New Delhi, May 18
Two motorcycle-borne men snatched Rs 18 lakh from a trader in a bank and shot dead a bank guard who came to his rescue this morning in the Patparganj area of East Delhi.

The incident took place at around 8:15 a.m. at Bank of India’s branch in DDA Complex, Patparganj.

Rajender Negi, the guard, reportedly, on duty in the bank was without a gun. He was killed while trying to overpower the robbers.

Vijay Prakash Gupta, owner of Komal Brothers petrol pump in Patparganj, was on his way to deposit Rs 18 lakh in the bank when two bike-ridden men allegedly started following him. Gupta had managed to reach the stairs of the bank when the miscreants attacked him. They snatched Gupta’s moneybag from the manager at gunpoint and were fleeing when Rajender intervened.

“Rajender was trying to snatch back the bag from the robbers when one of them shot at him. He was hit on the chest. He was taken to the Max Hospital where he was declared brought dead,” said a police official.

The official said the robbers might be aware of Gupta’s routine of going to the bank every morning to deposit the collection from his petrol pump.

“Normally, he deposited around Rs 9 lakh every day. As Sunday was a bank holiday, he went to deposit the collection of two days i.e. Rs 18 lakh,” he added.

Meanwhile, the family members of Rajender Negi have alleged that he was killed due to the negligence of the bank and the police. His brother Ranbir Singh Negi said in spite of working with the bank for the past seven years, he was not provided with a gun.

“My brother was brave and fought the robbers single-handedly. He was doing the work that the police should have done. Only if the bank had provided him with a gun, he would have been alive today,” lamented Ranbir.

On the other hand, the police tried to barricade the area and check bikers. The registration number of the bike that an eyewitness had noted down was of a car registered in West Delhi.

However, the police has claimed to nab the accused bikers soon as their images have been captured on the CCTV cameras installed by IndusInd Media & Communication Company outside their office, adjacent to the bank.

However, the CCTV camera installed on the bank premises could not capture the assailants.

New Delhi, May 18
After facing disgrace in the Lok Sabha elections, the young leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are up in arms against senior leadership of the party.

They have accused the senior party leaders of working for their own ends and thus spoiling the image of the party.

They alleged that they were ignored when the candidates were selected during the elections.

According to them, the rot has set in the party and the leaders are working for their own benefits only, thus not promoting the party in any way.

“The municipal corporators and mandal presidents have become corrupt. People know the truth as around 90 per cent of the population comes in direct contact with them. The party has been punished by the people,” said one of the young party leaders.

The young Turks of the BJP have demanded the resignation of Delhi unit BJP president Om Praksh Kohli.

“When the BJP was defeated in the assembly elections, the former state BJP president Harsh Vardhan was asked to resign. The current president should also quit owning the defeat,” said a young party leader.

The young leaders said that they were used for party promotion and campaigns but never given preference when it came to the selection of candidates during election.

“The Delhi BJP has the same old faces for ages. Half of our life has passed in working for the party. Every time we ask for tickets, but nothing happens at the end,” the young BJP leader said.

On the other hand, the senior leaders of the party said that their young leadership needs to match the standard of Congress.

There are instances when the young Congress leaders have defeated strong opponents, they opined.

New Delhi, May 18
As the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is likely to finalise the ministers to be included in the new cabinet by Tuesday night, the aspiring candidates are busy presenting their credentials before the Congress high command.

Meanwhile, officials in the union ministry of urban development are expecting Ajay Maken back in office. They give maximum credit of his win to the Master Plan-2021.

“Maken is young and has experience. He has served various posts efficiently and should be back in office,” said a ministry official.

The officials opine Maken’s development perspective includes all sections of society. “His Master Plan-2021 offers some thing to every section of society. It was for the first time that residents of urbanised villages were given a special status,” the official added.

As part of the Master Plan-2021, Maken had promised several incentives to residents of the Capital.

While campaigning in Hauz Khas village, Maken had assured that all small shops which had been sealed would be desealed soon after the next government came to power.

However, a ministry official said residents of posh colonies in Hauz Khas and Greater Kailash should not feel left out. “Residents of these colonies should not feel neglected as their problems are somewhat different from the other residents in Maken’s constituency,” he affirmed.

