New Delhi, April 21
The 5-km Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand Hospital, which was opened for trail runs on Sunday, caused long traffic jams today,even as harried traffic police officers tried to sort out the mess.

Most of the commuters coming from South Delhi colonies and using the corridor to reach their destinations in the New Delhi areas said that it took them almost half an hour to 45 minutes extra today. The confusion was compounded during the morning and evening rush hours. Thousands of vehicles piled up as they were guided to their respective lanes by marshals posted at the intersections on the stretch which normally has a very high density of traffic.

Motorists caught in the snarls said that traffic lights have just added to the confusion. There are nine traffic intersections on the corridor and each traffic light takes as much as three minutes to change. With the heavy density of traffic, vehicles just pile up one behind the other and it takes a long time for them to clear the signals.

Motorists, however, agreed that there was definitely an urgent need to discipline the traffic in the national Capital which boasts of the highest number of vehicles among all the metropolitan cities. But they want the authorities to find some other way. They, however, have no suggestions.

Meanwhile, the authorities were adamant in enforcing discipline and the culture of lane driving on Delhi roads. Traffic policemen, who were deployed in strength on the corridor stretch, issued a large number of challans to violators. The authorities came down pretty heavily in particular on two wheelers which, they claimed, were the biggest culprits as they zig-zagged through the traffic. They were also in the habit of usurping the space reserved for pedestrians.

Senior Delhi government and traffic officials monitoring the situation on the corridor were hopeful that things would be sorted out in a couple of days as people got used to lane driving.

They said that they were also trying to coordinate the traffic signals for faster clearance.

New Delhi, April 21
BJP candidates — Aarti Mehra and Divya Jaiswal have won the elections for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively with a heavy margin.

A total of 261 votes were polled for the Mayor’s post. Two of them were invalid. Sitting Mayor Aarti Mehra bagged 177 votes while Congress candidate Razia Sultana secured only 82 votes. Divya Jaiswal got 165 votes.

Congress candidate Tulsi Ram Sablania stood as her nearest rival. He got only 68 votes.

Four MPs and 13 MLAs exercised their franchise. Lok Sabha MPs – Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar both from Congress and Vijay Kumar Malhotra from the BJP and Rajya Sabha MP Jai Prakash Aggarwal from the Congress cast their votes.

Besides, nine Congress and four BJP MLAs cast their votes. Independent MLA Ranbir Singh Kharb was absent.

Three BJP councilors, who had filed nominations against the party’s decision to repeat Mehra’s candidature, had withdrawn their names on Saturday. BSP candidate Sanjay withdrew his name today and boycotted the election.

BJP councillors Vijender Gupta and Rajni Abbi and Congress councillor Jai Kishan Sharma were unanimously elected as members of the Standing Committee.

Addressing the House after elections, Aarti Mehra claimed that she had fulfilled her promise of making Delhi a cleaner, healthier and a literate city. She said that she had also kept her promise to provide medical facilities and primary education to people belonging to the weaker sections of the society. 

Ghaziabad, April 21
A young Muslim couple was shot at and seriously injured by villagers here today in an apparent revenge for their marrying against the approval of orthodox elders.

Shahnawaz, a cab operator, and Nazrana, residents of the Kallugarhi locality under the Mussoorie police station of Ghaziabad, had fallen in love last year and wished to marry. However, the orthodox village elders refused permission. Defying their diktat, the couple married at a Ghaziabad court last year and left the village and started living in a rented house in the city.

Thinking that the people would have forgiven them, the couple decided to visit their village home again on Sunday night. They were spotted by the villagers while leaving the house early today and shot at. Nazrana’s brother was among the men who fired.

Nazrana was hit in the right arm and Shahnawaz in the abdomen. The couple, who was on motorcycle, did not stop and reached the highway. They were chased by assailants on a Maruti car. They managed to save their lives by leaving their motorcycle and hiding inside a storm water drain.

The injured couple managed to reach the hospital.

