New Delhi, April 2
The Union Minister for Urban Development, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, today reiterated that 99.5 per cent traders and others in the National Capital had got relief after the announcement of the new Master Plan for Delhi-2021.

The remaining .5 per cent traders are located on the roads that are not notified. They will also get relief after these roads are notified, he assured.

The Master Plan has also given considerable significance to rehabilitate the slum dwellers and roadside hawkers, Mr Reddy said.

“In the entire world history, no city has undergone as grave a crisis as Delhi has gone through. However, with the notification of the 2021master plan, we have successfully emerged from the crisis,” the minister said at a press conference.

Mr Reddy, flanked by Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken and President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Ram Babu Sharma, however, admitted that relief to 100 per cent of people in Delhi could not be provided.

“We have nevertheless succeeded in providing relief to 99.5 per cent of the public. That even the BJP has acknowledged our achievements is evident from the fact that they have chosen not to raise this issue in their electioneering for the poll,” he said.

“Besides providing relief from sealing through the MPD 2021, we have evolved a policy to benefit lakhs of ‘rehri patrivallahs’ in Delhi. Also, 1500 unauthorised colonies in Delhi were regularised by the Cabinet on February 8, a day after the notification of the master plan,” he said.

Mr Reddy said the Delhi Cabinet had decided to provide Rs 2800 crore to improve infrastructure in unauthorised colonies. “Besides, we have evolved a policy to ensure ‘in situ rehabilitation’ of slum dwellers by resettling them as far as possible near the place where the slums stood,” the Minister said.

The Minister assured that slums would be rehabilitated wherever they located provided there were no projects of Metro railway, National Highway or Central government underway. Multi-storied buildings would be constructed to rehabilitate slum dwellers.

When asked about the court stay order taken by an NGO, Common Cause, the Minister said, “There was no court stay order against construction in unauthorised colonies”.

He said that parking problem was in every metropolitan city. This problem existed in Delhi also but in new Master Plan, parking issue had been explained in detail. In all major markets parking lots had to be constructed. Underground parking arrangement would also be made.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr Ajay Maken, said that the government is trying to improve the public transport system in Delhi to control the parking problem. Reason for this problem is that people prefer to use their own vehicles.

Once public transport system is improved and Metro rail reaches all over the city, the parking problem will be over, he said.

New Delhi, April 2
The Election Campaign Committee Chairman of BJP Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra and the party’s Delhi unit president Dr Harsh Vardhan have called upon the residents of Delhi to dislodge the Congress in the MCD elections, claiming that the ruling party was losing power in the whole country.

Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan, BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha and candidate from Kamla Nagar Renu at a campaign rally for the forthcoming MCD elections in the Capital on Monday. — Tribune photo

“Every voter must come out to vote on April 5. They must vote to take revenge from the Congress for its atrocities. If the voters miss this time, it will cost them dearly,” the BJP leaders said.

They said that if the people wanted relief from “price spiral, sealing, demolition, increased power tariff, water bills, fast running low grade electronic meters, heavy house and other unreasonable taxes” forever, they would have to put the Congress out of power from the MCD as well as the Delhi government.

They said that the Congress was in power at the Centre, Delhi and the MCD but despite this, the sealing drive was going on. “Price spiral has not been curbed. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had falsely assured that cheap pulses would be sold for the people of Delhi. These pulses are being sold by the Congressmen in the black market,” they alleged.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the Congress had been ruling in Delhi for the past nine years, but it made no arrangement to provide jobs to unemployed youths. No civic amenities had been provided to the residents living in unauthorised colonies, he alleged.

Ghaziabad, April 2
With the announcement of the Assembly polls in the state, the Ghaziabad police have intensified efforts to nab wanted or absconding criminals. However, according to reliable sources, a large number of dreaded criminals or criminals carrying rewards on their heads have managed to elude the police dragnet so far.

Keeping this in mind, the Inspector General of Police, Meerut, K N D Diwedi has issued a list of wanted criminals in the zone and ordered their arrest. About a dozen criminals in this list are those whose arrest has become a matter of prestige for the police department.

The police launched a campaign against miscreants with criminal history on March 1.

During this month, over a thousand criminals absconding in the Ghaziabad district were nabbed. Non-bailable warrants had been procured from various courts for their arrest.

Besides, another 1,800 wanted criminals were nabbed in the district. Over a hundred criminals were taken into custody with illicit firearms and ammunition in their possession.

