New Delhi, September 14
The DDA officers concerned with the demolition of Ma Durga Temple in front of Mahendru Enclave here should be punished. The 45-year -old temple was demolished today. Delhi BJP Pradesh president Dr Harsh Vardhan made this demand here today.

The residents of Mahendru Enclave assembled at the spot as soon as they learnt about the demolition. The protest was countered with tear gas shells and lathi charge. Vardhan demanded the release of those who were arrested and free treatment of the injured. The injured were admitted to the Hindu Rao Hospital and Sunder Lal Jain Hospital.

Vardhan said that the Delhi government would have to face grave consequences for the temple’s demolition.

Earlier, the DDA had attempted to demolish it twice. This time, a team comprising senior DDA officers, SHOs of six police stations and DCP Manish Aggarwal reached the spot with five battalions of the armed force to ensure the temple’s demolition. The police sealed 1-km area around the temple and locked the gates of Mahendru Enclave.

BJP Sadar District in-charge Bhola Nath Vij, Suresh Kumar Bansal of the Bharat Vikas Parishad and BJP leaders Vikesh Sethi and Ashwani Nayyer were detained.

Central urban development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and state minister Ajay Maken had announced yesterday that no place of worship would be demolished.

New Delhi, September 14
A Bollywood film producer was arrested here with his accomplice, for allegedly helping people immigrate abroad on tampered travel documents, the police said today.

Sleuths of Delhi police’s special cell arrested Irshad Ahmed, 30, and Bikram Kesari Sahu, 32, from Nehru Place on Wednesday, after receiving a tip-off from the Mumbai police about the immigration racket.

According to the police, Ahmed, a co-producer and close to some big names in the Hindi film industry, in order to make quick money collected Rs 9,00,000 each, from people in Delhi, Mumbai and other parts of the North India to get them visa for Europe and other countries.

“They tampered passports that carries visa rejection stamps and applied for visa under the pretext of a film shoot in Italy. Each person from whom the money was collected was assigned a role accordingly, such as- cameraman, assistant producer, spot boy and other unit members,” informed a senior police official.

The police said that the racket was exposed, after the Italian embassy discovered a couple of tampered passports and reported the matter to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Mumbai.

“We have produced them before a court here and have handed them over to the Mumbai police, which are investigating the case,” the official said.

The police refused to divulge the details of those who allegedly travelled abroad with Ahmed’s help. — IANS

New Delhi, September 14
Visually impaired children and representatives of the National Association of the Blind pinned a flag on Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna on the occasion of the All India Flag Day at Raj Niwas here today.

Regional co-ordinator, NAB, group captain P.K. Agnihotri and Prof C.D. Tamboli were also present.

Khanna made monetary contributions for the welfare of the visually challenged. He enquired about the welfare activities of the association and offered government’s co-operation to it. 

Noida, September 14
Armed criminals attacked and looted a ceiling fan manufacturing factory in Sector-4 Noida on Wednesday night.

The bandits overpowered the two security guards and made them captive before decamping with copper worth lakhs of rupees.

The police have taken the guards into custody under suspicion and are grilling them.

Manufacturers of ceiling fans, Tulika Appliances P. Ltd, have their factory in B-19 Sector-4 where security guards Arvind and Ram Khilani were on night duty. Factory general manager N.K. Malpani’s servant Bahadur had found the factory gate ajar in the morning with both the guards bound in the store. Malpani rushed to the factory and had both the guards untied and informed the police.

The guards told the general manager that about a dozen bandits had entered the factory by scaling the factory boundary wall at 2 a.m. and tied both of them at pistol point. They then looted bearings, copper, etc and loaded the goods in the mini truck they had brought for the purpose.

Factory owner Tarun Kumar and police were informed. SP City and police from Sector-20 police station soon reached the spot.

The police interrogated the guards and finding their version suspicious, the cops took them into custody.

In other loot, bandits decamped with sewing machines worth lakh from a factory in B-56 Sector-8, Noida. 

