New Delhi, September 17
The Congress today lost two seats in the Delhi Assembly by-elections with the BJP and the RJD winning one seat each.

In Dwarka, BJP candidate Parduymn Rajput defeated his Congress rival Tilotma Choudhary by a margin of 11,365 votes while in Okhla seat, RJD’s Asif Mohd Khan emerged victorious over BSP’s Braham Singh .

Congress leaders attributed the electoral defeat to the anger against the exaggerated electricity bills that the people have been receiving recently, after the withdrawal of power subsidy by the Delhi government.

The south Delhi residents have received hefty electricity bills for June and July.

The loss in the Okhla bypoll is also being considered a setback for Sheila Dikshit, as her known baiter and Rajya Sabha MP Parvez Hashmi allegedly put his men behind the NCP candidate, Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, who managed as many votes as the Congress candidate got. The second reason for his defeat was infighting in the party. He was considered the CM’s candidate and that was why Delhi Pradesh Congress president Jai Prakash Agarwal never visited Okhla for campaigning.

Besides, Farhad was an outsider and RJD candidate a local resident.

He said that it was too early to make comment on the issue as Sandeep Dikshit, East Delhi MP was election in-charge. Okhla is a segment of the East Delhi parliamentary constituency.

In Dwarka, West Delhi MP, Mahabal Mishra was election in-charge.

Dikshit refused to comment saying that it was not going to affect the government.

On the other hand, the Congress was a divided camp in Dwarka where Dikshit did not even campaign. Mahabal Mishra was managing the campaign there single-handedly .

During the recent MCD by-elections for five seats, the Congress was able to win only one seat and had to face defeat in four seats. Whereas, the BJP had won three seats.

The BJP candidate Parduymn Rajput won Dwarka seat by securing 35,891 votes whereas his rival Congress candidate Tilotma Choudhary polled 24,526 votes.

In Okhla , Asif Mohmmad Khan, the RJD candidate, was declared elected with 23,394 votes.

“The BJP has won Dwarka by a large margin. Party candidate Praduymn Rajput not only covered up the deficit of 2008 Assembly elections, but also registered victory by over 11,000 votes. This seat was a prestige seat for the Congress leader Mahabal Mishra,” said the Delhi BJP Pradesh president Om Prakash Kohli.

New Delhi, September 17
Dr. Ambedkar Samarak Nirvan Bhoomi Karyakram Samiti demands that the place where Dr. Ambedkar died should be treated on a par with Gandhi Samadhi, Rajghat. He died at 26, Alipur Road.

He wrote the Constitution of India and a few other books at this place.

Dr. Indresh Gajive, national coordinator of the committee said that the places related to Dr. Ambedkar like his birthplace at Mhow Indore, MP; Diksha Bhoomi, Nagpur; and Chaitya Bhoomi, Mumbai, are commemorated every year on a particular day where lakhs of followers assemble and pay their homage.

Dr. Udit Raj, national advisor of the committee, said that even though 26, Alipore Road was declared a monument by the government yet the place is in such a pathetic condition that animals roam around and it is full of dirt.

Lakhs of people will assemble on December 2009 at the place where Dr. Ambedkar received Mahaparinirvan so that this place also becomes like Diksha Bhoomi in the years to come. 

“We are constrained to resort to this action because the government had been ignoring our demand in the past,” Udit Raj said.

New Delhi, September 17
The crime branch has booked BJP MP Maneka Gandhi and her NGO People for Animals (PFA) for allegedly restraining a pet shop owner from running his business.

“A case has been registered against Maneka Gandhi and the PFA under Section 451 (trespassing) and 34 (acts done by several people in common intention) of the IPC,” said Imtiaz Ahmed, counsel for the pet shop owner Ashok Pratap Rai, revealing that the case was registered on Monday.

According to Rai, on May 21 last year, five men from the PFA, posing as officials of the wildlife department, barged into his shop in Mehrauli and accused them of running an illegal establishment. The men said that the shop was trading in birds and animals covered by the Wildlife Protection Act.

“Under Section 32 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, only a police officer of a specified rank or any person authorised by the state government has power to search a place,” said Imitiaz.

He added that his clients business was not violating any law under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, as the birds and animals he deals in were not covered by the Wildlife Protection Act.

Later, an official of the wildlife department also vouched that the animals kept by him were not covered under the act and his shop does not need a licence to operate.

Faridabad, September 17
Caught up in the exercise of finalising the list of its nominees for the impending Assembly election in Haryana, the ruling Congress is understood to have given a final touch to its election manifesto.

According to sources in the party, the blueprint of the proposed manifesto has already got a nod from the state leadership of the party as well as Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sources say that the manifesto would be made public any time after the declaration of the names of the nominees of the party, which was tipped to be done by September 20.

Although the names of the majority of the nominees have been finalised, the party leaders are stuck up on more than 15 seats.

With regard to the nominees, the dominant view emanating from the Congress circles is that about half a dozen sitting MLAs, including ministers, could be denied party tickets. In such an eventuality, relatives of the sitting MLAs could be preferred.

Sources say that there has been a rethink in the party in the past few days with regard to the position that the organisation should take in case the sitting MLAs were denied tickets.

A deepening voice in the party is that the MLAs have stood by the party in times of its struggle, which should not be overlooked.

However, the jury was still out on the issue. This, as well as some other ideological parameters have to be clinched which would help in evolving consensus in the party for finalising names of nominees in some other constituencies, especially the ones which have been newly created.

With regard to the manifesto, the sources say that the party would once again bank on the image of Bhupinder Singh Hooda and try to evolve a package for the ruling party to the electorate on the basis of its performance in the past five years.

