New Delhi, November 29
Metro commuters of west Delhi and Dwarka sub-city will soon experience seamless connectivity with the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The upcoming Dwarka Sector 21 station has been designed in such a way that commuters will not have to change platforms to board the trains of the Airport Metro Express Line.

According to the officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the Dwarka Sector 21 station will be unique as it will have two stations merged into one.

The initiative is part of a bigger plan of the DMRC under which the area is being developed as a transport hub, with a train station from Shahbad to Mohammadpur, interstate bus terminal and container depot being built there by various agencies.

The DMRC station will have four levels— platforms at the underground level, concourse at ground level and two levels above for commercial development. Each level will cover an area of about 12,500 square meters.

The Airport Metro Express Line (AMEL) and the Line 3, to be extended from Dwarka Sector 9, will both terminate at Dwarka Sector 21. Each will have separate operational systems with Line 3 running on broad gauge and AMEL on standard gauge.

According to estimates, over 40,000 commuters are expected to travel every day between Dwarka Sector 21 and the airport in 2010-2011.

DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said as majority of the passengers were likely to use Line 3 to come to Dwarka Sector 21 and then take the AMEL, special provisions were made at the design stage itself to ensure minimum hassles for them during interchange.

“To ensure this, the platforms of both— Line 3 and the AMEL— are being built at the same underground level,” said Dayal.

He explained, “The Line 3 trains will terminate and the AMEL trains will start from either side of the same island platform between the two tracks. Thus, commuters exiting from Line 3 trains will just have to walk across the platform to board the AMEL trains.”

To make the token collection easier as the AMEL will have a different fare structure, token counters and automatic fare collection (AFC) gates will be installed on the island platform itself so that commuters do not have to go to the concourse level to buy tokens. A glass barrier will also be installed in the middle of the island platform to separate the AMEL from Line 3 even though they will remain visually connected. Thus, this will be the first Metro station to have fare collection gates on the platforms.

Provisions would be made for segregation of entries for airport line and Line 3.

“There will be separate token counters, separate lifts, stairs and escalators to access the platforms. There will be different station control rooms for Line 3 and AMEL as well,” said Dayal.

The provision of direct link to the airport from Dwarka Sector 21 will be beneficial for the residents of the area as in its absence, they will have to travel about 10 kilometers each time they go to the airport.

For the benefit of people who want to access the railway station situated behind the Metro station from the road in front, a passage through the unpaid area of Dwarka Sector 21 will also be provided.

However, Dwarka Sector 21 station will not have check-in facilities for airport-bound commuters as the distance till the Indira Gandhi airport will be only 3.5 kilometers which will be covered in about three minutes.

“Commuters can take their luggage in their trains, for which baggage scanning will be done by the airport line operator,” said Dayal.

The Airport Express Line as a whole is 22.7 kilometers long from New Delhi to Dwarka Sector21 and has six stations. The line is scheduled to be opened in September 2010.

New Delhi, November 29
A city court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Monday against the lone man arrested in the 2005 Dhaula Kuan rape case, in which a Delhi University student was allegedly abducted and gang-raped in a moving car.

Additional sessions judge N.K. Gupta is expected to pronounce the verdict in the case after hearing the final arguments of the prosecution and the defence.

“The 20-year-old student of DU, hailing from Mizoram, was abducted around 2:15 am on May 8, 2005, from Dhaula Kuan when she was walking back home after buying food from a roadside eatery and was raped by four accused in a moving car,” said the prosecution.

The victim, who was later dumped near a gurdwara in south Delhi, was accompanied by a friend who, however, managed to flee from the clutches of the accused.

The police, however, could arrest only one of the accused — Ajit Singh Katiyar.

The other three accused — Danda, Jat and Tappe — evaded arrest and were declared proclaimed offenders.

Katiyar, a driver with a Noida-based call centre, was arrested five days after the incident took place and was later identified by the victim in a test identification parade conducted in the Tihar Jail. — IANS

New Delhi, November 29
With rampant floods and draughts across the country, a huge section of construction and domestic workers has migrated to Delhi in the past few months.

