New Delhi, April 28
Ten labourers were charred to death when a fire broke out at a slipper unit in the Peeragarhi area of northwest Delhi last night.

According to fire officials, the fire call was received at 7.10 pm from plot number H9 at Peeragarhi Industrial Area and it took close to 12 hours and 28 fire trucks to control the blaze by this morning.

The fire officials found it difficult to get inside the four-storeyed building due to extreme heating up of the walls.

"So far we have recovered 10 charred bodies from inside the factory and cannot say if there are more dead people inside. However, there is a possibility that some more people could be dead as the factory owner told us that about 30-35 labourers were working there at the time of fire," said a police official, adding that no one can be identified by the bodies as they were completely charred.

However, the police has made a list of 10 missing persons who were on the roll of the factory and could be the probable victims.

"It is still not clear whether the victims are the same people as on the list. We will question all concerned and take the statement of the workers once the rescue operation is over," said a senior police official from the district.

According to him, the list of missing persons include Rajkumar, Bittoo, Manoj, Ajay, Ravi, Mohammad Faizad, Mohammad Sattar, Sunil, Chandrashekhar and Anil.

"I am not saying they are dead. They are just missing as of now," insisted the officer.

Spread over 1,200 square metre, the unit was engaged in making 'Sonata' brand slippers.

Owing to large amount of plastic and rubber on the factory premises, the firefighters had a difficult time in controlling the flames.

Meanwhile, a grieving relative of one of the victims blamed the authorities for delay in the rescue operation.

"The rescue work began very late. We had suggested that they should break the wall to rescue those trapped, but the authorities took a long time to take a decision and by that time it was too late," she cried.

According to fire department, the factory was operating without an NoC from it.

According to AK Sharma, Delhi fire director, it seems that too many cartons were stored in the unit which led to blocking of exit routes.

"Besides, there was a wire mesh on the walls that did not allow those trapped inside to jump and the windows were blocked as well," said Sharma, adding that the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, the Mianwali police station sleuths have registered a case under Section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code against the owner of the unit identified as Narender Singla, resident of Shivaji Park in Punjabi Bagh.

New Delhi, April 28
No relief came for teachers today as the Delhi High Court heard the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) petition on the semester system. Instead, the court came down heavily on the teachers who participated in the open learning sessions in early March as a mark of protest against the semester system.

During the last hearing in the matter in 2010, the court had ordered the teachers not to engage in any more protests that will affect classes in the university.

"As the DUTA presented the case in the court today; the university's lawyer complained of the open learning classes that we organized many weeks back, labelling it as protests. The court took offence and has asked for the list of teachers who participated in these sessions. We all were surprised at the university's depicting our peaceful open learning sessions as protests, wherein we never stopped the classes and took regular lectures. Contempt proceedings may follow in the coming days," said one of the teachers who participated in the hearing.

As of now, without any significant decision on the implementation of the semester system, the next hearing has been set on May 11.

Meanwhile, another writ petition filed by nine Delhi University teachers was admitted in the court. The petition questions the recent tactics of the university that it resorted to, in the hasty implementation of the semester system, including the show cause notices and threatening notes to the head of departments.

"A new petition has been filed by nine teachers seeking response on the violations of the statutes of the university. It aims to bring the irreversible loss of students to the fore that this hasty system will bring about," said DU teacher Nandita Narayan who attended the court proceedings.

Some of the teachers who have filed the petition today include Miranda House teacher Nandini Dutta, Academic Council member Nikhil Jain, Nandini Chander from the English department, who is one of the teachers who was issued notice by the university, Naveen Gaur and Soumyajeet Bhattacharya, economics teacher, Kirori Mal College. Besides, more than 50 teachers signed an affidavit supporting the petition.

New Delhi, April 28
Activists of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) today protested outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here against the authorities, demanding the release of animals kept at the institute's laboratory for over three years.

Wearing monkey masks and holding placards that read "AIIMS imprisons animals in cages for ages", they urged the AIIMS authorities to be more compassionate to animals and switch to non-animal research methods. The animal rights' body has protested against it several times earlier, but of no avail.

