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Anand Vihar Metro opens a new chapter in E. Delhi
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Fog hits commuters
Class XII girl commits suicide
Deportation of FTII girl makes Nepalese students in JNU insecure
Free electric car charging scheme
MCD seeks ownership rights for slum dwellers
Extortionist seeking Rs 50 lakh held
Hotel Allotment Case: Noida police begins probe
Fire at Sarita Vihar slum kills 4 children
MLA beaten, robbed
Girl goes missing from outside Noida office
Animal trader robbed of
Rs 2.90 lakh
Discom donates woollens
3 more swine flu deaths in Delhi
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Anand Vihar Metro opens a new chapter in E. Delhi
New Delhi, January 6 Taking a ride with the government dignitaries and media, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief E.Sreedharan said the line was a major achievement for the residents of East Delhi and expected to make travel easier for 60,000 people to begin with. The line that will be opened to the public from 6 am tomorrow will also benefit residents of the adjoining Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The estimated daily projected traffic for this line by the end of 2011 is 1,03,450 commuters. With the opening of Line 4, the Metro network now spreads almost 96 km and has 83 stations. The last section opened by Delhi Metro to Noida faced major challenges meeting the rush on the route as the stations stood crowded within the first week. “The DMRC has ordered 83 new trains to meet the increased number of passengers,” said Sreedharan. He said 16 trains have already arrived. These trains would be in both four and six coach categories. On the sidelines of the inauguration, Reddy expressed confidence that all the projects undertaken for the Commonwealth Games would be finished by September this year. “All the projects would be completed by September. There is nothing to worry,” he said. The fully elevated Anand Vihar line is 6.25-km-long and passes through residential and institutional areas of East Delhi. The five stations on the section are Laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar, Preet Vihar, Karkarduma and Anand Vihar. This line would be extended to two more stations in Uttar Pradesh, Vaishali and Kaushambi by September. Vikas Marg is the central corridor of Delhi and is one of its busiest roads. It witnesses heavy jams because of which it can take up to 40 minutes to travel from Yamuna Bank to Anand Vihar by road. The Metro, however, will cover the same distance in just one-fourth of the time, about 11 minutes. The Anand Vihar station is a major integrating terminal that brings together three modes of public transport—Metro, the Indian Railways and the Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT). The area for the Metro station and the ISBT is common enabling commuters to access both of them easily. The DMRC has constructed two foot over bridges at Laxmi Nagar and Nirman Vihar stations. Metro officials have also proposed property development at the Karkarduma and Anand Vihar stations. Parking facilities will be available at Karkarduma, Anand Vihar and Yamuna Bank stations. The depot for Line 4 trains will be Yamuna Bank. It can stable around 40 trains at one time. The facilities at the depot include a washing plant, train maintenance workshop, stabling and inspection lines. |
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CP beautification drive causes harrowing traffic jams
New Delhi, January 6 The traffic went haywire blocking all the major routes around Pragati Maidan, including the busy Ring Road, entire ITO, Mathura Road, Tilak Marg, Bhairon Marg, Bhagwan Dass Road, Purana Quila Road and Shershah Road. Things went out of control and the police failed to ensure smooth flow of traffic after one carriageway of Bhairon Marg was closed and traffic was not allowed to enter the route from the Ring Road side, putting extra vehicular load on Ring Road and ITO. “I was stuck in the traffic for over two hours when it takes just 20 to 30 minutes. At one point of time, the vehicular queue was till Ghazipur area, close to the border,” said Manoj Kumar who was heading towards Connaught Place. “My office is just 4 minutes from here. For the past 20 minutes, there has been no movement,” said Sheetal as she tried to get out of the jam at Tilak Bridge. “From cycles to crowded buses, everything was fighting for space on the same road,” said Shyam Lall, a driver who scratched his bonnet as a motorcyclist tried to cross over from Janpath to Palika Bazar. “It’s like CP has become a dangerous maze. So many pits dug up everywhere and construction material strewn all around. It is but a mistake to use your own vehicle to commute,” said Ajay Rathore, who came to CP for shopping. Commuters got confused which added to the snarl as the right turn from Mathura Road to Bhagwan Dass Road and Purana Quila Road is prohibited. ‘U’ turn on Mathura Road will not be permitted. The renovation of CPwill come up with eight subways and all the existing ones are being refurbished. New subways will come up at Super Bazar, Minto Road, State Entry Road, Chelmsford Road, Sher Bhagat Singh Marg, and two each on Punchkuian Road and Barakhamba Road on either side of the Metro line. “It is very hard to drive in such long traffic jam, especially when the person behind you is honking continually,” said Vishi Mathur, an office-goer. Those commuting towards Gurgaon had a real bad time. |
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Fog hits commuters
