New Delhi, July 1
It is one aspect of school life that leaves students jittery: The report card handed out not just at the end of the academic year, but at periodic intervals to keep track of their performance.

But MCD schools in the Capital have actually found it convenient to dispense with the system completely in the case of students up to class V, totalling about a million. This was alleged by the NGO ‘Right To Education Front’ in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Ms Shiela Dikshit and MCD Commissioner.

“MCD schools are not making any assessment of students progress up to grade five and not providing a report card or any evidence whatsoever of the child having attended school,” it said.

Mentioning that in the absence of a report card there will be no incentive to learn as merit will not be recognised or rewarded, the NGO has added that it will also deprive the parents of a chance to follow their child’s progress.

“There will be no relationship between teachers and students and they will hardly even know what their names are as there is no need to consider each child as an individual. There will be no encouragement for teachers who will treat the class as a herd,” the RTEF has complained.

Pointing out that there are between 125 to 140 children packed into classroom with no chairs, the NGO further alleges that in the absence of any record of a child’s performance, there will be “no attention to individual needs and a teacher receiving a new class will have no idea of their relative abilities”.

It goes on to add, “The standard of education in MCD schools is so bad that more than 80 percent of students passing out of class V do not know how to write and read their names”.

Urging the CM and MCD to take action, the NGO says, “The fact that one million school children in the Capital of India are not receiving report cards reveals a total lack of concern for the education of children in this sector. Is it any coincidence that more than 90 percent of these children are from scheduled castes/schedule tribes/OBCs?”

New Delhi, July 1
After crossing the hurdle of cut-off marks for admission to the colleges and subjects they have dreamt of for years, students joining Delhi University for undergraduate courses, especially outsiders, have another big worry: To get a berth in the hostel of their chosen college.

As a matter of fact, for most, it is like a distant dream. The reason is that in the past two decades, despite an increase of 10,000 seats in various colleges of the university, not a single new hostel has been constructed for undergraduate students.

According to sources, only 12 DU colleges have hostel facilities for undergraduate students. One such hostel is exclusively for foreign students. “For boys, hostel facilities are available in Hindu College, Kirorimal College, Hansraj College, Zakir Hussain College and for girls, the facility is available in Miranda House, Daulat Ram College, Indraprastha College and Lady Shriram College. In St Stephen’s College, Ramjas and Shriram College of Commerce, co-hostel facility is available for both boys and girls but hostels are separate,” said an official of the students welfare wing of the university.

An office-bearer of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) informed that a new hostel was being constructed at Venkateshwar College, Dhaula Kuan, at a cost of Rs 3 crore. It is expected to accommodate at least 300 students.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has sanctioned the proposal and the contract related to its construction has already been granted to a construction company. It is expected to be completed for the next academic session for students.

“A proposal to construct another hostel in Indraprastha College is still confined to the official files. It is strange that even two years after the inauguration function chaired by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit, construction work on this proposed hostel is yet to be started. About six months back, a foundation ceremony was organised at Dhaka Gaon for the construction of a hostel exclusively for girls of the North-East. It is an irony that no initiative has been taken afterwards for that proposal. The University Grant Commission (UGC) has already sanctioned Rs 25 lakh for the construction of two separate hostels for girls in Dyal Singh and Matreyi Colleges but no action has been taken so far over the proposal,” he added.

According to a well-known educationist and Director of the IIMR, Mr S. K. Singh, thousands of students from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh etc come every year for admission to various colleges of Delhi University for better education and timely academic sessions. Among them, there is a sizeable population of girl students. They face a multiplicity of difficulties in case of being denied a berth in the hostel of their college.

“They have no other option but to hire rented accommodation near the university campus. House owners take advantages of their compulsion by charging extra money in the form of rent. The government should take the matter seriously, at least in the interest of girl students,” he said.

New Delhi, July 1
The relatives of an IIPM student, who allegedly died due to carelessness of police and AIIMS administration, today demonstrated at India Gate. The students of IIPM also supported them in large numbers and demanded punishment for those responsible for the act.

Meemanshu Tiwari, a student of IIPM, met with an accident with a police vehicle in Malviya Nagar area on the afternoon of June 26. The policemen present in the vehicle, instead to take him to the hospital, then started interrogating the victim for almost one hour, said one of his friends who was present on the spot. Later, he was taken to AIIMS where he kept on lying unattended for nearly four hours, alleged his relatives. When the victim was struggling for his life and was bleeding from his nose profusely, the doctors allegedly tied his legs and hands with a rope presuming that he was suffering with fits, the parents alleged.

