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Compensation for those killed in
Police prepare sketch of probable bomber
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Chaos and confusion over bodies in hospitals New Delhi, October 31 Chaos and confusion continued to prevail in Safdarjung Hospital here today as some of the bodies could not be identified and relatives of victims had to run from pillar to post to get last remains of their loved ones.
Divali spirit dampened by serial blasts
Hope for Sonia Vihar plant as Tehri tunnel is closed
Court grants bail to drug
Man gets 7 years RI for robbery
Two killed over property disputes
Two commit suicide
Two gangs of auto lifters busted
Residents baffled by frequent shifting of SHOs
MCD flayed
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Compensation for those killed in bomb blasts doubled
New Delhi, October 31 The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mrs Sheila Dikshit. The Cabinet decided to raise compensation for the death of minors in the bomb blasts from Rs 50,000 to Rs one lakh, Ms. Dikshit told reporters. Each person suffering from permanent disability in the bomb blasts will get Rs one lakh instead of Rs 50,000, while a person suffering from serious injuries will get Rs 50,000 instead of Rs 20,000. For those who suffered minor injuries the amount of compensation has been raised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000, she said. Mrs Dikshit said the amount of compensation for blast victims decided at the Cabinet meeting would be applicable to all such incidents in the future. The Cabinet also hailed the police and fire services for their services in the wake of the serial blasts. The Delhi Government today also decided to regularise driver Kuldeep and give out-of-turn promotion to conductor Budh Prakash of a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus, who displayed exemplary alertness by throwing a bomb out of the vehicle in Govindpuri on Saturday averting a major tragedy. The Delhi Cabinet, at a meeting here chaired by the Chief Minister, also decided to give them a reward of Rs two lakh each. Besides, the government-run DTC would also reward them for their bravery. Kuldeep, who works with DTC on contractual basis, will be regularised in the department. Kuldeep and Budh Prakash averted a major tragedy when they threw out a bag containing a bomb left by one passenger. Five persons were injured after the bomb exploded on the road. The police said at least eight to 10 people would have died if the bomb had exploded inside the bus. But the bravery came at a high price for the driver as the explosion has left him almost visually impaired. He may also not be able to hear properly the chuckles and babbling of the new one as the blast has badly damaged his hearing abilities. Kuldeep may now have to live with the memories of the sight of his unborn child on an ultrasound machine. Kuldeep lies in an airfluidised bed at the Intensive Care Unit of AIIMS on a
ventilator as his anxious family members wait outside praying to God to save his life. His eight-month pregnant wife is at home with fingers crossed as she has been advised by doctors not to make much movement and avoid stress. “Doctors have told us that he has lost his one eye. They have operated upon his second eye, but say chances of success are only 20 per cent,” says Ram Kali, septuagenarian mother of the only bread-earner of the family, waiting outside the ICU. His sister Anuradha Chowdhary dreads visiting the ward Kuldeep is lying in but the old parents are continuously sitting by his bedside comforting him. “I am scared. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to see him in such a condition. They (doctors) have not yet allowed me in,” Anuradha said. Kuldeep’s family knows he may not be able to drive again although the Delhi government announced to regularise him. Kuldeep is on a contract job with the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). However, his relatives are just grateful that he at least survived the major explosion and did not meet the same fate as 50 who died in two other almost simultaneous blasts in the capital. “I thank God, he is alive. But we all shared his dreams, his visions as a would-be parent. But the wounds will all redefine them now,” Kuldeep’s uncle Yashpal Tanwar said. His parents feel proud at Kuldeep’s heroic act which has been appreciated by the authorities and common people alike. The Delhi government today announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for Kuldeep in recognition of his brave act. According to police, the alertness and courage of Kuldeep and his conductor Budh Raj had saved at least eight to 10 lives. If the bomb had exploded inside the bus, it would have caused major destruction, a police official said.
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Police prepare sketch of probable bomber
New Delhi, October 31 “We have been able to prepare a sketch of the suspect who carried the bag to the bus that contained the bomb, based on information given by the some of the passengers,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh told mediapersons. He, however, asked the public to come forward and provide more details so that a more accurate sketch could be prepared. Police have also been able to zero in on the types of bags used to plant bombs in the bus and at Sarojini Nagar. Exhibiting similar bags to the press, Mr Singh said “now we would want people and shopkeepers to help with whatever information they had about people who used or carried such bags.” Commenting on the serial blasts, he said they appear to handiwork of one organisation but different set of people were involved the three explosions. The police had earlier said ‘electronic timers’ was used to trigger the blasts. Declining to give further details, Mr Singh said investigations were going on in full swing and every piece of evidence had to be stitched together to re-create the crime scene that would help crack the case. He brushed aside claim by little-known terrorist outfit ‘Islaami-Inquilabi Mahaz’, which was linked with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), taking responsibility for the blasts, saying it may or may not mean anything. Several teams had been sent to other states, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, he said, and added forensic Lab reports on the material used in the explosives were also expected soon. Police had earlier announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone offering information about the culprits. The identity of the informant would be kept secret. All India Anti Terrorist Front also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone who would provide information about the culprits behind Saturday’s serial bomb blasts in the Capital. No one had been arrested but raids were conducted at many places, including hotels and guest houses in Old and South Delhi and nearly two dozen people were detained for questioning in connection. Talking about the security arrangements made for
Divali and Eid, Mr Singh said extra forces had been deployed to thwart any untoward incident from happening. Special checking drive had been launched and vehicles on city roads and those coming in or going out were being randomly checked, he added.
