New Delhi, August 28
Touched by their condition, NGOs have started coming to offer help to two sisters who nearly died of starvation while sitting beside the decomposing body of their dead sibling till the police rescued them from their south Delhi home.

“We are shocked at the condition of the sisters (Dolly and Poonam) and are here to give them whatever help we can. We will help them monetarily, and once they recuperate, and if they are willing, we will also help them get jobs so that they can earn a living,” said Pravesh Jain of the Gharonda Old Age Home, an NGO.

The Bali sisters - Dolly, 43, Poonam, 41, and Neeru, 30, - lived in house no. 331 in south Delhi’s Kalkaji area. The only earning member, Neeru, had lost her job a few months ago. The sisters, who had lost their parents years ago, did not mix in the neighbourhood. They had run out of money and shut themselves in their home. It was only when neighbours were alerted by foul smell emanating from their home that the police were called in Saturday - to find the sisters sitting beside their dead sibling awaiting death.

The two sisters, reed thin and with a dishevelled look, were taken out by the police. Members of the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of the locality admitted them to a private nursing home.

Recalling with horror how the Bali sisters looked when they were first brought to the hospital, a nursing home official said that they were more hungry for love and care, than for food.

“You should have seen the state they were in when they were brought here. They were simply skin and bones and must have not had a wash for weeks together. Their hair were in knots and it was difficult coming close to them because of the foul smell3,” Tripti Sengupta, superintendent of Sukhda Nursing Home where the two sisters are admitted, told IANS.

“But they looked oblivious to all of this,” she said.

“We had to spend a good amount of time washing and scrubbing them clean and making them wear fresh clothes before their treatment began. They are recuperating now and are eating and relishing all that has been given to them, the badam, the juice, everything,” Sengupta added.

The sisters are craving for love and care, said Sengupta.

“This morning a person, probably a neighbour, came by and deposited Rs.5,000 for the sisters. Money is of course an issue but more than that it is the care and attention of a family and loved ones that they need,” she said.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has also promised to help the surviving sisters in all possible way.

“I will visit the sisters in the hospital Wednesday morning and find out what the situation is like. I read the reports yesterday and we will try to provide help to them to rehabilitate them,” NCW member Malini Bhattacharaya told IANS.

She said that she would discuss the matter with NCW chairperson Girija Vyas and seek a police report on the issue.

Expressing shock at the incident, she said: “It’s unfortunate that a woman in the Capital has met the fate of starvation death.

“While NCW would like to rehabilitate the two sisters as a short-term measure, we would also try to work out a long-term strategy to ensure that women do not meet such fate.”

Bhattacharya also said that they would ensure that the relatives of the sisters do their bit until things improve.

“They are under trauma. More than physical well being, they need to be loved. And it’s not that they are alone in this city. They have relatives staying close by, but they have to take responsibility,” she added.—IANS

Experts Sunday blamed mental illness as the main culprit in the shocking tragedy of three sisters .

Ombir Singh, a police official investigating the matter, said that all three sisters seemed to be mentally unstable.

“Poonam, the sole breadwinner of the family who was working as a lecturer in a polytechnic institute in south Delhi, said that she lost her job about six months back because of her repeated illnesses. Since then they have been living off the little savings that they had,” Singh told IANS.

Psychiatrist Sandeep Vohra said that the sisters were suffering from a serious mental disorder. “I haven’t had a close interaction with them, hence I can’t give the exact details but from what I have observed, all these women were mentally disturbed, severely,” he said.

According to Vohra, the condition led them to be suspicious about any food item brought from outside, thinking it would poison them. “Hence the hunger and the starvation,” he said.

He added that an incident like this shows that the government needs to address mental illness with utmost importance and people need to be sensitised about it as well.—IANS

Ghaziabad, August 27
The mastermind behind gruesome murders of members of deceased Vijaypal’s family was none other than his elder brother, Brij Pal, who had hired contract killers to wipe out his brother’s family.

Four members of Vijaypal’s family were killed with sharp-edged weapons.

