New Delhi, August 16
In a novel case, two persons posing as BSES officials visited a house in Paschim Vihar's B Block in a bid to extort money. The imposters deliberately chose a time when the men of the house-two brothers--were away at work and only their wives were at home. The imposters told the unsuspecting women that their electricity meters had been tampered with and they were liable to pay huge penalties. The two were then asked to call their husbands and persuade them to settle the case for Rs 50,000.

The husbands, getting a call from their wives, reached home. Suspecting that something was amiss, they asked the duo to show their identity cards. Their names, according to the I-cards were Ashotosh Rana and Satish Kumar.

The I-cards, though having a BSES logo, had telltale signs of being fake. Alerted, the customers confronted them and threatened to inform BSES and the police. The customers immediately informed BSES and tried to detain the duo till the arrival of BSES officials but the imposters managed to flee-leaving behind their bag and I-cards.

A search of the bag revealed a stolen accu-check instrument, fake BSES bills, application form, enforcement bills etc. In addition, the bag also contained a diary mentioning a few names and address- possibly a list of their victims.

Separate complaints have been filed both by the customers and BSES against the duo at

the Paschim Vihar Police Station and investigations are currently underway.

In another case, a customer made payments of Rs 32,000 and Rs 7,200 towards an enforcement penalty and a demand note for a new connection

respectively. He ended up getting duped by conmen.

The case was discovered when the customer visited the local BSES office to enquire about the status of his 'pending' application for a new electricity connection. The official looking at the receipts shown by the customer got alerted-for they had telltale

signs of being fake. He immediately informed senior officials.

Questioning of the customer revealed that a few days earlier, he had been approached by two persons, who convinced him that they were from BSES and had come, as part of a newly launched service to collect payments from home and facilitate early installation of his meter.

The gullible customer had paid them Rs 39,200. The following day, the conmen again visited him and gave him printed receipts for the payment made.

"BSES urges its customers to guard against unscrupulous elements who are out to make a quick buck and tarnish the company's image. They should not be intimidated by their threats and false assurances and should not give money- whatever be the reason. All enforcement-related and other payments--fines, penalties and other commercial payment--are to be made only at designated BSES offices," said a BSES official.

New Delhi, August 16
K. Vijayan, deputy commissioner ,Central Zone,has been transferred to Rohini Zone. Z.U. Siddiqui, deputy commissioner ,Sadar Paharganj Zone has been shifted to Central Zone. J.P. Aggarwal has been repatriated to his parent office in Sadar Paharganj Zone. Brajesh Narain Singh, on deputation with the MCD has been posted as the deputy commissioner of Najafgarh Zone. Azimul Haque has been posted as the deputy commissioner of Civil Lines Zone. Kiran Dabral, hitherto working as the deputy commissioner of Civil Lines Zone has been posted as the director of inquiries. She has been given an additional charge of the land and estate department.

Sangeeta Bansal has joined as deputy commissioner, slum and JJ department. P.R. Sethi , deputy commissioner ,Narela Zone ,has been posted to Shahdara South Zone . P.K. Panda has joined as deputy commissioner, Narela Zone. Amit Prashad, joint assessor and collector ,has been posted as the assistant deputy commissioner, information technology department relieving Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner, City Zone of Additional Charge of the IT Department. 

New Delhi, August 16
The Mayor of Delhi should have ensured that decorum was maintained in the MCD House, said the Lt-Governor of Delhi to a delegation of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) led by its president Ram Babu Sharma.

The Lt-Governor patiently listened to the DPCC delegation today and promised that he would take a suitable action. He said, "He himself had witnessed the episode on television and was very concerned by what had happened which was condemnable," according to a press statement issued by the DPCC.

An unruly scene was witnessed in the MCD House meeting on August 13 when the BJP and the BSP members fought, the statement said.

The delegation members met the Lt-Governor to apprise him of the recent violent incident and sought that the MCD be superseded.

The delegation members pointed out to the Lt-Governor that "in the annals of the MCD's long history, such an unruly behaviour by the ruling party councillors had never been witnessed".

