New Delhi, May 30
The Delhi High Court today allowed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to go ahead with the construction of an elevated line between Defence Colony and Nehru Place in South Delhi that was opposed by residents abutting the corridor.

A division bench comprising justice Tirath Singh Thakur and justice Siddharth Mridul dismissed petitions filed against the construction of an elevated Metro corridor on this route.

Two resident welfare associations in Greater Kailash-I had filed the petition in November last year complaining that an elevated line will create noise pollution.

While allowing the DMRC to go ahead with its plan, the court directed it to take all measures regarding noise pollution wherever nece1 held for Niti Bagh murderssary, said DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal.

“DMRC had prayed that making the section underground would involve huge capital expenditure and increase the cost by over Rs 8 billion. The area has hard rock and drilling is difficult in the area,” said Dayal.

He said that the central government had cleared the corridor and given a tight deadline for completion by 2010. The DMRC assured that it would take adequate noise-control measures like building noise-absorbing parapets.

The Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor will be 20.16 km long and have 15 stations. It will be underground from Central Secretariat to Khan Market station and will switch over from underground to elevated from Lajpat Nagar.

The Delhi Metro is the modern mass transit system of the Indian capital. Every day, it ferries over 6,00,000 passengers over a network of 65 km. Construction is on to add another 120 km to the existing network before the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010. — IANS

Faridabad, May 30
The ongoing agitation by the Gujjar community to press for acceptance of demand to grant it a Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan got a boost today with the Bharatiya Kissan Union headed by Mahender Singh Tikait supporting the cause.

Tikait, who was en route to Rajasthan to meet the leaders of the Gujjar agitation in the state, said at Palwal in this district that given the ferocity of the movement, it was only proper that the demand for ST status was accepted.

However, he qualified his statement saying that although such demands for reservations should be accepted only on the grounds of economic status, the government should give in on the issue of granting ST status to the Gujjars.

He further said that he was going to Rajasthan to express solidarity with the agitationists in the state.

In a related development, the leader of Haryana Gujjar Aarakshan Samiti, R.S.Chandila expressed shock over the death of two members of the Gujjar community yesterday in police firing in Panipat.

He said that the usual practice is that the police starts with a lenient approach to disperse mob during agitations. Lathi-charge and firing are resorted to by the police as a last resort. But in Panipat, the police first resorted to firing and then to lathicharge and other methods.

Chandila demanded a judicial probe into the police firing and related developments surrounding the two deaths.

He said that the government’s announcement of a magisterial probe was not enough. Besides, the announcement of Rs 5 lakh to each family of the deceased was not enough and the sum should be raised to Rs 10 lakh.

The Haryana Gurjar Aarakshan Samiti has demanded action against the officials involved in the firing.

According to Chandila, the Gujjars had no animosity against the Haryana government as the demand for ST status to the community pertained to the Rajasthan government. The Gujjars in Haryana and other parts of the country are only expressing solidarity with the community in Rajasthan.

New Delhi, May 30
Delhi University (DU) today buzzed with slogans against tobacco, as students and teachers along with police officials and members of an NGO took out a campaign ahead of the World No Tobacco Day.

Taking forward efforts to turn the university into a no-smoking zone, the campaign is the brainchild of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in collaboration with the World Lung Foundation and the Delhi Police.

“It’s a joint effort of DU officials, DUSU, the World Lung Foundation and the Delhi Police. In the march today, officials of all these organisations, besides teachers and students of DU, participated,” DUSU president Amrita Bahari said.

Nearly 100 people participated in the march today which concluded with an oath against taking tobacco.

According to a study by Manhas, an NGO, 28 per cent of the male students in DU were found to be smokers. Stress levels among smokers were found to be higher than among non-smokers.

Manhas, along with the ministry of family and health welfare and the WHO is conducting a tobacco free youth campaign which started on May 25 and will conclude with the observance of the World No Tobacco Day tomorrow.

Talking about their effort to discourage students from smoking, Bahari said: “In February this year we declared DU a no-smoking zone. Anyone caught smoking thereafter has been fined heavily. This campaign is an extension of that effort”.

Last year, too, DU had organised a similar campaign to observe the World No Tobacco Day. — IANS

New Delhi, May 30
Tomorrow being the World No Tobacco Day, the Delhi government has decided to impose higher fine on anyone caught smoking at public places.

Delhi health minister Yoganand Shastri said that the normal fine for smoking at public places is Rs 200. But it can be hiked to as high as Rs 1,000 on No Tobacco Day.

The government has planned many steps including setting up of mobile courts to penalise smokers at public places, establishing tobacco cessation clinics to help people quit smoking and empowering resident associations of every area to levy a fine on those found smoking at public places.

