New Delhi, April 2
Four persons were injured while valuables over Rs 3 lakh were destroyed in four separate incidents of fire in the national Capital today.

In the first incident, three persons of a family, including a three-year-old child, were badly burnt in a major fire that broke out in the shanties of Mehrauli in south district this morning. 

Fire officials said the incident was reported around 9 am.

“The victims have been identified as Pappu (26), his wife Seema (24) and their three-year-old daughter Priyanka. They have been admitted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre. The incident took place when Seema was cooking,” said a fire official adding that two fire trucks were rushed to the spot. It took over half an hour to douse the flames.

Pappu works in a factory as a daily wager. “The exact cause of fire is not clear as the victims are not in a condition to say anything,” said a police official.

According to doctors, the victims have received 65 per cent burn injuries and their condition is stable.

In second incident, a ready-made garment showroom at Azmal Khan Road in the Karol Bagh area of central district caught fire this afternoon.

A fire official said the incident was reported around 2 pm. “Fire broke out on the fourth floor of a garment showroom. All clothes in the room turned into ash. Six fire trucks were rushed to the spot. It took them one hour to control the flames,” said a fire brigade official.

Amardeep Julka, the showroom’s owner, said his showroom was on the ground floor while the fourth floor was used as a store room. The fire broke out on the fourth floor. Clothes worth Rs 3 lakh was destroyed. “However, no one was injured in the incident. Short-circuit might be the cause of fire,” said a fire official. 

In yet another incident, Income Tax office near Ram Charan Aggarwal Chowk in the Capital caught fire today.

One labourer suffered minor burn injuries in the incident. “Seven labourers were trapped on the fourth floor of the D-shaped building after the fire broke out. They were engaged in wood work. Sixteen fire engines were rushed to douse the flames. All workers were rescued, but one labourer received minor injuries,” said a police official adding that the cause of fire is being investigated.

New Delhi, April 2
Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri has set up a committee to look into cases of alleged misbehaviour against MLAs. Shastri said that the committee would consist of nine members.

“The committee will probe a legislator in case of misbehaviour both inside and outside the House. If a legislator is found guilty, action will be taken against him. The MLAs Assembly membership can also be cancelled,” Shastri warned.

The Speaker said this today which happens to be the concluding day of the budget session of the Delhi government.

He said an inquiry was being conducted into the illegal telecast of an issue raised by Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MLA Shoaib Iqbal. Iqbal had attacked Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and public works minister Raj Kumar Chauhan on several issues. A local channel reportedly telecast it, despite having any permit.

Giving details of the session, Shastri said that floor time had been properly utilised, except on the first day when the Opposition created a pandemonium. The proceedings of the House had to be adjourned on the first day due to unruly scenes and continuous disturbance.

As per schedule, the House had to sit for 42 hours, but due to late sittings it extended by 5 hours and 41 minutes. The House sat for a total of 47 hours and 41 minutes. Therefore, the wasted floor time was covered.

“We utilised 12 per cent more time than scheduled. It may be considered as a great achievement,” the Speaker said.

New Delhi, April 2
The Union government has constituted a committee of experts to probe the allegations of irregularities and embezzlement of funds against the Lalit Kala Akademi management, including its chairman and well-known poet Ashok Vajpayee and secretary Sudhakar Sharma.

The decision to form a five-member committee follows a Delhi High Court order on January 22 on a petition filed by several General Council members of the akademi, India’s preeminent cultural body for the promotion of visual arts.

These members have accused Vajpayee and Sharma, besides other office-bearers, of siphoning off public money and indulging in cover-ups.

They said the government had paid no heed to their charges levelled against the management.

The committee comprises V Subramanian, former secretary to the government; KG Paulose, vice-chancellor, Kerala Kalamandalam; Ranjana Gauhar, an Odissi dancer who is also a Sangeet Natak Akademi member; Anuradha Kapur, director, National School of Drama; and Atul Nanda, standing counsel, Central government.

Spelling out terms and reference of the committee, the order issued by the ministry of culture on March 26 said it would hear the petitioners and office-bearers of the akademi, examine the relevant records and determine whether the allegations levelled against the management are justified. The ministry’s director Roopa Srinivasan would function as the committee’s secretary.

The committee would submit its report to the culture secretary within four weeks and suggest corrective steps required to be taken, it said.

The committee has been asked to complete its work within four weeks.

The ministry also directed the akademi to produce before the committee all records that it might sought during its probe.

The akademi has been mired in the controversy for long. Several general council members, including Srikant Pandey, Amitava Bhowmik and Ishwar Dayal, have questioned the locus standi of keeping Vajpayee as its chairman, saying being a poet he was not eligible to head a body meant for the promotion of visual arts. They said Vajpayee and akademi secretary Sharma had also brought many unqualified persons on board.

Vajpayee and Sharma have rubbished these charges.

However, the most serious allegation against the management was of embezzlement of funds.

The office-bearers, they said, kept asking for more money under different counts, but never accounted for them.

The general council members said Sharma is on probation from National Gallery of Modern Art, but does not want to leave the akademi even as the national gallery has asked him many times to join his duties back.

