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Farmers hold panchayat over land acquisition
Biometric attendance for DU staff dropped
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Low-Floor Bus Fires
Noida crossings may soon have cameras
Rare brain surgery gives Iraqi boy a new lease of life
No AIIMS treatment for gangster Bajrangi, says court
HC directs police, govt to attend parole pleas
Graft Case: Company secretary files bail plea
1,200 families resettled in Bawana denied plots by DDA
Chilly weather continues
With underpass, ITO Chungi junction becomes signal-free
Woman strangled, husband absconding
Fake drugs factory raided, 1 arrested
Drunk man threatens hijack
Cricket betting racket busted
CM launches calendar to mark Games
SPM students protest ‘financial anomalies’
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Farmers hold panchayat over land acquisition
Greater Noida, December 23 Before this, on Tuesday, hundreds of farmers had demonstrated outside the Greater Noida Authority office demanding a hike in land compensation and stoppage of the land acquisition process till the new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill pending in the Lok Sabha was passed. The demonstration was held under the banner of the Bhoomi Adhigrahan Virodh Morcha. Prominent leaders who addressed the villagers included Ajit Daula, Sarda Ram Verma, Sanjay Rao, Rajkumar Bhatti, Sativir Tyagi and Sukhvir Singh Arya. Bhupinder Choudhary, a protestor, said, “Our main demand is to stop the land acquisition process till the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill pending in the Lok Sabha was passed. Once the act is passed, it will solve all land acquisition related disputes and the farmers will be able to sell their lands directly to private developers.” “Other demands included hike in the land compensation amount in accordance with the market value. We have also asked for the formation of a committee to find ways to generate regular income for farmers whose lands have been acquired so that their families do not suffer. We have demanded jobs for the children of the farmers with private industries and institutions being set up in the area. We have also asked for a share in profit between the authority and farmers so that the farmers get a regular source of income,” said Choudhary. “Other bone of contention is the abadi lands. Farmers demand that the authority should keep the abadi lands out of the acquisition map. In the past, several abadi lands have been acquired by the authority resulting in long legal disputes,” said
Choudhary. |
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Biometric attendance for DU staff dropped
New Delhi, December 23 He assured teachers at an executive council meeting that biometric attendance for teachers would not become a reality at Delhi University. Earlier in the day, a massive dharna had been held to protest against the system. The issue of biometric attendance was the main item for discussion at a key executive council meeting at DU on Wednesday. The vice-chancellor bowed down to the massive demand for scrapping biometric attendance and dropped it from the agenda. President of the Delhi University Teachers Association, Prof Aditya Narayan Misra says, “Today the vice-chancellor dropped the biometric attendance issue from his agenda and this is a big victory for the teachers.” Academic council member, Prof Rajiv Kumar Verma, says, “Today at an executive council meeting, the vice-chancellor dropped the issue from the agenda and teachers all across DU have received this news with relief. We at DU did not need biometric attendance.” The biometric issue is resolved to the satisfaction of the teachers, but other issues like the semester system, are still to be dealt with. DUTA president Aditya Narayan Misra says, “Today’s development is a major step forward, but the teachers’ struggle will continue on other issues. We do not agree with the university administration on the semester system. The system will have disastrous consequences for the varsity.” Over 4,000 DU teachers took out a march to Parliament yesterday to protest against the proposed UGC criterion for promotion of teachers. Teachers opposed the promotion criterion which includes performance-based appraisal, point system and academic progression indexing. |
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Schools flouting nursery admission rules, allege agitating parents
New Delhi, December 23 Upset parents complained of the “mercenary attitude” in schools “who are only interested in making money” and have adopted an arbitrary procedure to conduct admissions in violation of the Department of Education guidelines. The dharna was organised by the Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangha. Its president Vijendra Gupta said, “Private schools have made a mockery of the DOE’s admission policy and they are violating DOE instructions on nursery admissions. Helpless parents are suffering at the hands of greedy school managements that are only interested in making money and admitting children of influential parents. Everything that should not be done is being done, schools are taking donations to admit children, they are following a very partisan admission policy, interviews are being conducted etc” Rakesh Sharma, a parent at the dharna, informs, “We have been running from pillar to post for my son’s admission and the government policy has had no effect on schools. They are conducting interviews with children and parents in violation of government and court orders. I had to pay Rs 800 for the form which should cost only Rs 25, they took Rs 800 as syllabus cost made compulsory against the fixed cost of the admission form. Also, we thought we would get till January 15 for form submissions but most schools are only giving us two or three days. It is the parents who are the sufferers.” Sumit Vohara, president of admissions nursery dot com, informs, “Private schools are flouting government guidelines for nursery admissions. Schools are using pressure tactics to extort illegal funds from parents. Schools have designed forms in such a manner that there is a column of salary or income of parents and this should not be happening. Schools are charging donations and non-admissible fees etc and lower income families are being harassed and also denied forms.” |
