New Delhi, July 26
After days of playing hide and seek, the skies opened up in the national capital today with heavy rains lashing most parts of the city, bringing much-needed relief from the muggy weather. It was the wettest day of the monsoon season so far after more than a month.

The city received 58.2 mm of rainfall in a span of nine hours. The Met Office has forecast more rains on Wednesday.

"The previous occasion which saw a similar downpour was June 15 when the city received 39.2 mm of rainfall," an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The heavy rains led to water-logging and traffic jams on some of the city's major roads. In some areas, children had to wade through ankle-deep water to reach their homes after school.

Water collected in many of the underpasses around the city, adding to the traffic problem.

Traffic jams were reported from Pragati Maidan - the trade fair exhibition ground in New Delhi - the Ring Road near the Safdarjung Hospital in south Delhi, Sarai Kale Khan in east Delhi and roads leading to the upscale commercial hub Connaught Place in New Delhi area.

"I was stuck in a jam on a side road near my office for more than half an hour as a part of the road was completely flooded," said Sanket Sinha, a businessman from south Delhi.

Similar was the case at the Minto Bridge underpass near Connaught Place, where vehicles queued up in an effort to get through the shallowest stretch of water.

"My scooter couldn't get through as water entered the exhaust pipe and I got stuck on the road for about an hour," said Ramesh Bhatia, a shopkeeper in the old quarters of the city.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said: "Heavy rains were recorded in the northern, southern, eastern and central parts of the city while parts of west Delhi either remained dry or received slight drizzle."

The downpour had no effect on the day's maximum temperature which was recorded two notches above average at 35.6 degrees Celsius while the minimum was a notch below average at 25.6 degrees Celsius.

The humidity was recorded on the higher side with the maximum settling at 97 per cent and the minimum at 66 per cent.

The IMD has forecast more rains tomorrow and the maximum and minimum temperature around 33 and 26 degrees Celsius.

The city has received a total of 192.2 mm of rainfall this season, added the IMD.-- IANS

Noida, July 26
The chairman and chief executive officer of Noida, Balwinder Kumar, today continued his attempt to pacify the villagers by holding meetings with farmers and promising to redress their grievances, besides a hike in the land compensation rates.

Kumar, along with deputy chief executive officer NP Singh, visited Shahdara village at Sector 41 and met farmers at the Community Centre.

The farmers raised the issue of abadi land and told the officers that some of them had been booked by the Noida Authority for encroachment, though it was their land. Kumar assured them that such cases would be withdrawn.

He promised to give them the allotment letters for 5 per cent developed land in the next 10 days. He also informed the villagers that the Authority would construct a peripheral road around the village and their abadi land would be regularised.

Kumar, however, made it clear that there was no chance of an increase in the land compensation rate in the cases where compensation had been accepted.

"If the Authority gives hiked compensation to one farmer, others will also demand the same. This is practically not possible," Kumar said.

He, however, assured the farmers of forwarding their demand to the state government. "If the government hikes the compensation from retrospective date, we will implement the order," he said.

From Shahdara village Kumar went to Wajidpur village at Sector 135. Here too, similar demands were raised by the farmers and similar assurances were given.

Farmers, however, did not look satisfied.

"We want a written assurance and not a verbal one. If this officer is transferred tomorrow, the new officer will claim that he does not know what his predecessor had promised," said Hari Singh, a farmer.

Meanwhile, farmers in Noida whose lands were acquired in 1976 too want a hike in the compensation and other benefits. They claim that their lands were acquired during the Emergency period and they were given a meagre compensation of Rs 4 to Rs 9 per square metre.

They claim that between 1976 and 1997, the farmers have got very less compensation and were not given any developed land or other rehabilitation packages.

Greater Noida, July 26
Farmers of Bisrakh, Haibatpur and other villages, who were today expecting the court to give the judgement in their favour by quashing the land acquisition, were somewhat displeased when they heard that the Greater Noida Authority had been given time till August 12 to negotiate with them. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for August 17.

