New Delhi, October 22
Lower temperatures in the Capital seem to have stemmed the spread of dengue as only 56 fresh cases have been reported since yesterday, compared to the average 80 cases reported daily over the past week.

With this, the figure of the number of people afflicted with the viral disease in the Capital now stands at 2,051. Meanwhile, one person died of suspected dengue in Najafgarh zone of the Capital, taking the death toll to 49.

The Municipal Health Officer claimed that there had been 18 confirmed dengue deaths in the Capital so far and 22 deaths are ‘suspected’ to have been caused by it. He said that hospital authorities reported all deaths suspected to have been caused by dengue to the civic body, which waits for the serological test reports before confirming that a person has died due to the mosquito-borne disease.

He added that the dip in temperature following a spell of rainfall in the Capital had led to a downward trend in dengue cases as the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, carrier of the dengue virus, cannot survive in cold conditions.

“The mosquito breeds less vigorously in temperature ranging between 18 degrees and 24 degrees and stops breeding completely once the temperature dips below 18 degrees,” said Bir Singh, Professor of Community Medicine at AIIMS.

During the last 24 hours, AIIMS admitted 22 fresh cases of dengue and discharged 30 patients following recovery. Altogether, 179 patients have been admitted to the hospital, while 60 are under observation.

The AIIMS plans to shut down the additional services launched by it after the outbreak of the disease from Monday.

New Delhi, October 22
Divali was less noisy and polluting for Delhiites this year due to a drive against crackers that violate norms laid down by the government, claims Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

The concentration of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide in the Delhi atmosphere showed a considerable decline this year compared to the last year’s Divali, according to the data prepared by the DPCC.

A monitoring of ambient air quality at 40 locations and noise levels at 30 locations on Divali night has shown a comparative decline in Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and carbon monoxide concentration at 28 locations.

Officials also said that the noise pollution was comparatively low this year. The Fire Crackers’ Association has reported a decline in their business by about 40 per cent, they added.

Five enforcement teams patrolled nine districts of the Capital on the night of divali to check violation of norms.

They found that the noise level increased from 6 pm and reached its zenith by around 10 pm.

However, the DPCC officials said due to favourable weather conditions the smoke started dispersing and considerably got reduced by midnight.

Meanwhile, according to the fire brigade department, fire fighters were on their toes last night receiving about 200 calls from across the city about fire-related incidents.

The fire brigade received only 39 burn cases, which is very low compared to last year’s figures and 37 people were discharged from the hospital after being administered first aid, said a fire brigade official.

“We received about 200 calls but no major fire was reported,” they said. Out of the 200 calls, 116 calls were related to crackers.

Last year, the fire office had received over 250 calls on Divali.

A medium fire broke out in a godown in west Delhi’s Sagarpur area at around 8:30 pm yesterday but no one was injured in the incident. Eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control within an hour.

To meet any eventuality during the festival of lights, the fire department had set up 16 temporary stations and deployed over 125 water tenders and high-capacity dousers.

Over 100 fire tenders, with a capacity to carry 4,500 litres of water each, and 25 dousers which can carry 12,000 litres of water were deployed. The workshops of the fire department also functioned round-the-clock.

Besides, around 900 personnel were on duty. Earlier, the employees have been asked not to go on leave on Divali anticipating an increase in work-load.

Five persons were charred to death on Friday when a fire broke out in a cracker shop in a congested residential locality in south-west Delhi.—PTI

New Delhi, October 22
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded that a special session of Parliament be convened to discuss the sealing issue, threatening that it would gherao Nirman Bhawan, which houses the Union Urban Development Ministry, if this was not done before the resumption of the court-ordered drive from November 1.

BJP leader in-charge of Delhi, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, also warned that his party would move a privilege motion against the Union Urban Development Minister if he did not keep the promise made in this regard in the last session of Parliament.

“Our party has already planned demonstrations outside Delhi Assembly when it assembles for a session in the first week of October. BJP activists and traders will be forced to gherao Nirman Bhawan if the government does not call an immediate session of Parliament to bring about a constitutional amendment as promised by the minister to end the crisis over the sealing drive,” Mr Malhotra said.

However, sources said that there were limited options before the government if it was to stop the MCD drives that sparked widespread protest by shopkeepers facing municipal action. 

New Delhi, October 22
As the November 1 deadline for the resumption of sealing fast approaching, Delhi traders today decided to intensify their struggle against the court- ordered drive by organising a dharna here tomorrow by senior citizens of shopkeepers’ families.

The traders, who met President Mr A P J Abdul Kalam, former Prime Minister Mr A B Vajpayee, Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit and BJP chief Mr Rajnath Singh yesterday seeking support, have decided to observe a ‘Traders-Employees Awareness Week’.

The protest will be held at Jantar Mantar tomorrow and female members of traders’ families will participate in this, the Confederation of All India Traders’ secretary general, Mr Praveen Khandelwal, said today.

As per the programme, the traders’ bodies will meet their MPs and MLAs tomorrow and Tuesday. On October 26, the traders along with elected representatives will meet Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy.

