New Delhi, November 10
As the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) continued its sealing drive against illegal constructions in the Capital, traders went on a 24-hour bandh to register their protest.

The drive was limited to the posh South Delhi areas on the third day as well. MCD personnel were on the job in the upmarket Greater Kailash-I area in South Delhi where Leela Jewellers and Kangaroo Play School were among the establishments that were sealed.

Markets like South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Vikas Marg, Rohini, Raja Garden and Karol Bagh were shut through the day. However, markets under New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) like Connaught Place and Khan Market operated as usual. Schools, too, remained open.

The sealing took place amidst protests by traders of the area, who raised slogans against the MCD and the government for failing to protect their rights.

Notwithstanding the bandh, the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee issued directions to the MCD to continue with the sealing and handed over a list of establishments to be sealed during the day.

The bandh was, however, peaceful and traders took out a ‘peace march’ from the Town Hall to Delhi Assembly. The traders’ associations will also be meeting to decide their future course of action.

Meanwhile, an employee of a shop in Northwest Delhi allegedly committed suicide apparently as a result of the establishment shutting down in view of the sealing drive.

The victim Amit Sharma (32), who had three children, was going through severe financial distress, police sources said.

The controversial drive has so far targeted big shops and malls in posh South Delhi, with the civic body under heavy security cover sealing 237 commercial establishments after the action resumed two days ago.

“The inhuman sealing drive is on under the shadow of carbines and guns. We are being treated like terrorists,” Mr Rajesh Ahuja, national secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said.

The traders staged sit-in protests at Chandni Chowk and Khari Baoli areas. The administration has deployed Delhi Police, BSF and ITBP personnel to ensure that no untoward incidents occur.

New Delhi, November 10
The president of the Delhi Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dr Harsh Vardhan and the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Dr Jagdish Mukhi have jointly written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, urging him to find a solution to the present sealing imbroglio.

Blaming the Delhi government and inadequate laws for the present mess, the two BJP leaders, who are being supported by Mr Arun Jaitley, the national general secretary of the BJP, claimed that the only wayout was to bring about requisite amendments to the relevant Section (355A) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.

The BJP leaders said that the present mess was created because of utter lack of “farsightedness of the government” and its total inability to deal with the issue legally.

The BJP leaders claimed that the Delhi government had done little and not taken recourse to all the legal and administrative measures available to find a solution to the problem. — TNS

New Delhi, November 10
Under tremendous pressure from the Capital’s traders protesting against the sealing of illegal shops in residential areas on the orders of the Supreme Court, the Union Government is contemplating to approach it again for review of the directive to give some relief to the businessmen.

This was discussed in a crucial meeting of Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, held here this evening to take stock of the situation arising out of a 24-hour bandh by traders today, during which hundreds of them were taken into custody.

After nearly an hour-long meeting of the GoM, the Urban Development Minister, Mr Jaipal Reddy, told mediapersons that the option of moving the Supreme Court again was also discussed, especially in terms of seeking relief for small traders.

He, however, did not say firmly whether a decision had been taken regarding moving the court and merely said that the GoM would meet again to deliberate upon it. “All option, including approaching the Supreme Court, were discussed,” he said.

New Delhi, November 10
In an alleged suicide case, the accused in the murder of seven members of a family in Inderlok area of North Delhi was today found hanging from the ceiling of his cell in high-security Tihar jail here.

Sanjay Babu (28) was allegedly found hanging using a bedsheet from the ceiling of his cell in Jail No 8 at around 3 pm, prison sources said here.

A resident of Shastri Nagar, he is accused of killing his aunt, her husband and their four daughters and a son on the intervening night of July 30 and 31 for money and to settle an old family score.

He was arrested on August 5, six days after the brutal murder, which had sent shockwaves in the locality, and sent to Tihar on the 11th of that month by a local court.

According to police, Sanjay had slashed the throats of his aunt Santhosh, her husband Om Prakash Rathore and his five cousins, aged between eight and 21. He had also tried to burn the bodies.

Police had recovered Rs 20,000 from him at the time of his arrest. He had allegedly stolen Rs 30,000 from the Rathore household after the murder.

Sanjay and his family used to stay with the Rathores, but they parted ways after a bitter fight two and half years ago, the reason, police said, was the motive behind the killing.

