Gurgaon, May 29
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has fulfilled the longstanding demand of the residents of Gurgaon by providing two 42-meter-high hydraulic platforms for fire department with an expense of Rs 8 crore.

HUDA administrator, Gurgaon zone, S P Gupta informed that for the safety and security of the residents in general and residents of high-rise buildings in particular during disaster and fire, such hydraulic platforms have become necessity.

A good number of high-rise commercial, industrial and residential buildings have been constructed in the city. These platforms were procured by the long process of eight and a half years. This became possible due to consistent efforts and continuous follow-up by HUDA authorities at personal level.

During last year, this matter was taken up with the chief secretary, Government of Haryana and other senior officers, jointly by the administrator, HUDA and Gurgaon deputy commissioner for immediate delivery of these machines, informed the source.

Mr Gupta said that these platforms were procured from Branto Company of Finland and can protect the buildings up to 135 feet from fire.

He revealed that HUDA had deposited Rs 8 crore in 2002 with DGS&D for procurement of these hydraulic platforms.

These machines are made available in Gurgaon which were earlier available in Delhi and Chandigarh only in northern parts of the country. As per terms of agreement, a team of Finland will train the staff of state fire department which will make these machines functional very soon, claimed the officer.

Faridabad, May 29
The pollution level of the Gurgaon and Agra canals passing through the district has been on the rise, thanks to the absence of preventive measures or drive to clean these.

Thousands of people have been residing on both sides of these canals meant to carry water for both irrigation and drinking purposes. The canals have emerged as a source of slum clusters on both sides.

There has been no delisting of these ‘lifelines’ of the city and the district for the past many years, claims Rajender Singh Bisla, a former MLA who is residing in Sector 10 here.

He said besides the huge construction cost of these canals the state government was spending a good amount on maintenance work, but the results were far from expected.

The water of these canals had become so polluted that it was not even fit to be used for irrigation purposes what to talk of drinking water supply source, he said.

According to sources in the pollution control department, the main cause of the problem was the open and unchecked release of polluted water by the industrial units and sewer lines in the canals in both Delhi and Faridabad areas, resulting in acutely impure water.

While the Gurgaon canal was constructed for carrying the water meant for use in parts of the district and neighbouring Mewat and Gurgaon, the Agra canal was the property of the UP Government and had been carrying water for its areas. However, some water of the Agra canal was also meant for Haryana area.

Both of these emerge from Okhla Barrage in Delhi. While the Delhi Government had been working on containing the pollution of the Yamuna river and beautifying its banks, there was no such plan here, claimed a source.

Instead of providing some kind of relief in terms of water supply and a cool ambience around, these canals had become a source of foul smell and even the germination ground of certain diseases, including malaria, said a resident of Sector 17 here.

He said with no check a large number of jhuggi clusters and slum colonies had emerged on its sides and these could be a source of illegal money to the land mafia and even officials of the department concerned.

The mass encroachment on the side of the Gurgaon canal had been posing a hurdle in the widening of the bypass proposed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority.

The raw water of the Gurgaon canal which is supplied to the thermal power station in the NIT here, has also adversely affected the efficiency of power production.

The efficiency level of the plant had been down by at least 30 per cent and was the cause of frequent breakdowns, claimed an official of the plant.

The canals should be taken over from the irrigation department immediately and be handed over to an independent body with the target of cleansing it and preventing further pollution if the government wanted these canals to survive and be a source of clean water, said Bisla.

The then inquiry officer had termed it suicide. In the report, the IO had stated that the property dealer shot himself dead.

On court order, a case of murder was registered and investigations revealed that he was murdered.

An eyewitness told police that Yogendra's wife got him killed through her paramour Robin who had brought three other persons with him.

New Delhi, May 29
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC) has added four new trains to its existing fleet in view of the increased passenger rush on the Metro in Delhi.

New Delhi, May 29
CBSE has a record result this year with 84.44% students having cleared the exams and 2,923 of them having secured more than 95% marks in the Class X CBSE examination. There is considerable jubilation in most Delhi schools over the result and as usual girls have outdone boys across the Capital and the country so far.

Delhi Public School, R.K.Puram, has come up with a stupendous result in the Class X CBSE Examination. Out of a total of 534 students, 187 have secured above 90%.

