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Govt to promote IT, biotech industries
Trade Fair has something for everybody
Imam asked to clean up Jama Masjid area
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MCD schools to have porta cabins to save pupils from cold
CBI asked to expedite probe
Contract killer arrested
Wife of 20 years turns out to be a criminal
Mystery shrouds student’s death
Chinese impressed with GNIDA expo centre
Ganga Ram has a cure now for prostate enlargement
Global conference on Distance Education
New lease of life for polio affected children
Washermen to pay for power as per domestic rates
Inquiry ordered into ‘illegal’ constructions
by HUDA
Special Appu Ghar scheme for kids
Three held with drugs worth Rs 20 lakh
Hostel shortly for 500 girl students from northeast
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Govt to promote IT, biotech industries
New Delhi, November 16 “We have decided to give preference to IT and biotech projects as they are less polluting, need less space but provide ample employment opportunities to the skilled workforce,” Delhi Industries Minister Mr Mangat Ram Singhal told newspersons here today. Mr Singhal, who addressed the press at Delhi Pavilion at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) on the occasion of Delhi Day, said that while the Capital’s population was growing at a fast pace, it had very limited land for further expansion. In an effort to boost exports from the IT sector, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has set up an IT Park for which Delhi Government has given Rs 20 crore as long-term interest-free loan and Rs three crore as grant-in-aid, he said. The government would also set up a ‘Software Multimedia Park and Science Park’ at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore in collaboration with the private sector, Mr Singhal said. “Businesses dealing in computer software, data processing, desk top pubilishing, computer repair and cyber cafes have been included in the list of household industries,” he said. Mr Singhal said the government has entered into a partnership with Delhi University’s South Campus to start a biotechnology project and has given a grant of Rs 3.5 crore for the purpose. Mr Singhal also announced that Delhi Government has made up its mind to regularise 16 industrial estates in non-conforming areas of the Capital. The file containing the list of areas that had more than 70 per cent industries had been sent to Lt Governor BL Joshi for his assent, before the same was finalised and notified, he said. He said as per the Supreme Court’s order dated May 7, 2004, all industrial units established prior to the cut-off date of August 1, 1990, operating in residential/non-conforming areas had to be removed. The state government took various steps to minimise the difficulties due to relocation of industries in the city, he added. As many as 18,360 industries operating in residential/non-conforming areas had been given allotments of alternate industrial plots/flats in conforming industrial areas in Bawana, Narela, Badli and Jhilmil industrial areas, he said. Another 4,021 eligible industrial units waiting for allotment of industrial plots had been given allotment in Bhorgarh where 175 hectares of land had been acquired for development of new industrial areas and 1,000 acres of more land had been notified for acquisition, he added. The government had also expanded the list of household industries by adding 45 more items, he further said. In the last week of October, the Delhi government allowed conversion of built-up plots in the capital’s industrial areas from leasehold to freehold to bring about transparency and efficiency into the system with regulation of sale of industrial plots. |
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Trade Fair has something for everybody
New Delhi, November 16 Competing with coir products from Kerala are handwoven textiles from the North. With the number of visitors rising steadily and the administration having opened just one ticket counter, complaints have started pouring in. “I came to Gate 5 and was told that the tickets are available only at Gate 2. It is inconvenient to trudge up and down and then stand in the serpentine queue,” complained a visitor, Ram Gopal Sharma. Sharma, like scores of other visitors, was unaware that Mother Dairy booths have also been allotted tickets for the fair. Visitors are not happy with the security measures either. Some complained that the security check has been made more cumbersome. “They took out the batteries