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Speeding car rams into autos, kills 3
Who is responsible for darkness on expressway?
Farmers hold dharna
DU test for foreign languages on June 18
9 lakh tobacco users die every year
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Camera captures widows’ plight
Legal awareness programme
Cops to help MCD nab civic offenders
2 firemen die in IGI runway accident
Registration for disabled at DSW office
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Speeding car rams into autos, kills 3
New Delhi, May 30 The accident took place around 5 am when a Hyundai Verna car, suspected to be driven by a drunk youth, drove into auto-rickshaws and the bystanders, killing three of them on the spot and seriously injuring another. The injured has been taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre while the bodies of Kamlesh, Samar and Shantanu, residents of Sangam Vihar and Vasant Kunj have been sent for post-mortems. According to the police, the deceased include two auto-rickshaw drivers and their relative. “One of the auto-rickshaws had met with a minor accident earlier and some bystanders had surrounded it. It was at this moment that the speeding car hit the vehicles and the people there,” said the investigating officer in the case. The identities of the occupants of the car are yet to be established. After the crash, the three occupants, including a girl, abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. According to eyewitnesses, the speeding car was going from Nehru Place towards IIT and swerved dangerously near drainage at T-point in Swami Nagar leading to the accident. “Such was the impact of the accident that the auto-rickshaws were thrown against a tree, which broke into several pieces. The victims were crushed between the tree and the car,” said Kishore, an eyewitness, in his statement to the police. “The driver tried to control the car by moving towards the tree but it was running at a high speed and so crashed into the autos,” said Vinayak, another eyewitness, adding that the driver was probably drunk. The Hauz Khas police reached the accident site and rushed the injured to the hospital, but by then, occupants of the car had fled leaving behind the vehicle. According to the police, investigations to trace the occupants of the car are on. “The car belongs to a person living in Malviya Nagar, but his house is locked. They have probably fled in anticipation of arrest. We have sent our teams around and hopefully will get them before daybreak,” said the police. The police, however, denied finding liquor or any other intoxicant in the car. “There was some lemon drink but no alcohol. We are not sure if the occupants were drunk,” said the police. |
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Who is responsible for darkness on expressway?
Noida, May 30 The driver of the container truck, Tejpal Singh of Rewari, has been arrested. Not much can be done about farmers parking their food grain-laden trucks on the roadside, as a full-fledged awareness campaign is needed to make villagers realise the dangers of leaving their vehicles parked on the Expressway in the night. But the vital question is who is responsible for the lighting of the highway (or in this case for the darkness), especially the accident spot which is in the middle of a slope and on a curve, thus very prone to mishaps. According to Noida SP (traffic) Ajai Sahdeo, the traffic police has repeatedly complained to the additional CEO of the Noida Authority P.N. Batham about the lack of streetlights on the stretch, but nothing has happened till now. All that Batham says is “I will look into the problem.” It is a known fact that between Sector-132 in Noida and Greater Noida, a large number of streetlights dotting the expressway have not been working for the past several months. According to eyewitnesses of the Wednesday accident, low-visibility due to lack of streetlights and sloping curve contributed to the accident to a great extent. Batham has announced that the Noida Authority would give compensation of Rs 50,000 to head constable K.K. Tyagi and the jawans of the home guard Sanjay Singh and Ashok Kumar, who died in the accident. But what about others who perished in the accident, that too without any fault of theirs? SP Traffic Sahdeo plans to mount an awareness campaign in the area through signboards, mini hoardings, placards and indicators, advising people to drive within the 80 km speed limit and not to leave their vehicles parked on the expressway at night. Truck driver arrested
Was sleepy at the time of accident, claims police; It happened due to darkness, says driver Tejpal Singh, the drive of the container truck that killed seven persons on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway on Wednesday, was arrested by the Noida police while planning to sneak into district courts to surrender there. Hailing from Rewari district of Haryana, Tejpal was arrested from Nangla Charna Das village. According to the police, he has confessed to his role in the accident in which five vehicles were involved and the victims included two home gaurd jawans and a police head constable. Meanwhile, Nam Singh, one of the injured, succumbed to his injuries yesterday. With his demise, the death toll of the mishap has risen to eight. Nam Singh, who belonged to Bulandshahr, was rushed to a Delhi hospital by his friend. Even the Noida police, it is learnt, is not aware of his death. Tejpal told the police that it was because of darkness that he could not see the vehicles and people on the road. By the time he realised and applied brakes, it was too late, he said. However, according to SHO S.K. Pratap Singh, Tejpal told the police that he had fallen asleep while driving and that is why the accident happened. Tejpal was arrested after the police traced him by finding out his Pune address and tracking his mobile phone. He is employed with Bafna Company. The police added that three of the injured were still critical. |
