The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

Palwal becomes district
Faridabad, March 30
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today accepted the demand to give Palwal a district status. With Palwal, the total number of districts in Haryana would be 21. Presently, Palwal is a sub-division in Faridabad district.

Campaign to empower poor kids
New Delhi, March 30
Children of maidservants often accompany their mothers to their respective workplaces to help but they often end up being exploited. As per the government census 2007, 327 cases of children working as domestic help were reported from the National Capital Territory of Delhi alone.

25 lakh children given polio drops
New Delhi, March 30
More than 25 lakh children were administered anti-polio drops in the national Capital today as part of the special pulse polio immunisation programme. More than 7500 polio booths were established to administer polio vaccine to children in 0-5 age group. Around 30,000 workers and employees of the health department and other agencies such as NGOs were deployed to ensure maximum reach from 9 a.m to 4 pm.
Pulse polio drops being administered to a child at Gole Market in the Capital on Sunday.
— A Tribune photograph

Drop boxes at Metro stations
New Delhi, March 30
The Delhi Metro commuters can now pay their telephone, power and credit card bills at metro stations. The free of cost facility started from today. Drop boxes have been installed at stations, in which cheques for payment of landline phone, mobile phone, power, credit card, insurance and on-line services can be deposited.

Farmers reject compensation offer
Greater Noida, March 30
The latest offer made by the Greater Noida Authority to pay compensation between Rs 400 and Rs 500 per sq mt for land acquired for Taj Expressway has been turned down by the farmers of the area.

Tibetan activists burn the effigy of Chinese President Hu Jintao during a protest at Jantar Mantar in the Capital on Sunday. — Tribune photo by Manas Ranjan Bhui

Nithari case
CBI files one more chargesheet
Ghaziabad, March 30
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed another chargesheet in Nithari killings in the court of special CBI magistrate Sapna Mishra yesterday. Significantly in this case also, the CBI has given a clean chit to the key accused Moninder Singh Pandher.

12 guilty in illicit booze case
Noida, March 30
The fast track court had pronounced 12 persons guilty in Nithari illicit booze tragedy in which 17 persons had lost their lives seven years ago. The guilty include the nephew of a former Minister of UP. All the accused could be punished with a life sentence by the court.

Man attacks wife, throws son from second floor
New Delhi, March 30
A man allegedly threw his small son from his second-floor house in West Delhi after a quarrel with his wife, the police said today. Jitender Pandey, 35, on Saturday threw his two and a half years old son from the second floor of his house in Kailashpuri following a quarrel with his wife over her suspected affair with another man.

Rs 100 bn investment in Ghaziabad’s infrastructure
Ghaziabad, March 30
The Ghaziabad Development Authority plans to invest Rs 100 billion to strengthen the suburban city’s infrastructure before the Commonwealth Games in 2010 to be held in New Delhi.
Artscape
‘Jazz Alive’ by Dutch group
New Delhi, March 30
India International Centre here is hosting “Jazz Alive: Workshop and Concert” from March 31 to April 2 by one of the most successful of Dutch jazz groups, The Yuri Honing Trio.

The Yuri Honing Trio from the Netherlands at Jazz Alive — Concert

Noida expressway to have CCTVs
Noida, March 30
The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to install CCTVs on the 23-km Noida-Greater Noida expressway stretch, officials said here. Superintendent of police (traffic) Ajay Sahdev said that frequent cases of high-speed bikers and speed enthusiasts using the expressway have prompted the move.

Building collapse: Rescue operations on
New Delhi, March 30
Efforts were on to rescue eight to 10 persons, who are believed to be trapped under the debris of a four-storey under-construction building that collapsed in the Seelampur area of the Capital yesterday.

Bhopal disaster
30 held for protest
New Delhi, March 30
Thirty persons, including children and old women, were arrested yesterday evening at the India Gate during an awareness raising event on the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal.

Seminar on consumer rights ends
New Delhi, March 30
A two-day seminar on ‘Globalisation, consumerism and protection of consumer rights’ organised by Group of Adult Education and School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) concluded on the university campus on Saturday.

‘Fatwa’ against power theft
New Delhi, March 30
Terming the practice of power theft as an act prohibited by their religion, Islamic body darul uloom deoband has issued a fatwa directing Muslims to refrain from any illegal use of electricity.

