The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

BRT corridor: CM holds meeting
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
Concerned over the continuing traffic chaos on the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) corridor opened for trial run between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand Hospital on Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today summoned all the stakeholders and issued strict instructions to them to ensure smooth running of traffic.

Confusion lessens

Traffic jams on the the BRT corridor continued on the third consecutive day today .
Following new guidelines confusion was less than the past two days.
When the corridor was opened for trial on Sunday, the turn from Chirag Dilli to Nehru Place and Okhla Industrial area was closed. The vehicles had to take a U-turn from Moolchand flyover resulting in a massive traffic jam throughout the corridor.
After meeting with senior officers of the Delhi Traffic Police today, the transport department opened the turn reducing inor traffic congestion slightly. Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf said that for further improvement the department had decided to ban the plying of Blueline buses on the corridor. Only DTC buses would ply on the track from tomorrow. The Blueline buses would be shifted from this route to some other route .
He said that this project was the first in the Capital and the country. Once the drivers get used to driving in lanes , the problem would be over.

The Delhi Chief Minister told the stakeholders to ensure proper coordination in order to resolve the teething problems. Traffic on the 5-metre-long corridor continued to be chaotic on the third day of the trial run even as a large number of traffic policemen and BRT marshals were deputed there. The situation was no better today though officials claimed that there was a slight improvement.

Among others who were summoned to the high-level meeting were Delhi transport minister Haroon Yusuf, chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, principal secretary to Chief Minister P.K. Tripathi, transport commissioner R.K. Verma, CMD DTC, Ramesh Negi, CMD (DIMTS) S.N. Sahai, Jt. CP (Delhi Police) Srivastava, vice-president CMS C. Krishan Kumar, MD RITES V.K. Agarwal and Dinesh Mohan and Geetam Tiwari from IIT, Delhi. The Chief Minister said that her government was committed to removing all obstacles coming in the way of smooth “operationalisation” of the first phase of the BRT project.

She said that the work on all other BRT projects has been put on hold till her government receives a successful “conclusion report” of the first BRT project.

It was also decided in the meeting, which lasted over two hours that the transport commissioner would do an on-the-spot assessment of the situation daily and another review meeting would be taken by the Chief Minister on Saturday. It was also decided to replace Blueline buses with DTC’s low-floor buses or other ordinary buses on this corridor.

The CMS was directed to install proper signage. The stakeholders would also concentrate on educating people to follow lane discipline. Sufficient number of marshals along with traffic police personnel would be deployed to ensure safety of the children, senior citizens and handicapped persons.

The Chief Minister further instructed the stakeholders to be more vigilant during peak hours. She expressed confidence that things would improve in the coming days.

It was revealed in the meeting that the IIT Delhi was developing suitable software to determine timings of traffic signals on the first corridor.

It was stated that the BRT experiment had been successfully undertaken in 80 countries and the present project would also prove to be beneficial.

Dikshit said that the traffic police had been instructed to deploy its best personnel to overcome the present difficulties. Apart from this, the cyclists and pedestrians would be educated to make proper use of designated lanes.

Committee to review BPL estimate set up: Montek
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
Deputy chairperson of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia today informed that a committee to re-examine Below Poverty Line (BPL) estimate had been set up under Suresh Tendulkar. He was addressing a delegation of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA).

AIDWA has demanded universalisation and strengthening of public distribution system (PDS), keeping in view the unprecedented rise in prices of essential commodities.

According to AIDWA, the existing BPL estimate excludes a large number of poor, including a substantial section of women, from accessing PDS. It pointed out flaws in the current BPL estimate, both at conceptual stage and in administrative mechanism.

“Linkages of the policy with the 13-point criteria of eligibility being used by the rural development ministry has further aggravated the situation,” said Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary, AIDWA.

“MS Ahluwalia was forced to accept that poverty estimates of the Planning Commission, according to which only 27.5 per cent of the population is below poverty line, does not correspond to the abysmal figures on child malnutrition and anaemia as brought out by the latest NHFS survey,” said Sudha. “The extent of anaemia and malnutrition among women is also not reflected.”

