New Delhi, March 24
Candidates supported by resident welfare associations (RWAs), contesting the forthcoming municipal elections from various parts of the Capital, intensified their campaigning today by opening offices, taking out padayatras, going from door to door and holding corner meets.

Mr Naresh Aggarwal, a ‘people’s candidate’ contesting the MCD poll from Bindapur (Ward No 128), held a meeting at Partap Garden and DDA flats in the area, distributing pamphlets exhorting voters to stay away from “imposed” candidates of political parties. He also met members of several market and resident welfare associations of the area. He was extended a warm welcome everywhere and assured support in various blocks of the locality.

Mr Raj Pal Chauhan, RWA-backed candidate from Rohini North (Ward no 49), campaigned in Sector 15, Raja Vihar, Sector 18 and Sector 13 of Rohini. He distributed handbills and pamphlets, promising to solve the sewage problem and improve poor basic amenities.

Ms Neelam Aggarwal from Paschim Vihar South (Ward no 57) did door-to-door campaigning in Ekta Apartments, RBI Colony, Pink Apartments and Janta Flats of the area. Various RWAs extended their support to her. She raked up local issues, including unmaintained parks and choked drains.

Mr Vinod Sharma from Vishnu Garden (Ward no 107) went to Harijan Basti and was assured Balmiki support. He attended several meetings organised by the local RWAs of the area and was assured major support from RWAs and local gurdwaras.

Mr Mahender Tandon, people’s candidate from Shalimar Bagh (Ward no 56), opened an election office in AD block of the area, which was inaugurated by Sanjay Kaul of People’s Action. More than 300 supporters were present on the occasion. Mr Kaul urged the residents of the area to defeat both the political parties and elect their own candidates. Mr Tandon assured the residents of sprucing up the area, including the parks.

Mr Kalki Das Bhandari from Maujpur in East Delhi (Ward no 252) went to Jammu Colony, Ashok Mohalla, Brahampuri and Vijay Nagar. He was extended a warm welcome and assured full support.

Mr Ram Lakhan, RWA candidate from Mayur Vihar III, campaigned in MIG Sector 6 and the adjoining area of Kondli. He assured residents of taking steps to hand over the colonies to the MCD. At present, they come under the DDA and lack basic amenities.

Likewise, other RWA candidates are raising local issues.

New Delhi, March 24
MP from Sadar Parliamentary constituency Jagdish Tytler today said that once the Congress was elected to power in the MCD, maximum roads in the Capital would be notified for commercial purpose. At present it had notified 2,181 roads and on these roads sealing would not be done.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the announcement of new Master Plan had given relief to thousands of traders and residents in the Capital. Besides, major development works have been done by the Congress-run Delhi government.

The DPCC president Mr Ram Babu Sharma said that Congress candidates were very competent to run the corporation. Once they are elected, they would work for betterment of the city since they were young and energetic. He said that the party had given tickets to six candidates who are 22 years old, 140 candidates are in the age group of 22 to 35 years and 12 in the age group of 36 to 60 year.

“All the candidates are well qualified and belong to respectable families. Fifty per cent of the total contestants are graduates. The Congress has given tickets to 153 traders besides giving suitable representation to advocates, students, social workers, doctors, farmers, journalists, teachers and professors,” he said. 

Gurgaon, March 24
The Congress MLA from Pataudi, Mr Bhupinder Choudhary, while presiding over the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee here, today expressed his displeasure at the ‘slow’ progress of various Central and state governments' welfare schemes in the district.

However, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Sataprakash, told Mr Chaudhary, in a meeting at his (ADC) office, which is also the nodal office for implementation of the schemes, that the local administration was understaffed.

When contacted, Mr Chaudhary confirmed the development and said that he would bring it to the notice of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Congress MP, Mr Avatar Singh Bhadana, usually presides over the Gurgaon Committee. But as Mr Bhadana was not able to attend the meeting, Mr Chaudhary presided over the proceedings today.

At the meeting, Mr Chaudhary claimed that the Congress government had enunciated a number of development schemes, which should be implemented at the earliest for the benefit of the people.

On the occasion, he also lashed out at the authorities for not providing agenda copies of the meeting in advance to its members. He claimed that he did not get a copy of the agenda for the meeting and directed that the agenda copies be sent to the members in advance.

With regard to the implementation of the Indira Awaas Yogna, a scheme for weaker sections of the society, the MLA said that the authorities should not only go by the report of the BDOs, but also involve the local public and Congress workers in the decision-making process.

