New Delhi, June 9
A woman and her family members alleged today that doctors at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital near Mayur Vihar, Phase 2, in East Delhi, secretly took out her kidney when she underwent a caesarean operation in the hospital on May 28.

She delivered a baby, but lost her kidney, Pushpa and her husband Prem Singh, a shopkeeper, said.

The sensational allegation was made after an ultrasound report showed yesterday that one of Pushpa’s kidneys was missing. It was confirmed by another report, prompting the angry family members, who are from Indrapuram in Ghaziabad, and the local residents to protest against the hospital. Local MLA Anil Chaudhary and his supporters joined the protest. The nervous authorities anticipating violence then called up the police, which brought some order.

However, hospital authorities denied the charge and said kidney could not be removed in a cesarean operation. “The operation done to remove a kidney has cut marks in the back of the body while the cesarean operation has incisions made through the front,” a doctor said.

Pushpa has no cut marks in the back, he added. Medical superintendent RA Gautam said they are enquiring about the allegation.

Medical experts said there could be two probabilities if the hospital’s claim was right that her kidney was not removed. Rare it may be but some people are born with one kidney and in some other cases, kidney is hidden in some place other than the usual in the body.

Family members demanded a thorough probe into the matter. “The hospital authorities were very rude to us when we first took up the matter of her missing kidney. They did not speak to us properly. It was only after we were joined by others and police arrived today that they have tried to address the issue. They have admitted her, but I am not sure whether they are sincere,” Prem Kumar said.

Interestingly, it was doctors at LBS Hospital who the family that Pushpa’s kidney was missing. After undergoing the operation, she had consistent bleeding and pain and she went to the OPD of the hospital. The treating doctor asked her to get an ultrasound done and the report showed that her kidney was missing. On the advice of the doctor, they went to another lab for an ultrasound which confirmed the previous report.

As Pushpa had recently undergone operation in the hospital, her family presumed the “involvement” of the hospital in the suspected removal of the kidney. The alleged mistreatment by the hospital authorities stoked their doubts further. “I am suffering so much pain. I don’t know what is true,” Pushpa said.

New Delhi, June 9
Two shopkeepers in the Adarsh Nagar area of north-west Delhi were allegedly robbed of Rs 28 lakh. According to the police, four men at gunpoint asked the shopkeepers to hand over all cash in their shop and mobile phones. After robbing the victims, the accused fled on two motorcycles.

Roshan Kansal, the patron of local Vyapar Mandal, said the incident took place around 3:15 pm. Krishan Jindal and his brother-in-law Dipak Garg were alone in their shop, Ambika Traders, when four persons, two of them having their faces partially covered, barged inside.

They allegedly took out pistols and asked them to hand over all cash. The victims parted with around Rs 28 lakh. To ensure that they could not call the police, they also took away their mobile phones.

Alarmed over the incident, a large police contingent, including DCP (north-west) N.S. Bundela, reached the spot as frenetic wireless messages were relayed giving the identity of the accused, but in vain.

A group of shopkeepers in the locality protested against the deteriorating law and order situation and said that thefts and robberies had become the order of the day. Only five days ago, gunmen had fired at a man in a robbery bid, Kansal said.

New Delhi, June 9
With notification of the Delhi cabinet’s proposal for road tax, buying a luxury car has become costly in the city . The proposal was notified last evening.

The cabinet took this decision on May 24 to generate more revenue for the Commonwealth Games projects.

Following the decision, the proposal was submitted to the Lt-Governor for notification who returned the file on Tuesday giving his consent,” a Delhi government official said.

The two-wheelers costing up to Rs 25,000 will be charged at the rate of 2 per cent as was being done earlier. The two-wheelers costing between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 will be charged at the rate of 4 per cent while those costing more than Rs 40,000 will be charged at 6 per cent.

The cars costing up to Rs 6 lakh will be charged at 4 per cent and those between Rs 6 and Rs 10 lakh at 7 per cent and above that at the rate of 10 per cent.

