New Delhi, November 16
Tight security arrangement at Pragati Maidan during India International Trade Fair has affected the business of traders inside the pavilions. The traders are not even allowed to bring fresh consignments.

Preferring anonymity, a senior official of the Punjab pavilion said that business was better last year. Visitors were enthusiastic about visiting the fair and purchasing goods. However, there is less enthusiasm this year. Strict security and the high rate of ticket during business days could be reasons for fewer visitors.

When asked how many visitors have visited the pavilion for the last three days, he said that so far their number had not been calculated. But in comparison to the last year, the number of visitors is surely less.

A senior officer of Haryana pavilion said that so far 59,000 visitors had come to the pavilion. There was rush of visitors yesterday. But today, their number is less. The reason for fewer visitors can be tight security. So far 537 local traders and two from outside have asked about goods displayed in the pavilion. About 29 units have received orders from local traders.

He said that the authorities of India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) had made tight security arrangements for the first time due to terror factor. They do not issue passes even to the employees of the pavilion. As far as ITPO card is concerned, the procedure has been made very difficult.

As there was problem of entry inside the trade fair, the Haryana pavilion has cancelled a seminar to be held today. Three hundred participants were expected to attend the seminar. But they could not be given passes.

A footwear trader in Punjab pavilion said that he was not getting business this year.

“We have brought our consignments before starting the fair. Now we are not allowed to bring footwear any more. The ITPO charges a rent of Rs 80,000 for a stall for 14 days. If we are not allowed to bring more goods to sell, we cannot recover even the rent amount,” he said.

New Delhi, November 16
To educate road users, the Delhi Traffic Police today organised an annual Road Safety Exhibition at Traffic Pavilion in Pragati Maidan.

Neeraj Kumar, Special Commissioner of Police, during the inauguration reiterated the importance of basic precepts of traffic rules and road safety norms. He appreciated the educational/awareness programmes being organised by Road Safety Cell.

He also released a book - ‘Traffic Safety Handbook for Commercial Vehicle Drivers.’

Prizes were distributed to schools that participated in the exhibition. The Road Safety Running Trophy -2009, for the school enrolling maximum Road Safety Patrol Cadets was presented to Bal Bhawan Public School, Mayur Vihar Phase - II. Mount St Mary’s School, Delhi cantt, won the award for being the school making utmost contribution towards road safety.

Children also performed cultural programmes based on road safety education which added colour to the function.

Latest gadgets being used by Delhi Traffic Police to ensure traffic management like speed radar, alchometer, simputer, interceptor, mobile exhibition van and road disaster management vehicle are also displayed at the Traffic Pavilion.

Live demonstration of area traffic control, close circuit TV and red speed camera was also done. Road safety literature, developed inhouse, were distributed to the visitors.

The pavilion also had painting and quiz competitions, games and film shows.

New Delhi, November 16
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been directed to frame a new rickshaw policy, which should have stricter norms and a new registration system.

The Lieutenant-Governor (LG) today asked the MCD to implement the new rickshaw policy which should comply with the increasing traffic on Delhi roads. At a meeting held today, which had officials from the authorities like Delhi traffic police and Delhi government, the LG said the existing rickshaw policy is not properly formed and needs to be revised.

“Nobody has exact information about the number of rickshaws plying in the Capital. Also, the rickshawpullers indulge in casual driving and lead to severe accidents on the road,” said a senior MCD official.

The Delhi traffic police officials said rickshaws should be treated like any other commercial vehicle. “The traffic police officials said that rickshaws are badly treated on the roads because of which they do faulty driving and break lot of traffic rules,” he said.

The LG has asked MCD commissioner to submit the new policy to the court.

According to the new rickshaw policy, a registration system would be introduced to control the rickshaws. The civic agency will outsource the work of supervision the rickshaws to some external agency like non-government organisation.

“An authority will be formed to monitor the rickshaws apart from doing their registration and keeping an eye on the whole system,” he said.

The prior policy was based on the decentralisation of rickshaws while this time the focus would be more on the centralisation.

The new policy also suggests improving the design of the rickshaws, which is at present considered not being safe.

“One reason why existing rickshaws are more prone to accidents is because they have faulty designs as they over turns easily. A new design is proposed in the policy which would be more safe and sound,” said the official.

