New Delhi, October 5
The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has shut down three units of its Dadri plant due to delay in the supply of coal. It has led to disruption in the power supply in the city.

"Derailment of a coal wagon near Lucknow has created a shortage of coal, which has forced the NTPC to shut down its three units, two of 210 MW at its NTPC Dadri-I and one unit of 490 MW at Dadri-II generating stations," said a senior official at discom.

This has reduced availability of power for the Delhi discoms, forcing them to overdraw heavily from the northern grid.

The power supply to Delhi has been affected since the early hours of the morning.

Dadri I, NTPC, has an installed capacity of 840 MW, of which around 750 MW is supplied to Delhi. Dadri II has an installed capacity of 980 MW, of which 735 MW is Delhi's share. It may result in rotational loadshedding in the city.

However, the peak load during the past 24 hours was 3,877 MW, which was met successfully, said a Transco official.

"The total demand in Delhi during 24 hours, from the midnight of October 3 to midnight of October 4, was 77.243 million units out of which 77.204 million units was met successfully and 0.029 million units was shed due to distribution constraints," he said.

New Delhi, October 5
After a general body meeting held last night, students at Jawaharlal Nehru University are in a joyous mood, hoping to witness the election fervour all over again after three years.

The student community is rejoicing that the three-year-long election drought will finally come to an end this year.

Political parties are already chalking out their strategies, because if the confirmation by the Supreme Court is received by October 10, the elections may take place in the middle of November.

"JNU has one of the best electoral processes and we are glad that a consensus was reached during the general body meeting. All the parties stand in unison on the matter. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule in our favour and the elections are likely to be held in the second week of November," said a NSUI leader from the university.

"The student community isn't fully on board with all the relaxations agreed upon. Some minor changes have been put forth, but overall the mood is joyous as finally the polls have been revived," said Vismay Basu, vice-president, AISA.

The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) had not had its elections for the last three years owing to the violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. Since then, the tussle between the students' body represented by senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, amicus curie, appointed by the Supreme Court (SC) and the committee, had been on for a long time.

The University General Body Meeting (UGBM) of the students was held last night where all the major political bodies, including the Students Federation of India (SFI), All India Students Association (AISA), National Students Union of India, and ABVP were present.

Subramaniam had offered a five-point relaxation to the university students to conduct the poll. The meeting had been conducted to put Subramaniam's relaxation to vote in front of the student community. In all, 689 students voted in favour of accepting the relaxations, while 186 opposed it. With the majority supporting the measures, the date for elections will now be decided once the Supreme Court resumes its session after October 10.

New Delhi, October 5
Delhi University is all set to begin its B.Tech. in maths and IT course under the Cluster of Innovation programme from tomorrow. The first batch of the course will have a total strength of 40 students. The vice-chancellor will address the students tomorrow morning.

The university had received more than 1,800 applications for these 40 seats and the students have been shortlisted after two rounds of written entrance and interviews.

While only DU-enrolled students were eligible to apply for the course this year, the course will be open to every student who has passed class XII next year.

This degree programme will be interdisciplinary and provide students with a chance to learn hands-on through practicals and also specialize in emerging fields of engineering, signal processing, electronics and computer science.

The course will give 60% weight to projects and innovations and the rest to classroom learning. Spread across eight semesters, students will have to go for summer internships, undertake projects with industry, society and villages.

They will also have several prototypes to work on to understand and explore various concepts of science and technology.

New Delhi, October 5
The Outer district police arrested a property dealer, Ravinder Solanki (27) who with his accomplice, Pradeep Sharma had shot dead Delhi police constable Tanvir at his home in Nangli Vihar on September 28.

The police said that they apprehended Solanki near Kali Mata Mandir in Rohini on October 4. Solanki had arrived there to collect money from a person, according to the police.

During the interrogation, Solanki confessed to murdering Tanvir with his accomplice, Sharma.

"Solanki disclosed that he and Pradeep were engaged in dealing with the disputed plots of undeveloped colonies in Ranhola.

“They created disputes over the plots of poor people, claiming themselves to be the owners. They settled the matter by taking hefty amounts from the genuine owners.

“The beat officials, Mukesh and Tanvir, were aware of their tricks. Whenever a party approached the accused for the sale or purchase of a plot, Tanvir warned it against falling into the trap," said B S Jaiswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Outer District.

