New Delhi, December 31
In a major relief to traders, the Supreme Court-monitoring panel today extended the date for ad hoc registration of shops on 2,183 newly notified roads in the Capital, even as more than 1.5 lakh out of about three lakh shopkeepers have filed their applications so far.

The three-member panel has directed the MCD to extend the date of online registration till January 5 to facilitate traders who intend to file their applications, an MCD spokesperson said.

The category of units which should register before January 5 are small shops of within 20 square meter of the 24 specified categories, retail shops, guest houses and professional establishments like clinics.

The panel has earlier refused to extend the court-ordered deadline for registration, claiming that the traders never honoured deadlines set by authorities and always sought extension without complying any orders.

A traders’ delegation comprising leaders of Confederation of All India Traders met the panel recently and apprised it of the difficulties they were facing in downloading the application from the MCD website.

They had also alleged that the website did not accept forms submitted under some trade like jewellery. It also refused to accept applications when the building area was more than 100 square metres, they added.

Keeping the criticism in mind, the MCD had enhanced the capacity of its website and instructed its 12 Citizens Service Bureau in all zones to make special arrangements to help traders in filing the applications. 

New Delhi, December 31
Having been ‘neglected’ for more than half a century and apparently stung by the recent sealing drive, the trading community has now decided to regain dignity for traders and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), apex body of Indian trading community, has announced observation of Year 2007 as ‘Traders’ Dignity Year’.

A body of more than 5,000 trade federations and associations, the CAIT is all set to launch an aggressive campaign in all states for restoration of due dignity for traders.

The secretary general of CAIT, Mr Praveen Khandelwal, while declaring the observation of Year 2007 as ‘Traders Dignity Year’, today coined the motto of ‘Citizen First- Vote Must-Generate Trust’ and said that ‘Traders Resolution for Year 2007’ will be released tomorrow at a ‘dignity pledge’ ceremony which will be held in all states of the country.

World’s renowned educator, Mr Shiv Khera, will administer dignity pledge to Delhi traders here.

Mr Khandelwal claimed that inspite of making handsome contribution to national exchequer; the trading community in the country had been grossly ‘neglected’ by the Indian polity and still being harassed and victimised at the hands of bureaucratic system.

The much talked about simplification and rationalisation of taxation system by governments had proved to be just lip service, he alleged. More than 22 types of taxes and other laws were governing the domestic trade whereas multinational companies were being invited with relaxed norms to win over mega size internal trade of India, he pointed out.

“Hectic efforts are being made to handover retail trade to big Industrial Houses. Special Economic Zones are being created to facilitate big houses but no policy of ‘special trade zone’ is chalked out in the larger interest of more than five crore small businessmen of the country,” Mr Khandelwal said.

“Traders are also neglected while framing of policies concerning trade and during past five decades not even once, the traders have been invited to the annual exercise of pre-budget consultations,” he alleged.

Such a scenario had led the traders of India to press for its right of dignity,
he said. 

New Delhi, December 31
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), one of the biggest municipal corporations in the country, which has been in the eye of the sealing storm for the past few months also has the dubious distinction of having a dismal record of redressing public grievances.

According to the data posted on the MCDs official website, it has a redressal rate of just 12.16 per cent with as many as six departments have a redressal rate of zero.

The departments with nil redressal rate are the legal department, town planning, finance and accounts, factory licensing, advertisement and architecture. The health department has a meagre 0.64 per cent redressal rate, taking care of just two out of 312 complaints.

The electricity department has attended to just one out of 144 complaints, roadside parking, one out of 109 and horticulture one out
of 394.

The vigilance department redressed only 14 out of 1,241 complaints. The departments with a redressal rate of below three per cent are property tax (eight out of 219) and veterinary (14 attended of 820).

Among the 20 departments listed in the public grievance redressal system of the MCD, only six are in the 10-25 per cent redressal mark. These include information technology (10 out of 42), engineering (142 out of 2,118), education (five out of 36), zonal level (23 out of 219), community services department (508 out of 2,169) and CSE (516 out of 2,225).

New Delhi, December 31
Even as lakhs of people don’t own a house in the Capital, but still night shelters are usually found vacant. It seems people do not want to spend their nights in these shelters, and instead they prefer to live in open chilly wind.

Currently, only about five per cent of Delhi’s homeless are using the shelters.

