The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

	Bill will take up many pending issues: Reddy Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 The Bill that the government may introduce in Parliament to provide relief from the court-ordered demolition and sealing drives in Delhi will aim at addressing a variety of issues pending for decades, Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said today. “It’s not only about demolitions; issues related to sealing of shops, unauthorised constructions and the condition of the city’s slum dwellers will also be looked into. These issues have been pending for decades,” Mr Reddy told reporters after 14 Congress MLAs from Delhi called on him here. The Minister, however, said the government would also take into account the opinion of resident welfare associations that support the MCD drive. “Views of RWAs will also be considered,” Mr Reddy remarked after meeting the legislators led by former DPCC chief Mr Subhash Chopra. On April 28, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to approach the monitoring committee with its request for a six-month suspension of the sealing drive in Delhi. The court also directed the committee to submit a report by May 4 on the Centre’s plea. The government plans to introduce a bill in this connection in the Parliament session reconvening on May 10. “The situation in Delhi is grave. The government is thinking of bringing a bill in the Parliament session,” Reddy said. In his comments, Mr Chopra claimed that the Union Minister has promised that the government would introduce the bill in the first week of the session being reconvened on May 10. He said the party MLAs also spoke about issues facing slum dwellers and residents of Lal Dora in Delhi when they met Mr Reddy. “We are very much satisfied with the assurances given by the Minister, such as bringing a Bill in the very first week of the session. He promised that all issues raised by us will be considered,” Chopra said. The Congress MLAs, he added, called off their relay hunger strike after meeting Mr Reddy.
	Traders, RWAs meet committee on sealing drive Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 Delegations of traders as well RWAs today held meetings with the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee on the sealing issue. About 60 trade leaders led by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) urged the committee to carry out an in-depth study on whether traders were squarely to be blamed for the current situation and consequences of closure of lakhs of business establishments in Delhi. During the hour-long discussion with members of the monitoring committee, the trade leaders stressed that arbitrary displacement of about five lakh traders in Delhi would mark the “first ever most inhuman act” in the land. The Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) in various areas of Delhi, meanwhile, strongly opposed setting up of commercial complexes in residential areas, saying the introduction of any law to regularise such complexes would be tantamount to a breach of trust by the government. Before the meeting, chaotic scenes were witnessed and tempers flared up as an unexpectedly large number of RWAs turned up for the meeting. Representatives from about 400 RWAs came for the meeting to air their grievances and offer their suggestions on the issue of mixed land use, while the MCD had been expecting only around 60-70 RWA representatives. The hall, where the meeting was supposed to be conducted had a seating capacity of only 135. Later, addressing newspersons, monitoring committee chairman K J Rao said the committee had heard the suggestions of the RWAs and all of them would be duly considered by it and the meaningful suggestions among them incorporated in its report before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has asked the committee to submit its report by May 4, a day before the hearing where it is to consider the plea of the Centre for putting a six-month moratorium on sealing.
	Sealing drive in Gurgaon fails to take off Tribune News Service Gurgaon, May 2 The sealing operation in Gurgaon city against premises running commercial ventures in residential areas failed to take off due to the non-availability of adequate police force, according to Administrator, HUDA, Gurgaon Circle, Mr S.P. Gupta. Mr Gupta said that he was informed by the local District Town Planner (Enforcement) office that police force for the operation was not provided today. The request for the force had been made to the Deputy Commissioner by the office of the District Town Planner, Mr B.L.Kaushik. However, the office of the Deputy Commissioner wanted that the request be made by the office of the Administrator, HUDA. Mr Gupta said that he has written to both the Deputy Commissioner and the district police chief to provide the force at the earliest. According to Mr Gupta, the drive will be intensified as over 700 such premises have been identified and issued notices regarding the commercial activities in them. It may be pointed out that the authorities had sealed 77 premises in DLF City area and Sushant Lok last week. In a related development, the authorities have relented to de-seal the 77 premises provided that the owners give an affidavit that they would stop the commercial activities and also remove the unauthorised constructions within 15 days. The affidavits will have to be signed by a magistrate. Mr Gupta said that similar process could be adopted by those who have received notices regarding running commercial activities in residential premises. They will have to submit an affidavit to avoid the sealing of their premises, he said. According to him, the affidavits will have to be submitted to the office of District Town Planner (Enforcement) and will be finally considered by the office of the Senior Town Planner. Mr Gupta said that the decision for the de-sealing has been taken in consultation with the Director, Town and Country Planning, Haryana.
