New Delhi, July 6
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) today held a procession of hundreds of its activists from the Red Fort to the Chief Minister's office to protest against the proposed privatisation of water in Delhi. The announcement in this regard was made by Sheila Dikshit in March this year.

The protesters assembled at the Red Fort around 10.30 am. They walked by Daryaganj and Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, but were stopped by the police at the ITO crossing.

A public meeting, thereafter, was held near the ITO, which was addressed by former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and leader of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Rajinder Sachar.

The SUCI (C) politburo member Krishna Chakraborthy, SUCI (C) MP Tarun Mandal and party's secretary, Delhi state organising committee, Pratap Samal addressed the public.

The speakers asserted that the Delhi government, over the past 10 years, had been trying to privatise water at the "behest" of the planning commission, World Bank and some private companies. And now, it was taking concrete and well-planned measures for complete privatisation.

"These measures are aimed at benefiting corporate houses and MNCs by resorting to a steep hike in the water tariffs. This will lead to a complete abolition of subsidies and stoppage of free water supply to the poor from water tankers and public taps. The policy is bound to play havoc with the lives of the common people in Delhi," they said.

The party's delegation of state leaders led by Samal submitted to the CM a memorandum of demands along with the signatures of thousands of people from Delhi. 

Noida, July 6
The Kisan Sangarsh Samiti has threatened to launch an agitation if the abadi land dispute was not settled in the next three days in eight villages as promised by the authority.

Samiti representative Dalbir Yadav said today, "At a meeting with authority officers on June 22, the authority promised to solve the abadi land issue. As per the state government approved policy, these cases are to be solved at the earliest. It's decided that initially issue of eight villages will be resolved by June 30."

The villages are Hoshiarpur, Agahpur, Atta, Parthla, Sorkha, Sadarpur, Kondli Bangar and Badoli. Hundreds of abadi land disputes of 54 villages are pending at various courts.

Yadav said the authority forcibly acquired the abadi lands and then termed these unauthorised constructions.

Though the authority claimed to have conducted a survey of these villages, it did not solve the issue. Development here was held up due to the ongoing dispute, he added.

"Farmers were having doubt whether they will get developed land if their abadi land was set out of acquisition by the authority," he added.

A proposal for four villages - Parthla, Sorkha, Sadarpur and Badoli - has been prepared by the authority officials.

The developed land will be given only for that area which has been acquired by the authority after subtracting the abadi land regularised, said an authority officer.

New Delhi, July 6
The city government has taken a tough stand in the matter of vacant free beds for poor in private hospitals in the national Capital.

T a meeting chaired by Delhi health minister Dr AK Walia on this issue, the government has instructed the directorate of health services to issue show-cause notices to the private hospitals which have not been providing the facility of treatment free of cost to the poor referred to by the government hospitals.

"It has been noticed that the private hospitals, which were allotted land on concessional rates, have not been fulfiling their obligations in providing treatment free of cost to the poor. The earmarked free beds have been found vacant. It seems that the poor patients are being denied this facility on certain flimsy grounds," said Walia.

Notices will be issued against eight private hospitals - BL Kapoor Hospital, Max Hospital Saket, Escorts Heart Institute Okhla, Dharamshila Cancer Hospital, Fortis Hospital Vasant Kunj, Primus Superspecialty Hospital Chanakyapuri, PSRI Sheikh Sarai and Rockland Hospital Qutab Institutional Area.

"The hospitals are being requested to submit their replies at the earliest. In case their reply found is unsatisfactory, their registration will be suspended and action taken," said Walia.

He said the private hospitals were supposed to provide quality healthcare to poor patients as they had been allotted land at very concessional rate.

"They have a responsibility to share the burden of the patients in the government hospitals. It may be recalled that around 30 per cent of the patients from neighboring states are coming for treatment in Delhi government hospitals. The private hospitals should not run away from their responsibility," he said.

The private hospitals are obliged to provide 25 per cent free treatment in OPD and 10 per cent free bed to poor in IPD.

