New Delhi, July 30
The department of environment and forest of the government of NCT of Delhi yesterday started the development of sixth new city forest at Mukhmelpur, Alipur block, where more than 200 schoolchildren from the nearby localities planted more than 2000 saplings in the presence of principal secretary (GAD) Rakesh Mohan.

Secretary (Environment) J.K. Dadoo was also present on this occasion.

The government has strived hard to enhance the green cover from just 26 sq. km to more than 320 sq. km during the past eight years. There is a need to ensure compensatory forestation on cutting of trees for developmental activities. The city-government would develop another three city forests this year, taking number of city forests up to 32, a spokesman of the Delhi government said.

The city forest at Mukhmelpur, Alipur block, is another addition to the green lungs in the megapolis. The city forest spreads over an area of 13 acres with a proposed stock of 8320 tree species. The location has been envisaged to be developed into a city forest keeping in view the principles of local ecology. Besides, block forestry plantations to meet the requirements of bio-diversity conservation and sustain the flow of forest-based ecosystem services are also planned.

The forested landscape is expected to create urban green spaces for combating the problems of pollution in the city, mitigating the effects of urban islands, atmospheric purification, reduction of pest and disease load in and around the agricultural landscape, developing potential habitat for resident and migratory wildlife, creation of a source of carbon sinks and green machinery for carbon sequestration, improvement of physical and natural environment by controlling various kinds of pollutants, provision of potential means of ground water recharge, improvement of soil productivity and diminishing the impact of climate change.

New Delhi, July 30
The Lt-Governor of Delhi, Tejendra Khanna, today convened a meeting of the all Delhi Members of Parliament to review the security scenario in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in view of the serial blasts in several states and the consequent red alert in the country.

The MPs who attended today’s meet were Dr Karan Singh, MP (Rajya Sabha), J.P. Aggarwal, MP (Rajya Sabha), Sajjan Kumar, MP (Lok Sabha), Krishna Tirath, MP (Lok Sabha) and Jagdish Tytler, MP (Lok Sabha). Vijay Kumar Malhotra, MP (LS) conveyed his inability to attend the meeting on account of a parliamentary committee meeting scheduled at the same time.

Police commissioner Y. S. Dadwal and other senior Delhi police officers were also present at the meeting.

According to a Raj Niwas spokesman, the MPs expressed their conviction that all sections of people living in the NCT of Delhi, will act as one to foil the nefarious designs of anti-national elements to disrupt public peace and order in the city.

They urged the citizens to remain extra alert in view of the recent incidents in Gujarat and Karnataka and keep an eye on areas near their homes and call up the police if they found any thing suspicious.

The spokesman said the LG and MPs agreed that if the citizens so desired, they need not disclose their identity while reporting such information.

The MPs assured the LG that they would support the Delhi police to help it augment its manpower and other resources.

The commissioner of police assured the MPs that every effort would be made to strengthen the security environment in the national capital with the active support of alert citizens and diligent discharge of duties by all levels of police force.

Under the limited statehood status of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, law and order is directly under the Centre.

New Delhi, July 30
Inder Pal Rana, a 28-year-old resident of Delhi was successfully operated for a tumour as big as two footballs in his abdomen, a problem from which he had been suffering for the last eight years.

The patient said that the size of the tumour kept increasing as the time passed, but no doctor in any of the two hospitals he went to in Delhi were able to help him. So he came to Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, which has the state-of-the-art infrastructure required for such a complicated surgery and experienced surgeons.

The condition by which the patient was suffering from is known as Malignant Teratoma of abdomen.

Dr Deep Goel, head, Surgical Specialties and cancer surgeon and Dr Hassan Tehrani, USA-trained cardiac and vascular surgeon, said, “The cancerous tumour involved the intestines, kidneys and major blood vessels of the abdomen (aorta and venacava). In this four-hour surgery, the cancerous tumour weighing five kgs was successfully removed.”

One kidney, left part of the large intestine was also removed along with the tumour which was densely stuck to the aorta and venacava. It was a complicated surgery as it involved the aorta (The abdominal aorta is the largest artery in the abdominal cavity), Dr Goel explained.

The patient has now fully recovered and is ready to undergo chemotherapy. 

New Delhi, July 30
A team of the special cell of the Delhi police has arrested members of the notorious Banwari-Ganesh Gang, allegedly involved in several cases of robbery and burglary.

