New Delhi, September 4
Intermittent rains in the national capital brought some respite to residents today from the hot and humid weather of the last few days.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 31.1 degree Celcius, three degrees below normal while the minimum also dropped a degree below normal and was recorded at 25.3 degree Celsius.

The drop in temperature was due to rains, which lashed many parts of Delhi, the MeT office said.

Palam recorded 1.4 mm of rains, while Safdarjung, Lodhi Road and Ayanagar received 0.5 mm, 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm of showers, respectively.

According to the Met Department, the temperature would be between 25 and 33 degree Celsius tomorrow.

"It will generally be a cloudy day tomorrow with one or two spells of rains or thundershowers in some areas," a senior Met official said.

Last year, the maximum temperature had not crossed 35 degree Celsius in the month of September. The month also received the highest rainfall (332.9 mm) in 10 years in 2010.

The record maximum for September was on 16th of the month in 1938 when the mercury rose to 40.6 degree Celsius. -- PTI

New Delhi, September 4
A Delhi court has agreed to a minor girl's wish to stay with her father as her mother used to 'scold' her on petty things.

Judge Gautam Manan allowed the man, a resident of upscale south Delhi's New Friends Colony, to have the custody of his 12-year-daughter, dismissing his estranged wife's contention that the girl was reaching the stage of puberty and needed her care and guidance.

"The minor who was found to be an intelligent girl in her interaction with the court twice has wished to reside with the company of the petitioner (father)," the judge said, divesting the mother of her custody.

"I am of considered opinion that the paramount welfare of the child is with the man and he is entitled for the custody of the child. Accordingly, permanent custody of the minor is granted to him," the judge said, while also granting the mother visitation rights for "sufficient access".

Pointing out that the child was reaching teenage during which she can also turn rebel, the court said, "If she is not allowed to live as per her wishes then we may have to answer her as to why we are not inclined to do so.

"More so, a child who complains of the scolding nature of her mother can also go totally against her if her grievances are not redressed."

The court also agreed to the child's wish to stay with her mother for a week in a month and ordered that the woman shall have the girl's custody for the fourth week of every month.

The father had moved the court for his daughter's custody from his estranged wife.

He had said he was married in 1997 and was blessed with a daughter in 1999, but his wife had left him a few years later along with the child forever.

The man sought his daughter's custody accusing his wife of having "crude and violent behaviour" towards the girl since her birth.

The woman, on the other hand, said their daughter will soon be attaining the age of puberty and would require her assistance in such a precarious age.

The court, while giving the child's custody to the man, noted that he resides with his parents who are there to look after the child, whereas the woman is a director of a property firm and often has to go out for business assignments and in that case, there is no one else to take care of the child except two servants.

The child is quite comfortable in the company of her grandparents and whenever it was required the grand parents handled the child with love and affection, the court said. --PTI

New Delhi, September 4
The Reliance-backed power distribution company BSES today assured zero inconvenience to its customers in the face of the notice issued by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Serving a notice to the two BSES discoms, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), the NTPC had demanded outstanding dues of Rs 900 crore for the supply of power and renewal of the letter of credit.

The BSES officials today said the dues with the NTPC would be cleared tomorrow and no inconvenience caused to its consumers in the Capital, as a consequence of the NTPC's threat to discontinue power supply to BSES from 6 September.

Outlining the arrangements, the BSES spokesperson stated that the current dues of NTPC would be cleared tomorrow.

"This will ensure no power disruption to our 28 lakh consumer. The BSES stands committed to supplying uninterrupted quality power to our consumers," said a spokesperson of BSES.

Meanwhile, Dikshit said that the government was continuing to monitor a potential dust-up after the NTPC had reportedly threatened to stop power supply to the BSES.

"The BSES needs to understand that the problem can't be taken lightly. We are in touch with both the BSES and the NTPC and will ensure that the people of Delhi don't face any inconvenience," Dikshit said.

The BSES officials blamed the crisis on the firm's bad financial health precipitated by debts of several crores.

The two BSES companies account for over 70 per cent of supply in Delhi. The two discoms get about 2,051 MW power from NTPC. BRPL caters to west and south Delhi while BYPL supplies electricity in east and central Delhi. NTPC looks after the supply in north Delhi.

New Delhi, September 4
A 60-year-old carpenter has filed a petition against Anna Hazare and his team members in a Delhi court for "waging war against the government".

Satbir Singh, hailing from Haryana, approached the court of metropolitan magistrate Tyagita Singh on Saturday, pleading that a case be lodged against Hazare and his team members. Satbir has said the "accused persons may kindly be summoned, tried and punished according to the law".

"They have all hatched a conspiracy to cause loss to the nation and to lower the reputation of the government of India and its ministers," Satbir said in his petition.

"They instigated innocent people to assemble at the Ramlila Maidan on August 16. The accused gave false speech against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other MPs," said the petition.-- IANS

The number of Iftars and festivities around Id has grown bigger in recent years. Delhi has always been a happy hunting-ground for those seeking display of symbolism. And these opportunities are being treated as occasions to display either secular credentials or powerful network. The noticeable increase in the intensity of Iftars sadly does not seem to denote anything more than just a convenient platform for the display of pulling power.

While the Prime Minister's Iftar is an extension of the government's sequential mishaps on Anna Hazare, feeding politicos and journalists at the time of agitation was a subject of discussion. The President's Iftar, on the other hand, was more of a formality. But must say never have the Congressmen missed Sonia Gandhi's presence more at these Iftar parties.

Shahnawaz Hussain and his wife played perfect hosts for a mixed bag of their political friends in one such party on their spacious home lawns. Of course, the BJP ensured that its leadership from Advani to Joshi and others from Lalu to Meira Kumar were all trotted out. But as always it was Bollywood in the form of Shatrughan Sinha and cricketer in the form of Azharuddin who got the hoi polloi excited.

