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VAT slashed
IPS officer convicted for fraud
GDA residents oppose move to demolish flats |
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It’s water, water everywhere as monsoon gets ‘active’ in Capital
Rains wreak havoc on Gurgaon roads
Rain or no rain, Faridabad power crisis persists
NSUI joins protest against CEE admissions
City RWAs protest hike in power tariff
Bear creates panic in Tis Hazari courtroom
Delhi metro an island in a sea of dirt and grime
Rare heart surgery performed on infant
New Noida CEO mum on cancelled scheme’s future
SC/ST students on hunger strike
Airport SI remanded to CBI custody
Teenager held for killing 9-year-old
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VAT slashed
New Delhi, July 12 It has also decided that certain items such as spare parts of agricultural implements will attract no tax. A large number of items, which were earlier unscheduled and hence attracted a 12.5 per cent VAT, have also now been brought under Schedule three and hence will now be taxed at 4 per cent. These changes were approved by the Delhi Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit last evening. Later, Delhi Finance Minister Dr A K Walia said that Delhi Government had rationalised the tax rates to provide relief to the common man and to small traders. Among the items that will now attract a 4 per cent tax are packaged flavoured milk and yoghurt, unbranded toffees, textile fabrics not covered under any other schedule, household plastic items and fittings for doors and windows. Welding equipment, glues and adhesives, chemicals used in electroplating, layflat tubing, which is used for manufacture of plastic bags by small traders, coated abrasives, kites etc will also now be taxed at 4 per cent. Meanwhile, certain items such as vadis, spare parts of manual and animal-driven agricultural implements, and leaf plates and cups will not attract any tax. He said the rates have been reduced to maintain parity with other states. On bullion, Dr Walia said that “the chairman of the Empowered Committee on VAT has assured us that from August 1, all states will implement the uniform floor rate of one per cent decided on by all states for bullion”. He also informed that the Cabinet has approved a mechanism to determine taxable turnover of sales for residential hotels, charging composite sum for lodging and boarding. The percentage for determining turnover sales varies from 5 per cent to 30 per cent, depending upon the services being provided by these hotels. In a relief to traders, the government has also decided that they now have to submit Rs 500 instead of Rs 10,000 per question for seeking clarification of their doubts regard Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders has welcomed the decision of the Delhi Government for reducing the VAT rates. The Confederation, while appreciating the decision, also urged the government to reduce tax rate on composite scheme from 1 per cent to 0.25 per cent as done in West Bengal for the benefit of small traders in the Capital. Secretary-General Mr Praveen Khandelwal also appreciated the reduction in determination fee from Rs 10,000 to Rs 500 and asked for an early notification He said that if the government reduces the tax rate on industrial commodities, it would largely benefit small traders and industrial units in Delhi.
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IPS officer convicted for fraud
New Delhi, July 12 “It stands established that the accused had cheated the UPSC and consequently the central government, misled and induced them to offer a job on the strength of a false certificate,” the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr. Manoj Jain observed, convicting Sanjay Bhatia under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC. “It is palpable that the accused had obtained such status exploiting the system. A deserving Scheduled Caste candidate rather was denied appointment,” the judge said. The convict had got into the service in 1986 through the SC reservation quota while he belonged to the Bhatia-Rajput community. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the convict or one month’s further imprisonment in default of its payment. The court, however, suspended his sentence till August 11 after the defence counsel filed a petition in this regard to enable him to appeal against his order. The court then released Bhatia on bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 25,000. According to the CBI, the convict had appeared in the civil services examination in 1986 as a scheduled caste candidate and got appointed to the Haryana cadre the same year. Investigations revealed that before obtaining the fake SC certificate, the convict had appeared in civil service examinations in 1979, 1980 and 1982 as a general category candidate but had failed to get selected.
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GDA residents oppose move to demolish flats
Ghaziabad, July 12 The GDA had notified some 2,500 houses in a state of disrepair that they were to be demolished. The residents were protesting against the same.
