New Delhi, March 12
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee today announced a ten-member scrutiny committee to select the party’s candidates for the coming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.

The committee, to be headed by AICC General Secretary in-charge of Delhi affairs Ashok Gehlot, would comprise DPCC Chief Ram Babu Sharma, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken and Delhi Finance Minister Dr A. K. Walia.

MPs Krishna Tirath, J. P. Aggarwal and Congress office-bearers Parvez Hashmi, J D Seelam and Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely are the other members of the committee.

The committee would go through all the applications filed and finalise the list of candidates for the polls, Gehlot said.

The heads of the four frontal organisations of the party like students’ wing NSUI and Mahila Congress would be special invitees to the committee, he said.

New Delhi, March 12
Accusing the Delhi Government of being “corrupt and oppressive”, the BJP today announced to take up issues like steep price spiral, sealing and demolition drives, hefty power bills, terrorism and security of Delhi during the municipal polls.

“The main issues of the BJP will be the five years ‘corrupt’ rule of the Congress, nine-year ‘anarchic, oppressive, corrupt and despotic’ rule of Ms Sheila Dikshit, three-year ‘failed’ administration of the Centre, steep price spiral, sealing, demolition, hefty bills of power and water, ‘betrayal’ of the Congress with the residents of unauthorised colonies, residents of the J.J. clusters, unemployed persons, industrialists, traders, appeasement for the sake of votes, security of Delhi, terrorism etc,” BJP Delhi Pradesh President Dr Harsh Vardhan here today.

He said that the forthcoming MCD election was an unprecedented opportunity to the people of Delhi in which they could give a befitting reply to the “atrocities” of the Congress.

“The Chief Minister is bent upon imposing tax on ground water. The MCD and the Delhi Government have done more than hundred bungling. The High Court has been again and again directing about holding enquiries into these bunglings. But the Government is avoiding it,” he alleged.

“There are more than five dozen such issues that are connected with public interests. The price spiral has broken all the records, but neither the Delhi Government nor the Central Government is worried about curbing it,” he added.

Even after the privatisation, the people had to pay three times increased power tariff, the BJP leader claimed. He also criticised the provisions of Master Plan 2021, alleging that it would convert Delhi into a slum. 

New Delhi, March 12
After almost a week of warm and balmy weather, moderate rains lashed the Capital since last night bringing the mercury down by several degrees.

The rains, which started late last night, continued this morning and thundershowers accompanying them plummeted the maximum temperature by three to four degree Celsius, from 28.7 degree Celsius yesterday.

The rain and thundershowers followed an overcast sky since yesterday. About 20 mm of rainfall was recorded today.

Though the rain and thundershowers led to a dip in the maximum temperature, the cloud cover in the sky resulted in a rise in the minimum temperature to 15.6 degree Celsius, from the 13.8 degree Celsius yesterday.

The Meteriological Department office attributed the sudden turnaround in the weather to a fresh western disturbance.

The cool weather in the national Capital and other parts of north-west India is likely to continue for the next few days with the weatherman forecasting more rain and thundershowers in plains of the north-west India during the next 48 hours with a possibility of hailstorms.

New Delhi, March 12
The Delhi High Court today refused to restrain the government from conducting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, scheduled to be held on April 5.

A division bench of chief justice M. K. Sarma and justice Sanjib Khanna, however, issued notices to the Delhi Government, State Election Commission and the MCD to file their replies to the allegations in the petition by March 22, the next date of hearing.

Petitioner Ashok Jindal had challenged the order of a single judge bench of the same court, which approved the delimitation commission report reserving seats for scheduled castes and women candidates in the 272-ward civic body.

New Delhi, March 12
Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) of Delhi today called ‘ironic’ the attempt by the Delhi Government in league with Private Power Distribution companies (DISCOMS) and Delhi Electric Regulatory Commission (DERC) to force ‘Time of Day’ (TOD) metering concept and termed it as another move to ‘rig’ the already harassed consumers of Delhi.

