New Delhi, June 8
Defective planning, financial irregularities and outstanding dues have resulted in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi incurring losses amounting to Rs 18.18 crore in 2002-03.

Financial irregularities, which include avoidable and unjustified payment during execution of work on construction projects are the major contributors to the losses, an audit report of the civic body for the year in question said.

Procedural financial irregularities of Rs 24.40 lakh in the execution of schemes for the construction of subways have also been noticed.

The MCD Standing Committee in its meeting yesterday had directed the Municipal Commissioner to file a report explaining the losses incurred.

Against a bill on account of wages of two muster-roll employees for the month of May, 2002 preferred and passed for Rs 6,007, an amount of Rs 60,071 had been drawn resulting in excess withdrawal of Rs 54,064, the report stated. Apart from this, the services of 127 employees shown working on daily wages in various hospitals and clinics of Health Department had been regularised from 2000-2004 whereas they had not worked on daily wages at all in these institutions as confirmed by the medical officers incharge of the respective hospitals and dispensaries.

In addition, nine employees had also drawn arrears of Rs 8.40 lakh fraudulently on the basis of fake documents, the report said.

The MCD also incurred losses on account of under-assessment of property rents. Four portions of a property at Lodhi Road given on rent in July, 1989 and September, 1995 had been assessed on rent basis from April 1997, resulting in under-assessment and consequential loss of Rs 54.84 lakh.

Resettlement of jhuggi dwellers of JJ clusters at Narela under relocation scheme led to losses of Rs 226 lakh, the audit report found.

After being pointed out in the audit, the Health Department has terminated the services of the aforesaid 127 employees. 

New Delhi, June 8
RWAs from all across Delhi have criticised the decision of the Delhi Government to reimburse to a select categories of bureaucrats part of their water and electricity bills and also give them a ‘servant’ allowance.

Condemning what it described as “Delhi Government’s largesse to certain favourites”, the United Residents Joint Action said, “This decision is an interesting reflection of our current campaign to pay only 50 per cent of our bills. Either this is an indirect admission of the fact that even bureaucrats have joined our campaign, or this government is trying to keep some people happy for dubious reasons”.

Reacting strongly to this development, Anant Trivedi, Convenor, South Delhi URJA, asked, “Who decided that this rebate is available to the Delhi Government to throw around as a job incentive? Was the DERC asked, and under what clause have they allowed this departure from norms?”

“For a city that is reeling under abnormal tariff rates, to mark out a few chosen favourites for a 50 per cent discount smacks of favouritism and suspect motives,” Rakjesh Dokwal, URJA coordinator for East Delhi said.

URJA members have decided to organise protest meetings all over Delhi against this development and bring greater attention to the issue of artificially hiking tariffs to neutralise power theft losses to the benefit of discoms.

At a meeting held this morning by the core managing group of URJA to discuss the development, People’s Action president, Sanjay Kaul said that the decision would “only irritate consumers who are already protesting that they are being made to pay for somebody else’s crime through increased tariffs. Let the Government either extend it to all residents or withdraw it”.

The order was also criticised by traders who described it as ‘unilateral and discriminatory’ and demanded that the Government first define the responsibilities of officials who are often found to indulge in dereliction in their duties.

Gurgaon, June 8
Private companies providing mobile telephony services here have illegally set up a large number of transmission towers in residential pockets in various parts of the city.

While the companies are earning millions by virtue of the illegal towers, they do not pay anything to the government exchequer and have also endangered the lives of people in the areas where these towers have been installed.

While such illegal towers have been springing up in the city for quite some time, the numbers keep increasing with the authorities concerned looking the other way.

Reports have it that some companies, with increasing business and clientele for their services, want to install more towers in other parts of the city.

Ironically, a majority of the towers have been installed in residential sectors of HUDA and other posh pockets. However, certain residents allege that they find themselves helpless as they do not know whom to approach. The popular perception is that these incongruities cannot take place without the connivance of the authorities concerned. The general view is that whenever there is a hue and cry the authorities do serve notice but they eventually lose steam at some point or the other.

For instance, a public spirited person in Sector 14 of HUDA has raised objections several times with the authorities concerned against the towers in his area. Once, it was even brought on the agenda of the monthly meeting of the District Public Grievances Redressal Committee presided over by the Chief Minister of the preceding government. But the exercise just ended without any result due to lack of follow-up on the part of the authorities.

According to the rules, such towers are not to be set up in residential pockets. Obviously, this restrictive proviso is to avoid accidents near the towers. Also, the towers emit dangerous radiation and give rise to pollution, which has the grave potential to jeopardize the lives of the residents.

Also, no-objection certificates have to be obtained by the from Akashvani and Doordarshan authorities.

