New Delhi, December 13
The most prestigious residence of the country, Rashtrapati Bhavan has now opened more gates to the public.

The President today inaugurated “Roshni” which would make the President’s Estate a green, energy efficient and zero-waste model township.

The eco-friendly initiative aims at showcasing the rich flora and fauna of the President’s Estate along with promoting environmental awareness.

A ‘Nature Trail’ has been laid out at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which would facilitate the visitors to enjoy different colours of the estate’s wilderness.

“I am happy that this initiative has taken shape. The Rashtrapati Bhavan is public property and this initiative would take it closer to them,” said Pratibha Patil, President of India.

Cutting into the total area of 340 acres of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Nature Trail is spread over an area of 75 acres, which is located at the western end of the manicured gardens of the estate. Along with the well-laid gardens of the estate, the trail passes through the wild ecologically diverse landscapes.

The site also has a rocky terrain of the ridge forming crescent-shaped arch over a rectangular shallow valley. The hilly area represents wilderness in contrast to the shallow valley that has rich domesticated biodiversity.

After taking a round through the wild part of the estate, the trail joins Giri Veethi near Gate number 35. Here, it becomes a neatly laid path lined by avenue trees of Khirni and cuts across Amla grove and ends at a circular garden. From the garden the visitors would be taken to musical garden where refreshment and interaction point is located.

The trail ends near the exit point in the herbal garden.

The visitors would cross some 136 wild and cultivated plant species that are found along the trail, with 32 bird species that have been sighted in the area.

“We have put together a package for visitors to come in groups on Saturdays and enjoy the rich ecological diversity of the President’s Estate,” said President’s secretary.

New Delhi, December 13
With the Congress legislators intensely lobbying with the party high command, Dikshit’s loyalists are finding it difficult to get a place in the cabinet, the swearing-in ceremony of which will take place on Wednesday.

Intense lobbying by Delhi Congress legislators with the top brass of the party has stalled the calculations of Dikshit to get her favourites in the cabinet.

According to sources, a list of possible Delhi cabinet members had been handed over to the party chief Sonia Gandhi and a final word is awaited on that. As per the earlier report, three ministers in the previous Sheila Dikshit cabinet were to be replaced with new faces, which included the Malviya Nagar, Shahdara and Model Town legislators Kiran Walia, Narendra Nath and Kunwar Karan Singh respectively.

The erstwhile Speaker of Delhi assembly Choudhary Prem Singh had reportedly failed to find a place in the list of the cabinet probables that Dikshit handed over to Gandhi.

This has led the legislators, who are sensing to be missing out from the cabinet formation, to lobby with the party high command on the claims of the work done by them. Former transport minister Haroon Yusuf, education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, former Speaker Prem Singh along with others are meeting the top brass of the party to ensure that they are included in the new cabinet.

Dikshit was earlier scheduled to take oath on last Friday, which was later postponed to Monday and now it stands stretched out to the last day of government formation. The Sheila Dikshit camp attributed the delay to the clearance of the files related to the Chief Minister-elect and her possible ministers from the lieutenant-governor, home ministry and the President.

New Delhi, December 13
Polling in Rajender Nagar constituency today went off peacefully. Over 50 per cent of over 1.37 lakh voters exercised their franchise. Polling in Rajender Nagar, which has 1,37,680 voters in 160 polling booths, was rescheduled after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Puran Chand Yogi committed suicide last month in the midst of campaigning.

The electoral battle here is being keenly observed to find out whether the BJP will be able to cash in on a ‘sympathy wave’ in favour of Asha Yogi, wife of the deceased BJP leader, or Congress’ Ramakant Goswami will register a victory in this BJP-dominated area.

The polling that began at 8 am today saw lack of enthusiasm among voters in areas like Old and New Rajender Nagar and some pockets of Karol Bagh and Inderpuri.

People in the constituency said with results out for 69 seats, polling in the area might get influenced.

