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Most cases of meningitis from S Delhi
Illegal bird trade to be stopped
Even poachers want quality-control stamp!
Housewife stabbed to death
Helpline lets women down
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Man held for ‘drunken’ brawl
Flats in multi-storey buildings to cost more from June 1
DUSU warns of stir in gang rape case
Rich haul of heroin, Nigerian caught red-handed
Housing scheme in Knowledge Park area
Power pangs deepen, round-the-clock service fails to address complaints
Rs 600 cr to be spent on health sector: Minister
PM calls on Surjeet in Metro Hospital
Teacher gets RI for abduction
Gang of robbers busted
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Most cases of meningitis from S Delhi
New Delhi, May 14 South Delhi is dominated by the rich people who enjoy the best of medical and other facilities. So, most of the cases are suspected to be coming from the slum clusters. The Director of Hospital Administration, (MCD), Dr J. N. Banavalikar said that a total of 19 fresh cases of meningitis had been admitted to different hospitals of the national Capital. Of them, three were in AIIMS and three in RML. The figure from Safdarjung Hospital is yet to be collected. In the remaining hospitals, one or two cases have been reported. Earlier, the patients were admitted to the LNJP and Hindu Rao hospitals. But during the last 24 hours, there were no fresh cases reported from these hospitals, thereby suggesting that the disease is under control. The steps taken by the government to treat the patients and medicines distributed among their relatives proved effective. Only one death was reported from the DDU Hospital, taking the toll to 22. Dr Banavalikar said meningitis spread every year and it is not the first time in Delhi. Generally, it breaks out in winters and mostly people in congested areas become its victim as it is a communicable disease and infection spreads speedily, he added.
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Illegal bird trade to be stopped
New Delhi, May 14
She said that the decision to put an end to the illegal bird trade in Delhi was taken at the PFA meeting held here on Saturday. Ms Gandhi said that birds worth Rs 1 crore are brought to Delhi every week by trains and buses. Most of these are parakeets, mynahs, munias, bulbuls, owls, jungli parakeet (bater), koels, hill mynahs, lorikeets, canaries and eagles. According to PFA Co-ordinator for Delhi, Rajeev Jain, some of the birds that are being sold cannot be traded under the Wildlife Protection Act. He said that the PFA recently helped the police seize rabits, parrots, munias, finches from Moolchand and Minto Road. In a press release issued here on Saturday, PFA said that bird trade was stopped in 1991 following an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which bans all trade and trapping of indigenous birds. According to PFA, more than 50,000 birds are available in Delhi’s Red Fort, Jama Masjid and INA markets at any given point of time. PFA has sought police cooperation in checking the illegal trade of birds that is resulting in extinction of many species. Gandhi said, “If the Police Commissioner wanted, he could stop the trade in one day, as his team knows every place where the birds are brought in, every railway platform where they are unloaded and every single den and shop where they are sold. It is because of an easy and regular source of illegal income that Delhi is now the hub of this trade.” Quoting the figures compiled by the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRFFIC), PFA has said that despite the ban on the capture and trade of wild birds, as many as 300 species are caught and traded with impunity.
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Even poachers want quality-control stamp!
New Delhi, May 14 When a large consignment of leopard and otter skins were seized by the Delhi Police on April 6, most of the skins had a rubber stamp on the back, saying “O.K. Tested, W-7”, a seal, and signatures in Tibetan. While signatures in Tibetan have been seen
in many seizures of tiger, leopard and otter skins in the past, this is the first time a quality-approval stamp was observed, possibly indicating a factory-like quality control mechanism in
the trade. Mr Ashok Kumar, Senior Advisor, Wildlife Trust of India, who had filed a petition in the case that came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on May 12, told The Tribune that this added a new dimension to the well-established trade of tiger and leopard skins operating from India to Tibet. He said while members of the three-Judge Bench were horrified after they saw a photograph of the quality-control stamp on a leopard skin, they were also amused that those dealing in this illegal trade were also demanding quality control now. “In a lighter vein, Mr Harish Salve who is the amicus curie, in fact said that there is honour even among thieves,” he added. The Bench ordered the April- 6 case to be transferred to the CBI for investigation. Other issues raised in the petition will be heard when the court resumes after summer break. While two persons from Nepal and one from Tibet have been arrested, there still remain several unanswered questions in this seizure, Mr Ashok Kumar added. The trade, he says, happens mostly through Nepal and skins are collected from all over India in Sadar Bazar in Old Delhi after travelling through various routes. Despite talks of a wildlife bureau on the lines of the Narcotics Control Bureau, the government has not been able to put in place an organisation, which can control this trade, putting a question mark on the survival of tigers in India, he added.
