 |
|
|
HC orders probe against tainted
MCD seals 337 shops, MLA detained
Pick-and-choose demolitions in Gurgaon
DDA asked to expedite report on
Death at mall: Accused surrenders
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
‘Rise in number of cars could undo CNG’s effects’
Another plan to regulate traffic in Faridabad
‘Exercise patience’, UP to Delhi on its plea for water
Delhi to Tamil Nadu tourism package
Police arrest MCD official for accepting bribe
Two businessmen jailed for power pilferage
Hindustan Motors clarification on RTV
|
|
HC orders probe against tainted MCD officials
New Delhi, April 20 A division bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma, asked the CBI Director to file the preliminary enquiry (PE) against the ‘corrupt engineers’ before the court in four weeks. Adjourning the matter for further direction till April 27, the court directed the CBI Director to constitute a team headed by a Joint Director to probe into the matter. The court said the CBI should also probe into the nexus between the corrupt engineers and their political bosses in deliberately allowing
unauthorised constructions in Delhi. The ambit of inquiry should also be extended to other corrupt officials in the MCD, the court added. The court ordered the CBI director to ensure that the criminal proceedings covered not only those officers against whom disciplinary proceedings had been initiated by the MCD commissioner, but also those who had been dismissed from service in connection with the unauthorised constructions. The inference being that apart from dismissal of service, the officers should be criminally prosecuted. “The MCD has failed to perform its duties in accordance with the Act. A person cannot be allowed to work if he has by negligence, apathy or connivance allowed unauthorised constructions to mushroom in the city,” the bench observed. Justice Jain directed the CBI to probe the involvement of the engineering department staff in encouraging the unauthorised constructions and “their nexus with the political bosses”. The Bench ordered the CBI probe even as the Corporation’s counsel Jagmohan Sabharawal tried to explain that the MCD Commissioner had no powers under the Act to initiate action against local Municipal councillors with whose alleged connivance the unauthorised constructions were allowed to mushroom in the Capital. Justice Jain was in no mood to accept the submissions of the MCD counsel when he reeled out statistics to explain the action taken against Assistant Engineers, Superintending Engineers and other engineers for their alleged involvement in the irregularities as he repeatedly queried as to why no action was taken against the local councillors. The High Court also ordered the MCD Commissioner to furnish within four weeks a report clarifying if any “particular class of engineers” had been allowed to go scot free even after the earlier vigilance probe had indicted them for their role in encouraging unauthorised constructions. During the hearing, some of the advocates complained that the local deputy commissioners were not cooperating with the court-appointed ‘advocate commissioners’ in inspecting the unauthorised constructions. Following this, the Bench warned that it would initiate action against the officials if they persisted with such attitude. On March 23, the High Court had appointed four ‘advocate commissioners’ to personally inspect the status of the demolition drive launched by the Corporation in pursuant of the court’s earlier order. However, some of the ‘advocate commissioners’ in their reports to the court have complained that far from demolishing the illegal structures, a section of the officials were encouraging fresh unauthorised constructions.
|
|
MCD seals 337 shops, MLA detained
New Delhi, April 20 The MCD took action against shops and offices running in residential areas in 10 of the 12 civic zones, with maximum impact in Sadar Paharganj zone, where 53 such commercial establishments were sealed as part of the court-ordered drive. Today’s action brings the total number of commercial set-ups sealed to over 5,000 such properties. A total of 320 shops were de-sealed today after their owners submitted affidavits undertaking that these would be closed voluntarily by June 30. Political activity over the sealing action also continued, with Congress legislator Sharma prevented by police from leaving his home to protest against the sealing drive in Janakpuri, Shankar Garden, Krishna Park and Uttam Nagar areas that fall in his constituency. Sharma claimed that he was put under ‘house arrest’ from 8.30 am till 6.00 pm. “This is highly undemocratic. As a free citizen of this country, I have every right to raise my voice against any injustice,” he said. Sharma, known to be a staunch detractor of chief minister Ms Sheila Dikshit, also called upon her to take part in the relay hunger strike being undertaken by the party MLAs to protest against the demolition of illegal constructions and sealing of shops in residential areas. Meanwhile, 110 BJP activists courted arrest in Narela district here on the 15th day of its ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ to protest against the sealing drive. Elsewhere, the traders’ strike against the drive, being held under the banner of the Confederation of All India Traders, entered its fourth day at Jantar Mantar today. Protesting traders called upon the Centre to act on the sealing issue and bring an ‘amnesty scheme’ by introducing either legislation to compound unauthorised constructions and commercial establishments in residential areas, the CAIT said in a statement here.