The Delhi High Court had also summoned the MCD commissioner for seeking more time to file the committee report to draft the new policy for rickshawpullers in Delhi.

The court had then directed the MCD, Delhi Police and other parties to frame guidelines in connection with a policy for rickshawpullers with immediate effect.

The rickshawpullers of the Capital have demanded that the policy should be amended so that they are not exploited and harassed for want of license from the government. According to the last survey they were around 24,000 rickshaw in the Capital. 

New Delhi, November 16
Residents of the National Capital Region would have the privilege to catch the glimpse of rare celestial fireworks, Leonid showers, in the less polluted areas around the Capital tomorrow.

The celestial showers would look like hundreds of shooting stars all over the sky throughout the night tomorrow till the early morning.

The showers can be seen every year around this time, when the earth moves through the Leonid Meteor stream that has solid particles known as meteoroids, ejected by comet as it passes by the sun, said CB Devgun from SPACE.

The astronomers have predicted that the Leonid showers would be seen clearly at around 3 am on November 17, with almost 15 to 20 stars shooting in the sky per hour at a speed of 71 kilometer per second.

Several groups of armature astronomers have been making plans to catch the rare sight at places around Delhi.

The astronomers said though the spectacle could be caught with a naked eye, it’s best to grab a telescope to catch them.

Devgun said the best way to catch the showers was just to lie down and wait for them to appear at places which were less polluted.

He said a shooting star could only be seen in the sky for less than a second before it finally disappears.

Excited armature astronauts have found two sites around the Capital away from any light and pollution to watch the showers. The closest location is one at the Duma Dum lake around Gurgaon where tents would be put throughout the night and telescopes assembled.

Another location for watching the spectacle is around Sariska Tiger Sanctuary near Alwar in Rajasthan.

According to astronauts, this is the best location to catch the showers as there is least amount of light. However, most people in NCR are choosing to go to the Gurgaon location.

The social networking sites are abuzz with the registration for the camping during the night. 

New Delhi, November 16
“Dalit women face discrimination in a state which itself has a dalit Chief Minister. Even she did not pay heed to our demands and that’s what brought us to Delhi,” said Rama, one of the women who took part in a rally by farmers in the city today.

As many as 300 dalit women from Allahabad today burnt the effigy of UP Chief Minister Mayawati near Jantar Mantar protesting the ‘discrimination’ against them in the state. More than 400 farmers, including women, staged a rally under the banner of the Bhariya Kisan Dalit Mazdoor Vikas Manch and Jagriti Sansthan, outside Jantar Mantar today.

Their grievance being that more than 10,000 SC/ST families in Allahabad had to face the heat when the government authorities secured land in Shankargarh for setting up an oil refinery and a powerhouse.

The farmers alleged out of the five villages whose land had been secured by the officials, compensations had been given to a majority of pandits only.

Sameem Ahmad, president, Bhartiya Kisan Dalit Mazdoor Vikas Manch, said, “Four villages having mainly dalit population were given a compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh, while the fifth village with mainly upper caste population was compensated with Rs 2.50 lakh. This is quite discriminatory as equal compensation to all the villages was promised. The case is also registered with the High Court.”

He added, “We have been demonstrating and writing to the authorities at the tehsil and zila level and also visited Lucknow. But we got no response. We have now finally come to Delhi hoping that the centre will listen to us,” he added.

Kishori, who was there with his wife Premlata, said, “We have nowhere to go. Our land was taken from us and we were not even compensated fairly. We have been fighting for our cause for two years, but it seems the UP government has turned a deaf ear to our demands.”

New Delhi, November 16
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) would resume its academic activity on December 1 after having been on the boil for almost a month.

The vice-chancellor of the university Abdul Aziz informed the press about the reopening here today.

Aziz said the students involved in the agitation in the university after the murder of a fellow student would not be victimised either by the administration.

The AMU administration had suspended 18 students after conducting an enquiry into the alleged violence that took place on campus.

“The students who were suspended on the charges of indiscipline would also be taken back after the enquiry committee completes its proceedings as soon as possible,” said Aziz. The classes in different departments would be resumed in a phased manner.

