New Delhi, March 16
The Right to Education Task Force (RETF) has written to Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, urging her pay heed to deplorable conditions prevailing in some MCD schools in Delhi.

As per RETF convenor Ashok Aggarwal, volunteers of RETF visited MCD Primary School and Delhi Government Secondary School in Kewal Park near Azadpur Mandi and found the conditions there to be “horrible”.

Subsequently the group prepared a report, MCD’s Ugly Ducklings, and sent it across to the Delhi Government and the MCD authorities. “However, the authorities seem to be totally insensitive to the educational needs of the students,” Aggarwal says.

The RETF team has now prepared another report, “Believe it or not - Children Studying in hell”, on the condition of 2,300 students belonging to under privileged sections.

“The school authorities are violating with impunity the educational rights of the students studying in these schools,” he adds.

The report, talking extensively about the condition of the school premises, says that toilets are poorly maintained and extremely filthy. “All the outlets are clogged. The toilet for the staff is equally filthy and smelly. The shaft in the all the toilets on ground, first and second floors are open, without any doors or safety net and are a death trap for the children.”

“Most of these toilets are adjacent to classrooms so you can imagine in what condition these poor children are studying. Also, there are no taps for drinking water though summer days are approaching fast,” Aggarwal adds.

About the mid-day meal, the report says that ‘pooris’ were wrapped with old newspapers whereas the contractor should use the aluminium foil sheet for such packing. “The quality was so bad that we don’t know how kids manage to eat them.”

Classrooms had not dusted for ages and the desks were broken. The room meant for handicapped children under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is being used by the contractor’s labour

Faridabad, March 16
Crass commercialisation and high-pitched real estate prices have perhaps spared none, not even the schools who were allotted land at throwaway prices by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

A controversy has arisen following allegations of unauthorised transfer of land worth several crores belonging to a school in Sector 14 here. It is alleged the management of a little known school, which was allotted a plot located in a prime area, had transferred the school and the land to a well-known group in violation of the allotment rules. Parents of the students enrolled in the previous school besides the association representing the parents here have lodged a protest.

They have demanded immediate cancellation of the deal. The parents’ body has also threatened to go to court if the authorities concerned fail to take action soon.

The Manch and the parents of the students, in a representation submitted to the Administrator, HUDA, here have claimed students enrolled in the previous school in this sector had been running from pillar to post as the school in which their wards had taken admission had gone missing.

A new school had put up its signboards at that place.

Certain parents of such students, who have written a letter to the Chairman of the CBSE, have claimed the future of hundreds of students of the school in which they had taken admission, hung in balance after the school and its premises were taken over by another school. They said they had been told the management of the old school had sold or transferred the school building and plot to another school.
Students would have to take fresh admission in the new school, whose fee and other charges were several times higher than the earlier one.

According to one of the parents, they had been a paying Rs 800 as fee for their ward a couple of months back, but the authorities of the new school were demanding at least Rs 4000 from them apart from other charges which, he said, was illegal and exploitative. According to a spokesperson of the Faridabad Abhibhawak Ekta Manch, the transfer or sale of such a plot was illegal and in violation of the rules of allotment by HUDA. Claiming that though it could be a result of earning profit by vested interests, he said the authorities ought to resume such a plot as it had not been allowed by the government and amounted to misuse of the plot.

The parents of the affected students have described it as a corrupt and illegal code of conduct on the part of the management of the school, which had been the original allottee. The matter would be taken to court, if no relief came soon, said the manch. 

New Delhi, March 16
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav may be accused of insufferable tomfoolery by his critics in India but the future business leaders from the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin and the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia take him seriously. They were mesmerised today by Lalu’s sixty-minute presentation on the success story of Indian Railways.

The first and second year MBA students comprising 14 girls and 18 boys who were here on a two week global business connection trip will fly back to New York tomorrow with tales about Lalu’s charisma. Of these, Priyanka Malhotra, a girl from Delhi even earned a job offer from the Railway Minister. When Priyanka asked Lalu how he expects Indians, in particular business leaders, to contribute to the success of the Railways, Lalu replied, “We want bright students like you to come here and work.”

