New Delhi, November 22
The MCD Standing Committee, at its meeting today, resolved to carry out a survey to identify 1,000 additional roads to notify them for commercial or mixed land use. The survey would be completed within ten days.

The decision was taken after a resolution was tabled before the committee by the Leader of the House, Mr Jitender Kochar. The resolution was passed unanimously at the meeting.

The resolution said that soon after the survey was conducted “all over the Capital” to ascertain the commercial nature of these roads that were in addition to the list of 2,183 roads notified by the MCD on September 15, the findings would be submitted to the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee on sealing for approval.

If a particular road had over 70 per cent of trading activity, it would be designated a “commercial road”, while others will come under mixed land use, the resolution said.

Introducing the resolution, Mr Kochar said the traders on the unnotified roads were feeling “cheated”, as they were denied relief from sealing of their shops like their counterparts running establishments on notified roads.

There has been a demand from a number of councillors that certain roads in their wards should also be covered under the notification allowing the commercial use of residential premises.

The Municipal Commissioner said that the MCD would wait till tomorrow’s Supreme Court hearing on a plea for providing relief for traders facing sealing before going ahead with the survey.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) today strongly refuted the government’s claims of providing relief to a majority of traders from the sealing drive in the Capital, saying that about six lakh business establishments were still facing the prospects of being sealed.

It asked the government to evolve a ‘permanent solution’ to the problem in the current session of Parliament, which began today.

Mr Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT secretary general, said that there were about 7 lakh commercial establishments in Delhi. Out of them, about 2 lakh establishments were located on 2,183 roads notified by the government, and only about one lakh were getting interim relief.

Mr Khandelwal further said that about 2 lakh commercial establishments were operating on non-notified roads, whereas about 2.5 lakh shops were being run from unauthorised colonies and about 50 thousand business establishments were working on roads having width less than 50 feet. All these establishments were facing the threat of being sealed.

He further said that about 30 lakh people from lower strata and 5 lakh migrant people from nearby states of UP, Haryana and Rajasthan were employed in such business establishment.

Mr Satish Garg, Convenor, Anti-Sealing Movement and Mr Murli Mani, Delhi Chairman of CAIT, demanded from the Union Government to bring constitutional amendment to protect traders from sealing.

The leaders regretted that even when the current session began today, the government so far had not made any statement about carrying out constitutional amendment in this regard.

They also demanded that the sealed shops be de-sealed and in order to bring a permanent solution, the government should take measures for the early implementation of Master Plan 2021 after consulting all concerned sections, including traders.
Meanwhile, the CAIT also announced that the traders’ delegations would soon meet MPs of different states and would submit memorandums.

New Delhi, November 22
A Bajaj and TVS Showroom on the Najafgarh-Nangloi road were sealed scanner as the Municipal corporation of Delhi today put 176 units in Najafgarh zone to seal even as traders in Delhi demanded the Union Government provide a permanent solution to this grave problem in current session of Parliament which began in the day.

With today’s sealing operation, a total number of 1442 units have been sealed since the drive resumed on November 8. — UNI

New Delhi, November 22
The police today announced capture of two suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and seizure of a large quantity of RDX and cash from them on November 16 from Dwarka area.

The disclosure came as the winter session of Parliament began today amid rumours of an imminent attack.

Imran Ahmad Kirmani (25), an aircraft engineer, and Ghulam Rasool Bafanda (45), residents of Jammu and Kashmir, were arrested on November 16 from South-West Delhi’s Dwarka (Sector 6) area, the DCP (Special Cell) said.

“Powerful RDX explosives (1.65 kg), ABCD timers (2) and Rs 4.5 lakh cash, brought through ‘hawala’, were recovered from their possession,” he claimed.

During interrogation, Rasool, who was working for the LeT for the last one year, allegedly said that he had collected the explosives from Azadpur Mandi the same day and was to deliver it to one Tariq at Dwarka’s Sector 9 metro station. The money, however, was to be taken by him to Kashmir for terror activities, he said.

“Imran, on the other hand, had been living in Delhi since 2005 and had done his three-year aircraft engineering course from Sangmer near Jaipur (Rajasthan). Presently, he was looking for a job.”

His elder brother, a Pakistan trained militant, was arrested in Punjab, on the India-Pakistan border, in 1990 with a huge amount of fake currency, the DCP said.

Both were allegedly working under the guidance of their commander, Furkan, in Kashmir. In the last week of October 2006, information was received that a militant of Pak-based militant organisation LeT by the code name “Khalid” had set up his base in Delhi for procuring and diverting funds through Hawala channels for terrorist activities, the officer said.

“After the arrest, we took them on police remand and were conducting raids to apprehend their other associates,” he added.