New Delhi, January 6 Fog in the early morning affected rail traffic and also gave a tough time to commuters on road, mainly around the Yamuna where the fog was thickest. The coming days will bring more teeth-cluttering as the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted a further drop in temperature tomorrow with maximum at 20 degree Celsius and minimum to dip further to a 4 degrees. So far the minimum temperature has not touched 4 degrees this season, if it does so tomorrow, it will bring about the season’s lowest minimum temperature. For the next two days, the conditions will only worsen, said a Met official. The minimum temperature today at 5.6 was one degree below the normal for this time of the year, even the maximum temperature dipped to 19 degree Celsius, two notches below the normal. With visibility dropping to almost 100 metres around 6 am today, situation toughened for those travelling in the early morning. The visibility rose to around 400 metres after nearly three hours. “There was dense fog in the morning which lowered the visibility level. However, things improved once the day advanced,” the official added. |
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Class XII girl commits suicide
New Delhi, January 6 According to information, chemistry teacher Vineeta Sharma was dragged down the stairs by her hair and beaten up by the mob in the school premises. The incident was sparked by the alleged suicide of a class XII girl student belonging to the school early morning today. Himanshi (17) allegedly killed herself by hanging in her bathroom around 7.30 am today. According to a teacher of the school Alpana Vajpayee, Himanshi had failed in three subjects recently and her mother was called to the school for discussion with her class teacher yesterday. “The meeting was held between Vineeta Sharma and Himanshi’s mother and it went off well wherein Himanshi was asked to concentrate on her studies. Her mother even thanked Vineeta for taking interest in the studies of her daughter. However, we were hurt to hear that Himanshi committed suicide today morning,” said Vajpayee. Even as the teachers sat mourning for the deceased, a mob of around 50 men barged into the school around 11 am and started assaulting schoolteachers and staff. According to information, Vineeta Sharma was pulled out of the room and dragged by her hair down the stairs. “She was brutally beaten by five people and she was saved by some male teachers who in turn were beaten up. We locked Vineeta in another room,” said Vajpayee adding that the group even threatened the school principal. It was only when the police was called in that sanity prevailed and the mob was chased out of the school premises. The mob alleged that Himanshi committed suicide on provocation by Vineeta Sharma. According to information, apart from Vineeta, four teachers were injured in the incident but they have decided against lodging the complaint. Vineeta was taken to AIIMS for a medical examination under police escort later in the evening. A case in this regard has been lodged at the Saket police station. According to the police, on the complaint of Vineeta Sharma, a case of assault and obstructing government servant from performing his duties has been lodged. |
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Deportation of FTII girl makes Nepalese students in JNU insecure
New Delhi, January 6 A Nepalese girl Neetu Singh was arrested by Pune police from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on the night of December 5, alleging that she was a threat to national security. Neetu’s husband Amaresh Singh is a research scholar enrolled at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here. The Nepalese students studying at JNU said they felt insecure after the episode. “This case makes foreign students like us feel humiliated and insecure in a democratic country like India,” said Sudeep Shrestha, a Nepalese student enrolled in Ph.D. at JNU. There are almost 30 students studying in different schools at JNU right now. Expressing shock at the case of deportation, the students said they did not expect the Indian government to arbitrarily pick up students under serious offences like “threat to national security”. “India is the largest democracy in the world, where the rule of law is important. But this whole episode is dangerous and sets a precedent that any foreigner could be harassed and deported with total disregard to law,” Dinesh Kafle, an MA student at JNU. The students condemned the silence and doubted the complicity of Nepalese government in the matter. They said it was a national shame that even after so much media coverage of the case, neither the Nepalese government and nor the opposition there has responded to the issue so far. “The media reports suggested that on her (Neetu) arrival in Nepal, her documents were seized at the international airport in Kathmandu. She was put on a flight to her home district and was then put under house arrest for a week,” said Shrestha. He also reiterated that there was no extradition treaty between Nepal and India. “There are reports that the police machinery was misused to settle personal scores with the Nepalese girl. It would benefit the government to investigate the case and publicise the report,” said Shrestha. The students have asked for support from all sections and demanded both the governments to make arrangements for the girl’s return into the institute to complete her course. |
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Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