Shahnawaz told IANS, “As we started our motorcycle and moved about 50 meters, Harun, brother of Nazrana along with some young men, opened fire on us. When they failed to stop us, they told their accomplices, who were on a car to chase us on the highway. We saved our lives by leaving the motorcycle along the road and taking shelter under a drain. They failed to notice us and moved on. When they had left, we reached the toll tax barrier and the staff there took us to a Raj Nagar-based Palmolive hospital.”

The doctor attending on the couple said that they were recovering.

Circle officer Pilkhuwa RK Gautam said that the Mussoorie police station staff was investigating the case on the basis of the memo sent by the hospital. “The criminals are absconding,” he said. — IANS

New Delhi, April 21
The ground beneath Rajni Sinha’s feet slipped away when her husband said he wanted to end their three-year-old relationship because — guess what — she did not dress well! They had married after an affair.

The divorce petition filed by husband Sanjay Sinha said, “Despite my several requests, my wife does not wear stylish clothes. I just can’t bear the comments from my friends that my wife is not stylish.”

Rajni told IANS, “I was shocked when I received the notice from the court. It was unbelievable. We had a small fight a few days ago and after that I came to my maternal home. But it was a small quarrel and could have been solved easily.”

She said that the ground was baseless because she had every right to wear the kind of clothes she wanted to.

“It is my fundamental right to wear clothes, be it traditional or modern. Nobody has the right to force his/her wish on me. If he wants to divorce me on this ground then I think he does not deserve my love, dedication and sincerity,” Rajni said.

The matter came up for hearing early this month at the matrimonial court in Tis Hazari. The court also found the ground amusing and suggested that the couple give it a second thought.

Rajni’s case is not an exception these days for people seeking divorce.

“Marriages end in divorce because people rarely discuss their expectations in detail prior to tying the knot and are less willing to work on their marriages afterwards,” a judicial officer said.

“They look for quick solutions rather than resolving issues. People have divorced their spouses for trivial reasons like snoring!”

Kamal Singh Pundhir, a lawyer who deals with matrimonial cases in the Capital, said, “Earlier, the common reason for divorce was mental or physical torture, but now it has more to do with incompatibility, adjustment problems, temperamental differences and intolerance.”

He said that the growing levels of impatience in relationships were making couples opt for divorce.

According to an estimate by the judiciary, nearly 136,000 weddings are registered here every year. Conversely, nearly 10,000 divorce cases are filed in Delhi every year and 10 cases on an average are filed in one court in the Capital every day. Around 12,000 divorces were cleared last year.

Last year, a man dragged his wife to the Delhi High Court after the sessions court rejected his divorce petition calling the reason invalid. The man had filed for divorce because he found his wife’s behaviour arrogant. She had refused to serve tea to his friend and a quarrel ensued.

The High Court too rejected the petition and directed the couple to live together and solve the dispute.

According to lawyers, some other “inconsequential” reasons cited in divorce petitions in India these days include refusal to stay with in-laws, no desire to experiment with lovemaking or unwillingness to do household chores.

Husbands often allege that spouses do not have table manners or do not interact with colleagues or refuse to drink at parties.

“These reasons may be silly and minor, but once the couple is intent on quitting the relationship then not even the judiciary can help much,” said Manisha Jha, a lawyer who deals with marital disputes.

Jha recalls that a woman who once filed for divorce after six months of marriage alleged that her husband neglected her and spent more time in office.

“I advised her to join some hobby classes or start working, but she refused. She was firm on getting a divorce. So I filed the case and it was sent to the mediation cell for consideration,” Manisha said.

Lack of communication also ends in divorces.

“You cannot have an effective relationship if either of the partners does not discuss his/her feelings, cannot talk about mutual or personal issues, keeps resentments simmering and expects the mate to guess what the problem is all about,” Jha said. — IANS

New Delhi, April 21
The Rajya Sabha today expressed concern over the rising assault on women in the NCT of Delhi.

The Bhartiya Janata Party’s Gyan Prakash Pilania said that Delhi was witnessing mounting cases of crime against women. He dubbed the national Capital as the ‘rape capital’ of the country. He demanded from the Union home minister to take corrective steps in this regard.

