New Delhi, March 10
Gearing up for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the Congress has planned to take advantage of the efforts it has made in the finalisation of the 2021 Delhi Master Plan and the Union Urban Development Ministry’s announcement to regularise over 1,400 unauthorised colonies in the Capital.

This decision was taken today by the Delhi Congress after a meeting with senior Congress leaders and in-charge of Delhi affairs Ashok Gehlot, sources said.

The Union Minister of State for Urban Development Minister, Mr Ajay Maken, said that the Congress would urge the voters to cast their franchise in favour of the party as it had carried out a number of development works in the national Capital. He claimed that 99 per cent traders and residents of Delhi got relief after the finalisation of the new Master Plan for Delhi and also due to the decision to regularise the unauthorised colonies.

The party activists will go door to door to convince the voters that the Congress has done for betterment of the citizens of the Capital. The government has assured the slum dwellers that they will not be dislocated. “They will be rehabilitated in multi-storied buildings that would be constructed for them,” Congress leaders claimed.

They alleged that the Opposition parties were doing rumour mongering raising the issue of sealing and demolition. “Sealing was stopped on 2,183 roads notified by the government and there was no such activity on other roads after finalisation of the new Master Plan,” Mr Maken said.

“As far as inflation is concerned, it will not be an issue in the civic body poll. Had it been assembly or parliament elections, inflation would have been an issue,” he said. 

Faridabad, March 10
Residents of some of the sectors here are fed up with the functioning of several illegal and commercial activities in the areas.

The presence of private dairies, garbage dealer and jhuggis has been a cause of great inconvenience. The residents welfare associations of Sector 10 and 11 have raised such issues and demanded immediate action against such commercial activities.

In a statement issued here today, Mr Kailash Sharma, a member of the RWA of Sector 10 (DLF), said that though there had been a speedy growth of the basic infrastructure in the area, including roads, parks, streetlights and overall cleanliness due to the efforts of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad, certain things had causing inconvenience to the residents. The overriding problems in areas like Sector 10 (DLF) had been the presence of some dairies and jhuggis on a stretch of private land lying vacant in the middle of the sector, Mr Sharma said.

Admitting that hundreds of jhuggis had been removed in the past two years, he said the functioning of dairies and a garbage dealer had still been a cause of concern.

He said a resident who had been keeping a buffalo in a vacant plot could be seen bathing the animal on the road.

“Dozens of commercial vehicles, including trucks and buses were being parked in the open spaces in the sectors during nights,” claimed another resident.

He said a complaint had been lodged with the police and other departments, but no action had been taken  so far.

According to Rajesh, another resident, some persons bring milk from the dairies located at other places and distribute it from their houses. This commercial activity cause severe inconvenience to the residents in the neighbourhood.

Welcoming the sealing of the illegal shops in the residential areas of the Housing Board colony of Sector 7 and 10 here, he said the authorities should also conduct a thorough survey of such activities and ban them in the common interest.

New Delhi, March 10
“Businesses today are not limited by boundaries of states or countries. The increasing varieties in the tastes of consumers as well as other businesses have changed the way we looked at marketing.” This is the issue selected by the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, for hosting a marketing conclave today. The theme of the conclave was ‘Marketing Challenges in a Competitive Environment.’

The conclave was co-chaired by Rajat Gera, professor, Marketing Area of IMT Ghaziabad and Dr Vimi Jham, chairperson, of the Alumni Relationship Committee. At the inaugural session, Dr B.S. Sahay, director, IMT Ghaziabad, emphasised that the aim of marketing specialist in today’s times should be to convert current marketing challenges in the Indian and global context into opportunities. The conclave has brought together alumni of the institute as well as other marketing professionals on a common platform. Discussions were carried out on various topics ‘The evolving Indian Market, Marketing Strategies and Tactics’, ‘The New Marketing Challenges' and ‘Marketing Case Studies’. 

Noida, March 10
A seminar was organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (Northern Reg-ion) in Noida today in which leading industrialists, directors and professors of various management and engineering institutes stressed the importance of bridging the gap between industry and institutes for maximum advantage accruing to the industry and the country.

Chairman of CII West UP Zonal Council Sanjay K Gupta, in his address, said, “We have a large pool of students who can help India take a lead over other countries.

The gap between broad areas of the requirement of industries and the training programmes were emphasised in the context  of demand and supply  mismatch.”

Retired Navy Commodore Dilip Mahapatra said Rs 30,000 crore is contributed annually by industry as taxes. Why can’t the government spend, say 50% of this amount, on scholarship to needy students and for augmenting the higher technical and management education infrastructure.

Dr Y.S Rajan, Advisor CII, emphasised the need for more engineering students, more IITs, excellence in learning and for adapting to change and creating people tuned  to change.

Prof R.A Yadav, Vice-Chairman AICTE, said in global context industries find it difficult to cope  with quality education access. He said India is very rich in human capital which is vital in transferring the benefits to the common man. 

New Delhi, March 10
A survivor of the Hashimpura massacre, in which 42 people were killed 20 years ago, told a Delhi court that he was shot at by personnel of Uttar Pradesh’s Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).

“PAC started throwing people in the canal. We started shouting bachao-bachao (save us). At this, PAC jawans started firing. I received bullet shot on my chest and thigh of my right leg. Azeem, my uncle, having received bullet injuries in the chest, died on the spot,” Muzib-ur Rahman, a survivor of the 1987 massacre in Meerut district, testified.