Another dharna is also scheduled on October 26 when students of computer training centres will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar. The traders of the walled city will make a human chain from Red Fort to Lahori Gate on the same day.

In their 10-minute interaction with Mr Kalam yesterday, a five-member delegation led by Mr Khandelwal apprised him about the “humanitarian angle” of the situation where they are asked to close shops without being provided alternate space.

“We have urged the President to intervene in the matter since it has a vital bearing on about 70 lakh people of Delhi,” Mr Khandelwal said, adding that Mr Vajpayee has assured them that he would take up the issue with the Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh.— PTI

New Delhi, October 22
Over 30,408 Indian youths in West Bengal and Jharkhand have availed themselves of modern contraceptives through a dynamic ‘Youth Access to Reproductive Health Services’ or YARS program supported by the Planned Parenthood Federation of American International. This program was implemented by four local NGOs. These being Child in Need Institute, Nishtha, Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation and Young Men’s Christian Association.

A key workshop was held at the India International Center on youth access to reproductive health services recently.

Dr Sona Sethi, the Asian Regional Director, PPFA-International informed that, “Our fundamental strategy is to discover and build the capabilities of pioneers and pioneering organizations to advance reproductive rights and choices. We build local multi organizational strategic alliances to ensure better access to reproductive and sexual health services and we promote social activism to create lasting, positive change. The three-legged stool of our work includes Advocacy, Education and Services.”

Further, PPFA-International has been working in India since 1998 and it was in 2003 that they launched the three-year YARS program and helped expand adolescent access to a safe abortion facility, including medical abortion.

The focus of this program has been on encouraging reproductive health among youth, preventing unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted and HIV infections.

Dr Sethi claimed, “Over its three-year span, the YARS program succeeded in bringing about major changes in the knowledge, attitude and behavior of young people, as well as their parents and community members.”

New Delhi, October 22
The Chairman of the MCD Standing Committee, Mr Jai Kishan Sharma, said that de-silting of drains under the civic body and the PWD in trans-Yamuna areas would be carried out with better coordination.

He said that a decision had been taken to hand over drains under the PWD to the MCD for de-silting and cleanliness. He added that this had been done to ensure that the loopholes caused due to lack of coordination between the two bodies should be plugged so as to ensure better outfall of sewerage.

To accelerate the work being carried out by the MCD under the Special Sanitation Drive and on the persistent demand of the members of Ward Committee of Shahdara South Zone, a meeting was convened today that was presided over by Mr Sharma.

All members of the committee urged the Chairman, Standing Committee, for providing more truck loaders at least one for each ward, repairing of ‘dhalaos’ and toilet blocks and to improve sanitary conditions in the area.

Mr Sharma directed that at least one loader in each ward should be provided to improve sanitary conditions. It should also be ensured that every truck complete four rounds of sanitary landfill sites, he added. For efficient disposal of garbage, the sanitary workers should work in double shift. It was also directed that sanitation work should be closely monitored while giving special attention on disposal of garbage.

The civic body should also check the way contractors are working. Old dustbins should be replaced with new ones, Mr Sharma added.

Stressing on augmenting work under the Special Sanitation Drive, he further directed that a review meeting would be conducted after 15 days during which the officials concerned would submit progress report relating to work completed in accordance with the decision taken at the meeting.

Mr Sharma further directed that the construction work of dhalaos and public urinals for which tender process had been completed should be started immediately. Missing manhole covers should also be replaced, he added.

Faridabad, October 22
A 14-month-old child suffering from high fever died in the B.K. Civil Hospital today after he reportedly failed to get treatment.

It is stated that the victim’s parents waited for about an hour in the emergency wing before the child breathed his last at about 12 noon. There was no doctor to examine him, it is alleged.

The victim has been identified as Nandan, son of one Rujra, a resident of Mohabatabad village of the district. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO), however, claimed that there was no report of negligence in treating any patient. According to certain reporters, the doctor on duty misbehaved with them when they complained of neglecting the child whose condition was serious.

It is stated that they went to the office of the CMO and the Deputy Commissioner to report the matter, but were told to give their complaint in writing.

Admitting that the incident did take place, the CMO claimed that he had not received any complaint of negligence on the part of the doctor, though some media persons had complained of misbehavior by a lady doctor this morning.

New Delhi, October 22
The Convention Foyer at the India Habitat Centre here will come alive with the specially commissioned paintings of eight eminent, contemporary Indian artists from October 25 to October 30 in a unique exhibition of paintings “Keep The Promise—Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 20155”, a creative initiative by the United Nations in India.

The United Nations in India specially invited the eight artists, Veer Munshi, Naresh Kapuria, Anupum Sood, Madhvi Parekh, Jayasri Burman, Akhilesh, Jogen Chowdhury and Sakti Burman and offered them eight goals set by some of the international leaders ranging from eradicating poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS virus to providing universal primary education by the target date of 2015.

Responding to the call of the United Nations, the eight artists have drawn on their individual sensibilities and created images highlighting the MDGs.