The students who had until now relied on secondary opinion of guest faculty and press clippings for Lalu’s political career graph, got a chance to interact with the man credited with scripting the success story of Indian Railways.

Stepping out of the National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri on Friday afternoon after the stimulating lecture and a satisfying meal, Neil Raggio, a first year management student from Mississipi said that he felt inspired to return to India in a few years to work. Raggio said that he found the Indian Railway minister a “very passionate and charismatic leader who had succeeded in changing the mindset of a large workforce of 1.4 million by convincing them to change the way they operate.”

Raggio had done enough homework on Lalu and said with a smile, “I know he has eight children.”

Raggio’s classmate Sheila Gupta said that Lalu did a fantastic job of explaining to them what he was doing and how he had united the entire railway family into seeing his vision.

Omar Kareem Ghalayani, a first year Lebanese student who is visiting India a second time, agreed that Lalu was charismatic. Ghalayani said he did not mind the minister’s disfluent English as he was making an effort to learn the language. Their senior Lauren Wambold said that the interaction had helped them in seeing how people in different parts of the world were conducting business in similar and different ways.

Mukund Kumar who along with two others was entrusted the task of organising the trip said that they did not care for charges of corruption levelled against Lalu. “People can have their biases. As long as he delivers, why should any body bother?”

Kumar said that the lecture had reinforced the ideas that they had learnt in the business school. He said that Lalu’s presentation helped them understand how calculated risks were taken in business.

The group comprising Americans, Brazilians, Cubans, Mexicans and Russians arrived in Mumbai a day before Holi where they met the Chief Executive Officer of Star News, the Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. They also went to Bangalore to meet T.V. Mohandas Pai, member of the Board and Director-Human Resources, Education, Research and Administration, Infosys. Lalu told mediapersons after the lecture that it was a matter of pride that Indian students were enrolled in reputed business schools abroad. “I shared with them the mantra of the success of the Indian Railways and told them that honesty, determination and vision are the keys to success.”

The minister claimed that he was much sought after by the management schools across the world and students look up to him as their ‘Guru’.

Sources in Rail Bhawan said that Lalu would meet students from the Massachussets Institute of Technology on March 26. He is also expected to visit the United States in mid April to lecture at the Universities of Chicago and Standford, Harvard Business School and the World Bank. Lalu first tried his teaching skills in 2006 with students from the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad.

Yesterday, he met Professor George Blank from the Paris-based HEC Business Management School as the school is engaged in a study on the turnaround story of the Indian Railways

New Delhi, March 16
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the owners of Uphaar cinema on a petition by kin of the victims of the fire in the theatre 10 years ago, accusing them of misleading the court about arranging the money on loan from banks for paying compensation.

Ansal Theatres and Clubotels Ltd, which owns Uphaar cinema in Green Park where 69 people were killed in a fire tragedy in June 1997, were directed to file a reply by a Bench of Justice B N Agrawal and Justice P P Naolekar within two weeks.

The Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), fighting for getting damages from the theatre owners and the government for the past 10 years, alleged that Ansals had mislead the court about mortgaging the cinema building with the bank and get a loan of Rs 3 crore for depositing the compensation money with the court.

The Delhi High Court in a highest ever compensation, had directed Ansals, Delhi Government, MCD and Delhi Police to pay Rs 18 crore damages to the kin of 69 dead and the 100 injured persons.

Of the Rs 18 crore, Rs 12 crore were to be paid by Ansals and the remaining Rs 6 crore to be shared equally by the Delhi Government, MCD and Delhi Police.

After a protracted legal battle, the Court had directed Ansals to deposit at least 50 per cent of the damage amount. Ansals took a stand that they did not have any money to pay the compensation and be allowed to mortgage the cinema hall, which the AVUT opposed, saying that it was a case property sealed under the order of the Sessions Judge holding trial for criminal liabilities in the case.

But the apex court had granted Ansal to raise loan on the cinema hall for depositing the money.

The AVUT alleged that after getting permission to raise the loan on cinema hall to deposit the money, the Ansals had in fact raised a loan of Rs 42 crore from Punjab National Bank and spent it on promotion of the company, which amounted to the violation of the court order.

