New Delhi, June 14
A large number of BJP workers, members of market associations and resident welfare associations (RWAs) today staged demonstrations at 15 prominent places in Delhi, demanding reduction in power tariff.

The protesters, who blocked traffic at many places, threatened to accelerate their movement and expressed anger against the “dictatorship of the Sheila Dikshit government.”

The places were the demonstrations were staged are:Keshavpuram, Chandni Chowk, Ghanta Ghar, Bhajanpura Chowk, Mauzpur Chowk, Shahdara, Madhuban Chowk, Narela, Mayur Vihar, Moti Nagar Chowk in Karol Bagh, Kotla Chowk, Begumpur Chowk in Bawana, Nangloi Chowk in Nangloi, Ganesh Nagar, Uttam Nagar Bus Terminal in Najafgarh, Mehrauli and Jamia Hamdard Chowk.

Addressing the demonstrators, Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta said the Chief Minister was covering up the maneuvering done by the power companies. Disregarding the welfare of the people, she is behaving like a dictator, said Gupta.

The Chief Minister has refreshed the memories of the Emergency days by forcefully removing the authorised hoardings put up by the BJP to make people aware about the power tariff issue, Gupta said.

Gupta said the strength of the demonstrators was sufficient to prove that the people of Delhi had woken up on the issue of power tariff.

In its second phase of public awareness drive, a high-level delegation of the BJP will tomorrow meet the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to submit a note against the Chief Minister over the issue.

New Delhi, June 14
Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta today made light of the legal notices sent to him by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and asked her to apologise to the citizens for her government’s various “misdeeds” instead of asking him to tender an unconditional apology to her.

Gupta said her party would continue to attack her government for trying to benefit private power companies and it was a democratic struggle.

“By serving legal notice to me, the CM has tried to browbeat me and pressurise me to apologise.  In my opinion she wants to turn a political battle into a legal battle,” he said.  

Chief Minister should herself apologise to the people of Delhi for her misgovernance and failures. The Chief Minister will have to apologise for maneuvering the case of reducing power tariff in spite of profit by the power companies.

He also said the Chief Minister must apologise because the people of Delhi are getting polluted water and 50 per cent of the population is suffering from stomach diseases. She should also apologise in the case of purchase of low floor buses for the DTC. 

The BJP President also demanded for her apology for the price rise and the increase in the number of crimes in Delhi.

She would also have to apologise to the people of Delhi for sitting over the file related to the capital punishment of Afzal, convict in Parliament attack case for four years. She had also given arbitrary orders to demolish authorised hoardings put up for public awareness by the opposition party, and for such act, she should apologise.

New Delhi, June 14
The water woes of people in Delhi are expected to subsidise by tomorrow morning as the Jat community, which had stopped the flow of water yesterday, today called off its protests.

An agitated mob comprising about 3000-5000 persons had taken control of the Murad Nagar regulator, stopping raw water supply to two major water plants — Bhagirathi and Sonia Vihar in Delhi—, which badly affected the water supply to South and East Delhi areas.

They were demanding reservation in education institutes.

The protesters, after taking back the strike, released the water to these plants in the afternoon.

According to the DJB officials, a delegation of Jat leaders will come to Delhi tomorrow to hold talks with the Central government.

“The protestors called off the strike today and a team of their leaders will discuss the demands with the Central government tomorrow. We requested the government to intervene as it is an inter-state matter,” said Ramesh Negi, CEO DJB.

“The local district magistrate and superintendent of police negotiated with the leaders of the agitating crowd to give up their siege and facilitate the release of water for Delhi,” he said.

Sonia Vihar, which is 140 MGD water treatment plant, and Bhagirathi, the 100 MGD water treatment plant, cater to the needs of south and east Delhi.

Residents of these areas went through a harrowing time without water today.

The plants receive water from Murad Nagar, the with Sonia Vihar plant normally getting 300 cusecs of water from Tehri Dam through the Murad Nagar conduit.

Both the water treatment plants were shut down yesterday evening.

However, partial evening and morning supply was made in South as well as East Delhi, using local supplies. “As an emergency measure, the DJB will ration water supply in the entire city in a phased manner so that minimum supply is restored in South and East Delhi,” said the officials spokes person DJB.

