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Property rates to go up as circle rates hiked
27 years on, victims of 1984 riots await justice
Poster row: JNU boy accuses varsity of singling him out
Pushkin Chandra killing: Life term for two upheld
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3 foreigners hurt in mishap
Body of missing 4-yr boy found
in park
BSF constable rapes friend
Notorious gangster arrested
Cash-for-votes: Delhi police gets court notice
Retail veggie prices much higher than wholesale
MCD teachers to mark attendance thrice a day
RWAs rope in autowalas to oppose power tariff hike
Undertrial dies
Noida gears up for craft fair
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Property rates to go up as circle rates hiked
New Delhi, October 31 While talking to the media after the meeting, Dikshit said the growth of the real estate market and the instances of undervaluation of properties had necessitated the notification of the circle rates in 2007. In Delhi, the circle rates were notified for the first time on July 18, 2007. It was decided that the rates will be revised every two year. The first revision took place in 2009. The revised rates came into effect on February 8, 2011. Dikshit said the city government was keen on making the property rates more realistic and closer to the market rates to eliminate the exchange of black money in property transactions. The intention behind the revision or rationalisation of the circle rates was not only to increase revenue, but bring transparency in property deals, Dikshit said. The circle rates are charged on the basis of the categories prescribed by the MCD for the calculation of property tax under the unit area method. The Chief Minister said the Cabinet had given its approval to rationalise the circle rates by an affordable increase, which would be very little for the residents of rehabilitation colonies, JJ clusters, urbanised villages and extended abadi areas. The rates would still be less than the prevailing market rates in the city and the circle rates in the nearby NCR towns of Gurgaon and Noida, she said. There had been a frequent hike in the circle rates in these two towns, whereas the city government decided to hike them after an interval of two years, the Chief Minister added. The new rates will come into force only after the issue of a notification to this effect. The rates in the A category has been increased by 250 per cent, B, C and D categories by 100 per cent, E category by 25 per cent, F category by 15 per cent and in case of G and H categories, by 10 per cent. The circle rates for the A category will go up from Rs 86,000 per sq metre to Rs 2,15,000, Rs 68,200 to Rs 1,36,400 for the B category, from Rs 54,600 to Rs 1,09,200 for the C category, from Rs 43,600 to Rs 87,200 for the D category, from Rs 36,800 to Rs 47,840 from the E category, from Rs 32,200 to Rs 38,640 for the F category, from Rs 27,400 to Rs 31,510 for the G category and from Rs 13,800 to Rs 15,870 per sq metre for the H category. The government has not hiked the minimum rates for the cost of construction and multiplicative factors to decide the age of structures and types of structures. There has been no change in the multiplicative use factors to decide the minimum land rates for commercial, industrial and other uses. Dikshit stated that the rationalization of the circle rates would automatically enhance the revenue share of the MCD by the way of transfer duty.
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27 years on, victims of 1984 riots await justice
New Delhi, October 31 Indira Gandhi was gunned down by two Sikh bodyguards as she walked from her home to her office, unleashing three days of sectarian violence in several parts of the country that saw 2,733 people being killed in Delhi alone. As there is no government figure, unofficial estimates put the count of dead during the riots at around 7,000. Almost three decades later, justice continues to elude. "There is no chance of complete justice, but we are fighting for symbolic justice. Some leaders should be punished to send out a strong message," Supreme Court lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka told IANS. He has been fighting legal battles to get justice for the families of the riot victims. In the aftermath of the riots, some 400 cases were filed in the courts, but most of them resulted in acquittal. Some were closed by the police. Though there were 10 convictions on murder charges in the national capital, outside Delhi only one conviction each in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar took place. Four cases are still on in trial courts. Terming the riots "a blot on the face of the nation and on the justice delivery system", Phoolka said: "If such crimes go unpunished, the future of the nation is in danger." The passage of time may have dulled the trauma, but family members remember each detail of the violence that took away their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands. For Nirpreet Kaur, 43, who saw her father Nirmal Singh being burnt alive in the Palam Colony in the Delhi Cantonment area in 1984, "bitterness will persist till the guilty are punished". There is a story behind her bitterness. Nirpreet said efforts to seek justice for her father's murder led to "harassment by the police, which branded her a militant." "As a result, I was jailed twice from 1986 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1997 