New Delhi, May 30
What is being considered as a short relief for the residents of the posh Sainik Farms in South Delhi here, the Delhi High Court today granted two more days to them for giving an undertaking that they would voluntarily demolish boundary walls constructed beyond the permissible limit within 15 days.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) shall proceed to comply with the order (pertaining to demolition of unauthorised walls) but if they voluntarily agree to bring down the height of the wall within 15 days they should be allowed to do that. They have to give undertaking before the MCD and the court within two days, the court said.

However, the Bench comprising Chief Justice M. K. Sharma and Mr Justice Sanjiv Khanna refused to recall its previous order dated May 9 directing the MCD to remove walls constructed beyond the permissible limit of 1.5 metre.

“There is no reasonable ground to recall the previous order. We, however, allow them to approach the Delhi police to seek that there is proper maintenance of law and order and security is provided in that area”, the Bench said when senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi contended that the colony was surrounded by slums and high walls were necessary for security purposes.

The court was passing the order on an application filed by the Residents Welfare Association seeking a stay on the demolition drive in the colony.

“Those who made unauthorised constructions and violated the law are now seeking protection and condonation.

The law has to be applied so as to maintain uniformity in respect of all colonies situated in the Capital”, the court said while disposing of the application. 

New Delhi, May 30
The South district police today claimed to have arrested six members of a desperate Bangladeshi inter-state gang. A dacoity attempt in Sanik Farm area was averted with their arrest. They were involved in several cases of dacoities in various states. A huge stock of arms and ammunition has been recovered from them.

The robbers–Kamal (25), Zakir (27), Alam (24), Saleem (26), Montu (28) and Mehboob (31) were arrested near a vacant plot of N block, Sainik Farm. Two of them were carrying a reward of Rs 10,000 each from Madhya Pradesh police for their involvement in series of dacoities reported from Indore, Bhopal, Devas and Ujjain.

Two countrymade pistols along with four rounds, two knives, four draggers, housebreaking tools, etc were recovered from them.

They were conspiring to commit a dacoity in a kothi located with the boundary wall of Sanik Farm towards the back of forest area.

A few members of this gang were arrested earlier in a joint operation by the Delhi Police and Madhya Pradesh Police but the rest of them managed to go back to Bangladesh.

The police had specific information that some gang members were active in posh colonies of the Capital, said a police officer. 

Faridabad, May 30
Even as several crores were being spent on improvement and renovation of power infrastructure in the district, there seems to be lack of effort to make the available system free from various loopholes, including shortage of technical staff, maintenance and adequate safety measures, leading to accidents and non-redressal of grievances at a fast pace.

While an amount of Rs 250 crore had been sanctioned by the Union Government for power reforms in Haryana, out of which projects worth more than Rs 84 crore were in progress in the operation circle here, four employees of the department had fallen victim to accidents at work. One of the two assistant linemen, who got electrocuted in the past 48 hours in the district, died on the spot, while the condition of another is reported to be serious.

Departmental sources claim the accident rate had been alarmingly high though hundreds of crores had been spent on the renovation and refurbishment works. It is alleged that the authorities concerned had been ignoring this aspect, while the maximum burden of work had been on the technical staff who were responsible for attending to complaints and maintenance of the system. It is reported assistant lineman Roshan Lal who went to attend a fault in Sector 6 here last night got grievously injured when he was thrown off after he got electrocuted.

Though the power supply had been off, it is suspected that the back feeding of generators caused this accident. The victim has been admitted in a serious condition to Escorts Hospital here.

This is the second such accident in the past two days. Earlier, an assistant lineman, identified as Badle Ram, got killed by the electrocution in Kondal village in the district while repairing a fault. Two employees had been killed in similar accidents in the last month. ‘The department had been providing only cosmetic changes to the department to show that it had been upgraded by spending a huge amount, but at the ground level the situation was apathetic, claimed a spokesperson of the All Haryana Power Corporation Workers Union.

He claimed while authorities were not providing technical staff the proper kit and safety gadgets, these employees were also not covered under any insurance scheme.

The opening of customer care centres and provision of computers to register complaints would not work until the department provided adequate number of trained staff to look after the maintenance and fault repair work, claimed Subhash Lamba, secretary of the union. He said the department should provide proper kits, including hand gloves, hydraulic ladders, cranes and vehicles to attend to complaints or breakdown. He said it was of no use paying an amount of Rs 80,000 per month to the Bijli Suvidha Kendra outsourced to a private firm until there was no staff or safety standard to cater to the already existing infrastructure, especially maintenance and repair work. 

New Delhi, May 30
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGISU) has declared admissions open for its PG media courses. The last date to apply for postgraduate programmes in media at GGISU in the Capital is June 15.

The university currently offers two post-graduate programmes in media including a one-year weekend programme.

These are the postgraduate diploma in electronic media, the PGDEM and the newly launched two- year masters of mass media, the MMM. Both these programmes are on offer at the Center for Media Studies at the university campus.

The first year of the MMM programme will be common for all students and specialisation will be offered in the second year in journalism, corporate communications, radio production, TV programme production, video film production and cyber media, new media and online media.

Graduates with 50 per cent and more marks are eligible to apply for the programme.

The admission to MMM will be done on the basis of performance in the common entrance test conducted by the university on July 1. The total seats for this course is 40.

The PGDEM is a weekend trimester programme meant for working media professionals.

Each trimester will focus on one specific area whether it is radio, TV or films. There are some 60 seats available in this programme. 

Noida, May 30
A 19-year-old girl, Pooja Srivastava, who had gone missing from Bawana in Delhi on May 7, was found half-naked in an unconscious state at the roadside in Sector 71. Villagers said she appeared to have been gangraped and then thrown there out of a vehicle. She was admitted to a Sector 61 hospital.