Apart from crime against women, issues like shortage of NCERT books for the new session, installation of Lukhy Shah Vanjara’s statue, on whose land the Parliament complex, Rashtrapati Bhawan and central secretariat are constructed. 

New Delhi, April 21
Painting messages on paper bags , clay-modelling workshops, film screenings and seminars have been planned to sensitise people towards environment on Earth Day tomorrow.

The World Wild Life Fund(WWF)India has invited entries from schoolchildren to paint on paper bags that will be distributed in commercial areas to passersby.

“The best three entries from each of the participating seven schools in Delhi will be awarded. But all bags that the kids make will be distributed as part of the sensitisation programme on Earth Day tomorrow,” Rashmi Asthana of the WWF India told IANS.

The WWF has partnered with retail chains such as Fab India and malls like Landmark to distribute paper bags. They will also be distributed in local markets across Delhi.

“We have received nearly 500 entries from each of the seven schools. They are basically from students of Class VI-XII with their messages about environment to the society,” Asthana said.

“We have used paper bags to hit home the message that the need of the hour is to switch to paper bags from polythene ones,” she added.

The drive will continue for a week.

Attempting to bring children closer to the earth on Earth Day, publishing house Katha is organising a story-telling session and clay modelling workshop with more than 100 schoolchildren tomorrow.

“The idea of a clay modelling workshop is to give kids a break from the synthetic world and bring them closer to the earth or ‘mitti’,” said Amrita Talwar of Katha.

“The children will be asked to mould clay characters out of the book ‘Earthsong’, a book of tales and trivia on the environment. There will also be a storytelling session,” she said.

Children participating in the workshop will be in the age group of eight to 10.

GenPact, a BPO, is also organising film screenings on environment. — IANS

New Delhi, April 21
On the lines of special economic zones (SEZs), realtors are demanding special residential zones (SRZs) and special residential corridors to provide low-cost housing for the economically weaker sections.

“The major challenge for the developers in providing affordable housing for the lower income groups is the rising land costs. The increasing cost of cement and steel is adding to the woe of developers and the end users are bearing the heat,” said Rohtash Goel, chairman of Omaxe, during a daylong seminar on affordable housing here.

“If the government can provide us land at subsidised rates under these special residential zones, the cost of housing can come down considerably,” Goel said.

“The extension of domestic tax benefits, on the lines of SEZs, will encourage more and more developers to join the corridors, which will have a considerable number of housing dedicated to the urban lower income group and the economically weaker sections,” Goel added.

“The government must provide either subsidised land or other tax relaxation to developers then only the concept of affordable housing can be successful,” added Pradeep Jain, chairman of Parsvnath developers.

Commenting on the proposal, Kumari Selja, minister of state for housing and urban poverty alleviation, told IANS, “Although the proposition of SRZs is good but we are not encouraging zones specifically for the urban poor. That will be like creating ghettoes for them and exclude them from the mainstream.” — IANS

New Delhi, April 21
The charred body of a man, in his late 20s, was on Monday found dumped near a house in West Delhi. Police said it was not clear whether the man was murdered first or was set on fire alive.

The incident came to light when some people witnessed a man engulfed in flames outside a house in DG-3 Block of Vikaspuri in the afternoon and called the police control room.

Police said before they could reach the scene, the man had already died.

“All possibilities are there that the victim may been killed or burnt alive. People just saw a man engulfed in fire and called us. The body is charred beyond recognition and we are trying to identify the deceased,” deputy commissioner of police (West Delhi) Sharad Agarwal said.— IANS

Noida, April 21
Two tricksters cheated the Bank of Rajasthan’s Noida branch of Rs 22 lakh. As the Noida police had refused to register the complaint against the fraud, the bank was forced to knock at the court’s door which has now ordered the police station concerned to file a full report in the matter. The police has now registered an FIR.

The bank had filed an application in judicial magistrate A.K. Singh’s court under economic offences.

According to application, two residents of Delhi had opened a current account in the name of their company, in Sector-19 Noida branch of Bank of Rajasthan, presenting their driving licences, electricity bills and photographs.