“The concept of ‘Time of Day’ will allow private DISCOMS to charge higher rate at time of peak hours to be decided by power companies. The DISCOMS will be re-programming the existing Computerised Electricity Meters with no consumer protection feature. This is another ploy to hike power tariff by Delhi Government and DISCOMS,” said Wing Commander J.S. Chadda of East of Kailash Federation of RWAs and South Delhi Coordinator for United Residents Joint Action (URJA).

“Delhi residents are yet to recover agony of fast running new meters and inflated bills, and DISCOMS have yet to win heart of consumers, allowing fiddling of meters to DISCOMS will further create distrust among angry consumers,” said Vijay Raghvan, Secretary, Mehrauli RWA Federation.

“At time of change of meters, consumers were not given any test reports of the meters removed that is clear evidence of ‘Fast Running of Meters’ and Discoms wanted to erase its evidence by replacing them. Computerised electronics meters installed had no feature for the benefit of consumers and consumers will have no idea of when and how much units have been ‘Inflated By Rigging,” said V.N. Bali, Secretary, Ram Vihar RWA.

New Delhi, March 12
The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) of the Health Ministry does not want to take any chances with the dengue-causing Aedes Aegypti mosquito this year. Having grappled with the last year’s nationwide dengue toll of 167 and a caseload of 11,000, the NVBDCP has invited world authorities on dengue management to develop a standardised protocol for dengue management for India.

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by the infective bite of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. It occurs in two forms—Dengue Fever and Dengue Hamemorrhagic Fever (DHF). While denguee fever is a severe flu like illness, DHF is a more severe form of disease which may cause death.

NVBDCP Director, Dr P.L. Joshi told TNS here on Monday that Suchitra Nimayate, a well-known clinician from Thailand and Duan Gubler, a world renowned authority on

dengue management, from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hawai University, are attending a two-day conference beginning Wednesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

He said that the conference will afford clinicians from thirty hospitals in Delhi and some dengue-endemic states to discuss best practices on management of dengue.

Apart from this, the NVBDCP has also put in place a long-term dengue action plan which lays emphasis on proactive surveillance during the inter-epidemic period.

Dr Joshi explained that although the Aedes Aegypti mosquito breeds throughout the year, cases of dengue are reported during the peak season post-monsoon. The dengue causing mosquito breeds in desert coolers, drums, jars, pots, flower vases, tanks, tyres, gutters, refrigerator drip pans, cement blocks, coconut shells, bamboo stumps and many more places where rainwater collects or is stored.

The dengue action plan also entails inter-sectoral cooperation with other ministries to manage dengue. To drive home the message that dengue management is everybody’s responsibility, the NVBDCP has urged state governments to make civic and construction bylaws on the lines of the Bombay Corporation bylaws to ensure prevention of mosquitogenic conditions in buildings.

The NVBDCP Director said that they have held consultations on dengue management with the ministries of Urban Development and Rural Development.

He said that the National Rural Health Mission provides money to village health sanitation committees to ensure prevention of dengue.

As part of the dengue action plan, the NVBDCP has recommended creation of apex reference laboratories for advance diagnosis of dengue, chikungunga and other vector-borne viral diseases.

It has also suggested a dengue emergency hospital management plan and an awareness campaign. 

Ghaziabad, March 12
Some rowdies who reportedly came along with some cops in a police jeep had raped a young Dalit girl of Nirpura village in Bagpet before brutally murdering her. The family of the deceased has alleged a gangrape with their daughter by the assailants.

The cops, including an SI, who came with the assailants, watched the sordid drama mutely, victim’s family alleged.

An elder sister of the deceased was dumped in a corner after her hands and feet had been tied. The entire party reportedly fled away in the police jeep after killing the girl.

The family of the girl along with a large number of Dalit villagers sat on a dharna with the body of the deceased in front of the SSP’s office. But with the SSP being away, nobody came to hear their story. The body was not sent for autopsy either.

Krishen Pal, a labourer in Nirpura village, under Dogat police station, said at 9.30 pm on Saturday his married daughter, Rachna and the younger one Moni, 15, were alone at home.

A jeep of Dogat police stopped at their house. The cops knocked at the door and said they wanted to question the inmates in connection with some case.

