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Gang kidnapping, selling girls busted
Mali national held with Rs 5.2-crore heroin
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Rs 263 cr for beautification of city
Rise in mercury forecast
DJB Jal Rakshak campaign begins
Info under RTI hard to come by within 30 days
HC rescues girl pushed into flesh trade
Gt Noida cries for essential services
Noida sector 26 gets community centre
IGNOU starts four new courses
Some Metro feeder buses back on road
Bodies found on rly tracks
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Gang kidnapping, selling girls busted
New Delhi, May 9 Two of these girls were kidnapped from the Sultanpuri area in 2009. The accused have been identified as Bina, Mangal, Ashok and Shyam Lal, all residents of Alwar district in Rajasthan. According to Sharad Aggarwal, DCP (west), the arrest came following raids by the police at Sodavas village in Alwar. “During the raid, four accused were apprehended and three girls were rescued. During interrogation, Bina disclosed that she had purchased one of the rescued girls, aged around 5 years, from one Radha (name changed) through Lal for Rs 45,000. It was also revealed that the girl was kidnapped from Sultanpuri in August last year,” said Aggarwal. Further, two girls were rescued from Mangal. Like Bina, he had also bought the girls from Radha through Shyam Lal. The first girl (aged about 8 years) was purchased Rs 40,000. “The second girl rescued from Mangal is so young that she is unable to tell about her parents or the place from where she was kidnapped. She was also purchased for Rs 40,000,” said Aggarwal, adding that efforts were on to establish her identity. The rescued girls have been sent to Nirmal Chhaya for follow-up action regarding handing them over to their parents. Interrogation has revealed that Radha used to work as an assistant with a contractor supplying food to primary schools. She used to get friendly with the family of the victims and then taking advantage of her acquaintance, kidnap them. She used to sell them to buyers in Sodavas and Girvas villages in Alwar. According to the police, the buyer used to look after the girls till they were mature, after which they were forced into prostitution. “It has also been revealed that some of the children are also sent to Bombay to the relatives of the buyers. Ultimately they were also pushed into prostitution or other illegal activities,” said Aggarwal, adding that efforts were being made to trace
Radha. |
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Mali national held with Rs 5.2-crore heroin
New Delhi, May 9 “We have recovered 5.16 kg of heroin from Coulibaly’s. He has confessed to being a supplier of drugs and said that this particular consignment was to be smuggled to Lome,” said an official from the NCB. 3 cases of fire
Three incidents of fire have been reported in the Capital. According to fire officials, the incidents were reported from Narela, Okhla and Rajender Place late last night. No one was injured in these incidents. In the first incident, a fire broke out in a leather factory in Narela Industrial Area. The fire destroyed stored goods. Thirty fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire started on the third floor of the building and spread to the lower floors. The second blaze was reported from a factory in south Delhi’s Okhla area. Fifteen fire engines were rushed to douse the fire. No one was injured in the incident. The third case was reported from the tenth floor of Vikram Towers in Rajendra Place. Here an office of an air- conditioner company was gutted. Twelve fire tenders were sent to the spot. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. |
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Rs 263 cr for beautification of city
New Delhi, May 9 The NDMC has spent Rs 23 crore so far, the MCD Rs 42 crore and Delhi government’s PWD Rs 92 crore. The remaining money is being spent by horticulture, tourism and sports departments. The horticulture department has purchased flower pots worth 50 lakh, sources said. The NDMC is doing renovation work in the inner circle of Connaught Place. Its cost runs into hundreds of crores of rupees. Besides, flower pots are being installed on every road. Open space under the flyovers is also being renovated with the plantation of greenery and construction of footpaths. When asked, PWD minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said footpaths were being renovated with new tiles that looked beautiful. However, it is not done everywhere. It is done only where it is needed. He said that all the work related to the Games would be completed on time. He warned of strict action if the agencies delayed the work. |
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Rise in mercury forecast
New Delhi, May 9 The city skies will be mainly clear tomorrow, he added. While the maximum temperature tomorrow is expected to settle at around 39 degree Celsius, the minimum is expected to hover around 27 degree Celsius. There are no predictions of rains or dust storms as of now. The humidity level today oscillated between 31 and 62 per cent. “Partly cloudy skies cleared up in the later part of the day. The day was not excessively hot, but it was humid. As of now, there is no prediction of rain,” added the official. Even as the temperature has gone down the mercury scale in the last some days, humidity has been a mood-spoiler for most residents. “It is very sunny, bright and excessively hot or humid. Proper rains and a cool day is something, we are still waiting for,” said Malti, a city resident. |
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DJB Jal Rakshak campaign begins
