New Delhi, September 20
Widespread incidents of violence and traffic jam marked the traders’ bandh against the sealing drive in the Capital today. Protesters indulged in pelting stones and blocking traffic at major intersections of the city.

In Seelampur in North-East Delhi, at least 30 policemen, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police, were injured as they faced heavy stone-pelting from hundreds of traders. The protesters damaged his vehicle also.

Besides, the mob set ablaze the official vehicle of the SHO, Seelampur police station. Traders as well as area residents came on the road in support of the bandh call. They were protesting peacefully. When the police forced them to go inside their residences, the traders and residents started pelting stones.

The police resorted to teargas in various places, such as Seelampur, Bhajanpura, New Ashok Nagar and Khajuri Khas, to bring the agitating traders under control. One DTC bus was set ablaze in Maujpur.

The DCP said these localities were congested and it was difficult to identify the culprits who attacked the police and set ablaze government vehicles.

The mob did not allow even private vehicles to move on roads. More than 100 protesters have been detained across the Capital.

Traffic was blocked in several areas, including Vikas Marg near Preet Vihar, Rohini, Jail Road, Madhuban Chowk, Palam-Dabri road, Ashram, Chirag Delhi and South Extension.

Agitating traders also pelted stones at DTC buses at many places, including Dabri, Janakpuri and Wazirabad.

Incidents of stone-pelting were also reported from New Ashok Nagar, Khajuri Khas, Shakarpur, Madhuban Chowk, Mayur Vihar, Lakshmi Nagar, Ashram, South Extension, Greater Kailash, Mayapuri, Dabri and Dwarka.

People came on streets and main roads about 11 am and tried to block the traffic to press the authorities concerned to accept their demands. When they were stopped by the police, they pelted stones on the policemen and set ablaze government vehicles. To disperse the mob, the police had to resort to a lathi charge and teargas.

Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan, accompanied by a number of party activists, was detained as he protested against the sealing drive in East Delhi.

Additional police personnel as well as the Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed at several places, senior police officials said.

According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), more than seven lakh traders of Delhi downed their shutters in response to the bandh call given by it. The strike was supported by more than 500 trade bodies.

“The trade bandh caused a business loss of about Rs 200 crore and a revenue loss of about Rs 15 crore to the Delhi Government today,” said CAIT general secretary Praveen Khandelwal.

He said wholesale markets as well as retail outlets in Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk, Kamla Nagar, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, South Extension, Greater Kailash, Green Park, Shahdara, Rohini, Rajouri Garden, Pitampura, Azadpur, Ashok Vihar and other places were closed.

Traders have decided to hold a “mahapanchayat” on September 24 on the issue of sealing.

The BJP, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch have announced their support to the bandh called by traders. 

New Delhi, September 20
Unruly scenes were witnessed in the MCD House meeting today when the BJP raised the sealing and demolition issue and demanded the implementation of the Master Plan with the amnesty scheme.

The Mayor, Mr Farhad Suri, adjourned the House for the day after the BJP-led opposition members came to the well of the House, chanting slogans against the Congress-ruled MCD.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Subhash Arya, was appealing to the Mayor to press the central government to implement the Master Plan 2021 with an amnesty scheme, which was only solution to the sealing and demolition drive launched by the corporation.

When he was interrupted by the Leader of the House, Mr Jitender Kochar, the opposition members became angry. They approached the well of the House and demanded a discussion on sealing and demolition. When the Mayor could not control them, he adjourned the House meeting.

Protesting against the Mayor’s action, Mr Subhash Arya said it was a preplanned scheme of the ruling party to adjourn the House as it was not interested in having a discussion on burning issues.

He added there was panic among traders of the city as their establishments had been sealed. They were unemployed.

The BJP councillor, Mr Vijender Gupta, condemned the Mayor’s action of adjourning the House.

Mr Kochar and the Standing Committee Chairman, Mr Jaikishan, said there was a proposal for a 30-minute discussion on sealing at the meeting. But the BJP created unruly scenes to make it an issue.

The ruling party stood by the notification of roads announced by the MCD and the Delhi Government, they said. 

New Delhi, September 20
It’s an attempt to grasp the reason for failing to win the Delhi University Students’ Union poll. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has come up with an analysis that lays the blame on “dummy candidates”.

