New Delhi, October 18
The Supreme Court today conceded the request of Union Government for modifying its order on sealing of illegal commercial ventures in the Capital’s residential areas and extended the date for filing of affidavits by traders to close their shops in areas not approved by the government till January 31.

In its last order of September 29, the court had fixed a deadline of November 10 for submitted the affidavits, which the government said was not possible as over three lakh affected traders would be required to submit their undertakings to court-appointed monitoring committee.

But the court made it clear that there would not be any review of its earlier order regarding sealing as it would continue against those ventures which were not covered in government notifications on mixed land use plan.

A Bench of Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C. K. Thakker and Mr Justice R. V. Raveendran also clarified that its restraint order against issuing any notification on the sealing issue would not apply to passing any order pertaining to Master Plan 2021, which the Centre was contemplating to announce.

It also refused to give any relief to 44,000 traders who had already filed the affidavit to shift their shops, saying that if their ventures were not covered under the July 21 and September 7 notifications of the government, allowing mixed land use plan in nearly 2200 roads and streets, they would have to move out and their shops would be sealed.

Following a clarifications from Solicitor-General G. E. Vahanvati that the government had not contemplated in its notifications permission to even small shops in the localities placed in ‘A’ and ‘B’ category, comprising primarily the posh colonies, the court said all such shops in these areas would be sealed.

Regarding liquor shops, it said that they would be permitted in markets duly established within the colonies under the Master Plan, but would not be allowed in the mixed use areas now permitted by the government for carrying on commercial activities.

The court gave six weeks time to the government to draw a list of professionals apart from lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants and architects who could be permitted to run their offices in mixed land use areas. This was allowed as the government counsel said some more professionals like artists, musicians, painters and persons associated with similar activities could be included in the list.

The court also sought a report form MCD on how a large number of multi-storied buildings had come up in the Gautam Nagar area, which was detected by the monitoring committee during the inspection of the office of a TV channel recently operating from one such building.

New Delhi, October 18
There is a whole lot of infrastructural bonanza in store for the premier district of Haryana — Gurgaon.

First and foremost, the Group of Ministers (GoM) has given the green light to the much awaited extension of the Delhi Metro to Gurgaon. And equally important, at a meeting of Delhi and Haryana Government officials in the Capital today, the Delhi Government agreed to Haryana’s need for a new road between Palam Vihar in Gurgaon and Dwarka in Delhi.

However, the additional road has been agreed upon on the condition that the Haryana Government does not allow heavy motor vehicles like trucks on the peripheral circular road, which the state government is planning as a “ring road” around Gurgaon.

The Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning, Ms Shakuntala Jakhu, told mediapersons today that at a meeting between Chief Ministers of the two adjoining states on July 25, 2005, it was mutually agreed upon to provide additional road links between Delhi and Gurgaon and Delhi and Faridabad and widen some existing roads.

Following this, a technical committee, comprising members from both states, was constituted to look into the issue. At today’s meeting, Delhi agreed to Haryana’s need for the road between Dwarka and Palam Vihar, which will further link on to the proposed peripheral circular road.

The circular road being planned by the state government around Gurgaon will also have a dedicated bus-lane to reduce the inflow of vehicular traffic, besides a 50-metre-wide green belt to make the driving experience more pleasurable. As far as the proposal for the widening of the existing Mehrauli-Gurgaon road is concerned, the committee asked RITES to look into other aspects.

Regarding the Metro link to Gurgaon, of the totals cost amounting to Rs 688 crore for linking the Aya Nagar border in Delhi to Sushant Lok in Gurgaon, Haryana will provide Rs 570 crore as grant-in-aid in instalments. The cost of rolling stock, amounting to Rs 118, will be borne by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

The GoM, headed by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, gave the green light to the Delhi-Gurgaon stretch yesterday. The line from Central Secretariat to Gurgaon will be ready by June 2010, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The line will pass through Green Park, Hauz Khas Market, Laxman Public School, Sarvpriya Vihar, Shivalik Press Enclave, Saket and the Garden of Five Senses.

It will go further on to Andheria Mor, Ambedkar Colony, Chattarpur, Sulatnpur, Ghitorni, Sarvodya School and Arjungarh. In Haryana, it will touch Garden Estate, Sikandarpur, DT City Centre, IFFCO Chowk and Sushant Lok Phase-I.

The cost of the 7.5-km stretch that the Metro will cover in Delhi to reach the Haryana border will cost around Rs 330 crore. It will be shared in equal proportion by the Union, Delhi and Haryana Governments. The Haryana Government will provide its share of Rs 111 crore as grant in aid.

