New Delhi, May 11
Delhi health minister A.K. Walia today said that the city government was gearing up to enforce the new Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 in the next three months. The rules under the Act had been notified, he said.

The minister said with the enforcement of the new Act, food adulteration would attract heavy fines and punishments, including life imprisonment. A few strict provisions had been included in the Act to increase its deterrent values, he added.

He stated that after the enforcement of the new Act, adulteration of food items in Delhi would become very difficult as fear of strict punishment would discourage traders.

The department of Prevention of Food Adulteration is committed to checking the menace of food adulteration as it is a major health hazard, Walia said.

Walia, while giving details of the new Act, said that all those in food business would have to get themselves registered or get licences. The small shopkeepers will have to apply for registration whereas other business establishments will have to get a licence.

Under the new law, the punishments for adulteration have been divided into two categories. The first category of punishment is for selling substandard and fake brand food items and the second category is for issuing misleading advertisements about food products (not injurious to health). The complaints against the second category of offences will not go to court and will only invite a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.

For selling unsafe food, a trader could be punished with imprisonment up to 7 years along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. In case of the death of a person due to the consumption of adulterated food items, the seller could be punished with jail term ranging from seven years to life imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. The new Act will have a provision of compensation for injury or death.

In case of a death, the compensation will not be less than Rs 5 lakh. In case of grievous injury, the victim will get compensation up to Rs 3 lakh and in case of minor injury, up to Rs 1 lakh.

New Delhi, May 11
Three persons managed to steal a silver piece weighing 33 kg worth Rs 20 lakh from an employee of a jeweller in the Chandni Chowk area of north Delhi last evening.

According to the police, the culprits involved in the incident has been caught taking the silver in CCTV cameras and efforts are on to establish their identity and whereabouts.

"The incident was reported around 7.30 pm from the Kucha Mahajani area of Sarafa Baazar in Chandni Chowk. Shyam Jalan had sent his employee Ashok to weigh two pieces of silver at a dharmkanta nearby and get a receipt of the weight.

Ashok went on his own carrying the two pieces in his hands and while he was getting these weighed one by one, he realised one piece of silver weighing about 33 kg was missing," said a police official.

On going through the CCTV cameras installed at the place, it was clearly visible that three persons managed to steal and escape with the piece of the metal. A case in this regard has been registered at Kotwali police station and further investigations are on.

According to Yogesh Singhal, the general secretary of the market, victim informed the police within a minute the incident happened, but still the thieves managed to escape.

Kuchi Mahajani is the biggest Sarafa Baazar of Asia and according to information more than 16 CCTV cameras have been installed in the market.

New Delhi, May 11
The south district police has arrested a 28-year-old man, Jaffer Hussain, who allegedly befriended young girls through SMSes and then stole their money and valuables at the first opportunity.

According to the police, Hussain, who has worked with a prestigious bank in Dubai and then with India Bulls Security Ltd till January this year, was arrested yesterday from his Jamia Nagar accommodation on the basis of a complaint filed by one of his victims.

According to Chhaya Sharma, DCP (south), a girl, Radhika (name changed), on May 6 reported to Mehrauli police station about a person who contacted her through SMSes and persuaded her to see him at least once.

"Jaffer had introduced himself to Radhika as Arnav. He picked Radhika from New Delhi Railway Station on her return from her hometown on the promise that he would just drop her home. She had kept her laptop, purse and luggage in Jaffer's car. On the way, Jaffer convinced her to watch movie with him at PVR Saket. He then send her to check the movie schedule of the theatre at the ticket counter while himself kept sitting in the car," said Sharma. While Radhika was checking the schedule, Jaffer stole her money and laptop and hid them in his car. After reaching home, when Radhika checked her luggage, instead of her laptop, she found a stone in the laptop bag. When she tried to contact Arnav, she found that all SMSes, call details and contact numbers of Jaffer had been deleted from her phone.

According to Sharma, a police team then worked extensively on the Internet to search the accused on various social networking and other sites on the basis of the information available on his profile.

"Finally, the police established his real identity and arrested him," revealed Sharma.

She added that Radhika's stolen laptop, mobile phone and purse have been seized from Jaffer. 

New Delhi, May 11
One person has been arrested for allegedly looting a truck load of cigarette cartons worth Rs 75 lakh in Gurgaon, the police said today.

Deepak Gupta, a resident of Modi Nagar in Ghaziabad, was arrested from Yudhisthar Setu in the Kashmere Gate area following the information that he would be coming to sell the looted cigarette cartons, said IB Rani, DCP.

During the checking at Yudhisthar setu, Deepak was found standing on the road along with some packed cartons, worth around Rs 4 lakh.

On interrogation, he failed to give any satisfactory reply about the cartons.

On April 26, Deepak and four others had intercepted a truck, loaded with 355 cartons of cigarettes near Jhadsa flyover on National Highway 8 in, with another vehicle.

Four persons sitting in the vehicle overpowered the truck driver Ratan Singh and conductor Rajesh. They abandoned the driver and conductor near a vacant place at Kekri Dola in Gurgaon.

Gupta said he got into this crime as he was heavily in debt and was searching opportunities to make quick money.

"They had already sent the maximum cartons to various receivers in different parts of northern India and Rajsthan, said the official. — PTI

New Delhi, May 11
In continuation of the housekeeping training undertaken by the staff of Safdarjung Hospital and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, a guide on hospital housekeeping, a product of public-private partnership, was launched today in the Capital.