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act," Nirpreet Kaur told IANS. Acquitted by the sessions court in 1997, she now helps families of other victims seek justice and rehabilitation through her NGO, Justice for Victims. Pappy Kaur, 42, echoes similar sentiments. She lost 10 of her family members, including her father and elder brother, in the violence in Trilokpuri in east Delhi, one of the worst affected areas during the riots. "We have not got justice," she said. However, journalist Manoj Mitta, who covered the riot court cases, feels the 27th anniversary of the riots offers a ray of hope. "For a change, there is some reason for optimism. After 27 years of struggle for justice, we are poised to secure conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar," Mitta told IANS. "Whatever the outcome of the case in trial court, the very fact that criminal proceedings came this far exposes the claims of innocence put up by the Congress party in the wake of the carnage," he said. Phoolka and Mitta co-authored a book "When a Tree Shook Delhi" in 2007, following former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's infamous words "When a big tree falls, the earth shakes" in his effort to justify the anti-Sikh riots. Rajiv Gandhi took over as Prime Minister in the hours immediately following his mother's death as riots began to spread across the capital. "There was no will of the then ruling party (Congress) to punish the guilty and efforts were made to shield them," Phoolka said. - IANS
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Poster row: JNU boy accuses varsity of singling him out
New Delhi, October 31 Yadav, the president of the All-India Backward Students' Forum (AIBSF), was asked to explain his stance on the "objectionable" posters put up across the campus during Durga Puja by his organisation. The notice sent by Yadav asks the university to "clearly explain" which portion of the article circulated by his group was found objectionable by which "social category" of students. The show-cause notice sent by the university had found Yadav guilty of releasing the poster that depicted a deity "in a derogatory manner", leading to violent incidents. Yadav's legal notice, sent to the university through Supreme Court lawyer Nitin Meshram, said the individual notice sent to Yadav for the poster circulated by his organisation was "unwarranted and therefore vitiated". It said the notice was "absolutely vague" as it failed to specify the contents found offensive. It also asks the university to explain "which section of students is unhappy over the alleged offensive poster". The notice says that Yadav was being "harassed" by the administration. The notice also evokes the right to free speech and the right "to conduct the scrutiny of the matters of historical importance, including the religion and religious affairs, subject to the reasonable restrictions under Article 19 (2) of the Constitution of India". Student bodies across campus have condemned the university's stance at large and the AIBSF has threatened to call a strike if the administration doesn't take the notice back. "We shall strengthen our organisation and ideological movement. If our president will be framed in forged allegations, we will eventually approach the progressive political bodies of the campus, which can lead to major strike," said an official statement by the AIBSF. "AIBSF is a student political body representing the students from the backward classes and hence, has the constitutional rights to get its ideology propagated," it further read. Almost a month ago, the university saw an uproar after a section of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students clashed with the AIBSF for putting up the posters. An FIR was also lodged at the Vasant Kunj police station, after which the university had stepped in and called for an enquiry into the matter.
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Pushkin Chandra killing: Life term for two upheld
New Delhi, October 31 Chandra, 38, son of a retired Indian Administrative Service officer, and his friend were found dead at his residence in Anand Lok on August 13, 2004. The high court dismissed the appeal filed by Moti, 26, and Rajesh Rekwar, 27, who were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court in 2010 for the murder and theft. Rekwar, who was on interim bail, was ordered to be taken into custody. Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Manmohan Singh said, "The prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants had committed the murders of Pushkin Chandra and Kuldeep." "The circumstances taken together form a complete chain and point only in the direction of guilt of the two appellants. The appellant Rajesh Rekwar is on an interim bail which was granted to him on account of his medical condition. He be taken into custody to serve out the rest of his sentence. The appellant Moti is already in custody," the bench said in its 31-page judgment. Additional sessions judge AK Kuhar sentenced Moti and Rekwar and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on each of them. The trial court acquitted Munna and Jai Kishore, who were accused of being involved in "destruction of evidence" and "keeping the stolen property", for lack of proof. While awarding sentence to Rekwar and Moti, the trial court had relied on witness Hare Ram, the domestic help of Chandra's father. Ram identified both the accused as the people last seen with Chandra and Kuldeep. According to the prosecution, Ram was the first to discover the bodies and the last to have seen the victims alive. He was one of the 37 prosecution witnesses who deposed before the court. "Chandra's belongings, including a DVD player, that were recovered by the police from Rekwar's house also formed the basis of his conviction. The prosecution had also produced photographs clicked at an ATM in which Rekwar was seen withdrawing cash using Chandra's ATM cards," the chargesheet said. Rekwar in his disclosure statement claimed that Chandra used to pick him and Moti from Connaught Place to have sex with them. Pornographic tapes of men engaged in same-sex activity were recovered from the scene. -- IANS
