New Delhi, May 18
The special cell of the Delhi police has arrested three notorious gangsters-- Salim, Rustam and Shorab-for their alleged involvement in several murders and robberies in Delhi and UP, including the gruesome murder of Gaurav Gambhir, a 29-year-old jeweller who was shot dead outside his shop in the Krishan Nagar area of east Delhi on the evening of February 23.

Each of the accused carries a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head.

According to Arun Kampani, DCP (special cell), the trio was arrested today afternoon from near Aggarwal Funcity Mall, CBD Ground, Vishwas Nagar, Shahdara.

"When the police team asked them to surrender, the gangsters fired at the policemen and tried to flee the spot. On this, the policemen also fired at them and after a brief exchange of fire, they were nabbed," said Kampani.

A .32 revolver and two pistols along with live cartridges were seized from the trio.

According to Kampani, the trio was responsible for the robbery-cum-murder incident at Gambhir Jewellers shop in Krishna Nagar.

"During the robbery, the accused shot dead the owner of the shop, Gaurav Gambhir, and decamped with gold jewellery, including eight necklesses, 75 pairs of earrings, rings, besides a bracelet and gold chain of the deceased. Two accused-- Mohammed Sabir, alias Juggu, and Pradeep Kumar Saini were earlier arrested in this case," said Kampani.

Salim is said to be the kingpin of the gang and according to the police, the gang usually targeted jewellers.

"They had also robbed a marble shop in Arjun Nagar on January 5 and Padmini Jewellers in Krishan Nagar on February 1.

At both the shops, the accused along with other gang members had put the owners at gunpoint and robbed the shops of jewellery and cash," said the official. 

Ghaziabad, May 18
A 21-year-old man's body was found dumped in a tin box in a house here on Wednesday after neighbours complained of a strong stench, the police said. According to the police, Monu was engaged to Meenu, 20, who lives in Rajiv Colony, here.

He used to stay with Meenu and her mother Rajbala, both working in a local hospital, at their house.

Monu went to their home with Rs 1,50,000 in cash on Saturday, when Meenu's brother-in-law Jaggi was also present.

The victim's maternal uncle Satvir has alleged that the three were tempted by the money and killed Monu, stuffed his body in a tin box, and fled their rented accommodation.

The police on Saturday arrested Meenu, Rajbala and Jaggi, but they had another version of the events.

"The three said that Monu did not want Meenu to work, but she was adamant to continue with her job. After a heated exchange of words between them, Monu hanged himself from a ceiling fan," superintendent of police (city) J.K. Shahi said.

The three said they were scared by the turn of events, due to which they stuffed Monu's body in the tin box and fled their home.

"We have recorded statements from both sides. The investigation is on and the body has been sent for autopsy," he said.

The money has not been recovered yet, he added.-- IANS

New Delhi, May 18
Thousands of autorickshaws in the Capital will go off the roads on Thursday and Friday to press for the demand that the government pay for global positioning systems (GPS) that they have to install, a union said on Wednesday.

Autorickshaw trade unions said they were not opposed to the GPS per se, but they wanted the Delhi administration to bear the cost of installation and maintenance.

With the government not relenting, some 55,000 autorickshaws will take part in the two-day strike, said Suresh Sharma, president of the Rashtravadi Janata Tipahiya Chalak Mahasangh.

The strike was supposed to begin on Wednesday.

"We were supposed to go on strike from Wednesday but only two to three unions were ready. So we chose to start the strike from Thursday," Sharma said.

He said Thursday would not see "even a single auto on the streets".

"We have no problems with the GPS installation. Our demand is that we should not be paying the annual charges of Rs 15,000 for the installation. The government should bear this cost," said Sharma.

The government wants autorickshaws to be fitted with GPS to enable a two-way communication system that will help check speeding, route deviation and ensure commuter safety.

Despite the many accusations hurled at their drivers, autorickshaws form a key lifeline of the Capital's transport system. -- IANS

New Delhi, May 18
The technical snag at the Dadri power station of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Arawali power project at Jhajjhar in Haryana caused outages in Delhi, resulting in loadshedding in many south and south-west areas today.

