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Centre may bring legislation to change Delhi building laws
Protesting BJP MLAs thrown out of Assembly
Centre assures Sheila of help in getting water from UP
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Custodial death case gathers dust in court
Yet another land scam surfaces in Greater Noida
Anger over move to reinstate tainted official
Bus shelters in NDMC area to be renovated
UGC to reimburse property tax payments by central universities
Security arrangements in place for examinations
Private firm hired for disposal of bio-medical waste
BSES legal team manhandled in court
Want to lodge an FIR? Secure a court order
Rs 100 bribe lands telecom officer in jail
Three run over by train
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Centre may bring legislation to
New Delhi, March 6 Replying to a calling attention motion in Lok Sabha on the demolition issue moved by Prof V K Malhotra (BJP), Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said that if necessary, the government would bring forward an appropriate piece of legislation to amend building rules. The Minister asserted that Municipal Corporation of Delhi has asked the High Court to “permit it to continue action in respect of encroachments, construction on public land and ongoing unauthorised construction, while in other cases of violation and misuse, action be taken on receipt of the recommendations of the Committee.” The High Court has listed the matter for hearing on March 22. “At the end of the day, we will have to bring a legislation,” said Mr Reddy while pointing out that this would be possible only after the government “adopts some elements of approach” on the basis of the recommendations of a high-powered committee headed by former Delhi Lt. Gov. Tejndra Khanna, appointed to look into the issue. The committee, which has been given three months’ time to submit its report, was set up about a month ago. Allaying aside Opposition charge that the situation was very grim and may create law and order problem due to demolition of houses of lakhs of people on High Court orders, the Minister said that the government was not opposed to change of law per se. “But we must know what changes we should make so that it can serve as a benchmark,” he said. He said there was no need for anyone to get worked up as the government always had compassion on the issue of demolition of jhuggies. “Our policy is very clear. Those staying in slums will not be disturbed until and unless such places are required for larger purpose. In such cases, the government would find alternative accommodation for them,” Mr Reddy said. In this context, he pointed out that the Supreme Court itself was compassionate with regard to small shops. Mr Reddy said 18,000 buildings were listed for sealing or demolition. “However, demolition is the ultimate weapon,” he added. “We have gone to the court to see if the process of demolition could be slowed down till the high-powered committee makes its recommendations,” he said. He said a committee headed by Mr V K Malhotra had recommended general amnesty to violators of building rules a few years ago, but the previous NDA government had rejected it. “It does not lie well in the mouth of any BJP member to speak of general amnesty,” he said taunting Mr Malhotra, who earlier demanded general amnesty to the violators. Dissatisfied with the response, BJP-led Opposition members staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha.
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Protesting BJP MLAs thrown out of Assembly
New Delhi, March 6 Mr Jagdish Mukhi, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Delhi BJP chief Dr Harsh Vardhan and other party MLAs were on their feet at the end of the question hour when Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh called in marshals who took the Opposition members out. They were angry at the government for what they called its unresponsiveness to news reports that a private company had unsuccessfully offered bribes to members of the PAC that has found irregularities in Delhi Administration’s smart card scheme. The BJP MLAs were also seeking Ms Dikshit’s resignation over a PAC report that the transfer of Delhi’s power utility assets to private discoms had been a cheap sell-out. Outraged at the forcible eviction of BJP MLAs, Mr Mukhi later told a news conference that his party would be forced to petition President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam if Delhi Government continued to “suppress” the Opposition. The BJP legislators also protested against police lathicharge on traders protesting court orders to seal building housing commercial activities in residential zones. Navneet Gulati, president of Shonkh Technologies International Limited, which has been given the smart card contract, however, said that an official of the company went to a member of the PAC to give their version and not to bribe him. “There were no irregularities, undue relaxation or favoritism by the Transport Department in awarding the Smart Optical-Based Vehicle Registration Certificate project,” he said. The allegation that the company approached members of the PAC to try to influence them was false, he claimed.
