New Delhi, January 9
Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit today launched the E-Governance Roadmap (EGRM) for Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Dikshit reiterated her vision for Delhi emphasising that the foundation of good governance was adopting tools and methods that bring transparency in the government’s functioning.

She said that such EGRM was not a one-time document but should be a continuously evolving exercise. She urged the officials to look beyond reading and making notes in the usual manual files by adopting latest technologies for improving service delivery to citizen.

She expressed hope that her dream of paperless secretariat would soon become reality and change the work culture apart from curbing corruption.

The first component of this Roadmap is EGRM, which specifies the e-governance vision of the Delhi government and strategies to achieve the developmental agenda of the state. It goes on to identify prioritised e-governance ‘Initiatives’ and ‘Services’ that need to be rolled out in the next five years. The e-governance services have been classified as G2C, G2B, G2G, G2E, G2N (for different stakeholders like citizens, businesses, other government departments, employees and NGOs) and the total number of such services identified are 115.

The e-governance initiatives have been identified for various sectors like health, education, welfare, infrastructure, finance, revenue, support and administration.

There are certain state-wide core initiatives like e-Procurement and e-Filing which will be driven by the Department of IT. The identified initiatives have also been rated in terms of Criticality as well as Feasibility and 29 of such initiatives have been identified for immediate rollout.

The second component is Capacity Building Roadmap (CBRM) which specifies the Institutional Capacities that need to be built to support the successful rollout of EGRM. Apart from the governance structures at various levels, an autonomous nodal IT agency has been recommended to be set up in addition to enhancement of training institutions or setting up of a Centre of Excellence. It also includes an exhaustive Training Calendar for different areas like change management, technology, project management, financial modelling and soft skills.

This exercise of developing the EGRM was carried out by M/s Ernst and Young India, by studying the needs and expectations of various stakeholders, meeting nodal IT officers, HODs and political leadership.

The process had been standardised by the National Institute for Smart Government, Hyderabad. Mr Pankaj Agrawal who had led this EGRM program from Ernst &Young in various states made the presentation. The IT Secretary Dr Narendra G. Kumar, is guiding and driving the initiative of EGRM under whose leadership it has been adopted by Delhi Government and is now ready for rollout. Dr Kumar also presented the Employees Resource Information Center (ERIC) website which hosts a lot of resources useful for the state government employees including tools for enhancing their personal and professional productivity. The website also provides an online library facility for employees, with access to international magazines and books. The website has been built around the motto of ‘helping employees to help themselves’. 

New Delhi, January 9
The Delhi Government today ordered the government-run schools in the Capital to remain closed till Saturday in view of the cold wave sweeping the region.

The authorities have also sent an advisory to all private schools, asking them to consider closing the schools till Saturday to prevent inconvenience to the children because of the intense cold.

Most of the schools in the National Capital Territory of Delhi had reopened yesterday after the winter holidays when the temperature had plummeted to 2.6 degree Celsius, the lowest of the season so far.

Meanwhile, after several clear days, the fog returned to the Capital today. However, the visibility improved considerably after the sun appeared. However, the sky remained cloudy. The minimum temperature was recorded at 3.2 degree Celsius today.

The Met Office had predicted the cold wave conditions were likely to persist for the next couple of days.

New Delhi, January 9
The Special Cell of Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested a dreaded criminal Ateek Ahmad, a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim, Fazal-ur-Rehman and Hazi Mastan like mafia.

He was allegedly involved in several cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery and cases under Explosive Substance Act, assault on police party, riots, extortion and Arms Act in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. A reward of Rs 2 lakh had been declared by UP police on his head.

Following a tip-off, the gangster was arrested at Meera Road in East Mumbai when he was going to meet his one of the close associates. He was later brought to Delhi.

During interrogation, he allegedly revealed that he had started his criminal career in 1970, the police said. 

New Delhi, January 9
All India Jat Mahasabha commemorated 149th Martyr Day of Raja Nahar Singh at an open ground near Chandni Chowk here today.