The victim’s father S.B. Tiwari, an ADM in Ghaziabad, reached AIIMS at 7.45 p.m. He said, “Seeing me coming in an official car, the doctors immediately inserted oxygen mask in his mouth. I saw that the doctors had tied my son with ropes presuming that he was suffering from fits”.

“One Dr Karan said that the victim needed immediate operation but there was no vacant OT in the hospital. At 12.30 a.m., the doctor informed me that the patient’s condition was deteriorating and took him to operation theater,” Tiwari added.

Next morning, the doctors of the hospital came on regular briefing and informed us that Meemanshu was no more, said Tiwari.

“It is an appeal of a father to the doctors of AIIMS not to treat patients like this. I lost my young son but do not want that others should also suffer in this manner. It could be their son also whom they have left unattended,” he said.

According to the DCP (South), “The postmortem was conducted and a case has been registered under section 304-A of IPC. We are investigating into the matter.” 

New Delhi, July 1
A 15-day ‘Drive Against Bribe Campaign’ aimed at eliminating the scourge from various government departments and creating awareness about the Right to Information (RTI) Act among the public was launched here today.

More than 700 organisations across the country have come together as part of the campaign during which the public will be advised on how to get their work done in the government without paying bribes.

“Assistance centres would function in 48 cities spread across 16 states in the country from July 1 to 15. 1500 trained volunteers will help people in making and filing RTI applications in these centres,” said Arvind Kejriwal of NGO Parivartan, one of the organisers of the campaign.

The Central Government has also made its own arrangements for the campaign by directing all departments and ministries to make necessary arrangements to deal with the large number of applications, which could be filed during the campaign period, he said.

In the Capital, the assistance centre has been opened near Gate number 1 of Indira Gandhi Stadium at ITO where volunteers will provide assistance to the public in obtaining documents like passports, driving license and various other government certificates without delay.

“The Delhi Government would be deputing officers every day during the campaign to accept applications related to it on the spot so that people do not have to run all around the city to file application,” said a campaign co-ordinator for Delhi.

“The Vigilance Department of Delhi Government would also set up a help desk to educate people on how to file complaints about corruption and how to get corrupt officials trapped red-handed,” he said.

A website, www.righttoinformation.org, will also help the public in making their applications, he added.

Faridabad, July 1
The spiralling prices of household commodities and grocery items may be a cause of concern for the common man, but the Sales Tax department here seems more worried about the massive evasion of VAT by traders.

The Excise Department here recently nabbed as many as 10 trucks loaded with grocery items brought from Delhi without paying a tax of about 16 per cent. A penalty of about Rs 2.29 lakh was imposed on the two transporters whose trucks were impounded by the department.

The officials had also caught some trucks recently which carried steel goods brought from Punjab. The culprits were evading a duty of about Rs 6.50 lakh.

Claiming that the Sales Tax department here had intensified the campaign against the traders and transporters, who had been trying to evade VAT on various goods, Joint Commissioner, Excise, said that the latest detection of tax evasion came into light when the sources of the department informed that several trucks loaded with grocery items had been coming here from Delhi to deliver the goods at some place in
the district.

He said a team led by Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner intercepted these trucks and found that they were due to pay a VAT of about Rs 2.29 lakh.

He claimed the department was trying its best to check such evasion and recover the duty through penalties and legal action against the evaders.

It is reported that due to less tax on various goods in other states, the traders and transporters in league with the police or the officials of the department concerned had been evading the tax on a large scale. According to sources in the department, there were about half a dozen transport companies in the city and the district having several hundred vehicles, which had been involved in this dubious activity, but due to their connections, the tax evaders go off scot-free, leading to a revenue loss of several hundred crores each year.

Many of these vehicles, including the trucks could be seen parked in the residential areas and sectors and there was no check or raid by the officials, said a resident of Sector- 16- A here.

It was the duty of the officials of the Excise department to check the commercial vehicles parked in the residential areas or having godowns at such places, said an official of the District Transport Office.

While the district administration was still to ensure the parking of trucks and heavy commercial vehicles in the specially developed ‘Transport Nagar’, it is learnt that several hundred vehicles could be found parked in residential sectors at any time of the day.