According to police, Brij Pal and Mukesh had paid Rs 30,000 each to the contract killers. The police had arrested two persons in this connection on Sunday. The police have recovered the weapons—axe, swords and ‘khukhuri’ and the blood-stained pants of Mukesh.

Ghaziabad SSP Deepak Ratan disclosed that Brij Pal had so far planned the murders of 10 persons just to inherit the valuable land. Cousin Mukesh has also been arrested, SSP said.

Police are raiding different places to nab four other accused. Accused Brij Pal and Mukesh said the dispute was over 25-bigha land. Brij Pal wanted to pay off his debt after selling 25-bigha land, but Vijaypal was not prepared for it. They had clashed on this issue many times.

The bank officials used to pester Brij Pal to return the loan money. A few days earlier also Brij Pal, Vijaypal and Mukesh had clashed over the issue.

New Delhi, August 27
The Delhi High Court today directed Delhi University and its affiliated colleges to implement the guidelines of the Supreme Court on conducting the student union elections.

Justice S. Ravinder Bhatt said, “The elections of Delhi University union or college union shall be conducted in accordance with the directions given by the Supreme Court in September last year.”

The court asked the university to carry out a fresh scrutiny of the candidates, in accordance with the guidelines of the apex court. It clarified that in case of any discrepancies between the universities model code of conduct and the Supreme Court’s guidelines, directions of the SC would prevail.

Meanwhile, many ABVP workers fear that the nomination of their presidential candidate, Vikas Dahiya, may get cancelled. The ABVP supporters protested on Monday at the campus to show their solidarity by Dahiya and discourage authorities from acting against his candidature. Suman Lata, Rohit Chehl and Kapil Garg of the ABVP are contesting for the posts of vice-president, secretary and joint secretary respectively.

Rajiv Ranjan from the ABVP informed, “We are holding a protest today and are talking to the authorities on our presidential candidate, Vikas Dahiya’s future vis a vis his nomination.”

Further, the Indian National Students’ Organisation (INSO) declared its candidates today. INSO’s Rajeev Kumar from Deshbandhu Evening College, Smridhi Sharma from SPM College, Dinesh Kharpa from Swami Shraddhanand College and Rohtash Chaudhry from Dayal Singh College are contesting for the posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary respectively.

New Delhi, August 27
In view of the Rakhi tomorrow, the DMRC has made special arrangements for the convenience of Metro passengers. Additional Metro trains, staff and token counters would be made available to handle the rush.

The Metro trains would start running at a peak frequency of four minutes from 8 in the morning and this peak frequency of trains would continue till 8.30 in the evening. Thus, trains would be available at four-minute interval on all three lines throughout the day, increasing the overall number of train trips by 75.

Six extra trains, two trains on each line, would be kept on standby, which would be inducted depending upon requirement, a press release by the DMRC stated.

Additional Metro staff would be deployed at the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates of Shahdara, Welcome, Seelampur, Shastri Park, Rithala, Indraprastha and Uttam Nagar (West) to manage the extra crowd and facilitate quick movement of passengers.

More token counters would also be opened at these stations depending upon the requirement. Metro officers and station managers have been advised to monitor the situation throughout the day and induct extra staff or provide help whenever required.

Additional maintenance facilities and maintenance gangs have been asked to be on standby at Shahdara, Welcome, Indraprastha, Rajiv Chowk, Rajouri Garden, Vishwavidyalay, Kashmere Gate and Rithala Metro stations to quickly attend to any repair or breakdown.

New Delhi, August 27
All the students and teachers of a private school in East Delhi were evacuated today following a bomb scare.

However, nothing suspicious was found after a thorough search of the premises and the call was declared a hoax.

According to the police, the principal of ASN Public School in Mayur Vihar, Roy Goel, received a call that a bomb was placed in the school and it would explode at 1200 hours.

The students were immediately asked to assemble at the playground and the police informed.

Sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads were rushed to the spot to carry out searches.

Anxious parents on hearing the news on television rushed to the school to ensure the safety of their children. The police said that they were not taking any chances specially at this time when the Hyderabad tragedy was still in the minds of the people.

Meanwhile, the police continued to be on high alert in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in view of the Raksha Bandhan tomorrow.

