’ after he got to know that he was HIV positive. While it is estimated that the number of HIV positive cases in the district could be well over thousand, the number of persons approaching for getting tested is very low. The District Red Cross Society, which has been authorised by the state health department to run an awareness-cum-control programme, is still to go for any such drive on a large scale. Mr J.N Gehlaut, secretary of the Society, who admit that the problem had been acute and required to be tackled on a war footing, says that the Society has started a campaign to create an awareness and conduct tests of some of the target groups like truck drivers and the youths. He claimed that the special cell created for the purpose was being strengthened and prepared to start the drive, which include special camps and distribution of the condoms. He said that about 40 tests were done in the last month. On the other hand, ‘Shakti Vahini’, a leading NGO and active in this field, has described the efforts being done at the government level as ‘totally inadequate’ and alleged that the authorities concerned had been virtually sleeping over the problem.
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‘Padyatra’ for clean Delhi
New Delhi, November 1 Addressing a large number of gathering, Mrs Dikkshit said that the objective of this campaign is to inculcate awareness among every citizen of the Capital about cleanliness. To maintain cleanliness is not the responsibility of the civic bodies only. Every citizen is responsible for the cleanliness of his surroundings. She appealed to the citizens to come forward and take part in this campaign. At the concluding point, Mrs Sindushree Khullar addressed the gathering and urged the office-bearers of market, residential associations and schoolchildren to co-operate with the NDMC in keeping the city neat and clean. She distributed sweets among the children. Padyatra was started from Valmiki Basti, Mandir Marg to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Place via Shaheed Matvar Singh Marg, R K Ashram Marg, Gole Market, Bhai Veer Singh Marg and Baird Lane Market. During the padyatra, schoolchildren carrying placards and banners shouted slogans giving the message of garbage segregation, personal hygiene, health and sanitation. Nukkad Natak was organised at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Place, which was witnessed by a large number of people. Coloured dustbins were also demonstrated during the padyatra for educating citizens to segregate their household garbage at source for management of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes.
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Attendant rape case solved,
one held
New Delhi, November 1 The incident took place at one of the South Delhi’s reputed hospitals, Vimhans, located in Sriniwaspuri, on October 19. The police said that the accused, Dharampal, a resident of Bulandshahar in UP, was working as a sweeper in the hospital and at the time of incident, he was present there on duty. He was absconding since allegedly assaulting the woman on October 19. The victim, a resident of Jharkhand, had been sleeping next to the ward, where the patient Asha, also from the same state, had been admitted. Later, Dharampal took her to the bathroom on some pretext and sexually assaulted her. He then locked her inside the bathroom and fled from the spot. After about three hours, the victim managed to escape and reported the matter to the police.
Cop nabs killer of
five-year-old
The Delhi Police have arrested a person wanted for kidnapping and killing a five-year-old boy in Bihar. The accused has been identified as Sikhchand Mehto (27), a resident of Bihar. The accused was arrested by the special staff of West district police yesterday. The accused and his associates kidnapped a five-year-old boy, Mirtanjya, and asked for Rs 2 lakh from his father Dr Ravinder Kumar Singh, a native of Bihar. His father made a complaint to the local police and the information of FIR somehow reached to the kidnappers. Later, the accused chopped off the boy into pieces and put those into a gunny bag and threw into the river Bhagmati. Since then, the accused was absconding. Although the Bihar police arrested the other accused in the case soon after the recovery of the body, Sikhchand left the village and came to Delhi. Here, he started working as a tailor in an export company in Madipur village.
Two held for theft
The Delhi Police have arrested two persons who were allegedly indulged in stealing containers. The police have recovered goods worth Rs 8 lakh
from them. The recovered goods include four wireless sets, 21 wireless batteries,
their chargers, 50 TATA Indicom phones etc. The containers were stolen from Okhla Industrial area, the police said. The accused were identified as Kultar Singh, who was allegedly involved in
15 criminal cases. The another accused was identified as Vikramjit Singh, a second year college student pursuing B.Com.
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RWA thanks Shastri
New Delhi, November 1 Present in the meeting, Mr V. C. Tandon, President, Delhi RWA Joint Forum, spoke about the proposed scheme of Delhi Government to grant financial powers to carry out civic functions and the possible problems in the implementation of the scheme. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Panwar assured the residents of her help and assistance in the solution of colony’s problem. The officer-bearers of the association, president Kamal Arora, vice-president Sushil Arora, secretary P. C. Bhambari were present on the occasion.