Giving information regarding the reopening of specific departments at AMU, the officials of the university said classes in faculties of medicine, Unani medicine, engineering and technology, management, life sciences, biotechnology, agriculture and class XII will start from December 1. The schools maintained by the AMU would also resume classes on the same date.

Classes in science, commerce and law schools would start on December 4. In the third phase that starts on December 11, classes of arts, social science, theology, class XI and diploma courses in engineering would reopen.

Reiterating his stand that ‘sine die’ was imposed on the university due to increasing violence by the students, the vice-chancellor, who was in the Capital, said the winter vacation would also be advanced.

To minimise the loss of classes during the sine die period, the winter vacation would now start from November 16 to 30.

The university would also arrange for the students to be received on the campus hostels two days before the date of reopening.

Moreover, the vice-chancellor said 24-hour transportation would be provided to the students from bus stands and railway stations.

Meanwhile, the university students, who have generated considerable sympathy from fellow students from the three central universities in Delhi, stacked the vice-chancellor by questioning his intentions of ensuring democracy on the AMU campus.

The students have been protesting against the vice-chancellor’s decision to impose one of the most severe acts of sine die on campus.

“We want our student union elections to be resumed along with ensuring the representation of students in all the decision-making academic bodies of the university,” said Mohammad Adil Hossain, media coordinator, AMU Students’ Struggle Committee.

On the night of October 25, Shahnawaz, a final year B.Sc. (biochemistry) student, was murdered by a local goon when he went out to take his dinner at a dhaba just outside the AMU campus. 

Gurgaon, November 16
An ex-servicemen’s rally will be organised at the District War Memorial here on November 18 to commemorate the martyrs of Rezang La ( Ladakh) during China’s aggression of 1962. Haryana Governor Jagan Nath Paharia will be the chief guest at the rally, where he will also honour war widows and decorated soldiers.

Deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria here today said the rally was being organised by the Rajya Sainik Board and Vijay Diwas and Rezangla Shahidi Samaroh Samiti.

Narrating the historic importance of Rezang La Martyrs Day, which falls on November 18, president of the Vijay Diwas and Rejangla Shaheedi Samaroh Samiti, Major T.C.Rao, said November 18, 1962, saw a battle that was unique in many ways. 

Noida, November 16
A woman has lodged a complaint at Sector-20 Kotwali alleging that her boss transferred her to a Delhi branch when she refused physical relations with him.

The woman works as a sales development manager at HDFC Standard Life insurance company in Sector-18 here. Her area manager had been allegedly harrasing her right from day one and had been coercing her for physical relations with him. He would often tease her.

The woman alleged that even after her marriage in June 2009, he continued to pressurise her for establishing physical relations with him.

The woman said that even her husband talked to senior officials of the company but that too did not help. Her approaching the company’s HR section also did not help her.

When she demanded action against the area manager, the company transferred her to Daryaganj office in Delhi.

Therefore, she has lodged a police complaint. The police has started the investigation into the matter.

New Delhi, November 16
With the arrest of five persons, the crime branch of Delhi police has solved 14 cases of burglary that took place in different areas of south Delhi.

The gangsters — Sanjay, his brother Ratan, Vishwajeet, Mahender and Narender were arrested near railway line at Harkesh Nagar yesterday.

Stolen goods, including gold and silver jewellery, laptops, watches, handy cams, electronic goods and foreign currency have been seized from them.

They operated mostly in Sarojini Nagar, Kotla Mubrakpur and Hauz Khas areas. The activities of the gang had caused insecurity among local residents. The gangsters would allegedly burn the houses after burglary.

Sanjay and Ratan are the prime members of the gang. Ratan is a proclaimed offender. They allegedly used to sell the stolen goods to Mahinder who owns an electronic goods repair shop in Mandavali.

Initially, the accused worked as ragpickers in south Delhi areas. Hence, they were quite acquainted with the residential colonies. They would roam in the area and look for houses that were locked. Their usual mode of entry was by cutting the iron grill of a window, preferably on the back side of the house. 

The accused disclosed that after burgling five houses they set it on fire as they believed it would remove all evidence of their crime, including fingerprints.

Meanwhile, the concerned police stations have been informed about their arrest.