Despite the campaign, not a single dreaded criminal or those carrying a reward on their head could be arrested.

The list issued by the IGP contains names of at least a dozen such criminals from Ghaziabad district, including three brothers who carry attractive rewards on their head.

The prize catch is one Sanjeev from Muzzafarnagar, on whose head a reward of Rs 50,000 has been declared by the IGP.

Besides, there is now a reward of Rs 10,000 on one Rameshwar, who was carrying a reward of Rs 1,000 instituted by SSP, Ghaziabad.

He is followed by Neeraj Tyagi who had escaped after committing a crime in Ghaziabad, who now carries a reward of Rs 5,000. Following them are Ahjay, Naresh, Tarique, Nissar and Ijaz who carry a reward of Rs 2,500 each and many more down the line.

While expressing satisfaction over the nabbing of criminals in the district, the IGP KND Diwedi has ordered that the criminals in question are apprehended so that peaceful polls are conducted in the area.

Noida, April 2
Senior BJP leader Kulraj Mishra, MP, while addressing party workers, said the people of UP were fed up with incidents of rape, loot and kidnapping apart from rampant corruption. The entire society wants a big change here. For the progress of the state and to curb corruption and lawlessness, people will certainly vote for a BJP government in UP.

The BJP, Mr Kulraj Mishra said, had already fine-turned its strategy. As regards the government formation in the state, BJP will be able to do so on its own strength.

Mr Mishra had formally launched BJP election office and campaign in Sector 10 Noida yesterday.

He said though it was his personal view, he claimed the party as well as its base among the people had become strong and the people’s support was very much with the BJP. Noida definitely needs better MLAs who could ensure better and faster development.

The present Samajwadi government, after arresting the criminals and anti-social elements, had withdrawn the cases against them. Development work in most parts of the state like in Noida was at a standstill, Mr Mishra alleged.

The issues finalised by the BJP are topical and relevant and based on ethical principles. Besides, the BJP government will work for a clean and transparent administration.

Mr Kulraj Mishra said the battle in Ayodhya will be taken to its logical end.

Local MLA Nawab Singh Nagar said some political parties are trying to cripple the mass base with money power but since people are mature and with the BJP, designs of these parties will never succeed.

He said the BJP will fight for the farmers’ rights till the end.

Gurgaon, April 2
Kuldeep Bishnoi, expelled Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Bhiwani constituency, would sit on a hunger strike on April 4 in front of Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner’s camp office in protest against the transferring of 1385 acre of land to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Group for developing Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Repeating his allegation that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had given land worth more than Rs 6,400 crore for just Rs 400 crore to Reliance Group, Mr Bishnoi said he would submit a memorandum to the DC and seek the cancellation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) agreement between the Reliance and Haryana State Industries and Infrastructures Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC).

Mr Bishnoi said that he was not against the policy of establishing the SEZs in different parts of the country. He just wanted these to be set up in remote and backward areas like Mewat, Mehendragarh and Bhiwani districts of Haryana. “The SEZs should not be set up in the areas around Delhi like Gurgaon and Jhajjar as these areas have the potential to be developed automatically,” the MP says.

He recalled that the land had been acquired by the HSIIDC as the department had planned to develop its own SEZ. Now the land was being handed over to a private party to serve vested interests and that was why he was opposing the physical possession to the private party.

It may be recalled that the administration had taken the physical possession of around 700 acre of land, out of 1385 acre.

Just a couple of days ago, the HSIIDC team demolished a few structures to take the possession, but the villagers opposed the activity and even threw stones at the official team who had to retreat leaving the exercise in mid-way. The administration afterwards lodged an FIR against some villagers for creating hindrance in official work.

Even some of the farmers of Garhi Harsaru, Khandsa, Narsinghpur, Mohammedpur Jharsa, Gadauli and Harsaru are opposing the transfer of land to Reliance and are contemplating going to the court against the government’s action.

On March 29, the police had registered a criminal case against 50-odd persons for obstructing government personnel from doing duty in Gadoli village when personnel from Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) had gone to the village for carrying out demolitions on land already acquired for the SEZ.

A mob had gathered at the site just when the demolition squad started its task on a farmhouse which falls in the land acquired by the HSIDC. After exchanging arguments with the personnel, they pelted them with stones.

Mr Hamvir Singh, an official of HSIIDC, who was supervising the work related to Reliance, informed that the villagers had already taken the compensation for the acquired land and they had now no legal rights to retain the possession of the land. The government would soon hand over the land to the Reliance company, he added.

