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SC makes policy decision on power tariff subject to order
CS issues instructions to overcome water, power shortage
Crisis due to shortfall in Northern grid share
35,000 posts vacant in power dept |
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Farmers’ agitation threatened on
SEZ issue
Woman swears she is alive; husband seeks justice
CGHS scam: CBI arrests six
more
Heroin worth Rs 41 cr seized as kingpin falls in police net
Gurgaon police demand jammer in Bhondsi jail
Diagnostic centre for
women opened
Tibetan refugees hail halt to demolition drive
Demand to raise DU teachers’ retirement age to 65
Procession marks advent of Chaturmas
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SC makes policy decision on power tariff subject to order
New Delhi, July 6 While fixing further hearing on the DERC petition seeking permission to hike in the power tariff for July 25, a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta said “in the meantime if any policy decision is arrived by the government that will be subject to the final decision of this court.” The court directed the three distributing companies – Reliance owned BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna and Tata-owned NDPL – to submit their additional affidavits to DERC petition. The court earlier had restrained the DERC from implementing the proposed increase in power tariff to adjust the projected depreciation of 6.69 per cent projected by three private distributing companies without its permission after admitting its appeal. Senior advocate K. K. Venugopal, appearing for the DERC, a statutory body to fix power tariff, told the court that it has already arrived at a decision about the projected depreciation for 2006-07 but the only dispute remained about the past depreciation for 2002 to 2005. The DERC had moved the appeal in the apex court against the appellate tribunal’s order, upholding the plea of private distributing companies that the depreciation of 6.69 per cent projected by them was applicable for the past three years also as it continued when the last tariff was fixed in 2004 but was not taken into consideration.. While fixing power tariff in 2004, the DERC had determined the depreciation rate at 3 per cent and fixed the electricity charges accordingly for different categories of consumers, which the BSES Rajdhani, the BSES Yamuna and the NDPL had challenged before the appellate tribunal on the ground that due to fixation of lower depreciation rate, they had suffered losses approximately to the tune of Rs 300 crore on this account. The DERC challenged the tribunal’s order in the apex court on the ground that the 3 per cent depreciation determined by it was correct. The Regulatory Commission further said that it could not fix the rates by taking into account the depreciation of 6.69 per cent projected by the companies after two years. Mr Venugopal today informed the court that the government was expected to take a decision on power subsidy by July 17, when the date for existing subsidy would expire and if the decision was not taken by the court by then it might adversely affect the DERC decision on proposed new power tariff. In view of this, the court made the government’s policy decision subject to its final judgement in the matter.
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CS issues instructions to overcome water, power shortage
New Delhi, July 6 At a high-level meeting convened this morning with the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board, Mr Arun Mathur, and the Principal Secretary (Power), Mr Rakesh Mehta, to take stock of the power situation and discuss ways to overcome the shortage of power and water, the Chief Secretary asked discom officials to carefully regulate any shedding they may be forced to resort during this period. As for water pumping, the Chief Secretary said efforts were being made to insulate the water treatment plants at Bhagirathi, Okhla, Chandrawal, Hyderpur, Nangloi and Wazirabad from power interruptions and also to bring in diesel generator sets at booster pumping stations in residential colonies. In this connection, the Chief Secretary also spoke to the Union Power Secretary, Mr R. V. Shahi, and requested for his intervention in securing power from alternate sources, given the likely prevalence of the shortages for some more days. The Capital has been experiencing a severe power crunch in the past few weeks with several areas in Delhi experiencing four to six hours of load shedding on an average.
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Crisis due to shortfall in Northern grid share
New Delhi, July 6 Besides, powerhouses of the Delhi government – Rajghat Thermal Power Station, Indraprastha, Gas Turbine and Pragati Power Project — are unable to generate estimated power due to maintenance work in one unit in each power station, sources said. According to sources, Delhi’s share in the Northern Grid is 2000 MW while at present it gets only 1600 MW. The total electricity production of the Delhi power stations is 700 MW but due to maintenance work in its units they generate only 600 MW. Delhi used to get 700 MW power from the Badarpur thermal power project but at present it gets only 400 MW. Yesterday’s total demand of power was 3262 MW and Delhi got only 2600 MW that was the reason for the power crisis in various parts of the national Capital. Total load shedding was 576 MW. Six to eight hours load shedding was reported in East and South Delhi, respectively. According to sources, agriculture is main source of revenue of a majority of the neighbouring states. Keeping this in view they are given priority and given more power these days so that they can do agriculture work. To overcome the power shortage, the Delhi Government has made arrangement from other states like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The government is trying to import power from Burma also. But it will take time. An official of the Delhi Transco Limited said that until the government made its own arrangement of power generation the situation could not be overcome. As the government has an agreement to set up an atomic power station in Chhattisgarh it should set up such power stations in other states also.
