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THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
D E L H I   A N D   N E I G H B O U R H O O D

Games 2010
Sheila warns tardy contractors
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.”
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with her cabinet colleagues at Delhi Secretariat on Monday. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with her cabinet colleagues at Delhi Secretariat on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Goel decries CM’s ‘nervousness’
New Delhi, December 21
Former union minister of state for sports Vijay Goel said that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could not evade her responsibility just by saying that she was 'nervous' whether preparations would be completed on time.


EARLIER STORIES


Actress Zeenat Aman walks the ramp during the launch of ‘W-Factor Club’ in New Delhi on Monday.
Actress Zeenat Aman walks the ramp during the launch of ‘W-Factor Club’ in New Delhi on Monday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Another low-floor bus in flames
DTC bus fire count reaches 7 in a month
New Delhi, December 21
Another low-floor bus caught fire near the Moolchand Hospital this afternoon.

7.4° make Monday coldest day of season
Tuesday could be colder
New Delhi, December 21
The mercury plunged to 7.4 degrees Celsius today, giving the Capital its coldest day of the season so far.

Water woes to continue
New Delhi, December 21
The errant water supply in the Capital may continue for a few more days in the southern and eastern parts of Delhi, as water treatment plants have not yet started functioning normally.

Stephen’s Row
Some teachers come out in bishop’s support
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.

Semester system OK, feel JNU teachers
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.

BJP protests Rangnath report on minorities
BJP workers burn effigy and shout anti-UPAslogans during their protest against the Rangnath Mishra Committee report at Parliament Street in New Delhi on Monday. 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.



BJP workers burn effigy and shout anti-UPAslogans during their protest against the Rangnath Mishra Committee report at Parliament Street in New Delhi on Monday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Woman charred to death, husband held
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.

Gzb facing 6 to 8 hours of power cuts daily
Firm responsible for supply says no hope without infrastructure upgradation
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.

Two more succumb to H1N1
New Delhi, December 21
The city reported two deaths from influenza A (H1N1) today, taking the cumulative toll to 59. Among the two fatalities, one is of a person who died in the Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital on December 16, but his swab sample report confirmed him with the viral flu today.

Upset by alcoholic husbands, women torch 3 liquor dens
Greater Noida, December 21
Women fed up with the ways of their drunkard husbands torched three liquor dens at Saini Sunpura village here on Sunday.

Man shot at in house
New Delhi, December 21
A 52-year-old man was shot at by two unidentified men at his residence here this morning. The police suspects it to be a case of personal enmity.

3 caught with 1.5-kg heroin
New Delhi, December 21
Two Afghan national and a Nigerian were arrested with 1.5-kg of heroin on Saturday in the national Capital, said a crime branch official today.

Body found
Faridabad, December 21
The local police found an unidentified body with stab marks near NHPC Crossing on Delhi-Mathura national highway this morning.





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Games 2010
Sheila warns tardy contractors
Tribune News Service

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.

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Goel decries CM’s ‘nervousness’
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21
Former union minister of state for sports Vijay Goel said that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could not evade her responsibility just by saying that she was 'nervous' whether preparations would be completed on time.

He appealed to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to come clean on the issue of Commonwealth Games preparations as with just 285 days to go for the event, the Games Organising Committee, the Commonwealth Games Federation chief, union sports minister and Delhi Chief Minister are all making different noises about it.

Sheila Dikshit has been in power since 1998 while the Games 2010 came to Delhi in 2004. Now when the Games are fast approaching, Sheila says "she is nervous". This is a clear indication that soon she would start a blame game.

Goel says that the decision announced by Mike Fennell that the CWG Federation would directly control the sports centres and their technical arrangements shows that the Federation does not find Indian Organizing Committee professionally or technically competent.

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Another low-floor bus in flames
DTC bus fire count reaches 7 in a month
Tribune News Service

Smoke Trail

l March 3 near RML Hospital
l Nov 30 near RML Hospital
l Dec 3 at Sundar Nagar traffic signal
l Dec 12 near Akashardham Temple
l Dec 12 at Prahladpur
l Dec 13 at Sagarpur
l Dec 20 at Kirbi Place

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.

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7.4° make Monday coldest day of season
Tuesday could be colder
Tribune News Service

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.

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Water woes to continue
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21
The errant water supply in the Capital may continue for a few more days in the southern and eastern parts of Delhi, as water treatment plants have not yet started functioning normally.

According to sources in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the water treatment plants are still running short of their capacity.