Vinode Kumar of Bihari Colony, Delhi, opened a current account in the name of M/s Mahalaxmi Enterprises while his companion opened a current account in the name of M/s Durga Enterprises. All India transactions are permitted in this ABC member bank from any branch. Vinode reportedly deposited some cheques in its Indore and Jaipur branches. Both the tricksters had withdrawn an overdraft of Rs 22 lakh from various branches of this bank in Delhi.

Manager of Indore branch of Vijaya Bank informed the Noida bank manager that the cheques deposited were fake. The account was frozen and enquiries were made on addresses which turned out to be incorrect.

The court has called for a full report from the police. The police said these two miscreants had defrauded a number of banks earlier also.

Noida, April 21
While SSP A. Satish Ganesh took charge of nightlong checking operations in Noida to stem the increasing crime incidents, the BJP cadres took out a motorcycle rally against the poor law and order conditions in Noida on Sunday.

After the DG police’s visit, alert Noida police was seen at all important crossings of the city carrying out checking operations with the SSP in command. The main idea of the nightlong checking was to instil confidence among night commuters.

In the BJP’s Jag Jagran rally, local BJP MP Ashok Pradhan atop a motorbike, led the rally that wound its way through main roads of the city. Some 200 people on bikes took part in it. Starting in front of Great India Palace at 10 am, it concluded at Agrasen Bhawan in Sector-33 at about 1.30 pm.

The protestors were raising slogans ‘SSP Hatao’ ‘Chief Minister murdabad’. In a memorandum sent to the Chief Minister, details of all crimes in Noida from February 4 to April 20 were given.

Faridabad, April 21
The shortage of labour at the FCI godowns has slowed the transportation of procured wheat from Ballabgarh, Fatehpur Biloch and Mohana mandis. As per the norms, no outside labour can be engaged in transporting the procured grains to the FCI godowns. This job is done by a contractor. On account of shortage of labour half of the trucks could not be unloaded at the FCI godowns. Consequently, the procured food stock remained lying in mandis and created problem of space for the fresh arrivals of wheat.

The problem was accentuated as more than expected wheat arrived in the mandis.

However, the administration has directed the FCI to use the godowns of food and supply department and augment thelabour force.

This decision was taken at a meeting here today. The meeting was presided over by sub-divisional magistrate HC Jain, as the mandis fall in Ballbagarh sub-division. It was attended by representatives of the FCI, food and supply department, HAFED, Confed, marketing committees.

Noida, April 21
Noida’s own Disneyland awaits children and grown-ups at a one-stop family entertainment city developed on 147 acres in Sector-38, Noida, by International Recreation Parks private limited. The project encompasses ‘World of Wonder” and the proposed hotel-cum-shopping centre ‘Garden’s Galleria’.

It is an entertainment destination built to offer a spectrum of experiences–rides, games, music, shopping and dining to appeal and excite every member of the family, says Col Anil Mago, vice- president, Operations, of the World of Wonder.

The World of Wonder is divided into three zones–Teen Zone, Family Zone, Children Zone and Calypso Bay–the water park. Each zone has its own set of rides designed to suit the taste of particular audience. With this clear demarcation, there is fun and entertainment in the park for all age groups.

In the Teen Zone, one can find a number of attractions like seven rides, food courts, live performance area, DJ and gaming zone to enjoy a day full of fun. The precinct is designed for the teenagers with high-octane thrills. With all imported rides and leading international consultants, this place evokes memories of Disney Land.

According to Col Mago, the park adheres to globally accepted safety standards of DIN-Deutshes Institut Fur Normung (European Safety Standards).

Ticket per head is Rs 275 while schoolchildren in a group are charged Rs 150 per head.

‘Festival Park’ provides a scenic setting for families to enjoy the spectacle of three international celebrations. In the second phase, the Family Zone will become operational with six rides for all age groups. It will be a place where the entire family can take rides together and share quality time, a place where life will be fun. Festive banners, buntings and signage adorn buildings and balconies everywhere. Impromptu performances by troupes of street entertainers coupled with a daily menu of live shows in the amphitheatre presents the multinational, multi-cultural ambience of this zone. The zone will have boat rides as well as a stunt show on the lake.