Gang leaders Banwari alias Gopal and Ganesh along with their three accomplices— Sauji, Kamlesh and Panchu Ram— have been arrested. On their instance, two other men namely Mustkin alias Chawla and Shakil, who allegedly acquired the stolen property, have also been arrested. 

Stolen goods worth Rs 10 lakh have been recovered from their possession. 

According to the special cell officials, on July 27 they had received specific information that members of the gang would deliver a consignment of plywood stolen from the area of Nangloi police station to a receiver called Shakil near Tahir Pur.

Accordingly, a trap was laid near Tahir Pur, where Banwari and his men were spotted in a tempo of plywood having the registration number-HR 47 B 9002.

During investigation, the accused revealed their modus operandi. Banwari and Ganesh used to recee godowns in Delhi, Gurgoan, Ghaziabad, Merrut, Aligarh, Kanpur and Jaipur and select the ones to be targeted.  The gang members armed with cutting tools and weapons would then assemble at a point in night and would break into the godowns. The receivers of the stolen property would arrange for the tempo for carrying the goods. sIf the gatekeeper intercepted them, they would thrash him and tie him up.

Bulandshahr, July 30
About a dozen armed bandits killed the head of a farming family in Berari village under Aurangabad police station area while remaining six members of the family were shot dead by the assailants in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Even a two-year old child was not spared and done to death. Three men, three women and one child belonging to the same family were murdered.

In view of tension and panic in the village after savage killings, police and PAC jawans have been deployed in the area.

IG police and DIG visited the village on Tuesday afternoon and inspected the house of the deceased.

The motive for murders is not known nor the identity of the killers.

The intruders did not touch the cash or valuables in the house.

I-G police Ghyan Singh has announced a reward of Rs 10,000 to anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the killers.

First of all the assailants had targeted the head of the family Sukhvir Singh, 50, who was asleep at his tubewell about 300 meters from his house. About a dozen assailants had attacked the tubewell at 2.10 am in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and slit the throat of sleeping Sukhvir Singh.

Subsequently, the assailants armed with rifles, pistols and double-barrel guns scaled the house wall with the help of a ladder.

They shot Sukhdev’s elder son Surya Pratap, alias Tinku, 26, his four-month pregnant wife Mamta, 24, and grandson Cheeku, 2.

The killers then turned to the other side of the house and shot dead Sukhvir’s wife, Suranbala, 48, and younger son Abishek, alias Rinku, 22, and his wife Lata, 20. They were sleeping on the terrace. Lata, whose pregnancy had matured, was expected to deliver in a day or two.

All the villagers had woken up with the sound of gunshots. Villagers rushed towards the Sukhvir’s house, challenging the intruders, but the assailants fled while firing shots in the air.

When Sukhvir’s brother and other villagers went inside the house, they were horrified to see the bodies of the whole family in a pool of blood.

New Delhi, July 30
In a university where sexual harassment cases proliferate and little is ever done about it, there is major forward movement, a Delhi University lecturer, Dr Atul Rajdan, has been sacked on charges of sexual harassment for the first time. The case occurred a year ago when a first year maths student from South Campus complained against the lecturer.

An enquiry committee was set up by the executive council and he was then suspended. However, Rajdan moved the High Court last year which advised the varsity authorities to listen to him. A year later, the committee found him guilty of molesting the student and he has been expelled on Wednesday after being given a copy of the report.

In another case which is of ‘academic robbery’, Dr Guljit Arora, the principal of Ambedkar College has been accused by a lecturer, Sanjeev Kumar of misappropriating his research and bringing out a book through it.

Kumar wrote a letter to the VC and discussions followed in the executive council following which an enquiry was ordered, the executive council members inform that this is a very serious case which is being considered now.

New Delhi, July 30
Serious violations were allegedly observed in the admission procedures at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) this year. Students have alleged the administration of adopting a discriminatory approach against the deprived and marginalised candidates.

“This year’s admissions were important because reservation for Other Backward Casts (OBC) was implemented for the first time in our university. Students were expecting large-scale expansion of seats. But what we are seeing is a denial of even the existing reservations,” said Dhananjay, former president, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU).

It is constitutionally binding for any university to ensure 3 per cent physically handicap (PH) reservation. However, there has been a decline in the number of PH students admitted to the university this year, with the number being zero in some centres.

The university’s logic in this regard is that there cannot be any reservation beyond the 22.5 per cent SC-ST and 27 per cent OBC quota. This move, however, goes against Supreme Court’s judgement in the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India case. The court kept women and PH reservations beyond the purview of all other reservations.

