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Get ready to pay more for water: CM
CBI inquiry demanded into golf course clash
Bomb scare disrupts rail traffic
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Boy missing for 10 days, but cops refuse to register FIR
College staff to be evicted from school premises
Campaign to educate schoolkids on electricity
Gr Noida to bring new residential scheme
‘29 cows dying in govt shelters daily’
Govt hospitals hit by strike
49 positive dengue cases reported
District admn prepares for pulse polio campaign
Man shot over minor dispute
Artificial limbs donated for quake victims
German students learn about Indian culture
MCD record-keeper held for bribe
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Get ready to pay more for water: CM
New Delhi, November 18 “The more one will use, the more he will have to pay,” she said. Ms Dikshit stressed the urgent need to change people’s mindset in order to inculcate the habit of conserving drinking water. An attitude for careful use of water would not formed till the “comfort feeling” of paying almost nothing for it was removed, she said. But people were not willing to pay, which was a sad state of affairs, she added. People also do not want to embrace new technology like water harvesting, even when they were required to do so under the law, to avoid bearing more cost, the chief minister said. People were also suspicious of using re-cycled water, she added. Water was not just wasted in urban areas but also in rural areas, she said and stated that over 3 lakh private tube wells in the city were exploiting ground water indiscriminately. Faced with a situation that neighbouring states were less inclined to share water, we have to have a re-look at historic methods and procedures to conserve water and harness rainwater, Ms Dikshit said. Saying though at the moment there was enough water for supplying it 24 hours to the people in Delhi, she accepted that this could not be done because of
mismanagement in its distribution. She, however, advised people to conserve, re-cycle and re-charge water as the precious resource was not ‘unlimited’.
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Sheila launches education programme
New Delhi, November 18 Speaking on the occasion, Ms Dikshit said that “It is a unique and much-needed programme. It aims at all round development of the children giving them the knowledge required to face everyday challenges like resisting the temptation surrounding them,” adding that the programme would be implemented in about 1,000 government schools. On this occasion, Ms Dikshit also released two handbooks prepared by Delhi government on the new subjects and said there would be a slot of 30-35 minutes everyday for adolescence education. Students during adolescence period are vulnerable to so many impulses of which some can spell doom for them, she said. “As the thinking process develops, the students will be taught how to behave and face the impulses properly. Even nervousness is a big problem and they will be taught ways to change them into positive energy,” Ms Dikshit further added. She also said students should be aware of the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is fast becoming a challenge for the country. Since the disease is non-curable, the students should know about prevention and spread of the virus, she added.
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CBI inquiry demanded into golf course clash
New Delhi, November 18 The clash had resulted in the death of one security guard and bullet injuries to five workers. The PUDR said here that it saw the incident as part of a worrying trend of recent anti-worker stance of the establishment and the employers, Honda being a case in point, the end result of which was the arrest of workers under serious charges and no action against those who perpetrate violence against them. Releasing a report on the incident, it said one FIR was registered on the complaint against 250 workers under charges ranging from rioting to murder, following which 16 persons including four schoolboys were arrested and continue to be in jail. On the other hand, bail was immediately granted to five security guards arrested on a second FIR lodged by workers against 100-150 security personnel on the charge of rioting. “The entire attention in the Greater Noida incident was focused on the clash, with no attention being paid to the history of the worker-management relations and the context of the labour dispute in which the incident took place,” PUDR spokespersons Harish Dhawan and Shahana Bhattacharya said here releasing the report. Giving a background of the incident, the report said 164 workers were employed around 1995 after Sterling Holiday Resorts was given the lease to develop and operate the Greater Noida Golf Course. As many as 96 of them had become permanent by 1998. In April 2000, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority
(GNIDA) cancelled the lease with Sterling and a new promoter, Jaypee Industries, was given the lease of the 222 acres of golf course land without following the procedures. However, Jaypee defaulted on its obligation to workers, golfers and service providers. The case was referred to the labour court in Ghaziabad. But the case could not be heard since the labour court does not have a single judge. Five months’ wages remain unpaid to workers till date. When they demanded payment of wages, they were thrown out of work in August 2000. Finally on September 13, 2005, Jaypee offerred to reinstate 52 workers, but a meeting at the golf course gate on September 15, the workers rejected the offer, following which the security in-charge abused them which led to the quarrel and finally to the clash. The PUDR demanded that the GNIDA pay workers all pending wages including interest payment at penal rates and recover the same from Jaypee Greens. It should also ensure that the workers were provided jobs at Jaypee Greens or else were absorbed in the GNIDA itself. It also demanded proper compensation to the family of the security guard killed in the clash and the injured workers.