|
|
Pick-and-choose demolitions in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, April 20 On the direction of Mr Dillon, a meeting was convened today under the chairmanship of the administrator, HUDA, Mr S. P. Gupta, to look after all illegal construction cases and others relating to the commercial use of residential properties. It was revealed in the meeting that the DTP (Enforcement) had not taken action against 794 violators in various parts of the city since 2001 on the plea that the “police force was not made available to the assist the department”. However, these 794 house owners were identified and had been issued notices for their irregularities, added a senior official who was present at the meeting. DLF City has 192 cases in Phase 1, 230 cases in Phase 11, 123 cases in Phase 3, 47 cases in Phase 4 and one case in Phase 5 while South City I has 13 cases and South City II three cases, Sushant Lok I 108 cases, Sushant Lok II 37 cases, Sushant Lok III two cases, Mayfield Garden two cases, R D City one case, Saraswati Kunj two cases, Green Wood City three cases and Palam Vihar 30 identified cases. It was decided at the meeting that the Senior Town Planner, Mr B. K. Sharma, would supervise each and every case sector-wise and phase-wise so that no illegal construction remained in the city. If it was found that no illegal construction had been carried out in the building but the residential building was being used for commercial purpose, then the building would be sealed, added the officer. As far as the occupation certificate (completion certificate) was concerned in private developer areas, it was decided that all certificates must be issued on first come first serve basis with a time-bound commitment, added an officer who did not want to be quoted. The local deputy commissioner had also got similar complaints regarding the alleged “pick and choose” action by the District Town and Planing (Enforcement) Department. He informed ‘The Tribune’ that a special Survey and Monitoring Committee under the supervision of the sub divisional magistrate would soon be formed to look after all cases of illegal construction and their demolition by the DTP (Enforcement). The public’s complaints of irregularities by the department would also be supervised by the SDM, added the DC. Mr S. P. Gupta, when contacted, informed that pick-and-choose policy would not be allowed by the department. No one would be spared if he has constructed illegally or was using his residential
premises commercially, added Mr Gupta. No vested interests or political pressure would be allowed to be entertained by the DTP (Enforcement), claimed Mr Gupta.
|
|
|
DDA asked to expedite report on illegal colonies
New Delhi, April 20 Dr Walia while reviewing the process of regularization expressed concern over the lukewarm response of the DDA in submitting the report even after repeated requests made by the Delhi Government. The review meeting was attended by senior officials of the DDA, the MCD and the Delhi Jal Board. Dr Walia said that the Delhi Government was keen to submit a comprehensive survey report to the Union Government to enable it to initiate actual process of regularization of 1,432 unauthorized colonies where lakhs of people were awaiting provision of civic services. The minister directed the DDA to expedite the process pending on their part and submit the survey report within 15 days. The MCD has submitted status report in respect of built-up area of 904 unauthorized colonies whereas it has yet to submit report in respect of another 156 such colonies. The MCD is also finding it difficult to identify proper location of 146 colonies as per the survey of 2002. Dr Walia has directed the MCD to contact RWAs of these colonies for proper location of unauthorized colonies and completion of survey in respect of these colonies. Deputy commissioners, Revenue, have more or less completed the survey vis-à-vis status of land of unauthorized colonies. They have yet to submit report of just 13 colonies out of 1,432 colonies. They have promised to submit it within a week. Dr Walia has also instructed the DJB to prepare an action plan for providing sewerage system in unauthorized colonies.
