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BJP MLAs expelled from House for 3 days
Major face-lift for Lutyens’ city planned
Heroin worth Rs 1 cr seized, three held
DCPs, ACPs transferred
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Noida budget has Rs 650 cr to compensate farmers
Special Metro cell to provide consultancy soon
Dubey becomes DU Registrar
Woman murdered in Patel Nagar
Renuka discharged in assault case
Pvt schools make light of govt closure order
Music festival to promote Indo-Pak bonhomie
Urdu textbooks from India find favour in Pakistan
Cine pleasures for East Delhiites
Peace yagya held
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BJP MLAs expelled from House for 3 days
New Delhi, April 1 The BJP moved a call attention motion on new water rates as soon as the House assembled, which was rejected by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Shoaib Iqbal, who was in the Chair. Mr Iqbal said the issue of water rates was listed for discussion in the Assembly on April 5 and there was no need for taking it up today. The unrelenting BJP MLAs staged a brief walkout. Following this, the Finance Minister, Mr A. K. Walia, moved the motion that the 13 BJP MLAs be expelled from the House for three days as they had been disrupting the Assembly “almost everyday”. The motion was put to vote and passed by voice vote even as the angry BJP MLAs rushed to the well of the House. They were then marshalled out. The seven BJP MLAs, who were not in the House at the time, have not been expelled, Assembly sources said. Later, addressing a press conference, the Delhi BJP chief, Mr Harshvardhan, charged the government with adopting a “dictatorial” attitude in the House by not allowing the Opposition to raise issues. “The government has created an emergency-like situation in the Assembly. There are several important issues such as corruption, VAT and supply of water and electricity. The Opposition cannot keep mum in the House. It is our duty to raise issues of importance to the public,” Mr Vardhan said. The BJP chief accused the Congress of betraying the citizens of the Capital by going back on its promise of not raising the
water tariff. With just two days more left for business in the Budget Session, which closes on April 5, the Delhi BJP chief claimed that the government had “perfectly timed” the expulsion of the Opposition MLAs to evade debate on issues like the excise policy, removal of dairies and supply of water and electricity.
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Major face-lift for Lutyens’ city planned
New Delhi, April 1 Moreover, the civic body has also planned to lighten the burden of the children by allowing greater number of NDMC schools to make provisions for the students to keep their bags in the classrooms itself. This practice has already been introduced in NP Bengali Girls Senior Secondary School, Gole Market. Presenting the budget yesterday, the Chairperson of the Council, Ms Sindhushree Khullar, said that in is effort to give a face-lift to Lutyen’s city, the Council has planed to upgrade the major markets through a Bhagidari scheme, in which the NDMC would provide the capital expenditure while the market associations would be expected to contribute for their maintenance and upkeep. The Connaught Place and Gole Market are among those to be taken up in the first phase of the beatification drive, she said. The NDMC has also planned rainwater harvesting through the construction of recharge pits at various locations in collaboration with INTACH. “For the smooth flow of traffic, some of the busiest roads like Ashoka Road, Brig. Hoshiyar Singh Road, Samrat Hotel Circle, Jantar Mantar Road, Pandara Road, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, South End Road, Max Muller Marg, Firozeshah Road, Tolstoy Marg and Bangla Sahib Road will be upgraded and resurfaced. For the convenience of the pedestrians, pathways are proposed to be constructed near Dilli Haat, Africa Avenue, Park Street and at Mandir Marg,” Ms Khullar said. Ms Khullar said that an expenditure of Rs 1034. 49 crore was planed against the revenue collection of Rs 1037.02 crore. Giving a break up of the expenditure, she said for every hundred rupees of expenditure, Rs 50 would be spent on electricity supply, Rs 13 on roads, public works and projects, Rs 14 on sanitation and health, Rs 11 on education and social services, Rs 6 on administration, Rs 5 on water supply and Rs 1 on other development works. Focusing on education, Ms Khullar said that it was decided that no student of Nursery and Class 1 level of NDMC schools would carry bags to school, which would be kept in the classrooms itself. With the help of NGOs, the NDMC will evolve a school appraisal system called ‘Avalokan’ to identify the strengths of schools and to identify the best practices so that these can be disseminated more widely, thereby providing quality education in schools, she added. “The construction of multi-purpose halls have also been proposed at Laxmibai Nagar and Kaka Nagar. The Barat Ghars at Kaka Nagar and Moti Bagh will be upgraded. The construction of a gym at Sarojni Nagar and two senior citizens recreational centres at Netaji Nagar and Gole Market are also in the pipeline. The third Palika Suvidha Kendra will soon be opened at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Place,” she said. “The NDMC will be preparing a position paper suggesting a modified form of Unit Area Method (UAM), which will be circulated for comments and a recommendation made for the consideration of the Council by June–July this year. The timeframe for the implementation of this scheme will be suggested in the position paper,” she concluded.
