New Delhi, June 20
In a bid to bring about reforms in management and distribution of water, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) today said that it has decided to distribute water through private partnership in various parts of the city.

To start with, the DJB has proposed the public private partnership (PPP) model in two south Delhi colonies, said Ramesh Negi, CEO of DJB.

The empowered committee, set up by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to look into reforms in the management and distribution of water, has endorsed the DJB proposal.

The pilot project of improving the distribution system in partnership with private companies will be started in Malviya Nagar and Vasant Vihar initially. The DJB officials said that it would not raise tariff or retrench any department employees.

According to the proposal, the DJB will continue to be the main supplier of water to the private operators, who will distribute it and ensure a 24-hour supply, together with the responsibilities of billing and collection of revenue.

"The project would involve management and distribution of water by the private operators to a limited number of 7,000 water connections across Vasant Vihar, Anand Niketan and West End Enclave. The Vasant Vihar project was proposed by the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) themselves.

The official said the DJB has ordered the procurement and installation of 2.5 lakh domestic meters, which are guaranteed for five years. Out of these 15,000 meters, as many as 12,000 have been installed successfully, said the official.

"Apart from 2.5 lakh meters, we have already installed one lakh domestic meters of international standard having the EEC mark. The meters are functioning well and there is almost zero complaint," said Negi.

Speaking on the quality of water, Negi said that necessary measures are taken right from the stage of raw water supply to the consumer's end.

"The samples are tested regularly and necessary steps like flushing the water line and disinfection of the underground reservoirs have been undertaken regularly. The supply from the wells is often tested for its potability. On an average, 300 samples are lifted and tested daily from the distribution network that is public water hydrants and consumer's end by the officer of the Director Treatment and Quality Control (DTQC)," said Negi.

In addition, he said that the various engineers also tested 7,016 samples lifted during this month from the consumer's end. A total of 16,190 samples have been tested for the year 2011-12. 

Greater Noida, June 20
The farmers of Noida Extension have upped the ante with new demands-now they want a 50 per cent business partnership with real estate players in the areas not hit by the high court order. Besides, they want 25% of their land to be developed and returned to them without any development charges.

Shouting slogans like "builders bhagao, kshetra bachao", hundreds of farmers took out a rally in Noida Extension yesterday to "get their land back".

It may be recalled that the Allahabad High Court had set aside the acquisition of 150 hectares of land "forcibly acquired" for housing projects in Noida Extension.

Farmers came out in cars, jeeps and tractor-trolleys under the banner of Sanyukta Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. Some even rode bikes. They assembled at Milk Lachhi village and took out a rally, which passed through 10 villages and ended in a meeting at Jalalpur village.

The accepted practice has been to provide developed plots measuring 6% of the total land acquired with the payment of development charges. There are at least 40 builders in Noida Extension engaged in constructing about one lakh units. Bookings for 50,000 units have already been done. The development authority has said it will move the Supreme Court against the high court order. Samiti convener Inder Nagar led the rally.

"We appealed to farmers to file RTI applications, seeking details from the authority about the price at which their land was sold to builders. We also appealed to the farmers of Noida Extension to move the high court, seeking quashing of land acquisition" said Nagar.

New Delhi, June 20
The concerns raised over the functioning of the government's flagship programme, Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme, become all the more justified with a reply to an RTI Act revealing that 775 children enrolled under the scheme in Delhi died last year.

The RTI was filed by child rights activist Manish Bhatnagar and the Delhi government records in addition to the status of registered children show that eight pregnant women covered by the scheme also lost their lives last year.

However, a city government official said, "Under the scheme, almost 727,000 children have been covered and the deaths have been less in comparison to the previous year. In 2009, seven pregnant women and 882 children enrolled with the ICDS had died, while this year it has come down to one per cent."

Even as there has been a dip in the mortality rate of small children, questions are still being raised about the implementation of the child healthcare programmes given the dismal result visible on the ground, be it the scene at the city's aanganwadi centres or the primary healthcare centres.