Noida, July 1
The Collectorate, headquarters of the District Administration in Greater Noida, has been without water for the past one week. A large number of visitors who come here for their cases, have to drink contaminated water drawn by the handpumps. Even the toilets in the complex are filthy.

The lone water tank constructed in the Collectorate Complex supplies water to the Registry, Tehsil, offices of district officers and toilets. Even the water coolers supplied recently by Punjab National Bank have gone dry.

Surprisingly, the officials in Water Works department of Noida Authority do not have complete information about their department.

According to Commodore L K Batra (retd), even the information sought from the Noida Authority’s Jal Board under Right to Information leaves one high and dry. The Jal Board provides just half-truths, poking fun at Right to Information Act.

When questioned as to what is the total requirement of water in Noida, the answer given was 194 MLD, out of which 133 MLD is subsoil water and 48 MLD Ganga water. In all, 235 MLD water is available from both the sources and the officials maintain that there is no water scarcity.

What about filtration of water? Only Ganga water or pumped out subsoil water is filtered here. Of course, there is an iron content in water supplied which is harmful, admits the department.

What kind of treatment is offered at the treatment units; what type of chemicals are used; what is the methodology to determine the quantity of chemicals used in filteration? Again there is no answer.

Interestingly, the department does not even know how much budget it has for filtration of water.

The Jal department does not have data about expenditure and revenue earned by it for the last three years. All that it could say was that it had a budget of Rs 80 lakh.

No data was available about the revenue earned from lakhs of residents who pay from Rs 360 to Rs 2,400 to Rs 4,800 annually per flat/house.

How many times samples were got tested in past year; how public is made aware about water conservation; how many private tubewells are working in the area; how many are registered and what numbers are unregistered? There is no data available.

New Delhi, July 1
At a time when the government is laying so much emphasis on development of the trans-Yamuna area in view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games 2010, a 200-bed govt hospital at Shastri Park in Seelampur is actually functioning without a proper water connection for the last 3 years, when it came into being.

According to sources, the PWD had requested the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for a water connection after completing the construction, but no further action was taken. Only recently, a domestic water connection was provided to the hospital.

The hospital administration also developed its own water source by harvesting ground water through water pumps a few months back. However, the hospital is still short of water because of a daily consumption of about 1.8 lakh litres.

“Over 3,000 patients visit to Out Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital every day. The situation is so bad that not only the patients and their relatives, but the hospital staff also have to bring along water bottles to quench their thirst in this scorching heat,” said a hospital employee.

Sanitation conditions in the hospital can only be imagined. Due to the circumstances, the hospital refers most patients to other hospitals like GTB Hospital and Swami Dayanand Hospital.

When contacted, a DJB official said that the hospital had not been given a water connection since “no extra water source was available at that point”. He said the hospital would get water only when the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant became functional.

Ghaziabad, July 1
Eight passengers were killed as a private bus going to Bulandshahr from Meerut plunged from a bridge into a rivulet at Asodha village near Hapur yesterday. Four of the dead could not be identified. The driver, people said, appeared to be untrained.

Over 50 passengers were rushed to hospitals in Ghaziabad, Meerut and Delhi. About a dozen injured are in a serious condition. The bus was being driven at a fast speed.

According to eyewitnesses, the driver did not slow down at a speed-breaker before the bridge. With the result the bus jumped, got out of control and plunged down from the bridge.

The driver is said to have jumped out and fled after the accident. Many injured passengers said that they had advised him to drive slow, but the driver did not listen to anybody.

At Asodha Road, the bus jumped over a speed-breaker and plunged into the river after hitting the culvert. The front part of the bus submerged under water. The injured and the dead were pulled out with great difficulty and taken to hospitals.

The eight diseased included Dharminder, 25, of Kharkhoda, his brother Vishesh, 13, Jagpal Singh 38, Wahid, 40, a bus conductor and his son Nyaz Ahmed.

Four dead who could not be identified yet include a 35-year-old woman, a 40-year-old man and two children aged eight and 12, who were perhaps of the same family.

The injured included Geeta, 30, Kavita, 30, her brother Sonu, 22, son of Sohan Pal, Afzana, 35, her son Sikander, 8, and brother Mohd Asif, 23, Ram Prakash, 38, his wife Pavitra, 35, Akil Ahmed, Mumtaz Saify and Mohanti.

New Delhi, July 1
A 26-year-old bar dancer allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in the Uttam Nagar area of West Delhi leaving behind two children.

