New Delhi, March 9
The Delhi Transport Corporation has asked its officials to take action against conductors who do not reach out to the passengers for tickets and, instead, remain glued to their seats.

A circular to this effect has been issued to all depot managers. Disciplinary action, including suspension from service, termination and transfer would be taken against the conductors, sources said.

The circular has been issued on the basis of a report submitted by the personnel of DTC mobile squads launched this month.

The squad personnel said a large number of passengers have been caught travelling without tickets. Majority of the passengers are willing to purchase the ticket, but conductors do not come to them. Conductors think that approaching passengers for tickets, as it happens in private buses, is not their duty and passengers should instead come to them on their own, mobile squad officials told the DTC.

Passengers generally look for vacant seats in the generally crowded buses and rush to occupy them instead of buying tickets.

During questioning, many passengers said they found it difficult to go to the conductors for ticket due to rush. They were willing to purchase the tickets provided the conductor came to them.

Only four mobile squads are operating in Delhi so far and they are all on Ring Road.

DTC’s spokesperson M. S. Sehrawat said that it was duty of the conductor to ask the passengers for the ticket. If he does not ask, it is an offence, he said.

He also said that the DTC had appealed to the passengers that they should not travel without ticket. They should co-operate with conductors. DTC is incurring a loss of Rs 40 crore every month, claimed the spokesperson.

New Delhi, March 9
The debate over the naming of Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s new headquarters is far from over. After the naming committee of the civic body passed a resolution finalising its name as ‘Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Seva Kendra’, the opposition Congress party is up in arms and said that it would take the matter to the home ministry.

“There is no single government body or building in the whole country named after a politician. BJP cannot take decision on its own because it is a public property. We will speak to the home minister in this regard as the decision is motivated by politics,” said Jai Kishan Sharma, leader of opposition.

He said that the party will raise the issue in the next meeting of standing committee of the corporation. “We will ask for justification in the next meeting and will not allow the proceedings until the party takes back its decision,” he said.

However, the BJP leaders seem to be adamant and said their decision to name the new building after Shyama Prasad Mukherjee is final.

“The entire Delhi, including roads, areas, markets and now even Metro stations, is named after famous Congress leaders. We have never opposed to their choice. We are represented leaders of people and the final call would be taken by us,” said BJP leader and ex-chairman standing committee, Vijender Gupta.

He said that the minutes of the resolution will be tabled before the MCD House. It will be implemented once the House passes it.

“We have the support of our members and after the next meeting, the resolution will be implemented,” he said.

Though, the Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna a few days back recommended naming the building as ‘New Town Hall’, the Congress was pushing hard for the new civic centre to be called as ‘Mahatma Gandhi civic centre’.

New Delhi, March 9
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today launched the country’ first satellite-monitored streetlight system in the Capital, which can automatically turn off and on as per sunrise and sunset.

The Rs 3.2 million project was inaugurated by Municipal Commissioner KS Mehra.

The streetlights are remote controlled, which can be switched on and off using an internet-enabled main server located in the new civic center at Minto Road.

“The system is based on global satellite monitoring (GSM) and general packet radio service (GPRS) on which the mobiles work. They will be switched on and off according to sunset and sunrise. This conserves energy and reduces carbon emissions,” said Mehra

The first phase of this streetlight upgradation project under the MCD will become operational from today. It will cover a distance of 101 km on 52 roads, including Lodhi Road, Bhishma Pitah Marg and Jawaharlal Nehru Marg.

In the first phase, 2,235 light poles have been erected. The second phase of the project covering an additional 157-km and 107 roads is slated to finish by May this year.

The project is being implemented by a consortium of companies — Phillips Electronics Ltd, BP Project Pvt Ltd and Sweka Power-Tech Engineers Pvt Ltd. Delhi-based Sweka is responsible for developing software and related technology.

“Each feeder pillar, powering approximately 70 to 80 lights, will be controlled by a device which has a SIM card with GPRS connectivity. The new system also facilitates auto-remote metering of energy consumption and can monitor power quality. The lights can be simultaneously turned on or off during bad weather or traffic conditions,” said a senior MCD engineer.

He said in the event of fault or theft from a feeder pillar, the alarm would go off in the main server and an SMS would be sent to the area’s maintenance staff for correction.

New Delhi, March 9
A day after a survey anointed Delhi as the best city to live in India, statistics released by the government today come as an icing on the cake. The per capita income in the national Capital has gone up while birth, death and infant mortality rates have declined, Delhi finance minister AK Walia said while releasing the Delhi Statistical Handbook 2009.

