Gurgaon, February 13
While appreciating the Haryana Government’s initiative to develop a Vision Document for Gurgaon, the JAFRA, a body representing RWAs, suggested that its salient features should be added in the approved Master Plan for the city.

The Deputy Commissioner’s open invitation to residents and resident bodies, including industrial associations, institutions, and other organizations to

submit ideas for the Vision Document, is a positive sign of the government’s intention towards encouraging people’s participation in developing the Master Plan, added the JAFRA.

“However, a Master Plan is a derivative of the Vision Document–it is not complementary,” said Col Ratan Singh, JAFRA’s chairman.

The process of creating the Vision Document for the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex should have preceded the Draft Master Plan 2021, which was published on July 10, 2006 and approved last week, added Col Ratan Singh.

Mr Bhawani Shankar, general secretary, JAFRA, said that the approved Master Plan was not preceded by a Vision Document, neither the basic parameters of making the Plan, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), were followed, and hence the Plan had a number of shortcomings.

On the one hand, around 1500 objections were filed for changing the Master Plan but the process to discuss and debate the objections and recommendations, and finally incorporate them was not followed, lamented the general secretary.

In the Master Plan, the infrastructure has been planned assuming a population of 37 lakh in 2021, but there would be a population of around 60 lakh in 2021 as per our estimation, opined the general secretary.

Therefore, the latest initiative of preparing the Vision Document for Gurgaon is a welcome move and a step in the right direction, added Mr Shankar.

JAFRA has requested the Haryana government to allot resources on priority to conduct (A) Topographical survey to determine type of terrain and type of soil, (B) Geological/ hydrological survey for ensuring a sustainable and economical source of water (C) Climatological survey to suggest effective storm-water disposal system including rainwater harvesting system, (D) Demographic survey to measure population density, social habits, etc, (E) Traffic/transportation survey for efficient inter-city, road and rapid transport system (F) Land-use mapping for residential, institutional, industrial, and cultural growth, (G) Socio-economic survey to determine “engines of growth” for the region.

JAFRA also implores the government of Haryana to immediately accord Special Status to Gurgaon and constitute the Planning and Development Authority of specially selected and able officers, along with experts in various fields and experienced and eminent citizens.

New Delhi, February 13
The Delhi Transport Corporation has planned to construct hotels and commercial complexes at its various depots to overcome losses. The DTC has a total of 30 depots in the Capital.

Delhi Minister of Transport and Power Haroon Yusuf said that to begin with, the government had decided to launch the project from 16 depots and Shadipur would be the one of the first depots. Thereafter, the target will be Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla, Sarojini Nagar, Patparganj and Nehru Place depots.

He said that the project had a lot of potentiality. The ASSOCHAM and CII jointly conducted a survey to find out whether running hotel or restaurant and commercial complexes from DTC depots would viable.

The survey report indicated that total revenue of the DTC by this project would be Rs 300 crore per annum.

The minister said that the depots have space enough to run the project.

Giving details, he said that some depots have an area of five acres. Some depots have less area also but this project can be run from there also.

The authorities have planned to construct multi-storeyed building with basement. The depots will be shifted in basements.

However, sources in the DTC said that the government had got survey from TATA Consultancy to find whether the project was viable.

The government planned to give practical shape to the project after clearance given by the private agency.

The agency advised the government to follow the idea of Metro Rail that earning crores of

rupees by installing hoarding at polls and developing commercial spaces in basements. The DTC can overcome its losses by introducing this project.

A senior officer of the DTC said that this project would not be successful as “we have CNG buses. There may be incidents of gas leakage any time. If it happens, people will not be able to come out. It will prove disastrous for DTC officials and employees. Secondly, diesel buses emit smoke”. 

New Delhi, February 13
Builders, property dealers and other stakeholders in the real estate sector will be licensed in a major move to ensure safe and planned development of Delhi.

The various stakeholders will be required to obtain licences once a proposed real estate regulatory authority Bill becomes law.

