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15-yr-old boy feared kidnapped
Row in Cong set to reach Sonia’s court
200 buildings under scanner for flouting fire safety
Shivering symptoms in kids subside
Rs 7.10 lakh snatched from Allahabad Bank customer
Missing junk dealers: Cops may be declared fugitives
Dikshit reaffirms govt’s commitment to environment
Mussoorie to become adventurer’s paradise
Booksellers demand closure of bookstores in schools
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Teaching serious subjects could be fun and games
Allotment of two petrol pumps cancelled
No hawking near protected monuments: High Court
Traffic arrangements for Mahavir Janmotsav
Narayanan presents awards to architecture students
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15-yr-old boy feared kidnapped
Noida, April 21 Sukhpal Singh of Dhasora village,
Bulandshahr, has made a written complaint in the Rabupura police station that his son Satinder Singh, 15, class 8th student in a Roopwas school, had gone to his maternal uncle’s house on April 1, 2005. After a couple of days, when he went to his brother-in-law’s house to bring back his son, he was told that the boy had left for his village on April 5. Later, Sukhpal Singh learnt that his son was seen with some youth in a Maruti car between Achhapur and Chaudpur villages on April 5. Sukhpal Singh said Satinder had talked to them on phone on April 18. While crying, he told his parents that they would never see him again and should not try to locate him. Sukhpal Singh in a written complaint expressed fears that his son Satinder has been kidnapped. However, the police have yet to take any action.
Another newborn missing from govt hospital
Like last year, the child lifters are striking in Noida again. A baby boy, born to
Babita, was allegedly stolen by a woman from the Noida district hospital on Wednesday
morning. Babita’s husband Ran Vijay Singh and mother-in-law Savita Devi were present in the hospital. The woman who took away the baby had left her purse on the hospital bed. The parents have alleged the connivance of hospital staff. The hospital authorities informed the Sector-20 police station about the case. Chief Medical Officer Dr Vinod Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the matter. The incident happened when Babita’s husband had gone out somewhere and Babita was busy in giving bath to her son,
Ankit. A 25-year-old woman who had befriended her is alleged to have walked away with the newborn. After about five minutes, Babita raised the alarm as she did not find that woman anywhere. Later, Chief Medical Officer informed the District Magistrate and SSP. CO S. R. Yadav rushed to the hospital with Sector-20 police team. The police also questioned hospital employees in this regard. At least three newborn babies had been stolen from this hospital last year,
too. — OC
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Row in Cong set to reach Sonia’s court
New Delhi, April 21 However, Sharma said change of leadership was not an issue. “She (Gandhi) is the head of the (Congress) family and I will tell her of whatever internal matters we have,” he told reporters. Dikshit also sought an appointment with the Congress president, party sources said, but added that neither had been given any time as yet. Differences between Sharma and Dikshit had come out into the open on Tuesday after MLAs attacked the functioning of the government and criticised it for rising cost of power and water. Dikshit had walked out of the meeting called to improve coordination between the party and the government. Sharma said, “I will put forward whatever happened in the meeting and views expressed ... she (Gandhi) will take a decision.” Asked whether he would demand that the Chief Minister be changed when he meets Gandhi, Sharma said, “I have never talked of leadership change. I have no demand for it.”
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200 buildings under scanner for flouting
New Delhi, April 21 Speaking at the valedictory session of `Fire Safety Week’, the Chief Fire Officer, Mr R. C. Sharma, said here on Wednesday that adhering to strict building norms and implementation of National Building Code (NBC) can help prevent these tragedies. He said that the Fire Department has already served notices as well as disconnected water and electricity of more than 200 high-rise building in the Capital not adhering to safety norms set by the department. Mr Sharma added that in Delhi major causes for fire hazards identified include unplanned growth of city, encroachments, illegal power connections, non-availability of pressurised water supply, illegal storage activities and use of sub-standard electrical equipment, LPG and CNG cylinders. The Fire chief said that inadequate number of fire stations, poor state of fire fighting equipments, lack of R & D and fire investigation facilities and lack of modern fire fighting equipments in the country are also some of the factors, which cause delay in fire fighting. He pointed out that the Delhi Fire Prevention and Safety Act is valid only for high-rise buildings (i.e. buildings with a height of 15 metres and above). “But there are a lot of public buildings which are below 15 metres and our objective is to apply fire safety norms to them. The MCD task force is drawing new norms with the help of the fire department,” He said that there are a lot of public purpose buildings below 15 metres in height- schools, guest-houses, dharmashalas, shopping centres, multiplexes and buildings storing LPG, such as restaurants, food courts etc. Mr Pradip Chaturvedi, chairman, Safety and Quality Forum, the Institution of Engineers (India), which organized the valedictory session, said fire safety norms which include demarcation of the fire zone in major buildings, water supply for fire fighting, proper natural lighting and ventilation, proper alarm system and fire exits, proper working sprinkler system are not adhered to while construction of public and high-rise buildings. He said that most of the building engineers, architects and planners are not aware of these norms and provisions. Mr Chaturvedi said that apart from lack of fire fighting equipment and safety norms there are no skilled fire safety people in public and high-rise buildings. The work of extinguishing fire is left to the watchman or liftman. Due to the lack of awareness and training, the equipment remains unused during fires. The Fire Department should do regular drills and train people in these public places, he added. He said those curtains, sofa covers and other linen, plastic conduits, paint, wood and other construction material should be fire retardant (fire proof). Unauthorized construction, illegal godowns, slums and industrial units handling dangerous chemicals are major cause of fire incidents in Delhi. The policy makers and administrators should leave the enforcement to the proper qualified authorities. They should be allowed to work freely. This could have helped save precious lives of firemen killed in the recent fire in Naraina, Delhi, he added.