The Association’s report stated that due to the faulty criteria being adopted, even marginalised sections like — tribal are denied of the benefit of BPL card, as they own some land or, SC families who send their children to school are not considered poor. The legal exclusion of the poor from the system is a major assault on their right to food security.

Sheila govt in poll mode, offers a slew of sops
Ravi Bhatia
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
With barely six months left for the scheduled assembly elections in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government has moved into election mode announcing a string of popular welfare schemes to counter the demon of anti-incumbency as it strives for a third successive term.

The decision to launch such welfare schemes was taken at a high-level meeting of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) office-bearers and state ministers earlier this year in which it was concluded that the anti-incumbency factor could prove to be the only dampener in Delhi government’s otherwise quite successful 10-year rule.

Over the last couple of months, the Delhi government has announced at least a dozen such schemes aimed mainly at its traditional vote bank—the minorities and the residents of jhuggi clusters. These include increasing the dole for the girl child for the under- privileged section of society, reduced power tariff for the residents of jhuggi clusters, additional sops for teachers of minority institutions, opening of additional health centres in these colonies and appointing a large number of teachers in the schools run by it in these clusters.

The Delhi government has also held a series of meetings with the office-bearers of numerous residents welfare associations (RWAs) to resolve their problems of power and water shortage, traffic congestion and law and order.

Highly placed sources said that the spate of welfare measures was likely to gain momentum during the next couple of months with the Chief Minister, who is considered to be the winning face of the Delhi

Pradesh Congress,attending various social functions. On an average, the Delhi Chief Minister attends at least half a dozen functions every day.

It was also decided at this crucial meeting the importance of projecting a united face to the public and quelling dissidence against the Chief Minister who has over the years come to be identified as the “aunty next door”. With J. P. Aggarwal having succeeded Ram Babu Sharma as the president of the DPCC, dissidence has more or less died down.

The dissidence and lobby against the Chief Minister was at its peak during the tenure of Ram Babu Sharma and this had led to several ugly scenes in which Sheila Dikshit was seen walking out of the meetings in a huff. Such intense was the infighting that the party high command was forced to intervene.

Senior Delhi Pradesh Congress leaders who have been actively involved in chalking out the strategy claimed that the state unit was now absolutely united and totally in support of the Chief Minister who in the coming months would be projected as “considerate and competent administrator” who has successfully run the government for a decade despite all the constraints of being “the Chief Minister of a limited statehood”. In fact, some of them suggested that the demand for a full statehood should be included in the election manifesto which was now being worked on.

CM for rational use of water, power
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today exhorted the residents to make rational use of water and electricity .The use of recycled water for gardening would go a long way in saving drinking water.

The water-harvesting scheme would be introduced in 205 schools and an amount of Rs.40 crore has been earmarked.

The Delhiites have bought around five lakh CFLbulbs .The use of these bulbs would help save 1200 MW.

Addressing eco-club members from 200 schools in a workshop organized in connection with Earth Day at Delhi Secretariat, she requested the children to plant seven saplings and preserve those.

Eco-clubs have been established in 1900 schools in Delhi. The clubs would also be set up in 200 schools. She stressed the need of using recycled paper. This practice may help in saving around 40,000 trees in a year.

Thirty five schools have been provided solar water heating system. These would be installed in another 50 schools very soon. The city-government has been providing a subsidy on the installation of solar water heater system.

Threat to blow up Noida mall, hotel
Our Correspondent

Noida, April 22
The police is put on its toes in view of the terrorists’ threat to blow up Noida’s Centre Stage Mall, Radisson Hotel and some places in NCR and in Lucknow. This time the threats have been conveyed through mobile phones as against E-mail in the past.

The terrorists have threatened through SMS to blow up Centre Stage Mall and the adjoining 5-star Radisson Hotel. Delhi’s Nizamuddin Bridge and Lucknow’s Hazarat Ganj area are also said to be among their targets. This time the messages have been sent to Noida’s district magistrate, the SSP and a former Noida SP, presently posted in Lucknow.

