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Yamuna to take toxins of faith
Artistes perform in front of an idol of Goddess Durga at a Durga Puja pandal in the Capital on Saturday.
— Tribune photo by Mukesh Aggarwal
Support centre to help North-East youth
Youth held for killing wife
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Master Plan: Traders memo to CM
MCD to contain anemia in kids
Mona Suri alive
Tourist rush increases
CM opens hospital
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with Delhi health minister Yoganand Shastri visits a room of the Primus Ortho & Spine Hospital at Chanakyapuri in the Capital on Saturday. — A Tribune photograph
Jamia to have dental course
Several leaders watch Ram Lila
Gang of bag lifters arrested
Gang of burglars busted
Call centre cab kills one
Blueline toll 98 Minor fire
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Yamuna to take toxins of faith
New Delhi, October 20 The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) authorities said it is a “one off incident” and they have not enforced any guidelines on Puja organisers to follow while immersing idols. “No, we have not issued any guidelines to the Puja committees. We cannot interfere in the religious sentiment of the people,”
R.C. Trivedi, additional director, CPCB, told IANS. “Yamuna in Delhi is already polluted and immersion of these idol will not make much difference. When 36 million litres of sewage enter the river daily, what difference will it make if few tonnes of idols are immersed?” he asked. He said the board has a printed guideline book on idol immersion and it was up to the organisers to follow it. “Enforcing rules in such scenarios is very difficult. People should be conscious not to throw flowers and decoration items in water. “Yamuna is already polluted in Delhi and devotees should think that immersing Mother Durga in such waters will not bring blessings on them,” Trivedi added. He agreed that toxic paints used in idol making affect aquatic life. Environmental experts, however, said that the board has guidelines on paper and never bothers to implement them on ground. “At least 300 idols and over 30 tonnes of toxic paint will go to the Yamuna but the CPCB is doing nothing. This is just another example of our environmental apathy,” said Gopal Krishna, convener of green body Toxic Watch. Krishna said seven different categories of wastes like paints, plaster of paris, flowers, bamboos and other beautification materials and polythene and plastics will go into the already polluted water. “After so much pollution, we doubt if there are still fish in Yamuna here. If there are fish and other aquatic life like turtles they will be affected through this toxic invasion,” Krishna said. He said the CPCB needs to test the water quality before the immersion, during immersion and after immersion to know the effect of pollution and thus can devise a guideline for upcoming occasions. Confirming the position of CPCB, Sanjay Pal, joint secretary of a Puja committee in C.R. Park (B Block), said: “No we have not received any guidelines from the board.” However, S.K. Roy, a member of the same puja committee, said that they would not throw flowers and other plastic materials into the river. “We have not used plaster of Paris this year and will not throw the beautification material and flowers into the Yamuna. We will take out all these and keep aside so that civic bodies can clean it easily,” Roy
added. — IANS |
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Support centre to help North-East youth
New Delhi, October 20 The support centre will help all victims of sexual and racial harassment in the Capital through their group SMS and telephone help line initiatives. All India Christian Council, All India Confederation of SC/ST, All India Catholic Union and the North East Students United Forum are the four organisations spearheading the centre. Madhu Chandra, a core member of the centre, said that this initiative has been in the pipeline for some time but with the recent sexual harassment case of a girl in Delhi University’s (DU) north campus area speeded up the entire process. “We submitted a memorandum to Y. S. Dadwal, Delhi Police Commissioner, with regards to that just days before the case when a girl student was sexually harassed in DU. After that we realised that we had to do something fast,” Chandra told IANS. “Although the name of the centre is North East Support Centre, we will help anyone in need,” he said. A victim can access the authority in the centre, through SMS and phone lines, and get immediate help. “For instance, in Gurgaon, we will station two members to begin with. Suppose a girl is harassed and she doesn’t get help from the police, then we will intervene and do the needful,” Chandra said. The telephone help line, will function in a similar way. Although the permanent helpline number has not yet been registered, four temporary numbers that will be functional are- 9868184939, 9818314146, 9868157066 and 981055490. “The last time I visited home in the northeast, some people from Nagaland and Mizoram told me that with the rising number of cases of racial and sexual harassment meted out to the young people of the northeast, I should do something for them as well,” he said.