On August 22, Tanvir again intervened when the accused were planning to seize one Shyamveer's plot in Jai Vihar Colony. Sharma and Solanki held a grudge against Tanvir and therefore, plotted to kill him. The accused arranged for guns, according to the DCP.

"They were aware that Tanvir stayed in a single room. On September 28, they barged into his room after 10 pm and shot Tanvir. His body had five bullet wounds," added the DCP.

The police said that they had apprehended Sharma later. Sharma also confessed to murdering Tanvir with the help of Solanki, said the DCP.

Tanvir was a beat officer of Ranhola police station.

New Delhi, October 5
Lieutenant-Governor (LG) of Delhi Tejendra Khanna today assured a delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) that every member of the committee is equal and would get the funds meant for the members.

The LG said since the term of the executive board of the committee had expired, the committee was not entitled to spending from the "Guru Ki Golak" except for petty day-to-day expenses and salaries. The committee could not conduct any appointment either.

He said work relating to the registration of Sikh voters would be done speedily. Cameras would be provided in all the 46 wards and the work would be done under the supervision of a sub-divisional magistrate.

The LG made all these assurances responding to a complaint submitted against the ruling party in the gurdwara committee.

The delegation informed the LG that the work relating to the registration of Sikh voters was very slow and so far, only l.88 lakh had been registered whereas there were more than 14 to 15 lakhs of Sikh voters in Delhi.

The members of the opposition in the committee are not getting the funds but the ruling party members are getting them

The LG stated that every member of the committee should get the funds meant for the members.

When LG was informed that the victims of 1984-Sikh massacre could not get the compensation, he gave instructions to the official concerned to do the needful and complete the work by October 2011, said a delegation member.

The delegation consisted of Manjit Singh GK, chief of Delhi unit of the SAD; Avtar Singh Hit, national general secretary, Kuldip Singh Bhogal; secretary general and member of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee; Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the youth wing and councilor and Harvinder Singh KP, member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

New Delhi, October 5
Jewellery worth Rs 1 crore was allegedly stolen from one Shobha Rani Wora's (75) locker at a branch of the Union Bank of India in R-Block, Shahdara. The bank officials said the withdrawal happened after Shobha's signature. However, she said that her signature had been forged.

According to Shobha, she has had the account in the bank for 17 years. After her husband expired, she and her daughter, Premlata, converted the account into a joint one.

Shobha has four daughters, including three girls who are married and one, Meena, who is physically challenged. Meena lives with her.

Sources said that on September 17, Shobha and Premlata went to the bank. According to Shobha, five gold chains, two jewellery sets and rings were missing from the locker. The cost of the items was worth Rs 1 crore.

Shobha immediately informed the bank manager and the police.

According to the preliminary investigations of the Shahdara police, the bank register reads that on December 29, 2010 after Shobha's signature, the items in the locker were taken out. Shobha, however, denies this claim and said that her signature had been forged.

The police registered the case on September 28 after the incident was reported on September 17.

The matter is being investigated.

New Delhi, October 5
Lieutenant-Governor (LG) of Delhi Tejendra Khanna instructed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) not to disturb the residential area and review the wrongful transfer of land to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

He issued the instruction when the residents of Tughlakabad village under the leadership of senior BJP MLAs Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Ramesh Bidhuri met the LG today and appealed to him to stop the DDA from handing over the residential areas of the locality to the ASI.

Both the leaders brought the matter to the notice of the LG. They informed him that Tughlakabad village, along with three forts and mausoleum, was constructed by the rulers of the Tughlak dynasty between AD 1320 and AD 1325.

Tughlakabad village, along with other villages, was declared an urban area in Delhi in 1966. In order to extend the basic civic amenities to the residents of the village, the then LG, AN Jha, had approved the redevelopment plan of the village on June 30, 1966, and allocated funds time-to-time.

They mentioned that the then Government of Delhi had transferred approximately 2,661 acres of land to the ASI which included not only the vacant land, but also the entire village and its houses, panchayat ghar, community centre, government schools, hospitals, temples, mosques and gurdwaras, which has been declared as unconstitutional by the LG of Delhi.

Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Ramesh Bidhuri said in March 2003, the then union minister for tourism and culture, Jagmohan, had given the assurance that the buildings constructed prior to 1993 would not be demolished and he had given a written assurance to the local MLA, Ramesh Bidhuri, on April 22, 2004. The Solicitor General of India was also informed to this extent.

