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Metro files complaint against fake job agency
Big fire in Mundka scrap market
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Domestic Violence
Child marriages thrive here
Simians outsmart civic bodies
Most demands of DTU students accepted
DDA asked to compensate RTI applicant
Avoid August Kranti
Marg, Sirifort Marg
Bus catches fire
Domestic help held for raping maid in MP’s house
Argument costs man his life
Chemist caught selling IPL tickets
on black
Man held with illicit liquor
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Metro files complaint against fake job agency
New Delhi, April 11 Taking strong action against a recent advertisement in ‘Uttarakhand Rozgar Darshan’, where a fake agency with the name ‘DMRC Placement Services’ had advertised for 2,050 posts in Delhi Metro, the DMRC has written to the station house officer of the Kotla Mubarakpur police station, requesting him to file an FIR as the address of this fake agency mentioned in the advertisement was ‘DSIDC Complex, Bapu Park, Kotla Mubarakpur.’ Apart from bringing this problem to the notice of the police, Delhi Metro has decided to write to ‘Uttarakhand Rozgar Darshan’, a Bulandshahar based newspaper, to guard them against such fraudulent practices by fake recruitment agencies in New Delhi. “In order to create awareness among the people about such fake advertisements, we also brought out public notices in the city’s leading newspapers,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC. The DMRC had written to the joint commissioner of police, crime, New Delhi, urging him to crack down on such fake agencies, which are duping thousands of rupees from people with the promise of providing them jobs in the DMRC. There are some agencies, which are even issuing fake appointment letters in exchange of huge amounts. “Delhi Metro has not authorized any individual or firm to carry out recruitment on its behalf. All vacancies in DMRC are advertised in advance in newspapers and Delhi metro’s website and then the selection is done in a transparent manner through written examinations, interviews and medical tests,” said
Dayal. |
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Big fire in Mundka scrap market
New Delhi, April 11 As per information, the fire spread engulfing an area over 1.5 km long, with firefighters suspecting that it was “deliberately” ignited by someone. No one was injured in the fire which broke out around 2.15 am on Phirni Road in Mundka. Over 30 fire engines were rushed to douse it. “The fire was brought under control within seven hours,” said a fire official. The incident came a day after a major fire destroyed 24 of the 25 warehouses that stored goods worth crores of rupees in the Tughlaqabad area of south Delhi. According to fire officials, today’s fire was reported from an open area where thousands of tons of scrap are stored. “Besides over 50 gas cylinders burst, making it difficult to douse the blaze,” a fire official revealed. As there was no residential area in the vicinity, no injury was reported. Meanwhile, fire officials suspect that the fire was ignited by some miscreants. “The fire, we believe, was started deliberately by some persons,” said R C Sharma, director, fire department. According to Sharma, eye-witnesses told him that they saw some people pouring kerosene and setting the scrap afire before fleeing from the spot on motorcycles. “We are not sure about their identity. It is a matter of police investigations,” he said adding that the fire broke out in four places in an area spread across two acres. “While three areas were connected, the fourth one was not. If it was in the afternoon, we could have attributed it to wind. But the atmosphere was calm in the morning. This raises suspicion,” Sharma said. Blaze in jungles near JNU
A major fire broke out in the jungles near Jawaharlal Nehru University here this afternoon engulfing over five acres of land, with winds blowing across the city affecting the firefighting operations. Firefighters said the wind blowing in the area was making their job difficult . “We also experienced shortage of water during the firefighting exercise. Winds were blowing making our job difficult,” a senior fire brigade official said. |
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At 41.6°, Delhi has hottest day
New Delhi, April 11 “Today’s (Sunday) daytime temperature touched a maximum of 41.6 degrees Celsius. This is the hottest in this season and the highest recorded on April 11 since the past five years,” an Indian IMD official told IANS. “We don’t expect any respite in the coming days. The maximum temperature Monday should be around 40 degrees Celsius,” he added. Most residents retired indoors to avoid the heat, and roads wore a deserted look until the evening. “It was so hot today (Sunday) but thankfully it was a holiday and I could just stay at home and cool off. If just mid-April is like this, I shudder to think what we will face in the coming summer months,” said Apoorva, a software engineer. On Sunday, Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 24.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the average. A day earlier, the capital recorded a maximum of 40.5 degrees Celsius, which was five degrees above what is normal for this time of the season.
