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Good monsoon: Boon or bane?
Ground-to-air security for I-Day
Policemen awarded for meritorious services
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Delhi Diary
Baralpulla elevated road may need a
fresh deadline
21 fresh cases of dengue
Tantrik held for rape
Two auto thieves nabbed,
7 bikes seized in Greater Noida
Fake visa racket busted, 2 held
Poor children seek a level playing field
Mentors to keep tabs on CCE system in schools
‘By opening shops on I-Day, corporate retailers defy law’
Security drill at Noida
Metro station
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Good monsoon: Boon or bane?
New Delhi, August 14 In central Delhi's Paharganj area, two persons were injured when a building collapsed in Main Bazar following rains. The incident took around 4 pm. The city received 62 mm of rains today. Earlier, the city had received rainfall which was about 4 per cent less than the normal. "Overall rainfall may exceed the normal once we factor in the rains the Capital received in the last 24 hours," a Met official said. One of the most affected areas was Connaught Place and arterial roads leading to it. Traffic movement was slow near Mother Teresa Crescent, Ramkrishna Ashram Marg, Mandir Marg, Purana Quila, Akbar Road, Ashoka Road, Janpath, Mansingh Road and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Lodhi Road, Pusa Road, Sadar Thana Road, Rohtak Road and Azadpur were among the worst affected areas. "The city almost came to a halt today with crawling vehicles and waterlogged roads. The construction work is pending everywhere posing traffic problems," said Amish Ketan, a call centre employee. The traffic lights at several important areas went out of order, adding to the traffic jam. Even traffic cops became mute spectators, said commuters. Meanwhile, the VVIP zone, including Race Course Road that houses Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Akhbar Road home to the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Motilal Nehru Marg where the Chief Minister resides was also waterlogged. In Defence Colony, a car got stuck in the middle of the road as it caved in, adding to the serpentine queue of vehicles. "After the incident, we stuck in jam for almost two hours. The traffic came to a halt. People came out of their cars. It was only after the car was taken out that the traffic moved. If this is the outcome of monsoon, it is better that there is no rain in Delhi," said Shoaib Khan, a businessman.
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Ground-to-air security for I-Day
New Delhi, August 14 The Red Fort, where the Prime Minister would unfurl the tricolour, alone has hundreds of personnel in khakhi on guard and ground-to-air security arrangements, including anti-aircraft guns, have been put in place to meet any eventuality, said an official connected with the security. More than 40 CCTVs cameras have been placed around various locations, especially around the Red Fort area, and three helicopters have also been deployed for air surveillance. Commandoes with snipers would take their place on high-rises tomorrow during the function and keep a vigil over the landscape. Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk, Metro stations, the airport and New Delhi railway station are under extra vigil besides some of the most crowded markets. Security officials installed X-ray machine in the railway station to scan the luggage entering and leaving the station. Though terror groups plan to strike on I-Day every year, the threat has been especially ominous this year as violence in Kashmir reached unprecedented level this time round and security agencies believe that terror groups like LeT and JeM could exploit sentiments to carry out subversive activities. There are also inputs that jehadi outfits could join hands with the Maoists, who have been taking on the state in large swathes. Barricades were erected at several places to check vehicles and the traffic police would be sealing the city borders late night to 9 am tomorrow and allow passenger vehicles only after thorough checking. Commercial vehicles would though be banned from entering Delhi. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is assigned with the responsibility of guarding the Metro stations, has deployed 400 additional personnel to fortify security at the stations and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said they would not allow parking facilities at their stations till 2 pm tomorrow. However, its trains would ply as usual, a Metro spokesperson said. A police official advised people to use public transport if possible to avoid inconvenience as private vehicles would face stringent security checks at several places tomorrow.
