New Delhi, May 12
Two Dalits, Bant Singh of district Manas and Jasbeer Kaur of district Sangrur, have come to Delhi from Punjab for justice. They reported their grievances to the Indian People’s Tribunal organised by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights and Human Rights Law Network.

They are reportedly being tortured by the upper caste people in their area, but the government is a mute spectator.

Bant Singh, a resident of Burj Chabhar, district Manas, reported a case to the local police in 2002 that a few influential people allegedly kidnapped his daughter and raped her. The police arrested nine suspects including ex-sarpanch of the village. Of them, two were released on bail while seven are still in jail.

In revenge, the suspects allegedly made a murderous assault on him, cut his both hands and broke bones of his legs in the village. Now Singh is without hands and cannot move easily as bone of one of his legs could not be joined properly. It requires another operation. He will consult a doctor at St. Stephens Hospital in Delhi for operation, he said.

Speaking in chaste Punjabi, Bant Singh said that instead of helping him, the local administration was also harassing him. The district administration assured him to give a helper, a house and five acres of land. But he was given nothing. He son, Manjeet Singh, was admitted to the Punjab Police Public School. But his roll was struck after new DIG at Bathinda had joined duty.

The district administration also assured him to employ his wife. But so far no employment has been given to her.

Jasbeer Kaur who has also come to attend hearing in the national Capital said that her 22-year-old son, Jarnail Singh, alias Bittu, was allegedly beaten to death by a village landlord as he refused to work due to illness. He had been suffering from fever and bodyache for four days. Even post-mortem report confirmed that he was beaten to death, but the police did not register the murder case. It registered a case of 306 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 IPC (joint action). The suspects, Jagdev Singh and Bhola Singh, were arrested and later released on bail.

The incident was reported in November 2006 and the case registered the next day. But no chargesheet has been filed so far, she said.

New Delhi, May 12
In yet another case of dowry death, the Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of a husband for quashing the charges framed by the trial court saying there was a proximate and live link among the effect of cruelty, dowry demand and the death of his wife.

Justice Ravinder Bhat, however, discharged the parents, brother and paternal uncle of the accused, Ram Dayal Meena, of the dowry harassment charges after he found scanty evidence against them.

The parents of the deceased spoke with less particulars but nevertheless clearly mentioning the role of husband Ram Dayal Meena as demanding dowry. Therefore, the charges framed against husband under Sections 498(a)(cruelty) and 304(b)(dowry death) of the IPC were justified, Justice Bhat said in a recent judgment.

“So far as the involvement of other relatives including father, mother, uncle and husband’s brother are concerned the evidence is vague, sketchy and unspecific. Therefore, they are entitled to be given the benefit of discharge,” Justice Bhat added.

According to prosecution, Meena had committed suicide a year after her marriage in May, 2004. Her parents had lodged an FIR accusing him and his relatives for harassing their daughter for dowry. — PTI

New Delhi, May 12
The MCD Standing Committee chairman, Vijender Gupta, today directed head of sanitation department to issue suspension order against sanitary superintendent R.K. Sharma and area in-charge Mohinder Singh. He also directed to suspend Nepal Singh, junior engineer.

Gupta issued the directions after an inspection tour of Gokulpur drain. He saw huge accumulation of garbage at Gokulpur drain, creating unhygienic conditions.

He visited various other localities of trans-Yamuna areas. The inspection started from Bhajanpura. Mr Gupta was accompanied by Mr Jai Kishan Dass, chairman, Ward Committee, Shahdara North Zone, Ram Narain Dubey, deputy chairman, Ravi Dass, engineer-in-chief and other senior officers of MCD.

Mr Gupta further directed that two machines be deployed for the whole of year so that silt could be taken out of Gokulpur drain regularly. He also directed that Gokulpur drain should be cemented on both sides.

The officials assured Mr Gupta that within 45 days, 2.8 kilometer stretch of Gokulpur drain would be cemented. Mr Gupta also found irregularity in appointment of daily wager to dispose of garbage through buffalo cart. Such employees were employed on daily wages for 90 days after which they were regularized and there was no trace of buffalo cart. 

Faridabad, May 12
The chief secretary of the Haryana government will chair the third Divisional Development Review Session (DDRS) meeting to be held at Gurgaon on May 15. While the progress report of various development works will be taken up by the officials, new projects worth several hundred crores of rupees have also been included in the agenda of the meeting. These include three new railways over bridges (ROB) and a trauma centre in the district.

Though progress of various projects in all the districts of the division would be reviewed at the meeting, the district officials have been working overtime to prepare files of action taken and status report of several schemes.

A meeting headed by the deputy commissioner was also held in this connection yesterday.

