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4 Delhiites die in Mussoorie mishap
Crime File
Man kills wife after altercation
Another rainy day for Delhi
2 labourers die in wall collapse
Court pulls up contractor
for stale |
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Ash down with flu symptoms
Where is the tribunal for senior citizens’ rights?
Govt tells schools to be fire-proof
Teaching drive for pedestrians starts today
Games 2010
Bamboo screens to hide slums
New TOEFL website launched
Protest over murder disrupts traffic
3 held for kidnapping
Gzb doctor, Rs 16.7 lakh ransom seized
Ashok Chakra awardee’s family pride is tinged with regret
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4 Delhiites die in Mussoorie mishap
New Delhi, August 16 The accident took place at around 11:30 pm yesterday. According to the police, the children of a family living at Jwalaheri Market in Paschim Vihar here studied at Scholar Home School in Dehra Dun. As it was a holiday, the family had gone to meet the boys after the Independence Day celebrations at school and took them on an excursion trip to Mussoorie. The family was traveling in its Tata Safari car. The accident took place at Haathi Pav near Clouds End Hotel when a motorcycle suddenly came before it. To avoid hitting the car, the bike fell into a 500-metre deep ditch. Those killed have been identified as Rajpal (36), Rishi (34), Arun (32), Surendar (34), of Delhi, and Neeraj from Dehra Dun. The injured includes Sanjeev (36), Vipin (34), Mohit (15) and Shubham (10). Sanjeev and Vipin are being treated in the Mussoorie Civil Hospital. Shubham and Mohit have been admitted to the CMI Hospital, Dehra Dun. Their condition is critical.
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Crime File
New Delhi, August 16 According to the police, a Saket resident Manmohan Singh had last Monday reported a cycle theft from his house. Today morning, a beat staff noticed two juveniles roaming in the G- Block area of Saket with a bicycle in suspicious circumstances. On asking, they could not justify their presence in the area neither could they explain about the bicycle. They then told the police that they had stolen the bicycle form G-65, Saket. On further examination, it was revealed that they had also stolen many bicycles from the area of Saket, Neb Sarai and Mehrauli. According to the police, 25 bicycles worth Rs 75,000 were recovered at their instance. Both the juveniles are residents of Saidulajab and are school dropouts. They started stealing bicycles to meet their pocket expenses. A social report is being prepared regarding this and will be sent to the Juvenile Board. Man crushed by Metro
Metro’s bad run continued, as a 55-year-old man died after being run over by a Metro train 150 m away from the Seelampur station in northeast Delhi this afternoon.
It is still being verified whether it was a case of accident or suicide. Initial reports said the man was identified as one Rajeev. Further details of the accident are awaited. On August 12, a few coaches of a Metro train had derailed at Dwarka station, however, 40 passengers on board escaped unhurt. Road caves in, boy hurt
A section of road in the Railway Colony in Shakti Nagar caved in last night, trapping a child who fell into a ten-foot pothole. The incident occurred around 10 when the road-section subsided as the mud below the road seemingly turned soft apparently due to water seepage. The child suffered minor injuries and could be rescued only after sustained efforts of the local residents. Local people alleged that neither MCD officials nor the police came even two hours after the incident. Later, local residents sealed off the section so that no untoward incident took place.
This is the third incident of road caving-in in the Capital in last two months. The first incident happened near
the Green Park in south Delhi in June and the second on the controversial BRT corridor at Defence Colony, injuring two motorcyclists on August 2. |
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Man kills wife after altercation
New Delhi, August 16 Almanta, a tea kiosk owner in Madangir had a fight with his wife Maria this morning. The argument turned violent after Maria got a kitchen knife and stabbed her husband in the stomach, the police said.
“Almanta snatched the knife from his wife and stabbed her,” a police official said. “Two minor sons of the couple who were sleeping got up hearing their screams. They saw their parents with knives and informed neighbours. The couple was rushed to the AIIMS where Maria was declared brought dead,” the police official added. “Almanta’s condition is serious,” the police officer said.
— IANS |
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Another rainy day for Delhi
New Delhi, August 16 The minimum temperature settled at 25.2 degree Celsius as against yesterday’s 25.7 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature was recorded at 30 degree Celsius. The humidity levels, however, were high and oscillated between 95 and 83 per cent even as light rain continued over several parts of the city. North and east Delhi received maximum rainfall, whereas south and west Delhi got only average rain. “With the shifting of the monsoon trough closer to its original position, northwest India should receive some rainfall in the coming days. The high humidity is due to the presence of southwesterly winds that carry moisture,”’ said a Met official. Rains eluded a major chunk of the north India for most part of the season this year despite initial forecasts of a normal monsoon. However, heavy showers drenched most parts of the northern belt yesterday bringing cheers to the people reeling under humid conditions.