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Prabodh Sahitya Samman
New Delhi, November 1 Prabodh Sahitya Samman has been established in honour of the octogenarian author, poet, translator and editor in Maithili, Dr Prabodh Narayan Singh, formerly of the University of Calcutta, and a doyen of the Maithili language movement during the last 55 years, which culminated in Maithili being included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution in December 2003.—TNS
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Brick body’s distress call to govt
New Delhi, November 1 It wants the government to ensure regular supply of coal at a reasonable price and reconsider its decision to make use of fly ash mandatory in manufacturing. It has dispatched letters to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister of Labour. The vice-president of the All India Brick and Tiles Manufacturers Federation, Mr RP Chandel, has said that many kiln owners were planning to quit from the next season as losses were mounting.
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Rich heroin haul
New Delhi, November 1 He was into this profession for the last 17 years and his two children are studying in Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. In another case, the police arrested Lekhraj (29), a resident of Raghubir Nagar. He was carrying 105 grams of heroin. He was arrested near Gorewala Mandir in Raghubir Nagar area. In third case, the police arrested Khajan Singh (48) and 265 grams of heroin was recovered from him. He was arrested by the police near Kasturba Nagar in East district.
4 auto-lifters held
With the arrest of four auto-lifters, the Delhi Police claims to have solved 16 cases of vehicle theft registered in different police stations in city. The accused have been identified as Mohammed Moeem, Rakesh Kumar, Bhim Singh and Sunny. Of these, Mohammed Moeem was arrested by the East district police last night from Mandawali area. At the time of the arrest, he was travelling in a stolen car. The police have worked out six cases from his arrest. The cases had been registered in Mandawali and Tilak Marg police stations.
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‘New era medicine’ to check incurable diseases
Gurgaon, November 1 He along with Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakesh Chautala today laid the foundation stone of a global centre, Institute of Integrated Medical Sciences and Holistic Therapies at Medicity in Sector 38 here. Addressing the aghast gathering of eminent industrialists and doctors, he said that he intends to develop a “new era medicine” which stops the creation of a number of incurable diseases. Such medicine can be developed within 10 years in the upcoming institute, said the eminent doctor. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Om Prakash Chautala said that Medicity is the solution to both the country’s healthcare needs as well as project of global dimensions. The IIMSIIT will be path-breaking in the medical history of India, added Mr Chautla. With an investment of about 250 million US dollar, the institute will achieve what is likely to be the holy grail of a new era of medicine. It promises to have a seamless integration of various super specialities like cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, high-end orthopaedics, etc. Dr Trehan explains that this new global centre of medical excellence is to integrate and explore the new frontiers in medicine and healthcare on the lines of a Mayo/Cleveland/Harvard/Johns Hopkings in its basics, but go further where probably no conventional medical institute has ever gone before. Dr Trehan added that Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has allotted 43 acres of land for the project. It is planned that a partnership web will be created of medical and infrastructure equipment suppliers, world-class clinicians and health care delivery institutions, financial partners and promoters. Medicity aims to add the highest-end of modern medicine integrated with traditional forms of medicine and holistic therapies to the current standards existing in this part of the world. Not only would it result in providing the highest standard of care for Indian citizens, but also attract patients from all over the world, thereby bringing India the pride of an outstanding health destination, he claims.
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IOC ‘star’ plan to encourage distributors
Gurgaon, November 1 to encourage the distributors so as to help give better service to the LPG cooking gas subscribers of Indiane. Also, the programme is an effort to identify the committed Indiane distributors who will follow stringent parameters for customer care in terms of safety, reliability and convenience. In all, 13 distributors (eight from Faridabad and five from Gurgaon) were invested with ‘star’ designations at a special function here. It is clear that the novel method adopted by the IOC is to keep itself ahead in the competition. Mr Beri said that the thrust was on the consumers and the IOC has decided to give value-added services to them.
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Students injured in group clash
Greater Noida, November 1 Many shopkeepers downed their shutters while others fled for their life, leaving their shops open. Some students tried to put a match to a gas cylinder from a shop. Many shoppers ran away, leaving their goods on
shop counters. In the market of Alpha-2, a group of students had come to a restaurant for lunch where they got involved in an argument with another group of students. Soon they came to blows. Hockey sticks and clubs were freely used. One group of students took out a gas cylinder in the open and tried to put a match to it with a view to causing an explosion. But before police reached the spot on being informed by the residents, the clashing students had left the place. It may be added that the rowdy students have already created a panic for the residents of Greater Noida sectors. They allegedly drive their vehicles very fast, blaring pop music and creating
nuisance all around.
Some groups of students also drink and dance in
the parks and at the roadsides, allege the harried residents there. The college management and police have failed to bring a semblance of discipline among the students.