Priya, who earlier worked as a bar dancer in Mumbai, was found hanging from the ceiling fan at her father’s residence in Uttam Nagar’s Mohan Garden area this morning, according to sources.

She was cremated today and the funeral fire was lit by her ‘suitor’ Pawan Chauhan, who works as a compounder at the Army Hospital.

Frustrated over Pawan, whom she befriended after she returned from Mumbai in 2004, having got married a couple of months ago, Priya took the extreme step. She was reportedly three-months pregnant when Pawan got married.

She leaves behind two children — one from her earlier marriage to one Ashok Kheda, who died of illness while in Mumbai after which she returned to her father’s place — and another-a three month-old from Pawan.

In a note written some months back and found during a search of her room, she describes her frustration over her relationship with Pawan.

An enquiry by an SDM has been initiated into the matter and investigations are on, the police said.

Gurgaon, July 1
A female domestic, aged about 17, was today found dead under mysterious circumstances in posh Heritage City located on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.

The incident has created sensation in the area.

The deceased, Arjana, had reported for work in one of the flats on the ninth floor of a multi-storeyed building. The flat is owned by one Mr Sampat Singh.

Arjana, a resident of the nearby village Sikanderpur, was first taken by her elder sister, Kalpana, in a flat on the seventh floor in search of a job. As things did not materialise, both the sisters went to the ninth floor.

Apparently, Arjana either fell or was pushed from the ninth floor to the ground below, which was cemented. There were drops of blood on the floor.

Kalpana, who reached the spot along with her mother, said that she had left Arjana in the flat while Mr Sampat Singh and his family members were not in. Only his driver was present in the flat when she left Arjana. The driver is missing. The police have registered a case in the matter and sent the body for postmortem. The possibility of sexual harassment of the deceased before the incident cannot be ruled out.

Ghaziabad, July 1
Three police constables were today remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a local court on the charge of extorting money from vehicles plying on the Delhi-Lucknow highway.

A police raiding team arrested Jai Prakash, Iqbal and Subash, who along with head constable Dhirender Singh of Massoorie police station, were allegedly extorting money from trucks and private vehicles on Delhi-Lucknow Highway in the morning, the local Senior Superintendent of Police said.

He said the head constable managed to escape and a hunt had been launched for him.

The three arrested policemen were produced before a judicial magistrate who sent them on a 14-day judicial remand.

New Delhi, July 1
The police arrested two members of the Sunil Rathi gang, carrying a Rs 5,000 reward, from Timarpur area in North Delhi on Friday.

Arrested after a tip-off from Gopalpur Village Road in Timarpur after a brief encounter, Krishan Rathi alias Billu (29) and Kulmohan alias Lambu (25) were involved in several cases of murder, extortion and attempt to murder, according to the police.

Two country-made pistols, three cartridges and a stolen car were recovered from the accused who were planning to set up base in Delhi.

One of the most desperate criminals of Western Uttar Pradesh and a contract killer, Krishan Rathi had jumped parole in a sensational triple murder of Delhi and carried a Rs 5,000 reward on his head announced by UP government.

Ghaziabad, July 1
The National Commission for Women has taken serious note of the Ghaziabad police’s failure to register an FIR for the rape of a minor.

According to advocate Sindhu Sabhe Jha, the wife of late Harbhajan Singh in Phuldehra village in Sambhawali used to work as a labourer to run the household. On May 25 when Imarti (name changed) returned home in the evening, she found her 14-year-old daughter Rashi (name changed) missing from home.

When she looked around for her, some women told her that they had seen Arvind and his sister of the same village taking her daughter Rashi away from the village. The police were informed, but they did not take any action.

When the FIR of her daughter’s kidnapping was not registered, Imarti met the SSP and requested him to get the report registered and recover her daughter. But the police did not do anything. On June 14, with the help of some villagers, Rashi was recovered from Gurgaon.

Imarti alleges that her daughter had been raped for 20 days by her abductors. Police did not register a report nor send her daughter for a medical examination. Now the Sambhawali police say they are initiating some action.— OC

New Delhi, July 1
A large number of newspaper employees observed Press Unity Day by holding a rally at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg here.

A delegation comprising representatives of various newspaper employee unions went to the office of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to present a memorandum demanding an immediate halt to unfair labour practices and prevention of starvation deaths among newspaper employees.

The memorandum has accused the Delhi government of abetting mass victimisation of newspaper employees, including journalists in a newspaper associated with Mahatma Gandhi.