It is interesting to note that around 200 acre of prime land, abutting the National Highway No. 8, out of 1385 acre, is mired in controversy as more than 150 permanent structures such as industries, houses, tubewells, farm houses, boundary walls etc fall in this land.

Some industries had got the change of land use (CLU) and have been functional for the last five to ten years, informed the sources.

New Delhi, April 2
Aggressive drug therapy is just as good as angioplasty for patients with stable heart blockages, said Dr K K Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India and Chairman, IMA Academy of Medical Specialities.

There has been a belief amongst cardiologists that all patients with chronic stable heart disease need to have either an angioplasty or heart bypass surgery.

Patients with stable heart disease make up about three-quarters of all the patients who undergo angioplasty and receive stents.

Quoting the results of “Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularisation and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial,” Dr Aggarwal said that optimal drug therapy, when combined with lifestyle changes, has equal results as that of angioplasty and optimal medical therapy combined.

The study published in the April issue of the New England Journal of Medicine randomly assigned 2,300 patients with stable but significant heart disease to one of two treatment regimens. The first group received drug therapy alone, while the second group received the drug therapy plus angioplasty.

Following up showed that 19 per cent in the angioplasty group had died or had a heart attack, compared to 18.5 per cent in the group that only received drug treatment.

The only benefit of angioplasty was that it reduced chest pain over the long-term compared with drug therapy alone.

About 30 per cent of the patients who received drug therapy alone did eventually undergo angioplasty because their symptoms couldn’t be managed with drugs alone.

In addition, about 21 per cent of the patients who received stents needed to have another procedure. Although angioplasty was better at relieving symptoms, it wasn’t better in preventing death or heart attack.

“Drug therapy for patients with stable heart disease should be tried as first-line treatment. Angioplasty should be reserved for patients who have continuing symptoms,” Dr Aggarwal said.

New Delhi, April 2
In a written complaint to the Commissioner of Police Dr K. K . Paul, a well-known clinical oncologist Dr Tarang Krishna, director of World Cancer Care Foundation, has demanded action against ‘massive’ encroachment being carried out with the alleged nexus of the local police, property owners and builders in Plush New Friends Colony area in South Delhi.

“Due to this nefarious nexus, life has become miserable for the residents, especially noble professionals like doctors and professors. With the rising trend of constructing builders flats in the area, parking has emerged out to be a big problem. The shocking brawl over parking at Panchsheel Park area two days ago is indicator of this alarming problem,” he said.

“In most of the constructions, the existing Delhi Development Authority (DDA) guidelines are being completely violated with the connivance of even local DDA and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials. Leave other portions, even common passages and drive ways of old flats are not being spared causing a lot of inconvenience to old residents of the area. They even try to mislead people by interpreting wrongly the recommendations of Master Plan 2021,” he alleged.

A senior police officer of the South district said, “We will investigate the matter and would take stern action against those found guilty.” 

Faridabad, April 2
The district authorities have no inkling how to react to various demands including allotment of precious community land to private persons who claim to be ‘social activists’. There are at least half a dozen such cases that have come to light.

In one case, a resident of Ballabgarh subdivision made a move to get at least 45 acres of village land (Panchayat land) worth about Rs 45 crore to be donated in the name of a body set up in the interest of particular community. While the officials up to a certain level cooperated with the applicant in moving the file, it got stalled after an objection was levelled against the authority of the body and its motive to get the land allotted.

The applicant reportedly demanded that the district administration donate the land to the body as it was set up for the welfare of a particular community, without justifying the ground. Interestingly, the body has no background or experience of working in the field, said an official. “The motive of the applicant might be to get precious land worth several crores of rupees, as the land rates in the NCR have skyrocketed in the past couple of years and the land mafia has been active in the region, which specialises in such an activity, claimed an official.

He said there could be hundreds of cases in which the government or community land had been encroached upon or sold in an illegal manner in the district.

One such scam had been unearthed recently when it was revealed that a person had sold a piece of land, which had been acquired by the government and for which compensation had been paid, several times.

Gurgaon, April 2
Residents of five villages today staged demonstrations and later submitted a memorandum to the district administration urging for higher compensation to the farmers whose land was acquired by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC).

The residents were from village Gadholi Khurd, Mohammadpur, Narsingpur, Khandsa and Harsaru. Significantly, sarpanches of all these villages also took part in the demonstration and were party to the joint memorandum to the administration.

