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Report within a month
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Weddings stung by hiked water cost
BJP dharna against hike in water tariff
CAT-scarred students wait for another call
Jobs elude the disabled
Mercury dips to 10 degrees
Fire at Thapar House
Babloo denied bail
Body of abducted infant found
Student dies in festive firing at wedding
CBI to nail those who tampered
with Arushi proof
Ban on Noida marts stayed
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Report within a month
New Delhi, December 3 The order was issued after a meeting called by the minister this evening to discuss the causes that led to fire in a low floor bus (route number 832) at Shivaji Marg in Kirti Nagar. It was the third incident of its kind in the past 10 days. The meeting was attended by transport secretary-cum- commissioner R.K. Verma, senior officer of TATA Motors, chief general manager of DTC and few other senior officers of the transport department and a senior officer of J. K. Tyers. The meeting was called after Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said, “We will take action. We don’t want such incidents to happen again. These incidents are completely unacceptable.” The spokesman said that at the meting it was decided that Tata Motors would compensate for the loss by providing the number of buses that had caught fire. He said that a high-level committee of the transport department had been constituted to find out the reason for fire in low floor buses. The meeting will suggest ways to check such incidents. The committee will be headed by joint commissioner, transport, Ajay. Other members of the committee are: a retired officer of the All India Road Research Institute; chief general manager (mechanical), DTC, V.K. Bhatia and motor licence officer, Anil. The committee has to submit its report within a month. The department has called a team of Tata Motors to examine the cause of fire in low floor buses. The department has also decided that an automobile engineer will be deputed at each bus depot. A team of the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training visited the site and found that the bus caught fire due to manufacturing fault in electrical wirings. Reacting on the incident, Northeast Delhi MP and state Congress chief J.P. Agrawal said that the bus fires were unfortunate and action would be taken against the official concerned. An official of the transport department said incidents of fire in low floor buses had been a setback to the Delhi government’s plan to phase-out Blueline buses before the Commonwealth Games.
Another low-floor DTC bus cathches fire
Around 22 passengers on board a DTC’s CNG low-floor bus had a narrow escape when it caught fire this morning in the Moti Nagar area of west Delhi.
This is the third incident of a bus catching fire in Delhi in the last ten days. According to information, three fire fighting engines were pressed into service to douse the fire. However, no one was injured in the incident. CNG leakage is being touted as the cause of the fire. “The incident took place around 7 am after a loud blast in the rear portion of the bus. The passengers managed to come out of the bus before the fire spread. They all are safe,” said the police. The bus was plying on route number 832 from Janakpuri to Inderlok. |
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Weddings stung by hiked water cost
New Delhi, December 3 According to the Delhi government’s announcement on revised water tariff, the banquet halls will be charged additional sewerage charges at the rate of Rs 10,000 per function. Hotels and guest houses with more than 50 rooms will also be charged at the same rate. Though the increased water tariffs will come to effect from January 1, the banquet halls have decided to increase their rates before that. “The booking rates had to be hiked as food prices, cost of decoration and maintenance have gone up, and now even the water would be unaffordable,” said an official of Safforn Court, a banquet hall in west Delhi, which has hiked its charges by 12 per cent. Its cost now is around Rs 750 per person. Even the rates for non-deluxe banquets and those that come without food and decoration are considering a hike in their charges as most of them are booked till January. “Our banquet halls are booked from November 28 till next March. But we will off course revise the rates,” said Vikas Gautam from one of banquets in Malviya Nagar. According to a MCD councillor who also owns a farmhouse on Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, the charges at his farmhouse have increased by over a lakh. “Even then, the venue is booked till February,” he said. The civic body had also recently passed a resolution increase booking rates of several city parks for functions from Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000. The booking rate of the Punjabi Bagh stadium, one of the most sought-after sites in west Delhi for organising social functions and weddings, has been raised to the said amount. “Though the corporation had also recently increased the charges, its rates are still quite low. But we hardly get any revenue from these bookings,” he said. The other charges like fine amount, cleaning charges and security deposits have also been raised sharply. The security deposit has been raised to Rs 25,000 as against Rs 10,000 collected earlier and Rs 1,000 for the cleaning of parks instead of Rs 200 charged earlier. Holding of more than one function at the same site without required clearance would cost Rs 50,000 each.
