New Delhi, March 21
The NCT Government, which is pitching hard for regularisation of 1,500-odd unauthorised colonies in the Capital now brought under the ambit of Delhi Master Plan 2021, today admitted in the Supreme Court that these colonies were the major source of pollution in the Yamuna river, which is at the verge of dying.

“The 1,500 unauthorised colonies are the source of major pollution in Yamuna,” said the report of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) quoted extensively during a hearing on river pollution by amicus curiea Ranjit Kumar, assisting the Court in the case.

Kumar pointed out that Yamuna had virtually turned into a dying river, specially in the 22-km stretch between Wazirabad in the north and Okhla in the south – the two ends of it in the city – where it does not contain any fresh water but only sewage waste.

A Bench of Chef Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices A R Lakshmanan and D K Jain took serious view of the Union Urban Development Ministry and NCT Government doing precious little to implement the Yamuna Action Plan on which nearly Rs 1,700 crore had been spent so far.

The Court took objection to the NCT Government abandoning its earlier proposal of setting up Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at the mouth of each of 17 major drains so that only treated clean water flows into the river, instead coming up now with another proposal of setting up a chain of ‘interceptor drainage system’.

Declining to give its approval to the new proposal, the Court directed the Ministry of Environment, Central Pollution Control Board and Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to suggest names for setting up a panel that would examine the scientific as well as financial feasibility of the new proposal mooted by the NCT Government. “Why the proposal was not put earlier when approval was sought for the STPs? They knew very well that the STPs will not work, now they are coming up with some other idea,” an anguished CJI observed, pointing out that the matter had been hanging fire since 1994 when the apex court had taken suo motu notice of a newspaper article giving graphic details of how the river was dying.

While adjourning the case for over a week to enable the three government agencies to suggest the names for the panel that would examine the DJB’s new proposal and submit a report within a month, the Court said the new idea mooted by the NCT Government could not be accepted on its face value.

“This should be examined by the experts’ body… Are the STPs we had approved working?” the Bench asked, telling the NCT Government counsel that a series of directions issued by the Court had little effect on various authorities involved in the implementation of Yamuna Action Plan as no concrete action had been taken till date.

The amicus curiea, reading from one report after the other, said that the over populated city had been discharging sewage waste to the tune of 1,600 million tonnes per day and the DJB’s STPs were able to treat only 524 million tones, with the rest flowing into the river. Though the NCT counsel insisted that the new proposal had the approved of various experts, the amicus curiea said it was nothing but another attempt to delay the matter further by five to seven years by which time the situation would become uncontrollable. 

New Delhi, March 21
Delhi Lt-Governor B L Joshi today said that the priorities of the state government lay in taking care of social welfare, health and educational needs of the poor and marginalised sections.

“A challenge for us is to upscale the infrastructure and translate the growth and development of Delhi into an improved quality of life for its people,” he said.

“As 58 per cent of our plan outlay is spent on the social sector, priorities of my government clearly lie in effectively managing the sectors of health, education and social welfare for the common and marginalised sections of our society – the poor, the aged, the women, the children, the underprivileged and the differently abled,” Mr Joshi said in his opening address to the budget session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

In this context, he said, the government had launched the Delhi Health Mission to bridge gaps in healthcare delivery and ensure affordable, accountable and reliable health care services to every citizen.

Equal emphasis had been laid on setting up, strengthening and expansion of multi-disciplinary hospitals to make secondary and tertiary healthcare accessible to the common man, Mr Joshi said.

At the same time, education for girls had been promoted in a big way by providing them free education, free text books, uniform subsidy and stipend up to class XII, he said.

The Delhi L-G said that the government had continuously worked towards augmenting social security systems with the introduction of programmes like enhancement of old age pension, construction of old age homes, and a ‘girl child protection scheme’.

