New Delhi, June 2
The outskirts of the national Capital today bore the brunt of the Gujjar protests with roadblocks triggering major traffic snarls, keeping police personnel on their toes.

Slogan-shouting Gujjars took to the streets in Badarpur in South Delhi bordering Haryana and Chilla village near Uttar Pradesh, stopping vehicles and burning effigies of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the morning hours.

Traffic was also disrupted in the Ghazipur border in East Delhi due to the demonstrations as Gujjars continued protests in the Capital for the fourth consecutive day today against the police firings on members of their community in Rajasthan.

Demonstrations were also taken out in Sarai Kale Khan and Maujpur areas of South and North East Delhi, leading to traffic blocks for sometime.

However, no incidents of violence were reported from anywhere in the national Capital, police sources said, even as unrest continued in Rajasthan with protesters setting afire a railway station at Sanganer.

Sporadic incidents of violence like stone pelting and minor clashes with police were witnessed in the past two days as angry Gujjars hit the streets here in support of the demand for their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list in Rajasthan.

With violence spiralling in Rajasthan and protests taking place on the highways leading to the national Capital, the Delhi Police has deployed additional personnel and set up security pickets as a precautionary measure.

In Faridabad, after violence and disruption of traffic on several points for two days, an uneasy calm prevailed as no untoward incident was reported till the filing of this report. The jawans of the Haryana police and paramilitary forces kept a vigil in all the sensitive areas and this was likely to continue for the next few days.

At least four companies of the CRPF, IRB (Indian Reserve Battalion) and the Haryana Armed Police have been deployed along with the local police to check violence in connection with the ongoing agitation of the Gujjar community in support of reservation. There was a minor disruption of the traffic on Surajkund Road for 15 to 20 minutes due to blockade by some youths this morning.

However, a rumour that some youths had announced

to set themselves ablaze in public at B.K. Chowk here at 4 pm today sent the police and district administration in a tizzy. A large number of policemen led by senior officials, including the SDM reached the spot about an hour before and remained there for about two hours, but no such incident took place. About two dozen youths had come out on Bhadkhal-Surajkund Road near Anangpur village, this morning, but they left the place after intervention by the officials, it is learnt.

According to authorities, the security personnel had been posted round the clock at several places in the city and surrounding areas, which include Anangpur, Ankhir and Mewla Maharajpur villages, besides Pali Road, Kheri Kalan Bridge and the Neelam and B.K. crossings in the city.

New Delhi, June 2
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced Dilli Haat at Pitampura would be completed till November. The haat would be spacious, beautiful, well-designed and equipped with ultra-modern facilities. It would also provide ample parking facilities.

She made this announcement after reviewing the construction work done at Pitampura Dilli Haat and Guru Tegh Bahadur Memorial at the Singhu border near Narela. The memorial was being constructed at an entry point to Delhi at National Highway 1. The haat would present an incredible opportunity to investors, entrepreneurs and artisans to profit from unique selling proposition of the project. With its unique positioning, prime location, proximity to the Delhi Metro and large area the haat was sure to generate millions of footfalls, the Chief Minister said.

She added her government was considering setting up another Dilli Haat in East Delhi. After inspecting the ongoing work of GTB Memorial at the Singhu border, Dikshit expressed confidence it would developed as an outstanding memorial at the entry point of Delhi and with sweeping green curves, geometrical granite planes and imposing stainless steel forms it would become a marvellous piece of architecture on an 11.57 acre plot. It would cost Rs 1,050 lakh and turn out be a befitting memorial of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahab. Dikshit said the first such entry point that had been envisaged on the historical Sher Shah Suri Marg, now known as National Highway 1, had been dedicated to the memory of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs. Guru Tegh Bahadur's significance in the history of Delhi could be gauged by the fact that two historic gurdwaras of Delhi, Sis Ganj where Guru Tegh Bahadur and his disciples were beheaded, and Rakabganj, his final resting place, were in his memory and important places of pilgrimage.

Dilli Haat in Pitampura is envisaged as a well-planned space with provisions for cultural activity, designed for demonstration and exhibition of traditional craft with eateries and shops to generate public activity in the area. Once opened to general public, it would become a marvellous centre in that region, which is entirely isolated in terms of any cultural activity, most of which is concentrated around central and southern parts of Delhi.

The Pitampura Dilli Haat is being developed in North West Delhi in an area of 7.2 acres. The Dilli Haat at Pitampura would have 108 craft shops, 11 temporary shops, a multi-purpose pavilion for craft exhibition with a capacity of 100 display or exhibit counters and 20 food kiosks. With a capacity of 400 persons in the food court, it would have a fine dining AC restaurant with seating capacity of 100 persons, a conference room, a double-storied dormitory for craftsmen with a capacity of 96 beds, an amphitheatre with a capacity of 450 persons; car and scooter parking. Its other salient features would be an art gallery, a spice market, a sculpture court, large landscaped greens etc. 

