New Delhi, March 22
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who also deals with the finance department proposed an estimated budget of Rs 27,067 crore for the year 2011-2012, giving an increase of 19 per cent over the last year's budget.

The transport sector gets the priority as more money has been proposed for its services.

Of them an amount of Rs 20,246 crore will be funded from tax revenue, Rs 448 crore from non-tax revenue, Rs 1,500 crore from small saving loan, Rs 325 crore from share in central taxes, Rs 1,258 crore from the central plan assistance and Rs 3,290 crore from other resources.

The Chief Minister who presented the budget for the first time during her reign of 12 years in Delhi gave priority to the transport sector, allocating 25 per cent of the total estimates that was amounted to Rs 3,348. When asked the reason for giving priority to the transport sector this year too, she said, "Transport in Delhi was a big problem even after commissioning of the Metro Rail service. The government is unable to meet the transport needs. Having seen the demand, the government has to improve transport infrastructure."

Terming this budget as a "budget to choose forward", the Chief Minister said that second priority has been given to urban development and housing sector with an allocation of Rs 1, 924 crore. Construction of houses for the economically weaker section and providing civic services in JJ clusters will be given a major push this year. Effort would be made to make Delhi a slum-free city, she claimed.

Addressing a conference after presenting the budget in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, she said the health sector has got the third priority by receiving 13 per cent of the total outlay that is amounted to Rs 1, 801 crore. The government has decided to open new 13 health centres. New hospitals are proposed to be opened in Sarita Vihar, Siraspur, Keshavpuram, Bapraula, Chhatarpur, Bamnauli and maternity child hospitals at Molarbandh and Jhatikra.

Water supply and sanitation has got 12 per cent of the total estimates with a priority of installation of meters on all the non-metered consumer connections and replacement of the defective consumer meters. Besides, the energy sector has been allocated 12 per cent, education nine per cent and social sector eight per cent of the estimated budget.

The government has decided to expand Delhi Metro with the execution of its third phase involving a cost of Rs 32,000 crore which will add 103 km of new lines. 

New Delhi, March 22
The Delhi government's budget for 2011-2012 will leave diesel vehicles, tobacco, bidis, sweets, namkeens, industrial textiles more expensive as heavy taxes have been imposed on these goods.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who also deals with the finance department said that 25 per cent increase in the registration fee of diesel vehicles had been proposed in the estimated budget that would be imposed from April 31. This has been done to discourage people from purchasing diesel vehicles as diesel is the fuel that pollutes environment.

Delhi is the first state that has started CNG-based motor vehicles. The sale of diesel vehicles may come down in the national Capital now.

Addressing a press conference after presenting her first budget proposals, the Chief Minister said keeping in view people's health, VAT has been increased on sweet and namkeen. A large number of people suffer from sugar. The hike of VAT from 5 to 12.5 per cent may prevent people from consuming sweets.

Industrial textiles such as canvas belt, filter cloth, furnishing and suiting will also be costly in Delhi as five per cent tax has been proposed on these items.

She also proposed a levy of 12.5 per cent VAT on unmanufactured tobacco, bidis and tobacco used in manufacture of bidis and hooka.

The Chief Minister said the government had proposed that bicycles costing up to Rs 3,500 be exempted from tax.

Sugar and Khandsari are used in every house. Major consumption of sugar is in tea. Taking care of kitchen managed by women, the government has exempted sugar and Khandsari from VAT. Besides, kerosene stoves, lantern petromax and their parts, sanitary napkins costing up to Rs 20 and 'Jan Ahar' being sold by the government approved NGOs were exempted from VAT.

When asked what the government had done to control rising prices, she said that the city government has been selling atta, pulses and other goods on control rates at Mother Dairy and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.

The budget has taken care of the common people, the Chief Minister said.

New Delhi, March 22
Residents of Delhi got a major relief from the government today as Parliament passed a Bill to prevent sealing of illegal commercial constructions in the city till December 31.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provision) Bill, moved by urban development minister Kamal Nath, was passed in the Rajya Sabha by voice vote without debate amid a din created by the Opposition.

The Bill, already approved by the Lok Sabha, got the clearance of the Upper House also even as the Opposition members led by the BJP shouted slogans demanding a discussion on the WikiLeaks issue under Rule 176, which does not entail voting.

The anti-sealing law shall be deemed to have come into effect from January 1, 2011 after its enactment in Parliament.

The Bill seeks to maintain status quo with respect to unauthorised colonies, including village, abadis (settlements) and their extensions, storages, warehouses and godowns for farm produce and some other categories of buildings in the city.

The Bill also aims at extending the relief to urban villages.

Sealing and demolition drive in the Capital had been restarted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) after the earlier ordinance expired on December 31 last year. The civic body was bound by an order of the Supreme Court to resume the sealing of unauthorised commercial properties.

Commercial establishments operating illegally in farmhouses and other places in nearly 400 rural areas and urbanised villages of Delhi are expected to get a reprieve after the enactment of the Bill.

