New Delhi, November 17
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today sealed 151 commercial establishments in the Capital without meeting any significant resistance except in Hari Nagar.

Falling under the sealing drive today were shops at Mayapuri Road from Ring Road to Pankha Road, Hari Nagar, Ghanta Ghar side. Most of the shops sealed were dealing in ball bearings.

With today’s sealing, a total number of 984 properties have been sealed since November 8.

Meanwhile, the filing of applications by 25,000 traders of the Capital picked up momentum today as traders’ bodies directed them to abide by the Supreme Court’s orders in this regard.

At a core committee meeting of its members, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) asked its members to abide by the court’s directives and submit their applications to MCD zonal Deputy Commissioners which would be forwarded to the monitoring committee.

The MCD has suspended action against the 25,000 traders covered by the two notifications on mixed land use, who had earlier filed affidavits for voluntary closure, after the court yesterday gave them time till November 20 to submit the new undertakings.

Traders across the Capital filed a total of 546 undertakings with the maximum number of 178 applications being filed in Shahdara North zone.

While 124 applications were filed in Najafgarh zone, 123 were filed in West zone. In the posh South zone, only 19 traders filed applications.

In another development, more than 5,000 traders and their employees led by senior BJP leaders Mr Sahib Singh Verma and Mr Vijay Goel, held a demonstration against the drive in Shakurpur area.

New Delhi, November 17
Delhi High Court today took exception to the act of three MCD officials allowing a man to build his house illegally after allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2.5 lakh and demolishing the structure later.

Observing that “These officials should be hanged for their act,” the court came down heavily on two Junior Engineers (Sharma and Bhardwaj as claimed by the petitioner) and an Assistant from Western Zone of MCD and asked them to appear in person before the court on December 8.

The names of these officials were revealed before the Division Bench by Baluja Vinod Kumar, the petitioner, seeking stay on demolition of his house in Subhash Nagar, Rajouri Gardern, in West Delhi following a query raised by the court that how he was allowed to construct the house illegally.

Replying to the Bench, Kumar alleged he had paid Rs 2.5 lakh as bribe to these officials who had allowed him to construct the house.

He also submitted that the construction was completed before December 21, 2005. However, the MCD demolished seventy percent of his house in January this year forcing him to come on the road. “They should be hanged for spoiling the petitioner’s life and now they are speaking about the principle of natural justice before the court,” the court reacted to MCD counsel’s plea to the court for taking a lenient view for the officials as they were discharging their duties. —  PTI

New Delhi, November 17
A city court has issued a notice to a Delhi-based businessman, accused of harassing his wife and two-year-old daughter under the Domestic Violence (Prevention) Act 2005, asking him to appear before the court on December one.

The Metropolitan Magistrate issued fresh notice to Ravi Goel yesterday, after his mother submitted that he has not been putting up with them.

On November 12, the judge had restrained Goel and six of his relatives from turning out his wife and daughter from the matrimonial home after the woman lodged a complaint against them under the Domestic Violence (Prevention) Act 2005. The court had also asked them to appear before it.

However, only five of the accused appeared in the court today and submitted that the sixth accused Jyoti, has been living in Dubai for a long time, while Goel himself has not been putting up with them.

Earlier, passing an ex-parte order, the court observed that Ravi Goel and his six relatives would not dispossess the complainants from the matrimonial home without the due process of law.

“There is likelihood that respondents (Goel and others) may commit an act of domestic violence by dispossessing both the complainants from the shared household or matrimonial home,” the judge has observed.– OC

New Delhi, November 17
With the transport row between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh escalating, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) today suspended its bus service to Noida, leading to considerable inconvenience for commuters.

Giving this information to reporters here, Delhi Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf said, “All DTC buses going to Noida stand suspended in response to the UP authorities having seized nearly 35 DTC buses operating in Noida.”

School buses plying to schools in Noida would, however, continue to operate, he said, but added, “If these buses are also seized, schools will have to make their own arrangements for ferrying students.”

Indicating adoption of a tough stance on the issue, Mr Yusuf said that Delhi Government would not allow UP Transport Department to operate its buses in Delhi on city routes.

Criticising attempts by UP to ‘politicise the matter’, Mr Yusuf contended that its approach would lead of a worsening of the situation.

The UP Government has decided that its buses would not be entering the NCR, but will ply only up to the state border.

The row erupted after Delhi Transport Department impounded 11 UP buses operating on city routes on Tuesday. The authorities in UP, in turn, impounded DTC buses operating on Noida routes.