The AVUT also alleged that when the matter was brought to the notice of the court, they raised another loan of Rs 3 crore from HDFC Bank on some other property for depositing the money in the court.

The AVUT counsel told the apex court that when the cinema hall was under the seal of the trial court, how could the owners raise money on it for promotion of their company and the court’s permission was limited to realise the money for payment of compensation when the cinema owners had pleaded that they did not have money to deposit with court.

New Delhi, March 16
Thousands of ticket seekers for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections were seen waiting today at the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office for the list of candidates finalised by the election committee. A majority of them were restless as they were not sure of getting the tickets.

Sources said that the list had been finalised but it was not made public because the AICC president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, had been asked to first have a look at the list of the candidates. She called the election committee of the party headed by Ashok Gehlot as well as DPCC chief Mr Ram Babu Sharma at her residence this evening. Sources said that Ms Gandhi was taking interest in the civic body elections following the party’s defeat in Uttrakhand and Punjab.

The party constituted the election committee after the DPCC was pressurised from various quarters for election tickets. It was not possible to accommodate all the candidates whose names were given by senior leaders of the party. More than 12,000 Congress activists had applied for the tickets.

The sources said that Mr Ram Babu Sharma tried to get the ticket to strong candidates because this was the first election being contested in his leadership. He himself had gone through all the applications of aspirant contenders to find out their background and political activity.

The candidates with better image have more chance of winning the election because after delimitation, the municipal wards had been reduced. Each ward has a population of 50,000. Candidates fielded by the Resident Welfare Associations may cut the votes of the political parties because a majority of them have better image in their localities. “This MCD election is a candidate-based election,” the sources said.

New Delhi, March 16
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) have strongly opposed imposition of outside and rebel candidates by political parties, particularly the Congress and the BJP, in their constituencies. They term it a violation of selection process announced by the parties.

Mr Sandeep Sharma, Secretary, Priya Enclave said, “Both political parties are trying to impose their candidates on residents of the area. BJP has announced an unknown outsider as candidate in Anand Vihar.”

Mrs Ritu Bhatia, Secretary, Vivek Vihar RWA said, “Congress president Ram Babu Sharma had clearly announced that RWA’s of area would be consulted while selecting candidates and no earlier rebel candidate would be given the ticket. However, in Vivek Vihar rebel Congress candidate has been given ticket.”

Capt. B. V. S. Dron of Mayur Vihar Phase II said that both main political parties had given ticket to outsiders who had no link with the area.

“Most of the RWA candidates will be fighting elections on local issues including poor roads, sewage system, choked drains, traffic woes, power problems and inflation “ said Sanjay Kaul president of the URJA.

Meanwhile, Resident Ward Committees of four prominent areas across the North, West and North-West Delhi have declared their consensus candidates with Jia Lal from Trinagar ward number 64; Ajay Kapoor from Rohini North ward number 49; Rajpal Chhikara from Ashok Vihar ward number 68 and Subhash Chander Gupta from Wazirpur ward number 67.

Besides, Lalit Kumar from Ram Nagar ward number 87 and Gopal Kewat from Peeragarhi ward number 42 were also inducted as “People’s Candidates” after being subjected to a series of interviews and checks.

The number of people applying for candidature through the RWA selection process is expected to file their nominations tomorrow. “People’s Candidates” will however continue to be declared subject to their meeting the standards set by the group.

New Delhi, March 16
Former Chief Minister of Delhi Sahib Singh Verma and General Secretary of Delhi unit of the BJP Pawan Varma today had a heated argument over the issue of distribution of tickets for nine municipal wards in Outer Delhi.

Both were pressurising the party leadership to get tickets to their supporters, sources said. The BJP had to release a second list of 91 candidates today but their fighting on selection of candidates delayed the release of the list.

Yesterday, the party released the first list of 181 candidates. Both the leaders are party heavy weights.

Delhi unit chief of the BJP Dr Harsh Vardhan said that pressure would not play any role in distribution of tickets. “Tickets will be given to the candidates who have clean image in the wards. Maximum sitting councillors have been given tickets,” he said.

