Faridabad, December 7
Faridabad, the most populated district of Haryana, does not have even a single girl child deserving recognition by the state through awards to be given here on December 22 as part of celebrations of ‘Year of the Girl Child’.

That, at any rate, is the message given by the district administration’s failure to recommend even a single girl child’s name to the office of the Director, Women and Child Development which had asked for names of those who have achieved excellence in their chosen field.

According to official sources, ‘nil’ was the response entered by the district administration in the column where the names of such candidates were to be filled.

The letter received from the state capital had been sent to several departments for such recommendation, but no name came forward for the purpose till the last date of submission of the report, claimed an insider.

He said nobody could believe that the administration had failed to find even a single name for the list despite the fact that there were several girls who had brought laurels to the district and state in recent times.

Quoting the names of various women, including some sportspersons hailing from the district, who had excelled in their fields, a local resident said that nobody could deny the fact that a resident of the city, Mona Pruthi, recently topped ion the Civil Services examination.

He said there were around half a dozen women who had excelled in sports at national and international levels, which include Neha Rathi in Wrestling, Sweta Chaudhary in Shooting, who won a gold medal in the last Commonwealth Games held in Australia, Khusboo Saini in Roller Skating and Kiran Saini in Taekwondo.

Besides Himani Kapoor, an ex-student of DAV Public School of Sector 14 here, had won laurels in the national-level singing competition. “Moreover, a girl student of a public school in Sector 15 had topped the district in CBSE (Matric) examination with around 97 per cent marks this year,” claimed a teacher.

“There could a large number of women and girls who had been doing a great job in various fields in the district,” she added, lamenting the administration’s stance.

New Delhi, December 7
The Delhi Government has no authentic information about the impact of sealing of shops in residential areas in the Capital on workers and labourers and, therefore, no rehabilitation policy has been formulated for the people affected by the Supreme Court-ordered drive, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply, the Urban Development Minister, Mr Ajay Maken, said, “The Supreme Court, in its orders dated November 29, October 18 and November 13, has already directed most establishments covered under the provisions contained in the September 7 notification may continue but will have to file an affidavit by January 31 next year.”

New Delhi, December 7
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today presented an Action Taken Report in Lok Sabha which highlighted irregularities in allotment of land by DDA at concessional rates to private hospitals and dispensaries.

Private hospitals and dispensaries were allotted plots on the condition that free treatment would be made available to economically-backward sections of society.

Many such hospitals are, however, ignoring the same, and the Committee expressed dismay at the fact that the government was not taking adequate remedial action against them.

The Committee has reiterated that an enquiry should be held by a high-level independent agency to investigate the circumstances under which the mandatory terms and conditions of free treatment were being overlooked.

It also recommended that action should be taken against all hospitals and dispensaries found guilty.

Expressing concern, the Committee said that despite receiving complaints for non-adherence to the terms and conditions of concession land allotment by the hospitals, no inspection or verification of the defaulting facilities had been carried out by the DDA.

Although show cause notices had been issued to 10 hospitals for violating the condition of providing free treatment to the poor, no follow up action appeared to have been taken, it observed.

The Committee recommended prompt and effective follow-up action on complaints received against the defaulting hospitals. It has also called for penal action against the hospitals which were issued show cause notice as well as DDA officials for failure to enforce the provisions for free treatment to poor patients.

The Committee has pointed out that the DDA had overlooked the provisions outlined in the guidelines for disposal of institutional land.

Noida, December 7
The young son of a senior telecom officer, A K Garg, was found to have shot himself dead in the morning today in his father’s official residence in Sector 62, Noida.

Aditya Garg, 19, was the youngest child of Mr Garg, whose wife died of cancer four years ago. A first year student of GSS Institute, at a stone’s throw from their residence in Sector 62 in Noida, Aditya was seen to be brooding for the last two days. The tragedy was discovered at about 7-30 in the morning when Mr Garg knocked at the door of Aditya’s room to take out his dress as he wanted to get ready for the office. There was no response to the knocking, so he peeped from the window and saw him lying in a pool of blood.

The young boy had apparently shot himself in the temple with his father’s revolver. “Incidentally, there was only one bullet left in the revolver. We used to fire the weapon on happy occasions,” said Mr Garg.

The family was very happy yesterday as Mr Garg’s daughter Griyma, a third year student in the same institute, had been selected for a job. Mr Garg’s eldest son, Digvijay is a software engineer.

“He had been particularly attached to his mother, being the youngest child and had often been seen in a serious mood. Though an introvert, Aditya was at his best when looking after family guests at home,” Mr Garg said.

The boy left a suicide note saying that he “missed his mother who was beckoning him to join her” said Mr Garg, who as GM Telcom in Noida had done commendable work in expanding the telecom network in the city.

He is presently posted in Delhi Telecom headquarters.

Ghaziabad, December 7
Former Prime Minister VP Singh and MP Raj Babbar said during a farmers’ meeting in Bajhora that injustice to farmers would not be tolerated at any cost.

Mr VP Singh said he would again come to Bajhora Khurd after December 11 and restart the flow of irrigation water in the channels for farmers.

A ‘fill the jail’ agitation will also be launched soon. The former Prime Minister had visited Bajhora on Tuesday on hearing about the police firing on farmers. He had addressed the farmers sitting on dharna in Bajhora Khurd.

He said that farmers were being oppressed and false cases registered against them.

Mr VP Singh said Bajhora has paved the way for kisan agitation against acquiring of agricultural land at Singur in West Bengal, Mohali in Punjab and Haryana, etc. This agitation will spread all over the country, he said.