“With no towering personality in the fray and the Congress already in majority, the election here has become symbolic and of no use,” said 57-year-old M. Bhatia, who came to vote at Salwan Girls Senior Secondary School. However, in some JJ colonies at Pandav Nagar and Inderpuri, people reported in good numbers.

Leaving nothing to chance, both the Congress and the BJP have roped in the services of veterans to garner support in their favour. While former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana, who has a considerable clout among Punjabi voters, campaigned for the BJP; Congress campaign for Goswami, who is termed as an “outsider” by opponents, was led by union urban development minister Raj Kumar Chouhan.

Noida, December 13
An NRI’s jewellery is reportedly missing from the locker of a Sector-18 bank here. This is second case of jewellery theft from a bank locker in Noida.

Arun Kumar of Vasundhara has lodged a case against Syndicate bank for carelessness. However, the bank contends when the locker key was with Kumar, how could his jewellery be stolen from there. The locker cannot be opened without the consent of the account holder, said a bank official.

Arun Kumar had taken a locker in the Sector-18 branch of Synidicate bank in 1995.

Arun, a hardware engineer, had been living at California in USA with his family for the last 5 years. While leaving for California, his wife Archna Kaur had put three gold sets and one diamond set in the locker. The jewellery consisted of necklaces, bangles and some other items. She had gone to the bank on Thursday but was shocked to find her jewellery missing from the bank locker. She immediately informed the bank officials and also lodged an FIR in Sector-20 Kotwali.

According to bank record, the locker had not been operated for last 5 years. Whenever some client wants to visit the locker, he/she has to enter details in the register.

According to the bank manager, the customer retains one key of the locker while, the other key remains with the bank. After operating the locker, the customer locks it with his key. The locker cannot be opened with the bank’s master key unless the customer’s key is used, he added.

New Delhi, December 13
A teenager was arrested on Saturday for a road accident here that claimed the lives of five members of a family.

“The 16-year-old minor, who is son of a businessman, has been arrested. He was driving the Scorpio car at the time of the accident,” a police officer said.

Rakesh Garg, 48, his wife Uma Garg, 43, their two sons Mukul Garg, 18, Radhe Garg, 10, and their niece, Tanvi Garg, 18, were returning to their Tri Nagar home from a marriage in the Alipur area when a speeding Scorpio car rammed into their Maruti 800 car at Keshavpuram in North West Delhi around 12.40 am on Friday.

“The accused was arrested on Saturday after questioning the businessman, on whose name the car is registered. The businessman tried his best to mislead the investigators and told the police that his nephew was driving the car,” the officer said.

“He kept changing statements, but the police managed to track down others who were in the car. It was finally revealed that his son was driving it,” the police officer added.

“The accused is a student of class X. The boy told us that he along with his two or three friends was returning home from a marriage in the Jhandewalan area. The accused had come to drop off one of his friends near the place where the accident took place,” the police officer said.

The police suspects that the teenager was heavily drunk at the time of accident but it would be difficult to establish this as the accused had been on the run for more than 48 hours since the accident. — IANS

Ghaziabad, December 13
Tension prevailed in certain parts of Ghaziabad on Saturday after a man who was picked up for questioning in the murder of a Congress leader died in police custody.

The police had picked up Yogesh Tyagi, a resident of Morta locality, for questioning but he died in their custody on Friday.

The family of Congress leader Pintu Tyagi, who was shot dead on Thursday, said that the police theory that Bhagmal, Yogesh’s brother, was behind Pintu’s murder was incorrect.

Pintu Tyagi’s son Kunal Tyagi said that he met the senior superintendent of police and apprised him about the situation.

He said that he did not see any reason for Bhagmal’s involvement in the murder.

He told IANS that his father had no enmity with Bhagmal or with anybody else.

According to a police official, Bhagmal Tyagi along with Nikhil, Hemant and Dimple were named in the murder of a Morta resident Anil Chaudhary in 2005.

