New Delhi, March 25
Some Congress MLAs today asked Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to reduce VAT on essential commodities whose prices would go up substantially if the budgetary proposals to increase the tax were to take effect.

If the ruling MLAs were subdued in their demands during the debate in the Assembly today, the BJP had no such inhibitions and said that the budget was a “curse” on Delhiites.

Just after the House assembled for the Question Hour, leader of opposition, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, criticised Dikshit for making statements outside the House that there could rollback of hike in VAT.

“It was an insult of the Assembly. The Speaker should question her about the statement,” he said.

The BJP members led by Malhotra walked out when the Speaker declined to question the Chief Minister.

In her response, Dikshit said whatever decision her government had taken would be announced in the House during the approval of the budget.

Lashing out at the budget, BJP MLA Sahib Singh said that the budget proposals would make life difficult for the citizens.

“This is anti-poor, anti-development and will reduce the revenue of the government. The budget is hollow,” he said.

Instead of planned expenditure, the finance minister has increased non-planned expenditure and the government claims it is a budget for development.

“It is just a jugglery of words. The government is already under debt of Rs 3,115 crore that may increase up to Rs 4,300 crore in the coming years,” he said.

He said that the Congress claimed to be a party of the poor but its government in Delhi was doing every thing against the poor. The government did not even spare tea.

He asked the government to withdraw VAT from essential commodities. He focused on diesel. “If the cost of fuel is hiked, price of all the goods would increase because Delhi is a distribution centre. Every thing in Delhi is transported from outside. This will also affect the revenue of the government,” he said.

However, discussing the budget, Congress MLA, Tarvinder Singh Marwah said that budget proposals were prepared keeping in mind the needs of citizens and development work. Delhi is the only state that had given subsidy on gas last year when the union government had hiked the fuel prices.

As far as VAT on CNG, diesel, tea and other goods are concerned, the Chief Minister should think about reducing it, Marwah added.

Another Congress MLA, Surender also urged the Chief Minister to reduce VAT from daily-use commodities.

New Delhi, March 25
It seems there is no stopping the nexus between doctors and pharmaceutical companies despite the recent stringent laws put in place by the Medical Council of India, which ban doctors from accepting favours from pharma companies.

To get around the MCI restrictions, many pharma companies pay public relations firms for doctors’ publicity instead of dealing with the doctors directly as they used to do before the restrictions were put in place.

Depending on the volume of practice a doctor has, sources say, pharma companies decide how much they have to pay to his or her dedicated PR company. It is about Rs 20,000 for most doctors working with a private hospital or Rs 1 lakh for a well-known doctor who has a dedicated clientele. And, of course, if a doctor is a successful interventional cardiologist or orthopaedic or a neurosurgeon, then the amount spent on their publicity multiplies because of expensive implants they use on patients.

This shady collaboration is difficult to prove as cash memo exchanged between PR firms and pharma companies never mention the doctor’s name.

Medical Council of India’s president Ketan Desai says such practice amounts to just another form of bribery. “It’s like accepting bribe by a left hand instead of right. It hardly makes a difference,” he says.

In case of some of these leading surgeons, multiple pharma companies have joined hands to foot their publicity bills. “Earlier also, some pharma companies paid publicity bills for doctors on the sly, but the trend has become widespread now and the amount of money involved is much more,” a government doctor told The Tribune.

Industry sources cited the example of a noted orthopaedic surgeon, who joined a leading private hospital here after retiring from a top government hospital in Chandigarh. His monthly publicity bill runs over Rs 1 lakh and is paid by a pharma firm, which incidentally also foots the bill for another orthopaedic surgeon working in a Gurgaon-based private hospital.

The local supplements of some leading media publications also carry publicity materials, passed off as interview or health tips to readers and it is again the pharma companies which pick the tab.

Desai blames the pharma companies for the rot. “MCI’s jurisdiction is over doctors and we have put laws in place. But pharma companies are not under our purview. It is high time the government framed the law against them as well. Bribe-giving is much an offence as bribe-taking,” he told The Tribune.

New Delhi, March 25
As the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell expressed special concerns about anti-doping measures to be taken during the Games, the organising committee (OC) has started preparing around 250 students to become dope-control officers for the Games.

The students of Manav Rachna International University have been selected to get trained in the anti-doping procedures. In a four-day conference being held on the campus of the university in Faridabad, the organising committee members are teaching the students from varied backgrounds like biological sciences, sports sciences, physical education, physiotherapy etc to collect and manage the doping samples.

The conference focuses on building the orientation of students towards the Games and their responsibility as dope-control officers.

“The students are being trained to collect doping samples, transporting them to the laboratory, filling in the requisite form for doping test, which is very significant as it requires enquiring about the medicines taken by the athlete in the past,” said G.L. Khanna, professor and dean of faculty member, Manav Rachna University.

The students have also been taught to manage the dope-control center.

“There will be at least one dope-control center at all competition venues. Apart from the technicalities of doping tests, the students are also being trained to communicate with the athletes,” said Khanna.

The students will work in close association with the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDPL) in Delhi, which is approved by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). The laboratory is in Lodhi Road .

Apart from the most common doping test which involves taking urine samples, the NDPL has also introduced a new method that involves blood tests of the athletes.

“Some players also induce blood and drug like Erythropoetin to enhance the level of hemoglobin. This will be deducted by the new method,” said the professor.

New Delhi, March 25
The Supreme Court today asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to use the vast stretches of land acquired in 1996 following the closure of polluting industries in Delhi only for green belt development and not commercial purposes.