Faridabad, October 22
A raid conducted by a police team comprising two constables to arrest alleged gamblers proved fatal for a 26-year-old gambler who jumped into a canal trying to get away. A policeman was also seriously injured in the assault by a mob at Diwali here last night. While the policemen have been booked for murder, nine persons who attacked them have been booked under the attempt to murder case. No arrest has been made so far.

According to police sources, the incident took place on the banks of Gurgaon canal near Patel Nagar jhuggis of Sector- 4 around 9 pm when two constables of Sector-7 police station arrived at a spot where some persons had been allegedly gambling.

It is reported that the accused started running in various directions to escape the arrest. One of the youths identified as Guddu Chaudhary hailing from Bihar slipped and fell into the Gurgaon canal. While the complainant, Ashish Chaudhary, a relative of the victim, alleged that Guddu drowned after the cops kept hitting him with the sticks and did not allow him to get to the bank.

He claimed that some persons had been playing cards when the policemen arrived there and started beating them.

However, the police officials said that the youth drowned after he jumped into the water. There was none to save him and it was dark also.

The SSP said that the allegation against the police had been wrong as the two policemen who were chasing the gamblers did not know where they had fled. He claimed that it was a freak accident and the police could not be blamed for it.

He said the cops became the target of the fury of mob which gathered there. They attacked the two policemen identified as Head Constable Surender Singh and Sepoy Vinod Kumar and beat up them mercilessly. This resulted in serious injuries to Surender Singh, who had been referred to a hospital in Delhi. Vinod Kumar, however, escaped with some injuries.

The residents of Patel Nagar, who assembled in large number after the incident, staged a demonstration by blocking the National Highway for about 45 minutes at about 10 last night, which was cleared around 10.45 pm after they were assured of a proper action into the incident.

The police have registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against the two cops and a case against one Ashish Chaudhary and some others under Section 307 IPC.

It is learnt that a resident told the police control room on phone about the mob beating the cops.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem report is reported to have stated that there was no injury on the head of the youth who had drowned. The postmortem was done by a panel of three doctors of the local civil hospital.

New Delhi, October 22
The police today claimed to have arrested two notorious criminals from near Millennium Park on Ring Road after a brief encounter.

According to the police, Dharmender Sirohi, an advocate, and Arun Kumar Sharma, were arrested following a tip-off.

A USA-made pistol of 22 caliber, a country-made pistol, eight live cartridges, and a motorcycle have allegedly been recovered from their possession.

The police claimed that Sirohi, who used to practice at Meerut and Bulandshahar district courts, was allegedly involved in five cases of murder and one of kidnapping and the Uttar Pradesh police had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 on his head. Sirohi was selected as public prosecutor in Chandigarh in 1999, but due to his alleged criminal background he could not join his assignment.

Arun Kumar was an auto mechanic by profession. He was allegedly involved in more than 25 cases of auto lifting, attempt to murder and assault on police.

Sirohi was allegedly carrying out his illegal operations in Uttar Pradesh, while Arun was involved in criminal activities in Delhi, the police said.

Noida, October 22
Three children of a family were burnt to death in Yamuna Khaddar near DND on Thursday night. The parents are fighting for their lives in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.

Parmanand of Bihar was living in a tenement along with his wife and four children. On Thursday, an earthen lamp remained burning while the family went off to sleep.

The burning lamp fell on the sleeping family. The wind aided the fire in spreading fast. In a short time, all was lost. Three of Parmanand’s kids were badly charred by the time help could reach. He tried saving his children at great risk to his life. He managed to save only his eldest daughter. Three of his children, Chand Dev, 7, Manu Dev, 4, and Mahez, 1, were charred to death on the spot. The police rushed Parmanand, his wife Sukhiya and 10-year-old daughter to Safdarjung Hospital. Parmanand and his wife, who have 80 per cent burns, are stated to be serious. The girl is out of danger.—OC

Ghaziabad, October 22
A UP Police sub-inspector, posted at the Ghaziabad police training school, was caught travelling without a ticket along with his family in 4258 Kashi-Vishwanath Express from Delhi to Varanasi on Friday. At first, the SI tried to get away by proclaiming that he was a police inspector, but when it dawned on him that his offence could land him in prison, he paid the fare and fine.

The policeman was on his way to his hometown, Amroha, along with three women and a boy.

When the railway ticket checking staff demanded the train ticket from him at Hapur station, he allegedly tried to browbeat them. But he was able to have his way only up to Amroha, where the RPF detained the SI and his son. The SI was allowed to go only after he coughed up Rs 1,755 towards the fare and fine.

New Delhi, October 22
The Capital’s tryst with cool weather continued today as some parts of the city received scattered showers bringing down the temperature further to a comfortable level.

The rains in the Capital during the last two days had brought about a perceptible drop in both the maximum and minimum temperatures bringing an end to the warm and humid spell.

The Met office said that the present cool weather was the result of the westerly disturbances and the cool weather was likely to continue.—TNS