While Nikhil, Hemant and Dimple were granted bail, Bhagmal was still languishing in Dasna Jail. — IANS

Noida, December 13
Two criminals, who had demanded Rs 20 lakh from the deputy general manager of CD firm Moser Baer for sparing his life, have been nabbed by the police.

The callers, claiming to be calling from Dasna jail in Ghaziabad, told the dy GM that they had been given a contract of Rs 10 lakh to kill him and so, if he wanted to save his life he should pay them Rs 20 lakh.

One of the arrested persons is an ex-employee of Moser Baer. The police has also nabbed the person who had issued the SIM card (used for making the extortion call) on a fake ID.

S.K.S. Pratap, in-charge, Phase-II police station, said that K.K. Marwah, deputy general manager of Moser Baer Private Ltd. received a call on his cell phone on December 6. The caller told Marwah that he had been given a contract of Rs 10 lakh for killing him.

The caller then said that he was calling from Dasna Jail and if Marwah wanted them to spare his life he should give them Rs 20 lakh.

Marwah informed the Phase-II police about it.

When the police traced the location of the cell phone, it was found to be some where near Dasna Jail. On inquiry, it was found that the SIM card was issued from Modinagar.

It was later learnt that the SIM was issued on a fake ID.

The person who used to make the call has been identified as Yoginder and he has told the police that one Praveen, a Modinagar resident, had given him Marwah’s mobile number. Praveen and Suresh, the shopkeeper who had sold the SIM, were also arrested. 

New Delhi, December 13
As a crime reporter who keeps an eye on the security establishment, I am asked after each terror attack by friends and colleagues eager to know if the Indian capital is secure and whether the Delhi police can prevent future bombings and take on marauding terrorists.

My answer is a sad ‘no’. Unfortunately, even many in the Delhi police share this opinion.

“We can’t guarantee that we can prevent terror attacks,” a senior officer told IANS, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A city of over 15 million people, Delhi has a police force of just about 60,000. Minus those engaged in administrative work and VIP security, the police strength drops drastically.

“We don’t have the manpower to deploy police personnel at every nook and corner of the city,” another senior officer told IANS, speaking on condition he was not named.

During and after the November 26 terror attacks when 10 terrorists terrorised Mumbai for over 60 hours, I was repeatedly asked if the Delhi police can handle a similar situation.

In reality, it would be unwise to ignore the looming threats from the extremists who strike at will and make a mockery of the ill-equipped and unprofessional police institutions across the country.

But the Delhi police, though by and large no different from its counterparts in the states, does have an edge over the others. As it does not come under the purview of the state government, it receives its funds and other resources directly from the centre.

This apart, its officers are more accountable for major crimes.

Like the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the Delhi police too has a Special Cell - an expert wing to combat terrorism. It has earned the reputation of cracking many terror modules. But it has also been accused of falsely framing suspects.

The special cell is equipped with modern arms and the best technical assistance. Undoubtedly, its human and technical intelligence gathering resources are far better than the other state police forces.

But the Delhi police brass admit that they are not sure of foiling terrorist attacks, even as they say the special cell is well-equipped and has some of the best minds working for it.

Delhi police has also the option of calling for quick assistance from the National Security Guard (NSG) - whose commandos gunned down the terrorists in Mumbai - as other central paramilitary forces whose headquarters are based in the capital. The decision makers are also in Delhi.

After the Mumbai attacks, the Delhi police is raising an elite Quick Reaction Team (QRT) comprising commandos armed with sophisticated weapons. They would be posted across the capital.

“The problem of terrorism is very huge and we always try to do our best to prevent terror attacks. In case of a hostage-like situation, we firmly believe that we can react fast by quickly mobilising our men and the best resources,” another Delhi police officer said.

But other complain that they feel handicapped due to inadequate skilled manpower for collection of actionable intelligence.

In the past decade, the capital’s population has increased manifold as so has the crime graph. But the number of policemen has remained static.

