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3-member panel to discuss MCD takeover
Yamuna recedes
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3 Noida villages face flood threat
JNU students strike for better health care
Anurag Agarwal to be Gurgaon DC
2 gangs dealing in narcotics busted in Noida
Gang headed by Class X boy busted
93% power theft cases solved in 2 days
Metro resumes service on line III
Suspected swine flu death
10-yr-old girl found dead in south Delhi
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3-member panel to discuss MCD takeover
New Delhi, September 14 The committee consisting of chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, principal urban secretary D.K. Sapolia and law secretary was formed in a cabinet meeting held today. They will submit their report to the cabinet tomorrow. The ministry of home affairs (MHA) had sent a letter to the state government on Saturday giving its approval to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s proposal regarding handing over the MCD to Delhi government. Dikshit said her government was not interested in curtailing the power of the civic body. The MCD is an elected body and will remain the same even after it is handed over to the state. There will be some accountability after the MHA’s decision is finalised. She said the centre was not giving all powers to the state government. It is just handing over the powers of the MCD that hampers the state’s development. However, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra alleged that Dikshit was trying to take over the MCD to divert people’s attention from her government’s failure in solving their problems. It is trying to cover up its inefficiency in the garb of taking over the civic body. The government has already taken over water, electricity, transport, traffic, sewerage, unauthorised colonies of Yamuna Bank, ration card, education and health. There is chaos in these departments as the government has failed to manage them. Malhotra further said all the projects related to Games 2010 were delayed that was why chairman of the Games Federation issued a warning and sought the intervention of Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the MCD’s Standing Committee passed a resolution today demanding from the state government not to curtail its powers. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had formulated a policy to strengthen local bodies. But the present UPA government led by the Congress is violating those policies. |
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Yamuna recedes
New Delhi, September 14 He said that water was still flowing over the danger mark and it would continue till tomorrow evening. The water has been flowing at 205.20 metre since morning. It may recede to 204.70 metre after 6 am tomorrow. He said that after breaching the river’s danger mark on Sunday, the green areas on both sides of the Yamuna were flooded. Vegetable worth lakhs were damaged. Hundreds of shanties were also flooded. Villages and unathorised colonies like — Usmanpur, Sonia Vihar, Batla House, Zakir Nagar, Jogabai, Khidrabad Sultanpuri and Garhi Mandu – were submerged. Nearly 1,200 people had to move in tents. At least 17 rescue boats have been put on the job of shifting people to relief camps. A flood warning was sounded in the Capital on Friday after continuous rainfall increased the water level of the Yamuna. The warning came after Haryana released over four lakh cusecs of water into the river. |
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3 Noida villages face flood threat
Greater Noida, September 14 Additional district magistrate (finance) Shiva Kant Diwedi said so for 70,000 cusecs of water had entered the district. If the water from Yamuna crosses 1 lakh cusecs, it could pose danger to some low-lying areas of the district, he added. Diwedi added that the water could also adversely affect the crops in the low- lying areas. Though most of the Noida villages were safe, half-a-dozen villages in Greater Noida were at risk, he said. District Magistrate Deepak Agrawal said JCBs had been deployed in Yakubpur, Latifpur and Mamnathlapur to put up and strengthen mud banks to stop the gushing water from entering these villages. The dam near Gharbra village was rather weak, the DM said. SDM Sadar Vishal Singh, who is in charge of the Yakubpur control room, said all arrangements, including storing of ration, kerosene and shifting people to safer places, had been made. |
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Kashmiri Pandits ‘in exile’ tonsure heads
New Delhi, September 14 “On September 14, 1989, militants killed a Kashmiri Pandit in the heart of Srinagar. This sowed the seeds of our eviction from our homeland. This is a symbolic protest against injustice towards our community,” said Kamal Hak, a Kashmiri Pandit living in Delhi. “Twenty of our community members tonsured their heads to mark 20 years of our Martyr’s Day,” added Hak, who along with his wife had left their home in the Kashmir in 1990. Around 200 people of the community gathered near the Yamuna to protest. There was a prayer meeting after which “people tonsured their heads,” shared Hak. Hak said around 80,000 Kashmir Pandits are “living in exile in Delhi and its suburbs and they have expressed solidarity with the initiative.” Pikalal Taploo, a lawyer, was the first Kashmiri Pandit victim to terrorism. “He was killed by terrorists right outside his house. After his death, hundreds of Pandits were killed by terrorists within the next four years. Post-1993, the number of killings has fallen as majority of us have left the valley for other cities,” Hak added. Aditya Raj Kaul, who was just a year old when his parents left the valley in fear, said, “Neither the administration, nor human rights organisations have ever highlighted our plight. The media too has overlooked us. September 14 is our Martyr’s Day and all Kashmiri Pandits observe it with a prayer for justice.”