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Bomb scare disrupts rail traffic
Faridabad, November 18 Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident and no damage was reported to the railway track. The traffic on this route, which was stopped following this development, was resumed after two hours. The police have requisitioned an expert team from Madhuban to diffuse the recovered ‘bombs’ and investigate into the matter. As per reports, the bombs were noticed by some children residing in the nearby AC Nagar locality situated between the New Town railway station and the Neelam flyover. The police sources claimed that the bomb like objects had been kept between the tracks and was noticed by a gangman, who informed the stationmaster immediately. Subsequently, the police was informed about the presence of the bomb. The police put the two bomb-like objects in a pool of water. The experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, have been informed about it and asked to conduct further investigation. In the process, the rail traffic on this important track connecting Delhi with Agra and other main stations in South and West India was stalled for about two hours. This is the first such incident in the district after the recent bomb blasts in Delhi. Fortunately, the explosion did not cause any injury or damage to properties, including the railway track, claimed an official.
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Boy missing for 10 days, but cops refuse to
Noida, November 18 The boy’s elder brother has been visiting the police station almost daily but is turned back by the cops without a report being filed. The policemen give him verbal assurances that the boy will come back and he should not worry about it. Mohd Haroon, security guard of the community centre in Sector 19, had gone to Harola market on November 6 for some work. On his return, he did not find his 12-year-old brother, Mohd Satar, in the house. When the boy did not return by late evening, Mohd Haroon made inquiries from his neighbours. Finding no positive clue, he went to the Sector 20 police to lodge a missing person report. The police sent him back on the assurance that his brother would come home on his own and did not register the complaint. According to Mohd Haroon, after that he has visited the police station umpteen times but the cops did not take him seriously and there was no trace of his missing brother so far. But the police are dismissing the possibility of his kidnapping, saying that “Mohd Satar must have gone away with his friends and will come back by himself one day, don’t worry”.
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College staff to be evicted from school premises
New Delhi, November 18 A two-member bench had directed Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi Government, DDA and Anglo-Arabic Hr. Sec. School Management Committee to find out ways of removing illegal occupation of the 250-year-old building. Employees of Zakir Hussain College who occupy the staff quarters on campus of this building and were asked by the court to vacate the premises, have been protesting against the court’s order on the grounds that they are “living in the periphery of the protected monument”. “The hostel and the staff quarters in the old building are in the periphery of the campus. We are not encroaching on the building nor are we impeding the restoration work being carried out by the ASI,” said the Warden, Dr Khurshid Alam. Pointing out that the college authorities have sought help from the Chief Minister, Dr Alam said, “We want the court to listen to our version as well.” Putting forth that the college has a new and bigger building opposite the Ram Lila Maidan, Firoz Bhakth of the Friends for Education NGO, who had filed a PIL in the court seeking the clearing of the protected building said, “They should shift the hostel and the living quarters to the new building and leave the school to the children, to whom it rightfully belongs.” Adding that the court’s orders vis-a-vis eviction from premises will be carried out early next week, he said, “If the court’s order is not followed, we will file for contempt.” If the employees do not vacate on their own, the competent authorities, he said, will carry out demolition. The court had ruled in May that despite the college being given an alternative premises, the staff had been occupying the buildings and it is the duty of the college to hand over the premises to the government. The Anglo-Arabic School was set up by a Mughal courtier during the reign of Bahadur Shah I, and was declared a heritage monument in 2002 by the ASI.