The representatives of Uttranchal had earlier made a complaint that they did not have an adequate number of candidates in the MCD elections. “But in these elections, they have also expressed satisfaction,” Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

New Delhi, March 16
Faced with similar problems of rising population, absence of a proper public transport system and ever rising number of vehicles, Pakistan has taken a cue from Delhi and is now planning to build a mass transit rail system (MRTS) in Lahore and Karachi on the lines of the Delhi Metro.

The success of the Delhi Metro in effectively dealing with noise pollution and traffic bottlenecks in the Capital also prompted the Pakistan Government to seek the advise of DMRC Managing Director E. Sreedharan in de-congesting its two major cities.

DMRC officials say that following an invitation from Pakistan to advise it on its plans to build a MRTS in Lahore, Sreedharan visited Pakistan on March 5 and gave a presentation on the viability of the MRTS in cities with over 1 million population.

The invite came from Chairman Planning and Development of Pakistan’s Punjab Suleman Ghani and during his four-day visit to Lahore, Sreedharan held discussions on existing plans on building the MRTS for the city. He also took part in meetings with local officials and visited the sites earmarked for the transit system. Delegations from Pakistan have also been visiting the Delhi Metro to understand its working.

Though the planning for a Metro in Lahore is still quite in initial stages, officials say that considering the similarities between the cities of India and Pakistan, the latter will most likely also approach the DMRC to provide expertise and consultancy for the project. An MRTS had also been planned in Karachi to meet increasing rush of the urban transportation there, the official said, adding that depending on success of the mass transit system in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan also plans to set up similar systems in other cities of the country.

New Delhi, March 16
Three persons, including two women, were charred to death in a fire that broke out in the wee hours in one of the “kothas” on GB Road today.

The police said the two women were identified as Farida, 40 and Neetu, 33. The man is yet to be identified. Both the women are believed to be residents of Kotha number 58 in the red light district of the Capital near Ajmeri Gate. Three other persons, who were trapped in the adjoining “kotha” were rescued by fire brigade personnel.

According to the police, the fire broke out around 4.20 am and soon engulfed the entire area. Six fire engines were rushed to the spot and the fire was doused in half an hour. The police said efforts were being made to ascertain the cause of the fire. Further investigations were continuing.—TNS

Noida, March 16
The relatives of three young men, who had died in a road accident near the VIT police checkpost on GT road on Tuesday night, have accused Dadri cops of divesting cash, gold chains and other valuables worth over Rs 2 lakh from the bodies of the victims.

The police, however, said villagers had taken the injured to the hospital. So, the villagers who must have taken away the cash and the valuables from the bodies of the young men.

The accident took place hardly 100 metres away from the police post while the residential locality is about a kilometre away. After the postmortem, the relatives were handed over Rs 1500, which was said to have been found on the accident victims.

The relatives, however, insisted at the time of he accident the young men were carrying Rs 1.75 lakh cash. Besides, a six tola gold chain was around the neck of one of the deceased, Sushil. The police post in-charge said the victims had been taken to the local hospital by villagers. When the police reached, the injured had already been admitted to hospital. He said the cash and gold chains etc might have been taken away by the villagers.

Police Circle Officer Dinesh Tripathi said the matter would be probed. In case any policeman was found guilty, strict action would be taken against him. 

Noida, March 16
A 27-year-old man, Mosim, ho had stepped out for his morning walk, was shot to death in Javer. His body was found inside a durgah (a religious place) in suspicious circumstances.

The deceased, who was shot in the head, had his skull blown out. A .12-bore revolver and some empties were also found lying nearby.

The brother of the deceased has filed a complaint. The police have registered a case against some unidentified persons. The body has been sent to the district hospital here for a post-mortem.

Mosim’s elder brother Qadir has lodged a complaint with the police against some unidentified persons. Mosim leaves behind two sons and a daughter.

The SO, Mr Ragveer Singh, in charge of the police station, said the police had not ruled out either murder or suicide.

New Delhi, July 16
An eye camp was held at Tihar Central Jail on Thursday in which more than 200 inmates of Jail No. 4, comprising convicts as well as undertrials, were given a free check-up by 4 doctors for correction of vision and other medical conditions requiring medical intervention in the form of medicine or surgery.

