New Delhi, November 20
A delegation of BJP legislators, led by the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Prof Jagdish Mukhi, submitted a memorandum to the President of India, Mr APJ Abdul Kalam, suggesting the way to work out the sealing issue in the Capital.

The delegation told the President that four per cent of the total land was to be urbanised and developed for commercial use in Delhi. But so far only 1.5 per cent of the land had been developed, it claimed. No commercial developments had been done in unauthorised colonies that was the reason that lakhs of shops had come up in residential areas, the delegation pointed out.

The Supreme Court has directed to seal shops in residential areas and also directed to submit affidavits to close down the business within a given time. About 44,000 shop-owners have filed the affidavits. To give relief to the shop-owners, the delegation requested the President to amend Section 345 A of the MCD Act and remove the base on the basis of which the court had issued the sealing orders.

Master Plan 2021 should be notified at the earliest making provision in it for commercial or mixed land use of residential premises, which would give a permanent solution, the legislators demanded.

The delegation also appealed to bring out one time amnesty scheme to give full relief to residents and traders. The government should regularise the unauthorised constructions which have come up during the last 50 years with certain terms and conditions. 

New Delhi, November 20
The majority of the Resident Welfare Associations at a meeting with the Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, held here today asked the government that traders should not be allowed to run commercial activities in residential areas.

Instead of allowing commercial activities in residential areas, the traders should be asked to go to markets constructed by the DDA and the MCD. Thousands of shops are vacant in these markets. If sufficient space is not there, the agencies concerned should be directed to develop more commercial and industrial areas.

New markets should be developed with proper parking lots and other civic amenities.

The RWAs lashed at the DDA, MCD, NDMC and other agencies who are responsible for developing the national Capital.

They said that proper commercial areas should have been developed before allotting plots to the residents.

They also said that traders whose shops have been sealed should be resettled.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi today sealed 161 units. Of these, 97 units were sealed at Najafgarh-Nangloi Road falling in Najafgarh Zone. In South Zone, 64 units located at Hans Raj Gupta Marg, Greater Kailash-I were sealed in which a showroom of Sony named as Sony World was sealed. 

Faridabad, November 20
Almost 81 per cent households in Haryana are still awaiting regular water connection. Though about five lakh public taps supply drinking water to a large chunk of the population in the state, this has routinely resulted in about 70 per cent of water being wasted.

With water supply connections being provided to only seven lakh households, the state government has announced a Rs 200-crore scheme to increase the number of connections in both rural and urban areas.

According to the state government authorities, the ambitious project, named after late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, will cover all 6,759 villages of the state. It has been announced no money will be charged from the applicants for connections applied and provided till November 18 next year, while a sum of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 has been fixed for getting a connection in the rural and urban areas, respectively, after a year.

The water connection charge for a household in the village has been fixed at Rs 20 per month for the general category while it will be Rs 10 per connection for the backward classes. The Department of Public Health in the district has set a target of 5,000 connections for the backward classes for the period up to March 31, 2007.

The applications for private water connections will be accepted in various offices, including those of the Deputy Commissioner, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, the SDM, the tehsildar, the BDPO, the municipal corporation, the municipal committee and the Public Health Department.

The department has already provided 102 connections to Scheduled Caste families at Palwali village of the district, where a programme was formally held yesterday. It was chaired by the Parliamentary Secretary and MLA, Ms Sharda Rathaur.

Out of the 37.12 lakh households in the state at present, only seven lakh households had a water connection. Experts believe work on providing water connections to every household in the state will be a real test of the government’s endeavour.

Since there is shortage of clean water, it will not be easy to make the scheme a success, especially during the summer months, unless the government ensures adequate supply of water in all areas. Several villages in the district face acute shortage of water not only for drinking but also irrigation purposes.

Faridabad is among those districts where the underground water level has gone down sharply over the years due to indiscriminate use as well as misuse by various sections of society. Illegal boring of tubewells and operation of private water cleaning plants in large numbers has been rampant here. There is no check on private colonisers who provide illegal connections to a large number of households in the town and nearby areas.

Also, funds meant for promoting rainwater harvesting and conservation of water normally go waste with the schemes looking good on paper only. 

New Delhi, November 20
The Transport Department authorities in Delhi tried to communicate with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to resolve the row over bus services, but they did not get any response, sources said.

The Delhi Transport Commissioner faxed several messages to the authorities concerned in UP in a bid to communicate with them to convene a meeting over the issue.

