New Delhi, May 26
Around 200 people demonstrated outside the Austrian embassy here on Tuesday, demanding an investigation into the killing of a Sikh religious leader in Vienna.

The protesters, followers of the slain Sant Rama Nand of Dera Sachh Khand, gathered outside the embassy at Chandragupta Marg in Chanakyapuri on Tuesday morning.

“It was a peaceful protest and the sect members wanted to give a memorandum to Austrian embassy demanding investigation into the killing of their leader,” said deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) S. Dash.

Meanwhile, security around the embassy has been tightened. “We have deployed extra forces around the embassy and the situation is under control,” Dash added.

Followers of Dera Sachh Khand burnt trains, blocked key highways and destroyed property in Punjab and parts of Haryana on Monday to protest an attack on its leaders in a gurdwara in the Austrian capital Vienna the day before.

The sect leader Sant Rama Nand, the second-in-command, died in a hospital in Vienna on Monday. — IANS

New Delhi, May 26
New Delhi Railway Station looked all messed up today with thousands of passengers stranded at platforms as trains going towards Punjab have been cancelled because of the recent protests in the state.

Though the spokesperson of the Northern Railways confirmed that the movements of all cancelled, diverted and terminated trains have been restored to their normal schedule from around 3:35 pm today, the waiting rooms remained heavily overcrowded.

More than 12,000 people were still stranded at the railway station till the evening.

Jasmeet Arora, a passenger sitting at a platform since last evening, said, “I and my family came to Delhi from Rajpura to attend a wedding, but we are stuck here. I have not slept at all since last evening. My little children in Rajpura are waiting for us to return. Movement of some trains has started, but my train will go tomorrow.”

Similarly, Rehmat Khan, who is also stuck at the station since last evening, said, “I am inquiring about my train from the station master every one hour. I was going to Malerkotla to give a surprise to my family as it was my sister’s birthday today. But sadly, even after travelling from Chandausi to Delhi, I could not celebrate the day. I don’t know why people there

(Punjab) are indulging in so much violence over an incident that took place in Vienna. Moreover, I think that the protests in Punjab have portrayed a very destructive image of the people there.”

Looking at the rush, the station master said that the security at the station has been increased. Three policemen have been deployed at one entrance to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

Meanwhile, the Northern railways has made arrangements for the stranded passengers. Arrangements have been made for their stay in nearby railway colonies at Phagwara, Jalandhar, Phillaur, Kathua and Chhaheru stations as well as in gurdwaras. The Northern Railways Women Welfare Association (NRWWA) has also made arrangements for food for the stranded passengers.

New Delhi, May 26
The Delhi Jal Board claims that potable water supply in the Capital has been increased with the streamlining of Nangloi, Okhla and Dwarka water treatment plants. It is difficult to explain the demand for water as it differs on day-to-day basis. But the water supply will be improved further with the commissioning of Munak canal in September this year, said a DJB official.

In 2004-2005, the water supply was 669 million gallon daily (MGD) that has gone up to 826 million gallon daily (MGD) in 2008-2009, amounting to around 25 per cent increase.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who is chairperson of the DJB, expressed satisfaction over the increase in production of water, which will further increase after completion of four recycling plants by August 31, 2009. 

Besides, 16 MGD Haiderpur plant has been commissioned whereas 11 MGD Wazirabad plant would be commissioned by June 30, 2009. Ten MGD Bhagirathi plant would be commissioned by June 15, 2009 whereas Chandrawal plant would be commissioned by August 31, 2009. 

Munak canal up to Haiderpur would be completed in September this year which would facilitate saving of 80 MGD untreated water to be utilized in commissioning of Okhla and Dwarka water treatment plants (WTPs). This would further improve water supply in West Delhi and other parts of the city. 

To further streamline water distribution system, it has been decided to commission 20 more under grounds reservoirs (UGRs) by December this year.

At a meeting held here today, the Chief Minister said that the DJB had been concentrating on installation of one lakh domestic meters.

The Board has also been working to commission 1 MGD water treatment plant exclusively for Commonwealth Games Village.

New Delhi, May 26
With the arrest of Gaijaomei George Kamei, a resident of Manipur, the north district police has claimed to have worked out the murder of Lili Kamei (name changed), whose body was found in the Kamla Nehru ridge forest a week ago.

According to police sources, the girl’s throat was slit. A case was registered in this regard at the Civil Lines police station.

Efforts were made to establish the identity of the body by making investigations in the areas inhabited by people from Northeast, Tibet and Nepal.