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Centre assures Sheila of help in
New Delhi, March 6 Mr Soz, during a half-an-hour meeting with the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, assured her that he would take up the issue with the Uttar Pradesh government. Mr Soz assured Ms Dikshit that he would call a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to sort out the matter, a spokesman of the Delhi Government said today. The Delhi Chief Minister had demanded that 300 cusecs of water be released daily to the treatment plant from the Tehri dam, he said. The Water Minister told her that Delhi Government’s demand was reasonable, the spokesman said. Despite the Prime Minister’s intervention and several promises, Uttar Pradesh has never released water for the plant, except once when it released 50 cusecs of water for “flushing” it. The Sonia Vihar plant, Delhi’s biggest water treatment facility, requires at least 100 cusecs of water per day to be operational. Once fully operational, it will go a long way in easing Delhi’s shortage of water during summer. If the Uttar Pradesh Government agrees to give water to Sonia Vihar project, Delhi government will easily cover up water shortage prevalent in south and east Delhi. Water supply has been erratic in a number of colonies in south Delhi for the last one month. In Sidharth Extension Colony near Hari Nagar Ashram, residents are obliged to depend on water supply tankers. Meanwhile, officials of the Delhi Jal Board today assured residents of B-Block in Chitranjan Park of water supply in the morning after a demonstration. A resident of the colony said that there was no water supply for the last one month and she actually had to go her parents house in Faridabad for a bath. Meanwhile, the Delhi Water Board (Amendment) Bill, 2005, that proposed to regulate and impose a cess on groundwater was withdrawn today. The report was prepared by the Select Committee constituted to amend the Bill Speaking in the Delhi Assembly when the report on the Bill came up for adoption, Ms Dikshit said she was withdrawing the Bill. “I am withdrawing the Bill in its present form”, the Chief Minister said. While announcing the withdrawal the Chief Minster criticised the Select Committee for not following the “due procedure”. Later, her criticism was objected to by the members of the Select committee.
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Traders’ demonstration turns violent
New Delhi, March 6 Several people were injured during the police lathicharge against the traders, agitating under the aegis of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). Those arrested included Praveen Khandelwal, the secretary general of the CAIT. “After staging a demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanding the immediate intervention of the Union Government in the matter, we were marching towards Parliament to urge the government to introduce a Bill in the current session of Parliament to regularise shops located in residential areas. However, when the traders tried to move towards Parliament, they were lathicharged and nearly 100 of our colleagues, including myself, were arrested,” Mr Khandelwal said. The traders were detained at New Delhi district police station, he said. Ten to twelve traders were injured in the lathicharge by the police, and to be hospitalised at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Mr Khandelwal claimed. The police, however, justified the arrests. “The agitators, who had stared assembling at about 11.30 a.m., turned ‘rudderless’ after a while and there was nobody to control them. They resorted to brickbatting which forced us to step in. They seemed to have no plan of action and did not know how to go about the agitation which led to unruly elements taking advantage and precipitating a crisis,” a police official said. “We rounded up several of then for breaking the cordon and resorting to violence. Later we arrested 51 of them including Confederation of All India Traders secretary general Praveen Khandelwal. A mild lathicharge was also resorted to after water cannons failed to have the desired impact on the uncontrollable crowd,” he added.
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Custodial death case gathers dust in court
New Delhi, March 6 The snail’s pace of the case can be gauged from the fact that merely 11 of the 44 witnesses arrayed by CBI have been examined since April 2004, when the trial began.
CBI had chargesheeted four policemen of the Patel Nagar police station and one from Hari Nagar police station in September 1996 for various offences under the IPC, including culpable homicide and destruction of evidence. The case was referred to CBI after intervention of the National Human Rights Commission as Delhi Police was dilly-dallying in conducting the probe. Even the FIR was registered in June 1994, six months after the deceased was allegedly “taken away” by the accused on November 29, 1993. The accused policemen — Chaman Lal, Surender Singh, Suresh Kumar, and Devender Singh of Patel Nagar PS — had tortured Madan Lal to death in police lock-up, the CBI alleged. Later, they moved the body to DDU Hospital, where Lal was declared “brought dead”, the agency alleged. The fifth accused, constable Ramesh Chand of Hari Nagar police station, who was posted at the hospital at that time, allegedly connived with the four other accused to keep matters low key. During the trial, the accused allegedly produced false witnesses to give them a clean chit. Three witnesses — Harbhajan Singh, Vipin Kumar and Dayanand — deposed in court that they had seen Lal come out of the police station and walk towards Shadipur Depot, where he fell unconscious on the railway tracks there. They further testified that Lal was brought to DDU Hospital, where he died. Interestingly, none of the three witnesses could identify Lal’s photograph. Moreover, it was later learnt that one of the witnesses, Dayanand, was a history-sheeter and his brother a murder accused. An inquiry by the then Additional Sessions Judge R C Chopra on the basis of a referral by NHRC had said “the depositions were rude fabrications designed to evade responsibility for the victim’s death”. NHRC has filed a separate case of perjury and destruction of evidence against the trio in the same court.
