New Delhi, November 10
To prevent untoward incidents in the national Capital during the festival season, the Delhi Police have launched a drive against unauthorised sale of crackers during Divali and constituted four flying squads for this purpose. The flying squads, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner, conduct surprise checks on premises that have been granted temporary licences for the sale of crackers.

The drive was launched following information that a number of people were selling firecrackers without obtaining licences from authorities concerned, the sources said.

According to sources, during the surprise checks conducted on 74 premises, these squads have noticed violation of terms and conditions in a number of cases. The licences of three premises have been cancelled and suspended. Meanwhile, the police seized 12 kg of firecrackers, which were being sold illegally in Kamalpur in Timarpur area and arrested one Het Ram in this connection. The main objective of the surprise raids by the flying squads is to ensure that the terms and conditions of temporary licences for sale of crackers are strictly adhered to and check the unauthorised sale of crackers to avoid any mishap.

Meanwhile, to make people more careful, ‘Loss Prevention Association of India Limited’, an NGO, has launched an awareness campaign about how to ‘celebrate a safe and happy divali’.

The NGO, which has been educating people for the past 25 years on the safe methods of handling firecrackers during Divali, advised parents and children to observe safety guidelines to prevent any untoward incident.

“Every year accident and burn injuries occur during Divali due to carelessness or ignorance. These can be prevented if safety precautions are observed,” the NGO said.

The NGO appealed to the people to buy firecrackers only from authorised shops and never allow children to buy the crackers. Fireworks should always be stored safely away from an open flame or other heat source; likewise, candles, oil lamps should be kept away from crackers or curtains or any other combustible material. Fireworks should be lit outside the house in open areas and children should tuck or fold loose flowing clothes properly before lighting them. Cotton and tight fitting clothes are safer. Parents have been asked to keep a watch on their children and not to give them the stock of crackers in one go.

The NGO advised: “Never allow children to light dangerous crackers or allow them to return to the firework once lit. Caution them not to use unburnt crackers. Always keep a bucket of water handy.”

A drive has also been launched against bootleggers during the festival season. During the drive, a total of 143 cases have been registered under the Excise Act since October 16 and 1,177 bottles of illegal liquor seized from different parts of West district of Delhi.

New Delhi, November 10
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) on the charges of allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a Delhi Police Sub-Inspector, who was issuing licence to a businessman to sell fire crackers in the Capital.

A CBI spokesman said Delhi Police ACP Hawa Singh was arrested last night while allegedly demanding and accepting the money at his official residence on the Patel Nagar police station premises in West Delhi.

In a raid, CBI sleuths seized Rs 9,50,000 in cash and Rs 5,00,000 in his bank account, the spokesman said.

After preliminary interrogation, the CBI produced the accused before Special Judge H. P. Sharma, who remanded him in police custody for a day. Singh, who works with the Public Grievances Cell of North District, had asked the Sub-Inspector Harminder Singh on his mobile phone to come to his residence with the money, he said.

Singh, who joined the Delhi Police as a Sub-Inspector in 1966, had allegedly asked the Sub-Inspector to give a share of the bribe money, which he reportedly collected by issuing the licences to cracker shop owners.

New Delhi, November 10
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage has expressed concern over the move to redevelop Lutyens’ Delhi by replacing the Bungalow Zone with modern duplex structures and said that the move would result in the country losing a part of its history.

At a meeting chaired by INTACH Chairman S K Misra here last night, architects and experts said that if Lutyens’ Delhi across 1,000 acres was demolished and redeveloped as proposed by the Central Public Works Department, the country would lose part of its history. Mr Misra demanded suitable legislation to protect the Zone.

“Some misguided persons in CPWD are obsessed with the idea to change this zone which in turn will deprive the people of an important part of their history,” noted architect Patwant Singh said. He also favoured converting Safdarjung Airport into a War Memorial as a tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives after 1947 in different wars.

“New Delhi was conceived as a garden city and it needs to be preserved,” architect Mansinh Rana said, paying tributes to British who built such a beautiful and unique city and left it as a heritage for us to conserve.

Architect and urban planner A G K Menon said that conservation was a mark of civilisation and it needs to be conserved as part of history and no one should be allowed to edit the history of its country. He also mentioned earlier instances where efforts were made to turn Golf Course into a Labour Colony but was prevented by timely intervention by authorities.

Architect Shiban Ganju was unhappy that Urban Arts Commission has been reduced to a civic body and said that there was urgent need to restore its integrity.

The meeting was unanimous that to protect Lutyens’ Delhi as a World Heritage Monument through legislation so that constant threat to it can be taken care of on a permanent basis. They also praised the action of Prime Minister’s Office, which has ordered re-examination of the CPWD proposal.

New Delhi, November 10
The Delhi Government today informed the Delhi High Court that a new jail in Rohini in northwestern part of the Capital will be fully functional by December end.