The affected areas include Preet Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Lodi Road, Mandawali, Yamuna Vihar, Greater Kailash-I, Giri Nagar, Jal Sadan, Janakpuri D-Block, Qutab Pump House, RK Puram and Vasant Kunj.

Though the water has been discharged from Murad Nagar, it will take more than six hours to reach Delhi and will be treated and recycled before being supplied to the people.

The officials also added that the agitators have damaged the regulator and it needs some time to get repaired.

“We are expecting a normal supply by Tuesday morning as the water will reach by evening and will be reprocessed and treated in the night,” Negi said.

New Delhi, June 14
After keeping the issue pending in the previous cabinet meet, the Delhi cabinet today introduced new circle rates for valuation of land and other immovable property. The more upmarket the location, the higher is the circle rate. 

The government has taken note of the significant value differences in otherwise-adjacent localities and divided the city into 2,480 colonies for fixing circle rates, which will come into effect once the decision is notified.

The cabinet committee has decided to have specific circle rates for 2,480 colonies or localities. The rates will vary from Rs 9000 to Rs 1,25,000 per sq mt depending upon the basis of assessed land costs in different parts as the primary factor. The existing circle rates varied between Rs 6,000 and Rs 43,000. The government has evidently hiked the rate more.

Talking to media, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that the new circle rates to be publicized soon would go a long way to help genuine purchasers and sellers.

Dikshit said that the neighboring governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been enhancing circle rates in Noida and Gurgaon quite often.  In view of prevailing market rates in Delhi and NCR towns, it was felt appropriate to rationalize the existing circle rates.

The rates were first introduced in Delhi in 2007 and notified under the provisions of the Delhi Stamp (Prevention of Undervaluation of Instruments) Rules 2007.

The rates were then notified to simplify the assessment of stamp duty and bring transparency in the process of registration, besides better realization of stamp duty. 

The government reviewed the issue in July 2009 and a workshop was held in Feb 2010 to take the opinion of all stake holders involved in property transactions.

New Delhi, June 14
The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) maintains that most of the blood banks in Delhi abide by the protocols for safe donation while sources said there are instances when blood donation centres have been found to be violating the set norms.

A senior NACO official said they had served the Delhi government-run Deen Dayal Upadhya Hospital notice on several grounds, including unauthorised collection of blood from donors, lapses in collection procedure and improper storage, last year.

“NACO officials have conduct supervision and monitoring of blood banks. During inspections, several pitfalls in terms of the practices followed in blood collection have been found out—from illegal collection to improper maintenance of equipment,” said NACO sources.

There are also concerns about collection of blood from the people who are in dire need of money. Maintenance of ideal temperature and training of personnel recruited in blood banks are are violated at times, the NACO official said.

A large amount of blood is also wasted by several centres, regretted the official.

During the last financial year, the gap between the supply and demand of blood, as brought out by NACO, has been roughly two million units of blood and its components, with requirement of blood anticipated at 8.5-10 million units of blood and the country’s total reserve of available blood being 7.9 million units.

The total amount of blood collected last year stood at 4.5 lakh units by all the blood banks in the Capital and out of which 35 per cent came from voluntary donors.

Noida, June 14
Five armed robbers looted Rs 26.34 lakh from a Bharat Petroleum petrol pump at Sector 35, around 7 am today.

Till late evening, the police was clueless about the robbers.

The robbers came to the petrol pump in a black Santro car. They went towards the office of the pump on the pretext of drinking water but, instead, went upstairs at the cashier cabin.

Cashier Surinder Singh along with two salesmen was counting the cash to deposit it in bank. The robbers entered the room and three of them whipped out pistols and two pulled out daggers. They then overpowered the cashier and the salesmen and took Rs 26.34 lakh. The money comprised notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500. It was the pump’s collection from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning.

The petrol pump works 24 hours and has been given on contract to an ex-serviceman.

“They tied my hands and mouth and forced me to lie on floor. After they left the room, I somehow untied myself and raised the alarm. But by then they had boarded their car. We chased them, but they vanished within seconds,” said cashier Surinder Singh.

