New Delhi, May 27
As a reward for his work done in the ministry of state for urban development in the last government, Congress MP from New Delhi constituency, Ajay Maken has been selected as the third entry from the Capital in the list of ministers.

The Congress heavyweight Maken defeated BJP contender Vijay Goel with more than 1.8 lakh votes in the general elections and added a seat in Congress’ sweep. Maken was the sitting MP from the constituency.

In his last term in office, he utilised 95.42 per cent of the total money given to him under the MP Land Development Fund. Out of Rs 25.80 crore sanctioned to him, he had spent Rs 22 crore on development.

Coming from a Congress family, Maken’s political career took off when he was elected as the president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) in 1985. It was a big win for the Congress-backed student wing NSU).

In 1993, Maken was elected to the Delhi assembly for the first time. He was again elected to the assembly. At the age of 35, Maken became the parliamentary secretary to the Chief Minister. His performance was soon appreciated and he became transport, power and tourism minister in Delhi in 2001. Maken takes credit for implementing the CNG-based transport system during this time.

His opponents blame him for privatising the electricity distribution in Delhi around this time. In 2003, Maken won the assembly elections for the third time and he was made the speaker of the legislative assembly.

At this point, Maken was seen as a threat by the Delhi leadership and differences between him and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit started becoming visible.

Maken’s journey to Parliament started when he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 from the New Delhi constituency by defeating BJP strong man Jagmohan.

In 2005, he was chosen by the Congress high command as the minister of state for urban development. During his time in the ministry, Maken formulated the Master Plan for Delhi.

In the last general elections, his campaign was planned around this Master Plan.

New Delhi, May 27
An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Delhi police posted with the VIP security wing died while four constables were injured when the speeding Tata Safari car they were occupying rammed into a tree on Vinay Marg last night.

According to information, the accident took place around 12.30 am close to the Ashok Hotel and Australian embassy roundabout.

ASI Shiv Kumar Meena (36), who was driving the vehicle, died on the spot while the four constables identified as Dinesh, Pradeep, Deepak and Arvind, were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. According to doctors, Deepak is still critical but the other three were allowed to go after the first-aid last night itself.

Tata Safari (DL-1C-J-3977) involved in the accident is said to be employed with the VIP security.

According to eyewitnesses, the car was moving at a very high speed and the driver lost control before the vehicle smashed into a tree on the road divider. R.K. Jha, an autorickshaw driver who was present at the accident scene, told the police that the car was travelling at the speed of above 100 km.

“The Safari had crossed me at a very high speed and it was definitely moving above 100 kmph. But the driver of the car lost control and hit the tree,” said Jha in his statement. He had rushed to help the victims and also called the police.

While the senior police officials are being discreet about the incident, it is assumed that the policemen were drunk which led to the accident. “It cannot be said for sure. They could be probably drunk,” said a police official on condition of anonymity.

According to information, Meena along with the four constables who live in the nearby Police Lines were returning after having food at a dhaba.

“He had to pick up an official sometime later and had taken the Safari so that after having food, he could take the official directly. The four constables met him at the dhaba and as they requested him to drop them, he obliged. They did not consume alcohol,” said a police constable close to the injured.

“The body has been sent for a postmortem and the report is awaited,” said another police official.

New Delhi, May 27
The Apollo Hospital in the Capital today has reinstated the two nurses who were forced to submit their resignation papers on Monday evening. Besides, the hospital would return the certificates of another nurse, Soumya who was compelled to resign about 45 days ago after she had fallen sick.

Soumya had to take leave after about 10 days of her joining. The hospital authorities then showed her the door, asking her to deposit the bond amount of Rs 35,000 for the certificates.

The turnaround in the incident came about after an hourlong discussion between the Malayali Nurses Welfare Association’s president Usha Krishna Kumar and the hospital managing director, Jaideep Gupta, who assuring an inquiry into the whole episode, said that the management wasn’t aware of the event earlier. While both the nurses would be on duty tomorrow morning, MWNA president said that the association was not going to end this matter here and it would be taking up the issue to the Chief Minister of Delhi.

“Low pay, lack of personal security and hostel accommodation are our primary concerns,” outlined the MWNA president.

New Delhi, May 27
The Crime Branch of Delhi police has busted a fake friendship club and arrested nine people, including seven women from an apartment in Hudson Lane of North Delhi.

According to Crime Branch officials, the women called up people and promised them company as per their taste after a payment of fixed amount. Once the money was deposited in the account, a mobile number was given to the customer who would then be entertained on phone by one of their colleagues posing as a housewife, model or an airhostess depending upon the demand of the customer.