Walia said per capita income has gone up by Rs 8,452 in 2008-09 compared to the previous year when it was Rs 78,690 at current prices while it stood Rs 70,238 in 2006-2007. The national figure for per capita income is Rs 33,283. 

Infant mortality rate has also shown improvement from 25.44 per thousand live births in the previous year to 18.38 per thousand. Besides, there has been an increase in the total number of electricity consumers from 33,47,535 in 2007-2008 to 34,28,920 in 2008-2009. 

Collection from registered motor vehicle dealers under the Local Act and the Central Act was 8744.39 crore in 2007-08, which went up to 9959.12 in 2008-2009. 

Walia said Delhi had witnessed a sharp increase in registered motor vehicles. The figure was 56,27,384 in 2007-2008 which went up to 60,11,731 in 2008-09. There were 695 allopathic hospitals, including nursing homes, in Delhi with 36,507 beds as on December 31,   2008.  Per capita consumption of water increased from 48 gallons in 2007-08 to 50 in 2008-09. 

The Statistical Handbook serves as a reference book as it covers historical data on human developmental indices, climate and rainfall, prices, crime and accidents among others.  The important aspects like data on trade and finance, electricity sector, industry, labour and employment are also covered.  In addition, data on public distribution system, pattern of household consumer expenditure survey results pertaining to the unorganised sectors of economy, estimates of disable persons etc. has also been included in the publication.

Ghaziabad, March 9
The Uttar Pradesh board examination centre has been set up in Ghaziabad’s Dasna Jail for inmates of seven jails who wish to appear for Class X and XII exams for the first time.

The initiative has helped many inmates like Ramesh Kumar (25), (name changed) who was determined to take his Class XII examination in spite of being lodged in jail. He appeared for the exam at Dasna Jail.

“Apart from Ghaziabad, inmates have come from Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffar Nagar and Bulandshahr districts to appear at the Dasna Jail centre,” said V.K. Singh, Dasna Jail superintendent.

In all, 31 male and 15 female inmates have filled in the examination forms for Class X and XII.

Singh said that a separate centre for those lodged in jails has changed the mindset of students.

“Earlier, we were guarded by at least two policemen at the examination centre. It was humiliating for us before other students. Now we can write our exams freely at our own centre,” said Singh quoting an inmate.

Additional director general/ IG (prison) Sulkhan Singh said that funds for forms, books and other material were provided by the jail.

“The proposal was approved in May 2009 and 15 women inmates have also appeared for the exams,” IG police added.

Noida, March 9
Over 5,000 persons gathered today at the Indian Idol audition site at Expo Centre in Sector 62. As the gate was opened to allow the first batch of entrants, there was a stampede as everyone jostled to get in first. Twelve persons were injured in the process.

They were rushed to Fortis Hospital and discharged after the first-aid. The audition process was not affected and continued till late evening. It was expected to go overnight. It is a two-day event to select the persons for the mega show.

Additional force was deployed at the site later. Police said organizers should not give an open call for audition. They should issue tokens or send an SMS and thereby restrict the number of entrants.

Greater Noida, March 9
A woman was allegedly killed by her husband and his friends in Dadri on Saturday.

The killers, who allegedly raped her before the murder, then buried the body in haste. However, the police later exhumed the body and sent it for post-mortem.

The incident took place in Nai Abadi colony of Dadri. The accused husband, Jaan Mohammd, is a disc jockey. He married the victim, Afroz, around 10 years ago.

Yasin, Afroz’s brother, has lodged a report against five persons, including Jaan.

In his report, Yasin has alleged that Jaan had been harassing Afroz to bring a motorbike for him from her parents. He alleged that on Saturday night, Jaan and his drunk friends gangraped Afroz. When she resisted, she was killed.

According to reports, Jaan had an illicit relationship with another woman, which was resented by Afroz. So, Jaan planned the murder.

On Saturday, Jaan, after consuming liquor with four of his friends, beat up Afroz.

Next morning, Jaan told neighbours that Afroz died of heart attack. However, before burying the body, when some women were giving Afroze’s body the traditional bath, they noticed a number of injury marks on it.

Noticing the injury marks on the body, even the priest at the graveyard refused to conduct the last rites. However, despite this, Jaan and his friends buried Afroze’s body.