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BJP dharna against hike in water tariff
New Delhi, December 3 The dharna was addressed by national BJP general secretary Vijay Goel, leader of the opposition in Delhi assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra, former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana, leader of the MCD Subhash Arya and former chairman of the standing committee Vijender Kumar Gupta. The speakers termed the decision to increase the water and sewer charges as anti-people steps of the government. They said that the government has completely failed to check the rise in prices of essential commodities and to add insult to injury, it is making civic amenities costlier day by day. The government has become insensitive as there is no election in the near future, the BJP leaders pointed out. Vijay Goel said, “The government is not supplying sufficient power. The meters are not accurate either. The billing system is also defective. Similarly, there are many areas in Delhi where tap water is not available. Water is supplied through tankers. There is rampant corruption in supplying water through tankers. A great deal of water is lost due to leakage. The pipelines have become old and the ground water is also exhausting.” Goel added, “The loss could be lessened by efficient management , but the government does nothing.” Subhash Arya pointed out, “If efficient administrative steps had been taken and projects completed on time, the loss could have been minimized, but the government is putting burden on the common man.” Pradesh president Prof. Om Prakash Kohli said, “The Assembly session will begin on December 9. During this session, the BJP will oppose the decisions that have increased the economic burden of the people of Delhi.”
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CAT-scarred students wait for another call
New Delhi, December 3 Nandini Gupta, a B.Com. student who was appearing from the Jasola centre, recalled her experiences, “It has been a very frustrating and scary experience. I prepared for CAT for almost a year and did not expect any glitch when I took the exam online. My exam was scheduled for Saturday at Jasola. As I sat down to take the paper, there were several power cuts and then suddenly the system crashed down stating error. The paper was interrupted and I got up. This was extremely disappointing.” Nandini added, “Of course, we were informed that the paper would be rescheduled very soon and I was one of the lucky few who got a date for Monday. Now, I reached the centre on Monday, but my name was missing on the list so I could not take the paper. I have not been intimated of another date so far.” Mukesh Kumar, a B.Com. final year student who was sitting for CAT, commented, “I was appearing for the exam on Saturday when the system packed up. I have not been intimated of another date to date. My college examination is approaching in December. I hope the dates for CAT and other exam do not clash.” Satwinder Singh from the MBA universe.com said, “There is no doubt students are quite worried on many accounts. Some wonder whether the results will be free of glitches. Prometric has messed up in a big way and this widespread failure of the system shows that they did not test in advance.” Deepshant Sehrawat, director of MBA Guru, said, “Students are quite jittery. Many fear that their college exams, slated to begin in December, will clash with the date for CAT. Others who have taken the exam fear that there may be glitches in the result. Prometric has a lot to answer for in this entire episode.”
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Jobs elude the disabled
New Delhi, December 3 Pradeep Raj (28), who is orthopaedically challenged, was using wheelchair in his early childhood, but due to the care of his mother, he transitioned to calipers, crutches and now he walks without any support. Despite all this, he had to join special school Amar Jyoti with integrated courses in Karkardooma and remain unemployed for two years after his graduation in 2005. Hinting at the looming uncertainty of job and duality that is extant at the ground level, Pradeep shared, “My employment with Genpact was brief and I was asked to look for some other option after my contract expired in September 2008. My current job with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is again on contractual basis. This happens even when there is the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” “The percentage of educated disabled is very less and there is no provision for their livelihood. The Delhi government’s pension scheme (Rs 1,000 per month for the disabled) and the Employee’s State Insurance (ESI) scheme have been unable to better the lot of the disabled,” Pradeep pointed out. Considering the fact that that the three per cent reservation for jobs for people with different kinds of disability (PWD) is still violated by many departments of the government sector, hoping for a similar provision in the private domain remains a dream. “There are very limited jobs in the government sector and private players prefer to sideline the issue,” said Preeti Johar from Family of Disabled, an NGO.
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Mercury dips to 10 degrees
New Delhi, December 3 The minimum temperature recorded was 11.7 degree, while the maximum 26.4 degree, confirmed Met officials. Visibility range reduced to 1,500 metres as the Capital witnessed smog early in the morning. The weatherman predicted ‘mist or shallow fog’ in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperature will hover around 25 degree and 9 degree Celsius respectively tomorrow. During the last week, the temperature in the city mostly oscillated between 8 and 25 degree Celsius. The season’s lowest of 7.9 degree Celsius was recorded last Saturday, which was also the lowest for the month of November in the past three years.