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Heroin worth Rs 1 cr seized, three held
Ghaziabad, April 1 One of the accused is the brother of a policeman, posted in Delhi Police Narcotic Wing while another is a transporter. The police nabbed them when they were hunting for a customer. Acting on a tip-off that that some drug pushers would bring a large quantity of narcotics to Nagar Transport Co office on Meerut Road, the sleuths led by the newly appointed in-charge of the Special Operation Group and in-charge of Patel Nagar police post, J.V. Singh, surrounded the area. Later, the sleuths conducted a raid and overpowered the accused and also seized the heroin. During interrogation, the accused were identified as Rishi Pal of Bisarekh in Gautam Budh Nagar district, Jatinder and Bindri Nagar of Mohalla New Arya Nagar under Sihani Gate police station in Ghaziabad. He was managing the Nagar Transport Company. According to police Circle Officer Chiranjiv Sinha, the accused had got this consignment of heroin from one Raju who had given the police the slip. Rishipal told the police that his brother was posted as a policeman in Kamla Market-based Narcotic Cell in Delhi and he had actually lured him to the narcotics. The police are trying to verify this information. Mr J.V. Singh said that the police have booked the peddlers under Narcotics Act. Further investigations are on.
SI, constable booked for extortion
Greater Noida, April 1 When some drivers and transporters complained to the SSP, Mr Piyush Mordia, against the cops, the SSP reportedly ordered that a case be registered against them. SI Panwar and constable S. Mani had allegedly been collecting illegal gratification from the vehicles at the Kulesra sales tax post. Isaq Ahmed, Mayur Ali, Dilawar Singh, Sarvar Khan and Irfan Khan had jointly made a complaint to the SSP against these cops. All the complainants had often greased the palms of these accused for getting their vehicles across the barrier, they told the SSP. The SSP had reportedly got the matter probed at his level before ordering that a case be registered against Panwar and S. Mani for extracting illegal gratification, assaulting drivers and threatening transporters, under Sections 384, 323 and 504 of the
IPC. — OC
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DCPs, ACPs transferred
New Delhi, April 1 According to the order, DCP, North-East, Anurag Kumar, has been posted as DCP, North, while DCP, North, Rajesh Khurana, has been posted as DCP, North-West. Meanwhile, DCP, North-West, Sanjay Singh, has been posted as DCP, Security, while DCP, Security, R. L. Meena, has been posted to the North-East district. Also ACP, Vasant Vihar, Ranbir Singh, has been asked to look after the work of Additional DCP, Vigilance, while ACP, Sadar Bazar, Shyam Singh, has been promoted as Additional DCP, Special Branch. Another ACP, CAW, R. K. Joshi, has been promoted as Additional DCP, Licencing.
Matharo’s case
A delegation comprising MCD Mayor and councilors today met the Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil and demanded a fresh probe into the Matharo’s case. The delegation apprised Mr Patil about the present situation and demanded a probe by an independent agency.
CBI inquiry at DSIDC sand depots
The CBI today conducted surprise checks at the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC) sand depots on the complaint of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that the state-owned corporation was supplying less sand per truck at its construction sites. The CBI spokesman said the agency staff conducted surprise checks at the sand depots at Majnu Ka Tila in North Delhi and behind the Akshardham temple in East Delhi after receiving complaints from the DMRC. The DMRC officials also accompanied the agency staff to the depots. The DSIDC lifts sand from river Yamuna and sells them to various organisations including the DMRC.