Though the police has dubbed it as a prank of the miscreants, efforts are afoot to trace them. Police sources said threatening SMSs are being received for the last two days. The SMS has repeated the same threat:

“Tomorrow at 8.41 pm, Noida CS Mall, Radisson Hotel, Hazrat Ganj area in Lucknow and Delhi’s Nizzamuddin bridge will be blown up through explosions.”

All the messages are being beamed from different cell phones.

Noida SSP A. Satish Ganesh said these threats were the handiwork of mischievous elements. Nevertheless the security of mall and hotel has been alerted, the SSP added.

This is the second chance in the past two months when terror threats have been received for Noida.

Jamia offers 205 courses
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
Jamia Millia Islamia is gearing up for the 2008-09 academic session.

The University offers a total of 205 courses including, regular and part-time courses. It offers Ph.D, M.Phil, graduate, postgraduate, diploma, certificate, PG diploma and advanced diploma courses.

Application forms can be downloaded from the university website or can be purchased from the college for Rs 500 or Rs 200, depending on the course. Selection will be made on the basis of written test followed by interview for all courses. There is no cut-off percentage. But the applicant must have scored qualifying marks between 45-55 per cent, as per the course.

The last date for submission of forms for M.Sc in electronics, B.Tech and diploma in engineering is April 30. While the last date for submission of forms for MA in mass communication, convergent journalism; PG diploma in development communication, broadcast system maintenance and graphics and animation is May 2.

The subjects offered include engineering and technology, management sciences, computer science, law, physiotherapy, mass communication, education, fine arts, applied arts, social sciences and languages, natural sciences and architecture.

The varsity also offers options after class X. It offers certificate course in photography, commercial art, calligraphy, pottery and painting.

Class XII passouts can apply in courses like — physiotherapy, law, MBA, BE, B.Ed, architecture, mass communication, social work, TV journalism, business studies, international business and finance, cartography, remote sensing, photography, applied arts, art appreciation, print making, sculpture, as well as courses in French, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Uzbek, Pashto, Turkish, Kazhakhi, Turkmenian and Persian.

10 killed in Ghaziabad accidents
Parmindar Singh

Ghaziabad, April 22
Ten persons, including a child lost their lives in Ghaziabad Mahanagar yesterday. While a woman died when she jumped in front of a running train, four were also run over by trains.

A woman who had jumped into the Hindon river along with her seven-year-old daughter was rescued by the people on the river bank. But a child who had gone for a bath in the river drowned. Three youths were killed in road accidents.

A worker injured in a factory accident two days ago also succumbed to injuries in hospital. Twenty-year-old Kishtu, wife of Surinder Singh of Loni, was killed under the wheels of a train. According to railway police, she had jumped in front of a running train. Her body has been sent for postmortem.

Seven-year-old Krishen, son of Mohinder of Nand Gram, drowned in the Hindon. The Sihani Gate police and divers could not recover him from the river till late evening. In Vijay Nagar, Irfan, 24, was killed when hit by a car in an accident in Vijay Nagar area. Besides, one Arjun, 35, lost his life when hit by a vehicle in the morning under Mussori police area.

Nand Lal, along with two others was also run over by a train.

An employee of a milk company was killed by a vehicle on Link Road in the morning.

Ashok Pathoria, 40, was trying to help a milk van’s driver change a punctured wheel when a car coming from Delhi hit him, injuring him seriously. He was rushed to the Narindar Mohan Hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

12-year-old girl dies of cardiac arrest in school

Noida, April 22
A 12-year-old girl died possibly of cardiac arrest today while she was waiting to play football in the playground of her Amity School in Noida.

Surabhi Rajput, a student of class VII at Amity School in Sector 44 of Noida, was standing in the playground waiting for her turn to play football when she suddenly collapsed around 10.10 a.m.