The Chief Election Commissioner S.Y.Qureshi's home usually focuses its social gatherings around the music that is the man's private passion. But Id is the one occasion when music is replaced with meat.

New Delhi, September 4
The Delhi government has come up with a proposal to lay supply lines for providing treated water for toilet use and other purposes like washing.

The use of treated water is supposed to reduce the pressure on the groundwater created by the automobile and construction companies.

The treated water would be supplied for toilet and washing purposes through pipelines which would be laid parallel to other lines, said a government official.

The government has notified new urban extension areas for the implementation of the proposal on a pilot basis.

It had included the project in an approach paper submitted to the Planning Commission on the key challenges which needed to be focused on during the 12th Five Year Plan.

The Delhi Jal Board in its 'Water Master Plan - 2021' and 'Sewer Master Plan 2031', which aim to plan for the future water requirement and sewer management system in the city, has identified the setting up of waste water treatment plants as a priority area.

At present, the city needs over 1,100 mgd of drinking water, while around 800 mgd of treated raw water is supplied by the DJB across Delhi. However, the demand is expected to touch around 1,400 mgd by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan in 2017.

Citing the example of efficiency attained in the power sector by involving the private sector, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the state government had decided to bring reforms in the water sector as well.

She said private companies would be involved in the management of sewerage also.

The government said there was a need to rationalise the water tariffs to promote the conservation of the scarce resource.

The government said the PPP model would be adopted in three zones in the city to improve the water distribution system.

Last year, the government had initiated reforms in water billing and the installation of meters, roping in IT major Tata Consultancy Services for these two key areas.

New Delhi, September 4
Two persons, including a teenager, have been arrested for allegedly killing a 16-year-old boy in Janakpuri, the police said today.

"18-year-old Ankit, a school dropout, and Pankaj Kumar, alias Ishu, a driver of a travel agency, were arrested for stabbing Bharat during a quarrel over some issues on Friday last, following which Bharat was rushed to hospital but was declared brought dead," a senior police official said.

According to the police, on Friday, eyewitness Ajay, who works in a shop in Rajouri Garden and Bharat, resident of A-562 JJ Colony Road Uttam Nagar, had gone to Sarvodaya School in Janakpuri.

There they met one Deepak, from whom Ajay demanded Rs 500, which he had lent him but when he refused, Ajay snatched Deepak's mobile phone and handed over to Moshin who studies in class 11 of the Sarvodaya School, the official said.

Moshin told Ajay that some boys were searching for him and Bharat. When Ajay and Bharat came to their colony, three boys came on a red motorcycle and stopped Ajay and Bharat in front of Shanti Home Guest House. Both of them were caught by Ankit and Aman.

"Aman took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed Bharat once each at his chest, wrist and left side of abdomen," ACP West district V Renganathan said.

Ajay managed to free himself from Ankit and ran away. Bharat was taken to DDU hospital where he was declared brought dead, the official said.

Later, based on eyewitness account, Ankit and Ishu were arrested while Aman is still at large.

"Efforts are on to arrest Aman," Renganathan said Ankit had studied till 11th and presently he coaches kids karate in Mother's Pride school, while Ishu is a driver with a travel agency.--PTI

New Delhi, September 4
With the arrest of three persons, including a Nigerian national, a team of the southeast district police has claimed to have busted a gang of cheats.

The accused-- Amanyunose Kingsley, Nafees Baig and Rajpal Tyagi-have been arrested from New Friends Colony.

They were arrested on the complaint of Satish Kumar, who had received an email, saying that he had won Rs 5 crore as prize. The email asked him to send his address, phone number and other details via email, said a senior police officer.

"After Kumar sent all the details, he received another mail on July 30, asking him to deposit Rs 25,000 for customs clearance and other expenses to a certain bank account," said the officer.

Kumar got suspicious and made enquiries, after which he learnt about the fraud.

Nafees disclosed that Kingsley, a Nigerian, was the gang leader and that the gang used to meet him at Reliance Fresh, Arjun Nagar.

The information provided by Nafees led to the arrest of Tyagi, who used to withdraw the money deposited by their victims.

He was arrested from Nehru Place.

At Nafees' instance, Kingsley was apprehended from Arjun Nagar.

The police claimed to have seized Rs 5 lakh, a Santro car, six rubber stamps, a money-counting machine, seven mobile phones, 25 SIM cards, seven chequebooks of different banks, three fake rent agreements and other documents from their possession. 

Ghaziabad, September 4
Farmers of about a dozen villages of Greater Noida and Ghaziabad today organised a mahapanchayat and resolved to organise a protest on September 19 against an upcoming solid waste management project in Dundahera village here.

Farmers' leader Satyapal Chaudhary said the life for the residents of over a dozen villages of Greater Noida and Ghaziabad would become miserable by creating the incinerator. The mahapanchayat was held in Chipiyana village of Ghaziabad.

In the recent years, the prestigious Noida Extension, Crossings Republic and certain official schemes of Greater Noida have come up in the area. If the incinerator comes up, builders and investors will incur losses. And over a lakh population in the villages would face an acute health hazard.

The mahapanchayat thus decided to oppose the project and the residents would organise the protest at the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation office on September 19.

The Allahabad High Court had dismissed the petition filed by M/s Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd to keep aside the order by the Uttar Pradesh government to construct a solid waste management plant (SWMP) on a 14-acre plot in Dundahera.

The court had observed: "We do not find any substance in the prayers made in the writ petition filed by M/s Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd. All these writ petitions represented by Ansals are accordingly dismissed." -- IANS