In its final stages, the proposed legislation will precede the entry of private players in housing as recommended in the Master Plan Delhi 2021, according to Union Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr Ajay Maken.

“Through this bill, we are going to see to it that the private builders who come to Delhi are of some good repute. It will ensure that they do not cheat the end-users both in terms of the area they are supposed to provide and the quality of construction,” he said.

The proposed law will also provide for action in terms of penalty and cancellation of licence among other stringent measures for those found flouting the set construction norms.

The Master Plan, which the ministry notified last week, recommends vertical development of Delhi, home to a burgeoning population of 1.50 crore.

The minister explained Delhi was left with 22,000 hectares to accommodate one crore additional people by 2021. “So we have decided that 40 per cent of the new population will have to be shifted to already urbanised areas. That is why we are allowing people to have more floor area ratio (FAR) in their premises and we are also encouraging people to combine their properties together and get 1.5 times the earlier FAR”, the minister said.

He rejected suggestions that Delhi did not have adequate infrastructure in place to support high-rise plans, saying that utility services in the Capital were required to be managed properly. He insisted that horizontal expansion led to wastage of resources.

The population density of Delhi, as per the 2001 Census, was 998 persons per sq km, Mumbai 2,600 and Kolkata 2,700. The problem faced by Mumbai and Kolkata now should not be faced by Delhi 20 years from now, he said.

The minister said 25,000 acres would be used to house utilities like power and water in Delhi.

Faridabad, February 13
The Agriculture department has begun a survey to assess the damage to the crop by the hailstorm that

accompanied the rains on Sunday.

Rabi crop on about 4000 hectares is estimated to be damaged though the recent rains brought cheers to the farmers, who had feared negative effects on the crops due to dry winter spell.

The district received an average rainfall of about 50 mm in this downpour. Rabi crop on about 1.18 lakh hectares has been sown in the district this season.

Hundreds of residents mostly farmers of several villages of Hodal sub-division in the district had staged a protest demonstration by blocking the traffic on the National Highway on Monday. They were seeking an action by the government into the losses suffered by them due to hailstorm.

“The farmers of the region had already suffered heavily due to various factors, including the supply of spurious weedicide and shortage of fertilizers from various agencies, said Mohan Singh of Joharkhera village.

He said though the rains had brought the much-needed relief to the farmers, the hailstorms gave the crop grower a serious setback in several villages of the subdivision.

Stating that the damage could be more widespread than what it appeared at this stage and the government should order a special ‘Girdawari’ and release compensation.

He, however, added the crop production in areas which received good rainfall and had a less hailstorm could be favourable with the period of maturity being extended by cool climate resulting after the rains.

When contacted, a senior official of the Agriculture department said that a survey had already been ordered in this connection.

He admitted that damage to crops had come from various villages, including Sondh, Bhiduki, Banchari, Khirbi and Godota villages of the subdivision.

According to department, Faridabad and Ballabhgarh subdivisions received a total rainfall of 68 and 47 mm respectively, while Palwal, Hodal and Hassanpur recorded 56, 55 and 20 mm of rains respectively. There was no rainfall in February last year, while it had been just 7 to 8 mm of rains in January last year, which had been nil, this year.

The MLA from Hathin, Mr Harsh Kumar, has assured the farmers of a favourable action into the matter, after a group of farmers met him in this regard.

Meanwhile, the rains which lashed on Saturday and Sunday last have resulted in heavy damage to roads in parts of the town and the rural areas, due to waterlogging.

Upper crust of the surface is washed away and potholes have appeared on several roads in the city, including various residential sectors, said Mahipal Singh, a resident of Sector 7 here.

He said the government should take a proper action to ensure that there was no waterlogging on roads during

rains by going in for construction of rainwater harvesting pits along the roads so that floody water got absorbed by the pits immediately.

New Delhi, February 13
With the arrest of four dreaded criminals–Manoj, Vijay, Nar Singh and Munna—the North-West district police today claimed to have busted a desperate gang.

