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MCD seals 24 cell phone towers
Separated conjoined twins
to be discharged soon
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DU may not start semester system in commerce
Non-CATE colleges to admit students by merit strictly
Students demand CBI enquiry into Cobalt-60 leak
Students flay role of Jharkhand police
BJP protests ‘misuse’ of CBI
Differently-abled sportsmen want
‘corrupt’ sports body to be derecognised
Robbers hack 86-yr-old man
Bangladeshi held for 23 burglaries
Cheating case against college head
Man gets 3-yr RI for cocaine trafficking
7 dacoits held
Another hot day in Delhi
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MCD seals 24 cell phone towers
New Delhi, May 12 The civic body today sealed 24 such towers in various localities of the central and south zones of the national Capital. Same number of towers is likely to be sealed tomorrow, a senior MCD official said. This decision to seal illegal towers was taken yesterday at a meeting held at the MCD headquarters. The MCD had asked the tower owners to remove their illegal towers themselves, but only one tower owner followed the direction, the official said. He said that the MCD had sealed three towers in B, G, and K blocks of Chitranjan Park, two towers in Alaknanda, one in Bhogal, three in Govindpuri, one in Kalkaji and two in Meherchand Market in central Delhi. In the central zone, the MCD had planned to seal 20 towers, but could seal only 12 because of resistance from local people. The sealing squad of the corporation had to take police assistant to carry out the action. As far as the south zone is concerned, a total of eight towers were sealed in Mehrauli. One of these towers was removed by the owner himself. There was a tower on Mount Carmel School building in Anand Niketan that has also been sealed because erecting phone tower on school building is banned. Besides, one tower in Satya Niketan and three in Shahpour Jat village have been sealed. There are 5,364 phone towers within MCD's jurisdiction. Of these, as many as 2,952 are illegal. The MCD has already sealed about 300 towers in the past few months. But 41 were made operational after the phone companies completed the formalities. The official said that sealing process could not be initiated in other zones due to unavailability of police force. |
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Separated conjoined twins
to be discharged soon
New Delhi, May 12 The case of Sita and Gita is one of the rare 600 cases reported over the past 500 years where the patients have managed to survive. “The children have done remarkably well. Post-operative recovery has been fast. Weight gain has been more than satisfactory and there are no
neurodeficits. The twins are absolutely fine and will be discharged soon,” said Dr Sanjeev
Bagai, CEO, Batra Hospital & Research Centre. Before the corrective surgery, performed by a multi-disciplinary team comprising 27 specialists, including paediatric surgeons, critical care specialists, orthopaedicians and plastic surgeons, the then 18-month-old twins were born fused and had common intestinal and urinary tracts. It was only after the 14-hour marathon surgery, that the daughters of daily wage labourers Subhash Mukhia and Nirmala could be separated. The operation involved separation of their spines, pelvises and intestines followed by splitting of the common anal canal. One of the doctors attending on Sita and Gita during their surgery, critical care specialist Dr Pawan Gurha said, “Sita and Gita withstood the surgery well. Their intra-operative performance was excellent. They performed well on all parameters and their post–operative recovery has been consistent.” Doctors attending them feel that the reconstructed parts have now healed completely and the twins might now be discharged any day. |
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DU may not start semester system in commerce
New Delhi, May 12 After struggling to get an approval from different departments of both science and commerce streams on the new syllabi, divided into two to facilitate two semesters, the vice-chancellor’s office could get a nod only from few science departments. The Academic Council meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow to take the final call on the matter. However, its agenda does not include the syllabus of any of the commerce courses. “The fact that the commerce courses are not in the agenda means the administration is looking at only science course for the implementation of the semester system as it could only push the new syllabus through in some science course,” said an AC member of DU. The courses where new syllabi formulated for the semester system has been put into the AC agenda are B.Sc. (hons), botany, zoology, physics, anthropology, geology and biomedical sciences. The B.Sc. (programme) courses where the system might be implemented are life sciences and physical sciences. The administration’s proposed syllabi for commerce course was received with severe criticism in the Course Committee meeting of the department. However, teachers are still apprehensive that the vice-chancellor Deepak Pental might bring the new curriculum into the agenda of AC meeting, bypassing the procedural norms of the university. “Everything is being done in haste in DU, the syllabi is supposed to be sent for a peer review before it is brought in the AC, but none of that is being done,” sad Vijaya Venkatraman, AC member. She said the peer group comprises experts of the subject outside the university and only after their suggestions are incorporated that any change in the syllabus is introduced. The teachers also claimed that syllabi of core papers of English and mathematics in other science courses have not even been formulated by the DU departments. “The heads of the English and mathematics departments do not even know who formulated the new syllabi, which is a violation of university statutes,” said Sanjay Chaudhary, vice-president, DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA). The teachers have planned to hold demonstration against the semester system outside the venue of AC meeting tomorrow.