The school has an average aggregate percentage of 83.37%. Garima Aggarwal is this year's school topper having secured an aggregate of 97.7%. Achieving a full score of 100% in Mathematics, she has a 99% in two subjects.

Further, Shubham Prakhar, the national winner of the 'Genius Child of India' award who joined DPS R.K.Puram on financial aid by the school, has notched an impressive score of 97.3% in the examination. Manav Sthali School also has a decent result in the class X examination.

At least 22 students have secured above 90% marks and 40 students between 85-90% marks.

The highest scorers of the school are Sachin Khandelwal who has 94.6% and has a full 100 in maths, Rahul Nangia also with a 94.6%, Siddharth Grover has 94.4% and Tarun Kathuria with 94.4% too. Chetna Kohli secured a full 100 in Information Technology.

Amity International School, Noida, also has secured a commendable result with 81 students getting over 90%. The school toppers are Nikhil Goyal with 96.6%, Aanshu Misra again with 96.6% and Sarvagya Vaish with 96.4%.

Over 20 students have maxed the maths paper securing 100 and five children have maxed the German language paper again securing 100.

New Delhi, May 29
With an increase in pass percentage in government schools, Delhi education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely today claimed that this year's secondary school results were the best ever.

"This year, the government schools have improved their results by 17.3 per cent, while on the country-level, the CBSE results recorded an improvement of 7.28 per cent. A total of 77.12 per cent students of schools run by the Delhi government have passed out their class X examinations. In 2004-2005, the result was only 48.03 per cent," Lovely said.

With the hard work of school teachers and students, the gap in pass percentage between private schools and government schools has narrowed down. Last year, this gap was 28.59 per cent, while this year it is 13.93 per cent. The result of government schools in Delhi is 4.46 per cent higher than the result of government-aided schools in respect of secondary examinations.

Amongst five CBSE government school regions, Delhi government schools have again retained the number one position, higher than Panchkula, which is at second position.

The minister said as many as 123 students of government schools figured in the merit list. The combined result of all pratibha vidyalayas is 98.29 per cent. A total of 46 government schools have 100 per cent result as compared to 30 last year.

Pass percentage of 276 schools is 90 per cent. Half of the government schools have given results of more than 87 per cent. The minister further said that this year no government schools' result was less than 30 per cent.

New Delhi, May 29
The Special Cell of the Delhi Police today claimed to have arrested two dreaded criminals, Narinder, alias Nundu, and Deepak, alias Deepu, from two separate places.

Narinder was arrested from Kalindi Kunj. He was coming from the Noida side. A countrymade pistol along with two live cartridges have been seized from him.

He was wanted in more than two dozens heinous cases. He was allegedly running his extortion racket in the name of Ravan Gang.

In another incident, Deepak was arrested near Wazirabad on Outer Ring Road. A countrymade pistol along with two live cartridges have been seized from him.

He was allegedly carrying a reward of Rs 10,000 for his arrest from the Delhi Police. He was also wanted. in more than one dozen heinous cases registered in Delhi.

New Delhi, May 29
A senior doctor of the Apollo Hospital here has allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance, police said today.

Dr Umesh Sharma (40) was the head of Emergency Medicine Department of the hospital.

He was found unconscious at his residence in Sarita Vihar in South Delhi this morning after which he was rushed to the Apollo, where he was declared dead on arrival, police said.

He said on the occasion that due to piracy, we were bound to lose as domestic market was flooded with pirated versions of branded products.

New Delhi, May 29
Mayor Arti Mehra, Leader of the MCD House Subhash Arya and Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta today took a round of the 31-storeyed building which is under construction and would be the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

At present, the commission's annual budget is Rs one crore and Farooqui wants the amount should be increased to Rs two crore.

New Delhi, May 29
Edutech India, a leading provider of knowledge solutions, has installed a 30-seater SmartClass Symposium digital language lab at the Faculty of Humanities and Languages at Jamia Millia Islamia University here.

The language lab will be used to teach English as well as other languages like Persian, Arabic, Urdu, etc. to both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The language lab will also be used to teach general English to improve the communication skills of students.

The vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Professor Mushirul Hasan on May 23, inaugurated the language lab.

Through this installation, the university will be able to provide language lab facility to its students.