New Delhi, November 3
With Dhanteras symbolising the beginning of Divali today, Delhiites thronged city markets, resulting in traffic jams in several parts of the city.

According to the traffic police, while heavy traffic jams were seen in parts of north and central Delhi, traffic flow was very slow in several roads of east, south-east and west Delhi, with situation becoming more chaotic towards the evening.

Almost all important traffic intersections in the national Capital and roads leading out of Delhi towards Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon saw slow traffic movement with waiting time stretching to 30- 40 minutes for a kilometer.

With shopping considered auspicious today, not only popular markets like Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Sadar Bazaar, Kamla Market, Khari Bawali, Karol Bagh, GK M-block remained crowded, but even the lesser known places like Fathepuri, Kinari Bazar, Dariba Kalan, Kirti Nagar witnessed huge turnout of festival shoppers.

As a result, parking problems and jams were the story of the day and traffic police officials had to work hard to bring some order on the road.

"It is already more than half an hour that I am stuck on Vikas Marg. The traffic is moving very slowly," said Ranjit Rana, an MNC executive on his way to central Delhi from Noida.

According to him, the traffic on the opposite side was equally slow.

The roads in New Delhi district also witnessed heavy traffic movement today although no major jam was reported in the area.

The north and central districts, comprising Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar and Kamla Markets, were the worst hit in terms of jams. According to a traffic official posted at Chandni Chowk, the jams and crowd are nothing unusual and that nothing can be done about them.

"Nobody can bring order on the roads during festivals. It happens every year. Nothing can be done," he said hopelessly.

Similarly, several market areas of west Delhi like Rajouri Garden and Punjabi Bagh remained equally crowded and in several areas, commuters remained stuck on roads for hours. Things are expected to be equally chaotic tomorrow with people coming out for last-minute Divali shopping.

New Delhi, November 3
Abandoned by the civic agencies, the thousands of potted plants and flowers that adorned the roads of Delhi during the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and earned lots of appreciation are open to loot as people are seen lifting the pots while passing through the roads in cars.

People picking up plants from the roads have become a common scene in the city.

The road leading to Akshardham and the Games Village was beautified with thousands of flowery plants, but now hardly any plant is seen on the stretch as people have lifted almost all of them.

"On my way to office, I have often seen people halting their cars alongside the bridge and lifting one or two pots," said Rajiv.

Earlier, the Delhi government announced that these plants would be taken to nurseries. However, they are only being lifted by the public for personal gardens.

These plants, most of which were initially meant for the Games venues but later placed on roads due to security reasons, are vandalised in many areas. While many of them have been stolen, others have perished for want of watering.

Justifying their act, some people have said it is better to take them home than see them dying on the road. "Nobody is there to take care of them. So better take them home where one will at least ensure that they are watered daily," said Gaurav Mishra.

"The plants placed at the rotaries, central verges, roundabouts, etc do not usually survive due to lack of irrigation facilities. Moreover, it is very difficult to guard them on roads. Our suggestion was to place them in or around the government and public buildings where they could have been taken care of," said Jagdish Mamgain, chairman, MCD Works Committee.

The civic agency had placed around 10 lakh trees, shrubs, etc on main roads, central verges, flyovers and roads leading to the Games stadia and other venues. The total cost of carrying out this landscaping work was estimated to be in crores.

Gurgaon, November 3
A three-week-long focused campaign to eradicate measles disease in Haryana will be launched in five districts of the state, including Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Faridabad, Mewat and Palwal, from November 22.

This was revealed at a meeting of the District Task Force organised under the chairmanship of city magistrate KK Gupta here today.

The Task Force has been constituted for carrying out a campaign against measles in the district, Gupta said, adding that it was for the first time that such a campaign against measles was being launched in the state.

Children from 9 months to 10 years of age will be given second dose for protection from measles during the campaign, as the first dose is given during 9 to 12 months.

Dr Gurmeet, a representative of the World Health Organization, informed the meeting that this was a one-time campaign and would cover 47 districts of 14 states in the country in its first phase.

The second phase will be launched in April, 2011 to cover the remaining districts in the north-eastern states, besides Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The third phase, proposed in September, 2011, will cover the remaining districts of Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, 50 per cent of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The City Magistrate asked the officials concerned of the Health, Education and Aanganwari departments to work with sound coordination to ensure the success of the campaign. He directed the authorities of the Education Department to issue strict instructions to all the government-run as well as private schools to cooperate in this campaign and inform the parents of their students in advance.

Gupta pointed out that measles was a leading cause of childhood mortality and in India, 60,000 to 1 lakh deaths were reported due to measles every year.

