New Delhi, August 18
A Delhi court has issued non-bailable warrants against two accused, including the brother of alleged mastermind Pankaj Dahiya, in the sensational Delhi College of Engineering Entrance Exam scandal.

Special Judge Pratibha Rani issued the warrants against Praveen Dahiya and Inder Mohan, whose alleged involvement was revealed during the interrogation of 21 students who had indulged in malpractices during the exams in May with the help of the accused.

The court also rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by an accused Surinder Gehlot, whose name was divulged by another accused Himanshu Sharma who was arrested from Bangalore on July 27.

Gehlot, a property dealer, is alleged to be the main link between Pankaj Dahiya and the students.

Rejecting Gehlot’s argument that CBI, which is probing the case, had failed to provide any evidence against him, the court said “since the probe is at the initial stage, gravity of the offence and nature of probe is such that it will take time to connect the loose ends. It will not be fair to ask the agency to point out evidence against each individual especially when it is case of conspiracy. The release of the accused on anticipatory bail would amount to interference in the probe,” the Judge said.

The court had on August 8 remanded to judicial custody till August 22 key accused Pankaj Dahiya and Lalit Hooda after the CBI informed that it had completed their interrogation while it granted interim bail to Himanshu till September 2 on medical grounds.

The agency claimed before the court that they had already disclosed details about their accomplices and details of how they secured the question booklets and the number of students who received their SMS.

CBI says the accused, booked under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, helped 21 students to indulge in malpractices during the exams for admission to the DCE by sending them answers through SMS in lieu of Rs four lakh per candidate.

CBI, on a complaint from the Registrar of Delhi University, conducted probe and had on July 19 registered cases against the 21 students and some unknown officials of the university in connection with the case.

New Delhi, August 18
The Supreme Court today directed the Delhi Mayor Mr. Satbir Singh to give back all files pertaining to the construction of the Ghazipur slaughter house to the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Rakesh Mehta, within two days so that the project’s progress is not hampered.

The direction was passed after it was pointed out that the progress of the project had come to a standstill with the Mayor summoning and placing all files before a seven-member committee to examine various aspects of the project.

A bench comprising Mr. Justice Ashok Bhan, Mr Justice S. B. Sinha and Mr Justice A. K. Mathur, however, said the Mayor could keep copies of the files for looking into the alleged objections raised with regard to the execution of the project.

Earlier, the differences between the Mayor and the Commissioner came to the fore with the MCD Additional Commissioner, Mr. R. M. Pillai, blaming the Mayor for coming in way of the timely completion of the project.

In the project status report filed before the court, Mr Pillai said that consignments of plant and machinery from Denmark had already arrived at ICD Tughlakabad but could not be obtained in the absence of files and documents which were with the Mayor since August 8.

The report before the court said the files were summoned by the Mayor after a series of objections on various grounds, including non-inclusion of the MCD engineers in the project, were raised during a meeting of the Deliberative Wing of the Corporation.

Faridabad, August 18
Had the Panchayati Raj system, which was adopted with the aim of delegating more power to the local bodies, including the gram panchayats, been rendered defunct? Did it exist on paper only? Did the elected representatives have any awareness about their work and authority or had these been usurped by the district authorities?

Perhaps, these were the questions weighing on the minds of those who were present at two meetings of the panchayat and zila parishad members held by the Union Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, yesterday. The minister observed that there was a need to overhaul the present system of functioning in order to make it effective.

It was perhaps for the first time in Haryana that a meeting of the Panchayat Samiti was attended by a Union Minister. The gentleman seemed disturbed over the state of affairs and the way in which the system was working.

At the meeting held at Palwal, a subdivisional town, while some of the members could hardly speak about the subject, others who spoke could not tell exactly how the implementation of the system was short of the objectives and the principles on which it was based and was expected to deliver. A majority of the members who spoke could express their views on how projects initiated by them were not being taken up and claimed that there was no one to listen to them. The Union Minister informed the members that he had come to know how the system was working and what kind of problems were being faced towards implementation.

Though the strength of the elected women members of these bodies had been 33 per cent of the total number of elected representatives, but it has been revealed that male members or husbands of the women representatives had been working whereas the wives had been schooled to remain in the background.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mrs G. Anupama, is among those officials who have issued warnings to the women members that they should attend every meeting and visit the offices concerned themselves to get the work done. Even at the two meetings yesterday, the husbands and male members of certain women members were present.

At the meeting of the zila parishad which was held at Ballabhgarh, certain women members admitted before the Union Minister that they had no knowledge or awareness about their authority and as no training had been given to them they were finding themselves ‘helpless’.

The minister, in his address, admitted indirectly that there had been gross shortfalls and said the local bodies and the state government would have to be united in their efforts to put the system on track.

New Delhi, August 18
Small-scale recycling units in some east Delhi colonies, dealing in PCs and other electronic wastes, are releasing toxic chemicals that are not only affecting those working in these units but also the surroundings.

The Greenpeace, which released a report today on the e-waste recycling yards in India, said that samples collected from the small-scale recycling units in Salempur, Zafarabad, Shastri Park, Mayapuri, Buradi, Kantinagar and Brijgang in east Delhi revealed that the units, dealing largely in old PCs and other electronic wastes, were releasing harmful toxics, including heavy metals like lead and cadmium, and organic contaminants in the atmosphere.

The report says that there were 2.4 million PCs in 2003 in the Capital, which were expected to rise to six million in 2006 and 15 million by 2009. All this would add to the large quantities of e-waste generated in the Capital.

The city is handling 10 to 20,000 tonnes of e-waste each year, of which 25 per cent, i.e 2,500 to 5,000 tonnes, came from PCs. Interestingly, more than 90 per cent of the e-waste in the Capital is generated from outside. As much as 50 per cent is imported from abroad, 40 per cent from within India and only 10 per cent is generated from within the city.