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Low-Floor Bus Fires
New Delhi, December 23 He said that Tata is not the only motor company manufacturing low-floor buses. Ashok Leyland and Volvo motor companies also manufacture low-floor buses, but it was never heard that those buses had caught fire. He said that the engine is fitted in the rear side of all the low-floor buses. The gap between the floor and the engine is less. As a result, the engine is not exposed to the air as much as it should be. It becomes hot and heats up the other portion of the bus jamming the tyre and break-shoe. As driver sits on the front, he is not aware of all these happenings, the technical expert pointed out. The rear side of other low-floor buses has enough space for the air that cools the engine, he claimed. On the other hand, an official of Tata Motors said that it was only recently a few buses had shown certain technical faults which were being corrected. The company was examining other buses also and would take appropriate action, he added. Tata Motors itself is responsible for the maintenance of the buses, carried out at DTC depots. The maintenance schedule includes mandatory daily checks. |
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Noida crossings may soon have cameras
Noida, December 23 Ajay Sahdev, SP (traffic), said, “Turbo Consultants has recently given presentation on how to monitor and manage traffic in the city. SSP A.K. Singh was present at the presentation.” “Twenty five major crossings have been identified for this. After installation of cameras, the traffic can be monitored from a control room. In case of traffic jams at any of these crossing, cops would be immediately dispersed to ease the situation,” said Sahdev. “Other advantage of these cameras would be that traffic violators could be identified from the control room itself and challans would be sent to them without having to man the crossings,” said Sahdev. “The total cost of the project has been estimated to be between Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore. Once we get an approval from SSP A.K. Singh, the proposal would be sent to the Traffic Headquarters at Lucknow for approval,” said Sahdev. |
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Rare brain surgery gives Iraqi boy a new lease of life
New Delhi, December 23 Ahmed suffered a stroke about six months back, following which he was diagnosed with an abnormal artery in the left side of brain by doctors in Iraq. Such cases are believed to be rare, with seven to eight persons having it in one lakh population. “It is an uncommon case with hardly two people among every 100 such patients are found to have the rare type of aneurysm (widening of the blood vessel) as the Iraqi boy has,” said Dr Pranav Kumar, neurologist in Apollo, who led the team of doctors for the complex surgery. The brain gets blood from heart through four arteries and they are interconnected because of which if one artery among the four is blocked, the other three carry the unhindered supply of blood to the brain. He added, “The stroke left him with unclear speech and partial paralysis in the right side of the body. The boy was born with the anomaly and if the abnormal artery had not been corrected by the bypass, it could have led to further disability.” According to Dr Pranav, the corrective surgery—STA-MCA-Bypass (Superficial Temporal Artery-Middle Cerebral Artery-Bypass)—in which two arteries are conjoined has shown a high failure rate as of date and not many hospitals have come up with successful cases in India. Detailing out the complexity involved in the surgery, neuro-interventionist Dr Harsh Rastogi said, “The treatment has defused the time bomb that Ahmed was living with and the bypass surgery, which involved joining an artery from the face to an artery in the brain, has resumed the normal blood supply to the brain.” Explaining that the aim of the entire treatment was to prevent future stroke, Dr Pranav outlined, “The entire procedure was carried in two steps. The first part entailed the bypass, which was conducted on December 5 and in the second sitting, the deceased artery was blocked after about a week. It was during a seven-hour operation that the blood supply to the brain could be supplemented.” The treatment incurred a cost of over Rs 13 lakh and as the family was poor, the expenses were borne by a Christian organisation in Australia and the Apollo Hospital. |
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No AIIMS treatment for gangster Bajrangi, says court
New Delhi, December 23 Chief metropolitan magistrate Kaveri Baweja, who had sought a reply from the Deen Dayal Upadhyay
(DDU) Hospital on the issue, while dismissing the plea said Bajrangi did not require treatment at
AIIMS. The medical superintendent of DDU Hospital in his reply said Bajrangi was suffering from hypertension which could be adequately treated at the jail hospital. The report also stated that the accused was twice advised by the doctors to get admitted to the hospital, but he denied. Meanwhile, Bajrangi submitted that he was undergoing severe pain as a bullet was lodged in his body. His counsel said even though he was being treated at the hospital, he was not getting any relief.
