New Delhi, June 26
The hiked rate of fuel is likely to be discussed in the Delhi cabinet on Monday as this will affect the exchequer of the city government. What is more, the Congress may lose the municipal elections to be held in March next year.

Sources said that the government has decided to discuss the issue as it is directly related to the common man. The government may announce subsidy on LPG and reduce the VAT on diesel to bring down its prices.

Earlier, the government had given a subsidy of Rs 50 on LPG, but it was withdrawn in the last budget to cover up the expenditure during the Commonwealth Games.

The decision to discuss the vexed issue was taken at a meeting with the Delhi and NCR Diesel and Petrol Pump Association members who informed the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit that with the latest hike in the rate of diesel, the city government would lose thousands of crores of rupees as revenue.

They reminded the Chief Minister that Delhi is surrounded by Haryana from the three sides where the rate of diesel is less. Now the Haryana government has even reduced the rate of VAT by four per cent.

The Delhi government has done nothing to attract the diesel consumers. At present, Delhi sells three lakh litre diesel every day. The government used to earn revenue of Rs 15,000 from fuel annually. Last year, it was reduced to Rs 11,000 crore. Now with the latest hike in the rate of diesel, the revenue may come down further.

Delhi NCR Diesel Petrol Association vice-president Ajay Bansal said that people dealing in fuel in Delhi are also affected by the hiked prices.

If the government has not taken any step to control the rate, they may go on strike, he warned.

New Delhi, June 26
Delhi Technological University is seeing a major rush for MTech admissions this year. Aspirants are just thronging the campus. DTU has already received some 2,840 applications from aspirants for its 17 MTech programmes that are on offer and this is almost a 40% improvement as compared to applications received last year.

Dr Vivek Tripathi, assistant registrar, said, "There has been a substantial rush for MTech admissions at the varsity this year. We have already received 2,840 applications which is a 40% improvement as compared to last year. The greatest rush has been for the electronics and communication engineering department which has received as many as 832 applications. The courses which receive a lot of attention from students are VLSI design and embedded system, microwave and optical communications and signal processing."

He added, "Other courses which have got a large number of applications are computer science and engineering and the software engineering programmes that have received 564 applications for 42 seats. The rush for applications reflects the popularity of the postgraduate programmes in DTU. The varsity has also organized many placement opportunities for its students in industry and R and D."

The list of selected candidates will be put up on the website on June 28. Interviews will be held on July 4 and 5. 

New Delhi, June 26
DPCC president Jai Prakash Agarwal said the communal forces have once again raised their head and the BJP has led such forces to create disharmony in the country.

He said the time has come to weed out such forces and build a new India.

Agarwal was addressing a gathering in a padyatra in the cantonment area today. The padyatra was organised by the DPCC ex-servicemen cell.

It was started from Nagesh Garden passed through Gopinath Bazar, Sadar Bazar, Kabul Line before culminating near Delhi Cantonment Board office. Despite heavy rains, thousands of Congress workers and residents accompanied the padyatra carrying Congress flags and raising slogans like Congress party zindabad and Sonia Gandhi zindabad.

He said that Ramdev was a BJP mask. The BJP had presented Ramdev as its mask at Ramlila Grounds. The drama enacted there had shocked even the saint community.

New Delhi, June 26
People enjoying the daily rides on the swanky and air-conditioned low-floor buses in the city would soon come to see another good feature in the buses called "voice alerts" that would make them more passenger-friendly.

Just like the Delhi Metro, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has finalised the public information system (PIS) to be installed in all its low-floor buses which will help in keeping the passengers aware of various stops and the arrival of the destination through announcements in both Hindi and English.

The automated announcement system will specially help making the fleet more accessible to different people, including the elderly and the disabled. The system will be introduced in all green, orange and red air-conditioner buses.

"The project is in the final stage. We are checking the alerts and the pronunciations are being corrected," said an official from the DTC.

The initiative is being taken keeping in view the interests of elderly and the disabled.

Apart from the stops, 18 other standard messages have been recorded for the PIS.

