Gurgaon, August 11
In a continuing spate of accidents, two kanwariyas died today when a speeding truck hit them from behind, sparking off violent protests from the fellow devotees.

The accident occurred this morning on National Highway-8 near the landmark 32 Milestone restaurant. While one kanwariya Shamsher Singh died on the spot, the other named Bittoo succumbed to injuries on the way to the hospital.

After the accident, the fellow kanwariyas lay the bodies in the middle of road blocking the national highway. They also damaged some petrol-refilling machines of a petrol pump near the site of the accident.

The agitated kanwariyas disrupted traffic for more than an hour, till the time police were able to pacify them.

"We have arrested the driver of truck which hit the kanwariyas and the vehicle has been seized, Gurgaon commissioner of police said. — PTI

Ghaziabad, August 11
A business worth Rs 106 crore in NCR has been the direct result of lakhs of kanwariyas converging and walking from various parts of the country to fetch the Ganga water from Haridwar.

The Shiv Bakts have come in for criticism for some clashes en route with small-time local traders, shopkeepers and cart-pullers. Enraged kanwariyas have also damaged buses, cars and other public properties when their fellow-kanwariyas, walking on highways, were mowed down by trucks and buses.

Some 15 lakh kanwariyas have, however, given business worth lakhs of rupees in the form of decoration and sprucing up of the pilgrimage city. Shiv Bakts are known to have spent crores on their special ceremonial dresses and the colourful and attractive kanwars carried by them.

The kanwariyas from Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and other towns marched to the holy city in groups According to the Mahant Narayan Giri, the priest of Dudheshwer Nath temple, an offering of over 5 lakh kanwars is expected to be made in the holy river this year. But the 15 lakh kanwariyas have literally showered money on the holy city this year, said Giri.

The charges for decorating the kanwars range from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 a piece in Haridwar. But 85% kanwariyas have spent an average of Rs 250 on their kanwar, totalling up to over Rs 32.5 crore.

The 15 lakh kanwariyas must have spent on food and stay at a modest rate Rs 200 per head. Then some 75,000 kanwariyas are known to have spent some over Rs 1 crore on vehicles in the pilgrimage, it is learnt.

Greater Noida, August 11
In view of a number of bogus claimants having fraudulently taken payments of land compensation, authorities have decided to minutely peruse the land record of up to last 50 years before approving and releasing the payment of land compensation to claimants.

This would make release of fraudulent payments impossible in future, the sources said. Before a compensation is paid to farmer, the Khataunis of the land will be tallied with revenue record of 1952. It will be determined as to how much land was under village Samaj then and how much is under it presently.

Payments of compensation to bogus claimants will be stopped forthwith. A committee under city magistrate has been set-up to examine this issue. As per an order by district magistrate, the process of acquiring 7,000 acres of land has been put on the hold for the time being. This order has created a near panic situation in Noida and Greater Noida Authority offices.

District Magistrate A.V. Raja Moli said before clause 4 was enforced, Khataunis of farmers of the concerned villages would be minutely examined to determine the extent of Gram Samaj land in 1952 and now. Should the Gram Samaj land be found short, a probe would be conducted to find out where that land had gone. It will also be probed if the land deeds had been made correctly by the officials or not.

This probe will be at two levels, it is learnt. One at tehsilder's level who will send the report to collectorate where the city magistrate's team will again compare it with documents in revenue record room. Any case considered doubtful or fishy will be stopped. Such cases will not be recommended for payment of compensation. The claimant concerned will be conveyed the reason so that if he wanted, he could go in for appeal to the court.

It is learnt, the Noida CEO has sent a communication to the district magistrate asking him to find a way out at the earliest. He has pointed out that under Section 4-17 of Revenue Boards, decision of December 7 2004, before a proposal is sent to the government for payment of compensation, a certificate has also to be sent to the effect that the land in question does not include a Gram Sabha land, government land or land under ceiling. It will not be correct to consider land allotted under land consolidation as Gram Sabha land, the CEO had pointed out, the sources said.

Faridabad, August 11
Director of the agriculture department Mehtab Singh Sehrawat today reviewed the working of local unit of the department.

Sehrawat, also a former Municipal Commissioner of the city, said that a lot needed to be done, not only for the interest of the state but also for the country to contribute more to the stock of food grains.

Addressing the officials of the agriculture department, he said notwithstanding the large-scale urbanisation, Haryana continued to be a predominantly agrarian state as 70 per cent of the population was still dependent on agriculture and its allied activities.

"The state government's endeavour to increase agricultural production, crop production and income of farmers through planned efforts must be seen in this context," he said.

The targets for this year have been fixed at about 152 lakh tonnes of food grain production comprising 50 lakh tonne for Kharif and about 102 lakh tonnes for Rabi season. Similarly, production targets of sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds were set at about 11 lakh tonnes (Gur), about 24 lakh bales and about 12 lakh tonnes, respectively, he said.

He told the officers that the thrust should be on encouraging the farmers to crop diversification, production of pulses and on horticulture.

Also, the priority areas were to improve the 'health of the soil' and to spread awareness among the farmers on frontier knowledge on new tool and techniques of farming, Sehrawat added.

The government's greatest thrust was to ensure that the farmers were supplied with quality seeds, implements, fertilisers and anti-germs materials like pesticides in markets.

He added that focus was also being put on bringing more land under cultivation.

New Delhi, August 11
Jawaharlal Nehru University has submitted its 11th five-year plan to the University Grants Commission in an exercise which allows its schools to recommend changes and seek more funds from the apex body.