New Delhi, January 6 The PBD, organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Delhi government, acts as a platform for networking with the persons of Indian origin settled all over the world on matters of common interests and concerns. But the trade unions said the programme was marked by lack of transparency as it excluded the issues of workers migrating out of India on a large scale. The trade union leaders today submitted a memorandum to the MOIA and the Delhi government, alleging that PBD has turned its priorities upside down as it does not give space to discuss the problems of migrant workers who are the backbone of remittances to India. Similarly, the issues related to financial crisis do not find any place. “We have demanded that the MOIA should immediately talk to the trade unions as well as organise a meeting with the distinguished international trade union leaders attending PBD. We want the government of India to adopt and implement an international migration policy through a democratic process,” said Pallavi Mansingh, from Labour Support Organisation. According to the trade union leaders, India is one of the world’s largest migrant sending countries (20 million migrants, according to World Migration Report 2005) and also hosts migrants from various countries (placed eighth in the world in 2005). India is the largest recipient of workers’ remittances at US$ 52 billion in 2009, according to the World Bank estimates. Most of these remittances are made not by highly skilled NRIs in the West, but by unskilled and semi-skilled migrants who comprise the bulk of labour migrating out of India. “PBD must involve unions and civil society organisations and should not be restricted to alliances with businesses alone. The Indian government is required to recognise India not only as a migrant sending country but also a migrant receiving and transit country,” she said. |
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Free electric car charging scheme
New Delhi, December 6 However, DERC officials said that the reply was not satisfactory and that it needed to be examined. BYPL in December 2009 announced that it would provide free electricity for charging electric cars, after which the DERC had sent a letter to BYPL asking how it planned to manage the cost of the initiative. “They have asked for a clarification and we have said that the whole scheme is well within our budget,” said Ramesh Narayanan, CEO BYPL. “It is our dream initiative and we would install meters across Delhi for it,” he said. However, the DERC officials said that the plan seemed non-feasible. The BYPL in its reply letter has said that the initiative would cost over Rs 6 lakh, but according to DERC it is doubtful. “The BYPL has claimed that charging a car for eight hours would consume just 4 to 5 units of electricity, which I think is not true,” said Tiwari. “The project will be examined and studied t and any further directions will be issued only after that,” he said. “We do not want the burden to be passed on to the public. Hence we have asked for an explanation from the power company,” said Amarender Tiwari, secretary, DERC. “The company in its reply has said that it will fix around 200 meters across Delhi. But it is obvious, as it cannot supply electricity without meters. There is nothing new in it,” he said. |
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MCD seeks ownership rights for slum dwellers
New Delhi, January 6 “If the slum dwellers are given ownership rights, we will not have to spend on the maintenance of these properties,” said Leader of MCD House Subhash Arya. A delegation of the MCD yesterday met union home minister P. Chidamabaram with this demand, as the proposal needs approval from the Centre. However, the Congress, which is in opposition in the MCD, blamed the BJP for the poor financial status of the slum department. “The MCD has been given a target of constructing 7,000 flats under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The central government, through the Delhi government, had released Rs 10 crore for the construction of the flats. But the fund is lying unutilised till date and not a single flat has been constructed,” said opposition leader JK Sharma. Opposing MCD’s plan to transfer or dispose of properties of the slum wing for revenue, Arya said that the civic body should not transfer or dispose of any property till a decision was taken in this regard. “In place of auctioning the plots, the MCD should give them for development of malls and commercial complexes on lease. This way, the MCD would earn money as well as retain its lands,” said Sharma. |
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Extortionist seeking Rs 50 lakh held
New Delhi, January 6 H.G.S. Dhaliwal, DCP (south) said the complaint in this regard was lodged by one Habibul Hassan, a resident of Daya Nand Colony in Lajpat Nagar, who deals in garment export and owns a factory in Manihari Street, Farukhabad, by the name Ethnic Craft Art. “On December 22, Hassan received an extortion call demanding Rs 50 lakh. The caller threatened to kill him if his demand was not fulfilled. In order to create panic, the accused threw pieces of chicken in front of Hassan’s house in Farukhabad and threatened that next time he would cut an arm of one of his relatives and send it to his house if he did not get the money,” he said . A case in this regard was registered at the Lodhi Colony police station. The police learnt that the criminals were operating from Delhi and Farukhabad. A deal was finally struck and the caller agreed to accept Rs 5 lakh as first installment. A place near Surya Hotel in New Friends Colony was fixed for the delivery of the money. A police team laid a trap at the specified place and arrested the person who came to collect money from the victim,” said Dhaliwal. The arrested person identified himself as Arif Khan, a resident of Karnalganj in Fatehgarh. Khan disclosed that in April 2007 while he was residing in Farukhabad, he had kidnapped a boy, Madhu Sudan Katiyar. “He befriended Katiyar with help from his neighbour Shivam Kateria and abducted him for Rs 20 lakh. But when his demand could not materialise, he killed the boy and escaped to Mumbai,” said the officer. |