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Chaos and confusion over bodies in hospitals
New Delhi, October 31 Coming from far off places, the family members, already in shock and trauma, had to face lot of hardships. “I am here since yesterday evening to take the body of my brother. Police officials had told me that the body would be handed over today. But, now they are saying the identification marks are not clear,” said Sanjaya Prasad, who has come from Sultanpur village from Nawada district of Bihar. His younger brother Surendra Prasad (22), working in a shop in Sarojini Nagar market, was killed in the bomb blast. “Doctors say the identification marks are not clear. So, the body will be sent for DNA testing and after that it will be handed over,” said a senior police official adding the samples have been collected today. The decision to conduct DNA test has added to woes of
Sanjaya. “What answer shall I give to my family members who are waiting to pay last respects to the body?” he asked. Abdul
Mazid, the owner of the shop where Surendra was working, said there was no dispute over the body as nobody had so far laid claim on it. Similar is the feeling of Apurva Sharma. He is here to get the body of his nephew. The body, he had identified, has been in dispute with members of another family laying claim on it. And as this was not enough, the police official said the DNA test would be conducted on the body.
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Divali spirit dampened by serial blasts
New Delhi, October 31 The gory sights of charred bodies and wailing survivors have dampened the celebrations in the city. “We were horrified…the pictures small children being carried away and the helplessness of the families tracing the missing, it is hard not be affected by this. We don’t know any of these people personally, but we feel their pain,” said Kusum Lata, a resident of Gurgaon. In Kusum Lata’s home,
Divali, “will be very low key. Just a prayer and lighting one lamp. We cannot celebrate…it could’ve been us,” she shudders. The city normally dismissed as “uncaring and fast paced” has shown its humane face. “My children volunteered to not celebrate with gifts and crackers. Even at their age they have imbibed the shock and grief that we as adults feel in facing such situations,” said Mahesh Kumar who works with the MTNL. The initial fear and shock may have subsided and people may have returned to complete their festive shopping, but the underlying emotion is far from happy. “We have to start afresh. Delhi has bounced back, but it is too soon for celebrations. It is unthinkable to burst crackers when a family a few house down the lane is mourning its dead. And even if people are trying to put this gruesome incident behind them, I am sure the spirit of festivities is missing,” said Meenakshi Kaul, an IT professional.
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Metro timings revised for Divali
New Delhi, October 31 The last connecting train from Kashmere Gate (underground) will be available at 8.38 pm, as per a press note by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Keeping in mind the increased festival rush during the day time, an increased frequency of 5 minutes will be maintained throughout the day
tomorrow. — TNS
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Kidwai greets Delhiites on Divali
New Delhi, October 31 In his message, he said the festival of Divali brought light by removing darkness from all around. Dr Kidwai exhorted the people of the Capital to celebrate Divali with zest and spread the message of love and peace and pray to the almighty to shower happiness and prosperity. Dr Kidwai is acting as the Administrator of the national Capital in addition to his duty as Haryana Governor in absence of Delhi Governor Mr B L Joshi who is on
leave. — TNS
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SSP appeals to maintain order during festival
Noida, October 31 A plea has been made to the vehicle owners to park their vehicles in parking lots and not in front of shops etc so as to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic. All restaurants and shopping malls have been ordered to undertake repeated checks on its premises. Shopkeepers have been asked not to display goods in front of their shops.
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BJP demands white paper on security
New Delhi, October 31 Delhi BJP President Dr Harsh Vardhan also demanded that the Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit should immediately convene an all-party meeting and inform the political parties and other organisations about the measures being taken by the state government in the aftermath of the blasts. Dr Vardhan said that there has been chaos in the hospitals and the manner in which the injured were rushed to the hospitals on rickshaws and handcarts completely exposes the poor management of the state government. Since the injured persons were not happy with the treatment in government hospitals, Dr Vardhan also requested the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to approve the admission of the injured persons to private hospitals so that they could get better treatment. He also requested VIPs to stop visiting the hospitals to avoid inconvenience to the patients and their relatives.
