New Delhi, July 27
Eighteen cracks were discovered in different metro lines under Phase II of the Delhi Metro in a check carried out today.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has started a drive to re-check all cantilever piers of Phase II. Private contractor M/S Shirish Patel and Associates was appointed to conduct a structural audit.

“They found hairline cracks on eight piers of the Central Secretariat-Gurgaon corridor, two piers of the Noida corridor and eight piers of the Central Secretariat -Badarpur corridor,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC. He added, “All cracks appear to be minor .”

“DMRC will carry out corrective action if required and take necessary remedial measures after M/S Shirish Patel and Associates examines these locations,” said Dayal.He said the cracks did not appear to be of serious nature, but were being kept under observation by the Metro engineers.

The DMRC officials also said surface cracks in concrete were not uncommon and there was no need to panic in the matter. “Indian standard codes for design of reinforced concrete structures allows and permits tension cracks within limits,” said Dayal.

Ultrasonic testing and rebound hammer testing would be done to check the integrity and quality of the concrete. DMRC officials said they would get load testing done wherever necessary.

The Delhi Metro also clarified that similar testing was done as a precautionary measure during Phase-I of the construction.

New Delhi, July 27
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has finally recognised the need to develop Paharganj area for the upcoming Commonwealth Games next year, as the area accommodates many small and big guest houses.

The civic body has prepared a Rs 30 crore project for the development of Paharganj. The development works in the area would be completed before July 2010.

Paharganj being close to New Delhi railway station and central Delhi is an important destination for tourists and travelers. The area houses more than 500 guest houses.

The MCD plans to build roads in the area, acquaint them modern streetlights and information kiosks. It will also construct parking lots for vehicles and rickshaws. Besides, wires hanging overhead would be shifted underground.

“The area has dirty lanes and large number of unorganised hawkers and vendors, which make the place unbearable for tourists. The place would be made attractive with standard streetlights and other necessary facilities,” informed an MCD official.

“Electric poles in the area are over four to five decades old and need to be changed. It will be done as a part of the development plan,” he added.

The project would be undertaken with the help of central government.

“Funds will be available in a week or so. Tenders will be called once the funds are allotted. We expect to complete the project by July 2010,” he further informed.

Apart from this, the civic agency will also upgrade streetlights on 50 major roads of the city. The lights will be controlled by GSM. The entire project will cost around Rs 60.74 crore and will be completed by March 2010.

Work on the second phase of improving streetlights, under which roads covering a stretch of 157 km, has already been started. All 50 roads will have similar lighting system, which will ensure better visibility and save energy.

Among the roads to be taken up in this phase are Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, stretch of Ashram Chowk to Bhogal on Mathura Road and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, MCD standing committee chairperson said.

New Delhi, July 27
The Delhi cabinet has approved a proposal for implementation of energy conservation building code (ECBC) in government building complexes. The cabinet has also given its nod for registration of a society – Delhi Samvad — which will operate a financially self-sustained advertising agency of the state government.

Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her government had decided to implement the ECBC to bring down estimated average energy consumption of new buildings by 25 to 40 per cent. Mandatory enforcement of the ECBC is expected to yield huge energy savings.

The ECBC would provide guidelines and norms for energy efficient design and construction of buildings, reduce energy requirement and enhance residents’ comfort.

For effective implementation, the Chief Minister said the government would integrate the ECBC in the building bye-laws. All government houses would be provided with solar water heating (SWH) system. The government would also make energy auditing in existing government buildings mandatory and would facilitate adequate availability of bureau of energy efficiency (BEE) labels and energy efficient equipment materials, said Dikshit.

The city government has a policy to provide a rebate of Rs 6000 to each domestic consumer for installation of SWH system. At the same time, it has been providing an incentive up to a maximum of Rs 60,000 for installation of SWH system in non-commercial institutions like colleges, hostels, charitable institutions etc.

The Delhi pollution control committee has also asked all hospitals with more than 100 beds, five-star hotels, malls and big construction projects to install SWH system and replace CFL lamps.

The Chief Minister further informed that the cabinet gave its nod for a financially self-sustained advertising agency of the city government in the form of a society to be called as Delhi Samvad Agency (DSA) for publicity management.

The advertising agency will initially release classified advertisements like tenders, vacancies, notifications, etc.

This agency is based on a model which has been successfully implemented in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan.

New Delhi, July 27
In two inspirational stories, students from remote areas of Uttar Pradesh (UP) struggled with acute deprivation to make it to one of the best universities in the country, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Twenty-year-old Ramesh Kumar is from a village in Sant Kabir Nagar in UP where he grew up with his parents and two sisters. The family survived on a small landholding of less than an acre in the village and earned around Rs 1300 a month.