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Housewife stabbed to death
Noida, May 14 Anju Bajaj, wife of Ajay Bajaj, who is employed as Manager in LG Electronics in Greater Noida, had been living with her family in the flat No 404 in Stellar King Court Apartment in Sector-50. She was alone at the time of the incident as her children – Akshit and Aseema – had gone to school while Mr Bajaj was in his office. The security guards at the complex have, however, been detained for interrogation and the police have lifted the fingerprints. According to SSP Piyush Mordia, it appeared to be the work of a painter or a known person. There is no entry in the visitor’s register maintained by the security guards at the main gate. The police have not been able to make out the causes of murder so far. The number of assailants, too, is not clear yet. But according to the statements of Manorama, the maid, there was only one intruder. The assailant is believed to have entered Anju Bajaj’s flat and stabbed her to death brutally. Police had found victim’s body in the bathroom. Mrs Tanu Jain, who lives in the Flat No 304, just below Bajaj’s flat, was the first person to discover the murder. She heard someone’s scream from the flat No. 404. Mrs Jain sent her maid Manorama to find out. When Manorama knocked at the door, she was pulled inside by some stranger who locked her up in the other bathroom before escaping. Mrs Jain told her neighbours when she found that even her servant had not come back. Later, Mrs Jain had informed Ajay Bajaj in his office on phone. The police were also informed at the same time. The police and Ajay Bajaj found profusely bleeding Anju Bajaj lying in the bathroom. They rushed her to Prayag Hospital, hoping she could be saved, but she was declared brought dead by the doctors there. The police feel it was the work of a known person who could get entrance in the flat easily. Some painters who had worked in the flat some time back are also being suspected in the case. The house was not ransacked, making it clear that the objective of the intruders was only to murder her, the police said.
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Helpline lets women down
New Delhi, May 14 To attend to the distress calls, there is only a single Gypsy with five police women: one inspector, one ASI, one head constable and two constables. No wonder, it hardly responds to even half the calls coming every day. The helpline was started on September 18, 2002, in the wake of a shocking incident in which a college girl had been abducted from the North campus of the Delhi University in broad daylight. That incident had triggered much hue and cry over the safety of women in Delhi. At the time of the start of the helpline, the Delhi Police had made many promises such as just ring up a toll free number-1091 round the clock in case of distress. To respond to the calls, a mobile woman crime team was also set up. After a while, it was also proposed to induct three more Gypsies and two dozen extra woman police personnel into the team. But that proposal is yet to be implemented. The president of STOP, an organisation to help distressed women, Ms Roma Devbratta said, “It is practically not possible for a Gypsy team to attend to all the calls coming round the clock across the city. There must be at least three such teams to be deployed at all the three New Delhi, Northern and Southern zones.”
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Man held for ‘drunken’ brawl
New Delhi, May 14 He was reportedly taking his dinner at around 8.30 pm. Before he could finish his meal, the cops in a police van came and raided his house, as alleged by the neighbours. They dragged him to the van and took him to the Mayur Vihar police station. He was booked for fighting with people under the IPC act. A shocking factor in the arrest is that all the officials are giving different statements for the arrest. When the SHO Mayur Vihar was contacted, he said that the accused was drunk and fighting with the people. However, no medical examination was done in the case, said a police source. When the neighbours were contacted, they alleged that Tinku was at home when the arrest was made and also he did not fight with anyone in the recent past. The agitated mob collected at the police station and made two PCR calls, but no van came to the spot. When the DCP east district Garima Bhatnagar was contacted, she said that he might be arrested under the ‘preventive arrest’ as he might be a BC of the area. Although the police sources in the local police station gave a contradictory statement, saying that Tinku was not a BC rather he was threatened by the local police that they would make him a BC.