From the government's side, the Committee was told that under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) scheme, 15 community toilets as well as toilets in 235 schools have been constructed in the villages. As many as 13,669 toilets have been set up by individuals so far under the scheme. A sum of Rs 2.7 crore has been spent so far. The administration has also allotted a sum of more than Rs 30 lakh for setting up toilets in 152 more schools in the district. Besides, 50 camps were organised to spread awareness about the scheme among the masses.

The Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Rakesh Gupta also expressed dissatisfaction over the level of public participation and campaign organised under the scheme and observed that all the concerned bodies should act in tandem to make the scheme a total success.

Also, a stress was made on sending all children in the age group of 6-14 to schools.

The Committee also reviewed the implementation of others schemes, including Sampurn Gramin Rojgar Yogna, Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna, and Indira Awas Yogna.

New Delhi, March 24
The BJP’s Delhi unit has issued an audio cassette containing six songs under its canvassing campaign.

Exposing the ‘misgovernance’ of the Congress over the last few years, the BJP has through these songs given a message to the citizens how it will solve the problems of voters if the party is voted to power.

The songs based on filmi tunes are Basti-Basti Dware-Dware Log Yahi Kehte Hai Sare - Ab Ke Satta Mein Ayegi BJP, Dhoom Machi Hai BJP Ki, Ghar-Ghar Main Hoti Hai Charcha Is Bar Satta Main Ayegi BJP, Bolo BJP etc, president of the Delhi unit of the BJP, Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “On the one hand the Union Urban Development Ministry is making misleading announcements about regularising more than 1,400 unauthorised colonies and on the other hand the Delhi Jal Board functioning under the Chief Minister has said in an affidavit filed before the court that the unauthorised colonies are responsible for spoiling the Yamuna. This exposes the dual character of the Congress.”

He has demanded that the Congress should immediately issue a white paper on the unauthorised colonies and cleanliness of Yamuna in public interest.

He further said, “No bye-laws and time limit have been framed by the Union Urban Development Ministry for regularising of unauthorised colonies. Just after the elections, the Congress will avoid regularisation of the colonies and the sword of sealing and demolition will start hanging on the heads of the 60 lakh people.”

Criticising the Congress on the issue of roads, sanitation and water, the Chairman of the BJP Delhi Pradesh Election Campaign Committee and MP, Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, “The Congress should look into its own deeds and tell that what are its achievements in the field of providing amenities to the people of Delhi.”

“Bad condition of the roads in Delhi is known to everyone. At some places, one can see innumerable potholes and on the other the maintenance work goes on for the whole year. At some places not even bricks have been laid in the lanes, at many places the roads are waterlogged and people face inconvenience. 

New Delhi, March 24
The Centre today ruled out a 2006-type crisis over the Supreme Court’s sealing order, saying that Delhi’s new Master Plan has protected most of the Capital’s roads and streets from such municipal drives.

Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken referred to the court order to resume sealing from March 28 of unauthorised commercial establishments that do not conform to the 2021 master plan.

”It in fact vindicates the master plan. Almost 99 per cent of roads and stretches are covered under the mpd-2021,” he remarked, citing liberal-mixed land provisions contained in it.

Maken, whose Congress party is under BJP attack ahead of Delhi’s municipal elections for its handling of the sealing crisis last year, warned the opposition party against what he called politicising the court order.

”The BJP is in a habit of politicising everything. It tries to rake up non-issues and therefore we would like to warn it against committing any blunder on the court order. There is absolutely no reason for panic as far as sealing is concerned,” the Minister said.—PTI

Faridabad, March 24
The Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today said that the education sector had been one of the areas of prime focus for the Haryana government and no effort would be spared to improve the quality and standard of education in the state. “All efforts will be made to ensure that Haryana emerges on top in terms of all-round development in the next few years,” he claimed.

Addressing the gathering at a function organised by a charitable educational institution at Chandpur village in the district this evening, he announced that special help would be provided to the institutions working for the welfare and upliftment of the poor and physically challenged persons.

On the occasion, when told by the residents that there was no bus service in the area, the Chief Minister announced a new bus service for Chandpur and other villages in the region from next Monday. He also announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh to St. Joseph Service Society based at Chandpur, a grant of Rs 30 lakh for construction of concrete lanes in Chandpur, Faijpur and Bhadshahpur villages, located in Khader belt which is known as one of the most backward areas in the district.