Teams have been sent to Kashmir and raids were still on, he added.

New Delhi, November 22
Commuters in the Capital bore the brunt of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit and political rallies for the second straight day today with several parts of the city witnessing major traffic disruptions.

Roads leading to Vigyan Bhawan in the heart of the city, where the Chinese President addressed a lecture in the morning, were closed and there were many traffic diversions, causing jams during the rush hour.

Vehicular movement was blocked and diverted on Ring Road and Sardar Patel Marg for some time as the VIP cavalcade passed through the area on way to the airport. He later left for Agra.

Adding to the citizens’ woes were two rallies by the BJP to protest the ‘delay’ in executing Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal Guru and the government’s ‘handling of the security situation’.

The rallies, attended by thousands of activists of the saffron party, began from Rajghat and Birla Mandir respectively and converged on Jantar Mantar, throwing traffic out of gear on its way.

People spent hours reaching their destinations as there were jams on Ring Road, in and
around the business district of Connaught Place, Vikas Marg, which connects Trans-Yamuna areas with the heart of the city, and other parts of East Delhi.

Traffic was badly affected in the city yesterday also because of diversions for the cavalcade of the Chinese President and a rally to demand early passage of the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill. 

New Delhi, November 22
The power distribution company, BSES, has completely revamped its existing electricity bill, making it interface friendlier than ever before. The new electricity bill was unveiled by Mr Lalit Jalan, CEO, BRPL, here today.

“The new electricity bill besides being in a simple reader-friendly format, also addresses customers concerns by containing a lot of relevant and useful information,” said a BSES official.

The process for the new look bill took more than 14 months to evolve, during which it underwent more than 100 design revisions, multiple iterations, improvements, extensive research and feedback, it was mentioned.

“Some of the elements that were taken into consideration, while revising the bill included Identification of all the elements of the existing bill, Categorisation based on type of information, Design improvements for readability and clarity and Additional information based on research and legal requirements. The new bill also has various options for branding and social messages,” a BSES statement said.

It was further pointed out that the “new bill is not only based on extensive feedback from customers and stakeholders including the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) but also incorporates the current international practices and inputs from international consultants and research firms like McKinsey, Datamonitor, Accenture, IMRB International etc”.

“BSES’ new international look bill gives due importance to consumer priority and wish list and is amazingly simple to read and comprehend – more than ever before. The new bill has the provision for all the relevant consumer use information,” said Mr Jalan.

Some of the improvements, based on customer priority, wish list, feedback and research, include detailed tariff structure, clear payment instructions and tips, energy charges and six months history and consumption period and bill details apart from helpline numbers for reporting electricity theft and contact details of CGRF and Electricity Ombudsman.

The new electricity bill will concur with the shift from present K No based system to a Customer Reference Number (CRN) system – in tandem with the current international practices. The existing CRN number – also mentioned in the existing bill and unique for each registered consumer will continue. “Though the existing new K NO will remain, the unique CRN number will be the sole identity and the sole reference point for the customer,” said Mr Pankaj Kumar, Vice-President (Commercial), BRPL.

New Delhi, November 22
A witness in the Pushkin Chandra double-murder case today identified the two accused in court during the recording of his statement.

Deposing before the Additional Sessions Judge, Hare Ram, who was a domestic help for the victim’s father, identified Rajesh Kumar and Moti in the court as the persons last seen by him with the victim and his friend Kuldeep Singh, both of whom were later found murdered.

According to the prosecution, Hare Ram, who discovered the bodies, was also the last person to see Pushkin and Kuldeep alive.

He told the court that on August 13, 2004, he had seen the accused arriving in a car with Pushkin and Kuldeep, at his (Pushkin) residence and going to the first floor of the house around 6.30 pm.

Next morning at around 11 am, he went upstairs to clean the room, only to stumble upon the bodies. Pushkin’s throat had been slit while Kuldeep had been stabbed to death.

Hare Ram is one of 37 prosecution witnesses in the case.

Kuldeep and Pushkin, a project development officer working for a USAID project for the US Embassy in Delhi, were found murdered in a Defence Colony house on August 14, 2004. Two broken kitchen knives with bloodstains had been recovered from the spot.

According to the police, the murder had a homosexual relationship angle to it going by the condition the bodies were found in. There was no sign of ransacking and pornographic material was found at the premises. 

New Delhi, November 22
In a bizarre double tragedy for a family, a 74-year-old man, said to be ‘mentally-unstable’, committed suicide by jumping off a multi-storey building and fell on his son standing on the ground, reportedly who also died.

Kailash Chand Garg, a retired professor, reportedly threatened to jump from the balcony of his eighth floor of apartment in Sector 22 of Dwarka this morning, even as his son Sudhir, standing on the sstreet below, tried to persuade him not to take the extreme step.