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Farmers hold dharna
Greater Noida, May 30 They announced that they would not give their land for these projects anymore. A large number of farmers in cars and on tractor trolleys reached the authority office in Beta–2 on Friday morning and sat on dharna in the grounds opposite the authority office till late afternoon. Farmer leaders Mohinder Singh Raghav and Nathi Ram accused the authority officials of having gone back on their agreement signed with farmers on December 10, 2008. It may be recalled that the farmers had sat on dharna for two and a half months at that time. The farmers had stated in the agreement with the authority officers that they would not give their land for any other project except the Yamuna Expressway and the Formula One Racing. Farmers have now demanded a bonus, pension to the head of the farming family and a job to one member of the family. It was further alleged that crop compensation was not given to the farmers. Raising slogans against the authority officers, farmers warned that if their demands were not fulfilled, they would again stop the work on the Yamuna Expressway. When the ADM (Finance) and the SDM came out to collect their memorandum at the site of dharna, farmers refused to hand it over to them. They insisted that the authority chairman himself should come out to meet them. The chairman is now expected to meet the farmers on Tuesday.
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DU test for foreign languages on June 18
New Delhi, May 30 With some of the best faculty in the country, the foreign language courses at DU are popular amongst students. This year, the department would hold its common entrance examination on June 18. “Our admission process starts with the rest of the university. We have an entrance exam for testing the aptitude of students for different languages. Though students are also asked to mention their preferences,” said a faculty member from the department. Along with the rest of the colleges and the DU common admission forms, foreign languages department would take out its prospectus and admission forms on June 1. The last date for applying in the courses is June 15. “The course is aimed at teaching the languages to the students along with providing them an insight into the demographic profiles of the respective countries. Foreign faculty is also invited to teach the students from time to time,” she said. For applying to the BA courses in foreign languages, one should have minimum 45 per cent marks in school. However, the department does not entertain students who have passed out of school only with the vocational subjects. “This is an academic course and students who have only studied the vocational subjects would find it difficult here,” said a counsellor at the department. Last year, the department started a Diploma in Foreign Language Education for one year. The diploma is a job-oriented course that helps in gaining proficiency in teaching the foreign languages. Both JNU and DU offer foreign language undergraduate courses. The courses also come handy with the students who could not perform their best in the board examinations.
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9 lakh tobacco users die every year
New Delhi, May 30 May 31 is observed every year as the World No Tobacco Day. India is home to over 250 million tobacco users and more than 9,00,000 people succumb to tobacco-related diseases every year. But the most ominous sign is the number of youths falling prey to the addiction. Every three out of 10 students live in homes where others smoke. Almost 50 per cent of the students are exposed to smoke in public places. Quoting a WHO report, 1.3 per cent of all deaths in India are due to tobacco consumption in 1990. This would rise to 13.2 per cent by 2020. Second-hand smoke is another cause of worry. Seventy per cent of tobacco smoked in India is in form of
bidis. Bidis kill 6,00,000 people in India every year. Nearly 85 per cent of the world's bidi tobacco is grown in India. The states with maximum bidi smoking are
Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. The mortality rate from bidi smoking is much higher than cigarette smoking and overall mortality rate from tobacco smoking is even higher. The increasing fad among the youngsters to go in for hookah smoking has become a cause of worry. People are of the belief that hookah smoking is less toxic as compared to cigarette. However, it is equally lethal as cigarette smoking. In fact, a single session of hookah smoking, which usually lasts about 30 to 60 minutes, causes the same harm as a pack of cigarettes. Tobacco is responsible for cancer of lungs, mouth, pharynx, larynx, stomach, urinary bladder, gall bladder and penis. It also leads to heart and blood vessel disease, myocardial infraction (heart attack), angina (chest pain), sudden cardiac death (unheralded sudden death), stroke (brain attack), peripheral vascular disease (gangrene of legs). "Ninety-six per cent of lung cancers are caused by tobacco consumption. In tobacco smoke, there are 3,600 known chemicals, of which 20 can cause cancer," warned Samir