— IANS |
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JNU students strike for better health care
New Delhi, September 14 The protest comes in the wake of the death of a 23-year-old M.Tech. student who succumbed to an asthma attack in the absence of immediate health care, followed by reports of another death of a guest lecturer. Barring a few centres, all classes and examinations at the university were cancelled. As a result of the strike, the university authorities have agreed to provide a fully-equipped ambulance for round the clock services. Even though the university ensured that the ambulance would be provided in a few days, the administration refused to make a commitment on the issue of 24-hour health centre. “For the past one decade students have been demanding a 24-hour well-equipped health care centre in the university, however, the administration always lacked the initiative,” said Roshan, JNU secretary, Students’ Federation of India (SFI). With more than 10,000 residents, including the faculty, JNU currently has just one ambulance and that too is not equipped with emergency medical facilities. “The present ambulance is actually a mini-bus that the university has kept for the purpose. It can only ensure transportation to a hospital and not first aid of any sort,” said Rohini, an M.Phil. student. Presently, the JNU health centre comprises one nurse and one OPD doctor with specialists visiting once a week. The centre does not function on Sundays. The students also complain that most of the times they have to buy medicines even when the health services are supposed to be free of cost. The health centre does not even have basic tools like an X-ray machine. The administration said they lacked funds to provide better health facilities. “The university does not have sufficient funds coming in from the UGC to run a 24-hour health centre and deploy full-time doctors,” said a source in administration. However, the students said the authorities were running away from the responsibility. “The dearth of funds from UGC can not be an acceptable excuse. Universities like Hyderabad Central University have round-the-clock health facilities with UGC funding,” said Roshan. The students further said one ambulance was inadequate. “There should at least be two ambulances. The administration must take immediate steps to ensure both — qualitative and quantitative — improvement in health services at the university,” he said. |
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Anurag Agarwal to be Gurgaon DC
Gurgaon, September 14 Official orders in this regard were received at the offices concerned late this evening. The posting of a new deputy commissioner was necessitated as the incumbent, Rajender
Kataria, had sought leave during the election process. According to official sources, the name of Agarwal was proposed by the state government and approved by the Central Election Commission
(CEC). Haryana chief secretary Dharam Vir confirmed to The Tribune that Agarwal’s name had been cleared for the post of Gurgaon DC. Earlier, the state government had sent a panel comprising the names of three officers for the aforesaid posting, but the CEC rejected the panel and directed to post another officer,
G.Anupama, as Gurgaon DC while Kataria was on leave. However, it later came to light that
G.Anupama, a 1991-batch IAS officer, was senior to the Gurgaon divisional commissioner
D.P.S.Nagal, who belongs to the 1992 batch. Thus, the decision could not be implemented as it would give rise to protocol problems. It was then that the state government proposed the name of Anurag
Agarwal, who is currently serving as the managing director of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam
(DHBVN). It may be pertinent to mention here that Agarwal has also served as a deputy commissioner of Gurgaon earlier. According to sources, if a deputy commissioner goes on leave in normal course, the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of the district assumes the charge. However, in this particular case, a regular incumbent was required to work in place of the deputy commissioner as the election process was on and the new incumbent would be required to serve as the district election officer as well. |
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2 gangs dealing in narcotics busted in Noida
Noida, September 14 District excise officer Jainendera Upadhaya said, “Now the narcotics smugglers in the guise of liquor smuggling were bringing narcotics also into the city. One and a half kilograms of opium was recovered from two liquor smugglers arrested from the Kalindi Kunj area. On interrogation, they revealed that the supply was for Bulandshahr,” said Upadhaya. “In another crackdown, a Maruti 800 was intercepted near NTPC and one person arrested. Smuggled liquor was recovered from the car. Here too narcotic substance was recovered. These supplies were meant for Meerut,” said Upadhaya. One of the accused said, “Earlier we used to smuggle narcotics only. To dodge police, we now bring smuggled liquor too. If caught at borders, we bargain and the policemen concerned see that it is only smuggled liquor and allow us to leave. At times we had managed to bribe them and take the consignments to various towns in UP.” Manav Sewa Samiti president U.K.Bhardwaj said, “Narcotics dealers were active around colleges in Noida and Greater Noida. Heroin worth crores was recovered from near college areas in the past few months. Their target was college students. Narcotics smuggling has to be checked to save our young generation. Twin cities have over 60 engineering & management colleges with student strength of over one lakh.” Senior superintendent of police A.K.Singh said, “Checking at borders has been intensified. Several narcotics smugglers were arrested in the past and several gangs cracked.” |