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2 labourers die in wall collapse
Faridabad, August 16 A three-year-old girl Kusum, caught in the debris, is also feared to have died.
However, the authorities declined to make any comment on her fate as the rescue operation were still on. Two workers sustained injuries. One of them has been admitted to the local Badshah Khan Hospital. The owner of the ill-fated building, Raj Kumar Gandhi, is a government contractor.
However, he had assigned the job of renovation to a private contractor. The deceased have been identified as Kusum Bai and Poonam (14).
Significantly, the dead bodies were recovered from the debris after about five hours of the accident. The incident has shown the administration’s capability in dealing with such emergency situation in a poor light.
The administration’ first reaction was allegedly shoddy and knee-jerk.
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Court pulls up contractor
for stale food on trains
New Delhi, August 16 A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Manmohan last week ticked off contractor, who filed an appeal against a single bench order. The division bench said: “Service of supplying stale buns is a very serious one and the same coupled with 24 complaints over a period of time shows that the services rendered was unsatisfactory.” The court was hearing a plea filed by R.D. Sharma and Sons against the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) after his licence of supplying food in Shatabadi and Rajdhani trains was terminated. According to Sharma’s counsel A.M. Singhvi, the catering contract, though valid till August 2010, had been terminated midstream on account of a policy decision taken by the IRCTC to departmentally take over the catering work of all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Singhvi pointed out that the petitioner had invested a huge amount of money by way of advance concession fee amounting to Rs 2.56 crore for the complete five-year tenure along with a security deposit of Rs 20 lakh. He added that the petitioner had invested in creating infrastructure for setting up base kitchens en route the trains in question. However, IRCTC contended that termination of the petitioner’s contract had nothing to do with the department’s policy decision and stated that the railways received a large number of complaints against the petitioner and also cited how he had been fined Rs 20,000 for the same reason. “We are of the opinion that the termination order in the present case had been passed in terms of the contract itself and not because of an alleged policy decision. We are fortified in our view by the admitted fact that even as of today a large number of private catering contracts are in subsistence in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. If the petitioner’s argument with regard to premeditated exercise and predetermined decision were correct then not only the petitioner’s catering contract but also all other catering contracts in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains would have been taken over,” the bench noted. “As far as the terminating authority’s order for hiring cooks and buying utensils in advance is concerned, we are of the opinion that if an order had not been placed in advance, then public interest would have suffered as passengers cannot be asked to go without food till alternative arrangements are made post termination,” the bench said while dismissing Sharma’s appeal.
— IANS |
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Where is the tribunal for senior citizens’ rights?
New Delhi, August 16 The tribunal to deal with such cases under the Maintenance and Welfare of Senior Citizens Act, which came into force almost a year back, is yet to be set up. “I don’t know where to go or whom to approach to claim maintenance. I have heard that the government has passed an act, but where is the tribunal where we can go to and express our grievances?” Raj Kumari asked. Her three sons, who are all earning, threw her out of her east Delhi house in 2007 after making her sign on documents. She is forced to stay with her brother, whose family objects to it. Raj Kumari is keen for ways to get government help to get justice and has no money to fight a case. As per section 5 of the Act, which came into force in September 2008, the tribunal — which can determine cases in which children or relatives have neglected or refused to look after elderly people unable to take care of themselves — should have been in place within six months. The tribunal was also given powers to ask the children to make a monthly allowance and fix the rate of maintenance for their elderly parents. According to advocate Amit Sahni, who filed an application under the Right to Information Act, the government has not even initiated the process of establishing the tribunal. “If this tribunal is established then senior citizens won’t have to bear litigation expenses and will just have to submit an application and then the government will take the necessary action. But the government’s delay in establishing the tribunal is creating hassles for the senior citizens in the capital,” said Sahni. The Delhi High Court has also pulled up the government for not implementing the act to help the elderly in various cases. Sahni said sections 24 and 25 of the act provide for the government to take full care of abandoned senior citizens, including medical facilities and other necessary requirements, but it had failed to comply with any of this ever since the act came into force.
The act provides for police to take action against those who dump their parents.
