New Delhi, March 12
With the stir at Delhi Technological University (DTU) refusing to die down, there are chances that Delhi University (DU) will postpone the institute’s mid-term examinations starting in three days.

Even though Delhi Technological University has now become a state-level university, its examinations are still conducted by DU.

“The students of DTU are just like our students and we still conduct their exams with rest of the university,” said sources in DU administration. According to sources, DU administration does not want that DTU students, who are presently agitating against the conversion of their institute from Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) to DTU, to sit for exams unprepared.

“Examinations are taken very seriously in technical institutes. So we are trying hard to get them postponed,” said sources.

However, DU vice-chancellor Deepak Pental, who has the authority to take the decision, is out of station for a few days.

Several formal and informal meetings took place today at different levels around the city to find out a solution to the issue.

There are reports that a delegation also met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, social networking sites like Facebook are also abuzz about the controversy. Even cutting of the wi-fi connection of DTU by the administration did not deter students from reacting strongly against what they call an authoritarian attitude of vice-chancellor P.B. Sharma.

A meeting of the alumni and present students of DTU also took place in the city today to strategise the continuation of agitation.

Greater Noida, March 12
Allottees of the Yamuna Expressway Authority residential scheme have been inquiring about free access connectivity, as all projects are planned along the Yamuna Expressway.

The Yamuna Expressway Authority has conceptualised a plan along the Yamuna Expressway. It has planned to develop over 22 sectors.

Apart from Yamuna Expressway, the other two expressways that will connect internal roads are —Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Ganga Expressway. These two are Toll Expressways.

“If I build a house and shift there, I will have to pay toll tax even to go to my office in Greater Noida. I am inquiring about free access connectivity. If I have to pass through the Toll Expressway, I will have to sell my plot and purchase a house in Noida,” said Jitender Prasad, an MNC employee and allottee of 500 sq metre residential plot.While many allottees were questioning toll tax on the Yamuna e-way.

“The five plots measuring 500 hectare each, given to the developer to recover the cost of the project was more than enough and could fetch more than ten times the cost of project. There was no need of recovering the cost through toll tax,” said Manjit Choudhary, an advocate whose wife is an allottee of 300 sq metre plot.

Ghaziabad, March 12
A girl called off her wedding just hours before it was to take place. As soon as she learnt that an infant had been allegedly raped in the village by one of the guests from groom’s side, she said she would not get married in such a village.

Rizwana Praveen, 18, the bride and her family called a panchayat in Dabarsi village on Thursday and invited over a dozen village pradhans from nearby areas. She called off the wedding in protest against the inhuman treatment meted out to the three-month-old infant by a wedding guest, Farhan Ahmed (20).

The gruesome incident took place on Tuesday when Ahmed, hailing from Kithor village in Meerut, took the infant from Dabarsi, the bride’s village, to an isolated place and allegedly raped her.

He was later caught and thrashed by the villagers and handed over to the police who registered a rape case. The baby is reported to be serious at a hospital.

On Thursday, the panchayat, headed by Dabarsi village head Basid Ali, decided to call off the wedding and also ordered the groom to return the Rs 60,000 that the girl’s family had spent on the wedding preparations.

“The accused is from an influential family and could pressurize us to withdraw the case. Now the battle is on and the case would be fought against them,” Ali said.

Meanwhile, the guests and groom were allowed to leave after they returned Rs 60,000 and tendered an apology to the family of Rizwana Praveen.

New Delhi, March 12
A 42-year-old man died after falling into an uncovered sewer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) last night, the police said today.

The victim, Devender, was a resident of Ramnagar and used to sell cartons. He was returning home from work when he fell into the sewer. He was rushed to hospital, but was declared dead by doctors.

According to sources, the sewer was opened for cleaning around 10 days ago and had remained uncovered since then. However, MCD authorities claim that it was covered.

Devender is survived by his wife Kamlesh (39) and three daughters— Khushboo (20), Vaishali (10) and Rajni (15).

This is the third incident of its kind in the last few weeks.

The earlier two incidents have lead to the death of a child and four youngsters.

New Delhi, March 12
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the only central university in the country to recognise madrasa certificates, has relaxed its criterion for enrolling madrasa passouts and said students from any madrasa in the country could sit for its entrance examination provided they had studied English as one of the subjects.

Official sources in JNU said they would allow students with certificate of Alimiah (senior secondary from madrasa) for entrance examination from this year even if their religious educational institute is not on the university’s list.

In the light of Sachchar Committee reports, which had highlighted the miserable condition of Muslims in educational and employment sectors, JNU had selected a list of 17 madrasas on the advice of its committee of experts from across the country and recognised their degrees.

However, the step remained a theoretical practice as none of these students could pass the entrance examination of JNU. And this has brought about the change in the JNU policy as it would allow more students to sit for its entrance and it might result in some of them clearing the final hurdle.

“We would not recognise students who have studied only theology, other students from different madrasas who have cleared their senior secondary with English as one of the subjects could be considered,” said Ramadhikari Kumar, rector, JNU.

