New Delhi, February 23
Shiva devotees started the day early today with a ritual bath and prayers to celebrate Shivratri. Unmarried women kept fast on the occasion while praying for a good husband — just like Shiva.

“It is a ritual. On Shivratri unmarried girls observe fasts from dawn to dusk and pray to Lord Shiva to give us a good spouse,” said Sanchari Das, who works in an NGO.

“We also pour water and a concoction of milk, rose water and honey on the Shivling while offering prayers, four times in the day,” she added.

It is said that on Shivratri, which generally falls on the 13th or 14th day of the month of phalgun, Shiva got married to goddess Parvati.

Ashima Dua, a home maker, said after bathing the Shivling, people offer various things — each has its own meaning.

“Every offering made to the Shivling on Shivaratri has its own meaning. Smearing a vermilion paste and offering milk, rose water and honey signifies sanitisation of soul, offering of fruits represent a long life and fulfilment of desires while lighting of a lamp signifies achievement of knowledge,” Dua said.

In the Capital, the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation organised a prayer service early today in which people offered prayers to 2,50,000 earthen Shivlings prepared by, amongst others, 100 former manual scavengers.

“The earthen Shivlings have been made by 400 people, which include 100 former untouchable women, who earlier worked as manual scavengers in Rajasthan. We also have 15 Vedic experts performing the puja — which is symbolic in a way that it gives the message that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord,” head of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak said. — IANS

New Delhi, February 23
In a major effort to curb the problem of waterlogging in the Capital, the work for improvement of stormwater drain at a cost of Rs 19.33 crore was today inaugurated by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The stormwater drain, which is located at Wazirpur Industrial Area and Model Town, is being improved to avoid the inflow of industrial waste into the area.

With the completion of the scheme, the water logged during the rainy season will not outflow in the neighbouring areas, thereby benefiting residents of State Bank Colony, CC Colony, Gujrawala Town, Derawal Nagar, Rana Pratap Bagh, and Mahendru Enclave.

“The area of Model Town remains waterlogged during the rainy season for the past many years because of the water flowing from Wazirpur Industrial Area towards Model Town. During rains, the drainage system of this area fails to drain out the rainwater coming from Wazirpur Industrial Area, which results in heavy waterlogging in various blocks of Model Town,” said Vijender Gupta, chairman, Standing Committee.

The inflow of industrial waste creates havoc, as it contains acidic elements, which damages the properties of residents and also causes hindrance to traffic.

“Keeping in view the problems of residents, the MCD carried out a survey and thereafter, formulated an ambitious scheme to improve the stormwater drain,” he said

“It will increase the outflow capacity of waste and rainwater. The drain will be covered by CC slabs and residents will also be saved from obnoxious smell,” added Gupta.

New Delhi, February 23
The Delhi cabinet today decided to grant benefits of compensatory pay and ration money to employees of non-gazetted staff of non-operational wing of the Delhi Fire Service.

The cabinet has also made it necessary to seek a no-objection certificate (NOC) by land allotting agencies before allotment of land.

It has also given its nod to a proposal for providing integrated online services of state business on E-Biz portal of union ministry of commerce and industry.

Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister stated that non-gazetted staff of communication, workshop and band wing of Delhi Fire Service would also get benefit of compensatory pay and ration money. This benefit had been earlier granted to more than 2,500 employees belonging to operational staff in September 2008.

She further stated that those 212 personnel would be benefited by this decision. They have been performing the same duties as being discharged by their counterpart in Delhi police and were left out inadvertently from the earlier proposal.

The units of communication, workshop and band wing of DFS are an integral part. An effective response to the fire calls without the cumulative support and assistance of three units is not possible. The decision has been taken to bring parity, the Chief Minister said.

She stated that in order to overcome difficulties being faced by the common man in getting their plans approved and carry on construction, the cabinet has decided to make it obligatory to seek a “No Objection Certificate” by land allotting agencies to protect the use of forest for non-forestry purposes. Restoration of ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by large-scale construction, both legal and illegal, is the need of the hour.

As per the cabinet decision, MCD, DDA, Delhi Cantonment Board and NDMC will not allot or auction any land in the vicinity of the ridge without clearance from the forest department.

The cabinet has also given its nod to a proposal for providing integrated online services of state business on E-Biz portal being established by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), union ministry of commerce and industry. The main objectives of the E-Biz project include a single-window mechanism for integrating the services of central, state and local governments; provide simplified forms, procedures and information, enhance transparency, speed, responsiveness and convenience. 

Gurgaon, February 23
Craggy police personnel going to prevent a child marriage or dealing with sensitive issues like domestic violence and marital disputes will now be a thing of past in Haryana.

In a novel move aimed at tackling cases of domestic violence and child marriage in the state, the Haryana government has decided to establish special cells for women and children in all districts.

Now, instead of policemen, women officials having sound academic credentials in psychology or sociology would be handling such cases.

“The department of women and child development has recently appointed protection-cum-child marriage prohibition officers (PPOs) for every district of the state,” revealed the newly-appointed Gurgaon police commissioner, S. S. Deswal, while talking to The Tribune here on Sunday.