CITU calls for bandh

	15 cops face bribe charges Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 30 Regardless of its claims of being at the service of common man, the Delhi Police has earned dubious distinction of facing the maximum number of bribery cases from amongst all state departments in the Capital. Of the 34 bribe cases filed against various state departments in 2007, 15 are against men in khaki. According to the Delhi government’s vigilance department figures, 17 policemen face charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the State Transport Authority have four and three cases against them respectively. In 2007, two cases were registered against the Finance Department and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) each. While, one case each was registered against the Delhi Jal Board, education department, Waqf Board, DTC and health department. In all, 37 government employees including, 17 policemen and five MCD officials, have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act, state the vigilance figures. Indicating a nexus between officials and private individuals, the department has registered bribe cases against at least eight non-officials. Besides, the figures reveal that in 2007, chargesheet was filed in 15 cases against the same number of personnel. Files against six officials had been sent to their respective departments for appropriate departmental action. The trend hardly looked any better in 2008, as in the last three months, the vigilance has already registered a case against three municipal officials for allegedly misusing their position.
	Rajbir was victim of conspiracy: Police Gurgaon, March 30 The mystery over the murder of senior Delhi Police official Rajbir Singh deepened further as police today said that he was shot dead by a missing police revolver in a “premeditated conspiracy”. “The weapon used for killing (Rajbir Singh) was the service revolver of Hisar’s additional superintendent of police (ASP), which he lost during a raid last year,” Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal told reporters here. ASP Ashok Shoran lost the revolver numbering E-8256 while he was chasing two criminals in fields of Dadri in Hisar before gunning them down. The first information report (FIR) in this regard was lodged on July 21, 2007 in Bhiwani, Lal said. The Gurgaon police is now set on the task to find out how the revolver reached Vijay Bhardwaj, a property dealer and friend of Singh for 20 years who killed him on Monday at his Sector-14 office here. In his confession, Bhardwaj, 42, had said that he killed Singh with a .32 bore revolver that the senior police official himself had lent him three days earlier. “We are probing how many hands did the weapon change before making it to Bhardwaj. We have spoken to a few Delhi Police officials on Saturday to find out how it reached Bhardwaj,” Lal said. “Bhardwaj had asked for a weapon from Singh saying that he needed to force somebody in Sirsa to pay up. But it turned out to be a ploy. He sought the weapon as part of a premeditated conspiracy.” One of Delhi’s best known and also the most controversial police officers, Singh, 48, was known as an “encounter specialist” - often a euphemism for a policeman who tracks down and kills suspected gangsters and terrorists short-circuiting due process of law. The police, however, maintained that Singh was killed by his friend. Rajbir’s wife however, insisted that Bhardwaj was no friend of her late husband and he had never talked about him. “We have no objection whatsoever to a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe. We have already written about this to the Chief Minister (Bhupinder Singh Hooda) and we will hand over the case when the legalities are over,” Lal added. Meanwhile, Bhardwaj, who was today sent to 14-day judicial custody, moved an application in a court here, saying he feared a “threat to his life” and sought adequate security. The police had asked for the custody of the accused to corroborate his statements with evidence but the court rejected it. — IANS
	Cops record dead man’s statement! Ritu Sharma New Delhi, March 30 Ever heard of a dead person’s statement being recorded? Well, that’s exactly what Delhi police did to solve an accident case! Eager to show that they were on top of things, police cited in court a statement of Sheikh Azibul Khan that was recorded a year after he died in the accident. Khan was on his way to office on November 15, 1989 when a vehicle hit his cycle in Delhi. Khan sustained head injuries and Virender Dutt, a passer-by, rushed him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Khan, however, died on December 12, 1989. But police charged Dutt for hitting Khan with the ambassador car he was driving. The police accused Dutt for the nearly two-decade-old accident on the basis of the dead man’s statement. Dutt was booked under Indian Penal Code’s Section 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The probe took nearly five years to complete and the case could come up for trial in the Patiala House Court only in 1995. Pleading his innocence, Dutt contended: “On the day of the accident, two Russian engineers were travelling in my car and on their insistence I stopped the car and had taken the injured to the hospital.” However, the Delhi police left nothing to chance and recorded statements of 17 witnesses to take the case to its “logical conclusion”. While some witnesses did not identify Dutt as the driver of the “killer vehicle”, others said they did not note the vehicle’s registration number. What really took the fizz out of the prosecution case was Khan’s statement recorded by the investigating officer (IO) on November 20, 1990, nearly one year after his death. Taking strong note of it, metropolitan magistrate Kuldeep Narayan pulled up police for its shoddy investigation and acquitted Dutt in February. “It is crystal clear that the IO had done a pathetic investigation in the present case and the submissions of counsel for the accused that one of the witness was planted to falsely implicate him gains strength,” the court observed while absolving Dutt of all the charges. — IANS