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Policemen awarded for meritorious services
New Delhi, August 14 Fifteen men from Delhi police, including the Special Commissioner (Special Cell and Crime Branch) P N Aggarwal are in the list of the awardees. Minz, presently posted in Crime Against Women Cell, is the lone woman in the list. ACP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, presently ACP at Mehrauli, has been awarded police medal for gallantry for leading a team of Special Cell which nabbed a notorious criminal Hemant from Gurgaon after a gun battle that lasted seven hours in 2006. Aggrawal and inspector Raja Ram have been chosen for President's medal for distinguished service. Aggarwal who is a 1981 batch IPS officer, was recently promoted as Special Commissioner. Interestingly, before joining police service, he had worked as a scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He was awarded with the medal for handling communal backlash in the Jama Masjid area after the demolition of Babri Masjid without a single casualty. Raja Ram, now SHO Jama Masjid, was promoted out-of-turn for arresting 79 proclaimed offenders within eight months, which was a record in the history of Delhi police. Police stations at Shahdara and Jama Masjid were adjudged for the best police station award during his tenure as SHO. Among those who have been selected for medal for meritorious service were DCP (Traffic-Central Range) Rupinder Kumar, ACP Baljit Singh Bamel, inspector Rajiv Bhatnagar, SI Roslin Punam Minz and constable Surender Singh. Rupender Kumar was on deputation in Punjab police from 1992 to 1996 and his work was appreciated by the commissioner of police and the DGP of Punjab police. He earned 6 appreciations during his entire service. Others who won police medal for meritorious service include ACP Jagminder Singh, an Arjuna award-winning wrestler, ACP Hari Singh Bisht, inspectors Raj Kumar Singh and inspector Laxmi Narayan Bisht and sub-inspectors Narsi Dass and Kishori Lall. Last year, 30 personnel of Delhi police, including a joint commissioner and two deputy commissioners, were awarded police medals on the occasion of Independence Day. 18 medals for CBI men
As many as 18 Central Bureau of Investigation officials have been awarded distinguished President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious Service by the President of India on the occasion of Independence Day, a CBI spokesperson said here today. SK Kashyap, an SP, and Harikesh and DC Dwivedi, both additional SPs, received the prestigious President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service for their exemplary investigation works. SJM Gillani, deputy director (Admn.) at CBI headquarters, Sujeet Pandey and Heimonlang Nongpluh, both DIGs, Harish Chander Sharma, an additional SP, Sushil Prasad Singh, Prashant Kumar Pande, both DSPs, Roshan Lal Yadav, Suresh Balyan Kumra and Shama Maruf, all inspectors, S Padmanathan and Sambhu Nath Das, both sub-inspectors, Pan Singh Bisht and Vasu Kavidas, head constables, S Ravi and Om Prakash Bishnoi, constables, have received Police Medal for Meritorious Service. |
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Delhi Diary Many of you will be spending Independence Day in the comfort of your home, preferring weekend rest to taking part in some public celebration on the day. But you need not feel guilty about it as you are not alone in this aspect. Quite a few communities are celebrating the day in a special way on the popular networking site, Facebook. The site has asked its users to express their I-Day feelings and be a part of the celebration in the virtual world. Thousands have joined them and are sharing their views on the occasion of the 64th Independence Day. Many are flashing the tricolour on their walls. "It feels like I am celebrating the glorious day with millions of my compatriots whom I may not know, but it does not matter. We are all Indians here," one Naresh Batra of Delhi enthuses in one such community. May I-Day bring peace to Kashmir! Quite a few thousand Kashmiris, Pandits as well as Muslims, living in the Capital, are likely to give I-Day revelries a miss, and understandably so. This summer the valley has seen unprecedented spate of violence and as many as 55 people, the majority of them in their early 20s or younger still, have fallen to the bullets fired by the police and paramilitary forces. Kashmiris living in Delhi have come together at different forums to mourn the human tragedy. Sumit Pannu, a lawyer who spent his youth in the valley before leaving it in 1990 amidst the ethnic killings, said he cried watching the events on television which beamed the poignant images of wailing mothers and other mourners. The violence has not ebbed so far. "I will pray that I-Day bring peace to my birthplace," he said to the nodding of many others who had gathered during a recent meeting of Kashmiris at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi. CWG tune on your mobiles
Delhiites should not be surprised if the caller tune of their mobile numbers has a special message, welcoming the callers to the mega event of Commonwealth Games, which begins from
October 3. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had a meeting with senior officials of several mobile companies on Friday where they discussed the issue as the government believes it will add some positive buzz to the showpiece event despite allegations of corruption being levelled against the organisers. Dikshit asked officials to introduce it as soon as possible but not before getting the message or tune cleared by the government lest another scandal follows. CWG officials
getting deadline jitters
The delay in the completion of stadiums and residential flats for the CWG athletes is giving sleepless nights to the officials who are looking after the projects as they would be the first ones to be blamed if anything goes wrong. "We are left with no time for corrective measures in the event something goes amiss," said a top CWG official. He gave the example of the T3 terminal at the IGI airport, a world-class facility inaugurated almost a month back, which is still facing a number of teething problems. He said a period of six months is ideally required to check the operations once a structure is completed, but they are expected to host the guests within a few days of finishing the work. (Contributed by Rashi Agarwal, Kumar Rakesh, Syed Ali Ahmed, Himani Chandel) |