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Flats in multi-storey buildings to cost more from June 1
Ghaziabad, May 14 The tax, being proposed to be made effective from June 1, 2005, will not be a minor tax, but will be 10 per cent. The builders of the multi-storey flats have reportedly advanced a strange logic saying that hike in prices of the flats will not seriously affect the end users, because most of their buyers are millionaires who belong to upper classes. In any case, purchase of flats in multi-storey complexes will become a costlier proposition from next month. Although, the aim of the Central Government is to tax the builders, it is the individual buyers who will be affected by the tax component ultimately. The tax hike, proposed by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the finance bill, has now been passed by Parliament. The 10 per cent service tax will be imposed on those builders who construct buildings with 12 or more units. The builders are likely to show it as part of construction cost, but the common buyers will have to bear the burden of the enhanced service tax as builders always extract it from the buyers in one form or other. In simple terms, the flats now available for Rs 10 lakh will be priced at Rs 11 lakh from June 1. The only way out for those intending to buy flats is that they should hurry up and clinch the deal by end of May 05. The tax, however, will not be applicable on Avas Samitis (housing societies) or Avas Vikas Parishad etc. According to Kunal Banerjee, senior vice-president (Marketing), Omexe Constructions: “Though the data of service tax has been announced by the government, it is yet not clear as to on what price this tax will be calculated. It will not be correct to calculate on the total price. But if it is imposed on labour cost or material cost only, its burden on end buyers will be up to four to five per cent.”
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DUSU warns of stir in gang rape case
New Delhi, May 14 Amrita Dhawan of the DUSU later told reporters that if all the accused of the case are not arrested by Tuesday “we will resort to picketing of road at Dhaula Kuan” from where the DU (Correspondence) student had been abducted and raped last Sunday. Regretting that neither any reaction came from the Police Commissioner in this regard ever since the incident took place nor did he visit the student to empathise with her, Ms Dhawan said it showed the degree of insensitivity the Delhi Police show towards the student community. ‘’We have demanded that seven additional PCR vans be placed on the north campus and four on the south campus for the security of students,’’ she said. The delegation also gave a memorandum to the Commissioner, stating the insecurity among the students in the wake of growing crime against women in Delhi. The memorandum, among other things, demanded that additional security back-ups be placed near college campuses to instil confidence in the students.
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Rich haul of heroin, Nigerian caught red-handed
New Delhi, May 14 On May 12, the ACP Narcotics, Mehar Singh got a tip-off that Hemant of Paharganj was going to deliver the heroin to one Nigerian near PVR Plaza cinema in Connaught Place.
During investigation, it was revealed that the Nigerian came to India on April 9, 2005 for sole intention of drug trafficking.
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Housing scheme in Knowledge Park area
Greater Noida, May 14 He said that the Greater Noida Authority is working on a housing sector on 250 acre land between Knowledge Park IV and the railway line. Best types of flats fitted with all modern comforts will be built under this scheme for the people. The layout and the designs have been examined and discussed, the CEO said. About power crisis, the CEO said that matter has been taken up with Industrial Development Commissioner, he who has been asked for 10 MW additional power out of total shortage of 45 MW. The Chairman said almost 50 per cent land was lost in double allotments in the past few years. Similarly, among 35 disputed cases of residential, institutional and industrial, 20 have been resolved so far. Some of these disputed cases have been referred to a committee for inquiry and the report is yet to be received. Some cases are being examined at the authority level. Rites have been asked to undertake a study on transport network for which Rs.7.50 lakh have been paid by the GNIDA. Action on it will be initiated on receipt of the report he said. Greater Noida needs at least 100 more buses for a viable transport system. The expenses on it will be shared by Noida and Greater Noida. A land for cremation ground will soon be identified, Rakesh Bahadur said.