The sources said that the position taken in the manifesto would be in sync with the performance of the Congress government in Haryana during the past five years of its rule and the road map that it would follow, should the Congress once again returned to power.

New Delhi, September 17
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today ruled out the possibility of shifting to concrete roads from the current bitumen roads in Delhi.

She was speaking at a seminar on ‘concrete road projects, focusing on city roads and technology’. The seminar was aimed at discussing the issues relating to the adoption of new concrete road-building technology, the role of equipment manufacturers and government initiatives on city roads.

The Chief Minister said building concretes roads does not seem to be feasible in Delhi where the traffic is extremely heavy.

“The heavy traffic on roads here is a big discouragement for the adoption of this new technology. Also, in an ancient city like Delhi there are many building, shops and small vends constructed alongside roads, which are as important as the roads and cannot be ignored,” she said.

She added that the other problem with these roads is that once they are laid they cannot be dug or broken. “In maximum of the Delhi roads, the sewerage lines, drains, MTNL cables etc have been laid underground. It would not be possible with concrete roads.

However, she said the technology can be adopted in roads in colonies and rural areas where the traffic load is less.

The seminar also showcased the road construction successes and experiences of cities like Mumbai, Indore and Surat.

Noida, September 17
The pollution control board has cracked down on three multinational companies. Three Phase-2-based companies have been served with notices for not putting in place scrubber systems. The notices have been sent on the receipt of complaints from the district administration, it is learnt.

Two of the companies which have received the notices are electronic good major LG and technology major Moser Baer. LG has reportedly installed the system which is already functioning.

The companies are understood to be using furnace oil instead of HSD oil which is increasing pollution in a big way. However, the companies claim to be meeting the norms under the pollution control regime. They claim to have installed suitable chimneys for generators.

But according to the pollution control board officials, using of furnace oil is polluting environment in a significant way. Furnace oil contains 4.5 per cent sulphur which causes pollution, while HSD has a nominal presence of sulphur. The sulphur diaoxide being emitted from generators gets dissolved into the atmosphere in no time, they added.

The pollution control board had received a complaint from collectorate office to initiate action against the companies.

The board officials have discovered that scrubber systems were not installed in these companies. Both the companies, except LG, which already has this system in place, have been asked to install this system forthwith. It is imperative to install scrubber system if furnace oil is being used. It reduces sulphur dioxide’s effect on environment.

With scrubber system, the emission of smoke from generator becomes harmless. The harmful elements of smoke are washed away by the water.

New Delhi, September 17
To a group of 28 children from Jammu and Kashmir and their two teachers, the visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national Capital today was a “once in a lifetime opportunity”. The visit was a part of a 10-day educational trip “Sair-e-Watan” under the aegis of the Operation Sadbhavna of the Indian Army.

The children and teachers are from the Pinewood school in the Mendhar sector along the Line of Control with Pakistan and sees intense cross-border firing at intervals.

The tour attempts to mainstream these young spirits of tomorrow’s India, who had never stepped out from the remote quarters of Mendhar Tehsil falling under the Poonch district, said an officer of the 7 Kumaon regiment who was accompanying the children.

Living in strife-torn area, about three-four kms from the LoC, these children had never dared to look beyond what life had bestowed them.

Students of standard eight, Mohammad Riyaz, and Mohammad Mukhtar, can now weave dreams of a prospective future. The current tour has unfolded the nation’s unique cultural diversity and opened vistas of opportunities. “Earlier we could never think of moving out of our village, and in fact had never felt the urge to think and look beyond our routine life. But, now we can dare to nurture hopes for better education and empowered life,” said the children.

Most of these students, hailing from farming households, generally have to take to the farming trend followed by their families.

At present, the children are studying in Pinewood school that is till class VIII only. The Army ensures free education in this school. For further studies the children have to go to an Army school.

The fee of the Army school is beyond the families’ pockets. And if family situation permits them to go for it, they have to travel a distance of about 30 kms for studying at senior secondary-level schools.

Teacher of the school Abrar Ahmed Khan feels, at a time, when people of Mendhar are still battling to strike a balance and earn a peaceful life, due to a host of problems, the Operation Sadbhavna has enabled them to live a life.

New Delhi, September 17
The national Capital will have five new fire stations, including one for the Commonwealth Games Villages, director, Delhi fire services said today.

‘’Delhi will have new five state-of-the-art fire stations by the end of the current financial year, including one exclusively for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games Village,’’ said Delhi fire services director R.C. Sharma while announcing the three-day forthcoming Safety Convention 2009 being organised by the ‘Safety And Quality Forum’ from September 22 at Le Meridien Hotel.

The new fire stations with latest fire-fighting equipment will come up in various parts of the Capital, including two in Dwarka Sectors 3 and 20, one at Mayur Vihar Phase I, which will exclusively cater to the Commonwealth Games Villages coming up near Akshardham in trans-Yamuna, and the fifth one at MCD’s civic centre.

Most of the buildings coming up in the Capital are adhering to fire safety norms, but the old ones, especially the high-rise buildings, are still creating problems. The Delhi fire safety plans to put danger and warning sign boards outside these buildings so that new buyers do not invest in them.

New Delhi, September 17
A major fire broke out in the Electronics Niketan Building at CGO Complex on Lodhi road in the wee hours of today. Nobody was reportedly injured in the fire as it happened in early morning when nobody was present in the building.

According to fire officials, around 3.30 am, flames engulfed the central portion of the second floor of the building in the Complex that houses the department of information technology (DIT) under the ministry of communication and information technology. Twenty-three fire tenders were pressed into service, which took almost five hours to contain the blaze, the fire officials said.

A committee, under the chairmanship of the additional secretary, has been constituted to enquire into the cause of the fire, the extent of damage and the restoration plan there of.