New Delhi, October 5
The crime branch of Delhi police has apprehended a dreaded gangster Anil Rohilla, alias Lilla (23), and his accomplice Sunil Banda (24), both residents of Haryana and wanted in eight cases of murder, including two cases of double murder besides 12 cases of robbery in Haryana, Delhi, UP and Maharashtra.

A huge cache of sophisticated weapons consisting of four 9 mm bore pistols, 3 spare magazines and 65 live cartridges have been recovered from the duo.

According to Ashok Chand, they were arrested yesterday from an MIG Flat in the Narela area.

A reward of Rs 1 lakh had been declared by the Haryana police for the arrest of Rohilla while a reward of Rs 10,000 announced for Banda's arrest.

According to Chand, Rohilla and Banda were subjected to intensive interrogation wherein Rohilla disclosed that his family has a criminal history. His father Ram Niwas was involved in five cases of murder in Haryana while his elder brother Sombir is involved in two cases of murder.

"Rohilla stated that his family has a running feud with one Phool Singh's family of his village. In 2000, his father Ram Niwas was shot dead by Phool Singh. He and his brother Sombir then decided to take revenge which led to a bloody trail. They formed a gang to avenge the killing of their father," said Chand.

According to the official, Rohilla is involved in eight cases of murder in Haryana and an attempt to murder in Delhi. Besides, he is wanted in five robbery cases in Delhi and seven cases in Haryana.

"The first murder by Rohilla and his brother Sombir was committed in village Karor, Rohtak in June 2009. They shot dead Phool Singh's nephew," said Chand, adding that Rohilla's victim also includes a priest of temple in Gurgaon and a police informer.

New Delhi, October 5
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will soon clear the long-pending shortage of teaching staff in over 1,500 municipal schools located in various parts of Delhi.

The civic agency has finally started the recruitment of primary teachers as it has received over 60,000 applications against the advertisement for the appointment of teaching staff under various disciplines in the municipal schools.

Chairman of the Education Committee Dr Mahinder Nagpal said the civic body had received around 60,000 applications for the post of 1,500 teachers. The selection process would be fully computerised. This was done to make it more transparent and fair.

The merit list would be prepared soon and the results would be declared within 10 days on MCD's website.

The MCD has changed the process of the recruitment in an attempt to do away with corruption during the process. Though, he said even after making the process fair, it has not been able to fulfil the purpose as people are still complaining of being asked for bribes.

"We had to hold an urgent meeting of the Education Committee because many people complained that they were being asked to pay bribe for the job," he said.

This time, the recruitment is being done through Employment Exchange. The Central Establishment Department of the MCD had requested the Employment Exchange, which has sent a list of 60,000 applicants, for the applications. However earlier, the recruitment used to be handled by the education department of the civic agency.

"Sending replies to each one of the applicant is a long and laborious process and takes many days. So, in a process to streamline it better, we decided to recruit through Employment Exchange," said Nagpal.

New Delhi, October 5
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today said it would disburse the monthly pension to the old age and weaker section of society through the electronic clearance system (ECS).

It was announced at the concluding day of Gandhi Jayanti Mela at Pragati Maidan.

Till date, the pension was disbursed through cheques to them. The civic body has introduced the e-governance system in the most of the civic services. "Now it's time to introduce the ECS for disbursement of pension to the old age and weaker section also.

The introduction of these services to the senior citizens and weaker section of the society would be true homage to Gandhiji," said Yogender Chandolia, chairman of the standing committee.

About 2 lakhs citizens of the weaker section will be benefited through this. The MCD gives monthly pension of Rs 1,000 to these people, he added.

Municipal commissioner KS Mehra said with e-governance, the working of the civic body would become more transparent, answerable and accountable to the citizens.

The MCD has organised a three-day Gandhi Jayanti Mela to pay tributes to the Father of the Nation, Mahatama Gandhi, and to showcase its new projects, practices and progress.

Door-to-door system of collection of garbage, mechanical sweeping of roads, bio-metric system of attendance, waterless urinals, etc. were the main highlights of the mela.

The major attraction of the mela also included heavy discount on khadi clothes products, charkha yagna, cultural and folk programmes, kathaputli and magic shows, various competitions, stalls of various departments of the MCD and the Delhi government.