New Delhi, December 22
The expenditure finance committee of the Delhi Government has given its nod to 10 projects amounting to Rs 201 crore. Six pertain to the PWD and one each to Transport, Training and Technical Education, Health and Family Welfare and Education Departments. The projects were cleared at an EFC meeting chaired by Delhi Finance Minister A. K. Walia today.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Dr Walia said the EFC had approved an amount of Rs 125 crore for upgradation of streetlighting on Delhi PWD roads before commencement of Commonwealth Games 2010. “This would also go a long way in making Delhi a world class city with modern and uniform streetlighting on all important roads”, he added. A power point presentation of the project was given by the PWD.

Dr Walia further said Rs 5.65 crore would be spent on a transport demand forecast study for the development of an integrated road-cum-multi-model public transport network in Delhi The transport department had proposed that based on the study an effective, reliable, affordable, convenient and user-friendly mass transit system in Delhi would be designed.

Dr Walia disclosed the benefits of the system would be long term for the public at large with efficient public transport system and consequent reduction of congestion on roads. There would be considerable reduction in consumption of precious fuel on private vehicles. Dr Walia added the public transport system in Delhi needed to be substantially augmented with improvement of service for its proper planning, detailed study of existing traffic and infrastructure available along with projections for the future requirements.

A study regarding an integrated multi-model transport network was got done through RITES, which was approved by the Cabinet and cleared by the Planning Commission. According to this study, tentative corridors for HCBS, Mono Rail, Light Rail Transit, Metro Rail etc had been proposed. These corridors required a detailed transport survey and study before implementation,

An amount of Rs 19.41 crore had been sanctioned for widening of Road No 51 from the Azadpur intersection to Mukundpur Chowk on National Highway 1 within 12 months. A sum of Rs 7.10 crore would be released for the improvement of MB Road from Qutub Minar T-junction to Badarpur T-junction. It would take six months to complete the work. Another Rs 6.28 crore would be spent on strengthening of Ring Road from Nigambodh Ghat to Metcalf House and construction of service road near the clock tower on the city side within 12 months time. Ring Road from Raj Ghat to Nigambodh Ghat would be strengthened within six months with an estimated amount of Rs 3.58 crore. A cycle track from Loni Road to Khajuri Chowk on Road No 59 would be constructed within 12 months with an estimated cost of Rs 5.41 Crore.

A project of Training and Technical Education for pursuing central air-conditioning work at the under-construction East Delhi Engineering College at Geeta Colony with an estimated cost of Rs 25.42 crore was also approved by the EFC. The work would be completed in ten months. An amount of Rs.2.42 crore would be spent on central air-conditioning of the building of the Delhi State Cancer Institute and construction of ramp within 12 months. The EFC has also sanctioned an amount of Rs 1.49 crore for the construction of 20 classrooms at Government Senior Secondary School, Savda Ghevra, within a period of nine months.

Faridabad, December 22
The stage is set for the start of the ambitious City Development Plan (CDP) worth about Rs 2,200 crore for Faridabad. A formal agreement among the Union government, Haryana government and the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) for the launch of this scheme was signed today at a meeting in New Delhi this morning. This makes the city qualified to receive the financial aid from the Urban Development Ministry and the state government for overhauling the civic infrastructure here in the next five years.

The MCF will receive a contribution of at least 50 per cent and 20 per cent from the union and state governments of the total cost of the scheme, while the civic body will have to generate only 30 per cent of the total budget required.

The meeting in which the agreement was signed was attended by the Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development, the Commissioner, Urban Development, Haryana government and the Commissioner, MCF, Mr Mahtab Singh.

The work of preparing the CDP was allotted to Crisil India Limited about six months ago, while the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was made by the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), a union government enterprise. The work on the plan had started after the Prime Minister had announced to launch the national level ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) scheme on December 3, last year. While 63 cities across the country have been selected for this project aimed at improving the civic infrastructure of the urban centres, Faridabad is the only city from Haryana, which has been included in the list.

According to Mr Mahtab Singh, Commissioner, MCF, there have been several components of the plan, which included the plan to improve and augment the water supply network, sewerage system, drainage, roads and street lighting.

He said the project report of construction of LIG flats for the urban slum dwellers under the scheme named as ‘Basic Services for Urban Poor’ had already been approved under which a total of about 6,000 flats would be built for the poor residing in slums and it would cost over Rs 100 crore. At least two sites for the purpose had been finalized in the city. “Now all the hurdles before the CDP have been cleared and funds are likely to flow soon,” though several crores had already been spent on the civic amenities in the city in the past about 20 months, claimed an official of the MCF.

It may be recalled that Faridabad has been among the top five cities of the country having a large slum population. There are around 50 unauthorized residential colonies, which include several slum clusters with no basic civic amenity. Though the number of residents in such colonies has been put around four to five lakh, hundreds of people come here every week to find work in this industrial city, says a survey.