But can lack of manpower and resources be an excuse for recurring terror attacks?

There are Delhi police officers who refuse to take the entire blame for the failure to check terrorists.

The citizens, they say, do not play the role they are expected to. — IANS

New Delhi, December 13
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) submitted a six-pronged strategy paper to Delhi’s future Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, seeking to plug security lapses, provide safer movements to all, especially women, launch crusade against e-waste and bio-waste deposits and remove Delhi’s water and sanitation crisis.

Immediately after her appointment as the leader of state legislative party, the secretary-general Assocham, D. S. Rawat submitted its strategic paper to her, advocating need for proper security for people of Delhi.

Rawat pointed out that existing statutes do not arm up Delhi government with adequate control over its police force which falls under the jurisdiction of the ministry of home affairs.

Figures from Assocham reveal that Delhi recorded over 50,000 cases of murder, rapes, molestation, robbery, auto thefts and kidnapping in 2007.

In 2007, the city of Mumbai also recorded such cases, the number of which runs around 30,000.

Even after so many water-saving schemes, Delhi failed to regulate its average water consumption, estimated around 225 liters a day. Besides, water harvesting and its treatment are not addressed on priority.

Therefore, the chamber cautioned that the national Capital will run out of ground water by 2015 if regulatory mechanism is not tightened in this regard.

Stressing the imposition of a ban on e-waste and biomedical waste dumping in the national Capital, particularly from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, ASSOCHAM emphasized the need to bring an effective legislation to prevent entry of child labour into its collection, segregation and distribution.

It was known that over 2,000 trucks ferry e-waste in clandestine manner and dump it in Delhi’s scrap yards at various locations, particularly Turkman Gate, Shastri Park, Luni, Seelampur and Mandoli.

According to estimates, Delhi’s hospitals generated substantial bio-medical waste and their disposal system is quite poor.

Measures need to be initiated in this regard so that the e-waste, bio-waste and other waste are recycled for proper utilization, the report mentioned. 

New Delhi, December 13
A colonel with Army College of Medical Sciences here was arrested and later released on bail after a fellow woman officer accused him of misbehaving last night.

According to the police, the incident took place on Friday night. A woman officer of captain rank accused colonel Sunder Yadav of trying to take advantage of her on the college premises. She is a doctor at the Army College of Medical Sciences while, colonel Sunder Yadav is working as a registrar there.

According to sources, earlier the two cordial. “The victim said that she managed to get out of Yadav’s car when he started misbehaving with her,” said a senior police officer.

The victim then called the PCR and complained of harassment.

Yadav was arrested for misbehaving but was later released on bail, the police officer added. 

New Delhi, December 13
Have you ever thought that even a pen might come handy in fending off a molester? Women in the Capital on Saturday received tips from the Delhi Police Crime Against Women (CAW) Cell on how items of common use could be employed in self-defence.

Over 500 women at Dilli Haat in the Capital received tips from CAW on how items like a pen, a book or even a scarf might be used for in defence against an assailant.

The CAW team also demonstrated physical defence techniques for the benefit of the women.

“Women need to be careful and confident and should immediately react or attack the assailant if molested,” said CAW member Santosh Kumari.

The Delhi police runs a 10-day self-defence training programme. Many women present at the demonstration showed their willingness to enroll for the programme.

“It was wonderful and very educative for me. I would really like to join the training programme,” said college student Reema Dikshit.

“The cases of crime against women, especially rape and molestation cases have been increasing in the Capital. I think women can defend themselves by using common sense and confidence,” said joint commisioner of police (CAW) Sudhir Yadav. — IANS

New Delhi, December 13
A gang running a friendship club, which charged money for providing contact details of women who would telephonically “entertain” callers but would stop taking the calls of people who wanted to meet them, has been busted, the police said on Saturday.

Eleven people, including four women, were arrested for allegedly running the friendship club.