A girl named Easter Kamei told the police that Lili was her sister who had been missing since May 13. She said that she did not lodge a missing report as she presumed that her sister was with one Roshan, known to the victim through her boyfriend George. 

It was also revealed that the victim was last seen by Easter when she left for Kamla Nagar Market with Roshan. The police nabbed George and he allegedly confessed to have committed the crime.

George allegedly had an affair with Lili, but after a recent fight decided to eliminate her with the help of his nephew Roshan.

On the day of the incident, the police said, the duo took Lili to the ridge, where they all drank alcohol. Following a heated argument between George and the deceased, George slit her neck with a sharp-edged knife. Leaving her body behind, the duo went home. The next day, Roshan left Delhi. He is absconding.

Murder accused held

With the arrest of Hemant Kumar Sharma and Praveen Sharma, the South District police has solved the blind murder case of Malviya Nagar of Babu Lal. His body was discovered by a police team on night patrol three days ago. 

The body with a gunshot was covered with a sheet and a motor cycle was parked nearby in Chirag Delhi. On May 22, Babu Lal met Hemant, Praveen and Nek Ram, who run a security agency.

New Delhi, May 26
With the arrest of six persons—Rajeev Talwar, Amit Kumar Chikara, Gulshan Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Aditya Kumar and Hashim Jafarbaxi—the southeast district police has claimed to have busted a gang engaged in credit card frauds.

The arrests were made on the basis of a compliant received by the police from one Vijay Kumar Garg. Garg in his complaint had said that his ICICI and SBI credit cards had gone missing while he was shopping in East of Kailash a month ago.

But later he learnt that someone had made purchases worth Rs 1 lakh using those cards.

The police team analysed the records of the electronic swap machines of an electronic goods shop at Khichri Pur where Garg’s ICICI credit card was used.

The investigation pointed out at discrepancies in the bill and the amount of money charged from the account.

Further investigation revealed that the shopkeeper Rajeev Talwar was involved in the crime.

Talwar told the police that he had three accomplices. His accomplices were arrested who disclosed that they had used Garg’s SBI credit card for making purchases at Lamya Enterprises in Laxmi Nagar through one Aditya Kumar.

Two accused—Amit Kumar Chikara and Sunil Kumar—earlier worked with the credit card unit of the ICICI and ABN AMRO banks.

According to the police, the two used to contact field employees of leading banks and offered them money in lieu of personal information of their credit card holders.

Later, they, pretending to be bank agents, would call up these customers and lure them to apply to increase the credit limits of their cards. The accused would take the credit cards from the holders and pretend as if they were destroying it. But they would keep the magnetic strips of the cards intact for future use.

The police has recovered 22 such magnetic strips of destroyed credit cards, two swapping machines, fake IDs and personal details of credit card holders of different banks.

New Delhi, May 26
Two nurses working in Apollo Hospital in East of Kailash have been terminated for conversing in their native language, and the nursing superintendent asked them to submit the bond amount of Rs 35,000 for the release of their certificates. The nurses say that they were dismissed for the guilt of breaching the standing directive of the hospital of speaking in a language other than English, but according to them as per the norms, it comes into play only during the working hours.

One of the nurses (name not disclosed on request) said that yesterday while she and the fellow nurse were on their way to their work station at about 1.45 pm, they greeted each other in Malayali in the lift without realising the fact that the nursing superintendent (NS), Usha Banerjee was also in the same lift. 

Later, both of them were restrained in a room for five hours till 7 in the evening, and barred from speaking to any acquaintance.

“You’re dismissed and can go to Kerala and start selling fish. You can collect all your certificates after paying the bond amount of Rs 35,000,” is what the NS told them, said the nurse accusing the management of humiliating interrogation.

Standing up to the rescue of the two young nurses, who have just started their careers about six months ago, the Malayali Nurses Welfare Association (MNWA) has filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today under the violation of the fundamental right to speak in one’s mother tongue and demanded the reinstatement of the nurses at the earliest.

The MNWA president, Usha Krisha Kumar Usha stated that it’s very humiliating for young girls who have come 3000 miles away to earn a living. “Our constitution guarantees us with the right to speak in any language of our choice. The law has to be applicable to everybody,” said Usha.

The two nurses have been pleading for pardon, but the management did not heed to their pleas until today when it learnt that the MNWA is going to approach the human rights body.

The two nurses were ordered to vacate their quarters in Noida and till early evening today one of the dismissed nurses kept apologising and requesting to take them back, but the guards at the gate denied her entry as per the direction of the hospital management.

However, the Apollo management has termed the news as “untrue” and the result of some miscommunication. The hospital authorities refused to speak anything on the contract norms and said it’s the internal matter of the hospital. 