New Delhi, July 6
Breaking the wine-and-dine format of the alumni meets, Delhi University's Hindu College has invited over 200 former hostellers to relive their college days by spending one night in the hostel.

Needless to say, the alumni are thrilled at the thought of returning to the place where they studied and some went on to see success.

Eminent names like filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and cricketer Saba Karim will be among the alumni who would return to the hostel for a night.

"I lived there for three years, but the place will be a home for me forever. I am looking forward to the day when I go there to relive memories," said Imtiaz Ali, who has films like 'Jab We Met' and 'Love Aaj Kal' to his credit and is releasing 'Rockstar' later this year.

"It will be fun going back to the corridors where I weaved dreams of playing for the country and acquired the finer nuances of cricket and also life," said Saba Karim, a former cricketer.

At the reunion on July 9, everyone will stay together on the hostel premises and share each other's experience.

"The relive-live idea was born out of our anxiety to ensure that the spirit of camaraderie remains," said Pradeep Loyalka, a hostel alumnus and one of the brains behind the initiative.

"By staying together at the hostel, we thought we could share our life stories and strengthen the bond among us," he said.

Navneet Anand, a 1987-1990 batch student and another brain behind the reunion, says one of the motives of the meeting is to revive the old values of community and personal camaraderie in today's world of social network.

"Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer opportunities to bring old friends together, but they have their limitations. There, emotions and ideas get stuck to the computer screens," said Anand.

Among other activities, the alumni will play a T20 match and participate in a cultural show.

"We have taken special care to ensure that all former hostellers relive their experiences. We will eat lunch made in the hostel mess and sit on the tables in long rows like we did when we lived here," said PK Vijayan, a former hosteller and now a teacher at the college.

"We are extending all possible support to make this event a success and ensure that former hostellers have the best experience when they come here," said Chandrachur Singh, warden of the hostel.

"Generations of students who have been groomed in this college have excelled in life. The years spent here gave them a foundation on which they could craft their success," said Vinay K Srivastava, the principal of the college. 

New Delhi, July 6
For years Asmaa Fanar Mohammed could barely walk, squat or sit in one position for long. The excruciating pain was a part of her life. But a hip replacement surgery in a hospital here has now changed her life for ever.

In a surgery that raises hopes for younger people required to undertake a hip replacement surgery, Asmaa, 20, an Iraqi, who suffered from dislocated hips since childhood, was successfully operated at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital here.

"When Asmaa came to me, she had great pain in walking as well as sitting in one posture for long. We performed some tests and found out that she is a victim of developmental dysplasia of both hips. It means her hip joint had congenital or acquired deformation leading to instability of hips," said RK Sharma, senior consultant orthopedics and joint replacement surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

The best part -- the new surgery technique now gives the new hip joints a life of nearly 30 years instead of the earlier eight to 15 years.

Asmaa had unstable hips since childhood, leading to a waddling gait and she could squat only with pain.

After thorough investigation, Sharma decided to perform a special surgery which involved osteotomy -- breaking of hip bone and bringing down the hip centre and bilateral uncemented total hip replacement on the patient.

This uncemented artificial limb has a fine mesh of holes on the surface area that touches the bone. This allows the bone to grow into the mesh and becomes a part of the bone.

"The special part of surgery was to bring down the hip centre which had up ridden by about four inches causing shortening of both lower limbs by about five inches and causing instability of the walking pattern," said Sharma.

With the patient being young, the risk of the joint wearing out and the need of a second surgery was a major concern. The doctors then decided to use a special ceramic and polymer surface joint which reduces the artificial limb from wearing off.

"The limbs wear down due to friction so the joint used was a ceramic on polymer. While the normally used hip replacements wear off in eight to 15 years, these joints last up to 30 years," Sharma said.

Asmaa said: "I have gone through immense pain, mentally and physically both. My inability to walk and sit properly made me dependent on others for even basic activities."

Asmaa had two operations on May 26 and June 16, the doctor said. Within three months Asmaa will be able to lead a completely normal life, he added.