	Palwal becomes district Tribune News Service Faridabad, March 30 Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today accepted the demand to give Palwal a district status. With Palwal, the total number of districts in Haryana would be 21. Presently, Palwal is a sub-division in Faridabad district. Hooda announced this in a public meeting organised by chairman of Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission and local Congress MLA Karan Dalal. He said that a committee which would study and recommend areas to be included in the new district would also be set up. He promised that the state government would render all possible help to ensure infrastructural development in Palwal. Karan Dalal had put forward the demand to grant districthood to Palwal. He demanded that Hathin, which is presently in Mewat district, village Mohana, Hodal and Hassanpur must be included in the new district. The demands also included setting up of a university in Palwal, a new by-pass, an outlet for taking out water from Palwal, water treatment plant at Okhla barrage in Delhi and setting up a barrage at Yamuna river that flows along the UP borders. Hooda said that his government would try to provide better educational infrastructure in Palwal. He said that education is the ladder to development and empowerment. As regards to set up a water treatment plant at Okhla barrage in Delhi, Hooda said that his government was debilitating with the Delhi government on the issue. The Congress has already dividied the present Faridabad district into urban and rural units. Palwal is the headquarters of the rural unit.
	Campaign to empower poor kids Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 30 Children of maidservants often accompany their mothers to their respective workplaces to help but they often end up being exploited. As per the government census 2007, 327 cases of children working as domestic help were reported from the National Capital Territory of Delhi alone. Smile Foundation that works for the empowerment of children had organised an awareness campaign yesterday at Jantar Mantar in the Capital to sensitise people about the plight of children of maidservants. Girl children carried placards with slogans like — “Don’t employ us, empower us”. The objective of the campaign was right to education of children. Foundation spokesperson Vandana Singh said that poor families often rely on their children for additional income or even for their survival. She said that Smile runs mission education and twin e-learning projects to empower children. It has set up various projects including creches, pre-school (3-6 years), non-formal education (for 6-14 years non-school going children), remedial education (for 6-14 years school going), bridge course (for 14-18 years drop-outs), employment-oriented skills (for adolescent and youth), functional literacy (for 18-45 years women) and family life education for adolescent girls. “Under mission education programme, Smile has supported more than 150 basic child education and healthcare initiatives”, she informed. Smile Foundation was established in 2002 as a non-profit organisation under the Indian Trust Act. The Foundation is funded by 70 corporate institutions and over 20 national and international institutions. The organisation has reached out to more than 1 lakh underprivileged children and youth through over 100 education and healthcare projects across 21 states.
	25 lakh children given polio drops New Delhi, March 30 More than 25 lakh children were administered anti-polio drops in the national Capital today as part of the special pulse polio immunisation programme. More than 7500 polio booths were established to administer polio vaccine to children in 0-5 age group. Around 30,000 workers and employees of the health department and other agencies such as NGOs were deployed to ensure maximum reach from 9 a.m to 4 pm. The stalls were set up at railway stations, ISBTs, public places, including Appu Ghar, major temples, metro stations, millennium park and zoo. According to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, one case of wild polio virus P-I was reported from the national Capital this year as compared to two last year. A total of 866 cases were reported at the national level in 2007, she added. Dikshit said Delhi would continue to strive hard to completely eliminate polio. “Delhi was first to initiate the pulse polio immunisation programme and would like to lead in elimination of the disease which not only hampers physical and mental growth of children but also makes them handicapped for rest of their lives.’’ The Chief Minister claimed of a ‘’remarkable decrease’’ in number of cases of polio which in 1994 were 35,000 at the national level while only 165 have been reported so far in the current year. — UNI