|
|
Death at mall: Accused surrenders
Gurgaon, April 20 The court granted the police request for three days’ remand after the
surrender. Sonish Javed, Marketing Manager of Iceberg restaurant in Connaught Place, was allegedly pushed down from the third floor of MGF Mall after an altercation with Rajput. She succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital here. Rajput has been accused of committing the murder by Sania Javed, mother of the deceased. She had stated that Mr Rajput had owned about Rs 1.5 lakh to her daughter. The deceased had returned from Mumbai on an evening flight the same day. She was brought from the Palam airport by a manager of Rajput’s firm to a restaurant located on the third floor of MGF Mall. Both of them met in the restaurant where a party was in progress, before having a heated discussion. Later, both of them came out of the restaurant and allegedly had another skirmish. Subsequently, Rajput is alleged to have pushed her from the third floor. The autopsy report had said that the deceased had consumed alcohol and had suffered severe injuries to her back and rib portions. The father of the victim has gone on record to question the police role in not making the manager who brought his daughter to Gurgaon co-accused in the case. According to him, the manager is the key witness in the case.
|
|
|
‘Rise in number of cars could undo CNG’s effects’
New Delhi, April 20 Delhi has more cars than the total number of cars in the states of Gujarat and West Bengal. In fact, 17 per cent of the cars in India run in Delhi alone, according to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) publication ‘The Leapfrog Factor: Clearing the air in Asian cities’. “The sheer number of vehicles are threatening to undo the gains that the Capital had garnered from improvement in vehicle technology and fuel quality,” says the book. Even though Delhi leapfrogged from dirty fuels and emission technologies to much cleaner options, says the book, “the gains can be lost if we do not get our act together as congestion and pollution could from these vehicles is threatening to destroy the quality of life in the city”. It said a car caught in a traffic congestion can emit nearly four times more than normal fumes. “Cars and two-wheelers take up nearly 90 per cent of the road space, carry lesser numbers of people and pollute excessively,” the report said.
The most oppressive problem of current times, according to the book, is the exploding number of vehicles that are choking our cities and immobilising them. “A large share of our daily travel trips in our cities is being made by personal transport that pollutes more,” it said.
|
|
Another plan to regulate traffic in Faridabad
Faridabad, April 20 According to reports, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the financial commissioner and principal secretary, Transport Department, Haryana. It concluded that the only solution to the problem lay in adopting a proper management plan, which should be formulated as per the requirements and needs of the year 2020. It called for setting up a traffic control centre in the city with modern infrastructure to have a control over the growing traffic. Such moves had been made earlier also, but due to lack of implementation, they have been gathering dust. A meeting had been held about three years ago on the issue, but no progress could be made, according to district administration sources. It is reported that the local authorities failed to take the prescribed action and the plan was dumped. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials had asked the district administration to remove all encroachments on the service lane running parallel to National Highway 2 (Mathura Road) passing through the city. The authorities, at the recent meeting, again proposed reviving the service lane along the highway to make it functional for slow moving vehicles like two-wheelers, three-wheelers, carts, tractor-trailers and rickshaws. These vehicles are mainly responsible for chaos and congestion on the highway, leading to slowdown of traffic and accidents on the main roads. According to the DSP, Headquarters, a total of 714 accidents took place in the district in the past one year (from February 1, 2005, to February 28, 2006). While it is claimed this figure could be one of the highest in the world, as many as 187 persons lost their lives in these accidents. A total of over 4.5 lakh vehicles are registered in the district. While lack of service road (slip road) on one side of the highway has been a cause of concern, the existing road on the other side has been encroached upon by all and sundry. The encroachers include private and government departments. The authorities directed the estate officer, HUDA, to allot plots to transporters in Transport Nagar as soon as possible. It was decided to close all unauthorised cuts in the highway, provide parking spaces, put barricades in the central verge, channelise all road junctions, provide a subway and overbridges and set up traffic signs and lights at the intersections.
