New Delhi, June 12
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to conduct a survey of all the Metro stations in the city to track the unlicensed shops.

The survey will be done to take action against the shops which are running without licence. It will also check whether the builder or the trader has followed building bylaws.

The MCD officials said that orders have also been issued in this regard and the survey is expected to start soon and notices will be sent to errant shopkeepers.

“The MCD has decided to take stringent action against all the shops, stores and eateries on the Metro premises that are operating without trade or health licences. We have also asked the deputy commissioners of all the 12 zones of MCD to initiate a survey at the Metro stations. The shop owners will be sent notices if found guilty,” said Yogender Chandolia, chairman of the MCD standing committee.

The move came after the Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim relief to DMRC against the first sealing carried out by the MCD in an unauthorised mall at Inderlok Metro station.

The shops which do not have licences can also be sealed. They will have to abide by the Delhi Municipal Council (DMC) Act, said the chairman.

The MCD had long been locking horns with DMRC. DMRC’s alleged refusal to share revenue from advertisements has also irked MCD.

“Action will also be taken against those advertisers who have not taken permission prior to the installations,” added Chandolia.

According to the MCD officials, they have a 50 per cent share in the revenue of the advertisements. “According to Section 200 of the DMC Act, the MCD will share 50 per cent of the revenue from advertisement when public land is used commercially by DMRC. The agency could earn Rs 5 to 10 crore per annum from commercial ventures at Metro stations. This amount was expected to expand in view of more commercial spaces coming up along newer Metro lines.

MCD officials were of the view that the Metro also needed to pay service charge to the civic body,” said the officer.

New Delhi, June 12
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to cement the decrepit road in the Mayapuri industrial area which was the hub of radioactive radiation in April, which had claimed one life and left five injured.

The AERB has written the letter to the MCD Mayor PR Sawhney with the subject, “Concretisation of road as per enclosed diagram”.

Mayapuri scrap dealers’ association president Hemraj Gupta said they had been pressing upon the MCD the need to concretize the roads. Officials have heard them and promised to cement the road, but nothing is happening on the ground, he said.

AERB has underlined the need to concretize the road before the monsoon, but local dealers said MCD has been sitting over it even as the monsoon is round the corner. “We have suffered a lot economically. Any eruption of radiation will be a disaster and it will keep the customers away,” Gupta said.

The area is counted among some of the biggest scrap markets in the world.

New Delhi, June 12
The Delhi government today said that it has retrieved agriculture lands measuring approximately 136.5 acres in two revenue districts of north-west and south-west Delhi.

The lands had been sold by the mafia and builders of the districts to general public.

The government has said that strict action would be taken against persons or organisation if they found guilty of illegally raising colonies over agriculture land, be they land mafia, builders, officers of government department, police, MCD or DDA. They would be booked under the law.

“In order to check the unwanted and illegally raised colonies on agriculture land in Delhi, the revenue department of the state government has taken stern measures to ensure that no such thing happens in future,” said Raj Kumar Chauhan, revenue minister.

He said that the issue of development of unauthorized colonies was discussed in the cabinet also and it has been decided to check the construction of illegal colonies.

 “The 1,639 unauthorized colonies, which had come up before 2007, are being considered by the government for regularization, but no further unauthorized colony would be allowed. Strict action will be taken against ongoing unauthorized construction in new colonies that are coming up on agriculture land,” said the minister.

He also said that even the DCP, SHO, DC (Rev.), DC (MCD) and SDM of areas where such illegal constructions have come up, will be held guilty and action taken against them.

New Delhi, June 12
Several activists protested at Jantar Mantar today against the recent verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy that left the seven accused out on bail. Citing this judgment as yet another betrayal of the country, supporters of the survivors of Bhopal disaster had organised a public meeting.

Protesters were outraged at the government’s ‘apathy’ and the CBI ‘inaction’ towards its own people. They demanded that the Prime Minister must undo the ‘injustice’ meted out to Bhopal, take action against Anderson and Dow Chemicals and ensure that the Empowered Commission is set up immediately to look into the relief and rehabilitation work.