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Shivering symptoms in kids subside
New Delhi, April 21 The Drug Controller of Delhi today collected the samples of the distilled water and the antibiotics. The Medical Superintendent of Kalawati Saran Hospital, Dr G.K. Sharma, told TNS here on Thursday evening that the children are fine and their symptoms have subsided. “There are no casualties and no need for panic. All the 25 children are now okay. The symptoms of shivering subsided after we gave them some drugs as a remedial solution. It is not a case of medical negligence. We are suspecting that there may have been pyrogens in the batch of distilled water. We have sent the samples of distilled water and antibiotics to the government approved laboratory in Delhi and hope to get the report within a week.” Pyrogens are fever-causing chemicals that are released by bacteria and may contaminate the intraveinous fluids. Dr Sharma said that the children were admitted in Unit I and had been given broad- spectrum antibiotics that cover a range of infections. He said that the Additional Medical Superintendents of the hospital, Dr Shashi Saini and Dr Nanda, have been asked to examine the case. The Kalawati Sarn Hospital run by the Central Government, was set up in 1958 and has the largest children unit in Delhi with a bed capacity of 370. The hospital is planning to add another 70 beds by setting up the neo natal ward.
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Rs 7.10 lakh snatched from
New Delhi, April 21 The police said that the suspect, a tall and well-built man entered the bank this morning at around 10 a.m. when the customer was standing in the queue of Bhairon Enclave branch of the bank in Peera Garhi area of Paschim Vihar to deposit the money. The suspect pointed a country-made pistol towards the head of the victim, identified as Chand Kumar Dham, a petrol pump employee and demanded the bag containing Rs 7 lakh from him. Immediately, the suspect snatched the bag from the hand of Chand and fled. Later, the customer told the police that the bag contained Rs 7.10 lakh, which he had come to deposit with the bank. The police have obtained the descriptions of the suspect and prepared a sketch to nab him. The police also questioned the bank employees and some other persons to get some clues leading to the arrest of the suspect. 2 blind murder cases solved
With the arrest of three persons, the West district police today claimed to have solved two blind murder cases of two women in Uttam Nagar area. The accused persons arrested have been identified as Farukh (20), Jintender, alias Kalu (20) and Subhash, alias Kaku (20), all residents of Uttam Nagar. Acting on a tip-off that the suspects involved in the murder of victims, identified as Asha and Deepa, would come near Sonia Hospital to meet their contacts, the police laid a trap and nabbed the suspects. During interrogation, the accused persons confessed to their involvement in the murder of two women. In the first case, the accused persons murdered one Asha, alias Tara, resident of Uttam Nagar on the night of March 14. Since Faurkh was in desperate need of money for his sister’s wedding, he and his associates requested for night’s stay at Asha’s house in a bid to rob her. Accordingly, when Asha was fast asleep the accused persons strangulated her to death. They later robbed her mobile phone and other articles from her house. In the second case, Farukh and Jintender disclosed that they murdered one Deepa, resident of Chankaya Place, Uttam Nagar, since she did not succumb to the pressure from Farukh for sexual relations. Deepa even slapped Farukh in a market as he talked to her in an indecent manner. Infuriated over this matter, the accused persons reached her home and murdered her.
