New Delhi, February 20
The Delhi High Court will on February 21 hear a PIL seeking a direction to prevent the city government and private power distributing companies (discoms) from charging allegedly discriminatory tariffs from consumers.

A Bench of Mr Justices T. S. Thakur and S. N. Aggarwal earlier issued notices to the Delhi Government, the BSES, the BYPL and the Delhi Regulatory Commission on a related matter of discoms allegedly giving wrong bills to consumers.

In the petition, filed by Srichand Jain through his counsel Sugriva Dubey, it was pointed out the electricity generating companies had two different slabs for the supply of power to the NDMC area and the rest of Delhi.

Seeking a direction to the city government for taking appropriate steps against discoms, Mr Jain said, “Earlier, the slab was different as the poor persons never used to pay the rate equal to those persons who consume electricity at larger scale”.

“At present, the NDMC buys electricity from manufacturers at a higher price and sells to consumers at a lower price in its area. However, the private power companies buy at a lower price and sell it to consumers at a higher price in other parts of Delhi,” he alleged.

It was also pointed out in the petition that private power supply companies were continuing with power cuts. Under the law, the load-shedding could not be carried out unless it was intimated to consumers through publication in newspapers, but the companies failed to do this, Mr Jain said. 

New Delhi, February 20
The government has offered to provide funding to public private partnership projects in solid waste management and sewerage treatment plants to ensure their economic viability, Union Minister for Urban Development Jaipal Reddy said here today.

Inaugurating the FICCI Environment Conclave 2007, Mr Reddy urged the participants to suggest practical models for getting such projects off the ground for which “the government will use the viability gap funding mechanism.”

Admitting that waste management in India had received inadequate attention from city managers and governments, Mr Reddy said, “The present practice in our cities requires huge improvement in making cities, water bodies and the acquifers sustainable.”

The key issues in solid waste management, he said, were significant involvement of waste generators, local communities and non-government agencies required for effective segregation, collection and transportation of waste; practice of charging user fees as a flat rate on a monthly or annual basis; substantial investments in treatment and disposal technologies; adequate project development and off-take structures; landfills and establishing links between final disposal mechanisms and tipping fee for sustainable operations; adherence to strict environmental conditions and operation of facilities for longer periods.

Describing the FICCI wish list as “practicable” as enunciated by FICCI Past President Onkar S. Kanwar, the minister said it was important to create a market for waste to attract investments in waste management and giving incentives to those who generated waste to sell it to those who treated it profitably. Mr Reddy said, “Based on the suggestions, we will try to evolve a policy framework to address all issues that will make investments in this area profitable.”

Mr Reddy said solid waste management was eminently suitable for different methods of engagement with private enterprise-management contract in the collection and transportation of solid waste, involvement of resident welfare associations and self-help groups in primary segregation of wastes, recycling and maintenance of sanitary landfills.

Ms. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, said there was an acute shortage of landfill sites in Delhi for the disposal of 8,000 tonnes of waste which the city generated. “We have a crude system of collection and segregation of waste in the Capital and we are looking for technology for producing power from waste from small units of 30 MW each,” she pointed out.

Mr Jean Besson, Head of the European Delegation, Rhone-Alpes President of the Four Motors for Europe, Vice-President, Region Rhone-Alpes for European and International Affairs, said environment was the key sector posing a major challenge for Indian and European companies. The 87-member European delegation attending the conclave, he said, represented excellence in environment technology and was suited for tie-ups with Indian companies. 

New Delhi, February 20
Apprehensions of an increase in power tariff in the National Capital Territory of Delhi have been allayed at least for the time being.

As the agreement by Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) to purchase power for the Capital expires on March 31, an informal body comprising discoms will take over procurement of power, but the forum will still be headed by the state-run company. The Power Procurement Group (PPG), which will have a tenure of four years, will be headed by the CMD of Transco.

By 2010, Delhi would be surplus in power, so the discoms can purchase their own power and they do not need any state help to buy power, Principal Secretary (Power) and CMD of Transco Rakesh Mehta told reporters.

According to the new agreement, Transco remains the convenor of the group till the Commonwealth Games. Thus, different rates for different areas, though a possibility, would not take place immediately, discom officials said.

The Delhi Cabinet had on January 29 cleared the setting up of a Power Procurement Group to trade in power.

The group was set up as the Central Electricity Act of 2003 does not allow any agency to simultaneously transmit and trade in the power sector, which Delhi Transco was doing till now.

The discoms will on their own sign agreements with various agencies or states supplying power as was being done by the DTL.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) will continue to decide the tariff, while the ratio to be supplied will be as per the agreements signed so far between the government and agencies. 

New Delhi, February 20
Anxiety, depression, anger and hostility have all been separately linked to future risk of heart disease. A new study has shown that depression, especially its physical signs, such as fatigue and loss of appetite, may contribute to thickening of arteries, an early sign of cardiovascular disease.