Greater Noida, September 14
A team of trade tax officials and police was once again at the receiving end when organized tax evaders attacked them and beat them up. Two policemen were seriously injured in the attack. One of them is reported to be in a critical condition in a private hospital in Noida.

Trade tax officer Arun Srivastava has lodged a report in Javer police station naming the tax-evading mafia. Two loaded trucks have also been seized by the authorities.

According to information available, the trade tax dy commissioner had been alerted by an informer that tax evaders will try to smuggle two truck loads of taxable and stolen goods at night.

Two sub inspectors, eight cops in one Tata-407 and some officials in two other vehicles were sent to Javer to apprehend the tax evaders.

The teams were told by checkpost in charge Arun Srivastava that the tax evaders had forcibly taken two trucks loaded with taxable good across the barrier at Jhuppa. The trucks were suspected to be containing stolen goods also.

The trade tax teams then chased the mafia and when they stopped the trucks between Jhuppa and Hamidpur, suddenly some two dozen men on motorcycles surrounded the trade tax department’s raiding teams and assaulted them.

The officials and cops who had somehow managed to take the seized trucks ahead were again accosted at Hamidpur by the gangsters who had summoned more goons on cell phones. The officials were again attacked with lathis, clubs and stones.

Two cops Saudan Singh and Milap Singh were seriously injured in the attack. Milap Singh is reported to be in a critical condition in a private hospital.

According to Jt Commissioner of Trade Tax, R.N. Chaturvedi, a report naming five trade tax evaders: Jhanendera, Naresh, Rupan, Dinesh and Yoginder had been lodged in Javer police station, but they are yet to be nabbed.

New Delhi, September 14
Bowing to the pressure of the opposition benches, Congress MLA Bheesham Sharma and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit expressed apology for yesterday’s assault on Sahab Singh Chauhan, chief whip of the BJP.

The Chief Minister and her MLAs apologised when BJP MLAs again demanded expulsion of Bheesham Sharma for the entire session and tried to disrupt the functions of the House.

Harsh Vardhan also lashed the government policy for reducing the age of consuming alcohol from 25 years to 21 years, saying that it would harm the career of youngsters and increase crime against women. Youngsters should abstain from alcohol. This is not good for health.

He said that the Congress government in the national Capital was doing this under the pretext of hospitality to foreign visitors.

As far as sex education is concerned, the books selected by the education department are not good. The lessons are vulgar. Ten state governments have refused to add sex education in their curriculum. He appealed to the education minister not to introduce sex education in school.

Sex education is a concept of western countries, but not every thing is good for every country. Indian engineers, doctors, computer professionals produced by the Indian institutes are far better, Vardhan added.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma said loadshedding is being reported from various areas. Discoms were directed by the power ministers that no loadshedding should be there in Muslim areas during the month of Ramzan. But it still continued. He was supported by various MLAs across the party line.

New Delhi, September 14
Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbi College, Karol Bagh, should be given the status of Unani Medical University. It was founded by freedom fighter Hakim Ajmal Khan and is the oldest medical college in the country.

The All India Unani Tibbi Congress (AIUTC) has made this demand to the Delhi government.

Dr Syed Ahmed Khan, general secretary, AIUTC, said laying the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Ayurvedic Medical Sciences at Sarita Vihar, the government had promised an All India Institute of Unani Medical Sciences, but nothing had been done so far. Recently, the Delhi government laid the foundation stone of the Ayurvedic National Institute at Najafgarh. 

New Delhi, September 14
The Capital’s first-ever college of nursing at the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) was inaugurated by Union minister of health and family welfare Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, recently.

The college is affiliated to Delhi University and is recognised by the Indian Nursing Council. Fifty students have already taken admission to the first batch of the newly upgraded college of nursing.