Mr Hooda said that though several decades had passed since the state came into being, a lot still needed to be done to improve the quality of education, especially in the rural parts, where a large number of students and youths did not get proper opportunities and help to gain useful education.

Claiming that the standard of education was improving in Haryana, he said that there was a need to provide vocational and professional education at various levels, so that multinational companies and other growing sectors of economy did not have to depend on talented youths from other states or cities.

He said that he would feel proud when the majority of manpower in the BPO industry, which had given Gurgaon a new identity, would be from Haryana.

Claiming that the state had been on a fast track of development, he said he wanted to see Haryana as the number one state in the country in all sectors over the next three years, though the state was already at second place in terms of Per Capita Income in the country. He claimed that his government had started a new phase of development by setting up a special authority named as Haryana Rural Development Authority (HRDA) to give emphasis on the development of villages, where the majority of the population resides.

He said development of the villages would herald a new era, as people would not prefer shifting to towns if all the required amenities were made available in rural areas.

Dwelling upon other welfare schemes especially for the girls, women, farmers and backward sections, he pointed out that no other government had earlier tried to waive off the interest of hundreds of crores of rupees pending on the loans taken by farmers, artisans and other sections from various sources.

He claimed that lakhs of people would benefit by this move.

He added that the government was also concerned about the common issues and had instructed the district-level officials to be alert and active while redressing the grievances of people. 

New Delhi, March 24
The Delhi High Court today issued notice to India International Centre (IIC) on a PIL seeking formulation of a transparent criteria for grant of membership in the prestigious club here.

A special bench of Mr Justice B N Chaturvedi and Mr Justice V B Gupta, constituted after three division benches had refused to hear the matter since November last year, asked IIC to file its reply by may 4.

On November 24 last year, a petition was filed by social worker Rajesh Mehta, through his counsel, alleging that the present selection process was a closed-door affair akin to a state secret arbitrarily controlled by a few individuals.

Seeking directions for a complete and honest disclosure of criteria for selection of members, the petitioner claimed that the centre was not merely a private club but had already taken the character of a public institution.

Mehta said that he was one of the 6,000 persons who had applied for membership when the centre had invited applications in October 2005 after a hiatus of over 12 years.

However, he alleged that only 624 of them were selected and that too without assigning or disclosing any reasons for grant of membership to them.

He said the Centre’s invitation for membership was not a transparent affair as it was not properly advertised.—PTI

New Delhi, March 24
The Delhi High Court today reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the appointment and continuance of P Venugopal as the Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

A division bench comprising Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar and Mr Justice H R Malhotra reserved the verdict on three petitions filed by the Centre, AIIMS on behalf of president of the institute and an NGO called the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).

The counsel appearing for the NGO contended that Mr Venugopal was holding the post of the Director beyond the superannuation age of 62 years.

It told the court that the Director was also holding the post of Head of Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery which was illegal because no person could hold two posts.

The Centre and the Institute through it’s president (Union Health Minister) had also filed two separate petitions challenging the order of Mr Justike Anil Kumar of the court, staying the removal of Mr Venugopal on July 5 last year by the AIIMS governing body.

Countering the stand of the Centre and AIIMS, counsel Arun Jaitley, appearing for Mr Venugopal, contended that all the allegations made by them were baseless and he was appointed as the Director because of his rich experience in the field of medicine.

He contended that the institute had performed exceptionally well during his tenure.—PTI

New Delhi, March 24
A head constable of the Delhi Police Surender was seriously injured when, as part of a police party, he tried to bust a gang of four hardcore criminals in the busy Kirti Nagar area in West Delhi late last night.

He was badly beaten up by the criminals, resulting in multiple injuries to his body, including a serious fracture in one hand. He was immediately rushed to Deen Dyal Upadhay Hospital here for treatment where his condition is stated to be out of danger.

Following a tip-off, when a Wagor R car was signalled to stop for a routine check, four occupants of the car, later identified as hardcore criminals, tried to speed away in the car. When the car was intercepted by the police party, they allegedly fired in the air to warn them off.

They then caught hold of a head constable, Surender, and started beating him black and blue with a stick. Consequently, he suffered multiple injuries. When challenged by other members of the police team, they managed to escape under cover of darkness.

However, the police team managed to overpower one of the four criminals, later identified as Mohd Salim, after a brief chase. A countrymade pistol and a few live cartridges were seized from him. The Wagon R car by which they were travelling had also been impounded, said DCP (West) Robin Hibu.