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Youth held for killing wife
Greater Noida, October 21 On Friday Rahul had telephoned his in-laws late in the evening and told them that Priety was ill. When her parents reached Greater Noida from Ghaziabad, they found her dead body lying on the floor in the house. Rahul and his younger brother, Tony along with some of his friends were present in the house while the rest of the family members had absconded. Priety’s brother said Rahul had told him that Priety was unwell and had died subsequently. However After some time Rahul’s younger brother, Tony had also slipped away. Police was notified of the incident and after preliminary inquiries Rahul was taken into custody. According to the cops Priety had told her parents a number of times that her in- laws were harassing her for more dowry. |
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Master Plan: Traders memo to CM
New Delhi, October 20 Giving a patient hearing to the traders’ delegation, Sheila Dikshit said that traders were the backbone of Delhi revenue and therefore steps would be taken that might not cause any damage to the distributive character of city trade. In an immediate step, she marked the memorandum to the chief secretary asking for a detailed report in the matter and asked him to hold a meeting with Delhi traders on the issue. She further asked the delegation to meet her again after having a meeting with the chief secretary. She also said that the government was alive to various problems being faced by Delhi traders. While presenting a memorandum, the delegation challenged the report of the government submitted in the High Court as in contravention of provisions of Master Plan 2021. The Master Plan 2021 has described the walled city as a core of the business district and has hoped that improved accessibility due to Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) will generate more commercialization. It has clearly proposed to regulate and shift noxious and hazardous wholesale trades and industrial activity from this area. It further proposes redevelopment in these areas in accordance with the respective comprehensive redevelopment schemes with conservative surgery, as a planning tool, as far as possible. The Master Plan proposes shifting of only hazardous trade whereas the other trades will be redeveloped with minimum inconvenience to the existing trades. While calling for immediate intervention of the Chief Minister, the delegation demanded that the land should be allotted at very reasonable price. The DDA should charge prices of acquiring land coupled with development charges. Infrastructure facilities like banks, post offices, proper roads, electricity, water; telephone exchange, police station, fire station, transport etc. should be developed prior to shifting of trade. |
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MCD to contain anemia in kids
New Delhi, October 20 The objective behind the project is to control anemia by building up the iron levels of 10 lakh students in these schools. The programme has an initial budget of Rs.50 lakh. The move has come in as a result of a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Survival for Women and Children (SWACH) .The survey showed that 90 per cent of students were malnourished and suffered from various degrees of anemia. The chairman of the medical relief and public health committee, Dr. V.K. Monga ,said, “we have been able to control the level of protein calories deficit among school children with the Mid-Day-Meal scheme. The iron deficiency rate however, needs urgent attention.” The programme will be initially launched in the Shahdara (North and South) and West zones and will cover about 3 lakh students studying in classes IV and V. Two teachers from every school along with the school principal will be trained in nutritional counseling and anaemia management. Diagnosis will be carried out to determine the haemoglobin level and thalassemia trait. The technical support group will decide the sample size of the tests. A health report card of the children will be prepared to monitor their health on a regular basis.