He said the main problem that residents of posh colonies in New Delhi constituency suffered was of parking. “They have no parking space and the ministry has planned to construct underground parking lots in these areas,” he added.

New Delhi, May 18
Sandeep Dikshit, who has won the East Delhi constituency in the general elections with the highest margin in Delhi, is likely to push for a place in the new cabinet.

The sources in the Congress said he was asking for the ministry of rural development in the new UPA government.

“He has worked on the ground for the people living in rural parts of the country and has a ground experience of the initiatives that need to be taken,” said sources in the party.

Son of the three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit might come across as being born and brought up in the metropolitan, but the sources said he has worked a lot for the development of people in Madhya Pradesh.

“His organisation Sanket in Bhopal has been a tremendous success. Sanket is the only organisation that has been responsible for publication of the Madhya Pradesh Human Development Report. Sandeep also has a diploma in rural management. He is as much a resident of Bhopal as he is of Delhi,” said the sources.

Dikshit had, however, told the media earlier that he was not interested in any ministry. He said there were many senior leaders in the party who were in the race before him.

There were two ministers in the outgoing UPA government from Delhi.

New Delhi, May 18
The apex body of the trading community, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has pitched its demand for liberalising the trading norms in the country.

Declaring the CAIT’s agenda for the new government at the centre, national executive president B.C. Bhartia, and national general secretary Praveen Khandelwal demanded the formulation of a national trade policy for domestic trade in a joint statement here.

They urged the Prime Minister to form a separate ministry for strengthening internal trade and said, “In a country where more than 5 crore traders are involved in domestic trade having great potential of strengthening the economy, putting the trade on the priority of the government will prove to be a right step in emerging out from the current economic slowdown.”

In addition, the trade body feels that in order to boost India’s prospects in international trade, it’s important that India should be granted the status of a free trade zone by doing away with all kinds of entry forms and road permits in inter-state trade.

Both Bhartia and Kahandelwal stressed that the roadmap of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is stipulated to come in place from April 2010, should be chalked out at the earliest in consultation with the trade and industry.

Besides, all commercial taxes must be merged into GST.

While urging for creating a banking regulatory authority, CAIT leaders demanded easy loans with better banking amenities at primary sector lending rate and a special package to small traders to encourage them for export trade.

According to CAIT, most of the norms governing trade and tax provisions are outdated and hence it called for major amendments, which are to be made after a thorough evaluation by a review commission.

The trade body outlined that domestic business needs to be protected from the shadow of giant corporate houses and Foreign Direct Investment in retail trade, and demanded for an effective regulatory authority for commodities exchange.

New Delhi, May 18
It’s not just the Common Admission Test (CAT) that will go online this year. Delhi University (DU) will become one of the first central universities in the country to conduct an online examination next month for its undergraduate science students.

A.K. Bakshi, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILL) under DU which formulated the online examination paper, said for the first time students of B.Sc course will be taking their environmental science paper online.

“It’s just a starter. If successful, it would set a trend for other universities,” Bakshi said.

A total of 2,500 students from 27 colleges will take the exam, scheduled in the first week of June.

“For logistical and other reasons, the exam will be held at three centres — Miranda House, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Venkateswara Colleges,” he added.

“How does one attempt a question, how do you skip a question, re-attempt a question, submit the paper but want to make some changes again — everything is being explained. There will also be a timer which will keep telling the student how much time and how many questions are left. A sample online examination paper is also uploaded on our website,” Bakshi informed.

The one-hour exam will have 50 multiple choice type questions of one mark each.

“Teachers are quite happy with the initiative,” Bakshi grinned.

The online exam is a part of DU’s larger plan to go the e-learning way. ILL has been working on making the teaching process and, now even the assessment process, more tech-savvy.

It is expected that by the next academic session, the e-learning material for some courses like chemistry, physics, maths, life sciences and commerce will be uploaded in the ILL portal. — IANS

Noida, May 18
The Metro rail having crossed the Yamuna and reached the Yamuna bank station is an indicator that DMRC authorities are keen that Metro speedily reaches its next stop —Noida.