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Power pangs deepen, round-the-clock service fails to address complaints
Faridabad, May 14 The erratic power supply has affected the residents of rural as well as urban areas. Though there has been a change of government in the state, the style of functioning of the employees of the department concerned appears to be the same when it comes to attending to the problems. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) had started a round-the-clock service of attending the complaints of the consumers recently. But there has been hardly any relief as far the supply and redressal of the complaints is concerned. Recently, when a phase of supply that had tripped in a pocket of the Sector-9 here around 10: 30 pm. And a resident who registered his complaint with the Bijli Suvidha Kendra (BSK), set up by the Nigam in Sector- 23 here, was told after about one and half hour that the supply could not be resumed as the fault would be repaired next morning. When asked that why it was not possible to plug the problem, the lineman of the area told him that due to darkness it was not possible to repair the fault and they would have to wait till the next morning. But the fault was repaired after about two hours when another consumer reportedly escorted the lineman to the transformer in a car and dropped him back. It is reported that some of the linemen do demand money and other favours when someone asks them to attend a complaint during the odd hours. It is also alleged that some of the complaints where a minor repair was required, especially in the tripping of phase, the lineman prefer to take rest until someone press them to go with them. Several hours of cuts have been imposed by the department in the past three days that include cuts around midnight, is most undesirable for any resident, said a resident here. According to Mr K. L. Gera, a social activist, the state government do spend several crores each year to improve the power supply and to ensure better quality of work in the department, but the situation remains the same as the demand is growing day by day. He said while the government should take strict measures to root out corruption and inefficiency in the department, he said
the officials like the SDO, XEN and the Superintending Engineers be made accountable for the damage to transformers and disruption of supply during odd hours. He also claimed that the use of sub-standard material and equipment are also responsible for this erratic supply of power.
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Rs 600 cr to be spent on health sector: Minister
Noida, May 14 The Health Minister said the government has decided to open 4,700 new primary and high schools in the state. Out of these, 2,500 will be primary and 2,200 high schools. And Rs 1,600 crore will be incurred on these schools, besides the normal budget for education. Mr Hassan, who visited Noida three days ago, said that ever since the Samajwadi Party government had taken over the administration in UP, there has been considerable improvement on polio front. The number of polio cases in the state has come down to a single figure (less than 10). The government has curtailed unnecessary expenses on publicity material like posters, handbills etc. for polio awareness and treatment. The publicity material is being printed in Hindi and Urdu as against English in the past. A three-time saving is being made on this account in printing of the publicity material for polio. A polio booth in each village will be put-up this time under polio campaign. Gram Pradhan and Mullas (priests) of Masjid are being involving to issue appeals to Muslim Community to get the polio drops administered to in a big way to their kids.
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PM calls on Surjeet in Metro Hospital
Noida May 14 The Prime Minister, who presented a bouquet of flowers to the elderly leader, spent about 15 minute with Mr Surjeet enquiring about his health and wished him a speedy recovery. Prime Minister came here at 9.30 am and in an hour’s time, Dr Manmohan Singh had flown back to New Delhi. The operation on Mr Sujeet was performed by a team of doctors led by Dr Parshotam Lal, Chairman of the Metro Multi-Speciality Hospital and Heart Institute, Noida. According to Dr Parshotam Lal, Harkishen Singh Surjeet had been admitted to Metro Hospital for evaluation of
his tumour in the kidney. His heart and lungs were also found to be normal and he was declared fit for the operation by doctors. “Mr Surjeet withstood the surgery very well and is quite cheerful,” Dr Lal added. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji had also visited the senior CPM leader in Metro hospital on May 11, the doctors at Metro Hospital said. The district administration and UP police
had made meticulous security arrangements for the visit of the Prime Minister.
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Teacher gets RI for abduction
New Delhi, May 14 Special Mahila Court Judge Swarn Kanta has also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Manoj Bhardwaj who kidnapped his student in 2002. According to prosecution, the accused, who owned Sarswati High School, took the victim to Agra for 3 days. After the accused came back to Delhi, the police charged him with kidnapping and rape. The charge of rape, however, could not be proved. Prosecution produced 16 witnesses in the case.
Two get life for murder
A Delhi court has sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for killing a man to avenge the murder of their relative. Additional Sessions Judge A. K. Garg sentenced Gulab Singh and Prem Singh who killed Kuldeep after calling him for a compromise in the Janak Puri area in 1995. According to prosecution, Prem Singh called Kuleep who had allegedly murdered his brother Dalbir Singh in 1993, to his house and killed him with the help of his nephew Prem Singh.
—TNS
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Gang of robbers busted
New Delhi, May 14
The investigation revealed that they were allegedly involved in four cases registered in the Geeta Colony Police station area. The police claimed
to have recovered two country-made pistols, four live cartridges, gold, diamond and silver jewellery robbed in the Geeta Colony robbery, one mobile phone from their possession.
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