	Drop boxes at Metro stations Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 30 The Delhi Metro commuters can now pay their telephone, power and credit card bills at metro stations. The free of cost facility started from today. Drop boxes have been installed at stations, in which cheques for payment of landline phone, mobile phone, power, credit card, insurance and on-line services can be deposited. Besides, clearing cheques of certain banks and donations can be made through the service. Initially, the boxes have been set up in the paid areas of 30 stations including Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Dwarka, Janakpuri (East and West), Rohini (East and West), Shastri Park, Central Secretariat and Vishwavidyalaya. But all 59 stations of the metro network will be covered within two months. The companies whose bills can be paid through the drop boxes are MTNL, Tata Indicom, Airtel, Reliance (for landline), BYPL, BRPL, NDPL (power), Vodafone, Idea, Dolphin, Garuda (mobile), Barclays, Deutsche Bank, SCB, ABN-Amro, HSBC, ICICI, Citibank, BOB, SBI, AMEX, HDFC, Bank of Rajasthan, GE Cash Card, ZIP Cash (credit cards), ING Vysya, IndusInd (bank clearing), ICICI Prudential, HDFC Standard Life, Tata AIG (insurance), indiatimes.com, bharatmatrimony.com, shaadi.com (on-line services), CRY, Express Citizens Relief Fund, Times Foundation (donations). The drop boxes, to be managed by Mumbai-based firm M/s Minc BillBox Pvt. Ltd., will be cleared daily and the cheques will reach the respective companies on the same day.
	Farmers reject compensation offer Parmindar Singh Greater Noida, March 30 The latest offer made by the Greater Noida Authority to pay compensation between Rs 400 and Rs 500 per sq mt for land acquired for Taj Expressway has been turned down by the farmers of the area. The farmers made it clear that anything less than land compensation offered by Noida and Greater Noida Authorities will not be acceptable to them. The farmers have again threatened to launch a renewed agitation at the Collectorate from next week. Land from 115 villages in five districts is being acquired for Taj Expressway. While the farmers are pressing for land compensation at par with that offered by the Noida and Greater Noida Authorities, the GNIDA and District Administration are offering compensation as per existing circle rates which farmers have refused to accept. Bharatya Kisan Union, BJP and Congress have organized dharnas and demonstrations a number of times. Besides, BJP has threatened to stop the construction work on Expressway on March 31. The state government is known to be keen to complete Taj Expressway before the Commonwealth Games. SDM, Sadar, Shailender Kumar and SDM, Javer, Harish Chander had a meeting with farmers on Saturday for three hours but farmers rejected the latest offer of Rs 400 to Rs 500 land compensation per sq mt. Mohinder Pal Singh, president and Ajay Pal Singh, vice-president of Kisan Union, put their foot down saying that nothing less than land compensation at par with Noida and Greater Noida authorities plus allotment of 25% land in developed area in lieu of farmers’ land given to government for development will be acceptable to the farmers.
	Nithari case CBI files one more chargesheet Our Correspondent Ghaziabad, March 30 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed another chargesheet in Nithari killings in the court of special CBI magistrate Sapna Mishra yesterday. Significantly in this case also, the CBI has given a clean chit to the key accused Moninder Singh Pandher. The advocate for Nithari victims, Khalid Khan said that the latest chargesheet filed by the CBI on Saturday is about the rape and murder of James’s 10-year-old daughter and attempt to destroy the proofs by accused Surinder Koli. It may be mentioned that 11 cases are already under consideration of special CBI judge Rama Jain. Even in all these cases, the CBI had given a clean chit to Moninder Singh Pandher, but on the plea of victims’ families, Pandher is facing additional charges of rape, murders and destruction of proofs in six cases, Khalid Khan said.
	12 guilty in illicit booze case Our Correspondent Noida, March 30 The fast track court had pronounced 12 persons guilty in Nithari illicit booze tragedy in which 17 persons had lost their lives seven years ago. The guilty include the nephew of a former Minister of UP. All the accused could be punished with a life sentence by the court. The accused have been ordered to appear in the court on March 31. The additional district judge Mangla Prasad pronounced Deepak Nai, Devinder of Bagpat, Delhi resident Munesh, Om Prakash of JP Nagar, Pandit Rajesh, Promode, Ram Chander and Pintu of Meerut, Isharat of Hapur and Ram Veer of Nithari as guilty. All have been held guilty of unintentional murder by supplying illicit poisonous liquor and charged under sections 304, 328, 272, and 273 of IPC by the fast track court.
	Man attacks wife, throws son from second floor New Delhi, March 30 A man allegedly threw his small son from his second-floor house in West Delhi after a quarrel with his wife, the police said today. Jitender Pandey, 35, on Saturday threw his two and a half years old son from the second floor of his house in Kailashpuri following a quarrel with his wife over her suspected affair with another man. “Jitender suspected his wife Manju of having an affair, and the couple had frequent fights over the issue. On Saturday he attacked his wife with a rod and threw his son from the second floor,” a police official said. While Manju has been discharged from the hospital, her son was stated to be in a critical condition. “Jitender has been absconding since the incident and a man hunt was going on for him,” the official said. — IANS