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35,000 posts vacant in power dept
Faridabad, July 6 The situation arising out from the acute shortage of trained and experienced staff has not only led to losses to the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam but also resulted in harassment of both the staff and the consumers. The ‘All Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union’ (AHPCWU) has agitated on this issue for past several years. It has also observed a two-day hunger strike at various district headquarters. According to Mr Subhash Lamba, general secretary of the union, the state government had stopped regular appointment against the various posts in the power department several years ago leading to a precarious situation at several places, which include problems in handling and maintenance work of the power generation and supply system across the state. Claiming that hundreds of employees were getting retired from various wings every month in several subdivisions, he said the authorities concerned appeared least bothered about the shortage of workforce both in the offices and the field and the available staff were being forced to do extra work without any benefit. He said it was perhaps a record that while the number of connections had gone up more than 20 times in the past about two decades, the number of personnel handling the system had gone down. Admitting that the government had gone for recruitment and appointment on contractual basis in the past over 10 years, he said this had rather proved bad as there had hardly been any improvement in the work. Describing the ‘Electricity Act of 2003’, the union leader claimed that it was a brazen attempt to privatize the power department without any justification and the power employees across the state and the country had opposed it as it would harm the interests of the common man. Claiming that the contractual policy of appointing meter readers had failed miserably and led to only losses and harassment of the consumers, the union has demanded doing away with such practice. The union in a letter to the Chief Minister has demanded immediate implementation of various demands which include giving up privatisation, providing employment on ex gratia basis, filling up of all vacant posts and removal of irregularities in the pay scales and promotions in the department.
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Farmers’ agitation threatened on
SEZ issue
Gurgaon, July 6 He said that the agitation would be in the form of ‘yatra’ of farmers from Panchgaon to Narnaul. According to him, in case the industrial house wanted to set up the SEZ, it must purchase the land directly from the farmers. He objected to HSIDC giving about 1,700 acres to the industrial house at such a lower rate. The farmers, whose land had been acquired have been given meagre amount in the form of compensation money. He said the priority of the state government should be to provide ample water to South Haryana and demanded that the pending construction work on SYL canal project be expedited. Mr Yadav’s outbursts on water and SEZ issues during his meeting with the Press was apparently put on the backburner on the occasion with worms being allegedly spotted by him in the tomato soup served to him and a section of newsmen in Haryana Tourism’s Syama Tourist complex. The MLA, who represents Ateli Assembly segment (Mahendragarh district), unrelated to the areas where the proposed SEZ is be set up, got embroiled in the worm issue. He lost his cool after seeing the worms in the bowls of tomato soup. He took up the issue with the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr R.P. Bhardwaj, who promptly asked for a probe into the incident. On an earlier occasion also, Mr Yadav spotted foreign bodies in beverages. He had allegedly found a mouse once in a bottle of cold drinks. However, a senior officer expressed surprise on the allegation of worms in the soup. In his opinion, it was just a case of “storm in a bowl cup”.
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Woman swears she is alive; husband seeks justice
Greater Noida, July 6 She stated in her affidavit that she would prefer to live with her brother-in-law, husband of her sister and refused to live with her husband, Rakesh. The advocate of her husband Rakesh has pleaded in the court that a woman who had sent for innocent husband behind bars allegedly for having murdered her should be tried in the court. Anita was arrested four days ago in Sirsa village. Six months ago her husband was accused of having killed her in what was then called dowry death. He was thus arrested and sent to jail. But, the whole case has been given an interesting twist by Rakesh’s relatives having found Anita alive and living in the house of her brother-in-law. Today police had produced Anita in a court to make a statement before a judge. Her husband had also been brought from the jail. Anita filed an affidavit in the court that she was alive. An affidavit was also taken from Rakesh that Anita was indeed his wife. Rakesh’s advocate pleaded in the court that since Rakesh was sent to jail on the charge of having killed her and since Anita has been recovered alive, what was the justification of keeping him in the jail. He also said a case should be registered in Dankore police station against Anita and her parents for having wrongly accused Rakesh of her murder. The police have been asked to investigate the matter afresh. Rakesh has accused Dankore police of having botched up the case earlier by insisting that the dead body of a pregnant woman found in the Kakode police station area six months ago was that of Anita when she was not pregnant at that time. Rakesh has also prayed for justice in written letters to the Human Rights Commission and the police brass of the state. He said police were still trying to cover up their lapses.
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CGHS scam: CBI arrests six
more
New Delhi, July 6 Those arrested include P. K. Thirwani, superintendent in the education department of the Delhi Government, R. B. Chauhan, a lower division clerk in the health department who was under suspension, Rakesh Kumar, a LDC in the flood department, and Ramesh Chandra, a retired official working as arbitrator with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, CBI sources said. A builder named Ramesh Bajaj and architect Harinder Pal Singh were also arrested by the CBI. All six were produced before the designated court which remanded them into a day’s CBI custody. During the probe, the CBI claimed to have found that the six entered into a criminal conspiracy and revived three societies — Technocrat CGHS, Delhi Galla CGHS and Chanakya CGHS.