New Delhi, November 10
Two factory owners have been arrested for stealing over 33 KW of electricity each in Kusht Ashram near Shahdara in East Delhi. The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Mr Chandra Gupta remanded the two accused to Tihar Jail for 14 days.

In the last ten months, BSES has booked around 95 cases of power theft in over 60 raids conducted in Kusht Ashram, unearthing power theft of 2781 KW, amounting to nearly Rs 11 crore in penalties.

A BSES statement said, “Earlier the accused Radhey Shyam and Ramesh Chand were caught by the BSES Enforcement Teams stealing around 33 KW of electricity each by hooking from the nearby BSES LV Mains. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged and the duo were taken in custody by the police.”

Cumulative penalty of around Rs 26 lakh was levied against the duo. They were both stealing electricity to run factories inside the Ashram premises. While Radhey Shayam was running an electroplating and ice cream cone making factory, Ramesh Chand was running an electroplating and a plastic moulding factory. —TNS

Noida, November 10
The state Chief Commissioner for Right to Information (RTI) is understood to have reprimanded the Noida and Greater Noida authorities for having introduced a wrong format for the application and issuing wrong guidelines under the RTI Act.

The insistence on documents like ration card, PAN card, passport and voter identity card numbers as proof of identity from those seeking information under the Act was decried by Mr Justice M. A. Khan, RTI Chief Commissioner, UP.

Both the authorities were told to cancel the wrong form by November 15. Mr Khan had received a number of complaints against the Noida Authority in this connection.

According to certain people who had gone to file their application for seeking information under the Act, the Noida Authority officials had refused to accept the forms of those who had not entered their PAN card number in the form. This had happened despite Mr Gyaninder Sharma, Commissioner, RTI, who had been deputed by Mr Justice Khan, telling the Noida and Greater Noida authorities that documents like PAN card were not required to be appended with the questions being filed. Citizens could seek information on plain paper also provided the required fee was deposited.

The Noida RTI Cell officials are also understood to have refused to accept a form on behalf of eight workers of an organisation. The first objection was about PAN numbers not being mentioned. Secondly, the officials said the person concerned should personally file the application.

Mr Sharma and Mr Justice Khan had both advised the Noida Authority to adopt a constructive approach in the matter and not to reject forms for small shortcomings or deviations.

When some Noida officials described the authority’s working as “confidential”, Commissioner Sharma said nothing could be termed private or confidential and for any public office maintaining transparency was very important. He ordered the Chairman and CEO of Noida and Greater Noida authorities to appoint public information officers, assistant public information officers and departmental appellant officers for their respective authorities by November 15.

The names, phone nos, room nos and time of meeting of all these officers should be displayed prominently on a board outside their respective offices, they were told.

Gurgaon, November 10
As many as 12 of the 31 members of the local municipal council today submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, requisitioning a House meeting of the civic body to introduce a no-confidence motion against its president, Mr Ravinder Kataria.

Mr Dalip Sahini, one of the 12 members, said the no-confidence move enjoyed the support of 22 members, which was enough to remove the president.

It was claimed 22 members had submitted an affidavit to the Deputy Commissioner for the removal of the president. However, only 12 turned up at
the office of the Deputy Commissioner, encouraging the thought of a possible cross-voting against the proposed no-confidence motion.

The nine members whose names do not figure on the affidavit submitted to the Deputy Commissioner include the president himself, Ms Poonam, Mr Lalu, Mr Dharamveer, Mr Jasbir, Mr Ram Niwas, Ms Neelam Dhingra and Ms Sohna Devi.

Significantly, the local Congress MLA, Mr Dharamvir Gauba, who is said to be strongly behind the move to remove the president, was present at the office of the Deputy Commissioner when the memorandum was submitted by the councillors.

One of the 22 members, who are signatories to the affidavit, said in confidence the move had nothing to do with the development work. It was sheer politics and one group, close to the local MLA, simply wanted to remove the president on political grounds.

However, according to observers, a lot of money will come into play in the present drama. Chances are that some fence-sitters will ask for their pound of flesh to take sides.