“The woman would speak on phone but if the customer insisted on meeting, his calls are not entertained,” said Satyendra Garg, additional commissioner of police (Crime Branch).

According to him, Umesh, a resident of Agra (UP) and his accomplice Nagender Sharma were caught red-handed, while the third person Manjesh managed to escape.

According to police, the women operatives were paid Rs. 5,000 per month plus incentives depending on the business they created. They operated on nine telephones and four bank accounts and the scrutiny of these bank accounts showed transactions of more than Rs 28 lakh in the last five months. All the telephone connections have been procured on fake IDs while the bank accounts too have been opened on fake addresses.

According to information, the charges varied from Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 and the transaction of the bank account shows a thriving business done by them.

New Delhi, May 27
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will now work for climate change in the Capital.

MCD mayor Kanwar Sain today said that the corporation will have funds earmarked for mitigating the effects of climate change.

He made the announcement after attending the C-40 Large Cities Climate Summit held at Seoul in South Korea where he had gone to attend a conference on climate change.

The conference was attended by mayors of more than 40 cities all over the world.

“I will talk to LG and Chief Minister in this regard so that joint programmes can be initiated to lessen the effects of climate change,” said Sain.

He said that the matter would also be discussed with the commissioner to formulate yearly, five yearly and ten yearly plans based on targets to combat the problem. “The new projects which are environment-friendly and conserve energy should be launched.

This way not only the environment in Delhi will be improved but it will also help in earning revenue through carbon credits, one of the major revenue sources for many cities across the world,” said the mayor.

He said that the mayor of Seoul, Oh Sehoon had also expressed his willingness to help Delhi restore the Yamuna river to its original healthy state.

“The Han river in Seoul was also having similar problems as we have with the Yamuna. They undertook the project for restoration of the river which involved a multi-pronged strategy and now they have been able to bring a change in the Han river,” said Sain.

“The mayor of Seoul said that their experts have already shared their knowledge and experience with members of certain other cities and helped them restore the rivers in their cities and they would be more than willing to help us as well,” added Sain.

Greater Noida, May 27
Despite Supreme Court’s strict directions against ragging in colleges, there seems to be no stopping of the menace, especially in this part of the country.

Mohd. Wasim, a first year B.Tech student of Dehra Doon Institute of Technology in Greater Noida was allegedly mercilessly beaten with iron rods and clubs by his college seniors. Even the security guards of the institute who came to Wasim’s rescue were not spared by the rogue students.

However, the principal of the institute C.L.Verma has said that the attack was not ragging, but a result of some personal grudge.

Noida’s new SSP Ashok Kumar Singh said that an FIR had been registered on the complaint of Wasim’s father.

Mohd Wasim, who hails from Badayun, was living in Neha Apartments in Pai sector, Greater Noida. The accommodation was arranged for him by the institute. On Monday night, about two dozen senior students living in the same building barged into his room and started ragging him. When he opposed, they beat him up with iron rods and clubs and dragged him from his seventh floor room to the main gate of the building beating all along. When the security guards tried to rescue Wasim, they were also beaten up.

The guards then informed the police and the caretaker of the building, who rushed Wasim to the hospital.

It may be recalled that Aman Kachru, a student at an engineering college in Himachal Pradesh had lost his life in a recent ragging incident.

Ghaziabad, May 27
A special operations group (SOG) and the health department team in a joint raid on a house in F Block of Nandgram in Ghaziabad seized a large stock of duplicate drugs.

The Ghaziabad market was being flooded with the fake medicines manufactured in this house.

As the news of the raid was leaked, Vinod Bhardwaj, the kingpin of the racket, was able to give the police the slip. Four workers packing the drugs were all that the raiding team could nab. Some gadgets, wrappers and material for packing were seized by the raiding party. The police team has got Vinod’s cell phone. He lives in Noida and the police hopes to arrest him soon.

The fake medicines manufactured by Vinod’s unit include brands of some of the well-known companies, the police said. Bhardwaj had taken this house on rent many months ago.The medicines seized were Boroline, Corex, Benadryl, Torex, Glyclodine, Iodex, etc. Sources said that this factory had been operating for many months.

Those arrested include Raju Chauhan, Rudal, Lal Bhai and Mukesh. They were all found packing the medicines at the time of the raid.

The police is trying to nab Vinod Bhardwaj to find out from where he used to procure the raw material for the drugs. Health department experts agreed that it was very difficult to tell the original from the fake drugs. Their packaging was quite similar.

The asstt drug controller, Meerut, has advised the public to promptly lodge a complaint with district health department if they find anything doubtful in the medicines bought.