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No radiation source in DU
No waterlogging this monsoon, claims MCD
NDMA wants Mayapuri shops screened
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Fate of victims hangs in balance
Wife held for man’s murder
Census-2011 begins in Delhi
Respite from scorching weather
Girl commits suicide after harassment
5 cops booked for corruption
Bikers open fire to extort money
from trader
Summer camps aplenty, take your pick!
Technical snag hits Metro services
Truck driver electrocuted
in Delhi
CCE leads to accountability in school education
In art, street children find healing
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No radiation source in DU
New Delhi, May 1 A professor from the DU chemistry department, Ramesh Chandra, had claimed that radioactive laboratory waste was buried under the ground on campus around 20 years ago. His claims coupled with reports that some pencils of radioactive Cobalt 60 could still be missing have rung fresh alarm bells among residents, especially in Mayapuri, as well as experts. “The experts are talking to some faculty members of the physics and chemistry department and the university administration is co-operating with them,” said administrative sources. Primarily, the team checked the radiation levels at different spots around the science faculty. “The radiation levels were checked around chemistry and physics laboratories where most of these radioactive substances are used,” said a teacher from the physics department. “They have been testing, but thankfully nothing has been found. These areas are clear of radiations,” said a professor on condition of anonymity. However, some laboratory attendants accepted that waste was never disposed of properly in DU laboratories. “Even though not all the chemicals used are harmful, the university does not have any proper mechanism for the disposal so they are dumped either into the dustbin or in the water,” said attendant of chemistry lab. Meanwhile, authoritative sources told The Tribune that the committee, which decided to dispose of the “junk” items lying in the chemistry laboratory, including the fateful Gamma Irradiator, had a total of 10 members. While eight members of the committee were senior teaching staff from various science departments, two were non-teaching members. The committee was formed on January 20 and the application was forwarded to the vice-chancellor’s office on February 1. After vice-chancellor Deepak Pental and pro-vice-chancellor Sampat Kumar Tandon approved the material for auction, it was sent to assistant audit officer on February 15 after which it was sold finally on February 24. It was apparent that the university had no idea that the “junk” included the radioactive material. Intensifying their protest against the vice-chancellor’s alleged “irresponsible” role in the matter, DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA) decided to organise a protest outside Pental’s office on May 5. “We are asking the VC to step down from his post so that impartial probe could be carried out,” said Sanjay Choudhary, vice-president, DUTA. |
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No waterlogging this monsoon, claims MCD
New Delhi, May 1 The corporation has ordered special equipment for cleaning of drains and has already completed one round of cleaning in February. The second round, which is in progress, will be complete in June. The Leader of House, Subhash Arya, said that the work of de-silting of drains around the Commonwealth Games sites was being done on a priority basis. "We started de-silting of the drains around the Games sites long back," he said. "We have already purchased some machines like super sucker, and the order for procurement of few more machines has already been placed," he said. Arya said that one round of cleanliness took four months. The civic body has dedicated one complete department for the job of de-silting of drains. "Earlier, half of the de-silting work was handled by the engineering department and the rest was done by the Environment Management Services Department (DEMS). Now, the whole work will be looked after by the DEMS," said Arya. He said that the work of de-silting of more than four-feet- deep drains in Rohini, Najafgarh and Narela zones has been taken away from the engineering department and has been transferred to the
DEMS. |
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NDMA wants Mayapuri shops screened
New Delhi, May 1 This would help identify sources that are feared to be lying around, with a scarp dealer involved in the Co-60 deal, saying that the radioactive pencils were cut into pieces and some might still be in the open. NDMA has said that though search teams of the Department of Atomic Energy and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board are conducting extensive search in Delhi University along with the Mayapuri market area, the city government should also take up the onus of screening the people in the area. Health minister Kiran Walia had recently said that they would soon have a strict code of conduct for disposing of biomedical and radioactive waste in private hospitals after consultations with the NDMA. Officials have also stepped up the scanning of the Mayapuri area after suspicion arose that some radioactive Cobalt 60 pencils kept in the Gamma Irradiator could still be lying in the open. Sources said Atomic Energy Regulatory Board is supervising the work and a team of Radiation Emergency Response System of the Department of Atomic Energy today scanned several shops in the area to dig out any unattended sources of radioactive radiation, exposure to which could land many more people in hospital. |