While Ramesh worked with his father in the field, his father kept encouraging him to study. “My father has not studied beyond matriculation himself, but he always wanted me and my sisters to study,” said Ramesh.

Ramesh went to a government school in the district and got enrolled for his BA in Gorakhpur in English and sociology. Here, he got to know about JNU and decided to take up higher studies in the national Capital.

“I thought of quitting my studies many times whenever the family faced financial crisis. However, my father always supported me and somehow managed to keep away little money for our education,” said Ramesh.

He started preparing for the JNU entrance test, considered to be one of the hardest to clear, in November last year. “I knew one of the former students of JNU, who helped me out with books and notes,” said Ramesh.

Right before the test, Ramesh had to undergo a surgery for piles in the primary health centre in his district. This happened because his previous surgery was not a success.

Not sure of cracking it, Ramesh gave the JNU entrance exam for MA in sociology in Hindi. Though the university allows students to attempt the entrance examination in Hindi, it is considered unlikely for such students to make it through.

“I found the entrance test difficult, but when I made it to the list with ninth rank, my family was very happy,” he said.

Twenty-two-year-old Anurag Bhushandid his BA from a college affiliated to Awadh University in Pratapgarh, UP. Just before his JNU entrance exam, his father, who was a retired government servant, passed away on May 4.

Anurag has three sisters and one brother. The family’s monthly income, which was around Rs 3000, was not enough for everyone. “I started taking tuition classes in chemistry and was funding my own education. I often saved money for home as my expenses were not that much,” he said.

He said he liked to read. “I only spent money on books. I love reading, but there aren’t any good Hindi books in sociology,” said Anurag.

After seniors told Anurag about JNU, he always wanted to do MA in sociology in the university. “While I started preparing for the entrance exam, I lost my father so, I could not prepare much. However, I kept following up with the national developments in newspapers and that helped me in the entrance test,” he said.

Anurag plans to take tuition while studying in JNU also. “I would have to think of something to do till the time I get my scholarship and then I can send money home also,” he said.

Students with poor background like Ramesh and Anurag get Rs 1500 as scholarship from the government while doing MA.

Both Ramesh and Anurag liked the JNU campus and their seniors. “Students are very helpful here. In the first day only I have made many friends who have invited me to stay with them till I get a hostel,” said Anurag.

However, the students were apprehensive about the language barrier. “Everyone talks in English here. From where I come, there aren’t even proper roads. I haven’t seen this culture before,” said Ramesh.

The duo, who are classmates now are planning to take a round around the city. “JNU is not at all like the rest of Delhi. We have come to the city for the first time and want to go out and see,” said Ramesh.

Anurag and Ramesh were also fascinated with the political activism of students at the JNU campus. They said they would eventually decide which organisation to support.

New Delhi, July 27
The Patiala House district court today fixed August 25 for the trial of Rahul Mahajan case.

In June 2006, Rahul Mahajan, son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader late Pramod Mahajan, was arrested on charges of drugs consumption and destruction of evidence.

Rahul had been admitted to the Apollo Hospital in a critical condition allegedly due to drug overdose while his father’s aide Vivek Moitra brought dead to the hospital.

Later in 2007, he was charged with drug abuse while charges drug trafficking against him was dropped.

Mahajan is facing trial under Sections-21 (possession of drugs), 25 (allowing premises for commission of an offence), 27 (illegal possession in small quantity for personal consumption of any narcotic drugs) and 29 (abetment and criminal conspiracy) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Meanwhile, Mahajan did not appear for the hearing in the Patiala House Court today.

New Delhi, July 27
The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the central bureau of investigation (CBI) for its response to the bail plea of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) member secretary K. Narayan Rao, arrested for allegedly demanding Rs 2 million bribe to give approval to an engineering college.

Justice G.S. Sistani sought the CBI’s response to the bail plea of Narayan Rao and asked the investigating agency to file its reply by August 11, the next date of hearing.

Narayan Rao, arrested earlier this month by the CBI along with alleged middleman S.B. Subba Rao while accepting Rs 5,00,000 as first installment of the bribe from the college owner, is presently in judicial custody.

A trap was laid on the basis of a complaint by Laxmikant Reddy, who is a partner in Vijay Educational Society which established an engineering college in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh.

A case was registered against Narayan Rao under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7, 8 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said they had recovered Rs 9,00,000 from the Delhi residence of Narayan Rao, as well as documents about bank accounts and properties, which are being investigated.