The residents have demanded a compensation money ranging from Rs 4-5 crore per acre to the farmers whose land has been acquired.

In the memorandum, it has been alleged that the land in these villages was acquired by the HSIDC, a wing of the state government, during the tenure of preceding INLD regime headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala. The residents had at that time also protested against both the acquisition as well as the compensation amount.

As per the residents, the then authorities had assured the villagers that it was in their benefit and that their houses would not be demolished in the area.

The residents alleged that the residents in the villages were given compensation to the tune ranging over Rs 12-15 lakh per acre. Even then the market rate of land was ranging from Rs 2-3 crore per acre.

According to them, after one year of the award money given to them, they now find that the HSIDC was selling off the land to Reliance Group of Industries to set up SEZ project at price several fold higher than the compensation money given to the farmers.

They alleged that even when the compensation money was given, there was differentiation in the rate which was anomalous as per the law. Their reasoning is that when land is acquired under specific section of the Land Acquisition Act, there is uniformity in compensation rate. According to them, the obtaining rate of land in the villages concerned ranged from Rs 4-5 crore per acre and the government must accommodate the farmers accordingly, failing which they warned of dire consequences.

Gurgaon, April 2
About 500 residents of Manesar village, about 30 km from here, today effected blockade of Delhi-Jaipur National Highway (No-8) to press for removal of liquor vends in the village.

A good chunk of the agitators were women.

The irate villagers continued their blockade for about an hour during which vehicular movement was disrupted, not only on the highway but in some parts of the city also.

During the preceding INLD government, there were two liquor vends in the village. The locals had expressed resentment on the issue and urged for their removal.

However, the authorities paid no heed to their protest. Even while the issue gathered steam, the present dispensation sanctioned two more vends not far from the earlier two.

The residents demand is that the vends be shifted two kilometres away from the village as they were creating bad influence, especially on the youths.

Their stand is that the village panchayat was ready to provide alternative site for vends.

The crowed relented only when the authorities assured them of a suitable action.

Senior officers, including the SDM, Tehsildar and the DSP were the ones who had reached the spot to prevent any untoward incident.

The authorities had to divert traffic from Hero Honda Chowk. This resulted traffic snarls in some parts of the city.

There was a serpentine line of traffic standing still just after mid-noon at the time of the blockade.

The highway is an important connectivity to other parts of the country as seven states are connected by it.

The residents asserted that in case the authorities do not pay heed to their agitation today, they would resort to something more drastic.

New Delhi, April 2
The reported attempts by power officials and private power distribution companies BSES and NDPL to involve Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) members in power theft detection drives is being seen by most RWAs as a method of pitting residents against each other and making RWA bodies bear the brunt of public ire on the mess in the power sector in Delhi.

“Why are they trying to drag RWA office bearers to disconnect electricity in such cases. Why don’t they get the area Councillor or MLA along — after all they are the elected constitutional representatives,” says Arvind Mehta of Double Storey New Rajendra Nagar RWA irately.

Residents claim that the entire campaign is being run to somehow hold the RWA responsible for theft in their areas, a position they are not willing to accept. “As long as a consumer is paying his dues for electricity, any attempt to punish him along with an accused in his neighbourhood by cutting power to the entire locality is a barbarian law and reminiscent of the British Raj,” said B.S. Talwar of Krishna Nagar RWA and the Freedom Fighter’s Association.

RWAs see this move as making area residents pay for the folly of others, many of whom actually steal electricity with the active assistance of discom contractors. “It is impossible to steal electricity without the direct involvement of discom employees or contractors. No ordinary consumer of electricity knows anything even remotely connected with phases and wires or has the ability of manipulating meters. This job can only be done by contractors who know the house connection well,” said Ravinder Singh, a power expert fighting against corruption in the sector.

“For every case of theft reported or recorded, the area supervisor of the discom should also be penalized as a co-accused,” added Mr Singh.

Residents are now confederating themselves to fight against the new oppressive rule of punishing the entire locality for power loss in the area. “What is the guarantee that the losses in our area are not through ATC losses but through theft? When the original data presumed by the government is itself dubious, who will believe monopolistic discoms that the losses are only due to theft,” asked a member of the Sheikh Sarai RWA.

Overall, residents are bracing themselves for yet another campaign against the ‘power terrorism’ of Delhi Government over the last three years. 

New Delhi, April 2
A city court today sent NRI Avtar Singh Grewal, who allegedly killed his wife in the American city of Phoenix, to seven days’ judicial custody.