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Missing junk dealers: Cops may
Greater Noida, April 21 Three of the accused policemen who have become prosecution witnesses are helping the CBCID teams in collecting the evidence. The absconding policemen are likely to be declared fugitives, it is understood. Alok Sharma, SO Kasna police station and 10 other cops had beaten up three junk dealers– Aarif, Meherban, and Arshad in police lock-up on September 26, 2004, after which the junk dealers had disappeared. All the policemen against whom a case of murder and destroying the evidence has been registered, have since been absconding. On March 7, 2005, a report was lodged in Kasna police station. The property of the accused has since been attached. The probe of the case was entrusted to CBCID by the administration on March 20, 2005. According to sources, three of the 11 accused cops have surrendered before the police and offered to become prosecution witnesses. They are believed to have divulged the whole story to the inquiring CBCID team, who had then gone to brick kilns to search for the bodies of the youths. The bodies had been pushed into the brick kilns, the three prosecution witnesses told the CBCID. Although CBCID had summoned all the accused for cross-examination by the police team, no one turned up. Now the accused are being declared fugitives and rewards are being declared on their heads, it is learnt.
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Dikshit reaffirms govt’s commitment
New Delhi, April 21 Launching the website, Programme for Awareness on Climate Change Issues for Youth (PACCIFY), as part of the Earth Day celebration, Ms Dikshit said, ‘’The youths of today are the leaders who can make a difference in environment conservation.’’ Giving away the awards to the schoolchildren who took part in several competitions to mark the day, Ms Dikshit reiterating her government’s commitment to the environment. She said, ‘’Once we switch to the battery-operated cars and solar-powered buses, it would be a leap forward for a better environment. You are the leaders and you should know that a little conservation today in terms of water or fuel consumption will go a long way in preserving mother earth for tomorrow.’’ Over 1,000 students took part in painting, skit and bulletin board competitions. Speaking of the new website, TERI Director General Dr R K Pachauri said it was a national endeavour to encourage students to work towards the goal of a cleaner and greener environment. Ministry of Environment and Forests Secretary Dr Pradipto Ghosh applauded the efforts made by the children to save the environment.
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Mussoorie to become adventurer’s paradise
New Delhi, April 21 The meet is being organised by the Department of Tourism, Government of Uttaranchal with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Indian Mountaineering Foundation as partners. The main aim of the meet is to bring the adventure and mountaineering to the forefront, promote, publicise, popularise, protect the Himalayas and promote adventure tourism/sports in the Himalayan states of India and the Himalayan countries. It is hoped the meet would promote India as an adventure destination. Alongside the tourism meet, the ‘Himalayan Adventure Expo 2005’ will be held at the same venue. The main focus of this expo would be to create awareness about “Himalayan adventure tourism and eco-tourism” in the country, showcasing various facilities available for undertaking various types of adventure sports in the country and outside the country, range of manufacturers, who are manufacturing equipments of various kinds to cater to this area and make adventure eco-tourism challenging but safe sports. The expo would offer an excellent opportunity to exhibitors and visitors to interact with the leading players of the tourism industry, state tourism department and mountaineering legends. The adventure packed three days event at a five star hotel at Mussoorie in peak tourist season would provide an unparallel opportunity of mixing pleasure with business.
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Booksellers demand closure of
New Delhi, April 21 Under the banner of the ‘Pustak Vikreta Hitkari Sangh’, the traders have complained to the Director of Education that most schools in connivance with some private publishers allow bookshops to operate from within the school, which force parents to purchase books and even notebooks from them. “Most of these school bookstores are run by people on contractual basis for a year or two and they sell books on highly inflated prices. A book that otherwise costs Rs 20 can be sold from anywhere between Rs 40 to Rs 80, there is no check,” said Ramesh
Vashist, secretary of the PVHS. “Schools are offered hefty concessions apart from sops by these contractors following which most of them do not even recommend NCERT textbooks,” he alleged. The traders’ body has now decided to register their complaint with the Chairperson of the
CBSE. “We have not received any response from the DoE, but if our demand is not met, we will protest and take to the streets if the need arises,” said
Vashist. He said, “it is often the poor parents who are forced to shell out more money by these school bookstores. They make sure that the books prescribed by the schools are available only in their own stores and then sell them at whatever price they wish. They even change the books and prescribe new textbooks each year.” The principal,
GHPS, Vasant Vihar, Mr S. S. Minhas, said, “though we have not received any intimation from the
DoE, but yes one often gets to hear of complaints against the bookshops forcing parents to buy from them”. It was pointed out that private publishers are also responsible for “creating a hype about the non-availability of the NCERT texts”. “The texts are freely available, it is often the private publishers, who coerce the bookshop vendors to claim that the NCERT texts are in short supply,” an official of the NCERT said.