The presence of uniformed policemen was particularly heavy in the markets.

New Delhi, August 27
The state cabinet in a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today cleared the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board Bill, 2007. It also approved the strengthening of mechanism for the procurement of drugs and equipment for all government hospitals in the Capital. Besides, the cabinet discussed issues related to the filling of posts of Group C and D employees in government hospitals.

Dikshit said that the revised version of the drafted bill had been cleared by the cabinet. The bill provides for housing activities to be undertaken by the Board, for those belonging to economically weaker sections and low-income group. It also provides for the setting up of Basti Vikas Samitis, to assist and advise the Board, in matters related to such Bastis. Besides, the Board would expedite environmental improvement in urban slums.

Delhi has been witnessing immigration and urbanisation at a fast pace, which requires it to tackle these issues on an immediate basis. The Bill provides for the creation of the Board, as a body corporate undertaking, under the statutory control of the government of Delhi. It states that the Board may undertake preparation and execution of local area plans. Dikshit expressed confidence that the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board would be able to tackle issues related to slum and JJ clusters and provide a planned look to the Capital.

The Chief Minister stated her government’s commitment to streamline procedure of procurement of drugs and equipment, for government hospitals in the Capital, to ensure smooth supply of medicines to patients. Besides, the cabinet has given its nod to the proposal of strengthening the process of procurement of drugs and medical equipment. The strengthened procedure of procurement would improve healthcare in hospitals and enhance the satisfaction level of patients. It would also ensure effective and timely procurement of medical supply.

New Delhi, August 27
Fortis Healthcare, a leading private health service provider in the country, will set up six medical colleges in as many states with an investment of approximately Rs 10 billion.

“We are setting up six medical colleges and they will cater to the lower end of the social pyramid,” Shivinder Mohan Singh, CEO and managing director of Fortis Healthcare, told IANS here Monday.

Daljit Singh, president (strategy and organisational development) of Fortis, said they were negotiating with the states for land not less than 50 acres at one place.

“I think the investment on these medical colleges would be around Rs.10 billion. The medical colleges will be run under a new trust,” Daljit Singh said.

Elaborating on the mega plan, C.M. Bhasin, chief executive (projects and consultancy) of the company, said they were in talks with six states for this initiative.

“We are in talks with Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We are ready to start the educational hubs as soon as we get a go ahead from the state governments,” Bhasin told IANS.

“Talks are in an advance stage with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat. They (colleges) will provide not only postgraduate degrees but will also have facility for higher studies.

“The medical college will have a 500-bed hospital for the treatment of patients and hands-on practice for our students as well. Apart from the regular course, we will have a nursing training school, a technician training school and a bio-medical centre,” Bhasin added.

Though the proposed colleges will be operational within 10 years, those at Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Gurgaon (Haryana) may come up first.

Bhasin said that thee medical colleges would provide “unique courses that will fulfil the contemporary demand” of our country.

“We will have courses like Bio Kinetics, which will help sportspersons recover fast. I just saw this in a medical college in South Africa and have decided to start here.

“How many colleges have a course for producing dialysis technicians? I think, there are two dozen technical courses relevant to our time, which are required in India. Since we are coming up with a number of super-speciality hospitals across the country, these medical colleges will help us in getting the manpower,” he added.

Fortis has currently 12 hospitals under its umbrella.

Speaking about the Medical Council of India (MCI) permission, Bhasin said: “We are following the MCI regulations and once we are ready with all the required permissions from the state governments and local civic authorities, we will give a presentation to the MCI on it.”—IANS

Noida, August 27
The Noida police and Special Task Force (STF) team have arrested two persons for having kidnapped Jai Kishen, a city builder, six months ago. Both the accused were employees in Jai Kishen’s office and are suspected to have played a key role in the kidnap plan finalized by Jai Kishen’s partner and got executed through professional kidnappers.

There is no trace of the kidnapped builder yet, who, police suspect, might have been done away with. The victim’s partner has however obtained a stay against arrest from the High Court.

A conspiracy to usurp Rs 2.50 crore, invested by Jai Kishen in his business, is said to be the cause of his kidnapping. The duo have been arrested on the basis of sound proofs, STF officers said.