New Delhi, May 9 The campaign is a pilot project undertaken by the DJB and FORCE to conserve water, prevent tank overflows, adopt rainwater harvesting and augment groundwater reserves. The Jal Rakshak team which wishes to contribute towards making Delhi a water-secure city, includes volunteers, senior citizens, women and kids. The idea behind the whole exercise is to reduce wastage by training plumbers to install water overflow prevention devices, identify houses with frequent overflow of tanks, gather information related to rainwater harvesting requirements with the help of RWAs. Over the next six months, the volunteers along with the DJB and FORCE will guide and if necessary initiate punitive measures to help residents check water wastage in Vasant Kunj. Launching the campaign, CEO of Delhi Jal Board, Ramesh Negi said, “Water needs to be conserved at all levels and should be used efficiently. The Jal Board has constructed processed water recycling plants at its three water treatment plants which save up to 37 MGD of water which earlier used to get wasted in the treatment process. Besides, DJB has the phased agenda to replace old pipelines every year in order to avoid leakage.” Jyoti Sharma, president FORCE, said, “Water is a community resource and can be conserved only when all the community stakeholders – citizens, government, NGOs and service providers—join hands for this cause.” As part of its continued efforts to create awareness on several facets of the Yamuna Action Plan – II, the DJB conducts various public private partnership activities around different zones in Delhi. |
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Info under RTI hard to come by within 30 days
New Delhi, May 9 Surprisingly, no department provided complete information within 30 day limit mandated under the Act. In three cases, applications were rejected within a month along with exemption clauses given under the transparency law. Nine applications did not receive any reply in a month and the Central Public Information Officers replied much after the mandatory period was over. In the remaining eight cases, the CPIOs either transferred the application or sent incomplete responses. In four of these information was provided after the intervention of higher authorities. The most brazen response was of sports ministry CPIO who rejected two applications dated November 23 seeking details of travel expenses and expenditure incurred on snacks served during the meetings for preparations of Commonwealth Games. The information was only provided after instructions of higher authorities. The application regarding travel expenses was replied on March 12 while that on snacks was replied after five months on April 7. — PTI
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HC rescues girl pushed into flesh trade
New Delhi, May 9 When Beena did not appear before a trial court in the kidnapping case, a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against her and the police arrested her and produced her before the trial court. It was revealed that she was released from jail after a pimp she met there arranged a surety for her. She took her to G.B. Road, Delhi’s red light area, on the pretext of getting her a job and forced her into prostitution. The girl’s mother was also in the dark about the release of her daughter from jail. She came to know that her daughter was in the clutches of the pimp during her appearance before the court. But she was not allowed to meet her daughter as the pimp used to come along with the girl to the court escorted by musclemen. However, one day the girl managed to meet her mother secretly on the court premises and revealed her sufferings. The mother then approached the high court to rescue her daughter. Beena, in her interaction with the judges in the chamber, expressed her desire to stay with her mother. The court also requested advocate Aparna Bhatt to help her get a job and assist in her rehabilitation so that she is able to join the mainstream. Shobha and Beena, natives of West Bengal, had come to the Capital in search of jobs in 2002, but the daughter, who was 18 years old then, got embroiled in the kidnapping case.
— IANS |
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Headless Haj body hardly helpful
Muslim groups have made several representations to the government for the appointment of a new chairman, but in vain. Recently a media group met an influential ruling politician to press for it, but he coolly said the Haj committee was functioning fine without a head and there was no need for a hurry. It seems prospective Hajis–an honorific term for those who have performed Haj—would have to spend another year running around the offices of mostly insensitive bureaucrats. So much for
sympathy
The radiation leak in Mayapuri was one of the most important news events of the last month and drew agitated reaction from the parliamentarians to the experts and the scared men on the streets. So it may surprise you that unfortunate protagonists of this disaster, the radiation victims, one of whom is dead, and their families have little idea what this fuss is all about. All this outpouring of universal sympathy and concern has almost passed them by. Deepak Jain, brother of Himanshu Jain who is admitted to AIIMS, says no official has met them and they learnt about Delhi University’s apology only through media. He expected that the system would be sympathetic to his demands, but not really. He asked AIIMS authorities for transfer of his 20-year-old brother to a private ward, a facility the authorities in an Army hospital has provided to two victims admitted there. AIIMS turned down his request, saying they can’t spare his brother a private room. Beautiful
morale-boosters
The wrestlers practising for the Commonwealth Games at Ludlow Castle training venue were taken by surprise when a group of visiting women caught them unawares, or rather with pants down – to put it literally — in the practice hall. Some women were carrying still and video cameras and the unexpected but apparently welcome attention boosted up the morale of our pahalwans. Those doing their exercises were joined by their colleagues who were until then taking rest. The women group went about merrily, clicking their poses. A coach present there told the women, who had begun finding this whole excitement amusing, that sportsmen are natural exhibitionists. An appreciative audience works like magic and boosts their adrenaline. That’s why, he said, they perform better at home than outside. DU buzzing