Bajrangi was arrested on October 29 from Mumbai by a joint team of the Delhi police and the Uttar Pradesh police for allegedly making extortion demand from a Delhi-based businessman. He has been booked under the stringent MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) for allegedly running an organised criminal gang. |
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The Bhutanese history through camera lens
New Delhi, December 23 Speaking at the inaugural function, president of the Indian Council for Cultural Research, Karan Singh said that the photographs portray a picture of what Bhutan was, how it changed and what it is now. Later in the day, visitors thronged the gallery to see the exhibition which attempts to look back into the Bhutanese history through a camera lens. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the pictures clicked by the king himself. On display are 88 images sourced from private collections in India and Bhutan. One of the earliest photographs of the Ashley Eden Mission in Bhutan in 1863 comes from the Alkazi collection. A photograph of Bhutan's king and queen is taken from the collection of the Queen Grandmother of Bhutan Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck. It was clicked at the Taj Mahal in 1954. Kuensel Corporation has contributed with a photograph of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Thimpu in May 2008. Pramod Kumar KG, who conceived the show with Namita Gokhale, said, "The exhibition includes several archival photographs that have never been exhibited before. This is the first time images clicked by the king are being exhibited." The different sections of the exhibition focus on several aspects. While one section captures the different moods of Bhutan and its people through the king's camera, another section focuses on 'History of Photography in Bhutan'. Another section, 'Indo-Bhutanese ties since 1949', portrays state visits of political leaders from India and reciprocal journeys from Bhutan. "The selection of images looks at the genre of documentary and press photographs and the slot created by them in the official narrative of nations. The king has traversed the length and breadth of his country, often on foot. His photographs are both an objective record and personal testimony of his empathy and engagement with his nation and add a different colour to the exhibition," said Lily Wangchhuk, one of the curators of the exhibition who also manages the Wangchhuk Photography Club. |
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HC directs police, govt to attend parole pleas
New Delhi, December 23 Justice Kailash Gambhir after seeing the status report of the Delhi police wherein only nine parole pleas of undertrials are pending said, “Before the court’s direction police and ministry was not giving due attention on the parole pleas. It is also noted that selective pleas were disposed of but other applications were lying pending for considerable period of time.” “It is now directed that as soon as parole pleas is received, the police and ministry will take necessary steps to decide the application of the convict. The commissioner of police is also directed to see verification is carried out in a time bound manner without causing any delay,” the court said. Delhi police Counsel Meera Bhatia assured the court that the pending nine pleas will be disposed of within 20 working days. The court was hearing the plea of former constable Sumer Singh, who is undergoing life imprisonment for his involvement in the Connaught Place shootout case in which two businessmen were shot dead by a police squad after being mistaken as gangsters of Uttar Pradesh. Sumer Singh has sought three months’ parole for arranging funds for filing an appeal in the apex court challenging his conviction.