Meanwhile, the land acquisition process for the Metro stretch in Gurgaon is on. The total land requirement is around 4,46,890 sq mt of which the land in private holding is just 57,840 sq mt. The rest of the land is already with the government. Ms Jakhu said some private land had already been acquired and the rest of the process was likely to be completed within the next six months. Keeping in mind the Commonwealth Games, the state government is also spending Rs 776 crore over the next three years for infrastructural development in its commercial capital — Gurgaon.

Ms Jakhu said the state government had already spent Rs 82 crore in developing drainage, widening and strengthening of roads, sewerage and other facilities and planned on spending Rs 172 crore by the year-end.

The central government has asked Haryana to develop 10,000 hotel rooms for the Commonwealth Games.

Besides this, to ensure no undesired activity takes place next to the planned global corridor connecting Kundali with Manesar and Palwal, the state government has declared 2,0768 acres of land on the proposed stretch as controlled area. This is the first step towards planned development on the 135-km corridor being developed by the HSIDC. The state government has also commissioned a feasibility study on which activity is suited for a particular area, which it has also received.

Faridabad, October 18
Faridabad may be the highest revenue-churning district of the state, but it also has the dubious record of evading sales tax worth several hundred crores, if the records of the Excise and Sales department were given a look.

The department claims to have unearthed loss of a huge amount from Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore from iron and steel traders based here after the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime came into force in the state in 2003.

The department has imposed a tax of about Rs 16.50 crore on just 18 units, which had been found to be evading the tax through bogus bills or other means in this period.

A total of over 350 steel trading units have been served with notices, of which at least 101 units have been found to be not filing their returns for the past three years. The loss of revenue could be more if the survey and assessment cover every trading activity.

The Joint Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, here said that the whole scandal came to light when it was found that there had been hardly any appeal against the fine imposed by the department on such units and the number of returns filed in the department was not matching the existing number of traders. There had been around 700 trading units based here.

He said though notices had been issued to many defaulters, the process of taking an action was long and the focus of the department was to recover the pending dues before taking the extreme step of registering a case.

It is stated that the traders identified to be evading the tax or lower evaluation had been served with notices. The total turnover of these traders or business houses is estimated to be pegged between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,500 crore a year.

A leading manufacturer and trading house having branches in many cities of northern India, including Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad, has now submitted a quarterly tax of about Rs 2.60 crore against just Rs 40 lakh given by it in the previous quarter.

The department has initiated action to recover about Rs 16.80 crore from 18 trading units, whose due tax was evaluated and assessed by the officials. These include a trading company which owes at least Rs 7.81 crore as sales tax.

It is revealed that as many as 101 units have not been paying the tax for the past three years and the department has issued a warning to them. 

New Delhi, October 18
The government’s efforts to contain the spread of dengue appear to have very little impact as 94 fresh cases of the viral fever were reported in the national Capital today.

Bareilly-based Rohit Sharma, who was rushed to AIIMS in a critical condition yesterday, died within an hour after being brought to the hospital, taking the death toll in the Capital to 40, health officials said.

Ninety-four patients suffering from the mosquito-borne disease were admitted to various hospitals in the Capital, including 27 at AIIMS, as the number of dengue patients in the Capital rose to 1731.

Doctors at AIIMS screened 810 persons during the past 24 hours of which 125 were kept under observation at the premier institute, where 178 patients suffering from the disease had been admitted.

The Department of Laboratory Medicine at AIIMS screened 1,006 blood samples in the past 24 hours of which 190 had a platelet count of less than 40,000, while 497 samples had a platelet count of less than one lakh.

New Delhi, October 18
If the Indian medical doctors are to be believed, the effect of deadly dengue causing mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, on the human body can be neutralised with a treatment called immunotherapy.

Produced from various rare species, immunotherapy enhances the immune power of the body, thus neutralising the stings of the dengue mosquito. The information was disclosed by world renowned physicians, Dr Hari Krishna and Dr Tarang Krishna.

The New Friends Colony-based Dr Hari Krishna of the Cancer Healer Centre revealed the dengue mosquito’s bite resulted in the loss of the immune power of the individual, thus leaving him vulnerable to the disease.

The conversion of white blood cells (WBC) to red blood cells (RBCs) or platelets ceases, thus depleting the platelet count inside the human body.

Under such conditions, the only option left is to inject artificial blood platelets from outside. To protect from such a condition, the healer therapy in homeopathy is provided to the patient to strengthen the immune system of the patient.

If taken by an individual on a regular basis every year, the effect of dengue mosquito can be completely neutralised. The patient has to take medication for merely 15 days. At present, this is possible only in homoeopathy.

Dr Tarang Krishna said the homoeopathy-based immunotherapy does not allow the mosquito to have its effect on the body.