In case, the DDA opted for commercial utilisation of the acquired land without paying cash compensation to the affected industries, the authority would have to pay 50 per cent of the land cost to the original owners, a bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan ruled.

The bench, which included Justices R.V. Raveendran and J.M. Panchal, issued the ruling while dismissing the review petitions filed by the industries seeking compensation in addition to the 50 per cent floor area allowed to be used by them in lieu of the land cost.

While ordering the closure of the polluting industries, the apex court had allowed them to retain 43 per cent of their land. The remaining 57 per cent was to be dedicated for community purposes such as creation of parks and other open-lung spaces.

In today’s verdict, the SC asked the DDA to maintain a “Trust Account” of such surrendered lands. Also, DDA would not treat these lands as if it was an “absolute owner.”

Pointing out that the polluting industries were closed down to enable the implementation of the Master Plan for Delhi and to “save the city and in public interest. Therefore, by surrendering a part of the land, the owners were not only benefiting the community but also themselves.”

New Delhi, March 25
In his films, Amitabh Bachchan has often been called on by the weak and the endangered to play saviour to them. And he has done it every time.

Now, the Bollywood icon has been roped in to save our tigers, only 1,411 of whom are alive.

The Big B was in the Capital today to talk about his role in the ‘Save Our Tigers’ campaign started by a leading mobile phone service provider company to spread awareness about the declining numbers of wild cats in the country.

Now, NDTV news channel has joined the campaign and banked upon Bachchan to use his charisma to not only save the tigers but also help them grow.

“If my face value and presence can stir people to act to save the national animal, I would be most glad. If stars can endorse consumer products and help in achieving sky-rocketing sales figures, it is evident that people listen to them. We have already shot some campaign advertisements which should be on air soon,” said Bachhan at a crowded press conference.

The aura of the superstar seemed intact as a hurried silence gripped the space as soon as he took the mike in his famous baritone.

Bachhan said he would write about the campaign on his blog and the campaign’s website will also be linked to his blog page so that visitors can easily visit the website.

The campaign will focus on awareness about tiger conservation and find out ways in which the common public can contribute towards saving the national animal from extinction.

Officials said more than 2,00,000 people had registered on the campaign’s official website, www.savethetigers.com, and its following is even bigger on social networking site Facebook.

The campaign promises a common platform for tiger conservationists, NGOs, organisations and citizens working for the cause.

An almost similar campaign in 2008 had resulted in the government setting up the Special Tiger Protection Force.

New Delhi, March 25
A home ministry official who had gone missing yesterday was found in an unconscious state some metres from his residence in the Vikaspuri area this morning.

The police said the official, K.V. Singh, “was probably drugged and robbed” by some rogue elements.

Singh’s family members told the police that his watch, wallet and a gold bracelet were missing. His turban was found in nearby a park.

Gurudev Singh, the victim’s son-in-law, said that the victim had several injury marks on his body, including face. He has been admitted to a hospital.

The police is waiting to record the victim’s statement. SHO Anand Lakra said, “Singh has been admitted to a hospital and is yet to give a statement about what happened. We would know about the sequence of events only after he recovers.”

Singh, a resident of J.V Colony in Vikaspuri, had left his house yesterday afternoon to withdraw some money from an ATM. When he did not return till late evening, his family decided to lodge a complaint at the Vikaspuri police station.

However, Singh had forgotten his ATM card and mobile phone in his house.

K.V. Singh works as an under secretary with the relief and rehabilitation section of the home ministry. He will retire on March 31 this year.

He was going on a holiday with his family to Thiruvananthapuram and had flight to catch in this evening.

New Delhi, March 25
A city court today directed the authorities concerned to provide a separate cell and a car to self-styled godman Shiv Murat Dwivedi, alias Bhimanand, alias Ichchadari baba, and his accomplice Praveen lodged in Tihar Jail. They are accused of running a multi-crore sex racket under the cloak of spirituality.

The directions came after Dwivedi’s counsel M.S. Khan filed an application before the court, claiming that his client had alleged that other undertrials, who go to court with him in the same police van, assaulted him. Khan sought security for Dwivedi after submitting a copy of his medical report.

Earlier too, Dwivedi had told the court that there was a threat to his life owning to media reports about his alleged wealth and sought a separate cell for himself.

Accepting his plea, metropolitan magistrate, Ravinder Singh, said, “They will be provided a separate cell and will come to court in a separate car.”

Arrested on February 26 with a man and six women, Dwivedi is alleged to be involved in four cases under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and one case of robbery. A fresh arrest under the provisions of the MCOCA was issued against him on March 9.

The next date of hearing is April 3.

Ghaziabad, March 25
The police today arrested a BBA student for killing his school friend’s husband.

Vineet Suman (22) murdered his friend Megha’s husband, Deepak Tewatia, 27, for torturing her physically in January 2010, said Raghubir Lal, SSP, Ghaziabad.

Tewatia was a sales development manager with a private insurance company. His body was found in a drain in the posh Raj Nagar area here on the night of January 13-14.

The SSP said that Megha was friendly to Vineet as the two had studied together in Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad.

He said that Megha’s husband was an alcoholic and used to beat her regularly under the influence of liquor. She used to tell Vineet about her problems on phone. “Even on the day when her husband’s body was found, they had talked on phone,” Lal said.

“Megha has also been questioned but no clue has been found,” Lal said. Megha and Deepak Tewatia were married three years ago. Megha is the mother of a 7-month-old daughter.