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3 foreigners hurt in mishap
Ghaziabad, October 31 The incident took place yesterday when they were returning after watching the Formula One race in Noida. Some police officials who were also returning after their duty at the Grand Prix venue found the three in an unconscious state, following which they were rushed to a hospital. The injured had been identified as David from US, Arthaver from Indonesia and Bred from Zambia, the officials said. --
PTI
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Elderly woman murdered at home
New Delhi, October 31 Her neighbours and maid discovered the body in a bathroom, according to the police. The police now suspecting the male servant, Jagat (20), who is absconding. The deceased has been identified as Vimal Shah, who stayed with her only son, Bharat Ratan Shah and his wife Lipika at second floor, K-7 Jangpura. Ajay Chaudhry, additional commissioner of police, south-east district, said Vimal was possibly smothered to death. "Her body with her hands tied was found in a bathroom at her residence. We also found two pillows. The house was ransacked and we are probing if any items were stolen. Jagat is probably from Nepal and was staying in a room in the floor above the victim's house. There is no verification of his background. We are investigating the case to find the culprits," he said. A case of robbery and murder has been registered at the Nizamuddin police station. Sources hinted at the possibility of at least two people committing the murder. A police official said that the victim's body did not have any visible injury marks. "The post-mortem would be conducted after Vimal's son and daughter-in-law arrive tonight," said the official. Vimal's nephew, Mohan Singh, said that Jagat was employed a month ago. "The servants previously employed had left, before Jagat started working here. The last time I spoke to her (Vimal) was at about 11.30 pm yesterday. I tried telephoning her in the morning, but she did not receive my call. The maid had discovered her body at about 10 am today. Vimal was an asthma patient and was living alone temporarily, after her son, Bharat and his wife left for Singapore on October 17 to meet their two sons. Vimal has been living at her Jangpura residence for the past 22 years," said Mohan. Vimal's cook said the neighbours had called her after they were unable to get inside the residence. "Vimal's son had tried telephoning his mother, but did not receive any response. Bharat informed Lipika's friends, who are also Vimal's neighbours, to check the residence. When they went there, no one opened the door. They then called me and I along with the neighbours had to break open the door. We found her body in the bathroom," said the cook. The cook has been working for Vimal for the past 10 years. Vimal with her family had come to Delhi from Roorkee, Uttarakhand in 1991. Her husband, Kasturi Lal had passed away in 1974. Her two grandsons Pranay and Kunal are working in Singapore.
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Body of missing 4-yr boy found
in park
New Delhi, October 31 The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Afridi. He lived with his parents, Mohammed Chand (30) and Rubaida Khatun (28), at Rampura in Keshav Puram. Afridi had two siblings. "Yesterday, I and Afridi went to the Totaram market to buy vegetables. After a while, he disappeared. I searched the market, but did not find him anywhere," said Rubaida. According to the sources, a woman discovered Afridi's body lying in a pool of blood at the park in Rampura. The park is very near to the victim's house. The body was given to the victim's family after postmortem at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital. The police said the victim's throat was slit and there were bruises on his left hand. Sources said a few days ago, Chand and his neighbour had had a quarrel over a trivial issue. Chand, meanwhile, claimed that he did not receive adequate assistance from the police. "I along with my family first went to the Shanti Nagar police station, but the policemen did not file an FIR. They asked us to go to the Inder Lok police station. We didn't receive any help there as well. We then had to go to the Keshav Puram police station late in the night. If the police had searched for my son earlier, it could have probably saved his life," added Chand. A senior police official said strict action would be taken against the policemen if the allegations of the child's father were found to be true. "We have ordered a probe based on the complaint of the victim's father. Strict action would be taken if any official is found guilty in the allegations," said the official. Hansraj, a gardener at the park, said the area was mostly occupied by anti-social elements. "No one comes to this park during the night and it is largely occupied by anti-social elements. A guard was murdered at the park last year. After the incident, no other guard wants to work here," said Hansraj. |
