New Delhi, August 9
Even after being booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has again handed over the second phase of upgrading streetlights to the same company, which is accused of financial mismanagement.

The firm, Sweka Engineering Works (SEW), has been assigned with the work of upgrading streetlights on another 192-km stretch by the civic body.

The CBI had registered a case against six officials of the MCD and the firm's managing director for allegedly causing a loss of over Rs 3.5 crore in a streetlighting project to be completed before the Commonwealth Games (CWG).

The civic body had passed a proposal in this respect which was bought in the meeting of the House. The leaders of the ruling BJP said they did not have time to call for tenders.

"We do not have time for calling tenders. If we start following the tender procedure, the work would not be able to get completed before the Games. We are already running short of time. So we have given the work to the same company," said senior BJP leader.

According to the proposal, Rs 73 crore has been given to the firm for upgrading streetlights on 159-km stretch. This includes some important roads in the vicinity of CWG venues. Initially, the firm was given Rs 34.54 for the streetlighting project on 100-km stretch.

The opposition Congress, has however, opposed the move, terming it as illegal. "The firm that has already been booked for corruption should not be given any further work," said Jai Kishan Sharma, Leader of the Opposition.

The CBI had taken action after the Central Vigilance Commission had referred the matter to the agency in February. The CBI said the SEW had won the bid to upgrade streetlights that were advertised on September 14, 2007. The order was issued on July 1, 2008 but the accused officials and others allegedly tampered with the tender after the opening of bids to increase the minimum quoted amount.

"This was done to avail the difference between the next higher quoted amount without changing the overall status of being the lowest bidder, thereby causing a loss of Rs 3.62 crore, agency sources said," said a senior MCD official.

New Delhi, August 9
The Supreme Court today confirmed the death sentence awarded to one Atbir for murdering his stepmother, brother and sister by stabbing them as many as 37 times at Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar in January 1996.

"Considering his hunger and lust for property" and the "extremely brutal and diabolical" crime that involved repeated stabbings, "we conclude that it is a gravest case of extreme culpability and rarest of rare cases and death sentence alone would be proper and adequate," a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan held.

Atbir, who was 25 years at the time of committing the crime, Satbir and Anju were the children of one Jaswant Singh and his first wife Chandrawati. The victims were one Sheela Devi, the second wife of Jaswant, and their son, Manish, and daughter, Sonu.

The additional sessions judge who had conducted the trial awarded the death penalty on September 27, 2004 and the Delhi High Court upheld it on January 13, 2006. The conviction was decided on the strength of the dying declaration of Sonu who had succumbed to her injuries two days after the crime.

"The manner in which Atbir first stabbed Manish followed by Sheela and then Sonu showed that there was a determination to finish the entire family so that he and his brother enjoy the entire property and money immediately," the apex court Bench observed.

Another aggravating circumstance was that the crime had been committed and executed after closing the doors with all the three victims being left helpless and unarmed. Closing of the door and bolting it from inside clearly "shows the determination to complete the crime and take away the life of all the three," the court ruled.

New Delhi, August 9
The Delhi High Court today disposed of the civil suit of the University of Delhi v/s Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA), ordering that there is no mandate by the court to the teachers to teach the science courses in semester mode, but at the same time it directed DUTA not to obstruct any teacher who voluntarily wishes to teach in semester mode.

Even as the DU administration has already made clear that the semester system in science courses has already been implemented and that there is no question of rolling back, after the court's verdict today, DUTA has again appealed to the staff councils to make timetable and teach in accordance with the existing annual syllabi.

"The semester-based syllabi are incomplete and of questionable standards. The DUTA's appeal for observing annual scheme timetable in all courses will stay," said an official release by DUTA.

Delhi University Students' Union members were also present in the court hearing today.

"While statutory bodies have not considered the serious concerns expressed by teachers, students have been altogether denied any role in the issue," said Kriti Wadhera, vice-president, DUSU.