— IANS |
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Graft Case: Company secretary files bail plea
New Delhi, December 23 Banthia and R.Vasudevan, a member of the company’s law board, were arrested while the former was giving a bribe to the latter to pass an order in his favour. Judge O.P. Saini posted the matter for January 7 after he was told that the accused had filed a similar plea in the Delhi High Court. Earlier, on December 10, the court had once dismissed the bail plea of Banthia on the grounds that the investigation was still in its initial stage. Meanwhile, the magistrate also extended the judicial custody of Banthia and Vasudevan for 14 days till January 5. The accused were produced in the court on the expiry of their judicial custody. The probe agency had lodged a case against the two under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with graft and corrupt practices. Earlier, the bail plea of Vasudevan was dismissed after the CBI said that it had found that the accused had amassed Rs 2.27 crore through corrupt means. The duo was arrested by the CBI on November 23. Around Rs 55 lakh, including the alleged bribe, were recovered from Vasudevan’s official residence at South Delhi during a search at the time of his arrest. |
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1,200 families resettled in Bawana denied plots by DDA
New Delhi, December 23 The people were evicted in 2004 from slums in the Yamuna Pushta area, located between ITO and Old Yamuna Bridge and other slums in the Capital, including the site which is being currently used for building Commonwealth Games village by the DDA. The other spaces vacated are now being utilised for the Yamuna development project and mega commercial projects such as Delhi Metro Supported by an NGO, Hazards Centre, slum dwellers from Bawana resettlement colony, near the Haryana border, said they have been forced to live under the open sky and are still waiting for a plot of land in the colony. “The documents of all these 1,200 families are complete in all respect and lying with the DDA for the past two years. DDA officials are not ready to take any action but are finding excuses to reject the papers,” said Dunu Roy, member of the NGO. He said that the DDA has now set up a committee to verify these documents. “We helped these families in getting all their documents required for the plot allotment like ration card and voter ID cards, which is otherwise supposed to be done by the authority itself. And now they are want verification for the documents,” he said. Exposing the government’s neglect towards the resettlement colonies is a water survey done by the NGO which reveals that water quality in these areas contaminated to the extent that it has the presence of coliform bacteria, fluoride and chlorine residual. The residents said that they are living in pathetic conditions with one toilet per 27 households, that too after being charged Rs 2 per person. The upkeep of the toilets is being done by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The residents alleged that they have been approaching the DDA authorities and the Lt-Governor for the past two years, but are yet to see any positive outcome of their efforts. |
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Chilly weather continues
New Delhi, December 23 Those planning to fly out of the city for Christmas celebrations can breathe a sigh of relief as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that there would be no dense fog in the coming days. “The minimum temperature recorded early this morning was 6.4 degrees. The mercury is likely to drop further in the coming days, owing to snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir,” a Met department official said. It was a clear morning with no fog, the official said, adding: “Slight fog would be there in the coming days. But dense fog is unlikely.” The maximum temperature is expected to be around 21.1 degrees. The cyclone that struck southern India earlier this month changed the current weather pattern in the northern region, the expert added. Delhi had on Tuesday recorded the season’s lowest temperature at 6.4
degrees. — IANS |
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With underpass, ITO Chungi junction becomes signal-free
New Delhi, December 23 Speaking at the inaugural function of ITO Chungi underpass, he said that the government was preparing for the Commonwealth Games. It should also focus on the training of sportsmen. Only flyovers, roads and stadiums were not enough for the Games. Reacting to East Delhi MP’s question, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that intensive training was on to make players competent enough to win medals during the Games. At present, flyovers, roads and other things connected to the Games are visible. During the Games, competence of players will also come to the fore. Inaugurating the underpass, Sheila Dikshit stated that there had been a remarkable change in Trans-Yamuna area as far as developmental activities were concerned. “We promised to make Delhi a world-class city and develop all parts of the city, including Trans-Yamuna area. The commissioning of the underpass project today is a major milestone in fulfilling our promise,” she added. ITO Chungi junction has now become signal-free. The underpass has been constructed with a cost of Rs 81.77 crore in two years. A 750-meter-long underpass facilitates a free flow of traffic from Akshardham to Gandhi Nagar. It has four cloverleaves of nine meter wide, 60-meter-radius for free right turn, two slip roads and footpath for free left turn from ITO to Geeta Colony and Akshardham to ITO. Dikshit complimented efforts of the PWD on commissioning such important projects which would add to the comfort of visitors and local persons during the Commonwealth Games and even after that. She also expressed confidence that all projects relating to the Games would be completed well before time. She called upon people to get ready for the big event. |
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Woman strangled, husband absconding