This was stated by Dr K K Aggarwal, president, Heart Care Foundation of India and Chairman, IMA Academy of Medical Specialities.

He was delivering a lecture at Department of Biotechnology here recently.

Dr Jesse C Stewart of Indiana University, Indianapolls, looked for emotional links to heart disease among 324 men and women with an average age of 60.6 years old. To determine early signs of heart disease, scientists examined carotid artery intima-media thickness, which is a measure of the inner layers of the arteries and is related to early stage of heart disease. Measurements were taken at the start of the study and again three years later.

Depression has been associated with some physiological changes, including the immune system.

In the study, 5 per cent of patients taking anti-depressants fared better than those with depression who were not taking the drugs. They had significantly reduced progression of atherosclerosis.

Depressed people are less likely to take care of themselves and have more risk factors for heart disease.

People who are depressed don’t adopt a healthy lifestyle. They overeat, smoke and drink more.

In addition, they have platelets that are more likely to clot.

Dr Aggarwal said that doctors should pay closer attention to depression and other psychological factors affecting patient’s health.

New Delhi, February 20
Sudden cardiac death is an instant unexpected death, which occurs within one hour of the onset of cardiac symptoms. So far, more than 24 lakh people have died in the country of heart attack. Of them, 17 lakh have died suddenly before reaching the hospitals. Twelve lakh of them could be revived if the general public was taught basic cardio brain pulmonary chest resuscitation.

This was stated by Dr K. K. Aggarwal, Chairman, IMA Academy of Medical Specialties, Dr Gautam Sharma, Associate Professor, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and others during a workshop on sudden cardiac death organised at IMA headquarters today.

The experts said that the main cause of death in such situation was generally an irregularity of the heart rhythm called ventricular tachyarrhythmia.

The underlying pathology is usually coronary heart disease in middle-aged and elderly persons, but can also be one of the familial well-defined cardiomyopathies such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia or long QT syndrome.

New Delhi, February 20
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has urged both the Delhi and the Uttar Pradesh Governments to resolve the transport spat at the earliest as the Delhi Transport Corporation had suffered a loss of Rs 3.40 crore over the past three months.

ASSOCHAM said any delay in resolving the issue would have a crippling effect on the DTC and it would be difficult to make up the losses. The suspension of the DTC bus service to Noida and Ghaziabad was also creating major problems for daily commuters as they were left to the mercy of private operators.—TNS

Faridabad, February 20
After the state of Goa, Haryana has been placed at second spot in the matter of per capita income (PCI) with an average income of Rs 32,712. The PCI of the state had been Rs 29,504 as per the last survey.

This has been the claim of a spokesperson of the state government, who has anticipated a big change in the economic scenario of the state in the next few years.

According to a statement here today, the spokesperson of the government said that this became possible as the revenue collection in the state had gone up amidst all-round progress, including the generation of employment opportunities and rise in the income sources of the residents in the state.

The state is on the verge of an industrial and economic revolution, thanks to the fast forward policies and removal of ‘bottlenecks’ in clearance of the industrial investments in both the local and foreign investment, the spokesperson claimed.

He said while the target of the Industrial Policy-2005, announced by the present government was to ensure a balanced growth in the state, it would help in generating an investment of about Rs 2,00,000 crore and garnering of jobs for at least 10 lakh persons in the next five years.

He said the government had received as many as 68 proposals of setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the past two years, of which permission had been granted to about 49 of them by the Union government. These proposals would bring an estimated investment of Rs 1,75,000 crore in the next few years and a fair share of this amount would be used in creating basic infrastructure and civic amenities in various parts of the state, thus ushering a new era of development.

He said it was a fact that people had still been craving for basic facilities of life, but their availability had not been possible due to various factors, including shortage of funds. The developments in various sectors in the past two years had led to improvement in the PCI and new avenues of income generation for many. The move to set up a petro-chemical hub at Panipat, involving an investment of Rs 30,000 crore would lead to growth of about 3500 ancillaries and employment to 50,000 persons. This would be supplemented with the setting up of an Industrial Model Township and a European Technology Park in Faridabad district, claimed the government official. Defending the concept of the SEZ and its usefulness, he said the SEZ would help in building a top class infrastructure for every section, including those who want to set an industrial unit or production centre of any kind, as it would help the manufacturer get access to related facilities, including marketing easily.

The SEZ would have facilities like airport, railway lines, roads, storage, banks, shopping malls, schools and adequate power supply. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of Rs 1,380 crore has come in Haryana in the past two years, which helped in setting up of about 1,785 middle and large industrial units, in the period. About 378 proposals worth Rs 5,896 crore had been in pipeline. The value of total export in a year from Haryana has reached up to Rs 25,000 crore, it is added.