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Heroin worth Rs 41 cr seized as kingpin falls in police net
New Delhi, July 6 Gurnam Singh, wanted by the police in Delhi and Punjab, was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police from Mahipalpur near the Delhi-Haryana border in the wee hours after they got a tip-off about his movement. Singh, a resident of Amritsar in Punjab, was intercepted on the Delhi-Jaipur highway Thirty-seven kg of Afghan-origin high-quality heroin, worth Rs 37 crore in the international market, and the Hyundai Santro car in which he was travelling were seized, he added. The police had on Tuesday arrested Singh’s associate, identified as Jaswinder, from a restaurant on the G T Karnal road in South-West Delhi when he reached there to deliver 4 kg heroin to some unidentified persons. On his interrogation, he revealed that the contraband belonged to Gurnam Singh and divulged information about his hideout in the Capital. Singh, apprehending a police raid, was shifting the contraband to another location in Ambala when he was arrested, the official said. The police said the arrest of Gurnam Singh, facing several cases of drug trafficking in Delhi and Punjab, was a major blow to narcotic cartels active in the region. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence was also on the lookout for Singh in connection with at least three cases of drug trafficking, agency sources said. DRI sleuths had on Monday arrested two accomplices of Singh - Rajesh Chauhan and Tejbeer Singh - from South Delhi and seized heroin worth Rs 35 crore from their possession. The authorities had recently launched a major crackdown against drug traffickers and cartels involved in smuggling narcotics into the country and seized drugs worth crores of rupees in the last one month alone. According to official figures, there has been an increase in the arrival of heroin into the country from Pakistan in the last one year and Delhi has emerged as a major transit point for smuggling Most of the heroin seized in the Capital was of Afghan origin and reached here crossing the Indo-Pak border in Jammu, officials engaged in the crackdown said.
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Gurgaon police demand jammer in Bhondsi jail
Gurgaon, July 6 The demand for the jammer was made at a meeting of the district police convened by the Home Secretary, Haryana, Mr K.S.Bhoria. The demand is in the backdrop of undertrials and convicts, generally gangsters, using mobile phones from the jail to carry out their nefarious activities. Mr Bhoria assured the authorities of a suitable action. Although at face value, the assurance of the Home Secretary on the jammer issue inspires confidence, many are at a loss on the delay in stalling the instrument in the jail. According to many, the jail has virtually become an epicentre for major crimes, including extortion and gang wars. A number of cases have come to the knowledge of police testifying the vulnerability of the jail complex. In a number of raids in the past few years, mobile phone instruments and batteries have been found. The local police also made demands for other instruments and boosting the logistics to further improve the efficiency of the force. According to senior officers, the meeting today essentially focussed on the future. The Home Secretary expressed satisfaction at the maintenance of law and order. However, he urged the force here to strive for better law and order. Mr Bhoria drilled in the point to the police here that it had to be on guard considering the growth of Gurgaon, both in terms of geography and population. Gurgaon has comparatively become a busy centre with rapid industrialisation of the area. He further reminded the force here that the priority of the present government was to make Haryana a state free of crime.
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Diagnostic centre for
women opened
Noida, July 6 “Today’s women play multiple roles and their stressful lifestyle had made them prone to many diseases which if not diagnosed on time lead to serious consequences. We believe in the early diagnosis of the disease and focus on the fact that right diagnosis leads to right treatment,” said Dr Ajay Aggarwal, Director, Diwan Chand Integral Health Services (DCIHS), a DCA Group of Company. Pioneers in bringing world-class imaging advancements to India, DCA has now set up their first centre at Noida with a focus on women wellness in B-4, Sector-16 Diwan Chand Diagnostic Imaging Services at Noida is a comprehensive one-stop facility designed specifically for the imaging needs of women plus a holistic diagnostic and pathology centre for everyone.
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Tibetan refugees hail halt to demolition drive
New Delhi, July 6 The Chief Minister was attending a function organised by the Tibetan Government-in-exile to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 71st birth anniversary. As many as 300 Tibetans, among others, participated in the programme. Besides talks by guests, a cultural programme was also organised. Dispelling fears of the Tibetan refugees, Ms Dikshit assured that the government would not allow the demolition to go ahead, a statement by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), which has put up a wildlife conservation awareness stall at Majnu Ka Tilla, said. Local MLA Parlad Sahni, Tempa Tsering, the representative of the Dalai Lama in Delhi, and several other members of the government-in- exile were also present. The wildlife conservation awareness stall of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) was inaugurated by Tempa Tsering. He said that his Holiness’ message for conservation of endangered species had been taken seriously by people and the stall would allow people to learn about endangered species and their conservation status. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ashok Kumar, Vice-Chairman of the WTI, said the aim was to educate the people about the ongoing wildlife trade.
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Demand to raise DU teachers’ retirement age to 65
New Delhi, July 6
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Procession marks advent of Chaturmas
New Delhi, July 6 After that, a Dharam Sabha was organised which was inaugurated by the former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankar Singh Vaghela. Explaining the importance of this period, Acharyaji said, “It is a period where one should follow the principle of non-violence strictly, so we should stay at one place and avoid travelling. The movement from one place to another is forbidden to protect the animate elements like plants and creatures as they emanate in excess during this period,” he said.
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