Ghaziabad, June 20
After a public outcry and the stepping in of Union minister for child and women welfare Renuka Chaudhary, Balaji Telefilms was stopped to showcase Arushi’s story. But now some people have made the mysterious death of a teenaged girl a spicy selling proposition. Some blue film makers have created MMS and CDs titled ‘Noida’s Arushi Episode’.

These CDs are on sale in a Ghaziabad market from Thursday.

Though the 7-minute CD has no connection with Arushi, the CD is being sold like a hot cake due to its title.

The girl in the MMS and CDs looks like Arushi. She has been shown in a DPS school uniform.

Reportedly, a leading Delhi firm has sent it across to various markets in the country, while the news is being flashed to people through mobile phones.

It may be recalled that similar efforts were made to defame former Miss Jammu and Kashmir Anara Gupta, said a DPS student.

Ghaziabad SSP Deepak Rattan while expressing ignorance about the MMS and CDs assured that an inquiry would be conducted.

The Arushi-Hemraj double murder has become the country’s biggest murder mystery. The first damage was done by the Noida Police that had indulged in the character assassination of the girl. It had given a different colour to the tragedy.

New Delhi, June 20
Two youths, who would procure Indian credit cards and re-write the magnetic information on them with that of American banks, were arrested here for fraud, the police said here today.

According to the police, the two - Manoj Gupta , 24 and Saurabh Dwiedi 25- have worked in leading multi-national banks in the past where they hit upon the idea of loading local credit cards with magnetic memory of international credit cards.

Malaysia-based Mohammad Hassan provided the magnetic information of international credit cards to them on e-mail, the police added.

“The owner of the swipe machine is taken into confidence and he swipes the card for whatever amount the credit card allows, depending on the credit limit of the card. As soon as he swipes the card, the money is electronically transferred into the account of the swipe machine owner from the account of the actual owner of the card,” a police officer said.

The swipe machine owner then takes a cut of about 5-6 per cent of the transaction and pays the duo cash of the remaining amount.

“The genuine owner in the US receives an outstanding credit bill by the next billing cycle. He contests the inflated bill, as he had never left the US. The loss is either borne by the bank or by the insurance company, and since the fraud occurs in India no one is likely to pursue the matter from the US,” the officer said.

The duo told the police that since April 2008 they had swindled nearly Rs 1 million.

“The duo was arrested yesterday from their office in the Paschimpuri area in West Delhi. On investigation, it was found that these credit cards contained magnetic data of international banks like Citibank International US, Chase Bank US and Capital One Bank US,” the officer added. “About 18 credit cards of various banks, five forged PAN cards, a data reader machine, Rs 10,000 cash and a swipe machine were seized from them.”

New Delhi, June 20
In wake of the ongoing strike at the Lok Narak Jai Prakash Hospital (LNJP), office bearers of the National Public Health Alliance (NPHA), the Medical Service Centre (MSC) and the Kalawati Hospital Worker’s Union (KHWU) today held a meeting. They have expressed concern over the repeated incidents of scuffle between hospital staff and patient’s relatives.

In a joint statement released after the meeting, NPHA secretary V.S. Dahiya held the government duty to look into health-related problems.

“It is the government which is responsible for all problems here. The work overload, lack of medicines, lack of infrastructure and other facilities is constantly being ignored by the government in spite of repeated reminders,” said the statement.

Dahiya said that crores of rupees have been spent on the casualty block of the LNJP Hospital, but there is no central oxygen supply. Moreover, there is acute shortage of life-saving medicines and equipment.

“Such shoddy facilities create rift between the medical community and the public and pave way to privatise health-care delivery system,” said Dahiya.

All three organisations demanded that more staff be appointed and the government hospitals be supplied with the necessary medicines and equipment. They also sought an inquiry in the LNJP doctors’ strike. They demanded an immediate and amicable solution by initiating talks with the agitating doctors.

Meanwhile, the LNJP strike has entered the fourth day causing inconvenience to patients especially those coming from other states.

