|
|
|
|
|
MCD to be trifurcated
Will increase financial burden on city: Mayor
Bomb scare outside Gargi
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
SC refuses to stay sem in DU
South campus Open Day clears doubts on admission norms
Senior citizens meet LG for better security
Woman, son jailed for 5 yrs for dowry death
12 child labourers rescued
Transfer of land for Sarita Vihar Metro station okayed
|
|
MCD to be trifurcated
New Delhi, May 30 There would be 50 per cent reservation in seats for women candidates in the elections in the new setup. This decision was taken at a cabinet meeting today that was presided over by the Chief Minister with a view that the municipal administration had become unmanageable due to its huge size. At present, it delivers civic services to 97 per cent area of Delhi. The Chief Minister had discussed the issue with chief secretary PK Tripathi and other senior officers of the government before the cabinet meeting. She had also discussed the trifurcation issue of the municipal body with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi a few days ago, sources said. While talking to the media after the cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister described this as a step forward in the direction of efficient and responsive municipal administration. It was decided to restructure the present setup of the MCD. The cabinet decided to divide the MCD into three separate corporations - east, south and north. The total number of municipal wards would remain the same as 272. Dikshit added that in order to provide more participation of women in decision-making at local body level, the cabinet had also decided to reserve 50 per cent of total seats for women under the new setup. This would prove to be a historical step in furthering the process of women empowerment in the Capital city. She further stated that a committee had been constituted to draft an amendment bill to the DMC Act, 1957. The committee comprising the principal secretary of finance, principal secretary of law, principal secretary of urban development and principal secretary to the Chief Minister had been requested to take up this work on priority basis. The committee would suggest amendment in the provisions of the DMC Act, 1957, wherever necessary. The bill would be referred to the union home ministry for its prior approval. The amendment bill would be placed before the Legislative Assembly of Delhi at the earliest. Dikshit expressed confidence that the new setup would bring substantial improvement in the functioning of the municipal bodies and also contribute in making Delhi a world-class city at the earliest. |
|
Will increase financial burden on city: Mayor
New Delhi, May 30 "Instead of increasing the powers of the deliberative wing, which includes the Mayor and chairman of the standing committee, the government has proposed to give more powers to the municipal commissioners," she said. If the proposal is implemented, all powers will be taken away from the elected representatives and given to the bureaucrats. There will be a chief commissioner in the NCT government of Delhi who will be superior to the three municipal commissioners and will have special powers to command over the corporations. He will report to the Chief Minister. The Mayor said if the municipal corporation was divided, Delhiites would have to face serious problems and financial burden. There would be disputes and differences of opinions among the corporations. Abbi said for the three new corporations, Delhi will have to arrange Rs 2,000 crore extra per annum. "These corporations would never be economically independent. East Delhi hardly generates 10 per cent of the total property tax revenue, although one third of Delhi's population lives there," she said. "Similarly, there is a huge difference in the income generated from north and south Delhi. The geographical division of municipal properties like roads and drains etc would be very difficult. There will always be disputes over responsibilities among the corporations," added Abbi. |
|
Bomb scare outside Gargi
New Delhi, May 30 Thankfully, there was no explosion this time while the police officials maintained that there was nothing in the contents of the bag which could have led to explosion. However, these revelations came hours later but until then, it gave anxious moments to security agencies, bomb disposal squad, Delhi police and other paraphernalia associated with the defusing of bombs. The incident was reported from a bus stand close to Gargi College, prestigious girl's college in south campus, around 12 pm when one of the students saw the suspicious 'bomb-like' object inside a polythene bag and informed the beat constable present there. The student has been identified as Yogita Sharma, student of Gargi College. She left college after appearing for her B.Com. exams in the morning session. According to information, Rajesh, a Delhi police constable present at the spot immediately removed the people from the area and barricaded the bus stop while informing the PCR. According to Rajesh, a dog and bomb disposal squad arrived on the spot within minutes of the call and took charge of the polythene contents. "The bag had two pencil batteries, wire and about 150-200 gms of gunpowder which was tied by some jute strings. The wire and batteries were not connected and there was no circuit that could have triggered an explosion. However, we could not have left anything to chance," said Rajesh, adding that the bomb disposal squad announced the contents of polythene as harmless soon after. Some eyewitnesses claimed that they saw smoke emanating from the bag when the defusing process was on. "There definitely had some explosive substance. I saw smoke coming out from the bag," said one Krishan Kumar. According to senior police officials, someone tried to play a prank as there was nothing in the bag that could have led to any explosion. "It was a kind of prank. It was a fire cracker-like thing tied up with a string, nothing dangerous," said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner (Law and Order). Similar line was maintained by Amulya Patnaik, joint commissioner (South) that it was "some sort of prank". Meanwhile, as the news of 'bomb' spread across the city, several parents whose children study at the colleges decided to pick them up themselves. "We heard about the incident and decided to come to college," said Harinder Singh, one of the parents. |
|
SC refuses to stay sem in DU
New Delhi, May 30 "We are not inclined to stay the (university) notification," the bench said, following which the agitating lecturers withdrew their appeal against the high court order. Senior counsel Jayant Bhushan and counsel Tariq Adeeb, appearing for the petitioners, assailed the university notification terming it as "arbitrary, illegal and introduced without proper application of mind." The counsel argued that the university was choosing to push the notification for introduction of semester system from this academic year by invoking certain emergency powers vested with the university's vice-chancellor. Bhushan submitted that the system was being introduced despite strong protest from both the teaching community and the students, as the system had no approval for the proposed new syllabus and curriculum for various subjects. The arguments failed to convince the apex court which proceeded to dismiss the same but allowed its withdrawal after the counsel sought permission.
