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Maken flays implementation of Electricity Act
Cops pass the buck as tortured woman lies in hospital
Police to go hi-tech to speed up investigation Thousands of Delhiites hit the road for half marathon
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Kiran Bedi directed to explain ‘summons’
Govt to send relief consignment to Kashmir
Artscape
Rs 12 lakh looted by spraying chilli powder in eyes
11-year-old boy dies of dengue
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Maken flays implementation of Electricity Act
New Delhi, October 16 “I am pained to see the situation. There is no flaw in the Electricity Act, 2003, but there is a flaw in the way it is being implemented,” he said last evening while addressing a discussion on power situation in Delhi organised by Centre for Civil Society. Mr Maken, who had earlier created a storm by demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit over the power situation, said the Delhi Government should have approached the Centre to include the power meters under the Weight and Measurement Act of 1976. “The auto meters, the taxi meters and other electronic meters are
mandatory checked by the government before installation. Then why not electricity meters,” he asked. “Already nine lakh meters are
installed. but not a single meter is checked,” he said adding that government could have outsourced the meter testing to a reputed government agency. Criticising the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission
(DERC) for “financial irregularities, and lack of initiative in addressing grievances of the consumers,” the former Power Minister of Delhi said almost 4,200 employees were given VRS by the regulator but still their salary expenses were going up. Identifying power theft as the biggest hurdle, Mr Maken said, “we introduced privatisation only to curb power theft as it was not possible for elected representative to take steps against the thefts.” The former Delhi Power Minister also came down heavily on Reliance owned discoms and said there has been 50 per cent reduction in industrial consumption where Reliance is providing power. “The latest economic surveys show growth in industrial production whereas there has been 50 per cent reduction in industrial consumption of power where Reliance is distributing power,” he said. Questioning the procedure for procurement of materials by discoms he said “it has been observed that the procedure being adopted by discoms for selection of vendors for procurement of materials and award of contract is not transparent as it is not based on established competitive process.” Joining the discussion DERC member R Krishnamurthy said the “dignity of the DERC has gone down as result of the whole blame game” and added “our orders are quasi judicial, which could be challenged, but no one has come forward so far.” Speaking on the occasion, the representative of Residents Welfare Association demanded a commission to check power theft. “The honest man pays for the dishonest. There is a fundamental flaw in the whole system. It is the law abiding citizens who are suffering,” said Sanjay Kaul of People’s Action.
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Cops pass the buck as tortured woman lies in hospital
Gurgaon, October 16 Summan from Bhondsi village near here in this district was married to Ajay Pawar of Samar village in Rohtak district in 1999.Now, she finds herself beaten black and blue by her in-laws with a number of tell-tale signs of physical torture on her body. The police of Gurgaon and Rohtak shirk responsibility to come to her rescue and book the culprits. The police on both sides continue passing the buck to each other even though the government’s Civil Hospital submitted MLR about her injuries three days ago. As per the rule, MLR of a government hospital is a valid document and big enough to force the police to take cognisance. The police are caught up in procedural wrangles relating to jurisdictional authority about the place of origin of crime against Summan. The worst part of the saga relating to Summan is that she has two boys, the eldest about three years old and the younger two years of age. The elder one also has small degree of burn on his leg which reinforces her version that the kids were also subjected to torture by the in-laws. The kids are also with their mother in the hospital. In effect, the human rights violation extends to the kids, but the law enforcing agencies appear to be insensitive to the semantics and nuances of human rights jurisprudence. What most disturbs the social conscience is the fact that Rohtak, the place of origin of Summan’s torture is the home district of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who had earned high points for his government announcing major policies to empower and safeguard the dignity of women. Summan is at present
admitted to the local Civil Hospital and ruing her fate with her mother and brother having been already assaulted and humiliated by the in-laws when they had gone to rescue her from her from them in Samar, Gopalpur. The story narrated by Summan in the hospital is that her harassment from the in-laws began a couple of months after the marriage. The main cause for the torture was demand for dowry. The in-laws had been asking for money and her parents had been obliging them to the best of their means. The proverbial last straw, according to her, was when the in-laws threw kerosene on her body with an intention to burn her on October 14. She saved herself with some struggle. She informed her parents about the incident. Her mother and brother reached Samar Gopalpur. Both of them were allegedly beaten up by the in-laws. They informed the Rohtak police. The police handed over Summan to her relatives. Her relatives brought her to Gurgaon the same day and admitted her to the local Civil Hospital where she continues to be. The irony is that her father, Mr Rajinder Singh Raghav, is with the CRPF presently posted in Nagaland. He has not been able to come home to be at his daughter’s side on account of his pressing official assignment.