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Non-CATE colleges to admit students by merit strictly
New Delhi, May 12 The university would not allow any affiliated college to conduct a separate entrance test for admissions to one of the most wanted courses of the university — English (Hon)— , which many of them did last year. “For colleges not participating in CATE, the score of the entrance examination could not be taken into account while admitting students for the course. They would have to go by the merit as brought out in the admission lists,” said Sumanyu Sathpathy, head of the department, English. The department conducts the central entrance examination for different DU colleges. CATE was introduced last year at the university level as many premier colleges of DU had started conducting independent tests for admissions to English (hon), leading to widespread confusion amongst students. Even then, last year many colleges went ahead with conducting their independent tests. “The university administration has given strict guidelines to colleges not to conduct any independent entrance tests for the English courses,” said Sathpathy. The English department is looking at around 15,000 students applying for CATE and expects only around 10,000 to sit for the test. There are not more than 500 seats available under the CATE for English (hon) course. This year, a total of 17 colleges have registered for the common test that would be conducted at 23 centres across the city. The forms for the examination would be available at Bharti College, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Deshbandhu College, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Kamala Nehru College, Lady Sri Ram College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maitreyi College, Miranda House, Satyawati College (day), Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Shivaji College, Shyam Lal College, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, Swami Shraddhanand College and Zakir Husain College. The form could be collected on payment of Rs 300 demand draft. The sale and receipt of common form for CATE would be from May 20 to 31. The entrance examination would be conducted on June 9. The CATE score would be declared on June 21 on the university website. The first cut-off would be declared on colleges on June 22.
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Students demand CBI enquiry into Cobalt-60 leak
New Delhi, May 12 The students also want the government to formulate regulations for proper handling of radioactive material in educational institutes. The source of radioactive emission, which resulted in the death of one person and caused panic in the Capital, was sold by DU authorities. The source finally landed at a junk shop in Mayapuri. “The university administration was well aware of the consequences of radioactive leak. Such acts could not be tolerated and hence strong action should be taken against the culprits of this massive negligence,” said Shahnawaz Choudhary, all-India general secretary of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). Later, joint-proctor of DU, Om Pal Khari, met the delegation of the NSUI and assured that a fair enquiry would be conducted into the matter. |
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Students flay role of Jharkhand police
New Delhi, May 12 Addressing the demonstration, the national general secretary of AISA, Ravi Rai, said it was now almost two weeks since 22-year old Pathak was brutally murdered in Koderma. “Ever since, the Jharkhand police has consistently been trying to cover-up her murder and shield the killers. If the Jharkhand government continues to shield the perpetrators of this heinous honour killing, AISA would intensify its struggle to ensure justice to Nirupama,” he said. Vijay Pratap, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) –where Pathak and her boyfriend Priyabhanshu Ranjan studied — said the state police had been trying to distort the facts and evidence and shield the real culprits from the very beginning. “They first tried to portray it as a suicide and now they are trying to implicate Priyabhanshu on false charges of rape and abatement to suicide despite the fact that everybody knew both were in a consensual relationship. All this attempts are directed to dilute the seriousness of the case of honour killing, which will not be tolerated,” he said. A delegation comprising the representatives from AISA and AIPWA met the resident commissioner of Jharkhandand and demanded that the culprits of the murder be put behind the bars. Students from Jawaharla Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi University and IIMC participated in the protest along with women activists and faculty members of IIMC.