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Gang headed by Class X boy busted
Gt Noida, September 14 The gang is headed by a student of class X in Bhagat Singh Inter College, Surajpur. He has been to jail earlier also. Two others are inter college students. The accused used to steal bikes and sell them to buy drugs. They scouted in industrial areas and wherever they found unlocked bikes, they used to flee with it, SP (rural) Surinder Kumar Verma said. Verma said that the Surajpur police had stopped the five youths riding four bikes for vehicle check. Twenty-eight packets of smack, one revolvaer, cartridges and two knives were seized from them. On their instance, the police seized five bikes from a closed factory in the Surajpur industrial area. Dozens of such biker gangs have commited numerous crimes in Surajpur, Kasna, Dadri, Bulandshahr and Ghaziabad areas just to get enough money to buy drugs. |
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93% power theft cases solved in 2 days
New Delhi, September 14 The Lok Adalat was organised on September 12 and 13. A total of 2,795 (1,444 of BRPL and 1,354 of BYPL) cases were received, of which 93 per cent (1,308 of BRPL and 1,293 of BYPL) were settled on the spot. “The Lok Adalat aimed at giving relief especially to the non-creamy layer and customers as per their financial conditions. We have allowed them to pay the amount in installments. They have also been given between 15 days to one month time to pay the amount,” said the officials of BSES. The last Lok Adalat had a success rate of 92 per cent and had resolved 2,333 of 2,500 cases. “ For customers, it was an opportunity to amicably settle their cases and escape prolonged and expensive legal process. While for an over-worked judiciary, it put some burden off the courts. For the BSES, it meant more people coming into the billing net,” informed the officials. The Lok Adalat provided BSES customers a cost-effective and a one-stop set up to settle power theft cases. To dispose of cases faster, 12 courts (7 for BRPL and 5 for BYPL) were set up. |
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Metro resumes service on line III
New Delhi, September 14 Even after yesterday’s derailment, normal ridership was observed on the track today and passengers seemed unperturbed with the incident. After three rounds of trails were conducted between Yamuna Bank and Indraprastha Metro stations, normal services on line-III were restored. Four sets of hydraulic jacks were used to put the first bogey of the second coach back on the train tracks. “After the train was transferred to the depot, the affected track was examined by a team of experts and the repair was over in four hours,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). A high-level committee comprising general manager (maintenance), general manager (rolling stock), general manager (signaling and telecom) and general manager (operations) was also constituted to look into the accident. According to DMRC sources, the enquiry was not time-bound, but the report would be out in three days. |
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Suspected swine flu death
New Delhi, September 14 The city health department records the death as Delhi’s fifth HINI fatality. However, the record excludes the deaths of a 34-year-old man from Ghaziabad, who succumbed to the virus on September 12, 38-year-old Raj Bala of Faridabad, who gave in to the disease on September 11 and 31-year-old Samrat Pandya of Gurgaon. If these three deaths are included in the count, the death of the three-year-old would be the eighth swine flu death in any Delhi hospital. Among the cases diagnosed today, 28 are undergoing treatment at home, seven at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalya Hospital, six at Yellow Fever Hospital, five at DDU Hospital, three at Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital, two at RML Hospital and one each at GTB Hospital and Maharishi Balmiki Hospital. Besides the above cases, 91 old cases are under medication either at homes or at various designated city hospitals. According to the city health department, the cumulative total of those affected by the virus is 1,345, and out of this, 1,201 have already been treated. |
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10-yr-old girl found dead in south Delhi
New Delhi, September 14 The body of Rinku Mandal, a Class III student of a government school, was found from bushes in Neb Sarai village in south Delhi. “There were injury marks on her head and the autopsy report is awaited to know the cause of the death,” a police officer said.
— IANS |
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3 held with 2-kg heroin
New Delhi, September 14 A team from the Delhi police’s narcotics cell arrested the three men on Sunday from the Wazirabad area in north Delhi, a police officer said. “We have recovered 2 kg heroin worth Rs 20 million from them,” the officer said, adding the gang was active in several states.
— IANS |
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