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Gangrape
180 shops razed in CP area
3 dead in 3 accidents
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Public school teaches slum kids
Excise officials told to guard New Year celebrations
Just few screening centres for thalassaemia
'Breast cancer more prevalent in cities'
Chatterati
4 hurt fighting Chandni Chowk building blaze
Dy Speaker’s car stolen
Gay walk for pride
‘Allot DDA flats to Delhiites only’
Noida industries to switch over to CNG soon
Cardiologist gets US award
It’s sunny beginning to week
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Cops zero in on mobiles
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 28 According to a police official close to investigation, the police is now trying to identify the culprits based on the movement of mobiles from the local towers in the area at the time of incident. "It could be shooting in the dark, but that is the one option available. We are working with the help of service providers and have identified some possible numbers. Some of them are from nearby Haryana and a police team has even been dispatched there. It is likely to be a long and tedious investigation with thousands of numbers to check," said the police official, adding that a police team even reconstructed the crime scene once again today and questioned at least three persons based on their previous record of crime in the area. The incident was reported on Wednesday morning when the victim was dumped in Mangolpuri Industrial Area after the gangrape. Unfortunately even though there were cameras placed at various points between Dhaula Kuan and Mongolpuri, the blurred images that were recorded were of no help. Since then, based on the information provided by the victim, Delhi police has released the sketch of two persons involved in the incident, but no progress could be made. "Being from the northeast state, the victim is not familiar with the particular accent associated with various Hindi-speaking areas of north India. It helps in investigation if we could know whether the culprits had a Haryanvi, Bihari or Punjabi accent," said the officer. Meanwhile, speaking to media persons, HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south) assured that the culprits will be nabbed. "Some details of the investigation cannot be shared at this moment, but we are on right track. We have narrowed down on the areas. We would reach the culprits very soon," said Dhaliwal. Students’ rally today Scores of students and others from the north-east living in the Capital will hold a protest rally at Jantar Mantar on Monday to protest the gangrape of a BPO staffer from Mizoram on Wednesday and demand speedy justice. The rally will be organised by the Delhi Mizo Students' Association at 1 pm. Madhu Chandra, spokesperson of the North-east Support Centre and Helpline, said, "Students of the north-east who live in Delhi are often subjected to harassment and discrimination because of the way they look. But, unfortunately, despite cases of sexual harassment against girls of the community, authorities do very little except make lofty promises." "The rally, therefore, aims to voice the community's angst against such unfair treatment meted out to them and demand quick justice. Even last year, there was a huge hue and cry after two such cases and a lot of promises were being made to make the city safer for the community, but nothing was being done," he added. The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. — IANS
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180 shops razed in CP area
New Delhi, November 28 Of them 75 shops were allotted under the tehbazari scheme and 25 shops allotted by the Land and Estate Department of the civic body. The MCD was assisted by four companies of Delhi Police in the demolition work. As an alternative to these existing shops, occupiers had been allotted shops at a market constructed by the DMRC at Bhai Veer Singh Marg near Gole Market. However, they had not vacated the shops which were falling on the way of the Metro line. They were required to be vacated for the construction of road from the Rajiv Chowk entry. The road from this side could not be developed as the occupants of these shops were not vacating the place and had approached various courts. The case had been under litigation for more than five years. Following the vacation of all the stay orders, the MCD today swung into action and removed the shops, said an MCD spokesman. |
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3 dead in 3 accidents
New Delhi, November 28 Pooran had come to the city a few days ago to attend a relative's marriage ceremony. Last night, he and four other family members had gone to Anand Vihar to consult a doctor for his wife's treatment regarding a stone in the abdomen. "When they were returning from Anand Vihar and reached near Vivek Vihar, they met with the accident. Pooran died on the spot while other family members were discharged after preliminary treatment. Errant driver is absconding, but we have registered a case of rash and negligent driving against him and further investigation is on," added the police officer. In another incident, a 22-year-old man lost his life after his car collided with a tree while his other six family members, who were travelling in the same car, suffered injuries in the Govindpuri area of east district last night. "The deceased has been identified as Ravi, resident of Pandara Road. He was returning his home in a car after attending a marriage ceremony in Gurgaon. In an attempt to overtake a truck, he lost control and his car crashed into a tree. All the injured were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where Ravi succumbed to his injuries while other family members were discharged after first aid," said the police. In yet another incident, a 25-year-old software engineer died while his three friends received injuries after an accident in the Vasant Kunj area of south district in the wee hours today. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Rakesh, resident of Sonipat, Haryana. "Around 4 am, he along with his three friends, identified as Himanshu, Ravinder Dahia and Upadhyay, were going to eat some snacks. While trying to overtake a truck at Rajokari flyover, their car hit the back of the moving truck. The car was dragged for a few metres injuring them. Rakesh was rushed to RML Hospital with his friends where doctors declared him brought dead," said a police official. Rakesh worked at IBM company in the city and lived with his three friends, who also work in the same company. "Last night, they decided to take snacks in the canteen of IBM company. They left their house early in the morning and met with the accident. They were found drunk at the time of the incident," added the police officer.