The GDA’s charge was resisted by the residents, including RWA secretary V.S. Rakesh who asked as to what the GDA’s enforcement department was doing when people were altering their flats in violation of the rules. The EWS flats were allotted over a decade and a half ago. So, they are in a very bad shape, Mr Rakesh alleged. GDA secretary D.S.Sharma said they were trying to find some alternative accommodation for these families. The Tulsi Niketan residents said they would not vacate their houses unless alternative accommodation was provided, while the GDA secretary warned they themselves would be responsible for any mishap. In another development, a large number of slum dwellers and inhabitants of ‘kachha’ houses of Vijay Nagar gheraoed the police station of the area and raised slogans against the GDA and the police. The protestors alleged that under pressure from the Samajwadi Party leaders, the route of the proposed expressway linking NH-24 with NH-58 through Vijay Nagar had been altered to pass through their ‘kachha’ houses and slums. The protestors only left the Vijay Nagar police station after an assurance by authorities that they would be provided with an alternative accommodation.
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It’s water, water everywhere as monsoon gets ‘active’ in Capital
New Delhi, July 12 India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director Mr RD Singh said the city had received 19.2 cm rain in July so far, which was close to the month’s average of 22.5 cm. The Capital’s average for the whole season is 64.5 cm, he said. The rain has also brought the problem of waterlogging in several parts of the National Capital Territory, particularly in some areas in East, North and South Delhi. A large number of residents of East Delhi complained of waterlogging along the stretch of main road from Laxmi Nagar crossing towards the Pandav Nagar flyover. They said that the foot-deep water on the road was also becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. Water logging on the main road also contributed to traffic chaos on this stretch as motorists tried to avoid the stagnant water. MCD officials, however, claimed that there were no serious reports of waterlogging as most of the drains had been cleaned during its pre-monsoon drive. They, however, said that the situation was being monitored and measures taken to rectify the situation in areas from where waterlogging reports were being received.
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Rains wreak havoc on Gurgaon roads
Gurgaon, July 12 This stretch is virtually the introduction of the city to the outsiders coming here from Delhi. Besides, the stretch connects Old Delhi Road and Mehrauli Road. A visit to this stretch by ‘The Tribune’ revealed puddles of water in various places. The upper surface has been damaged with the bitumen layer simply coming off. The part of the stretch from Maharana Pratap Chowk to Mata Mandir is worst affected. About six-inch-deep potholes have come up at various pockets on the stretch. The road from Mahavir Chowk, falling in the heart of Old Gurgaon, towards Sheetla Temple, is also in a state of disrepair. While a number of potholes have come up, trenches like pits have come up at two places. The Old Railway Road and the New Railway Road are also in a bad shape, with a large number of potholes hindering the smooth flow of traffic. The stretch from Khandsa to Lakhmigarden which connects Pataudi is equally bad. The Public Health Department’s apathy has added to the people’s problems. The department dug up the stretch at Shivaji Nagar to lay the master sewer line. After completing the work, it simply filled up the dug-up portion with mud. The rains have sunk the mud deep, disrupting the traffic movement. At the famous Bhuteshwar Temple, the Touchtel company also dug up the road to lay lines for its network. The streets in some of the following colonies need a quick facelift: Subhash Nagar, Nai Basti, Feroze Gandhi Colony, Hira Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Om Nagar, Bhimgarh Kehdi, Gandhi Nagar, Jacompura, Patel Nagar, Friends Colony and Jyoti Park. The upper layer in these streets has entirely worn off. Lack of sufficient drainage system for the exit of storm water has led to accumulation of water on both sides of the roads causing damages to the bitumen layer. There are allegations that substandard material was used as the technical specifications were not adhered to at the time of repairing of the old roads and laying down of new ones. The tall claims of the private builders like DLF have also gone for a toss. Some of the roads in DLF Phase-II have been considerably damaged in the rains.