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Nothing ideological about
JNU in red
Raghubansh Sinha Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 31 The continuing dominance of the Left forces in Jawaharlal Nehru University has often intrigued those unfamiliar with the culture and ethos of the academic environment there. It has often been scoffed that since the demise of the Soviet communist state in the early nineties, JNU and West Bengal are the only two bastions of Left influence that are yet to be conquered by global capitalism. Even if such a corollary is dismissed outright, it is certainly interesting to understand why the parties espousing the Left ideology on the JNU campus continue to find such widespread support among the ‘X Generation’ despite the fact that the socio-economic environment in and around the campus has undergone dramatic transformation. It is intriguing to many that the Left parties continue to maintain their hold over JNU politics even though the number of students from the deprived sections of the Indian society, who often form the base of Left activism, have considerably declined on the campus. Even as a growing trend towards depoliticisation has been evident in the last decade with the “Me and Now Generation” making its presence felt on the campus, Left activism has given a certain character to the life on the campus, which is associated with tolerance for different shades of opinion—symbolised in the culture of debate and discussion—highlighting national and international issues of social concern and generally making the discourse on the campus intellectually vibrant. The election environment on the campus continues to resemble “the swinging sixties and the early seventies when Leftism was the flavour on university campuses around the world,” said a former JNUSU office-bearer and now teaching in JNU at the School of Social Sciences. Even as aberrations in the form of electoral disturbances have surfaced in recent years, “the election process in JNU is an island of sanity in a world full of scepticism at the deteriorating standard of democratic process in and around us,” remarked a professor in the School of International Studies. The election code of conduct, heavily biased against the use of money and muscle power, is followed both in letter and spirit, and the authority of the all-student election committee has not been challenged, as it has been able to conduct free and fair elections over the years. The students at JNU come from diverse region and with varied background, yet the campus life acts as a great leveller. A student from an elitist St. Stephen’s College may have to share a room with another student from the Telengana region, who may have stepped out of his hometown for the first time. It is a tribute to the JNU culture that notwithstanding the starkly different upbringings, both could be the new converts for Left activism on the campus. However, it is not always the Marxist ideology per se that attracts the new converts, but often the “idealism and the sensitiveness” to certain issues concerning the downtrodden that may have little relevance to their own future career. Even though they may have no affiliation with the Left organisations or sympathy for the revolutionary ideology, it is often intoxicating for the youths, fed up with the crass materialism existing outside the campus. Not surprisingly, the winning presidential candidate of the radical Left AISA managed to garner a large chunk of the fence-sitters, who in all probability would have little sympathy for the revolutionary call. The fact that the radical Left AISA managed to rope in an American, Tyler Walker William, as one of its candidates, exemplifies the non-ideological nature of its support base on the campus. Turning the ideological issue on its head, three former presidents of JNUSU belonging to the Left factions, including Shakil Ahmed Khan, Batilal Bairwa joined the Congress party in the last decade as office-bearers after they left JNU. In effect, more than creating a cadre based on Marxist ideological dogmas, the Left formations have played a major role in creating a unique environment on the campus and maintaining it over the years. More than anything else, the continuing hold of the Left over JNU politics is a determined message of the majority that they want the campus to stay that way. Clearly, it is more than just the Left ideology that has kept the red flag flying over the JNU campus.
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Hope for Sonia Vihar plant as Tehri tunnel is closed
New Delhi, October 31 The water treatment plant was conceptualised keeping in mind the completion of the Tehri dam project. Delhi’s share of the dam waters is 300 cusecs. “I have written a letter to UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on the issue of supply of water from Tehri to Delhi and consultations are also on with the Union Power Ministry. Now, we will get water,” Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters. Both Delhi and UP are to share waters from the dam, and the Capital expects to start getting water from the project from December onwards. In the context of the Tehri tunnel being closed, when asked if the Sonia Vihar Treatment Plant, whose construction was completed more than a year ago but which due to no supply of water has still not started functioning, Dikshit said, “We have been hoping for the last one-and-a-half years. Now till it does not get water, I will not say anything.” The last diversion tunnel of the Tehri hydel project has been closed following an order of the Uttaranchal High Court paving the way for the commissioning of the project expected in March. The dam authorities were expecting the water level of the reservoir to reach 740 metres by March, following which the Rs 7,000 crore project, shut down on Sunday night amid tight security, would be commissioned.