He also mentioned schemes like the ‘stree shakti’ initiative to empower women of economically weaker sections, provide low-cost housing for economically weaker sections and setting up of the Delhi Commission for ‘safai karamcharis’ as part of efforts to take care of welfare and development of the SC, ST, OBC and the minority communities.

New Delhi, March 21
Describing the opening address of the Lieutenant Governor B. L. Joshi on the first day of budget session of Delhi Assembly as a ‘bundle of white lies’, the BJP Delhi Pradesh President, Dr Harsh Vardhan, today alleged that the speech had ‘insulted’ the people of the city.

Dr Harsh Vardhan claimed that due to the “bundle of white lies” contained in the 24-page speech, the acrimony of the people of Delhi had increased. Efforts had been made to mislead the people of the Capital through the address of the Lieutenant Governor, he alleged.

“Like the Chief Minister of Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor reiterated that the Congress government would make Delhi a world class city whereas 40 per cent people have no access to drinking water and 30 per cent people are not supplied power,” he alleged.

“The Lieutenant Governor has told a white lie that during 2007-08, the plan outlay has been increased from Rs 5,200 crore to Rs 9,000 crore. In reality, the Delhi Government has demanded only Rs 7,200 crore from the Planning Commission. The Commission has itself given Rs 1,800 crore in view of the needs of Delhi. It indicates the farsightedness of the Congress Government that it has no idea about the needs of Delhi,” he said.

“In his address, the Lieutenant Governor has claimed that education, health, power, water supply were being developed on modern lines. But the fact is that about 10 lakh children do not go to school, there is a scarcity of about 12,000 teachers, hundreds of schools are still being run in tents, and in many schools, there are no toilets even for girls,” he said.

Besides, the functioning of schools was also marred by a number of scams like Mid-day meal bungling, uniform, school land sale scam, and teachers recruitment scandal, he alleged.

On the health sector, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that there was a great scarcity of medicines, doctors, diagnostic machines, para-medical staff, beds etc. in hospitals.

Talking about the power supply issue, the BJP leader pointed out that after privatisation, power tariff had been increased three times. “Preparations have been made to increase the power tariff for the fourth time after the MCD elections. By fixing low grade meters, the power companies are recovering three times higher bills and even after that power tariff is being increased,” he claimed.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said that people were craving for basic amenities and the Lieutenant Governor was claiming that the infrastructure was strong. “Mr Joshi has also talked about multi-model public transport system. But the reality is that not a single corridor of low floor buses has been constructed.” 

New Delhi, March 21
Criticising the Opposition party for levelling charges against Congress candidates, the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, Mr Ram Babu Sharma, today claimed that the BJP had no base in the country and it was surviving on ‘rumour-mongering’.

“The party’s act of levelling corruption charges against Congress candidates shows the kind of politics the BJP is involved in ahead of the MCD elections,” he said.

Delhi unit president of the BJP, Dr Harsh Vardhan, yesterday alleged that six Congress candidates contesting the MCD elections were involved in various criminal cases.

In response to these allegations, Mr Sharma gave a list of nine BJP candidates against whom criminal cases had allegedly been filed.

He said that on one hand, the Delhi BJP president was praising the Congress party for replacing 66 sitting councillors with new and young faces, while on the other, he was also making ‘irresponsible’ allegations against Congress candidates. Charging the BJP with being a “communal” party, Mr Sharma said that the history of the BJP was well known. “It has changed its name many times, starting from Jan Sangh, through Janta Party and then was named Bhartiya Janta Party. Now, the BJP leaders seem to have lost faith in the Constitution, judiciary, Election Commission and even democratic process of India,” he alleged.

“In a democratic country, people are supreme and their participation in elections are held to seek their approval. People of Delhi are competent enough to decide their fate. The BJP should wait till people decide about fate of the candidates,” he said.

He advised the BJP leaders to rise above petty politics and follow the principles of clean politics for welfare of the people of Delhi.

New Delhi, March 21
The Delhi Police today claimed to have intensified its efforts to ensure fair and peaceful elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and detained more than 150 persons with dubious character in different parts of the city.