"The monkeys held by AIIMS have done nothing wrong, yet they seem to have been given life sentences with no chance of parole. The least that AIIMS can do for these abused animals is to release them in a sanctuary where they can be truly rehabilitated," said Poorva Joshipur from PETA (India).

According to PETA members, animals are confined to small cages and there are video footage showing their pathetic condition inside the AIIMS' Central Animal Facility.

"While monkeys are kept in small compartments, there are rabbits who suffer from diseases. There are also wounded guinea pigs and rats left unattended," added Joshipur.

New Delhi, April 28
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has postponed his programme to lay the foundation stone of an underground parking lot to be constructed at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib on May 14 due to security reasons. The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee had announced the construct of the multi-storey underground parking lot on the premises of Rakab Ganj Gurudwara.

According to sources, in the beginning, DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna had proposed that the cost of the project would be Rs 50 crore. However, later, the estimated expenditure escalated up to Rs 350 crore, which was objected by various sections of the community. Sources say that this could be the possible reason behind the postponement of the PM’s programme.

Kendriya Singh Sabha president and parliamentary secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Tarvinder Singh Marwah said he briefed the PM about the gurudwara politics and advised him that he should not get involved in it. Later, the PM postponed his programme to inaugurate the parking lot.

However, general-secretary of the DSGMC, Harvinder Singh Sarna, said that the inauguration programme had not been postponed.

"There is no provision in the building bylaws that the layout plan of a religious place should be approved by the MCD or any other civic agency. When we constructed the parking lot and other blocks at Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, we did not take permission from the NDMC", he said. As far as cost escalation is concerned, it was decided at a meeting of the gurdwara committee, he said.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK) president Jasjit Singh has appealed to the Prime Minister that he should not fall into the traps of gurudwara politics. "Sarna has no legal or moral authority to start such a huge project as his tenure of presidency has expired in February 2011 and currently he is only an officiating president," he added.

But the general-secretary of the DSGMC said that elections for the gurudwara management committee would be held by the end of this year. Till then, the current gurudwara management committee was fully authorised to work for the welfare of the community as well as religious bodies and places, he said.

New Delhi, April 28
Two bikers robbed three employees of a wholesale rice trader of Rs 32 lakh in the Lahori Gate police station area of north Delhi today morning.

According to the police, the trader, Rajnish Garg, was lucky in a way because the robbers snatched the bag that had Rs 32 lakh even as his employees had one more bag that contained Rs 63 lakh.

A case under Section 392 of the IPC has been registered.

The incident was reported around 10.30 am in the Naya Baazar area where Garg has a shop in partnership with one Surender Jain, R.S. Enterprises.

A resident of Sector 9 in Rohini, Garg along with his three employees, Naresh, Naveen and Raju, today morning left his residence in two separate cars for Naya Bazaar.

"While Garg was travelling with his driver, the three employees were in a different car carrying the money in two bags. While Garg reached the shop, the employees, who were following him, stopped about 300 metres from the shop and got down from the car. It was here that the robbers attacked them.

According to the victims, one of the robbers put a pistol in Naresh's mouth and snatched the bag containing money from him. They fled soon after," said a police officer.

The officer added that though there were eyewitnesses to the incident, none remembered the registration number of the robbers' bike.

One of the eyewitnesses, Dayanand, who runs a tea shop close to the crime spot, told the police that the bikers tried to snatch both the bags. However, they later decided to run away with just one.

The police has questioned Naresh, Raju and Naveen separately. The police asked them as to why did they stop the vehicle around 300 metres from the shop.

"We are investigating all the angles and nothing can be said as of now," said a police officer when asked whether the employees were suspects.

When asked from where Garg got such a huge amount of money, the police officer said that Garg had collected it from his buyers and was to deposit it in bank.

New Delhi, April 28
Delhiites sweltered on a hot Thursday as the maximum temperature touched 39.4 degrees, a notch above average.

Although there is a possibility of thundershowers on Friday, the mercury will remain high, the met office said.