Faridabad, June 2
The Haryana Abhibhawak Ekta Manch has claimed that various schools affiliated to the CBSE have started harassing the students who have shown average results in the recent board examination.

It is alleged that donations have been sought from such students. The Manch has offered help to such students and their parents and announced to initiate legal action against institutions.

A spokesperson of the Manch said here today that while the students who scored between 40 and 50 per cent marks in the Matric examination were denied admission in the next class, those who had scored between 50 and 70 per cent marks had been facing the difficulty of getting admission in the course or stream of their choice.

"Instead of the students deciding the course, the schools authorities have been virtually forcing them to take admission in arts and commerce streams," the Manch spokesperson claimed.

He said the Manch would offer help to the students and their parents to take a legal action against the schools which harass them on this account and deny admission on such grounds.

According to advocate O.P Sharma, president of the Manch, the schools could not deny admission to their regular students on the basis of their performance.

He said the Supreme Court in one of its decisions had held that a school should provide admission to its regular students who passed the exams before admitting other candidates.

He said the Manch had received complaints that some schools had been harassing the students in one way or the other.

These schools offered either commerce or arts courses or forced the average students to get transfer certificate.

Reports of some institutions seeking donations from such students had also come in, he claimed. He said the apex court in a case in Gujarat had ordered that the schools could not be given the liberty to deny admission to its own students. Asking the parents not to pay extra fee and other charges at the time of admission to Plus One class, the Manch asked the parents to lodge their protest against such moves.

The schools had been indulging in such a practice each year just to ensure admission to brilliant students and exploit the parents of average students, stated the Manch.

New Delhi, June 2
A spokesperson of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said Haryana had not been releasing water for the past three days despite requests to the authorities concerned. Consequently, the DJB was unable to maintain the level of its pond at Wazirabad. The level of the pond should be 674.5 ft. The shortage of raw water had affected the water treatment plants at Chandrawal and Wazirabad.

This action of the Haryana Government was in violation of the Supreme Court verdict delivered in 1996.

As a result, water supply to the entire city, including the NDMC and the cantonment area, would be affected from this evening, the spokesperson said. 

New Delhi, June 2
Delhiites today experienced the hottest day of the summer with the mercury crossing 44 degree Celsius and no respite being in sight as well with the Met Department predicting a scorcher of a Sunday.

The maximum temperature shot up to 44.1 degree Celsius, a good three notches above the normal, giving a torrid time to the denizens and making Saturday the hottest June day in the past two years.

The Capital had recorded a maximum temperature of 43.6 degree Celsius on June 12 last year, the Met Department said. Today's minimum temperature was also high at 27 degree Celsius. The unexpected heat conditions forced Delhiites, who have experienced one of the coolest May in recent years, to make a beeline for fruit and cold drink stalls besides taking shelter in shaded places.

The weatherman attributed the rise in temperature to north-westerly winds and absence of an upper air circulation system and predicted the minimum temperature to hover around 45 degree Celsius tomorrow.

The maximum temperature had crossed the 40-degree Celsius mark only on nine occasions in May and the month was also the wettest in the past four years with the city experiencing 16 rain events. The maximum temperature recorded last month was 42.7 degree Celsius on May 15 while the mercury had shot up to 46 degree Celsius on May 19, 2002, the weather office said. In the past four years the mercury had touched the 45 degree mark on two occasions - on May 18, 2004, and on May 7,  2006. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 2
The Mayor, Ms Arti Mehra, said that Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) would involve all its councillors representing 272 wards to fight dengue and malaria.

The health department has also organised an exhibition to create awareness among the citizens so that they could protect themselves from these diseases. A formal function was organised at Mohammadpur village near Bhikaji Cama Place to mark the beginning of the programme. Such programmes will be organised in all zones, spokesman of the MCD said.

New Delhi, June 2
The police have still no clue to a headless body found near a railway line in West Delhi, setting the alarm-bells ringing for police which had two weeks ago claimed to have nabbed a serial killer who dumped bodies outside Tihar Jail.

The male body, with its head, legs and hands severed, was found wrapped in a plastic bag in Shakur Basti locality of Punjabi Bagh by a railway gangman, police sources said. The recovery of the dismembered body has alarmed the district police, which had heaved a sigh of relief after the arrest of Chandrakant Jha, who had allegedly killed at least six persons and dumped their bodies outside Tihar.

Police had arrested Jha on May 20 and claimed that he had dumped the bodies outside Tihar Jail to vent his anger against the police for 'mistreating' him while he was in prison serving jail term in a murder case.

Investigators have not yet identified the body recovered today and have sought details of missing complaints lodged in police stations across the Capital in the last one month, sources said. With the recovery of the body fewer than two weeks after they announced the arrest of the serial killer, a stunned police brass refused to come out with any official word in the case.