"Post-measles corneal scars lead to permanent vision loss and complications due to measles include pneumonia, diarrhoea, otitis media and encephalitis," he said, adding that looking into the after-effects of the disease, the Government of India had decided to launch the campaign to reduce the cases of measles by 2013.

The civil surgeon, Dr Praveen Garg, maintained that in Gurgaon, the estimated population of children in the age group of 9 months to 10 years was more than 3.81 lakh. Of these, nearly 2 lakh children go to schools.

New Delhi, November 3
The entry of sniffer dogs into Rajghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, during the visit of the then United States President George W Bush in 2006 had caused much furore with many Gandhians complaining that it compromised the sanctity of the place.

No such compromise would be made now when the US President Barack Obama visits the Bapu's memorial.

Rajghat Samadhi Committee secretary Rajnish Kumar said allowing the sniffer dogs for security reason was a mistake and it would not be committed again.

"It should not have happened. It was wrong and it would not be repeated when Obama visits it," he said.

His clarification came after a great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Tushar Gandhi, had demanded that the same mistake should not be repeated this time round when the US President arrives here to pay his homage to the Father of the Nation durign his visit. 

New Delhi, November 3
The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) today rejected the order to submit a formal undertaking, agreeing to teach as per the semester mode, even after many DU colleges cut the salaries of teachers missing classes to participate in strikes.

DUTA further claimed that the order sent by the university registrar does not have the approval of DU's executive council. It added that despite the assurances given by the Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal on resolving the semester row, it appeared that the new vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh was sticking to the administrative style of his predecessor Deepak Pental.

The DUTA condemned yesterday's letter of the registrar, which instructed college principals not to pay salaries to teachers who do not submit formal undertakings to teach as per the semester mode. The letter also directed principals to make teachers mark the daily attendance register.

"These orders of the registrar do not have the executive council's sanction, the only statutory body of DU that takes such decisions. The council had rejected the biometric attendance scheme sought to be implemented by former vice-chancellor Deepak Pental," said DUTA president Aditya Narayan Misra.

The DUTA has appealed to teaches no to submit any undertaking, mark the attendance register or, be involved in conducting the semester exams.

In a statement, the DUTA has condemned the principal of Maharaja Agrasen College for allegedly getting the teachers arrested during protests. It demanded that the teachers' complaints against the principal be registered as soon as possible. The statement further read that after the teaching hours, all teachers would stage a dharna at the VC's office on November 10. 

New Delhi, November 3
Though there is nearly one year left for the Delhi Gurdwara Committee elections, the Akali parties are using every opportunity to attract voters.

The opposition parties - Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and the newly-constituted Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK) have laid allegations against the ruling party Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) led by Paramjit Singh Sarna that he did not allow them organise ardas functions in gurdwaras.

Even today, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK) alleged that the activists of his party were not allowed to perform ardas in Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in memory of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.

President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK) Jasjeet Singh said that when a senior leader of his party, Bibi Nirpreet Kaur, and others reached Gurdwara Bangla Sahib for ardas, they were not allowed by supporters of Sarna. But they kept sitting in the gurdwara for some time. Later, they came out and performed ardas in front of Nishan Sahib (the religious symbol of Sikhs).

Jasjeet Singh said that in the religious function organised by his party, Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) chief Manjeet Singh, national vice-president Onkar Singh Thapar, national general secretary Avtar Singh Hit, youth leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, Bhupinder Singh Anand, municipal councillor Bibi Mandeep Kaur Bakshi, Captain Inderjeet Singh and others were present.

Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna said that he had organised ardas in the gurdwara on Tuesday. 

New Delhi, November 3
In a meticulously planned heist, thieves dug a tunnel through a manhole to enter a jewellery shop and decamp with gold jewellery worth over Rs 11 lakh in the Khanpur area of south Delhi last night.

The incident came to light around 8 am today when the jeweller and his son came to open the shop-- Rastogi Jewellers-- at Krishna Park close to Devli village in Neb Sarai police station area.

The owner of the shop Suraj Prakash and his son Rishi were surprised when they opened the shutter. "The thieves entered the shop through a tunnel via manhole. Obviously, they must have done full recce, including an inch-by-inch measurement of the distance of the manhole and the length of the tunnel to be dug. While the locks outside remained intact, the thieves managed to enter the shop and decamp with jewellery," said a police official, adding that Suraj has claimed losses worth over Rs 11 lakh. According to him, there were CCTV cameras in the shop, but since lights were not on, the footage is not clear.

"Two people are seen in the two CCTV cameras, but as the owner had switched off all the lights before closing the shop, it is very difficult to recognise them. However, the footage has been sent to a specialised team for a clearer picture," added the officer.

A case in this regard has been registered and the police is investigating the matter.

According to information, several criminals of the area have been rounded up, but the police is struggling for clues. The tunnel dug by the thieves was closed later in the day.