The police said patrolling had been intensified in some of the sensitive areas while pickets had been established in others to prevent any untoward incident during the run up to the elections scheduled for April 5.

Senior police officers, who are monitoring the situation, said that a close watch was being kept on persons who were known trouble makers. Some arms were also seized from them, they added.

The police also said that a meeting with the leaders of various political parties was being convened in the respective districts to discuss the situation and to ensure peaceful polls.

New Delhi, March 21
The Delhi High Court has ruled that an insurance company cannot refuse renewal of a mediclaim policy on the ground that the insured had contracted a disease during the policy period.

The insurance company cannot refuse renewal of a mediclaim policy on the ground that during the pendency of the expiring policy, the insured had contracted a disease, Justice B D Ahmed said while directing the New India Insurance Company to renew the policy of the petitioner from August, 2005 onwards.

The bench was giving the verdict on a petition by Ashok Paul, who had obtained a mediclaim policy in 1999. But the insurance company refused to renew his policy in 2005 on the ground that he had suffered heart attack and the cardiac ailments would not be covered under the policy.

It was contended by the company that the insurer had accepted the condition of exclusion of cardic disease when the policy was renewed in 2003 and he could not go back on that.

The bench, however, refused to accept the contention and said, “... The consent that was allegedly given by the petitioner in August 2003 was not free or willful consent. Therefore he would not be bound by the same.”

Justice Ahmed also rejected the insurance company’s submission that a mediclaim policy was a contract between the insured and the company which falls in the realm of private law and no public law was involved.—PTI

Gurgaon, March 21
A sum of more than Rs 530 crore for annual credit plan for the financial year 2007-2008 was passed for Gurgaon district, registering 15 per cent increase in the amount for current financial.

The plan was passed at a meeting of bankers’ District Level Review Committee, which was presided over by the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Rakesh Gupta.

Representatives of 37 banks in the commercial and public sector, along with a representative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took part in the meeting.

According to official version, the agriculture sector accounts for about Rs 222 crore, which is an increase by 10 per cent over the current financial year. Out of it ‘crop loan’ and ‘term loan’ account for about Rs 39 crore while allied agriculture activities account for about Rs 34 crore.

The non-farming sector accounts for Rs 114 crore and ‘non-priority’ sector accounts for about Rs 162 crore.

In a review of the proceedings and decisions pertaining to the meeting of the committee on January 17, the government side directed that the banks must increase their lending to the agriculture sector. The government side expressed annoyance at the banks, cumulatively achieving only 5 per cent of the target in the last quarterly ending December last year. The national target was 18 per cent. The figures given in the meeting showed that the district’s credit:deposit ratio was 41 till the time of December 31. The lending target in priority sector was achieved by the bank to the tune of 30 per cent as against the national target of 40 per cent. The target for loan advances to small sector industrial units was nine per cent and in the weaker section, it was mere three per cent. The government side expressed disgust at these low figures and below-par achievement registered by the banks.

It was also revealed that in Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Yojna scheme, the banks have achieved a target of only 583 persons as against the target of 625. A general direction was given by the government to complete the target of this year by March 31.

Gurgaon, March 21
The district administration has received tentative reports of a total of 13,000 acres of agriculture land here being affected by the large-scale hailstorm on March 12-13 in various parts of the state.

Damage to the standing crop ranges from 50 to 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, the administration stepped up momentum following a directive from the government to complete the special ‘girdawri’ to assess the damage by March 26. The general girdwari, which is also in progress, is to be completed by April 10.

As per the reports from all the tehsils of this district, out of 1300 hectares of land under plantation, 7,700 acres account for wheat and barley crops. About 5357 acres account for land under plantation of mustard.

