New Delhi, March 5
With the arrest of three persons, the South district police today claimed to have busted a gang of desperate Bangladeshi criminals involved in several cases of robbery and dacoity in Delhi and Gurgaon. The police have confiscated gold and diamond articles worth Rs 30 lakh, cash worth Rs 7 lakh, including foreign currency worth Rs 1 lakh, one police carbine along with five live cartridges, 10 wrist watches, one video camera, daggers and house breaking implements from them.

The accused who were arrested have been identified as Masoom (22), Furkan, alias Munna (20) and Anwar, alias Sagar (20), all residents of Bangladesh. The accused also assaulted one PSO of an ex-minister Akbar Ahmed Dumpy from Sainik Farms area and
took away his automatic carbine.

Acting on a tip-off that some Bangladeshi criminals would leave Delhi after reaching ISBT, Sarai Kale Khan, a police team reached there to nab them. But sensing the presence of police, one of the criminals whipped out the robbed police carbine and started firing at the police. However, no one was injured during the incident.

New Delhi, March 5
The Supreme Court has pulled up the Centre, Delhi and Maharashtra Governments for messing up the vehicular traffic in the Capital and Mumbai and sought affidavits from them within four weeks regarding the steps being taken to improve it.

Not satisfied with the Union Government’s contention that a committee has been constituted to examine the traffic problems in Delhi, Mumbai and some other cities, a Bench of Mr Justice S. N. Variava and Mr Justice H. K. Sema said on the face of Centre’s affidavit “no results appear to have been achieved” with regard to improving the traffic regulation.

“Streamline the traffic and vehicle licence rules. It cannot be done unless corruption is wiped out from the concerned departments. Nobody is bothered about it and driving in the two metro cities has become hazardous,” the Bench observed.

The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by NGO, Common Cause, seeking to improve the traffic in the major cities and towns.

Common Cause counsel Prashant Bhushan said unregulated traffic was the main reason for over 50,000 deaths in road accidents every year, and in Delhi alone the death toll on this account was over 2,000 annually.

Bhushan wanted a direction seeking responses from all the states on the issue, but the Court said it would first like to concentrate on the traffic problem in Delhi and Mumbai, and, therefore asked NCT and Maharashtra Government to submit their replies along with the Union Government.

Referring to the Bhure Lal Committee report, which has suggested various measures to improve the traffic, he said no serious efforts had been made to implement it. The Common Cause drew the court attention regarding gross violation of traffic norms in Delhi and “failure” of the traffic police to take stern action against the guilty. “There is rampant corruption in the Transport Authority and Traffic Police and drivers in the Capital can be seen jumping traffic signals under the nose of policeman on duty,” he said.

He sought a direction to the traffic police to install monitoring cameras at major traffic inter-sections to record the movement of vehicles on DVD so that any violator could be detected even if he escaped the eyes of police personnel.

Besides, the petitioner also sought strict monitoring of speed limit by the police.

New Delhi, March 5
Addressing the 16th Convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the President, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, said, “I will be very happy to take three classes relevant to the courses conducted by IGNOU as part of the Distance Education Programme. These lectures will be available to all the centres connected to IGNOU and they should interact with me live and have the facility to ask questions to which I can respond. Rashtrapati Bhavan will assist you in setting up the tele-education delivery system in the hundred interactive terminals for this programme. I am sure that this should be possible within the next three to four months time.”

In his address on ‘How to add value to Distance Education’, the President pointed out that the universities have a major responsibility in nation-building through imparting education to all those who aspire to learn more by providing distance education opportunity to students in remote areas in multiple disciplines.

“In addition, there are many students who interrupt their studies to earn for their family. They have a desire to improve themselves and also there are knowledge seekers. Distance education provides them such an opportunity. Thus, distance education has a large socio-economic relevance,” he said.

The President said, “IGNOU has a major role to play in this transformation process of our society into a knowledge society through their value added distance education system. There has been considerable effort to apply technology for improving the delivery of distance education system over the years.”

He added, “Knowledge is converted into wealth for social good through the process of innovation. Innovation is an important factor for the competitiveness of both service and manufacturing sectors. Innovation tends to emanate less from R&D and more from other sources including organizational change. Hence, there is an urgent need to establish an innovation system in the country.” A total of 71,298 students, including a Ph.D. in Education and 43 gold medals were awarded at the ceremony.

New Delhi, March 5
Concerned by the increasing number of suicides by students in the city owing to stress from studies and expectations of families, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, today asked parents and teachers to be sensitive to the children.

High parental expectations can cause frustration and heavy mental stress to the young adults. Adolescence is a very sensitive age where proper parental and school guidance is needed, said Ms Dikshit while the laying of the foundation stone of the National Centre for Adolescents in Dwarka, South-West Delhi.