"There is a likelihood of showers in some parts of the city tomorrow but the temperatures will remain on the higher side. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 40 and 24 degrees Celsius," an official of India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

"The skies will be partly cloudy tomorrow," added the official.

Thursday's minimum temperature was 24.9 degrees, a notch above average. Humidity levels wavered between a high of 65 per cent and a low of 24 per cent.— IANS

New Delhi, April 28
The efforts of the Municipal Corporation (MCD) to bring more and more people under the tax ambit has finally paid dividends as the civic agency has collected all-time high property tax during 2010-11 from 10,35,451 taxpayers, which is an increase of 5.5 per cent.

The collection till March 31, 2011 stands at Rs 1,50,124.94 lakh, which is 29 per cent more than the last year. The collection in 2009-2010 was Rs

1,15,829.62 lakh, said Ved Prakash Gupta, chairman, high-powered tax committee.

"As compared to the last year, the MCD has been able to collect 29.5 per cent more property tax this year. The increase in tax amount is Rs 34, 295.32 lakh. The collection on account of transfer duty during 2010-11 is Rs 7,283,3.80 lakh, as compared to Rs 46,054.36 lakh in 2009-10. Therefore, the pure property tax collection during 2010-11 stands at Rs 7,729,1.14 lakh as compared to Rs 69,775.26 lakh during 2009-10. The growth in collection of pure property tax collection is 10.6 per cent," said Gupta.

The corporation attributed the increase in the collection of property tax to the vigorous efforts taken by it to ensure more people pay tax and a rise in the number of taxpayers in the past one year.

"The number of taxpayers have increased from 9,80,589 last year to 10,35,451 this year. So, 5,48,621 more property taxpayers were brought under the property tax net of the MCD in one year. In terms of percentage, there has been a rise of 5.5 per cent in the number of taxpayers this year," said Gupta.

"This year, the total online collection was Rs 20,923.42 lakh as compared to Rs 13,235.94 lakh last year. In 2010-11, the number of taxpayers depositing tax online was 4,95,840 as compared to 3,82,174 in 2009-10," he said.

Gupta added that as far as recovery of property tax from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and discoms was concerned, legal opinion had been sought from the office of the Solicitor General of India.

They were of the opinion that the DDA is liable to pay either property tax or service tax, Gupta said.

"The process to collect the outstanding tax has been initiated. For the discoms, we have calculated their outstanding property tax and sought time to settle the issue," he said.

Greater Noida, April 28
The hopes of an international airport coming up near Javer have brightened with a team of Airport Authority of India having inspected the site a few days ago.

However, for establishing this airport, land of 27 villages will have to acquired. While it is felt that selling this idea to the villagers will not be an easy task, officials of the Yamuna Expressway Authority feel it may not pose a difficulty. They would find an amicable solution after meeting with the villagers.

The Yamuna Authority has already identified 10,000 hectares of land in 35 villages near the proposed site of the Javer International Airport.

Since the Yamuna Authority is very concerned about the illegal occupation or encroachment of the land, it undertakes satellite surveys from time to time to ensure that no illegal construction takes place on the land reserved for the airport.

The Yamuna Authority is awaiting a go-ahead from the Airport Authority of India for the airport. As soon as the green signal is received, Yamuna Authority will start the land acquisition process.

The authority has done enough planning for the rehabilitation of people who will be displaced in the 35 villages.

New Delhi, April 28
A court here today sent four Uttarakhand policemen to judicial custody till May 9 and issued fresh non-bailable warrants against three others in the 2009 killing of an MBA student in Dehradun.

The case was shifted to Delhi by the Supreme Court last month.

Student Ranbir Singh of Ghaziabad went to Dehradun looking for a job when a group of policemen shot him on July 2, 2009 after branding him a robber. The victim took 29 bullets. Eighteen policemen were blamed for the crime.

Special Judge V.K. Maheshwari sent sub-inspectors G.D. Bhatt, Santosh Jaiswal, Neeraj Yadav and Chandra Mohan, all of them accused of murder, to judicial custody.

"The accused are charged under serious offence. I am of the view that the accused be sent to custody till May 9," the court said.

