New Delhi, January 6
With the arrest of three persons, all public school dropouts, the South-West district police claimed to have solved a kidnap-cum-robbery case of one Sunil Pathak on December 24, 2004 near the IGI Airport.

The accused have been identified as Naveen Sehrawat, alias Dewa (19), resident of Dwarka, Rahul Giri, alias Pawwa (22), resident of Sonepat and Amit Kumar Saxena, alias Boxer, alias Mota (19), resident of Dabri.

While Naveen’s father runs many buses in Delhi apart from dealing in real estate, Amit works in pubs as a bouncer.

On the night of December 24, the victim Sunil Pathak (24), resident of Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, was on his way to the IGI Airport to pick up his elder brother when the accused waylaid him near the Sanjay T-point in the vicinity of the airport and beat him up causing severe injuries.

They forced him to drink alcohol till he became unconscious and later drove his car towards Dwarka. All the accused were drunk. After a while, they seemed to have lost control over the car and crashed into a divider. They also pelted it with stones in order to damage it. The accused then robbed Rs 1,100, a mobile phone, driving licence and other valuables from the victim.

After getting the information, the police constituted teams and verified the antecedents of the criminals active in Gurgaon, South-West and West districts of Delhi. The cops finally zeroed in on the criminals of the Dabri area.

On January 5, the police received a tip-off that Naveen was riding a motorcycle with two others in Dwarka. When the police tried to stop them, the accused tried to speed away, but were finally overpowered.

Faridabad, January 6
The case of the alleged abduction of a minor girl by a naib tehsildar of the state government posted at Palwal town in the district, seems to have taken a new twist, with the recovery of the girl and her revelation that she had been raped and the reported efforts of the police to ‘shield’ the accused.

A large number of lawyers of Palwal town staged a demonstration and blocked the National Highway today to protest against the manner in which the police was handling into the case. They have demanded a high level probe and removal of the DSP from the town.

While the lawyers have announced not to appear for the accused in the case, it is now believed that the place of the recovery of the girl, shown by the police, was incorrect and there is something fishy as it seems that they are trying to shield the accused.

It is reported that the girl in her statement claimed that she was raped by two persons, including the main accused, the naib tehsildar, and one of his friends, after she was abducted by them on January 1 last. The second accused, who is reportedly to be a commission agent in Kaithal district, has also been arrested.

The rape charge of the victim has been proved by the medical examination and the police have added Section 376 of the IPC against the accused, who had been booked under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC earlier.

Interestingly, the police officials have been charged by the local lawyers with trying to shield the accused in the matter. The lawyers have alleged that the victim was thrashed by a senior police official posted at Palwal, when he was speaking to her after recovery. The lawyers, who blocked the National Highway today in protest against the police attitude, alleged that the victim was being forced to change her statement, with a view to save the official.

They demanded shifting of the case to an independent agency and taking away the case from the present police officials. The victim, aged about 15 years, is a student of Government Girls Secondary School, Palwal, and daughter of the driver of the SDM posted at Ballabhgarh. She was reported missing after she had gone for attending the extra classes in her school on January 1.

The Congress leaders, including the District president of the Mahila Congress, Ms Sharda Rathaur, has demanded a high level probe into the incident. She said the matter will also be taken up with the National Women Commission.

Meanwhile, two separate incidents of rape have been reported in the last 48 hours. While a woman, wife of a labourer, was raped on knifepoint near the jhuggis of Sector – 11 here on Tuesday night, a married woman was raped by a person in Neemka village of Ballabhgarh sub-division on Monday. She was reportedly threatened with dire consequences by the accused after the crime. No arrest has been made so far.

Ghaziabad, January 6
Armed criminals reportedly decamped with valuables and Rs 10 lakh from a house in Kumhar colony, Loni. In an indiscriminate firing, they had critically injured the son of the house owner, identified as Ram Swaroop, when the youth resisted them.

Later, the wounded youth was rushed by the police to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, Shahdara. He is stated to be in a serious condition. A birthday celebration had been organised late at night in the house.

Ram Swaroop was woken up by some disturbing noise and before he could react, the masked intruders put a gun to his head and demanded all the cash and valuables in the house.

When his son, wife, daughter and daughter-in-law, sleeping in the adjoining room, tried to resist them, the robbers fired indiscriminately to terrorise them. They also attacked the inmates with rods.