The water supply from Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi water treatment plants is comparatively less than from Nangloi and Haiderpur plants, making the residents of south and east Delhi to stay without water for a few more days.

The Nangloi and Haiderpur treatment plants were closed for two days on the request of the Haryana irrigation department as its Delhi sub-branch canal which supplies raw water to these plants would be closed to facilitate construction of culverts and laying of pipelines.

Whereas, Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi plants are running short of water due to less supply in the upper Gang canal by the UP government.

The areas likely to get affected with the water shortage include south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, Greater Kailash, Green Park, Hauz Khas, Defence Colony, CR Park and Malviya Nagar. In east Delhi, areas like Bhajanpura, Yamuna Vihar, Karawal Nagar, Shahadara, Balbir Nagar, Nandnagri, Usmanpur and Maujpur are likely to face the shortage.

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Stephen’s Row
Some teachers come out in bishop’s support
Tribune News Service

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.

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Semester system OK, feel JNU teachers
Akhila Singh
Tribune News Service

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.

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BJP protests Rangnath report on minorities
Tribune News Service

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.

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Woman charred to death, husband held
Tribune News Service

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.

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Gzb facing 6 to 8 hours of power cuts daily
Firm responsible for supply says no hope without infrastructure upgradation
Parmindar Singh

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).

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Two more succumb to H1N1
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21
The city reported two deaths from influenza A (H1N1) today, taking the cumulative toll to 59. Among the two fatalities, one is of a person who died in the Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital on December 16, but his swab sample report confirmed him with the viral flu today.

The other is that of a 26-year-old woman who went to Lok Nayak Hospital after delivering a baby and succumbed to H1N1 infection today.

In this case, whether the baby has contracted the virus from the mother is yet to be ascertained by the hospital authorities.

Yesterday, the city reported two casualties and of these, one is of that of a 26-year-old woman who lost her life to the contagious disease in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

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Upset by alcoholic husbands, women
torch 3 liquor dens

Our Correspondent

Greater Noida, December 21
Women fed up with the ways of their drunkard husbands torched three liquor dens at Saini Sunpura village here on Sunday.

SSP A.K. Singh has ordered the police to maintain a vigil at all liquor dens in the district. He has ordered the police to file a report about the incident and take stringent action against the guilty women.

The women were upset by the opening of shops selling whisky, wines, beer and country liquor. Drunk men used to pass lewd remarks on young women of the village who happened to pass through that way. Some villagers under the influence of liquor also beat up their wives daily.

Seeing a large number of women marching towards liquor shops with clubs in hands, salesmen fled. Though the salesmen tried to down the shutters, women forced their way in and damaged English liquor shop. Then they torched all three shops. The blaze blew the ceiling of the liquor shop.

Circle officer Shailender Lal reached there with a police team and fire brigade personnel. The blaze was extingusihed after half an hour struggle.

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Man shot at in house
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21
A 52-year-old man was shot at by two unidentified men at his residence here this morning. The police suspects it to be a case of personal enmity.

The attackers reportedly barged into the house of Vijay Kumar Malhotra at Dilshad Garden around 7:15 am and opened fire at him.

"Malhotra suffered bullet injuries and was rushed to the hospital. His wife who was held at gunpoint claimed she could recognise one of the assailants. She said the other person had covered his face," said the police.

The family and the police are clueless about the reason behind the attack as Malhotra claimed to have no enemies. Besides, the assailants did not even rob the family.

"It certainly looks like a case of enmity. A person may not think someone to be his enemy but it turns out otherwise. We are investigating the matter," said a police official.

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3 caught with 1.5-kg heroin
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 21
Two Afghan national and a Nigerian were arrested with 1.5-kg of heroin on Saturday in the national Capital, said a crime branch official today.

The three were arrested after a tip-off from Pandit Pant Marg.

“The Afghan nationals had come to Delhi from Kabul on December 17 and were staying at a hotel in Paharganj. The Nigerian had come from Mumbai to collect the consignment. The drug was smuggled from Afghanistan,” the official said.

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Body found
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, December 21
The local police found an unidentified body with stab marks near NHPC Crossing on Delhi-Mathura national highway this morning.

The police said the victim appeared to be a labourer of a coal unit as there were marks of coal on his body. The name ‘Shiv Kumar’ was tatooed on the victim’s right hand.

The murder appears to have been committed either late last night or in the wee hours today. It was  possible that the victim was murdered somewhere else and the body dumped here.

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