“This city is among those parts of the state, which have been lying ignored for the past several decades though over 14,000 industrial units are located here, claims a member of the Faridabad Industries Association.

It’s only in the past couple of years that one could see the construction of roads and other basic amenities like the parks and streetlights, he added.

New Delhi, December 22
A large number of traders belonging to about 70 trade bodies of West Delhi expressed their resentment against sealing of business establishments at a ‘Protest Rally’ held today at Rajouri Garden here.

The traders’ community staged the rally under the umbrella of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

Besides the stoppage of sealing drive, the protesting traders also demanded reduction in conversion charges proposed by the DDA, stoppage of sealing in DDA flats, regularisation of about 1,500 unauthorised colonies already identified by the DDA, rehabilitation package for traders dealing in items listed in negative category and scrapping of locality categorisation which attempts to differentiate traders. Trade leaders, including Mr Ramesh Khanna, who presided over the rally, CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT Delhi State Chairman Murli Mani, and CAIT National Treasurer Amrit Lal Bansal along with local trade leaders Roshan Lal Goel, Ram Kumar Gupta, Vinod Midha and others took part in the rally. — TNS

New Delhi, December 22
In order to train more and more general school teachers on disabilities and ensure a sound inclusive education system for persons with disabilities in the country, the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) together with the MP Bhoj (Open) University (MPBOU) organised the National Conference on Foundation Course for Education of Children with Disability here today.

The conference brought together more than 250 rehabilitation experts from general school, special school, government organisations and officials along with several key persons from the Ministries of HRD and Social Justice and Empowerment to discuss the complex issue of ensuring inclusive education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) of the government.

The RCI emphasised the need for sensitising five lakh elementary school teachers to meet the demand of providing education to children with disabilities in government schools spread across the country.

The RCI has been able to train and cover 27,000 teachers with the help of the Foundation Course for Education of Children with Disability launched in 2002 in collaboration with the MPBOU. However, there is still a huge gap between the present capacity to teach disabled children in the mainstream schools as the number of children with disabilities in the country is anywhere between 50 and 60 lakh.

New Delhi, December 22
It was another foggy morning in the National Capital Territory of Delhi even as the minimum temperature rose slightly today.

The minimum temperature rose slightly after dipping early this week and touched 9.1 degree Celsius, which is a degree higher than the normal temperature at this time of the year, the Met Office said. The maximum temperature yesterday was 24.7 degree Celsius, two degrees higher than the normal.

The weatherman said foggy conditions would continue.

The visibility at the airport dipped early in the morning. “However, it rose to a sufficient 950 m at the runways and no flights were disrupted,” an airport official said.

Noida, December 22
The farmers who get 5 per cent of their land back from Noida Authority after giving their land under acquisition by the administration have now been allowed to sell it the way they want on the price they like. This has been allowed by Noida Authority now.

Noida Authority CEO Sanjiv Saran said the farmers whose land was acquired were not free to sell this 5 per cent land earlier.

The problem was faced by farmer families who had a number of claimants and it was not possible to build houses for all the claimants in this 5 per cent land.

Besides, a new golf course with arrangement of floodlights for nights play will also be constructed in Noida, the CEO said. Mr Saran said an enquiry committee—Mathur Commission—had held that water corporation, Jal Nigam, had charged hefty amount for laying trunk sewer lines on both sides of Express highway. .

The work on this sewer line will resume shortly as projects like Amity University, ATS Green, etc are in dire need of sewer lines in the area.

Bulandshahr, December 22
Four districts of UP are under threat of a terror attack these days. Pak-supported terror groups have threatened to blow up railway stations, bus stands, offices of Hindu organizations in Kanpur, Bulandshahr, Meerut and Muradabad. This has caused quite panic in these four districts.

The police chiefs of these district have been asked to keep their police force on extra alert. It is learnt that police circle officers and police station in-charge officers have been instructed to exercise utmost vigil.

The intelligence agencies have of late been getting reports of terrorist outfit being very active in most parts of UP. Now the intelligence agencies anticipate the possibility of a terror strike in these four districts any time. Pak-supported terrorist outfits like Lakshre-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jameit-e-Islami, Meerut, according to sources, can target bus stands, railway station etc. in Kanpur, Meerut, Bulandshahr and Muradabad districts.

After getting this input from the intelligence agencies, SSP Bulandshahr has issued written instructions to Additional SPs, COs, SOs of police station to be extra alert to defuse any such threat to public safety from the anti-national terrorist outfits.

The SSP has also kept the senior state level police officers apprised of the threat and the steps being taken at the district level to counter these possible strikes. Terrorists have been giving proofs of their nefarious activities in Khurja, Javer, Sikendrabad and Dibai areas of Bulandshahr from time to time.

Police from Delhi and Gujarat have succeeded in arresting terrorists connected with Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lakshre-e-Toiba terrorists groups from here. Narora Atomic Power station in the district has been on the hit list of the Pak-supported terrorists for quite some time. 