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Fate of victims hangs in balance
New Delhi, May 1 Doctors are keeping their fingers crossed over their fate and this uncertainty is gnawing at the heart of these four and their family members. Two victims, Ramkalp and Ramji, refuse to talk while Himanshu Jain is livid with Delhi University, holding it squarely responsible for their miseries. All of 20 years, Jain trashes the apology offered by the Delhi University vice-chancellor Deepak Pental. “I have suffered. Seven others have suffered and Rajendra is dead. DU did not even bother to send any official to speak to us, to apologise to us,” Jain told The Tribune at his ward. This is just the drama they enact in the media to save their skin, Ramkalp speaks out finally. They dismiss the compensation for Rs 2 lakh offered to them by the DU and say it amounted to putting a price for the fatal blunder its administration has made. “Have they suspended anybody so far? They have done nothing. Nobody cares,” Jain and Ramkalp say angrily. Jain owned a scrap shop adjacent to that of Deepak Jain, who had kept Cobalt-60 cells, and was exposed to radiation as he often visited his shop. Three others, including Gaurav (19), were workers in Deepak Jain’s shop. From external signs, they do not appear seriously ill as some of them stroll around in the room — housing four of them — chatting, eating and looking every bit like any other normal person. Except that continual harmful radiation inside them is suspected to be weakening them all the time. A doctor attending on them said they are living in hope that they would start responding to treatment and their bone marrow would begin regenerating. If not, they might need bone-marrow transplant. |
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Wife held for man’s murder
New Delhi, May 1 “Manju (25), the wife of Yadav, has been arrested for her involvement in the case,” a police officer said. This is the second arrest in the case after the arrest of one Hemraj (22), a staffer in the Indian Air Force, from an Indian Air Force base near Hyderabad on Thursday.
According to the police, Hemraj fell in love with Manju while they were neighbours in Rajasthan before her marriage. The two kept in touch after Manju’s marriage as well. However, when Vijender came to know about the affair, he started physically abusing Manju. The two accused then planned to get rid of Yadav. “On April 26, Hemraj, with help from a relative and Manju, strangulated Yadav in his house. Thereafter, they kept the body in his car to give the impression that the motive behind the murder was robbery,” said the police, adding that the accused, Manju, has confessed to their involvement in the crime. |
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Census-2011 begins in Delhi
New Delhi, May 1 Census-2011 began on April 1 when President Pratibha Patil was enumerated as the first citizen of India.—
IANS |
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Respite from scorching weather
New Delhi, May 1 Throughout the afternoon, the weather remained less hot than the last few weeks and rains came down in parts of the city like ITO, Connaught Place and Lajpat Nagar. Even though the Met department had predicted rains for Saturday, many roadside vendors and office goers seemed to be caught unawares. According to the weather officials, the mercury recorded a high of 40.4 degree Celsius, one notch above the normal and the low that the mercury settled around was 27.1 degree Celsius, which is three degree above the average for this time of the year. The city is expected to see similar weather tomorrow as well, with the Met office forecasting a partly cloudy sky with thundery development. Tomorrow the maximum and the minimum temperatures are said to hover around 41 and 27 degree Celsius respectively. |
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Girl commits suicide after harassment
Ghaziabad, May 1 The incident occurred in Ganeshpur locality. The girl’s father, Ram Gopal, a security guard with a private company in New Delhi, said: “My daughter used to complain of harassment by Kali Charan, a goon. “Kali Charan threatened to throw acid on her face. He would taunt and tease her. Today (Saturday) she committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her bedroom,” he added. Superintendent of police A.K. Vijaita said: “We have registered a case against Kali Charan and his accomplices. The entire family is absconding. We are conducting raids to arrest them.” —
IANS |
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5 cops booked for corruption
Noida, May 1 The court ordered circle officer (DSP) Vikas Chander Tripathi to probe the case. The policemen had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs 50,000 to implicate the student. On October 17, 2009, the Sector 58 police had arrested an MCA student, Summit Tyagi, a resident of Alok Vihar, Khoda, with an Innova car from the Chhijarsi area. The police had sent Tyagi to jail after registering a case against him. He stayed in jail for six months. However, after his release, Tyagi had filed a plea with the Phase II court, saying that the police had implicated him in the case. Tyagi told the court that Behlolpur residents Promode and Vinode had given Rs 50,000 to the police to implicate him. On Tyagi’s plea, the district judge of the court has ordered that a corruption case be registered against sub-inspectors Ved Prakash Pawar, Mohammed Aslam and Arvind Kumar and two other policemen— Dharminder and Amit Kumar. The court has asked the Noida police to present before it the progress report of the case within a week. |
