New Delhi, June 22
The steep hike in auto and taxi fare has angered Delhiites, already reeling from the high prices of essential commodities.

Many of them said the government has gone out of its way to appease the drivers, who are insensitive to people’s concern and refused to charge meter fare even before the hike in CNG rates.

Some people, though, welcomed measures like installation of GPS on autos and planned inauguration of non-AC radio taxis which would charge almost equal to autos.

They said it would be a quality improvement in transport if the government managed to implement both the measures.

While auto and taxi drivers hailed the decision of the government by beating drums, the general mood was that of disappointment and anger among the middle classes.

“The Delhi government has immediately hiked the prices, but failed to tame the auto drivers’ errant measures. Even the numbers advertised by the government for registering complaints against autos are of no use. Most of the persons are girls or elderly persons. They will be affected most,” said Anil Bajpai, president, Gandhi Nagar RWA.

Satvinder Singh, who has his shop in Kashmiri Gate, said that many auto drivers claimed that meters of their vehicles were not functional. If they function, they show fast reading. They will tamper with the GPS system also. “I pay Rs 60 or Rs 70 every day while the correct fare is only Rs 50. If I insist on meter, they do not agree,” he said.

Anamika, a resident of Gautam Nagar, said, “I pay Rs 100 to reach my office at ITO. Now with the hike of 35 per cent, I will have to pay Rs 135 for one side which is too much.”

“I have failed to understand the government’s logic of increasing the fare. Why is it bending so much,” fumed a daily commuter Ritesh Dewan.  

Meanwhile, auto and taxi drivers hailed the decision of the government by beating drums. The union members said they were happy with the hike announced in fares. “We are satisfied with the hike. We have been demanding it for long and finally the government decided to increase it,” said Suresh Sharma, president of Rashtravadi Janta Tipahiya Chalak Mahasangh.

The autorickshaw union chief said their members have no problem in fitting the GPS system in their vehicles. “The decision to fit GPS was taken only after taking us into confidence. The transport commissioner held a meeting with us 15 days back,” said Ashok Kumar Tiwari, vice-president of Bhartia Tipahiya Chalak Sangh Congress.

New Delhi, June 22
Delhi University was a festive sight today with large numbers of students gathering on campus to view the first cut-off list. Emotionally charged students had mixed reactions to the list. Some were confident of their career, others felt they could make it to their favourite course in the second and third list as the cut-off comes down.

Almost all the courses in popular colleges have shown a marginal increase of 0.25% to 1%

However, the cut-off has come down by a fewer notches in off-campus colleges which are trying to attract more students. The cut-off remained high in popular courses like B Com (H) and economics (H). Surprisingly in English, the cut-off has come down by 20% in almost all 17 CATE colleges barring a few and in most science courses, the cut-off has come down considerably in almost all the colleges.

Nandini Sehgal, who has just got admission at Hansraj College, is jubilant. “I wanted the English honours programme at Hanraj and I have got it. The cut-off was much lower as compared to last year. I guess I am lucky. Hansraj was the first choice for me,” gushed the young student.

The cut-off in English (H) has taken many students by surprise. Most of the 17 CATE colleges have lowered the cut-off by 20%. The English cut-off at Hansraj was 86%; Maharaja Agrasen College 65%.

If some students are lucky to make it in the first round, such is not the case for the majority.

Naresh Gupta, an aspirant, said, “The cut-off is very high in the first list and I doubt whether I will get admission in this round. I will be waiting for the second list. Hope I get luckier then. I want admission in BCom (H) and the cut-off is very high in most colleges.”

The B Com and B Com (H) cut-off has shown an increase this time round in most colleges. The B Com (H) cut-off at LSR was 95%, at Hansraj College it was 95% while Kirori Mal College hiked the B Com (H) cut-off by 1.5% At Mata Sundari the hike was 4%, at Keshav Mahavidyalaya 3% Surprisingly, the cut-off for B Com (H) at SRCC, a college where this course is extremely popular, remained the same as last year, 95.25%.