On the occasion, a huge ‘havan’ was performed, in which hundreds of supporters of this organisation from all parts of the country participated. According to the spokesperson of the organisation, Raja Nahar Singh was a big opponent of British rule in India, due to which he was hanged by the British government.—TNS

New Delhi, January 9
A high-level delegation led by the Vice-President of Central Party School, China, Prof Wang Weiguang, was today welcomed by the Directorate of Training, Union Territory Civil Services (UTCS), here, with six other Chinese officials. They all lauded the efforts and initiative undertaken by the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, in starting “Bhagidari” scheme, which has won wide acclaim at national and international forums.

The Directorate made a presentation on “Bhagidari” and “Training.” Mr S. Regunathan, former Chief Secretary of Delhi, Prof P. L. Sanjiv Reddy, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, and Mr Manoj Parida, Secretary, Training, also addressed the delegates.

“Bhagidari” was initiated by the Chief Minister in 2000 with the aim to bringing citizens, the government and other stakeholders face-to-face for a dialogue and collaborative problem-solving exercise. Since then, “Bhagidari” has made people and civil society equal partners with the government in numerous schemes and activities.

In 2005, “Bhagidari” was conferred the United Nations Public Service Award for improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the public service category.

The Chinese delegates were also impressed by the strides made by the Directorate of Training, Government of Delhi, which has witnessed a growth of 103.81 per cent in 2005 -06 over the past years in the number of officials trained. 

New Delhi, January 9
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIU) has launched an admission helpline to help students and parents seeking information about admission in the university. The Vice-Chancellor of the University inaugurated the helpline today.

The admission helpline answers queries pertaining to admission like- academic programme being offered, eligibility criterion, common entrance test, affiliated institutions, availability of forms, fee structures and so on. The University has set up three telephone lines 011-23900166, 23900167 and 23900168 for this purpose.

The admission brochure and application forms of 35 different academic programmes are on sale at 45 branches of the Punjab and Sind Bank across the nation. Moreover, one can also apply online by logging onto the website www.ipu.ac.in. 

New Delhi, January 9
The police today claimed to have arrested three persons- Arjun (22), Satender (21) and Ramesh (25) and recovered a huge arms haul.

The police had received an information that three men from UP would come to deliver huge arms haul at Chandni Chawk. Following a tip off, the trio were apprehended near Chandani Chawk.

Nine country-made pistols, one country-made rifle and 32 live cartridges were recovered from their possession. They allegedly revealed that they had delivered illegal arms and ammunition to one Abdul Sajid of Delhi three to four times.—OC

Noida, January 9
Former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who was detained in Noida on his way to Dadri to participate in a farmers’ rally there, told ‘The Tribune’ that he was not against industrialization, but against the best agricultural land being acquired for setting up industries.

“Set up industries on barren, alkaline, saline or single-crop land,” he said.

The farmers of Bandelkhand are committing suicides or dying from starvation in UP. Another problem in the state is of sugarcane farmers who must be paid for sugarcane on new rates—at least Rs 200 a tonne. Farmerss’ debt is another big problem for which a special initiative should be taken and the problem tackled on war-footing. Farmers are dying in all parts of the country: Karnataka, Punjab, UP, etc, he said.

Land for industrialization should be made available by all means but not for the real estate development. Land should be acquired at farmers’ terms and on market rates. Special economic zones are also important, but the same criteria should be applied for acquiring land for SEZs, Mr V.P. Singh said.

The former Prime Minister said he had a couple of suggestions: six months’ moratorium should be put on land acquisition. During this period, an expert committee, including representatives of farmers, should study the problem.

Second, a regulatory body should monitor this matter as state governments are sometimes guilty of suppression and acquire the land by forcing the hands of tillers of the soil. A grievance cell also needs to be put in place with powers to return the land of farmers forcibly acquired.

Acquisition of land should always be done with the consent of the farmers. If good agricultural land is acquired, not only agriculture and farmers will suffer, a large number of farm labourers will also become unemployed.

The government should define the limit of the land which could be made available for industries. Tax holidays for industrial development should also be done away with as no tax means the country’s loss. The law on land acquisition needs be amended, the former Prime Minister added.

Noida, January 9
Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh said Nithari was the worst example of heinous crime. There is no law and order in UP and the state is being ruled by criminals. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has paid no attention to the law and order, he said.

