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Five Noida officials suspended for
flyover scam
CM calls meeting of high-powered panel
Drunk students smash bottle on SI’s head
Warm weather here to stay
Traffic violations becoming the rule in Faridabad
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Sheila launches pulse polio drive for Jan
New Delhi, January 14 
The Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, today launched the January phase of the pulse polio campaign in the national Capital by administering anti-polio drops to children.
Ms Dikshit said renewed participation was essential to achieve the
target in the January phase of the campaign, under which children below
the age of five would be administered polio drops tomorrow at various
camps in hospitals, schools, railway station and other places.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit along with Health Minister Yoganand Shastri giving polio drops to a child on the eve of Polio Eradication Day in the Capital on Saturday. — A Tribune photograph
Cop held for taking bribe of Rs 500
Gurgaon police get ISO certificate
Bickering resurfaces at DYC chief’s oath-taking
Tips to survive the cold wave
A college with a difference
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Five Noida officials suspended for
flyover scam
Noida, January 14 Many anomalies had been found in the construction of the flyovers ordered during former UP Chief Minister Ms Mayawatti’s
tenure. CBCID, the intelligence agency of the state government, had been entrusted with its inquiry. Another probe into the alleged bungling was carried out by the B.S. Mathur Commission. Noida Authority CEO Sanjeev Saran has, after receiving the CBCID recommendation, suspended the guilty officers. Those suspended include Senior Project Engineer A.K. Goel, Sr. Accounts Officer J.P. Chawla, Accounts Officer, Kanhya Lal, Project Engineer Shodan Singh and Assistant Project Engineer Rajinder Kumar. All these officers are accused of having accepting heavy bribes in the construction of these flyovers. The then CEO Dr Om Prakash,
Dy. CEO Hira Lal and Chief Project Engineer O.P. Tiwari have also been found guilty. Action against them will be taken at the government level, it is understood. The contract for the flyover in Sector-82 was awarded to National Project Construction Corporation Ltd, while flyovers in Sector-44, near Amity Crossing and Sector-16-A, near film city, were allotted to Hindustan Steel Works Corporation Ltd at an estimated cost of Rs 184 crore. As soon Ms Mayawatti government fell, new Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had stopped the construction work on these flyovers and ordered a vigilance probe. A one-man B.S. Mathur Commission was also set up for the inquiry. On the basis of the Commission recommendations against the guilty, the government handed over the case to CBCID to frame charges. According to sources, cases of large-scale bribes being paid and money changing hands had come to light. CBCID had started probe into these allegations on March 18, 2005. After about nine months’ inquiry, CBCID had submitted its report to the UP Industries Department. The inquiry has also recommended suspension of the then CEO of Noida
Authority, Dr. OM Prakash, Dy CEO Hara Lal and Chief Project Engineer O.M. Prakash Tiwari. Recommendation to this effect has been sent to the state government for taking action against these senior officers.
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CM calls meeting of high-powered panel
New Delhi, January 14 The meeting of the panel, set up by the city government, is being convened in view of the Chief Minister’s reported “unhappiness” with Delhi Mayor Satbir Singh’s criticism of her “interference” in the demolition issue. Yesterday, the party’s efforts to seek a solution to the issue appeared to have hit a roadblock with a member of the panel claiming that the meeting was cancelled last evening due to the Chief Minister’s unhappiness over the Mayor’s remarks. However, official sources said the meeting was postponed due to administrative reasons. At tomorrow’s meeting, civic officials and planning experts would be presenting the results of the surveys they were asked to carry out to get an idea of the magnitude of the problem of illegal constructions in the city. At the earlier meeting of the panel, the officials had reportedly presented statistics showing that as much as 70 per cent of Delhi’s buildings had illegal constructions. Besides Ms Dikshit, Union Minister Kapil Sibal, Delhi Urban Development Minister A. K. Walia and DPCC chief Ram Babu Sharma are members of the panel, which was formed to coordinate between the Centre, the state government and the MCD to find a long-term solution to the problem of unauthorised constructions. The authorities concerned have to submit a status report before the Delhi High Court to inform how many illegal structures has been demolished. The Delhi High Court issued directions to the corporation on December 14 to demolish 18,000 illegal structures in Delhi and submit its status report after one month. In the beginning, the building department of the corporation had demolished 80-90 properties every day, resulting in owners of unauthorised constructions running from pillar to post to save their buildings. They pressed the elected representatives to save their structures. In this connection, councillors across the party approached the Chief Minister of Delhi to find a way out to safeguard citizens’ interest. The CM washed her hands off the affair, saying that it was the court’s decision. She even asked the corporation to publicly name owners of unauthorised constructions by putting the list on the MCD website. Even the Union Urban Development Minister refused to interfere in the matter as it was the high court’s directive. Differences were already there between the DPCC chairman Ram Babu Sharma and the Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, but the issue of demolition had made the gap more wide. Mr Ram Babu Sharma and a majority of other Delhi politicians wanted to find a way out to stop the demolition drive of the corporation. She has also included her detractors in the meeting as this is a chance to fill the gap between the CM and those in opposition to her in the Congress who call her an “outsider”.