According to SP city, Paresh Pandey, builder Jai Kishen Agarwal, a resident of D-68 Sector-41 was abducted on February 2, 2007 under suspicious conditions. He was director in M/s D.R. Builders. Jai Kishen’s last conversation was from Palam Airport where he had bought Jet Airways ticket for Mumbai. His presence was recorded in airport CCT.

After a few days Jai Kishen’s family had accused his partner Devinder Pawar and his employees, Ashok Singh and Trilok Pandey. The trio were accused of trying to usurp Rs 2.50 crore invested by Jai Kishen in the business. A case was registered against them.

Meanwhile, probe of the case was handed over to CBCID without family’s request. The investigations were again reverted to Noida police and STF.

New Delhi, August 27
Now, the payment of examination fee will just be a click away for the students of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

IGNOU is to open a payment gateway soon. Students can submit their examination fee by using the credit card of any bank, VISA and Mastercard facilities, a senior official said.

Besides, IGNOU has signed an MoU with Axis Bank, where students can deposit fees, without paying any additional commission.

“This facility will come into effect from September 1, the first day for the submission of examination forms. Students can submit their fees from any of the 580 branches of the bank,” he said.

Students are required to pay Rs 50 per course as examination fee. The facility will benefit over 3 lakh students, who would appear in the examination this session, he claimed.

Those, who do not have access to on-line submission of fee or to Axis Bank, can purchase drafts from any scheduled bank and send it to the university.

While submitting the fees on-line, students will have to furnish details about their examination, after which they can go to the payment gateway. The university will launch similar facility for the payment of course-fee also, he added. 

New Delhi, August 27
In a major step forward towards a tobacco -free campus of Delhi University, the World Lung Foundation - South Asia (WLF-SA) on Saturday launched a project at the North campus to make it tobacco-free within the next two years.

Mr. G.R. Khatri, president of the NGO ,said that “about 31 per cent males and seven percent females in Delhi’s colleges smoke regularly. We need to make them aware of the ill-effects of smoking on their health and on the environment.” He further added that “we will make DU’s North Campus a smoke-free area within the next two years. The project will be financially supported by the World Lung Foundation, New York.”

The NGO has proposed to appoint a nodal tobacco-free officer in every college supported by a tobacco-free brigade.

New Delhi, August 27
To ensure that the learning process in schools is both stress-free and joyful, the Department of Education, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, has introduced CALtoonZ, specialized Computer Aided Learning in all the schools run by it.

The introduction of the CALtoonZ is part of the YUVA programme launched by the Department of Education to bring about a radical change in the system of education in government-run schools.

The programme, a brainchild of Rina Ray, secretary, Education, Government of NCT of Delhi, was developed over a period of two years with the help of a team of dedicated teachers and individuals who worked tirelessly with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to make education more fun and meaningful so that the children develop a desire to go to school.

Initially, the programme–first of its kind in the entire country—was introduced in 200 schools of the Capital last year. Encouraged by its success and the response of the students, it has now been extended to all the Delhi government-run schools. The programme is being implemented in partnership with the Ernst and Young Foundation which specializes in the field of education..

According to Ray, the success of the programme has been astounding and has led to a perceptible drop in the dropout rate in schools. It has also shown higher learning achievements among the children. Ray claimed that after the introduction of the programme, the drop rate in Delhi schools fell from 19.7 per cent in 2004 to a mere 5.9 per cent this year. The enrollment in these schools has also shown an increase of 12.62 per cent. The performance levels in the class X CBSE exams, showed an increase of 12 per cent from 48 per cent in 2005 to 60 per cent last year.

Similar was result in the class XII CBSE exams which showed an increase of two per cent—from 76 per cent in 2005 to 78 per cent this year.

New Delhi, August 27
Doctors’ agitation in Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital has paralysed the OPD and emergency services there. Over 400 resident and junior doctors have gone on a strike, after a patient’s relative manhandled a doctor on Saturday.

The doctors are demanding the recruitment of nurses and orderlies.

Meanwhile, the two rounds of talk between the hospital administration and the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) have failed.