New Delhi, March 9
A day after a 21-year-old Delhi University student was shot dead in Dhaula Kuan's Shantiniketan area, hundreds of agitated university students today took to the streets, expressing anger that even after more than 24 hours of the incident, the police had failed to arrest the culprit.

Radhika Tanwar, a second year student of Ram Lal Anand College, was yesterday shot dead by an unidentified man who was probably stalking her for some time. There are also speculations that the murderer was her jilted lover.

The incident has shaken the student community so much that even those who are not affiliated to any political party joined the protest and raised slogans for hours. Holding placards, the students raised slogans like "We want justice" and demanded immediate arrest of the culprit.

Apart from students from RLA College, hundreds of students from other colleges in North and South campuses marched from RLA to the Shantiniketan area, Jesus and Mary College and then to the South Campus gate.

Suman Tanwar, president of the Ram Lal College Students Union, said the students would not be relieved until concrete security measures were implemented in the area.

"Assurances are not enough. The students are not safe. Girl students, especially those attending evening classes in RLA or other South Campus colleges, fall prey to eve-teasing. If someone can get shot at 10 in the morning, what safety we can expect in the evening," she said.

"The incident has come as an absolute shock to us. What is more shocking is the fact that the police has not been able to arrest the murderer yet. Moreover, people ran away when she was shot… nobody helped her. Everyone backed out. This sort of attitude is unacceptable. If people around us act like this, no girl will be safe in Delhi," said Maina Suri, a third year BA student at RLA.

"I am stunned. What the hell is going on? It was 10 in the morning when the incident took place. Hundreds of people must have witnessed the shooting, but no one has come forward with a statement," another female protester said.

Meanwhile, soon after the march, university vice- chancellor Dinesh Singh came to the college and assured everyone that security around Delhi University colleges would be beefed up soon. Singh also asked for suggestions from the students on the issue and promised more frequent bus services along with setting up of a police check-post in the area.

Dhaula Kuan has witnessed five major crimes against women in the past three to four months, including the sensational kidnapping-cum-gangrape of a BPO employee hailing from Manipur, in November last year.

New Delhi, March 9
The family of Radhika Tanwar, the Delhi University student who was shot dead metres away from her college in south Delhi yesterday morning, has expressed shock over reports that she was killed by an "obsessed lover" to avenge beating by her father. Rajender Singh Tanwar, Radhika's father and a resident of Nariana village in southwest Delhi, today said that he had never beaten anyone and had no clue that his daughter was being stalked.

"I was shocked to read in a Hindi daily that Radhika was killed by someone whom I had once beaten. This is not true as I or my family had no idea that our girl was being troubled by anyone. I don't know where this story came from," said Tanwar reeling from the grief of his loss.

He alleged that no senior police official had visited the family despite the passage of over 24 hours of the murder and the police was not telling them about the progress in the investigation.

"Although Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and vice chancellor of the university visited us today, no senior police official came to us. In fact we got the news of our daughter's murder from the media and not the police," said Tanwar, demanding justice for his daughter.

According to him, he or his family has no knowledge of any stalker. He said that three girls from the village, including Radhika, were students of Ram Lal Anand College and he had talked with the other two girls and even they have no knowledge about anyone troubling their daughter.

"A girl may not tell such things to her brother or father, but she would surely confide in her friends. We have spoken to the two other girls who used to accompany Radhika to the college, but even they have no idea about any stalker," said Tanwar, adding that either the police or media is cooking up the stories and defaming their dead daughter.

New Delhi, March 9
The Delhi Cabinet has given its approval for a substantial hike in ex gratia amount being released in the eventuality under various categories from time to time.

The decision was taken today in a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

The Chief Minister stated that the revision had been effected under various categories, including bomb blasts, communal riots and other riots and terrorist attacks, fire and other accidents caused by individual or natural calamity, loss of movable property in riots, damage to residential units other than jhuggies in fire and natural calamity, damage to uninsured commercial properties and damage to jhuggies.

A substantial increase has been approved by the cabinet with an aim to mitigate the loss and sufferings of the people.

The ex gratia amount for loss due to bomb blasts, communal riots and other riots and terrorist attacks has been increased by 100 per cent in most of the cases.

In case of death of a major person the amount has been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, in case of a minor from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh, in case of permanent incapacitation from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh, in case of serious injury from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh, in case of minor injury from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 and in case of orphaned children no ex gratia amount was fixed, earlier which has been fixed at Rs 1 lakh.

In case of loss in fire and other accidents caused by individual or natural calamity there has been 100 per cent increase in ex-gratia amount. In case of death of a major the amount has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, in case of death of a minor it has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and in case of serious injury it has been increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000, in case of minor injury it has gone up from Rs 1,000 to Rs10,000 and in case of orphaned children it has been fixed at Rs 1 lakh whereas earlier there used to be no ex-gratia amount in this regard.

