Noida, January 10
Ten companies and 4,000 individuals in the city have been blacklisted by the Noida Authority for illegal activities. People have been accused of encroachment around their houses, companies and offices, thereby creating obstacles in public services.

Ten companies, including real estate companies, indulging in illegal and unconstitutional activities and 4,000 persons have been issued with notices.

Glodiol Farm, Prestige Ventures India P. Ltd, Khushi Farm, Tirupli Farm, Sagar Farm, AJS Builders, Radha Madan Estate P. Ltd, Flora, DPL Farm and N.R. Building Con. P. Ltd have been blacklisted.

The Noida CEO said business and working of all these farms and companies was unconstitutional.

Besides the Noida Authority had got a survey conducted in the city to identify people who have been hindering public services. They have encroached upon roads, drains and public places.

Deputy CEO Naginder said notices have been issued to all such individuals and companies to remove the encroachments.

The list has 4,000 persons in different sectors and villages of Noida. All these encroachers have been warned to remove the encroachments forthwith, the deputy CEO said.

New Delhi, January 10
The day came as a breather for commuters in Delhi as most petrol pumps came to normalcy by afternoon.

The government has refused to give in to the strikers’ demands. But, it has decided to constitute a committee to review their grievances within 30 days.

With petrol pumps across the Capital running dry because of the three-day long strike that ended yesterday evening, panic and frustration had become palpable among the public.

“The situation could have been managed much better, however, there was no will to resolve the strike early,” said one of the managers of a petrol pump in South Delhi.

Most of the Delhi’s 413 fuel stations have started functioning by noon after receiving fresh stocks from oil companies and the city would be back to normal by evening, said an official from the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders Federation.

However, services at oil and gas stations, refineries and fuel outlets are expected to return to normal only by Monday.

Meanwhile, the strike called by the All India Motor Transport Congress entered its fifth day today with the association saying it would continue with its protest despite the arrest of its president Charan Singh Lohara and secretary S. Venugopal.

The truckers strike has not only created a shortage of perishable goods such as milk, fruits and vegetables, making them costlier, but has also become a matter of concern for distributors of consumer goods who are finding it tough to replenish stocks.

“Loose sugar has already become costlier by one rupee. We are selling it for Rs 22 for the last two days. The prices of fruit and vegetables have also gone up and are likely to become even dearer if the strike continues,” said Rajat Arora, a retailer based in Malviya Nagar.

“We are getting out of stock of daily-use items like soaps. The situation might get worse if the strike does not end soon,” said Lalit Kumar, a distributor of consumer goods firm that caters to 1,000 retailers in Delhi. 

New Delhi, January 10
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) regulations formulated in 1999 contain multiple ambiguities, especially pertaining to the overbearing power delegated to the twin capacities of the president of the institute and chairman of the governing council.

In this context, the 15-member Rajya Sabha committee on subordinate legislation headed by Nejma Heptullah, last month presented a detailed report, which points out at the excessive delegation of onus and concentration of power in the chairman of the governing council.

Such a provision has resulted in the creation of twin centres of authority i.e. the chairman of the governing body and the director of the institute, who as per the AIIMS regulations, is supposed to be the administrative head of the institute.

“Delegating core executive powers to the chairman of the governing council of AIIMS has undermined the role of the director and jeopardised the autonomy of the institute leading to a series of unfortunate events in the past few years,” outlines the committee.

The appointment to various academic posts, including those of dean and sub-dean should be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the director of AIIMS and there ought to be clear guidelines in the form of regulations to avoid any duplication of authority, says the panel.

The committee is critical of the health and family welfare ministry’s intervention in the day-to-day functioning of AIIMS and the ministry’s version to justify the appointment of Ramadoss as the AIIMS president—to protect the interests of the government, as it is the body which allocates funds to the institute.

The panel feels, “AIIMS is a statutory body, and in order to retain the excellence of this healthcare centre, it ought to have its own set of subordinate legislations.”

The panel said that the recommendations of the four-member expert committee headed by Dr Valiathan in 2006 were in the best interest of AIIMS.

The report also supports the 1996 Supreme Court judgement, which upholds that the inclusion of minister and secretary of the health and family welfare would eventually have an adverse impact on the autonomous functioning of AIIMS.

“The health ministry has purposefully amended the 1956 Act by retaining the ambiguities in the rules and regulations. The minister will have to pay for his unfair practices and undue interference in the internal affairs of AIIMS. He has tarnished the image of the institute,” said a senior faculty of AIIMS on the condition of anonymity.

When contacted, the acting director of AIIMS, Dr T.D Dogra denied responding on the matter.