The district administration is likely to start work on several new projects, which include new railway over bridge (ROB) at Palwal, a railway under bridge and carriageway near sector 64-65 and widening of the existing over bridge near Bhadkhal Crossing.

The authorities have proposed to revive the railway under bridge at Old Faridabad Chowk, which could not be completed in the past several years due to various factors. The project has been hanging afire since long due to confusion about the agency which would bear the cost.

The estimated cost of the construction of the ROB could be around Rs 50 crore, but would surely provide much-needed relief to the traffic and the commuters who face problems due to the busy railway track passing through the city, officials say. Every year, several people die in accidents on rail track.

The estimated cost of the railway under bridge at Old Faridabad has doubled up from the earlier cost of about Rs 6 crore.

It may be recalled that ‘the Tribune’ had been regularly publishing reports about the dire need of more flyovers and proper traffic solutions for the growing traffic and population in the city and the district.

The administration has also proposed to take up the work of construction of a state-of-art trauma centre at Palwal town in the district, with a view to provide immediate medical care to the road accident victims. The centre is proposed to be located on one of the busiest highways of the NCR and where no such facility is available. Though a proposal had been taken up a few years ago, no work could be started so far.

It is learnt that while the Central government is considering the project, which is expected to bear the cost, the centre would be run by the state health department. An amount of Rs 150 crore is the estimated cost of the project.

The district authorities have also proposed the setting up of around 11 CNG stations in the district, for which land has been allotted to about six pumps to be set up by Adani Energy in various sectors here. The company has assured completion of these stations within three months of getting the NOC. The sites identified for the CNG pumps are located in Sector 5, 9, 17, 24, 28 and 56 in the first phase.

Besides, there is another proposal of widening the Bhadkhal flyover at a cost of about Rs 8 crore.

The HUDA and the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) are giving final shape to the proposal of constructing by-pass roads on eastern and western sectors of the city to decongest the main Mathura road. About Rs 84 crore is proposed to be spent on solid waste management plan in the city for which a report was being prepared by a Central government agency.

Noida, May 12
Ms Mayawati’s toil to widen her vote bank in the Dadri area during the last three years bore fruit.

In all 13 candidates, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Jan Morcha lost their security deposit in the Dadri assembly seat. They polled less than one sixth of the total votes.

A total of 2,31,868 votes were polled for the Dadri -Noida seat. The candidates needed to poll at least 38,645 votes to retain their security deposit.

Instead of fielding elderly in the area, Mayawati gambled with her devoted and enthusiastic workers. For the Dadri seat BSP candidate Inderjit Singh had polled 22,335 votes in 2002 election. Compare it with Satveer Gujjar’s 75,346 votes. Thus 53,011 new votes were cast in favour of the BSP. SP candidate Jagveer Singh had polled 9,097 votes in the last election. This time this number went up to 30,000. The Congress had repeated its candidate Raghuraj Singh, but he failed to make any significant increase. Raghuraj who had polled 39,003 votes in 2002 elections went down to 23,875 this time.

In Javer the BSP candidate had polled 29,106 in 2002 while Narinder Kumar had trounced the Congress candidate. In the Dadri seat, except BSP’s Satveer Gujjar and BJP’s sitting MLA Nawab Singh Nagar, all candidates had forfeited their deposits even.

The story was repeated in Javer also where a total of 1,18,971 votes were polled and candidate need 19,828 votes to save his security deposits. But except BSP’s Horam Singh who polled 46,125 votes and Congress candidate Bansi Pahariya managed 40,491 votes. Rest of the eight candidates lost their security deposits. Even top five candidates had lost their deposits.

New Delhi, May 12
Delhi University (DU), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are expected to soon enter a partnership that will undoubtedly give a new dimension to the education system in the country.

This was announced at the national seminar cum workshop on the ‘Convergence of conventional and distance modes of education’ and the national launch of training of academic counsellors for the open and distance learning system (ODL) which is currently underway from May 12 and will be concluded on May 26. The function was inaugurated by D. Purandeswari, the minister of state for education.

Purandeswari commented that, “In the 11th Plan, we have proposed for inclusive education for inclusive growth and for a nation-wide movement towards information, literacy and massive work-force training. If we have to achieve the target of about 15 per cent of the relevant age-group to be in higher education, we have to devise strategies so that every educated youth is capable of gainful employment and contributing to national development.”

The minister also released three manuals on this occasion: training modules for academic counselors, training schedule for teaching staff and training booklet for non-teaching functionaries.

At this national seminar, a unanimous decision was reached by all parties concerned to converge the conventional tools of education with the information and communication technology of open and distance learning where cost can be minimised and quality enhanced. Prof. VN Rajasekharan Pillai, the Vice-Chancellor at IGNOU, stated that the conventional teacher could use the technology to reach the un-reached through the high-tech facilities of IGNOU.