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Hotel Allotment Case: Noida police begins probe
Noida, January 6 Though the state government had suspended 16 officials, the case was registered against 15 persons only as one accused who was the then chief legal consultant in authority, was presently posted in judicial position and for lodging an FIR against him, necessary permission was being sought . “On Tuesday, two accused V.K.Jain, the then accounts officer and L.K.Gupta, the then chief project engineer, were interrogated. Other accused were being called for interrogation,” said R.N.Mishra, deputy superintendent of police and inquiry officer of the case. On August 13, an FIR was lodged by Mukesh Srivastava from the authority industry department as per the state government’s directions against 15 officers. It was alleged that these officers caused a loss of Rs 4,721 crore to the authority by forging the documents and selling the commercial land at industry sector rates. All the accused have got a stay over their arrest. After the Mulayam Singh government’s approval, the then principal secretary (tourism) Om Prakash on May 22, 2006, had issued the government order, putting the hotels under industry category and directed the development authorities in the state to identify the sites for hotels and allot at industry sector rates prevalent in their area. |
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Fire at Sarita Vihar slum kills 4 children
New Delhi, January 6 “We got a call about fire at a slum in Sarita Vihar around 1.45 am. Although the number of injured persons is not yet confirm, four children of the same family were killed in the fire,” said a fire official. According to information, the deceased — three girls and a boy—were children of a widow who works as a maid. They have been identified as Gudia (14), Shilpa (10), Sunil (8) and Laxmi (4). Their mother, Anu, is admitted at AIIMS Trauma Centre. “The reason of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Six fire fighting engines were sent to douse the flames,” the fire official added. |
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MLA beaten, robbed
New Delhi, January 6 “Armed with sticks and knives, the attackers started banging on my car asking me to come out. As I stepped out, they slapped and abused me,” Vaidya said. He further said the attackers did not change their mind even after knowing that he was an MLA and decamped with his watch and wallet. The 33-year-old legislator, who did not receive any major injuries in the attack, said some locals came to his rescue him. A complaint in this regard was registered at the New Ashok Nagar police station. “Vaidya has given the names of people involved in the attack and we are trying to trace them,” said deputy commissioner of police (east)
K.C. Dwivedi. |
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Girl goes missing from outside Noida office
Noida, January 6 Victim’s brother, Dhiraj Kumar, alleged that her sister was kidnapped by one Vikrant Kumar who used to harass her. Today, he came to her office and when she came out to meet him, he kidnapped her. P.P. Singh, station house officer, Sector 20 police station, said, “The Scooty on which they went belonged to the girl. Initial investigations revealed that she went with the boy on her own. The two had studied together at Roorkee and were in love with each other.” |
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Animal trader robbed of
Rs 2.90 lakh
Greater Noida, January 6 “Ashok Kumar, a resident of Rohtak, does animal trading in the Dankore area. Last evening, he was returning home on his scooter with Rs 2.90 lakh. As he reached the main road of Talda village, two persons on a bike forced him to halt. Before he could understand anything, another biker appeared on the spot and snatched his bag containing the money. When he resisted, the criminals assaulted him with sticks,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, deputy superintendent of police. “On the basis of the description given by Ashok Kumar, a computer sketch of the accused will be prepared. Kumar has told us that they were talking in the local language. A manhunt has been launched to arrest the robbers, but till late evening today they were not traceable,” said Singh. |
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Discom donates woollens
New Delhi, January 6 For the third edition of the ARPAN initiative, senior BRPL and BYPL officials gave the articles to the poor in their areas. While BRPL partnered with ‘Freedom Trust’, BYPL collaborated with Shama Educational and Polytechnic Society, for the initiative. Both the NGOs are working for the needy. The BRPL’s function was organized at Tigdi village in South Delhi, where the company’s senior management led by CEO Gopal Saxena and officials of Freedom Trust distributed woollens amongst the 3,000 underprivileged families of the village. BYPL organized its function in Seelampur’s CPJ Block. The discom distributed clothes to over 2,000 residents in the area. |
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3 more swine flu deaths in Delhi
New Delhi, January 6 “But we are yet to get the details of the patients from the hospital. Besides, the Capital today received 13 new cases of the contagious flu, pushing the cumulative tally to 9,508 and of these one is a child,” she added. |
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Delhi minister for finance, planning and power Ashok Kumar Walia with union minister for urban development Jaipal Reddy, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and DMRC chairman E. Sreedharan flag off a Metro train on the
Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar line in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tribune photo