Highlighting the problems faced by these migrant workers living in JJ clusters, slums and on pavements, a cycle tour was conducted by the Delhi Young Artists Forum to these far-fetched areas.

As part of the eight-day trip, the organisers met the migrant workers and formulated a demand charter. The trip went through selected areas of the city that include Laxmi Nagar, Kichdipur, Anand Vihar, Jhilmil and Shahdra.

“We framed the map in such a way that we cover most of the areas where maximum migrant workers lived,” said Sadre Alam, the organsier of the cycle tour.

Most of the cyclists were artists, who performed street plays and songs during their visits, especially improvised for the trip.

“Public meetings and one-on-one meetings were organised with the workers to understand the challenges they had to face as they earn their livelihoods,” said Sadre.

The organisers pointed out that due to huge migration of workers in the recent past, most of the slums and JJ clusters were facing massive stress on the basic amenities like water, health care, subsidised ration, electricity and shelter. “Also, the work is not increasing at the same pace as the increase in number of migrants. Because of this most of these workers were denied the minimum wages,” he said.

During their trip, the cyclists said they came across women who had to wait for at least four hours daily before they could get potable water.

The rag-pickers working in the unorganised sector had their specific problems. Most of the workers in this sector complained of harassment by the policemen. “To pocket money from these people, the cops arrest them every once in a while calling them either Bangladeshis or thieves,” he said.

According to the cyclists, the construction workers were not allowed to stand at the labour chowks in the morning because the city had to look “poverty-free” for the Commonwealth Games.

Same was the case with workers who run small stalls. The organisation also received complaints from the workers who were relocated by the government. “Areas like Khanpur, Shahbad, Daulatpur and Rohini Sector 24 do not have arrangements for any basic amenities. There are almost 50,000 children who are not enrolled in any schools,” said Sadre.

One of the basic demands of these workers, who keep our city clean and do all the construction work, is to provide basic facilities of drinking water, subsidised ration and electricity. Government should also ensure access to education and health. The forum has sent the demand charter to the Prime Minister, asking for his intervention to make Delhi a “worker-friendly” city. 

New Delhi, November 29
Even though Delhi saw a windy Sunday evening, the metrological department predicts a fairly warmer weather in the coming days.

While the maximum temperature today remained 25 degree Celsius, minimum was recorded at 8.7 degree Celsius.

The weather is expected to lighten up tomorrow with a maximum of 25 degree Celsius and minimum of 10 degree Celsius. The Met department has predicted partly cloudy sky for tomorrow, however it might get sunnier in the coming days.

Similar is the prediction for day after tomorrow, only with a clearer sky. 

Noida, November 29
Eighteen months after teenager Aarushi Talwar and her domestic help were found murdered in a Noida locality, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted search at a hospital and seized documents including her autopsy reports, an official said today.The team of the premier investigating agency conducted a search in the records section of the Noida district hospital on Saturday.

“The investigation is on and we have seized some documents. It includes postmortem reports of the entire 2008 year,” said a senior CBI official requesting anonymity.

According to the officials, Aarushi’s autopsy report will be scrutinised to find out if “due procedure” was followed.

The CBI team also questioned the staff of the hospital, the official said.

Earlier in September, the agency had entrusted the investigations to a new team.

Aarushi, 14, was found murdered in her parents’ Jalvayu Vihar apartment May 16 last year. The family’s domestic help Hemraj, who was initially suspected to be the accused, was found murdered a day later on the terrace of the house.

The double murders have remained one of the country’s biggest whodunits. After meandering through unexpected twists and turns, the probe had almost reached a dead-end.

All those who were picked up for interrogation in the initial weeks of the murder — Aarushi’s dentist-father Rajesh Talwar, his medical assistant Krishna and two other domestic helps, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal — are out while the CBI still continues to hunt for material evidence. — IANS

New Delhi, November 29
As the number of swine flu cases escalate in the national Capital, the Delhi government plans to spread more awareness about the H1N1 virus with a slew of ads in newspapers in the coming week.