According to Mr S.K Goyal, founder trustee of Kundal Lal Memorial Trust, the camp was aimed at helping mainly elderly people suffering from short or long sightedness who did not have access to medical help due to incarceration in the jail.

The condition of many such people was pitiable due to cutting off of filial ties with any family member who had simply forgotten about their existence, sometimes by choice. A gesture of providing them eye care and, subsequently, free spectacles and medicines, went a long way in reposing their trust in society, he pointed out.

Almost all inmates who came forward for the check-up needed spectacles which were being provided by the charitable trust, Mr Goyal added while thanking Centre for Sight and Institute of Paramedical Sciences for contributing resources and staff and the jail’s superintendent for taking the initiative to hold the camp.

New Delhi, March 16
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIU) has invited applications for its following programs in law and legal studies: BA, LLB (Hons) and the LLM course.

Admission will be on the basis of a common entrance test for the BA LLB (Hons) programme that will be held on May 10 from 10.30 am to 1 pm and for LLM, the test will be held on May 12 from 10.30 am to 1 pm. Eligibility for the BA LLB (Hons) necessarily entails 10+2 from CBSE or an equivalent board with a minimum of 50 per cent marks in aggregate. Alongside, the student must have also passed English core or elective as a subject.

The eligibility criterion for the LLM entails possessing the LLB degree as required by the Bar Council of India for enrolment as an advocate or an equivalent law degree from a foreign university, in either case with not less than 55 per cent marks.

The admissions brochures and application forms can be obtained from any of the 46 branches of Punjab and Sind Bank, including the one at the university, with the payment of Rs 750.—TNS

New Delhi, March 16
Mata Sundri College for Women celebrated its 40th Annual Day in keeping with the true Indian tradition and also in view of the location of the college on the premises of Mata Sundriji’s Gurdwara. The function started with the lighting of the lamp of enlightenment, a symbol of the dispeller of fear of ignorance and illiteracy amid chanting of prayers for courage to follow the path of truth and rightness.

Enthusiastic students in colourful traditional attire welcomed the chief guest, Dr Kiran Bedi, Director-General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, by showering rose petals on her. The Chairman of the college governing body and general secretary of the DSGMC, Mr Balbir Singh Vivek Vihar, welcomed the guests and the august gathering.

New Delhi, March 16
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) successfully held its convocation ceremony on Thursday at its Satbari campus for the fall winter batch of 2004-06.

Students were handed diploma certificates and also MBA degrees from IMI, Europe. Meritorious students were also felicitated and given certificates and medals.—TNS

New Delhi, March 16
The Horticulture Department of the New Delhi Municipal Council bagged 228 prizes in various competitions organised by the YWCA, the DTTDC, Pushpanjali and IARI, Pusa Campus, recently.

The civic body bagged 32 first, 19 second and two third prizes during a two-day show organized at IARI, Pusa, besides first prize for Nehru Park and the roundabout of Kautilya Marg and Shanti Path. At the ninth Inderprastha Annual Flower Show organised at Pushpanjali Residential colony, New Delhi, the NDMC won 27 first prizes, 16 second and one third prize.

At the Garden Tourism Festival organised at Said-ul-Ajab, the NDMC bagged 25 first, 26 second and 20 third prizes.

During the 58th Annual Chrysanthemum Flower Show, which was organised by the YWCA in December last year, the NDMC bagged 64 prizes which consisted of seven first, 24 second and 35 third prizes.

The civic body took part in all competitions like hanging basket, foliage plants, aromatic plants, tray garden, layout of garden, flower decoration, flower arrangement and festive decoration categories.

Gurgaon, March 16
Major malls here were evacuated on Friday afternoon following a bomb scare.

Security was beefed up after the police received a threat to blow up one of the malls on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road.

All major malls in the city were evacuated following the threat. Visitors said they were turned away from the gates by security guards who said searches were being undertaken inside. These malls also house several cinema halls and shows from the afternoon on were suspended

Television reports said the police had received a threat around 11 am that one of the malls would be blown up in the early evening, triggering the panic. Another Haryana satellite township, Faridabad, has been put on high alert too.

Visitors throng Gurgaon, a popular shopping destination in Haryana, especially on weekends.