New Delhi, May 26
Students are rushing in large numbers to collect admission forms from St Stephen’s College. The college campus was packed today with admission seekers discussing their chances and collecting or filling in their admission forms.

Stephen’s opened for admissions yesterday and students can collect forms till June 15 which is also the last date for form submission.

Nandita Narain, tutor for admissions, informs, “There has been a big rush of students here for forms. We have a team of teachers and volunteer students who are helping them. There were more students yesterday but today also they have been coming in large numbers.”

The college sold 1,100 forms on Tuesday and 1,250 on Monday. Narain adds, “We are expecting this pace to slacken a bit over the next few days, but it will pick up in a major way on first June when form sale at DU begins.”

The college has two helplines manned by volunteer students and a team of six teachers. Narain informs, “We have two helplines right now and intend to put a third together soon. A large number of queries are pouring in from students surprisingly also for courses we do not offer like B Com (Honours).”

Teachers manning the helpline inform that enquiries are coming in large numbers for English (hons) and also economics (hons) courses.

Excited students stand around chatting. Says Arushi Gupta, “This is my second visit to Stephen’s and I always planned on applying here. I am applying for the English honours programme but am anxious as it is going to be neck and neck competition.

I have scored a good result in the CBSE board and hope I get selected here. Stephen’s is my first choice but I will be applying elsewhere in DU as well.”

Another student, Romesh Chakraborty, informs, “I don’t belong to Delhi and have come from Assam. This college is my first choice and I have always wanted to study here. Let’s hope this ambition translates into reality and I get selected.

I would like to apply for history honours as I later intend taking the civil services examination. I fear the competition here is going to be very stiff.”

Sangeeta Batra, a student busy scanning her form, says, “It’s very tough to get in and now with this increased quota it’s going to be horrible. I am applying for English honours here as I later intend pursuing journalism. However, I am going to apply in other colleges to be on the safe side.” 

New Delhi, May 26
Bringing madarsa at par with regular schools, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has recognised madarsa certificates of Alim-Fazil for admission of students in 2009-10.The decision implemented in 2008-09 found a place in JNU prospectus for the first time this year.

JNU faculty sources said the university administration carried out an intensive study of madarsas in the country before taking the decision.

“Student organisations had put immense pressure on the administration to recognise madarsa certificates. A section of students should not be debarred from admission in a national institution just because they have studied under a particular system. The entrance exam is anyway the same for all,” said P. Anand, a student leader.

The university prospectus lists the 17 madarsas recognised by JNU. The madarsas are in UP and Bihar. The madarsa certificates are recognised for admissions to BA courses in foreign languages.

“Candidates who have scored at least 45 per cent, have passed in English at senior secondary level from a recognised board or a three-year course conducted by the Darul-Uloom Deoband and have Alimiah certificates issued by any of the 12 madrasas were invited for graduation courses,” said a university official.

The other five madarsas included in the prospectus are — Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow; Jamiatul Flah, Bilariaganj; Madrasatul Islah, Azamgarh; Madrasa Jamia Islamia, Azamgarh and Madrasa Eram Convent for Girls and Boys, Lucknow. Students from these madarsas were also invited by the university.

The university also recognised the certificate of Maulvi with at least 45 per cent marks issued by the Bihar Board of Madrasa Education.

Earlier, JNU only took madrasa students in the second year of the three-year BA course. The candidates had to complete the first year from any other UGC-recognised college or university. 

Noida, May 26
Iron rods, lathis and some suspicious-looking youths were found in Blueline buses in a checking by the police. A special campaign was launched by the police in Blueline buses after a bus was damaged near Nehru Yuva Kendra in a clash between employees of two bus companies.

Six persons were taken into custody by the police in this connection.

Cops from Sector-24 Kotwali and PAC jawans

reached Sector 12 crossing at noon. Every Blueline bus was stopped for checking and no of driver or conductor was found in a uniform. None of them was supporting name plates either. Some buses had two or even three cleaners besides the drivers and conductors. Lathis and iron rods were recovered from all the buses, police said.

Three buses were booked in the first one hour of checking and drivers and staff with lathis and iron rods were arrested.

The SP City said commuters could also lodge a complaint with the police control room against the bus staff for rowdyism.

The main cause of clashes in bus staff is a race for more income, police said. Most buses are run by youngsters who take buses on contract from owners. Apart from the amount to be paid to the owners, they have to make enough money to pay wages to the driver, conductor and cleaners. This is why there is a perpetual race for packing the buses with maximum number of passengers.

The public can send SMS on special mobile phone about the crimes taking place in buses, police said.