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Miss Universe inaugurates school
New Delhi, November 18
It would cater to the children from the economically weaker sections of the society. An over-sized chocolate cream cake was cut by the beauty queen to mark the inauguration of the school, which was attended by Prof. Arindam
Chaudhuri, noted economist and Founder of GIDF in the presence of other volunteers of the foundation. According to Prof.
Chaudhuri, “The school is just another humble step towards realizing the Great Indian Dream, a dream of every Indian – where the country is free from social injustices and class divide and where every Indian is educated, healthy and ridden off poverty. These were the objectives with which we started GIDF in 2001 and with every new initiative, we feel that we are moving towards that dream.” Miss Universe Natalie Gledova said, “I appreciate the initiative taken by the Great Indian Dream Foundation. It gives me great pleasure to associate myself in such noble initiatives. If my status as a Miss Universe can really make a difference to this part of the world, then I would be more than happy to be back here whenever required.” The event was attended by over 300 children between the age of 4-14 years from schools maintained by GIDF in various slums and JJ colonies, throughout Delhi. The venue was decked up in the form of a mini carnival with lots of games and fun-staffs for the children. A special magic-show session was the pick of the day. A large assortment of snacks and drinks was also served to the children. The event was highlighted with a special photo session of these children with the most beautiful woman on the planet. The foundation runs many night-shelters for the impoverished women and children in various cities around the country. It also provides medical facilities through regular heath check-up camps for the underprivileged in rural and urban India. Alongside its regular projects, the foundation has always devoted its resources to the cause of alleviating human suffering, especially in case of natural and man made disasters like the Dabri air crash, Gujarat Earthquake, the Kargil War, the super cyclone in coastal Orissa and Tsunami Relief in coastal Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
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Campaign to educate schoolkids on electricity
New Delhi, November 18 The function, held at BYPL’s Shastri Park 66 KV grid, was attended by over 100 school children from Government Sarvodya Senior Secondary school, Shastri Park and Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial School, Jafarabad. Those present on the occasion included Mr Arun Kanchan, CEO BYPL, and senior government and BSES officials. This BYPL initiative included a power-point presentation on ‘How to use electricity safely and economically’ as well as an interactive question and answer session between electricity engineers and the inquisitive school children. BYPL has in fact created a ‘Special Classroom’ at the grid to ensure that the children are provided an ambience where they feel comfortable to seek a response to their every query. Each interaction with the students would last for nearly one hours. The motto of the initiative is to educate school children about various aspects of the electricity business – generation, transmission and distribution – as well as to inculcate in them the habit of using electricity judiciously and intelligently. BSES intends to conduct three to four sessions every day with 50 students in each batch. Each session will be followed by refreshments for the school children. Arrangements have also been made to hand over some company brochures and other informative material. Speaking at the occasion, Mr Lovely said, “I congratulate BYPL for taking up this initiative. It was the need of the hour. Electricity is a very scarce resource and we need to use it optimally. Children have a receptive mind and we must harness their potential to ensure that our future generations learn how to use resources
properly”. According to a BSES spokesperson, “Our effort will be to educate as many children as possible under this scheme. BSES has an ambitious plan to cover nearly 2,500 government and private schools under this campaign. The response so far has been very encouraging”.
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Gr Noida to bring new residential scheme
Greater Noida, November 18 The construction work was expected to be completed in the current financial year, according to the CEO and Chairman of Greater Noida Authority, Mr Rakesh Bahadur. The Chairman said the authority has decided to earmark 50 to 100 acres of land in Knowledge Park, Sector-5 for building flats for such units. An entertainment club, a swimming pool, school, hospital, a market and an improved transport system will also be provided in the new complex. He said the recent award of ISO-9001 and ISO-1400 to Greater Noida Authority had given a new confidence to its employees to take up such a task. No other government organisations in UP, he said, had received this prestigious recognition. The Chairman said improved transport and connectivity between Delhi and Greater Noida was also on card. Shortly, some 80 modern buses will start plying on Greater Noida-Noida-Delhi route. Apart from setting up new police stations for better law and order, land for which has been already allotted to the police department, a police post is being set up in each sector in Greater Noida. Steps are being taken for providing better security on the 26 km-long Expressway where incidents of loot and road accidents are quite common. Telephone booths at every 2-km, police patrol vehicles and ambulances will be made available on the Expressway so that any passerby could use the toll-free public telephones to alert the control room of any accident or law and order problem, Mr Bahadur added.
