Ghaziabad, April 24
A man was caught while allegedly attempting to burgle a house here, beaten mercilessly by locals and when he became unconscious, dumped in a drain and left to die.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night in Sahibabad locality of Ghaziabad on the Delhi border.

According to sources, locals caught the alleged thief when he was attempting to burgle the house of a resident. Instead of calling the police, the people tied his hands and legs and beat him severely. They continued beating him for a long time. When they realized that the ‘thief’ was becoming unconscious, they dumped him in a storm water drain

At about 6.30 am on Thursday, when some morning walkers noticed the man lying in the drain, they attempted to untie him but a security guard asked them not to do so, as he was a “thief”. The morning walkers obeyed the guard and moved on.

After half an hour, an unknown caller informed the police about the man. The police took the man out and rushed him to a local district hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Superintendent of police (City) Vijay Bhushan said legal action would be taken against the guilty. “We are trying to identify the dead man,” he said.—IANS

New Delhi, April 24
The crime branch of the Delhi Police has arrested three persons — Chattar Singh Jain, 46, Manoj, 31, and Miraz Hussain, 29, in connection with the murder of a Dwarka-based property dealer Balbir Singh. Balbir, 50, was reported missing on March 23 and the family had been receiving ransom calls.

Besides dealing in property, Balbir owned a dairy and a school and was financially very well off. He used to supply milk for Chattar Singh’s sweet shop in Janakpuri. In contrast, Chattar Singh’s shop was sealed by the government and he was facing a financial crunch. Knowing Balbir’s financial status, Chattar planned to kidnap Balbir for ransom.

On March 23, he called Balbir to show him a plot and later served him drinks laced with medicines. After he fell unconscious, Chattar, Manoj and Miraz took him to Haryana in his Wagon R car and strangulated him in an isolated place near Jind. The dead body was thrown in the near by bushes after destroying the face with bricks to prevent identification. Manoj later took the car to Baghpat in UP and abandoned it there. Meanwhile, Chattar Singh returned back and pretended to be looking for Balbir along with his family. A week after the incident, Manoj and Miraz, on Chattar’s instructions, started making ransom calls of Rs 1 crore. The calls were being made from Moradabad. Chattar Singh has confessed that he had planned to accompany the family members at the time of the payment of the ransom.

But, in the meantime, the case was transferred to the crime branch, which forced Chattar to leave for Assam for sometime. However, this brought him under suspicion. He was called to join the investigation but he avoided by giving fake excuses. On investigation it was found that he was in constant touch with Manoj Kumar and Miraj Khan for the last two months. The police then nabbed Manoj and Miraz, who confessed to the crime. They revealed that Chattar had given them Rs 20, 000 each. He had also assured them of paying Rs 30 lakh each after receiving the ransom amount. Manoj is a driver by profession while Miraz is a tailor and hails from Pilibhit district of UP. 

New Delhi, April 24
“Management education helps individuals to acquire personal and organizational skills and competencies, develop capability to adapt to diverse cultures, socio-economic environments, and organizational and institutional set-ups, create wealth for themselves and the society; and share their knowledge and wealth with others,” said Prof. I M Pandey, director, Pearl School of Business, at a conference for student counselors and school teachers organized by Pearl School of Business, Gurgaon, in association with Eduexcel, a national level organization working for higher education development, at the India International Centre.

The conference was attended by around 100 teachers and counselors from reputed schools of Delhi and NCR.

Subjects like: understanding scientific process of career decision making for facilitating effective guidance, the latest trends in higher education, comparative analysis of conventional and professional programme after 10+2 and entrepreneurship came in for detailed discussion at the conference.

Prof. Ashutosh Bhupatkar, professor, Pearl School of Business, shared his thoughts on the latest trends in higher education saying that, “the concept of education has changed since 1990, when getting a degree was the end of education and getting a job was end of the career. Today education is a lifelong process taken up in line with the career choice.”

He stressed on new modes of higher education which have emerged in the last 20 years on account of pressure on the existing education system. Prof. Bhupatkar talked about issues like international degrees in India, foreign curriculum, validation of Indian programme by foreign Universities and distance learning.

Earlier, in his opening comments, Dr. V.S. Ravindran, Chief Mentor Eduexcel, elaborated the scientific process of career decision making, especially on how to analyze the differences in aptitude, skills, interest area and personality of students besides facilitating career information, guidance and counseling to students.

Enthusiastic participation from schools provided practical insights. Some Delhi schools that participated were the Convent of Jesus and Mary, St. Xavier’s School, Delhi Public School, Rohini, Ryan International School, Faridabad, St. Mark’s School, New Delhi, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi. The event was a host to an amalgamation of ideas from academicians .

