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Metro opens a new chapter in Delhi life
New Year connectivity for UP police stations
Cold wave and power cuts at their peak
MBA programme on Disaster Management, a momentous event
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‘A scheme to fool the public’
Haryana to introduce CNG buses in NCR
A ray of hope for those with upper limb injuries
BSES launches mobile customer care van
Fire in east Delhi guts several dwellings
Married woman found dead
Man arrested for forging property papers
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Metro opens a new chapter in Delhi life
New Delhi, December 31 Code-named Blue line, this longest stretch of the mass transport system covers 22 stations and 22.8 km and opened for the public today. By 6.00 pm, as many as 1.23 lakh persons travelled on the Line-3 and the DMRC raked in a cool Rs 23 lakh. By the time the last metro train rolls out at 10 pm, both the figures are likely to double. While excitement, enthusiasm, huge crowds and some confusion marked the inaugural day of the third line, connecting the commercial hub of the Capital with Dwarka sub-city on western outskirts, Connaught Place possibly never was so crowded. The busiest stations today were Dwarka Mor, Uttam Nagar East and Rajiv Chowk. Even though metro rail is not anymore a novelty for Delhi citizens, people turned out in huge numbers to travel on the Line-3, which runs both underground and elevated sections, connecting some of the busiest commercial and residential areas of Delhi. The line was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday. Besides being the last year of the day and also being a Saturday and holiday, many took the opportunity for a joyride in the metro. So the metro drew in large crowds on all the three lines, especially children who are enjoying their annual Christmas and New Year vacations. Tomorrow being Sunday, the same mad rush is expected on all three lines. However, from Monday onwards, things will settle down and the line will mostly be used by daily commuters only. In fact, several people, who will be using the route daily, also descended on various stations to check out the new route to their offices, schools and colleges. Many had been eagerly waiting for this section to open. Said Geeta Gupta, a resident of Janak Puri, “I had to change buses midway as there was no direct bus connection to office. Now the distances can be covered in minutes. The metro will improve the quality of my life tremendously. Now I can also hope to spend more time with my children.” Besides, the Metro is a welcome change from crowded and filthy DTC and Blueline buses. Moreover, it is safer and more convenient than the buses. Now that the metro fares have increased slightly, most commuters do not have any grudge as they are ready to shell out extra money for the metro fare in return for convenience and saving time. For several West Delhi residents, the metro will be starting right at their doorsteps. Earlier, the route to Janakpuri would remain blocked due to immense traffic and people stuck for hours. Moreover, the metro also means less pollution and people also hope that the new line will clear up the congestion on Delhi’s several crowded routes. However, there appeared to be a slight confusion on the first day. Though DMRC officials were there on prominent stations like Rajiv Chowk, Barakhamba Road, and Dwarka, there were no officials on several stations or clear markings or signboards. There were instances when commuters not knowing from where to board the train also landed on the wrong platforms. Some problems also appeared with not-so-regular frequency of the metro. Some people claimed to have been waiting for 20 minutes. Though DMRC officials said that the metro was running at a frequency of five minutes on the line. Moreover, lack of benches and basic facilities like public conveniences and drinking water added to the problems of several travelers, who were there to take a joyride with kids or elderly people. The Metro authorities, however, denied there were any major problems, saying that some troubles always occur on the first day of operations. But there appears to be no letting down in the Delhiites’ romance with the metro. And they all hope that it being the truly world-class system, its charm should remain intact and citizens make it their moral responsibility to protect it for years to come.
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New Year connectivity for UP police stations
Noida, December 31 The format for filing an FIR has been standardised for the entire country, said the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Meerut Zone, Mr R. K. Vishkarma, addressing Noida police officers here yesterday. The DIG said police stations in UP were going to be linked with a software named CISS from January 1, 2006. DIG Vishkarma said a new format had been designed to link all police stations virtually throughout the country. The seven -page format will be uniform throughout the country. Since Delhi and Haryana had different formats than UP, it created problems in feeding it to the computers but not so any more. The DIG also stressed the importance of making the local intelligence unit (LIU) hi-tech. He also expressed concern at police failure to identify the unidentified bodies which are found almost daily. He said a special police cell was being set up in Meerut zone for identifying the unidentified bodies being recovered in the zone almost every day. This cell will register full details of the bodies found in different districts of the zone so that the kith and kin of the deceased don’t have to run from pillar to post for identifying their deceased relatives.