In the indiscriminate firing by criminals, Ram Swaroop’s 15-years-old son, identified as Babu, was wounded in the stomach. His other sons, Sohan Veer, Arvind and wife Muni had also sustained injuries.

New Delhi, January 6
In the wake of alleged assault on a 20-year-old woman working for reform in the Public Distribution System (PDS) here recently, former Prime Minister V P Singh and National Advisory Council (NAC) members Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze today urged the government for strong action against corruption in the PDS.

There have allegedly been a series of attacks on activists of the NGO Parivartan, which has been using the Delhi Right to Information Act to expose corruption in the PDS, the latest being the alleged attempt by an unidentified man to slash the throat of Santosh on December 30 in an East Delhi area.

This reportedly was the second attack on the woman within two weeks and the NGO claims that the assaults have been carried out by the ration shop dealers who feel threatened by the work of the activists.

Recalling the sequence of events, Santosh said, “I was attacked for the first time on December 13, but I escaped with only my hair getting cut. I was again attacked on December 30, when a man tried to slit my throat. I have survived two attacks and the next time I may not be so lucky.”

“There is now threat to the lives of the citizens who are raising their voice against corruption. The activists have knocked on all doors, but there has not been adequate response, which reflects on the system,” Singh said here at a press conference.

He said exemplary action should be taken against the attackers of Santosh, also calling for simplifying the procedure for punishment against the erring officials in the proposed Right to Information Bill.

Roy, who has been agitating for the right to information for many years, said she has written to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi as also Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit regarding the attacks on Parivartan activists.

She informed that Sonia has since called for a report on the issue from the Chief Secretary and the Police Commissioner, the deadline for the same being today.

“The attacks show that corruption in PDS has increased to dangerous proportions, that there is now a mafia involved which is threatening the lives of people,” Mr Roy said.

Advisory Council member Jean Dreze said the issue was that of a countrywide siphoning off of grain from the PDS, claiming that “50 per cent of the grain is disappearing into private hands, which is a scam amounting to Rs 5,000 crore annually.” 

New Delhi, January 6
The Delhi High Court directed the state Legal Services Authority to prepare a model plea providing all relevant details in order to help the court save its precious time.

“Because of lack of particulars and other details in the applications, we have to go through all order sheets, entire judgements, facts explained by applicant’s counsel, the APP, other circumstances...to pass orders,” a Bench comprising Justice T S Thakur and Justice J P Singh said on Wednesday while dismissing the bail plea of a man convicted of raping and killing a minor over eight years ago.

Conceding that the existing system led to wastage of the courts’ precious time and was hampering the Criminal Justice Delivery System, the court said, “DLSA should prepare a model application form to facilitate the applicants and jail lawyers to mention what is required and what is in the larger interest of justice and speedy disposal of the miscellaneous application as also the regular matters.”

New Delhi, January 6
A high-level inter-state coordination meeting on security and crime control was convened by Lieutenant-Governor BL Joshi at Raj Niwas today.

The meeting was attended by the chief secretaries of Delhi and Rajasthan, home secretaries and senior police officers of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Speaking in the meeting, the Lieutenant-Governor said geographical boundaries are disappearing fast and crime has international dimensions now.

He said that functional mechanisms should be devised to get over the difficulties posed by geographical boundaries. Emphasising the need for better coordination amongst the neighbouring states, he said that the entire region would stand to benefit if the security of the region is enhanced and better crime management is ensured.

The Lieutenant-Governor said the inter-state coordination for crime prevention needs to be institutionalised and the participation should percolate to the functional levels to check inter-state organised crimes like highway robberies and motor vehicle thefts. The Lieutenant-Governor informed that he has already taken up the matter with a leading car manufacturing company to have inbuilt security measures installed in their products.

He said online sharing of registration records by the state transport authorities could help check the automobile theft.

The Lieutenant-Governor said the Internet has thrown open new challenges to the police. Appreciating the recent initiatives of online linkage ZIPNET (zonal integrated police network) and sharing intelligence with the neighbouring state police, he said it is a system of quick data exchange for crime control and criminal tracking.

On the issues of sharing the resources and technology, the Lieutenant-Governor said the Delhi Police will offer to conduct training programme for the officers from neighbouring states soon on management of crime, bomb disposal, traffic and disaster management.