A farmers' leader of Dushyant Nagar here said, "The farmers will not negotiate." When asked about the price acceptable to them, Nagar said, "We want the market rates. At the nearby Raj Nagar Extension in Ghaziabad, the builders have bought lands from the farmers at the rate of Rs 12,000 per square yard. The farmers of Noida Extension villages also want the same rates."

As the order is applicable to Patwari too, where the court had quashed the land acquisition, farmers there said, "We first want our lands back and will then see what to do. Once we get our lands back, we will have more negotiating power. Now, the Authority will pressurise us by threatening demolition of the constructions on the abadi land by terming them unauthorised. They will also stop development works in the village."

Meanwhile, chief Executive officer of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority Rama Raman said they would talk to the farmers.

"We will negotiate with the farmers. They will be given the benefits of the new rehabilitation policy. We hope they will agree," said Raman.

In the evening, as PAC men reached Bisrakh village anticipating violence, farmers got agitated and protested their presence.

"There is no threat of violence in the area. Why are PAC men being deployed," said a farmer.

"We are sitting here and watching television to know the status of the case in the Allahabad High Court," said Manvir Bhatti, a farmers' leader.

Following the protest by farmers, the PAC team stayed out of the village to avert any clash.

While the farmers where busy watching the outcome of the case on TV, at the Noida Extension crossing, some buyers turned up to inquire about the flats that they had booked a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Contractors' Welfare Union today held a press conference at Noida.

"Our crores of rupees are stuck with the builders. The labourers have become jobless. They are demanding payment from us as we had promised them continuous employment for three years," said union general secretary RK Sharma.

"We have decided to talk with the builders and recover our dues," he added.

New Delhi, July 26
A 50-year-old man from UP is suspected to have strangled his wife and daughter inside a relative's house in the Saket area of south Delhi today.The incident was reported from Pushp Vihar, Saket, around 1.20 pm and suspect Jagdish is absconding.

"Tara Devi (48) and her daughter Kazal (16) were found strangled inside their relative's house in Pusph Vihar this afternoon. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem. Due to visible injuries on the neck, it can be presumed that the victims were probably strangled," said a police official.

The police has learnt that Jagdish came to Delhi from Rampur (UP) with his wife and daughter yesterday and were staying at the house of their relative Kamla at Flat No 93B of CPWD quarters in Sector-4, Pushp Vihar.

"Kamla works with CPWD and had left for work early morning, leaving behind her guests. However, when she returned home in the afternoon, she found Tara and Mamta dead while Jagdish was missing. She informed the police about the incident," said the official.

New Delhi, July 26
With the arrest of an accused, the south-east district police claimed to have solved a murder case of a woman who was killed on Sunday in her house at Badarpur village.Ashu Sharma (24) murdered his sister-in-law Mamta (30).

Ashu informed the police about the incident over the phone. When the police reached the spot, Mamta's children told the police that she was last seen with Ashu in one of the rooms of the house.

Ashu was absconding since then.

After interrogating his friends and relatives, the police came to know that he was living with his sister in Pooth Kalan. The police raided his sister's house and arrested Ashu from there.

During the interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. He said he had an illicit relationship with Mamta.

The police said on the fateful day, she opposed his sexual advances, which made him angry and he, thereafter, smothered her.

New Delhi, July 26
Three persons of a family, including a woman, have been convicted by a Delhi court for mercilessly beating up a woman and her minor nephew for taking drinking water from a public hand pump installed outside their house.

Though the court convicted north Delhi resident Sonu, his wife Meeda Devi and father Shiv Puri Maharaj for injuring their neighbour, it, however, let them off on probation for six months, during which the trio will have to keep reporting to the court to assure it of their good conduct.

Additional sessions judge Manoj Jain let off the convicts on probation on the ground that they later spent over Rs 17,000 on the treatment of the victims and the matter was amicably settled among them.

Also, the prosecution failed to establish more stringent penal charges of unintentional killing bid against them. The incident happened in Narela in 2009.