DMRC chief E. Sreedharan confirmed the authorities were keen that the Metro should roll into Noida latest by August as the Noida authority officials had informed about a month back.

Besides, an additional over 500-metre-long line is being set up at Sector-16 for accommodating sick trains.

According to DMRC sources, the work on seven-km-long Noida corridor will be completed by next month. The plan is to have a trial run up to Sector-16 station within May itself. The track for sick trains is being constructed keeping in view all the security considerations. This track will be used for parking of sick trains without affecting the train movements on the main track.

As per the DMRC MD, about 37 km would be added to the Metro network by the end of this year.

“The Noida corridor scheduled to be opened in two phases will now be dedicated to the public at one go. Work on the Noida corridor is almost 85 per cent complete. As soon as new trains are received, trial runs on the route will begin,” says DMRC chief Sreedharan.

The DMRC is likely to receive Metro coaches by June following which trials can be started on the route before the final commissioning of services.

Gurgaon, May 18
Sunday was the day of criminals who looted lakhs of rupees, cell phones, electricity items and even a car from different parts of the city.

Bilaspur resident Dharampal Singh complained to the police that lakhs of rupees, including mobile phones and other valuable items, were stolen from his shop, Sunrise Cell Point, situated at Bilaspur Chowk.

The robbers also broke the lock of the shop on Sunday night and took away dozens of mobile phones. When Dharampal Singh reached his shop this morning, he found that the lock was broken and around 12 phones were stolen. He immediately informed the police who reached the spot and lodged a complaint against unknown persons and started investigating the matter.

The robbers also broke the lock of electricity shop in Farukhnagar. Shop owner Ashok told the police that apart from a motor, four bundles of pipe and cash were stolen from his shop.

In another incident, three persons looted Indica car from National Highway No 8 on Sunday night. The car was said to be used for picking and dropping the employees of the call centre here and the driver had gone to drop the staff to Delhi. The driver of car Pappu told the police that while he was returning to Udyog Vihar on Sunday night, three boys stopped the car near Shankar Chowk.

He thought that the boys wanted to know the way, but they entered his car, hit him and took it away. He immediately informed the police who sealed the area.

Ghaziabad, May 18
The first floor roofs of two houses at Modhopura Mohalla in Vijay Nagar were blown off with a powerful explosion. The walls of adjoining houses also developed cracks. There was no casualty as no one was on the first floor when the explosion took place.

The police and staff of local intelligence unit found a polythene bag on the spot in which some explosives, it is suspected, were brought there.

Jagat Singh, a railway employee who is the resident of the affected house, along with his son Dushyant Singh, had gone out while some family members were on the ground floor on Sunday afternoon.

At 2.30 p.m., the residents heard a strong explosion and when they went up, they saw the roof of the room had been blown off and the household articles were badly damaged. The roof of a neighbour’s house had also been blown off.

The Vijay Nagar police summoned LIU and the bomb squad after they smelt the odour of chemicals.

The police took Jagat Singh and his son Dushyant into custody.

SP City Anant Dev said investigations were under way to determine if some chemical were stored in the house.

New Delhi, May 18
Delhi reeled under hot and humid conditions for the second consecutive day today.

The maximum temperature settled at 41° Celsius, three notches above normal for this time of the year. While, humidity reached a high of 63 per cent making people sweat throughout the day. The minimum was recorded at 33 per cent.

Office-goers are the worst affected.

Arvind Sahni who works at HCL said, “The hot and humid conditions are making it extremely difficult to commute by autos and buses. And the Metro is over-crowded. By the time I reach office I feel absolutely dull. The freshness evaporates as soon as you step out of your house.”

While Neelu Vyas said, “I live in Noida and take a bus to Mehrauli daily. Those having their own vehicle can only survive in such a condition.”

Moreover, the city’s auto drivers too are badly hit. Driving in the scorching heat, an auto driver at CP said, “I drink a lot of glucose water. The temperature is settling around 39 to 42° Celsius in May. What will happen in June?”

Meanwhile, the Met office has predicted the maximum temperature will be around 44° Celsius tomorrow while the minimum will be around 32° Celsius.