New Delhi, September 15
All their fears came alive early this morning as the life of another Delhi High Court blast victim Mridul Bakshi (34), a resident of Uttam Nagar and father of a six-month-old baby (Geet), came to an end at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), pushing the casualty count to 14.

The worst was still to be over as the deceased's old mother Sudarshana (75) remained unaware about his death. All these days Mridul's mother, who has a cardiac problem, was told that his son was admitted to the hospital with some minor injuries and would be back home soon.

However, that was never to happen as with each passing day, the young man's vitals sank.

"She didn't know about his status. As she is old and has a weak heart, we thought that she would not recover from the shock. But today there was no choice and our fear was that both she and his wife might go into depression," said Mridul's cousin Jeetendra Bakshi while friends and some family members were waiting for the body's release from the mortuary of Lady Hardinge Medical College.

But when the tragic news was broken to Mridul's mother by her elder son Vinod, she remained silent for sometime and the family then made many attempts to see that both she and his wife Rajni (25) remained in their senses. Soon they became inconsolable once the body was brought to the house B-53 at Nanhe Park in Uttam Nagar.

Later, the mourning members of Mridul's family and his friends took him for the final rest to the cremation ground in Nawada.

Earlier at the hospital, where another critically injured Ratan Lal Saraf is battling for life in the ICU, HoD of anaesthesia department, Dr Mridula Pawar said, "We lost Mridul at 5 am. He had multiple injuries and his three vital organs had been affected."

In the case of Ratan Lal, doctors are being tough and giving no false promises to his family. They maintain that his condition has not improved and the infection in his lungs is spreading, despite all antibiotics.

"Dad is still critical and after another death, we are keeping our fingers crossed. The inflammation is not healing. The doctors asked us to talk with him but his voice wasn't audible. He does not know that he is the lone survivor with such critical injuries," said Ratan Lal's son Deepak.

New Delhi, September 15
Heavy rains, which followed a cloudburst, surprised Delhiites this afternoon, bringing the much-needed respite from the soggy weather over the last few days.

The Met office said it was an unprecedented downpour of the season with 117 mm rain recorded in an hour.

However, the heavy rains brought along the patent traffic jams and waterlogging.

Traffic snarls were reported from the busy ITO stretch, Defence Colony flyover, Nizamuddin and Outer and Inner Ring Roads in south Delhi. Incoming and outgoing traffic towards Gurgaon and Ghaziabad was also severely hit during the evening hours.

The toll-free complaint lines of the MCD received 18 complaints, with the Sadar Paharganj zone registering the highest number .

The civic body received two complaints of tree felling, one each from south and civil lines zones. Six complaints about the collapse of portions of buildings were also received.

The rains, however, failed to impact the temperature levels considerably.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the maximum temperature today was recorded at 36.2 degree Celsius, two degrees above the normal. The minimum temperature was 25.6 degree Celsius, one degree above the normal for this time of the year. The minimum temperature dropped from yesterday's 27.2 degrees.

The ridge station recorded more than 24.4 mm rainfall till 8.30 am today. Ayanagar saw 15 mm rain and Palam recorded 4 mm rain till morning.

The rains also hit the air traffic, with at least one flight was diverted and four others were asked to go around.

A Jet Airways flight was diverted to Jaipur. Four flights each one of Indigo, JetLite, Kingfisher and Air India were made to do a ‘go round’.

Waterlogging on the arrival side of IGI Airport inconvenienced passengers which led the airport operator to arrange the delivery of their baggage on the conveyor belts at the international side.

New Delhi, September 15
The household budget of a common man got a big blow with the oil companies announcing that they would increase the price of petrol by Rs 3.14 per litre to be effective from midnight tonight.

At present, petrol is sold at the rate of Rs 63.56, but from tonight, it will be sold at Rs 66.70 per litre. It is still cheap in Delhi as in UP it will be Rs 71 and in Haryana Rs 66.95.

The middle-class people contend that it will seriously affect the way they lead their life as they have a limited monthly income that is not keeping pace with inflation.

The oil companies had last raised petrol price by Rs 5 per litre in May. Diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene price were hiked in June by Rs 3 per litre, Rs 50 per cylinder and Rs 2 per litre respectively.