"The students should not be made victims, even for a transitory phase of unprepared, hasty and ill-conceived experiments. The massive failure rate in the B.Sc. Programme and now in Maths Hons are unfortunate consequences of such hasty decisions," she added.

New Delhi, August 9
At the Hamdard Study Circle in the Capital's Sangam Vihar locality, a young Wasim Malik is working hard to rewrite the "Shah Faisal" story. And he is not alone in the pursuit.

Scores of young boys and girls from strife-torn Kashmir have made this place their home since the Valley made good news thanks to Faisal, the 2010 all-India IAS topper. On the Hamdard campus, Faisal is a hot topic of discussion though he now has a competitor in the Valley's ongoing crisis.

Ask Wasim what has caused the trouble and he retorts, "No offence intended but when people ask us - the Kashmiris -- what has caused this crisis, they add insult to injury. Our pain is not hidden from anyone. Let me ask you: If I trust you, would you trust me back?"

To this question, there are no easy answers as Wasim and his friends found out a couple of months ago when they were refused rented accommodation in several localities around Delhi University.

"We went to Kingston Camp, Mukherjee Nagar, a few more places. No one accommodated us. Some landlords said they didn't offer houses to people from Kashmir."

Finally, when these people landed themselves a home, they were in for surprises. "One day we had visitors -- policemen in civil clothes. They had come to check our belongings, to ensure we were not terrorists. We cooperated fully. We were afraid. For a while it felt like being back in the Valley, where we grew up amidst military crackdowns. Whenever the police had to pick up someone for interrogation, they would normally come in civil clothes," Wasim said; he later learnt his property dealer had asked the local police to verify his Kashmiri tenants' antecedents.

For this young man from Anantnag, and others, the Hamdard hostel has naturally emerged as the safest refuge. Here they face no distrust, here they have equal rights - something they missed back home. And today when the Valley is on the boil, they stand in solidarity with the youngsters who are clamouring for "their space, their rights".

"We are no different from them when it comes to aspirations. Only we are luckier to be here to make ourselves a future. Back in Kashmir, those young protesters face gloom. They are pelting stones in the hope that someone will listen to what they have to say," Gulzar Wani from Baramulla remarks.

All the Kashmiri youngsters at Hamdard slam state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for dismissing the aspirations of people and failing to empathize with them. "It all started with the fake encounter of three Kashmiri youths, followed by the death of Sufail Matoo, a young boy who was hit with a bullet while returning home from tuitions. The CM did order an inquiry, but no one was eventually punished. As stone-throwers took to streets, he dubbed them as paid miscreants. Was one stone not enough for the CM to realize that Kashmiris were dying to be heard?" asks Wasim, advocating calibrated de-militarization of the Valley as the first step towards peace.

Like lakhs of youngsters who voted for the NC-Congress alliance in the 2008 state elections, Wasim and Gulzar feel cheated and failed. They still remember what Omar had promised on November 13 two years ago while campaigning in his home constituency of Ganderbal.

He had said he would review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and all human rights violations in the Valley where about 50,000 people are said to be missing. "We trusted him then. He never trusted us back. Therefore, the crisis," says Wasim, a Kashmiri law graduate aspiring to be an IAS officer.

New Delhi, August 9
The Organising Committee of Commonwealth Games (OCCWG) has signed an MoU with Tata Motors to provide turnkey transport solutions during the Games and Queens Baton Relay in Delhi.

The OC has ordered 1,789 vehicles from Tata Motors during the Games, which include 1,550 Tata Indigo, 100 Tata Safari, 109 Sumo Grande and 30 trucks required for transportation during the CWG.

Tata Motors has been signed as official transport sponsor.

"We are delighted to welcome Tata Motors to our sponsor family. We are well on track to host the event and the arrival of Tata Motors will contribute towards the delivery of the best-ever Games," said OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi.