The companies have to pay Rs 1 lakh for one tower and Rs 50,000 for subsequent towers. Significantly, these conditions are for the legal towers.

But the towers in the residential pockets here cannot be set up. In any case, a majority of the towers have been installed and used by the private companies without paying anything to the government treasury.

The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr R. P. Bhardwaj, has picked up the issue with HUDA and directed its Executive Officer to give details of the towers installed in HUDA areas. The residents do not know how to react over the development going by the bitter experience in the past. A few of them said the authorities should not go by the notices alone which allow the culprits to move court and get stay orders. They are of the view that the authorities must demolish them as they are illegal.

New Delhi, June 8
A Special court today issued a non-bailable warrant against a Madhya Pradesh-based Excise officer allegedly working hand-in-glove with an interstate mafia supplying contraband to the Capital.

Udhay Singh Dhurvey, Assistant District Officer posted at Satna district, has been on the run ever since the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Police seized a truck (MP 16 H 0021) carrying 609 cartons of illegal liquor during a raid at a godown in Moti Nagar here on March 23.

The liquor was traced to M/s Glasgow Distilleries in Satna. A probe revealed that Dhurvey, in charge of the zone within which the factory was located, had not made a record of the truck’s cargo.

“There is sufficient evidence on file to suggest Udhay Singh Dhurvey connived with the distillery owner and staff in dispatching the truck without entering it on record,” the ACB said in its application.

Special Judge Vinod Goel issued the NBW, following which a special team of the ACB would be leaving for Satna to “search and arrest” the accused.

The ACB has already registered a case on April 5 against Dhurvey, accusing him of criminal conspiracy and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Meanwhile, the ACB has filed a petition before the Delhi High Court for cancellation of a plea for anticipatory bail earlier moved by another fugitive senior excise inspector, R N Tyagi, also an accused in the case.

Tyagi was allegedly spotted on ACB cameras at the Moti Nagar godown during the unloading of the truck on its premises.

According to the ACB, the liquor was routed to a shop run by the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation situated at East Park Road here and another one at Gandhi Nagar owned by Kamaljeet Singh, reportedly the son of an MLA from Punjab, ACB said.

Singh, Shyam Sunder, a liquor licence holder, and Ashok, manager of the Moti Nagar godown, are the other accused in the case.

The probe into the case has revealed a deep-rooted nexus existing between Excise officials and liquor mafia, ACB said, adding that the liquor seized from the truck alone was worth approximately Rs 5 lakh in excise tax and VAT.

“The present case is just the tip of the iceberg of a deep-rooted conspiracy between liquor warehouse holders in connivance with Excise officials to evade excise duty worth lakhs of rupees,” the court said. 

New Delhi, June 8
The chief investigation officer in the murder case of journalist Shivani Bhatnagar today informed a city court that he had attached the Gurgaon house of suspended IPS officer RK Sharma, the prime accused, as he was evading arrest after the issuance of non-bailable warrant against him.

Deposing as 203rd
prosecution witness, Inder Singh, who was entrusted with the investigation of the case on June 18, 2002,
stated before Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar that he alongwith Inspector Raj Singh had sealed Sharma’s Gurgaon house.

He told the ASJ that this step was taken in pursuance of the order of a city court which had issued a process under section 82 and 83 (attaching the property and declaring the accused as proclaimed offender) of the CrPC as Sharma was evading arrest.

Singh added that he had also collected the call records of a mobile phone which was being used by Sharma during his posting in Delhi.

The defence counsel protested the statement
and said it was inadmissible as it was not supported by evidence that the
mobile number belonged to Sharma.

As per the prosecution, Sharma, on September 27, 2002, surrendered before a local court at Ambala. Later he was taken into custody by the Delhi Police.

The four-day long deposition of Singh was inconclusive and would continue. 

Noida, June 8
A 17-year-old girl, daughter of a Meerut SDM, was killed in a road accident.

The car in which she was travelling hit an electric pole as the driver, a family friend, tried to save a stray bull which appeared in front of the vehicle all of a sudden. He was also seriously injured and has been admitted to the ICU in a hospital. Mansoor Khan, 17, son of SDM Khan, resident of B-4, Kohli Vihar, Sector 49 here was to drop 17-year-old Vibhashna, daughter of SDM, Meerut, Mr B. P. Singh, in Ghaziabad in a Maruti car (DL2CA-3703). On the road between Sectors 31 and 36 here, a bull appeared all of a sudden and in an effort to save it, Mansoor’s lost control over the steering wheel.

As a result, the car hit an electric pole on the roadside.

The front portion of the car was fully smashed as the car was being driven at a fast speed. Mansoor and Vibhashna were seriously injured.