“Around 23 persons were working at the pump when the incident took place. We suspect the involvement of some employee, as the robbers struck at the cash office when the money was taken out of the locker for counting,” said A.K. Singh, senior superintendent of police.

“A manhunt has been launched to arrest the robbers, but till late evening they were not traceable,” said Singh.

New Delhi, June 14
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) has launched a training programme for 30 senior CRPF officials in geo-special technologies. This programme is part of the efforts to help security forces fight the Naxal threat.

Dr Amarjeet Kaur, chairperson of the centre for disaster management at GGSIPU university, said that research is under way to track the movement of people which is crucial for gathering intelligence.

Through the use of advanced technologies, it has become possible to collect accurate details of geographical terrain through which a suspicious agent is moving.

She said, “If we equip our security personnel with leading technologies like Geographical Information System (GIS) and related technologies, it would become possible to pinpoint the exact location of Naxals and other terrorists and this intelligence would in turn make the security forces more effective.”

The special training that GGSIPU is offering would train officials in the use of GIS and related technologies.

Gurgaon, June 14
A training programme for realtors organised by REDCO Institute of Real Estate Management (RIRM) under the public-private partnership (PPP) model commenced at the DLF City Club in Phase IV here today.

It was inaugurated by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria, who is also the chief patron of RIRM.

Nearly 40 professionals are participating in the first batch of this six-day training session.

The participants include builders, brokers, property dealers and agents and the 44-hour training programme focuses on real estate industry markets and practices, urban and environment planning, laws and regulation, property management, planning and development and finance and investment etc.

After lighting the traditional lamp, Kataria hoped the training would give a fair knowledge of law to the people involved in the property trade.

He observed that the feedback of the participants would help in improving the course content.

The DC pointed out that with the active support of the Real Estate Development Council (REDCO), Haryana, the administration could register more than 500 realtors in the district, whereas just nearly 100 realtors were registered in the rest of state.

“While the state authorities are trying to replicate the Gurgaon model in the other districts, it should be clearly understood that efforts by government departments alone are not enough and private organisations like REDCO are needed to be roped in to convince their members and other fellow realtors that they can win credibility into their dealings by getting themselves registered,” he observed.

This would also bring transparency in their business, Kataria said, adding that the names of registered realtors were put on the official website of the state government for five years, which would give a big boost to their business.

RIRM chairman Col Prithvi Nath and REDCO president Arun Anand maintained that this course would be useful for the realtors as the content was well-researched and comprehensive.

District revenue officer P.D.Sharma, Association of Certified Realtors of India (ACRI) president Narender Dhingra and RIRM Director-General Prof M.R. Kulkarni were also present.

Ghaziabad, June 14
The police has arrested two persons in connection with the murder of a person and his entire family, including his wife and two sons, in Meerut on May 30 due to a dispute over two gold bracelets. The accused have been identified as Promode and Basant and the victims as Narinder Kanwal, his wife Sangeeta and their two sons, Chetan and Anant.

According to the police, Promode had taken loan from Kanwal by mortaging two gold bracelets. But after paying back the loan, when he asked Kanwal, a professional money lender, to return his bracelets, Kanwal refused. This made Promode angry and he beheaded Kanwal and his entire family.

The case is being investigated by twelve policemen and a team of the special task force (STF). The investigating teams interrogated about 250 persons before zeroing in on Promode.

When interrogated sternly, Promode and his friend Basant confessed to their crime. Promode told the police that he had taken a loan of Rs 20,000 from Kanwal for his sister’s marriage by mortgaging her gold bracelets. On May 23, after returning Rs 12,000, when Promode asked Kanwal to return the bracelets, Kanwal refused. Promode alleged that Kanwal slapped him and asked him to give Rs 35,000.

This enraged Promode and he decided to kill Kanwal. For this, he even got a sharp-edged weapon made from an ironsmith in Madhavpuram.

On May 30, Promode consumed liquor with Basant, after which he went straight to Kanwal’s house and demanded his gold bracelets back. Kanwal slapped him again. This angered Promode, who severed his head with the sharp- edged weapon. When Kanwal’s wife Sangeeta and his two sons— Chetan and Anant— came to his rescue, they too were killed by Promode an Basant.