— PTI |
|
South campus Open Day clears doubts on admission norms
New Delhi, May 30 The DU vice-chancellor while addressing the students said that he would try his best to look into the questions, grievances and suggestions made by the students on the page. At the first Open Day on south campus, four sessions were conducted till 3 pm in which more than 1,200 aspiring students participated, some of them with their parents. Today as many as 750 bulletins of information for undergraduate courses, 2011-12, were sold and 401 forms for SC/ST issued by the SC/ST registration cell, south campus. At the session today, university officials were bombarded by a series of questions by curious students and concerned parents as they sought to clear their doubts about the new admission norms and nuances of several courses. However, many felt that the counselling was general in nature and did not attend to the specific queries that parents and students had. "Every college has a different eligibility criterion for the same subject. The nitty-gritty is being missed at these counselling sessions. We will have to go to individual colleges and make enquires there," said the mother of Advitya Aalia who wishes to pursue Mathematics (Hons) from Sri Venkateswara College. However, with the pre-admission forms done away with this year, outstation students and their parents who usually come to the city much before to avail open days can now sit at home and participate through e-open days. "We are also launching e-open days and e-brochures. This will help local students as they will not have to move around the city in the heat and also outstation students who can avail of the information benefits from their own cities. The e-open days will feature the same presentations that we have been showcasing at open days here," said Dean, Students' Welfare, J M Khurana. By the evening today, both the Facebook and the e-open days were functional on the Delhi University website. Open days on south campus will continue tomorrow as well. |
|
Senior citizens meet LG for better security
New Delhi, May 30 The delegation was led by the BJP national general secretary Vijay Goel under the banner of Senior Citizen Federation of India. BJP MLAs Jaibhagwan Aggarwal, Mohan Singh Bisht, Ravinder Bansal and Kulwant Rana also accompanied the delegation members. The delegation expressed concern over the frequent murders of senior citizens in the city and complained that nothing was being done to ensure their security. Supporting the delegation members, Goel said in the presence of the Delhi police commissioner that the police fail to pay heed to the complaints of the senior citizens. The police commissioner said he would make sure that the beat policeman contacted them regularly to solve their problems. He also appealed to the senior citizens to get the details of their servants verified. Goel told the Lt-Governor that due to the fast breaking up of joint family system in society, the responsibility of providing security to the senior citizens falls on the government. The Lt-Governor said that the SDM of all the sub-districts have been directed to deal with such problems. |
|
Woman, son jailed for 5 yrs for dowry death
New Delhi, May 30 "Committal of suicide by the victim within 14 months of her marriage directly reflects that she had been subjected to torture and harassment at the hands of the mother-son duo, as a result of which, having found no way for her dignity, she was compelled to commit suicide," the court said. The court sentenced northeast Delhi resident Leela and her son Rajiv (35) in a criminal case registered at Gokalpuri police station after the victim hanged herself from a ceiling fan in
April 2009. "In normal circumstances, no person would be mentally prepared to commit suicide or take such a harsh step.
Further, the death of the victim is neither accidental nor natural, hence, it may be presumed that she had been forced to commit suicide by her in-laws," the
judge said. The mother-son duo was convicted despite the prosecution witnesses —victim's mother and brothers — turning
hostile. "Victim's mother has also turned hostile along with her two brothers and denied that her daughter was harassed by her husband Rajiv or mother-in-law Leela for dowry,"
the ASJ noted in its judgement. "It is true that the prosecution has failed
to prove all the charges against the accused, but circumstances inspired the confidence of this court that they forced
the victim to commit suicide," the court said. — PTI |
|
12 child labourers rescued
New Delhi, May 30 Shoeb (name changed), 8, was promised by Akram, a close relative, that he would go to school and be educated if he accompanies him to Delhi. But here, what follows was a life of misery and exploitation. During the rescue operation, officials of agencies concerned noticed the young kids working in illegally operating factories for as many as 12 to 15 hours a day. They were found in appalling condition, working in badly lit, ill-ventilated and damp cubicles of 6X6 size where they not only work but also sleep and stay were their kitchens. According to the search team, which comprised SDM Daryaganj NK Sharma, local police, city's labour department and activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO on whose complaint the raid was carried, children were detained in the place and tortured, which was clear from the deep wound marks all over their body and their swollen faces. "The material used in manufacturing these products includes very poisonous chemicals," RS Chaurasia, chairperson of BBA said. "We will take strict action against the culprits. They are going to be booked under the Juvenile Justice Act, Child Labour Act, Bonded Labour Act and the IPC," said DC Akash Mohapatra. Each employer will be prosecuted and an amount of Rs 20,000 recovered will go for the education and rehabilitation of the child, district labour commissioner MK Gaur said. |
|
Transfer of land for Sarita Vihar Metro station okayed
New Delhi, May 30 In its board meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today, the DJB fixed water and sewerage development charges of Rs 405 and Rs 455 per square metre for the current financial year in the areas where the lines have been recently laid. The DJB would raise the bills from the consumers at the new rate residing in the areas where the water and sewerage lines have recently been laid. The DJB also approved construction of a 9 MGD sewage treatment plant, including regulator on Gazipur drain at Chilla Regulator along with pumping station. After the construction of the plant, the dirty water flowing in Gazipur drain, which at present is falling into the drain passing through Sector 14, Noida, will be diverted to the plant and treated before being discharged into the drain. During the meeting, the board also approved providing of sewerage services at urban Samaypur village at an estimated cost of Rs 11 crore. It has also been decided to connect the outfall in the existing 2.5 MGD Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar Sewage Pumping Station which is ultimately proposed to be connected with the interceptor sewer proposed to be laid along the supplementary drain. |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Classified Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