After the morning prayer assembly, the sports team including Surabhi remained in the playground while other students went for their classes, said Savita Mehta, vice-president (public relations) of the Amity group of institutions.

School authorities informed the girls’ parents and rushed her to the Bhardwaj Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.

The doctors said Surabhi died of cardiac arrest.

Prabal Pratap Singh, superintendent of police of Noida city, said since the doctors had said the child died of cardiac arrest and her father Sanjay Rajput told the police he did not want any legal action against anybody, the police were not investigating the matter.

The police allowed the family to perform the cremation of the child without conducting autopsy, Singh said. — IANS

Man killed by sister-in-law

New Delhi, April 22
A widow and her paramour were arrested today for killing her brother-in-law who had objected to her relationship and then setting his body on fire in West Delhi, the police said.

Some residents of DG-Block in Vikaspuri area saw a man, later identified as Prem Raj, 35, engulfed in flames near the common staircase of an apartment early on Monday.

Police said that the deceased’s sister-in-law Ramrati and her alleged paramour Gajender Singh were arrested from the Timarpur area in North Delhi for stabbing Prem Raj, a cleaner in a car showroom, to death and setting his body on fire to conceal his identity.

Deputy commissioner of police (West Delhi) Sharad Agarwal said, “It was clear that the crime was committed by someone, who is either a resident of the locality or has access to a house in the locality. It was also found that a flat, near which the body was recovered, was lying vacant for the past five-six years.”

“The flat was opened and we found blood on the floor. It was learnt that Ramrati and Gajender Singh had access to the flat and they were arrested,” he said.

During questioning they revealed that Prem Raj was threatening to expose their “illicit relation”.

“Gajender said that they first gave him a sedative laced drink and stabbed him to death after he fell unconscious. They then poured kerosene over his body and set him ablaze to conceal his identity,” said Agarwal. — IANS

2 businessmen shot
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
Four unidentified persons yesterday shot two businessmen at Kohat Enclave in West Delhi. This is the second attack on businessmen in the city, after Kalkaji businessman Arun Gupta was murdered.

Raghuvir Mittal, 62, and his nephew Pawan Mittal, 32, were returning home in their Hyundai car, when it was intercepted near MM School. The four assailants in a red Esteem car fired at the two businessmen and their driver, Sandeep.

Raghuvir Mittal and his nephew Pawan Mittal died on the spot. While Sandeep, who suffered two bullet injuries, was admitted to a hospital. He, reportedly, is in a critical condition.

Raghuvir Mittal, resident of Vasudha Enclave, ran Chinese footwear business. The family and friends of the deceased could not say anything about their enmity with anyone.

However, the police has ruled out robbery as the motive, as a bag containing Rs 10 lakh was recovered from the car. “It seems to be the work of professional killers,” said a police official.

Shop manager found dead
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
A showroom manager was found dead in his shop at Lajpat Nagar central market in South Delhi yesterday.

Narendra Kumar, 50, manager of Meena Bazar saree showroom, was stabbed in his shop at around 9:20 p.m. A packet of condom and a bottle of liquor were found near his body.

The police rules out robbery as the motive, as no ransacking had taken place at the store.

The murder came to light when watchman of the area Puran Shankar noticed his shop opened, while other shops in the area were already shut. Narendra Kumar was found lying in the pool of blood with his throat slit. His body has been sent to the Moolchand Hospital for postmortem.

According to the deceased’s family, Kumar, a resident of block - C in Lajpat Nagar, had come to the store in his white WagonR car in the afternoon. He often came to the showroom on Monday, in spite of it being the weekly off for the market.

Tihar lifer found dead
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
An inmate of Tihar Jail undergoing life imprisonment here was found dead in his cell in the morning today. Anup Kumar, 25, was found hanging from a ceiling fan of his ward in jail number 4. He was noticed by the fellow inmates around 4 am and admitted to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Although lodged in the jail since 2005 for a murder charge, Anup was recently awarded life imprisonment.