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Noida budget has Rs 650 cr to compensate farmers
Noida, April 1 Out of a total of Rs 1,218-crore budget, Rs 40 crore will be spent in the development of 11 new sectors while Rs 12 crore will be for supplying the Ganga water to the people in all sectors. An amount of Rs 3 crore has been earmarked for the Metro project in Noida during the year. The Noida Authority Board has passed the budget for 2005-2006 financial year in which an income of Rs 1,147 crore and an expenditure of Rs 1,218 crore had been estimated. The budget for village development is learnt to have been enhanced by Rs 5 crore this year and a total of Rs 348 crore has been earmarked to be spent on development. According to the authority sources, Rs 50 crore of this amount will be spent on completing works held up by inquiries: Rs 36 crore on residential buildings; Rs 23.72 crore on industrial sectors; Rs 109 crore for development of residential sectors; while Rs 5.25 crore will be spent on development of commercial plots and Rs 18 crore on institutional areas. The authority proposes to spent Rs 25 crore on construction of 544 flats in Sector-105; Rs 20 crore on widening expressway; Rs 31 crore on maintenance of roads and beautification. According to the authority sources, Rs 5.5 crore will be incurred on a new road from Sector-47 to Sector-105. An amount of Rs 10 crore has been provided for the development of Sectors-125, 126 and 127. Rs 209 crore will be spent under revenue cess. A sum of Rs 144.13 crore has been earmarked for projects under Chief Project Engineer R.P. Singh; Rs 66.33 crore under Chief Maintenance Engineer P.H. Sidiqque and Rs 164.36 crore under Chief Maintenance Engineer-II Home Singh Yadav. In the increase this year, Rs 100 crore will come from the sale of industrial plots; Rs 325 crore from residential plots; Rs 76 crore from the residential building department; and Rs 272 crore from commercial departments, the sources said.
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Special Metro cell to provide consultancy soon
New Delhi, April 1 The DMRC already provides consultancy to many cities in the country and several Asian countries as well, from where it has generated substantial revenue. However, most of the officials involved in consultancy work are holding a dual charge and are engaged in other jobs also. Since queries have started pouring in for the world-class techniques employed by the DMRC, it is now thinking of creating a separate cell, specialised in consultancy only. The move will also make it financially self-reliant. Besides being a successful model that others want to replicate, the DMRC provides the service at a much lower cost than other consultant countries like Germany, Britain or Japan. DMRC Chief Public Relations Officer Anuj Dayal said that the idea was still in the germinating stage and nothing had been finalised yet. “At present, there are seven officials who provide consultancy and are also involved in other work. The idea is still in the formative stage and the details of the structure of this wing are yet to be finalised. However, the wing will have a separate staff, whenever it becomes operational, which will only provide consultancy,” Mr Dayal added.
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Dubey becomes DU Registrar
New Delhi, April 1 Dr Dubey is a Kerala Cadre, IAS officer of the batch of 1982 and was previously the Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. He has a master’s degree in Public Administration and has done a Ph.D. The EC also approved the appointment against 24 posts in the Faculty of Law, posts of professorship in the faculty of management and eight posts of readers in the faculty of economics. Dr Pratibha Jolly’s appointment as the Principal of Miranda College was also sanctioned. Meanwhile, the university has rubbished the claims made by a teacher’s organisation, claiming that the Registrar’s appointment is in violation of the MHRD’s orders. The Academic for Action and Development had claimed that a MHRD circular had prohibited the VC from holding any selection committees months before he is due for retirement. Officials, however, claimed that there is no such rule applicable to the university and that the UGC has not intimated any such directive.
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Woman murdered in Patel Nagar
New Delhi, April 1 However, the victim succumbed to her injuries after reaching the hospital. During investigation, however, the police found out that the victim had quarrelled with her husband, Ram Sagar, last night. It also came to light that the victim sustained injuries as her husband hit her with a stick. The accused, after injuring Ram Kanshi, fled from the house. The police have registered a case of murder and launched a manhunt to trace his whereabouts.
