New Delhi, May 7
In a major development related to the sealing drive in the Capital, the Supreme Court scrutinising the controversial Master Plan of Delhi today put a blanket ban on the construction of third floor in private residential colonies and restored the earlier position of permitting houses with two-and-a-half floors besides the basement in these localities.

While banning the grant of permission for third floor in private colonies by the MCD, a special Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker and D K Jain overseeing the sealing of illegal commercial ventures in the city, also restrained the Centre from issuing any further notification on permitting commercialisation of residential areas and declaring the private localities as permissible for mixed land use.

The interim direction came in the wake of various flaws pointed out in the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) by advocate Ranjit Kumar, appointed by the court as amicus curie to assist it in the adjudication of the validity of the plan and sealing issue.

In a new development, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was also directed to carry out the drive for sealing of illegal commercial venture in its area not covered under the MPD and two notifications issued by the Centre on mixed land use in September 2006. Hitherto the sealing was being carried out only by the MCD in its areas.

The court directed the MCD, NDMC and DDA to give full cooperation to the monitoring committee, appointed by it to oversee the sealing operation.

These agencies were ordered to depute their representatives to accompany the monitoring committee so that there was no confusion about the jurisdiction of their respective areas and the dispute regarding this did not come in the way of carrying out the sealing drive smoothly.

The court further issued notices to various government agencies like Delhi Jal Board, the Transport Department, Delhi Transport Corporation and the Public Works Department to give details about the civic amenities to be provided by them if the MPD, 2021 which provided for regularisation of 1,500 unauthorised colonies was to be implemented in its present form.

The notices were issued to these agencies in the wake of the Centre’s stand that it had formulated the MPD after receiving the projections on the civic amenities from these agencies, including the DDA, MCD and NDMC.

While fixing next hearing on the question of MPD for July 23, the court said any application by individual trader on the sealing issue would be taken up on July 14.

The Centre’s two notifications of September 2006 permitting mixed land use on 2,183 roads and streets in the Capital, mostly falling in the MCD area brought with the aim of providing relief to trading community against the sealing drive and the constitutional validity of MPD, 2021 had been challenged in a bunch of petitions by various welfare associations as they were opposed to the commercialisation of the residential localities.

New Delhi, May 7
Three children were charred to death and four others sustained burn injuries when a fire broke out in a slum colony near the US embassy in Chanakyapuri area here around midnight last night.

The fire department said three of the injured were in serious condition. They have been admitted to the burns ward of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. Those who perished were aged three, four and seven.

Eight fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was brought under control within an hour.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, however, it is learnt that the fire broke out through a candle which had been put inside a cluster for lighting.

The incident occurred late Sunday killing Musharaff Hassan (7), Muzaffar Hassan (5) and Kohinoor (4). The victims were immediately taken to the RML hospital where they were declared brought dead.

Four persons who sustained major burn injuries were later identified as Shamshudin (40), Muslima (35), Jarina (12) and Barina (3). Their condition is also said to be critical.

At least, 25 shanties, built with highly flammable polyster and wood, were gutted in the fire.

Meanwhile, a minor fire broke out in a house in Chandani Chowk area in Old Delhi this morning.

Fire Department officials said the blaze was caused by a short circuit in the meter board of the house in Sitaram Bazar.

There was no report of loss of any life, they added.

The blaze was controlled by three fire tenders in about 10 minutes.

New Delhi, May 7
Terming the confrontation of the government with the Supreme Court by raising questions on the issue of scarcity of power in the Capital as very unfortunate, BJP Delhi pradesh president Harsh Vardhan has said, “Since chief minister Sheila Dikshit and the private power companies are in cahoots with each other, she is favouring the power companies in the court instead of fighting in favour of the people”.

“The Supreme Court had raised this question on Friday to the Delhi Government about what efforts were being made by it to improve the power situation in the Capital. The court told that under Article 21 of the Constitution all citizens had the right to life with honour and amenities. In its reply, Additional Solicitor General Amrendra Sharan said there was no relation between Article 21 and the supply of power by the government. Article 21 was only connected with right to life”, Harsh Vardhan said.