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Rain or no rain, Faridabad power crisis persists
Faridabad, July 12 “The power supply in the past one week has been quite irregular. The department resorts to indiscriminate cuts. People reel under the crisis which should have been over by now,” said Suresh Kaushik, a local resident. He said though the state government and the senior officials of the power department had assured recently that the shortage would be over by the first week, the situation seemed to have worsened. It may be recalled that the Chairman of the Power Utilities and its Distribution Corporations had claimed recently that the availability of power would improve. A senior official had even claimed that the power generation in the district had surpassed the demand. But the fact remains that there has been an acute shortage of power supply during the past few days. “The supply in the villages has also been unsatisfactory,” said Rajender Nagar, a resident of Fajjupur village of Ballabhgarh sub-division here. He said there was only 4 to 5 hours of supply in his village for the past 1 month. Though the farmers had started depositing their bills under the waiver scheme announced by the present government, they demanded that the supply should also improve. Department sources, ironically, blame the rain for the crisis, saying that poor quality of lines was leading to local breakdowns. However, an official of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam attributed the problem to short supply of power from power generation plants like Nathpa Jhakri project in Himachal Pradesh.
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NSUI joins protest against CEE admissions
New Delhi, July 12 The NSUI demanded that the University should not conduct the counseling for admissions to Delhi College of Engineering and Netaji Subhash Chandra Institute of Technology (NSIT) tomorrow. It has issued a warning that if the counseling is not scheduled till after the report is submitted by the investigating agency, the university should prepare to face the consequences. “We have told the university clearly that they will be responsible for any movement or protest that the students will initiate if the counseling dates are not rescheduled,” said NSUI spokesperson, Kuntal Krishna. “We have submitted a memorandum to the President and we seek his intervention in the scam, which will affect the careers of thousands of students,” he added. Meanwhile, a student today approached the Delhi High Court seeking stay on the counselling for allotment of seats scheduled to commence tomorrow. In his petition filed through advocate Rajneesh Kumar Gaind, Karan Mendiratta, who ranked 1459 in the CEE held in May this year, drew the court’s attention to the media reports on the alleged irregularities in the examination and demanded that the counselling be stayed. Seeking an impartial inquiry into the whole affair, the petitioner submitted that the examination be cancelled, if the report confirmed irregularities in it. When the matter came up for hearing before Justice Vikramajit Sen, Delhi University counsel said that an inquiry had already been initiated into the matter and the report was awaited. The court directed the University to submit the report within two weeks and posted the matter for hearing on July 25. Surprisingly, in the CEE held in May, 11 candidates, all ranked 56, scored the same set of marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Three other students ranked 25 with silimar scores in the three subjects. Again, five students, all ranked 13, scored the same marks in PCM. Several parents and students have already lodged complaints with the university in this regard.
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City RWAs protest hike in power tariff
New Delhi, July 12 In a joint statement here, they said the common man should not be made to
pay more because of losses and power theft resulting from incompetence of private distribution
companies. They accused the Delhi Government of befooling the people through the ‘Bhagidari’ system, which they said was nothing but an eyewash, as the RWAs were never consulted while determining taxes for various amenities. The RWAs and NGOs also demanded that the accounts of the discoms be done by an external agency to find out whether they were running in loss
or profit. They said they believe that the Delhi Government was concerned only about its vote bank and not the general public, which pay its electricity bill regularly.
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Bear creates panic in Tis Hazari courtroom
New Delhi, July 12 The tamed animal was produced by wild life sleuths before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manoj Jain along with a youth who was arrested at Shalimar Bagh for possessing the beast in violation of the Wild Life Act. The accused ‘madari’ Shaukat Ali pleaded leniency from the court saying he has been earning a livelihood taking the animal around and making it play tricks for the past ten years and did not know he was committing a crime. But the wildlife cops had their way with the court, sending the bear to the zoo and remanding Ali, booked under section 49 of the Wild Life Act, to judicial custody till July 26.
— TNS
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Delhi metro an island in a sea of dirt and grime
New Delhi, July 12 Interestingly, in the past two and a half years of its operations, there has been not a single occasion when the need has arisen to put this law into force and no case has been registered against an individual for defacing or damaging the Delhi metro property. At least, Delhi Metro Rail Police officials do not recall any such case being registered against anyone. So, while there have been instances of a few people spitting on tracks or staircases, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials are largely happy with the way commuters have behaved since the inauguration of line-1 in December 2002. By and large, people have been disciplined while travelling on the metro, they say, adding that “in any case, our effort has always been to educate such offenders, rather than punish them”. “Nobody does such things intentionally. Habitually some people may be inclined towards spitting or dirtying the place, but our intention is to educate them so that they do not repeat the mistake,” says DMRC Director (operations) Satish Kumar. Metro commuters, he says, are by and large very cooperative. Moreover, the DMRC has been very careful while selecting the material used in the construction to reduce breakage and defacement of property. Like, for instance granite has been used next to escalators. It helps that rules do not permit people to carry food items inside. Officials at ticket counters also stop paan chewers from entering the station. With so many people using the facility, platforms, staircases and trains are bound to get dirty, but DMRC officials say that its staff is on its toe throughout the day to remove dirt and stains.