The party has reached the conclusion that their candidates lost because “dummy candidates” ate into their share of votes.

Rajiv Babbar, election coordinator of the ABVP, who has come up with this study, claims that Vikas, the only ABVP candidate who won a seat this year, had to remain content with just 9,018 votes because INSO gave a ticket to a “dummy contestant” who was not just named Vikas, but also shared the ballot number with the ABVP’s Vikas.

“Though INSO’s Vikas contested for the post of general secretary, he did eat into the share of Vikas of the ABVP. Students got confused as the names and the ballot number were the same,” the ABVP psephologist claims.

He adds, “Normally, students keep in mind either the name or the ballot number while casting their votes.

The NSUI and INSO are adept at indulging in such poll tactics to muster 
gains at the DUSU poll rather than focusing on any concrete programme”.

The ABVP has also alleged that their presidential candidate, Gargi Lakhanpal, lost out on votes because of her namesake, Gargi Papneja, who had contested for all four posts.

It was pointed out that this “dummy candidate”, Gargi Papneja, polled 1087 votes in the president’s category, 1578 in the vice-president’s slot, 2277 in the secretary’s and 2115 in the joint secretary’s slot, respectively.

New Delhi, September 20
A total of 200 cases of dengue have been reported in the Capital so far out of which 64 cases were reported last week, Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri said yesterday.

He said that out of the 64 cases 32 are from Delhi and 32 are from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states.

“Seven cases were fatal of which two were from Delhi and five from outside,” he said during a meeting on water and vector-borne diseases, In Karol Bagh area, 11 cases of dengue were reported last week.

Officials have visited more than 5 lakh houses to review steps to check breeding. While 4,445 houses were found positive for breeding; in 2,146 cases, legal notices were issued, Dr Shastri claimed.

Women Polytechnic ITI, Khelgaon, FCI, Khelgaon, some offices of CGO complex and government schools were issued challans.

The Minister stressed the need to spread awareness about the disease and said that schools would educate children on dengue and also explain to them the ways to control breeding of the mosquitoes.

“Principals will read out messages distributed by the health departments on a regular basis during the assembly time,” he added.

Expressing concern over the spread of disease, Dr Shastri said fogging in the most affected areas should be taken up regularly, and directed the MCD staff to be more vigilant.

“The MCD staff must take quick action in this regard,” he said. 

Faridabad, September 20
With an increase in the duration and number of power cuts in the city, the total supply has been reduced to about 12 to 14 hours for domestic consumers. The rural areas and the industry are also facing long and unscheduled power disruption.

“Though the main reason behind the cuts is known to majority of consumers, the issue is why the government was unable to tackle the crisis in an affective manner,” Master Rishipal, local Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader, said.

He claimed that the power crisis was never prolonged for more than a week during the previous regime. “The people have even started saying that the power situation was better during the Chautala regime, ” he said.

Though the present government had promised to improve the power situation, even after 18 months, the situation has only worsened, affecting both the agriculture and the industrial sectors adversely.

Local BJP leader, Mr Krishan Pal Gurjar, also accused the Congress government of “failing” on all accounts, including water and power supply. Claiming that the situation was no better than the previous regime, he said it was unfortunate that people were reeling under the crisis of water and power shortage, despite the change of guard in the state.

Flaying the government, he asked “How it could attract foreign companies and investment in the state when there was no guarantee of round the clock power and water supply?”

Kailash, a resident of sector 10, said there had been more than half a dozen cuts in the daily power supply. While the duration of these cuts varied from two to four hours at a stretch in the day, at night also there are power cuts, he said.

“The industrial production and commercial activity in the city have been adversely affected due to poor power supply,” said a member of the Faridabad Industries’ Association. He said a majority of the units had been using generator sets to overcome the crisis, increasing the cost of production.

Excess use of generators in the city has also led to severe pollution in many areas and there was nobody to check this, said a local resident. 

New Delhi, September 20
Prof Arindam Chaudhari, author, youth icon and honorary dean at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), was bestowed with Global Award for his “incredible achievement in the field of management” by Priyadarshani Academy, a well-known NGO.