The BJP pradesh president said, “Article 21 has wide implications. It guarantees every citizen right to life with full honour, liberty and respect by utilising all the basic amenities provided by the government. The Supreme Court had in a case related to Maneka Gandhi in the year 1978 ruled that right to life was not only right to be alive rather under this every citizen had the right to lead his life with freedom and honour.”

He said, “The supply of electricity is the lifeline of every country or state. In a dense city like Delhi it is not possible to live without it even for a minute. If there is no supply of power, we cannot get even drinking water. Metro services will stop. The entire public will be paralysed. Suppose any person is being operated upon and the power trips. There is no provision for a generator. Can the life of that person be saved in such a situation? Similarly, there are other aspects of life where supply of electricity is just like continuance of life.”

He further said, “It is very regrettable and unfortunate that the Delhi Government has been misleading the people of Delhi for the past five years on the issue of power. Although the government notified the Standard Performance Regulation 2007 unwillingly, yet it was not implemented. This law could empower the citizen of Delhi to face the power companies. If these regulations were implemented, the power companies could have been compelled to pay penalty. Since Sheila Dikshit is in connivance with the companies, therefore, she wants to let the people of Delhi live without power, but she cannot accept any damage to the power companies which are indulging in loot and arbitrariness. She is ready to have a confrontation with the court also”, he said. 

New Delhi, May 7
Vikas Yadav, prime accused in the Nitish Katara murder case, today denied having effected the recovery of a hammer allegedly used in the killing five years ago.

Vikas, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D. P. Yadav further brushed aside the contention he had recorded any disclosure statement to the police, which allegedly led to the recovery of the said weapon.

Making a statement before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur, the prime accused also refuted the prosecution claim that he along with co-accused Vishal Yadav had taken the police team to a place in Khurja district in UP and had pointed towards the black earthen spot where the victim was allegedly burnt after the murder.

“I, along with Vishal, was made to sit in the police vehicle itself and nothing was recovered at the instance of either of us”, he said.

Vikas also denied the prosecution allegation that a wrist-watch, which was allegedly gifted by his sister Bharti to the deceased, was recovered by the police at his cousin Vishal’s instance.

He, however, claimed the police had forced him to sign some blank papers, which were probably used against him.

Vikas would be sent for a medical check-up to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) tomorrow after he moved an application alleging giddiness and neck pain. The court has deferred his recording of statement to May 9.

Vikas and his cousin are accused of kidnapping and murder of Nitish Katara, a business executive on February 16-17, 2002, in Ghaziabad, as they were allegedly averse to his proximity with their sister Bharti.

New Delhi, May 7
The Delhi Cabinet today approved decommissioning of four coal-based units in operation at Indra Prastha thermal power station and closure of Indra Prastha (IP) power station after commissioning of 500 MW units at Badarpur power station.

However, the loss in installed capacity would be compensated by the capacity addition of around 750 MW gas-based power plant at Bamnauli.

A decision to increase the eligibility criteria for Jammu and Kashmir migrants from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 per month was also taken at the Cabinet meeting which was presided over by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The Chief Minister said four coal-based units at IP thermal power station with combined generation capacity of 247.5 MW would be decommissioned as soon as the commercial operation of 500 MW units of Badarpur power station was commissioned. The Cabinet also decided to incur only very essential expenditure on the existing units for safe operation till its closure and initiate action for disposal of plants and machinery.

She added two units at IP thermal power station had outlived their lives as they were in operation for about 40 years and the union ministry of environment and forest had permitted continuation of the existing coal-based IP power station till December 31, 2010, even after the Commonwealth Games were over.

Even the consultant appointed by the department of power had concluded the plant had become unviable for further operation in its present condition and any investment for improvement of generation level of the plant would not be techno-economically feasible.

She further said in view of decommissioning of the existing coal-based units her government would initiate action for capacity addition by the 750 MW gas-based power plant at Bamnauli. 

New Delhi, May 7
Concerned over the continuing bus row between Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) is now planning to draft an agreement each between the member states detailing logistics involved in plying the buses.