New Delhi, April 24
Dr. Arvind Taneja,director and chief of pediatrics, Max Healthcare, today recommended combination vaccinations for children to avoid pain and risk of infection through repeated injections.

Talking about the importance of paediatric care here, Dr. Taneja said that the number of recommended immunizations during childhood had increased in the past years.

Infants receive vaccines against 11 diseases in the first two years. Sometimes the child may receive as many as five injections at a single visit to the clinic to cope up with the immunization schedule.

The only way the child can be made to escape all the pain is to either not get the child immunized against certain diseases at all and keep him open to the risk of infection or go in for combination vaccines.

Combination vaccines merge into a single product, antigens that prevent different disease or that protect against multiple strains of infectious agents causing the same disease. Thus they reduce the number of injections required to prevent some disease. A Combination vaccine is a practical way to overcome the constraints of multiple injections especially for starting the immunization series for children behind schedule, the doctor said.

According to the doctor, Pentavalent vaccines prevent harmful diseases like Diptheria, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Tetanus, Poliomyelitis (Polio), and HiB (haemophilus influenza type b).

This combination vaccine has a very high protective efficacy against five childhood diseases. Pentavalent vaccines are usually given in tree doses. The first dose is given at the age of six weeks and after three doses children can receive a booster dose between 15 to 18 months.

Combination vaccines provide prevention against several diseases like Diptheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Poliomyelitis and Hib simultaneously. It reduces the number of injections required and makes the immunization schedule less complex.

 A study, recently published in The Journal of Pediatrics, shows that no efficacy or safety is compromised when clinicians administer a new combination vaccine that streamlines the process of poking the child a number of times for each vaccine separately, the doctor revealed.

Combination vaccines help to simplify the current immunization schedule. They decrease the anxiety of the parents and healthcare providers because of perceived reduction in pain for the infant. They also tend to reduce the missed opportunities to vaccinate, the risk of needle sticks as a result of handling fewer syringes and improve the record keeping economical for the parents as they involve and tracking process. They are also fewer vaccine administration charges and potentially fewer clinic visits. Therefore, incorporation of combination vaccines into clinical practice will benefit infants, parents, healthcare providers, office managers, and managed care administrators alike.

New Delhi, April 24
Having gone through past experience of traffic jam on BRT corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand in South Delhi, people riding on two-wheelers and cars have taken different routes to reach their destinations in various parts of the Capital. Consequently, traffic was moving smoothly on the corridor in comparison to other days.

Whether it is peak hours or normal, people have to spend more than one hour to cover the distance of 5.8-km of the corridor.

Ashish Kumar who works at CGO complex said since the opening of the corridor, it had become a nightmare to cover the distance. Traffic jam is always there on the corridor.

He said he took the South Extension route today and reached the office on time.

Ravinder Singh who works at Connaught Place said, “I have taken the route of Okhla Mandi to Nehru Nagar and then Ashram to Connaught Place. This is a very long route but I have chosen this due to traffic jam on corridor.”

Delhi transport minister Haroon Yusuf, chief secretary of the Delhi government, Rakesh Mehta, transport commissioner A. R. Verma and other senior officers visited the corridor today to get the latest view.

The transport commissioner said that traffic was smooth on the corridor in comparison to other days. “It’s a new project. Whenever, a new scheme is launched, people face difficulty and criticise. Gradually they will be used to and take benefit of the corridor.”

Senior transport officials, who were specially deputed to monitor the situation, claimed that the time taken to clear the corridor had further improved and there were fewer snarls on the stretch now. This was because the traffic policemen and the marshals posted along the entire stretch were moving in rapidly to sort out problems.

These officials admitted that the biggest snarl was the long time taken to clear the nine intersections on the route. With each signal taking three minutes to turn green, it was obvious that the traffic would start piling up. These officials maintained that the technical experts responsible for installing and maintaining traffic signals in the National Capital Territory were working on this problem. “Once this aspect is taken care of, the situation would show tangible improvement,” a senior traffic police officer said.

Meanwhile, the stakeholders in the BRTS claimed that it was unfair to blame them alone for the chaos. Motorists and other road users were equally responsible because of their reluctance to adhere to the lanes. “Things would have been much better if the road users in the national Capital were a little more disciplined,” a state transport department official said.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will review the situation on Saturday and then decide whether work on other proposed corridors should continue.

Faridabad, april 24
The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) with the support of the district administration today sealed 40 illegal commerical premises in residential Sectors 10 and 11 which comprises the DLF area.

The authorities, as per the plan, had planned to seal the

premises much earlier but shelved it in view of affidavits submitted by the owners of the illegal units to seal themon their own initiative by March 30. However, the legal branch of the government gave little importance to the affidavits. The MCF, however, had already given notices to theowners to close the premises.