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Yet another land scam surfaces in Greater Noida
Greater Noida, March 6 There seems to be a competition of sorts among land sharks for establishing dubious land scam records On every turn of a new page in the revenue records of the district, there seems to be a story about a land scam. At Bela Kalan village under the Sadar tehsil, land sharks are alleged to have got 2,500 bighas of public land transferred in their names in the revenue records fraudulently. The current market price of this land is estimated to be Rs 3,500 crore. The fraudulent entries of this piece of land, highlighted in a probe, have now been cancelled. The land has been restored to the Gram Samaj in the revenue records. District Magistrate Santosh Kumar Yadav said consolidation work was in progress at Bela Kalan village. The probe of revenue record of villages was assigned to Consolidation Officer Devinder Rai by Revenue Board member T. George Joseph. It was found that 7,500 bighas of land from khatoni nos. 1405 to 410 vide khata nos. 54, 53, 65, 48, 49, 50, 56, 63 had been shown transferred in the names of 37 persons, including Acharya Vachaspati, Gurman Singh, Anand Sharma, Suresh Kumar, Guru Dutt, Inderjeet, Updesh, Rameshwar, Santosh Kumar, Radhy Shyam and Parmanand of Bulandshahr. This land, belonging to the Gram Samaj, was transferred fraudulently in the revenue records, according to the District Magistrate. Gram Samaj land can only be transferred to landless members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. None of the persons who got this land transferred in their names belonged to these categories. The District Magistrate said the consolidation officer had restored the land to the Gram Samaj in the revenue records. He said a caveat had been filed in the High Court to prevent the land sharks from managing to get a stay from the court.
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Anger over move to reinstate tainted official
Faridabad, March 6 The decision has left the complainant who had highlighted the issue shocked. The official who had issued the NOC had been suspended and a criminal case was also registered against him. Tantamount to this recent move to reinstate the accused official, the complainant has now written to the Chief Minister, the Governor and the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a high-level probe into the move of the government. In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister with copies being sent to other officials, the complainant has expressed his anguish at the reinstatement of the official concerned within four to five months of his suspension. The Fire Department official had been declared guilty and was charged with fraud by the Deputy Commissioner, who had conducted an inquiry into the allegations levelled against the accused about three years ago. Not only this, it is claimed that DSP (Crime), who had also conducted an inquiry into the matter, had also declared the accused official guilty. Besides, the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory also went against him. The police had to book a case of cheating and forgery last year. While the accused had been placed under suspension by the Commissioner,
MCF, in September last year, the recent order of the top authorities of the department has shocked one and all as the probes by senior officials had proved him guilty. The accused has been out on bail since October 1 last year. The matter is still pending in the High Court. According to the complainant, the then Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad, had declared the accused guilty of fraud and misconduct in 2002. He had recommended legal action against him vide letter 567/PA dated April 4, 2002, for release of a NOC to a private company for a plot in Sector 31 here. It is alleged the NOC was issued for a vacant plot and was issued two days before the application was even received. It has been claimed that when this irregularity was highlighted, the accused prepared another NOC without keeping any record in the office. The complainant’s demand is that the reinstatement of the official should be held in abeyance and action taken against him in accordance with the law.
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Bus shelters in NDMC area to be renovated
New Delhi, March 6 The council has started working on the proposed blueprint and some model bus stops have already been renovated at INA Market and Yusuf Sarai. According to NDMC sources, there are about 200 bus stops in the council’s area and most of them had become ‘old-fashioned’ and inconvenient to commuters. “The bus stops will be renovated by private companies on the basis of ‘build and operate’ on the basis of blue-print given by the council. They will pay a fixed amount every month to the council out of revenue generated from advertisements and other promotional activities through these bus stops,” said an officer. “The special attraction of these bus stops will be its seats, which will be thermo-resistant. This means that their temperature will remain more of less constant whether it’s summer or winter. The bus stops will also be decorated with colorful lights running on solar energy,” he said. The blueprint for the bus stops has already been cleared by Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC).
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UGC to reimburse property tax payments
New Delhi, March 6 The UGC on its part has already communicated its decision that the universities/institutions maintained by it would be reimbursed the actual expenditure incurred on payment of property tax, Minister of State for Human Resource Development M A A Fatmi said in a written reply to a query. According to Delhi University, the MCD has attached its bank accounts for non-payment of property tax amounting to Rs 38.93 crore and has recovered Rs 3.28 crore from them, Fatmi said. The university had disputed the demand for the tax raised by the MCD, requesting it to review its stand having regard to provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957.