New Delhi, May 12
The police today claimed to have recovered antique idols worth crores of rupees near Sushruta Trauma Centre in Civil Lines area. Three persons have been arrested in this connection.

Following a tip-off, when a Santro car was searched near the area, two antique idols of Lord Ganesha and Tara were recovered. When occupants of the car – Deepak, Tenjing and Sandeep – were interrogated, they allegedly confessed that they were there to make a deal for selling the idols.

During interrogation, Deepak allegedly revealed that he was having business of garments in Nepal. In connection with his business, he used to come to Delhi and stay in a hotel in Majnu Ka Tila, where he came in contact with Tenjing and Sandeep. One person had allegedly called them to buy the idols for Rs 4 crore, but they were yet to settle on the modalities of delivering the idols and receiving payment, said a police officer. — OC

New Delhi, May 12
Another pleasant weekend seems to be in the offing for Delhiites as the mercury, continuing its level at normal or below normal in the Capital over the last few days, fell to 38 degree Celsius today. Close on the heels of heavy showers and a squall last night cooling the Capital by bringing down the mercury by 14 degree Celsius, the maximum temperature today dropped to 38 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal.

Earlier, Delhiites were greeted by a pleasant morning with the minimum temperature plummeting to 19 degree Celsius, seven degrees below normal.

An overcast sky in the morning added further pleasantness to the surroundings. Though the sun appeared later in the day, cool south easterly winds maintained a coolness in the atmosphere.

The cool air in Delhi is likely to persist for a few more days with the weathermen forecasting more thunder squalls over Delhi and other parts of northwest India during the next 48 hours.

The Met office has forecast a partly cloudy sky in Delhi in the next 24 hours with the likelihood of more rain and thundershowers accompanied by squall in some areas.

They have forecast a drop in maximum temperature to 37 degree Celsius tomorrow.

A heavy squall, measuring 54 kmph, and a short burst of heavy showers last night brought about tremendous coolness in the weather in the city, plummeting the maximum temperature by 14 degree Celsius.

A total of 25.4 mm of rainfall was recorded last night. — UNI

New Delhi, May 12
Performers of Punjabi theatre and the performing arts as well as artistes of the Delhi unit of National Theatre Arts Society, Patiala (NTAS), made a strong plea to the railways to simplify the fare concession procedure.

NTAS founder-director Pran Sabharwal, former member, Punjab state cultural affairs advisory board, said that due to a complicated procedure, theatre groups have been deprived of their concession.

Sabharwal informed that some 100 self-help theatre groups in Punjab were eager to give their performances in Delhi and other states on a regular basis to help make a contribution to the cause of Punjabi theatre, inter-state cultural exchanges and emotional integration.

The artists urged the railways to make the concession procedure easy. They requested that a local senior railway officer be authorized to authenticate the journey of the registered theatre group and recommend concession for the journey. — TNS

Gurgaon, May 12
An IRB jawan in Haryana was shot dead by a colleague this morning following an altercation.

The incident occurred when Karan and Sanjiv, two IRB jawans of the Haryana police posted on duty for the UP elections, indulged in a verbal duel soon after returning from duty.

The verbal clash soon led to Karan firing at Sanjiv with his revolver and, thereafter, shooting himself with the same weapon.

While Sanjiv died on the spot, Karan had been admitted to the ICU at the Safdarjung Hospital here, where his condition was stated to be serious, the police said.

A case has been registered in this connection. — UNI

New Delhi, May 12
The police today claimed to have arrested three drug peddlers in two separate incidents in the Capital and seized cocaine worth Rs 3.25 million from them.

Officials of the Delhi Police’s Narcotics Cell arrested one Rajiv Sharma and his accomplice Jogpreet Singh from Lajpat Nagar area in South Delhi.

While Sharma, a manager in a cosmetic company, was allegedly arrested with 12 gm of cocaine and 50 gm of charas, two gm cocaine was recovered from Jogpreet, an MBA from Singapore. Jogpreet hails from Mansa district in Punjab.

They were arrested following a tip-off. During interrogation, Sharma allegedly revealed that he used to procure cocaine from one Samer Khan, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir.

At his instance, the police nabbed Sameer near the DND flyover that links Delhi and Noida in adjoining Uttar Pradesh. Around 35 gm of cocaine was recovered from him.

“During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to having brought the consignment to supply it to a party at a famous pub of Noida.

“Their links and customers in the city are being probed and efforts are on to identify and arrest other suppliers in this drug trafficking network,” said DCP A S Cheema.