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Police to go hi-tech to speed up investigation
New Delhi, October 16 Preliminary tests have already been carried out and the authorities are now examining the cost-effectiveness of installing such
a system. “The system will be very useful for district Deputy Commissioners of Police to monitor the day-to-day happenings at their police stations,” a senior official said. There are nine police districts in Delhi, each having about 10 stations under their jurisdiction. “Even when investigation is on into a major case, it becomes difficult and time-consuming for DCPs to go to the police stations to oversee the activities. With video conferencing, they can directly talk to a number of policemen at the same time. They can even see files pertaining to cases,” the official said. Installation of cameras in police stations is also expected to reduce corruption Delhi Police realised the effectiveness of cameras after installing close-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in the busy Karol Bagh market. Incidents of crime in the market reduced drastically after the system was set up some months ago. Test runs of the video conferencing system have already been carried out by connecting the Daryaganj police station with the headquarters. “We tried out two technologies for the video conferencing - through ISDN lines and radio frequency,” he said. While both technologies were quite stable, officials are now examining the cost effectiveness and quality of each. “It may require crores of rupees to connect all the police stations and we want to make sure that the best suited technology is adopted,” the official said. He said it may be several months before the system starts functioning.
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Thousands of Delhiites hit the road for half marathon
New Delhi, October 16 Thousands of men, women and children hit the roads for the ‘Great Delhi Run’ this morning. If they could not run the 21- km stretch of the Delhi half marathon, they reconciled to having covered at least the 7-km stretch with pride and joy. The elderly covered their share of 4. 3 km stretch while all the seven disabled participants finished their race with a commitment unseen even among professionals. “They are the best,” said the half marathon winner Philip Rugut of Kenya, the world no.2, who headed straight to the disabled sportsmen to congratulate them after he finished the race. Whole families of children, parents and grandparents joined the ‘Great Run’ flagged-off by the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on a pleasant morning. Cheered by sports legends Kapil Dev and American Olympic winner Daley Thompson, the runners had their own ideas for the event. The serious among them sprinted ahead leaving behind the fun-loving participants, who waited to wave to the celebrities encouraging them from the sidelines. Some wanted to have a few words with the sporting legends and a few even risked time to get an autograph. A group of runners held a banner condoling the earthquake disaster in Pakistan and India and urging people to contribute generously to the relief funds for providing succour to the survivors. Another banner said ‘Stop Child Abuse’. Political messages were put across through placards with words ‘Economic Freedom for Urban Poor’ and ‘Abolish Licence Raj for Street Entrepreneurs’ written on them. “We wanted to prove that we too can run,” said Rajiv Virat (25), a physically disabled, who decided to participate in the ‘Wheel Chair Run’ to spread awareness about multiple sclerosis. Two runners on stilts, who represented the NGO, Mobile
Creches, were the most visible soaring high above everybody else. The run had its spooky moments too with a group of runners dressed up as witches as in a Halloween party, a great favourite with the thousands of school children.
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Kiran Bedi directed to explain ‘summons’
New Delhi, October 16 Additional Sessions Judge S. C. Rajan has summoned Bedi on October 22 to explain whether ‘Navjyoti’, an NGO run by the Delhi Police Foundation, of which she is founder-general secretary, had the power to issue such an order, which also allegedly contained “threatening
language” against the accused persons. The direction came on a complaint filed by one Paras Khatri against the NGO, which had allegedly threatened him and his family of “action” if they did not appear before it to respond to charges of cruelty levelled against them by Khatri’s wife. “If you do not appear before us within a day we will be forced to take action against you,” the notice dated October 3, 2005, issued on the letter head of the NGO bearing the name of Ms. Bedi, presently the Director General of Home Guard, said. Terming the notice as “illegal and arbitrary”, counsel for the complainant B. S. Rana told the court that the NGO was not competent to issue such a notice and could only hold counselling sessions to resolve matrimonial disputes. He said such steps can only be taken by Crime against Women Cell or the police if attempts towards reconciliation fail. Taking strong objection to the language used in the notice, the counsel said it was not fitting for an NGO working for social welfare to use such arbitrary language or issue such summons unauthorisedly.
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Govt to send relief consignment to Kashmir
New Delhi, October 16 The decision was taken at an informal Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit, to review the relief efforts of Delhi Government, an official spokesperson said. All Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary and Divisional Commissioner attended the meeting. The trucks, loaded with relief material, would leave from Ludlow Castle School from Tuesday onwards, the spokesperson said adding the government has also contacted various trade and manufacturers’ associations to make available relief material immediately. The Chief Minister has asked all ministers to co-ordinate the arrangements to enable the government to make available maximum quality of relief material for quake victims in Jammu and Kashmir. The Delhi Government has already contributed Rs 1 crore to the PM Relief Fund.