All the transport secretaries of the NCR region – union territory of Delhi and parts of the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – will meet on May 9 here to deliberate on the issues related to the transport matters in the states.

They would be asked to sign an agreement detailing the fee structure, number of buses they can ply in each other’s territories and any other related issues as per their need, NCRPB sources said.

The meeting was initially scheduled to be held last month but was postponed because of the elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The written statement would ensure avoidance of confrontation among the states so that commuters do not have to suffer, the official said, adding so far the states were plying buses and charging fares purely on the basis of understanding among the states.

However, the UP-Delhi bus standoff has forced the NCRPB to think on the possible norms guiding the states on transport matters.

This is for the first time since the UP-Delhi bus row started last year that the NCRPB has decided to intervene in the matter to ensure that such confrontations do not extend to other states as well.

The two state governments are at loggerheads for the past several months after the UP authorities started impounding DTC buses in their territory. Demanding permits and refusing to allow the UP buses in its interior roads, Delhi said that it would lead to chaos in the city.

The matter was dragged to the Delhi High Court but remained inconclusive with both the neighbouring states sticking to their respective stand. At present, not only DTC and UP buses but even taxis are not allowed to ply into each other’s territory.

Noida, May 7
A maidservant served drug-laced tea to three members of a family in Sector 39 Noida and decamped with valuables when the three lost consciousness.

The family driver, who chanced to come in shortly thereafter, rushed the three unconscious members to a hospital where they are reported to be in a serious condition.

Charanjit, an officer in a call centre in Gurgaon, lives in E-61, Sector 39, Noida, with his family. On Saturday, the maid servant had reported for work at his place. Impressed with her efficient work, the family had engaged her. She poisoned the family and fled with valuables worth lakhs from the house yesterday.

Charanjit had sent his former driver, Dinesh, to the market for making some purchases. When Dinesh came back at 7.30 pm the maid had already fled with valuables after drugging the family. Dinesh found Charanjit, his wife Harpreet and daughter Kavita unconscious. Dinesh immediately took them all to Kailash Hospital in Sector 27. Doctors at the hospital said Charanjit and Harpreet were unconscious while daughter Kvita showed sign of coming round at times. None of them was, however, in a position to tell anything.

According to police circle officer, they had engaged the maid on the recommendation of a maid at a friend’s house. The police said it was too early to assess the loss from the house. The maid serving in the house of their friend was being interrogated, the police said.

New Delhi, May 7
The finals of the Rotary Family Talent Hunt were held on Saturday late evening at FICCI auditorium. Divya Bahadur, a young girl, was adjudged the best singer among the 34 contestants, who took part in the contest.

According to Rajender Jaina, district director, Rotary International, the contestants in the finals included housewives, children and grand children of various rotary club members in the National Capital Region (NCR) Rotary clubs.

New Delhi, May 7
The government does not anticipate any serious problem of load shedding in Delhi this year and the shortage in the coming months would primarily depend on temperature and intensity of monsoon.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said during April 2006 to February 2007 the peak shortage in the national Capital was 6.6 per cent.

While during March 2007 there was no peak shortage, in April 2007 marginal shortage of 0.5 per cent was recorded, he said.

Noida, May 7
A 12-year-old boy, Promode, son of Chander, was killed in Hoshiarpur village when the wall of a banquet hall collapsed during the strong wind, dust storm and rain that lashed the area last evening.

The boy reportedly died as immediate efforts were not made to retrieve him from the debris. By the time he was pulled out, Promode had breathed his last. The villagers, enraged at the boy’s death due to the collapse of a wall of Brinda Garden Banquet Hall, created a ruckus at the site of the accident for a long time.

The villagers alleged in spite of the banquet hall wall being dilapidated no effort was made by the management to rebuild it, which resulted in the loss of a precious young life.

The police have not filed any case against the management of the banquet hall.

As a fall-out of the storm and rain, power supply in most parts of Noida had also been cut as power cables in many sectors had snapped or were damaged.

The power supply had already been cut during the day. With the storm and rain, the power cut period further got extended by about two hours. UP power corporation deputy GM Kishen Gopal Puri said a lot of wires had mangled up due to the storm but most of the faults were rectified soon after the storm had subsided and power supply restored. 