from my camera, whereas there are stalls inside selling batteries from China. Since I wanted to take pictures inside, I was forced to purchase batteries from the stall inside,” said Shiv Nath Jha who is on a visit from Patna. However, the authorities do not want to take any chances vis-à-vis security. Security checks in various places and metal detectors along with close circuit televisions have been installed to ward off any untoward incident. All are not complaining though. “Once you cross these minor hurdles of getting the tickets and getting past the security checks, then you can feast on the exotic products that have been displayed in the international stalls,” said Naveen Kumar, who collects artefacts. Gizmo freaks too can be seen splurging at the fair. From the latest mobile to the best iPod, kitchen gadgets to please the lady of the house and a sleek laptop for self-indulgence, it is all there. Meanwhile, the city’s government is promoting IT and allied services in its pavilion, designed like Parliament House. The Delhi pavilion showcases a lively picture of the progress and development in the national Capital. It provided an opportunity to have a glimpse of products made by Tihar Jail inmates, progress made by the Transport department, achievements of Health and Education departments, activities of Industries department, low-cost housing for the poor, reforms in the power sector, water management, activities in the IT sector, success of the Bhagidari movement and infrastructure development. |
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Imam asked to clean up Jama Masjid area
New Delhi, November 16 While impleading Imam as a party to the proceedings, a division bench of Justices Vijender Jain and Rekha Sharma directed him to voluntarily remove the unauthorised structures along the walls of the mosque. Counsel Najim Wajiri, appearing for Waqf Board, submitted the Wilson map of 1910, prepared during the British rule, and said the Board had never authorised anybody for any construction in and around the historic structure constructed by Mughal emperor Shahjehan. Mr Wajiri opposed the application of Maulana Sayed Ahmed Bukhari, the son of the Imam, to be impleaded in the proceedings saying that he was not recognised by the Waqf Board as Imam. The court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to remove all other illegal constructions near the mosque and not to allow any squatter to reopen his shops again. In persuant to the direction of the court, the Imam submitted the accounts of the mosque since 1980 before the Waqf Board. The court appreciated the move of the Imam and said he should also cooperate in removing the illegal structures from the premises. Mr Wajiri submitted that the Waqf Board had been working on a plan to beautify the mosque and its surroundings and the report in consultation with the National Capital Territory government, MCD and DDA would be placed before the court in three months. While hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the bench said, “The monument must be placed in its right perspective. The bitter truth must be digested by removing the illegal structures”. The Court suggested that the authorities such as Delhi Government, Municipal Commission of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Waqf Board and the Imam of the Masjid should sit together to bring back the heritage and glory of Jama Masjid which was built by Shahjahan about 350 years back. About the building inside the Jama Masjid premises where the Imam was residing, counsel Aswini Kumar said it was yet to be decided whether the land belonged to the DDA or the Waqf Board. |
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MCD schools to have porta cabins to save pupils from cold
New Delhi, November 16 Size of the cabin will be 24x20 feet and the cost of construction of on cabin will be Rs 3.50 lakh. Earlier, the corporation had constructed 1000 cabins with a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh. The total construction cost was Rs 15 crore while the size of each cabin was 256 square feet. However, the approval tabled by the newly appointed Municipal Commissioner, Mr Ashok Kumar, was opposed by the opposition as well as one Congress councillor, Satbir Sharma. The Congress councillor suggested that instead of constructing a porta cabin, the corporation should construct semi-concrete structure, which will be cheap and durable. Life of a porta cabin is considered 20 years while a semi-pucca structure can be used for 50 years. The Chairman of the standing Committee, Mr Mukesh Goel, assured the committee members to discuss the suggestion given by Mr Satbir Sharma. According to the MCD Act, the actual size of a cabin should be of 300 square feet, Mr Ajeet Chaudhary, another Congress Councillor pointed out. |