Renuka Singh, a 27-year-old marketing executive, said that with escalating prices of fuel, life for a common man has become increasingly stifling.

"A three-rupee hike on petrol is shocking as it was raised just four months ago," said Renuka.

Subhas Sharma, a teacher living in east Delhi, said that the decision would surely throw more people out of the safety net.

"With the price of petrol that has been hiked constantly during the past few months, I think vegetables and other food items will become a luxury, hard to afford," he said.

"Life is becoming increasingly difficult for the middle class," he added.

The hike in the rate of petrol has also gone against the dealers as their capital cost has increased. At present, 20,000 liter petrol is sold to the dealers by the oil companies at the rate of Rs 5 lakh. The dealers will have to deposit Rs 5.60 lakh for the same quantity of petrol now, said Ajay Bansal, president of the Delhi NCR Petrol and Diesel Pump Association.

Bansal said that petrol dealer associations have been asking the government for uniformity of the rate, but the state governments are opposing this as it will affect their revenue collected from petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the BJP today announced that it would stage a protest, demanding the immediate withdrawal of hike."During the last 10 months, this price has increased by Rs 11," said Vijender Gupta, Delhi BJP Pradesh president.

New Delhi, September 15
The citizen service bureaus (CSBs) in the 12 zones of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today received 2,003 applications for birth certificates. Out of these, 1,997 applicants were issued certificates on the spot. The remaining six could not be issued certificates because of the lack of complete information.

"Some applicants have been asked to provide the correct information needed for the certificates," said a senior MCD official.

A total of 377 applications were received for death certificates. Of them, 375 applicants were issued certificates on the spot. Here also, two applicants were not given the certificates due to incomplete documents.

"They also have been requested to get the information updated," he said.

Fourty-eight applications were received for the booking of community halls. The applicants were granted the booking certificates there and then. Similarly, 16 citizens applied for booking parks, and all of them were given the booking certificates on the spot.

Further, the CSBs received 77 applications for health trade licence and 42 for trade and storage licence. The applications were being processed and the licences would be issued within the stipulated period of 60 days, added the officer.

New Delhi, September 15
Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta today demanded an inquiry into the recovery of a bag containing Rs 10 lakh by the Bhopal railway police from the seat of Sandeep Dikshit, MP of East Delhi and son of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Gupta said that the clarification given by Sandeep Dikshit after the recovery of bag does not seem to be plausible.

In his clarification, Sandeep has said that his friend Jayesh Mathur, a businessman, had handed over this bag to him, saying that it contains some important documents and that he will get it back from him in Bhopal.

Will a friend tell a lie to his MP friend and hand over the bag, saying that it contains some important documents, Vijender asked.

The more unreliable thing is that Sandeep did not check the bag and kept on his seat and then forgot to take it back, the saffaron party leader said.

New Delhi, September 15
The Delhi government has initiated work on the Prime Minister's 15-point programme for Muslims. It has decided to open two ITI colleges, schools and dispensaries and start mobile vans in the North-East Parliamentary constituency, which has been declared as a Muslim-dominated area.

Former chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta has already held two or three meetings with the officers concerned and local politicians in this regard.

According to sources, the government has finalised the land for the ITI colleges for girls at Nandnagari and Jafrabad. Finance has also been sanctioned for these institutes. The idea behind opening the colleges is to provide professional education to the Muslims, which will help them get jobs and improve their economic condition.

Besides, the government has also decided to open two schools at Nandnagari and Mustafabad where students will be taught free of cost.

Keeping in view the poor health condition of the minorities due to poverty, the government has also decided to open two dispensaries. The dispensaries will have all modern equipment. Also, eight mobile ambulances will be deployed in the constituency.

Chairman of the Delhi Minority Commission Safdar Khan said the commission had recommended that two additional ambulances be deployed in the district as it is large and eight ambulances would not be enough.

The Union government has also started sanctioning loan up to Rs 25 lakh to Muslims for their economic betterment. The loan is being sanctioned by the Khadi Village Industries Commission. In Delhi, Muslims are being given up to Rs 25 lakh, while in other states, they are being given up to Rs 20 lakh. If the loan is returned without default, 35 per cent of the total amount is subsidiary.