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Bikers open fire to extort money
from trader
Greater Noida, May 1 Police reached the spot only after receiving a formal request. Angry businessmen gheraoed the Kotwali and jammed the G.T. road. They raised slogans asking the police to nab the accused immediately. Police has now registered a case for attempt to murder and is trying to trace the bikers. The district police had recently arrested a criminal who was demanding extortion money on behalf Sunder Bhatti. The same day STF had shot dead two criminals on Expressway carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 each on their head. Both of them were wanted for demanding extortion money. At Mohalla Nyaderganj in Dadri, Aadesh Goel is a shopkeeper dealing in fodder. On April 5, a criminal had demanded Rs 5 lakh from him. Goel lodged a report with the Dadri police naming Amit Sharma for the extortion demand. The police had provided Goel with two cops as security at his shop. On April 16, police registered the case against Amit Sharma under pressure from traders. But the accused was not arrested. On Friday morning, two men on a motorcycle came to Goel and the pillion rider sprayed bullets on him. He had a miraculous escape. The criminals sped away towards Jarcha and the incident created a panic in the area. All the traders marched to Kotwali and gheraoed the police station. They alleged that the police had not taken action on their report lodged about a month ago. |
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Summer camps aplenty, take your pick!
New Delhi, May 1 If you are of a mathematical bent of mind, you can sign on for one of Mathematical Science Foundation’s innovative courses or if sport is your cup of tea, then there are many options in adventure sports for high school students. The Mathematical Science Foundation is inviting entries for its summer programmes. The internships have been designed to encourage creativity through a ‘hands-on’ application of mathematics with the help of computing techniques. The internship also aims at encouraging teamwork, communication, computational skills and out-of-the-box thinking. Dinesh Singh, MSF director says, “Our idea is to encourage creative thinking in mathematics among high school students and the youth. We would like to expose students to an entire new way of looking and dealing with mathematics.” Students from Delhi and across the country can apply for this programme which is free of charge. They will be taught computer programming and software packages along with mathematics. MSF is also providing access to a computer laboratory, a stipend of Rs 5,000 and free board and lodging for outstation students. The programme is open to class X, XI and XII students. Those who have taken up BSc/BA/BTech streams are also eligible for the programme. The programme has been receiving a good response. It will be running from June 1 to 29. Some innovative courses offered by the MSF include a course on face detection, encryption and alternative energy. The Adventure Sports Club offers summer camp in the Himalayas, where students will engage in sports like mountaineering, fresh water rafting, trekking, etc. The camp will run from June 1 to 30. Certain mountain peaks near Manali have been identified for mountaineering. The camp has an opening for 35 students who will be picked after testing their level of fitness. |
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Technical snag hits Metro services
New Delhi, May 1 “A minor technical problem occurred on the Dwarka-Karol Bagh route at 6 pm and since then, the trains are running at a slower speed,” said Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson. “The trains on this route were running late by three to four minutes,” Dayal said. “Services were disrupted on Thursday evening also at various stations, including Rajiv Chowk, due to the same technical snag,” he added. The Metro makes over 1,900 trips on its five operational lines and covers a distance of 111 km. By October, ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, it will reach nearly all areas of the national Capital, as well as suburbs like Gurgaon, covering nearly 190 km. —
IANS |
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Truck driver electrocuted
in Delhi
New Delhi, May 1 The incident took place in the Holambi Khurd area. The police identified the dead man as Vicky. —
IANS |
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CCE leads to accountability in school education