The committee has recommended the central universities model for AIIMS, under which the President of India holds the power of intervention and issuing directives or enquiries. 

New Delhi, January 10
A woman, along with her two minor sons, was found dead in their home in Uttam Nagar area of South West Delhi last night. Seema (34) a housewife, her sons Kunal (7) and Nishant (4) were found lying in a pool of blood by Seema’s husband Hem Chand around 10 pm in their B Block residence of Bindapur. The police believes that a sharp-edged weapon like knife or meat cutter has been used to kill the three.

According to the statement given by Hem Chand (37) to the police, he had gone to Gurgaon for some business work yesterday afternoon and returned home around 10 pm when he found the bodies. He was the first to discover the incident and after informing his father-in-law called the police.

Hem Chand is a computer designer and runs a business in Moti Bagh. The police has detained Hem Chand for questioning.

Hemchand was living in a rented accommodation on the first floor of the building since last two and a half years. According to Seema’s father Motil Lal, the couple had a cordial relationship though HemChand did not have very good relations with his in-laws till few years back. The claim was also backed by Hemchand’s brother Naresh. Neighbours of Hemchand said that he was not a social person and mostly kept a low profile.

A case has been lodged in the Uttam Nagar police station and the police has launched a massive investigation. The room where the bodies were found has been sealed after examination by forensic experts, which included collecting fingerprints.

The police has also ruled out robbery as the motive behind the murder. “The rooms have not been ransacked and Hemchand too has said that nothing was missing. The brutal murder indicates that they have been committed because of hatred and we believe revenge could be the motive,” said a police official involved in the investigation.

Meanwhile, the police is questioning Hemchand and neighbours. The family living on the ground floor of the same building has denied hearing any shrieks or sounds of any struggle. 

Noida, January 10
Inspector-general of police, Meerut Zone, Gurbachan Lal has announced that gangrape accused will be booked under the Gangster Act.

He has also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 each on the arrest of the absconding accused in the MBA student’s gangrape case.

Earlier, the Noida SSP had announced an award of Rs 2,500 each on the arrest of the accused who are yet to be arrested.

The police has nabbed seven accused in this case so far, while the four remaining accused are still absconding. Earlier reports said 10 accused were involved, but now another name has been added to the list of the young men accused of raping the student.

Besides the seven already nabbed, Gullu Jatak, Shashikant and Omkar Yadav were said to be absconding. The name of another accused, Pushpinder, alias Dudyan has also been added to the list of the accused.

Meanwhile, the seventh accused, Anil Yadav arrested on Thursday, was presented in the court of the CJM.

He was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The police could not present the other accused in court on Friday in view of the bandh call given by the Samajwadi Party.

On behalf of police, APO, P.N. Singh had requested the court to postpone the hearing to Monday.

The court of CJM, A.K. Tripathi accepted the plea of the prosecution and fixed the next hearing of the case for January12.

Noida, January 10
A rape attempt was made on a young girl in Noida’s Sector 16 on Thursday.

A youth, Sunny, living in the girl’s neighborhood tried to rape her, but was caught by people after she raised an alarm.

The crowd thrashed the accused and handed him over to the Sector 20 police. Girl’s brother had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint. However, the police has booked the accused under indecent and obscene clauses.

According to report, on the day, Kavita, 15, (changed name) was alone at her brother’s shop at around 7 pm. Sunny came to the shop to purchase something. But, when he saw that the girl was alone, he cornered her and tried to rape her. When the girl raised an alarm, her family members and some neighbours rushed to her help and overpowered Sunny.

According to the reports, in order to save its image, which has already taken a beating after the recent gangrape case, the police brokered an agreement between the two parties.

They lodged the FIR for obscene activities and later arrested Sunny under the same clauses.

New Delhi, January 10
The Central Industrial Security force (CISF) personnel responsible for the security of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) today detained two youths in an inebriated condition after firing at least three rounds on their car.

According to information, Hemant and Sachin Malik were drinking alcohol in their Skoda car in the vicinity of IGIA at around 1.30 am when the CISF men noticed them. When the security officials summoned them, the two tried to escape.

“The CISF personnel found their behaviour suspicious and summoned them. However, the duo started running, prompting the personnel to fire one round in the air,” a police official said. However, this also did not deter the men, who got inside their car to flee prompting the officials to fire two more rounds at the tyres of their car.

A bottle of liquor was recovered from their car. The duo was later handed over to the Delhi police for verification of their antecedents. “The boys are in their early 20s and are friends. They live in Najafgarh and Dwarka. We are questioning them, but nothing incremental has come up and it appears that the duo did not had any wrong intention, but were just looking for a lone spot to drink,” said a police official of IGIA police station.