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Delhiites don’t make light of Earth Hour!
Husband, son kill cop over financial dispute
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Contract killer linked with Dawood held
Rs 2,000-cr power plant for GT Noida by 2014-end
Tour de force wows Francophiles
Rural roads not fit for low-floor buses: CM
Badarpur Metro timing rescheduled
Sports bars ready for big day
2 DDA employees, aide get jail for graft
Govt sitting on edu fund, alleges MCD
Man who killed niece arrested
Youth held for raping minor
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Delhiites don’t make light of Earth Hour!
New Delhi, March 26 Lights were switched off at many offices, hotels and a few residential societies, but it was far from universal. At many places, people did not seem to have much idea about the significance of the day while many chose to ignore it. "We have kept only the essential lights on," said an official of a leading hotel in central Delhi. Organised annually by World Wide Fund (WWF), the endeavour, which started in 2007 in Sydney when nearly 2.2 million people and over 2,000 enterprises turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change, has moved on to become a global event. The message is clear to generate awareness about the need to adopt energy-saving methods and in turn save the planet from the destruction that it is headed for and it is encouraging to see a participation from over 4,000 cities from 131 countries this time, an WWF official said. "The campaign which started off with two cities (Delhi and Mumbai) in the country has gained momentum in 56 cities and this year, the message is to go beyond the hour and commit oneself to a more sustainable way of living every day," he said. This year, the reach is targeted across the social spectrum, including state governments, corporates and individuals, especially the youth, and camapaign in a way made its presence felt at several landmark places, such as the India Gate, Qutub Minar and Red Fort in Delhi, besides the hotels, cinema complexes and shopping malls across the country. During the Earth Hour, BSES areas of South, West, East and Central Delhi saved 181 MW, BRPL 96 MW, BYPL 85 MW. Delhi as a whole saved 296 MW. |
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Husband, son kill cop over financial dispute
New Delhi, March 26 The police said the 43-year-old official, Vipinbala Sharma, was strangled by her husband, Anil Sharma (44) and their 16-year-old son, who studies in Class X, after they had bitter arguments over some financial matter. Both the accused turned themselves in at the local police station after killing her. "Anil and his son surrendered at 5 am and said they killed her around 2 am as she had made their life very difficult," a police official said. Anil runs a restaurant and alleged that her wife always used to question him about the money he earned. He had been running it for the past seven years and claimed that he was always doubted by her over financial matters and he decided to kill her as he thought "this was the best way to end the matter". The family lives at Kilokri village in Sunlight Colony. His son also helped him in killing her, he claimed. The couple had a quarrel at his restaurant a day earlier as well and both of them were called to the local police station after they made a scene. Vipinbala had told the police that her husband never gave her any money and spent his earnings on his mother and sister while ignoring his family. Both returned after the police brokered a compromise between them, which, however, hardly lasted and ended with her murder. Anil and their two sons allegedly berated her for taking the family matter to the police station and soon verbal duel broke out at the house. Her husband and their elder son then strangled her with an electric wire in a fit of rage. The police rushed the victim to the AIIMS trauma centre where she was declared brought dead. The police probe has revealed that there was no affection between her and other family members and she used to stay alone on the second floor of their house. |
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Contract killer linked with Dawood held
New Delhi, March 26 According to the police, Mahesh allegedly murdered a notorious criminal, Naresh, alias Trikunia, of Bariley, just to spread terror in the world of crime. He and his two accomplices had been arrested for a number of heinous crimes, including murder, attempt to murder and robbery. The police said three pistols and eight cartridges were seized from the three. While Mahesh resided in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, his accomplices — Vipin and Rakesh — are residents of Sarita Vihar in Delhi and Muzaffarnagar
in Uttar Pradesh, respectively. The police said the three had been evading arrest for a long time. They were in the Capital to target some "big persons", the police said. According to the police, Mahesh had recently met some of Dawood Ibrahim's men who had asked him to be in Delhi and wait for their order. The police said a team of policeman was deployed at the Bali Nagar Ring Road stretch between Rajdhani College and ESI Hospital yesterday evening after a tip-off about the movement of the accused. The three accused were riding a motor cycle when the policemen intercepted them. Mahesh whipped out a pistol and tried to fire at the policemen, who then caught them. |
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Rs 2,000-cr power plant for GT Noida by 2014-end