The government is also giving scholarships to girls from the community through the Maulana Azad Education Foundation.

New Delhi, September 15
Jamia Millia Islamia has introduced a 'back to class' scheme for the students of mass communication research centre (MCRC). Under the scheme, the university will bring young journalists to meet its students.

Simi Malhotra, spokesperson for Jamia, said, "The idea is to provide the students a platform for exchanging views with young journalists in the field. This will give them an idea of the life of journalists and an opportunity to learn from them."

"The first session took place on September 9 when the students interacted with Lydia Polgreen, the South Asia correspondent for the New York Times. Three more sessions will be held in this month. The next session is scheduled for September 16 with Nisha Susan, features editor with Tehelka. The other sessions are planned for September 23 and 30. The feedback from students has been positive so far."

Manish Arora, a student at MCRC, said, "The sessions are interesting. They give us a fair idea of what to expect once we pass out of here and seek jobs. I attended the one on September 9 and found it very informative. Many of my questions were answered. I think it is very important to interact with people in the media while studying journalism as the theory has to go hand in hand with practical experience. These sessions give us a fair idea of what to expect as journalists."

New Delhi, September 15
The Delhi Technological University's students have developed a full-fledged car that is driven on solar energy. The university will flag off the car on September 17. It will participate in the race organized by the World Solar Challenge in Australia in October.

DTU spokesperson Harish Tiwari said, "A team of students has developed a solar-powered vehicle, Solaris. The solar car has been developed by a team of undergraduate students led by Dheeraj Misra under the supervision of Dr JP Kesari of the mechanical engineering department. The varsity is sending the car to represent India in the solar challenge next month. The car is expected to cover a distance of 3,000 miles from Darwin to Adelaide. It will be flagged off on September 17 by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit."

The heart of the Solaris car is made up of power electronics and batteries. The electrical component includes a high-powered brushless hub motor, a motor controller, a peak power controller and other parts. The battery is used as a back-up when the solar intensity is less.

The solar array will be the vehicle's only source of power during the marathon drive in the solar challenge.

New Delhi, September 15
The Crime Branch arrested Kedar Prasad Meena, an orderly of Dwarka Court for tampering with court documents.

In March, two summonses from a metropolitan magistrate of Dwarka Court dealing with the cases of 138 Negotiable Instrument Act were received by the Gujarat High Court. The summonses mentioned that they should be served by the Chief Justice of Gujarat HC. In the summonses, some interpolations were made through a typewriter.

Besides, the envelopes in which the summonses were sent had the typewritten words and the judicial stamp of the court concerned. The registrar of the Gujarat HC referred the issue to the Delhi HC. The Delhi HC ordered the Crime Branch to start an enquiry into the matter.

"The examination of envelopes indicated the involvement of an employee of the court. During enquiries, it was revealed that Kedar Prasad Meena had been reprimanded several times by the learned magistrate of the Dwarka Court. Enquiries revealed that he was learning typewriting from a typing institute at Raj Nagar, Palam. The specimen typewriting of all the 10 typewriters used in the institute were obtained and sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini, for comparing with the typewriting on the envelopes," said Ashok Chand, DCP, Crime and Railways.

The Forensic Science Laboratory authorities confirmed that the typewriting on the envelopes matched the fonts of one of the typewriters of the institute.

During the interrogation, Meena confessed that he committed the crime to spoil the magistrate's reputation.

New Delhi, September 15
The DMRC is planning to construct two more bridges across Yamuna river in its Phase-II. The DMRC has invited bids for the construction of the bridges.

"We have floated the tender documents and are planning to build two bridges -- one in the Janakpuri-Kalindi Kunj corridor and the second on the Mukundpur-to-Yamuna Vihar Metro stretch," said a DMRC official .

According to the DMRC tenders, the bridge coming up in the Janakpuri-Kalindi Kunj corridor will be constructed 85 metres downstream of the existing Okhla bridge.

"The bridge piers will be built in such a way that these do not obstruct the waterway of the existing Okhla Barrage bridge upstream," the document added. The second bridge will be built about 83 metres downstream of the Nizamuddin bridge. — IANS