However, Garg refused to heed his son’s pleas and leapt off the balcony and fell right on him, injuring him seriously, police said.

While Garg died on the spot, his 47-year-old engineer son succumbed to internal injuries later at a hospital. According to family members, Garg’s mental condition had not been ‘stable’ for some time for which he had been undergoing treatment.

New Delhi, November 22
Delhi Government has approved an estimated budget of Rs 16 crore for the construction of 11 working women’s hostels before 2010 under the Tenth Master Plan.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has already identified nine sites for the 80 to 100-bed hostels and allotted land at Dheerpur, Najafgarh, Basant Village, Rani Bagh, Tughlaqabad, Dilshad Garden, Narela, Bawana and Dwarka, sources said.

The DSIIDC is preparing the estimates that would cost during the construction of the hostels. The government has already taken over land for construction of hostels at Tughlakabad and Basant village.

For better facilitation, the government has also planned to join hands with NGOs to run these women’s hostels. 

Gurgaon, November 22
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the tardy regulation of traffic, the police department here has urged the public to put forward suggestions about tackling the problem at an interface held today to discuss the issue.

The police also reminded the public of their duty to uphold a robust traffic system on the occasion.

To reinforce the reminder, the police had invited the Congress MLA from Gurgaon, Mr Dharamvir Gauba, in the programme.

Representatives of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs), social organisations and rickshaw-pullers also took part in the event.

Although the event was an all-out police initiative, members of the Civil Administration did take part in it.

The Inspector General of Police, Gurgaon Range, who was present on the occasion along with the district SSP urged residents to cooperate with the police to ensure better traffic control.

He said that they could contact him or the district police chief directly if necessary.

The MLA however upbraided the public for remembering their rights, but being oblivious of their duties to follow the traffic rules.

The members of the public meanwhile alleged that in main markets like Sadar Bazaar, the shopkeepers have encroached on roads, making the movement of vehicles almost impossible. Besides, ‘rehris’ and three-wheelers park on the roads in a haphazard manner.

A decision was taken that the police and the members of the public should visit troublesome spots in the city to suggest remedial measures. In the first three days, they would visit Mall areas on Gurgaon-Mehrauli Road, Hero Honda Chowk on the national highway and Sadar Bazaar.

It was also revealed that the police have taken a decision not to allow exit or entry of heavy traffic from the factories, from 8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm.

A decision has also been taken to create separate parking zones in the city. Moreover, the police will intensify its campaign against unauthorised three-wheelers and other commercial vehicles.

With regard to police preparedness to cope with traffic problem, the department has decided to organise a sensitisation and training camp for its personnel. 

Noida, November 22
A bus carrying workers of a factory turned turtle after hitting a road-divider opposite a patrol pump near Bhangel village, killing two workers and injuring 50.

The bus was being driven at reckless speed. The injured were admitted to three Noida hospitals. There were over two dozen women among the injured.

Two workers, Janak Singh, 32, a resident of Saharanpur and Modi Nagar’s Mohan Singh, 28, were declared dead by the doctors.

Workers, angry at the driver’s carelessness, jammed the road today in protest and demanded compensation for the dead and the injured. Half a dozen vehicles were damaged by the agitating workers.

About a 1,000 workers, including hundreds of women work in Samtex Fashion garments factory owned by Anil Mittal. The company has arranged four private buses on contract for ferrying the workers from Modi Nagar, Murad Nagar, Ghaziabad, Noida to factory. The regular bus driver had been absent for many days and helper Ajay was driving the bus in his place. Though he was not fully trained to drive the bus, the factory management had given him the charge, workers alleged.

Ajay was driving the bus very fast with 100 women and men from Murad Nagar, Ghaziabad, Loni, Noida, Barola, Harola etc. As the bus reached near Bhangel, he lost control and the bus hit the road-divider and turned over.

Greater Noida, November 22
A youth rained bullets on his uncle for a piece of land in Aminabad Nyana village under Greater Noida police station area on Monday. A friend had reportedly helped the nephew in killing his unmarried uncle.

The police have nabbed one of the accused.

Bhim Singh of Nyana village had three brothers, two of whom, Mahinder and Meher Chand were unmarried and allegedly of unsound mind. Ram Veer, son of Ajit had been eyeing the landed property of Bhim Singh.

A few months ago when Bhim Singh had sold a part of his land, there was an argument between the two. Ajit had at that time threatened to kill Bhim Singh. A fortnight ago, Bhim Singh is reported to have again thought of disposing of his property. Ajit had, somehow, got a wind of it.