They said the ruling BJP councillors adopted the policy of "might is our right" to stifle the voice of the people's representatives of other political parties as they tried to raise the issues affecting the common people. The DPCC delegation stressed that the MCD, under the BJP rule, had lost all moral and ethical rights to continue in power and requested the Lt-Governor to exercise his powers and recommend to the union home ministry to supersede the MCD.

New Delhi, August 16
Following the directions of the Supreme Court for the implementation of a national policy on urban street vendors, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has framed a scheme.

The application format as well as the scheme containing the salient features of squatting or vending in weekly markets and the eligibility conditions is available on MCD's website 'www.mcdonline.gov.in', which can be downloaded, the MCD spokesperson said.

The filled application, as per format on plain paper with two passport size photographs and an affidavit depicting age, economic condition of the applicant, status such as- handicapped, widow, war-widow, dependent of a deceased MCD employee, existing tehbazari and other document, along with processing charges of Rs 100 may be submitted by September 16 at the Citizen Service Bureaus (CSBs) of the concerned zonal office of the Corporation, under which the applicant is living.

New Delhi, August 16
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today inaugurated a city forest in Ghazipur Hindon Cut.

Dikshit said that the 23 city forests would reduce pollution level, apart from improving the ecological balance in the Capital. She added that children could play a crucial role as environment ambassadors. Schoolchildren and jawans of the Rapid Action Force joined the CM in planting saplings. She appreciated schoolchildren for being instrumental in making eco-clubs successful.

Dikshit added that 14 city forests are in Delhi while, nine new ones would be the new lungs of the Capital. Environment minister of state Raj Kumar Chauhan, East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, area MLAs Brahmpal and Amrish Gautam were also present.

The city forest being developed at Ghazipur Hindon Cut is an addition to the existing green lungs in the metropolis. The Ghazipur city forest is one of the 18 city forests developed under the aegis of department of forests and wildlife. The proposed city forest would spread over an area of 9.33 acres, for carrying out the compensatory plantation in lieu of the proposal cleared by the department under the Delhi Preservation of Tree Act, 1994.

Faridabad, August 15
The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) has dusted up an old case with regard to continuation of services of more than 500 ad hoc employees following the court's seeking clarification on the issue.

In 1996, there was a move to retrench these employees who were on daily wages, but the move was stalled due to stay granted by the court in their favour.

Later, the civic body did retrench the services of about 1,500 employees in 2001. Some of them moved the court challenging the retrenchment on ground that those junior to them were allowed to continue with their services.

Following the court seeking clarification, it was stated that the issue of services of the employees allowed to continue was pending in the court.

It is the same issue which has now again come to the centrestage as the court has sought clarification. The problem with the MCF is that if it does not give a satisfactory response to the court, the 1,500 employees whose jobs were retrenched will have to be taken back. Hence, the MCF opening up the case afresh to find out who among the 500-odd employees were junior to those 1,500 whose services were retrenched. According to a functionary of the MCF, it is not clear how many employees of the civic body will get the axe. The employees in question are of lower level grade including baildars, safai karamcharis, tubewell operators, etc.

Noida, August 16
Neeraj, 16, has been missing for the past 12 days. On August 6, he left his home in sector 41 here, for school.

The elder son of a Noida authority employee, Gulab Singh, Neeraj, a student of class X in Eldee Institute of Education at Baraula had left his home on August 6, but did not return home in the evening. When Gulab Singh contacted the school, he was told that Neeraj had not reached school. However, Bhupinder, his classmate said that he had seen Neeraj standing near the transformer, but Neeraj did not attend school that day.

When Gulab Singh failed to obtain any information about his son's whereabouts from relatives and friends, he lodged an FIR in sector 39 police station, the next day. In 2000, Gulab Singh's younger son had been abducted for ransom. At that time, he was only 5 years old.

On the third day of his abduction, a letter demanding a ransom of Rs 3 lakh was found near the door. Later, the abductors had lowered the demand to Rs 10,000.

The child was freed three months after the amount had been paid to the kidnappers.