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CBI asked to expedite probe into CGHS scam
New Delhi, November 16 A division bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma said, “Complete the investigation expeditiously and book the culprits according to law”. The Court also summoned Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Commissioner (Planning) and Secretary to be present in the court on December 5, the next date of hearing, with the minutes of the meeting in which it was decided to allot land to the revived societies. Amicus Curie K C Mittal submitted that the CBI was not conducting the investigation properly and said he had the names of the culprits who were behind the builder-official nexus. The Judges asked Mr Mittal to be in touch with the CBI to cooperate with the agency in further investigation. Filing the third status report, the CBI said the agency had already filed 24 criminal cases against the culprits in the lower court. Counsel Harish Gulati appearing for the CBI said that most of the builders who were allegedly involved in the scam had gone underground fearing prosecution by the agency. Mr Gulati said 71 CGHS were involved in criminal misconduct, 14
were not genuine, 24 with no criminal misconduct and against four no opinion was yet made. The court also asked the Centre to state in an affidavit its plan to utilise the corpus funds of Rs 19 crore lying with the DDA, which was collected from members for the benefit of the weaker sections of the society. Hearing the petition of Yogi Raj Group Housing Societies, the court observed that the objective of cooperative movement was defeated due to the nexus between corrupt officials and the builders. “It is the element of profit making in view of difference of market value of land and the value on which land is allotted to the societies, has resulted in the nexus of builders and officials to reap gain by unholy alliance,” the order said. |
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Contract killer arrested
Greater Noida, November 16 According to the police, it was the deceased’s younger son who had got his father killed through the contract killer. The son has already been arrested and sent to jail. Sant Ram, 60, of Badoli village was shot dead on the night of August 15, 2005, by assailants who had barged into his house while the old man was asleep. Last month, the Kasna police had cracked this case by arresting Babu Ram, son of the deceased Sant Ram, and two others. Sant Ram was living with his elder son, Attar Singh. Babu Ram had sworn vengeance on his father since he had bequeathed his property to Attar Singh. Since Babu Ram was a drunkard, he had been deprived of the property, the SO Kasna police, Mr S. K. Sharma, said. Babu Ram had planned the murder of his father Sant Ram with a motor mechanic. They had both contacted a Bulandshahr contract killer, Ravinder, for killing the old man for Rs 1 lakh. Babu Ram had invited mechanic Shiv Ram and Ravinder to his house on August 15. The three had consumed liquor. Later, Ravinder had gone to Sant Ram’s house and shot him dead. On Monday, the police had nabbed Ravinder and recovered the revolver used in the crime also. |
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Wife of 20 years turns out to be a criminal
Greater Noida, November 16 A month ago, Omi Bawariya was arrested from Ghaziabad. As a sequel to his interrogation and through a mobile phone looted during a dacoity, the Tamil Nadu police, the STF and the local police had interrogated Omi’s sister Anguri Devi also for her involvement in a dacoity in Tamil Nadu. She is wanted in 24 cases of dacoity, loot and murder in Tamil Nadu, according to the police. Ever since Anguri and her son Ravinder were arrested from Sakipur village four days ago, the police were shocked that these criminals had been living in the village under their nose and they had no inkling of it. Surprisingly, even Prem Singh had no inkling that Anguri, his wife of 20 years, was a criminal. And Omi had been visiting his sister in the village quite often. Whenever Anguri would go out for her criminal forays, she would tell her husband Prem Singh that she was going to her relatives’ place. Whenever she returned home, she religiously bringing home any valuables and costly items so her husband did not suspect anything.
