New Delhi, August 9
Three people, including a woman employee of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) call centre, were killed and four critically injured when a cab carrying them collided head on with a truck on the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyover in South Delhi in the wee hours of this morning.

The accident occurred around 4.30 am on the DND flyover when the Quallis Car carrying the employees of the HCL call centre in Noida collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction on the wrong carriageway.

The deceased have been identified as Navpreet Kaur (24), resident of Lajpat Nagar, Noor Babu, resident of Sun Light Colony, and the driver of the Quallis, Fateh Singh (47) of Navada village. Sandeep, Dheeraj, Rajesh Moga and Lokesh Khanna have been admitted to the AIIMS trauma centre.

The Quallis was carrying the employees back to their homes after night duty. The driver of the truck fled the spot.

“The accident occurred due to the truck being on the wrong side of the road. Since the driver of the Quallis too was driving at high speed, he lost the control on seeing the truck coming from the opposite direction,” a police official said. The impact of the collision was so strong that the roof of the car flew away while the car was badly mangled. People heard a huge explosion sound. The injured were rushed to the hospital by the occupants of the other HCL cab that was coming behind the ill-fated Quallis.

“There was neither police nor ambulance for about almost 45 minutes after the accident. Even the staff of DND flyover failed to come to the help of the injured. We managed on our own for quite some time,” said Arvind Yadav, friend of Fateh Singh and driver of the other cab.

The accident once again raised question mark about the safety and police patrolling on the DND flyover. While the DND staff maintained that the truck managed to go on the wrong side after breaking the barricades, they failed to show the broken barricades. Even the police patrolling vehicle that is supposed to keep an eye on the bridge failed to notice the truck.

The angry people who gathered after the accident and are frequent travellers on the road alleged that police personnel park the vehicle on the sides and doze off the whole night.

New Delhi, August 9
Three persons were killed and 24 got injured when a bridge over a drain near a Christian graveyard in Khan Market on Prithviraj Road collapsed around 4.30 p.m. today.

The injured were taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

The house built over the drain had collapsed due to incessant rainfall. This resulted in high casualty. The occupant of the house, whose identity could not be known immediately, suffered the most.

Fire officials along with NDMC and MCD officials were busy in the rescue operations that went on till late night. “We have employed four vehicles and are carrying out the rescue operation. Since we fear that more people could be stuck in the debris, the rescue might carry on till late in the night,” said a fire official.

According to the officials, the construction over the drain was illegal and the bridge was very old. It collapsed due to the seepage of water and heavy construction over it.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit visited the spot and announced a compensation of Rs one lakh to the families of the dead.

The families who lost their minor children will get Rs 50,000 while the injured will be given a compensation of Rs 20,000. 

New Delhi, August 9

It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning after Friday’s heavy downpour brought the national Capital to a near standstill, but weather officials have forecast more showers this weekend.

“There is a possibility of heavy rainfall or thundershowers in the next 24 hours,” the Indian Meteorological Department said.

The rainfall is the outcome of the northward shift of the monsoon trough and there is a little cyclone in the upper atmosphere as well.The incessant rainfall in the Capital on Friday brought down the maximum temperature to 26.2° Celsius, eight notches below normal for this time of the year.

The heavy downpour left the Capital hassled with heavy traffic snarls on waterlogged roads. Snaking queues of vehicles on almost all roads were a common sight even as the police blamed civic agencies for potholes and insufficient drainage that led to the jams. —IANS

New Delhi, August 9
Over 1,400 students including 147 PhD scholars graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, which had organised its 39th convocation here today.

Graduate, postgraduate, business administration and doctoral programme students received their degrees from R.K. Pachauri, chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“They came as young children and are going as professionals. It is a happy moment for us,” IIT director Surendra Prasad said.

“This year we have produced more PhD students — 147 this year against 140 last year,” he added. Speaking about the increasing strength of students and available infrastructure, Prasad said that IIT Delhi had “no problem with infrastructure.” “Several new buildings and hostels are on the drawing board and they will come into existence in due course.”

Speaking about the faculty shortage, Prasad said that the IIT had instituted faculty fellowships to attract young minds. “We have already added 27 faculties through this scheme.” Currently, the institute has 448 teachers for about 5,300 students.

Asked about the seats falling vacant due to the implementation of 27% quota for Other Backward Class (OBC) students, the IIT authorities said that they have no seats vacant.

“We have already taken 21 students from our preparatory classes and there are no seats going empty due to the quota implementations,” said Sunil Kalra, dean of undergraduate studies. — IANS

New Delhi, August 9
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is all set to say good-bye to its usual pattern of conducting term-end examinations. The university will soon introduce a novel venture of walk-in-examinations to make the examination pattern more flexible and learner friendly.

