New Delhi, December 21
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said, “We cannot afford to let down our nation and are committed to making the Commonwealth Games 2010 a success. The government will not listen to any excuses about delay in projects’ completion and contractors responsible for delays would be blacklisted apart from other contractual actions being taken against them.” 

Addressing the officer’s meet organised to mark the completion of 11th year of her government, Dikshit instructed the departments concerned to take measures for completing the Games projects in time and work in tandem to avoid any confusion and duplication causing delay. 

The government has also launched a civility campaign to bring awareness on courtesy and etiquettes. 

“As the host city, we need to work together to make the Games a memorable event. It has provided us with the opportunity to take up various projects. The developed infrastructure will become an integral part of the legacy. The PWD is striving to ensure that the infrastructure being laid is durable,” she said.    

Delhi has proved to be a pioneering state during the last 11 years, as its programmes like — Ladli, RTI, Mission Convergence, low-floor buses, Delhi Metro, CNG fleet and green cover have been replicated by various states and adopted at national level by the Centre. 

Delhi is the first state to say that the parameter of development should be happiness, comfort of living, education opportunities, health and growth instead of economic growth. 

Mission Convergence that was launched in August 2008 has been acclaimed even by the World Bank. All departments have been asked to re-shape their policies as per the requirements of Samajik Suvidha Sangam. The programme aims to provide a helping hand to vulnerable sections of society. 

The Chief Minister also expressed her government’s commitment to provide all modern conveniences and amenities to residents of the city. 

She directed all departments concerned to improve their revenue collection mechanism. Efforts must be made to check tax evasion so that the government does not feel the need to put an extra tax burden on people. 

She added that the government was concerned about delay in the delivery of basic services which often cause dissatisfaction. The government has decided to implement service-level agreements for delivery of basic services like — issue of certificates or licenses within the stipulated time, failing which the officers concerned would be fined. 

She also assured that her government would continue to improve its responsive attitude.

New Delhi, December 21
Another low-floor bus caught fire near the Moolchand Hospital this afternoon.

An official of the Delhi Fire Service said that sparking in the engine led to the fire. This is the seventh such case in one month.

The bus plying on route number 323 from Dhaula Kuan to Mayur Vihar caught fire when it reached near the Moolchand Hospital.

The driver noticed some sparking in the engine. He immediately stopped the bus and informed the Delhi Fire Service, said the spokesman of the Delhi Fire Service.

Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely confirmed that there was sparking in the battery installed on the rear side of the bus. He said that a mechanic rectified the technical snag after which the bus resumed its service.

Earlier, Lovely had said that so far only one bus had caught fire and the other buses had just emitted smoke due to technical snag in the break shoe.

A committee of experts has been constituted to examine the reason behind fire in low-floor buses. The committee has to submit its report within one month.

Expressing concern over fire in buses, Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra asked the Lieutenant Governor to order an inquiry.

He said that four days ago Lovely had assured in the Assembly that they had found the reason behind fire in buses and the faulty parts of wheels in all low-floor buses were being replaced.

But the repeated fire incidents have exposed the false claim of the minister.

Malhotra added that the Delhi High Court had already scolded the Delhi government for the repeated fire in buses. 

He said that many committees had earlier cautioned that the buses were not fit for Delhi roads. Instead the government went for these costly buses.

New Delhi, December 21
The mercury plunged to 7.4 degrees Celsius today, giving the Capital its coldest day of the season so far.

But there is more of cold weather in store for Delhiites, as Metrological department officials have predicted that the minimum temperature would further plummet to as low as 6 degree Celsius, tomorrow.Inevitably, the cold winds that jolted the city the entire day today are bound to get more severe tomorrow.

“Early morning hours tomorrow will be accompanied by shallow fog and mist. While the minimum temperature will rest around 6 degree Celsius, the maximum will be around 21 degree Celsius,” said a Met official.

Even today, the city saw shallow fog early morning. The maximum temperature today hovered around 22 (-1) degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature recorded yesterday was 8 degree Celsius that dipped to 7.4 today and is all set to dip further in the coming days.

“The maximum and minimum temperature is likely to fall further following snowfall in J&K and Himachal Pradesh,” the official added.

New Delhi, December 21
After some teachers protested against bishop Sunil Kumar’s interference in St Stephen’s College, now a section of faculty has come out in his support.

Alleging that the group of “protesting teachers” only wanted to save principal Valson Thampu’s position, this group that called itself “well-wishers of Stephen’s” expressed fear of getting attacked if they revealed their names.

“A small group of protesting teachers of the college has been spreading lies about the chairman and members of the governing body. The group is led by the office-bearers of Valson Thampu’s controversial administration. Other than the Thampu brigade, their support base among teachers is less than 15 per cent,” the teachers said in a statement issued to the press late today.

The well-wishers alleged that principal Thampu had more than once publicly stated that he had the support of Prime Minister’s son-in-law, for whom the principal had also created a special official position in the college.

“He (Thampu) grandly announced 50 per cent reservation for Christians, including Dalit Christians, an unrecognised category. He decried, both in the print and visual media, the ethos, traditions and excellence of the college,” the press statement stated.

The teachers again questioned the qualification of Thampu to be appointed as the college principal. They said certain teachers had only “misguided” the chairman to appoint Thampu as principal.

About the teachers, the press statement stated that the response echoed the voice of all the well-wishers of college, including alumni, students, teachers and non-teaching staff, who were not part of the Thampu brigade.

“It also represents the voices of those who know exactly what is going on, who the real enemy of the college is. These are the voices of those college lovers who are genuinely concerned and who have no desire for power or the spoils of office,” said the statement.