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Mystery shrouds student’s death
Faridabad, November 16 The police have, however, received a complaint from the maternal uncle of the deceased that the matter be investigated as he alleged that some relatives could be responsible for the suicide. It was stated that victim’s father had remarried after the death of his first wife, who was also the mother of the deceased. It is claimed that the mother and a brother of Ajay Kumar had also committed suicide. As such, the complainant has demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter and action against the persons responsible for it. Meanwhile, in another incident, a youth identified as Sudhir Kumar, a resident of sector- 21- D, was killed when a speeding bus rammed into the motorcycle on which he was traveling. The deceased was going on a motorcycle with his friend, who was seriously injured in the accident near sector-37 on the National Highway this morning. In another incident, two motorcycle-borne youths snatched the purse of a woman going on a rickshaw in sector- 15-A here. This is the third such incident in the town in the past four days. Such crimes have failed to recede despite the announcement by the IGP to check the spiraling crime rate in the town and the district. |
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Chinese impressed with GNIDA expo centre
Greater Noida, November 16 The head of the delegation, Ms Zhang Yazhu, said pharmaceuticals, chemicals and light industrial products in the Chinese pavilion had been regularly showcased as part of the IITF at Pragati Maidan since 1997. China would certainly like to take part in the India Import Show being held from March 22 to 26 here, she said. The eastern province of China, especially the autonomous region of Tibet, and India have much in common. A Chinese delegation had first visited India in 1996. Trade between Indian and China was worth $1,67 billion in1997, $ 10 billion last year and $ 012.6 billion in the first eight months of the current year. Increasing trade with India was a top priority with China, Ms Zhang Yazhu said. Things had improved after former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited China. Later, the Chinese Prime Minister and business delegations had also visited India, the Chinese delegation leader said. The venue of India Import Show 2006 is the India Expo Mart, one of the finest exposition and business centres established in the NCR region. The India Expo Mart had been planned and set up on the lines of the Dallas Market Centre and Shanghai Mart etc, Mr Rakesh Kumar, MD, India Expo Mart, said. The Chinese were told by Mr Navratan Samdria, Chairman, India Expo Mart, that for exporters of various countries, the India Import Show offered a unique opportunity to tap India’s huge market of consumer goods and lifestyle products. India, on an annual average, imported goods and machinery to the tune of $ 84.5 billion. There had been an average growth in total import by 20 per cent per annum. There are more than hundred thousand importers of consumer goods in India. The Indian market size was not only massive but was also continuously increasing. Keeping in mind the rapidly increasing demand for consumer goods, it seemed a necessity to organize an import show in India so that the main suppliers to India could display their products across the counter, negotiate the business and finalise orders. The show, being organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, will enable importers in India to source their requirement for varied items and commodities from different countries at one time and place. The display profile at the India Import Show would consist of houseware, home appliances, consumer electronics, lighting accessories, ceramics and glass items for home utility, furniture for home and office, furnishings, home decoration, cane and rattan products, tableware, kitchen and bathroom products, shoes, stationery, toys and gifts, luggage items, kitchenware, food and wine, fashion accessories, sunglasses and bags, perfumes and cosmetics, watches, pens and other lifestyle items, corporate gifts and novelties, agro products, beauty care, food and beverages etc, Mr Rakesh Kumar added. The EPCH has undertaken massive promotion and publicity campaign in India and other countries so that new business opportunities and new relationships could be created between exhibitors at India Import Show and the leading importers, distributors, wholesalers, retail chains, departmental stores and dealers etc. The EPCH would be organising seminars, meetings with trade associations and one-to-one meetings, seminars on franchising opportunities and seminars on accessing the India market.
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Ganga Ram has a cure now for prostate enlargement
New Delhi, November 16 Prostate enlargement is a condition that causes urinary problems in nearly half of all men over 50 years and that percentage increases with age. By the age of 80 years, men have enlarged prostate. Although not life threatening, it is painful, embarrassing and does affect the quality of life. Known as KTP Laser, this modality of treatment has special attributes by which it vaporizes the prostate tissue. It is a bloodless procedure and the patient can be sent back home the same day without a catheter. This is not the case with other available modalities for the treatment of BPH. Though KTP Laser can treat almost all cases of BPH, it has come as a boon for patients on anti-coagulants (blood thinners) as well as those with severely compromised heart and lung function.
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Expo on road safety opens
New Delhi, November 16 The exhibition demonstrates the various measures taken by the Delhi Traffic Police for a smooth flow of traffic and also to train people on how to use the road safely. The theme of the exhibition is “Follow Traffic Rules for Your Safety”. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Joshi also listed some road-safety measures. On the occasion, cultural programme, dance and play skit based on the road safety, were also performed. The Delhi Police Commissioner Dr K.K. Paul, along with other senior police officials were also present on the occasion.