The affected land mainly falls in 72 villages. While seven of the villages fall in Gurgaon tehsil, 28 fall in Pataudi tehsil, 37 fall in Sohna tehsil. Some of the villages are Rathiwas, Sidhrawli, Dinokri, Prasloli, Bhungarka, Jatoli, Rajpura, Mandpura, Nanukalan, Mau, Laukri, Sahdeshapur, Telpuri, Daulatabad, Nanakhurd, Lohaka, Silani, Hazipur, Lakhuwas, Behrampur, Sancholi, Balonda, Khaika, Kharonda.

A senior officer of the administration said that the work of the special girdwari had suffered for the past few days due to mass strike by the patwarees.

The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had already committed in public that the compensation to the farmers would be given by April 15.

New Delhi, March 21
The national Capital will soon have a platform for the entire designer community to conduct business under a single umbrella, with the Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr Ajay Maken, today announcing development of a ‘fashion village’ in Dwarka.

“The Delhi Development Authority has identified a plot in Dwarka that would be developed as a fashion district, allowing designers to exhibit and conduct business on a common platform,” Mr Maken said while inaugurating the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week here.

The land would be given at affordable rate, which would not involve a high capital cost for the designers, he said, adding that the fashion industry generated employment for a large number of people and this would be taken into consideration while fixing the price of the land.

Mr Maken said formalities for the fashion village would be completed soon and he hoped that it would be the venue for the next India fashion week.

On the recent demolitions of unauthorised structures in the Capital, including many boutiques of famous designers, he said, “The demolition was in a way good for the industry since it brought it into focus and a need was felt to give the designers their own platform,” he added.

With Delhi becoming a fashion capital, the government should participate in furthering the interests
of the sector, Mr Maken said.

The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week - Autumn/Winter 2007 that began today would see participation from over 80 designers.

The event begins on March 21 and would go on till March 26.—PTI

New Delhi, March 21
Underworld don Abu Salem once again failed to appear before a court here today in connection with a six-year-old extortion case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini issued a fresh production warrant as Salem did not appear before the court and directed the superintendent of Arthur Jail in Mumbai to produce him before it on April 17 in connection with an extortion case in which he allegedly demanded money from a South Delhi businessman.

The court also issued fresh production warrants against three other accused – Ishtiyaq, Sadiq and C P Rai – who are lodged in Bhopal jail in connection with the same case.

The superintendent of Bhopal jail was directed to produce them before it on April 17.

The trio allegedly confessed that Salem was operating from Dubai when the incident took place.

Salem was to appear before a court here on February 8 first but a Mumbai court had stayed his production here on his lawyer’s plea on security grounds. The Delhi court had then issued a warrant to produce him before it today.

The Delhi Police have sought the custody of Salem to question him in two extortion cases and a case of assault.

Though there are four cases registered against him here, he can be tried in only three cases, which were mentioned in the extradition agreement with Portugal.

In another case of extorting money from a Delhi-based businessman, a court had yesterday issued a production warrant against Salem asking him to appear before it on April 20.

Noida, March 21
A man has shot his younger brother in a property dispute in Khora Colony here. The seriously wounded man was rushed to a private hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

The police have sent the body for postmortem and arrested the assailant.

According to information, Sunder Yadav lived in Khora Colony with his family. His elder brother, Vedev Yadav, also lived with him. Both brothers were into property business and also used to lend money.

A few days ago, they had a dispute over some payment. They had an argument on Monday morning again on the same issue. As the things came to a boil, Vedev Yadav shot his younger brother with his licensed gun. Seriously wounded Sunder was rushed to Fortis Hospital in Sector 62 Noida by some people present on the spot. But by the afternoon, Sunder had succumbed to his wounds.

Vedev Yadav was taken into custody by the police. He had twice contested the elections for Gram Pradhan.

The police said they were awaiting the autopsy report before moving further in the matter.

New Delhi, March 21
The police today claimed to have arrested a nurse with the Bara Hindu Rao Hospital for allegedly stealing a new-born baby on Sunday.

The two-day old infant has now been recovered and handed back to the parents.

