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Sheila’s latest clarion call:
Recycle water
NCF calls for teachers to be
Newly-wed burnt alive by dowry
Jama Masjid case: HC dismisses petition
Harry case: Sister’s friend turns hostile
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Court asks insurance co
DMRC gives contract for
Fogging teams on roll to
Draw of Noida industrial plots on September 8
Tainted GDA officer reinstated by Vice Chairman
Tax collection goes up by
25 per cent
Amity holds valedictory programme for Army officers
Illicit liquor snuffs out two lives
Minor fire in South Block
325 pirated video cassettes seized
Gang of burglars busted, seven nabbed
Six robbers held, stolen
goods seized
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Sheila’s latest clarion call:
Recycle water
New Delhi, September 6 In her inaugural address, the Chief Minister said that while it was the responsibility of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to supply water and ensure equitable distribution water conservation must be made every consumer’s mission. Changing water usage habits is critical to demand management of water, a scientific and open mind is required, perhaps even a cultural change. This would go a long way to ensure a future with water, added the Chief Minister. The Delhi Jal Board produces approximately 685 MGD of water daily and at present this can not be increased due to raw mater constraints. Supplying drinking water to about 140 lakh people, with an additional 5-6 lakh floating population, is a challenging job for the DJB. Still, it manages to produce on an average 200 litres of water a day for every person of Delhi. This makes Delhi one of the highest water consuming cities in the world. There is still a shortfall of 170 MGD per day of water. Water saving devices are a critical part of the campaign for better water management, said Mr A. K. Kaul, Chairman, CII Delhi State Council. Water saving devices on toilets, showerheads and faucets can reduce water use by as much as 35 per cent, thereby saving money in energy, water and wastewater charges. He urged the manufacturers of sanitaryware and other water using products to take a conscious decision to produce only low water usage devices and make them affordable for mass consumption. Recycling and reuse will be the key words in the near future, said DJB CEO Rakesh Mohan. Exhorting the industry to be a proactive partner in managing water, he said the DJB was ready to facilitate and cooperate. The industry and consumers must drive the change. While the industry will produce water saving devices, the end-consumers must install them, not only in new construction, but also during renovations.
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NCF calls for teachers to be ‘agents of change’
New Delhi, September 6 Highlighting that a teacher needs to be prepared for being receptive and constantly learning, the draft, placed before Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) here today, calls for a shift from the teacher-centric stable designs to the learner-centric, flexible processes. It makes a case for active participation in learning and moving from the disciplinary focus to multidisciplinary and multiple divergent exposure. Urging teachers to move from the “moral authority” to listening with empathy and without judgement, teachers’ role is suggested to become that of a facilitator of transforming information into knowledge. In the area of teacher-education programmes, the draft puts forth that it should become more sensitive to the emerging demands from the school system. The draft envisages preparing a teacher for becoming “encouraging, supportive and humane facilitator in teaching-learning situations to enable students to discover their talents and develop character and desirable social and human values”. With an increasing emphasis on encouraging children to ask questions outside of the textbooks, the draft suggests viewing knowledge as personal experiences constructed in the shared context, rather than embedded in the external reality of textbooks. Pointing out that children often come up with questions based on their own observations, the Chairperson of the National Steering Committee for the NCF 2005, Prof Yashpal, said, “The mere existence of questions among the young is a precious thing. They often reflect independent perception and exploration by children. The occurrence of these questions is more important than a densely packed slate full of answers given by grown-ups and scholars of the world”. Teachers, it is submitted, should become “sensitive to the social, professional and administrative contexts in which they need to operate and develop appropriate competencies to be able to not only seek understanding in actual situation but also be able to create them”. Encouraging a deviation from the rote learning, the draft calls for “appraisals as continuous educative process, develop artistic and aesthetic sense in children through art education and make productive work a pedagogic medium for acquiring knowledge in various subjects and forming multiple skills”.