Notably, only Mrs Brahmo Devi out of the four councillors close to the INLD, who were among the 22 signatories to the
affidavit, turned up at the office of the Deputy Commissioner.

This is the second time a bid has been made to remove the president and the same group that was active earlier is behind it.

New Delhi, November 10
The US-based alumni of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have pledged to collect 300,000 US dollars for building a convention hall on campus to strengthen their bonds with their parent organisation.

The AIIMSONIANS of America (AOA), a 1000 strong organisation of former students of the AIIMS, took the decision at its 24th annual convention.

The AOA under the leadership of President Dr Narayan Verma took the initiative to collect funds on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the institute.

A committee for
raising funds was constituted under the chairmanship of Dr Vinay
Chaudhary and a sum of 219,025 US dollars was collected at the convention and further funds were flowing in, an
AOA member Karan Kapur said in an email communication to The Tribune.

Noida, November 10
A mobile phone shop in the posh Sector 18 market here was targeted by criminals in the wee hours yesterday. Mobile phones and chargers worth Rs 20 lakh were stolen on Thursday morning.

The police suspected the intruders had used a duplicate key as the shutters and locks of the showroom were found intact. Some 500 mobile phones, hundreds of chargers and other equipment, valued at Rs 20 lakh, were stolen from the shop.

The owner, Kuldip, had left his shop in Savitri Market at 10 pm on Wednesday. But when he opened the padlocks the next morning he was in for a shock. Some 500 cell phones, thousands of recharge coupons and other valuable equipment was missing from the shop.

The police team has lifted fingerprints and started investigations.

Another mobile phone shop just opposite this shop was ransacked about one and a half years ago. Shopkeepers and traders of Sector 18 are livid over the deteriorating law and order situation and the helplessness of the Noida police in checking crime. A group of traders from the Sector 18 market, at a meeting with SSP R. K. S. Rathore, emphasised the need for strengthening the security. The traders had downed their shutters in protest.

The police suspect the hand of an insider in the theft. They have rounded up some people for questioning.

Faridabad, November 10
There is a huge difference in the number of child labourers found in survey reports based on various surveys in the district and the ground reality.

An official survey by the Labour Department of the state government puts the number of child workers under the age of 14 at just 1,031. Unofficial reports claim the number of such children could be well over 10,000. The department has admitted at least 115 children were found working in factories posing a hazard to them. The authorities seem to be groping in the dark about the issue of rehabilitation of children rescued from industrial employment, though the Union Government has released funds for the purpose. The proposed centres for such children were still to take off.

The survey to locate children working in industrial and labour units and rescue them had been launched under the National Child Labour Programme, a scheme started by the Union Government.

Though the survey was conducted through certain NGOs and a report submitted at the initial stage indicated 6,000 children were engaged in industry and other related work in one of the two parts of the district, the authorities concerned refused to buy the theory and findings submitted. Officials claimed there was no difference in the results of the survey by NGOs and the report prepared by the department.

Insiders claim the number of child workers could be several times more than what was stated in the official report. A similar survey done by the department in 1997 had detected 830 child workers in the area. If the official report was to be believed then there was only a slight increase in the number of such children over the past nine years, though the population had increased sharply over the period.

The rehabilitation process appears to be enveloped in total confusion. The authorities concerned should open special centres for rescued child workers to ensure that they do not get re-employed and are admitted in school with some monetary and financial help being given to the poor families. Officials have perhaps no answer to the list of children found working in factories and their identity. They do not have any record or address of such children and thus arises the question of how to use the funds received for the rehabilitation of such children, claims an expert.

The government has announced the provision of an amount of more than Rs 2 lakh for the welfare of a group of 25 to 50 children. Since there were no records about the rescued children, the money was reportedly used for funding the six schools which were operating for providing alternative and innovative education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), another scheme of the government. 

New Delhi, November 10
As many as 57 fresh dengue cases were reported in the national Capital during the past 24 hours, taking the total number to 3,059. However, no deaths were reported.

AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr D K Sharma said while three fresh dengue patients were admitted to the institute in the past 24 hours, 11 were discharged. The total number of dengue patients undergoing treatment in the hospital now stands at 51, he added. The Central Zone, Shahdara (North) and Shahdara (South) continue to be the worst affected areas. —TNS