Greater Noida, March 26 The chief executive officer of NPCL, R.C. Agarwala, said, "Out of 16 companies which submitted expression of interest documents, six are foreign firms while the rest Indian. Four foreign companies are from Spain and two from France." "Today, we have shortlisted 10 companies. In the next fortnight, we will select a company for the contract. The proposals were received over a month ago. Currently, we are calling the representatives of the interested companies, showing them the site and getting clarifications on technical issues," said Agarwala. "We had invited the bids in December. The project is a 400-MW gas-based combined cycle power plant with advance class gas turbine technology," said Agarwala "Greater Noida is witnessing rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development, necessitating a long-term planning to meet the power demand. And so, the company decided to bring up a gas-based power generation facility that will support the planned economic growth in Greater Noida by supplying the required quantum of power," said Agarwala. "For the project, 40 acres have been allotted to us at Jaunsamana village near Vaidpura. The cost of the project has been estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore. We plan to develop the plant in two phases. In the first phase, a 200-MW plant will be completed by the end of 2013 and in the next phase, another 200-MW plant will be completed by the end of 2014," said Agarwala. "In 1995, we came up with a proposal for the construction of a100-MW thermal power plant at Greater Noida. We had even acquired land for it . However, later, thermal plants were banned in the NCR," said Agarwala. "Then, we applied for setting up of a 250-MW gas based plant, but could not get the government's nod for gas supply. Two years ago, we had submitted a proposal for constructing a 500-MW thermal power plant at Varanasi. We had planned to rope in Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited for supply," he said. "As this project is still pending with the state government, we decided to develop a gas-based plant at Greater Noida itself as the Centre has assured us of gas supply and included the project in the 12th Master Plan," said Agarwala. "Gas Authority of India Limited is laying gas pipelines in the city, so we will not face problems in the supply of gas. If GAIL is not able to supply gas to us, we will rope in another source and use the GAIL network for transportation," said Agarwala. |
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Tour de force wows Francophiles
New Delhi, March 26 Especially, on the culminating day on Saturday, when two special renditions-one by a North African French Oriental Rock band Les Boukakes, comprising musicians from around the Mediterranean region and the other by legendary singer Danyel Waro from Maloya Island- were lined up, the fest got an amazing audience response. The annual event, organised by Alliance Francaise in association with the French embassy, promotes the French language, while pointing out the intrinsic link between language and culture irrespective of the diversity of countries where the language is spoken. "The event is organised in March every year and this time too, it marks the assembling of 10 countries where nationals speak French. We want to show the cultural diversity of all nations where French is spoken through performances from Europe, Africa and Asia. Each country should have its own identity and this platform would help reach out to larger audience," said the director of Alliance Francaise. French being the second global language, it has gradually increased its presence and is spoken in 32 countries and nearly 200 million people use it as a medium of communication apart from another 100 million people who learn it. In India too, it is growing, she added. During the afternoon today, the band Les Boukakes, ignoring the racist undertones rooted in history that reflect the insults faced by North Africans in exile, enraptured the audience, comprising students, academicians and culture lovers, through their fusion of reverberating grooves, rock guitars and lyrics sung in Arabic and French. In the evening, it was a perfect ending to the show with Maloya composer and singer Danyel, leaving the listeners mesmerised. It wasn't only people knowing French who came to the show but many others who wanted to witness this amalgamation of cultures. "It is a perfect experience which one would find nowhere else in Delhi not even at Delhi University, which occasionally organises musical events," said native of Finland, wholives in Vasant
Vihar. |
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Free healthcare to school kids from next month
New Delhi, March 26 This was said by Dikshit while addressing a public gathering at Okhla in south Delhi, where she inaugurated a health camp. The scheme would provide quality healthcare to schoolchildren. An initial corpus of Rs 100 crore had been set aside for it, she said. The scheme, which has been named Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojana, envisages providing free and universal healthcare to children up to 14 years of age. Meanwhile, Dikshit today also launched another round of pulse polio immunization programme by administering the vaccine to a number of children and said the city had set an example for the anti-polio drive. Though Delhi has not reported a single case of polio since January last year, she said, it remained at risk due to a high rate of inward migration of people from different parts of the
country. |
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Rural roads not fit for low-floor buses: CM
New Delhi, March 26 Still 416 low-floor buses are being driven on 40 routes in rural areas. As soon as road condition is improved, more low-floor buses will be deployed in a phased manner, said transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely. He said that Delhi Transport Corporation had a total number of 3775 low-floor buses, including 1,275 air conditioned buses. Of them, 3,740 buses are being used while the remaining will come on road soon. Besides, CNG kits were fitted in 21 old diesel buses, but their condition was not good and in 2009, these buses were rejected. Low-floor buses are manufactured for the urban purpose. In comparison to normal buses, there is less sitting arrangement in these buses, but there is more space for standing. When asked the period of removing old vehicles from Capital's roads, the transport minister said that the life of commercial vehicles is 15 years, but there is no time limit for individual vehicles. Individual vehicles can get new registration after completion of 15 years of life. |
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Badarpur Metro timing rescheduled
New Delhi, March 26 A spokesperson for the Delhi Metro said the last train service from the Central Secretariat station towards Badarpur would be available at 10.40 pm instead of usual 11.20 pm but the trains going towards Sarita Vihar would continue to ply as per the normal schedule. The morning train service from Badarpur towards Central Secretariat would start 15 minutes behind the usual timing of 6 am. The maintenance work was likely completed by the month end and the normal schedule would be practiced from April 1.