The Counsel for the Delhi Police and jail authorities, Ms Mukta Gupta, told a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice B. C. Patel and Justice B. D. Ahmed that 300 prisoners had already been shifted to the new jail from the high-security Tihar Jail in order to ease the overcrowding there.

Ms Gupta also informed the judges that the two new jails in Tihar were being constructed and one jail (No 8) would be ready by November 30 while the other jail (No 9) would be completed by January first week. The two jails would take the total number of jails in Tihar to nine from the present seven. Besides, the state government was also exploring possibilities of setting up jails in Mandoli and Narela, both in North West Delhi.

The biggest jail in Asia, Tihar, capable of housing about 4,000 inmates, was at present busting at the seams with more than 12,000 prisoners. The court was dealing with a PIL filed by advocate L. R. Luthra, which claimed that as the number of convicts and undertrials was much more than the capacity of the jails, they were forced to live in inhuman conditions. The petition sought provision of basic facilities so that the prisoners could undergo their sentence with ‘’dignity’’.

New Delhi, November 10
A consumer court today held the State Bank of India guilty of being deficient in service for honouring cheques with forged signatures of an account holder, thereby causing him monetary loss and mental agony.

“The bank was certainly negligent in honouring those cheques with forged signatures...It was deficient in service,” observed the court. The consumer court ordered SBI to pay Rs 52,000 to the complainant A. P. Malik, which he was deprived of due to the bank’s “negligent” act, with six per cent interest. It also asked the bank to pay Malik compensation of Rs 5,000 for mental agony in addition to litigation cost of Rs 500.

Malik, an advocate, said he was out of Delhi during June 2001. On his return, he found that Rs 52,000 was withdrawn from his account. SBI told him that it was not an error, but the amount was withdrawn using cheques dated June 11, 2001. On verification, he found that signatures on the cheques were not his and did not tally with his specimen signatures maintained by SBI, Malik said.

Later, on knowing that his clerk Kamal and Pankaj, Kamal’s brother, forged his signature and withdrew the money, Malik filed his claim along with confessional statements of Pankaj and Kamal.

New Delhi, November 10
A Delhi court today discharged 10 persons, including five MTNL engineers, in a corruption case filed by the CBI over five years ago. Special CBI Judge Dinesh Dayal absolved the then Executive Engineers M. M. Parti and M. D. Mittal, Assistant Engineer S. H. Haider, Junior Engineers Naresh Pal and R. S. Meena and contractors Rajesh Kumar, Naseem Raza, Jamil Ahmed, Inder Pal and Narain Das who had obtained the contracts for developing parks in the MTNL Colony at R K Puram in pursuance of a conspiracy.

‘’I find that the CBI has not been able to make out any case against any of the accused. There are no grounds for framing of charges against the accused. All the accused are discharged,’’ Mr Dayal said.

The CBI had registered the case after conducting a surprise check at the MTNL Colony on February 5, 1999, to verify an information that Parti, then posted at Bhikaji Cama Place office, had conspired with others to award contracts for the development of parks to some select contractors.

The investigating agency alleged that Parti split the contract into smaller parts so that tenders could be invited and the contract could be granted without publishing the same. A contract for more than Rs two lakh could be granted only by calling open tenders.

Parti was also alleged to have asked the contractors to start the work even before scrutiny and the required sanction for acceptance of tenders. On splitting of the tenders, the court said that even the CBI had admitted that splitting could be done in cases of urgency. On this count, the court noted that the development of the seven parks in the MTNL Colony was being monitored by the then Union Communications Minister himself.

Finding that no illegality was committed, the court said: ‘’The action taken by them was in accordance with established norms and was done with due approval of senior officers.’’

New Delhi, November 10
The Delhi Police have arrested two persons for possessing 1.110 kg of fine quality of heroin. The accused have been identified as Kuldeep Singh (30), a resident of Inderpuri and Mazhar Ali (45), a resident of Sultan Puri. The accused were arrested in two different incidents.

In the first incident, the police arrested Kuldeep Singh with one kg of fine quality of heroin from Inderpuri area. Police said that the accused was a history-sheeter of the area and involved in 28 criminal cases. His father Manjeet Singh was also allegedly involved in 13 cases and his mother was also involved in 29 cases. The police said that the family has a fleet of cars and a number of properties that all were purchased from the money accumulated by drug-trafficking.

In another case, the police arrested one Mazhar Ali from Sultan Puri. The police recovered 110 grams of heroin from his possession. He was reportedly active in drug trafficking for the last 10 years.

New Delhi, November 10
The National Society for the Prevention of Blind-India (NSPB) has warned the Divali revelers not to use ‘anar’ (cracker), as it can be dangerous.

The highest number of injuries during the Divali festivities is caused by ‘anar’, whose flare delights children as well as adults, according to NSPB.