Grewal, 32, was produced before an additional chief metropolitan magistrate who also directed the police that the accused be sent for a psychiatric check-up after police told the court that the accused had tried to commit suicide after killing his wife.

Grewal allegedly killed his wife, 30-year-old Navneet Kaur, last Thursday in her home in the Arizona capital where she lived alone.

Avtar married Navneet about two years ago. It is alleged that they did not get along well and had been living separately. Avtar worked for a firm at Vancouver in Canada, while Navneet worked in Phoenix and lived alone.

Navneet’s father, a retired police officer who lives in neighbouring Gurgaon, told the media that Avtar wanted Navneet to quit her job and live with him. But she wanted to stay on and obtain U.S. citizenship. This allegedly led to frequent altercations between them.

On Friday morning when Navneet did not turn up for work, her colleagues went to check on her at her residence and discovered that she had been murdered.—PTI

New Delhi, April 2
A Delhi Court today issued a non-bailable warrant against tele-serial producer Suhaib Ilyasi in his wife’s dowry death case after he failed to appear before it.

“Accused is absent. Issue non-bailable warrant against him for April 30, the next date of hearing,” Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar said while further issuing notice to the surety of Ilyasi.

Ilyasi, the producer of the teleserial India’s Most Wanted, is an accused in the dowry death case of his wife who died of stab injuries on January 10, 2000.

He has been booked under Sections 304B (Dowry death), 498A (Subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (Abetting suicide) of the IPC. 

Noida, April 2
An eight-year-old boy, abducted by two persons from Gokulpuri, New Delhi on Sunday morning, was recovered in Noida near Sector 22-12 crossing.

The boy told the people that two men had brought him to Noida in a bus from Delhi. At the crossing of Sectors 22-12, the boy managed to give his kidnappers the slip. The people who found him informed the Noida police, who in turn intimated the boy’s parents.

The parents of the boy came to Noida in the afternoon and took their son back to Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Noida police team which had been dispatched to Jharkhand to bring back a six-year-old abducted boy Abhishek have not reported any success. Though the police raided many places in Jharkhand, they have not been able to trace Abhishek so far.

New Delhi, April 2
Jamia Millia Islamia University is introducing an entire range of new courses beginning this academic session.

Beginning this July, new courses offered include a rather interesting program, an MA in Conflict Analysis and Peace Building at the Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Other new courses include a Bachelor of Physiotherapy, a Certificate Diploma and Advanced Diploma course in Kazakh and Turkmenian language, Department of Persian, an MA in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, K.R. Narayan Center for Dalit and Minority Studies, Certificate and Diploma in Tourism and Travel Management and Translation Proficiency, certificate in Modern Arabic Language, an M. Tech in Nano-Technology, an M.Sc. Tech (Industrial Mathematics with Computer Applications), M.Sc. in Bio-Chemistry, MA in Convergent Journalism, MA in Graphics and Animation at MCRC, PG Diploma in Still Photography, MCRC, and an Advanced Diploma in Spanish at the Center for Spanish and Latin American Studies.

New Delhi, April 2
The Ashok Ganguly Committee, set up to suggest the criteria and minimum age for admission to schools in the capital, has recommended that a child be admitted only after he or she has completed four years of age.

“The final report of the committee has already been submitted to the government where we have recommended that for small children, the entry should be at 4 years and above for any recognised school,” said DPS R K Puram principal Ms Shyama Chona, a member of the committee. “There should be one year for nursery and parents could send their kids to any playschool for the purpose,” she added.—PTI

Greater Noida, April 2
The traders of Rampur Market under Kasna police station jammed the highway in protest against the police ‘inaction’ against loot by two criminals yesterday.

The two criminals, who had come on black Pulsar motorcycle without a number plate, looted half a dozen cell phones at gunpoint from Shiv Kumar Gupta’s shop in Rampur Market and then sped away waving their guns.

All the traders pulled down shutters and took to the road. Their main grudge was that in spite of having informed the police promptly, police had taken more than half an hour in reaching the spot.

Two robbers had asked Gupta to show them some cell phones. Having selected some pieces, both the robbers put guns on Gupta’s ear-pit and walked out threatening everyone. Soon they mounted their numberless bike and sped away. The loot created panic and anger among the shopkeepers.

The Kasna police reached the spot only after the shopkeepers had squatted on the road. Traders accused the police of rather taking the incident lightly.