Ghaziabad, May 7
Fed up with the alleged exploitation and ill-treatment meted out to her by her in-laws, a woman has been living in a public park of Abhey Khand in Indirapuram since the last six days. The woman from Gautam Budh Nagar has forsaken food. She is surviving on water alone.

The woman says she will stay put in the park, will not eat and neither will she return to her house till she gets justice.

Geeta, 40, mother of three, belongs to Bhoja village under the Bilaspur police station in GB Nagar. —OC

Noida, May 7
The kith of Nithari victims have again boiled over because in the Nanda Devi murder case too Moninder Singh Pandher has been given a clean chit. The whole blame for her rape and murder has been put on Surinder Koli in this fourth charge sheet filed in the CBI court in Ghaziabad on Saturday.

The investigations in the Nithari case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Noida police so far seem to have been dramatically opposed to each other.

Maid Nanda Devi, who had been working in D-5 in Nithari, on October 31, 2006, had allegedly overheard Moninder and Surinder. She had threatened to expose both of them.

At that time, Moninder and Surinder had overpowered her, raped her one after the other and then murdered her. Her severed head was put in a polythene bag and the torso packed in a plastic sack and thrown in the drain at back of D-5.

This is the version of Surinder Koli’s statement which he had given to the inquiry officer of the Sector 20 police station a day after his interrogation.

As per this statement, Moninder Singh Pandher, owner of D-5, and Surinder Koli were both present in the house at the time of Nanda Devi’s rape and murder.

The CBI charge sheet, filed in the court of Special CBI Magistrate, Ghaziabad, about Nanda Devi’s murder states, “Moninder was in Sangrur in Punjab on the day the maid was murdered in connection with a case in Punjab, having left Noida early in the morning.” According to her father, Dil Bahadur, Nanda, at the time of leaving for work on that day, had mentioned she would be going to D-5 also.

The Nithari villagers are once again enraged at the CBI’s charge sheet which says that “Moninder was away on the day of Nanda Devi’s murder and had returned to Noida after five days after his visit to Sangrur, Ludhiana and his house in Chandigarh”.

According to the advocate of Nithari victims, in all CBI charge sheets the same tune has been sung.

New Delhi, May 7
Failing to meet its annual property tax collection targets, the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) is now contemplating carrying out a physical survey of all such buildings to net tax defaulters.

Measures like GIS mapping of properties, which had been launched on a pilot basis in some areas, could not be carried out for the entire city and thus the MCD was planning a physical survey of all taxable properties, sources said.

“Tenders inviting companies to carry out the survey would be floated soon and though a huge task that is the only way to check defaulters,” they said.

According to officials in the property tax department, the corporation had been suffering huge losses ever since the implementation of the unit area method that was based on self-assessment and this survey would create a database of each property and the actual dues accruing to it.

The civic agency had recently set up a pilot project of GIS mapping in the central zone through which a fresh database of the properties hat needed to be covered under the tax net would be made.

The agency had tied up with Hyderabad-based company CE-Infosys that specialises in GIS mapping and had signed a deal with the private firm at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.

The MCD fell short by Rs 700 crore in its target revenue and the property tax department alone accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the revenue collected by the civic body.

New Delhi, May 7
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police today claimed to have worked out a serial killing case with the arrest of a dreaded criminal Paras Soni alias Amit Sharma (24) from Sriniwaspuri area. A conflict over distribution of looted properties led to the murder of three accomplices by the accused.

A 9mm pistol and a stolen Ford Ikon car have allegedly been recovered from his possession.

Following a tip-off that a suspect wanted in broad day-light murder case of a Sahibabad-based property dealer would come near Sidharth Enclave, Sriniwaspuri, the police laid a trap around the area.

When a police constable approached towards a car parked near the area, the lone occupant of the vehicle opened fire on him. The suspect was apprehended after a brief exchange of fire. Later, he was identified as Paras Soni.

According to the police, during interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed to having killed Sahibabad-based property dealer in front of his family members. He also confessed to having committed another two murders earlier.