"With the help of this provision, the public transport system will be more accessible to the visually impaired as well as the elderly, who may experience low vision due to advancing age," said Sminu Jindal, from Svayam, a non-government organisation working for the cause of the disabled in the city.

Though, the officials said the implementation of the system might take some time. "We hope to start the system soon," added the official.

New Delhi, June 26
The monsoon showers that hit the city three days ahead of its normal onset has brought relief to the citizens of the Capital and its surrounding areas from muggy weather.

The rain started pouring in the Capital from 5 am. In some areas the rain was heavy while in other it was light rain.

It has brought the temperature down in Delhi. Today the maximum temperature in the Capital recorded 31° C that was six degrees less than the normal temperature and the minimum was 26° C.

There was 95 per cent humidity in the weather, said spokesman for the Met Department.

There is possibility of cloudy sky and thunder shower tomorrow also, he added.

The spokesman said it was south-west monsoon that brought cheers to the citizens of the Capital who was reeling under hot and humid conditions.

Power cuts for hours were an added problem for them.

Today, the city received 8.8 mm rain. The spokesman said the department measured 72 mm of showers in Narela weather station, 52 mm in Peetampura, 25 mm in the PUSA area, 8 mm in Najafgarh, 2.4 mm in Safdurjung and 2 mm in Delhi University.

The measurement of rain in Palam weather station was 1.7 mm while the same was 1.4 mm in Lodhi colony station, 1 mm in each in Akshardhan and Yamuna Sports Complex stations.

He said last year, the monsoon had a late arrival in the Capital. The seasonal rain started on July 5 after a delay of a week.

The earliest onset of monsoon in Delhi during the past 30 years was on June 15, 2008 and while the most delayed onset was on July 26, 1987.

In 2010, Delhi had recorded 772.3 mm rain compared to normal rain of 645.7 mm. However, in 2009, the city received deficient rain.

He said north-west India, which included Delhi, was likely to get around 97 per cent of the average rain.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has set up a round-the-clock control room to report about the water logging, fallen trees or dangerous buildings during the monsoon.

The citizens can either contact the central control room in the MCD headquarters or the helplines in all the 12 zonal offices, a senior MCD official said.

The central control room can be contacted through telephone lines 1266, 011-23212700, 23220010, 23220016 and 23220037.

Junior ministers at the centre are always talking about being ignored by their seniors and delegated little or no work at all. However, Prof. K V Thomas is a very busy minister from Kerala. When Sharad Pawar met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand a lesser workload; Thomas was assigned all the work. Pawar had always given him a lot of space and on occasions, even files relating to very important subjects were first sent to him for his comments before they reached Pawar. Thomas is a Nehru/Gandhi loyalist which makes Pawar's faith in him even more complex.

New Delhi, June 26
A "heavily drunk" young pilot from Mumbai died today after he fell from a residential building in outer Delhi where he was partying on his friend's birthday, the police said.

Twentyfour-year-old Jonathan Joseph Fernandes fell from the seventh floor residence of his pilot-friend Hitesh Mahashay whose birthday they were celebrating, a senior police official said. The incident took pace in Jaya Apartment in Rohini Sector 9 around 12:35 am.

"Fernandes who hails from Vikhroli in Mumbai was heavily drunk and he fell from the seventh floor of the building accidentally. He had done his pilot course from the US and was preparing for the DGCA examination for getting licence to fly in India," the official said.

The police came to know about the incident when they received a call from Saroj Hospital where the victim was rushed after the incident.

The official said the preliminary enquiry suggested that he was drunk and lost his balance.

"Over a dozen friends were present when the incident took place. We have informed Jonathan's family members about the incident," the official said, adding postmortem will be conducted after the arrival of his family.

Fernandes was staying in a rented accommodation in Multan Nagar in west Delhi.

The police has recorded the statement of his friends who were present in the party. — PTI

Ghaziabad, June 26
The Ghaziabad Development Authority today commenced the process of acquiring 460 acres of land for setting up a new township, underthe UP government's recently announced land acquisition policy.

The township will cover four villages, Akbarpur, Noor Nagar, Duhai and Behrampur.