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Public school teaches slum kids
Noida, November 28 Om Foundation, a Noida-based NGO, started a school in 2002 for the under-privileged children from the urban slums. It is a free school for children from families with annual income less than Rs 4,000. Om school is like any public school, with neat and clean surroundings, well-equipped science laboratories and a library with over 4,000 books. Beginning with just two teachers and 20 children eight years ago in village Morna, the school today has 213 students who are taught and looked after by 14 teachers. The children are not just given education, but their healthcare and nutrition is also taken care of, free of cost. The students are given a midday meal prepared in the school kitchen. Significantly, the school does not take more than 20 children in each academic year. "We admit children at the nursery level, but we keep the class strength to 25 in each class till class 5, and 30 in class 6 and 7," says headmistress Anju Garg. "The parents of these children belong to the labour class--rickshaw pullers, maids, masons. Apart from academic learning, they also need a lot of personal care which won't be possible if we increase the student strength," she says. For all-round development of children, the school also runs a mentorship programme, for slow learners. "We are recognized by the UP Board up to class 10. We are looking for a bigger space so that we can get recognition till class 12," says the managing trustee of the foundation, Sanjay Drabu. "In the beginning, we went around Ghijhod, Bhangel, Hoshiarpur, Nithari, Sadarpur, Khoda, Chijarashi, Chalera, etc and the slum clusters of different sectors to find out kid who did not go to school. It took a great deal to convince the parents of our motives," says assistant project director Sunita Ganju. "But things have changed a lot over the years. Now they do not let their child take leave even for a day. At our parents-teacher meetings, we have 94% turnout," she adds. "The NGO Om Foundation takes care that only one child per family is taken. And education of the girl child is emphasised. The idea is to reach out to as many families as possible," says Dr. Shukla. The school is run by a group of five committed persons -- Sanjay Drabu, Anju Garg, Sunita Ganju, Krishnendu, Sengupta and Dr. R.D. Shukla. The major source of funding for the school is by British Gas Operations.
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Excise officials told to guard New Year celebrations
New Delhi, November 28 With the introduction of the New Excise Act 2009, the excise department was likely to act swiftly against the illegal trade of liquor and spurious liquor in Delhi, he said. He added that the special initiative launched by the department and its intelligence bureau during the last one and half months had proved fruitful due to its timely inputs. An illegal bottling unit of foreign liquor by mixing Indian liquor and manufacturing counterfeit packaging used in foreign liquor was unearthed recently at Pitampura. A large amount of counterfeit foreign liquor, Indian liquor meant for counterfeiting foreign liquor, chemicals, empty foreign liquor bottles, caps, packaging material, stickers and dies for counterfeiting foreign liquor was seized. It was detected that all popular foreign liquor brands like -- Johny Walker, Red Label, Gold Label, Gleinfiddich, Chivas Regal, Absolute Vodka, champagnes and brandy were being counterfeited by one Jai Prakash Chawla on the premises of a residence. Earlier, in a similar case, about 20,000 caps of various brands of foreign liquor were seized from another such unit at Shastri Nagar in the Sarai Rohilla area of north Delhi. He said that with the detection of these illegal bottling units, major links in the counterfeiting of foreign liquor had been broken. In another major breakthrough, a Toyota Innova car transporting illegal rare foreign Scotch whisky and precious wines was apprehended in the posh Chanakyapuri area. Goods worth lakhs were being transported in the vehicle without any valid transport permit and payment of excise duty. Thirty-two detections were made in specific inputs provided by the excise intelligence bureau of the department, in which 22 vehicles and huge quantity of liquor was seized. To deter the trade of illicit liquor, the department has initiated an action to confiscate these vehicles and seize liquor.