New Delhi, April 2
If the government develops a system to collect taxes from its various sources, it will have enough revenue for its development works. There will then be no need to levy new taxes on citizens in the name of Commonwealth Games. The audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s Delhi unit pointed government’s deficiencies in recovering taxes that resulted in a loss of hundreds of crores of rupees in revenue.

The report said that during audit, it was found that 118 works contractors were liable to pay tax of Rs 122.63 crore. These contractors were not found registered with the department of trade and taxes (DTT). The revenue loss from the unregistered dealers was Rs 437.40 crore.

The cross verification of department also revealed that 35 registered dealers had suppressed their turnover which had resulted in short payment of tax of Rs 92.49 crore.

Besides, the report pointed out that the government departments engaging work contractors did not submit the details of tax deducted at source (TDS) to the DTT.

The tax return form submitted by the contractors was not utilised to verify the correctness of the turnover. The audit scrutiny revealed 13 such unregistered dealers and the revenue loss of Rs 1.43 crore.

The enforcement branch of the DTT is expected to detect tax evasion by conducting surveys, searches and seizures of the dealers in Delhi. However, the branch took no such action. Even the special zone created especially for works contractors had not conducted any survey.

Besides, test-check of assessment records and returns of dealers revealed many cases of non-compliance of the provision of the Delhi Value Added Tax (DVAT) Act and Rules which resulted in non-realisation of revenue of Rs 33.2 crore. Review on transition from the Delhi Sales Tax to Delhi VAT revealed a number of deficiencies with a revenue implication of Rs 312.79 crore.

The power department failed to recover interest amount of Rs 19.46 crore and Rs 0.71 crore on amount of loans sanctioned to Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited while revenue department failed to levy stamp duty at circle rate for registering properties resulted in short payment of Rs 2.07 crore.

New Delhi, April 2
The Delhi Metro today added another 15.15-km to its network as it inaugurated the Inderlok-Mundka route, the first standard gauge line in India.

A new standard gauge train (4 feet and 8.5 inches width) was flagged off by Union minister of urban development S. Jaipal Reddy and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from Inderlok station. Reddy called the inauguration historic.

“We are planning to introduce standard gauge lines in Bangaluru, Mumbai and Chennai, but this being the first is historic,” said Reddy.

On extending the Metro network to Haryana, he said the state government should send a proposal if interested in linking Bahadurgarh to the Metro network.

Dikshit said that the government was considering extending the Metro network beyond Phase II.

The line would open for public at 6 am tomorrow.

The Mundka line would benefit more than one lakh commuters living in Nangloi and Peeragarhi of west Delhi as well thousands of daily passengers who come to Delhi from Bahadurgarh.

This is the fifth Metro line to get operational and is known as “Green Line” for its energy-efficient mechanisms.

There are 14 elevated stations on the line—Inderlok, Ashok Park Main, Punjabi Bagh East, Shivaji Park, Madipur, Paschim Vihar East, Paschim Vihar West, Peera Garhi, Udyog Nagar, Surajmal Stadium, Nangloi, Nangloi railway station, Rajdhani Park and Mundka. The travel time from one end of the line to the other is only 29 minutes.

The Metro officials said initially 10 trains would run on the line with a frequency of six minutes, but the frequency would be subsequently increased. A standby train will be kept for emergency use.

“The new line will have no implications on the fare structure as the minimum fare continues to be Rs 8 and the maximum Rs 30,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC.

The line will have a new type of automatic fare collection (AFC) gates, which will allow faster passage for commuters and also improve passenger management. The system will come in handy for passengers with invalid tokens, as the gates will return the invalid tokens through a token return cup, whereas valid tokens will be accepted, providing access to the passenger.

The ticket office machines (TOM) for this line will have touch-screen facility. Other facilities include toilets in the unpaid area and parking lots at 10 of the 14 stations.

New Delhi, April 2
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is on its way to get tech-savvy with the introduction of multi-purpose smart card which would also act as biometric card for marking attendance.

As part of its e-governance project, the NDMC is in process of launching biometric-enabled smart card for over 15,000 employees. These cards would be non-transferable.

The civic body officials said that the new smart cards would accommodate the thumb impressions of the employees. They would be different from the ordinary biometric card, as they would serve various purposes. Apart from serving as biometric card for attendance, they will replace the I-card, health card and library card.

“The card will have four-in-one facility. It will act as a digital attendance record, identity card, health card and library card. Under the new system, the NDMC employees will flash their cards on scanners at various entry and exit points in the building and the machine will record their entry and exit time details,” said Amit Prasad, NDMC IT director.

“The card will carry complete information about an employee, including his/ her date of joining and health details,” said a senior NDMC official.

According to NDMC sources, it is difficult to forge these technologically enhanced smart cards.

The cards can also be used to control entry to Palika Kendra and some other points in the building.

The NDMC has also proposed to introduce smart cards for teachers and students in municipal schools.

“It would help keep a track on teachers who miss classes and reduce dropping rate of students from schools. The move aims to meet qualitative improvement in education,” said the official.

Every detail of teachers and students from the time they join to the time they leave will be recorded with the help of smart card.