“Even with the OBC admissions, there has not been any consistency in the list of candidates selected in different centres,” alleged Dhananjay. Students have alleged that some centres have not selected any OBC candidates.

After a long time, JNU started publishing waiting lists for candidates. Centres were required to issue second lists in case first list fails to fill the seats offered. This time, the departments have considerably decreased the number of seats offered.

“The university administration has drastically cut down on the seats offered on the pretext of publishing waiting lists. It is even more shocking that some of the centres did not come up with the waiting lists as well,” said Roshan, secretary, JNU unit Students Federation of India (SFI).

Students have also alleged some candidates, mostly OBCs, were informed about their MPhil interviews only a few days prior to the interviews.

New Delhi, July 30
A city court on Tuesday pulled up owners of Blueline buses even as it awarded a compensation of Rs 155,000 to a victim’s family.

The court asked insurance companies to redraft their policies in a manner that would put the burden of paying compensation to accident victims on the owners of Blueline buses.

The menace of the rogue buses does not stop and they go on killing mercilessly helpless victims on the unsafe roads of Delhi as the law as well as conditions of insurance policies let them off easily, said Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) judge Swarana Kanta Sharma.

Coming down heavily on Blueline buses, the court said, “In accident cases, the accused gets bail within a few hours and insurance companies pay compensation to the (victim) while the real gainer is always the bus owner who gets his vehicle released and starts plying it again on road.”

“The most disturbing trend in such matters, when Blueline buses cause fatal accidents, is the insensitivity and inhuman approach of the drivers of such buses...who do not even bother to stop the buses on seeing the victims lying dead or injured on road,” the order stated.

The court passed these observations while deciding the claim of 70-year-old Munni, whose son Deepak Mishra was crushed to death on December 23, 2006, by a Blueline bus being driven in a rash and negligent manner by Narender Kumar at Paharganj.

It directed the National Insurance Company Ltd to pay a compensation of Rs 155,000 to Munni, a resident of Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. — IANS

Bulandshahr, July 30
Two Kanwarias were killed while one was seriously injured in a road accident on Bulandshahr-Haridwar Road. The enraged Kanwarias jammed the highway and torched a tourist bus and two trucks.

The Delhi-Meerut road has already been closed for traffic due to thousands of Kanwarias going on foot to get Ganga Jal from Hardwar. The onward traffic from Delhi to Meerut is being diverted via Bagpat while return traffic from Meerut to Delhi is making a detour via Meerut-Hapur-Delhi route.

The district administration in GB Nagar and Ghaziabad has closed the educational institutions for two days so that school children do not run the risk of getting caught in any road accident due to the extraordinary traffic on the road.

Every year dozens of accidents and clashes take place between Kanwarias and shopkeepers and between drivers of buses and trucks and Kanwarias walking on the road. Just yesterday, one Kanwaria was killed and another critically injured by a truck near Samaypur Badli village in East Delhi. 

New Delhi, July 30
To improve the water supply in some areas of the capital, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) decided to construct another water treatment plant (WTP) at Okhla.

The project was approved today at a board meeting presided over by chairperson Sheila Dikshit.

The board also decided to continue with the scheme of payment of water bills through 92 post offices. Micro-tunneling of the Bela Road trunk sewer would be done along with construction of sewer lines in some more rural villages and purchase of 28,000 water meters to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The chairperson said the 20-MGD Okhla WTP would become operational within 21 months after award of work. The source of water for this plant would be raw water saved on completion of the Munak Canal. The project would cost around Rs 107 crore.

As part of this project, a raw water pumping station would be constructed at Wazirabad.

“The board has decided to lay sewer lines in some more rural villages, including Karawal Nagar, Sadatpur, Dayalpur and Garhi Mandu. Work on sewer lines is already in progress in 25 villages,” said Dikshit. 

New Delhi, July 30
It is an excitement coupled with fear and superstition for many in India prior to the solar eclipse on August 1.

Despite a well-known scientific phenomenon behind the solar eclipse, people have not been able to do away with the superstitious beliefs related to the celestial activity.

“There are several false beliefs prevalent in our society regarding solar eclipse. Some people even lock themselves in their homes to avoid ‘the bad rays’ from the eclipse,” Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnashree said.

Many also take dip in holy rivers to cleanse themselves after the eclipse.

