New Delhi, October 17
A group of people who have lost family members to Blueline buses today formed an association to fight for justice.

“Organised into an association, they will be able to secure compensation and other benefits that is due to them by the state,” said Sanjay Kaul, president , People’s Action ,who had mooted the idea of the association last week .

Many victims’ families have not even been able to register FIRs due to the police resistance. Sandeep Kalyan has been running from pillar to post to get the police acknowledge that his brother’s accident was caused by a Blueline bus.

In other cases, victims are promised financial support but nothing comes of it. Bharti Sharma, mother of Morrick who lost his life four months ago in a Blueline accident, said that their case had not even reached the courts and that their meetings with Delhi minister of transport Haroon Yusuf yielded nothing as he refused to consider any case for compensation.

“The government is concerned with political damage, not the victims or their families,” said Atul Goyal of United RWAs Joint Action (URJA) ,Delhi ’s largest RWA collective ,that protested outside the CM’s residence last Monday along with People’s Action activists, against such incidents.

New Delhi, October 17
The police has recovered the body of Vipul Kansal, 10, from GT Karnal road, Murthal in Sonepat district of Haryana.

Vipul, son of a businessman Parvinder Kansal was abducted for Rs 1.5 lakh ransom two days ago. Vipul Kansal, a class four student from the GD Goenka School of the Capital, was abducted outside the Neel Kanth Apartments in Sector 13 Rohini of northwest Delhi on Monday.

Siddharth Jaitley, 26, his father’s business rival, had abducted him. Jaitley has been arrested on charges of abduction and murder of the boy, and for criminal conspiracy.

Parvinder Kansal had informed the police that his son Vipul was kidnapped, after he got down from his school bus on October 15. “After kidnapping, Jaitley took the boy to a storehouse and made repeated ransom calls on the same day to the boy’s family. In the initial few calls, he also made the victim speak to his parents and negotiated the ransom amount,” said deputy commissioner of police (northwest Delhi) Manish Aggawal. He asked the victim’s family to deliver the ransom on October 16 at Ranjit Singh Flyover in the Capital.

Siddharth Jaitely asked the victim’s family to throw the bag containing Rs 33 lakh from the flyover and promised that Vipul would reach home safely within an hour after the money was delivered. But, he did not reach home.

Police personnel were deputed in civil clothes near the Flyover. Aggarwal said that Jaitley ‘s Old Rajender Nagar house in West Delhi was raided when the boy failed to return four hours after the money was given. “We instantly detained the suspect and seized Rs 3.3 million along with the car used in crime.”

Siddharth’s family was facing a huge financial crunch. He knew that the victim’s family was doing well in business. When Vipul got down from his school bus, Siddharth pulled him in his car. After making the child speak with his parents, he locked him in the dickey of the car. “Jaitley said that while he was taking the child to Samaipur Badli (northeast Delhi) area, he realised that the boy had fainted. Out of fear, he strangulated the child and disposed of the body in a secluded place near in Murthal area of Sonepat,” DCP Manish Aggarwal said. The police official said that Jaitley also stripped the boy and took away his school identity card so that the boy could not be identified.

Jaitley also revealed that he was in monetary dispute with the victim’s father. He was aware that Parvinder could pay any amount for the release of his child.
“He abducted the boy, thinking that he could pay off all his debts with the ransom amount. We have produced him before a city court and are seeking his remand,” Aggarwal said.

The body of the deceased was recovered on his instance. 

New Delhi, October 17
Alleged extortionist, Navratan Singh has been apprehended by the Delhi police. He was trying to project himself as a junior engineer of the Delhi Jal Board.

Anil Kumar Jain runs a readymade garments shop in Gandhi Nagar. He received a call two weeks ago saying that he had not deposited the sewer charge of his shop and will have to pay a penalty. The complainant asked the person to come to his shop.

Caller Rajesh Tyagi, impersonating as a JE with the Jal Board went to the complainant’s shop yesterday and asked for around Rs 8000 ,including a penalty of Rs 6,000. However, he gave the complainant a choice of settling the matter if he gives him around Rs 4000. The complainant became skeptic and asked one his friends to come to the shop.

New Delhi, October 17
Considering the recent blasts in Ajmer and Ludhiana, security has been beefed up in the Capital.

Security has been tightened at religious places, markets, malls, railway stations, bus stands and metro stations. Surveillance has been increased on borders of the Capital. The police has assured of ensuring the safety of residents during the festive season.

Internet café operators have been asked to maintain records of customers. An advisory has been issued to guesthouses to keep a check on records of those staying there. Parking lot owners have been instructed to note down the numbers of vehicles using the parking facility.

Moreover, film-viewers need to ensure that their mobile phone is charged as they might be asked to switch it on during the security check.