The total number of confirmed cases of swine flu in Delhi till Saturday was 4,454, the highest in the country. This is followed by 3,973 cases in Maharashtra. The total number of confirmed cases in the country is 17,868.

According to Anjana Prakash, assistant nodal officer handling swine flu cases in Delhi, the sudden rise in the number of cases in Delhi and the rest of the country was expected as an implication of the second wave of the flu.

“Over the last three days, we have been getting almost 100 cases of swine flu on an average. Yet I won’t call it alarming as announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO). With winters approaching the second wave of the flu will hit many more people,” said Prakash.

“To spread more awareness about swine flu, we will issue advisories in newspapers and other media over the next few days. Having said that, I think people are a lot aware now, that’s why more people are coming to get themselves examined,” she added.

On Sunday, in an open letter to city residents in a newspaper, Delhi health minister Kiran Walia harped on the fact that “the disease still exists.”

Reiterating the basic points of hygiene that one needs to adopt to check the spread of swine flu, the advisory also gave details of the government hospitals where one can get examined free of cost, the hospitals where paid treatment is available and also the contact details of private diagnostic centres.

“The severity of the second wave of H1N1 is less. Also, like in normal influenza, people are developing an inherent immunity to swine flu. However, if there is a co-morbidity factor involved, for instance if a person is above 60, pregnant, diabetic, had suffered from tuberculosis, HIV, the person needs to be more careful,” added Prakash.

And in what could be alarming, Prakash said that the virus could infect a person without showing the conventional symptoms like a runny nose and high temperature.

“One of my colleagues whose son’s classmate was detected with swine flu decided to get himself tested the other day and although he showed no symptom, he tested positive. This is why, despite the World Health Organisation no longer recommending it, we continue to give a five-day treatment to people who have come in contact with a person suffering from swine flu,” she said.

As of now, the country has seen 569 deaths because of swine flu, of which 22 deaths have been in Delhi. — IANS

New Delhi, November 29
The Apollo Hospital has been directed by the Delhi High Court to furnish a reply for not complying with the court’s order of giving free treatment to the poor. Issuing a notice for charging money from people belonging to economically backward sections, the court has sought a reply from the private hospital by December 9.

The direction comes after the court took suo moto cognizance on a letter coming from the medical superintendent of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, Dr Amit Banerjee, alleging that the Apollo Hospital was not abiding by the court’s orders and charging from poor patients referred by them instead of providing them with free medication.

“It is completely unfair on the part of Apollo that it is not abiding by the high court’s order of giving free treatment to the poor,” observed a division Bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar.

In September, the Delhi government had approached the Delhi High Court after it found that the Apollo Hospital was not abiding by the norms on giving free treatment to the poor. Then, the court had ordered the hospital to provide free treatment to poor people and asked it to reserve 33 per cent in-house beds for them.

In the latest notice, the court has restricted the hospital from levying any sort of charges on poor patients. 

Noida, November 29
A 25-year-old man was critically injured as pellets from the revelry shots fired at a marriage function accidentally hit him on Friday night. The incident took place at Sector 12.

The victim, Saddam Ahmed, who was a member of the band party, was on life support system till late Sunday evening. The police has lodged a case of attempt to murder against unknown persons.

Dr. Anil Gurnani, critical care head, Kailash Hospital, said, “Saddam was operated upon and pellets were removed from his thighs. He has suffered excessive blood loss due to multiple pellet injuries. His condition was very critical till late Sunday evening. He has been put on life support system.”

The mishap happened when the bridegroom party arrived from Gejha, a village in Noida. During celebrations some persons fired shots from a gun. Pellets from one of the shots accidentally hit Saddam on the thighs and private parts. He was rushed to Kailash Hospital.

Saddam is a resident of Farooq Nagar, Ghaziabad. His brother-in-law Tasleem Ahmed has lodged a case against unknown persons. The Sector 24 police has lodged a case of attempt to murder.