	Slight improvement in power situation Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 The national Capital continued to reel under power crisis with a shortfall of 500 MW against the peak demand of 3027 MW leading to loadshedding in several parts of Delhi. However, the power situation was better today in comparison with last night when large parts of south and east Delhi went without power due to the shut down of the Badarpur Power plant. Less than optimum functioning of several of the power plants supplying electricity to the Capital led to a shortfall of about 500 MW, a senior Transco official said. The Capital received 644 MW power from four power plants in the capital, 606 MW from Badarpur Power Plant, 300 MW from Gridco (Orisa) and 200 MW from Himachal Pradesh, the official said. The balance power was received from the Northern Grid, from which about 100 MW electricity was overdrawn. Adding to the power woes was the low frequency in the Northern Grid, which resulted in a maximum loadshedding of 199 MW. Meanwhile, sources in Delhi Government today said there were plans to set up a new power plant to try meet the rising power needs of the Capital. The decision to set up the 2,000 MW power plant, the details of which are still being worked out, is primarily to reduce the Capital’s dependence on the Northern Grid. Sources in the Delhi Government said the new power plant, which would be coal-based, would either be set up in Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh, depending on the availability of coal. The need to set up the power plant has also arisen keeping in view the power needs for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. According to a rough estimate, the Capital will need about 6,000 MW of power daily by 2010.
	Land dispute claims lives of man, daughter Parmindar Singh Noida, May 2 At least six assailants intruded into the house of Mahipal Singh in Kalakhari village under the Jahangirpur police station and rained bullets on him and his two daughters while they were sleeping. Mahipal Singh and one of his daughters died on the spot while the other daughter was rushed to a Noida hospital in a critical condition. According to the police, the assailants were relatives of Mahipal Singh and had shot him dead because of a land dispute. Nine persons, including three women, have been named in a case filed in the police station. SP (Rural) Sudhir Kumar Singh and CO Tiwari had examined the scene of crime. The police have raided many places to nab the culprits. Uday Bhan Singh of Kalakhari village of Jahangirpur had married thrice and had a son Mahipal Singh from his first wife while from his second wife he had no issue. Uday Bhan had four sons — Kishen, Satinder, Lala and Ashok — from his third wife. Mahipal, who had two daughters, wanted to bequeath his landed property to them. His half-brothers were opposed to it. On Sunday night, Mahipal’s half-brothers had rained bullets on Mahipal and his daughters Umesh Devi and Renu. On hearing the gunshots, both the daughters are reported to have woken up and desperately tried to save their father but the assailants did not spare them either. Mahipal and Renu died on the spot while Umesh Devi was rushed to a Noida hospital in a serious condition. The villagers rushed to Mahipal’s house on hearing the gunshots, but the assailants had fled by then.
	High Court penalises senior official Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 The Delhi High Court today imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 on Secretary (Land Acquisition), Land and Building Dept, for taking forcible possession of a private land and building without observing the due process of law. Justice Pradeep Nandarajog also ordered that the penalty imposed shall be recovered from the officer’s salary and that adverse entries should be made in this regard on the officer’s service file. The court also asked the petitioner to file a suit to claim damages from the government for unauthorised possession and occupation of his house. The High Court issued the orders while dealing with a petition filed by a land owner of village Nangal Raya, who complained that Delhi Government and the DDA forcibly took possession of his 130 square yards of land along with the building in November 2004 on the plea of constructing a school building. As per the rules, the Secretary, Land and Building Department should acquire such private lands by issuing a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. However, in this case, it was alleged the land was acquired forcibly by the officials who demolished the house and constructed a school building at the place.
