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DPCC meets today to mull rollback decision
DCE scam: Anticipatory bail of kingpin’s brother rejected
Faridabad swelters under severe power crisis
Karnataka CM takes a ride on Delhi Metro
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DUTA polls: DTF wins with slender margin
Trade tax evaded for sale of used cars
Pollution problem dents Noida’s image
DDA gets new Vice Chairman
SI convicted of graft
Guru Granth Saheb’s Prakashotsav celebrated
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DPCC meets today to mull rollback decision
New Delhi, September 1 The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) has convened a special meeting here tomorrow to discuss the decision of the Sheila Dikshit Government on the power tariff rollback issue. The meeting will be held at the DPCC office at 1100 a.m., Delhi party chief Mr Ram Babu Sharma said here. Mr Sharma said that about a dozen dissident Congress MLAs today held a meeting at the Delhi Assembly expressing their opposition to the government giving subsidy to Discoms. In fact, after the decision was taken by the CLP on Tuesday, a number of Congress MLAs and senior Congressmen and MPs, including Delhi MP Ajay Maken, who are members of the Coordination Committee have already expressed their dissatisfaction over the way the rollback compensation was to be met. Former DPCC president and Congress MLA Subhash Chopra, said: “Roll back is not the only issue, the problem of fast running of meters and inflated bills is still there.” He also said that tomorrow’s meeting has been called to address all these issues also. The Delhi government had yesterday endorsed a resolution passed by Delhi Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday for complete rollback of the recent 10 per cent power tariff hike while deciding that the resulting burden will be shared equally by the state government and private electricity distribution companies in the Capital. The decision came after four days of hectic parleys with the Discom officials, following intense public as well as party and opposition pressure. Meanwhile, the Delhi Pradesh BJP today also indicated its intention to keep the pot boiling over the power issue, announcing that the party would now fight against the fast-running meters, fictitious bills and mismanagement of power system as ‘a second round of protest’. The Delhi Pradesh BJP president, Dr Harsh Vardhan, said that the party will start a signature campaign from September 3 near Arya Samaj Mandir situated at Ajmal Khan Road in Karol Bagh District. On this occasion, thousands of BJP workers and power consumers are expected to take part in the campaign. Dr Vardhan said that the rollback on power tariff hike was due to the constant struggle of the BJP and the participation of the people. It was due to this pressure, the Chief Minister was compelled to withdraw the increase in power tariff, he added. This is the first victory of BJP and the people of Delhi. But the fast running and low quality electronic meters being installed forcibly by the power companies have terrified the power consumers. People are receiving power bills, which are three times higher. Some people are even getting bills amounting to lakhs of rupees. Unless accurate meters are not installed in place of these meters, the consumers will continue to be harassed, Dr Vardhan said. He said that the signature campaign will be taken to every house in Delhi. After taking their signatures, the memorandum will be submitted by the delegation of the BJP to the President of India for necessary action. Even after withdrawing the increase in power tariff, Ms Dikshit wants to show her gratefulness to the private power companies by giving subsidy. This subsidy will be given to the private power companies out of the taxes recovered from the hard-earned money of the public. This is injustice, pointed out Dr Vardhan. He also demanded that if the Congress was really concerned about the people of Delhi, it should immediately cancel the agreement with the power companies made during the privatisation and enter into a new agreement in which the private power companies should be made fully accountable.
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DCE scam: Anticipatory bail of kingpin’s brother rejected
New Delhi, September 1 “The release of the accused on anticipatory bail would amount to interference in the probe,” Special Judge Pratibha Rani said, rejecting the plea of the accused against whom a non-bailable warrant is pending. His alleged role was revealed during the interrogation of 21 students who had indulged in malpractices with the help of the accused during the May 2005 exams for admissions to Delhi College of Engineering. Rejecting Praveen’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 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 judge said. The court granted interim bail to Sethi, a student of the IIT Roorkee to enable him to appear for his third semester exams. He has been directed to surrender before the court on September 9 when his interim bail period expires. After a complaint from DU Registrar and subsequent probe, CBI arrested the accused and booked them under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act for helping 21 students to indulge in malpractices by sending them answers through SMS in lieu of Rs 4 lakh per candidate.
