New Delhi, July 6
More than 10 people, including policemen, were injured in the arson and stone-pelting that followed when police tried to disperse about 300 residents who had blocked roads in protest against negligible water supply in their colonies for the last seven days in the Kondli area of east Delhi this morning.

According to information, the incident was reported from the Kondli area around 8.30 in the morning when hundreds of residents from the adjoining colonies came on roads to disrupt traffic. However, the worst part of the demonstration was the arson and loot committed by the protestors in which commuters, including vendors, were targeted. Two buses and three private cars, passing the roads at the time when police tried to open the road blockade, were damaged by the protestors. According to police sources, several motorcycles of the police department were also damaged by the unruly protestors who hurled stones at the police. The situation could be controlled only after two hours of police action.

The protest began at Kondli Bridge when some protestors blocked the traffic movement leading to jams from Vasundhra to Mayur Vihar Phase III and Noida to Ghazipur. As a result of these jams, office goers in the morning got late for work. When the police came and tried to reason with the protestors, they did not budge.

"We had to get additional force to move these people. However, when we forcibly tried to open Kondli Bridge, the protestors started pelting stones on us in which several policemen were injured," said a police official present at the spot.

The locals alleged that there had been no supply of water in the area for the past seven days and despite repeated complaints to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), no action has been taken.

Sushil Singh, a Rajbir Colony resident, alleged that while the water supply was regular in the nearby DDA flats and other societies, their colony which is referred to as unauthorized colony is always neglected.

"What other option did we have if not to get on the road? It is seven days and there is no water supply in our houses. Nobody wants to hear us because we stay in unauthorized colonies," alleged Singh.

However, when asked whether it was right to target innocent commuters or rob vendors, Singh said there were some anti-social elements who took advantage of the situation.

"We don't know who these people were. They were not from our colonies," he said.

According to information, the borewell meant to supply water in the area has not been working for the past one and a half months and the DJB has not made any efforts to repair it.

According to I B Rani, Additional DCP (east), eight policemen, including New Ashok Nagar SHO, were injured in the incident. "Seven people have been arrested in this connection and booked for disrupting government work and damaging government property," she said.

New Delhi, July 6
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejender Khanna, who visited the site of Games Village for the second time in a month today, has expressed satisfaction over the pace of work there.

The project is being carried out by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and being the chairman of DDA, it is Khanna’s moral responsibility to get the project completed in time.

The construction of flats at the Village is being undertaken by a Dubai-based company.

Khanna visited the site to check the progress of the work of removal of debris and shanties from around the Games Village, especially the area in front of the Village where a polyclinic, car parking zone and a 1.8-hectare green space are supposed to come up.

At the site, he reviewed the plan of ‘green area’ to be completed in the next 15 days.

Khanna asked the contractors and DDA officials to work round the clock to accomplish all pending works in the most professional manner.

He has already set a deadline of July 20 for the completion of plantation work. The Lieutenant Governor also confirmed that he would visit the site again on July 20.

Khanna also visited the Yamuna Sports Complex, the venue for archery and table tennis matches.

New Delhi, July 6
The Commonwealth Games Village which would be the official address of the athletes and delegates is ready to undergo beautification as the Organising Committee (OC) has planned to smarten up the village with thousands of trees and plants.

A magnificent landscaping is also being planned for the village, said the officials in Organising Committee (OC). The village would have plants and shrubs of the rare species. The landscaping would also include plants from foreign countries.

The OC has planned to beautify the village by planting 15,000 trees. They will be planted at the peripheries and certain identified points in the residential area of the village, which is spread over 27 acres. The space around the residential area of the village will be planted with 19 varieties of trees and 33 types of shrubs.

“As part of our green games project, we would be planting 15,000 trees in the village. We have also asked the state governments to cooperate in the campaign by plating trees in their states,” said Jagmohan Bhanot, chairperson of Green Games Functional Area in OC.

He said that the work is done in association with the Delhi Development Authority as the body is undertaking the construction work of the village.

Bhanot said that the village is almost complete and the OC staff will start shifting to the village by September. “Over 100 staff would get shifted to the village in September. There is a village secretariat where the OC officials would be stationed,” he said.

Bhanot said that the games chef de mission, team managers, athletes, coaches and delegates will also start arriving in September. “The foreign officials and athletes will start checking in one week before the games,” he said.

The complex will provide 1,168 flats for the athletes and delegates along with a sports complex, which will have training and competition venues for archery and table tennis.

Meanwhile, the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, said that all arrangements are being made to ensure safe and secure games.

He was addressing the CWG high commissioners at a special briefing.

“These games have the potential to be better than the Melbourne games,” said Australian CWG Association CEO, Perry Crosswhite.

Representatives, including high commissioners, deputy high commissioners and trade delegates from various Commonwealth countries attended the meeting. The delegates expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the OC CWG.

New Delhi, July 6
Delhi University took out the fourth cut-off list late on Monday night. Seats are still vacant in the highly popular B Com (H) and the English (H) programmes. One does not have to look far for the reason behind the availability of seats in these two courses: the cut-off was pegged quite high in all the previous lists for these two courses, as a result seats are still available in the general category in some colleges.

Seats are also available in the B Com programme and BA pass course as also in BA (H) history and BA (H) political science.

As far as science courses are concerned, almost no seats are available. The BSc (H) programme in physics and chemistry is full in both the general and OBC categories. However, seats are available in OBC category in almost all the colleges and courses. If these seats remain vacant after the fourth list, then in August they will be opened to students from the general category.