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Court grants bail to drug lord’s wife
New Delhi, October 31 She was arrested from Nizamuddin area of the city on October 5 on charges of being in possession of property acquired through illegal means and has been in jail since then. In her bail application filed through counsel R D Rana, Najma had sought bail claiming she held the property bona fide for her husband Sharafat Sheikh. However, police accused her of abetting and knowingly facilitating her husband commit organised crime and being in possession of movable and immovable property acquired through such crime. Her husband, suspected to be a member of an organised crime syndicate, was arrested on July 7 this year, for his alleged involvement in unlawful activities. According to the police, Najma is the joint owner, with her husband, of a Borivali flat, worth over Rs 13 lakh and a bar in Malad, both in Mumbai. She is also the proprietor of a hotel in Hastal here. Apart from two bank accounts jointly held with her husband, and an individual savings account, Najma owned a luxury car and a commercial bus, they alleged. However, the court granted her bail observing that “in our tradition bound society, it is not uncommon for husbands to acquire or hold property in the name of their wives”. “She (Najma) may reasonably plead innocence by saying she held the property bonafide for her husband in her capacity as his wife,” the court felt. “Merely because the husband acquires or holds the property in the name of his wife, it does not automatically follow that the wife is aware of the illegal activities of her husband,” it observed. The court also noted that there was no basis to presume that Najma had been continuously indulging in organised crime, “merely because three criminal cases were registered against (her), under different provisions of IPC”.
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Man gets 7 years RI for robbery
New Delhi, October 31 Vikram, a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh, used to work in the factory of Janinder Jain, in Wazirpur Industrial area here. On February 3, 2005 Jain gave him a suitcase, containing about Rs 1 lakh, to keep in his car parked outside the factory premises. While Vikram was opening the doors of the car, the accused who was hiding there attacked him. An injured Vikram raised an alarm and accused Ajay was apprehended on the spot. Police charged him under section 397 (robbery and dacoity with attempt to murder), 392 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (crime done by several persons) of IPC. However, the court took a lenient view, keeping in view the fact that the accused was a married man having five children and was the sole bread winner of his family.
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Two killed over property disputes
Ghaziabad, October 31 The police alleged that he was shot dead in the jungles of Raipur village under Kavi Nagar police area in broad daylight. He was shot twice in the head. According to the police, Ram Pal had gone to his field to operate his tube well. Later, he had planned to go to Govind Puram for making payments and was carrying Rs 7000 with him. The police are suspecting the role of his son in the murderer. He has been absconding since the death of his father, the police added. However, his family members deny his son’s involvement in the murder and suspect the role of some unknown assailants. In the second incident, a trader’s son was also killed in indiscriminate firing. Property dispute is also believed to be the cause of the murder in this case, said the police. The victim, identified as Pinto (22), was shot dead while traveling from his home on his motorbike in Mirzapur village under Vijay Nagar police station. Pinto was the son of a trader Irfan, who is also involved in transport business. Pinto was shot twice and was killed on the spot. The police claims that both the incidents are related to some property disputes. Police have been deployed in adequate number in view of the tension and panic in the area, the police said.
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Two commit suicide
Ghaziabad, October 31 Fifty-year-old Kishan Kumar in F Block of Naya Kavi Nagar torched himself after sprinkling diesel on his body. The victim was of an unstable mind, said Rakesh Paliwal, S.O. Kavi Nagar police. In the second incident, twenty-five-year-old Ashok (son of Bhagwan Das of C Block in Sanjay Nagar), who was a security guard, hanged himself on Saturday evening. According to the police, Ashok was an alcoholic, whose family was fed up with his wayward habits. He had been thrown out of the house by his family for his addiction to liquor.
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Two gangs of auto lifters busted
New Delhi, October 31 The accused have been identified as Mukesh (21), Ranjit (21), Nikhil Kumar (23), Pawan Kumar (23) and Kushal (25). In the first incident, the police got the information that two persons were trying to dispose off a stolen Maruti Van near Apeejay School in Saraswati Vihar. Subsequently, the raiding team of special staff of Northwest district reached the spot and arrested the accused from there. The accused were later identified as Mukesh and Ranjit. In the other incident, the police arrested three persons from the BR block of Shalimar Bagh. The police recovered one Hero Honda from their possession.
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Residents baffled by frequent shifting of SHOs
Gurgaon, October 31 The frequent shifting of Station House Officers from the Pataudi Police Station by the government has often disheartened the police officers, who had hoped that the Congress government would provided some kind of stability of tenure. The short stay of the officers at the station does not allow the incumbents to adjust and familiarise themselves with the environment, which is considered to be the necessary ingredient in policing. A few days back one SHO was shifted on account of a clash. In another case, a SHO from Pataudi station was shifted following the local MLA, Mr Bupinder Singh Chowdhary, levelling charges against him.
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MCD flayed
New Delhi, October 31 The MCD had purchased equipments worth crores through the Delhi
Metro for tackling disaster management, Mr Arya said. However, he alleged that due to untrained staff these could not be utilised. Mr Arya said that the MCD has set-up a separate department for disaster management and procured equipment, which are lying unused
in stores.
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