New Delhi, August 16
Terming the address of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the Independence Day as deceptive, the BJP Delhi Pradesh president Harsh Vardhan said that the Chief Minister was not concerned about the residents of Delhi.

Vardhan said that she was worried only about the Commonwealth Games.

He alleged that nine years of Congress' governance had made the life of residents a hell. Dikshit wanted to make Delhi a cyber city, but people here were facing loadshedding from four to ten hours, water shortage, price spiral and lack of other basic amenities.

The condition of public transport here is such that on an average, the buses kill one person daily.

Even after paying hefty power and water bills, people are facing acute loadshedding and water shortage.

He alleged that the tankers of the Delhi Jal Board were earning money by supplying water to hotels, restaurants and banquet halls.

Forty per cent of the city's population does not have houses.

The sword of demolition and penalty is hanging high on 40 lakh residents of unauthorised colonies. An announcement was made for allowing one additional floor through the new Master Plan. But, the case of additional floor is stuck in the court due to poor planning and lack of proper submission. Besides, in spite of it being India's Capital, Delhi is not a fully literate state, said Vardhan. 

New Delhi, August 16
Only about 40 per cent men and 32 per cent women are aware that arthritis and osteoporosis are distinct maladies, the former affecting the joints and the latter the bones.

These findings are the result of an extensive pilot survey conducted by the Arthritis Foundation of India Trusts (AFI).

The survey reveals the shocking ignorance of some facts like more than 90 per cent considered arthritis as a disease of old age. Asked whether they knew that the ailment could affect any age group, 6.4 per cent of men over 40 said they knew while a measly 3.9 per cent under the age of 40 replied in the affirmative.

The statistics regarding women is equally low. While 7.4 per cent of women above the ages of 40 knew the answer, 4.7 per cent of women under that age said they knew.

Further findings reveal that 35.8 per cent men above the age of 40 knew that there are different kinds of arthritis, while 33.7 per cent men below 40, are aware of this fact.

In the case of women, a whopping 58.1 per cent above the age of 40 know the answer while under the age of 40, as little as 28.2 per cent knew about different varieties of arthritis.

The survey exposes extremely low awareness regarding osteoporosis too.

When questioned as to how many people know that a majority of fractures are basically complications of osteoporosis, 11.9 per cent of men above the age of 40 and 9.8 per cent below the age of 40 said they had an idea. Of the women, 13.9 per cent above 40 said they knew, while in the under 40 category, about 7.6 per cent women were able to give correct replies.

When the survey wanted to find out how many people knew that osteoporosis is treatable with medicines alone and no surgery is required, 33.1 per cent men above the age of 40 and 50.7 per cent men below 40 replied in the affirmative.

Of women, 36 per cent over 40 years of age said they knew, while 27.7 below 40 said they knew osteoporosis was treatable.

Only 41.6 per cent of men above 40 knew that osteoporosis was treatable, while under that age, 55.5 per knew of the possibilities of treatment. In the case of women, 48.3 per cent over the age of 40 could say 'yes' to the question, while 35.4 per cent under 40 replied in the affirmative.

Similarly when asked if they knew that arthritis could be treated successfully, 32.4 per cent and 40.1 per cent over and under the ages of 40 said they did. About 41.6 per cent of women over 40 said 'yes' when asked the same question, while a smaller 22.4 per cent of women under the age of 40 said they knew of the various treatments.

"Surprisingly despite fanciful talks about joints replacements and endoscopic surgery, the majority is still clueless regarding the utility of operation in arthritis," says Dr Sushil Sharma, chairman, AFI.

Only 32.4 per cent in the 40-plus age group said they knew the operation to be helpful while another 36.9 in the below-40 category knew the answer.

Nearly 41.8 per cent women in the older category said they knew an operation could be helpful, while under the 40 age group, 22.4 per cent replied in the affirmative. "We appeal to the Government of India to take some affirmative steps during this Bone and Joint Decade so that men and women can reduce their risk of fractures, arthritis and deformities," adds Dr Sharma.