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Faridabad swelters under severe power crisis
Faridabad, September 1 To make matters worse, there was no response from the helpline centre, when citizen sought to know the cause of the disruption. “The power supply during the past few days has been very poor and has been accompanied with unscheduled cuts even during the nights,” said Sachin, a resident of sector- 9 here. “Even when there was power supply, the voltage was very poor, leading to severe inconvenience,” he added. According to a shopkeeper, Sanjay, he had to use the generator and the inverter for 8 to 10 hours daily in sector- 7-10 market. Though the generator caused air and noise pollution, he said there was no alternative, as the inverter could not run continuously for more than four hours. The situation in the rural areas seems to be worse, as power disruption is common for 10 to 12 hours daily. “The power crisis in the past few months has affected the production and manufacturing activity of the industrial units severely, claimed a spokesperson of one of the leading industrial organisation here. Dr Tarun, a physician practising in sector 7 here, also complained that the power crisis had affected the daily routine of the citizens adversely. He said that the Suvidha Kendra was of hardly any use, as its phone numbers were either busy or there was no response to their complaints. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has set up a special help centre, Bijli Suvidha Kendra (BSK) in sector- 23 here for the consumers, which has been outsourced to a private company. Though the company is being paid about Rs 80,000 per month, the services provided by it have not been satisfactory for the citizens. The All Haryana Power Corporation Workers Union has already opposed such outsourcing and alleged that government funds were being misused.
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Karnataka CM takes a ride on Delhi Metro
New Delhi, September 1 The Karnataka Government is planning to begin the ambitious Rs 6,300-crore Bangalore Metro project in about two months. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had prepared the Detailed Project Report for the Bangalore project. DMRC chief E. Sredharan also accompanied Mr Dharam Singh in the ride from Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate. Several senior Cabinet ministers, party leaders and MLAs of all political parties in the Assembly, who are here to meet the Prime Minister, were part of the team. Mr P.Prakash, who leads Janata Dal (Secular) in the state Assembly, said the ride was comfortable and denied that his party was opposed to the Bangalore Metro project. He said Bangalore required a public transport, but some of the concerns expressed by Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda were genuine. Chairman of the Bangalore Metro Project K. N. Srivastava said the Public Investment Board had cleared the proposal of funding 45 per cent of the cost from the Japanese Bank International Cooperation (JBIC) and will have to get a final assent from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The Bangalore Metro was in a position to commence work from November 1 itself, he said.
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Prof. Pental takes charge as DU Vice-Chancellor
New Delhi, September 1 Dr Pental, who assumed office here today, has been appointed by the President in his capacity as the Visitor to the university. His appointment comes after months of speculation, following the prolonged meetings of the three-member selection committee comprising Dr Romilla Thapar, Justice P N Bhagwati and Abid Hussain. Talking to ‘The Tribune’, Dr Pental said: “It is an honour and my endeavour would be to bring the university at par with the best universities of the world.” He pointed out that apart from a host of “things on the agenda”, the focus would also be on “more research and taking the university ahead”. “We have good and noted scholars in the university, many research projects are already under way, but our aim should be to do better,” Dr Pental said. “Besides, there should be no limit to what we can achieve. And all this cannot be done by one person, the entire university community will have to do this together,” he added. Indicating that the university as a whole “is presently charged”, he said the process of revamping and restructuring the courses, which has already begun, will be carried forward. “All this will be done at a proper pace. Our idea is not to distress the students. Changes towards improvement will be implemented properly,” he added. Dr Pental was the Director of the Delhi South Campus. He was also the Director, Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Dean, Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences (FIAS), and Professor, Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus. He has been a Fellow of the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) between 1985 and 1993 and a Post-doctoral and University Research Fellow, Plant Genetic Manipulation Group, University of Nottingham, UK, from 1978 to 1984. Awarded a Panjab University medal for first position in Diploma in Gandhian Philosophy, Dr Pental was also awarded a Biotechnology Career Fellowship in 1986 by the Rockefeller Foundation to work at the Max-Planck Institute in
Koln.