The court earlier issued non-bailable warrants against all seven policemen charged with murder. The three who filed to appear in the court are sub-inspectors Nitin Chauhan and Rajendra Bist and constable Ajit Kumar.

The court directed superintendent of police of Dehradun to present the other three police personnel before it May 9.

After initial probe in Uttarakhand, the seven policemen were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in September 2010. They got bail later.

Eleven other policemen have been charged with offences other than murder.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of special judicial magistrate (CBI), Dehradun, on December 22, 2009 against 18 accused. They were booked for murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

The case was shifted to Delhi from Dehradun by the Supreme Court on March 17 after the victim's family voiced fear that Uttarakhand police could influence the trial in the state. -- IANS

New Delhi, April 28
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today dedicated a redeveloped swimming pool inside Shanti Desai Sports Club and Lav-Kush Bal Vatika in front of Old Delhi Railway Station to children.

Delhi Mayor Ragni Abbi said extra-curricular activities were important for the overall development of the children and they should be encouraged to participate in such activities alongside studies.

Chairman of the standing committee, Yogendra Chandolia, said that existence of such facilities in the densely populated area of Old Delhi was very beneficial.

"The MCD makes available swimming pools and parks to children so that they can refresh themselves and get a place to exercise and entertain themselves, leading to their mental and physical development. The MCD has always tried to provide facilities for the all-round development of children," said Abbi. She said that the MCD would provide such facilities in all areas of Delhi.

"Children of the area will now get a place near their houses where they can play, swim and entertain themselves. Now, the corporation should aim to maintain these facilities," said Subhash Arya, Leader of House.

New Delhi, April 28
An exhibition on photographs at India Habitat Centre here is attracting people because of its unusual title, '28'.

When one asks a young corporate lawyer-cum-photographer, Khushi Mishra, as to why she has named her exhibition "28", she says, "It is because I have exhibited a collection of 28 best photos that I selected from thousands of pictures."

Film personality Javed Akhtar inaugurated the exhibition. He said, "The life around us is very beautiful, but we fail to appreciate it in our busy schedule. Khushi's pictures show that she is taking a pause to capture this beauty in the shape of trees, flowers, leaves, Dal Lake and other water bodies. Some of her pictures look like paintings, especially the one showing Jantar Mantar and another depicting birds over Jama Masjid."

Khushi said, "I am a dreamer. Looking at the world through my camera helps me in observing the magic that exists in every passing moment and in capturing the energy and harmony that exists between spaces and objects."

In 2007, Khushi took a break from her job in a law firm to pursue a one year diploma in professional photography from Light and Life Academy in Ooty.

New Delhi, April 28
With the arrest of five persons, the northwest district police has claimed to have smashed a gang allegedly siphoning off subsidised medicines meant for the poor from a government hospital (Hedgewar Hospital) and selling them in the open market.

Two of the five accused are pharmacists.

According to the police, it has seized medicines worth Rs 60 lakh from the accused.

According to S.K. Jain, DCP (northeast), the accused have been identified as Ashwani Sharma (35), Pyare Ali (35), Hakim Singh (45), Dharmender Kumar (40) and Narender Kumar Sharma (56). While

Narender is the head pharmacist of Hedgewar Hospital, Dharmender works under him.

"We have hit upon an unholy nexus between hospital staff and medicine suppliers and exposed the systematic siphoning off of medicines procured by the government for poor patients. Ashwani and Narender were the kingpins of the racket that was operational for the past one year," said Jain.

He added that the arrests came following a tipped-off.

According to Jain, a raid was conducted at Ashwani's residence and the police found a huge pile of medicines bearing specific markings-- 'Supply for Government of NCT of Delhi, Not for sale' and 'MCD supply, Not for Sale'. About 28 types of medicines, mostly costly antibiotics, ointments and inhalers, were seized from Ashwani's house.

Jain said that Ashwani belonged to a family of pharmacist and was well aware about the workings at government hospitals and so formed a nexus with some staff of the Hedgewar Hospital to run the racket. He along with Narender and his other assistant in the pharma section of the hospital siphoned off government medicines from the hospital and sold them at dirt cheap prices in the open market.