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Baralpulla elevated road may need a
fresh deadline
New Delhi, August 14 If it happens, this would be the fourth time when the deadline of the project would be extended. The road was first announced to be completed in June and later postponed to July 15. However, as the work reached nowhere near completion, it was extended to August 15 and then the Chief Minister announced in a conference that it would be certainly completed by August 25. To comply with the deadline, frenetic work is going on near Nizamuddin where the road is 20 feet high. An engineer on the spot said it was easy for a politician to announce deadlines, but technical officials kept facing unavoidable hurdles and difficult working conditions were only adding to their woes. "It was a marshy land and it was difficult for the workers to enter the drain. This kind of a road generally takes three to five years for completion, but the elevated road in Delhi is being completed within a record time of 18 months only," the engineer said. The project could have been completed earlier but for the objections made by various agencies. The major hurdle was created by the Archaeological Survey (ASI) of India and then Northern Railway. The ASI told the public works department (PWD), the agency doing the project, that Barapulla is a heritage property and so should not be damaged while building the road. The civic agency then gave the road a turn near Barapulla. The elevated road is one of the most important projects as it would be used to transport sportspersons from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Games Village. The road is signal free and would save lots of time. |
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21 fresh cases of dengue
New Delhi, August 14 Among those affected by the vector-borne disease this season, there have been one confirmed death of an eight-year-old-boy who succumbed to the virus in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on July 22 and three suspected deaths, one in Moolchand Hospital and two in Holy Family Hospital. "Some of the suspected deaths were reported to us today and the reports are yet to ascertain them as casualties due to dengue," added Dr Yadav. Meanwhile, till yesterday, the city recorded 281 confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1). Today, owing to lack of availability of information, the city H1N1 nodal officer Dr Debasis Bhattacharya failed to update the media on H1N1's status. "I have not received any report on H1N1 flu today,'" said Dr Bhattacharya late in the evening. He added, "On Saturday, report should be made available to the media and I had written a letter to the director about this."
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Tantrik held for rape
Greater Noida, August 14 "Vasundhera, a Ghaziabad resident, last evening lodged a complaint at the Bisrakh police station, stating that Chiranji Lal, a godman, allegedly raped his wife several times over the past three years. The woman used to visit Lal for treatment of her stomach ailment. According to the complaint, Lal, after hypnotising the woman, used to sexually abuse her and she knew nothing about it," said Shailendera Lal, deputy superintendent of police. "She used to feel giddy every time after returning from Lal's place. She had started hallucinating. The woman told her husband that Lal would bring her under his control by chanting some mantras and then she did whatever Lal asked her to do. Moreover, in the hypnotised state, she felt that Lal was her husband," said the DCP. "A day before, while Lal was sexually abusing her, she regained conscious and realised the situation. On returning home, she told her husband about it and he took her to the Bisrakh police station," said Lal. "On interrogation, Lal confessed to have sexually abused over a dozen women in the past three years on the pretext of reliving them of bodily pains," said the DCP. "The victim is a graduate and her husband is a senior officer posted in Delhi. Women from good families used to visit Lal not knowing that he used to rape them after making them unconscious," said Lal. |
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Two auto thieves nabbed,
7 bikes seized in Greater Noida
Greater Noida, August 14 On the basis of their information, seven stolen motorcycles were recovered while the search was on to recover more. They confessed to have committed over a two dozen auto thefts in the city and surrounding areas," said Vijay Prakash, Kasna officiating incharge. At Noida Phase II, the police arrested three criminals and recovered the stolen iron grills loaded on a tempo. "They revealed they had stolen these grills from the Noida parks and were going to sell them to a scrap dealer," said Rajesh Kumar Singh, deputy superintendent of police. Meanwhile at Dadri, a Swift car was robbed at pistol-point. The victim Vikas Kumar has filed a complaint at Dadri police station. |
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Fake visa racket busted, 2 held
New Delhi, August 14 The police has seized two fake blank visas for Germany and Schengen, some passports, forged Russian invitation letters, Rs 2.78 lakh in cash and two Russian SIM cards from the accused. Kumar was arrested on August 12 after the police received information that he would come near the Mata Sundari College to deliver a fake visa to one Gommi. On his disclosures, Jha was arrested later. After their arrest, the police raided Jha's office and seized several fake documents being used by the gang. On interrogation, the two revealed that they used to procure fake blank visas for European countries and used them to send people to these countries via Moscow. They charged between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for this. The blank visas were procured through one Debi. They used forged Russian job invitation letters to show the genuineness of their customers' visit. The accused had contacts in Punjab and other states also, confirmed police officials. "The accused targeted people who did not fulfill the requirements of a genuine visa," said a senior police official. |