“By reducing the disaster to the equivalent of a traffic accident and bringing the prison term for the Bhopal genocide from 10 to 2 years, the government and the CBI have just shown their apathy to the case,” said Madhuresh Kumar of the National Alliance of People’s Movements.

“In the last four years, Bhopal victims have walked on foot to Delhi twice urging the Prime Minister to do justice. On both the occasions despite covering more than 800 km on foot in extreme weather and fasting for more than a month, they received little support. Despite having agreed to set up an Empowered Commission to look into all the aspects of the disaster and expedite the legal process against Dow Chemicals, the Prime Minister and CBI did little to get the authorized representatives of UCC, USA extradited,” said Vijayan from Delhi Forum.

Addressing the crowd were Brinda Grover, Gautam Navlakha, Surendra Mohan, Himanshu Kumar, Sumit Chakravarty and many other activists.

Commenting on today’s action, Kaveri Rajaraman said, “The people of the whole country have extended their support to Bhopal victims in all these years of struggle. People in Delhi are likewise facing massive displacement as the government razes slums and evicts street vendors for the Commonwealth Games.”

Ghaziabad, June 12
Some residents of Kotla village in Dhaulana allegedly held captive a police team that had gone to arrest some people accused of murder. The villagers also snatched their weapons.

Villagers have alleged that the policemen had misbehaved with women.

Getting the information, the DSP and the SHO rushed to the spot and got the police team freed. But the police was unable to trace a sub-inspector’s revolver. Therefore, police teams from two kotwalis had to be requisitioned to the village. However, the SI’s revolver was found by late evening.

The men accused of holding the policemen captive fled from the village leaving behind their children and women.

Half a dozen villagers have been arrested, while reports registered against 19 villagers.

On May 12, one Nasim was wounded in a clash between two groups in the village. His family had registered a police complaint.

On Friday, a police team under SI Ram Rattan Yadav had come to the village to arrest the accused. The villagers assaulted the policemen and snatched their arms. A policeman some how managed to inform a nearby kotwali about the incident.

Ghaziabad, June 12
Half-a-dozen armed criminals, after making the family of a businessman captive in Rajinder Nagar, Sahibabad, yesterday, decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 22.25 lakh. The intruders also beat up one of the family members and locked all of them in a room before fleeing.

The incident took place in the house of industrialist Mukesh Sharma, living in plot No. 7/104, Rajinder Nagar. Sharma runs a pressure cooker-manufacturing factory in Rajinder Nagar Industrial Area.

Yesterday at 6 am, Sharma along with his wife Sharmila and two children went to Rudhpur. His sister Suman, brother-in-law Verender, sister-in-law Laxmi and a niece and two nephews were in the house.

At 10.30 am, half-a-dozen young men came to the house in an Indica car. All the men then entered the house. “Where is bhai sahib?” asked one of the men. But soon they covered their faces, pulled out revolvers and threatened everybody. They pushed everybody into a room. When Verinder resisted, the robbers beat him up. The intruders took out Rs 2.25 lakh cash and jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh after breaking the almirah lock.

They then locked all the family members in a room and fled the spot. It took the victims about half an hour to come out in a gallery and raise the alarm.

The bandits were aged between 35 and 40 years.

SP (city) Avdesh Vijaita, circle officer Rajiv Kumar, SHO Surajpal and a police team along with a dog squad inspected the house and lifted fingerprints.

New Delhi, June 12
The Delhi police has arrested a 25-year-old man in the case of a hoax bomb call at the Jama Masjid on June 8. The accused, Chatur Singh, revealed during investigation that he had made the call just to have fun and create nuisance for police.

On the night of June 8, a call was received that there would be a bomb blast at the Jama Masjid within half an hour. Consequently, the Jama Masjid police staff sprang into action. Along with the specialized team, the dog squad reached the Jama Masjid and thorough checking was conducted, but no suspicious article was recovered.