Professor Chaudhari was the first one in the country to identify the “I” (Indian) factor in management. His book, “Count Your Chickens,” was critically acclaimed worldwide. Others who were honoured by the NGO for achievement in their respective fields were Mr Narayan Murthy of Infosys fame, Mr Subir Raha, former ONGC Chairman, Kareena Kapoor, Bollywood actress, Mr Toru Hasegawa of Yamaha Motor Company and Dr B. K. Goyal, eminent surgeon,

Priyadarshni Academy is a prominent NGO engaged in socio-cultural and educational activities and has been holding the biennial awards function since its inception in 1984. 

New Delhi, September 20
Delhi Chief Minister Mrs Sheila Dikshit honoured eminent Punjabi intellectuals with the Punjabi Academy Annual Literary Awards. On the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Punjabi Academy held in Kamani Auditorium, she gave away the Awards for the Year 2005-06.

The renowned Punjabi Poet Dr Mohanjeet was honoured with the Academy’s top award for the promotion of Punjabi language, literature and culture. The award carried Rs 1,11,000, a plaque, a citation and a shawl. Dr Mohanjeet had contributed nine poetry books, five books on literary criticism and a number of translated books from Hindi, English and Urdu into Punjabi. On this occasion, Mrs Dikshit also honoured Surinder Singh Johar with the award for service to Punjabi Literature. Mr Surjit was given award for Translation; Pramod Shankar for service to Punjabi Media; Dr Madan Gopal Singh for service to Punjabi Music; and Surjit Singh for service to Punjabi Journalism. — TNS

Gurgaon, September 20
In the countdown to its ambitious state level rally, scheduled to be held at Meham (Rohtak) to celebrate former Deputy Prime Minister late Devi Lal’s 92nd birth anniversary, the leaders of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today criticised the functioning of the Congress government.

Several senior party leaders in a press meet here today said that apart from the party’s ongoing mobilisation campaign for the proposed rally, the organisation was also galvanising support for its state level Martyr Day’s celebration at Sohna in Gurgaon on September 23. The party would also organise a public meeting in Sohna on the occasion.

The leaders, led by Mr Ant Tanwar and Mr Sukvir Singh Kataria, alleged that although the ruling Congress cried hoarse of neglect of the areas of South Haryana encompassing Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat, Rewari and Mahendergarh districts and the Ahirwal belt when the party was in the Opposition, no youths from the 400 police inspectors recruited by the present government were from the area.

Also, the government recently appointed 1,600 pump operators in water supply department, but no youth were from the area, the INLD leaders claimed. “It is a gross irony as the operators have been appointed for Gurgaon,” they said.

The leaders further said that during their visits to the villages in Gurgaon and Faridabad as part of the mobilisation campaign, the general complaint they received from the people was that of erratic supply of water and electricity. Also, the people were not satisfied on the law and order front, they claimed.

The leaders alleged that the pace of development of Gurgaon had taken a beating since the Congress came to power.

The fights between the government officials were taking a toll on the genuine development work relating to the people, the leaders claimed further. When asked to cite an instance of this, they said the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon and the Administrator, HUDA, Gurgaon Circle was the “illuminating” example. 

Ghaziabad, September 20
The UP Legislative Council Committee, probing into the financial irregularities committed by Ghaziabad Development Authority, has claimed in its report that the GDA was a “thoroughly corrupt organisation”.

According to sources, the committee has come to the conclusion that with the connivance of the district administration and some senior bureaucrats (IAS officials), the corruption in the GDA was at its “zenith”. The authority did not make available the records summoned by Legislative Council’s probe committee, the sources said. The committee was probing into the number of vehicles available with the GDA and how much fund was spent on Ghaziabad Maha Utsav. The committee found that the authority had reportedly been providing vehicles to District Magistrate and some other senior IAS officers of the state government. The GDA Secretary said the authority had 33 vehicles, out of these 22 were air-conditioned. Besides, some taxies were also being hired by the authority.

New Delhi, September 20
Sawarn Kirpal Ruhani Mission organised a seminar on ‘The role of science and spirituality’ at Siri Fort Auditorium here yesterday.