The AICTE regulates the functioning of all technical education institutes in the country. Colleges have to get an approval from AICTE to run any technical or professional institute. — IANS

Noida, July 27
The Uttar Pradesh Technical University has reportedly gone back on its commitment on counselling,

The fee committee report has not been loaded on the website either.

To cap it, the list of colleges ready to admit student free of charge has not been notified.

As a result, students find it hard to choose the right college. They have been forced to seek admission in whatever college they see.

It was also mentioned that out of 466 colleges, 66 colleges had agreed to admit economically weak students against 10 per cent of their seats.

Parents of students with less than Rs 2.50 lakh annual income were eligible under this category.

The list of such colleges was promised to be put on the website before counselling, but it was not done by the UPTU.

Yet another promise was that a new ranking list of colleges on the basis of their performance in 2008-09 would be made available for studies and placement of students. But the UPTU website continues to display the 2007-08 ranking list of colleges even today.

New Delhi, July 27
Three children of a family, were burnt to death and their two siblings and mother suffered critical burns when their one-room house in northwest Delhi caught fire.

The deceased were identified as Shivani, 10, two-year-old Rajrani, and 45-day-old Dabi. Their other two siblings—Devi (5) and Deepak(3) and their mother Kamlesh suffered 70-80 per cent injuries when their one-room tenement in Shahbad area caught fire late on Sunday.

According to police, the cause of the fire is reported to be a short circuit in the television set.

“All the victims were inside the small room when TV set caught fire due to a short circuit and later the kerosene stove on which food was being cooked also caught fire, leading to the tragedy,” a police officer said.

“The fire spread so quickly that the victims were not able to flee and in no time the small room with clothes and many plastic items became a furnace,” the police officer added.

The victims were initially rushed to Maharishi Hospital from where they were shifted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.

The police said Kamlesh’s husband Suresh was not at home at the time of accident. Suresh works as a mason and the family belongs to Uttar Pradesh.

“Kamlesh in her statement before a sub-divisional magistrate said that there was a spark in the TV set and then the kerosene stove caught fire and suddenly everything was burning,” said a senior police officer.

Sanjay, Kamlesh’s neighbour, said that they tried to help, asking the burning children to run out of the house but they were not even able to stand up.

“It was scary to see them, we kept splashing water but we could not save them,” Sanjay said. — IANS

Noida, July 27
Residents woke to an eerie spectacle this morning as a young man and his wife were found hanging from an electric pole and a tree, respectively, in Sector-15A here. The police suspects suicide.

The autopsy report confirmed that the couple died due to asphyxia after they allegedly hanged themselves, Noida district police chief Ashok Kumar told reporters.

The man has been identified as Pappu Katyar (30) of Pilibhit, a driver in an export company here. His wife has been identified as Chuti, alias Chhutan, (25). Chuti hails from Kolkata.

Chuti was hanging from the tree by a red sari. Her husband, a driver, was hanging from a nearby electric pole by a thick rope.

According to the police, the couple who had a love marriage in 2002 have two kids. They lived in Ashok Nagar near Noida.

However, a police official close to the investigation said the couple had a strained relationship and had applied for divorce.

The couple lived in Delhi after their marriage in 2002. Their kids are with their maternal grandfather in the Capital’s Khan Market area.

Pappu’s brother Naresh told the police that his brother had been missing from his residence from Saturday.

Katiyar’s neck had a strangulation mark and had sustained scratches on his chin. Chuti’s neck also had a strangulation mark and there was no other injury visible on her body.

The Noida police chief said that the victims left their house late on Sunday after an altercation over Chuti’s brother Vijay staying with them for the last seven years.

The police is also looking for Vijay.

Noida, July 27
A man shot himself with a revolver after a tiff with his wife at Pink City colony in Dadri on Sunday.

A suicide note near the body was found. The deceased has said he was committing suicide as he was fed up with his wife.

The police has registered a suicide case and sent the body for autopsy.

Manbir, 26, originally of Khurja, was living with his family and was employed at Moser Bear.

He was very friendly with his next-door neighbour, Gulveer.

On Sunday also, after an altercation with his wife, Manbir went to Gulveer's house and wrote the suicide note.

After returning home, Manbir lay on a bed and shot himself in the forehead with a local revolver.

On hearing the sound, his family members came running and found Manbir lying in a pool of blood. Many neighbours also rushed to his house after hearing the cries.

The police has recovered the suicide note and a local revolver near the body.

In the note, Manbir had written that he was fed up with his wife Rashmi, who never obeyed him and that "she should be thrown out from house after my death."