Each PPO would be assisted by two — preferably graduate — police officials and members of associated NGOs, he said and added that the existing cells dealing with crime against women were being merged with the special cells.

In a recent communiqué sent to all district superintendents of police in the state, all deputy commissioners of police at Gurgaon and the superintendent of police (Railways), Ambala Cantt, the Haryana director-general of police said that the special cells would be set up within their offices.

“The PPOs have been appointed at each special cell under Section 8 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and Section 16 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,” the communiqué states, adding that the PPO would be an officer of the court and would act as a bridge between women/children and justice.

The special cells would offer immediate services in cases of family violence and atrocities against women by working with magistrates/police in registering complaints under the PWDV Act and in any other matter, besides providing counseling, legal aid, referral to family service agencies and any other assistance as and when required.

New Delhi, February 23
Reflecting the invisible, marginalised and vulnerable sections, including children of the urban poor and construction workers, a consortium of NGOs and experts today presented a report on the ground situation of young children in Delhi.

The target of universal quality integrated child development services is yet to be attained with the NFHS III indicating that Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) till now has managed to cover only 35% of Delhi’s child population. “The scheme has failed to operationalise effective Anganwadi centres through universalisation of all ICDS services to every child under the age of six, and this is the status of early childhood care in the entire country, including Delhi,” said Sudeshna Sengupta from Mobile Crèches today at IIC.

About 52 per cent of the Capital’s population constitutes urban poor, the majority of them live in unauthorised slums where the children remain invisible. Census data and other government surveys do not take these settlements into account. And hence their presence is never taken into account in the planning process, says the report.

The study brings out the glaring disparity of services to the invisible children of the urban poor and those of the rest of Delhi’s young population. Further, due to lacunae in national policies and programmes besides lack of political will, the status of early childhood care in quite deplorable in Delhi.

The Delhi Development Goal (DDG) targets to bring down the underweight children below three years of age from 35 per cent in 1998-99 to 17 per cent or less by 2015, but the report highlights the fact that the NFHS III shows Delhi’s underweight child population at 33 per cent.

The study was released during the National Media Workshop, organised by Plan India, which brought together stakeholders and journalists from the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Delhi. The workshop was arranged to create awareness on early childhood care and development and look for ways of positive intervention on government policies and programmes. 

Noida, February 23
The officials concerned were quite careless while probing the Nithari cases from the beginning. It is clear after the perusal of the information sought from the authorities and organization like the National Commission for Women, Noida Authority and UP police under Right to Information. None of the officers of the authorities from whom information was sought had taken the case seriously.

On August 10, 2005, the National Commission for Women had appointed a one-member committee of Nirmila Venketesh who took a fortnight to visit Nithari on August 24 to speak to some parents whose children had gone missing. On August 30, Nirmala Venketesh had summoned the then Noida SSP and SP City to her office in Delhi. After this the National Commission for Women had not taken any action for the next three months in the sensational case which has shocked the whole country.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) in their August 24, 2005, inquiry report (submitted to the SSP, Noida, on November 9, 2005), mentioned that six girls were missing from Nithari.

Later, Uttar Pradesh DGP, in his reply to a notice served on him on January 2, 2007, by the NCW, said five girls were missing. The DGP’s letter dated January 11, 2007, did not even mention Rimpa Halder’s name among the missing girls.

These five girls did not include the name of Rimpa Halder, for the abduction and murder of whom the CBI court handed down a death sentence to key accused Mohinder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli on February 13.

It would be relevant to recall that a letter signed by 72 eminent persons, including a Gandhian, Nirmala Deshpande MP, Mohini Giri, ex-chairperson of NCW, Swami Agnivesh, former union law minister Shanti Bhushan, was delivered at the PMO on February 15, 2008, urging the Prime Minister that “something should be done in the Nithari case”.  When no reply was received from the PMO for over two months, an RTI was filed. Through it “we came to know that a section officer in PMO had sent this communication to the secretary, ministry of home affairs without showing it to the Prime Minister”, says RTI activist, retired naval commodore Lokesh Batra.

The PMO had on May 25, 2006, inquired from the UP police as to how so many children had gone missing from Nithari. Even in its reply sent to the PMO, the UP police failed to mention the name of Rimpa Halder.

According to Batra, in all eight RTIs enquiries were sent in connection with the Nithari case—four were sent to the National Commission for Women, one to police, two to PMO, one to Noida Authority. Batra, a known RTI activist, is of the opinion that the authorities in all these organizations deserve to be punished along with the key accused under RTI for rank negligence.

New Delhi, February 23
A 25-year-old woman was shot last night in the Jehangirpuri area of North East Delhi in presence on her husband and daughter.

The murder took place near Jehangirpuri Metro station around 11 p.m. Sanjeev Mahajan, a former employee of Pinki, shot her in the head.

Pinki’s husband Inder, who witnessed the murder along with his daughter, told the police that Sanjeev wanted her to return to work. But when she refused, she was killed.

According to the police, the murder is related to a sex racket being run in the Patel Nagar area of the Capital. Sanjeev Mahajan, the owner of Kohinoor Beauty Parlour, runs the racket.