New Delhi, May 1 The Tribune spoke to a cross-section of teachers in schools across the Capital and found that the CCE had led to the development of much-needed accountability in school education. A high school teacher from Banyan Tree School, says, “The CCE has done much good to school education, for one thing there is much more accountability among teachers as well as students than ever before. Teachers have to prepare their lessons much more intensively now, regular testing keeps both the teachers and students on their toes, teachers are much more aware of where their students stand after numerous unit tests, class work exercises and innovative project work.” “Students are also regularly tested. They have no choice than to be responsible under the CCE,” says a teacher of Vasant Valley School. She adds, “Teachers have a better interaction with students and also work with them closely. Increased testing, comprehensive class work with innovative teaching methods, increased project work—all this contributes to high accountability among students.” Ameeta Mulla Watta, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road, says, “One fall-out of the CCE is increased accountability in teachers. The work of teachers has increased under the new system and the CCE helps maintain a check on them. Students are also closely monitored.” Radhika Sharma, a parent, says, “I find that under the new system, there are many more class assessments and project work. My daughter is really swept off her feet keeping up with all the homework and the assessments. Her teachers are also working hard.” Other parents find that the pressure of a board examination may be over for class X students, but the pressure remains high as they continue to be tested hard. “My son is in class X and I find the CCE may have removed the pressure of a board examination, but the kids are still going to face a summative assessment at the end of the year for which the papers may or may not have been set by the board,” says Amit Singh, a parent. |
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In art, street children find healing
New Delhi, May 1 Art is known to have healing qualities and street children like Husna, Firoz, Pranav and Ajay— who have had a tough childhood, with some even having spent time in juvenile homes— will vouch for it. Art, says Husna, is “like a salve”. She exhibited her art for the first time at the Visual Arts Gallery in the India Habitat Centre as part of ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’, an ongoing collaboration between 21 leading artists and the city’s street children. “I had a tough childhood without my father. My mother had to work hard to bring us up. Four years ago, I was forced to move to a juvenile home for girls because my mother could not devote time to me. I began painting two and a half years ago and it has calmed my nerves,” Husna said. The children say art acts as a psychological balm and helps them move from the fringes to the mainstream. “Art is the best language of soft diplomacy. Sometimes it is the non-taught who drive the taught with symbiotic ideas shared by people who live in shelters and those who need shelters,” said Alka Pande, curator of the special art project. “Art is one of the most effective tools of communication...reflecting the dynamic and healing energy of artists across social and geographical boundaries,” she added. Nineteen-year-old amateur photographer Firoz, an inmate of Salaam Balak Trust, found his calling in photography two years ago. “It gave me peace. I work for fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar and want to follow in his footsteps,” Firoz said. His coloured photographic frames of the polluted Yamuna river have earlier been exhibited at the Hahnemuehle Museum in Germany as part of his mentor Delhi-based freelance photographer Enrico Fabian’s project ‘Yamuna - An Endangered Species’ with whom he collaborated. In Mumbai, artist Brinda Chaudsama Miller has worked with street children living near her studio. ‘Mera Mohalla’, a mixed media installation of a chair and colourful hand-painted cushions by Miller, is a collaboration with three street children — Pranav, Suresh and Aniket. “My only brief to the children was they should list all the things they had observed in their ‘mohalla’ (street),” said Miller, who was here for an event. Delhi-based artist Viren Tanware often works with street children and says kids express their innermost desires through art. “Most of the time, street children use art as self-expression of their longings. When I collaborated with 10-year-old Ajay, an inmate of a children’s home in Delhi for a canvas titled ‘My Dream’, I told him to paint his dreams. Ajay painted homes hanging upside down from the sky because he said flying was too expensive. He would rather have his homes fly to save cost,” Tanware said. Seema Kohli, also an artist in the Capital, echoed Tanware’s view. “I found that homeless children like to paint quaint dwellings if told to draw their thoughts on paper,” Kohli said. Toronto-based artist Anjum Siddiqui, who was part of the ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ project, said, “The street children I worked with drew pizzas, homes, Alladin’s lamp and Lord Krishna to articulate their deep-seated wishes.” Anubhav Nath, the brain behind the Tihar Jail Inmates’ Art Project, said, “Art was self-healing.” “It can deal with several anguishes that sometimes have no treatment,” said Nath. Arun Maira, an art aficionado and member of the Planning Commission, said, “We want to educate street children, but before educating them we must learn to listen to them. India cannot listen to itself without listening to its children...Art is a meaningful way to allow them the freedom to express and draw them into the mainstream.” —
IANS |
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With the enumeration of Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, Census-2011 kicked off in the Capital on Saturday.
With this, the operation for preparing the first National Population Register also began in Delhi. Appealing to the residents of Delhi to participate in the census, Khanna said: “The activity will help each individual as it will be a comprehensive identity database that would help in better targeting of the benefits and services under government
schemes.
