Faridabad, August 18
A bus of Murari Lal Senior Senior Secondary School today ran over a girl child of UKG standard of the same school, killing her on the spot near the gate of Green Field Colony on Suraj Kund Road.

The victim, Shabnab (6), had allegedly got down from the bus before the main gate of her colony. She was returning home after the school was over in the afternoon.

According to eyewitnesses in what was palpably rash driving, the driver sped the bus making the child its victim. She was caught in the rear wheel of the bus which ran over her. The wheel crushed the upper portion of her body, killing her on the spot.

According to eyewitnesses, the victim could give just a muffled cry.

The public along with parents in the area gathered on the spot as the news spread. They pelted the bus with stones and broke its windowpanes.

According to the Suraj Kund police station, a criminal case has been registered against the driver and conductor of the bus. Both of them have been arrested.

Mehboob Aalam, father of the victim, was shattered and could only say that action must be taken against the school authorities as they had left the children at the mercy of a driver and a conductor.

Generally, a schoolteacher or some staffer accompanies the children in the bus till the last student gets down.

It is also ensured that parents or someone authorized by them receive the child at the designated spot. In this case, the school authorities allegedly did not follow the norms.

Aalam's complaint is that the police has not booked the school authorities for the apparent negligence on their part.

He said, "My daughter lost her life because of no reason. Today it was my child, tomorrow it could be others if the school authorities continued to act callously."

New Delhi, August 18
There was uproar on the second day of the Assembly’s monsoon session when health minister Kiran Walia tried to give reason for the spread of dengue instead of telling the action taken by the government to control it.

This issue was raised by Leader of the Opposition V.K. Malhotra and RJD MLA from Okhla, Asif Md Khan who demanded that dengue should be declared an epidemic in Jamia Nagar.

Asif said 15 people had died and 2,000 were ill in the area. There is no government dispensary for 20 lakh people. Patients go either to Holy Family Hospital (HFH)or small clinics.

Malhotra said the reason for the spread of dengue is mosquito breeding on roads dug CWG. Most hospitals are full.

The Speaker had to intervene twice, directing the health minister to give a straight reply.

Finally, the minister said that a total of 297 cases of dengue had been reported in Delhi so far. Out of them, 279 cases are from Delhi and 18 from outside. One death has been reported so far.

Taking precautions in Jamia Nagar, she said that mobile vans have been stationed in different areas.

Condemning the RJD's MLA allegation that being a Muslim-dominated area, Jamia Nagar was being neglected by the government, the health minister said that she herself visited the Holy Family Hospital and requested the medical superintendent to give the best possible treatment to the dengue patients.

New Delhi, August 18
In three days, it was for the second time that a portion of road between Jaswant Singh Road and Ashok Road roundabout near Andhra Bhavan caved in due to the last night rains, thus creating problems for commuters.

On Monday too, a portion of road on the same stretch caved in, obstructing vehicular movement on Rajesh Pilot Marg towards Hotel Claridges.

The post-afternoon showers today created traffic jams in various parts of the Capital once again. As a result, water logging was reported from various areas, including Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Kailash Colony, Gulmohar Park, Ashram, Moolchand and Gupta Market. Commuters travelling to Connaught Place or Parliament Street had a harrowing time.

A senior police official said though adequate personnel were deployed to manage traffic on the stretch, traffic was crawling from Rao Tula Ram Marg to Moti Bagh due to the uprooting of a tree. Besides, breakdowns of vehicles affected traffic on Outer Ring Road in Mukundpur, Rohini and Seelampur.

Vehicular movement was slow in Jangpura, Ashram, India Gate, Ashoka Road and ITO among other places due to the rains and subsequent waterlogging. Heavy traffic was reported from Subhash Chandra Marg, Daryaganj, Model Town, Kingsway Camp and several other parts of central and north Delhi.

New Delhi, August 18
As Delhi Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney today inspected Jamia Nagar that has witnessed a surge in dengue cases, residents protested against the MCD.

The visit of Sawhney, who was accompanied by the Leader of MCD Subhash Arya, health department officials, resulted in a scuffle between the delegation members and locals after Arya told residents that the MCD could not clean the drain in the area as it belongs to UP irrigation department. Locals were demanding the nullah to be de-silted.

Arya's comment enraged locals. Soon a fight broke between RWA members and the members of the delegation.

Local Congress councillor Md Jamaluddin had demanded that a dengue ward at the MCD dispensary there. He said only 18 sanitation workers were assigned for the area which has a population of two lakh.

He said there were about 500 suspected dengue patients admitted in hospitals and five persons have died because of the vector-borne disease.

Local residents, though, claim that over 15 people have died till now.

New Delhi, August 18
Even though the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is yet to decide on declaring outbreak of dengue an epidemic, it has geared up to contain the spread of the vector-borne disease through an all-round coordinating system. Also, it has placed orders for 277 new hand-operated fogging machines.

During a meeting with the city's Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna, the MCD commissioner K S Mehra urged for better coordination between various city authorities, including the Delhi Jal Board, Public Works Department, Delhi Development Authority, Delhi flood management department and the Organising Committee of CWG.

"We would be writing to all the hospitals and very soon we would issue fresh advertisements in this direction. We have been stepping up anti-larvae and anti-adult measures for stopping the fast breeding of the dengue-causing mosquitoes," said Dr Mehra.

Further, he said in the next few days, surveillance would be carried out intensively and the network strengthened. "Till last week, 62,000 penalties have been imposed," he said.

"We have placed fresh orders and besides the hand-managed machines, there would be two vehicle-mounted machines 24x7 in operation in each of the areas prone to breeding of mosquitoes," added the commissioner.