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BJP protests ‘misuse’ of CBI
New Delhi, May 12 The protest march was led by the president of the Delhi BJP, Om Prakash Kohli, who handed over the memorandum to the Prime Minister. Through the memorandum, the BJP demanded that the use of CBI for political purposes should be stopped and the independence, autonomy and impartiality of the premier probe agency should be ensured. The memorandum also demanded that the lost prestige of the CBI should be restored. The memorandum said that for the purpose of healthy and smooth functioning of the democracy, it was necessary that the machinery implementing laws and making investigation should be independent and autonomous. But unfortunately today the situation is not such and it is the government who is responsible for it, the BJP said. The memorandum alleged that the central government had used the CBI to continue itself in power. At the instance of the government, the prime investigation agency suddenly becomes active against some important persons and vice-versa. Sometimes it takes cases very seriously while sometimes it takes them very lightly. The role of the CBI in cases related to Mulayam Singh, Jayalalita, Mayawati and many more has been based on loss and advantage to the UPA government, the BJP said. The memorandum further said that the common man understood that at whose directions people close to the Congress like Quatrochi, Ajit Jogi, Satish Sharma and Jagdish Titler were given clean-chit by the CBI. The memorandum also alleged that during the UPA rule the agency was also being misused for harassing political opponents.
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Differently-abled sportsmen want
‘corrupt’ sports body to be derecognised
New Delhi, May 12 The sportspersons urged the government to derecognise the PCI on the grounds of corruption. The protesting sportsmen said they would hold a countrywide demonstration if their demands were not met. Javed Abidi, director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), said, “Gill gave us no assurance, but said that he would look into the matter. A two-member body has been formed for enquiry.” National table tennis champion Pradeep Raj, who had filed a RTI application to know about the arrangements being made for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG), said, “Even though over Rs 13 crore were given to the PCI for training differently-abled sportsmen, nothing has been done so far. In fact, India has withdrawn from four of the 15 games marked for the disabled.” Suvarna Raj, a table tennis silver medalist, said, “A 40-member team, including sportspersons and PCI officials, had gone to London for specialsed training, but the whole move was just to fool people as there were no foreign trainers hired for the purpose.” With the Games so near, there is still no mention of disability sports. This shows the apathy faced by physically challenged athletes, he said. “Crores of rupees have been going down the drain. Actually, most of the members of the PCI are by and large non-disabled and so the apathy is obvious. This despite the fact that this time, the position of the countries in the CWG would also be determined by the medals won by the differently-abled athletes,” said Abidi. |
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Robbers hack 86-yr-old man
New Delhi, May 12 Janak Raj Lekhi and his neighbour Vidya Gulabani were attacked when they apparently protested the ransacking of their houses by the robbers, who the police suspects to be members of the Bangladeshi group active in the city. The killers looted the valuables and turned the flat upside down as they searched for goodies. The spine-chilling incident came to light when Gulabani’s son entered her flat in the morning while the maid of Lekhi found him lying in a pool of blood. While Lekhi succumbed to his injuries in the attack, Gulabani is being treated in Holy Family Hospital, a police official said. Robbers are likely to have struck between 1 am and 3 am and ransacked the houses after attacking Lekhi and Gulbani, who were alone at their ground floor house. Additional Commissioner of Police (south-east Delhi) Virender Singh Chahal said the modus operandi of the robbers seems similiar to that of a group of Bangladeshi robbers operating in Delhi. What has complicated the matters for cops, Chahal said, is that Gulabani suffers from very poor eyesight and is unlikely to be of much help for investigators. The ghastly crime sent shockwaves in the neighbourhood. |
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Bangladeshi held for 23 burglaries