New Delhi, December 21
At a time when universities across the country have been asked to divide their syllabus into semesters, teachers in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) feel the system is perfect to ensure proactive participation.

In a university where semester system has been functional since its inception, there is a difference of opinion between the JNU teachers and their counterparts from Delhi University (DU).

“JNU was established to experiment with the modern academics, but with time we have seen that its basic framework is perfect for a university,” said R.Kumar, rector, JNU.

The university has a year divided into two semesters with one semester comprising 90 working days.

“There are two end-semester examinations and along with that continual evaluation of a student is done on the basis of sessional examinations that comprise presentations, term papers, quizzes and oral exams for language courses,” said S.Chandrasekaran, director of evaluation, JNU.

He said the system kept the teachers and students on toes as equal credit was given to both the internal assessment and written examinations.

The university makes it mandatory for every student to register again after each term gets over.

“We have to take additional pressure of finishing marking answersheets of students before the next term so that students are ready with their results before registration,” said professor Harjit Singh, senior faculty member at Centre for the Study of Regional Development.

The professors agreed that the semester system increases burden on them. “The teachers have to be available to the students all the time,” said Harjit Singh.

To ensure that there was constant catching up with academic updates, the university faculty formulates its syllabus each year.

“We only provide basic outline of the course material and it is the teachers who formulate syllabus and evaluate examination papers themselves,” said Chandrasekaran.

The teachers also said the semester system in JNU ensures that students come to class even though the system does not make it compulsory for them.

“Constant examinations and surprise tests throughout the semester make sure that a student attend the class ,” said Harjit Singh.

However, the teachers mentioned that good teacher-student ratio was a prerequisite for the system to work.

“We cannot have a teacher-student ratio of less than 1:10 because the system would not work out otherwise. Close interaction with students is essential,” said R.Kumar.

New Delhi, December 21
Anusuchit Jati Arakshan Bachao Manch and the BJP Delhi Pradesh today held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, protesting against the Rangnath Mishra Committee report on minority issues.

Under the leadership of Delhi Pradesh S.C. Morcha president Dushyant Kumar Gautam, scheduled caste workers participated in the demonstration in large numbers

President of Anusuchit Jati Arakshan Bachao Manch, Ram Nath Kovind, general secretary Shri Narain Kesri, former central minister Satya Narain Jatiya, the BJP MP from Himachal, Virender Kashyap and the Manch workers also participated in the dharna.

All the speakers during the demonstration termed the Rangnath Mishra Committee as “damaging” to the reservation available to dalits.

The speakers said that the recommendations of Rangnath Mishra Committee report might lead to the division in society while reducing the rights given to dalits.

Addressing the demonstrators, senior BJP leader O.P. Kohli said, “The system of castes and untouchability has been part of the Hindu society.

Consequently, dalits became backward from the religious, economic and educational point of view.

However, there has been no tradition of caste system and untouchability in the Muslim and Christian society; hence the question of reservation for Muslims and other minorities doesn’t rise.”

The protesters demanded the rejection of report and resolved to oppose it report within Parliament and outside.

The demonstrators also burnt effigies of the UPA government.

New Delhi, December 21
A 25-year-old woman was found charred at her house in the East Uttam Nagar area of south-west Delhi in the wee hours today.

The police received a call around 3:10 am. The husband of the woman has been detained.

“Anju had suffered two-third burns when we reached her house. Her husband Ramu Kumar was present and said that she had committed suicide. We have detained him,” said a police official from Bindapur police station.

Ramu Kumar works in a private firm and had married Anju over three years ago. According to investigation officers, Ramu Kumar told the police that he woke up hearing Anju’s screaming for help. He said she had poured kerosene over herself and set herself afire.

“Ramu said that he had demanded money from Anju in the night to buy booze. When she refused, they had a verbal fight. Ramu then slapped Anju and went off to sleep. But he woke up hearing his wife screaming,” said the police.

The police suspects that Ramu could have killed Anju and is fabricating the events. “We did not find any suicide note,” confirmed the police.

The police has informed Anju’s parents in Bihar. The area sub-divisional magistrate is also investigating the matter.

Ghaziabad, December 21
Ghaziabad, acknowledged as one of the most rapidly developing cities in the world, on an average faces six to eight hours of power cut, daily.

According to 2001 census, Ghaziabad’s urban population is 14.73 lakh. The figure has now crossed the 18-lakh mark. While the population has increased over the years, the power infrastructure of the city has failed to keep pace with the population growth.

As a result, today, while Ghaziabad’s power demand is 525 megawatt (MW), the availability hovers between 250 MW and 350 MW, resulting in a shortfall of 175 to 275 MW at any given point in time.

This shortfall has made average daily outages of six to eight hours a normal feature for Ghaziabad.

With Ghaziabad’s power demand increasing at the rate of 10-12 per cent every year and no signs of power capacity augmentation in sight, there is remote chance of any improvement in the situation.

To cash in on the situation, private operators have installed commercial generators and are selling electricity. They charge between Rs 150 to Rs 350 per connection.

“There are over 200 high-rise buildings with power back-up systems. But this also means higher power back-up bills anywhere between Rs 10 to Rs 14 per unit. Majority of the residents have installed generators or inverters,” said Kuldeep Saxena, member, Indirapuram Resident Welfare Association (RWA) Federation.

However, officials of Uttar Pradesh Power Company Limited (UPPCL), which is responsible for supplying power to Ghaziabad, blame the outages to dilapidated power infrastructure in the city which has not been improved or strengthened since a long time.

“Majority of the sub-stations and power equipment in the city were commissioned 30-35 years ago. Unless they are upgraded or new ones are installed, the situation will not improve,” said M.N. Srivastava, executive engineer (transmission).