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Just few screening centres for thalassaemia
New Delhi, November 28 This has led to increasing number of infants being born as thalassaemia major (TM)-10,000 to 12,000 babies born as TMs each year. Their life hangs on repeated blood transfusion, besides chelation therapy, once every two-three weeks and thus exposes them to risk of transfusion transmitted infections (TTI), like HIV, hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV). To ensure 95 per cent safety in blood transfusion Nucleic Acid Testing procedure (NAT), having a greater sensitivity is being considered, but currently only three Indian blood banks have it. While Indian Red Cross-the country's largest blood bank-still doesn't have it, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been using NAT for about nine months, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) for two months and at Research and Referral Hospital (R&R), the technology has been available for one and a half years. "For setting up the infrastructure of NAT, it is just a one-time investment, four-five times more required than the current methods. The benefits are immense as the risk can be brought down to near zero by NAT. But, NACO has been reluctant in recommending it," said former head of haematology department of AIIMS, Dr V P Choudhry. A study involving screening over 551 TMs in Delhi and states, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, in 2007, reveals six per cent of thalassaemics to be HIV infected, 16 per cent had fallen prey to HCV and another eight per cent were diagnosed to have HBV. Still, the government's willingness to scale up the screening and research facilities for thalassaemia seems to be missing, feels the affected populace. This even as the country can save at least 1000 units of blood and over Rs 1 crore that goes in an average patient's treatment by preventing the birth of one TM child, if experts are to be believed. In view of this, the said section called for including thalassaemia under the Disability Act, 1995 and urged the government to ensure better facilities for them. Separately, director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr V M Katoch told The Tribune, "There is a need to scale up operational research and develop referral chain of affordable technologies.”
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'Breast cancer more prevalent in cities'
New Delhi, November 28 "Over the years, the prevalence of breast cancer has altered in the cities like Delhi with more number of women reporting to doctors with breast cancer than cervix cancer. However, the trend remains to be the same in the villages where cervical cancer is still the number one due to the socio-economic status therein," said Dr Shyam Agarwal, chairperson of department of medical oncology in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. As per an Indian Council of Medical Research's latest available record on the cancer registry from an extrapolated data (2004-2006) on a village (Barshi) in Mumbai, cervix cancer continues to be most prevalent. While it is estimated that one in 14 of all female children born will develop it in their lifetime, those in urban areas are at a greater risk of having it due to difference in living patterns, pointed out Dr Agarwal. "Every year about 3,000 women get breast cancer in Delhi and NCR alone and nearly 1,000 die of breast cancer every year. However, early detection and prompt medication can drastically reduce the mortality rate. Cure rate of over 98 per cent is expected in the first stage," said Dr Dinesh Singh, director, department of radiation oncology, Galaxy Cancer Institute. "More women under the age of 40 are developing breast cancer in India and the median age in the country is 40-45 years against 50-55 years in the west. The cases in India have been found to be of severe type based on the pathogenicity seen from the data of several hospitals. In the country, almost 50 per cent of the cases are ER-PR negative/ estrogen- and progesterone-receptor negative (worse type of breast cancer) vis-a-vis 25 per cent in the west," underlined Dr Agarwal. According to him, the pre-disposable factors attributable to the shift in the trend are delay in marriages, fewer children in addition to changing lifestyles, including sitting jobs and lack of exercises, addiction to alcohol/smoking, increased intake of junk food, resulting in obesity. "Adopting a healthy lifestyle, with more of green and leafy vegetables can reduce the chances of developing breast cancer. It is important for all women to go for mammogram once in a year after entering the 40 age-group and those with family history even earlier," he suggested.