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Newly-wed burnt alive by dowry demons in Dadri
Noida, September 6 According to information available, Narayan Singh of Nangle Charan Das, Phase-II, had married his daughter, Dulari with Sandeep, son of Mahavir of Kachera village, three years ago. On September 3, Dulari is said to have been charred to death in her in-laws’ house in suspicious circumstances. Her in-laws had cremated the body without even informing her parents or police. A neighbour is reported to have informed Dulari’s father Naryan Singh and his family in Kachera that their daughter had been charred to death, and subsequently, cremated by her husband Sandeep, his father Mahaveer, mother Shanti Devi and brother Narinder Kumar. Narayan Singh has since filed an FIR for the death of his daughter naming her husband and in-laws. It has been alleged in the report that Dulari’s husband and in-laws used to beat her up for dowry. The parents used to counsel their daughter that things will be all right after sometime. Now Narayan Singh and his relatives are quite livid at the unfortunate turn of the events. Meanwhile, a woman had been poisoned by her husband and others in Vaishali, Ghaziabad. The police arrested the man and his younger brother. Sunita had talked to her parents on phone at 10 am, saying that she was being harassed by her in-laws and did not want to stay there. After sometime, Dr Om Prakash Goel, Sunita’s father, living in flat No 577, Sector-4, Indirapuram, got the news that she was ill. Sunita had been married with Anurag of Najibabad 10 years ago. Anurag was After Sunita’s phone calls, her mother Raj Rani left for Sunita’s house. But at noon, they were informed that Sunita’s condition had deteriorated. By the evening, they received the news that she had died. Sunita’s body had been kept in a flat adjoining a hospital in Vaishali. A large number of friends and relatives of Dr Goel’s family reached there. They alleged that Sunita had been poisoned by her in-laws. They first shouted, abused, and then exchanged fisticuffs. Sunita had come to her parental home 20 days ago, but returned after Anurag’s entreaties that he would mend his ways. The Indirapuram police have arrested Anurag and his younger brother Ankur. The police are making enquiries. Meanwhile, Sunita’s three children Jhalak, Kanhya and Sonu are shocked, not understanding the loss they are going to bear in life.
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Jama Masjid case: HC dismisses petition
New Delhi, September 6
“We are neither dispossessing licensed squatters nor removing them. We are only taking action against illegal constructions,” MCD counsel Anup Bagai clarified before a Bench of Acting Chief Justice B A Khan and Justice M B Lokur. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by 169 squatters from Coat Market and Indira Market, who had sought a direction to restrain MCD from dispossessing or removing them. In their petition filed through counsel Sushant Kumar, the squatters claimed that they were continuing there since 1980 when MCD issued ‘teh bazari’ licences to them. According to MCD, the squatters were given a space of 6x4 (open to sky) and they illegally constructed basements and other floors which were liable to be demolished. Following MCD’s submissions, the petition was “dismissed as withdrawn” as the court felt it had become
in fructuous. However, the court made it clear that MCD could take action against illegal encroachments/constructions. It asked the petitioners to respond to MCD’s eviction notices within 3 days and thereafter the civic body was free to take a decision in accordance with law. Following a High Court order on a PIL, MCD has served notices on 302 illegal squatters in and around Jama Masjid asking them to vacate the area within a week, failing which illegal structures will be demolished. MCD’s efforts were aimed at restoring the glory of the historic mosque. If the illegal squatters do not comply with the notice, they will be forcibly removed and the encroachments demolished, an MCD spokesperson said on Saturday. The anti-encroachment drive is being launched in pursuance of the directions of the Delhi High Court to remove illegal structures from Jama Masjid area by September 15. The exercise is part of the process to decongest old Delhi. Earlier, roadside hawkers in Chandni Chowk had been removed following an order of the Court. Along with MCD, DDA, the Wakf Board and
Delhi Police will be involved in the anti-encroachment exercise
in Jama Masjid area. In its August 3 order, the High Court had set September 15 as the deadline for removing all illegal structures in and around the Jama Masjid and directed the MCD, DDA, Commissioner of Police and the area SDM to implement its order within the stipulated time. The Court had ordered