The police has recorded her statement. She told the police she was looking for a job. She had gone to a person called Chand, who had promised her a job. On the way back, she was given sleeping pills by her friend. She felt dizzy after this. When she came to her senses she found her in the hospital.

She was kidnapped and gangraped last year in Delhi. Her parents had lodged a report in the Chokhandi. Her parents suspect she may have again been kidnapped and raped by them. They may have taken her nude photographs to put pressure on them to withdraw the case.

The police has registered a case at the Sector 58 police station and is investigating various angles. Two persons have been detained.

New Delhi, May 30
The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis today took stock of the working conditions of the sanitation workers in Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and expressed concern over the absence of certain mandatory facilities.

The commission, led by its chairperson Santosh Chowdhary, had over an hour-long interaction with a group of workers and DJB chief executive officer Arun Mathur and other officials of the Board.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chowdhary regretted that various facilities like timely provision of uniform, special type of boots and certain medical facilities were not available to the workers.

“It is unfortunate that uniform is not provided in time. There are many who are suffering from lung diseases and face various other problems. There are complaints that promotions are not given properly. We are telling the administration that you have a good budget. You should take concrete measures,” she said, advising the department to cut on red-tape.

She cited the example of a sanitation worker who lost his eyesight in 1989 while on duty and is helped by his son to come for work.

“It is really sad that he is not properly compensated. There are widows of workers who have not been given jobs. Orders have been given to the DJB officials to address these problems,” Chowdhary said.

Responding to these observations, Mathur said sincere efforts would be made to improve the workers’ condition.

“The Commission has given us very good suggestions. We will take them very seriously and make full efforts to improve our functioning,” he said.

New Delhi, May 30
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police today claimed to have solved a robbery case of Sahadara area, with the arrest of the main accused Hari Dev (19) from Prashant Vihar area.

The mobile phone, snatched from a youth near Shahadara flyover, has allegedly been recovered from him.

Following a tip-off that one gangster Hari Dev would be coming near Japanese Park, Prashant Vihar to sell the stolen items, the police laid a trap around the area.

He was arrested when he was passing near the Metro station. During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to his involvement in the robbery.

New Delhi, May 30
Subsequent to an anti-power theft raid, the BSES had filed a case against the owners and occupiers of C-368 JJ Colony, Madipur, Punjabi Bagh. The accused had initially pleaded not guilty and had asked for a trial in the first place.

The Special Court of Electricity at Vikaspuri, after hearing the arguments of both parties penalised the accused – in addition to the penalties imposed by BSES.

A BSES Enforcement raid on December 22, 2005 had found the occupants directly stealing electricity by bypassing BSES’ electricity meter. Later, the BSES framed charges under Section 135 of Indian Electricity Act, 2003 against the accused and levied a penalty of Rs 29,712.

The accused, one Minu Ram, was summoned before the court and later released on bail. During the course of the raid, BSES officials were informed by the residents of the area that the owner of “Nandini Chauhan Bhawan” was one Nandini Chauhan. Subsequently, when it was realised that Nandini, the grand daughter of Minu Ram, was in fact a minor, BSES moved an application for the deletion of her name as a co-accused.

All along, Minu Ram, the accused pleaded not guilty and accused BSES of wrongly booking him and asked for a trial.

During the course of the arguments, however, the accused pleaded guilty and confessed to his crime. He also paid the power theft penalty of Rs 29,712 imposed on him. After considering all the arguments, the court sentenced the accused till rising of the court and directed him to deposit a further fine of Rs 5,000 – in addition to the penalty amount around Rs 30,000 already paid by him.

The court also said that the failure on part of the accused to deposit the fine would result in him undergoing one week of simple imprisonment.

New Delhi, May 30
Fiftysix-year-old US national Garrick Berger is having a gala time in the picturesque Kashmir valley without any complications, thanks not to the better security situation but to a near perfect treatment for prostate, a technique that has now been dubbed as a boon for elders.

Just after a team of doctors performed Holmium Laser Technique Treatment on painful condition of enlarged prostate in the Capital’s specialty centre, R.G. Stone Urological Research Institute, he left for the valley for a picnic.

According to an estimate, about 40 per cent of men in Delhi over the age of 60 are having this condition.

Urologists of the city say enlarged prostrate condition has come as a major cause of discomfort for elders and their younger family members.

Such elders are said to be more prone to being an object of neglect in the family. Family members voice impatience about the nagging prostrate problem of afflicted elders.

Berger was passing through an agony of pain and urinary complications caused by enlarged prostate, which is said to be a major source of traumatic problems in advanced age. The US national was admitted to the institute with complaints of LUTS consequent to BPH gr II along with hypertensive effects through medication.

Trailing a previous history of pulmonary embolism following appendectomy in 2006, his regular consumption of anticoagulants had put him at an increased risk of bleeding following surgery that could prove fatal.

Dr Anil Varshney, chief urologist, RG Stone Urological Research Institute, explains, “In view of his medical condition and the use of anticoagulant drugs, he was advised HOLEP (Holmium Laser Enucleation of Prostate), had he undergone the traditional intervention like TURP, the fear of complications would have haunted him surely.”

He soon underwent the procedure and recovered successfully within two days as a highly satisfied man who had never anticipated of getting such a world class treatment in India. 

New Delhi, May 30
MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta today assured that a CBI inquiry would be done into alleged illegal slaughtering of cows at Id Gah slaughter house.

He assured this after the issue was raised by Opposition member Jai Kishan Sharma in the weekly Standing Committee meeting.

Sharma alleged that cows were being slaughtered at the slaughter house in connivance with the officers concerned. He demanded a CBI inquiry into the case.