New Delhi, December 23 According to information, Rihanna was found dead by her son around 11 last night in their house at Jayantilal bulding of Chandni Chowk. In his statement to the police, the boy has said that his father who was drunk sent him to get food from a nearby stall and by the time he returned, his mother was lying dead on the ground while his father Ateequddin was missing. Rihanna was rushed to the nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead. It is believed that she was strangulated. Ateequddin worked as a handcart puller. The police investigation has revealed that he distrusted his wife and believed that she was having an extramarital affair. “The duo often fought over the issue and two days ago also, Attequddin accused the deceased of moving with other men. This led to a fight between the couple and Rihanna was severely beaten by her drunk husband,” said a police official hinting at the motive behind the murder. |
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Fake drugs factory raided, 1 arrested
New Delhi, December 23 The manufacturing unit was being run from the east Gokulpuri area. Large quantity of spurious drugs, packaging material and packing machine have been recovered from the unit. Vikas had already been declared a proclaimed offender in 2007 by a court in another case of manufacturing of spurious drugs. According to Alok Kumar, DCP (special cell), Vikas was arrested on Sunday night with a consignment of spurious drugs from Fauji dhaba on G.T. Road, Sonepat, Haryana. During interrogation, he disclosed that he had been running a spurious medicines racket and procured ayurvedic tablets from a factory in Sonepat. "The said factory was also raided. A total of 1,62,000 tablets of Medipyrin and 56,000 tablets of Painkill, both allopathic medicines, were seized from the factory. Seven samples of medicines were sealed by the drug inspector," said DCP Kumar. Vikas revealed that he used to pack ayurvedic tablets in strips bearing false names of branded drugs in his factory in Gokulpuri and sell them in market. According to the police, Vikas was manufacturing pain killers, Diclofenac and Vovran tablets of Novartis India Ltd Company. He used to manufacture spurious medicines under the guise of "chatpat golis" for children. |
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Drunk man threatens hijack
New Delhi, December 23 According to information, Naveen Kumar, a resident of Gurgaon, had boarded the Jet Airways flight in an inebriated condition along with his five companions. He picked up a fight with an airhostess over delay in taking off of the flight. ‘’Since the flight was rescheduled from 10:30 pm to 11.30 pm, the group spent the time drinking at the airport and almost missed the flight. On entering the plane, Naveen, who was badly drunk, got into an altercation with an airhostess and threatened that he had a bomb in his bag and would hijack the plane’’ said a police official. Scared by the threat, the crew immediately informed the security staff, after which the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel de-planed the six passengers. “Their luggage was checked, and although there was no bomb, they were detained for questioning. Later, Naveen was arrested under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Since the rest five had played no role, they were let off,” the officer informed. According to information, the group was on their way to Shirdi via Mumbai. Absconding
murderer held
The south district police has arrested a murder convict who had jumped parole. The woman, Shanti Lakra (50), residing in Faridabad (Haryana), has been convicted for the murder of a Delhi police constable in December 1989. The police team managed to trace the absconding convict and apprehended her from the park in front of Haujrani in Malviya Nagar. It was established that she was convicted by a trial court. Thereafter, she had filed an appeal against her conviction, and during the hearing she was released on parole. In July 2009, when her appeal was dismissed and her conviction order upheld, she did not surrender. |
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Cricket betting racket busted
New Delhi, December 23 The accused have been identified as Manish,
Vishal, Hitender, Pankaj, Ravi and Praveen Sharma. According to S.P.
Hooda, DCP (North), the accused were arrested after the police received information that some people in Malkaganj were betting on Saturday’s cricket match between Sri Lanka and India. “The accused were apprehended red-handed while betting on the match. Approximately Rs 3 lakh were at stake,” said DCP
Hooda. The police has recovered 19 mobile phones, a laptop, a TV set and a calculator from them. It has been found that betting to the tune of nearly Rs 40 lakh had been made recently. |
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CM launches calendar to mark Games
New Delhi, December 23 The calendar features works of 12 of India’s most renowned artists. The commemorative calendar is an artistic start to the year ahead when Delhi will be the proud host city to the Commonwealth Games. The calendar reflects the Indian art portraying the rich culture and unique diversity of the country. Presenting the work of 12 artists, this piece of art is homage to the vast wealth that India treasures, the Chief Minister said. |
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SPM students protest ‘financial anomalies’
New Delhi, December 23 Hundreds of girl students sat outside the college gate and barred entry to the college. The students then gathered inside the college and started shouting slogans against the administration. “The administration of the college is involved in serious financial irregularities and the students’ representatives are not called for any of the meetings where crucial decisions are taken,” said Kirti
Wadhera, vice-president, Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). The students said there was misuse of funds given by sponsors during the festival. |
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