|
|
‘Exercise patience’, UP to Delhi on its plea for water
New Delhi, April 20 “We have not been able to fill even the Tehri reservoir, which is vital for providing irrigation facilities to farmers in western Uttar
Pradesh. It is just not possible to release additional water for Sonia Vihar plant in Delhi as also for irrigation in western parts of Uttar Pradesh,” Ms Anuradha Chaudhary, Chairperson, Irrigation Development and Flood Control Commission, Uttar Pradesh, told reporters. Pointing out that Uttar Pradesh had been releasing 200 cusecs of water to the Delhi Jal Board’s Bhagirathi plant on humanitarian considerations despite a shortfall in winter rainfall, Ms Chaudhary, MP and general secretary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, said she could only advise people of Delhi to “exercise patience and share our concern”. She said work on filling the Tehri reservoir had begun on October 29 last year. “We had set a target of filling the dam to a height of 740 meters by today, but due to lesser availability of water in the Bhagirathi river as also poor winter rainfall, the dam could be filled till only 726 meters.” During the past few years, the average availability of water in the Bhagirathi river has hovered between 2500 cusecs and 5000 cusecs. But this year, mere 1000 cusecs of water was being released from the Tehri dam for the Upper Ganga Canal, she said, pointing out that this had been because of the ongoing work on filling the Tehri reservoir. “In other words, the Upper Ganga Canal has been witnessing a shortfall of 2500 cusecs of water as compared to past years,” Ms Chaudhary said, adding that farmers in western parts of Uttar Pradesh were able to get less water from Upper Ganga Canal and Agra Canal for the rabi (winter) crops. She also said farmers in western parts of the state had been advised to go for only those crops which required less water. Terming the Tehri Dam as “an ambitious project”, the RLD MP expressed hope that additional water would be released from the Tehri dam from the first week of November. “We appeal to the people in western Uttar Pradesh and their representatives to face the crisis with patience,” she said.
|
|
Delhi to Tamil Nadu tourism package
New Delhi, April 20 Announcing a ‘South India Air/Rail-cum-Road Tour’ from New Delhi, TTDC commissioner and managing director Chandra Mouli said that the holiday package includes journey by train or air to Chennai and then on Luxury buses to destinations like Mamallapuram, Thnjavur, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Kodiakanal, Trichy, Kancheepuram, Tirupati and then back to Delhi. All travel arrangements like rail reservations, accommodation, sightseeing charges, meals and darshan at Tirupati’s Balaji temple would be made by the TTDC, Mr Mouli said.
|
|
Police arrest MCD official for accepting bribe
New Delhi, April 20 In the first case, the anti-corruption branch of police received a complaint from an MCD sweeper in the Paharganj zone who claimed that assistant sanitary inspector Yashpal Raghav had demanded Rs 1,000 for marking his presence in the attendance register, a release said here today. Raghav was caught red-handed yesterday as he accepted the Rs 1,000-bribe from the complainant. In the second case, police acted upon a complaint from a florist in Lado Sarai area, who alleged that DDA security guard Brahm Singh and a DDA official (patwari) Ram Mahesh Yadav had demanded Rs 5,000 from him for not demolishing his flower-shop.
|
|
Two businessmen jailed for power pilferage
New Delhi, April 20 Special Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Sharma awarded one year rigorous imprisonment to one Rajesh while the other Shiv Rattan was handed down six months’ jail term for illegally using electricity to run their factories at Shahdara in East Delhi. “Power theft is unabated despite stringent measures and such offences not only adversely affect society but also impede the smooth progress of the nation,” the court said. Refusing to release them on probation, the court added, “It is not the case that the offence has been committed on the spur of the moment or unintentionally, and if the law does not punish the criminals, it would abet others to follow the pursuit.”
|
|
Hindustan Motors clarification on RTV
New Delhi, April 20 A spokesman of the Hindustan Motors said that RTV is a registered brand name of a vehicle manufactured by the company and to identify any other mini bus by this name was a violation of the Indian Copyright Act.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
.jpg)