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Ghaziabad at its polluted worst
Ghaziabad, November 1 As against the norms 200 SPM of air pollution, Ghaziabad has a level of 400 to 500 SPM. Similarly, smoke pollution level is over 100 decibels as against the normal level of 70 decibels. This trend has increased the incidence of ear, nose, throat and breathing ailments among the residents. Being an industrial town, the number of vehicles is also increasing in Ghaziabad adding to the air, sound and smoke pollution in the city. It is being reflected in increasing incidents of breathing, nasal, eyes and lungs problems among the residents. Up to September 04, there were over 2.12 lakh vehicles registered in the city, out of which 1,53,217 are two-wheelers while other were three and four-wheelers. Delhi has 42 lakh registered vehicles out of which some 37 lakh vehicles use Delhi roads every day. Ten per cent of Delhi vehicles are estimated to enter Ghaziabad daily. According to health department’s report, every third person in Delhi suffers from breathing problems with chances of brain and cancer due to pollution. Ghaziabad is also on the way to fall into the same trap. According to experts, 72% pollution is caused by vehicles, 20% by industry and 8% by domestic and other causes. Besides, over 64 thousand gen sets pollute the air in the Mahanagar, says Vijay Pal, an environmentalist. He says pollution is constantly increasing in Ghaziabad. All efforts to control pollution are confined to paper only. There are 12,740 registered and 20,000 unregistered industrial units in Ghaziabad, says Vijay Pal. Over 3.95 lakh vehicles use Ghaziabad roads daily which cause air and smoke pollution. During Diwali festival, pollution increases three to four times. Sleeplessness, heart problems, impaired hearing, lung and eye diseases are caused by pollution. According to Dr Anil Rathi, some of these can prove fatal.
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IG gives an earful to
Noida police
Noida, November 1 The IG agrees that the law and order in Noida was really worrying. The district of course lacks infrastructural facilities, vehicles, modern arms and weapons and means of modern communications. The number of police personnel is also short for the district of this type. That is why the force is stretched at times. For its close proximity to Delhi, the policing should be equal to that of Delhi in every respect. There is very little police presence on roads and
in sectors. The IG police Mumtaz Ahmed also chided the staff officers of police stations for ‘ill-treating’ the public. He advised them to treat the complainants in a humane manner. They should not shoo away the public coming with a complaint to the police station, he told them. The IG had asked the SSP to see to it that the police station in charge SOs do not treat people rudely and those policemen who ignore the orders of the superior officers should be strongly dealt with. The policemen must act after realising their responsibility to society. The accountability of the force should be fixed. Those who exceed their authority or jurisdiction will have to face the music, the IG Police, Meerut Range said.
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A hellhole of a road to test driver’s skills!
Faridabad, November 1 The government had announced to begin the scheme of widening this stretch and relaying the road last year with a budget of several crores of rupees. While it was stated that the project would be complete in about 18 months, the authorities have not been able to finish one-fourth of the work. Only a patch for a few kilometres had either been repaired or widened, while the work on about 95 per cent of the stretch was
still pending. “The time consumed by an average motorist to reach Gurgaon from Faridabad had only increased as the authorities had closed traffic on one side at all the small bridges, which were being widened, while the majority of the stretch was still in disrepair,” said a local entrepreneur who travels between the two cities frequently. He claimed that after every two trips on this road, he prefers to go in for checking wheel-balancing or some other repair as
the vehicles get all kinds
of ‘bumps’. It is reported that many families wanting to travel between these cities prefer the route via Delhi, so as to avoid the bumpy ride. An official of Telecom department, who also travels daily to Gurgaon, claimed that the journey on this road was a ‘driving test’ of sorts and one has to overstrain while driving down on the patch. He said while there were deep craters, the wild vegetation on both sides prevents a view of the vehicle coming from the opposite direction and a little overspeeding had resulted in many accidents in the past few years. He said if the road was strengthened with proper lighting, the travelling time could be reduced to less than half. Though the authorities concerned had been claiming from time to time that the project to repair and widen this passage had been going on, the officials seem to be silent over the pace of
the work. It may be recalled that Faridabad and Gurgaon contribute over Rs 2,000 crore of revenue in shape of excise, sales tax and other duties to the State and the Union government each year and the demand of linking these cities with a smooth and four-laned road had been quite old.
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New Delhi, November 1
Mrs Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister, Delhi, led a ‘padyatra’ in Gole Market area this morning as a part of ‘Clean City Campaign’ of NDMC.
Mrs Sindhushree Khullar, Chairperson, NDMC, senior officers and employees of the civic body and hundreds of schoolchildren, members of residents and traders’ associations participated in the ‘padyatra’.