He took his friend Rajiv into confidence. Ajit and Rajiv, armed with pistols reached Bhim Singh’s shop and rained indiscriminate gunshots at him. Bhim had slumped into a pool of blood and died on the spot. —OC

Noida, November 22
The police have arrested the paternal uncle, aunt and a friend of Chatterpal, the alleged brain behind Anant’s kidnapping from Sector 15 A here.

According to the police, the uncle and aunt had given refuge to Chatterpal in Mathura while his friend Sunil helped the kidnappers at Eta.

Another alleged accomplice, Pawan, is yet to be picked up though half a dozen of his close relatives and friends have been rounded up.

The police are reportedly planning to confiscate the property of all these people. About half a dozen persons are being interrogated in this connection.

Three-year-old Anant, son of Naresh Gupta, CEO of a multinational company, was abducted by two motorcycle-borne men on November 13 when a maid was escorting the child to a school bus, leading to a media sensation.

The alleged mastermind of the crime, Chatterpal, alias Dev, and his brother Jatinder, alias Bubbloo, were nabbed within 24 hours of Anant’s recovery.

Chatterpal’s aunt Santosh, her husband Veerpal and Sunil have been sent on a 14-day judicial remand to Dasna jail today where Chatterpal is already cooling his heels. 

Noida, November 22
The kidnapping of a child from an affluent neighbourhood here has brought the spiraling crime graph in the region into focus.

Three-year-old Anant Gupta is back home now, but just five-and-a half kilometers away, village Nihari, close to the posh sector 31 area, is grieving for the loss of more than a dozen children who went missing months ago.

Villagers claimed that 38 children aged between three and 12 years have been missing since February 2006, even as the police sit on the case.

“Anant was a rich boy so the entire police force and the STF tried to rescue him. Thirty-eight Anants are missing here, but we are poor and so the police is not interested,” says a parent of a missing child, Ram Kishan.

Most of the children went missing from one stretch of the road in Nithari and since then no ransom call has been received.

While police say the children may have walked out on their own, but it’s an argument no one is willing to buy.

“Had they gone out on their own, they wouldn’t have gone far because most of us started looking within half-an-hour,” says another parent Ashok Kumar.

The residents of Nithari have lost faith in the Noida police and their grief seems to be caught in a political blame game.

“It’s a shame on the state government that so many kids are missing for months and they are unable to do anything,” says Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal.

The police have now sent special teams all over the country to solve the mystery of the missing children of Nithari, a move widely seen as a fallout of the Anant case. —Agencies

New Delhi, November 22
The Academy of Third World Studies at the Jamia Millia Islamia University is offering a comprehensive Ph.D Programme in International Studies this fall. In the course formatted by Jamia for this programme, International Studies would necessarily include the study of international relations, economy, geopolitics, society and culture.

Ph.D admissions for this programme are open from November 1 to December 15. The Academy of Third World Studies offers research programmes in various studies of Central Asian, west Asian, South Asian, Pakistan, Dalit and Minority, China and South East Asian and African.

Subjects covered under these heads will include third world economic history, Dalit or minority issues and human rights, cultural studies and multiculturalism, economy and trade in the third world, religious revivalism, security, developmental studies, environment, terrorism and the changing nature of warfare and globalisation and the third world. 

New Delhi, November 22
Delhiites felt a slight nip in the air as parts of the Capital experienced a light drizzle this evening.

The weather office attributed the slight drizzle to a cyclonic circulation over Uttaranchal and forecast light rains in parts of the Capital for tomorrow.

It said the minimum temperature in the Capital was 13.6 degrees Celsius, while the mercury climbed up to a maximum of 28.8 degrees Celsius.

New Delhi, November 22
Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, today appealed to the first batch of Haj pilgrims to pray for peace and communal amity in the country. She said thousands of people come to Delhi every year to go for the Haj pilgrimage. But all of them were not given permission, as there was limited seats for Delhi. At present, 1551 pilgrims go for the pilgrimage. She assured that the quota for Haj pilgrimage would be increased. — TNS

New Delhi, November 22
Two alleged touts were arrested from the Karkardooma district courts complex today when they tried to approach a litigant.

Sukhbir Singh and Dharmender, both hailing from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, were caught and handed over to police by Pramod Nagar, president of the Shahdara Bar Association (SBA).

The duo was later produced before the Special Executive Magistrate, Krishna Nagar, who sent them to judicial custody. They have been booked under various provisions of the IPC. —OC

New Delhi, November 22
A 15-year-old school boy committed suicide in a South Delhi locality after his teacher complained to his father about his behaviour.

Shubam, a class nine student of a private school, was found hanging from a fan at his residence in Kalkaji last Friday, police said. He was upset after his teacher summoned his father to the school and complained him about his behaviour in the presence of his friends. — PTI