The university’s guidelines on recognising madrasa put the 17 religious institutes into two categories. In the first category comprising 12 institutes from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the university requires the candidate to have at least 45 per cent marks issued by the madrasa subject to the condition that the candidate has passed the English language at the level of senior secondary from a recognised board or university or a three-year course conducted by Darul-Uloom Deoband.

In the second category of five madrasas, candidates require certificate of Alimiah with at least 45 per cent marks. JNU also recognises the certificate of Maulvi with at least 45 per cent marks issued by Bihar Board of madrasa education.

Initially, JNU recognised the madrasa certificates only for postgraduate courses and the second year of the undergraduate courses. Last year, the administration relaxed the rules further and allowed the madrasa students to apply for the first year of graduation also.

New Delhi, March 12
Three young men in a car allegedly tried to pull a head constable inside their vehicle in Lal Sai Market of Lajpat Nagar today. They could just get hold of his wireless.

However, they threw the wireless on road when the police followed them.

The incident took place when some policemen, including head constable Bhagwan Singh, were carrying out a routine check in the area. When Singh asked the accused who were in a car to stop, they slowed down near the barricade.

But one of them held Singh’s hand forcibly and tried to pull him in. He managed to snatch his wireless.

Another constable, Naresh, said that when the police followed them, the culprits fled throwing the wireless on road.

“We are investigating the matter. We have no information as to who those men were,” said a senior police official.

New Delhi, March 12
The Delhi police today busted a gang of human traffickers that involved three Bangkok-based Pakistanis who sent people abroad on fake papers.

The success came through with the arrest of a man and a 44-year-old woman, both based in Delhi. The police recovered two fake visa stickers of Canada, 15 Indian passports and nine Nepali passports from the two— Chung Chung Doma Bhutia, from Gangtok, and Naseeruddin (29).

Bhutia was apprehended yesterday from her rented premises in Gandhi Vihar following a tip off about her activities. Her interrogation led to the arrest of Naseeruddin from Connaught Place. She told the police that she procured forged visa stickers from Shah Sahib and sold them to people wanting to travel abroad.

“They were running the racket with help from three Bangkok-based Pakistanis— Shah Sahib, Azhar Bhatt and Sahfiq Bhat,” said deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Alok Kumar.

Naseeruddin disclosed that he along with his accomplices managed to send seven persons to Bangkok from where they were further sent to Canada or other European countries.

New Delhi, March 12
After Punjabi films delving into women issues, it’s the Punjabi women poets who are making waves in the Capital. Right from female foeticide, migration issues, women abandoned by NRIs to in vitro fertilization trends in Punjab, there is hardly a social issue that these women poets are not penning down.

It was at the International Women’s Poetry Festival that Punjabi poets from all over the world gathered in the city yesterday. Organized by the Punjabi Academy wing of the Delhi government, the event saw participation from both the established and young women poets.

Veena Verma, a Punjabi fiction writer and poet, said on the occasion, “Platforms such as these are the source of inspiration to women poets. Contrary to popular belief, there aren’t many hindrances for Punjabi women poets. But poetry as such hasn’t evolved as a career for most women.”

Devinder Kaur, a Punjabi poet and also a teacher at a Buckingham college, participated at the festival.

“The post-modern poetry scene today is based on issues. Effects of globalization are very much evident in the works of the upcoming women poets. It’s more than rhythm-based choruses now. Poets do not shy away from blank verses these days if they feel their use is apt in their poems,” she said.

Dr Rawail Singh, secretary, Punjabi Academy, said, “This event was an effort to mobilize women Punjabi poets and get them to a common platform. Most of the poets today are from Delhi itself. Delhi University students taking Punjabi courses are also interested in poetry. Even as most women do not pursue it as a full-time career, we help them publish books. They are called for lectures, seminars and interactions as well.”

Most poets at the festival agreed that even though poetry might not be the prime source of their income, the satisfaction that they get from pursuing poetry helps them in all walks of life.

Gurgaon, March 12
The district administration has tightened the noose around the corrupt LPG dealers. An FIR has been lodged against an LPG agency of Hailey Mandi following detection of certain irregularities in the supply of cooking gas cylinders.

This was stated by deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria at a press conference organised here today.

He said after receiving complaints from the consumers, the gas agency was raided and 57 cylinders in excess were found there.

Kataria claimed that the officers of food and supply department were directed to take action against the LPG dealers engaged in black-marketing.

“Subsequently, the officials concerned of the department have been conducting surprise raids at the gas agencies and checking their stocks,” he maintained.

The DC revealed that the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) had allotted land to the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) to set up its city gas station at IMT, Manesar. A sum of Rs 3.65 crore would be invested in the project, he added.

Replying to a question, he said Gurgaon would provide about 7,000 hotel rooms for the ensuing Commonwealth Games and if their shortage was still felt, then all-weather tents would be erected at certain locations. Open spaces have been identified for such accommodation at Dundahera, Damdama and Surajkund in Gurgaon and Faridabad districts.

Kataria, who has been appointed the nodal officer for monitoring the tourism-related preparations for Commonwealth Games in the NCR belt of Haryana, further stated that the state government has also extended the cut-off date of tax exemption for hotels in the NCR from March 31 to July 31. This implies that the hotels in the NCR belt which get completed before July 31 would get a tax holiday for five years.