New Delhi, March 22
Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta said that promises of more allocation of funds would not fulfill the needs of 1.85 crore people of Delhi. They should be ready for costlier water and health services as both the sectors are to be privatized soon. The announcement of filling 14,000 posts in education department shows that the Chief Minister has been neglecting the education sector for the last 12 years.

Presenting the budget, the Chief Minister has not mentioned about ending corruption whereas the BJP is trying to awaken the government by staging demonstrations and courting arrest many times, said Gupta.

The Chief Minister has added insult to injury of the people by saying that price spiral is comparatively less in Delhi. In many other states, wheat is supplied at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg to the poor. The Delhi government claims to supply flour to the poor at the rate of Rs 10 per kg, it is not available anywhere, he said.

Dikshit announced the construction of 4,000 houses for 65,000 J.J. dwellers. Provision for Rs 1 crore has been made for the RWAs of unauthorized colonies for the supply of water and Rs 2 crore for the development of infrastructural facilities. With such small amount, no unauthorized colony can get amenities, Gupta added. 

New Delhi, March 22
The opportunity that the students of Delhi University at South Campus had been looking forward to finally arrived today when they got a chance to discuss their security concerns with the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Girija Vyas; DCP, (south) H.G.S. Dhaliwal and university vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh.

At a conference held today at South Campus, students, unhappy over the recent Radhika Tanwar murder case, raised numerous questions and shared several personal instances to highlight the shoddy security arrangements in the area.

"We do not feel safe here. Outside the colleges, especially during evening classes, there is hardly any police presence. Bearing eve-teasing has become a way of life for us," said Kruitka Pandit, a student of Ram Lal Anand college.

The parents of Radhika Tanwar, the 21-year-old Ram Lal Anand student who was shot dead near her college a few days ago, were also present.

An emotional Rajinder Singh Tanwar, Radhika's father, said, "These instances don't come with a warning. We never thought something like this would happen to our family. Even though the culprit is behind the bars, we will never see our daughter again. What is lost is lost. Prevention is the key to avoid any such incident. We request the university and the police to make sure there are no more Radhikas."

Facing the heat from the students was Dhaliwal, who had a tough time fielding their questions.

Organised jointly by the Delhi University Students Union and the university administration, the session was aimed at apprising the students of South Campus, especially girls, of the new security measures being introduced in the area.

DUSU secretary Neetu Dabbas demanded the formation of a committee comprising DUSU office bearers and college students under the NCW.

"To ensure an unbiased attitude towards security- related issues, the existence of an autonomous body in every college is a must. This committee will report directly to the NCW. We also demand that a lady constable be deployed in every college and a complaint box be set up on college premises. Just visiting us after an incident is not enough. A NCW member should visit DU once a month and must hold meetings with the harassment committees of the colleges. A psychiatric/legal consultant should also be arranged for the troubled girls," said Neetu.

At present, every college has an anti-sexual harassment committee, but these committees are mostly dormant.

Promising more coherent action, Dinesh Singh said, "The anti-sexual harassment committees will be actively worked upon now. We will make sure that help is handy when students are in need."

Assuring strict patrolling in the area, Dhaliwal said, "We would be able to help if the students are proactive. No one should fear in reporting any untoward instance to the police. Meanwhile, CCTV cameras will soon be installed on the roads around the colleges. We will also try to arrange a police patrolling team of lady constables who would accompany the girls, if required."

Perturbed by the issue, Girija Vyas said, "We will try our best to make the city safe for girls. Not just the police, but students, parents and every commoner should participate in the process. To achieve our goal, we have to stand strong and speak against abuse, harassment or any other problem, be it in colleges, offices or public transport."

New Delhi, March 22
The crime branch of Delhi police has arrested three persons for posing as journalists and trying to extort Rs 6.5 lakh from the owner of a maternity clinic in the Mayur Vihar area. They had reportedly done a sting operation against his clinic for doing illegal termination of pregnancy.

According to Ashok Chand, DCP (Crime), the extortionists were caught red-handed while taking Rs 50,000 from the complainant as the first instalment of Rs 6.5 lakh.

"The arrested have been identified as Pankaj Gupta, alias Pankaj Madheshiya (26), Raj Narain Tiwari (33) and Rajiv (31). They claimed themselves to be journalists working for a website www.dellitoday.com. We also recovered press ID cards from them," said the DCP.

The mobile phone used to make extortion calls and a motorcycle have been recovered.

The accused have disclosed that apart from extorting money from the Medical & Maternity Centre, they had planned to extort money from

five other clinics/hospitals/nursing homes in the area. They had already conducted a sting operation and even contacted the doctors/owners of these places. The owners of these clinics have confirmed to have received calls from the extortion syndicate.

"Pankaj Gupta is the kingpin of the racket. He along with Rajiv and Raj Narain Tiwari formed the syndicate. They decided to do the sting operation on clinics/nursing homes which conducted medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) in the Trans-Yamuna area," said Chand, adding that Gupta got a website registered and claimed to be a freelance investigating journalist.