They were rushed by wayfarers and the police to Kailash Hospital in Sector 27 here where Vibhashna breathed her last while Mansoor is fighting for his life.

The Sector 39 police said SDM B. P Singh was the next door neighbour of SDM Khan in Sector 39 till recently. They had shifted to A-633 Vaishali, Ghaziabad, a few days ago. His daughter had come to visit the Khans and Mansoor was going to drop her back to Vaishali. Manoor and Vibhashna are reported to be classmates.

Ghaziabad, June 8
Ghaziabad Development Authority today demolished over 50 unauthorised houses and hutments built on the land allocated for a community centre in Vaishali locality here.

These houses were built illegally on the land allocated for a community centre, GDA sources said.

With the demolition, three arces of land worth Rs 12 crore has been freed from unauthorised possession after ten years, they said.

The residents had not vacated their houses inspite of several remainders, sources said.

The residents staged a dharna against demolition when the GDA authorites arrived at the site with bulldozers. The houses were brought down after police provided security for the officials. —TNS

New Delhi, June 8
At a time when the government is striving hard to mitigate the acute power shortage in the Capital, it is surprising that an ambitious power plant based on cow dung started in the late 1970s by the Delhi Energy Development Authority (DEDA) at Ghazipur Dairy Farm area in East Delhi is almost on the verge of closure due to wrong planning and sheer negligence of the concerned departments. Two other plants at Garoda and Nangali are also facing the same fate.

According to sources, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had constructed 926 flats for dairy owners in 1976.

“Initially, they refused to take possession of those flats as they had to pay a heavy amount for that offer. Later, they started encroaching upon those flats. Sensing the development, the DDA started allotting those flats to others,” said a local resident.

“To provide alternate power supply to the allottees, the DDA also incepted a ‘gobar’ gas plant there. Five huge tanks were planted by the DDA in 1982 to supply cooking gas, apart from power supply, to the nearby areas,” he added. He said the supply of cooking gas started in 1989.

“Later, the plant was handed over to the Delhi Energy Development Authority (DEDA) in a bid to provide a better management and distribution system, as the agency had ample experience and expertise in that field,” he said.

Initially, the consumers were being charged Rs 55 per month, which was hiked to Rs 75 per month after some time. Even then, it was comparatively cheaper and easy to use for the customers.

It may be recalled that at that time it was difficult to obtain LPG connections.

Seeing the response by the customers, the DEDA decided to install 10 more tanks to strengthen the plant.

“However, by the time the 10 tanks became functional, the government decided to stop the supply of cooking gas through the plant without giving any explanation. With the stoppage of the service, the government showed no interest in the plant,” he claimed.

When contacted, the Delhi Development Minister, Mr Raj Kumar Chauhan, said, “We are not aware of the issue. The DEDA is now a part of the Delhi Development Ministry. We will discuss the matter with the concerned departments to restart the plant on priority basis.”

According to a local social activist and president of ‘Bhrastachar Nirodhak Morcha’, Mr Narender Kumar Singh, it a sheer waste of government money.

“The government had spent crores of rupees on the project, which has now no use for the general public. ‘Gobar’ gas plant can prove to be a good alternative source to our rising power demands, especially in rural areas of the city. In the absence of these plants, there will be no use of cow dung in the various dairy farms of the Capital,” he said. 

New Delhi, June 8
Unable to take a stand on the proposed introduction of Astrology and Vastu Shastra as optional papers, the University of Delhi has for now put the matter on the back burner.

Following a heated debate at the Academic Council meeting here last evening, the Vice Chancellor has “deferred” the matter, much to the annoyance of some members, who supported the move to introduce the subjects.

What has peeved them further is the VC’s refusal to go for a vote on the issue, as demanded by members.

“There was lot of discussion on the merits and demerits of introducing the subjects. When no consensus could be reached, the Vice Chancellor was asked to go for a vote, which he refused,” said a member, who was present at the meeting.

The two controversial subjects, which have been opposed on the grounds that they abet superstition, were meant to be a part of the revised Sanskrit Honours syllabus.

“The subjects were planned to be optional papers that students could opt for in the third year. But those opposing the move, including the VC, Prof. Deepak Pental himself, said that introducing the two subjects would mean encouraging Karamkand and Jyotish, which would in turn be against the University’s objective of spreading knowledge,” the member said.

Incidentally, the two subjects were approved by the committee of courses of the department, the Faculty of Arts and the Standing Committee of the Academic Council.

“The courses were given a go ahead by three important bodies, yet the VC chose to defer their introduction. Academic evaluation of a course is more important than political ideology, besides deferring a course is not the solution,” said another member of the Academic Council.