A study, it says, has revealed that of the 131 cases of injuries during the festival last year, 85 were due to cone anars. “The burns were largely due to flaring up or burning in the hands while being ignited,” said NSPB Executive Director B. B. Srivastava.

Mr Srivastava cautioned against handling fireworks carelessly. “Carelessness in handling fireworks can end up in disaster,” he said.

A little foresight and a little care, he said, can make the festival an enjoyable experience. He advised that children should always play with fireworks under an elder’s supervision. Children should use long handled lighters to ignite fireworks, especially ‘anar’, ‘rocket’ and ‘hawai’.

Gurgaon, November 10
The health department here is put on alert as the killer dengue virus hangs in the air. There are allegedly 300 suspect cases of dengue virus in the nearby national Capital.

The authorities are taking no chance and sending the blood samples of any person suspected to be infected with the disease to the National Institute of Communicable Disease laboratory (NICDL), based in the national Capital.

According to the local malaria officer, Dr Gulshan Arora, so far 20 suspect cases have been referred to NICDL. Out of them only one blood sample has been tested positive and four have been tested otherwise. The first case was suspected in the middle of September. The last case was suspected today. The one that has tested positive relates to a person residing in village Chakkarpur, now part of the city area.

According to him, the department is not taking any chance given the high percentage of suspected cases in Delhi. The department has already launched an anti-dengue drive in a big way. According to the officials, the area from where there is a suspect case, a large-scale fogging is carried out. Strategically, about 50 houses relating to the residence of the suspected person are fogged to minimise the possibility of the break-out of the disease. Besides, wherever there is high density of mosquito, the area is put into focus for remedial measures.

The officials’ anxiety with regard to dengue is understandable. A few years ago, the district, especially the Mewat area, was hit badly by the disease, causing embarrassment to the then Bansi Lal government and the district administration.

The matter also drew the attention of the then Prime Minister, Mr H.D.Devegowda, during his visit to Mewat.

Ghaziabad, November 10
The criminals in Ghaziabad have become so bold that they had even abducted the daughter of a UP Women Commission member, Mrs Ashok Pandya.

The girl had reportedly been subjected to torture for a month and even her brother was also assaulted by the miscreants. Romance is reportedly the cause of kidnapping. The relatives of a Samajwadi Party MLA from Eta have been named in the FIR, it is learnt. Both the parties belong to the elite section of society.

The victim, a young woman, was a Scientific Officer in UP Seed Corporation. Mrs Ashok Pandya, a resident of Sanjay Nagar area in Eta, is a member of UP Women Commission. Her husband is in charge of Mussori police station in Ghaziabad.

Pandya’s son Rahul is a student of B.Tech in a Mahanagar Institute while her daughter Neetu was posted in Meerut as Scientific Officer, UP Seed Corporation and was staying in girls’ hostel in Meerut.

Neetu had lodged a report in Civil Lines police station, Meerut on October 18 that Eta’s Lakhanpal Singh Yadav along with Brijesh Yadav, bother of Lakhan Pal’s brother-in-law and Eta MLA Shish Pal Yadav and his sister Maya had abducted her on September 21 from Meerut. For a number of days, she had been taken around various places as a captive after administering her sedatives. They had made her sign blank papers and other documents.

The Mussori police station in charge, Ravi Shankar Pandya has alleged that the kidnappers had got an illegal marriage performed in Arya Samaj Mandir, Delhi and showing the fake papers of this marriage, they also got this marriage registered in Meerut. All these facts have given a dramatic twist to this high-profile incident. In spite of the FIR having been lodged about a month ago, no progress is made in the investigations.

According to police sources, Neetu had reportedly resigned her job in August. On September 21, she had left for her office from her hostel at 9 in the morning. At 12.30 pm when she came out, she was met by Lakhanpal of Eta, his relative Brijesh and another person. Being from Eta, Neetu knew them all. When Neetu said she was going to Delhi, Lakhanpal said they were also heading for Delhi. She, therefore, got into their car.

According to Neetu’s complaint, Lakhanpal and Brijesh gagged her mouth and tied her hands and feet and threatened to kill her brother, if she did not agree for marriage.

Samajwadi MLA from Eta Shish Pal has, however, said he had nothing to do with this episode. Now Neetu has filed a report in Meerut, under pressure from her parents, otherwise the parents could have lodged an FIR if their daughter was really missing since September 21, Shish Pal Singh alleged.

Faridabad, November 10
With growing awareness and surfacing of complaints of adulteration in petrol and diesel in the district, pumps are going in for the ‘pure and sure’ labels of the oil companies in order to attract more customers. There are about 63 outlets of various companies in the district.