Commissioner of Delhi police YS Dadwal is reviewing the security arrangements and has requested residents to inform the police about anything that was suspicious. 

New Delhi, October 17
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said that Phool Walon Ki Sair is a symbol of composite culture of Delhi. The festival, which is an annual feature, was revived by late Yogeshwar Dayal in 1961, the then chairman of Anjuman-e-Gul Faroshan.

A traditional Pankha was today presented to Delhi Chief Minister at a simple function by the office bearers of the Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan. Number of MLAs and chief secretary Ramesh Narayanswami were also present.

Dikshit said that Phool Walon Ki Sair had been enriching unity and secularism. Number of states would be sending their attractive Pankhas in three-day festival of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood beginning on October 25, 2007. She assured that Delhi government would provide all possible assistance in organizing Phool Walon Ki Sair. 

Greater Noida, October 17
Thieves have decamped with jewellery, valuables and cash worth over Rs 3 lakh from the residence of a bank manager in Gama-I Sector under Kasna police station area while the bank manager was away in a Delhi hospital where his daughter was admitted.

Bank manager A.K. Pal, who lives in House No. 163 of C Block of Gama-I is a manager in a State Bank of India in Delhi. He was shocked to find his house ransacked when he returned home after two days. All the almirah locks were broken and goods strewn all around in the house.

The bandits had helped themselves with gold worth Rs 1.25 lakh, Rs 15,000 in cash, costly saris and shawls.

Even the water taps and sanitary fittings from kitchen and bathrooms had been removed.

Strangely though the Kasna police were informed of the theft, they had not registered any report.

According to residents, over 50 thefts have taken police in Greater Noida in last five months, but the police have failed to solve most of the cases so far.

Kasna police have, however, nabbed two of the bandits who had looted a Santro car with the help of Mussori police, while two other thieves had slipped from the police dragnet. Four bandits in a Wagon R had looted a Santro car from Golf Course roundabout on October 4 when Santro driver Joginder had been threatened at gunpoint by the thieves.

On Tuesday, Kasna police learnt that four accused of carjacking were hiding in Mussori area.

With the help of Mussori police, two accused–Sunder and Umesh were arrested by Kasna police. One of the accused Jarnail Singh is locked in Bulandshahr jail in connection with another crime, while the fourth accused is yet to be nabbed.

Two young actors making a debut next month with “Saawariya” have been put in an embarrassing situation: a tabloid story says Sonam Kapoor threw a tantrum at a promotional TV programme while Ranbir Kapoor has been called a gay icon in another report.

“Yes, it’s true that I re-shot one portion of one of my promotional programmes on Channel V. But, please, there was no starry tantrum. I was very apologetic,” Sonam told IANS. She explained: “I’ve been tutored in the Sanjay Bhansali school of filmmaking. Over there, we were taught to strive for the best, no matter what the medium. For me, a TV show isn’t a casual thing. So, after shooting the whole day if I re-shot for 15 minutes, does that make me a tantrum thrower?” Ranbir, son of Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, says let him prove his mettle before any title is given to him. — IANS

New Delhi, October 17
Youngsters from two schools in the Capital and one each from Chandigarh and Mumbai won at the Indian Robot Olympiad 2007, held here on Monday. The Vasant Valley School (Delhi), Dhirubhai Ambani International School (Mumbai), Amity International School (Delhi) and St. John’s High School (Chandigarh), will now go on to represent India at World Robot Olympiad in Taiwan in November.

More than 60 teams with 180 students participated in the event to build and programme robots from specially designed Lego Robotics Kit. The kit has over 1,000 different parts and a CPU in which the whole circuiting is done by LEGO and the students do the assembling and the programming part.

“The participants at Indian Robot Olympiad have displayed great imagination and programming prowess with their LEGO Education’s robotics sets providing a clear indication of what these bright minds will blossom into in future,” said Sudhanshu Sharma, managing director of Techtronics, India while talking to the press.

Amity International won the first prize in the primary category (age less than 12 years). The team from St. John’s won the second place. Vasant Valley won the first prize in the junior-high category (age 12-15 years) and the senior-high category (age 15-18 years).

The team from Amity International won the second place in junior-high category while Dhirubhai Ambani International won the second place in senior-high category. Apurva Kalia, vice-president (R&D) at Cadence Design Systems, who was also present, said: “Robotics integrates science, engineering, mechanics, electronics and programming. It encourages students to learn while building and constructing and develops problem-solving, team-working and creativity in them.”

New Delhi, October 17
Delhi University has begun the process of revising its B.Sc. programme, a month after it recorded more than 50 per cent failure of students in the examination.

Earlier in the month, students had launched an agitation against the examination result and tough syllabus.