Under this scheme, students, instead of waiting for the six-monthly term-end examination, can simply walk into any identified test centres of the university on the prescribed days and take the examination. The results would be processed on a monthly basis.

Walk-in-examination would give learners the liberty to decide the dates of exams as per their own suitability and convenience, thus lowering the exam pressure on them and thereby bringing down the percentage of failures.

Further, it’ll reduce the possibility of mal-practices in the examinations, as each student will get different set of question paper.

Registration of students, allotment of the dates and the issue of hall ticket to the examinees for the walk-in-examination would be done by the regional centres (RCs). But students can also opt for on-line registration.

The walk-in-examination would be conducted by selected RCs of the university twice a week, i.e. on Saturdays and Sundays. The exam would be held under closed circuit cameras and the RCs would be responsible to maintain the confidentiality of the answer books after completion of the examination.

The evaluation of the answer books would be done at the RC level.

Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, vice -chancellor of IGNOU and chairman of the distance education council, said, “ The conduct of win-exam would be on fair lines and secrecy regarding the sanctity and evaluation of answer papers would be preserved.”

The action plan for development of the walk-in exam programme includes generating question papers and marking scheme as per the specified blueprint. For this purpose, the National Centre for Innovation in Distance Education (NCIDE) in collaboration with the Student’s Registration and Evaluation (SRE) division will develop a prototype software.

Further, standardised question banks would be generated by the faculty concerned.

Noida, August 9
Noida’s Fortis Hospital has introduced the latest state-of-art laser technique for curing varicose veins. It is the first hospital in UP to have introduced the technique.

Serious health problems like varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) are on a rise due to sedentary lifestyle and high stress levels, a common feature of lifestyle these days, said Fortis doctors. According to Dr B.C. Sathya Narayan, Vascular and Endovascular surgeon, Fortis, in India 40% women and 20% men suffer from varicose veins.

Laser treatment is a gentle and quick solution to varicose veins as against the traditional surgical procedure that is painful. Varicose veins is caused when the valves in veins stop functioning properly and disrupt blood supply to heart. They cause accumulation of blood in veins leading to enlargement of veins, swelling and severe pain in the legs.

Conventional treatment for varicose veins is a surgical procedure to remove the damaged vein. However, surgery is painful, leaves multiple scars, and entails longer hospital stay and longer recovery time.

The new treatment uses laser thermal energy to treat the affected vein. This technique is quick, minimally invasive, causes minimal discomfort, gives excellent cosmetic results and enables the patients to quickly return to normal activities.

Varicose veins cause unattractive enlarged blue or purple veins on the legs associated with swelling and severe pain in the legs. If left untreated for long, the patient might not be able to walk in the long run.

The only treatment available for varicose veins is the removal of the damaged vein. Compression stockings are only useful in the early stages of the disease and help by reducing the swelling and pain, but do not cure the disease.

According to Dr Narayan, in the laser technique, the laser fiber is inserted into the affected vein and the affected vein is closed from inside by laser thermal energy. After treatment, the blood no longer flows through the enlarged veins and the accumulation of blood no longer occurs. The treated leg is smooth and free from pain. Normal activities can be resumed shortly.

Dr Sathya Narayan also informed about another rapidly increasing disease called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT is a blood clot that develops in a deep vein, usually in the lower leg. The clots/thrombus may partially or totally block blood flow in the vein and cause sudden onset of pain and swelling in the legs. The clot, if not treated on time, can dislodge from their place and reach the lungs and can block blood flow to the lungs. This is called pulmonary embolism and can cause sudden death.

Talking about DVT, Dr B.C. Sathya Narayan added, “People of any age group and especially women are at a high risk. Family history of DVT, immobility, obesity, recent surgery or an injury, cancer, contraceptive pills containing estrogen, hormone replacement therapy, long flight travel are some of the reasons causing DVT”.

“It is not possible to prevent DVT. However, preventive measures, early detection and treatment can help in avoiding serious life threatening complications”, he added.

New Delhi, August 9
Widespread and unchecked use of mobile telephones could potentially pose a greater threat to human health than asbestos or smoking.

A 14-month investigation into the link between heavy, long-term use of mobile telephones and the development of malignant brain tumours, reviewing more than 100 international studies was conducted recently.

“There is currently enough evidence and technology available to warrant industry and governments alike in taking immediate steps to reduce exposure of consumers to mobile phone-related electromagnetic radiation and to make consumers clearly aware of potential dangers and how to use this technology sensibly and safely,” says Dr Vini Khurana, a local medical researcher, in her 69-page paper published online.

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation

Medical researchers all across the world are coming to the conclusion that exposure to cell phone radiations over a period of time causes medical conditions as worse as brain tumour.