According to the sources, having seen the “adamant attitude” of the UP government, the Delhi transport department has filed an application in a UP court to get released its buses impounded by the UP transport department. At present, 122 DTC buses are in the custody of UP transport department.

A meeting of senior officers of Delhi Government will be held tomorrow to discuss the issue. Thousands of commuters who travel daily between Delhi and various cities of UP like Ghaziabad and Noida are facing a lot of inconvenience due to the closing of the bus services.

Citizens in Delhi are approaching the representatives of their areas to pressurise the government to find out a suitable solution.

The row was triggered when Delhi Government had asked the UP transport department that its buses were not allowed on the roads of the Capital, as according to the Supreme Court’s guidelines, the buses from other states should ply only till Inter State Bus Terminus and not in city areas. When the direction of Delhi Government was not followed by the UP bus drivers, their buses were impounded. In retaliation, the UP also impounded the DTC buses.

Meanwhile, the senior BJP leader and former union minister, Mr Vijay Goel, alleged that the dispute over the bus services had erupted due to the “anti-people” policies of the Congress-ruled Delhi Government. “The Delhi Government had reached an agreement with the UP in 2004 on inter-state bus services, putting aside the interest of Delhi citizens,” he alleged.

He said that a meeting was held on August 2, 2004 between the Delhi and UP governments to hold discussions on the interstate bus services. During the meeting, it was concluded that the DTC buses would cover 90,000 kilometers in the territory of UP, while the buses from UP were allowed to cover 30,000 kilometers in Delhi, the BJP leader claimed.

Mr Goel claimed that the agreement had benefited the UP government more as the UP Roadways buses were making more rounds on Delhi roads covering smaller routes. 

New Delhi, November 20
The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) today announced that a Delhi Press Initiative 2007 along with a Delhi Media Centre for Research and Publications had been constituted and the Delhi Press Morcha 2007 had also been announced to restore the “dignity and security in the profession”.

Office-bearers of the DUJ, in a statement here, said that the first phase of the new projects began on Saturday, November 18.

The DUJ has earlier expressed “grave concern at the continued victimisation of the employees of the United News of India (UNI) and the semi starvation condition of the illegally dismissed employees of the Hindustan Times and colleagues in the Urdu press”.

The statement said, “It is called upon the Delhi Government to immediately intervene and stop victimisation of journalists and press workers in Delhi. The DUJ further fully supported the stand of the Joint Action Committee and that of UNI employees that there should be an immediate inquiry into the dubious UNI deal by the Urban, Law, Finance and Company Affairs Ministries”.

It said that the DUJ had resolved to further intensify the struggle against the UNI deal and would take up the issue during the forthcoming Parliament Session.

Gurgaon, November 20
The resentment among the Congress leaders over the functioning of the party in the district came to the fore today when one of the leaders complained against the ignorance of old party workers.

Mr Arun Sharma, the former general secretary of the district unit of Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) who joined Congress after HVP’s merger with it, alleged that the party’s district unit now comprised property dealers and real estate agents in large numbers and senior Congressmen were completely neglected.

He pointed out that it was surprising that a number of office-bearers in the party were not local residents and belonged to other parts of state.

He alleged that the newly-elected president of Congress (Urban) was a property dealer and had worked in almost all political parties in the region. He (the president) was also once expelled from the Congress party for acting against the party interest, alleged Mr Sharma.

He said that he had urged the Haryana Congress working president, Mr Ram Prakash, to protect the interests of the party and promote and encourage the real, honest and devoted workers so that the party could rise further.

If the situation remained the same and no action would be taken to maintain the dignity and honour of the loyal Congress workers, other political parties would take advantage of the situation and would soon come to power, Mr Sharma cautioned.

Mr Sharma has also advised to Mr Prakash to make it mandatory for senior Congress workers and office-bearers to disclose about all of their movable and immovable properties. When contacted, Mr Madan Lal Grover, president of the district Congress (Urban), denied all the allegations levelled against him.

New Delhi, November 20
Dengue and malaria would persist till the maximum environment temperature was above 15 degree C, said Dr K. K. Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India, and Chairman elect, IMA Academy of Medical Specialties, and Dr Bir Singh, Professor Community Medicine, AIIMS. They were speaking at a public interaction organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the ongoing trade fair at Pragati Maidan here today.