According to the sources, Delhi today received 490 MW less power from its sources, including 210 MW less power from Dadri and 150-175 MW from Arawali Power project even though it had a peak power demand touching 4823 MW that is the highest in the last five years. Two units of power generation of Dadri were closed due to technical snag.

Though the power units have been repaired, its supply could not be normalized. People have to suffer further.

Besides, the DVC that is supposed to supply 150 MW power t o Delhi during peak hours and 100 MW round the clock is supplying 70 MW less during the day.

The grid frequency dipped to an alarming level of 49.17 in the afternoon.

The sources said that to maintain the grid security, the NRLDC and SLDC put restrictions on withdrawal and instructed Delhi discoms to "shed load". As directed, the discoms are undertaking loadshedding on a rotational basis, as per the requirement and directions

A senior official of the power department said that having seen demand of the power the government should make arrangement of additional power from other states. Last year, the maximum power demand was 4720 MW in the month of July and now this height has crossed in the month of May, beginning of the summer season.

He said that between May 1 and 18, this year, the power demand has increased by 23 per cent -- from 3863 MW to 4823 MW. Delhi's peak power demand this year is expected to go beyond 5100 MW.

New Delhi, May 18
A day after the national capital witnessed the hottest May 17 in the past five years, Delhiites woke up to the hottest morning of the season today with the minimum temperature today morning touching a high of 30.7 degrees Celsius this season.

"The minimum temperature today was recorded at six notches above the average at 30.7 degrees. This is the highest of the season so far," an official of India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 44.1 degree Celsius, five degrees above the average and the same as yesterday.

The humidity at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 65 per cent. The department has predicted no respite in the coming days.

Tomorrow, the city is most likely to see cloudy skies with possibilities of thundery developments in some areas. While the maximum temperature is expected to hover around 43 degree Celsius, the minimum is expected to settle around 30 degree Celsius.

New Delhi, May 18
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will soon put up directional signages at all its interchange stations. These siganges would help passengers locate platforms, destination stations and the lines.

These signages will be put up on the floor near the AFC gates so that the commuters while entering the paid area of the station can easily understand which side they need to go to board their train. The signages will be bilingual.

Presently, such siganges are installed only at Central Secretariat Metro station.

Now, the siganges will be put up at other interchange stations like Rajiv Chowk, interchange station for Line-2 (HUDA City Centre to Jahangirpuri) and Line-3 (Dwarka-21 to Noida City Centre); Kashmere Gate, interchange station for Line-1 (Dilshad Garden to Rithala) and Line-2 (HUDA City Centre to Jahangirpuri); Inderlok, interchange station for Line-1(Dilshad Garden to Rithala) and Line-5 (Inderlok to Mundka) and Yamuna Bank, interchange station for Line-3 (Dwarka-21 to Noida City Centre) and Line-4 (Yamuna bank to Anand Vihar).

Greater Noida, May 18
Eleven days after the violence in Bhatta Parsaul, villagers here still talk in hushed tones. They are mortally scared of the May 7 incident in which a large number of innocent villagers, including women, old people and children, were at the receiving end of the police action.

"We had nothing to do with the agitation, but the police forcibly entered our house, caught hold of my young son, beat up my husband, damaged our car, and even took away Rs 20,000," said Raghubeero. Her son Indrajit was in Dasna jail with fractured limbs.

Similarly, Mohit Sharma, 15, and his two nieghbours-- Sachin and Rahul-- were kept at Dankaur police station for three nights without any reason, claim their family members.

"We were beaten up repeatedly and not given any food or water," said Mohit who has returned home now.

Neha Sharma, 17, had her arm fractured when the the police forced its way into her house.

At this village, there are many more with similar tales of police atrocities.

However, nobody was sure if women were raped, though political leaders from different parties have alleged it repeatedly.

District magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar Deepak Aggarwal said, "I know a large number of people are missing from the village. But they have run away fearing that they would be arrested or harassed because the police report has blamed a large number of unidentified villagers for the trouble on May 7. But now, we have dispatched senior officers to build confidence among villagers and to assure the people that no innocent person would be harmed." 

New Delhi, May 18
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refusing to grant a stay on an amendment conferring it minority status. The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) had recently granted "minority" status to the university which will enable it to reserve up to 50 per cent seats for Muslim students.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also made it clear that those students who get admission under the new reservation policy will have to wait for the final outcome of the court order. The court will nowhear the matter on July 14.

The bench was hearing the batch of PILs challenging the grant of the status to Jamia.

Prashant Bhushan in his petition said: "The admission policy of the university does not have any provision for reservation for the SC, ST and OBCs , instead there is provision for total 50 per cent reservation for Muslim candidates."

Another petitioner, Vijay Kumar Sharma, president of NGO Yuva Bharti Samiti, alleged that "the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988, incorporates and establishes the university and dissolves the Jamia Millia Islamia Society, which was managing and running it, and the NCMEI has no jurisdiction or authority to declare it a minority institution." -- IANS

Greater Noida, May 18
The Greater Noida Authority has initiated work to revamp Bodaki railway station and develop a transport hub nearby at a cost of Rs 132 crore. A detailed plan has been prepared by the authority for the project.

The authority has already signed an MoU with a well-known construction company for the project. Authority officials feel the project will help develop Greater Noida into a very attractive town.

According to GNIDA officials, after the revamp, Bodaki Junction will be the best railway junction in the country. All the trains will stop here. Multiplex malls, 5 and 3-star hotels and motels will be opened near the junction. There will be large screens in the malls which will inform people about the locations of the trains.

Since Greater Noida is close to the Delhi-Howrah main railway line, local people will not have to go to Delhi to catch super-fast and express trains running on this route, as is the case at present, say the officials.

They add: "There are a few railway stations in Greater Noida like Maripet, Dadri, Bodaki, Ajaibpur and Dankore, but proper roads and other infrastructure have not been developed to connect them to Greater Noida. Though local trains stop at these stations, but super-fast and express rains do no have scheduled halts here. A transport hub will also be built near the railway station. Traders will be able to dispatch their goods by road from the transport hub. Deluxe buses will also be available here for different states."

Land has already been acquired for the transport hub and the construction work of the railway station would commence soon. In due course, Delhi Metro is also likely to cover Bodaki Junction, the officers said.

There is a plan to build a 105-metre wide road from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida near Bodaki station to Dehradun via Kota-Sanauta.

The road from Pari Chowk to Bodaki has already been built by the Greater Noida Authority. A plan to extend the road to Kota-Sanauta has also been finalised, the 
officials said.

New Delhi, May 18
Mayor Rajni Abbi and Leader of the House Subhash Arya said the MCD would launch a one-month long special sanitation-cum-cleanliness drive from May 20 to June 19.

The drive would be launched from Chandni Chowk at Gauri Shankar Mandir, near the Red Fort.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) directed the environment and management services, engineering and horticulture departments to coordinate with each other for the sanitation work and it should be completed before the arrival of the monsoon.

All zonal chairmen would launch the drive simultaneously in their respective zones.

The mayor said the three cornerstones of the drive would be sanitation audit, accountability and result-orientation.

All zonal chairmen have been advised to personally supervise and monitor the sanitation drive.

As part of the sanitation audit, she would obtain a report of truck JC 20, loaders, safai karamcharis etc. and monitor their effectiveness and requirement at the ward level.

Subhash Arya said that each ward would be divided into four parts and each part covered in one week. Thus, all wards will be fully covered within the one-month drive period.

He said it would be ensured that garbage is completely removed, greenery upgraded and colonies made garbage-free everyday.

He said that the de-silting of drains would be intensified and ensured that they are thoroughly de-silted before the onset of the monsoon.

All the officials concerned were told at a meeting held today to take the vehicles on a hire basis to transport the garbage and silt, if required.