“In order to achieve a smoke-free Delhi by 2009, the government with the Delhi legal services authority will set up four to five mobile courts that would penalise those found smoking at public places,’’ Shastri said. He said that eight raiding squads have been functioning in Delhi.

He said that raiding squads impose fine on an average 4,000 people a year. In 2007-08, it raided 12,085 indoor public places and 17008 public transport vehicles. In these raids, a total 5,757 (5,739 males and 18 females) were caught smoking.

New Delhi, May 30
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It is the only legal consumer product that kills one third to one half of those who use it. On an average, its victims die 15 years prematurely.

We need a campaign for a total ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, said Dr K.K Aggarwal, president, Heart Care Foundation of India and Dr N K Yadav, MHO, MCD, during a press conference organized by the foundation to mark the World No tobacco Day falling on May 31, 2008.

The special attraction of the conference was the presence of well-known model-cum-dietician Priyanka Sharma and upcoming models Twinkle Patel and Rashi Anand along with a pop singer Vandana Wadehra who pledged that they will not get associated with any event directly or indirectly promoting tobacco consumption.

New Delhi, May 30
Chief executive officer of the BSES, Arun Kanchan, today announced that consumers’ complaints would be settled on the spot.

He said that customer satisfaction has been a foremost priority of the BSES. The company is working towards strengthening its grievances redressal mechanism and introducing customer-friendly measures.

It has started an open house interactive session through Apke Dwar for an on the spot resolution of customer grievances. So far Apke Dwar has been organised in West, South and East Delhi. Within a few days, it will be held in Nehru Place where headquarters of the BSES is located.

Addressing a conference, Kanchan said that the power company would replace a defective meter without any charge just after receiving the complaint. Charges are taken if manual meter is replaced.

The BSES has asked land from the government at Ghazipur to start its own power generation unit of 1400 megawatt. The power supply has already improved a lot in Delhi in comparison to other states.

He claimed that in Ghaziabad on an average loadshedding had been for eight hours. People survive on generators. But in Delhi demand of generator has come down. On the contrary, AC components are in demand.

The company has also started power banking system. During winters Delhi does not require much power. So it loans its power to North-East states where all rivers freeze and power generation stopped. In summers those states return that power to Delhi, he said.

It has also started pre-paid power supply system. So far 300 such meters have been installed.

Kanchan said that Apke Dwar initiative would be organised on all working days from June 1 in all three divisions of the BRPL and BYPL. This will be a joint initiative with MLAs and MPs and this will continue till September 30.

Explaining the dynamics of the initiative, Kanchan said, “Under this, the BSES has made arrangements to collect electricity-related complaints from the office of each MLA and MP. The BSES is providing the MLA and MP office with a customised complaint recording mechanism.” 

New Delhi, May 30
There is some hope on the horizon for the teaching profession with the UPA president Sonia Gandhi and the HRD minister Arjun Singh meeting up with a delegation of FEDCUTA and DUTA teachers on crucial issues impacting the neglected sector of higher education on Thursday.

There are signs currently that the UPA government is waking up to this national neglect of a sector that can make or break nations. Academics predict that the much-needed growth in the knowledge sector may just be beginning and this needs a balanced developmental pattern for it to succeed.

Concerned teachers from the DUTA and FEDCUTA met up with UPA president Sonia Gandhi and presented their case before her.

DUTA president Aditya Kumar Misra said, “Yesterday nine major central universities had a meeting followed by a key appointment with Sonia Gandhi and later the HRD minister, Arjun Singh. We provided a detailed account of the plight of the higher education sector and were given a patient hearing by Sonia.”

“Till very recently only 1% of the budget was allotted to higher education but obviously the UPA government has done some thinking and now the budget allotment is 4%. It is the knowledge sector that has contributed to the phenomenal rise of the Indian middle class. We have provided skilled and excellent manpower all over the globe in the knowledge sector. The contribution of the neglected Indian knowledge sector and teachers has been massive and perhaps the current government has recognized this,” said Misra.

“However, according to data collected by the DUTA, talent is not coming into the teaching profession and it sits as the ninth option in the wish list of students due to low salaries and poor service conditions,” says Misra.

Tabrez Alam Khan, secretary of FEDCUTA adds, “The need of the hour currently is to attract talent to the teaching profession before it is too late. We feel the government must do something about pay structures and low teaching conditions.”

The delegation stressed before Gandhi that the Chadha committee which is reviewing pay structures for teachers has so far been extremely sluggish in its follow up.

Misra announced before reporters in the Capital that if the committee does not bring forth its report by June, the teachers will resort to other measures of protest.