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New Delhi, October 20 Mona’s family Saturday denied the rumour that she was dead, saying that she is still alive but her condition is serious. “Mona is alive and her heart is still beating but her kidney, lungs and liver have failed. And right now she is in a critical condition,” said Sanjeev Bawa, Mona’s brother. Jagdish Prasad, medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital said, “Mona is fine. Her heartbeat and pulse rate is normal but one of her kidney has failed and she is on ventilators. We are try to do our best to keep her alive.” Mona Suri, 35, a teacher of design in a polytechnic, was attacked Aug 10 by two unidentified men. They poured kerosene on her and set her on fire outside her south Delhi home. Mona alleges that her husband Naveen Suri had an affair with his colleague Rachna and that she had been receiving threatening calls from her. — IANS
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Tourist rush increases
New Delhi, October 20 The figure has touched 3.5 million in the first nine months of this year as compared to three million in the corresponding period last year, a senior government official said. “The tourism sector is one of the fastest growing sectors. We are expecting ten million foreign tourists to arrive by 2010 and may be about six million by 2008,” said Devesh Chaturvedi, director, tourism ministry. The government is focusing on online campaigning of Indian tourist spots and the ‘Incredible India’ is one such programme which is running successfully, he added on the sidelines of the Yahoo India seminar on ‘Government goes Digital’. According to the government figures, foreign exchange earnings from this sector have also shown a growth of 25 per cent, at 5.6 billion dollars as against 4.4 billion dollars in the same period in 2006. The industry’s growth can be gauged from the fact that the forex earnings from tourism have shown a growth of 14.6 per cent in one year - from 5.73 billion dollars in 2005 to 6.56 billion dollars in 2006.
— PTI
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CM opens hospital
New Delhi, October 20 This is the first super specialty hospital in the countryfor sports persons. It is equipped with world class care in orthopaedics, spine and sports medicine with major focus on joint replacements, endoscopic spine surgery and arthroscopy. The hospital has highest number of specialized beds with ultra modern ICU and critical care department, the Chief Minister said. |
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Jamia to have dental course
New Delhi, October 20 Sources within Jamia inform that the Bachelor’s of Dental Surgery (BDS) course will have an intake of 50 students and 14 teaching positions initially in its first batch. Recruitment of non-teaching staff for the college has already begun. Classes at the new dental college will most likely to begin from the next academic session.
The UGC has sanctioned a one-time special grant of Rs 22 crore to the varsity for the construction of the building for the dental college. “As there is only one government-aided dental college in Delhi, the need for another such college has been strongly felt,” said a Jamia official. |
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Several leaders watch Ram Lila
New Delhi, October 20 Tejinder Khanna, Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogi, AICC general secretary Mukul
Wasnik, Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh and Delhi industry minister Mangat Ram Singhal. They were honoured with shawls and mementoes. Today’s episode in Ram Lila featured the arrogant Ravan due to his repeated defeats, wakes up Kumbhkarn and incites him to fight with Ram. The death of Kumbhkarn in the fight with Ram and his salvation interested thousands of spectators. Meghnath in his shadow fight with Laxman, gets killed and after that his wife Sulochana goes to ‘yudh bhoomi’, collected the head and arms of her husband and committed sati. Thereafter, Ravan went to his brother Ahiravan and asked him to fight with Ram and Laxman. During fighting, he was killed by Hanuman. |
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Gang of bag lifters arrested
New Delhi, October 20 On October 18, a police team laid a trap around the services road near Vijaya Building. One person, who was later identified as Sundaram approached a car from the ABN Amro Bank side and dropped notes of Rs 10 denomination right next to the car. Another alleged accused Shanmugam Babu approached the driver of the car and showed him the currency notes. However, when the driver moved to pick the money, the alleged accused opened the rear door of the car and tried to pick the laptop bag lying in the car. The police nabbed the alleged accused. Some smack was recovered from both the thieves. According to the police, their fingerprints also match the ones in the police records. |
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Gang of burglars busted
New Delhi, October 20 Information was developed on surveillance after it was learned that a gang of burglars was active in the area. In a week, the hideout of the gang was located . On October 15,the police received a tip -off that the alleged criminals were present in the CBD ground near Cross River Mall in Anand Vihar. A trap was laid and four persons were apprehended. All the alleged burglars are from Muradabad, UP, and were active in posh localities in Delhi. |
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Call centre cab kills one
New Delhi, October 20 According to the police, the accident happened when a Tata Sumo carrying call centre employees overturned near a DDA park and landed on seven persons. |
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The highly polluted and choking Yamuna seems set for another toxic invasion when over 300 clay idols of the goddess Durga and her pantheon are immersed in its murky waters Sunday.
New Delhi, October 20