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Cold wave and power cuts at their peak
Greater Noida, December 31 The hapless people in the area who are braving the cold wave joke about it that the intense cold seems to have frozen the power in the cables. With electric gadgets like heaters and blowers having become redundant and the authorities having banned the use of gen sets, the markets wear a deserted look after 5 pm. Traders are, as a result, among the most angry lot these days. The power cuts have even affected supply of potable water in the area since a week. Housewives are very livid at these conditions. Thanks to the power cuts, people have been deprived of organising New Year’s functions but watching New Year celebrations on TV has also become a remote possibility. While people are angry that the Greater Noida Authority’s promise for 24-hour power supply has not been fulfilled, students are unhappy that their studies have been hampered. The Noida Power Co Ltd officials try to cover up their failure by alleging the power department staff’s role and the lack of full support of power grid for the dismal conditions.
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flashback 2005 Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 31 GGIS’s attempt via this programme has been to transform current response-oriented efforts at disaster management to one of prevention, mitigation and preparedness. Further, in an effort to create synergy on this subject, the university has gone in for a thorough and multidisciplinary training to help manage disaster. In addition to the newly created Centre For Disaster Management Studies (CDMS), the university has also involved other schools like the University School of Environment Management, the School of Management Studies, School of Information Technology and the School of Law and Legal Studies. Moreover, the university has placed at the disposal of students participating in this course state-of-the-art facilities like Remote Sensing and GIS Labs, IT labs and communication labs. Vice-Chancellor K.K. Aggarwal informed The Tribune sometime back that, “the Disaster Management course that we have started very recently is the first course of its kind to have been started in India. Disaster Management is a very inter-disciplinary programme and we felt that this is a subject by itself. We felt that many diverse aspects have to be covered under this such as law, communication in the face of disaster, medicine, etc.” Other than disaster-management, researchers at GGIS are making an attempt to push the frontiers of science forward in the sphere of stem cell research. The man behind this work is, Prof. K. Kannan, and his faithful band of students. Kannan and his team’s research centres around what they describe as the ‘mother of all cells,’ Ubiquitin. This group is neckdeep in some major path-breaking research on this molecule and its functions. A brief digression into what Ubiquitin essentially is becomes necessary at this point. Ubiquitin is a protein made of 76 Amino acids and is known for its ‘scavenging functions’. It is known to tag proteins for degradation, processing, trafficking and sorting, all inter-cellular processes. However, Prof Kannan has gone ahead and proved that Ubiquitin is not merely a scavenging protein “but one of the most fundamental molecules which has a role in the life-renewing processes.” Most of the work currently on at GGIS university directed by Kannan has been on this new role that is Ubiquitin’s key function, one of life giving and not mere scavenging. Despite the good news at GGIS that does science proud in India, the Management department has been making waves as well the entire class of MCA IT at Indraprastha has had 100% placements this year with leading companies and well before their term finished. For a five-year old university, GGIS seems to be making major efforts to have itself put on the map as a premiere higher education institution in India.
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‘A scheme to fool the public’
New Delhi, December 31 “The scheme was only to allure and make a fool of the common man, who easily fall into such traps without knowing that the car as a prize money is only a hoax,” Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North) headed by K K Chopra held against Jayanta Lamp Industries Ltd, a Kolkata-based company and manufacturer of the famous ‘Orient Lamps’. Besides admonishing the company for relying on “unfair trade practices” to promote its products, the court ordered Rs 6,000 in compensation to complainant S K Sharma. Sharma, on June 8, 2002, had bought 100 bulbs from the company, which was a pre-condition to participate in a coupon contest with a Maruti van as the ‘grand prize’. On the day the results were announced, Sharma came to know that he had won the van. The jubilant Sharma approached the company’s dealer to claim the prize, only to be cold-shouldered by them.
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Haryana to introduce CNG buses in NCR
New Delhi, December 31 Haryana Transport Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said yesterday in Chandigarh that keeping in view the success of CNG buses in the national Capital Delhi, the state Transport Department was planning to introduce these buses in the NCR. The CNG buses were more environmental friendly as compared to diesel buses, he added. Informing that the Transport Department would soon be computerised, he said “The Haryana Roadways Engineering Corporation would be modernised and its capacity of building bus bodies would be enhanced”. He said the department had decided to replace the buses which were more than seven years old and there was a proposal to replace 765 buses during the current financial year. As many as 283 buses had been replaced till now, he added. Mr Surjewala said to provide better services to the passengers, the department had introduced Volvo buses on major and inter-state routes. Besides, the important bus-stands of the state were also being upgraded with latest facilities like ATM, cyber cafe, eating joints and night shelters to provide the passengers with better facilities. He said a series of road safety measures were being taken by the department to bring down the rate of accidents in Haryana.