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Poor children seek a level playing field
New Delhi, August 14 Brought together by the "Hum Bhi Khelenge Abhiyan", more than a thousand children in over a dozen bastis, who play in waterlogged playgrounds and narrow corridors of run-down schools, are now talking about what play means to them. Since mid-July, the campaign has organized modest-sized games events in bastis such as Dakshinpuri, Khanpur, Tigri, Seemapuri, Trilokpuri, Kalyanpuri and Mazdoor Janta Colony. An online campaign has also been launched (www.iwanttoplay.in) using facebook and twitter. Besides, a signature campaign is on for the petition to the Prime Minister. Through this campaign, the children are speaking of improvised spaces created for play: triangular islands amid traffic signals, garbage dumped parks, unsafe terraces and narrow lanes. Girls expressed their frustration at being held back by parents for their safety and having to steal spaces and time slots from the boys. "I live in Kirby Place and we play in the military godowns. There used to be a park nearby, but the faujis throw us out," said Sonu. "I know about the Commonwealth Games. It will start in October and there will be all types of games. But they should not make so many changes for just 14-15 days' games," said 12-year-old Vishal who came to Savda Ghevra from Nangal Dairy basti which was demolished for the Games. The Hum Bhi Khelenge campaign is led by Mobile Creches, Ankur, Jagori and Centre for Advocacy and Research and supported by networks such as CWG Citizens for Workers, Women and Children; CWG Nagrik Manch - Rozi Roti Aavas Khel other NGOs, activists and academics. "We play netball every Saturday in the Shiv Mandir complex. After proper coaching, we are better now at handling the ball," said Pinky and Anita from Sanjay Colony. "Our jhuggis were demolished because of the Commonwealth Games and we were sent to Savda Ghevra. Our education was disrupted and our family scattered. Here, our house is too small for so many people. There was no school here initially and now because of the gap, I am not able to get admission in any school," said the 15-year-old Rabiya from the demolished basti of Laxmi Nagar. Sharmila Bhagat, director Ankur, said, "The Commonwealth Games are not about sports. We need to nurture sports in the lives of our children and youth--at the level of communities, schools and the city."
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Mentors to keep tabs on CCE system in schools
New Delhi, August 14 A CBSE official said, "For some time, we have been trying to ensure the smooth implementation of the CCE in schools across the country. We felt there was need to maintain a check on the schools, so we decided to introduce select principals as peer assessors or monitors for a group of schools. Each principal will monitor six to eight schools that will be assigned to him." Under the framework, each principal will be assigned a group of schools in their immediate neighbourhood. Principals of government schools will get a group of government schools while those of private schools will be asked to monitor private schools. The CBSE official said, "The principal as monitor will visit schools and document his observations through checklists on the issues like interaction with teachers and self-review. The monitor will then be expected to forward these observations to the CBSE." The officials added, "A monitor will be expected to judge how the school is progressing academically. Besides, he will have to forward his observations on how the school is progressing in extra-curricular activities and sports. The monitor will have to judge whether the school is imparting adequate life skills to students. He will have to mention the facilities available to students, the state of library and the like." Each monitor is expected to visit schools with a team of two subject experts and the monitor is expected to visit schools at least twice in a term. The monitors are to submit their preliminary observations to the CBSE by December. The board will then put together the information collected based on which an award of the best CCE school and another award of the best monitor will be given by March next year.
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‘By opening shops on I-Day, corporate retailers defy law’
New Delhi August 14 Corporate retailers open their stores on August 15 and the government has not taken any action against them so far. It's disrespect of the nation, said Parveen Khandelwal, general secretary of the CAIT. He said that for the last five days or so, several corporate retailers have been inserting big advertisements in periodicals informing the people that their stores are open on August 15. The government has not taken any action against them. |
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Security drill at Noida
Metro station
Noida, August 14 "Later, the Noida police conducted raids at cyber cafes. Around 40 cafes were inspected by various teams at sector 18, Atta, Naya Bans, Ganga shopping complex and other sectors. Several of them did not have CCTV network. They have been asked to install CCTVs," said Mishra. Last week, the National Disaster Management agency in association with the Noida police had conducted security mock drill on Expressway. |
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Many of you will be spending Independence Day in the comfort of your home, preferring weekend rest to taking part in some public celebration on the day. But you need not feel guilty about it as you are not alone in this aspect. Quite a few communities are celebrating the day in a special way on the popular networking site,
Facebook. The site has asked its users to express their I-Day feelings and be a part of the celebration in the virtual world. Thousands have joined them and are sharing their views on the occasion of the 64th Independence Day. Many are flashing the tricolour on their walls.
New Delhi, August 14
New Delhi, August 14