But someone informed the police about the death, after which the cops dug out the body from the grave and sent it for post-mortem.

SP (rural) Surinder Kumar said the police was waiting for the post-mortem report to proceed further and in the meantime was trying to nab the accused.

New Delhi, March 9
The Delhi police has arrested a married woman for killing an elderly woman with the help of her husband. The woman along with her husband was allegedly plotting to rob an elderly woman but ended up killing her.

The accused identified as — Hema and Gopal Aggarwal —allegedly murdered Manjeet Kaur who ran a marriage bureau on February 23. The victim reportedly lived alone.

While Hema has been arrested, her husband Gopal is absconding.

“Hema was arrested from Budh Vihar. She was in contact with Kaur for quite sometime. Hema and Gopal had to pay a huge debt. So they planned to rob some jewellery and cash from Kaur’s house,” said DCP (north-west) N.S. Bundela.

Hema and Gopal went to Kaur’s house in Rani Bagh on the pretext of meeting her casually. But they had planned to rob some precious items from there.

On February 23 the two overpowered Kaur and started robbing the house. When she started shouting, the couple allegedly slit her wrist and neck with a kitchen knife. As a result, Kaur died.

“The couple fled with cash and jewellery. But later they found that most of the jewellery pieces were artificial. Hema then threw the ornaments into an MCD garbage bin in Mangolpuri,” Bundela said.

New Delhi, March 9
Rahul Mahajan, who recently got married in a reality TV show last week, was today allowed by a Delhi court to get back his passport to visit the Maldives and Ireland for his honeymoon till March 31.

Allowing the plea of Mahajan who came alone, special judge J.P.S. Malik asked him to furnish a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh and a personal bond of the same amount for the release of his passport, which was deposited while he was granted bail in a pending drug abuse case against him.

The court also directed Rahul to give an undertaking that he will not shoot a film during his honeymoon period from March 9 to 30 and register his marriage within two months under the Hindu Marriage Act.

Rahul (35), son of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, got married on March 6 to 21-year-old Dimpy Ganguly in a reality show.

Earlier too, the court had granted him permission to visit Seychelles islands for honeymoon between August 30 and September 11, 2006 after his first marriage to Shweta Singh, a former pilot.

They later got divorced on August 1, 2008.

Rahul's passport has been in the custody of court since his involvement in a drug abuse case in 2006. He is not permitted to leave the country without the court's permission.

On June 2, 2006, Rahul and his father's secretary Vivek Moitra were admitted to the Apollo Hospital in the early hours after they allegedly consumed contraband drugs laced with alcohol at Pramod Mahajan's official residence at Safdarjung Road. Moitra died in the hospital.

Though Rahul was let off in a case of drug trafficking, which entails harsher punishment, he was booked for consuming banned drugs.

Rahul in his application moved through counsel Sanjeev Kumar on March 5 said he plans to "go to the Maldives and Ireland for his honeymoon on March 9 and stay there till March 30".

New Delhi, March 9
In an attempt to control the series of agitation taking place in and outside Delhi Technological University (DTU) after the Delhi government ended its affiliation to Delhi University (DU) and took over its administration, the university today appealed to its students to resume classes. The appeal is a change from the hard stance it had taken by expelling two students last week as they, it said, were leading the agitation.

Though DTU has been upgraded to state university status by the government, students are on a warpath as they believe that DU enjoys a better brand image.

Vice-chancellor P.B. Sharma told students to resume classes “to protect their own interests by not being provoked for agitation on rumours and misguidance.”

The appeal that was put on the college notice board last night said the DTU administration was open to dialogue with the student leaders.

“It is a sad we have not yet received any official representation from the leaders of the agitation which could have formed the basis for a dialogue between the two sides,” it said.

Talking about the expulsion of two students Ravi Shekhar and Nitin Baraiya, Sharma said the administration was forced to take action as they “dragged” students to protests.

Meanwhile, DU teachers have also supported the agitation as they see the change in the status of this institute as part of a “larger agenda” under which the state government could appease its own people.

“Being affiliated to a central university adds weight to the degree than just being a state-level university,” said Rajib Ray, member, DU Academic Council.

The teachers expressed apprehension that the Delhi government might also try to convert 12 other colleges affiliated to DU that it funds.

“We can already see the repercussions of it being a state university as many PSUs this year refused to recruit graduates form our institute,” said Ravi Shekhar, president, Students’ Association of DTU.