New Delhi, March 22
For 58-year-old Prem Narayan, standing on his right leg was a dream as several doctors of the Capital, including those of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Central Railway Hospital, had suggested him amputation as the last resort to save his life from cancer.

But, today his family is very happy as he has started walking with support, thanks to a team of four doctors (two oncologists and two orthopaedic surgeons) of Delhi-based B L Kapur Memorial Hospital (BLK).

On February 10, when they went to the private hospital, the doctors offered a surgery involving the replacement of the whole femur bone which was diseased (cancerous) with an artificial one made of titanium besides replacing the knee and hip joints.

After months of physiotherapy at the Railway Hospital, Narayan's family, residing in Santh Nagar, got to know that he had a malignant tumour that biopsy confirmed to be 'chondrosarcoma'-cartilage-based tumour-in his thigh following which doctors there referred his case to the premier institute AIIMS' Rotary Cancer Institute in January.

"Last year in July, my father complained of pain in his right knee and thigh. He then went to the Railway Hospital in Connaught Place where doctors continued physiotherapy, but there was no improvement. After he was detected with malignant bone cancer in January, we went to AIIMS where doctors said that the only way to prevent the cancer from spreading is amputation below the hip," said his daughter Vineeta, a schoolteacher.

"The patient came to us in February with pain in the right thigh and the tumour, nearly 12x5 inches in size. It was visible in the X-ray and the MRI showed that there was no lesion anywhere else in the body so we decided to replace the entire bone. On Februray 26, the tumour was removed and triple replacement surgery done--in which artificial femur was fixed, hip and knee joints were replaced," Dr Ashwani Maichand, a senior joint replacement surgeon at the BLK Hospital, told The Tribune.

He said the patient did not have any chronic disease and reported early which went in his favour as generally in such cases patients are seen to come at a stage when the chance of survival is six months or one year.

"It was a rare case when the patient came in a state when the tumour had not spread and the lower part wasn't affected. Thus, we could carry triple replacement, that again is a rare operation," observed Dr Maichand, for whom this was the solo case in his 14 years of practice.

"Narayan started walking on the fourth day with a walker and he should be able to walk with a stick by the end of the third month with good physiotherapy," he added.

For Narayan, who works as a staff driver in the Indian Railways and is going to retire in May, it is a second life, said the members of his family. 

New Delhi, March 22
The raging issue of children going missing from the Capital has caught the attention of human rights watchdog National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The rights body today expressed grave concerns over the issue and asked the ministry of home affairs, which is responsible for the maintenance of law and order in Delhi, and the city government for an explanation.

The commission in its proceedings today observed that the situation was a serious violation of the human rights of children and negligence on the part of the state to provide protection to them.

The NHRC has issued notices to the secretary, ministry of home affairs and chief secretary, Delhi government, calling for their detailed reports in the matter within four weeks.

A total of 17,305 children reportedly went missing from the city from 2008 to 2010. Out of them, 2,366 children are yet to be traced.

The minister of state for home affairs, Guru Das Kamath, recently made this shocking disclosure in the Lok Sabha while replying to a question.

Child rights groups say many of these children are made to work in factories located in different states under inhuman conditions and live a life of bonded labourers with little or no payment made to them.

The NHRC considered reports alleging the involvement of criminal gangs behind the missing children.

According to reports, it said, the Central Bureau of Investigation had unearthed over 800 gangs engaged in child trafficking.

"The involvement of gangs in the abduction of children came on record when the CBI told the Delhi High Court in 2006 that there were 815 gangs comprising 4,289 members involved in the kidnapping of children for prostitution, begging and ransom in India. The report further alleged that over 60,000 children were missing in India in 2009," the commission said.

The lack of adequate response from the police and government officials, who have downplayed the issue and not ordered any probe, has disconcerted civil rights groups and they have welcomed the intervention of the commission today, demanding that it took the issue to a logical conclusion.

"These missing children are mostly from poor families whose cries often go unheard," a commission official said. 

Gurgaon, March 22
The Congress Seva Dal, an offshoot of the party in power in the state as well as Centre, has admitted that all is not well with the functioning of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) and that its workers have decided to take corruption in the civic body head on.

Addressing a meeting of the Seva Dal workers at the Congress Bhawan here today, Inder Singh Saini, the chief organiser of the local unit, said they had been receiving numerous complaints from residents regarding rampant corruption in the functioning of the MCG. According to the complainants, there were large-scale irregularities in the issuance of no-objection certificates (NOC) for houses.

MCG officials have been seeking bribes of Rs 10,000-15,000 for issuing an NOC and Rs 5,000-6,000 for getting a house transferred.

"We have decided not to tolerate the corrupt practices of MCG officials any longer and will take such wrongdoings head on," Saini asserted while addressing the workers.

The Seva Dal chief categorically stated that as per their feedback, MCG officials passed the files of the applicants who bribed them and raised objections on the files of those who did not.

Pointing out that such corrupt practices by MCG officials were bringing a bad name to the Congress government, Saini demanded that the corrupt MCG officials be dismissed and officials having a clean reputation be appointed in their place.