There are others who believe that pregnant women should refrain from cutting and sewing during the eclipse as it can lead to deformities in the unborn child.

“I have been told that during an eclipse the number of germs increases. Therefore, no food is eaten or cooked during the event, and any food cooked before the eclipse is discarded,” said 32-year-old Anamika Singh, an executive with an IT company.

According to Rathnashree, not the fear but precautions should be taken during the eclipse.

“Solar eclipse is an interesting activity and should be watched under the supervision of experts with proper gadgets,” Rathnashree said.

India will witness a partial solar eclipse on August 1.

The eclipse in Delhi begins at 16:03:03 and ends at 17:56:07. The maximum of eclipse occurs at 17:02:05, when the sun is eclipsed by about 62.4 per cent in diameter.

“Viewing the eclipse with naked eyes would be very dangerous for the eyes. Viewing the sun through a telescope or a binoculars without a proper filter is many times more dangerous - do not ever do that, it could destroy your eyesight,” Rathnashree said. —IANS

New Delhi, July 30
It is said that one must dream and realising those dreams is the greatest task of life. It is that achievement which differentiates the great from the ordinary.

That is exactly what Ahmedabad-born artist Amit Ambalal did to create a niche for himself in the field of art. So taken in was he by his childhood dream of becoming a painter that he sold off his family-owned business (textile mill) in 1977 to pursue this passion and make a name for himself.

Gallery Espace here is hosting an exhibition of his new works (paintings in oil on canvas and a large installation in bronze) titled “Recent works by Amit Ambalal”. The exhibition is accompanied by a book on the artist’s stylistic oeuvre by independent critic and curator, Gayatri Sinha.

Also on view will be a unique installation of 35 bronze crows which attracted widespread attention when it was first shown in Ahmedabad.

Says Renu Modi, Director, Gallery Espace, “Ambalal’s work may be seen within a critical phase of Indian modernity, his adaptations and resistance, as he seeks to create a language that is both recognisable and intensely personal.”

Born in Ahmedabad in 1943, Amit Ambalal qualified in arts, commerce and law to become a businessman before taking up painting full time in 1979 after selling off his business. Trained under veteran artist and teacher Chhaganlal Jadhav, Amit’s engagement with the arts extends to a wide ground of historical research, documentation and collection and his particular interest in the Nathdwara school of painting.

He has to his credit a book on the subject, Krishna as Shrinathji - Rajasthani paintings from Nathdwara, published by Mapin in 1987, followed in 1989 by an exhibition of Nathdwara paintings from his collection.

Amit Ambalal occupies a singular position as a satirist-painter who develops parody, caricature and mimicry into visual tropes. He usually works from the familiar and the domestic outwards, tentatively inhabiting unfamiliar worlds.

In the present paintings, we may participate in his elliptical style of autobiographical narrative with Amit, his wife Raksha and their dog Dusky and the monkey god Hanuman – figures from known and imagined spaces, who confront change like brave if somewhat, bewildered travellers.

The outcome is an alchemic mix of ideas that fosters a sense of dislocation.

A prosperous society embedded in a destitute society is oft the focus of his work. His portraits of India are simple and a direct means of him coming to terms with the horror he sees around him.

Says he, “I don’t decide what to paint beforehand, the initial idea may be from a newspaper photograph I have seen in the morning or an antique sculpture. Then as I am painting something starts to grow inside that canvas and that takes on the final form on the canvas.”

Amit Ambalal held the first solo exhibition of his work at the Hutheesing Visual Arts Center in Ahmedabad in 1980, and has had numerous shows in the country and abroad, since.

Winner of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Amit’s works feature prominently in noteworthy public and private collections like the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum, London.

New Delhi, July 30
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has rejected a police proposal to enhance security around Sikh shrines here even as religious places continue to be vulnerable to terror attacks.

“We had received a proposal from the Delhi police for putting up metal detectors at Sis Ganj, Rakab Ganj and Bangla Sahib Gurdwaras,” DSGMC president Paramjeet Singh Sarna said.

“We turned down their proposal as we do not want to create fear among people visiting gurdwaras,” Sarna said.

These three Sikh shrines receive a heavy rush of devotees everyday but do not have any internal surveillance system.

“Three years back we put up closed circuit TV cameras at Bangla Sahib, which are not functional anymore. But we are now planning to repair and reinstall them soon,” Sarna said.

Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said, “Religious places have often been the target of terror outfits.”