“The concept of nursing has expanded over the years and is no longer confined to the hospitals and patient care alone,” Dr Ramadoss said during the inauguration. “Today, nurses are the sheet-anchor of our total healthcare delivery system. Our main aim is to provide primary healthcare, including preventive, promotive and rehabilitative services as close to the doorsteps of people as possible,” Dr Ramadoss added.

He also declared two more nursing colleges—one would come up at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) and the other at Safdarjung Hospital. This undoubtedly is a good news for the students looking at nursing as a career. It is also a much-needed step, as nursing remains one of the most neglected sectors in the service industry, Dr Ramadoss added. 

New Delhi, September 14
It was a laughter riot at Tihar Jail, the biggest prison in Asia, as three finalists of a TV show ‘Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ tickled the inmates with their wit and humour.

Ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, known for his one-liners, and contestants Sudesh Lahiri, Chandan Prabhakar, Rajiv Thakur, Kapil Sharma and Kuldeep Dube visited the jail last evening.

Laughter comes out from our day-to-day lives. Instead of artificial laughter through yoga or other way, the show has come to give some real moments of laughter to the inmates so that they can come out of their pain for a while, Sidhu said interacting with the prisoners.

The contestants said they knew that they cannot change the lives of prisoners but could at least provide some relief to them.

They have nothing to laugh about. This is all what we can do for them, they said.

The inmates requested the contestants to sing their favourite songs and tell jokes.

The comedians also imitated film stars and politicians, creating a riot of laughter at jail No two. — PTI

New Delhi, September 14
Members of the Delhi Safai Kramcharis Commission are neither given salary nor other facilities.

The commission has two members and one chairperson. The annual budget of the commission is Rs 1.65 crore. Swaroop Chand Rajan, the chairperson of the commission gets a salary of Rs 25,000. Besides, he gets a car, staff and other facilities.

The Commission Act lays that members are entitled to a conveyance allowance of Rs 5,700, but they do not get that. The chairperson says that the members are neither entitled to salary nor conveyance allowance. They are given Rs 1,000 per sitting, when they come to attend meetings.

Noida, September 14
A three-day inter-school festival, ‘Resplendence–2007’ was organised last week at Vishwa Bharati Public School, Noida. It provided a rich and variegated platform to the budding artistes and orators to showcase their talent and creativity.

Teams of students from over a dozen schools in Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi participated enthusiastically and bagged prizes varying from individual to rolling trophies.

Dab ‘n’ splash art competition, English declamation, poem recitation, on-the-spot painting competition, cartoon-making and poster-making Hindi debate, Arghya-2007, the annual group orchestra and group dance competition and India Quiz-2007 were the highlights of the festival.

Inter-School English declamation on the topic, Online Community Forum—The Social Freeway—saw many a confident delivery of speech on the topic and showcased the in-depth knowledge and oratory skills of the 30 students who participated from 15 schools. The host school bagged the trophy and passed it to Sommerville, Noida, who was the first runner- up. Poem recitation on the theme e ‘Humour’ was held for the primary students of Class IV and V. Birla Vidya Niketan, Delhi won the overall trophy.

Eminent sitar exponent Padmabhushan awardee Pt. Debu Choudhary was the chief guest at Arghya 2007, the annual Inter-School Group Orchestra and Group Dance Competitions in which 10 schools from NCR region displayed their cultural talents.

In the group dance ‘Bhav Nritya’, a distinct undercurrent of culture and philosophy could be seen in the way the folk dance was performed. The prizes for the Group Orchestra and Group Dance were bagged by Sommerville Noida and DPS Noida respectively. The rolling trophy instituted by Pt. Debu Chaudhary, dedicated in memory of his Guru Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan was bagged by the host school while the DPS Noida emerged the runners- up.

‘India Quiz-2007’ was held for classes VI, VII and VIII students in which 14 schools from NCR region participated. The six teams, chosen after the elimination round, matched their wits and ran neck to neck till the final round.

The host school bagged the first position with Bal Bharti Public School Noida and Sommerville, Noida being at the 2nd and 3rd positions.