As part of turnkey commitment with the Organising Committee, Tata Motors will also provide the drivers with CWG-branded uniforms, fuel for all vehicles along with backup services and maintenance.

In addition, Tata Motors will offer fleet and depot management services, beside 24x7 call centre facilities. All vehicles provided by Tata Motors will have Commonwealth Games branding on them.

The MoU was signed by Lalit K. Bhanot, secretary-general, OC and Nitin Seth, Head-Car Product Group, Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors Limited.

"We are happy to be associated with a mega sporting event in the league of CWG Delhi. This is a very proud alliance for us and we are sure that the Games will be a huge success." said Nitin Seth, Head-Car Product Group, Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors Limited.

Tata Motors will also provide vehicles for the ongoing Queen Baton Relay. They will offer 20 Sumo Grande, one Land Rover, three trucks, and two buses for the relay. The fuel, driver and backup services for the vehicles during the Relay will be taken care of by the dealers of Tata Motors in different cities.

New Delhi, August 9
The Airport Express Line, which will be run by Delhi Airport Metro Express Limited led by Reliance Infrastructure and promises to take passengers from Connaught Place to the IGI Airport in 20 minutes, will be thrown open to public by September, a month before the Commonwealth Games.

Trains on the showcase Airport Metro Express line in Delhi will run at a speed of 135 km per hour, for which a consortium led by Reliance Infrastructure is imparting training to drivers, including psychological profiling to test their emotional stability.

India's first Metro line to come up on a public-private -partnership mode, the 22-km corridor will have City Airport Terminals at three stations from where passengers can directly check-in. The ticket rate from Connaught Place to airport has been fixed at Rs 150.

With just little over a month left for commissioning of the line, the company is imparting special training to 24 drivers as they have to operate trains at a speed of 120 km per hour, which will be a first in India. Metro trains in Delhi run at an average speed of 35-40 km per hour.

"Drivers are being allowed to operate the trains on short test runs so that they can gain experience handling them," an official said and added that trial runs on the line will begin later this month.

The candidates are now being trained with the help of simulators procured from Spain and the signalling simulator procured from Siemens in Germany, an official spokesperson of the company said.

Both simulators are capable of creating deteriorated operating scenarios and mock emergency situations to train the candidates, they added. Various driving conditions such as fog, rain and fire are being created in the simulators.

Separate advanced training is also planned for staff who will handle public interfaces, such as complaint handling desk and customer care, the spokesperson added.

The DMRC has created civil structures associated with the line and handed them over to Reliance Infrastructure which will handle the operations for 30 years.

This will also be the first line in the country to be mapped on the Geographic Information System to enhance safety, maintenance and traffic regulation. Mapping the corridor on GIS will help in quick mobilisation of emergency services in case of a contingency on the trains.

The company will map all the emergency services, including fire stations, police stations and hospitals on the system, the spokesperson said.

New Delhi, August 9
Dressed in their traditional attire, around 80 tribal people from eight states came together here today on the occasion of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People to speak about their struggles and ask for their rights as equal citizens.

From Jantar Mantar, they marched to Delhi Haat to interact with city residents and tell their tales of unequal existence.

The tribals, who constitute eight per cent of India’s population, came from states like— Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pardesh.

“Not much is being done for tribals in this country. This rally was organised so that they could be heard,” said a member from Action Aid, one of the organisers.

Earlier in the day, the community representatives took part in a discussion addressed by senior activists and experts to raise the issue of forest inhabitants rights, displacement due to mining and mega projects and the apathy of the official system.

The discussion was hosted by Action Aid, Adivasi Janjati Adhikar Manch (AJAM) and Indian confederation of indigenous and tribal people.

“We want to focus on Panchayati Raj (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (or Pesa) and the Forest Rights Act among other issues. Hunger, displacement and violations of rights have left these people marginalised and disempowered,” added the member.