New Delhi, December 22
Delhi Police, for the first time in the country, have acquired a finger print-based Computerised Remote Identification of Suspects System (CRIS) in Finger Print Bureau (FPB) of the Crime Branch and nine police stations of nine districts of the Capital. It was today officially inaugurated in a public function at PHQ by the Commissioner of Police, Dr K. K. Paul.

A new server has been installed at the FPB with connectivity on existing network of Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) through NIC server. It is also proposed to connect this server with NIC with 2 MBPS lease line.

The finger prints record of more than 1.60 lakh criminals available in the FPB, Crime Branch has been uploaded on this new server. Based on inkless Optical Live Scan Technology and gives result without any manual intervention. Finger of any suspects when put on the input device will scan the image and result displayed on the screen within 2 to 4 minutes after searching the database.

The application in police stations will use existing hardware and network of CIPA. The application along with partial data required only for matching finger print images is being loaded in police station computer to facilitate off line queries at the time of connectivity problems.

The finger print data updated on the server at the FPB will be automatically replenished in the police station computer at the back end to keep the local database up to date.

New Delhi, December 22
With the arrest of five persons – Tapeshvar, Virender, Jaivir, Sohan Pal and Narender, the Special Cell of Delhi Police along with Haryana Police today claimed to have worked out a kidnapping case of one Praveen Tyagi for ransom.

Praveen Tyagi had been kidnapped from Sonepat district and initially the investigations in the case were taken up by the Haryana Police.

The family of Tyagi allegedly received letters and calls from kidnappers demanding Rs one crore as ransom. Then, the Haryana Police sought help from Delhi Police to solve the case.

Further investigations revealed that father of the victim had sold his agriculture land about eight months ago for Rs 1.75 crore. Earlier, they received some threatening calls from unknown persons and the matter was sorted out through one Tapeshvar, a distant relative of the victim.

Secret enquiries revealed that Rs 2.5 lakh were given through Tapeshvar for sorting out that case. However, this fact was not revealed by the family to the police. Tapeshvar was a noted criminal of the district and 16 cases had allegedly been registered against him. Hence, the involvement of Tapeshvar was suspected in the case.

Tapeshvar was allegedly apprehended near Bakhtawar Pur village on Delhi-Haryana border when he along with his two close associates was moving in a car. On interrogation, they allegedly disclosed the location where the victim had been kept captive. At their instance, Praveen was rescued from a house rented by Sohan Pal and Narendra, the police said. — OC

Noida, December 22
The recent seizure of 24 kg gold by Noida police as illegal gold of No. II variety and the claim of two arrested employees that it was a legitimate activity approved by the government has created an unsavoury controversy for the Noida police.

The employees have accused the police of harassing them. Some Delhi traders have also alleged that police are trying to harass the traders.

Noida police had recovered 24 kg gold biscuits worth Rs 2 crore from two men arrested by Sector-20 police. The gold biscuits had been taken out from bank and kept in company’s office for supply to customers, they claimed.

The police have informed the customs department that 24 kg gold has been seized. The custom officials have interrogated the criminals in the police station and taken possession of the seized gold for further investigations.

The company had started its business in Noida to avail of the UP Government’s scheme for depositing trade tax in one go to encourage employment. But the police had illegally detained the carriers and seized the gold from their employees.

The company said they would lodge a complaint against this with the higher authorities in Lucknow.

Sector-18 police post in-charge had learnt that some people were supplying gold biscuits in a shop in Fortune Arcade in Sector-18 Noida. He raided the shop and seized 24 gold biscuits, each biscuit weighing 1 kg. Two persons in the shop identified themselves as Dinesh Dave and Jatinder Sharma. They told the police that the shop was an office of S.P. Bullion—the supplier of gold to jewellers which has numerous branches in various cities across the country.

The employees told the police that they had withdrawn the gold from Sector-16 branch of Indian Bank, which was later confirmed by the bank too in writing. But still the police post in-charge dismissed the documentary proof of the shop and the bank and took the duo into custody, saying it was a No. 2 gold.

New Delhi, December 22
With the arrest of three persons – Surender Singh, Jasvir Singh and Girdhari, the North-West district police today claimed to have solved a murder case.

A highly-decomposed body was found in Haiderpur water treatment plant a few days back. Later, the deceased was identified as Devender Singh, a resident of Sonepat district.

When the call details of his mobile phone were checked, it was found that his one close relative was with him the day he was reported missing.

On interrogation, the relative Jasvir Singh broke down and confessed to having been involved in the murder of Devender Singh. He allegedly used to provide financial help to the family of Devender Singh.

Recently, the deceased told him that he wanted to sell his agriculture land. Jasvir objected to this and the altercation between them over the issue took a violent turn and Devender physically assaulted Jasvir. At this, Jasvir felt humiliated and subsequently conspired to murder Devender, the police said. — OC