Among various places in the Capital, Okhla, Jamia Nagar, Yusuf Sarai and areas near Lady Hardinge Medical College were found to be vulnerable.

Currently, 34 have been earmarked for treating cases of dengue, but the city seems to be ill-equipped to handle the number of cases surfacing this time of the season.

Thus, the city seems to be in grip of the disease, which has continued its unrelenting rise, with as many as 20 more people being diagnosed with the viral flu in the last 24 hours. This puts the cumulative total of those affected by dengue at 297 if official reports are to be believed even as reports coming from several private hospitals put it at high level.

New Delhi, August 18
Delhi University will now have e-classes uploaded on its e-learning portal. The varsity took this major step in the field of ICT-enabled education with the launch of the e-classes section on the e-learning portal (www.illldu.edu.in) today.

Nearly 40 teachers from different colleges of Delhi University attended a one-day workshop on the launch of e-classes. They were familiarized with the process of registration on the portal. These teachers will be called DU e-learning portal coordinators and will be an important link between Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) and the colleges in respect of the usage of this portal and e-classes.

The workshop was inaugurated by vice-chancellor Prof. Deepak Pental who said, "The importance of ICT in higher education cannot be under-estimated. It is of high value and this could be an answer to many problems affecting the quality of education in the university." Pental further said, "E-classes will empower the teachers to manage their student-teacher interactions efficiently."

Prof A.K. Bakshi, director, Institute of Life Long Learning, commented, "We are launching the most significant feature of our portal. The element of interactivity was something we didn't have earlier, and with this facility, both the students and teachers will benefit."

He added, "A teacher usually has about 50-55 minutes for each class. Students often have many questions for which they have to wait for the next class. With this feature, the interaction can continue at length and all the students can participate in the healthy discussions."

DU e-learning portal already has multi-media enriched content in four sections: e-lessons, e-quizzes, e-labs and e-lectures which will be available free of charge. However, the e-classes facility will be available to only those teachers and students who wish to join the portal. To join an e-class, a student has to contact their DU e-learning portal coordinator. This facility will also be available to the teachers and students of postgraduate departments.

Nandini Malhotra, a postgraduate student, said, "The e-classes will undoubtedly benefit students. Not only do we get a record of classes maintained on the portal that can be viewed at any time, we can also catch up on missed classes. Further, we can have extended interaction with teachers on the portal to clear doubt and further our knowledge."

New Delhi, August 18
Ever since Delhi's some of the most popular tourist destinations have been connected by the Metro trains, commercial activities in markets like-- Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar and Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, have got a boost.

Now, the Delhi Metro is all set to give a similar stimulus to south Delhi's commercial activities. After the opening of the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar line, south Delhi is expected to gain commercial benefits upto 20 per cent.

The 12.53-km Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar stretch will improve business in the markets it covers. The Metro route has been planned in such a way that it connects four most major markets in Sarojini Nagar, Dilli Haat, Yusuf Sarai and Hauz Khas.

The INA Metro line connects these four business centers. Besides, the intermediary stops will make various residential areas accessible.

A DMRC spokesperson said, "Residents of the nearby Laxmi Bai Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and parts of Safdarjung Enclave will benefit the Metro service immensely. The work at this underground station is complete. Only some minor finishing work is being carried out. The trial runs on the 12.53-km underground stretch are being conducted and the line is expected to be opened to the public soon."

"We will get customers from across Delhi and Gurgaon in large numbers. Our business will get a boost with the opening of INA Metro station," said Shankar Rastogi, a garment trader in Sarojini Market.However, Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of Delhi Traders' Association, said business growth would be possible only if connectivity between Metro stations and markets was improved.

"The markets are not conveniently connected. If connectivity is improved, the new Metro line will be instrumental for ushering in business growth by at least 20 per cent," said Khandelwal.

New Delhi, August 18
The crime branch of the Delhi police has arrested two persons-- a 19-year-old boy and his 21-year-old friend-- for allegedly cheating two girls of over Rs 4 lakh on the pretext of ensuring their admission in a prominent college of Delhi University (DU).

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Hitesh, the alleged mastermind, and his friend Shakti. The duo was arrested from their respective houses in Nirankari Colony and Model Town, respectively, around 10 pm yesterday.

While the police managed to recover the original marksheets and certificates of one of the victims, the accused told it that they had burnt the marksheets of the other girl. The police has also recovered Rs 70,000 from them.

According to Neeraj Thakur, additional commissioner of police (crime), the arrest came following complaints by the two girls-- 17-year-old Manisha and her 20-year-old neighbour Pallavi (names changed).

Manisha was seeking admission to a degree course while Pallavi was eyeing a seat in a post-graduate course. Manisha was worried about her admission as her class XII marks were not very good and was not sure whether she would be able to make it to any college on the basis of the cut-offs set by the university.

Manisha met Hitesh, who introduced himself as Amandeep, in the college located in North Campus. He allegedly convinced her of his "good connections" and promised her a seat in the college.

"A deal was struck and her family gave Hitesh Rs 1.5 lakh. Hitesh and Shakti told Manisha that her admission would be confirmed by the time the academic session began in August. They took all her original markssheets and educational certificates. To convince her, they gave her a fake receipt of Rs 12,000 as payment of the college fees," Thakur said, adding that Pallavi was also seeking admission in the same college for a PG course and she paid Rs 2.67 lakh to the duo. She was also allegedly given a fake admission receipt.

However, soon after receiving the money, Hitesh switched off his mobile phone and the duo became untraceable, after which the girls approached the police.

"Manisha's marksheets and certificates have been recovered, but the boys told us that they burnt the marksheets and certificates of Pallavi. Part of the amount taken from the girls, which is Rs 70,000, has been recovered from the boys," said Thakur.