New Delhi, April 26
Though Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was the first one to raise her finger against the Commonwealth Games organising committee, today she refused to comment on the arrest of former Commonwealth Games organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi saying that the CBI arrested him on legal grounds.

There would be some points on the basis of that the CBI had taken action and arrested Kalmadi, she added when the reporters asked her to comment on his arrest.

Kalmadi was arrested by the CBI yesterday for allegedly awarding a contract for the Games to a Swiss company at an inflated rate of Rs 141 crore in a "pre-meditated" manner.

This case was reported during the preparation of the Games also but Kalmadi had brushed it aside saying that everything was being done according to the rules.

When asked about the response of the Delhi government to the union ministry of home affairs, the Chief Minister said the government would send its detailed response on the Shunglu Committee findings on the Games irregularities soon, ruling out action against anybody without thorough probe.

Other investigating agencies, the Enforcement Department (ED) and the CBI, were also investigating the irregularities.

Let their findings come out, then the government would plan its actions, she said.

The government had constituted a committee to prepare the response.

The preparation of the response was under process.

It would be completed within a few days. It would be in paragraph-to-paragraph against all the allegations.It's almost ready.

The sources said the response was being prepared by senior officers of the PWD as most of the Delhi government projects were constructed by it.

Hitting out at the BJP for targeting the Delhi government following the Shunglu Committee report, Sheila Dikshit asked as to why the party was not taking any action against Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa for his alleged acts of corruption.

The BJP is demanding from the union government the arrest of Sheila Dikshit on the basis of the Shunglu Committee report.

New Delhi, April 26
The shopkeepers displaced from one of the most historic place in the city known as Jama Masjid in 2005 for a complete overhaul of the area, have shown dissatisfaction over the lack of facilities in the new market where they have been moved.

After five years of uncertainty, the traders and the shopkeepers were rehabilitated to an alternative place in Vijay Coat Market near Shashtri Park Metro station, which was inaugurated last month, in view of the redevelopment plan of Jama Masjid.

But according to more than 340 traders, the market, which has five blocks of 68 kiosks of 6x4 feet, has no proper facilities for the people visiting the place.

The traders claim that Vijay Market has no toilets, electricity, boundary wall or sanitation system, though the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had promised to provide such facilities. They said they would be forced to go back to the original site if the situation did not change.

The displaced shop owners originally faced problems in rehabilitation and formed the Jama Masjid Displaced Merchants Welfare Association to push their case.

Finally, their efforts proved successful when the MCD designated the Shashtri Park site for them last year.

"When we were evicted, the MCD had said it would house us in shops with Mughal-style architecture as part of the Jama Masjid redevelopment project.

Nothing happened after that.

Following so many years of struggle, we have been given an alternative site, but that suffers from lack of facilities.

The MCD has breached its promise," said the displaced merchants' association general secretary Mohammed Arif.

"If the promised facilities are not given to us soon, we will hold demonstrations and hunger strike to press for our demands," he said.

Traders from Coat Market, Fish Market and Indira Market near the mosque were removed when the civic body planned an ambitious redevelopment project for the area in 2005.

However, the plan itself is yet to take off despite getting a conditional clearance from the Delhi Urban Art Commission.

New Delhi, April 26
Diversified infrastructure conglomerate Jaypee Associates today said its Yamuna Expressway project would be completed much before the scheduled official opening date in March 2012.

"The major work on the express highway would be completed by July. Apart from some minor works, the expressway would be fully ready in the later part of this year itself," said Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of Jaypee Associates.

According to Gaur, the 165-km-long six-lane access-controlled expressway would facilitate faster and uninterrupted movement of passenger and freight traffic between the national Capital and Agra.

"Huge earth works and constructions are going on. The major part of the work is nearing completion, except for some patches which would be eventually completed," said a senior company official.

According to the official, the company expects to complete the project and open the expressway two to three months before the scheduled deadline.

The company is also developing 6,175 acres of commercial, industrial, institutional, residential and amusement facilities spread across five locations along the expressway.

The Yamuna Expressway is expected to reduce the driving time between New Delhi and Agra to just about 90 minutes.

The highway will pass through Gautam Budh Nagar in Noida, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar in Hathras and Mathura -- IANS

New Delhi, April 26
The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea seeking its intervention and quashing of Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) introduction of grading system for Classes IX and X and abolition of the examination in Class X.

"I have gone through the grounds urged in the petition. The petitioner is seeking intervention of this court on matters which are prohibited. There is no merit in the petition. The same is dismissed," said Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and declined to quash CBSE's two notifications for introduction of grading system from academic year 2010-2011.

Challenging CBSE's circulars of September 20 and 29, 2009, for introduction of grading system, the Independent Schools' Federation of India said these circulars were not issued in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework and they needed to be set aside.

The court rejected the petitioner's argument that the circulars were not in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework of 2005 and had been issued in haste.

It also rejected the contention that the CBSE had failed to consider its suggestions before introducing the system.

According to the association, the circulars were not reformative as intended in the National Curriculum Framework and rather places multifold burden on the students, increase the workload of the teachers and will produce a domineering attitude amongst teachers, which would be detrimental to the interest of the students. - PTI

Ghaziabad, April 26
The MBA students of Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, have gone on hunger strike.

Their grievance is that the company, in which their placement was made, has turned out to be bogus one which has thrown them out after one month.

A security of Rs 15,000 deposited by each student has also not been returned by the company.

Head of the management department in the institute Dr Arvinder Singh, however, maintained that it was not a fake company and was still functioning in Lucknow. As regards the refund of the students' security the company had asked for two-month time.