Joint commissioner , MCF, Pushpinder Singh Chauhan said that earlier the civic body had issued a verbal order for closure of the shops. Today’s sealing was its follow up.

New Delhi, April 24
A team of special cell sleuths led by ACP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, yesterday arrested gangster Khurvesh, alias Pappu, along with his accomplice Gaurav, alias Kamal, in connection with a case of attempt to murder. The duo had allegedly shot at Prem Sahu, a businessman running a cable network and a tent house in the Nand Nagari area.

The two were arrested in the evening from near Macchi Tal, Korhi Colony, Tahirpur, where Khurvesh had come to meet Gaurav. Khurvesh fired at the police team with a countrymade pistol. He was overpowered when he tried to reload the pistol. Two countrymade pistols of .315 bore along with three live cartridges were recovered from their possession. A case under the appropriate sections of law was registered at the Special Cell, Lodhi Colony.

Khurvesh is said to be involved in more than 30 cases of murder, attempt to murder, assault on police, extortion and robbery in the national Capital.

New Delhi, April 24
Agitated by the steep price spiral, scarcity of power and water, the BJP workers of all the 280 zones of the Capital today resorted to ringing bells, beating drums, plates, canisters; blowing bugles, in entire Delhi, ostensibly to awaken the sleeping Sheila Dikshit government.

Starting the programme of ‘Ghanta Ghadiyal Bajao - Soyi Sarkar Jagao’ at Multani Dhanda Chowk of the Chandni Chowk district, Delhi unit chief of the BJP, Harsh Vardhan, said that citizens of the Capital never saw such an anti-people government. Every child is craving for water and power. The kitchens are empty due to steep price spiral. Lakhs of people are living hellish life without public amenities yet the government is not concerned.

If the government does not wake up even after this, the BJP will not hesitate in starting ‘jail bharo’ movement. A big bell was brought on tempo at Multani Dhanda Chowk and it was beaten for hours.

The local residents participated in large numbers in this programme and raised anti-government slogans. Bells and drums were beaten in Paharganj, Naraina, New Ranjit Nagar, Rajender Nagar, Patel Nagar, Anand Parbat and all the mandals. Women were also present in large numbers in these programmes.

New Delhi, April 24
Lakhs of people have been affected by the flawed Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system whose trial run between Ambedkar Stadium and Moolchand started four days ago .More than Rs 240 crore of public money has gone down the drain on the project which cannot be successful in Delhi for its basic flaw in the design.

The accountability should first be fixed on the IIT professors who proposed the system initially. It seems that they picked the system from some cities abroad, especially from those countries which have a “left-hand drive” system and proposed it here without any changes.

Otherwise what is the rationale behind implementing the left-hand drive system in a country which follows right-hand drive system.

This is evident from the fact that in all the countries where the right-hand drive system is followed, the bus stands and the path for the pedestrians is on the right left of the roads with the extreme right lane being reserved for vehicle at a high speed.

However, on BRT the bus stands have been shifted to the extreme right of the lane and the lane for the pedestrians is on the extreme left. How are the pedestrians supposed to make their way through the high speed traffic from the extreme left to the extreme right to the bus stands is a basic question which none in the Rites or the Delhi government asked?

The suggestion was that private marshals would be deployed to help the pedestrians cross the road to reach the bus stops. None thought that in a city where commuters have scant regards for even the traffic police, what chance would private marshals stand to regulate traffic?

Rites, the agency given the contract for redesigning the stretch should also be equally held responsible as it did so without any feasibility study.

Before the BRT project was started, did any of the officials involved with the BRT or even the officials from the Delhi government ever visit the stretch at morning peak hour when the cyclists take over two-thirds of the road leaving just a lane for the other traffic? The answer is a simple “No”.

Had they done so, they would have had the idea of the volume of traffic which flows on this stretch which is the main road leading to South Delhi. There is enough evidence of this in the statements of the officials now.

As a result of the BRT, the pressure on the adjoining roads in South Delhi has also increased and there is no road on which the commuters do not get stuck in a jam.

What would happen on this stretch after a heavy downpour? With so many low-rise dividers, the chaos would be phenomenal with the damage to private property unthinkable. With dividers submerged in water, the commuters would have no idea where they would be driving. Who would be responsible for the loss of property or loss of life, if any?

There is question lingering in the minds of those lakhs of people who commute every day on this stretch that why this situation has arisen? Why a perfectly healthy road has been turned into an artery with more than 100 per cent blockage which has no chance of even an open heart surgery?

Why has the death of this stretch occurred? A question which the Congress government would have to reply to South Delhiites and which could sound its death-knell in the area.