It was later learnt that somebody had made a hoax call to create nuisance. Subsequently, a case was registered at the Jama Masjid police station.

It was learnt that the mobile phone used by the caller had been stolen from a Ghvera resident, Rajesh. On further investigation, it was learnt that the call had been made from Inder Lok. The police team managed to zero in on the accused, Chatur Singh, alias Lali, aged 25 years.

During interrogation, he disclosed that he along with his accomplices stole many mobile phones.  Efforts are on to explore his antecedents and apprehend his accomplices.

New Delhi, June 12
With the arrest of a man, the Delhi police has claimed to have solved more than 12 cases of burglary in south Delhi areas.

The accused has been identified as Vijay Shankar Shukla (45) of Karawal Nagar in the Capital. He has allegedly been involved in burglary cases in the areas of Sri Niwaspuri, East of Kailash and Amar Colony.

Two expensive mobile phones, two gold chains, one gold ring, two expensive wristwatches and house-breaking tools have been seized from him.

In order to carry out the theft, Shukla would allegedly make his victims unconscious by mixing some intoxicating tablets in the water of coolers.

Burglary incidents in south Delhi spread fear about this gang whose members would mix intoxicating substances in cooler tanks. Due to the fear of ‘Cooler Gang’ many people stopped using desert coolers and preferred to sweat during the hot summer nights.

Shukla was arrested on a tip off that he was to come to Nehru Place bus terminal to dispose of some burgled articles.

According to the police, the accused has confessed his involvement in more than 12 burglaries in south Delhi areas. Besides, he has been involved in more than 10 criminal cases of burglary in the areas of Lajpat Nagar and Amar Colony.

New Delhi, June 12
A man, who had shot dead a labourer in the Jahangirpuri market four years back over a trivial issue, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court.

Raju, alias Kundan, had taken out a country-made pistol and shot Vikesh, who was in his early 20s as per prosecution, on November 21, 2006. The victim was returning from his factory and had purchased vegetables when he collided with Kundan.

Kundan first abused him and then whipped out a pistol and shot him in the chest in full public view. He had tried to flee the spot but was caught by locals who handed him over to the police.

Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said his crime was conclusively proved as eyewitnesses had identified him. A friend of the deceased, who was accompanying him, was the main witness and he corroborated the prosecution’s theory.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 2.04 lakh on the accused and asked him to pay Rs 2 lakh out of it to the victim’s family.

The judge expressed his shock over the fact the victim was not even known to the accused and he shot him from the point-blank range for no rhyme or reason. 

New Delhi, June 12
Artists from the Capital are lining up to book galleries at the India International Art Fair 2010 to be held at Pragati Maidan from September 9 to 12.

Coming close on the heels of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in October, this fair will showcase the work of more than 200 Indian and foreign artists at one platform. Organized by Humree and Company, it is already flooded with entries.

Some of the known artists, including Ved Nayar, Gogi Saroj Pal and Sri Dhar Iyer, have registered themselves for the exhibition.

“The registrations for city-based artists are taking place at the Mystic Art Gallery in Defence Colony. We are getting queries from both the young and established artists. Entries are also coming in from Chandigarh, Assam, Chennai and other states. The exhibition is open to all—painters, sculptors or photographers,” said one of the spokespersons of the exhibition organizing committee.

The fair will also be sponsoring artists for booth space. The categories that an artist can apply for include paintings, sculpture, photography, art films and so on. An artist is free to apply in more than one categories provided he or she is practising in the applied category.

Foreign artists can also apply for sponsorship. Senior artists and emerging artists will have different categories. A distinguished jury will adjudge the applications for free sponsorships.

“Art buyers have always wished to see the artist behind the art. This is not always possible. This fair will provide the platform where the buyers will have the opportunity to interact with the artists. Artists will also have the opportunity to showcase their works to thousands of art lovers and also interact with art galleries,” said city-based artist, Ved Nayar.