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BSF constable rapes friend
New Delhi, October 31 "The woman alleged that Anuj took her to a tenthouse in Najafgarh where he raped her. He threatened to harm her if she reported the incident to anyone," said sources. Anuj dropped her at the Dwarka More Metro station, where she called the police. Anuj was nabbed by a CISF personnel at the station. |
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Notorious gangster arrested
New Delhi, October 31 According to Ashok Chand, DCP (crime), the arrest was made two days ago. "We arrested Khan on October 29 from Sunder Nagari in Nandnagari," said Chand. In 2006, while committing a burglary in a godown in Nandnagri, he had crushed the owner of the godown while fleeing with stolen copper scraps. In 2007, he along with his accomplices intercepted a container truck in Mandawali and killed the driver. On the night of June 5, 2011, when a police team raided the hideout of Khan and his accomplices at Farukh Nagar (UP), they opened fire at the policemen and fled. 2 robbers held
for murder
The north-east district police has arrested two youths for allegedly robbing and murdering a man in the Seelampur area on October 26. The accused have been identified as Rizwan (25) and Jitender (25). The mobile phone of the deceased, Rahul Pathak, has been seized from the accused. Rahul, a resident of Ghaziabad, was found lying dead near the Seelampur flyover on GT Road. There were two stab wounds on the left side of his chest. "The police zeroed in on Rizwan, who had approached a shop to sell a mobile phone, but could not produce the cash memo and box of the phone. It was learnt that Rizwan had a criminal background, following which he was arrested," said SK Jain, DCP (NE). He revealed that he had been involved in three crimes, including a robbery and one under the Arms Act. He along with his accomplices used to rob the public in the late night hours. On the day of the incident, he and Jitender along with their two accomplices assembled near the Dharmpura traffic light and planned to rob people. "About 10.45 pm, they overpowered Rahul and demanded all his belongings at knife-point. When he resisted, the accused stabbed him," said Jain. |
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Cash-for-votes: Delhi police gets court notice
New Delhi, October 31 Justice ML Mehta sought the response of the Delhi police by November 14. Kulkarni, who has been in jail since September 27, has challenged the trial court's rejection of his bail plea, saying he was the "guiding star" and "facilitator" of the "conspiracy aimed at mocking" the Republic of India. In the petition filed through advocate Mahipal Ahluwalia, Kulkarni had stated that he, along with the BJP MPs, got involved in the sting operation, conducted by a private news channel, only to expose the "horse trading" that was going on to save the then UPA-I government in the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008. Notice was also issued to the Delhi police after taking note of the bail application filed by a political worker Suhail Hindustani who is also behind the bars for his alleged role in the 2008 case scam. Hindustani had approached the court, challenging the verdict of the trial court that dismissed the bail pleas of the accused. -- IANS
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Retail veggie prices much higher than wholesale
New Delhi, October 31 He said during festivals, the daily wage workers go to their native places, resulting in a shortage of men for loading and unloading goods. Consequently, in the wholesale markets, the supply of vegetables is un-adequate. "Before the start of the festival season, the wholesale rate of potato was Rs 6 or Rs 7 per kg, but now, it has gone up to Rs 8 per kg. Similarly, the wholesale rate of onion before the festival time was Rs 9 or Rs 10 per kg. Now, it has being sold for Rs 10 or Rs 12," said Ravinder Khurana, who deals in onion. "In the retail market, the rates of the vegetables are two-three times more than their prices in the wholesale market. Though there is a hike of only Re 1 in the price of potato in the wholesale market, in the retail market, the price has gone up by three times. In the retail market, the vegetable is being sold for Rs 20. Similarly, onion is being sold for Rs 20 to Rs 30 per kg in the retail market," said Ravi Prasad, who works with a wholesale dealer in the Okhla Sabzi Mandi. "In the wholesale market, the price of cauliflower is Rs 8- Rs 10, radish Rs 5, brinjal Rs 8, ladyfinger Rs 10, cucumber Rs 8, guard Rs 5. But in the retail market, brinjal is being sold for Rs 20, cauliflower Rs 25 to Rs 30, cucumber Rs 20, guard Rs 20 and spinach Rs 20," Prasad said. In the Safdarjung area, cauliflower is being sold for Rs 30 - Rs 35, guard Rs 30, potato Rs 20, tomato Rs 30, onion Rs 20 and bitter guard Rs 30. In the trans yamuna area, the rate is some low. Cauliflower is being sold for Rs 15, guard 20 and spinach Rs 10 -Rs 15. The rates of onion, potato and tomato are same in all the areas of the Capital. Reshma, a resident of Jamia Nagar, said the rates of vegetables at the retail shops and carts were different. Shop owners had higher rates, she said.