— IANS |
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Domestic Violence
New Delhi, April 11 “The Section 2 Clause (q) under the Domestic Violence Act clearly says that an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may also file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner. This provision includes both males and females, thereby making it clear that even the female members of the family can be charged under the law enacted for the welfare of the women,” said additional sessions judge Kamini Lau. The court made the remarks while dismissing an application filed by the women members of a family who challenged an order of a metropolitan magistrate who had dismissed their plea seeking removal of their names from a complaint filed under the Domestic Violence Act in a harassment case. “A trial court can definitely remove the names of any member of the family from the list of accused if it reached to a conclusion that the allegations against them were false and not sustainable but it cannot continue proceedings in a case where the family members have been roped in wrongly,” Lau said while pronouncing the order. “At the same time, the court is not required to jump to any such conclusions of mala fides on mere asking of the respondents before it,” it added. Observing that there could be cases where the complainant, taking advantage of the act can rope in all the members of the family who may not be a part of the matrimonial dispute between the husband and wife, the court stated that it is important to follow a view that could do welfare of the woman under the law. A meaningful interpretation has to be given so as to ensure that the purpose of the Act is not defeated, the court said. The order, however, raises questions as several high courts have had different views on the law that if the female members of a family can be covered under the Domestic Violence Act. The judge also referred to orders of different high courts related to the topic if the female members should be exempted from being charged under the law, as they have taken conflicting views on the issue. While the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled out that such an application filed against the female members is not maintainable, the Kerala High Court has held that the first part of the definition would cover only the adult male persons, but the proviso to the same would cover any relative of the husband, both male and female. |
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Child marriages thrive here
Gurgaon, April 11 There are around 400 dwellings in a cluster at Pataudi Road, made up of families that settled here around 20 years ago. Around 100 of these families are from Rajasthan and most of their members — whether four years or 70-years-old, boy or girl, man or woman — are married. Ask them about it and they dismiss it as no big deal even though child marriage is a crime in India. “These are old rituals and we follow it,” says Devilal, 36, who became a father at the age of 13. “But we send the bride to her in-laws’ house only after she crosses the age of 14.” Most of them marry off their children at the age of three. You tell them that child marriage is illegal and not “right” and they get defensive. “No one is educated here, so they don’t know what is right and what is wrong. We just follow the tradition,” said Nanda Lal, another slumdweller. Lal says there are more important things to address, like “absence of power and water supply and a poor sewage system in the colony”. If you still persist and ask them why they do not put their children in school, they tell you that those who tried were asked for their identity cards which they don’t have. The children don’t know what marriage is but the majority are married. Most of the families are from Bhilwada village of Ajmer and belong to the Badh Gujjar Jangalia tribe. They often go to their hometown for the marriages. “Because of the fear of police, we don’t get our children married in Gurgaon. But we do follow the rituals and get them married in our village,” said Jogendra, another resident. A district administration official who did not wish to be named said: “We are aware of it and are in touch with NGOs to educate the community. So far, no tough action has been taken against them but they have been warned several times. It is better to educate them rather than take action.” A few families of the same tribe also live at Railway Road. The families say that in Rajasthan, mass weddings take place on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritya. A majority of these are child marriages, a practice common in villages like Devali, Toda and Malpur. Child marriages are also common among lower caste agricultural labourers in the rural areas of Jaipur, Alwar, Tonk, Sawaimadhopur, Bundi, Kota, Ajmer and the tribal belt of Udaipur division during ‘aakha teej’. Another auspicious occasion for solemnising such marriages is Dev Uthni that falls 10 days after Diwali.