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Leading sports bars are raking in the moolah big time by jacking up entry prices as cricket enthusiasts are lining to reserve their seats for the March 30 contest, being billed as the mother of all clashes. UnderDogs at Vasant Kunj has opened the bookings for the match to huge response while HowaZatt in Gurgaon has hiked its entry charges. Great Sports Bar in Noida has come out with a special menu and is undergoing a makeover especially for the day-night encounter in Mohali. "We would love to see the match live at the Mohali stadium. But no tickets are available. Watching the action at a bar is the second best thing," says Salil Joshi, a cricket enthusiast. Dengue strikes early
The dengue scare is back in the national Capital notwithstanding the tall claims of keeping a dengue-free environment in the city by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The viral disease was first reported in June last year, but it has made a comeback this year with the onset of summer. Ironically, the first dengue victim of the season is an AIIMS doctor and the civic body officials say they will start taking anti-dengue measures from April 1 to check the breeding of mosquitoes in the city. There is also this apprehension in the MCD health team that it would be back with a vengeance. Experts say there is a vertical transmission of the virus from mosquitoes to eggs, and it could result in more breeding of mosquitoes. The bigger concern is that they could have stronger immunity against medicines. Residents would do well to keep their surroundings clean. CM’s detractors disappointed
It was not only the opposition MLAs who were happy with the indictment of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her government by the Shunglu committee. Many detractors of the CM were seen moving in the corridor of the Assembly and gleefully congratulating some BJP MLAs who were vociferous in their criticism of the government. These Congress leaders owed their loyalty to Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president JP Aggarwal and veteran party leader Sajjan Kumar. They keenly followed the proceedings and were updating their patrons frequently as the opposition raised a storm over the report. They were also tapping the media persons to know Dikshit's reaction and whether she could be asked to resign by the high command. When it became clear later that Dikshit was well prepared to take on the opposition and had the blessings of the top Congress leaders, they left the House in more disappointment than the BJP leaders. Jamia reaches out to distressed women
The women's studies centre in Jamia Millia Islamia University has broken new ground by reaching out to distressed and deprived women as part of its study module. Students and teachers from Jamia Women's Studies Center are trying to work with the community in an organized way in an attempt to make their academic curriculum more initiative-oriented. Students are working among the under-privileged women in Shaheen Bagh, four km from the university. The locality is host to the people who arrived there after being at the receiving end of communal riots. The varsity officials say they want to spread awareness about domestic and gender violence besides empowering them so that they could fight for themselves. (Contributed by Jyoti Rai, Himani Chandel, Syed Ali Ahmed, Charu Singh) |
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2 DDA employees, aide get jail for graft
New Delhi, March 26 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Pradeep Chaddah said: "The menace of corruption has entered into each and every segment of the society. Because lenient views have been taken in the past, we have reached the present hopeless situation." All the three, including a DDA assistant director, were arrested in 2001 by the CBI on a complaint of Chattar Singh, a resident of Nangloi. "The officials had demanded Rs 5,000 from him for issuing a no objection certificate (NOC) for his property," Singh alleged in his complaint. The NOC was required as he wanted to take a loan against his property. The court said: "DDA assistant director Pradeep Kumar Sharma and clerk Ved Prakash are awarded three years jail." The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the two convicts.Tea vendor Inderjeet, who acted as their conduit, was awarded one-year jail term along with a fine of Rs 20,000. The CBI arrested the DDA employees from their office when the complainant was paying Rs 3,000 as bribe to them.
— IANS |
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Govt sitting on edu fund, alleges MCD
New Delhi, March 26 The fund should have been sanctioned in January itself, but so far, no provision had been made, he said. Nagpal said that the MCD was due to receive Rs 80 crore from the city government for various education projects. The chairman of the municipal education committee said that he had written letters to Union home minister P. Chidambaram and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, asking for their intervention for the release of the fund . He said the paucity of fund was an obstacle in the implementation of many welfare projects for 9.5 lakh students enrolled in its 1,800 schools. Of the total amount to be sanctioned by the government, Rs 50 lakh is to be spent on physical education, Rs 12 crore on mid-day meal scheme, Rs 37.5 crore on the welfare of the students and Rs 30 crore on the construction of school buildings. |
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Man who killed niece arrested
New Delhi, March 26 He thrashed Babita yesterday in a drunken rage and when her mother tried to stop him, he beat her up and smashed the kid on
the ground. She was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead. The police said the incident occurred on March 24 and Poonam said Ravi had threatened her and her daughter a day earlier. She did not take it seriously. When she came back from her work in the morning, she saw him beating Babita. The police said Poonam had left her husband, who used to drink and abuse her frequently, and shifted
to Ravi's jhuggi two years ago. The police said Ravi suspected Poonam's conduct and would often ask her to move out of his jhuggi. The accused had allegedly confessed to his crime. |
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Youth held for raping minor
New Delhi, March 26 The victim had come with her family to
meet her grandmother when the accused, staying at rented accommodation in the locality, took her to another place and raped her. The victim was rushed to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where the doctors confirmed rape on her. The police has arrested the accused and a case has beeen registered. |
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If the quarterfinal between Australia and India in the ongoing cricket World Cup had cricket fans crowding bars to enjoy the thriller, the upcoming semifinal between India and Pakistan has touched off an absolute frenzy among them.