Stressing the need for necessary guidance, the Chief Minister said the educational system should function according to the aspirations and dreams of the children.

The adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years constitute 23 per cent of our total population and they have a critical role to play in the future of our country, she said.

The National Centre for Adolescents is the first of its kind in northern India. It is being set up by the non-governmental organisation Urivi Vikram Charitable Trust at a cost of Rs one crore.

The centre will run a number of programmes including counselling and career guidance for students, said the Trust’s chairman, Dr U. N. B. Rao. Another programme will focus on bringing dropouts back into the mainstream.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Joginder Singh, former Director of the CBI, said that adolescence is considered a period of transition from childhood to adulthood when cognitive, physical, personality and social changes occur. Setting up of such national centres in the country will help adolescents become assets for the country.

Faridabad, March 5
The Congress leader and president of the ‘Gramin Bharat’, a social organisation in Rewari, Mr Ved Prakash Vidrohi, has welcomed the election of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the CLP leader and hoped that the Congress government under his leadership will bring in a new era of ‘corruption-free’ rule in Haryana.

He has claimed that it was Mr Hooda who could stop southern Haryana from being discriminated against in the matter of water and power supply.

In a statement here today, Mr Vidrohi said the elevation of Mr Hooda as Chief Minister had ended the 38 years of dominance of the three ‘Lals’ and their families in the state. Mr Hooda is an honest politician and has a clean image, Mr Vidrohi claimed.

He said the hardworking people of the state could now expect a decline in corruption in public life and speedy development in all spheres of life.

Alleging that the six years’ rule of the Chautala government had failed to benefit any section of society, he said the state had become a breeding-ground of corruption, nepotism and zero development.

Mr Vidrohi claimed that no rule had been able to end discrimination so far in the southern districts like Rewari, Jhajjar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon and Faridabad in the matter of water and power supply as well as providing jobs.

Demanding an immediate action plan to provide the share of southern Haryana in canal water, he said thousands of cusecs of water meant for these districts was diverted to some of Northern districts, just because the chief ministers had been hailing from there so far.

He also appealed to the new Chief Minister to order a probe into the wealth and property amassed by various chief ministers so far.

Mr Vidrohi said there was a need to provide an efficient and corruption-free rule in the state, as the confidence of the common man in the political
and administrative set-up had been shaken badly due to the ‘misrule’ of the politicians.

New Delhi, March 5
Even as ecstatic awardees accepted their degrees at the 82nd Annual Convocation of the Delhi University here today, members of the Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) chose the moment to register their dissatisfaction with the vice-chancellor by wearing black bands. The protesting teachers, however, were quick to point out that they did not want to spoil the mood at the convocation, but wanted to register their protest against the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Deepak Nayar.

Inside the newly renovated Convention Hall, alongside the students was a proud Ramesh Vashist, who revived a Ph.D. degree at the age of 64. A retired assistant professor from the Central Library, Vashist completed his Masters in 1975. A total of 290 Ph.D. degrees were awarded along with 24 Masters in various disciplines of medicine.

As many as 64,665 graduate degrees were awarded in various streams including Arts, Commerce and Science. Graduate degrees were also awarded in Physical Therapy and Occupation Therapy.

Postgraduate degrees in various courses were awarded to 6,540 students. The total number of candidates admitted to various graduation and postgraduation degree courses in the year 2004 was 71,205 up from last years 68,552. Professor C. N. R. Rao, Chairman, Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, addressed the convocation.

New Delhi, March 5
An underground explosion occurred today at a site near Connaught Place where the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is constructing the Barakhamba Road-Dwarka corridor.

As piling work was going on this morning, one of the iron angles hit some hard substance at a depth of 17 metres, the DRMC said.

This caused an explosion throwing mud and stones up on the surface along the angle. The mud and stone ‘fountain’ continued for a while.

Two cars coming from ITO side and going towards Barakhamba Road at the time were lashed with the mud. The window of one of the cars broke in the process. However, no one was injured in the incident. The cause of the explosion is being inquired. It is believed that it could have been caused by some gas trapped in some old sewerage line.

Faridabad, March 5
The gas agency employees are finding newer ways to dupe the consumers in
the district.

In a recent case that came to light at Palwal, a sub-divisional town, a consumer was shocked to find about six litres of water in a cylinder. The consumer, Dr K. P. Singh, a physician practising in Palwal, has lodged a complaint in this regard with the SDM, who has ordered an enquiry.

According to the complainant, an employee of a gas agency had supplied the cylinder to him about a month ago, and it weighed about 30.5 kg at the time. The cylinder, however, got empty soon, which made the consumer check the cylinder, as it still had some weight.

It is reported that the cylinder weighed about 20.5 kg and the detailed examination led to the conclusion that it had water inside.

The Citizen Welfare Association, a social body in Palwal, has demanded an enquiry into the matter and a proper compensation to the affected consumer.