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‘29 cows dying in govt shelters daily’
New Delhi, November 18 He also demanded that by calling for a detailed report regarding the present status of the government cow shelters, the Lieutenant Governor should take firm steps for the proper
maintenance of government-run cow shelters in the capital. In a statement today, Dr Vardhan said that according to government data, 29 cows are dying every day in the cow shelters of Delhi. In the month of May, 3,814 cows were impounded in the cow shelters and out of these 337 cows died that month because they were neither given fodder of good quantity nor they were properly treated. In the same way, in the month of 847 in June, 725 in July, 825 in August, 886 in September and 705 cows in October died in the cow shelters.
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Govt hospitals hit by strike
New Delhi, November 18 Hospitals which come under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), including Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia and Lady Harding, saw Class C and D employees keeping off work. They are responsible for cleaning and administrative duties. “There is a directive that prohibits these employees from going on a strike and causing the breakdown of the entire functioning because hospitals come under the Essential
Services Maintenance Act. There was a minor disruption, but work went on smoothly otherwise,” said a senior official at Safdarjung Hospital. With some administrative staff also boycotting work, queues were especially long at the registration counters. Several complaints about unclean wards were also received. The employees are protesting against the government hiring private security personnel and safai karamcharis. Claiming that it would hurt their sense of job security, they urged the
Government to involve them in a dialogue to work out a solution.
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49 positive dengue cases reported
Gurgaon, November 18 Dr Saharan revealed that most of the dengue cases reported were from near the border area of Gurgaon- Delhi border. Interior parts of Gurgaon and remote villages have witnessed fewer dengue cases, added the doctor. The civil surgeon informed that DLF and its surrounding areas were much affected by the dengue. He appealed to the people not to allow water to stagnate in a particular place for too long. Even a small bowl of water can breed harmful dengue
mosquitoes.
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District admn prepares for pulse polio campaign
Noida, November 18 It is aimed that no child up to the age of 5-years should be without having been administered polio drops. This target was given to the concerned officers and staff of pulse polio campaign in a special meeting two days back. The Additional District Magistrate, Mr Rajesh Kumar, said incidents of polio have been reported more in areas with density of Muslim population in UP. Some 70 transit booths have also been set up in railway stations, bus stops etc. After the first day, the mobile teams will go from door to door to administer polio drops to children. Some 618 mobile teams have separately been constituted, which will cover over 4.12 lakh houses in the district.
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Man shot over minor dispute
Faridabad, November 18 According to reports, the victim, identified as Baljit Singh (45), was involved in a quarrel with his neighbour, Mahesh Thakur, over the cleaning of the drain passing in front of their houses. As a result, Mahesh, who was accompanied by his friend Dev Kumar, opened fire with a gun after a physical brawl. While Baljit, a state government employee, died on the spot, two splinters of the bullet also hit two minor boys playing nearby. The injured boys were identified as Vicky and Shahbaz, both brothers living as tenant in house of the deceased. Both the accused persons fled from the place.
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Artificial limbs donated for quake victims
New Delhi, November 18 The trade minister of Pakistan Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken was present on the occasion. The Secretary General of ISHWAR Major (Retd.) R. L. Grover said on the occasion that their team of prosthetists would be available to coordinate with their counterparts in Pakistan through e-mail for clinical references and other consultations. “If the need arises, we can even send a team to Lahore for the fittings,” he said.
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German students learn about Indian culture
New Delhi, November 18 The German delegation was in the city for a
week-long exchange programme initiated by Dr Dietrich Kebschull of IGEP foundation. School students from Germany interacted with their Indian counterparts and learnt more about each other’s culture.
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MCD record-keeper held for bribe
New Delhi, November 18 Police said that Hari Chand retired as ‘Dresser’ from MCD dispensary. He went to the MCD office, Najafgarh, to get the vouchers verified pertaining to his retirement dues where he met the accused record-keeper.
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New Delhi, November 18
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