A police officer of the police station said that the police had identified the Honda City car on which the accused persons had fled. “The car belongs to a Delhi resident. The man who had fired the shots is reportedly from Bhangel. A police team has been sent to get the car and arrest the men,” the officer added.

The bridegroom, Mayank Kaushik, is an engineer based in Orissa. He hails from Gejha in Noida.

“His father Rajesh Kaushik and bride’s father Sanjay Bhardwaj cooperated with the police and it was they who gave us the details of the car and suspected persons,” said a police officer.

Noida, November 29
Two persons were killed in separate road accidents in Noida today.The first accident was reported from NIB Crossing this morning.A security guard identified as Gyan Singh was crossing the road when a speeding Scorpio car hit him. The critically injured Singh was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. The police has seized the Scorpio car. However, the driver of the car is absconding.

Another such incident was reported from Sector-8 here.

A speeding Indica car crushed a woman to death last night.

“She was admitted at a private hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on Friday,” said A.K. Tripathi, superintendent of police (city).

New Delhi, November 29
It’s butter chicken that is making students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) feel unsafe these days.

In the wake of increasing incidents of drunk outsiders misbehaving with students, especially girls, the students have asked the university’s late night dhabas to strictly stick to their approved menus.

All night food joints in JNU attract lots of outsiders, who land up on the university campus in the wee hours for after-party meals.

“If the dhabas would serve butter chicken at three in the morning, they are bound to attract drunk people,” said Sandeep Singh, president, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU).

He added, “Different dhabas at the university offer different cuisine and none of them should be allowed to serve food that has not been approved of.”

Jawarlal Nehru university has four late night dhabas.

Ganga dhaba that is open till almost three in the morning serves parathas besides the regular tea and snacks.

The relatively new North-East dhaba offers food from the seven states. Another joint Mughal Darbar offers mughlai cuisine till 11 in the night.

While 24X7 dhaba is open throughout the night and offers all kinds of snacks along with vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. It is this dhaba that the students have a problem with.

There is a campus development committee in JNU that decides what would be sold in a dhaba and who would the tender be given to.

However, this committee also works maintaining a certain consensus with the students.

Recently, the committee had to take back the tender for a Café Coffee Day outlet after the students showed zero tolerance to a multinational outlet.

“The committee has not approved all night sale of non-vegetarian food on this dhaba and the owner is flouting rules openly, inviting outsiders who create tension around the spot almost every night,” said Sandeep.

Though many students agree with their president, some feel that it is not the panacea.

“First of all, the administration and the university security has to make sure that no cars or bikes are parked around the all-night dhaba. Many time people just keep sitting in cars both drinking and eating,” said Roshan Kishore, JNU secretary, Students’ Federation of India (SFI).

He added that identity-cards should also be checked before taking the orders at the dhabas so that no outsider comes to the university campus just to eat.

A week ago, huge violence had erupted on the university campus after some drunk outsiders molested girl students around the night dhaba. 

New Delhi, November 29
A city court here issued notice to authorities of an Uttar Pradesh jail after underworld don Babloo Srivastava alleged his eye sight was being affected due to lack of medical attention.

Filing the application through his counsel J.P. Bansal, Srivastava cited how despite various requests to the jail authorities in Bareilly, where he is presently lodged, no medical assistance has been given to him.

“We are ready to get the medical assistance at our expense but the jail authorities are not paying any heed to our requests,” Bansal informed the court.

Additional sessions judge Shailendra Kaur, after hearing the contention of Srivastava’s lawyer, issued the notice and asked the Bareilly jail authorities to explain by Monday as to why medical assistance could not be given to him.

Srivastava is allegedly involved in 40 cases of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and other serious offences in different parts of country, including Delhi. He is lodged in Bareilly jail in connection with certain cases of extortion pertaining to Uttar Pradesh.

Srivastava was extradited from Singapore in 1995 for his involvement in five criminal cases. — IANS