A review committee was constituted in August to look into the reasons behind the failures. The committee headed by Dr Savita M Datta, principal, Maitreyee College, is now revising the syllabus of the programme. The committee has sent letters to principals inviting suggestions from the teachers.

“We are involving 7-8 teachers from each college to assist us,” informed Dr S.R. Arora, member, and principal of Hansraj College. In September, a large number of students from various colleges of DU had filed applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to get details regarding their unexpected result of 2007 B.Sc. programme.

More than 70 per cent of the students of physical science, life science and applied physical science had either failed or got ‘ER’ status. 

New Delhi, October 17
More than 17 persons were injured in two separate accidents that took place in the Rohini area of the Capital today.

12 persons were injured, when a mini bus collided with an auto near the Ambedkar Hospital. One of them was hospitalised, while the rest incurred minor bruises. The auto driver has been arrested.

In another such case, a gypsy hit against a milk van near Sai Baba chowk. Five people of a family were injured. Three of them were taken to a hospital. The condition of one of them is reported as serious. The van driver fled from the scene soon after the accident. 

New Delhi, October 17
Some 25 ‘focus schools’ are in the pipeline to help educate students with disabilities in the Capital. The government will train schoolteachers as special educators who will learn class room lessons to educate thaese students with special needs.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been assigned the task of preparing manuals with the help of special educators of Department of Education (DoE) to train teachers as special educators.

At present, the DoE has only six special educators who can teach disabled students. As per the plan, 25 teachers will be provided training programmes to sensitize staff in integrated (or focus schools) schools. The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) will provide the training programme.

The special educators will receive certificate from Bhojpur University after the completion of three months’ training.The schools which are identified as focus schools will be provided with proper infrastructure facility for the disabled. 

New Delhi, October 17
Vijay Anand wasm appointed as the director (projects) of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) yesterday. Earlier, he served the post of the chief project manager in the organisation.

A civil engineer of the Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE) cadre, Anand joined the DMRC in September 2001. 

New Delhi, October 17
Power secretary of Delhi and chairperson of Pragati Power Corporation Ltd (PPCL) Rakesh Mehta handed over the company’s dividend cheque of Rs 21.96 crore for the financial year 2006-07 to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here today.

Minister of power Ashok Kumar Walia and senior officials of PPCL were present during the ceremony.

PPCL, a public sector undertaking of government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, has earned a profit before tax of Rs 137.89 crore on a turnover of Rs 479.28 crore for the financial year 2006-07 as against Rs 459.48 crore in 2005-06.

Noida, October 17
Noida branch of India’s largest medical diagnostics lab, Dr Lal’s Path Labs has offered a package of six intensive tests to give all relevant critical information about the heart.

The company had flagged off its ‘Healthy Hearts Camp’ on September 30, which was globally celebrated as World Heart Day.

Since heart diseases are mostly due to lifestyle-related problems and can even affect people who are in their 20s, the tests specifically bring out the ill-effects of smoking, consumption of fatty foods, excessive stress and other factors. Already more than 2,000 people have availed themselves of this offer at LPL’s laboratories across Delhi and the NCR. The tests are:

Lipid Profile Test: Lipids are essentially fats. When fat deposits in arteries are high, it leads to choking of arteries, which in turn can lead to a heart attack.

The test comprises six intensive parameters, informing the patient about low-density lipids, high-density lipids, very low-density lipids, tri-glycerides, total cholesterol content, and cholesterol-high-density lipid ratio in the blood.

Blood Sugar Test: detects the presence of high blood sugar, which leads to diabetes and heart muscle damage. High blood sugar also leads to lipid disorder and choking of arteries, which may cause heart attack.

HsCRP Test: The test detects the presence of High Sensitivity Cardio Reactive Protein (HsCRP) in blood.

It predicts an increased risk of heart attack in even those patients who may not have any symptoms of heart ailments and in fact, have a low or average, risk profile pertaining to blood sugar and/or cholesterol. Crucially, the test also tells whether one’s heart has already suffered any tissue damage.

Creatinine and Urea Test: The test indicates abnormal creatinine and urea in blood, resulting due to kidney malfunction. SGOT Test: The test detects the presence of aspartate amino transferase enzyme in blood, which is caused by tissue damage in heart muscle. This test, like the HsCRP test, also tells you whether your heart—unknown to you—has already suffered any tissue damage.

Dr Arvind Lal, CMD, Dr Lal Path Labs, said: “As India’s largest medical diagnostic company, it was our duty to sensitise the common man about the various factors which lead to heart ailments. I am sure that the common man will rate our tests as the best and the cheapest in the healthcare industry.”

The combination of these blood tests–which normally costs Rs 1,600–is being offered at only Rs 999 at the company’s eight laboratories across Delhi and National Capital Region, during October.