 The Capital has no scope of expansion. With registration of around 1,000 vehicles daily, it is becoming a cause of longer traffic jams. , an official said.

New Delhi, June 9
The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), an association of street vendors, today said it would move the Supreme Court against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) plan to evict all unauthorised hawkers of the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The hawkers have alleged that the MCD is evicting hawkers without formulating a policy.

“The corporation is supposed to help vendors by formulating suitable policies and giving them licenses, but it is evicting the vendors,” said NASVI coordinator Arbind Singh.

The members of NASVI allege that they have had a series of interactions with the MCD about resettlement of vendors , but to no avail.

“We have been demanding that the civic authorities should specify vending and no-vending zones, legalise weekly markets and stop illegal evictions and imposition of fines,” he said.

Meanwhile, the MCD today said it evicted around 150 vendors from Uttam Nagar bus terminal, 70 from Janakpuri and more than 200 from near Delhi railway station.

New Delhi, June 9
After nine representatives of Disabled Rights Group (DRG), a consortium of NGOs working for the welfare of the physically challenged, went on hunger strike outside Shastri Bhavan today, the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment conceded to their demand.

The section had demanded more representation in the committee set up to draft a legislation for addressing the issues of the disabled.

Later, the representatives called off their strike.

The committee was constituted on April 30 this year and had 27 members, of which only three are disabled. Following the daylong hunger strike of activists here, the ministry has incorporated seven more people with disabilities into the comittee and that takes the total strength of the committee to 34.

"It is good that the ministry has agreed to our demand and now the committee has a fairly inclusive participation of the section concerned. There are 10 members of the dsiabled section," said Javed Abidi, convenor of DRG, after calling off the strike here.

The Disabled Rights Group maintains that participation of the disabled would better address the issues affecting the community. The new committee, formed to bring the disability Act in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and repalce the extant Persons with Disabities Act 1995, would hold its first meeting tomorrow.

On May 26, several members of DRG had met the minister concerned and tried to settle the matter, but the minister didn't agree to reconsider the choice of committee members. Subsequently, a candlelight vigil was held on May 29 by the disabled in the Capital.

New Delhi, June 9
With the arrest of Arjun, alias Bittoo, the police has claimed to have solved a murder and an attempt to murder case. Both the cases were reported by members of the same family in the Fatehpur Beri area here.

The accused is a resident of Aya Nagar in the Capital.

The case came to light after Surender (21) of Aya Nagar registered a complaint. On June 6, while he was coming home on his motorcycle after attending a marriage function, Bittoo and his accomplice Shyam signaled him to stop at Balka Chowk. As soon as Surender stopped, Bittoo whipped out a countrymade pistol and fired at him. Surender sustained a bullet injury on his right shoulder. He started his bike and went to his uncle's home. His cousins Harender and Sanjay took him to the Welcome Hospital and Harender called at the PCR. The police later took Surender to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Two days after the incident, the accused attacked a 19-year-old boy from the same family.

Jaipal (55), also a resident of Aya Nagar, was sleeping with his son Praveen on the ground floor. His other two sons Krishan and Harish were sleeping on the first floor. Around 1 am, Jaipal heard some noise from the first floor. He went there and saw Harish being pushed into the coat by Bijender and Shyam.

Bittoo pointed a countrymade pistol towards Harish. He had reportedly said, "Yesterday, your brother Surender was shot who somehow escaped, but I will not let you escape," and thereafter fired on his temple.

Before leaving, the assailants threatened the complainant, Jaipal, of further retaliation. The injured Harish (19) was shifted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he was declared brought dead.

Sensing the gravity of the case, the police started a manhunt. The main accused Bittoo was arrested from his aunt's place at Bodaki village in Dadri, UP yesterday.

Bittoo disclosed that he had some enmity with the deceased's family. The weapon of offence i.e. a countrymade pistol with three live cartridges has been seized at the instance of the accused.