A mini-photo exhibition on the tribals of the Kond community and their struggle to save the Nilgiri hills were on display at Delhi Haat. A street play by a group of students was also organised with the message to save the tribals. The march ended with lighting of candles.— IANS

New Delhi, August 9
With the arrest of Poonam Rani (28), resident of Hauz Khas, the south district police has solved a sensational murder case in which a senior citizen Sarwan Devi was murdered on August 7.

The accused has been identified as Poonam Rani, the youngest daughter-in-law of the deceased.

On the intervening night of August 6 and 7 around 2.30 am, the police received information that two thieves barged into a house and attacked an old woman residing in the Shahpur Jat area of Hauz Khas.

When police officials reached the spot, they found the woman lying in a pool of blood.

Poonam told the police that she was attacked by two thieves who had entered the house and inflicted injuries on her head with iron rods and escaped immediately.

Poonam further stated that her husband had gone to Haridwar with his brothers and a nephew for taking kanwad. Around 1.30 am, she saw two persons arguing with her mother-in-law. Before she could interrupt, one of them attacked her with a heavy iron rod, she said.

The old woman was rushed to AIIMS where she was declared 'brought dead'.

The police investigated the case and found that there was no sign of forced entry in the house and the blood splatters on the wall did not match the version of the complainant Poonam.

On further examination, Poonam broke down and confessed to have committed the crime. She was arrested and her disclosure recorded. She stated that her mother-in-law used to scold her on petty issues and was pressurising her to do B.Ed.

New Delhi, August 9
A mechanical engineer along with one of his accomplices has been arrested allegedly with 285-gms king cobra venom worth Rs 20 lakh.

The accused have been identified as Anil Jain (65), an engineer, and Mudhasu Vaker Rao (56). They were apprehended last night from Kewal Park on a tip off.

Jain hails from Jalandhar in Punjab.

"They were arrested following investigations into an input about their involvement in illegal wildlife trade. We came to know that they were coming to Kewal Park to sell king cobra venom," said DCP (north-west) N.S. Bundela, adding that two bottles containing 285-gms king cobra venom were seized from them.

A case under relevant sections of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, has been registered against them.

The accused told the police that a man called Harish supplied them with the venom and they had to supply it further on higher rate.

"They said Harish had promised to give Rs 20 lakh to them if they could manage a party to buy it," Bundela said. Harish is absconding and efforts are on to arrest him.

Rao of Indore in MP is in seed processing business, while Jain is a full-time liaisoner.

New Delhi, August 9
As many as 25 people tested positive for H1N1 today. With this, the total number of confirmed cases has climbed up to 197 in the Capital since June 10 this year and to 9,895 cumulative cases since the outbreak of the flu in May 2009.

Doctors say, with change in weather conditions, cases could rise and hence high-risk patients like children, pregnant women and those with immuno-compromised systems have to be extra-careful.

While, dengue conitinued its rise with eight new cases of the vector-borne disease surfacing today, taking the total tally of the disease to 121 this season against 10 confirmed cases till this time during last year.

"The MCD has intensified its fogging operation, but the cases are expected to rise due to the existing breeding grounds in several areas. From today's cases, 77 cases have been reported from MCD areas followed by 22 in NDMC areas and the remaining have come from outside the city," said the chief medical officer of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Dr N K Yadav.

In the view of ongoing constructing activities, which has led to a rise in breeding grounds of the aedes mosquito, the MCD and other agencies— DDA and PWD, is likely to carry inpection across the city, he added.

New Delhi, August 9
A 27-year-old driver, working at a PWD construction site, was crushed to death by a road roller in the Mandawali area of east district last night.

According to the police, the incident was reported around 1:30 am from a construction site on Delhi-Noida road.

"The deceased has been identified as Upender, a resident of Bihar. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead," said a police official.

The police said Upender came under the wheels of the road roller being used at the construction site. "The accused identified as Vijender fled after the incident and is absconding. A case of negligent driving has been registered against him and a hunt is on to nab him," the official added.