The experts said the ideal temperature for the virus was 20-22 degree C. The virus got killed if the temperature was 15 degree C or below. However, even at this temperature, malaria may still persist as the malaria parasite got killed only when the temperature was below 10 degree C.

Talking about HIV, the experts said it was now possible to live a normal life even if one was HIV positive. HIV today was called a chronic manageable disease on the lines of high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma. Its effective treatment was available.

The US Government had already implemented routine testing of HIV in the hospital setting.

Experts said anti-HIV prophylaxis should be given to every rape victim, raped by any unidentified person. A 28-day prophylactic treatment could prevent the transmission of HIV.

The experts said rare routes of HIV transmission included exchange of blood through glass water during dental work, diabetic camps where checkup needles were shared.

New Delhi, November 20
A delegation of students from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), a premiere business school of the country, today embarked on a mission to forge ties with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan, a first of its kind of tie-up between business schools across the border.

As part of the arrangement, these budding managers of the FMS today left for a two-week visit to Pakistan where they will be staying at the LUMS.

The students will attend classes at the University, participating in debates and group discussions, like regular students. The visit to Pakistan comes barely a week after a similar delegation’s visit to South Korea and China.

New Delhi, November 20
Hundreds of Tibetans today held a huge rally in the Capital to protest against the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India.

Shouting anti-China slogans at the rally, which began at Jantar Mantar and proceeded towards Parliament, the demonstrators called for an “end to the Chinese oppression of Tibet’”.

The protestors, including Buddhist monks dressed in maroon and yellow robes, were seen raising slogans like ‘We Want Freedom’ and carrying placards saying ‘free Tibet’, ‘Hu Jintao wanted for crimes against humanity in Tibet’, ‘Hu Jintao Go Back’, ‘Tibetan people want freedom’ and ‘Wake up India’.

With slogans like ‘Stop Killings in Tibet’ and ‘Free Tibet’ engraved on their chests and carrying a huge cutout of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan protestors called for an end to Chinese rule of Tibet while urging the Indian government to take a tougher stance toward China over Tibet.

The demonstrators were, however, stopped before they could reach the Parliament House building.

The protest was organised by the Tibet Youth Congress (TYC), a group of thousands of Tibetans who advocate independence.

Dhondup Dorjee of the TYC said the objective of the rally was to raise awareness of the atrocities in Tibet and appeal to India not to sacrifice the issue of Tibet in any deal made with China during President Hu Jintao’s visit.

The protestors claimed that China had attempted to destroy Tibetan Buddhist culture by flooding Tibet with China’s ethnic Han majority.

The rally was part of the series of protests that Tibetans have planned throughout India to protest the Chinese President’s visit.

President Hu Jintao is to arrive in India later today for a three-day State visit.

During his visit, India and China will sign an agreement on Investment Protection, which will increase the investment between the two countries and be in force for 10 years.

Besides, several trade-related agreements are also expected to be signed between the two countries.

The Chinese President will meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and discuss several bilateral, regional and international issues. 

New Delhi, November 20
Stealing electricity seems to be a custom for many Delhiites, which cuts across classes and areas. Aiding and abetting this illegal activity are numerous gangs and racketeers, who deploy a variety of illegal methods to steal power. The legal machinery, including the courts, have started taking a serious note of this to cut the menace of power theft.

Recently, BSES’ efforts to curb power theft received a fillip when one Sanjeev, the mastermind and an illegal provider and facilitator of electricity in South Delhi’s ultra posh area of Sainik Farms (also one of the top 10 power theft areas in BRPL) was sent to Tihar for 14 days by an Additional Sessions Judge.

Earlier, a BSES Enforcement Team apprehended Sanjeev, who, along with an accomplice, was illegally laying a cable around some posh residences of Sainik Farms. The police were immediately informed and they took the accused into custody.

The duo used to illegally supply stolen electricity by installing ‘dead’ meters which did not record any consumption. “Their illegal network was powered by illegally tapping into the BSES LV mains,” said a BSES official.

The premises of three of Sanjeev’s and gang member Khan’s customers living in the Anupam Garden area were inspected. They were found illegally using approximately 40 KW of electricity amounting to nearly Rs 7 lakh in penalties. Altogether, these three houses were using six refrigerators, seven television sets, three water pumps, four geysers, five air-conditioning units, close to 30 tubelights, 15 bulbs and 27 fans.