— IANS
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Govt tells schools to be fire-proof in 6 months
New Delhi, August 16 The shifting and grant of recognition will be issued to only those institutes who comply with the fire safety measures as approved by the authorities concerned, said the state education department. “We have asked them to ensure that the buildings are constructed as per the National Building Code and any official found guilty of dereliction in duty will face severe action. We cannot compromise the safety of the students,” a senior official from the education department said. Schools also need to ensure that inflammable and fire-prone items are not kept in the buildings, the official said, adding that authorities had been asked to prepare teachers as well as students for emergencies. The order covers all private and public schools, he added. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) alone has 9.5 lakh students studying in its 1,671 primary schools in the city. The Supreme Court last week ordered installation of fire-extinguishers and adoption of other safety measures in schools across the country within six months to avoid recurrence of incidents like the July 2004 fire in a Tamil Nadu school that killed 93 children.
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Teaching drive for pedestrians starts today
New Delhi, August 16 To create awareness among pedestrians and motorists to become responsible road users the Delhi police is observing the fortnight from August 17. The commendable response received during the ‘Safe Pedestrian Week’ from June 1 to 7 has prompted the police to observe a similar drive. “From an analysis of fatal accidents one thing becomes clear that majority of fatalities occur due to pedestrians’ carelessness. There were 2,088 deaths due to accidents in Delhi in 2008 and the number of pedestrians among them were 1,075 i.e. 51.48 per cent of the total fatalities. The picture is almost the same this year too. Safe Pedestrian Crossing Fortnight is an attempt to create awareness regarding rights and responsibilities of those using roads,” said a traffic police official. The traffic staff normally mans 589 intersections throughout the Capital. Pedestrians being a soft target make it all the more necessary to educate road users, he said. During the fortnight, wide publicity would be given about drive through FM radio stations and print media. We will also distribute literature at major intersections to educate the pedestrians,” he added. The police has also installed boards and hoardings for safe crossing at most of the major intersections, foot overbridges and subways for educating the pedestrians. “Mobile exhibition vans are also being used for educating the road users especially the pedestrians,” he informed.
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Games 2010
New Delhi, August 16 The plants will be of various varieties. They will be used to beautify roads, roundabouts, underbridges and routes leading to the Games venue. “We have already accorded administrative approval for the work. Nearly half plants are planned to be developed in the NDMC nurseries, while the rest, including some ornamental varieties, will be procured from other states,” said an NDMC official. Earlier, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had also announced to raise 10 lakh potted plants with an eye on mega sports event to be hosted by Delhi next year. “Of the target 10 lakh plants, the horticulture department of the MCD has already developed 2.5 lakh plants, while seven lakh saplings are ready for plantation,” an official said. Other than palm and flowering shrubs, the civic agency in its nurseries have been raising various other varieties like hamelia, araucaria, lavender, kochia as well as different ornamental plants and medicinal plants like nagdaman and lakshmitharu. The BJP-ruled MCD has been demanding Rs 50 crore from Delhi government for the horticulture-related projects, said the official.
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New Delhi, August 16 Realising that uprooting slum clusters from all over the Capital and rehabilitating its inhabitants is not a pragmatic solution — especially as the deadline for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is drawing to a close — the Delhi government has decided to literally screen not-so-welcoming sights from many visitors expected for the event. Similar moves were made in Beijing during last year’s Olympics when screens were put up before not so pretty sections of the city which the authorities did not want the millions of visitors to China to see. Giant screens are also seen in several cities in Latin America to block out ugly sights from visitors. Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta said: “We have spoken to the agriculture department of Mizoram to help us in planting bamboo trees which can be used to screen slums on the roadside of all those routes through which the Commonwealth convoy is expected to go.” “We want to present a good face of Delhi during the Games next year, but it is not possible to remove all the slums. Therefore, we have decided to use bamboo screens instead to simply conceal the sights,” Mehta said. The agriculture department of Mizoram has been especially asked for a type of bamboo that can withstand Delhi’s dry climate. “In the northeast, weather is humid, but for purpose we need at least five-foot-tall bamboos which can survive the dry weather. We are also planning to take Assam’s help in this regard since bamboo grows there as well,” said Mehta in an interview. “We are also consulting the National Bamboo Mission and the National Mission of Bamboo Application in this regard,” he added. However, not all slums will be ‘screened’. “Slum dwellers near the Commonwealth Games village have been rehabilitated at Bawana. About 9,000 houses have been made for them there,” Mehta said. The Commonwealth Games from October 3-14 next year is expected to see a huge turnout of players and tourists. Seventy-one member countries are scheduled to participate in the Games that has 17 sports disciplines. While numerous other preparations are under way to make the event a success — giving all flyovers an aesthetic look, improving connectivity and ensuring that there are enough rooms to accommodate the players and tourists — the slums have continued to be a matter of concern. — IANS