"Total hip replacement (THR) is an excellent treatment option for people with degenerative hip disease. In addition to marked reduction in pain and improvement in walking, most people regain range of motion, physical ability and quality of life," Sharma said. -- IANS

New Delhi, July 6
A Delhi court today started recording statements of six people accused in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar has also been booked.

Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta recorded the statement of former councillor Balwan Khokhar, one of the six accused. He said he was not present at the spot where a mob killed five Sikhs in Delhi cantonment on November 1, 1984. Balwan Khokhar, who was asked several questions by the judge, gave very short answers.

The court decided to continue the hearing on Thursday.

According to the CBI, the accused instigated a mob in Delhi Cantonment to kill Sikhs following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her 1, Akbar Road residence in New Delhi on October 31, 1984.

The CBI has so far examined 16 witnesses in the case. The prosecution completed tendering its evidence June 9. Three witnesses deposed against Sajjan Kumar and identified him in the court.

The other accused in the case are Krishan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Captain Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal.

The court on May 28 last year, framed charges against all the six accused under penal provisions relating to murder, dacoity, conspiracy, promoting enmity between two communities, mischief by fire or explosives, and house trespass.

Charges under provisions for abetment were also framed against Sajjan Kumar. - IANS

New Delhi, July 6
The crime branch of the Delhi police yesterday arrested four persons allegedly involved in several cases of murder and robbery along with a suspended MCD engineer who had provided them a safe hideout at his farmhouse in Vasant Kunj.

The police seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the accused identified as Dharmender (31), Devender (33), Vikram (26), Mandeep (25). The engineer has been identified as Jaswant Singh (45).

The cache includes a self-loading rifle of 7.62 bore with eight cartridges, .9 mm carbine with 28 cartridges, a 12 bore double barrel gun with five cartridges, two revolvers of .38 bore with 10 cartridges, a pistol of 7.65 bore with nine cartridges and a countrymade gun with 13 cartridges.

According to Sandeep Goel, joint commissioner (crime), the police had received information that the gangsters from Haryana and UP had been provided shelter by Jaswant Singh.

"Yesterday, we got a tip-off that the gangsters would come to Singh's farmhouse from Haryana via Bawana in a car," said Goel.

He said that Jaswant was a junior engineer in the slum department of the MCD and was suspended in 2002. At present, he is into the property business.

Dharmender is from UP and involved in 20 cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and extortion.

New Delhi, July 6
With the arrest of a small-time building contractor, the Southeast district police has solved the Amar Colony robbery case where an elderly woman was injured and robbed on June 28.

According to Ajay Chaudhary, Additional CP (Southeast), the accused has been identified as Manoj. He was arrested from the Jamui area of Bihar three days ago where he had fled after robbing the cash and jewellery from the house.

The incident was reported on June 28 from house number E-101 in Amar Colony where Saroj Devi (62), lives with her family.

According to Chaudhry, Devi who lives with her sons had got her house renovated on account of her elder son's marriage and the police learnt that the contractor who had carried out the renovation work was missing after the incident.

Investigation revealed that Manoj had fled to Bihar and when the police followed him there, he kept changing his hideouts.

He was finally apprehended in Jamui, Bihar on July 3.

"Three gold chains, two gold earrings, two diamond earrings, two silver coins, Rs 40,500 and clothes purchased for the marriage have been recovered by the police. The interrogation of the accused is still on," said Chaudhry, adding that the accused has a past criminal record also. 

New Delhi, July 6
A 23-year-old man committed suicide by hanging inside his house in the Jyoti Nagar area of northeast Delhi this morning.

According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Krishan and was found hanging from a ceiling fan by his family members. No suicide note has been recovered and the cause of the extreme step is yet to be ascertained.

"Krishan worked in some private company and was also pursuing graduation through correspondence. He was found hanging inside the house by his father Uttam who came from Rajasthan this morning. Rushed to hospital, he was declared brought dead," said a police official, adding that the body has been sent to GTB Hospital for postmortem while further investigation is on.