He said Raj Babbar, Jan Shakti leader, would not buckle down from a threat to murder him in Parliament. He also condemned the arrest of Medha Patkar.

Mr VP Singh asked the Central government to modify Land Acquisition Act, as governments just acquire land and hand it over to the builders who are capitalists. As a rule, farmers should have the liberty to fix the price of their land like an industrialist who decides the price of his product, he said.

He challenged Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Anil Ambani to an open debate on Reliance Power Project and demanded that the land acquired from farmers should be returned to them.

Greater Noida, December 7
A trainee worker was blown to shreds in a gas cylinder explosion in a welding workshop in Kasna village on Wednesday. A mechanic sitting nearby was also seriously charred.

The blast was so powerful that the walls in adjoining shops developed cracks. People started running in different directions in panic.

People thought it to be a bomb explosion and remained holed up in shelters for quite sometime.

Kasna is a high risk area as Hindustan Petroleum Gas Co, Asian Paints, Honda Siel and three gas godowns are located here. The road where this accident took place is a normal route for petrol tankers and gas tankers.

The explosion had occurred in Satims Gas Welding Workshop. At 10.30 am when an iron piece was being welded, a leak occurred in a carbide gas cylinder placed nearby which exploded in no time.

Yogesh was blown to shreds and died on the spot, while Sita Ram was badly charred. The police came rushing from nearby Greater Noida police station and removed the severely injured man to a hospital. He was later shifted to a Delhi hospital.

The powerful blast had thrown the goods kept nearby to distant places. The body has been sent for autopsy, while the condition of mechanic is stated to be serious. Police are trying to determine whether it was a standard gas cylinder with ISI mark or locally filled illegal cylinder.

Ghaziabad, December 7
The builders in Ghaziabad will be taxed, at the rate of Rs 325 per sq mt, by Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to help finance city’s Metro project. This strategy was finalized by GDA Vice-Chairman DP Singh in a meeting with the builders on Wednesday, it
is learnt.

Metro is likely to connect Ghaziabad with Noida and Delhi through four routes, it is learnt. From Anand Vihar to Vaishali (2 km), to Naya Bus Stand from Shahdara (12.4 km), from Noida Sector 32-62 via Hapur Road bypass to Indira Puram Shipra Mall and from Shipra Mall to Mehawrali to Dasna (13 km).

Builders have pressed for linking Shipra to Noida Sectors 62, 32.

GDA authorities said this way Metro extension will cover 33 km for which Rs 3,300 crore will be required. GDA is also one of the co-partners. Therefore, builders will have to contribute a cess and become partners in the mega project, GDA said. Builders have agreed to pay Rs 415 per sq mt as development cess.

New Delhi, December 7
Leader of Opposition in the MCD Subhash Arya and BJP councillor Vijender Gupta today jointly alleged that the Congress government in Delhi had failed to spend the budget allotted for providing primary education and basic facilities in municipal schools.

During the five-year tenure of Congress party in the MCD, the budget allotted under plan and non-plan heads for primary education remained unspent, they claimed.

The MCD spent Rs 358 crore under plan head out of the allotted Rs 645 crore while under non-plan head, only Rs 1,876 crore were spent out of Rs 2,531 crore.

Mr Vijender Gupta alleged that although provision of uniform and jersey to school children was to maintain discipline, neither uniforms nor jerseys were provided to the students, and the money provided to them was not enough to buy a jersey.

The Corporation had a target of setting up 120 schools in Delhi during the last four years but it had opened only 34. A majority of the schools were opened in rehabilitation colonies. Owing to constantly falling standard of municipal primary schools, there is substantial decrease in enrolment. The Congress ruled MCD claimed to disseminate computer education to primary students but computers were installed only in 1,378 schools out of 1,811.

New Delhi, December 7
The Delhi Police will videograph the challaning of the Haryana Roadways (HR) buses in Delhi to curb the alleged arbitrariness in this regard.

An official spokesman today said challaning data would be analysed minutely to identify causes for frequent challaning of the Haryana Roadways buses plying in the national capital.

This was decided during a meeting of the officers of Haryana Transport Department and Delhi Police convened yesterday at the Police headquarters Delhi to sort out the issue.

The meeting was attended by the Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Delhi Qmar Ahmed, Haryana Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Transport) Ramendra Jakhu and Haryana Transport Commissioner M Ramsekhar.

The Delhi Police would participate in the road safety cum drivers training workshop and the Haryana Roadways would organize for its drivers to share the concerns of the traffic police and to educate them of traffic discipline. — TNS

New Delhi, December 7
With the arrest of one Subhash Kumar, a resident of Jhilmil Colony, the East district police today claimed to have busted a gang of cheats. They posed themselves as BSES officials and extorted money from the consumers on the pretext that their meters were tampered with and so huge penalties would be imposed if they did not shell out money.

On a complaint in the vigilance department of the BSES, he was caught red-handed. Fake identity card of BSES was recovered from the possession of Subhash. “We are searching for his two other accomplices Rajeev and Neeraj. Neeraj had earlier worked under contract in BSES,” said a police officer.

New Delhi, December 7
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police today claimed to have busted a gang of transformer thieves. Five members of this gang and 20 stolen transformers worth several lakhs were recovered from his workshop in Najafgarh area in West Delhi.

On a tip-off, they were apprehended with the stolen transformers near Nangli Dairy, Najafgarh. Ram Pravesh is the kingpin of the gang. — OC