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Drunk students smash bottle on SI’s head
Noida, January 14 In spite of being injured, the gutsy SI chased and blocked the culprits’ Lancer car at the next crossing. Three students of Amity Business School quickly got down from the car and pounced upon the injured cop and thrashed him thoroughly. Soon after this, police from Sector 39 police station reached the spot, arrested the students and seized their car. All the students who attacked the police sub-inspector are said to be from well-connected families, with one reportedly being the son of an MP. Meanwhile, the college management is reported to have decided to take strict action against the BBA students—Amit, Rahul and Arpit, who in their Lancer car No. DL 8CG-6201 had jumped red light at Amarpali Crossing. When SI Sunil Dubey tried to stop them, the students smashed a beer bottle on his head and sped away. But somehow the gutsy SI had chased them and blocked their car at the next crossing. Here all the three students Amit, Rahul and Arpit assaulted the SI Sunil Dubey in uniform in full public view.. Meanwhile, the police force from 39 police station arrived on the spot and took the three drunkard accused into custody and seized their car also. After their medical examination, a case for assaulting a police officer on duty, jumping a red light and driving a vehicle under the influence of liquor has been registered against the three, police circle officer K.K. Gautam said.
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Warm weather here to stay
New Delhi, Jan 14 There was warmth in the air as the sun came out clear and bright with the minimum temperature rising to eight degrees Celsius, one degree above the normal, from seven degree Celsius yesterday, Delhiites were also spared the morning fog as it was a bright sunny day that greeted them. Airlines also reported all flight departures and arrivals on schedule. For the first time in several days, the Capital witnessed a by and large clear sky in the early hours of the morning with only slight mist in some areas. With the Met office predicting a minimum temperature of seven degree Celsius tomorrow and the BBC forecasting a further rise in maximum temperature in the coming days, the warm weather seems to be here to stay. According to the BBC’s forecast for the coming week, day as well as night temperatures could witness a sharp rise. In fact, it predicted that while the night temperature could rise to as high as 10 degrees Celsius by January 17, the day temperature was likely to touch a high of 28 degrees Celsius on January 17. The Met Department has attributed the warmth in the air to the decrease in the influence of the north-westerly winds which had been contributing to the chill in the air during the past week, when the mercury touched a 70- year low of 0.2 degrees Celsius on last Sunday. There were no reports of delays in train departures from Delhi because of the weather. Night temperatures last Saturday dropped down to 0.2 degrees, breaking the Capital’s 70-year winter record.
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Traffic violations becoming the rule in Faridabad
Faridabad, January 14 While more than half a dozen persons were killed in the mishaps during the past one week, three of them, including a minor girl were killed in the past 48 hours. This industrial hub with about 15 lakh people has just two dozens of traffic policemen and a majority of them could be seen manning the various intersections on the National Highway number Two, better known as Mathura Road. Traffic cops are deployed inside the city only when there is a VIP visiting some locality. The Haryana police are normally deployed on the roads when the Chief Minister or other dignitaries visit the area. The city roads, including Mathura Road witness acute chaos. There is hardly anyone who could take action against the violators. Recently some miscreants beat up a traffic cop on a busy intersection on the Highway, when he tried to stop a car from jumping the red signal. Though the accused have been booked, there is no fear of traffic cops posted in the city or elsewhere, claimed a local resident. He said people fasten the seat belt only when they enter Delhi and unfasten it as soon as they enter the Faridabad border. Similarly, he said, a two-wheeler rider has no fear of getting punished for not wearing a helmet in the city or the district. The senior officials of the police and local administration admit that there have been no provisions to check the violations on the spot like in Delhi. A large number of teenagers drive vehicles, especially motorbikes at top speed and cause accidents. Many of them do not have even a licence, says
K.L. Gera, a social activist.