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DUTA polls: DTF wins with slender margin
New Delhi, September 1 DTF’s Amar Deo Sharma defeated the Congress-supported AAD-INTEC combine’s S D Siddiqui to win the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) elections with a margin of just 12 votes. But the opposition has demanded a recount. “We approached the election officer with a request for a recount, which was turned down. Today we have again submitted a written request,” said Siddiqui who teaches English at Aurobindo College. Blaming the election officer for “being partial towards the DTF”, Siddiqui said, “There were times when some votes were declared invalid, but when such votes were in favour of a certain party, they were declared valid. There was discrepancy in the procedure and inconsistency in adhering to the rules.” On the other hand, Amar Deo Sharma dismissed these allegations and attributed his win to the fact that teachers at “DU are looking for a change and representation that will take up their cause”, he said. The newly elected DUTA president said he will ensure that the issues decided upon by the DUTA executive are addressed. “The outgoing DUTA did nothing productive and concrete and this is the general feeling of the teaching community,” Mr Sharma said.
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Trade tax evaded for sale of used cars
Noida, September 1 The vehicles were registered in Delhi but their sale in Noida and other places in UP was detected. The department sleuths have found the sale of used cars was being carried on for the past two and half years. The department has issued a notice to the company to deposit 12 per cent tax on sale of cars to the Trade Tax department. The documents of cars parked on the premises of the company have been seized by the trade tax officers. Deputy Commissioner Maharaj Singh said they were getting reports that a company was selling used cars. Vehicles registered in Delhi were being disposed of in Noida without paying the trade tax. The Assistant Commissioner, Trade Tax, Mr Rajiv Kumar, had inspected the company and found five cars of Delhi registration parked on its premises. It was learnt that the sale of used cars had been going on without paying tax for the past two and a half years. A showcause notice has been issued to the company. Mr Rajiv Kumar said they had been given wrong information by the company. So the team had inspected the other units and showrooms of the company. According to him, the department came to the conclusion that more than 300 cars had thus been disposed of by them without paying any tax to government.
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Pollution problem dents Noida’s image
Noida, September 1 The two sewerage plants and the oxidation plant in Noida have a capacity to purify just 30 to 40 per cent of polluted water. According to Noida Authority sources, Noida will need a purification capacity of 255 MLD by 2021. According to the Regional Officer of UP Pollution Control Department, Mr R.K. Singh, no orders have been issued to take action or to file FIRs against units, which have failed to control pollution.
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DDA gets new Vice Chairman
New Delhi, September 1 Mr Dinesh Rai, who took charge this morning, requested allottees to provide constructive feedback and help in ensuring better delivery of services. With the cooperation of the staff as well as various stake holders of the DDA, he said, he would make concerted efforts to ensure increased development in consonance with the needs of the citizens and the city of Delhi. In the first meeting with the staff of the DDA he asked them to be more responsive to the needs of customers and ensure time disposal of cases. Towards this end, DDA’s endeavor should be to reduce grievances and make the system consumer-friendly.
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SI convicted of graft
New Delhi, September 1 The CBI had laid a trap and caught Dharamvir red-handed while accepting the money. The convict had threatened the complainant to implicate him in the theft of a vehicle which was stolen by someone else. Dharamvir had accepted the bribe through a co-accused, one Om Prakash, who incidentally, expired during the trial.
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Guru Granth Saheb’s Prakashotsav celebrated
New Delhi, September 1 S Darshan Singh, vice-president of Shiromani Gurudwara Sewadar Committee, called upon the people to eradicate the forces of corruption and division from the country. He urged the devotees to elect only those who follow and know the rules and regulations, i.e. ‘Rahat Mariyada’ of the Sikh
community. — TNS
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