According to Mr Manmohan Gupta of the ‘Shiva Cares’, an outlet of the Hindustan Petroleum on Mathura Road near Sector-11 here and which had adopted the ‘Quality and Quantity’ campaign of the company, it was necessary to create an awareness about such drives, as it was the right of the consumer to demand and seek the best product and service.

He said his outlet had asked the customer to himself test the quality and quantity of the fuel.

Admitting that the complaints of adulteration and short supply of fuel had made the companies start strict checking and quality standards to regain the confidence of the consumers.

He said the ‘Parkho and Jeeto’ scheme of the company launched recently would not only facilitate the self-test of the fuel, but it would also provide the customer with an opportunity to win prizes.

It may be recalled that Faridabad is among those districts where the complaints of adulteration in the petro products have risen in the past few years. The problem had become so acute that the district administration had to set up a special committee to look into the matter about a year ago.

It is interesting that the local administration had sealed seven pumps about 18 months ago on charges of adulteration, but it was later stated that the quality of the supply from the source was not up to the standard.

The number of pumps in the district has swelled to

63 from just half about three years ago. Several of them have already got the pure and sure label.

Greater Noida, November 10
The different rates of land compensation for ancestral and non-ancestral land being acquired by Greater Noida authority have been done away with. All the farmers will now receive the land compensation on the same rates, i.e. rate applicable to ancestral land.

This was decided in the 51st meeting of Greater Noida Board yesterday in which 30 proposals out of a total 34 items were approved.

Among the other important decisions, the Board decided that henceforth land for nursing homes, hospitals, clubs and hostels would be allotted on commercial rates.

The allotments for these have been removed from the institutional category and branded as commercial category.

The rules governing the house allotments have been drastically amended to bring them on the pattern of Gurgaon. The 1240 hectare land of the forest department in Greater Noida will now be developed, according to another decision. The projects like Dadri overbridge, Amusement Park and Night Safari have also been given a green signal.

According to Chairman-cum-Chief Executive Officer of Greater Noida Rakesh Bahadur, the land compensation to the farmers for ancestral and non-ancestral land in Greater Noida was being paid at the rate of Rs 300 and Rs 255 per sq yd so far.

The land which had been registered before the setting up of Greater Noida had been recognised as ancestral land while that which had been purchased after the Greater Noida authority came into being, had been categorised as non-ancestral land. Now Greater Noida has stopped this distinction and the compensation for the land of all the farmers acquired by the authority will be paid at the rates applicable to ancestral land, the Chairman said.

The farmers from outside Greater Noida will, however, be treated as non-ancestral and paid compensation accordingly. The land for clubs, hospitals and nursing homes and for social, cultural purposes will now be treated in commercial category.

Their allotment so far used to be made on institutional rates. Now tenders will be invited for them. Even plots for nursery schools and crèches will be now allotted on normal rates, the CEO added.

The authority has also approved the bridge over Dadri railway crossing and all the 11 cases of double allotments have been resolved.

Dadri (Greater Noida), November 10
The Dadri police have arrested five criminals after an encounter and recovered one local pistol and three daggers from them. Another two persons were arrested in Chhapraula and knives seized from them.

According to police, SI Deepak Chaturvedi was on patrolling duty along with his police force late on Monday night. Finding some people standing in a deserted place behind a vegetable market, the police signalled them. But the criminals tried to flee while firing on the police force.

In a retaliatory action, the police managed to nab five of them. The arrested miscreants identified themselves as Babu, son of Ram Prasad, Pammi, son of Charan Singh, Deepak, son of Rajinder, Anil, son of Ram Gopal, Ravi, son of Panna Lal of Gautam Puri. One .315 revolver, two cartridges and three daggers were recovered. The thieves were planning a theft, they told the police.

In the second incident, Narinder, son of Netram and Chander, son of Chhidda Ram were arrested from Chhapraula. Both of them were carrying a dagger each.

Noida, November 10
A young girl of Sangam Park in Khora Colony who had said that “I want to stay with my lover and would not like to live with my parents any more” was sent to record her statement in the presence of a magistrate, by the Indira Puram police.

On October 30, a report was lodged in Khora police post about a young girl having gone missing. The parents of the girl had accused a youth in the area of having enticed their daughter to elope with him.

As the police swung into action, the girl herself reported in Indira Puram police station on November 4. During interrogation, she told the Indira Puram police station in charge
that she doesn’t want to live with her parents any longer.

Her parents gave in writing that she had fled with Rs 20,000 and jewellery from the house. Meanwhile, a Congress leader of Khora Colony is reported to be keeping the young girl in his house.

The girl had accused her parents of beating her up. They wanted her to marry another youth, she alleged.

SO, SP Singh said that the girl had threatened to commit suicide if she was forced to go back to her parents. She had allegedly gone away for about a week earlier also.

Since the case appeared to be sensitive, SP Singh said that they have sent her to record her statement in the presence of a magistrate.