	CGHS scam: Two accused get interim bail Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 A Delhi court today granted interim bail to a former CBI Superintendent of Police and a lawyer, who were arrested for allegedly functioning as middlemen to give a ‘clean chit’ to persons accused in the Rs 4,000-crore Co-operative Group Housing Societies (CGHS) scam. Special Judge S K Kaushik granted bail till May 8 to S K Gupta and Jaideep Malik on bonds of Rs two lakh and a surety of like amount each. The court also extended the CBI custody of two CBI Inspectors Yoginder Kumar and N M Sharawat till May 5, while fifth accused R K Bisht was sent to jail till May 16. The five men were arrested on April 24 for allegedly accepting bribes to give a clean chit to some housing societies named in the multi-crore scam. During bail arguments, it was argued that investigation was complete and that the only evidence CBI had against Gupta and Malik were transcripts of illegally obtained intercepted phone conversations, which were inadmissible as evidence. Last week, seeking their remand, the probe agency had produced two compact discs allegedly containing intercepted telephone conversations of the accused, in which transactions involving bribes were alleged to have been discussed. The five men have been accused of criminal conspiracy and under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Inspector Sharawat, who was an investigating officer (IO) in the scam, is charged of having demanded and obtained bribes from scam accused, and also of having influenced other IOs. The others allegedly functioned as touts and middlemen in the exchanges between the CBI officers and bribe-givers, CBI said.
	Rare heart surgery saves girl’s life Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 An 11-year-old girl from Bareilly suffering from a life threatening congenital heart defect is on the road to recovery after undergoing an open heart surgery at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute here. Doctors at the institute said that when Sita’s father brought her for an examination, she appeared to be a normal healthy child but had been complaining of chest pain for almost three years. An angio cardiogram on her showed a rare condition of aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva. “What made the condition unusual was that the aneurysm was on the left sinus of the aorta. The only option was a surgical procedure. We proceeded with a bypass operation of the left coronary artery and repaired the aneurysm from inside the aorta,” said Dr K.K. Sethi, Vice Chairman of DHLI and Director of Cardiology He said that the operation done by Dr Ganesh K. Mani lasted for seven hours. The girl is to be discharged soon and expected to be able to lead a normal life. Sita’s father Ram Sahai, a railway employee, told TNS that he is relieved that his daughter has got rid of chest pain and can lead a normal life.
	Man gets 10 years imprisonment for killing wife Noida, May 2 A man has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 for stabbing his wife to death for refusing him money for liquor. According to the prosecution, Dheer Singh of Dheera village, was a drunkard and would often beat up his wife when she refused him money for alcohol. On the fateful day in 2003, the victim, identified as Baleshwari, was first severely beaten up by Dheer Singh and later stabbed to death when she refused to give him money for alcohol. On the basis of Baleshwari’s dying statement in hospital, the police had registered a case of murder against Dheer Singh, who had absconded after the crime. Judge P.K. Bansal of Fast Track Court found Dheer Singh guilty and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment on Monday. In case he fails to pay the fine, Dheer Singh will have to further spend 6 months behind bars, the court order stated. — OC
	Two held for plot to kill Uttaranchal politician Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 2 Delhi Police along with the Uttaranchal Police have arrested two persons for allegedly conspiring to eliminate one Uttaranchal politician. The accused has been identified as Javed, alias Babbu, and Anuj Pundir. Police said both the accused hail from Roorkee in UP. During interrogation, Sher Singh Rana, the prime suspect in the murder of Phoolan Devi, disclosed that the two accused were hired for Rs 1.5 lakh to eliminate one Uma Kashyap, a local politician of Roorkee. For this purpose, Javed asked Rana to arrange for the weapon and the money.