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10 held, liquor haul on DSGMC poll eve
Sewadar panel alleges misuse of money
Rs 163 cr earmarked to modernise courts
Town planners lay stress on zonal plan
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Cabinet sends proposals on Master plan
‘Performance of power utilities improves’
CBI chargesheet against two for
posing as minister, PA
Protesters block Hooda’s route
NKC report focuses on higher education
Work starts on primary school building
Low water pressure in Delhi areas tomorrow
Cold wave holds sway, temp again below normal
Two criminals arrested after encounter
Inter-state gangster held
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10 held, liquor haul on DSGMC poll eve
New Delhi, January 13 According to the police, West and South districts are very sensitive. The security of these districts has been handed over to the CRPF. The maximum number of booths are located in these districts. The police said in West district there were a total of 239 election booths. Of them, 11 were sensitive. South district has 67 booths. The police said Tilak Nagar was the hub of the DSGMC election activities as maximum booths were located in this area. A total of 1.60 lakh voters are in the Tilak Nagar and Hari Nagar localities. Video cameras have been installed in all sensitive localities. The police are keeping a tight vigil in Lajpat Nagar, Jangpura and Malviya Nagar. Cases of rioting have been registered against 100 persons who wrote provocative slogans and stuck posters on walls in favour of certain parties. The police have apprehensions that political parties contesting gurdwara elections might have brought hooligans from Punjab for booth capturing. The hooligans coming from other states are unknown and they can create trouble here. Special security vigil was being kept on such characters, a senior police officer said. |
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Sewadar panel alleges misuse of money
New Delhi, January 13 The Sikh Sangat should vote and support religious minded candidates. |
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Rs 163 cr earmarked to modernise courts
Gurgaon, January 13 Mr Hooda made the announcement at a public function relating to inauguration of a ‘Permanent Lok Adalat’, the second in the state after Hissar, by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High court, Mr Justice Vijender Jain. Mr Hooda presided over the inauguration ceremony. He also announced a sum of Rs 10 lakh for upgradation of library of the district court. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Justice Jain said that a decision has been taken to set up a new state-of-the-art, fully air-conditioned judicial complex in Gurgaon. The Chief Justice called upon the lawyers in Gurgaon to update themselves. He singled out areas like Intellectual Property Act, Foreign Direct Investment and commerce-related arbitration in which the lawyers here would have to educate themselves. Leaning towards the poorer section of society, he said that there was no substance in the report of economic prosperity when the benefits did not percolate to the poor. He lamented that there were 25 crore persons still in the category of ‘Below Poverty Line’. “What is the public utility of the plethora of Acts and laws framed by the legislative bodies when the economic benefits do not benefit the poor ?” he wondered. He said that mobile courts would be put in practice in the newly created district of Mewat to ensure speedy justice to the people living in the remotest of areas. Dwelling on the importance of the constitutional value of ‘Rule of Law’, he said that it was the fulcrum of democracy. Democracy thrives as the masses trust the judicial system. It is the blind faith of the masses that provides power and inspiration to all those related to dispensation of justice, he added. Upholding the virtues of Lok Adalats run under the aegis of Legal Services Authority, he described them as mechanism for speedy justice and decongestion of pending cases in several courts of the country. Reeling out statistics, he said that presently there are 11,200 judges right from Munsaf to Supreme Court in the country. However, the sanctioned strength is 14,400.25 million litigation cases reach various courts in the country each year. But only 24 million get disposed of in the corresponding period. The Chief Justice expressed concern over recent violence on court premises and related to law and order. He dwelt on the point, saying that Gurgaon is preferred by investors as it is considered to be peaceful. Violence reflecting on law and order would inhibit the investors from investing in the state, he added. |
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Town planners lay stress on zonal plan
New Delhi, January 13 Speaking at the seminar, former town planner R. G. Gupta said that five elements—man, nature, structures, network and society coupled with physical and finance components form the basis of a sound Master Plan but unfortunately the proposed MPD 2021 did not have any mention of financial management which was one of the major drawbacks. He firmly said that keeping the present scenario in mind, the parking management was the fundamental requirement of the day and if such thing happened, most of the problems of Delhi traders would be solved to a great extent. He stressed the need of framing Local Area Plan of each road. Mr Gupta said that size of Delhi metropolis requires Participating in the seminar, former Delhi Chief
Minister Sahib Singh Verma said that policy of amalgamation should be allowed in MPD 2021 and all such establishments, which are likely to be displaced, should be given alternative space. |
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Cabinet sends proposals on Master plan