before CWG
Delhi University’s North Campus would be hosting rugby matches during the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The sport wildly popular in many countries is not really a favourite game of Indians, but the organisers are trying hard to create enthusiasm in our otherwise sports-loving janta. To this effect, the Games’ mascot Shera made an entertaining appearance on Saturday at the DU’s Kamla Nagar Market. The striped tiger was followed by jolly groups of schoolchildren and visitors who were on a weekend outing. The visitors jostled with one another to get a glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger from a vantage point. Kids enthusiastically engaged in sketching and painting on themes surrounding the forthcoming Games. The market is already wearing the CWG look and organisers said any visitor could very soon spot Shera’s posters along with information on the Games, historical places around the area, hospitals, shops, and other places of interest. Cup that cheers cops and journos
We know that sipping tea is a favourite pastime in government offices but to run up a daily bill of Rs 3,000 is no mean feat! And you have to take into account that officers in Delhi police headquarters have their private tea-making arrangements and canteen tea is reserved for common visitors and constabulary. When a journalist confronted a joint police commissioner on what he believed to be exorbitant expenditure, he was calmly told that his fraternity is as much a culprit as cops. They keep gossiping over tea, he said. If the reporter had any notion that he had got a decent scoop, it had evaporated into thin air by then. (Contributed by Syed Ali Ahmed, Kumar Rakesh, Himani Chandel, Ananya Panda, Sandeep Yadav) |
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Gt Noida cries for essential services
Greater Noida, May 9 At the first meeting of the Federation of Residents Welfare Associations of Greater Noida today, Brig J.K. Dutta (retd), president of the federation, said the federation has been fighting a tough battle with Greater Noida Authority for ensuring essential services to the residents. The main problems, he said, are water scarcity, power cuts, law and order, chaotic traffic management where vehicles and tractor trolleys without even the registration number plates are driven by minors, lack of public transport, etc. Speaker after speaker from different sectors said drainage problem needs to be solved. A direct bus service to Sena Bhawan, South Block of Central Secretariat and R. K. Puram was also demanded. The only government functionary who attended the meeting was S.K. Verma, SP Greater Noida, who tried his best to assuage the feelings of the residents. He informed the residents that the state government had sanctioned Rs 3 crore for improving, among other things, the traffic system in Greater Noida. Verma said the police had now got 20 additional patrol vehicles for the area which will make police visibility a lot better with 10 vehicles already with the traffic police. Now policemen were being trained in Roorkee University on the art of dealing with the public in view of the coming Commonwealth Games. |
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Noida sector 26 gets community centre
Noida, May 9 The community centre has been built on 5,000 sq mt plot. It has a main hall of 40 by 70 ft size with two rooms, a kitchen and toilet block. According to president, sector 26 RWA, Manmohan Singh Dhami, the hall has been built at a cost of Rs 55 lakh, out of which Rs 30 lakh was contributed by the residents themselves. Dhami said the RWA had been in correspondence with the Noida Authority for the last 15 years on the subject. The community centre met the aspirations of some 500 residents of the sector who could not afford the high rates of the Club 26, he added. The land for the Club 26, which has become quite popular in the town over the years, was handed over to the club management on a platter by the then RWA. The executive committee for the Club 26 and RWA 26 was the same at that time. |
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IGNOU starts four new courses
New Delhi, May 9 The university’s School of Vocational Education and Training (SOVET) has already announced admission to its flagship programmes. The M.Sc. in actuarial science is a full-time programme and will be offered on IGNOU’s main campus only, while the certificate programme in hospital administrative assistanceship will be held in selected Apollo hospitals. “The last date of submission of applications for all the four programmes is May 31. Application forms can be downloaded from the official website of IGNOU and the prospectus is also available at IGNOU’s main office,” the official said.
— IANS |
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Some Metro feeder buses back on road
New Delhi, May 9 In March, the DMRC had suspended the contract given to Rajasthan Bombay Transport Corporation for running the feeder buses. Failing to get any big-time bus operators for the service, the DMRC has roped in small-time operators. The DMRC has 120 feeder buses that run on 15 designated routes across the
city. — IANS |
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Bodies found on rly tracks
New Delhi, May 9 “We have recovered the bodies of a woman in her 20s and a girl of about four years on railway tracks in Harkesh Nagar,” said the police, adding that the victims could be residents of the nearby JJ clusters. The police do not see any foul play in the incident andbelieves they were hit by train while crossing the tracks.
— TNS |
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The absence of chairman in Delhi Haj Committee for the last two years has been an issue of discord between Muslim leaders and the city government.
The committee is powerless without a chairman and could do little to help those approaching it for Haj-related concerns. The chairman is mostly a politician and the
common man finds him more accessible than bureaucrats.