The nurse reportedly said that she had taken the infant away as she did not have a child of her own.

According to the parents, Shobha and Sanjay, Sunita Pawar had taken the baby away claiming that the baby needed to be put in the Intensive Care Unit for two days.

Two days later when they inquired about the child, they could not trace the baby.

The matter was reported to the police who zeroed in on the nurse.

The suspect reportedly told the police that she had been married for 14 years and had suffered four miscarriages. As such, she was desperate to have a child. Further investigations were continuing.

Ghaziabad, March 21
Meerapur village under Pilkhua Kotwali area faced the terror of a dozen armed robbers last night. At least two women have alleged gangrape by the robbers who also committed robberies in five houses.

These women have been sent to Ghaziabad for medical examination.

The SSP, Ghaziabad, has asked the SP, Traffic, to conduct an enquiry on the spot. The incidents of loot and molestation took place at 1 am on Tuesday.

The dacoits had attacked the five houses of Dalits. At the houses of Subhash and Man Singh, they got the doors opened by shouting, “it is police”, and started looting and assaulting the inmates at the point of guns and daggers.

Three of the intruders were in briefs only while others were sporting trousers and shirts. They beat up Subhash’s wife and pushed her to a separate room with spear. She was beaten up when she resisted.

They spared the five-year-old girl child, but raped Subhash’s wife. Other intruders assaulted Subhash’s brother Man Singh and his wife. Here they looted Rs 10,000 and jewellery worth an equal amount. The robbers then took Man Singh

at gunpoint to a neighbouring house to get the door opened. They beat up Ravinder and his wife and looted their house. The robbers reportedly committed the same acts in some other houses in the neighbourhood for two hours and then fled.

Faridabad, March 21
A middle-aged blind couple and their two minor children, including a girl were allegedly done to death at their residence in Ballabgarh town last night by unidentified persons. The bodies were recovered this morning in a pool of blood. A case has been booked. This has led to a panic among the residents of the colony.

According to police officials, the victims identified as Swaroop (45), his wife Kamla (40) and two children Laxmi (11) and Bhola (8) were found dead in their house in Hari Vihar, near Adarsh Nagar of Ballabgarh, this morning.

The bodies had been lying in one room with slit marks on their neck and wrist.

It is reported that the assailant, who might be known to the family, had offered them some eatables with an intoxicant and hacked them to death after they became unconscious.

The murder came to light this morning, when a person identified as Charan Singh, a colleague of Anand Swaroop, who works in a factory came to the house around 8 am.

According to police, when nobody responded to knock at the door, Charan Singh entered the house, which was unlocked at that time and found all the four lying in a pool of blood.

He immediately informed the neighbours and the police.

It is claimed that the only motive of the suspect was murder as no item had been stolen from the house. No weapon of any kind has been recovered from the site of crime. Though senior police officials reached the spot and a dog squad was requisitioned, the police were clueless regarding the suspects. An old enmity or property dispute could not be ruled out, said a police official.

Gurgaon, March 21
A Maruti car and three two-wheelers were stolen here last night.

The car was stolen from Sheetla Mata temple when its owners, Mr Umed Singh, from Delhi had gone to pay obeisance to the deity.

The lifting of the car was shocking as the car was parked at a busy junction of the city. The incident occurred in full public view.

New Delhi, March 21
A Nigerian national, accused under the Foreigners Act of possessing illegal passport and over-staying in the country without renewing his visa, has been granted bail by the Delhi High court.

Justice S Ravinder Bhatt granted bail to Tunde Gbaja on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 30,000 and surety of the like amount. Justice Bhatt also directed Gbaja not to leave the country during the trial period and deposit his passport with the trial court.

The court also asked him to report to the court every week till the pendency of the case.

On a tip-off, the CBI had arrested Gbaja in September last year. According to the agency, it has filed a chargesheet against Gbaja for over-staying in India as his visa expired in June last year.