Noida, February 20
Noida police were already found unequal to the skills of the car thieves in the area. But now carjackers in police uniform have created a new challenge, not only for the residents but for the police also.

On Saturday, car thieves had struck in colonies under two police stations. The police are suspecting a Delhi gang for these thefts and have raided a number of places in Delhi but of no avail.

According to information, some bandits in police uniform had stolen an Alto car from the vicinity of Fortis Hospital in sector 62.

The thieves in uniform had asked the driver to come out as they wanted to check the car and the papers. And suddenly the thieves got into the vehicle and sped away. But the bandits had to stop the car in sector 39 as there was no more fuel in it.

While one of them had gone to fetch the petrol, one constable of sector 39 objected to their parking the car at a wrong place. Both the criminals are then reported to have panicked. Abandoning the car, they vanished from the scene.

In sector 37, four uniformed robbers had looted another vehicle on Saturday night. They tried to loot a Scorpio vehicle at the crossing of sector 29 at 2 am from its driver who was going to sector 50. They overpowered the driver and took the vehicle to Surajpur where the driver was thrown out in unconscious condition. In the morning, he was taken to the hospital and later lodged a report first with Kasna police station, then with sector 39 police station.

His report was ultimately accepted by the sector 20 police station.

According to CO Kuldip Singh, police are trying to nab the criminals who had looted the Scorpio from sector 29.

New Delhi, February 20
Acknowledging India’s changing needs created by a growing market economy, increasing globalisation, competition between driven multinationals, many companies today are recognising the need to attract, hire, develop and retain talent. An integrated approach to talent management is vital in today’s world to get outstanding business results.

Recognising this need, the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, recently organised a national seminar on, “Talent Management — The Driver of Organisational Success.” The inaugural session was conducted jointly by Dr P.V. Bhide, President HR, JK Organisation, and by Mr S. D. Tripathi, President HR, SRF.

Dr Archana Tyagi, area chairperson of HRM and business communication, stressed that companies must shift their talent management strategy from the reactive approach to the proactive approach.

She cited inequity in compensation as one big reason for the flux in workforce. Dr Bhide informed that, “Some 92 per cent of the CEOs have talent management as one of the major issues on their primary agenda. Further, the clichéd mindset must be changed and transformed to ‘mind-space.’

Mr Ratnesh from Satyam Computers said, “Power equations are clearly changing today from employees chasing companies to companies chasing employees. Today engagement is the biggest challenge aside from hiring and retiring which are the other big challenges the Indian IT industry faces. Companies today are looking for means other then money to keep their employees emotionally engaged.”

He further added, “Companies now rely on the four-step process of talent management viz hiring, inspiring, admiring and retiring. The hiring has taken a shift towards catching them young or getting freshers in big numbers and inspiring is done by developing role models as part of company policy.

When employees perform they have to be adequately rewarded that is admiring and developing a proper module to use their experience when they retire. This can be in the form of training and coaching.” 

New Delhi, February 20
A Golden Jubilee Conference of Oriental Bank Employees Union (OBEU), Delhi, was held at Maharashtra Rangam Nutan Marathi School, Paharganj, here. The conference was inaugurated by Mr C. H. Venkatchalam, general secretary, AIBEA. Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, State Minister of Finance, Ms Amarjeet Kaur, Secretary, AITUC, and Mr Ramanand were present.

Mr Bansal praised the union for its outstanding contribution in providing better service conditions for employees. Mr V. K. Sharma, general secretary, OBEU (Delhi), presented the secretary’s report and assured that he would fight for the rights of employees. Former office-bearers of the union were also felicitated.

The election were held in the presence of Mr Tajinder Baba, election officer, DSBEF. Mr Suresh Jaitely and Mr V. K. Sharma were elected president and general secretary unanimously for three years.—TNS

New Delhi, February 20
Delhites today woke up to a breezy, foggy morning but it did not affect rail and air traffic. The fog dissipated as the sun rose in the sky.

According to the Met Office, the runaway visibility rate in the morning dipped to as low as 50 meters. The maximum temperature recorded yesterday was 25.3 degree Celsius and the minimum was at 10.2 degree C, one degree below normal.

The Met Office has forecast mist with slight fog in the morning while visibility is expected to remain clear. The minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to rise in the next couple of days.—TNS

New Delhi, February 20
Abhay Rustum Sopori, a young and upcoming Kashmiri musician has been selected by the Sangeet Natak Akademi in the young artistes category for an award for 2006. He is the son of the santoor maestro, Bhajan Sopori.

In all, 33 artistes have been chosen for the first Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar named after the late shehnai maestro, it was announced by the akademi today.

He is thoroughly trained in both vocal and instrumental classical music and is a torchbearer of the famous Sufiana tradition of Srinagar. He learnt the intricacies of ‘sopori baaj’ from his father.