New Delhi, May 30
With the arrest of three persons on Wednesday, the North district police has claimed to have busted an inter-state gang involved in circulating counterfeit court fee stamps.

A consignment including 605 sheets each containing 24 counterfeit court fee stamps of Rs 10 and 125 sheets each containing 24 counterfeit court fee stamps of Rs 10, respectively, worth Rs 2 lakh were recovered from them.

Kunwar Pal Singh, 40, was first apprehended near Amba Cinema, Ghanta Ghar while Jagdish, 50 and Prem Singh, 26 were arrested on his instance.

Jagdish was arrested near Peera Garhi Chowk around 10 p.m. He had come there to collect payment from Kunwar Pal for a delivered consignment and to deliver a fresh consignment.

Kunwar Pal Singh hails from Dadri and is a small time property dealer in the Ghanta Ghar area. He disclosed that Jagdish, who belongs to Sonipat district in Haryana, supplied him counterfeit stamps for half of their value.

Kunwar also disclosed that the Delhi Police had earlier arrested him in a case of counterfeit stamps.

New Delhi, May 30
The South district Police has arrested Ghanshyam, alias Raju, for the murder of senior citizens Ashok Goel and his wife Lata Goel living in Niti Bagh area of South Delhi.

According to HGS Dhaliwal, DCP, South Delhi, the police has recovered one knife, blood-stained clothes and ear-rings of Lata Goel on the instance of Raju. The accused has confessed to the crime and has revealed that he committed the murder with Mukesh Yadav and his maternal uncle Brij Lal. Raju worked as a domestic help in a house in the same locality and knew Mukesh as they belong to the same village in Bhagalpur district of Bihar.

A police team has been sent to Bihar to arrest Mukesh and Brij Lal.

Raju disclosed that Mukesh had hatched the conspiracy to kill his employers, as he had seen them keeping a large amount in the house one day. He had called his uncle from Kolkata to assist them in the crime.

On the fateful night, the accused waited till 8 p.m. since Mukesh was aware that the couple’s daughter called them regularly during that hour. After they had spoken to their daughter, the three first attacked Lata but Ashok Goel entered the room and attacked them with a stool. However, the accused overpowered Ashok and slit his neck. They ransacked the house. Later, Mukesh took an auto and went to a railway station with Brij.

New Delhi, May 30
A property dealer today shot his business partner in Sector 24 of Rohini in the North West area of the Capital over a property dispute. The incident took place in the afternoon outside their office.

Rohit shot Bhagat Raj, 31, thrice. He was taken to the Saroj Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Rohit is absconding. A case of murder has been registered at Rohini police station and a hunt has been launched to apprehend Rohit.

According to the police, Rohit and Bhagat Raj were involved in selling and buying property. They initially had cordial relationship. However, over a period of time differences and competition cropped up between the two.

The murder is supposedly the fallout of a dispute over a plot in West Delhi in which both were interested.

According to sources, Rohit was often seen at Bhagat Raj’s office demanding money. 

Ghaziabad, May 30
Ravinder Pradhan, accused of murdering university professor Kavita Chaudhary in 2006, died in Dasna jail here on Wenesday.

Jail superintendent V.K Singh confirmed the undertrial’s death and said Pradhan was rushed to the district hospital after he complained of severe vomiting. He was declared dead in the hospital. Chaudhary, a professor at CCS University in Meerut, had gone missing in October 2006.

Merajuddin and Babulal of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) were forced to step down as Uttar Pradesh ministers after Pradhan said Chaudhary was murdered over a dispute over sharing the blackmail money collected from politicians who allegedly had intimate relationship with her. Chaudhary was murdered allegedly after a dispute over sharing the money extorted from Meerajuddin. Her body was thrown into a canal and has not been recovered yet. — IANS

New Delhi, May 30
Lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna today launched the Students Traffic Volunteers (STV) Scholarship Scheme.

He handed over identity cards to all 100 students including 10 girls, who have been chosen for the scheme.

Under the scheme, the students will help the Delhi Traffic Police in controlling traffic. Each student will receive a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month to support their tuition fee and books. The scheme has been launched to attract students to the traffic management.

The STV will begin working from June 2.

New Delhi, May 30
In order to benefit from the amnesty scheme launched two weeks ago by the Delhi government, as many as 3,700 residents have applied for meter change, settlement of theft cases and new meter connections. Delhi power minister A.K Walia said that the scheme would be on till June 11.

The amnesty scheme offers people the opportunity for settlement of pending disputes and other power-related problems.

The scheme is open to residential and commercial consumers. — TNS