New Delhi, June 20
The deadline to phase out Blueline buses from the Capital’s roads expires in August this year. But with the current scenario, it seems that the Delhi government might fail to meet the deadline and bring buses owned by corporate houses on the city’s roads.

The Capital has a total of 4,600 Blueline buses. In its effort to phase out the Bluelines, the DTC has recently launched 123 low-floor air-conditioned buses.

The government is supposed to replace the Blueline buses by August, but no formalities regarding this has been done yet.

Now, there are possibilities that the government may be forced to extend their permit.

Last year the government had assured to phase out Blueline buses following a massive public outcry against the rise in accidents involving these buses.

The government at that time had also directed that no new permit would be issued to Bluelines and the permit of the existing buses would be extended only for four months. However, there have been three extensions since then.

And, now, with the inability of the government to introduce enough DTC and corporate-owned buses, it is expected that the permit of the Bluelines may be extended for the fourth time also.

According to a source, in order to extend the permit of Blueline buses, the government will have to go to seek legal action.

A senior official informed that the transport department is busy in completing formalities for issuance of tenders for inviting corporate houses to launch buses in Delhi.

New Delhi, June 20
The stay order against construction activities in unauthorised colonies is different than their provisional authorisation, say lawyers. According to them, there is no illegality in giving provisional authorisation to these colonies.

There are 1,400 such colonies in the Capital. The government cannot sanction money for their development unless they are provisionally authorised, said Kulbhushan Gupta, former chief legal advisor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Provisional authorisation is given for a certain timeframe. Certain guidelines have been proposed in the Master Plan 2021 for the regularisation of such colonies. The court has directed the government to fulfill the formalities before declaring them regularised, said Kulbhushan Gupta.

Most MLAs have unauthorised areas in their constituencies. The MLA fund and the other funds sanctioned by the government cannot be spent in these areas. Crores of rupees remain unutilised every year.

There are three types of unauthorised colonies. They are either located on private land, public land or gram sabha land.

The government has decided to charge residents who own properties on government or gram sabha land. The Centre has empowered the state government to decide the rate to be charged from property owners. According to sources, the state has decided the rates. It has also submitted the layouts of the colonies to the Union urban development ministry.

In 1970, when the late Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, more than 600 colonies were provisionally regularised in East Delhi. Those colonies were given permanent regularisation in 1986 after the development works were over.

Former president of the Delhi High Court Bar Association A.S. Chandhok said that the court would not interfere in the matter of authorisation. Provisional authorisation would be given with certain conditions that have to be completed within a year. The policy is contrary to construction activities. The stay order is against illegal constructions. Once authorisation is given, residents would be required to get sanctioned building plan from the MCD, said Chandhok.

New Delhi, June 20
Saffronart here has claimed to have closed yet another record sale worth Rs 39 crore last evening featuring rare and significant works of Indian modern and contemporary artists at its summer online auction.

The auction featured the works of famous painters, sculptors and installation artists, including S.H. Raza, Subodh Gupta, Jagdish Swaminathan and Rashid Rana.

The world auction records were set for eight artists, including Subodh Gupta, Hema Upadhyay, Badri Narayan, K.M. Adimoolam, Justin Ponmany, Chitra Ganesh, Bose Krishnamachari and Anita Dube.

On the first day itself, several lots crossed their higher estimates, including works by Subodh Gupta, Hema Upadhyay, T.V. Santhosh and Justin Ponmany, setting the pace for the exciting bidding activity that continued till the last minutes of the sale.

At the auction, close to 600 registered bidders from all over the world competed against each other for the works of some of India’s most prominent artists.

The top five lots of this Saffronart auction were Subodh Gupta’s untitled, selling for Rs 5.7 crore (US $ 1.43 million), the highest price achieved by an artist at the auction; S.H. Raza’s ‘Germination’, selling for Rs 4.2 crore (US $ 1.05 million); Rashid Rana’s ‘Red Carpet – 2’, selling for Rs 2 crore (US $ 500,250); J. Swaminathan’s untitled, selling for Rs 1.84 crore (US $ 460,000); and F.N. Souza’s untitled, selling for Rs 1.63 crore (US$ 408,250).

Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder and director of Saffronart said, “While the results of the sale were stellar across the board, the fact that three of the top five lots by modern Indian artists demonstrates a heartening resurgence in the demand for premium modern works.” He added, “The sale also marked the successful launch of our auction technology, which is the first of its kind and makes the bidder’s online experience as convenient as possible.”

New Delhi, June 20
A recent medical study has confirmed what has always been suspected—a co-relation between obesity and heart disease. The study has concluded that not only the physical but also the biological effects of obesity on the heart are profound. Obesity causes prolonged inflammation of heart tissue that in turn boosts the risk of heart failure.

The study, published in the latest issue of the College of Cardiology’s (USA) publication, has found that obesity early in life leads to the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries that increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke and heart failure. This gives half of the workforce in urban India another reason to change its lifestyle as most of them were found to be overweight during a survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The College of Cardiology, a research and referral centre, is considered to be the last word in studies and research related to heart diseases.

The report suggested that India will account for over 10 per cent of the deaths worldwide and the major concern was death because of obesity which is often described as a curse of the modern lifestyle. Obese people are found to have higher blood levels of key immune system proteins involved in inflammation than the non-obese putting them at an astounding 84 per cent increased risk of heart failure. Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can’t pump blood the way it should.

“Even if obese people feel otherwise healthy, there are measurable and early chemical signs of damage to their heart, beyond the well-known implications for diabetes and high blood pressure,” says Dr (Col.) Sudhir Tripathi, consultant endocrinologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, here.

Obesity is a chronic disease that is increasing in its prevalence. Apart from heart failure, it poses a serious risk for the development of various diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, gall bladder disease and certain forms of cancer. It is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages and socio-economic groups, says Dr Tripathi.

Medical experts have suspected for a long time that obesity increases the risk of developing heart failure. They also believed that heart failure results from diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease associated with obesity. However, recent studies have proved that obesity itself could cause heart failure. They also proved that even excess body weight substantially increases the risk of heart failure.

“We already have a genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity in Indian Asians, who make up 25 per cent of the world’s population and who are expected to account for 40 per cent of global cardiovascular disease by 2020.

“We can’t change our genetic inheritance. But we can focus on preventive measures, including lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise, and identifying new drugs to help reduce the burden of obesity,” remarks Dr Sujit Jha, consultant endocrinologist, Max Hospital in Saket here.

New Delhi, June 20
The crime branch of Delhi Police yesterday raided a pirated DVDs manufacturing unit in Azad Colony of Buddh Vihar and arrested Brijesh alias Nikku, 26, a resident of the area.

Sixteen DVD writers, 1,358 MP3 audio CDs and 1,435 DVDs have been seized.

The raid was conducted on the basis of a complaint filed by Suresh Kaushik on behalf of the Indian Music Industry (IMI). The complaint stated that some persons were circulating pirated CDs in the market causing losses to the original producer.  

Brijesh disclosed that he was in the business for the last three months. He would sell the VCDs in weekly markets.

He said that he had a dairy business earlier, but was lured into the piracy business after he came in contact with Chetram, Raju and Sonu. The three used to supply him inlay cards. He got blank and master CDs from Lajpat Rai Market and would make copies of new films.

The police is now trying to nail the supplier and other persons involved in the racket. 

New Delhi, June 20
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to hold special camps on the last Friday of every month to deal with applications related to building plans, regularisation of plans and issue of completion and occupancy certificates.

The camps will be organised from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at MCD office complex situated near Ambedkar Stadium adjacent to DTC Bus Terminal, Delhi Gate. The next camp will be held on June 27.

In case, the last Friday falls on a holiday, the camp would be held on previous working day.

The applications received till the last day of the previous month will be dealt with at these camps.

Additional commissioner of engineering department, engineer-in-chief, chief law officer, chief town planner and chief architect will also be available at the camps to render necessary guidance.