Kaul, a senior oncology surgeon at the Indraprastha Apollo Cancer Institute. India has the largest number of oral cancer cases in the world due to tobacco consumption. In addition to damage to personal health, the use of tobacco results in severe societal costs like reduced productivity, environmental damage and poverty of the families. Experts say that if the government wants to spend less on tobacco-related diseases, then it must promote 'community participation' in its programmes and ban all types of tobacco advertisements. Endorsement of tobacco products by celebrities is a big threat. According to Dr Amar
Singhal, smoking should be stopped as early as possible for a happy and successful life. It is a slow poison. In order to quit smoking, one can opt for chewing nicotine gums which help reduce its consumption. Warnings on tobacco product packaging using pictures do highlight the serious health risks of tobacco use. — Danish Khan |
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Students, residents join hands to kick smoking
New Delhi, May 30 The World Lung Foundation-South Asia
(WLF – SA) in partnership with Delhi University, Karol Bagh Zone of Municipal Corporation, Beopar Mandal Ajmal Khan Road, Karol Bagh and Delhi Hotel & Restaurant Owners Association undertook mass public awareness signature campaign to make Delhi University, Khan Market and Karol Bagh “Tobacco Free Zones”. Flagging off an anti-tobacco march amidst slogans of “Bidi cigarette, chod do, chod do”, “Khaini
ghutka, chod do, chod do” at the Karol Bagh Metro station, MCD health committee chairman V. K. Mon ga lauded the efforts of young students. Later, the representatives of
WLF-SA and students of DU urged residents of different localities to participate in the drive. This year’s theme for the World No Tobacco Day is ‘Tobacco Health Warnings’, and Supreme Court’s recent directive has made pictorial warnings mandatory with 40 per cent display on the front side of the cigarette packets. But, health groups like Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control,
HRIDAY- SHAN and Public Health Foundation of India call for stiffer and hitting signage. In this context, senior cardiologist Dr K
Srinath, who is the president of Public Health Foundation of India, had said, “Dilution of the pictorial warnings has detracted us from the country’s commitment to protecting people against known tobacco-related health risks. As per WHO estimates, 91 per cent of oral cancers in Southeast Asia are directly attributable to the use of tobacco.” As stated by the Indian Council of Medical Research, currently there are 25 crore tobacco users in India that results with 10 lakh deaths annually and 3,000 deaths per day owing to smoking. “Two out of five cancer cases in India are due to tobacco, and ironically tobacco consumption is the highest among the medical students than other youths as pointed out by an AIIMS survey,” said president of Heart Care Foundation of India, Dr KK Aggarwal at an awareness seminar, organised by the Delhi Medical Association. |
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Camera captures widows’ plight
New Delhi, May 30 ‘Lonely images, lasting impressions’, an exhibition of photographs of young and old widows, pushed to live economically deprived and traditionally marginalised lives in the two holy cities, was opened in the Capital on Thursday at the India International Centre
Annexe. The photographs that were taken by Erik Boker, Brian Harmon, Tamara
Farnetani, Vanessa Tang and Ying Leong, photographers from Singapore, Italy and the USA, comprise striking portraits and other images. “There is so much loneliness in the eyes of these women. On the one hand, there are portraits that tell individual stories of pain while on the other hand, there are photographs of their lives; when they have been caught by the photographer in action,” said eminent photographer Raghu
Rai, who opened the exhibition. The exhibition is organised by Guild for Service in collaboration with UNIFEM and
IIC. “The idea behind this exhibition is to open a reality in front of people for everyone to understand that widows are as equal as everyone else. Even till today we find child marriage being celebrated in some parts of the country,” said Mohini
Giri, founder, Guild for Service. She added, “There are child widows, who are being forced to live subhuman lives. Through the exhibition, we have tried to showcase their lives.” Anne Stenhammer from UNIFEM said there were a sizable number of widows in both developing and developed countries. “This section of women is vulnerable to all kinds of ill-treatment. We should rather call these women single women and not widows,” she said. The organisers outlined that joint efforts needed to be made to introduce changes in the lives of these women, “who have not been given their space to exist”. Eminent art scholar Kapila Vatsyayan was also present on the occasion. The exhibition would be showcased till June 2 in the India International Centre Annexe between 11 am and 7 pm. Prominent personalities to visit the exhibition include Sushma Seth, Syeda
Hamid, Nandita Das, Tisca Chopra and Devi Cherian. |
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What studies? JNU residents worry over water