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Global conference on Distance Education
New Delhi, November 16 The theme of the conference is “Open & Distance Education in Global Environment: Opportunities for Collaboration”. The conference shall provide an opportunity to researchers to share their experiences in distance education across institutions, countries and cultures. Over 300 delegates from 30 countries will participate in the conference. |
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New lease of life for polio affected children
Noida, November 16 The children will have to stay in the hospital for three to four weeks after the operations, said Dr R. A. Agarwal. The club will provide food and medicine for the first 5 days, which will be later taken over by the hospital management. Interestingly, the CMO had initially opposed the polio camps being held in the government hospital but later agreed to the proposal on the orders from the District Magistrate, Santosh Kumar Yadav.
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Washermen to pay for power as per domestic rates
New Delhi, November 16 The washermen of this area were forced to pay their electricity bills on the basis of commercial rates effective from June 24 this year following a high-level decision taken by the council. According to a senior officer of the council, “We have no other option than to charge them on the basis of commercial rates as we were incurring a loss of approximately Rs 15 crore due to that reason. Now the Delhi Government has agreed to give that said amount as a subsidy to the council every year. In view of this, we have changed our earlier decision,” said the officer. Another senior officer of the Delhi Government said that the subsidy had been given to them under the SC and ST Welfare Scheme by the Social Welfare Department of the Delhi Government. A high-level delegation, headed by the council Vice-Chairman, Ms Tajdar Babar, had recently met with the Chief Minister and lobbied for granting subsidy to them, he said. According to the General Secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Dhobi Samaj Sudhar Samiti Mr Tulsidas, “It is a great respite for all of us as we were unable to bear the burden. Some of our members were even planning to wind up their business. There are 200 licensed washermen across 16-odd dhobi ghats of the NDMC area. An additional 150 washermen have also applied for licence recently. The NDMC is following double standards. They are reluctant to give additional licences to the members of our community. They got the flats built near Hailey Road and Moti Bagh Dhobi Ghats and allotted them to the washermen of those areas sometime back. Even in the Kalibari Dhobi Ghat area, the land has already been sanctioned for the construction of such flats for the washermen of that area. There are 14,000 washermen associated with various dhobi ghats of the Capital. They are deprived of even basic facilities like Ration Card and Voter I-Card. At the time of the BJP rule in Delhi, the then government had sanctioned Rs 1.20 crore for carrying out various welfare schemes for this community. Since then no such help has come,” he alleged. There are more than 100 dhobi ghats across the Capital in which 16 fall into the NDMC area. Out of it, Sunhari Bagh, South Avenue and Darbhanga ghats were even operational during the British rule.
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Inquiry ordered into ‘illegal’ constructions
by HUDA
Gurgaon, November 16 The matter came to light when the new Administrator, Gurgaon Range, Mr S.P.Gupta, visited the sector to meet the residents and sort out their grievances yesterday. When the residents complained about the illegal ‘colony’, Mr Gupta directed the Superintending Engineer, Gurgaon Circle, to inquire as to how the employees procured water and electricity connections. He also directed him to find out how the employees had set up their houses on government land in an unauthorised manner. The residents alleged that the illegal constructions were coming up with the connivance of HUDA officials. The Administrator, who took charge recently, had earlier announced that he along with departmental officers would visit residential sectors to redress their grievances of the residents. A functionary of the HUDA said that this exercise is being undertaken in accordance with the present government’s vision to take the administration to the doorsteps of the common man.
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Special Appu Ghar scheme for kids
New Delhi, November 16 They may have a combined ticket of Appu Ghar rides and Oysters Water Park for Rs 100 per person against a normally priced ticket of Rs 350 per person (Rs 150 per person for Appu Ghar rides.
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Three held with drugs worth Rs 20 lakh
New Delhi, November 16 During interrogation, Rani said one Dashrath in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan supplied the drugs to her through Mukesh, they said.
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Hostel shortly for 500 girl students from northeast
New Delhi, Nov 16 The Delhi Government had provided the land for the hostel, he added.
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Traffic snarls and an endless stream of people are not the only conjectures related to the India International Trade Fair.
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