The police found that nearly Rs 5.7 million was deposited since January in over a dozen bank accounts of the club. The accounts were opened using forged documents.

The police acted on a tip-off and raided the office of SN Net Special Friendship Club in the Karol Bagh area.

“Advertisements in the newspapers appear with phone numbers procured on fake documents. The clients used to call on these numbers and the calls were attended by any of the boys or girls.

“The caller was promised contact numbers of women willing to be friends and a bank account number was given to the caller. The friendship club charged from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 per month from the clients,” a police official said.

“After receiving the money, one of the four arrested women used to entertain the customers on the telephone for some time and all efforts were made to squeeze out maximum money from the callers.

The calls were invariably rejected when the client would insist on meeting the woman,” the official added.

Eleven telephones that were procured on forged documents were seized. Twelve bank accounts too were opened on fake documents. Two PAN cards and a fake driving licence were seized.

“One person, Mohammad Zeeshan, is absconding but we will soon arrest him,” the police official said. —IANS

New Delhi, December 13
The special cell of Delhi police today arrested eight persons for threatening people with dire consequences if they failed to pay their pending telephone bills.

According to the police, the accused pretended to be lawyers and called up people with pending bills to pay soon or they would get them arrested. A team led by ACP L.N. Rao apprehended the accused.

According to Rao, Yogender had lodged a complaint that some people were harassing him to pay the bills.

Several SIM cards have been seized from them. The accused would call up Vodafone, Airtel and other companies’ subscribers and threaten them to pay the bills without the permission of the companies. When the accused succeeded in convincing the people to pay their bills, they would take the payment in cash and vanished. 

New Delhi, December 13
Deafening horns contributing to noise pollution is one concern that is bothering the mind of every sensible citizen of the Capital.

To sensitise every responsible mind on this, The Earth Saviours Foundation (TESF), an NGO dedicatedly directing efforts towards many life-saving issues, has taken the initiative in the form of a “No Honking Campaign,” which was launched today at Jor Bagh in the Capital.

Launching the campaign, Maxwell Pereira, former joint commissioner Delhi traffic police, said, “India is the only country where we are indiscriminately honking on the roads, at intersections and everywhere, whereas almost the entire world is quite civilised on the matter.” Worth mentioning here is that Maxwell is the propeller behind the law that prohibits honking at intersections in the city since 2002.

It seems Delhiites have become quite accustomed to living in a chaotic city, least realising the detrimental effects that it has, especially on the older people. As a part of the drive, drivers of private and public vehicles would be approached and apprised of the repercussions of honking.

Ravi Kalra, president of TESF, said, “This initiative would make people aware about the health problems resulting due to horns and noise pollution, and for this taxi, auto, bus drivers and car owners would be educated at length on the harms of honking.”

Honking and noise pollution poses a severe threat to the harmonious survival of environment as a whole. In Delhi, the decibel levels are much higher than the permitted safe level of 60 decibels.

As per the government norms, “The noise levels allowed for the two-wheelers, passenger car and light motor vehicles, light goods vehicles (lgvs) (below 400 kg laden), lgvs (below 12,000) are 80 dbs, 82 dbs, 86 dbs and 90 dbs respectively. Making the people aware about this and engaging the young masses in this work would help a lot,” informed Maxwell.

Thus, the problem can be effectively combated by community participation and generating awareness among the people about the detrimental effects of honking.

Meanwhile, as a part of awareness programme, road shows would be held and 3,00,000 stickers on ‘no honking’ would be distributed to auto drivers and pasted across several parts of the city. Presently, the campaign is targeting to cover Delhi and NCR, wherein the inhabitants are making an active contribution towards raising the level of jam in a peaceful life.

Earlier, such drives to contain the sounds generated by our city vehicles have been initiated, like the one started by the Mumbai traffic police in the commercial capital, but have failed to match the desired objective.

In this context, Maxwell said that if the traffic police here would have launched such an initiative, the mission could have had faster results.