New Delhi, October 18
The Institute Body of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) today sought clarifications from its Director P. Venugopal on a number of issues, including “discrimination of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/St) students, financial irregularities, administrative deficiencies and indiscipline.”

BJP MP V.K. Malhotra boycotted the meeting, describing it as “illegal, improper and unconstitutional.”

Supporting his stand, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said ministers were functioning as “autonomous chieftains” and the Prime Minister was unable to keep any check on them.

Union Health Minister Anbhumani Ramadoss, who chaired the meeting of the Institute Body, told mediapersons, “All members met this morning and discussed the functioning and state of affairs in AIIMS. The members showed concern about happenings in the institute and unanimously decided to seek a reply from the AIIMS administration on all these issues.” He said the administration had been asked to give a reply within two weeks.—TNS

Noida, October 18
A doctor of Chitra Medical Centre in Khora Colony
has been fined Rs 50,000
by Consumer Forum for having wrongly operated upon a patient Navin, son
of Ram Prakash, W- Block Sector-12, Noida four
years ago.

As the patient felt a little feverish, Chitra Medical Center decided to operate upon him without proper investigation.

His father took the case to Consumer Forum. The Forum has ordered Dr Pankaj Kumar to pay Rs 50,000 to the complainant and Rs 2,000 for mental torture. In March 2002, Navin had high fever. The doctor said Navin had high blood pressure.

On doctor’s advice, Ram Prakash took his only son to Chitra Medical Centre and Maternity Home in Deepak Vihar on March 13, 2002. The next day, Dr Pankaj Kumar had operated on Navin’s intestines without any test. An 18-inch intestine was removed and the doctor charged Rs 10,000 for the operation.

After Navin’s condition deteriorated, Ram Prakash took his son to Metro Hospital Noida, but on third day Navin died. His father alleged that his son had died because of a wrong operation and the fact he was not put on oxygen when he needed it.

The Forum had asked Dr Satya Singh, orthopaedic surgeon of UP Health Development System, for his opinion. The Forum gave its verdict on the basis of his views.

New Delhi, October 18
Her name is Abhilasha. She truly symbolises hope and aspiration by bringing cheer and the will to live to desolate lives filled with anguish and despair.

Trained as a lawyer, Abhilasha Singhvi, the daughter of eminent jurist Dr L.M. Singhvi, made compassion her life’s calling. Founder and Executive Trustee of Manav Seva Sannidhi (MSS), whose objective is the alleviation of human misery and suffering, Abhilasha has, over 19 years, focussed on one area of human suffering: Disability in the form of loss or absence of limbs.

Starting in a small way in rural backdrop of south Gujarat, the organization has now expanded countrywide to embrace the poorest of the poor who may have lost their limbs due to deformity, accident, disease, injury or congenital defect etc..

It provides artificial limbs, including the famous Jaipur Foot, and calipers free of cost to all patients, besides giving them free boarding and lodging facilities until they are able to walk home without crutches.

“The emphasis is not merely on providing artificial limbs but on renewing the lost sense of dignity and self-confidence of the individual. When everything is lost and life seems like a bleak and dreary tunnel, it is about providing a spark of light,” Abhilasha says with a captivating smile.

This emotional bonding is obvious from the fact that MSS today is the only such camp in India where older patients come back as volunteers to inspire newer patients.

“The motivation for my work is my need to channelise my own pain. My life has been flooded with love of all my patients,” she says. " I consider myself fortunate that I have been blessed with his divine Grace and given an opportunity to reduce someone’s pain. I now have an extended family of more than 13,000 beneficiaries.”

MSS organises camps all over India, and has many success stories. “In the last two camps, at Haridwar and Hrishikesh, we had the privilege of making artificial limbs for Shaligram and Ganesh who lost their limbs in the Indo-Chinese war to frost-bite. Jhinabhai, on his way to commit suicide after an amputation, is now my best Garba dancer. Dilip, born without legs, came to me at the age of 6 and is now 24, and has completed his computer engineering,” Abhilasha says.

MSS also organised camp for life convicts in Sabarmati Jail, in its Ahmedabad camp.

In its recently concluded interactive school sessions in the Capital after a series in Mumbai, MSS undertook the task of sensitising students to the pain of others and to empathise with that pain. 

New Delhi, October 18
Unable to get over the horrifying memories of last year’s blast, both shop owners and consumers in the Sarojni Nagar market are taking no chances. This year, as crowds pour in to complete their Divali shopping, the security in the market has been spruced up.

It was prior to Divali last year when a bomb went off in the market, killing more than 40 and leaving hundreds injured.

Apart from the Delhi Police, which has strengthened security in the market, traders, on their part, have hired private security men to prevent any untoward incident.