The university has proposed a new department for mass media research. On the proposal of a new department for mass media, JNU vice-chancellor B.B. Bhattacharya recently said that, "if the proposal for the new department for mass media research comes through, then JNU will be one of the first premium universities in the country to offer a Ph.D. programme in mass media."In its 11th five year plan, JNU has also proposed to introduce new courses in computational biology, arts and aesthetics. The varsity has also proposed to offer an integrated program in M.Sc. and Ph.D.

The JNU Rector Rajendra Prasad said, "This would help students pursue various arenas of study, as using the traditional courses, students don't get a lot of exposure to various disciplines. If this change comes about then students will probably not have to venture abroad for courses of their choice." Bhattacharya also announced that a laboratory will be inaugurated soon and will be open for research to all universities and researchers. The other recommendations made by the university are to extend some of the existing schools, enhance investment in state-of-art instrumentation facilities and to conserve forested areas in the university.

New Delhi, August 11
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today inaugurated five more porta cabins for community centres in DIZ area in the third phase. NDMC chairperson Parimal Rai also graced the occasion.

The CM along with officials of NDMC, representatives of RWAs and residents of the colony planted saplings on the occasion. 16 porta cabins for community centres have been constructed in DIZ area under the MLA local fund of CM's constituency. The construction of such cabins aim at providing a common place to RWAs to plan for the welfare of the residents of their colonies and to deliberate their views so that development work can be executed in the colony.

Each porta cabin is of 180 sq ft. Sufficient infrastructure is available for the interaction between the representative of RWA and residents of the colony. All 16 porta cabins have been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 36 lakh. The five cabins inaugurated today are located in Sector IV, Block 34-38, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg; Sector II, H-2 Block, Mandir Marg; Sector II, J Block, Park Street; Sector II, H-1 Block, Udyan Marg and Sector II, K Block, Old R.K. Ashram Marg.

New Delhi, August 11
The Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) requested the state government to exempt new buses purchased by private transporters and educational institutions from excise duty and VAT, at par with DMRC. The taxes are exempted on the feeder buses purchased by the DMRC.

With this, transportation system will improve here. Metro rail cannot reach each colony and road. It cannot be an alternative to bus in the city. Coordinator of IFTRT S.P. Singh said today that excise duty and VAT should be exempted on the purchase of new buses to make bus transportation system stronger in the city. He added that the exemption had already been given to DMRC.

He said to provide better and systematic connectivity from colonies to metro stations, the DMRC had set up a separate bus transport division and the state government had given it the legal status of the State Transport Undertaking, which is at par with the DTC.

He added that in a recently finalised tender to operate feeder bus service in Delhi, the DMRC has decided to put up 300 mini CNG buses in the first phase. The first batch of 120 buses is expected to run on Delhi roads from the next month. As a part of its expansion programme, to spread metro railway to other parts of the capital and NCR, the DMRC is to put more than 1,000 such buses by the next two or three years.

The DMRC has fixed a fare of Rs 5 per head for metro feeder buses and private bus operators will be free to pick and drop passengers.

Last week the transport department of Delhi government held a pre-bid meeting with private bus operators and other stake holders, where the participants and IFTRT urged the authorities to follow the DMRC model in encouraging private transport companies to operate the mini buses.

The IFTRT said that schools and other educational institutions be encouraged and induced to put up there own bus fleet and, it is thus, necessary to give duty and tax concession to them in line of DMRC.

New Delhi, August 11
Delhi Police has nabbed another gang of Bangladeshi robbers, yesterday. The burglars were allegedly planning to commit theft in one of the farmhouses in the Mehrauli area.

The south district police has recovered gold and silver jewellery, one wrist watch, two mobile phones, one countrymade pistol, two live cartridge, two button-actuated knives, one iron rod, one screw driver and a piece of rope from them.

The south district police received information yesterday night that some five criminals would assemble in the Mehrauli area. A raiding party was constituted and five alleged robbers were apprehended at the given spot.

New Delhi, August 11
Delhi schools are witnessing an increasing trend of foreign students. There is a constant inflow of foreign students and many foreigners in the Capital prefer sending their children to private schools, rather than a British or an American one.

Foreigners send their children to 'desi' schools as quality education is imparted at comparatively lower prices and children are made to participate in extra curricular activities. Moreover, they want their wards to get a proper knowledge of India.

Teachers of schools like Tagore International, G.D. Goenka, DPS International, Springdales, etc say that foreigners want their children to learn about the Indian culture.

While, school authorities credit the 'India Shining Campaign' among diplomats and Indian diaspora.

DPS R.K. Puram and Springdales have around 150 and 33 foreign students respectively.

At this, the former President simply said, "I am lucky." The hotel management had the prior information that the former President would stop there for lunch and a little rest. Many people greeted him by touching his feet.

New Delhi, August 11
Mayor Arti Mehra imposed Rs 50,000 fine on private contractor M/s Delhi Waste Management Services for unhygienic conditions and poor maintenance of dhalaos in New Friends Colony today.

The sanitary inspector of the area is also suspended. Mehra took this action after an inspection.

During inspection she found the sanitary condition of C Block in New Friends Colony to be the worst. The engineer-in-chief cum director-in-chief (Environment Management Services) Ravi Dass and other senior officers accompanied her.

Mehra found the sanitary condition of G Block in Hauz Khas market was dissatisfactory.

Following her instruction, a fine of Rs 10,000 was imposed on M/s Delhi Waste Management Services, the private operator responsible for the maintenance of dhalaos in the area.