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MCD teachers to mark attendance thrice a day
New Delhi, October 31 It has been decided to install a fingerprint-based attendance solution (FBAS) to keep a tab on the bunking teachers. A proposal in this regard has been cleared. However, the biometric attendance system, which was to start at the MCD schools from July this year, was postponed to February 2012 by the civic authorities. MCD officials said this was because teachers in many MCD schools continued to mark attendance manually despite being given computers to record attendance online. Officials said many schools were not cooperating and delaying the implementation of the project. The teachers will be supposed to mark attendance three times a day at different intervals to register his/her attendance, which means that the teachers will have to stay back and finish their shifts. The first marking will be done at the time of reaching the school, the second in the middle of the shift and the last will be done at the time of leaving the school. Mahendra Nagpal, chairman of the MCD's education committee, said teachers' absenteeism has been a huge problem for the MCD schools. "The MCD has been spending a lot of money on improving the quality of education in the schools, but it will all be a waste if the teachers do not take things seriously," he said. "We have decided to install biometric attendance machines at the schools. The teachers will have to mark attendance like our other employees," Nagpal said. The system will be valid for all other employees working in its 1,729 schools and 44 municipal-aided schools. The FBAS will be integrated with the e-governance system of the
MCD.
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RWAs rope in autowalas to oppose power tariff hike
New Delhi, October 31 Members of URJA, in association with Nyayabhoomi, an NGO which works with auto-rickshaw unions, yesterday launched the campaign under which posters carrying messages against the power tariff hike will be pasted on the back of autos. Ashutosh Dixit, a member of People's Action, said, "Our aim is to not only use the autorickshaws as an advertising medium, but also send the message about the unfairness of a hike in power tariff without an audit of the accounts of the discoms by the CAG to the areas where these auto drivers live." "There is a misconception that the tariff hike is a middle class issue. Actually, the real sufferers are the people from the lower middle class, who pay 25 per cent or more of their income as power bills," said Rakesh Agarwal of Nyayabhoomi. Flagging off the first batch of 10 autos, Agarwal said in the first phase, 1,000 autos will carry the message. Members of URJA demanded that the Delhi government should withdraw the power tariff hike until the CAG audit was completed. RK Khanna of an RWA in Pitampura said the residents were incensed by the way an expected reduction in tariff by 20 per cent was cleverly converted into a 22 per cent hike. Atul Goyal of URJA said the campaign would get aggressive from hereon and the government would have to concede defeat.
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Undertrial dies
Ghaziabad, October 31 Chand was admitted to the hospital on October 20 as he was suffering from tuberculosis. Mool Chand had been accused of murdering his friend Rohit on June 24, 2009 by poisoning him. His body has been sent for autopsy. |
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Noida, October 31 The Uttar Pradesh tourism department, in collaboration with the Noida Authority, had planned Shilpostav, to be inaugurated by the UP tourism minister, said Abhilash Sharma, director and joint managing director of UP tourism. Artisans from several Asian and Middle-East countries had been invited to showcase their crafts in some of the 400 stalls at the fair, he said. Cultural events too are being planned with artistes such as Kailash Kher, Wadali brothers, Shreya Ghoshal and Akriti Kakkar being approached for live performances. Tight security arrangements are being made at Noida Stadium's old Ramlila Ground, where the fair will be held. The visuals of the CCTV cameras at the venue would be connected to Internet through satellite network and would be accessible on PCs, laptops and mobile phones of senior police and administrative officials through a password-protected system.-- PTI
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New Delhi, October 31
The Cabinet has also sanctioned 12 additional posts to strengthen the directorate. The decision was taken today at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.