the three agencies and the Waqf Board to file a joint compliance report by September 21, the next date of hearing. According to sources, the illegal structures also include the Imam’s house which Wakf Board counsel Najmi Waziri had earlier described as a “palatial building touching the wall of the mosque”. The order had come on a PIL filed by Heritage and Culture Forum, an NGO, seeking direction to the Centre to declare Jama Masjid a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
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Harry case: Sister’s friend turns hostile
New Delhi, September 6 Neha Nagpal, who was also in the rickshaw with Harry’s 15-year-old sister Ritika on June 26 last year when she was stabbed to death allegedly by one Mangal Singh, her “obsessed lover”, did not identify the accused in the court during her examination. Ritika’s 16-year-old friend also told the Additional Sessions Judge that she could not remember anything about the incident nor recall whether it was indeed the accused who had attacked Ritika. Following this, the prosecution declared her hostile. Neha had told the police when her statement was recorded soon after the incident that she was seated in the rickshaw along with Harry and Ritika and saw the accused attacking the victim with knife. Harry and his mother while deposing on July 25 had supported the prosecution story. But Neha’s deposition is crucial as she is the only eye witness apart from Harry. On 26 July 2004, Harry, Ritika and Neha were going to school from their Tilak Nagar residence in a cycle rickshaw when the accused allegedly attacked the deceased with a knife. Harry caught hold of the accused and fought till he was badly wounded. He even threw away the key of the assailant’s bike to prevent him from escaping. By then the accused had stabbed Ritika 15 times following which she died on the spot. Though he could not save his sister, Harry’s act of bravery won him the prestigious Sanjay Chopra award for bravery earlier this year.
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Court asks insurance co to pay claim
New Delhi, September 6 Justice Vikramjit Sen said the insurance company was asked to pay the sum of Rs 1,38,936 to Usha International Ltd with interest at the rate of 5 per cent per annum from the date of the claim within four weeks. If the payments were not paid within the stipulated period, the insurance company would be liable to pay the interest rate of 8 per cent per annum together with the costs quantified at Rs 10,000, the nine-page order said. The Usha International Ltd, a company engaged in manufacturing and marketing consumer merchandise such as electric fans, coolers, sewing machines, pump sets, diesel engines, piston rings, fuel injection sets and generators, had stored its goods in a store house at Cuttack in Orissa. Despite insuring goods in its godowns all over the country for Rs 27 crore against cyclone and natural calamities and Rs 20 crore for burglary and house breaking, by paying Rs 1,44,398 between April 1, 1999 and March 31, 2000, the insurance company refused to pay the claim for the theft from its godown between November 1-2, 1999. Filing a claim before the insurance company, Usha International said that the employees of the company noticed that some miscreants had made forcible entry into the godown and managed to take away a large quantity of goods.
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DMRC gives contract for Yamuna bridge
New Delhi, September 6 The bridge is the part of the Delhi Metro’s Phase-II, which was granted a green signal by the Group of Ministers (GoM) last week. While the DMRC had completed most of the groundwork for the phase-II, it was awaiting a goahead from the GoM to start awarding the contracts. All Phase-II routes, which will connect east, south , north and north-east parts of Delhi, have been finalised and deadlines set. The 698.8-m Yamuna bridge, to be built on the design-and-build scheme, will be completed in two years and will be located approximately 840 m downstream of the existing Lok Nayak Setu or the ITO bridge as it is more popularly known as. There will be a total of 14 spans of 46.2 m each and two spans of 26 m each. As per the DMRC, segmental construction technology pre-cast single cell PSC girder will be used for the main span. The overall width of the deck, catering two tracks, will be 9.980 m. The first destination of the much awaited Phase –II is Dilshad Garden where the expected date of completion of work is December 2007. The longest line in the phase-II will be the elevated one from Inderlok to Mundka with a length of 18.47 km and 16 stations. This section will be completed by June 2009. The last section to be opened in the Phase-II would be the 2.88-km elevated segment between Central Secretariat and Qutub Minar , sometime in the later part of 2009.