Sant Rajinder Singh Maharaj said on the occasion, “Spirituality does not believe in rites and rituals nor is it about merely reading the scriptures, but instead it is the mother of all sciences that can have each and every human being verify what is written in scriptures.”

Scientists had hypothesised that matter was made of molecules, atom. proton, electron. Modern experimental evidence, however, shows that the matter is simply energy vibrating at a very high frequency. Spiritual scientists experiment with in the laboratory of the human body with the reality beyond what happens after physical death. The process is called meditation, he said. 

New Delhi, September 20
Six members of a family, including the husband who had faced charges of harassing his wife and driving her to commit suicide, have been acquitted by a fast track court here as the deceased’s brothers did not support the prosecution plea in the case.

The brothers of the deceased, Kusum Lata, denied that their sister had ever complained of being subjected to cruelty by her in-laws and husband, Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar noted.

Exonerating husband Satpal, his two brothers, Tilak Raj and Rajpal, his father, Ram Kalla, mother, Khazani, and sister-in-law, Bimla, all residents of Khera Kalan village in North-West Delhi of charges under Sections 498-A (husband or relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (suicide abetment) of the IPC.

Earlier, the court also noted that the investigating officer in the case failed to send the alleged suicide note and diary seized from the spot to the CFSL for analysis.

A case was registered at the Samaipur Badli police station in North-West Delhi on February 23 last year against all six following a complaint by one Surender that his sister Kusum Lata was driven to commit suicide by them.

The police allegedly recovered a suicide note and a diary from the spot and arrested all of them.

The charge sheet against them was filed under various provisions of the IPC. The prosecution, in order to prove their case, examined 10 witnesses while the defence opted not to lead any of them.

New Delhi, September 20
A city court today awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment to three youths for committing a robbery in a jewellery shop in East Delhi nearly eight years ago.

Rejecting the mercy plea of accused Sawan Singh, Nafishul Haq and Navprabhat Sharma on the ground that they had no vicious antecedents, Additional Sessions Judge R. K. Yadav said such incidents were increasing in society and required firm handling.

The Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each on all convicts and directed the authorities that Rs 50,000 from the fine amount, if deposited, be given as compensation to complainant Sheikh Kalam, whose shop was robbed.

The trio have been convicted under Sections 392 (robbery), 397 (robbery coupled with attempt to cause death) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC.

According to the prosecution, the accused, on November 22, 1998, posing as customers, entered Kalam’s shop in the Old Seelampur area of East Delhi.

Later, the armed accused bolted the shop from inside and looted gold jewellery, weighing 350 grams, and Rs 10,000 in cash at gunpoint before fleeing from the spot.

The prosecution examined 17 witnesses to prove the case.

New Delhi, September 20
The West district police today claimed to have arrested four persons, namely Raju Ram (20), Tarun Joshi (19), Gian Bahadur (20) and Jackson (19), within hours of the murder of Moti Lal, a resident of Vikaspuri.

The police team, while patrolling in Vikaspuri, noticed four youths roaming suspiciously along the pavement carrying a sack. Seeing the police Gypsy, they threw the sack and starting running away. The four were arrested after a chase. On opening the sack, the body of a man aged around 30 years was found.

After interrogation, the four confessed. The main accused, Raju Ram, disclosed the deceased was Moti Lal. He alleged the latter had intimate relations with his sister.

In another incident, the police claimed to have arrested two persons in connection with the murder of Naresh Kumar in the Peera Garhi area. An informer had given the lead that a drug addict of the same locality, Raj Kumar, could be involved in the crime. Following the tip-off, raids were conducted at possible hideouts of the suspect. He was arrested from a night shelter near Rajdhani College. Raj Kumar disclosed he used to rob late night passers in order to collect money for drugs, said a police officer.

Noida, September 20
A worker at the under-construction Appu Ghar in Sector 38-A was electrocuted when he was working on an excavator.

Mohan, hailing from Bihar, was badly charred when he reportedly came in touch with a live wire. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead by doctors after some time.

The deceased’s brother, Virag, alleged that Mohan died due to negligence of Appu Ghar management. Sector 39 police have registered a case against the managing director of Appu Ghar and several others under Section-304-A of the IPC on Virag’s complaint.

Till date, three workers have died while working at the site. SP police said all the accused were absconding.