Pinki had been working at the beauty parlour for the last one year. However, a month ago, she had refused to work with Sanjeev.

The deceased’s husband has told the police that Sanjeev often called up Pinki to return to work. But when she stopped taking his calls, he came to their house last night at B-Block in Jehangirpuri. He tried to convince Pinki to join the parlour. When she refused he coaxed her family to come for a drive one last time. Pinki along with her husband and daughter went with Sanjeev in his Santro car.

After some distance, Sanjeev stopped his car in a service lane near Jehangirpuri Metro Station. He pulled out his pistol and shot Pinki in the temple. He, then, fled in his car.

Inder rushed Pinki to hospital where she succumbed to her injury an hour later.

Sanjeev’s Santro car was found abandoned in the Pritampura area late last night. Sanjeev stays in Meera Bagh. But when the police reached there, he was absconding. A police party was also sent to Noida to nab him.

Meanwhile, a case of murder has been registered against Sanjeev. 

Ghaziabad, February 23
People lynched four thieves who had intruded into house No. 38 in Balaram Nagar, Loni, last night. Two of them escaped while firing in the air.

The police has recovered one pistol, three live cartridges and rods from them. Their identity is yet to be established.

Though the police had been informed that half a dozen criminals intruded into the house, the cops took a long time to reach the spot. People then decided to take on the burglars themselves.

At 8 p.m. on Delhi-Sharanpur Road, six thieves had intruded into House No. 38 at Balaram Colony in Loni. Ramesh Kumar Bhardwaj and his family had gone to Muzzafarnagar to attend a wedding. Nobody was home at that time. While two robbers escaped firing in the air, the neighbours were able to nab four of them who were then lynched. The angry people rained stones on the robbers as a result of which two died on the spot while another two succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital.

SSP Akhil Kumar and SP City Anand Dev reached the spot after an hour.

Ghaziabad, February 23
Two persons have been arrested for faking a robbery of Rs 4 lakh. The amount has been recovered. The amount belonged to SKS Finance Company Pvt Ltd.

Jai Singh, one of the arrested accused, is an employee of the company. He along with his maternal uncle had planned the robbery. To make it look real, he scratched his face with his own nails.

Jai Singh, a field officer in the company, had filed a complaint in Vijay Nagar police station that he was robbed of a bag containing Rs 4 lakh around 6:30 a.m. near Lal Quan trijunction by two bikers.

When questioned, he revealed that his original name was Sanjeev Jat and he had secured a field officer’s job in the company on the certificate of his cousin Jai Singh. He revealed that he had to go to Mussori with Rs 4 lakh of the company on Friday. It was then that he along with his maternal uncle Nahar Singh planned to usurp it.

He planned a drama and filed an FIR in Vijay Nagar police station. While Nahar took the amount to Delhi.

Due to police pressure Sanjeev called up his uncle and asked him to reach Vijay Nagar police station.

Meanwhile, SP (city) Anand Dev has termed it a case of usurping company’s money. The arrested accused will be booked under the Gangster Act. He added the accused will be booked for securing job on fake certificates and for a faking a robbery. 

New Delhi, February 23
The Delhi police has busted an interstate gang of dacoits. Shabir, Munna Khan, Jagdish, Qayum and Rajesh along with their leader Shabir were arrested yesterday near Rohini Metro station.

The gang was travelling in an Indica car when they were stopped. Two countrymade pistols, six live cartridges, two button-activated knives and robbed documents have been seized.

They disclosed that on February 19, they robbed a truck loaded with cigarettes near Bagpat. The driver and helper of the truck were held hostages and were set free after Shabir had unloaded all cigarettes from the truck.

According to the police, the robbed consignment of cigarettes that was going to Andhra Pradesh is more than Rs 40 lakh. 

Gurgaon, February 23
A meet on ‘Recurrent Abortion’ was organised by the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Paras Hospital here. It was inaugurated by renowned neurosurgeon Dr V S Mehta and coordinated by Dr Shali Khanna, ex-head of the department at Banaras Hindu University and senior obstetrician and gynecologist at Paras Hospital.

More than 130 gynecologists from institutions like AIIMS, Apollo and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital attended the meet.

The doctors were of the view that multiple miscarriages were very distressing for the couple and family.

Dr Shail Khanna, “Twenty-four per cent of women, who have had two abortions, are likely to have problems in the third pregnancy.” She emphasised that working women should have children before the age of 30. She also suggested early institution of treatment to detect the causes of recurrent abortions.

Dr Sunita Mittal, HoD, department of obstetrics and gynaecology, AIIMS mentioned, “In spite of no particular cause detected in 40 per cent of the cases of abortions, 65 per cent of these women can have successful pregnancy with proper care and support from obstetrician.”

Dr Meenakshi Sahuta, senior consultant, Paras Hospital said, “The main causes for recurrent abortions are: abnormality in reproductive organs, abnormal chromosomal fertilization, infections and hormonal imbalances, early marriage and pregnancy, smoking, alcohol consumption and stressful unhealthy lifestyle.”