Surprisingly, the highly popular B Com (H) programme is still available in seven colleges which include Hansraj where the cut-off has dipped to 0.25% and stands at 94.5%-96.5%; Daulat Ram where the dip is of 2% and the cut-off is 92.4%-94%; DDU has relaxed the cut-off by 1% and it is pegged at 88%; Deshbandhu at 84.75%; and Moti Lal Nehru at 88.95%

The B Com programme is available at some nine colleges which include Daulat Ram, Dyal Singh,

Kirori Mal and Mata Sundari. On the whole, the dip in the cut-off ranges from 0.25%-2%.

Another popular course still available is English (H) and this is open in some 11 colleges. The maximum dip is of 2% at Ramjas which is pegged at 82%; at Bharati College, the cut-off is pegged as low as 58%; Daulat Ram at 82.86%; and Deshbandhu at 63%

The BA pass programme is available in some 15 colleges which include Daulat Ram where the cut-off is down by 3% standing at 72%; at Hindu the cut-off ranges between 85%-89%; SGND Khalsa has a whopping dip of 7% and the cut-off has come down to 68% The lowest cut-off in the BA pass course is at Bhagini Nivedita Ccollege standing at 48%.

A few seats are also available in BA (H) political science at Ramjas and Maharaja Agrasen College and the BA (H) history course is available in some seven colleges.

Among the science courses, a few seats are still available. There are seats in BSc (H) botany and zoology at DDU, Dyal Singh, Deshbandhu and Hindu College.

Hansraj College principal V.K. Kwatra said, “Surprisingly, there are seats left in B Com (H) in the fourth list. Perhaps the cut-off was pegged too high originally. We also have a few seats available in Sanskrit. All other courses for the general category have closed, but for the OBC, we have seats available in almost all the courses.”

New Delhi, July 6
The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) is still at loggerheads with vice-chancellor Deepak Pental over the sale of radioactive Cobalt-60 by the university.

The members of DUTA are planning to hold a march on Thursday to the Delhi police headquarters, demanding Pental's arrest for selling gamma cell containing Cobalt-60 as scrap.

Aditya Narayan Misra, president, DUTA, said, "More than two months have passed since the source of the radiation leakage leading to the death of a person and hospitalisation of some others in Mayapuri came to light, but no action has been taken against the guilty. There are apprehensions that the matter is being hushed up since it involves the VC of a premier university."

Misra further said, "It is clear that the role of Pental in the sale of gamma irradiator containing radioactive Cobalt-60 is direct and that he is also guilty of hiding information and attempting a cover-up during these two months."

New Delhi, July 6
After the ad hoc appointment of two senior residents (SRs) in the medicine department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Trauma Centre ended last week, its director has left the matter to the dean to decide if any enquiry is needed after the doctors have made representations.

However, a reversal of the discontinuation order seems to be unlikely as the dean Dr Rani Kumar, when contacted on the matter, said, “All ad hoc appointments and any extension on that are made on the recommendations of the faculty of department concerned.”

Earlier, the institute’s registrar had forwarded the matter to the director and it is now learnt that even the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) is not keen on an enquiry as the faculty concerned of the AIIMS Trauma Centre was believed to be unsatisfied with the clinical services of the two SRs, and thus, decided to terminate their ad hoc appointments.

Sources confirmed that the dismissal of the two SRs came on several grounds, including ego clashes with faculty and deficiency in clinical practice. The two SRs, having attitudinal problems, did not appear to be serious in their work.

“The order of termination, sent to the registrar, was signed by the trauma centre chief along with three consultants and according to them, the performance of both the doctors was not up to the mark,” said RDA president Dr Debjyoti Karmakar.

However, Dr Malik Azarhudin, one of the two SRs whose ad hoc appointment has not been extended, said that all the points listed by their seniors are purely subjective and it is quite difficult to mark on such basis.

“Yet it should have come in an institutional way. We should have been intimated about it earlier during our service. Non-extension of our appointment should have come only after warnings were issued to us,” said Dr Malik.

Even as one of the SRs does not seem to be that serious in pursuing the matter, a plea is believed to have been submitted by the SRs and in case of an enquiry, RDA would ask the AIIMS administration to adopt a lenient approach and consider reinstating both the doctors.

Meanwhile, sources say that for the two posts, AIIMS Trauma Centre has been considering some doctors who had resigned prematurely.

New Delhi, July 6
Delhiites woke up to a pleasant morning on Tuesday and the trend continued with the monsoon showers bathing the city at regular intervals.

Officials of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) maintain that with the current rate of progression of the seasonal rain, the deficit of rainfall caused due to the delayed impact of the southwest monsoon would be recovered.

As recorded by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the rainfall till 8:30 am was gauged at 1.6 mm and thereafter showers shifting corners across the Capital were measured at 15.8 mm till 8 pm.

However, even though people enjoyed the soothing atmosphere set due to the reduced mercury levels—maximum temperature and minimum temperature hovering at 32.7 degree Celsius and 25.8 degree Celsius, three and two notches below the normal respectively—there were instances of discomfort witnessed due to high relative humidity, measured at 95.5 per cent coupled with clogging of water on the roads of low-lying areas of south and east Delhi.

The Met department has predicted a cloudy weather tomorrow and the city is likely to see a few spells of rain towards the end of the day. The maximum and the minimum temperatures are expected to remain around 35 degree and 26 degree Celsius, respectively.