"Notices have been issued, informing about the demarcation of land. Total 460 acres of land is to be acquired under the new land policy, which provides some relief to farmers as they will not be landless and moneyless," GDA vice-chairman Narender Singh said.

Under the policy propounded by Chief Minister Mayawati, farmers will get a developed plot for residential purpose in the new township and minimum 20 per cent of total amount of the acquired land will be paid in cash, he said.

Land will be acquired after the consent of the farmer and the price of the land will be decided after consulting them and in accordance with the proposed government rate of the land.

Singh said the land would be acquired under new policy to benefit the farmers directly and 16 per cent of total cost of acquired land would be converted into residential plot in new township. — PTI

New Delhi, June 26
The west district today arrested five thieves and averted an attempt of dacoity in a jewellery shop in Uttam Nagar.

With the arrest of Sonu, Vicky, Kashim, Babu Khan and Jagdish, the police has solved three cases of thefts. "All the accused belong to poor families. They enter the world of crime to earn easy money and to become rich," said a senior police officer.

"During interrogation, they said they were preparing to commit dacoity in a jewellery shop at JJ Colony, Hastsal, Uttam Nagar, at gunpoint and knives to loot huge jewellery and cash," said the police.

"They wanted to loot the shop just before closing time at night to get maximum cash and jewellery. They also committed to the thefts of motor cycles in the areas of Dwarka and Uttam Nagar. They also disclosed of stealing laptop, cash and other articles from a man near Dal Mill Road, Uttam Nagar, around 11.30 pm last week," added the officer.

New Delhi, June 26
A man with six criminal cases against him was beaten up, along with an associate, by a mob in west Delhi after he shot at a witness in an attempt to murder case against him, the police said today.

Praveen was beaten up by locals on Friday at Kanjhawala village after he opened fire from a home-made revolver to threaten Joginder Singh, who is a witness in a criminal case lodged against him.

"Praveen took out the revolver and fired at Joginder Singh after being provoked by co-accused in the case Gaurav Kumar.

One shot was fired but it did not hit anyone.

The duo was caught by locals and beaten up," DCP BS Jaiswal.

Joginder Singh was allegedly attacked by the duo in 2009 and a case of attempt to murder was registered against them. — IANS

Greater Noida, June 26
Following the high court's verdict against land acquisition and keeping in view the possibility of Greater Noida Authority approaching the apex court against this decision, farmers of Gulistanpur have filed a caveat in the Supreme Court.

Farmers were apprehensive that like the Shahbery verdict, Greater Noida Authority may not file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court against the high court verdict. The farmers have thus filed a caveat in advance.

The chief executive officer of the Greater Noida Authority is learnt to have expressed his unhappiness at the leaking of the news of the authority approaching the Supreme Court.

The authority had recently knocked at the door of the Supreme Court in connection with the Shahbery case.

Though Shahbery farmers could not file a caveat in the Supreme Court, the farmers of Gulistanpur have accomplished it. Now farmers from other villages are also ready to lodge caveats in the apex court.

According to Nanak Chand Sharma, a farmer of Gulistanpur, a two-judge bench of the high court had rejected the acquisition of 170 hectare land in Gulistanpur on May 25.

The court had also pronounced its verdict about land acquisition cases pertaining to Shahbery villages.

By filing a caveat, the farmers have ensured that the Supreme Court will hear their side of the story also before giving its verdict in the case.

Greater Noida, June 26
The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration is all set to hike the circle rates of land in Noida and Greater Noida soon

According to Deepak Aggarwal, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, "The new circle rates are expected to come into effect from the first week of July."

According to official sources, there may be an increase of 17-20 per cent in the existing circle rates of institutional, residential and commercial areas, while the industrial sector is likely to witness an increase of 32.5 per cent.

"A committee has been constituted to propose the increase in rates and study the objections received against the hike," said the officer.

The increase in rates will be affected under the Uttar Pradesh stamp paper rules. Circle rates are the minimum resale rates determined by the authorities from time to time to prevent loss of revenue by way of stamp duty in sale transactions, said a senior officer of the administration.

Last month, the authorities had increased property rates in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway by 12.5 per cent. The hiked rates had come into effect from April 2011.