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Fogging teams on roll to control dengue
New Delhi, September 6 Outs of these, 51 cases have been reported from Delhi, whereas 19 cases have been reported from other states. To control the situation, the MCD has stepped up its efforts to contain mosquito breeding in and outside the houses. During the last one week all 4,000 treated ovi-traps were placed in different areas under he MCD’s jurisdiction. Regular monitoring is being done. The beat of all domestic checkers has been scheduled which they went on in the morning as well as the afternoon in every zone depending upon the availability of the workers. Three to five teams each, consisting of 10 to 15 employees, have visited areas from where cases have been reported. Four joint operation teams have been constituted in Central Zone. The areas covered are Kotla Mubarakpur, HUDCO Place, A.V. Nagar, Lajpat Nagar – I, Sukhdev Nagar, Sadiq Nagar A and B Block, Sunlight Colony, Jeewan Nagar, Sukhdev Vihar, Mashigarh, Julena, Tamoor Nagar, Srinivaspuri, Nehru Nagar, Jal Vihar MCD Quarters, C.R. Park, Transit Camp A-B Block, T.K. D. Extension, Govindpuri, DDA Flat, Panchmukhi Mandir, Lal Quan, Hari Nagar Extension, Harkesh Nagar, Dakshinpuri, .J. J. Cluster, M.P. Khora wherein 13, 602 houses were visited and 1,023 of them sprayed by the team in addition to routine work. The teams are working in other zones of the MCD also to control the mosquito breeding. Truck-mounted thermal fogging machines are being used in the evening during dusk. Awareness meetings are being held with the help of resident welfare associations.
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Draw of Noida industrial plots on September 8
Noida, September 6 The draw, it is learnt, will be conducted manually in the presence of representatives of all industrial organisations and by a Noida Authority committee constituted by the CEO. It may be recalled that the computerised draw for residential plots three months ago had resulted in allegations of rigging, as a result of which the former Noida chairman and CEO, Dev Dutt was transferred and a number of people and organisations had challenged the results of the draw in courts. A case is still pending in the Allahabad High Court. After the final list of applications had been drawn for the industrial draw, 648 applications are reported to have been cancelled. According to Deputy CEO Tanveer Zafar Ali, a total of 4,639 applicants had applied for 384 plots. As many as 737 applications were from the reserved category and 3,902 from the general category. After the first scrutiny, 3,991 applicants have been selected for inclusion in the draw. The CEO, it is learnt, has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Deputy CEO Tanveer Zafar Ali, which will include Chief Financial Consultant, H.S. Sengar, Administration Officer Arun Kumar Sharma and Chief Finance & Accounts Officer L. Yadav. Video photography of the whole programme of the draw will be done, the Deputy CEO said.
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Tainted GDA officer reinstated by Vice Chairman
Ghaziabad, September 6 He was suspended from work after his father, an accused, revealed his role in a written statement in January this year. Subsequently, a criminal case was filed against all the accused, including Tyagi. Singh’s move has met with disapproval with Additional District Magistrate (Executive) Rajesh Prakash who is credited with the expose expressing “surprise” and UP Revenue Board member George Joseph writing to Singh apprising him of Tyagi’s role in the case. Tyagi had filed a writ in the Allahabad High Court on March 11, 2005 but a division bench dismissed the petition and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to hand over the matter to the CBI for inquiry. A special leave petition filed by Tyagi in the Supreme Court on May 18, 2005 was dismissed by a division bench comprising Justices B M Kirpal and Balasubramaniam after Tyagi had allegedly gone into hiding. Police raids at Tyagi’s office at GDA campus had ended in clashes between the police and the local staff.
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Tax collection goes up by
25 per cent
New Delhi, September 6 The Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr A. K. Walia, today said tax collection for the first five months in the current financial year had gone up by 25.38 per cent in comparison to the corresponding period last year. While the tax collection up to August-end 2005 had gone up to Rs 3117.33 crore in the last financial year it was Rs 2485.69 crore. Also, the revenue collection in respect of VAT/sales tax has gone up by 26.50 per cent, from Rs 2074 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 2624 crore in 2005-06.