New Delhi, January 13 The Delhi Cabinet emphasised the regularisation of 1500 unauthorised colonies saying that a majority of Delhiites lived in unauthorised areas. Reconstruction of these colonies is not a practical idea. These colonies should be approved without any condition. The cabinet also suggested that fourth floor of all residential houses within 50 meters of area should be regularised. The Cabinet further suggested that shops which had come up after 1962 should be allowed after taking conversion charges. But the conversion charges should reduced to 50 per cent of the recommendation made by the Draft Master Plan. The cabinet also suggested that mixed land use should be allowed on all notified roads. Sources said that the list of professionals should also be increased. The Draft Master Plan has allowed some professionals to operate from residential areas. |
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‘Performance of power utilities improves’
Faridabad, January 13 This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while inaugurating the national-level conference of the Power Regulatory Commissions at Surajkund here today. Claiming that the transmission system availability had improved to 99.6 per cent in 2006, Mr Hooda said that the intra-state transmission losses had also been reduced to 2.7 per cent. There had been a constant upgradation of the transmission system and the required infrastructure to cater to the increasing demand and improve the performance in the area of expansion besides strengthening the network and reducing the losses, he added. The Chief Minister said that there had been a sizeable investment of about Rs 5,600 crore in this sector, since the power reforms had been launched in 1998-99 and it had been a fact that the overall performance of the state power utilities had improved considerably. Though there had been a state and national level agitation on the issue of power reforms and on the process of outsourcing and privatization of this sector, Mr Hooda said that the re-organisation process had resulted in adding at least 724.4 MW of the generation capacity in the state in this period. While he did not take up the matter of staff resentment on the issue, he claimed that his government had started the move to ensure an addition of another 6000 MW capacity in Haryana in the 11th Five Year Plan, though the Chief Minister did not delve in details about the problems faced in setting up some of the power plants, especially those based on gas supply. It may be recalled that about half a dozen gas-based power projects had been awaiting the nod, before they could go in for construction. The 1060 MW power plant to be set up at Mothuka village in the district had been one such project, which had been hanging in between due to no commitment of gas supply. Its foundation stone had been laid by the Chief Minister on July 25, 2005. According to the Chief Minister, the challenges before the power utilities throughout the country had been the same, though there had been some variation in the nature and quality. He said the national grid system would open up a robust market for the electricity, but the key issue before the utilities and the regulators had been that if the development of this sector be seen in the state context or in the view of national perspective. The Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), Mr A.K. Basu and heads of various state regulatory commissions were present on the occasion. |
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CBI chargesheet against two for
posing as minister, PA
New Delhi, January 13 The chargesheet was filed in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jain last evening against Krishan Kumar and Vinod Kumar for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy and cheating by impersonation, posing as Minister of State for Home Manikrao H. Gavit, CBI sources said today. The court while accepting the chargesheet, posted the matter to February 1, 2007 for further hearing. The agency had registered the case on August 25, 2006 following a programme titled Mantri, Mobile Aur Mafia telecast by a news channel on August 13, 2006. The programme was based on a conversation alleged to have taken place between Gavit and Sunder Singh Bhati, lodged in Bulandshahr jail. Even though Gavit vehemently denied having had any such conversation in the programme of the news channel, the telecast gave an impression that the alleged conversation had actually taken place, the CBI chargesheet said. During enquiry, the audio, video CDs of the programme were taken and the voice sample of Gavit was obtained which were sent to the CFSL for comparison and opinion. The expert opined that the voice in the audio, video CD used by the private channel for the telecast which was handed over to CBI was not that of Gavit. On August 25 last year, Delhi Police apprehended Krishan Kumar with four mobile phones and three SIM cards. Since the two numbers in the SIM cards were shown during the programme broadcast by the private news channel, it was suspected that Krishan Kumar might be involved in the crime. Accordingly, Krishan Kumar was taken in CBI custody and during interrogation he disclosed that he had impersonated as Gavit and sought favours from several private persons and public servants. He also disclosed that he had held conversation with Bhati, a criminal lodged in Bulandshahr jail in order to recover money owed to him by one Ajay Kumar and Omkar Singh Yadav of Baghpat. He further disclosed that one Vinod Kumar of Shanti Nagar extension acted as his accomplice and used to pose as PS to Gavit. He also disclosed to have personated several senior politicians and bureaucrats. During investigation, the CBI carried out the forensic test of all the voice samples and voice contained in the audio and video CDs and found that 127 calls were exchanged between the mobile phones of Krishan Kumar and Sunder Singh Bhati. |
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Protesters block Hooda’s route