New Delhi, May 30 While water shortage is a problem throughout the year in JNU, the last two months when the mercury level has been soaring has been especially difficult for the students, teachers and others staffers who stay on the campus. Reshma Hasan, a student doing her M.Phil in political science from JNU, says that although they suffer throughout the year, the problem aggravates during summers when the water consumption increases. “The water crisis has been there for ages. Ask us how much we suffer throughout the year. But the severity of the problem increases with the onset of summer. Usually, we get water for two hours twice a day but during summers the water supply is cut to just an hour and that too in low pressure,” said Hasan. With temperatures soaring and no long term solution in sight, the shortfall is compensated by water tankers. So professors and their family members queuing up with buckets is not a rare sight in JNU. A faculty member said: “Sometimes there is no water in the campus for days altogether and we have to queue up with buckets in front of the tankers which, mind you, is not a rare occasion.” What irks most of the university residents even more is that while JNU remains waterless, surrounding areas like Katwaria Sarai do not seem to be facing the problem to the same extent. “It is extremely annoying because we know that the neighbouring areas like Katwaria Sarai have regular water supply, even during summers, while we face such crisis everyday,” said Anusuya Verma, a student. According to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) - the government agency responsible for supplying water in the Capital - the main reason for water scarcity in JNU is the fast increasing population of Delhi, and everybody needs water. — IANS
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New Delhi, May 30 The inaugural function was organised in Village Daulatpur near Najafgarh here. The programme is aimed at imparting knowledge among villagers about law, basic legal rights and remedies provided under various laws particularly to women, children, elderly and disabled people. The programme is conducted by the Delhi high court legal services committee in association with the state government. “This is a new initiative which would help poor and less-educated people to know technicalities of legal system and legal provision at their doorsteps. Under this programme legal experts along with students would be visiting every village at regular intervals to spread legal awareness,” Dikshit said. Dikshit announced that the government would render all possible assistance to make this programme successful and it will help in bridging the gap between the legal system and the common man, according to an official statement. She also stressed upon the need of sensitising police personnel and organising camps for officials to make them more responsive in dealing with the poor and less-educated who are not able to understand difficult legal language. Chairman of the Delhi high court legal services committee justice Madan B. Lokur was also present on the occasion, the statement said. — IANS
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Cops to help MCD nab civic offenders
New Delhi, May 30 Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain said that the civic body would ask all the police stations of the Capital to assign their beat officers with the task of keeping a check on sanitation loopholes. “The beat officers, apart from dealing with criminal cases, also report to us about any unauthorised construction going on in the city. In the same manner, they can also inform us about garbage dumps and overflowing drains,” said the Mayor. The initiative will be a part of the comprehensive cleanliness drive to be started by the civic body in collaboration with NGOs and residents’ associations. Also, the corporation has decided to install dustbins-cum-flower pots to give a greener look to the city during the Commonwealth Games. These new-style dustbins will be placed in market places, schools, religious buildings, etc. “We want to make Delhi spic and span ahead of the Commonwealth Games,” he said. “The cleanliness drive will be launched within next 10 days. The corporation has also roped in NGOs and Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) for the purpose,” he said.
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2 firemen die in IGI runway accident
New Delhi, May 30 According to airport sources, the incident happened last night when Ashok Chandra Verma, senior coordinator, along with driver Niresh Yadav and three other firemen, were testing the ultra-modern fire-fighting vehicle (Rosenbauer--RB7). "The vehicle veered off the runway near Zullu taxiway and overturned into a storm water drain that runs parallel to the new runway, killing the two firemen," said an airport official. The deceased belonged to the internal fire fighting department of the IGI Airport. The bodies have been sent to Safdarjung Hospital for post-mortem, while the injured were taken to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in Vasant Kunj. Two of three firemen were released after treatment, while the condition of one is stated to be serious, said the official. The test was being carried out on the new runway (29/11) as this runway does not function after 10 pm, the official said. The directorate general of civil aviation has banned landings and take-offs of aircrafts from the new runway as it caused inconvenience to the residents living in the vicinity.
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Registration for disabled at DSW office
New Delhi, May 30 The dean of the university said the registration for candidates belonging to the physically handicap category would be done at the DSW office from June 1 between 10 am to 2 pm. The registration will be done on all days except Sundays. Information bulletins and registration forms would be given to the students free of cost. |
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New Delhi, May 30