They were gathered at Water Park, Sector – 24 in Rohini area and were conspiring to commit a dacoity at a petrol pump in the area.

One country-made pistol, two knives, one iron rod, one live cartridge, one motorcycle and one scooter have been recovered from them.

One bag containing cheque books, docuzments and some cash have also been recovered from them.

Following a tip-off that a group of desperate robbers would gather at Water Park to commit a dacoity at a nearby petrol pump, a trap was laid and the suspects were challenged by the police team.

After a short chase, four suspects were overpowered. Their two accomplices managed to escape taking the cover of darkness.

Massive manhunt is on to arrest the remaining gang members.

The team, which arrested the gang, is being suitably rewarded, said a police officer.

New Delhi, February 13
The CBI has arrested a Sub-Inspector Shiv Kumar and a constable Puran Singh attached to the Delhi Police for demanding a bribe from a complainant in a case. Both the police personnel posted at Hauz Khas police station, were caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the agency while accepting Rs 3,500 bribe from the complainant.

The complainant has alleged that the two police officials threatened him that unless he paid Rs 15,000, he would be implicated in a false theft case. On the request of the complainant, both agreed to accept Rs 3,500 through the accused constable, said the agency.

New Delhi, February 13
A woman, who plotted the abduction and murder of her 17-year-old daughter, and her paramour were convicted by a Delhi court yesterday.

Terming the offence as reprehensible, Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar held one Gita Rani and her paramour Satish guilty of abducting and murdering former’s daughter Aarti who did not like their illicit relationship.

The court held the duo guilty under various sections including 302 (murder), 363 (abduction), 201 (tampering with evidence) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

New Delhi, February 13
A supervisor of a factory in North-West Delhi had to pay with his life for his strictness as three of his employees killed him for ordering them to report for duty on time.

Ashok Kumar Shukla, hailing from Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, was bludgeoned to death by the three while he was sleeping in his room in the factory in Shalimar Bagh.

According to the police, Amresh Rai, Dheeraj and Amit Kumar, all hailing from Jharkhand and in their early 20s, had been nursing a grudge against Shukla for interfering in their day-to-day work

The trigger for the murder came on Friday when the supervisor did not allow them to join duty for reporting late. The police zeroed in on them after finding the three were missing after the incident.

The police said the three tried to mislead the investigation by taking away some of the personal belongings of Shukla and Rs 2,000 from his quarters to make the murder appear as a robbery bid.

New Delhi, February 13
Heavy showers lashed the National Capital Territory of Delhi this morning, lowering the mercury and generally disrupting normal life.

The rains, which began in the early hours, caught Delhiites by surprise, forcing most of them, including many schoolchildren and morning walkers, to stay indoors. The vehicles were seen plying with their headlights on as the sky had turned suddenly dark even at about 7 am, when the sun normally is up.

The heavy intensity of the rains could be gauged by the fact that 31 ml of rainfall was recorded till 0830 hours. The rains and thundershowers brought about a chill in the air here. The minimum temperatures dropped by nearly 3 degree Celsius to11.2 degree C.

The rainfall also led to considerable waterlogging in many areas, resulting in traffic jams. The Met Office has forecast more spells of rain, including some heavy showers, during the coming days.

“There will be a generally cloudy sky in Delhi with more spells of rains and thundershowers, some of them heavy, and the likelihood of hailstorms and thunder squalls in some areas during the next 24 hours,” the Met Office said.

According to the Met Office, the present spell of rain is the result of western disturbances.

New Delhi, February 13
The request of the Government of Delhi to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to help discoms in curbing power theft in various high theft-prone areas here and register cases in the five Special Courts set up by the Supreme Court to try such cases expeditiously has been accepted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Three companies of the CISF, one for each discom, have been approved for deployment. Each company will consist of 120 CISF security personnel. The cost of deployment of the company will be met by the discoms.

This will include providing residential accommodation to the personnel and payment for deployment of the entire company.