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Chatterati
Our politicians are not as rich as they seem. The richest Member of Parliament at the moment is Praful Patel. His wealth has nothing to do with politics. In fact, Praful is the "beedi" king of the country. He was a successful businessman even before he entered politics.
Jyotiraditya Scindia's wealth is all ancestral. What amazes me is the lifestyle of our "netas". Sharad Pawar is much poorer than his other state leaders like Praful Patel and Murli Deora. A. Raja the head of a telecom scam has only a crore or so. Mamata Banerjee is the poorest of the lot. Senior minister like Kamal Nath has bought a Nano car while our defence minister A. K. Anthony had to borrow money from a bank to buy a secondhand It is good to know the assests of several ministers and see that most of them are really not rich at all. Life cycle of scams
The tainted and the painted, the pathetic losers unite around their favourite watering spots again and life is back to a new semblance of reality for those who survive the onslaught and manage to retain the loot. Whether it's the CWG mess, the 'Adarsh land scams' the, 'housing collapse' or other exposes, this pattern seems to repeat itself. Most of the time, it is the 'little guy who is caught and punished. The big guys after all are a part of the establishment and must come back. The moment one scandal rocks the scene, an earlier one gets a convenient burial. But beneath all this, there may well be a flood of public anger which we don't see yet. The public will often wait to settle scores as the Bihar elections prove. The BJP is on a high and in a mood to celebrate. And rightfully so. The victory in Bihar has given them a new life. It is amazing how the young leaders of BJP like Arun Jaitely and Nitin Gadkari are articulate. After the Bihar landslide victory, there will be more celebrations on December 3 in Nagpur. The BJP chief's son Nikhil is getting married there and a lot of invitations seem to have gone out. Gadkari does not forget to ask everyone in town if they have received the card. The card very clearly says no presents and no bouquets, though people will not adhere to that. If you happen to attend a wedding in Delhi, you actually end up feeling bad at the waste of beautiful flowers lying around crushed at one end of the stage. So, it is literally ladoo time for the BJP and its allies even though some senior leaders are diabetic.
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4 hurt fighting Chandni Chowk building blaze
New Delhi, November 28 Three firemen and a policeman were injured while fighting the blaze, which was yet to be doused at 10 pm. “Two of our firemen have major injuries. They have been rushed to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital,” a fire brigade official said. Fire officials were struggling to control the flames with the help of over 30 fire trucks. If fire officials are to be believed, there are chances of the collapse of the entire building. The fire was reported at shop number 1034, located in the Maliwada locality of Nayi Sadak near Chowri Bazar around 5 pm. “We got a fire call at 4.47 pm. The building houses a plastic godown in the basement and fire started there after one of the labourer switched on the lights after more than two hours of loadshedding. They claimed that there was short-circuiting of wires which led to fire,” said a fire official. According to information, the other storeys of the building are used for zari work and the chemical used for it aided the fire. The cylinder blast further aggravated the fire. The multi-storeyed building appeared like a hot blazing inferno with red flames and thick smokes billowing out of the structure. The narrow lanes were an impediment to firefighters. “The approach to the building is very narrow. We had to park the fire tenders around 200 metres away on the main road and then take the hoses to the building which delayed the firefighting process,” said the officer. Ironically, at least on 10 spots, the hoses were leaking and a large quantity of water did not reach the building. However, fire officials claimed that the leakage did not hinder their operations.