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Teaching serious subjects could be fun and games
New Delhi, April 21 A series of such books are titled ‘Terrapin’. It is an attempt by TERI, the energy and research institute, to inculcate the importance of conserving the environment in children. Released at a function on the eve of Earth Day here today by Secretary, Environment and Forests, Dr Prodipto Ghosh, these books are an attempt “to teach children serious subjects through entertainment”, said Dr R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI. He said, “There is a need to mobilise children to get involved with their parents in the issues related to the environment. There is too much at stake and these children are going to be the major beneficiaries of the conservation efforts.” Reviewed by teachers and even students, these books are available in three levels, while the first level caters to the four to six age group, the second level is for those between 7 and 11. A third level for those between 12 and 14 is still being prepared. “The third level has been sent for feedback, it is more serious than the first two levels and based on facts. We are also going to release these books in Hindi so that more children have access to the information they contain,” said Mr KP Eashwar, Information Analyst, TERI.
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Allotment of two petrol pumps cancelled
Greater Noida, April 21 An ex-Central Vigilance Commissioner, Vijay Shankar Mathur, had been asked to probe the matter and his recommendation that two plots allotted earlier be cancelled, has been accepted by the administration. Both the applicants had not procured the letter of intents from Indian Oil and Reliance Petroleum Ltd respectively for a dealership at the time of application. Secondly, the plots to be allotted on the commercial rates by the Greater Noida Authority were actually allotted on institutional rates. The Mathur Committee has also recommended in its report that the Greater Noida Authority should lay down a proper policy about such allotments. Some 5,700 sq mt land had been allotted to Jai Prakash Agarwal near Kasna by former Greater Noida Officials for setting up petrol pumps.
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No hawking near protected monuments: High Court
New Delhi, April 21 “Hawkers should be removed from all protected monuments,” a Division Bench of Chief Justice B. C. Patel and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed dismissing the appeal. The court took note of the fact that the petitioners had not been given licences by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to hawk at the protected monument. In their appeal filed through counsel Keshav Kaushik, 26 hawkers had challenged the September 10 order of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog refusing to review his earlier order on removal of the hawkers. Kaushik submitted that hawkers’ removal was against the National Policy for Urban Street Vendors and that they had been there for generations. However, the Bench said the policy did not provide for hawking contrary to statutory provisions, which prohibited such activities in protected monuments. Justice Nandrajog had said that they could not sell their goods in the vicinity of a protected monument without getting a licence from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Remains Rules, 1959. According to Rule 8(d) of the said Rules, hawking or selling of goods, in any form is prohibited within a protected monument, except in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence granted by an Archaeological Officer. In view of this Rule, MCD had on February 19, 1998, issued an order banning ‘tehbazari’ at Qutab Minar.
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Traffic arrangements for Mahavir Janmotsav
New Delhi, April 21 The procession will start from Digamber Jain Mandir and pass through Filmistan cinema, Bara Hindu Rao, Pahari Dhiraj, Bara Tooti, Sadar Bazar, Qutab Road, Lahori Gate, Khari Baoli, Fatehpuri, Town Hall, Ghanta Ghar, Chandni Chowk, Dariba Kalan, Hathikhana, Chowk Jamba Parsad Jain, Rishabh Dev Park and end at Subhash Maidan.
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Narayanan presents awards
New Delhi, April 21 The highlight of the celebration was the felicitation of Mr C. P. Kukreja for his lifetime contributions in architecture and in promoting architectural journalism. Honoured for his lifetime accomplishments, Mr Kukereja’s long-experience in the field include prestigious work in India and abroad. He has to his credit a number of prestigious projects. This year the winners includes Ms Snehal Shivaji Shedge, Ms Aditi Bhalchandra Dhavle and Ms Rasika Mukund Budukh of Dr Bhnuben Nanavati College of Architecture, Pune, who won the first prize of Rs 25,000, a gold medal and a certificate.
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Decision to shift Punjabi Dept flayed
New Delhi, April 21 He also criticised the decision to shift the Punjabi Department from Delhi to Jalandhar. He said that Punjabi is not like other regional languages, which are spoken only in a particular region. Punjabi is an international language. As far as Delhi is concerned, the Punjabi speaking population is in a majority. The Delhi Government as well as the MCD has given second language status to Punjabi language. The Punjabi language is being taught in government schools. He appealed to the Union Minister to restart the Punjabi news and other Punjabi cultural programmes from the national Capital. — TNS
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New Delhi, April 21 The community hall was constructed by the MCD at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. It comprises five changing rooms and a kitchen. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kumar said that the Congress party was committed to provide better civic facilities to the citizens of Delhi. With the opening of this community hall, the people of Shakurpur, Sandesh Vihar and adjoining areas will have a new centre for organising social and cultural functions. — TNS
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