Gurgaon, January 13 Mr Hooda was scheduled to reach Daulatabad Road to inaugurate ‘Dhauka Chaupal’ (farmer training, soil and water testing centre) set up by a private firm, Dhanuka Group. In fact, the centre has been set up on the factory premises of Northern Minerals Ltd. The protesters, many of them being women of the area, squatted on the road to draw the attention of the Chief Minister to the alleged ‘apathy’ of the state government to their basic need. They were led by three INLD loyalist councillors of the local Municipal Council, Mr Braham Prakash, Mr Suresh Kumar and Mrs Brahmo Devil and Congress
associated Councillor, Mrs Aasha Yadav. The mob raised slogans against the government and the district administration. They continued the blockade for about an hour. The protesters started gathering at the site about 20 minutes before the Chief Minister arrived on the district court premises to preside over inauguration of Permanent Lok Adalat. He was to head to Daulatabad Road after the function in the court complex. They relented only after the authorities of the Municipal Council, the Public Health Department and the police persuaded them and assured to sort out their grievances immediately. The protesters alleged that for over a month, the civic authorities had not repaired the water pipeline. According to them, they had been representing the case to the authorities for over a month, without avail. The Chief Minister, however, reached Daulatabad Road without a hitch, and inaugurated the Dhanuka Chaupal. The Centre was claimed to offer free counselling to farmers with regard soil and water testing. The first of the three scheduled programmes of the Chief Minister during his visit was inaugurating a 200 kilowatt solar power plant, laid by Brham Kumari Om Retreat Centre in village Bhonda Kala. |
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NKC report focuses on higher education
New Delhi, January 13 “These are very tough recommendations,” informed Mr Pitroda, “and it is vital that at least some of them get off paper and into policy.” He added, “The impact of what we have proposed would be felt over the next decade and beyond. We have taken particular care to keep the entire democratic process transparent and participative. In doing so, we have consulted a wide range of stake-holders in government, parliament, politics, academia, industry, civil society and the media. Our recommendations reflect the concerns and aspirations of experts and persons from the concerned spheres.” Curious children, some in their school uniforms surrounded Pitroda as he spoke passionately of his mission to spread the knowledge base. Many children asked rather profound questions and a few even went ahead and grilled Pitroda on his work. Child after child felt that Pitroda needs to not only educate government on this issue but also their parents. As Pitroda stressed, “Children should be given more freedom—they should be empowered to explore fresh horizons and not be curbed by parents..” A gutsy boy pointed out, “Sir, you should inform our parents that is what will make a difference.” NKC’s recommendations include setting up a national commission on libraries, preparing a national census of all libraries, revamping LIS education, training and research facilities, re-assessing the staffing of libraries, setting up of a central library fund, modernize library management, encourage greater community participation in library management, promote information communication technology applications in all libraries and facilitate donations and maintenance of private collections and encourage public-private partnerships in LIS development. |
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Work starts on primary school building
New Delhi, January 13 Area Councillor Phoolwati Bhanwra, Shahdara (North) Deputy Commissioner Arun Kumar Singh and other senior municipal officers were also present. |
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Low water pressure in Delhi areas tomorrow
New Delhi, January 13 Water supply will be available at low pressure in the evening of January 15 in Chirag Delhi, Adhchini, Savitri Nagar, Shivalik, Begumpur, Sarvpriya Vihar, Geetanjali, Malaviya Nagar, Navjeevan Vihar, Saket, Sarvodaya Enclave, B N and W Block Greater Kailash-I due to urgent repair work of the 1100 mm dia PSC water main at JB Tito Marg. |
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Cold wave holds sway, temp again below normal
New Delhi, January 13 The lifting of the heat trapping cloud cover over the Capital coupled with the icy northerly winds sweeping the city resulted in the minimum temperature again dropping to 3.6 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal. The minimum temperature yesterday was 4.8 degrees Celsius while the maximum was recorded at 19.7 degrees Celsius, the weather office said. Night temperatures had risen marginally in the past two days due to the cloud cover. There was shallow fog in the morning, but it did not affect rail, road and air traffic. |
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Two criminals arrested after encounter
New Delhi, January 13 They were involved in more than 50 cases registered in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. On a tip-off, a trap was laid near Mahipal Pur-Mehrauli Road near Ryan Public School, Vasant Kunj. When a red-coloured Opel Astra car was intercepted, both occupants fired upon the police party but they were overpowered after a brief exchange of fire. |
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Inter-state gangster held
New Delhi, January 13 He was carrying a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest by Haryana police. He was also wanted in a case of extortion being investigated by the Special Cell, in which two of his accomplices were already arrested. Following a tip-off, he was apprehended. |
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