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Dy Speaker’s car stolen
New Delhi, November 28 According to information, the car purchased on loan four months ago was parked outside his residence and stolen sometimes after the midnight. "The incident was reported in the wee hours today. The cherry colour Bolero car with the Delhi Assembly and MLA sticker on it was missing in the morning from outside his residence. We are investigating the matter," said an official from the Ghazipur police station. The police is also concerned about the misuse of the car as it has sticker allowing entry inside the VIP parking in the Delhi Assembly. Angry over the loss, Gautam has blamed the police for the failure of law and order in the city. He even accused the police of being hand in glove with the criminals. "The police knows everything. They know who is stealing what from which area. If they want, they can recover the car in minutes," he said. |
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Gay walk for pride
New Delhi, November 28 The march was organized under the banner of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) community. They were armed with rainbow-coloured flags and banners. They had placard written with "Delhi pride festival, all we need is love, come out and play and straight but not narrow". They beat drums while holding the march from Barakhambha Road. The organizers distributed whistles and candies among the marchers. Mohnish Malhotra, one of the organizers, said that the march had been held for the last three years. Every year the number of LGBTs is increasing. When the march was organized for the first time, they were too less. This time more than one thousand lesbians and their supporters have participated. Earlier people used to hesitate in coming out in the open. Now not only the lesbians, but transgenders and their family members also participated in this march. A large number of foreigners also took part in the parade. |
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‘Allot DDA flats to Delhiites only’
New Delhi, November 28 The DDA has invited application for the allotment of 16,237 flats. He questioned the justice in inviting applications from across India for DDA's housing scheme 2010. The DDA's aim is to provide facilities to those living in Delhi. So, it is appropriate that the 16,237 flats which will be sold less than the market price should be given only to the residents of Delhi as they are being constructed on the land acquired from the residents of Delhi. Goel said o far, the DDA had sold 2,76,000 forms. The figure is likely to cross the 10-lakh mark. Last time, 5,67,000 people had applied for 5238 flats. The DDA had earned more than Rs 200 crore. This time, forms are being sold for Rs 105 each and the DDA will earn lakhs from this. He said that residents of Delhi only require 24 lakh lakh dwelling units. So, it was not justified for the DDA to announce allotment of the flats for the entire country. When the draw for the flats would be out, many outsiders would get flats and they would be bought only for investment purpose as they are cheap. Later, they would sell them in black. |
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Noida industries to switch over to CNG soon
Noida, November 28 The Pollution Control Board is understood to be working on this project for the last four months. As a result, a number of industries are now using CNG gas in place of furnace oil and diesel. For this, 30 big companies are using CNG for which 10 lakh SCM gas is being supplied to Noida and Greater Noida. There are about 70 large and small industrial units in the district which emit smoke during production, thus increasing volume of smoke and air pollution. Concerned over this, the environment ministry had taken an initiative in Delhi and NCR under which it was made mandatory for smoke-producing industries to use CNG. According to Talukdar, project engineer of IGL, companies have extended full cooperation and support in this connection. As per the target, gas pipelines will be laid in the district within a year. The completion of project will result in complete absence of air pollution. |
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Cardiologist gets US award
New Delhi, November 28 The board has certified that Dr Sanghi, who returned to India after living in the US for 15 years, is a subject of biographical record in Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, in its seventh edition (2009-10) for his outstanding achievement in medicine. An interventional cardiologist and currently associated with the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in New Delhi, he is known for his good-hand in complex coronary angioplasties and related carotid, renal and other peripheral surgeries. He also holds expertise in performing neurorescue interventions and is a council member of the American Stroke Association and a Fellow of American College of Cardiology. |
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It’s sunny beginning
to week
New Delhi, November 28 During the day, the sun was shining bright for most part of the day and the mercury levels hovered at a maximum of 25.8 degree Celsius, normal for this time of the season even as the low temperature climbed to two degrees above the average, 11.7 degrees. |
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Scams and scandals, tapes and taps, theft and trickery, all there and more have dominated the Capital's chatter circuit for the last few months. It just does not seem to stop. Yet it follows a somewhat pathetic life cycle of its own. An expose or an explosion followed by preventing a public anger, fuelled by a media circus. Then comes government's delayed and often apologetic response, a promise of action and some minor punishments for those caught. A few months of being treated as tainted and then it's back to normal.