— IANS |
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Simians outsmart civic bodies
New Delhi, April 11 According to New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) officials, the simians have grown intelligent enough to recognize the ‘catcher’ and no longer fall prey to their traps. “Monkeys have now started recognizing the monkey catchers. The moment monkeys see them coming, they run away from the place,” said a senior NDMC official. The problem has aggravated for the civic agencies which are feeling the pressure to ward off monkeys, estimated to be 15,000 in the Capital. The Talkatora stadium in the NDMC area is particularly infested with the menace. The stadium will host boxing events which will take place for around 11 days. The Delhi police has also raised concern about the problem as the cops have to take care of the traffic arrangement during the Games. The monkey menace is worst in the areas of Lutyens’ Delhi, around North Block and South Block in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Janpath and Connaught Place. In the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) areas, the problem is more prevalent in Patparganj, Anand Vihar, Mehrauli and Kamla Nagar. The officials said that the problem cannot be tackled unless people stop feeding monkeys. “They cannot do anything except issuing advertisements against feeding and challans to defaulters,” the officials said. However, the MCD has also not achieved a great in their chase for simians. The hunt gained maximum pace two years back when a deputy mayor died trying to ward off monkeys in his home. “We had earlier proposed to increased the fine for feeding monkeys, which at present is between Rs 100 to Rs 500, but the issue was dropped later on,” said Subhash Arya, leader of House in
MCD. |
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Most demands of DTU students accepted
New Delhi, April 11 The varsity has also conceded other demands of students, including increase of facilities for girls in mess, common room and reading rooms in hostels and regular pest control which are to be settled through a committee under Dean, Students Welfare, DTU. In addition, the varsity has also accepted their demands like the timings to use the facilities at library and computer centre. The entry time for girls within the university campus has been extended up to 9 pm from the existing 8.30 pm; the training and placement office will be further strengthened with the required staff if recruitments continue late in the evenings and all the Heads of Departments (HoDs) who have completed two to three years are to be changed through rotation. Ravi Sekhri, president of the students’ union said, “We called off the agitation last week as a large number of our demands have been accepted. A settlement has been reached. Students are now back in classes.”
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Passing the buck a norm in govt circles
The same refrain was heard recently when the controversy over beef had rocked the Assembly session. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had then claimed that it was MCD’s responsibility to ensure that Delhi had no beef. The MCD, of course, claims that the Delhi government is passing the buck. It is a sorry state of affairs that such a dangerous incident occurs in the national Capital and nobody knows who is responsible for it. Vexing issue of extension to VCs
As B.B. Bhattacharya and Deepak Pental, vice-chancellors of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University (DU) respectively, are approaching the end of their terms in the coming two months, both the campuses are in the middle of a crisis. The DU teachers have already upped the ante to protest against the implementation of semester system and have targeted Pental for “spoiling the character of DU before leaving”. At JNU, the agitation launched by teachers and students for the implementation of SC-ST quota in faculty posts, was at its peak a few days ago. And before the issue could blow over, another round of protests is on the cards following the reported move to give Bhattacharya an extension. The buzz is that the faculty is now planning to launch a signature campaign against such a move. Ticket to
Bollywood
While giving details about the upcoming Indian cultural festival in China, a Chinese embassy spokesperson remarked that people in his country are quite familiar with Bollywood, far more than any other cultural feature of India. And the organisers have kept this in mind while planning the six-month-long festival being organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The festival will, of course, showcase the best of Indian art and culture, but Bollywood will feature prominently. Keeping in mind the craze for Bollywood, a spectacular production team from Mumbai is being sent to China. Termed as “ticket to Bollywood”, the production will showcase hundreds of dancers performing to some of the most popular filmy numbers and will be draped in 400 costumes and 1,000 pieces of Indian jewellery. Wake-up call for Walia and co.
Delhi health minister Kiran Walia and her senior officers have awakened from their slumber after the stir created by the radiation incident in Mayapuri. Soon after it came to light, the health minister and director, Health Services, were busy in meetings with medical experts at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). They were not aware of the kind of treatment needed for radiation victims. They knew about the thriving scrap market in Mayapuri, but never thought of dealing with such a serious fall-out. The Mayapuri incident has now forced the government to chalk out a policy to deal with such a disaster. (Contributed by Syed Ali Ahmed, Kumar Rakesh, Akhila Singh and Jyoti Rai) |
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DDA asked to compensate RTI applicant
New Delhi, April 11 The decision came on an application filed by Govind Prasad Aggarwal, a resident of Haryana, who had sought some information under the Right to Information (RTI) regarding a DDA flat in Mayur Vihar area of east Delhi. Aggarwal had filed the RTI application Feb 29, 2008 but got information only after July 28, 2008. Under the RTI Act, information is required to be provided in 30 days time. In other words, the information should have been provided by the end of March, 2008. However, there was delay of about four months, information commissioner M.L. Sharma noted in his order last month. It is clear that this matter has passed through the hands of several officials, and, therefore, it is difficult to determine individual responsibility for the purposes of imposition of penalty under the RTI Act. The fact, however, remains that there has been delay of four months in responding to the RTI application, Sharma observed.