The report, which carries scientific analysis of waste-water, ashes, soils and sediments from the re-cycling yards located in east Delhi colonies, says these units are releasing toxic chemicals, including heavy metals like lead and cadmium, and organic contaminants that are not only affecting people in the workplace but also the surroundings.

Estimates show that till February this year, there were about 12 million units of computers, four million printers, 40 million mobiles, 80 million landlines phones, 150 million TV sets, 20 million refrigerators and 10 million washing machines in the country. As these gadgets had short lifespan, they would soon end up in the re-cycling circle, thereby resulting in huge pollution.

As per Greenpeace-India Toxic Trade campaigner Ramapati Kumar, companies manufacturing electronic gadgets should have a takeback policy or adopt cleaner production technologies. Besides, the Indian Government and its pollution control agencies should also enforce pollution laws strictly, he said, adding that the multinational giants should stop using brominated flame retardants coatings on electronic parts as they contained toxic chemicals.

New Delhi, August 18
Delhi government has submitted a budget of Rs 1,314 crore to the Central government for upgrading civic infrastructure and amenities in the national Capital for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but so far no funds have been sanctioned.

The matter was considered by the Finance Sub-Committee of the Group of Ministers which was of the view that since the state government was already receiving plan allocation as determined by the Planning Commission, additional plan support required for the Commonwealth Games could be included in its overall requirements, official sources said.

However, so far no funds have been sanctioned for 2005-06 to the state government for holding the Games.

A Task Force for upgradation and renovation of Sports Authority of India’s infrastructure had been set up and the consultancy on SAI’s existing infrastructure had been assigned to the Central Public Works Department. Condition survey of SAI’s existing five stadia in the city had been completed.

Besides, the Delhi Development Authority had engaged Event Knowledge Services for venue-reappraisal and the study team of EKS had submitted draft reports.

The draft reports had suggested various options for “clusterisation” of sports venues and raised issues in respect of locations of Games village. These were being examined in consultation with the stake holders.

At present, facilities available for the Games are Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Dr S P Mukherjee Swimming Complex, Indira Gandhi Stadium and Yamuna Velodrome, Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, Shivaji Stadium and DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex.

Besides, a Commonwealth Games Village was also proposed to be constructed.

New Delhi, August 18
The Municipal Commissioner of Delhi is hapless to control the monkey menace in the national Capital as there is no provision in the DMC Act.

The Director, Veterinary Section, Dr. S. K. Yadav said that monkey is a wild animal and the civic body had no provision in the DMC Act to control monkey menace. Despite this, in the past the corporation had hired contractors on its own to catch monkeys. The contract was given to experts who charged Rs 250 for catching each monkey.

The corporation takes steps to control the menace after the civic body receives complaints from citizens. This year also the corporation has received complaint and has given advertisement to hire a contractor.

Recently the Veterinary Section has received an offer from an expert in Kanpur. He is expected to approach the department soon to finalise a deal.

He said that problem was that the corporation had no place to keep monkeys. The Delhi Government has made an arrangement in Rajokari which has capacity to accommodate only 250 monkeys.

Three years ago, the Union Ministry of Environment had sanctioned funds to construct another place to keep the monkeys. The corporation received the money but it failed to construct the shelter for animals due to lack of cooperation from the Delhi government, the sources said.

The Veterinary Director advised that the government should develop a jungle to keep wild animals including monkeys. The jungle should be fenced so that the animals cannot come out.

Ghaziabad, August 18
Police found the skeletal remains of a 7-year-old girl, who went missing a month ago, in a house under construction here.

The girl’s skeletal remains were found in a house in Vasundhara that was under construction, police said today adding that it had been sent to a laboratory in Agra for forensic examination.

The girl’s father, Madan Lal, had filed an FIR on July 18 that she had gone missing, they said. — TNS

Ghaziabad, August 18
An angry teacher reportedly perforated a four-year-old child’s head with a pencil in Green Public School in Sanjay Nagar. The police took the child to doctors to retrieve a part of the pencil left inside the child’s head.

Four-year-old Hanif Khan, son of Masood Khan of H-85, Sanjay Nagar, was a pre-nursery student. Yesterday, when his uncle went to pick him up from school Hanif was crying. He told his uncle the teacher had pierced a pencil into his head. The two went inside the school but when nobody bothered there, the uncle called up the police.

School manager Prithvi Singh said he would conduct an inquiry as soon as the Principal, who was away, returned.

New Delhi, August 18
Two CRPF men were arrested in an east Delhi area for allegedly molesting a woman and beating up her brother, police sources said today.

The alleged incident took place last night when the woman and her brother had come to the Mayur Vihar market for some shopping.

The woman claimed that the CRPF men, posted at the paramilitary organisation’s New Ashok Nagar camp, passed lewd comments at her.

When her brother objected, they allegedly beat him up, the woman claimed.

A case of molestation had been registered at the New Ashok Nagar police station.

Gurgaon, August 18
In a revenge killing, members of a gang shot dead a member of another gang, Sunil, this evening.

The assailants are alleged to have visited a gym run by the deceased in Shivaji Nagar and shot at him from a close range. He received several gunshot wounds, including one on his neck portion. He was rushed to the local Kalyani Hospital where he was declared dead.

The deceased was an accused in the murder of the Sarpanch of Sirhaul, Naresh, last year. He was released from jail about four months back. According to the police, the reason for the killing could be the murder of Naresh. The gang members associated with Naresh are considered to be behind the incident today.

Such was the audacity of the assailants that theywalked away on foot after committing the crime. According to eyewitnesses, they were heavily armed. The incident has sent shockwaves in the city. No arrest has been made yet.