In case of damage to residential units, other than jhuggies, in riots or fire or natural calamity the amount has been increased by 125 per cent. In case of total damage the amount will go up from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000, in case of substantial damage it will go up from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 and in case of minor damage it will go up from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.

Further, in case of damage to uninsured commercial properties in riots or fire or natural calamity the amount has been doubled. Earlier, ex gratia amount was fixed at 50 per cent of the loss up to maximum of Rs 50,000 whereas the new amount will be 50 per cent of the loss up to the maximum of Rs 1 lakh.

New Delhi, March 9
At least 25 child labourers were rescued from shoe-making and embroidery units in the Capital, an NGO statement said today. The children, all in the age group of 8-14, hail from Darbhanga and Samastipur districts of Bihar. They were rescued yesterday.

"We identified three locations in the Narela industrial area to conduct rescue operations along with the police and the Labour Department. The children were employed in shoe-making and the embroidery units," said a statement by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), which assisted the police and the Labour Department in the rescue operation.

An official of the NGO said: "From one point, around 10-12 children were rescued who were doing embroidery work. But suddenly a trafficker came forward, leading a mob of over 30-40 persons, and interrupted the rescue process. They damaged the vehicle and forcibly took away the kids."

"At another location, a shoe-making factory, 12 children were rescued. But the employers manhandled the activists, shut them inside a room and forcibly took away the children. The police remained mere spectators," the official said.

"The sub-divisional magistrate was informed about it. When he went to the spot with the police force, he found no children, but arrested more than 20 persons who tried to interfere with the rescue operation," the official added.

Later, 25 children were rescued and sent to Mukti Ashram from where they will be restored to their families, the statement added. - IANS

New Delhi, March 9
Giving teeth to the Delhi Metro plans of reserving coaches for women, the police has challaned 1,161 men for travelling in reserved coaches and collected Rs 2.90 lakh in fine. The largest number of prosecutions was reported from Rajouri Garden Metro police station (254) and Kalkaji Mandir police station (251) respectively.

According to B S Gurjar, Add. DCP (railways),"Male passengers found in these reserve coaches were prosecuted and those found in these coaches were produced before the station controller of Metro stations who is authorized to fine them," said Gurjar, adding that figures of prosecution for other police stations were: Qutab Minar (207), Yamuna Depot (195), Kashmere Gate

(134), Shastri Park (103) and Rithala (17)

New Delhi, March 9
The long-drawn agitation of safai karamcharis seeking regularisation seems to be ending in vain. Over 25,000 sanitation workers in the city are living in fear of losing their jobs.

Contrary to their expectations, they have recently been put on contract.

"The corporation had ordered to regularize 1,771 sanitation workers working in the engineering department in 2008, then why we can't get regularized," asked Rajinder Mewati, president of Delhi Pradesh Mazdoor Sangh.

The MCD had also regularized sanitation workers whose appointments were made before March 31, 1996.

"We get Rs 5,300 per month even after doing more work than the regular workers. Whereas the regularized staff get somewhere between Rs 12,000 and Rs 14,000 depending on their seniority," said Sant Raj, a sanitation worker during a protest outside Town Hall in Chandni Chawk.

The workers who work across all the 12 zones in the city have again threatened to go on strike if their demands go unaddressed.

"We had a meeting with the LG and he has supported our cause. He has asked us to move court, if required," said Rajinder.

However, the MCD holds that the workers will be regularized whenever there is a vacancy.

"We will recruit workers only after the existing ones retire or leave job. In that case, only the contract workers will get preference," said Subhash Arya, the Leader of the House in MCD.

While Delhi Mayor Prithviraj Sawhney said that the corporation has already initiated the process of regularizing sanitation workers.

"The process of regularization of 7,000 safai karamcharies has already begun. The employees who were engaged on contract for 89 days will now be engaged for one year and their services will be regularized when the vacancies are available," said Sawhney.

He clarified that a worker engaged on contract will be accountable to the MCD and not to any other company. "They will always remain employees of MCD. We request the sanitation workers not to be misguided as the sanitation is not being handed over to the private companies," added the Mayor.

Faridabad, March 9
The residents of Basailwa colony here led by their councillor of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) Sunder Mahar, who related to the Congress, today blocked the Basailwa bypass in protest against the authorities allegedly not paying heed to their problems.

The situation has apparent caused embarrassment to the ruling Congress as one of its leaders led the agitation. The counicllor, representing ward No. 24, openly alleged that the officers of the authorities never took his complaints relating to his area seriously. The agitators lifted the blockade after more than two hours when senior officers of the civic body led by Mayor Ashok Arora met them and assured of resolving their problems.

The residents led by the counicllor, however, cautioned the MCF authorities of launching a major agitation if their problems relating to civic amenities were not redressed.

The flash point for the public taking to the street today was the choking of the main sewer line in Basailwa colony, which was allegedly not attended to by the MCF for the past several days. Mahar alleged that he, along with the residents, had taken up the cause with the MCF officials several times, without avail.