“Night shelters don’t suit everybody’s requirements. Some people are slaves to their age-old habits and simply refuse to change. Hence, many of them do not opt for night shelters,” said a social welfare ministry official.

Some say they are so much into the habit of sleeping in open air that they feel claustrophobic in the shelters. The need was to mobilise them, the official said.

At present, there are 18 night shelters in the Capital. Out of these, ten are run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and eight are run by the Action Aid under the flagship of Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan.

“The negligible turnout is really sad,” the official said.

In order to encourage the usage of shelters, Action Aid along with some other NGOs and government’s support has constituted teams to patrol the streets at night and mobilise slum dwellers and homeless to sleep at their nearest shelter.

Talking about the reasons why homeless do not opt for night shelters, an official of the MCD said, “Many want to sleep with their families. In night shelters, they cannot sleep together. There are separate shelters for men and women. Apart from that, many don’t find a shelter close enough to their workplace, hence they prefer sleeping on pavements.

The busiest shelters, however, are those near Old Delhi Railway Station, major markets and some community centres. But in other areas, people generally come and go.

Explaining that money was not a factor for those who did not opt for night shelters, an official of the Action Aid said that the NGO charged Rs six for 12 hours only in permanent shelters to meet the electricity and water bills. And in temporary shelters, the NGO does not charge anything. Still due to old habits and inhibitions, night shelters were not being used to their full capacities, he said.

While the homeless prefer to sleep on the pavements, it is not a safe option as they are vulnerable to hit-and-runs, theft, police brutality and sexual violence, he said.

Women and children are the worst victims, he added.

There have been no deaths due to cold in the city so far this year. However, there is an urgent need to motivate people to use night shelters for sleep during nights, an MCD official said. 

New Delhi, December 31
The TV viewers in South Delhi today rushed to buy set-top boxes (STB) and DTH systems, as conditional access system (CAS) was rolled out in the area.

Today, was the first day of the pay channel encryption and most of the residents in CAS notified areas of Delhi rushed to cable operators after the popular pay channels went off the air.

There had been a big rush of customers to our cable operators and distributors and the response was almost maddening, Mr Sunil Punj, General Manager (Operations) of Cable Multi System Operator, said here.

He said that many of the people, who had been adopting a wait and watch policy, rushed in to buy set-top boxes after pay channels went off the air from their TV screens.

Roop Sharma, president of Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI), also said that the demand for set-top boxes was very high today.

All the operators in CAS areas were flooded with demands and queries for STBs and we expect more people to come in next few days, Mr Sharma said.

When contacted, officials from DTH companies like dish TV and TATA sky also said that there was a good demand for their systems in CAS notified areas.

New Delhi, December 31
Delhi Metro has invited bids for installing and operating all systems, except civil work, on the proposed 19-km track that will connect Connaught place with the international airport.

Domestic and foreign firms as well as consortium of firms could submit their bids for installing systems like rolling stock, over head electrification, track, signaling and telecom, besides commissioning and operating the system for 30 years.

The design and construction of the basic civil structure for the airport express link would, however, be done by the DMRC, the corporation said in a press release here.

New Delhi, December 31
A Delhi court has acquitted four members of a family including the husband of a woman who alleged that they made a bid on her life by administering poisonous substance, after noting that she made changes in her testimony.

All the improvements made by the complainant (woman), while making statements create doubts in the versions put forth by her and her father, the Additional Sessions Judge said, adding, the prosecution has failed to substantiate any of the charges against any of the accused.

Extending the benefit of doubts, the court absolved four accused Neeraj Gupta, his brother Pankaj, mother Krishna and maternal uncle Jai Prakash – all residents of west Delhi of the charges under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 498-a (husband or relative subjecting woman to cruelty) of the IPC.

According to the prosecution, on the intervening night of June 14-15, 1996, all the accused allegedly attempted to murder complainant Shashi by administering some poisonous substance to her. A case was registered four days later on June 19 on the basis of the woman’s statement.

Delay in registering the FIR corrodes the credibility of the witnesses and puts the court on guard to scrutinise their statements with more care and caution particularly when there is no corroboration from independent source, the court said in a recent order.

The court noted that although the police officers came to know about the incident on the day itself, they did not visit the maternal home of the victim to seize any incriminating material.