According to the records of the Delhi government, currently under the ICDS, a total of 55 projects are functioning in various parts of Delhi, targeting both children as well as pregnant and lactating mothers. Besides, there are 6,606 anganwadi centres covering 648,000 children and women for supplementary nutrition.

The high number of mortalities calls for immediate attention and also necessitates a relook at the child health schemes, including the ICDS, which targets to reach out to the deprived section and better the nutritional status of children below six years of age, said a member of the Delhi Commission of Protection of Child Rights.

"The health of children and women has never received proper attention and 775 children dying in Delhi in 365 days is too huge a figure to ignore. If this is the situation in the national Capital, things could be alarming if the entire country is considered. The deaths should be probed and the guilty punished," remarked Ranjana Kumari, director of Centre for Social Research. 

New Delhi, June 20
With the admission season at Delhi University in full swing, the newly enrolled outstation students are worried about accommodation. Though the renovated college hostels are their first choice, the tremendous hike in the hostel fee this year is driving most of them to explore options outside the campus.

Last year, when the hostels were renovated to accommodate the Commonwealth Games visitors, students had to pay dearly, as the rooms were allotted to them only after October. They had to make temporary arrangements during the period.

This year, the freshers will have to pay a higher price for these furnished hostels.

Even as the colleges defend the fee hike for providing better facilties, some students feel that the new fee structure is too high for them.

"We agree that one has to pay more for better facilities. But it has now gone out of our budget. My daughter has taken admission in Hansraj. Though we have purchased the hostel form, the fee is beyond our budget. The advance alone will burn a huge hole in my pocket. So we are also looking for other accommodation options," said NP Nanayanan, a helpless father.

"All colleges, including Miranda House, KMC and Hansraj, have increased their hostel fees. Miranda used to charge Rs 30,000 yearly, but now it has hiked the fee to Rs 60,000. Simultaneously, other colleges are demanding six-month fee in advance. Earlier, they collected only two months' fee in advance," said Deepika Deshwal, a NSUI member.

Girls from many North Campus colleges today held a protest march from Arts Faculty to the office of the vice-chancellor, raising concern about the steep hike in the hostel fees.

"The colleges have admitted more students this year. But the allotment of hostel seats for each course will remain the same. If the allotment of hostel seats to a course was five last year, even though the college admits 50 per cent more students in the course this year, the number of seats for that course will stay at five. What's worse is that even those five students will have to pay double the amount," added Kirti Bhatt, a second year student who lives in the hostel of Lady Shri Ram College.

New Delhi, June 20
With the arrest of two suspects, the Delhi police claimed to have busted a gang of burglars who operated in farmhouses in southwest Delhi.

They used to target the farmhouses of the foreign nationals.

The suspects were identified as Padmesh and Sunil. Both hail from Rai Bareily in Uttar Pradesh. The police recovered one LCD of 32 inches stolen from the residence of a diplomat, credit card, laptop mouse hard-disc, gypsy jewellery, cents, euro-coins and silver coins from their possession.

A few days ago, the police received a complaint of burglary from Chaudhary Farmhouse at Kapas Hera. A foreign diplomat lived at the farmhouse. When a team of police saw the scene of crime, it suspected the involvement of this gang as the accused had committed burglary in other farmhouses in the same manner.

The police questioned the employees of the farmhouse and criminals of the area. The police came to know that gang members of Padmesh were out on bail and often went to the court to attend the hearings.

When the police reached their hideouts, they had left for Haryana. The cops reached there also. After seeing the police pressure in Haryana, they again came back to Delhi.

The police erected barricades in Kapas Hera yesterday evening. They were arrested from the area today.

The suspects admitted to have committed the burglary in the farmhouse. Padmesh said he had come to Delhi two years ago in search of a job, but fell in bad company of his cousin and started committing burglaries. His accomplice Sunil arrived in Delhi to earn easy money.

Their other gang members--Pankaj, Kuldeep, Sanjay, Santosh, and Anup--are 
absconding. 

Ghaziabad, June 20
Two members of a cooperative housing society were arrested on charges of allegedly duping society members and the UP Housing Corporation, a police official said today.