	Rs 100 bn investment in Ghaziabad’s infrastructure Ghaziabad, March 30 The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) plans to invest Rs 100 billion to strengthen the suburban city’s infrastructure before the Commonwealth Games in 2010 to be held in New Delhi. Captain SK Dwivedi, vice-chairman of GDA, said that out of Rs 100 billion, Rs 44 billion is to improve the surface transport infrastructure including Metro rail service and better roads in Sahibabad, Indirapuram, Vaishali, Vasundhara and Vijay Nagar area. For Metro rail service, a demand project report (DPR) is being prepared to connect the new bus terminus of Ghaziabad to the Shahdara Metro station. He said that the authority would invest Rs 66 billion to strengthen basic infrastructure including city lanes, sewerage system, water supply, power supply and construction of drainage system. Multi-level parking facilities would be constructed in the commercial hubs of the city that include the areas in Indirapuram, Vaishali and Raj Nagar. — IANS
	Artscape ‘Jazz Alive’ by Dutch group Ravi Bhatia Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 30 India International Centre here is hosting “Jazz Alive: Workshop and Concert” from March 31 to April 2 by one of the most successful of Dutch jazz groups, The Yuri Honing Trio. The trio has a unique style based on jazz, pop and non-western musical traditions. The trio made its international breakthrough in 1996 with the release of Star Tracks, an album based on pop songs followed by Sequel in 1998. In 2003, the trio released another album, the Orient Express, bringing together classical Arab music and progressive jazz. In the evening of April 5, the IIC is hosting a Kuchipudi recital in its auditorium by Nandini Nandan, a disciple of the famous Swapansundari. From April 5 to April 11, the IIC is holding “Chandigarh: An Approach”, an exhibition on the architecture of the city and the work of Le Corbusier using architectural plans and cross sections in an attempt to understand special conception as influenced by cultural conditions. The exhibition is by Maja Weyermann from Switzerland. “Sounds of Colour” Gallery Pioneer and Ishat art in association with the Arts India Movement is hosting an exhibition of paintings and sculptures, “Sounds of Colour” at the Open Palm Court, India Habitat Centre here from March 25 to March 31. The exhibition has on display creation of many well-known contemporary artists. Exhibition of traditional textiles UTSAV here is holding an exhibition of traditional Indian textiles “LOOM CHAKRA” at the Chinmaya Mission, Lodhi Road from April 2 to April 4. UTSAV’s commitment to Indian textiles can be best described as double-reeded. The one is the fragile heritage textile tradition, especially extant in India’s exquisite Saree weaving. According to UTSAV founder Shashiv Chandran, this is a heritage which needs to be cherished, celebrated and protected. UTSAV is primarily committed to this sacred chakra of the loom! But in a rapidly changing environment can textiles be left behind? asks Chandran. Thus the other reed is one of innovation, but with commitment to aesthetics and quality. UTSAV has thus also facilitated cross-fertilization among weaving traditions that respect Indian design and aesthetics. Founded in 1993, UTSAV’s mission is to create a design dialogue linking traditional handloom weavers with an aesthetic and quality-conscious urban clientele. Essence of Jaipur Jaipur Virasat Foundation presents ‘Inside OUT, Outside IN’, an exhibition and installation of new works of art, produced by Jaipur Virasat Foundation and curated by Dr. Alka Pande, from April 7 to April 16 at the Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre here. Jaipur has often been noticed from the ‘Outside’, more than from within. This focus, undoubtedly, has had a singular impact on the development of tourism and commerce in the state: there has been a particular focus on architecture, paintings, museums and heritage and ‘royal’ hotels; through gems and textiles - gemologists and jewellers flood Jaipur to buy the best and create jewellery while the block printers of Jaipur, from Bagru to Shekhawati, create superb prints promoted by individuals and corporate alike; through crafts - the stone cutters, the taazia makers... working and living in harmony... revealing a secular spirit unique to Jaipur, noticed again, more from without than within. And then there are artists from ‘Outside’, who are inspired by what Jaipur offers and it becomes the subject of their work, a city unlike any other. Recent years have seen an emergence of a different sort— new voices from ‘Inside’ Jaipur who have gone ‘Outside’ and connected uniquely — Piyush Pande has led creativity in advertising and communication to new heights, while artist Chintan Upadhyaya has brought a new vocabulary to Indian contemporary Art, in an international arena. Clearly, there is something about Jaipur that makes it, well…. ‘Special’. The artists who will be showcasing their works in the exhibition include Ankit Patel, Chintan Upadhyay, Gopal Namjoshi, Rohini Singh, Robyn Beeche, Himmat Shah and Siddharth Singh amongst others. ‘Inspired by Rajasthan’ Another artist, Soumen Dutta, is holding a solo exhibition of his paintings, “Inspired by Rajasthan” at the Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre from April 1 to April 5. Kathak recital The Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR) is hosting an evening of Kathak recital by Nahid Siddique from Pakistan at the Kamani Auditorium here on April 1.