According to jail officials, the verdict in his case was pronounced on April 11 and since then Anup had been depressed. “Anup Kumar was under depression and attending Vipasana (meditation) classes. An enquiry has been ordered,” said jail authorities.

Couple crushed to death
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, April 22
An overloaded dumper ferrying stones today crushed to death a motorcyclist and his wife in Pakhad village near here.

The dumper after hitting them turned turtle spilling the stones on the road and causing jam for about two hours on the Ballabgarh-Sohana road.

According to an eyewitness, the couple were returning from a pilgrimage to Baba Mohan Ram Samadhi in Milakpur village.

The husband, Memraj, was a resident of Tayakhad village in Delhi. The couple were crossing Ballabgarh to reach Delhi when they were struck by the dumper. The duo died on the spot.

According to sources, the dumper was returning from Aravali Hills in Sirihoi, falling in

Ballabgarh area near here. The overloaded dumper crossed a police post at Dhoj under the jurisdiction of Sector-55 police station. How the

vehicle beat the police post, was anybody’s guess.

Retired official commits suicide

Ghaziabad, April 22
A retired National Thermal Power Corporation official today committed suicide here.

Mahendra Singh Pal was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his bedroom in his house located in Sanjay Nagar locality under the jurisdiction of Kavi Nagar police station.

The police recovered a suicide note from his room.

According to family members, Pal, a bachelor, retired from NTPC on April 30, 2001. He had not been keeping well for the last couple of years.

Today morning, his niece noticed that Pal neither came for tea, nor responded to the knocks on his door. — IANS

Katara case
Verdict on May 14
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
The Patiala House Court today kept its order reserved in the Nitish Katara murder case after completing a month -long continuous hearing and is likely to pronounce the verdict on May 14. Additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur reserved the judgement after hearing final arguments. The verdict will bring to an end the high-profile case in which former Rajya Sabha member D.P. Yadav’s son is the prime accused.

Nitish Katara, son of a senior IAS officer, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by Vikas Yadav, his cousin Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Yadav on February 16-17 night, 2002. They resented Nitish’s alleged relationship with Vikas’s sister Bharati. Earlier, the court slammed the defence counsel for taking unnecessary adjournments and asked them to conclude their arguments by April 15. The prosecution on Monday continued with its rebuttal of the points raised by the defence counsel of the accused - D.P.Yadav’s son Vikas and his cousin Vishal Yadav. Opposing the defence arguments that key witness Ajay Katara’s statement could not be relied upon as he had approached the police around a month after the incident, the prosecution quoting judgements of the apex court said despite the delay the witness’s statement can be relied upon.

SC pulls up govt for lack of amenities in schools

New Delhi, April 22
The Supreme Court today severely reprimanded the Delhi government for “inhuman’’ conditions prevailing in government-aided schools in the state where there are no basic amenities like drinking water and fans. A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhan and Dalveer Bhandari was greatly annoyed with the attitude of the government and rejected the status report, filed by Sheila Dikshit government and directed it to file fresh affidavits giving details of the steps being taken to improve the pathetic conditions prevailing in about 222 such schools spread all over the city.

The court was angry with the status report and wanted to know from the government how can children study without water and electricity under the scorching sun? ‘’the government cannot get away after acting irresponsibly,’’ the court said. — UNI

Court acquits 3 charged with looting Rs 60
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22
A fast track court pulled up the Delhi Police for dragging a petty robbery case for nearly seven years and acquitted all three accused. The three were accused of robbing Rs 60 from Jaspal, a city-based businessman at a knifepoint on September 8, 2001.

“The police has miserably failed to establish the case due to lack of witnesses. It’s a pity that for a loot of a mere Rs 60, the police has carried on the trial for seven years. So, I hereby acquit the three accused,” said additional sessions judge RK Yadav.

Jaspal was returning home after closing his shop in Gandhi Nagar, when he was surrounded by — Wasim, Ashraf and Aasif and robbed. The three were later arrested by the Delhi Police and charged with looting.