Showing his healed wounds, the survivor said, “I was thrown into the canal by the personnel, who thought I was dead.”

Recording his statement as a prosecution witness before Additional Sessions Judge N P Kaushik, he said, “On May 22, 1987, it was day of ‘Alvida Ramazan’. PAC personnel came to our locality and started searching houses. They took us to a place where 400-500 people were already detained. 50 of them were made to sit in a truck.”

After two hours, the truck reached Murad Nagar Ganga canal, where PAC personnel started shooting at the people, he said.

As he knew swimming, he saved himself, Rahman, one of the six survivors claimed, adding that the police took him to the Murad Nagar police station in Meerut district. He alleged that he was threatened by the police that he would be killed if he made any complaint against PAC personnel.

The prosecution has alleged that on May 22, 1987, PAC took 42 Muslims from Mohalla Hashimpura in Meerut into custody, transported them by trucks to upper Ganga canal, shot them and dumped their bodies in the canal.

New Delhi, March 10
Two inter-state gangsters, allegedly wanted in connection with 28 sensational cases of murder, robbery and other heinous crime – Sudhir Chauhan (23) and Ankit Chaudhary (27), were today killed in an encounter with a joint team of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police near Meerut. A reward of Rs 10,000 was declared by the UP police for the arrest of Chauhan.

They were gunned down on the Meerut by-pass this evening when they allegedly fired at the joint police team, which intercepted them following a tip-off, the police claimed.

The team included officers from the Delhi Police’s elite anti-terror wing Special Cell and UP police, official sources said here.

According to the police, there was information that some members of an interstate gang involved in many cases in Delhi, UP and other adjoining areas were planning to commit another heinous crime in the area. Following the information that two members of this gang would be coming at Meerut-bypass to meet their accomplices, a trap was laid, the police claimed. The police had got the information from a gangster Rajesh Kushwaha, who was arrested recently. 

New Delhi, March 10
Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested three alleged drug peddlers, including a Tanzanian national, who is suspected to have had a role in the recent Pune rave party, where 250 youths were arrested.

“Nbabwa Ally Zuma, a Tanzanian national, was arrested yesterday from Mathura Road with 10 grams of cocaine. He had visited Pune twice within 10 days recently. The last time he had gone to Pune by air on March two and returned on March three, hours before the rave party in that city was busted,” DCP (Narcotics and Crime Prevention) A S Cheema told reporters today.

Another arrested man is Immanual Nnanta Akiko, a Nigerian national. He was arrested from Vasant Vihar on the intervening night of March seven and eight with eight grams of cocaine.

Ghaziabad, March 10
With 75 children having gone missing in Ghaziabad in about two months, there is no stemming the malaise of children reportedly going missing from the district. Such incidents are rather on the increase.

Though 20 children out of the 75 have reportedly come back, 55 kids continue to be still untraced. Added to it is the senior citizen going missing which has perplexed the police.

After the Nithari episode in Noida’s Sector-31, it was expected that the number of missing children would come down in Ghaziabad. But it just has not happened. In the past two months, some 48 boys and 27 girls had gone missing, out of these only 12 boys and 7 girls have been traced so far.

The 14-year-old Gaurav, son of Shreepal in Bhavpur village, who had gone missing on February 7 is not traced yet. The family had filed a report with Vasundhra police station on February 9 but till date, there is no trace of the boy.

Meanwhile, another unfortunate development has shocked the people in the area. The bodies of half a dozen kids, buried in the graveyards, have gone missing.

The body of a two-year-old girl, buried in the graveyard of Arthla village, has gone missing. While the police say some animals might have dug up the grave and dragged the bodies, village elders feel the animals have eaten up the bodies. With the graves being dug up and bodies missing from them, it could be the handiwork of some anti-socials elements, they insist.

New Delhi, March 10
The East district police today claimed to have busted an extortion racket with the arrest of two criminals – Shailender Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar – involved in the racket. They had allegedly demanded Rs three crore from a Delhi-based businessman.

A Delhi-based businessman was attacked when he was travelling through Noida in his car. He escaped narrowly in the shoot-out. After the incident, he was continuously receiving threatening calls by unidentified callers. They were demanding Rs three crore.

According to police, during investigations, it was established that the suspects used to call from various PCOs from Ballabhgarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida Dadri etc. 

New Delhi, March 10
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today launched another round of Pulse Polio Campaign in Delhi by administering anti-polio drops to a number of children at her residence at 3, Motilal Nehru Marg.

Delhi is all set to make success of Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme tomorrow.

Speaking on this occasion, Ms Dikshit expressed confidence that Delhi would continue to be a polio-free state. She added that the only threat which Delhi was facing in this regard was from certain neighbouring states which contribute substantially in huge migration of people into the national Capital. In addition to this, the floating population that makes visit to Delhi everyday due to employment and other obligation could also be responsible for cases of polio in Delhi, she said.

The Chief Minister further said that it would be ensured that no virus of polio could enter Territory of National Capital. She said that for making a strong nation, “We must have strong children, which would only be possible with the success of Pulse Polio Programme.”

New Delhi, March 10
Two independent candidates have filed their nominations on first day today claiming that they will win the seats with heavy margin.

Both the candidates are women contesting from reserved seats. Rani Devi has filed her nomination from ward number 120 in Sitapuri area and Mithileshi from ward number 201 in Jaitpur.