The accused and his three close accomplices – Shiv Kumar, Neeraj and Naresh were allegedly involved in a racket of obtaining vehicles and household goods on finance and personal loans on the basis of forged documents. The gang had duped many banks of several crores of rupees. However, a conflict over distribution of looted money started brewing among them and it took a grave turn with the murder of three accomplices of the gang one by one.

First, the accused called Naresh near Dasna on the pretext of paying him some money of sale proceeds of a motorcycle and shot him dead. He dumped Naresh’s body in a nearby canal. Neeraj and Shiv Kumar were also killed subsequently, said a police officer.

Faridabad, May 7
The computerisation of the voters’ list following the ongoing drive to prepare photo-I-cards of the residents has brought to light the fact that there are lakhs of voters in various districts whose names have appeared in the list for more than one time.

Through the drive, the election authorities have so far identified more than 1.32 lakh voters whose names have been registered at more than one place or booth in three main assembly constituencies of the district which include Mewla Maharajpur, NIT and Ballabgarh segments. Such a survey was yet to be done in other remaining segments, though the photography work was in process.

Having a duplicate or more than one such card amounts to violation of the Public Representation Act and could lead to imprisonment, penalty or even both.

“This is perhaps for the first time that data including the names and addresses of the voters of various constituencies were being fed in the computer. This has led to the startling revelation that a large number of names and even addresses in the list have been appeared more than one time in the voters’ list. The fact have been overlooked and not cross checked in the lists lying in the traditional form of record keeping,” claimed an official here.

He said at least 70,000 names in the Mewla Maharajpur Assembly segment were found to be repeated at two or more places. There are a total of about three lakh registered voters in this constituency which is one of the largest segments in the state. There were dozens of names which have appeared more than four or five times in the list of the same segment or even in other areas. The authorities suspect that this could have been done deliberately by the voters or political parties in the area to increase their vote bank.

The number of such names which have appeared twice or more in the NIT and Ballabgarh constituencies have been around 30,000 and 32,000 respectively.

The officials have now decided to integrate the lists of all these constituencies to find out the total number of persons who have got registered themselves as voters at more than one place. Thereafter, action will be initiated to prevent the duplication of names after thorough verification.

According to additional deputy commissioner Sanjay Joon, the authorities would take up the verification drive to strike off the names registered in the voters’ list from more than one place.

Meanwhile, the authorities have also announced to delete the names of those persons who do not turn up to get themselves photographed for their voter-I-card in the ongoing drive. It was found that the response to the photo campaign had been poor in various assembly segments.

The district has a total of about 10 lakh voters at present, of which a large number of persons belong to the migratory population.

Gurgaon, May 7
Ten child labourers were rescued today from the clutches of their employers, shopkeepers in the markets of Farukhnagar, Helimandi and Pataudi towns of this district.

According to the official version, the shopkeepers found guilty have been booked under the Prevention of Child Labour Act, 1986. Challans have been issued against the guilty. According to the provisions of the Act, imprisonment for three months or a fine of Rs 20,000 or both can be imposed on the guilty.

The Labour Department had conducted a survey in the areas on the directive of the district administration following complaints from the public about violation of the Act. The district administration had cautioned people umpteen times about not employing children below 14 years of age.

Five of the children were rescued in Farukhnagar, one in Helimandi and four in Pataudi.

New Delhi, May 7
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has exhorted departments concerned and agencies to strive hard to achieve greening targets for 2007-2008.

The Chief Minister stressed the need of enhancing survival rate of saplings. She further directed department of forest and wild life to involve traders’ associations, RWAs, Eco-clubs, Kitchen Garden Associations and other NGOs in this drive. One lakh sixty thousand saplings would be planted in city forests, whereas one lakh on ridge land. One lakh saplings would be planted along Najafgarh drains, whereas compensatory plantation of 2.88 lakh would be ensured in total area of 262 hectare in 11 villages, Sheila said.

Around 1.60 lakh saplings would be planted in 14 city forests. It has been decided to exhort plantation of saplings in the premises of Akshardham Temple, Lotus Temple and Chhatarpur Temple. —TNS