He said a proposal to have an integrated framework for disaster management should also be evolved to tackle major mishaps in a coordinated method. Elaborating the need for inter-state coordination, the Lieutenant Governor said the heads of crime branch of these states should meet every two months in a calendar year.

New Delhi, January 6
Yale, an Ivy League US University and Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM), a business school in the country, have announced the formation of a joint venture for the establishment of a management research centre in India.

Dr Richard C. Lewin, President of Yale University, USA, signed an MoU with Dr Bala V Balachandran, Founder and Honorary Dean–GLIM.

‘Yale-GLIM Centre for Management Research’ will undertake management related research activities and consultancy projects, which contribute to the development of basic and advanced applied knowledge in the field of management.

The programme will involve faculty exchanges, joint research, concurrent case studies and publications, which will create an academic symbiosis between the two management institutions.

GLIM will be able to establish a strong brand equity based on its research capability and create a world-class research platform for Yale to reach out to the Indian markets, industry as well as Government. On its part, Yale will bring in resources to sustain the research momentum.

The data analysis will be predominantly India-centric, and the academic output so generated will be available to the relevant Indian industries and corporates.

New Delhi, January 6
The National Focus Group on Teaching of Science began discussions to prepare a position paper to be submitted to the Steering Committee in NCERT here today.

The NFG on Teaching Science is headed by Prof Arvind Kumar, Centre Director, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai and will discuss the strategies to make science more interesting amongst the students.

The group will study the development of science education across the time focusing on initiatives, projects, experiments and interventions.

The major aspects will be identified along with their connectivity and shifts in the subject. Analysis will be done of the existing practices reflecting strengths and weaknesses across the different stages of schooling with a vision of future perspective of science education in the urban, rural and marginalised groups, strategies may be suggested keeping in the view the field realities.

National Focus Group on Gender Issues in Education Chaired by Dr Kavita Punjabi, Jadhavpur University, Kolkota also began its meeting in NCERT today.

The group in its first meeting will prepare the strategy for a position paper and discuss on various dimensions of the gender issues in education.

It will include interaction with the teachers, students by visiting the schools in groups, which will also interact with the scholars, activists and the people working in this field to get the direction and prepare approach paper for curriculum.

New Delhi, January 6
The employees of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) have contributed Rs 6.13-odd lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

It has 2,000 employees (that includes construction and organisation wings). Every employee contributed at least one day’s salary towards the fund. —TNS

New Delhi, January 6
A scooterist was killed this evening when a vehicle of the Bomb Disposal Squad of the New Delhi district hit his two-wheeler from behind in Sector-7, R K Puram area.

The victim was identified as Jai Narain Awasthi, resident of Narauji Nagar. The accused constable Bharat Singh has been arrested and a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving registered.

The incident occurred this evening when the BDS vehicle was returning after attending a VIP route. The police said that an Airforce bus which was proceeding before the scooter suddenly applied brake due to which the scooterist was hit from behind by the BDS vehicle. The victim died on the spot and the angry public damaged the vehicle and punctured its tyres.

New Delhi, January 6
Delhiites today experienced a chilly morning with mercury dipping by more than two degrees from yesterday’s minimum of 7.7degree Celsius.

Though a bright sun shone since early morning, fog in the airport area led to the disruption of several flights. Train services also continued to be affected due to foggy weather conditions in several parts of the country.

The minimum temperature recorded was 5.6 degrees, which was one degree less than normal. —TNS

Noida, January 6
The power supply in the Noida area is likely to improve considerably by the coming summer season when a unit of the Pali Powerhouse will start functioning by May. The second unit of 315 MVA is scheduled to start operation by June 2005.

The Chairman of Noida, Mr Deo Dutt, announced this at a press meet yesterday after an evaluation of power projects of the UP Power Corporation, along with the UPPC General Manager, Mr B. B. Singh. Of the 29 proposed projects, the buildings for 10 have already been handed over to UPPC.

The sub-stations in Sectors 31 and 56 are likely to start functioning in another 10 days, said Mr Dutt.
Besides, the construction of sub-stations of 20 MVA capacities in sectors 18, 63 and 108 will be completed by June 2005, he said.