Still other students are calculating their chance for making it in the first cut-off. Jimmy Malhotra said, “I want the economics (H) programme either at Ramjas or Hansraj. While there is a marginal increase in the cut-off at Hansraj, luckily the cut-off at Ramjas stays the same as last year. I will try both at Hansraj and Ramjas.”

Ramjas, ARSD, Agrasen and Zakir Husain are some of the colleges that got affected by the teachers’ protest and have stuck to their last year’s cut-off.

Another area where the cut-off has climbed down in most popular colleges is science. The cut-off for science programmes is comparatively lower as compared to the last year, but it remains high for most humanities and commerce courses.

New Delhi, June 22
The row between the passing-out batch of junior residents (JRs) and the previous batch of Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RPC), AIIMS, over the appointment to the senior residency (SR) posts has finally been resolved. The decision came this morning after representatives of Resident Doctors’ Association called upon AIIMS director RC Deka, who declared that going by the institute’s policy, the doctors in waiting would be given appointment at the earliest.

Earlier, the AIIMS administration had refused appointment to senior students of RPC to three SR posts even though they were declared successful in the interviews held in January this year. This was due to an administrative lapse—the list of the shortlisted candidates remained with the registrar until it was forwarded recently to AIIMS’ dean for approval. Given the delay, on June 9 those in the waiting list were denied appointment to the three posts that would fall vacant and learning about this, the passing-out batch of junior resident doctors demanded the posts to be readvertised.

Traditionally, the posts that get vacated during January and June should go to those who clear the selection test held in January. In the present case, among the 12 students who were shortlisted, four were inducted to the available vacancies till May 1. However, in view of the disapproval and resentment from the junior doctors of the department on June 9, allotment of one of the seats was stopped to the candidates in waiting.

Interestingly, it was said that the retrospective disapproval for sanctioning posts by the academic section for senior batch has its roots in the rapport that some junior resident doctors of the RPC enjoy with the administration. As even after June 10, appointments have been made by several departments.

However, taking up the matter the acting chief of RPC issued a letter on June 14 for the appointment of waitlisted candidates to the three seats, including the one vacant since June 10 and two to open for fresh allotment after June 25 and June 28. To this, the fresh batch of RPC eligible for senior residency, comprising 10 students, stood up in resentment and challenged the waiting list.

“The junior batch demanded that all the five posts, including three getting vacant this month along with two posts to be vacated in July, should be opened for the passing-out batch and the selection should be conducted afresh,” said Dr Shamim Ahmed Shamim, the general secretary of RDA.

But, with the latest order coming from the director’s office, the uncertainty looming over the future of the senior doctors, who didn’t pursue any other job and continued research in the department, has gone.

New Delhi, June 22
Some parts of South Delhi, especially posh colonies, had to go without power again on Monday midnight after heavy loadshedding was reported from the areas.

Residents of the area complained of power cuts for more than five hours. In many

Areas, the power went off at around 3 in the morning and was restored after 8am.

The areas affected include Safdarjung Enclave, Safdarjung Development Area, Sarojini Nagar, parts of Green Park and Hauz Khas.

According to officials of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, the company which distributes power to major south Delhi area, the feeders working in the area went off, leading to long power cuts.

“We have four feeders working in the area. One of the feeders developed a fault late in the night and subsequently, the other three also went out. Though we tried to reallocate power, there were a few cases of power cuts in some areas,” said Gopal Saxena, CEO BRPL.

However, the three feeders have been repaired and the work on fourth one is going on. “We have repaired the three feeders and the fourth one is also expected to be fixed by evening,” said Saxena.

Angry residents near Safdarjung hospital protested against the authorities, shouted slogans and also blocked the Ring Road for hours in the night.

“The power went off at 3.30am in our area. The weather was so hot on Monday that it was impossible to stay indoors. We had to go down to the road and wait till the power was resumed at 8am,” said Sanjay Sharma, a businessman in Safdarjung Enclave.

New Delhi, June 22
The Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games today announced the national route of the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR).