From January 30 to February 6, a ‘jail bharo’ movement will be launched in all districts of UP against the collapse of law and order, acquisition of farmers’ land by the government and large-scale suicides and starvation deaths of farmers, the former Prime Minister said.

An all India morcha on these issues will be called in March, New Delhi, Mr Singh said.

Mr V.P. Singh called for the state funding of elections to minimize the chances of criminals making it to the assemblies and Parliament.

“The Goswami Committee report should be implemented in letter and spirit,” Mr Singh said. However, it goes to the credit of the electorate that people don’t win elections just by dint of money Indian voter is now mature enough to judge issues for himself, Mr Singh said.

Gurgaon, January 9
The move for no-confidence motion against the President of the local Municipal Council, Mr Ravinder Kataria floundered today as no elected member turned up for the proceedings.

The administration had fixed the meeting today for introducing the no-confidence motion following a dozen of elected councillors requisitioning for it.

The presiding officer for the meeting, Mr Sushil Sarwam, Land Acquisition Officer, waited and called off the meeting due to lack of quorum. Only Mr Kataria had turned up on the occasion.

Mr Kataria claimed that there was no opposition to his continuing as President of the Council. The failure of the move is seen as a huge setback for the local Congress MLA, Mr Dharamvir Gauba, who was alleged to have given blessings to the dissidents. Besides, Mr Gauba had all along given the impression that he had the blessing of the Chief Minister and that the next President would be as per the latter’s choice.

The general impression following Mr Gauba’s posturing on the latest struggle for supremacy in the municipality was that the Chief Minister indeed leaned in favour of the dissidents.

According to many why the move flattened out was the lack of conviction on the part of the dissidents as they did not have substantive charge against Mr Kataria. Their only grouse was his alleged faulty style of functioning.

The dissidents, having the support of Mr Gauba, had been nursing a bruised ego ever since Mr Kataria won the race for President by defeating his protege.

Gurgaon, January 9
About 20 officers of various departments were found missing from office when the new Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Rakesh Gupta, made surprise checks here.

Mr Gupta caught the officials unawares when he showed up in his office in the mini-secretariat just when the office hours began.

His office has decided to issue a show cause notice to the officials who were found missing from their seats.

In his first interaction with mediperson today, he said that his vision was to give impetus to the growing international fame to Gurgaon.

He also said that his thrust would be on the social sectors like health, education and literacy programmes. 

New Delhi, January 9
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the District Collector, Ghaziabad, to send within two weeks a factual report on a case of corporal punishment that cost a schoolboy irreversible loss of vision in the right eye.

The Commission sent the notice to the district administration after reading a recent report in a national daily. According to the report, a class III student of Junior High School, Nahal was injured in the right eye after his teacher, Rashid beat him up for not completing his homework.

According to the report, the boy had to undergo an emergency surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The doctors told the boy’s father that normal vision in the right eye could not be restored. The report further said that the teacher always carried a stick and often used it in the class.

After going through the news report, the Commission said that if the contents of the report were true, they raise serious issue of violation of human rights of the students.

New Delhi, January 9
The police today claimed to have arrested a quack, Ram Kumar Yadav (47) from Najafgarh. Yadav, a school drop-out, had been posing as a qualified doctor with fake M.B.B.S and M.R.S.H degrees. He had allegedly managed to get a forged registration certificate from the Delhi Medical Council to execute his trade.

Driving license, voter card, PAN card, ration card, visiting cards under different names have allegedly been recovered from his clinic. Dr Anil Bansal, co- odinator, anti quackery cell of IMA had lodged a complaint in this regard.

It was found that Yadav was running two clinics in Nagafgarh under the name of Ashirwad Hospital and Ashirwad Nirogdham. Moreover, he was running a society in the name of Ashirwad International Medical Society in Najafgarh. Following a tip off, he was apprehended.

He allegedly confessed to having opened a clinic in Dwarka named Unique Health Care. He cheated people by assuring complete medical treatment. He used to hire poorly educated nurses, who used to pose as qualified doctors. He allegedly revealed that his associates - Harpreet Singh and Gurdeep Singh provided the fake certificates. Through fraudulent means he had taken loan on a rented premise in Dwarka. On the basis of the information provided by him, his accomplices were later arrested, said a police official.