Speaking about the raids in Sainik Farms, a BSES spokesperson said, “This recent raid by the BSES Enforcement Team that has unearthed an illegal network in this posh area just goes to prove once again that power theft is rampant in all sections of society.” The spokespersons further added, “In the past four years, BSES Enforcement Teams have booked 157 cases of power theft, stealing over 2000 KW of electricity amounting to nearly Rs 6 crore in penalties. This magnitude of power theft definitely adversely affects the power supply to our customers in surrounding area likes Mehrauli, Saket and Chittaranjan Park and puts excessive strain on the infrastructure.”

Noida, November 20
Two drunk youths driving an Indica car had dragged a UP police sub-inspector on vehicle checking duty for about 700 metres in Sector-62 at 1 am on Sunday.

The SI who had demanded car papers was pulled in, hooked by the car window and dragged for 700 metres. The seriously injured SI had to be rushed to the hospital.

On getting the information, sector-58 police station nabbed the inmates of the car and thoroughly thrashed them. One of the youths is a driver in a travel agency in Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad.

SI Yoginder Singh of Sector-58 police was on duty, checking the vehicles in Sector-62 near NIB police post. The SI had waved the Indica Car No. DL-1P-6163 to stop. As SI Yoginder Singh asked the driver of the car to show car papers, the youths are alleged to have pulled him in so that he was dragged on the road along with the car for 700 metres. They had been allegedly hitting the SI all along. Both the inmates were later caught.

Rohini Masih and Suraj of Shiv Ram Nagar, Sahibabad told the police they had panicked so they accelerated the speed of the car. The SI got hooked to the car window. Police have sent the duo to jail after formally arresting them. They have been booked for injuring the SI on duty and not stopping the vehicle for police checking.

Gurgaon, November 20
The State Vigilance Bureau has arrested two youths, including a woman for cheating people on the pretext of providing loans to them.

The Superintendent of Police, SVB, Mr Rajbir Deswal, said that Anurag, son of an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), Haryana Police, currently posted at Sirsa district, and his colleague Ms Deepali were arrested from a market at DLF while they were taking bribe from a youth for providing loan from a nationalised bank.

As per initial investigation, the couple had cheated more than 39 persons and took money from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 from them on the pretext of providing loan from banks and other financial institutions ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

The SP added that a resident of Gurgaon, Tejpal complained to the SVB that he had given Rs 1,000 to the couple for sanctioning a loan amount of Rs 2 lakh for establishing a milk dairy. The couple has now demanded Rs 10,000 more for sanctioning the loan—Rs 5,000 before sanctioning the loan, and Rs 5,000 after issuing the cheque, Tejpal stated in his complaint.

The SVB directed Mrs Satyavati, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) to conduct the raid while Tehsildar Tarshem Sharma was appointed as duty magistrate for the raid. As Tejpal gave Rs 5,000 to Deepali in the evening today, the SVB team and the Duty Magistrate raided the premises and caught the couple red-handed while they were taking the bribe.

The SVB has registered the case and handed over the case to Gurgaon police as the case is related to forgery.

Ghaziabad, November 20
Two groups clashed in Dasna on November 9 in connection with the city municipal elections. Both the groups indulged in stone-pelting and exchange of fire. Now a case of murder has been filed against 300 persons in Mussori police station. Report of murder has been added to the case of breach of public peace and armed clash.

Shakeel, 28, was seriously injured in the clash with a gunshot and succumbed to his wounds in Santosh Medical hospital on November 11.

Apart from the villagers, a large number of hospital employees had attended Shakeel’s funeral, including some political leaders. But most of the persons belonging to one group had abstained from participating in the funeral. This had further accentuated the feeling of animosity between the two groups and resulted in addition of murder charge in the case already registered.

Gurgaon, November 20
One of the nine members of the serial killers lodged in the Bhondsi Jail here tries to commit suicide.

He injured his neck in the bathroom of the jail. According to police sources, he made a fatal attack on his neck by a razor blade.

He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital bleeding profusely. However, his condition is said to be now stable and out of danger.

All the nine members of the gang hailing from village Bora Kalan, near here, are lodged in the jail. They are facing charges and trial for their heinous crime.

It may be recalled that the police have already recovered 28 bodies and skeletons of persons from various places in Gurgaon, alleged to have been murdered by the members of the gang. The jail authorities have increased the security cordon on the premises following the incident.