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Renuka discharged in assault case
New Delhi, April 1 “Metropolitan Magistrate Siddharth Sharma has committed illegality by taking cognizance of the case without condoning the delay. Accordingly, his order of February 9, 2005, wherein he directed framing of charges against Chowdhury is set aside with the observation that chargesheet was filed after period of limitation, cognizance of which could not have been taken in absence of delay explained by prosecution or condonation of delay by a concerned court,” Additional Sessions Judge D S Paweriya said.
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Pvt schools make light of govt closure order
Faridabad, April 1 The order of the Haryana government to keep all the offices and educational institutions closed today as a mark of respect to the departed souls went unheeded in some of the private schools, which worked as usual and the management of certain institutions did not bother to observe even a two-minute silence. While the district authorities may claim that the private offices and educational institutions have the right to open and work in such a situation, schools or institutions who receive the government grant cannot flout the order of the state government. It is reported that though private education institutions in several parts of the state had observed an off today in view of the government decision and even announced to cancel all the cultural events for two days, there had been many other in the town which had not bothered to follow the government order. Several parents rang up schools this morning to inquire whether the school of their children was open, a majority of the private schools told them they had been open and the order of the state government does not apply to them.
Jat Mahasabha expresses shock
The executive committee of ‘All India Jat Mahasabha’ expressed shock over the death of two Haryana ministers, O. P. Jindal and Surender Singh, who died in a helicopter crash yesterday. The pilot of the chopper, Colonel T.S. Chauhan, also died in the mishap.
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Music festival to promote Indo-Pak bonhomie
New Delhi, April 1 The Capital is gearing up to host a music festival beginning next week with the traditional sopana rendition of Kerala to the Varanasi-style bhakti sangeet to Sufiana Quawwali of Pakistan being part of the repertoire. Scheduled to be inaugurated by the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, on April 8, the three-day Bhakti Utsav is being organised by a cultural organisation ‘Seher’, in collaboration with the Delhi Government, Union Culture Ministry and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri. The event will begin with the traditional mantras from Tamil Nadu on the first two days. The participating Indian artistes include Mumbai-based Keshavroa Badge and Satyasheel Despande (Marathi Gondhad, Bharud), Varanasi’s Channulal Misra (Ganapati and Ram Bhakt Sangeet), Bharti bandhu (Chattisgarhi-style Kabir bhajans), Chennai-based Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri, Delhi’s famous Hindustani musician Madhup Mudgal (Sagun-Nirgun), Bhagwati Prasad Gandharva (Bhakti sangeet from Vadodara), classical vocalist Kalapini Komkali of Dewas (Malwi bhajans) and Dhrupad maestros Gundecha brothers of Bhopal (Hanuman and Shiv Bhakti sangeet). The prominent Pakistani musicians with their troupes include Sufi sangeet maestro Iqbal Bahu (who is a descendant of saint Sultan Bahu), Krishna Lal Bheel (traditional bhajans) and Fareed Ayaz Al Hussaini and brothers, the Sufiana qawwali exponents whose ancestor was the first pupil of Hazrat Amir Khusro. The entry to the musical fiesta is free and the
programmes would begin at 7 pm.
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Urdu textbooks from India find favour in Pakistan
New Delhi, April 1 Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely today informed the Vidhan Sabha that a Pakistani university is planning to use the books in its courses. The Ali Mehmood University in Lahore has shown interest in using the 26 different titles in Urdu, which were introduced in the Capital’s government schools last year, Lovely said. “The Vice-Chancellor of the university studied the books and was impressed. The university now plans to use the books in its own courses,” Lovely said. Urdu, along with Punjabi, enjoys the status of second official language in Delhi. Lovely said it was for the first time that so many different books in Urdu were published at a time. “In fact, Delhi could be the first state where so many books in Urdu have been published in a year,” he said.
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Cine pleasures for East Delhiites
New Delhi, April 1 Inaugurating the new multiplex, Mr Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR Cinemas, said: “East Delhi is one of the fastest growing areas of Delhi. Therefore, it was an obvious move for us to tap this region.” The three-screen multiplex has a total seating capacity of 723 seats. It is equipped with the latest THX-approved three-way surround sound system.
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Peace yagya held
New Delhi, April 1 A number of families performed yajna in 108 hawan kunds in this grand spiritual event and a yoga demonstration was also organised under the guidance of Shri Swami Surender Dev Ji Maharaj.
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