According to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, buses of outside states cannot run as city buses in the Capital of a state.

According to officials of Delhi Transport Department, a Supreme Court order had stipulated that interstate buses could enter Delhi up to the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) but not ply as city buses.

Gurgaon, November 17
The Chief Minister, Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today laid the foundation stones of projects worth Rs 151 crore to improve civic infrastructure, including a water treatment plant, in Gurgaon.

At present two water treatment plants of 20 MGD capacity are functional at water works, Basai. Keeping in view the future requirement, the third water works will be constructed.

The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for a project to relay the master trunk sewer No III from 25.125 km to 33.224 km along National Highway-8.

Yet another development project was launched today with the inauguration of Haryana Urban Development Authority’s Community Centre building at Dhanwapur village.

Besides, foundation stone was laid for the storm water drainage system in the city.

This has been designed keeping in view the natural terrain of the area. Aravali Hills is on the eastern side of Gurgaon and Najafgarh Lake is on the western side. As such the natural slope is from East to West.

Thus seven drains have been planned to carry the storm water of entire Gurgaon town to Najafgarh drain.

Faridabad, November 17
The Chief Minister’s scheduled visit to Bhadshah Khan Civil Hospital, notorious for its poor services, to lay the foundation stone of a new wing costing Rs 8.5 crore, has prompted officials to spend Rs 7-8 lakh on giving it a facelift.

Although the hospital, named after ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, whose foundation stone was laid by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951, is one of the largest and oldest government hospitals in the region, its sorry state discourages all but the poorest patients.

Even district officials avoid it like the plague and prefer a private hospital in its vicinity.

Popularly known as B.K. Hospital, the facility is notorious for its ill treatment of patients. “Rough behavior by inefficient staff, poor maintenance of equipment and unavailability of costly life-saving drugs force the common man to visit private hospitals and laboratories,” lamented a resident.

An employee of the hospital admitted that although the hospital had 200 beds and over 700 patients visited the OPD daily, the quality of services was extremely poor and there was no official to address complaints.

The hospital reportedly lacks even basic diagnostic facilities like MRI and C.T. Scan, and there is no electricity backup for the X-ray machines. A new X-ray machine with advanced functions lies unused because it does not have a power connection.

“Patients are obliged to visit private hospitals for MRI or C.T. Scan, which are very expensive,” said a resident of NIT area. Shortage of specialist doctors and staff nurses has been ailing the hospital for years. With as many as 14 posts of nurses lying vacant, the hospital has no radiologist and psychiatrist. The condition of Burns Ward, started about six years ago, is in particularly bad shape, and lacks even an air-conditioning system, an employee said.

When contacted by The Tribune, the district’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr R.C. Agarwal, who is in-charge of the hospital, insisted that the hospital was in good health. 

New Delhi, November 17
Concerned over delay in execution of its infrastructure projects following the Uttar Pradesh government’s alleged refusal to part with land, Delhi Government has decided to take up the issue at a higher level.

Delhi Planning and PWD Minister, Mr A.K. Walia, today held a meeting with the DDA, PWD and Land and Development department besides other agencies and sought details of the projects, which are to be constructed partly on UP land.

As the Delhi Government is already at loggerheads with the UP government over water-sharing and cross-border transport movement issues, it is ensuring that its important infrastructure projects do not run into a stumbling block with the neighbouring states.

“At present, four PWD projects worth crores of rupees in East Delhi are getting delayed as UP is yet to clear the land for their construction, resulting in price escalation and time overrun in view of forthcoming Commonwealth Games 2010,” official sources said.

Only 17 per cent work on Kalindi bypass, including a bridge over a canal, has been completed in the past three years due to non-handing over of land by the UP irrigation department and orders of the High Court stopping the construction along river Yamuna.

Though the Rs 200-crore Geeta Colony bridge over Yamuna is expected to be completed by early 2008 with 32 per cent work finished, officials are waiting for the UP government’s approval to acquire the land for completion of the project.

“The proposal is pending with the UP Government. The bridge, when completed, will connect Geeta Colony to central Delhi behind Raj Ghat,” sources said.

New Delhi, November 17
The police today claimed to have arrested notorious criminal Abdul Shahid (38) from Kalindi Kunj area. He was wanted in robbery-cum-murder case in which a trader Mohammad Saleem Qureshi was killed and Rs 22.4 lakh looted from the victim.

Another case of robbery of Rs 1.25 lakh from Alwar, Rajasthan, had also been solved with his arrest, the police claimed. – OC