Mr Trilok Chand Gupta, president of the association, has claimed that the complaints of supply of underweight cylinders and the cylinders without proper seal are common in the town and the district.

Alleging that there is a network of unscrupulous elements, who steal gas from the cylinders. The gas is then filled into other cylinders and supplied in the black market.

It is learnt that there are many shopkeepers in the district, who sell small cylinders of weight of one, two and five kgs respectively. The gas is pilfered and refilled locally with the help of an instrument called ‘filler’ by certain persons involved in such
a work.

According to the District Food and Supply officials, shopkeepers could sell the ISI-branded cylinders, but are not authorised to fill gas into these cylinders and the department is authorised to take action against anyone who is found to do so. The police had arrested at least two persons last year, who had been taking out gas from a cylinder.

The association has demanded that the gas companies should carry out awareness campaigns regularly about the ‘seals’ put on the cylinders at the delivery time.

It is also reported that some of the vendors or the supply vehicles do not carry weighing scale several times.

The distribution and supply of the cooking gas (LPG) in the district, which is often accompanied by the complaints of underweight cylinders seem to be experimenting with new means to dupe the consumers.

Noida, March 5
With the prices of cement and steel set to go up post-budget, the building of group housing is likely to be affected.

This will hike the prices of flats constructed by the cooperative and group housing societies in Noida.

The flats available now for Rs 20 lakh will command a price of about Rs 25 lakh.

However, the buildings which are nearing completion will not be affected adversely, though the flats being constructed or the projects yet to be started will definitely become costlier. The members of such societies are a worried lot, as most of them are from the middle class segment and belong to the salaried class who will have to shell out more for the flats.

While the construction companies will press for a hike in their rates, the allottee-members will find it hard to absorb the new hike in flat prices.

A 10 per cent service tax has been proposed on layouts, survey, digging and transportation of dug-up earth for construction of apartment blocks. The ultimate sufferer in the whole process will not be the builder or realtor, but the end-user—consumer or allottees who have to buy the houses or flats..

The projects of builders of Royal Cooperative Housing Society, Shaurya Vidhi Sehkari Awas Samiti Ltd, Stellar Park, Gulmohar Royal Residency, Kartik Kunj, Omaxe Royal Residency, etc. will not be affected much as most of their projects are almost completed.

All these societies are large and financially sound. But the smaller societies and builders whose projects have yet to start will certainly hike their rates which the individual members/buyers will have to bear.

The flats/houses yet to be constructed will definitely have to absorb a hike of 10 to 15 per cent.

Retired Col Narinder Yadav, secretary of Shaurya Vidhi Sehkari Awas Samiti, said bricks are procured from Ghaziabad, Loni, Murad Nagar, etc. “But in cement and iron, we can’t escape the service tax addition which will definitely make a difference of 20 per cent increase in process of residential units or flats,” Col Yadav added.

Faridabad, March 5
A national-level seminar on ‘Human values and the human rights’ will be held at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Government College here from March 10 to 12. It will be organised by the Department of Philosophy of the college.

Stating this, the Vice-Principal and convenor of the programme, Mr L. M. Gupta, said here today that the seminar will be unique and will attract a large number of philosophical thinkers, psychologists, sociologists academicians and researchers from the related fields.

The main theme has been divided into sub-themes like science and human values, human values and rights in management, role of the Human Rights Commission, human values and rights and its perspective in the national, gender, psychological, sociological, philosophical, literacy, historical, legal and the cultural aspects.

He said a registration fee of Rs 100 and Rs 300 will be charged from the students/research scholars and the professionals/faculty members or the academicians respectively. The college will be providing free board and lodging to all the registered delegates coming from other stations, besides the travelling allowance.

New Delhi, March 5
Diarrhoeal diseases are among the top three killers of children in the world today. India accounts for one of the largest number of diarrhoeal deaths in the world. According to 2003 report by the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP), there are about 6,00,000 diarrhoeal deaths among children annually in India.

The highest mortality from diarrhoea occurs in the children below five. With a little precaution, the disease can be checked to a great extent.

Washing hands with soap and water greatly reduces its risk. Diarrhoea is a condition in which the sufferer has frequent and watery bowel movements.

This condition can be a symptom of injury, disease or food poisoning and is usually accompanied by abdominal pain, and often nausea and vomiting. However, for the malnourished individuals, diarrhoea can lead to severe dehydration and prove fatal.

According to a study by Dr Val Curtis (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London), washing hands with the soap and water reduces the risk of diarrhoea by 47 per cent, a release said.

One should wash hands before eating, after using toilet, after being outdoors, playing with pets, and after coughing, sneezing or blowing one’s noses. Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is among the organisations working to promote such simple but effective habits. HLL’s Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna programme generates awareness about hygiene among the schoolchildren in villages.