While the guide, spelling out globally acceptable standards in quality healthcare and housekeeping practices, would act as a manual for maintaining healthy conditions inside government hospitals, the sanitation and allied staff training in its last lap would soon begin in Lady Harding Medical College.

It looks like the private sector has emerged better, when it comes to setting up benchmarks of good hospital care and aptly so with 80 per cent of the healthcare services coming from the country's private sector.

On the occasion, additional secretary of ministry of health and family welfare, Keshav Desiraju, said the guide would serve as a blueprint of good hospital care. "After the training in the three government hospitals is complete, it would be extended to other hospitals here and also taken to those outside the city," said Desiraju.

According to health officials, the training would infuse a culture of professionalism and enable in bettering the patient care provided in the overcrowded public hospitals, which significantly contributes to rising hospital-acquired infections.

At both Safdarjung and RML hospitals, the hospital hygiene and sanitation level has improved. "After the three months' training starting in April last year, hospital sanitation has bettered by 70 per cent. This guide would also help the in-house instructors to apprise the other hospital staff about safe and clean housekeeping practices," medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital Dr N K Mohanty said.

"The book details out different steps required in terms of quality control, hospital etiquette, modern housekeeping practices, waste management, cleaning systems, etc. All aimed at achieving excellence in hospital care," said Dr Pervez Ahmed, CEO and MD of Max Healthcare.

New Delhi, May 11
The hunger strike organized by the protesting students at Jamia Millia Islamia continued into its fifth day today. Agitated students at Jamia began an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday, registering their protest against the university's recent move to debar a number of students from taking their final examinations.

About 20 students of the Anwar Jamal Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia have been debarred from appearing for their final examinations.

Students at Jamia organized a candlelight vigil for those sitting on hunger strike in the evening and over a hundred students gathered to express their solidarity.

Meanwhile, a delegation of students met the vice-chancellor today, but the university's tough stance continued with the vice-chancellor refusing to lift the bar on students. However, he did offer some minor concessions.

Nabila Zaidi, a student sitting on hunger strike, said, "We will not bow down. The protest will continue till our major demands are met. The university administration has been unfair to us. Many of the students have serious medical conditions yet the varsity refuses to take this into account."

Zaidi added, "Students after having tried everything possible reached the Delhi High Court, but the judge dismissed all the petitions. Though he sympathized with the students and could see the mess created by the department."

New Delhi, May 11
The memories of tongas or horse carts — once a slice of history for the city — are now only relegated to Hindi films as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) put a ban on the historic ride last year in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.

But many tonga owners, who lost their livelihoods, are yet to find alternative options for their daily earnings.

"In our family, men knew no other skill. For some time it was hand-to-mouth living for us. But one can't live on hope and now people have started taking up sundry jobs," said Khursheed, whose cart was seized by the MCD officials last year.

"Plying the tonga 10 to 15 years ago fetched me good money. But ever since the areas such as Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk and south Delhi have been closed to us, my earnings have been dwindled. And when our stand at Asaf Ali Road was razed last year, I have not been able to get into any other job," said Madan Lal.

The drive, the MCD claimed was a part of its plan to clean up the walled city area for the Games. Also, the decision was taken considering the traffic congestion on busy roads as the reason, said a senior MCD official.

The few that remain are now plying only in certain parts of old Delhi, which include Sadar Bazaar, Paharganj and Nandnagri.

Ajmal had to give tonga to his brother, who lives in Sadar Bazaar, where the ban doesn't apply. Left with no alternative employment, he now cleans trucks, which fetches him Rs 100 to Rs 150 a day. "Earlier, I was able to earn at least Rs 350 daily," said Ajmal.

Parveen suffers the same fate. He has taken to repairing scooters and has let out his tonga to be driven around Paharganj. Singh rues: "It was our own business and it pains me to do a job for others," he said.

However, according to the MCD officials, the humble mode of transport is not feasible on busy roads of Delhi. "The tolerance level for tongas is dipping and to streamline the Capital's transportation, the MCD has had to take viable decisions. Tongas are ruled out in the main city, though we are deliberating upon the idea of letting them operate in theme parks for short joy rides. But nothing has been finalised yet," a senior official said.

Imploring tonga owners to treat their horses with dignity, he said: "They make the animals work at a stretch for long hours in extreme conditions without proper food. This should stop," he said.

New Delhi, May 11
By next week, the Delhi government will file a detailed response on Shunglu Committee findings to the home ministry which has asked it to explain its position and the action taken on the report that indicted Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for alleged CWG irregularities.

"We will send our response on Shunglu committee findings to the Union home ministry by next week," a top official of Delhi government said.

The home ministry last month had sent the report of the Shunglu Committee to Delhi government, asking it to file a detailed response to the findings of the PM-appointed panel within a month.

Besides holding various agencies including the PWD responsible for irregularities, the Shunglu Committee had blamed Dikshit for alleged bunglings in various Games projects.

The city government, which already rejected the findings of the panel as a "product of paranoia", had sent a brief report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, trashing the report.

In the brief report, the government had rejected almost all the findings of the panel and instead accused it of deliberately choosing to adopt a logic of "convenience" in finding corruption in every policy and every tender of the government.

The city government has already asked officials whose names figure in the Shunglu Committee report to submit their response in writing to the government.

The Shunglu Committee has submitted six reports on broadcasting, Games Village, city infrastructure, Games venues, Organising Committee and Main Report -- Organisation and Conduct of CWG 2010.

The report on city infrastructure was referred to the home ministry by the PMO for appropriate action on the queries raised by the Shunglu panel in works done by the city government-controlled departments.

The administration of Delhi, being the union territory, comes under the control of home ministry.--PTI