The software developed would incorporate admissions, examinations, library attendance, billing, supplies and purchases, inventory and human resource management among other things.

New Delhi, April 2
President Pratibha Patil today asked the corporate sector to work with a social responsibility and help the deprived and the marginalised sections of the society. The sector should support the government efforts of making medical facilities affordable to all, she said.

The President was speaking at the inauguration function of the Action Cancer Hospital at Paschim Vihar.

“Health for all is a major challenge before the nation. The government has established medical, nursing and paramedical facilities along with increasing the seats for specialty and super-specialty disciplines,” said Patil.

The President hailed the work of Manav Sevarth Trust, the body which has set up the hospital.

Recognising the pain that the cancer patients undergo, the President underlined the urgency to set up palliative centres along with organising training programmes for doctors and nurses.

New Delhi, April 2
Does your child struggle in communicating or fight shy of social gatherings? If the answer is in the affirmative then your child needs medical intervention for he/she might be suffering from autism, which is a developmental neurological disorder.

However, not many parents are usually aware of it though in the recent years, the number of children diagnosed with the ailment has gone up, said Dr Amit Sen, child psychiatrist, Children First, a Vasant Vihar nursing centre.

“Earlier, mostly young people used to come to us , but nowadays, kids as young as 2-year-old are brought by their parents. In a week, three to five new cases come to us, besides the old ones,” Dr Sen told The Tribune.

Explaining the anatomy of autism, he said, “Three major symptoms of the disease are problems in communication, socialisation and certain idiosyncratic behaviour. Actually, the disease has a wide spectrum and hence, commonly known as autism spectrum disorder or ASD. As there is no cure for the disease, it is only timely detection that could help in better managing the disease.”

Having learning difficulties, these children need special attention and one-to-one intervention, and doctors suggest sending them to special schools or mainstream schools with inclusive set-ups for children with special needs depending on the amount of deviation witnessed from the normal behaviour.

Dr Sen pointed out, “Th children who come towards the milder end of the spectrum should be sent to mainstream schools and those who show severe disorder need personalised treatment. In any case it is essential to give them a mainstreaming environment.”

Thus, children who have impaired mental faculties need schools with specially trained educators and child-centric module to cater to them.

Chairperson of NGO Action for Autism (AFA), Merry Barua, said, “Going by the global figures that of one in 150 people suffer from Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in India there are four-five million people living with it.”

It is believed that each year, the number of children diagnosed with autism is higher than diabetes, cancer and AIDS taken together. Apart from this, boys are four times more likely than girls to develop autism, with the UN projecting one in 94 boys having it globally.

It is a known fact that the country has very few specalised treatment centres as well as doctors for patients having brain disorders. At India Habitat Centre, here today an awareness and entertaining session for children was organised by AFA to observe the World Autism Awareness Day.

“A large number of parents are still unaware about the disease and due to the lack of clear diagnostic criterion, even the medical fraternity has failed to take note of it. Also, most of the times people do not want to speak about it due to the stigma associated with it,” Merry said.

New Delhi, April 2
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today charged the Congress government in Delhi with messing up the situation in Delhi Technological University (DTU) and sympathised with its students.

However, the saffron party in a statement has not said if it supported the students’ demand that DTU be reverted to its former status.

The BJP has written a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna, seeking his intervention to end students’ agitation in the DTU.

The letter that was released before the media today, stated, “We are constrained to draw your attention to the criminally callous manner in which the Sheila Dikshit government is dealing with students of DTU, earlier known as Delhi College of Engineering. It is more than a month that the students are being mistreated both by the Delhi government and the university authorities.”

“Students of the erstwhile Delhi College of Engineering belong to the top academic bracket of India. They are genuinely concerned about their future. The Delhi government in collusion with DTU vice-chancellor P.B. Sharma and the university staff is treating students as ‘criminals’. They are being hounded, lathicharged, arrested and abused instead of being listened to,” the letter stated.

Meanwhile, the protesting students apparently took it easy today, a holiday. Most students left the campus for the long weekend.

However, the student leaders have warned of more protests.

“We are making a strategy for the coming week. The next level of agitation will be unveiled on Monday,” said Ravi Shekhar, president, DTU Students’ Association.

Meanwhile, the administration is warming up to welcome parents of agitating students for an interaction tomorrow.

Faridabad, April 2
The ruling Congress in Haryana has decided to further consolidate its links with the people in the state, focusing on youths and women.

Sources in the Haryana Congress said that the Congress president, Phool Chand Maulana, would visit all the districts in connection with its consolidation campaign.

In fact, the party was said to be fine-tuning its strategy to make the proposed campaign a success.

A senior office-bearer of the Haryana Congress said that the move also has the blessings of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Hooda is said to have expressed his desire to the Congress leaders in favour of forging stronger ties between the party organisation and the government in order to give a boost to the party workers and strengthen the organisation.

Maulana will also propagate the message of the Chief Minister to the party functionaries with regard to deeper relations between the Congress organization and government during his proposed visits to the districts.

Apparently the Haryana Congress appears to have drawn inspiration from the leadership of the general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), Rahul Gandhi, for strengthening the roots of the party among youths and women in the state.