However, all is not lost. There is hope at hand and this is in the form of crystal therapy. While scientists across the globe are burning the midnight oil trying to find a way out of this radiation mess, the Capital’s very own holistic healer Sheela Bajaj has come out with a simple and affordable solution. Sheela Bajaj, a well-known tarot card reader, is also a master in gems and crystal healing. She has been teaching people a way by which crystals can be used to absorb the harmful radiations.

According to Sheela Bajaj, crystals are natural substances found under the earth. They evolve over a period of time and like some metals which are conductors of heat, crystals are good conductors of energy. They draw energy from one source and give it to the other. “In this particular case of treatment for harmful radiations, I give crystals that absorb negative rays and either retain them or diffuse them in air,” she claims.

“I give my clients small crystals that can be attached to a cell phone to absorb radiations. Some people like to wear it as pendant while others keep it in pockets on them,” says the holistic healer.

In fact, this method not only absorbs radiation from cell phones, but also the harmful electromagnetic rays from TV sets and other electronic items.

However, expert warns that it is very important to wear the right crystals and people should get them from reputed healers only. 

New Delhi, August 9
The anti-extortion cell of the crime branch has busted an alleged gang of snatchers active in the trans-Yamuna area of the capital.

The police arrested Ishant Maini (19) and Mohan Kashyap, alias Pappi (25), for the crime and recovered six snatched mobile phones and a black Bajaj Pulsar motor cycle from their possession last night.

The accused were held when they had come to dispose of the snatched mobile phones from near the Bank of India at Chand Mohalla Road, Gandhi Nagar on a Pulsar motor cycle.

Ishant Maini belongs to a wealthy family of Raghuwar Pura, Gandhi Nagar area, and lives with his parents and two elder brothers. His father is running a hotel in the area along with a sewing machine repair from his residence. Ishant lives a lavish lifestyle and regularly visits shopping malls and restaurants etc.

His earnings and pocket money given by his father were not enough for him. So he allegedly decided to make some quick money by snatching mobile phones with his friend Mohan who is a vegetable vendor in the area of Gandhi Nagar market. Ishant Maini lured him into earning easy money by snatching mobile phones. 

Faridabad, August 9
The Ballabgarh-Sohna road was blocked yesterday for over two hours, as two different caste groups had clashed late last night in Gochi village near here.

Members of one group demanded that complaint be registered against some persons of the other group. A complaint under various provisions of the Indian penal Code (IPC) and the Harijan Act was registered against eight persons of a group at Mujesar police station

The group against whom a complaint had been registered created a scene outside Mujesar police station. The group members pelted stones on the premises of the police station and alleged that the complaint had been registered under pressure.

The agitation continued till 4 a.m. today.

According to sources, eight persons against whom complaints had been registered have been arrested.

However, the group whose members have been arrested have threatened to take the matter to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

Noida, August 9
A mason was allegedly stabbed to death on Thursday night by his helper in Noida’s sector-65 over some monetary dispute. Victim’s 14-year-old daughter who tried to rescue her father was also injured in the incident.

The victim has been identified as Mohammed Atya, 35, of West Bengal while the accused has been identified as Muneer Hussain.

Hussain was arrested by the police on Friday.

He told the police that that Atya had promised to get his daughter married to him, and on this promise he had been depositing his wage with Atya. But Atya deceived him and fixed his daughter’s marriage with somebody else.

On Thursday night Muneer, who lived with Atya, asked him to return his money. This led to an argument between the two and the argument soon turned into a brawl. Muneer took a kitchen knife and stabbed Atya repeatedly. Atya’s daughter, who tried to intervene, also received stab wound.

Atya was rushed to government hospital by his neighbours where he died after sometime.

The incident, along with another murder case that took place in the Naya Gaon in Noida phase-II rocked the suburb town on Thursday. In the second case, a married woman Sulekha Jha and her alleged paramour Roopwas were found murdered at her home. Sulekhas’ husband, Raman Jha is being suspected to be behind the murder. 

New Delhi, August 9
The Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress (DPYC) took out a motorcycle rally from the All India Congress Committee headquarters to Shakti Sthal in support of the nuclear deal.

The rally was taken out on the occasion of Youth Congress Day and August Kranti Divas.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flagged off the rally. Mukul Wasnik, general secretary, AICC; Major Ved Praklash, secretary, AICC; Major Dalbir, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president; Ashok Tanwar, Pradeep Zaildar, Indian Youth Congress general secretaries and other senior party leaders were present in the rally.

DPYC president Anil Kumar said that such rally would be organised in all districts of the Capital to inform people that there would be no problem of power after nuclear deal. Industries would flourish in the country.

DPYC spokesman Kunal Sharma said that the nuclear deal would play an important role to enable the country to make a significant impact on rest of the world.