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Sheila launches pulse polio drive for Jan
New Delhi, January 14 Ms Dikshit said renewed participation was essential to achieve the target in the January phase of the campaign, under which children below the age of five would be administered polio drops tomorrow at various camps in hospitals, schools, railway station and other places. Special efforts would be required to reach the children in slum clusters of Delhi, she said. Highlighting the success of Delhi in the immunisation programme, the Chief Minister said only one polio case was reported from the Capital last year. Delhi had immunised around 26 lakh children in November phase and 26 lakh families were visited in house-to-house activities, the CM said. The Delhi Health Minister, Mr. Yoganand Shastri, who was also present at the launch of the campaign, said as a new initiative all 51 Metro stations, including the new 22 stations on Line 3 from Barakhamba to Dwarka, would be used for transit population coverage. He said special teams would be deployed all across the Capital, including five at Auto Expo in Pragati Maidan and six at Akshardham Temple, for the purpose. Four teams would also be deployed in about 60 trains to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to cover children in transit, he added. Special emphasis had been given to rural areas of the Capital to create awareness about pulse polio, he said.
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Cop held for taking bribe of Rs 500
Gurgaon, January 14 Deputy Commissioner R P Bhardwaj informed that Ramesh Kumar, a resident of village Jatouli, had complained to him that Beena, a constable, posted at Farrukhnagar police station, had demanded Rs 500 for using papers related to the death certificate of his grandfather, Khem Chand. The Deputy Commissioner appointed Gurgaon Tehsildar Kuldeep Singh Dakka as duty magistrate and directed the vigilance team to raid the police station on the complaint of Ramesh Kumar. When Ramesh Kumar reached Farrukhnagar police station, he did not find constable Beena and met head constable Dinesh Kumar. Dinesh Kumar told him that Beena had to go somewhere on an emergency duty and she had told him to hand over some papers to Ramesh Kumar and take Rs 500 from him. As already planned, Ramesh Kumar gave Rs 500 to Dinesh Kumar and took the paper. The vigilance team raided the police station and arrested Dinesh Kumar on the spot. The Deputy Commissioner informed that the police would soon arrest Beena also.
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Gurgaon police get ISO certificate
Gurgaon, January 14 Senior Superintendent of Police Hanif Qureshi claimed that his office became first not only in Haryana, but in entire northern police region which had obtained this certificate from International Standard Organisation. Mr Qureshi said that for the quality administration in his office, the following points: control of documents, master list of records, responsibility and objectives, preventive and corrective actions at the SSP office, were focused and fulfilled at international standard. The District police had applied for an ISO certificate through QMI-4167 97 St. Second Floor, Edmonton Alberta, Canada in September 2005. Objections raised in pre-assessment were removed and the final inspection was conducted by a high-level committee headed by Dr S K Dutt, Director QMI (Canada) in India on January 10. After the visit, the certificate was awarded, informed the SSP. The SSP added that every staff at the SSP office would now have fixed and written responsibilities and works. There would be more transparency and convenience for the public. Various departments at the SSP now have signboards displaying the backlog and the present position of the files related to the masses, informed the officer.
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Bickering resurfaces at DYC chief’s oath-taking
New Delhi, January 14 After the event, former Union Minister and local MP Jagdish Tytler reportedly said an outsider had destroyed Delhi, in apparent reference to Ms Dikshit. Ms Dikshit and her Cabinet of ministers barring Mr Yoganand Shastri were conspicuous by their absence at the event held at office of the local Congress unit, which is headed by Mr Ram Babu Sharma. The function of oath-taking, however, coincided with a workshop on the future of Delhi 2010 in which Ms Dikshit was also a participant. Among the leaders present on the occasion were Mr Ram Babu Sharma, Mr Jagdish Tytler, Mr Sajjan Kumar, MLAs Ramakant Goswami, Charan Singh Kandera, Anil Bhardwaj, Surender Kumar, Jai Kishan and Rajesh Lilothia who is outgoing president of the DYC. Addressing the gathering, Mr Tytler said he was thankful to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for choosing a Delhiite for the post. The newly appointed DYC president assured that he would fulfil the responsibility given to him by the Congress high command.
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Tips to survive the cold wave
New Delhi, January 14 Giving details, Dr K. K. Aggarwal, President of the DMA, said that during peak winter, chances of plaque rupture were high and one could get sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack, rise in blood pressure and an attack of brain haemorrhage. “People are advised to cover sensitive parts like ear canals, nasal openings, neck and head. The best is monkey cap,” added Dr Aggarwal. Winter hypothermia deaths are also common. Look for the signs of absence of shivering when exposed to cold. It is a danger signal and signifies body defense mechanisms failure. If a person is found to be with low temperature, immediate steps should be undertaken to warm the body. The first step is to wrap in a blanket and provide an atmosphere of warmth, said Dr Aggarwal.
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A college with a difference
New Delhi, January 14 Spread over 10 acres of land, this new campus has provisions for environment and disabled-friendly buildings, hostels for boys and girls, a swimming pool, playground, gymnasium, auditorium, underground parking and separate students corner. Having cost the exchequer Rs 30 crore, the new building is likely to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister in the first week of February at Vasundhara Enclave in the eastern part of the city.
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