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Security arrangements in place for examinations
Gurgaon, March 6 The administration has made elaborate security arrangements for ensuring smooth conduct of exams. A police team will be deputed at each examination centre in the district. Official sources said 57 examination centres had been set up. Out of them, 11 had been categorised “super sensitive” while three were deemed to be in need of extra vigilance during the examination period. Exam-related material was distributed here today to the inspectors at various centres and the school principals. Senior officials of the Haryana State Education Board and the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R. P. Bhardwaj, today addressed the officials and all those concerned with inspection of the centres. Mr Bhardwaj warned of taking punitive action against those resorting to copying. He urged the officers and the centre in-charges to ensure that Gurgaon district emerged as a model district with zero case of copying.
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Private firm hired for disposal of bio-medical waste
Noida, March 6 The agreement covers bio-medical waste of all hospitals, nursing homes and
clinics here. The ticklish question of safe disposal of bio-medical waste in city hospitals had been bothering the general populace as well as the authorities. Bio-medical waste was being disposed of in the open, thus endangering the health and life of residents. The agreement with a private company was finalised after strict instructions were received from the authorities in Lucknow. Three containers of different colours kept in the hospitals will be emptied by the staff of Medicare Incinerators Pvt Ltd, Ghaziabad, daily. Besides, 40 smaller containers will also be kept inside hospital wards in yellow, red and blue colours with stickers detailing the type of waste. Mr K. K. Pandya of the Pollution Department said attention would now be focused on hospitals in Dadri, Javer and Dankore for ridding them of bio-medical waste. Special campaigns would be launched in these areas. “These companies would make their charges on the basis of number of hospital beds – Rs 3 per bed is the system right now,” said Mr Sanjay Garg of Medicare Incinerators Pvt Ltd. Bio-medical waste of different categories, he said, was disposed of in different ways.
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BSES legal team manhandled in court
New Delhi, March 6 The case dates back to December 1999, when the plaintiff filed a suit challenging an electricity bill of nearly Rs 7 lakh on the pretext that the meter was defective. On February 17, 2000, the judge allowed Bisheswar Nath and Co to deposit 75 percent of the bill. After BSES took over the distribution business in its licensed area in Delhi, however, it appealed against the court order. The trouble arose on the final day of the hearing, following which the District judge had to call in the police to control the situation.
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Want to lodge an FIR? Secure a court order
Noida, March 6 A Samajwadi party worker, who had filed a report in connection with MP Amar
Singh’s phone tapping, has allegedly been receiving threats to his life. A cold war of sorts is currently on between the police of UP and Delhi regarding Mr Amar Singh’s phone tapping allegations. The SP worker had to request the court for help in getting an FIR registered. After the court orders, the Sector 20 police have now registered a case. Mr Ashok Chauhan, the complainant, had allegedly been getting death threats since January 31. His request to register a case in this regard had been marked for inquiry by the SSP on February 21. Mr Chauhan got another murder threat in February. This was again marked for an inquiry by the SSP. As he was not allowed to lodge an FIR, he had to knock the doors of the court, which passed an order in his favour on March 2. On March 3, the Sector 20 police registered an FIR about a telephonic threat to kill him. SSP Piyush Mordia said that in his requests, Mr Chauhan had not mentioned that he wanted to lodge an FIR. He had only asked for security to be provided to
him. — OC
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Rs 100 bribe lands telecom officer in jail
New Delhi, March 6
Special Judge Sunil Gaur found accused Niranjan Singh guilty under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and also slapped a fine of Rs 4,000 on him. According to a complaint lodged by Patel Nagar resident Ashok Puri on May 10, 1999, the accused, stationed at Rajindra Bhawan Exchange, demanded Rs 400 as ‘fee’ for activating a newly-installed telephone connection at the complainant’s residence. Puri lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Branch, which laid a trap for the accused and caught him red-handed accepting Rs 100 from the complainant.
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Three run over by train
New Delhi, March 6 Railway sources said that at around 10.45 p.m., while the 2562 New Delhi-Darbhanga Swantarta Sainani Express was being berthed on platform No. 5 of the New Delhi Railway station, six passengers intending to board the train fell on the track, and were hit by the train. While three of them were killed, three were injured, the sources said. One of the deceased, Tilak Mukhia, hailed from Darbhanga and another, Sudhir Jha, was a resident of Muzaffarpur. A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the
incident. — TNS
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Three held for drug trafficking
New Delhi, March 6 Mohammad Firo (22), Omkar (35) and Rajiv Kumar (23) were arrested after a raid in West Delhi’s Naraina area. Police recovered 41.5 kg of ‘ganja’ from
them. — TNS
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