"The reason behind the dispute is very clear. The accused did not want the complainant to fetch water from the hand pump situated outside their house. But the complainant insisted, which infuriated the accused... There was no pre-meditation of any sort. It appears that the attack was made by the accused with the intention that the complainant never ever fetched water from that hand pump. There was neither any intention nor any knowledge to do away with the lives of the injured persons," the court said.

The victim, Rani, a resident of the Narela area, had told the police and the court that she had gone to fetch water from her neighbourhood hand pump installed outside Shiv Puri's house, but he began abusing her.

She said he stopped her from taking water, saying that he maintained the hand pump and spent money for repairing it.

When she insisted on taking water from the pump, he began beating her up, with his son and daughter-in-law too joining him. They attacked her with a cane and iron rods, injuring her seriously.

She said her minor nephew, who tried to save her, too was thrashed by Puri and his family members. -- PTI

New Delhi, July 26
While some students may not be happy with the new merit rule of Ramjas College for hostel accommodation that evaluates every resident's performance each year, the authorities maintain that the decision taken by the College Staff Council is aimed at the best interest of the students.

Almost all hostels in the university are allotted on a merit basis, and now the Ramjas staff council has agreed upon performance evaluation of hostel residents every year.

This year, the first-year seats have already been filled. The second and third year seats are yet to be filled, since the results of many subjects are still awaited.

In the meantime, as many as 110 students have been affected by the decision. They say that they met with closed doors when they came back for the new session. Many smaller groups have been staging a hunger strike since Monday near the college gate as well.

While second and third year passouts are clearly unhappy with the new rule, college faculty members and the hostel committee members maintain that allotting seats every year on the basis of merit ensures a wider chance for more students to avail themselves of the facility.

English teacher Vineeta Chandra said, "It is unfortunate that some students do not understand the reason. Staying on campus at the hostel is a big privilege. It has to be earned, there is no excuse for falling grades and still asking for a spot at the hostel. Just like taking admission in the college, hostel admissions also have rules. These decisions were taken before the closing of the last academic session. Once in a hostel, it doesn't become anyone's right to stay there for all three years. Students have to now earn their place at the hostel. "

Sources at Ramjas said that over the past few years, several complaints had been received pertaining to violence and indiscipline from students who were not fairing well in class. This is one of the motivating factors for the decision, which was delayed last year due to the Commonwealth Games.

"The students already had suffered a lot due to evacuation during the games. Hence the decision was postponed. This isn't a decision thought over a day, it had been a long process," said one of the staff council members, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, the protesting students are in no mood to give up. However, a college official today said that as of now, no formal communication or agenda has been submitted to the hostel committee or any other college authority by the students.

THE MERIT RULE

The college will now evaluate the performance of last two years for any student who wishes to stay at the hostel. For second year students, class XII marks and first year performance will be taken into consideration, while for the third year students, performance of first and second years will be considered. The first year admissions to hostels are mainly based on class XII performance and have already been allotted this year.

New Delhi, July 26
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced a reward of Rs 50,000 each to five school students who helped avert a possible air disaster by informing authorities about flames coming out of a New York-bound Air India plane nine days back.

Dikshit, after meeting the group at her office, said the youths had helped save over 350 lives and in recognition of their "swift action" the government would honour them with cash awards. The students would be felicitated during the Independence Day celebration on August 15.

Kartik Bhandari, Jaideep Gosai, Himansu Soni, Manan Soni and Moulik Jhelani, who were partying on the terrace of a house in Saket, spotted sparks and flame from the engine of Air India's Boeing 777 (long range) plane and immediately informed the police about it.

Their swift action followed by the urgent response of the police led the air traffic control (ATC) to clear the runway for the New York-bound plane to return to base and land safely under emergency conditions on July 16.

Air India officials had said the pilots had noticed the flames soon after take-off and had already sought permission for an emergency landing from the ATC.

They said the boys could have noticed the plane when it was returning to land. The flight had 339 passengers and 16 crew members on board.

These youths are very bright and agile because of their swift action an accident could be avoided.

We are proud to have such youngsters, said Dikshit.

She also appreciated the urgent response of the police. - PTI