The national sector relay of the Queen's baton begins on June 25, when the baton will enter India through Pakistan via the Wagah -Attari border.

Chairman of the committee Suresh Kalmadi said the baton will visit 28 states and seven union territories in 100 days. "More than 5000 baton-bearers will relay the baton across 200 cities and thousands of villages using all modes of transport, including land, air and sea," said Kalmadi.

The Capital will welcome the baton on September 30 with a grand reception.

The 100 days' journey will culminate at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the opening ceremony of the CWG 2010 on October 3. The Queen's message, enclosed in the baton, will also be read at the opening ceremony.

"The Queen's Baton Relay will act as a great unifying force for the country. People from all sections of society will participate in the 100-day relay which will run across the length and breadth of the nation and will touch the lives of millions of people across rural and urban India," said Kalmadi.

Symbolising peace, harmony and brotherhood through sports, the baton will begin its journey across the Indian soil from the Wagah-Attari border post, pass through Punjab and then enter Jammu and Kashmir on June 29. From there it will travel to Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and reach Uttar Pradesh on July 8. Patna in Bihar will be the next halt for the baton from where it will travel to Bagdogra.

New Delhi, June 22
With the arrest of three accused, the south district police has busted a gang involved in cheating by using forged credit cards of different banks at various outlets of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in Delhi and NCR. Several cloned credit and debit cards of banks and data of credit cards have been recovered from their possession.

According to police, the arrested have been identified as Kamal (24), Bobby (35) and Vijay Soni, all residents of east Delhi. They were arrested in the last couple of days.

According to HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south), the gang had planned to collect the data of international cards during the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and for that purpose they were in contact with several persons working in five star hotels where foreigners and players would stay.

During interrogation, it was revealed that accused Kamal lured various sales boys working at different petrol pumps and other outlets to swipe the cards of customers to the data reader provided by the accused. After getting the desired data, they attached the data reader to computer and got all the data transferred to their computer and then with the help of data writer prepared clone of credit/debit cards. "Once they prepared the clone of the cards, they purchased expensive items like gold ornaments and mobile phones from the shops and then sold them to take the cash. They also involved some shopkeepers, especially goldsmiths, in their gang and swiped the fake cards at their shops without purchasing any articles," said Dhaliwal.

New Delhi, June 22
With the arrest of five persons-- Neeraj (20), Sachin Sharma (24), Mukesh (26), Sunny (20) and 21-yr-old Anil, alias Kalu, the Delhi police has busted a gang of vehicle thieves-cum-snatchers and has solved two cases of motor vehicle theft.

A Maruti-800 car, a Pulsar motorcycle, a music system and a mobile phone have been seized from them.

On the intervening night of June 19 and 20 the police patrolling party saw a group of six persons scuffling with a delivery van driver at a service lane between GT Karnal Road and Ganda Naala. The police rushed towards them but they managed to flee towards Azadpur in a Maruti-800 car.

The delivery van driver told the police that the men, who fled in a car, had robbed him. The police chased the car. The accused stopped the car but jumped into a nearby drain.

The control room was informed. However, the culprits managed to flee again, a senior police official said.

During investigation, the police found that the culprits had stolen the Maruti-800 car from Mangolpuri. Intelligence was developed and the police found that six persons were involved in the robbery. Of them, five have been arrested.

On sustained interrogation, the five accused revealed that Rakesh, their accomplice who managed to flee, was carrying a countrymade pistol at the time of the incident.

They added that Neeraj and Mukesh were planning to rob their previous employer. They used to carry master keys and stole vehicles with their help, a senior police official said.

New Delhi, June 22
A minor fire broke out at a mobile shop in Gaffar Market around 5 pm today. However, no one was injured in the incident, the police said.

The Delhi fire services was informed around 5:15 pm. Four fire-engines were rushed to the spot. The situation was brought under control in half an hour, fire officials said.

“Short circuit might be the reason behind the blaze. We are investigating the matter. The damage to property caused is yet to be ascertained,” said a senior police official.