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Rare heart surgery performed on infant
New Delhi, July 12 Enumerating the features of the surgery, the Chairman and Chief Cardiologist of the Institute, Dr Ashok Seth said that Nitika, who weighs 4.8 kg, underwent a 90-minute surgery that “for the first time in the country brought pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to work together to do a procedure in the operation theatre.” Dr Seth said that normally, the device that closes the hole in the heart is inserted in an angiography like procedure in the cath (cardiac catherization) lab. “In a small child, you can do an angiography-like procedure but the device is large and the veins are too small for the device to be delivered into the heart. In this case, we inserted the Ventricular Septal Defect closure device through a small hole in the heart with echo control. We did not use the cardiopulmonary bypass machine which in itself is a rare feat for a patient so small. The aim was to close the large hole due to a ventricular septal defect with minimum complications and minimum bloodloss. The greatest advantage for this kind of interventional cardiology is reduced risks like blood loss, transfusions and arythmic heart beats,” he said. The team that took up the challenging surgery comprised cardiologist Dr Monesh Tomar and Dr Viresh Mahajan and cardiac surgeon Dr Anil Bhan. Dr Seth is hopeful that this rare procedure would serve as an “advancement in treating many of small children for cardiac defects”. He said that the child was showing good signs of recovery and would be discharged within a week.
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New Noida CEO mum on cancelled scheme’s future
Noida, July 12 The CEO evaded queries if the scheme would be withdrawn or a draw rescheduled. It may be added that money of over 1.77 lakh people, who had applied for a plot, has been lying with the Noida authority for the last 7 months. Meanwhile, many prominent residents and office-bearers of associations like Noida Entrepreneurs Association have called for identifying all those guilty of rigging the draw on July 2 and prosecuting them. With some of the successful applicants threatening to take the matter to courts, the future of the scheme has become uncertain and the unsuccessful applicants are in a fix. Mr Awasthi said action would be taken against officials of accounts department in case of any anomaly. Special camps would be organised to enable people
to get their properties registered. Registries of tens of thousands flats in dozens of housing societies in Sectors 28, 29, 37, 50 and 60 are still to be done.
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SC/ST students on hunger strike
New Delhi, July 12 According to the Convenor of the organisation, K S Saroha, Delhi University had not made the admission process transparent. “There are some students from the reserved sections who, despite having a good percentage, have not been able to get into courses and colleges of their choice, whereas some with very low percentage have managed to get into prestigious colleges like Lady Sriram,” he said. The students have also demanded that reservation should be based on the actual number of seats in a particular course and not on the basis of sanctioned strength. “Colleges usually admit SC/St students against the sanctioned strength of a course, but we want the university to change that and admit students against the actual strength of admissions made in the general category,” said Saroha.
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Airport SI remanded to CBI custody
New Delhi, July 12 He had allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh to obtain bail for the complainant’s relative, who had been deported from Canada. The was arrested under section 7 and 13 of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
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Teenager held for killing 9-year-old
Greater Noida, July 12 The police have arrested a 13-year-old Shambu of the same village. It seems that on July 8, Mohit and Shambu had gone to a tubewell where Shambu defecated in the tank. Mohit told the tubewell owner about it. The owner thrashed Shambu who decided to avenge this “insult” by killing Mohit. He took Mohit to Ladpura village on the pretext of plucking lemons and strangled him. Subsequently, he stabbed Mohit and hit him with a brick on head and private parts, before abandoning his body in the jungle. Significantly, Shambu said he got the idea of settling scores by watching movies on TV. The police team has been recommended for an award of Rs 2,500 by the SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar.
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Rail Europe opens office
New Delhi, July 12
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