The residents alleged that the MCF was generally insensitive to the problems of the public. The civic body was only interested in doing the biddings of the MLAs of the area, which, more than often, did not relate to the good of the public.

New Delhi, March 9
Gearing up to combat the spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria in the city, the MCD is purchasing lakhs of kgs of chemicals, bio-larvicides and other material to be used to kill mosquitoes and prevent their breeding.

Four proposals in this regard were approved by the MCD Standing Committee today.

The civic body will purchase 1,40,000 kgs of temephos granules worth Rs 50.08 lakh to prevent breeding in clean stagnant water in coolers and uncovered overhead tanks, 40 tonnes of malathion technical worth Rs 57.64 lakh used for fogging operation to kill adult mosquitoes, 5,400 litre of pyrethrum extract worth Rs 76.43 lakh for spraying to kill adult mosquitoes by mixing it with the kerosene oil and 2,75,000 litre of bio-larvicides worth Rs 27.22 lakh.

Last week, a number of councillors, mostly from the ruling BJP, objected to the use of the Government of India undertaking Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL) as a consultant for the procurement and argued that the MCD should buy the items itself.

As per the proposals, in all the cases, HLL will fix the rate of procurement and the supplier agency for one year and get 2 per cent as consultancy charge.

Standing Committee chairman Yogender Chandolia said the proposals were given a nod keeping in view the fact that these materials would be needed soon for the anti-mosquito operations in the city.

"However, we have told the Health Department that next time they should do a rethink on the issue. Why should we pay consultancy fee to HLL when we can buy the items itself? Asked Chandolia.

Municipal health officer NK Yadav said the consultancy charges had been lowered from 3.5 per cent to 2 per cent after long negotiations. "HLL is a reputed government undertaking and provides us technical support. There are many technical aspects and the department needs a consultant to take the right decision," he said.

Chandolia said the Health Department should take steps to augment its technical prowess.

Outbreak of the vector-borne diseases like dengue has been witnessed in post-monsoon season in the city for the past several years. The threat of dengue created a scare before the Commonwealth Games in October last year too. More than 6,000 cases and eight deaths due to dengue were reported in Delhi in 2010.

New Delhi, March 9
A large numer of BJP activists today took out a candle march in Naraina village, demanding immediate arrest of the killer of Radhika Tanwar who was shot dead by an unidentified assailant yesterday.

Women, local citizens and students participated in the march in large numbers.

If the accused is not arrested, Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit and Union home minister P. Chidambaram should resign, the BJP demanded.

The candle march was taken out in the leadership of Delhi unit president of the BJP Vijender Gupta and party MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain.

The march started from Mata Mandir, Naraina and concluded at the house of the deceased girl student. The BJP leaders consoled the family members of Radhika.

The rule of law has ended here. The Capital is in control of criminal elements, they said.

Noida, March 9
A man was arrested here today hours after he shot at his ex-wife and her husband over a property row, the police said.

"The police team arrested Laddan from his hideout in Noida. His pistol and Scorpio jeep have also been seized," police inspector Vijay Prakash said.

The victims-- Meena and Munabbar Hussain-- were passing through the busy Sector 31-25 crossing near Nithari when they spotted Laddan. They then accosted Laddan and started beating him, the police said. The man whipped out a pistol and fired at them.

The woman took a bullet in her stomach while Munabbar was injured in the abdomen.

They were rushed to the nearby Kailash Hospital where doctors said Meena's condition was critical. Munabbar is stable.

"Laddan said when they (Meena and Munabbar) started beating him, he had no option but to open fire at them," Prakash said.

When Meena married Munabbar, Laddan asked her to return the house he had presented to her. Initially, she refused but later paid him Rs 12 lakh.

But after a month, she asked Laddan to return the cash and instead gave him a cheque, which later bounced. Laddan then issued a legal notice to her.

However, Munabbar denied any property dispute, and said Laddan was harassing Meena over one pretext or the other and had stalked her on several occasions. -- IANS

New Delhi, March 9
The crime branch of the Delhi police has arrested a 38-year-old woman pilot for allegedly using a forged marksheet to procure a flying licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). According to the police, Parminder Kaur Gulati, a suspended pilot of Indigo, was yesterday apprehended by a police team from her Kirti Nagar residence following investigations into a complaint filed by the DGCA.

According to Ashok Chand, DCP (Crime), Gulati had obtained the mandatory Airlines Transport Pilot License (ALTP) by using a forged document.

New Delhi, March 9
Two unidentified bike-borne assailants shot at a 40-year-old man over a property dispute in east Delhi last night.

According to the police, the victim Israr Ahmed, resident of DLF basti at Ghaziabad (UP), was shot near Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital around 8.30 pm yesterday.

The victim was rushed to GTB Hospital with a bullet injury in the stomach and his condition is said to be stable.