SI Ganda Lal and five cops came into the house along with four rowdies of the same village. Moni’s family alleged that in the presence of the cops, the culprits raped the 15-year-old girl. Elder sister Rachna was dumped in a corner with her hands and feet tied.

After the rape, the intruders killed Moni by hitting her on the head and all of them left along with the cops at 1 am. On Rachna’s raising the alarm, some villagers rushed to their house. At 7 am, they all marched in a procession to the SSP’s office in Bagpet, carrying Moni’s body with them. After a long wait, CO police, O.P. Singh sent the body for an autopsy.

New Delhi, March 12
Mr S C Gupta, CMD, PNB, inaugurated the Off Site ATM facility on the premises of Birla Mandir in New Delhi. On this occasion, Trustee of Birla Mandir and renowned industrialist Mr Sidharth Birla was the chief guest.

Welcoming the dignitaries and customers, Mr D L Rawal, GM, South Delhi Zone said, “PNB is serving customers through its 178 branches spread throughout Delhi besides 46 branches in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida. All these branches are equipped with ‘any time any where’ banking facility”.

He further informed that PNB is operating 152 ATMs in Delhi and around where customers are enjoying 24 hours cash withdrawals and other facilities. One can withdraw up to Rs 25,000 in a day from these ATMs. He informed that PNB debit card was an international card with Maestro and Cirrus Logo and can be operated at any ATMs or Point of Sales machines with similar logos.

Addressing an elite gathering of bank customers and media persons, Mr Gupta informed that since inception, PNB remained on fore front in the Indian Banking Industry. He told that PNB was founded by great freedom fighters like

Lala Lajpat Rai, Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia, Kali Prashonto Roy and Rajrisahi Purushottam Dass Tandon on the auspicious day of Baisakhi in 1894 as the first Swadeshi Bank. Similarly, Birla Mandir New Delhi was inaugurated by the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi in 1939. With this inauguration of ATM, both the great institutions once again joined together in serving public at large, he added.

New Delhi, March 12
The Amity Law School (ALS), in association with the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), organised the 6th Amity National Moot Court Competition at its campus here from March 9 to 11. Students from 26 reputed law schools from all over the country participated in the competition.

Some of the competing colleges included Army Institute of Law, Mohali; School of Excellence, Chennai; Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprashtha University (GGSIPU), Delhi, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS), Delhi; University Law College (Bangalore), NALSAR, Hyderabad, NLIU, Bhopal, GLC, Mumbai, NLU, Jodhpur, HNLIU, Raipur to name a few.

The moot court problem for this competition was based on the Cinematographs Act and Constitutional Law. The competition saw a dazzling display of advocacy from students from 26 law colleges across the country. There were three rounds comprising the Preliminary rounds, the Semi-Finals and the Finals.

The inaugural function of the competition was presided over by Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India, who is highly acclaimed for his deep understanding and knowledge of law. 

Gurgaon, March 12
A case under Section 182 IPC has been lodged against Mr Sunil Jaitley as his complaint of kidnapping of his two daughters had turned out false, informed Senior Superintendent of Police Hanif Qureshi. Section 182 relates to false information.

It may be recalled that the police station of Sector 29 lodged the FIR under Sections 363 and 366 IPC (kidnapping and abduction) on February 25 against an unknown person when Jaitley’s two daughters disappeared suddenly.

Acting on the sensitivity of the case, the police lodged the FIR just on the telephone call and no written complaint was given to the police, added the police officer.

New Delhi, March 12
The Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested two persons on charges of duping a Dubai-based jeweller.

The jeweller, Shashi Kant Mittal, had lodged a complaint alleging that he had entrusted gold worth Rs 3.5 crore to Kewal Garg in Dubai for converting it into jewellery in the name of company Cornic Jewellery Ltd. The gold was to be converted into jewellery in duty free zone at Kewal Garg’s workshop named as Gold Craft and taken to Dubai.

The complainant’s gold dispatched to India from Dubai was received by the above said company having its registered offices at Lajpat Nagar and Noida. But, the accused with the help of one Prabhat Kumar hatched a conspiracy and sold the jewellery in open market in Dubai, the complainant alleged.

When the complainant did not receive his goods in Dubai, he made inquiries and came to know about the fraud , said a police officer.