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Fire at Thapar House
New Delhi, December 3 “We received a call around 11.30 am about fire at Thapar House in Janpath. Ten fire fighting engines were rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control after nearly 2 hours,” the fire department official said. “As many as 13 people were rescued from the fourth floor. But no one was injured,” the official added. The reason behind the fire has not been ascertained yet and investigations are on. Woman stabbed to death A 27-year-old woman was found stabbed to death inside her house in Babarpur Colony of the Welcome area in east district this morning. A senior police officer said that the deceased was identified as Bhoori. “Bhoori’s house had been closed for the past three days. Today, when her body’s stench started emanating from her room, neighbours made a call to PCR. When the door was broken, she was found lying dead. There were marks of stab injuries all over her body. We have sent her body for postmortem,” said a senior police officer. According to the police, the husband of the deceased has not been seen for the past three days, making him a suspect . The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained by the police.
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Babloo denied bail
New Delhi, December 3 In his application, the gangster submitted that he had been in custody since September 25, 2003, in connection with a “false and concocted” case. The court, however, did not find substance in his contention and rejected his bail plea. Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Shalinder Kaur said since the matter was at the stage of recording evidence, the statement of witnesses, including the complainant, could not be weighed separately. “The case is at the stage of recording of prosecution evidence and keeping in view the gravity of the offence at this stage, evidence cannot be separately appreciated. The bail application is dismissed,” said the magistrate. Presently lodged at Bareilly jail in Uttar Pradesh, Babloo filed another application in the court seeking a direction to the jail authorities to return Rs 56,560, which he had deposited with them as expenses for taking him to Barabanki to participate in a ‘tilak’ ceremony of his nephew. |
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Body of abducted infant found
New Delhi, December 3 The body of the boy was wrapped in a curtain inside a park behind the DDU Hospital. Boy’s father Ramphal, who works as a labourer at an MCD construction site, has reported the matter to the police after which a case of murder was registered. |
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Student dies in festive firing at wedding
Ghaziabad, December 3 Amit Sharma, a friend of the groom, was killed late on Wednesday night in Chipyana locality under Vijay Nagar police station of Ghaziabad when the groom’s uncle Shish Pal fired in celebration, a police officer said. Shish Pal was reportedly drunk and despite objections from other guests fired shots from his licensed revolver and a bullet hit Sharma in the head. Sharma was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead, the police said. Sharma was pursuing his MBA from the ABES Engineering College in Ghaziabad. The father of the groom, Jai Singh, lodged the complaint with the Vijay Nagar police station against his brother-in-law Shish Pal. No arrest has been made. “A complaint has been registered against Shish Pal, a resident of Mehrauli, but he has gone into hiding. We will arrest him soon,” a police officer said. — IANS |
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CBI to nail those who tampered
with Arushi proof
Noida, December 3 The CBI is also trying to find out who helped spoil the Arushi case. Once this is done, the CBI is sure the culprits will be nabbed. The agency is once again interrogating the hospital staff and some policemen connected with the murder mystery. Some legal action might be taken against such people. It is learnt the blood samples were not taken from the mattress on which Arushi’s body was found. Noida police had dumped that mattress on the terrace. When the CBI took over the investigations of the case 15 days later, all it could lift were distorted blood samples. By collecting fingerprints, the Noida police thought it had done its job. The postmortem of the body found on May 16 morning was done in haste—by 12 noon the same day, though the body of another woman, Soni, a resident of Chawra village, who had committed suicide, was already with the police on May 15. The postmortem of Soni’s body was done at 3 pm. The CBI team is trying to find out the reason for this hasty decision. The CBI has questioned Dr Sunil Dohra who performed the postmortem. Dr Dhora continues to be under the scanner. The postmortem report is said to be at variance from the scene presented by Arushi’s room. |
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Ban on Noida marts stayed
Noida, December 3 Besides, the High Court has reportedly asked Noida Authority to furnish property details of bureaucrats and political leaders in the city. In case of Vikram tempos, it is pointed out that Noida had banned plying of seven-seater tempo without studying the legal aspects of the case. Tempos were banned on October 1 and the tempo association moved the court. |
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