New Delhi, May 12 Mohd Masoom was apprehended yesterday from the Pragati Vihar Hostel area while trying to dispose of a stolen computer set in a shop, deputy commissioner of police (south) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said. With his arrest, the police has claimed to have solved 23 cases of burglary, theft, snatching and vehicle thefts and recovered several stolen items like a flat-screen computer, gold chains, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, knife and a motorcycle, confirmed police officials. Masoom along with his accomplices allegedly committed several thefts and burglaries in Chandanhaula, Satbari, Hargobind Enclave and Chattarpur Enclave. They disposed of stolen items in central Delhi’s Chor Bazar. Masoom, a resident of the Jama Masjid area, hails from Moted Paar village in Bangladesh’s Bagerhut district. “He could not produce any document related to his stay in India and hence has been prosecuted under the Foreigners Act also,” Dhaliwal added. Masoom came to Delhi about a month ago and joined his Bangladeshi accomplices— Kabir and Abbas—in their criminal activities. The police said the duo used to hire a cot and quilt for Rs 20 in the Jama Masjid area and would stay there till midnight. After midnight, they would use their motorcycle and sometime autos to go to south Delhi to commit thefts and burglaries. They disposed of the booty in the Jama Masjid area in Chor Bazar and Sunday market. They used to sell stolen jewellery to a jeweller in Chander Nagar where a contact of Masoom stays. After committing crimes, they would go back to sleep in their cots at Jama Masjid and dispose of the stolen things in the morning. They would commit thefts during night and snatchings in the day. They would park stolen motorcycles in parking area of Nijamuddin Railway Station and would pick up the same during the day and roam around in the south Delhi area snatching valuables from vulnerable people. Kabir and Abbas left for Bangladesh recently with stolen cash and gold articles. Efforts are being made to arrest the receiver of stolen jewellery, said Dhaliwal.
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Cheating case against college head
Greater Noida, May 12 “An FIR under Section 420 was lodged today against chairman Krishan Mohan Pandey and others on rthe complaint of student Shubam Mishra,”said Arun Kumar Singh, SHO of Kasna. “Students alleged that college does not have proper AICTE recognition and admitted 118 students against the approved strength of 60. This, they said, amounts to cheating and playing with students’ career,”said Singh. |
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Man gets 3-yr RI for cocaine trafficking
New Delhi, May 12 Holding Dev Chopra guilty under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for supplying high quality contraband, additional sessions judge Sanjiv Jain slapped a fine of Rs 15,000, besides the prison term on him. The court denied taking any lenient view, saying: "His antecedent was not good as he is also facing charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act for allegedly indulging in immoral trafficking of call girls… The convict was involved in the case of trafficking of cocaine." Chopra was alleged to have been supplying the contraband to high-profile party circuit in the national capital. He was arrested on October 1, 2005, from Olive Bar and Kitchen at Mehrauli here by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on a tip-off. |
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7 dacoits held
New Delhi, May 12 The accused have been identified as Javed, Annu, Tahir, Pratap Singh, Rahul Tasleem, and Ashok. They were nabbed from a gas godown in Gokulpur village where they had gathered with to commit dacoity in the gas godown. They operated mainly on roads and public transports. All the accused belong to poor families and took to crime as they did not have any source of livelihood. They started off with petty thefts, but when their needs grew, they started committing robberies in the night. |
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Another hot day in Delhi
New Delhi, May 12 The maximum temperature recorded today was 41.8 degrees, which was two notches above normal for this time of the year. |
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Very soon Sita and Gita, the conjoined twins who were separated after a surgery at the Batra Hospital on April 5, would head for their native place in Bihar, as the doctors treating them have declared them fit for discharge.
Differently-abled sportspersons and activists under the banner of the Disabled Rights Group
(DRG) today protested outside the Shashtri Bhawan against alleged corruption and financial irregularities in the Paralympics Committee of India
(PCI). A delegation of the sportsmen met sports minister M.S. Gill at his residence.
Elderly woman neighbour hurt in attack