The traders have also contributed for the six CCTVs that have been installed in the market to watch out for any suspicious looking person or activity.

The traders said they had pooled resources to ensure safety during the festive season.

The police had sanctioned 30 CCTVs for the Sarojini Nagar market, but these were yet to be installed, said a few traders.

They said taking cognisance of the number of consumers who turned up during the festivals and on holidays the traders were unwilling to take a chance as far as security was concerned.

The traders also claimed that last year’s blast had cast a shadow on sales this year. It was mentioned that people chose to stay away from crowded places and this had affected the sales as well.

Elaborate security arrangements, the traders claimed, were meant to assure customers and inspire confidence in them.

The police have barricaded the open area surrounding the market since two weeks and metal detectors have been placed at all entrance points in the market for frisking people.

The names and addresses of all shopkeepers and salespersons are registered in the police station for identity verification and customers are being asked to stay alert through regular announcements.

New Delhi, October 18
Rare, almost extinct, instruments were played in a successful attempt to re-create Bhakti music from the medieval era on Monday here.

The novelty was that most of the music played was of the classical Punjabi genre, something that is rarely heard outside religious establishments and there are many traditions which are in danger of getting lost. The event that set the stage for this rare musical display was a ‘Jashn’ organised by the Anad Foundation.

It was held to honour Bhai Avtar Singh and Bhai Gurcharan Singh, 11th generation exponents of a Gurbani Kirtan lineage that extends from the time of the Sikh Gurus. The idea behind it was to bring alive the strains of Bhakti music as it existed during the life of Sikh Gurus.

This required the use of rare musical instruments like the algoza, the kamaicha, nagaras etc. ‘Jashn’ was also held to especially honour Bhai Avtar Singh who is suffering from leukaemia.

The programme started with the melodious sound of the algoza played by Shri Mehrdin from Barmer. He gave a lilting rendition of Raga Bhairavi and then Lehr. This was followed by an energetic and fast-paced performance on the mridangam by Ravi Shankar.

Gurbani shabad reet was rendered beautifully by Bibi Nirvair Kaur Khalsa who was accompanied on the Pakhawaj by Parminder Singh Bhamra.

A rather emotional rendition of Gurbani in the classical style was given by Bhai Baldeep Singh Bhai Avtar Singh and Bhai Gurcharan Singh. 

New Delhi, October 18
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has announced bonus for 28,000 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employees, which would be released before Divali.

All employees other than group ‘A’ officers would be eligible for 8.33 per cent bonus subject to maximum of Rs 2500. The DTC employees also raised the demand for early reimbursement of their long-pending medical claims.

The Chief Minister instructed the CMD of the corporation to expedite payment of claims and implement a mechanism enabling direct payment to hospitals in respect of future claims. The employees would, thus, be relieved of making payment and submitting reimbursement claims.

She also expressed concern over the vacant posts of driver. A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf to expedite recruitment against 3,000 vacant posts.

She further directed the DTC to implement the concept of “Bhagidari” at the depot-level functioning. Retired senior government officers, representatives of the DTC Employees Union and officers of the DTC would have regular interaction to streamline the functioning.

Noida, October 18
An exporter living in a rented house, who had defrauded people of lakhs of rupees, was overpowered by people when he was trying to flee. The people took him to Sector-20 police station.

Arun Agarwal was living on rent in B-309 Sector-26. According to some residents of Sector-19, Anurag Agarwal, son of Arun Agarwal, had borrowed lakhs of rupees for investment in business.

Whenever they asked for their money, Anurag used to put them off. Later, he would issue cheques on various banks which would bounce back. Then suddenly one day as Anurag was trying to flee with all belongings loaded in a truck, some of those cheated got a wind of it and they stopped him. They reported the matter to police who took him and his loaded truck to the police station.

After a short while, two men Lalit and Vikram of Union Bank in Sector-29, Noida, also reached the police station on learning that Anurag had been arrested. They told the police that Anurag Agarwal had obtained a loan of Rs 1 lakh from their bank six months ago. The police got the truck unloaded at the police station and have taken many written complaints against the exporter and his son.

Bulandshahr, October 18
Three men waylaid and assaulted a family at Kala Aam crossing, Bulandshahr yesterday. A three-month-old son of the couple was killed in the attack. The assailants then tried to flee, but were overpowered and handed over to the police.

The baby of a Sekandrabad resident had been unwell for some days. The couple had taken him to a hospital, but after a quarrel with the hospital employee, the man came to Bulandshahr with his wife and sick baby. The hospital employee followed the couple along with two friends on a motorcycle. At Kala Aam crossing, the trio pounced upon the man and his wife and beat them. During the attack, the sick child died.