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BSES launches mobile customer care van
New Delhi, December 31 Mobile Customer Care Van, launched today by the private distribution company BSES, will take care of the consumers’ needs by coming to their locality. Built at a cost of over Rs 10 lakh, the van has been custom designed and provided with a host of customer care facilities. Equipped with state-of-the-art Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, it will be stationed at suitable locations across BSES’s licensed area, making it convenient for the customers, especially the old and women, to make full use of the facilities offered. Customers and Residents Welfare Associations will be intimated in advance about the route plan of the van. The mobile van was flagged off by Mr Rakesh Mehta, Principal Secretary (Power), Delhi Government, at the discom’s Karkardooma head office. |
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A ray of hope for those with upper limb injuries
New Delhi, December 31 “Through this initiative, we aim to ensure greater independence for people who have suffered spinal injuries and at times become helpless when they cannot use the limb (hand), which gives all of us the utmost independence we could imagine,” says Major H. P.S. Ahluwalia, Chairman, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. Robert A Chase Hand and Upper Limb Centre at Stanford, which is one of the partners in this effort, specialises in the area of functional restorative surgery for the upper limb in the Tetraplegia as well as arthritis patients under the guidance of the world-renowned surgeon Prof Robert A. Chase. Over the years, it has designed and studied several new surgical procedures and rehabilitation protocols for the quadriplegic upper limb, and their results published. “For us, the most important objective of the collaboration is to transfer knowledge and skills that we have gained from working for several years in this area in the US. The challenge, however, is to make the solutions relevant and inexpensive for a country like India,” says Dr Vincent R Hentz of Stanford University. In a survey conducted in France recently, the patients who had lost control over the bodily functions revealed that of all the body parts they were unable to use after their injuries the one they wanted the most was the hand. “Restoring functions in a hand means a lot for a patient who has lost them. It means he/she could reach out for things, have human contact, write, shake hands, feed himself/herself and a lot more, says Dr Caroline Leclercq of Institute de la Main, Paris. Comprehensive rehabilitation programmes for every country are different though, admit these doctors. “For instance, an individual’s sense of independence in India could mean better coordination with other family members as the family is very important here. However, in France that is not the case and self independence could be more important,” adds Dr Leclercq. This collaboration under the patronage of Stanford-India Tetraplegia and Arthritis (SITA) programme will aim to bring the latest advancements in this area to India. Dr Sakti Srivastava, who has been appointed as the Director, Stanford-India Tetraplegia and Arthritis (SITA), will be coordinating the programme.
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Married woman found dead
Greater Noida, December 31 On a complaint, the police have registered a dowry death report against her husband and nine others. But after the woman’s death, who was allegedly found hanging from a noose, the members of her in-laws’ family have absconded after locking their house. Rakesh Garg of Dankore had married his daughter Komal, alias Sangeeta, on July 7, 2003, to Kuldip Singhal, son of Ram Avtar Singhal, of Mandi Shyam Nagar. Komal was found hanging from a noose on Friday night. The police brought down the body and informed her parents. Her brother Umesh filed a report, alleging that his sister’s in-laws had been torturing her since her marriage for more dowry. They had been beating Komal frequently. They were demanding Rs 1 lakh more as dowry. On her failure to meet that demand, Kuldip Singhal and his parents had put a noose around her neck and hanged her, Umesh alleged. On Umesh’s complaint, a case has been registered against Kuldip, his parents Ram Avtar and Suman Singhal, four sisters- in-law and three others.
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Man arrested for forging property papers
New Delhi, December 31 The Economic Offences Wing was approached by one Rajiv Goswami that his grandfather had purchased a land in Daryaganj in the year 1956 from Regional Settlement Commissioner, Ministry of Rehabilitation in auction. On January 1990, when he visited his house, he was shocked that the accused had allegedly demolished the entire property and was a constructing new building at the site. A case was registered at his instance in Daryaganj police station which was subsequently transferred to the Economic Offences Wing of Crime Branch. Police said that the accused had sold the property to nine persons on the basis of forged papers and made crores of rupees fraudulently in the process. The investigations of the case was handed over to the ACP M.K. Sharma who found that the accused was showing the sale deed in name of one Hari Dass Goswami.
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