Not raising any hue and cry by the complainant further makes doubtful her version regarding administering any poisonous substance, the court said.

Gurgaon, December 31
State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) has made an indelible mark on the mind of local citizens this year. It was successful in arresting various corrupt government employees.

The Superintendent of Police, SVB, Gurgaon Range, claimed that this range conducted 66 raids this year comparing to 52 raids during the last five years. What the department could not do in five years, we did in 2006, asserted the SP.

In these raids, the SVB arrested 99 persons: 81 government employees and 18 public men on charges of corruption, added the officer.

However, the people at large have raised the questions on the working of the SVB as the department failed to arrest some senior IAS, IPS, HCS and other officials while they were taking bribe. Arresting junior officials of various departments cannot root out corruption as they take bribe on behalf of their senior officials, opined Mr Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, an advocate.

The SVB must have a close watch on senior officials and arrest them to check corruption, suggested Manish Verma, a businessman.

Commenting on the criticism, the Superintendent of Police informed that the SVB arrested a Superintending Engineer (SE), Tehsildar with his complete staff, a doctor, an executive engineer and other senior officials while they were taking bribe from his range of five districts: Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat, Rewari and Mahendragarh in 2006.

As far as senior administrative officers are concerned, it takes time to act against them. However, the SVB has already started taking the help of private detective agencies and would soon do a sting operation on senior officials, revealed the SP.

On the pattern of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Haryana State Vigilance Bureau would also conduct lie detective tests on the accused. The SVB would also use Narco Analysis and Brain Mapping Test on the accused to strengthen their cases in the court, added the officer.

Besides, the department has started sending its teams in remote villages to urge the public to inform about the corrupt officials so that the department could take action against them, added the SP.

In the cases relating to disproportionate wealth, the SVB is planning to confiscate all illegal properties of the culprits, revealed the officer. The department recently launched a web site, where the public can register their complaints against corrupt officials. The SVB would take action on the complaints.

The department also ensures that a complainant is not harassed and his work is completed on time, claimed Mr Deswal.

In the coming year, the SVB would concentrate on the Food and Supply department, Fertilizer department and on the land mafia, warned the SP.

Faridabad, December 31
Haryana is perhaps the first state in the country to announce a media policy for working journalists. The policy would not only cover the media persons based in the state, but it would also benefit the journalists based in Delhi, attached to the national or state-level electronic media.

The benefits include a special welfare fund, insurance cover, free travel in state roadways buses and preference in housing schemes. There have been around 250 accredited journalists in Haryana, besides several hundred persons engaged in journalism on part-time and contract basis. The government has also claimed that there is a sharp drop in the cases of victimization of the media persons in the state since the present government came into power in March 2005.

According to a senior official of the state government, though some modalities were being worked out regarding the implementation of the various schemes, he said that the government would release an amount of Rs 50 lakh initially, which could be raised later.

Claiming that it was the first time in the history of the state that such a policy had been announced, he said it was perhaps due to the fact that the role of the media had assumed special significance and it was important that this section should get some benefits for proper disposal of the job.

Claiming that it was a unique achievement for the state government, he said the policy of providing accreditation to the working journalists had been made more flexible, with the provision that journalists attached to the electronic media had been covered with a special benefit to those stationed in Delhi.

Providing details of this move, the state government official said now the government would provide accreditation to at least three reporters and two photojournalists employed at the headquarters of the newspaper or media (agency), while two journalists and one photographer based at district headquarters of the group would be eligible for accreditation.

He added that it was for the first time that the government had decided to allot land for the group housing societies of the media persons on quota basis.

Preference would also be given in the allotment of land developed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority for housing projects, it is stated. Two journalists and one photographer of the newspaper or agency based a Delhi would be allowed to seek accreditation of the state government. Two teams of every news channel based at Delhi covering the state would be given such a facility.

New Delhi, December 31
Police claimed to have arrested two pick pockets- Subhas Chand (20) and Kashmi Lal (20) from Aya Nagar in South Delhi. A stolen mobile phone has been recovered from their possession.

One Priya Ranjan had lodged an FIR that when he was standing in queue for a film ticket at PVR Saket, somebody had stolen his mobile phone from his pocket. On the basis of the CCTV recording of the area, it was found that the person behind the complainant had stolen his mobile phone and had further passed it to his accomplice standing behind him in the same queue.—OC