The Indirapuram police in Ghaziabad yesterday arrested Sanjay Tripathi, former secretary of Gautam Sahkari Avas Samiti, and Sanjiv Arora, a member, from Surya Nagar in Ghaziabad and Vivek Vihar in Delhi, respectively, the official said.

The arrests followed a complaint by Pramod Kumar, a resident and member of the same society.

According to the police, Praveen Kardam along with his associates Sanjay Tripathi, Sandeep Chabra and Pankaj Lunia founded the Gautam Sahkari Avas Samiti in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad.

The UP Housing Corporation in Vasundhara allotted them 2 acres costing Rs 2.24 crore. They took possession of the land after paying 50 per cent of the cost with the rest to be paid within 18 months in six instalments.

According to inspector Rajesh Dwivedi of Indirapuram, they collected around Rs 9 crore from 120 members, but did not pay the instalments.

After moving into the property paying the full amount, the members found that the flats could not be registered in their names as the housing corporation had listed the society as a defaulter.

It was also found that the group had floated another society and had siphoned the money into the new project.

Dwivedi said a search was on to nab the other members of the group. -- IANS

New Delhi, June 20
With the arrest of two persons, the Delhi police today claimed to have solved the case of the sensational kidnapping and murder of a CR Park-based businessman. The trader was kidnapped on Saturday.

The accused-- Deepak Kumar (25) and Sonu (22) -- were nabbed from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

Vinod Kumar Gupta (56) was reported missing on June 18 after he did not return from a meeting scheduled in the evening of June 17.

"We learnt that a resident of Pratapgarh had been in touch with Gupta over the days preceding his kidnapping. We also learnt that now the man and some of his close friends in the village are missing," said a senior police officer.

"On a tip-off, Kumar and Sonu were apprehended from a house in Tilak Nagar. On interrogation, Deepak confessed to have killed Gupta. He disclosed that he along with Sonu and a friend Dilip murdered Gupta because he resisted their attempt to rob him," said the officer.

Deepak told the police about the place in Sector 92, Noida, where the crime was committed. "He also identified the room from where Gupta's body was recovered. The Noida police has been informed and further formalities are being done by the UP police," said the officer.

The police claimed to have recovered Rs 9,500 from Sonu's house at Pratapgarh and Rs 6,500 from Kumar's house at Tilak Nagar.

New Delhi, June 20
A Delhi court has paved the way for trial of two women and their accomplice for wrongdoing during a medical entrance test in 2005.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Niyay Bindu has decided to put the accused on trial on the charge of cheating and impersonation.

"I find that accused Anju, Tanuja and Krishnandan, in collusion with each other, conspired that Tanuja will appear in the examination hall in place of Anju in pursuance of that conspiracy," said the judge.

"It was Krishnandan who took Tanuja to the examination centre so that she could sit in the examination hall in place of Anju who would take the ultimate benefit of this conspiracy," the court said.

As per the prosecution, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (GGSIP) University conducted a common entrance test (CET) June 15, 2005, and Tanuja, Krishnandan and Anju were caught at an exam centre at Geeta Colony in east Delhi.

The prosecution said: "Krishnandan, who had taken Rs.1.50 lakh from Anju as illegal gratification, had brought Tanuja at the centre to appear in the exam in place of Anju."

After deciding to put all the three to trial, the court told them to appear before it on September 1. -- IANS

New Delhi, June 20
The 23-year-old volleyball player, Arunima Sinha, has started walking with an artificial support and she is likely to be discharged on Friday. After taking the X-ray of her right leg, which has been fixed with implants, doctors of the AIIMS have planned to discharge her.

"A temporary prosthesis has been arranged and she has been walking with it. She has been asked to put equal weight on both the sides and pressure should be less on the right side as the implants have a limited tensile strength " said Dr Vijay Sharma, associate professor with orthopaedics department.

"Our aim was to align her bones. In another two and a half weeks, she should be able to get the strength back in her right leg," he added.

The bones normally take three months to unite and in Arunima's case, she has shown good recovery post-debridement on her left leg and if she keeps her confidence, very soon she should be running, added Sharma.