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New TOEFL website launched
New Delhi, August 16 The website offers new tools, more test papers and step-by-step guidance for students to succeed in the world’s most popular English language test. The site helps connect the TOEFL community of students, educators and admission professionals around the world. Officials of TOEFL programme feel the improvements would be appreciated by the more than one million test takers who visit www.toeflgoanywhere.org every month. Some features of the new TOEFL website include — a search tool to help students find test centers and universities around the world that accept TOEFL scores, sample test papers and official TOEFL test prep tools, a robust ‘prepare and practice’ section containing tips from educators, a downloadable guide containing tips to crack the test, a timeline of what test takers need to do before taking the test, way to get registered for the test, an overview of what to expect on test day (including what you need to bring with you) and the study group video series that features tips for international students taking the test. “The ETS aims to promote learning and performance,” said Philip
Tabbiner, senior vice-president and general manager, business development, partnerships and global for
ETS. “Our new website provides students with preparation tips and guidance that will help reduce their stress and answer their questions. Our goal is to create an online resource that enables students to do their best in the test.” |
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Protest over murder disrupts traffic in Loni
Ghaziabad, August 16 They placed the youth’s body across Arthla tri-junction and demanded the immediate dismissal of Arthla police post incharge and arrest of the killers. The victim Raj Singh (26), a resident of Uggarpur Khekde in Bagpat, was returning home from Faridabad in a three-wheeler when some car-borne criminals shot him. The criminals seated in an Indica car overtook the three-wheeler near Arthla police post and started indiscriminate firing on Raj who died on the spot. Two bullets hit him in the chest while one bullet hit Harish (28), his co-passenger, on the back. Harish has been admitted to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital. The assailants had fled after the attack. The police, reportedly, had reached the spot quite late. Raj’s relatives and villagers have accused the police of negligence. The villagers called of their protest only after SP (city) and circle officer (border) reached the spot. Meanwhile, the SP has assured Raj’s family and villagers that the culprits would be nabbed in a week. SHO Ashok Rana said a case had been registered against unidentified persons.
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3 held for kidnapping
Gzb doctor, Rs 16.7 lakh
Ghaziabad, August 16 The police has recovered Rs 16.70 lakh that was paid as ransom.
“A medical representative (MR) Navneet was the brain behind the kidnapping of doctor K.M. Singh. Naveent took the help of four friends from his village and his mother Nirmala Devi and sister Rina, alias Raj Rani,” said senior superintendent of police Akhil Kumar. While Navneet, Nirmala Devi and Rina were arrested on Sunday, the other four accused Amit, Neeraj, Arun, alias Pintu and Shailendra are still absconding. Singh was kidnapped by Navneet and his accomplices on August 3 from outside his clinic in Patel Nagar and was taken to Mawana in Meerut and kept in Navneet’s house, the police said. The kidnappers initially demanded Rs 1 crore, but the deal was finally struck at Rs 55
lakh. After the doctor’s family paid the ransom amount, he was freed on August 5, the police said. Following information given by Singh, Navneet, Nirmala Devi and Rina were arrested.
— IANS
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Ashok Chakra awardee’s family pride is
Ghaziabad, August 16 But there is also a tinge of regret as the family says the government “neglected” them until now. “We got a call from commanding officer Col A.D. Shah three days ago informing us that Mohit would receive the Ashok Chakra posthumously. We were filled with pride,” said Maj Sharma’s father Rajendra Prasad Sharma. “There are two types of martyrs — one who laid down their lives for the country and freed it from foreign occupation, and the other are those who are currently fighting for the country. Terrorism is playing havoc in the country and it is only because of such brave Army men that the common citizen is safe,” he said. Maj Sharma’s brother Madhur Sharma said, “Mohit will always be remembered for his bravery. He was very passionate about joining the Army and serving the country. We initially asked him to choose another career but he was very determined to join the Armed Forces.” Maj Sharma’s father, however, has one regret.
“The government did not help us. Nobody from the government came to us after his death to express solidarity. Several patriotic programmes were organised at various places, but we were never called to attend those events,” Rajendra Prasad Sharma said. Maj Sharma died in March while fighting terrorists in the jungles of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir. Sharma was with eight of his battalion members in the jungle and gunned down five militants, before getting hit by a bullet that proved fatal.
— IANS |
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Delhiites woke up to a cool morning on Sunday as slow but consistent showers kept temperatures down bringing cheer for the rain-starved city.The Capital recorded 14.1 mm of rainfall.