New Delhi, November 20
The Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) has demanded that the Ansal brothers, who own the Uphaar cinema, to be tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

As many as 59 persons died inside the cinema hall due to asyphyxation while watching the matinee show of the film ‘Border’ when a fire broke out in the transformers installed in the basement of the hall on June 13, 1997.

The court will decide on December 2 about locus standi of the senior counsel, Mr KTS Tulsi, appearing for the AVUT.

The defence was also categorically asked by the court to fix a specific date to wind up the arguments. Otherwise the court will have little choice but to decide a date on its own.

Ghaziabad, November 20
Airtel, which has completed 11 years of providing world-class mobile services in Delhi and the National Capital Region, organized ‘Kids Carnival’ followed by live performances by Dhun, a young and upcoming youth band at the Shipra Mall, Amphitheatre, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad yesterday.

The highlights of the Airtel ‘Kids Carnival’ included kids painting competition, games and entertainment sessions followed by a live performance by Dhun, a youth band which had captivated the audience present with their songs.

Airtel’s initiative is in sync with the brand’s motto of ‘Express Yourself”, which reflects spontaneity and ability to communicate just when you think, just as you feel. Airtel aims to build on the human need to connect to talk, to listen and express irrespective of age and gender.

Senior vice-president, Bharti Airtel, Marketing & Sales, Shashi Arora, said, “We are delighted and proud to have provided best in class mobile service to our customers in the region. As we move forward, we would continue to offer innovative services and an unmatched mobile experience.

Bharti Airtel Limited is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 30.27 million customers as by the end of October 06, consisting of 28.61 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among 10 best performing companies in the world in the Business Week IT 100 list.

Over the years Airtel has consistently set the benchmarks for the Indian cellular industry and redefined the business through marketing innovations, introduction of new generation value-added services and the highest standard of customer delivery. 

New Delhi, November 20
All India Panchayat Parishad is going to organise its 16th national conference at Balwant Rai Mehta Panchayat Bhavan in Mayur Vihar from tomorrow.

This two-day conclave will be inaugurated by the Rural Development Minister, Dr Raghuvansha Prasad Singh.

According to the president of the organisation, Mr Subodh Kant Sahay, the Minister for Food Processing Industries, the main objective behind the conference is to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system in our country, which is the need of hour. For the first time, a separate post of president for the women cell of the organisation has been created, which is currently held by a veteran social worker Ms Vishala Eshwar from Karnataka. It will certainly boost women participation in the organisation. 

New Delhi, November 20
Prof Chaman Lal of the Centre of Indian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a well-known Hindi and Punjabi scholar has been elected president of the JNU Teachers Association for the year 2006-07.

Dr Charanjit Singh and Dr Raman Prasad Sinha have been elected vice-presidents and Dr M. M. Kunju has been elected secretary. After the last date of withdrawal of nominations, the team was elected unopposed.

Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy and Dr P. Sahdevan have been elected School representatives from the School of International Studies, Dr Rizwanur Rehman has been elected representative from the School of Languages and Ms Tanuja Mohanty from the School of Physical Sciences. The rest of the positions will be filled by co-option.

Gurgaon, November 20
A multinational company Bausch & Lomb with a local Sheetla Hospital & Eye Institute has launched a campaign for testing eyes of the children of weaker sections of society and provide free medicines and spectacles to them.

The weeklong programme started on the Children’s Day has already tested around 500 children at village Malpura, DLF phase 2, 4 and 5, Sushant Lok and other parts of city.

Dr Ajay Sharma, managing director of Sheetla Hospital informed that the research survey had indicated that about 50 per cent of school-going children are not aware of the fact that their eyes have vision-related problems.

Dr Sharma revealed that headache, water in eyes, weakness in distance viewing and slit vision were some of the symptoms which confirmed the problems in the eyes. The sooner, one gets one’s eyes tested, the better for one, advised the doctor. If the child has crossed the age of five, his/her eyes should be checked regularly, at least once a year, cautioned the doctor.

He further advised the public to take maximum green vegetables, cereal, milk and milk products, yellow colour fruits and juice of carrot if one’s eyes are weak.—OC

New Delhi, November 20
The 14th regional conference of International Social Security Association (ISSA) will begin here from tomorrow to discuss the global challenges and regional responses.

The meet will be inaugurated by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Oscar Fernandes.

The meet will focus on the sustainability and effectiveness of health care delivery, one of the most urgent challenges in the countries in Asia and Pacific regions.—OC