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Amity holds valedictory programme for Army officers
New Delhi, September 6 While distributing the certificates to the fifth batch of Army officers, the Director-General, NSG, Mr R. K. Mitra, emphasised the need for such courses and said, “Forensic science need to be harnessed to achieve the stage of early detection of crime during investigation. There is immediate need for people in the armed forces and the judiciary to develop expertise in forensic
science.” — TNS
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Illicit liquor snuffs out two lives
Noida, September 6 The reminder of the liquor was allegedly poured into drains to destroy the According to villagers, Jatinder, 35, son of Babu and his friend Mishri, 40, son of Banta of Kacheri village, had started taking booze of Haryana Bouscot brand at 11 am on Sunday. After consuming the first peg, their condition became serious. They started vomiting blood and soon lost their eyesight. Jatinder who was being rushed to Ghaziabad’s Yashoda Hospital, breathed his last on the way. Mishri also died a little later in the village itself. After their death, some villagers tried to hush up the case. They counselled both the families who then agreed to cremate the bodies. The Dadri police were never informed. This has shocked the people in the area. Many of them are angry that two lives have perished and the police did not get a wind of it. The whole hush-hush operation seems to be the idea of those involved in the supply of illicit brew, people said.
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Minor fire in South Block
New Delhi, September 6 The fire broke out in an almirah in Room 235-O at around 3.35 pm and was brought under control within 20 minutes by four fire tenders, they said. The cause of the fire was being investigated, the sources said. The South Block also houses the Prime Minister’s Office and the Defence Ministry.
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325 pirated video cassettes seized
Greater Noida, September 6 The Additional District Magistrate, Mr Rajesh Kumar Yadav, said the administration has launched the campaign as it has received that “a number of video parlours were indulging in illegal activities”. The Assistant Entertainment Commissioner, Mr D. P. Patel, had been directed to conduct the raids. A number of video parlours were raided including ‘Ward Video Library’ in Dadri. The police seized 125 pirated CDs from Manish Kumar of Neelam Electronics on the Railway road and 200 CDs from Prakash Sharma of Neelam Electronics on Jarcha road. Both of these video parlours were being run without any licence.
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Gang of burglars busted, seven nabbed
New Delhi, September 6 Inspector Jitender Kumar, SHO, New Ashok Nagar police station, got the information that a gang of Bangladeshis had assembled in the Smriti Van DDA Park, (New Kondli). A team raided the spot and arrested the seven accused. The police seized iron rods, a button-actuated knife and one khukri from their possession. During interrogation, they revealed they had assembled there to plan a dacoity in the area.
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Six robbers held, stolen
goods seized
Noida, September 6 During interrogation, the robbers confessed that they had broken into 36 houses and decamped with valuables, said the police chief. They identified the houses during the day and conducted robberies at night,
he added. The thieves have been identified as Suresh, Abdul Alam, Abdul Kalam, Jagdish, Amaruddin and Ismail. Interestingly, one of the houses targeted was opposite the residence of the District Magistrate in Sector-27 Noida. Based on information from them, the police have recovered many stolen goods from a junk dealer
in Atta. Meanwhile, a student’s bike from a college sector-62 and a car from a Budh Bazaar in Sector-49 have reportedly been stolen. The car belonged to Kanhya Lal of Sector-41, while bike was of Pankaj Sharma of Sector-58, Noida.
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Satta racket busted in Rohini
New Delhi, September 6 The police have recovered one television, eight mobile phones, voice recorder, nine audio cassettes. The police said the accused had already placed bets worth Rs 4 lakh on the cricket
match. — TNS
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Two held for selling oxytocin
Ghaziabad, September 6 Superintendent of Police Jai Narain Singh that about 50,000 oxytocin injections were seized. The drug is used for enhancing milk production and increase the size of vegetables, he said. He said the duo had brought the drugs from Bihar and were selling it in Delhi, UP, Haryana and
Rajasthan. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has banned this drug, he
said. — TNS
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Three held for stealing carpets
New Delhi, September 6 The police said there was a complaint about theft of carpets. Subsequently, a team was constituted and on September 4 the accused were apprehended while they were transporting 245 bundles of carpet in a tempo. A case has been registered in the Sarai Rohilla police station. The police said that the accused disclosed that they used to steal the goods from the container with the connivance of the driver of the trailer. They also disclosed the involvement of Amit and Kailash in the theft of carpets. The police said the recovered carpets belonged to M/s Sheena Export Company, Panipat, and were to be exported to Hamburg,
Germany. — TNS
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