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S. H. Raza’s journey traced at Apparao Galleries
Ravi Bhatia Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 16 Raza, who was born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh, continues to have his periodical trysts with nature and these are reflected in his works. For Raza, a painting grows gradually, organically. The 40-odd paintings in the exhibition came in for considerable praise. Sculptures by Dimpy Menon: The Apparao Galleries are also exhibiting the sculptures of well-known artist, Dimpy Menon, at the Garden Theatre, Triveni Kala Sangam, here from October 7 to 18. The highlight of the exhibition were two slide talk shows by the artist herself for the benefit of the viewers and critics. Dimpy Menon has had a number of exhibitions in various cities of the country and abroad.Genres galore on one stage: Sonal Mansingh’s Centre for Indian Classical Dances held Sangam, a three-day arts festival at the Kamani Auditorium here beginning October 14, bringing together different genres of performing arts on one stage. It has been the constant endeavour of Padma Vibhushan Sonal Mansingh to create new audiences and present new dimensions of the traditional arts in an attempt to keep them alive.Apart from classical dances presented by herself and Shakuntala Nagarkar, the festival also offered a taste of fusion music by the Malabrians. Craftsmen hold demonstration: The Crafts Museum here is holding a month-long crafts demonstration in addition to the regular exhibition of crafts from various states of the country. Craftsmen from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan and Bihar will demonstrate their crafting skills before the viewers. The programme will conclude on October 31.Concert of peasant folk music: On October 7, the Hungarian Cultural and Information Centre here presented a live concert of folk music by the famous Sebo ensemble. The ensemble, named after its founder, Farenc Sebo, specialises in playing old style East European peasant folk music as well as contemporary songs performed in folk style with roots in the middle ages. The same evening, the centre also opened a photo documentary exhibition to commemorate the birth centenary of the outstanding Hungarian poet, Attila Jozsef. Mr. Ivan Nemeth, the Hungarian Ambassador here, inaugurated the exhibition. Captivating jewels for the bride: Art Karat here is holding a unique exhibition of bridal jewellery at the HotelIntercontinental – The Grand from October 14 to 30. A captivating collection of gems and jewellery specially designed by Asha Kamal Modi will be on display at the exhibition. Tips to highlight facial assets: For the first time in the national Capital, renowned make-up artist Kishore Thakkar is planning to hold a Dream Bride show-cum-seminar and workshop at the Russian Cultural Centre here on October 22.Thakkar has held many workshops all over the country imparting tips to the public on how to best highlight one’s facial assets. In all, 36 Dream Brides are expected to participate in the show. A new avatar for Gallery Espace: The year 2005 marks the 16 th year of Gallery Espace. This year, the gallery is planning to undergo a physical metamorphosis. The gallery space will be expanded, revamped and renovated in an effort to make Gallery Espace “the premier and most aesthetically exclusive design space in the Capital”.Its patron, Renu Modi, will launch the new avatar of the gallery with an inaugural exhibition that will illustrate the history, the present and hoped for “future of Gallery Espace”. The artists who have closely associated with the gallery in the past, including some of the top artistic talents in the country, will exhibit their latest creations along with those of budding fresh talent. In her 16 years as patron, Renu Modi has managed to establish her gallery as one of the best in the country. Recognised for innovation and thought leadership, Gallery Espace is today testimony to the grit and determination of a young woman who married into the Modi family and yet sought to establish a space of her own. A commerce graduate from Panjab University, Renu set up Gallery Espace at a time when art galleries were mushrooming and there was acute skepticism about an ‘art bubble’. Years have passed and Gallery Espace has grown from strength to strength. Early visits to art shows made Renu Modi realise that art was her true calling. She drew inspiration from none other than M. F. Hussain, India’s master artist who incidentally has designed her residence. The artist who also designed the Gallery logo, in fact, launched Gallery Espace, with an autobiographical show. Renu is said to have pioneered the concepts of ‘curated’ shows by seeking out talent from the world of journalism and culture and requesting them to put together out of the box concepts.
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Rs 12 lakh looted by spraying chilli powder in eyes
Ghaziabad, October 16 Pawan Jain, owner of Sabi Steel in 123 Nav Yug Market here, had sent his two employees, Ravi and Vishnu, to the bank to withdraw Rs 12.50 lakh. While both Ravi and Vishnu were coming with the money bag from Agarsen Bazar at 2.30 pm, three desperados atop a motor bike threw chilli powder into their eyes and snatched the money back. They fired some gunshots in the air and sped away with the bag. SP City Ram Chander Yadav and CO City-I Atul Srivastava immediately reached the spot with police force. In spite of their best efforts, the police could not trace the robbers. SSP J. N. Singh had also visited the site.—OC
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11-year-old boy dies of dengue
Noida, October 16 The boy had been admitted for less than 24 hours in Kailash Hospital where he had been referred from Bhardraj Hospital on Friday evening. On Kailash Hospital’s report a team from the Chief Medical Officer’s office had come while the child was on his last breath. Blood was oozing from all over his body in the ICU where he was being kept on life support system. According to Dr Mahesh Sharma of Kailash Hospital, the child was already in the last stage of dengue when he was brought to Kailash Hospital at 11 pm on Friday. Ankit was later found by Kailash Hospital staff to be a resident of New Ashok Nagar, New Delhi, and not from Sector 12. He had succumbed to the disease at 1.30 pm yesterday.—OC
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