New Delhi, June 9
Taking clue from the regular faculty of Delhi University (DU), now teachers of School of Open Learning (SOL) turned hostile towards the ongoing admission process.

Agitated against the raised fees and minimum eligibility for SOL admissions, teachers warned the administration that they would resign from all the committees of Staff Council if their demands were not met.

"We are shocked to know that in spite of our repeated requests, the vice-chancellor in connivance with the administrations of SOL and Campus of Open Learning has increased the eligibility criteria for admissions to B.A. and B.Com," said J Khuntia, associate professor from SOL and academic council member.

The teachers alleged that the changes had been introduced "secretively" thus, violating university statutes. The minimum eligibility for admissions to undergraduate courses in SOL has been increased from being merely 10+2 pass to 40 per cent aggregate in 10+2.

The university has also decided to raise the fees for enrolment by Rs 400 per student which is expected to raise revenue by Rs 2.5 crore to 3 crore every year if the present enrolment of more than 70,000 students is taken into account. "Already crores are lying in the fixed deposits of the school; SOL has committed a blunder by taxing the students," said Khuntia today.

According to the laid-down procedure of the university, the Academic Council could raise the eligibility criteria on the recommendations of a Standing Committee or admissions committee. However, the teachers claimed that no meeting was called to finalise the matter.

"Besides these illegalities, administration has also ignored the fact that since its inception as the oldest distance learning institute in the country in 1962, SOL has been providing higher education to anybody who has passed the higher secondary level," said Tapan Biswal, associate professor.

Teachers claimed that most of the students who take admission in the SOL are from families of Delhi and NCR which are economically poor. "Even distance education would become a distant dream for them," said Biswal.

Keeping in mind that higher education would become inaccessible to thousands of students by the move of DU, teachers asked the administration to go back to the minimum eligibility of merely 10+2 for SOL admissions.

"We demand status quo of fees to be maintained from the last session while it should be ensured that there should be transparency in utilisation of funds lying with the school," said Khuntia.

Talking about the course of their agitation, the teachers said they would meet the university visitor, the Chief Minister and representatives of the ministry of human resource development on the issue.

"A dharna would be organised in front of the vice-chancellor's office and finally we would all resign from the committees of Staff Council," Khuntia said.

New Delhi, June 9
Students' representatives of Delhi University (DU) have given their voice to the demand of reserving maximum seats for city residents in colleges funded by the state government.

Students queue up to submit their admission forms at the Faculty of Arts in Delhi University on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

After the demand gained momentum in political sections, the students have also asked the Delhi government to take a note of the problem of thousands of students who do their senior secondary from Delhi, but cannot make it to any college.

"All the states have most seats of educational institutes funded by them reserved for their own students, Delhi must do the same," said Manoj Choudhary, president, DU Students' Union (DUSU).

There are 18 colleges affiliated to DU which are funded by the state government. However, there is no special reservation of seats for students of the state and all the admission guidelines of DU are centrally binding on them.

"There are more than 2 lakh students who pass out of CBSE Delhi board and we want 85 per cent seats to be reserved for them in state-sponsored colleges," said Choudhary. Every year at the time of admissions, the demand for reservation of seats for Delhi residents gains momentum, though no students' representative had ever supported it previously.

"Besides, we also want the Delhi government and DU administration to start evening colleges in these 18 colleges, so that more students could be accommodated," he said.

The DUSU president added that DU's affiliation to these colleges should also remain intact. A separate university operated by the state government should also be started.

The Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) was the only constituent of the DU that had 85 per cent reservation for Delhi students. Subsequently, amidst controversy the college was taken over by the Delhi government and converted into a state-level university of technology, Delhi Technological University (DTU).

On the issue, the DU administration has always maintained that the colleges were of worth only because they were run by the central university. The teachers of these colleges are hired by the university itself. The students' representatives said the reservation has to be implemented especially in the professional colleges, including engineering and medical institutes.