The students sitting on strike on the college premises claimed that they were selected for the company through the college placement cell in February. The company had declared, at that time, that its channel would be launched by March 2011.

Each student had deposited Rs 15,000 with the company as security for six months after which the security money was to be refunded to the students. The students alleged that the company channel had not been launched till date and it's a fully bogus company. They said that it had terminated their services after one month without paying any salary to them. Now they were pressing for the refund of their Rs 15,000 security.

They were going from the pillar to the post, but getting no respite from anywhere.

Dr Singh said the company had selected 1,500 students out of which 450 were offered the jobs. But students were not buying this explanation.

New Delhi, April 26
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said today her government was willing to consider a new modern, convenient, pollution-free and affordable city pod car system to supplement the existing modes of public transport.

The government has instructed the DIMTS and the transport department to get a project report made.

Dikshit stated that her government was keen to take up it as a pilot project in confined areas such as India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Dwarka Sub-city, Karol Bagh, east Delhi, Delhi University North Campus, etc. as it would supplement the existing modes of public transport and would come up as an alternative to the personal vehicles.

The new system will be economically viable. The average fare of the pod will come to be around Rs 6 per km.

The passengers will be able to board and de-board from the elevated stations on the route.

New Delhi, April 26
Four-month-old Nyishuyimana Goreth, from the African country of Burundi, was born with an extremely rare defect which caused a huge bulk of her brain tissues and membranes to protrude out of her head. However, she is today a hale and hearty infant, thanks to two life-saving surgeries by a team of the Indian doctors.

Neurosurgeons at Fortis Hospital in Noida were surprised that the child survived for this long, as she was born with encephaloceles, a rare defect which occurs at a rate of one per 5,000 live births worldwide.

Only 20 per cent of the babies with this defect are born alive and only half of them survive, said Sanjay Gupta, one of the doctors who operated upon Goreth. "Goreth had a huge bulk of brain tissues and membranes protruding out of the head, which continued to grow and weighed 2.5 kg," said Gupta.

"It took two surgeries. In the first six-hour operation, we placed the important tissues and portions of the brain back into the fluid and excised the protrusion. Four days later, we again conducted an operation to correct the defect in skull which led to protrusion and an artificial bone with 4x5 cm dimensions was placed," he said. The entire procedure cost around Rs 5 lakh, 20 times less than the cost of a similar operation in the US or the west European countries.

The baby's mother, Mbonimpa Seraphnine, arrived in India earlier this month after a non-governmental organisation in Burundi arranged funds for her. The first operation was conducted on April 13, and the relieved mother flew back to her home on Monday.

Gupta also said the exact cause of encephaloceles was not known, but probable factors responsible for the condition include exposure to toxins, lack of folic acid in the pregnant mother, maternal malnutrition and infections very early in foetal life. - IANS

Greater Noida, April 26
Shooed away by the Dadri police, a Ghaziabad trader had to knock on the doors of a court for getting a report about an assault and loot registered. The police, despite the man's repeated complaints, did not register a report, saying the complaint was not sufficient for taking any action.

Now, the court has ordered the police to take action after registering a complaint against five accused.

The alleged loot had taken place on April 14. Ram Avtar Goel, a Ghaziabad trader, was going to Ryana town via Bulandshahr in his car. Near Dadri grain market, five bandits stopped his car and assaulted him.

They snatched Rs 8,000, mobile phone and a gold chain from him.

In his complaint to the police, Goel has named Aript, Gaurav Jain, Prabhat, Sonu and an unidentified person-- all residents of Geeta Colony, Meerut.

Though the police has registered a report against the five accused, but none of them has been arrested yet.

New Delhi, April 26
It's been close to two days since 18-month-old Ishan was kidnapped by his maid from south Delhi, but the Delhi police has still not made any headway in the case.

Ishan was kidnapped by 19-year-old Seema from Maharani Bagh on Sunday. She was hired by the child's family just 10 days back without any verification,

"We have formed 15 police teams to trace the maid and the boy, but as of now, we do not have any information about their whereabouts. A team has been sent to Seema's hometown in Jharkhand," a police officer said.

He said that since the family had not yet received any ransom call, it appeared as if the maid took the boy out of fondness.

The police has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for anyone giving information about them. -- IANS

New Delhi, April 26
Four persons were arrested in northwest Delhi for allegedly opening fire at a youth who was involved in a triangle love affair.

Shivender Pandey, Dinesh, Virender and Pushpender were apprehended for allegedly shooting at Rohit on April 21 in Ashok Vihar.

During investigation, it came to light that Rohit was called by Pandey and others from his house on April 21 early morning. Rohit accompanied them as they were known to him, DCP (northwest) Meenu Choudhury said.

Pandey was the first to be arrested on April 24 and he allegedly confessed to shooting at Rohit with the help of his three associates, who were apprehended yesterday.

"Pandey and Rohit were in love with the same girl. The girl was the sister-in-law of Virender. Virender had objections to Rohit's relationship with the girl. Pandey was also wanted to remove Rohit from the scene," Chaudhury said.

Virender, who is also the cousin of Pushpender, is allegedly involved in eight criminal cases.

Rohit is undergoing treatment at a city hospital. - PTI

New Delhi, April 26
A 27-year-old man was killed and his three friends were injured today when a speeding truck hit their car from behind in northeast Delhi.

The incident took place in Shahdara around 12.15 pm and the deceased has been identified as Rahul.

The truck rammed into the car from behind at Shahdara flyover and the driver of the truck fled from the spot, the police said.

All the victims were rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital where Rahul was declared brought dead. His three friends were recuperating in the hospital.

A manhunt is on to nab the absconding driver. - PTI