The AC also “deferred” the introduction of a paper on ‘Nationalism and Sanskrit Literature’. As per the revised syllabus students will now have to study nine papers instead of eight, there will be two papers in the first year, three in the second and four in the third year, the ninth paper will be optional.

Students can opt for ‘Indian Epigraphy and Archaeology’ or ‘Modern Sanskrit Literature and Poetics’ as their optional paper.

The Academic Council has also passed the revised syllabus of B.Com Honours and has decided to designate B.Com Pass as B.Com.

New Delhi, June 8
Recognition means a lot to people who have made Indians feel proud in some way or the other. It was towards that end that a felicitation ceremony was held today to coincide with the release of the latest edition of the Limca Book of Records.

The latest edition of the book brings out a plethora of amazing feats. In its all-new 17th edition, the book encapsulates achievements across 18 ‘buzzing’ fields like medical science, entertainment, transport etc, showcasing records made and broken across India.

The book also presents interviews with 10 leading personalities like Shuba Mudgal, Ekta Kapoor etc.

A special section ‘Doing India Proud’ includes organisation like SOS villages, Bajaj group of companies, LIC and BHEL.

Industrialist Dr Vijaypat Singhania and Mr J.N Kaul, president of SOS villages, were also felicitated for being chosen the ‘the people of the year’.

Taking India to a new height, Dr Singhania flew at a height of 69,852 ft, setting a world record of flying at the highest altitude in a hot air balloon.

Mr Kaul registered his name in the Limca Book of Records for serving thousands of homeless children.

He has been the president of organisation since
1989 and is the recipient of many awards including the prestigious Padma Shri
in 2000.

Also finding a mention in the book are Shaurya Chakra winner Cdr. Uday K. Sondhi for being the only differently abled Indian cleared to fly a helicopter, and Nishant Kasibhatla, for his ability to memorize 200 binary numbers in 3 minutes 21 seconds and recall them in just five minutes without any mistakes. The book was formally unveiled by Atul Singh, president and CEO of Coca-Cola, India and Vijaya Ghose, editor, Limca Book of Records.

New Delhi, June 8
The Delhi High Court has adjourned the hearing of the petition seeking direction to the authorities to initiate action against CBI officials charged with accepting bribes during investigation of the multi-crore CGHS scam in the Capital.

After the preliminary hearing, acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain said as the companion judge was on leave, the matter would be heard after the summer vacations on July 7.

The petition, filed by journalist Satender Naran, has asked the court to hand over the investigation to any other investigating agency other than the CBI, initiate action against the corrupt CBI officials and call for the records of the investigation for scrutiny.

Seeking his intervention in the proceedings of the case, Naran said if he was allowed to assist the court, he would “further sharpen the investigation”.

CBI Inspectors N M Sherawat and Yogender Kumar, who were investigating the cases, were nabbed by departmental sleuths for allegedly accepting bribes for extending official favours to the builders and those involved in the scam, said the petition.

“The arrest of these CBI officials and others by the CBI proves that the investigation done by the agency was not impartial,” it said.
The petition alleged that some other higher officials of the CBI were also resorting to corrupt practices in extending favours to the builders and corrupt officials of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS).

The CBI was also not initiating action against 53 persons who were allegedly involved in the scam despite registering preliminary enquiry (PE) against them, alleged the petition. The petitioner has submitted the list of the persons named in those PEs.

The Delhi High Court had directed the CBI to probe the multi-crore rupees housing scam in July 2005.

New Delhi, June 8
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has cancelled the Nagar Kirtan from Gurdwara Sisganj in Delhi to the Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the Pakistani city of Lahore due to the government of the neighbouring country allowing only 100 Sikhs to cross the border.

“The Nagar Kirtan of Sri Guru Granth Sahib has to be taken with full honour and elegance. Presence of large number of hymn-singing Sikhs with orchestra, horse and elephant rider Akali Sikhs and band of brave soldiers demonstrating use of traditional Sikh weapons are a must for a Nagar Kirtan. The number of people being allowed by the Pakistan Government is same as that allowed to accompany a ward level leader. Therefore keeping reverences of Guru Granth Sahib Ji in mind, we decided not to take Nagar Kirtan this time,” Mr Harvinder Singh Sarna, president, DSGMC today said.

“By the grace of God, whenever we take Nagar Kirtan to any place in India or abroad, its elegance and glory will not be less than that of the Nagar Kirtan we took from Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan in December last year,” Mr Sarna said. —TNS

New Delhi, June 8
A tanker parked at a petrol pump at Rajokri area in South West Delhi caught fire this afternoon.

The fire, which was reported at 3.15 p.m., was quickly brought under control and did not spread to the petrol pump’s underground tanks, the Delhi Fire Service said. No one was injured in the incident. —TNS