— IANS |
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Avoid August Kranti
Marg, Sirifort Marg
New Delhi, April 11 “In this regard, we have made elaborate arrangements for parking and traffic circulation, pedestrians’ movement, control and safety of the visitors for the event,” a senior police official said. No heavy vehicles will be allowed to ply on August Kranti Marg and Sirifort Marg during the championship with no parking on these stretches. “There is likelihood of slowing down and congestion of traffic on thes roads. Motorists are advised to avoid these roads,” the official said. “They are advised to use J B Tito Marg or Aurobindo Marg,” the official said. Entry of the spectators to the Sirifort Sports Complex will be through tickets. |
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Bus catches fire
New Delhi, April 11 Fire tenders doused the blaze within 15 minutes. None was injured in the incident,” said a fire official.
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Domestic help held for raping maid in MP’s house
New Delhi, April 11 “The incident took place yesterday afternoon in the quarters behind MPs residence. After the maid informed us, medical examination was conducted and rape was confirmed by doctors. The accused Prem Malik has been arrested,” said the police.
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Argument costs man his life
New Delhi, April 11
The incident was reported from Ghazipur Murga Mandi. Mohd Vakil (30) ran a telephone booth in a canteen in the market and Alauddin is a tempo driver hailing from Bihar’s Muzzaffarpur who used to supply chicken and meat to retailers. According to police, Alauddin made a call to Bihar from Vakil’s phone booth after which the duo entered into a heated argument over billing. “In a fit of rage, Alauddin rushed inside the canteen, took kitchen knife and stabbed Vakil. The booth owner was rushed to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital from where he was referred to Safdarjang Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” said the police. Mechanic shot at
A 35-year-old mechanic was shot at and injured by a motorcycle-borne youth in the Khicdipur area of east Delhi yesterday evening. According to ACP, Madhu Vihar, motor mechanic Mukesh was walking in front of his house when a boy came to him and told that two persons on a motorcycle were following him and wanted to kill him. “Mukesh intercepted the motorcycle but in the mean time the pillion rider shot at Mukesh who got injuries in his left arm and the shooter tried to flee away. However, injured Mukesh and other people apprehended accused Ashish and beat him up. The accused is under treatment in L.B. Hospital,” said the police officer. |
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Chemist caught selling IPL tickets
on black
New Delhi, April 11 According to the central district police, with the arrest of Amit Kumar Gupta, resident of Hudson Lane, they have foiled a bid to sell IPL tickets on the black for the T-20 cricket match between Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab scheduled for today. According to information, 29 tickets and one complimentary pass of the match have been seized from his possession. According to Jaspal Singh, DCP (Central), the police learnt that Amit Kumar Gupta was procuring IPL tickets and selling them at higher rates either himself or through his agents. “Yesterday afternoon, a trap was laid near Feroze Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium and Gupta was apprehended redhanded as he posed to be the authorized agent of IPL and delivered the ticket of Rs 100 denomination on payment of Rs 500 to the decoy customer sent to him for the purpose. As many as 29 tickets and a complimentary pass were recovered from him,” said Singh. Amit told the police that he owns a chemist shop at Daryaganj, and has the franchise for EASYBILL. He used to procure the tickets through the franchisee and stock the same well in advance which he would further sell at 3-5 times the cost of the ticket,” revealed Singh. |
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Man held with illicit liquor
New Delhi, April 11 The police has recovered 82 cartons of illicit liquor from the vehicle being used by him for the purpose. “He has been booked under various provisions of the Excise Act. An accomplice of Mursalim, who was driving the vehicle managed to flee,” said the police. The accused used to smuggle the liquor, meant for sale in Haryana only, into the capital through Singhu and Dahisara borders. |
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The buck, as home minister P Chidambaram has pointed out a number of times of late, must stop at the highest office. But the various arms of Delhi government appear to believe in “passing the buck”. When asked about who is responsible for the radioactive radiation incident in Mayapuri in which six persons were injured, Delhi government officials threw up their hands, saying the BJP-controlled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is responsible for overseeing the disposal of radioactive material.