On the basis of a tip-off that four members of a hardcore gang would come near Rama Road, a trap was laid around the area. When they were signalled to stop, they tried to speed up the car to evade arrest. One occupant of the car fired a few shots in the air to intimidate the police party. In the melee, another occupant of the car attacked the head constable with a stick, said the DCP. The car was later found to be stolen. Further investigations were on. Preliminary investigations and interrogations revealed the arrested criminal could prove to be a big catch for the Delhi Police as all four members of the gang were involved in many heinous cases. Efforts were being made to arrest the other three members of the gang. 

New Delhi, March 24
A Delhi court today ordered the police to register an FIR in connection with a fake production warrant, purportedly issued by a court in Urai in UP, against Samajwadi Party leader Ateeq Ahmad on January 2 this year.

It also asked the police to enquire into the matter thoroughly.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Seema Maini ordered the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, to act immediately and file a detailed status report on April 24 in this regard.

The CMM court on February 6 this year received a production warrant (PW) from a court in Urai seeking production of accused Ateeq Ahmad in an Explosive Substance Act case on February 27.

Hassan Afzal, the counsel for Ateeq, on February 23 moved an application in the court stating there was no such warrant issued by the UP court for production of his client.

The CMM court also later found out that the seal was not affixed on the PW paper and the signature was forged and fabricated. ”It is preposterousness of the highest order that not just any paper but also sacrosanct orders and the process including warrants from the court are now being forged and manipulated by unscrupulous villains in society in order to avenge their petty rivalries,” the judge said.

“To achieve their selfish, heinous goals none are spared and an attempt is being made to put even judiciary to ransom. The fake and forged PW on the basis of which the accused was very nearly sent to Urai could have resulted in stigmatizing the impartial sacrosanct name of the court,” the CMM said in her order.—PTI

New Delhi, March 24
A Delhi court today sentenced a man to death for murdering his two minor nephews over three-and-half years ago.

Rajesh Kumar (43) was held guilty of murdering the two sons of his brother-in-law Sanjeev Narula at his Rajouri Garden residence in West Delhi on July 28, 2003.

The two victims, Ansul and Harshad, were four-and-half years and nine months old respectively on the date of incident. Additional Sessions Judge Narottam Kaushal, who had convicted Kumar, said the act of accused falls in the category of rarest of rare case warranting death sentence.

Kumar, who was unemployed, had killed the two boys as their father had refused to give him a loan.

While rejecting the plea of leniency, the court said “The act of accused is of extreme depravity. He has chosen two innocent, hapless, defenseless children to express his displeasure on being refused loan by their father. The deceased children for whom the accused was a respected elder in the family could have only expected help and protection from him, the court observed.

New Delhi, March 24
A Delhi court today sentenced a 50-year-old manager of a petrochemical company in Maharashtra to ten years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for repeatedly raping his minor maid-servant 14 years ago.

Additional Sessions Judge Braja Raj Kedia sentenced Ravindra Brij Mohan Prasad of raping his maid-servant under sections 376 (Rape) and 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and slapped a fine of Rs 7,000 on him.

The court also sentenced his wife Krishna Lata Prasad to three years RI for causing hurt to the girl under section 325 (Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the IPC and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000.

The court, which had yesterday found the couple guilty of the offences, however, granted bail to the woman today on a bond of Rs 20,000 and a surety of the like amount till April 21.—PTI

New Delhi, March 24
A Delhi court today acquitted a man accused of rape and kidnapping of a girl three years ago after noting that the girl had married the accused, no prosecution witness had supported the case and none of the witnesses including the girl, her father and complainant and her mother have supported the case.

It has been deposed by the girl that she was living with the accused as wife, Additional Sessions Judge Narottam Kaushal said.

The court exonerated 25-year-old Kishan Kumar, a resident of Punjabi Bagh in West Delhi, of the charges under section 363 (Kidnapping), 366 (Kidnapping for the purpose of marriage) and 376 (rape) of the IPC. It was also noted by the court that the girl, also a resident of Punjabi Bagh, testified that she had left her parents’ place on her own will after falling in love with the accused. Subsequently, she had married the accused, the girl had deposed.—PTI

New Delhi, March 24
The national president of the Indian Medical Association, Dr Ajay Kumar, inaugurated the media centre constructed at the IMA headquarters here today. This was an effort towards enhancing relations between the medical fraternity and the media for giving correct information in the eventuality of an epidemic breaking out in the Capital or elsewhere. Sometimes, journalists need information about a particular disease, which they are unable to get. This centre would help the journalists by providing correct information, Dr Ajay Kumar said.—TNS