The Noida Chairman said that a new system has been evolved whereby the progress of the power station will be reviewed every month. The capacity of Surajpur sub-station will be increased by 25 MVA by January 15 .

Noida, January 6
In an effort to eradicate polio from Uttar Pradesh, one of the worst-hit states, the district administration here is gearing up to reach out to the masses on January 9, the officially designated ‘’Polio Sunday’.

The police have also been put on duty as a precautionary measure. The authorities are planning to set up over 750 booths to be manned by nearly 550 personnel and more than 180 supervisors for the purpose.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration has planned out its programme so as to reach out to the population in an effective manner.

The District Magistrate, Mr Ajay Kumar Singh, is personally supervising the operations and the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Chiranjilal, has been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the success of the project.

Uttar Pradesh has the dubious distinction of reporting the maximum number of polio cases over the last three consecutive years. While there were 1,242 cases reported in 2002, in 2003 reported cases dropped to 88. Last year, 76 cases were reported in the state.

In UP, Moradabad district reported the maximum number of 22 cases followed by Badaun, where twelve cases were reported. Ghaziabad reported the third largest number of eight polio cases.

Nearly six per cent of the children were found missing from the list during the last pulse polio vaccination drive.

Noida, January 6
A sensational case of over two lakh sq metre vacant land in Phase-II Noida has come to light, which has been shown as developed in Noida records, but Noida Authority has not allotted it to anybody for the last 20 years.

Some junk dealers are learnt to be using the place in an unauthorized manner. There is a big pond at the rear of this land. The planning and engineering departments of Noida authority have, however, shown this vast tract of piece as divided into plots of different sizes.

According to the Secretary, Noida Authority, Dr Arun Veer Singh, the concerned department has been given a week’s time to fill up the pond so that plots on the land could be allotted under Noida authority schemes.

Four plots of 20,000 sq mt each have been shown in Noida records covering an area of 10 acres under the tank, numbering B-215 to B-218. The land is understood to be lying unused since 1985. The junk dealers using the area are also known to have raised a boundary wall on the area under their illegal occupation.

In a meeting with entrepreneurs of the area, it was discovered that the sewer lines of the Phase-II industrial units have not been connected to a main sewer line. The industrialists have now demanded that sewer lines in the land be cleaned and streetlights provided in the area. A road built in the area five years ago was in an utter state of neglect though Noida records showed it was carpeted afresh in October 2004.

The Secretary said the concerned Project Engineer have been authorised to lodge an FIR if the basic infrastructure is encroached upon.

They will be now hauled up for their failure to take action in view of the encroachments.

Dr Singh said that the officials have been directed to connect the sewer lines to the main within 15 days.

And no impediments or encroachments will be tolerated on the roads or beaten the industrial units, he added.

New Delhi, January 6
A maternity home constructed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to cater to the healthcare needs of the residents is lying in a deplorable state.

Almost all the walls and roof of the building, constructed in 1979 in front of the Kalyanpuri police station, have developed cracks.

About 20 staff quarters constructed for the employees inside the 10-acre campus are deserted due to lack of basic civic amenities such as drinking water, electricity, sewer and sanitation.

Safety is also a concern. Due to the absence of a boundary wall and proximity to the slum clusters the campus has become a den of anti-social elements.

Most of the doors, windows and water tanks of the staff quarters have been stolen. Some local residents are even using some parts of these quarters as storerooms. When contacted, the Chief Medical Officer of this maternity home, Dr Promila Sharma, highlighted the non-cooperative attitude of the local police.

“Apart from the staff quarters, the maternity home itself has not been spared. Many valuable instruments of the hospital have been stolen in recent times. Even though we have reported the matter to the police repeatedly it has been of no avail. Wild bushes have now covered the entire campus. We have written to the Horticulture Department of the MCD in this regard, but no action has been taken so far”.

On condition of anonymity, an employee said that there was complete chaos here. “A generator was installed sometime back at the hospital so that work was not hampered due to disruption in power supply. However, in the absence of an operator, it is still unused and gathering dust. The hospital administration decided to close the ultra sound, laboratory and medicine distribution facilities for the same reason.”

New Delhi, January 6
Divided into four floors and aesthetically designed with landscaped surroundings, Suncity Projects launched Vasant Square Mall on Mehrauli-Mahipalpur road in the Capital. - TNS