New Delhi, November 11
A fire that destroyed a commercial building consisting of several jewellery stores at Karol Bagh last night killed two workers and injured seven persons, besides damaging the property worth crores of rupees.

According to the preliminary investigation, short-circuit could be the cause of fire. The Delhi fire service is investigating the case.

The deceased have been identified as Debu Das (25) and Robin Mandal (24).

The injured are named Sanjeev Samanta (25), Kalipado (50), Milan (25), Gopal (21), Devashish Sandu (22), Montu (26) and Pawan (18), all are natives of West Bengal.

They were employed as skilled labourers with the jewellery stores situated in the gutted building.

A police official said they were informed about the fire at 11.52 pm yesterday.

"The fire started from the second floor and engulfed the fourth floor of the building.

Montu, Devashish and Pawan were discharged last night after being treated for minor injuries. Sanjeev and Kalipado are admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Milan and Gopal are receiving treatment at Lady Hardinge Hospital," said the official.

The police has registered a case under Section 437 (mischief with intent to destroy or make unsafe a decked vessel or one of twenty tonnes burden); Section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others); and Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC.

"The fire had engulfed the fourth floor, where I was present with 10 other workers. We could not run down, because the fire engulfed the floors below. There was no other exit of the building. I jumped out of a window and landed on the roof of an adjacent building. Robin and Debu decided to do the same, but they fell short and landed on a lane between the two buildings. They died on the spot," added Sanjeev, who had broken both his legs.

"There was an electrical door at the fourth floor, which led to the fifth floor. After short-circuit, the door could not be opened. Sanjeev, Robin and Debu had only one option of jumping out of the building," said a worker, who didn't want to be named.

Ranjit, who was present at the fifth floor, said the closing of the electrical door prevented him from reaching the people below.

"After having my dinner, I reached the fifth floor, where I was staying with Vikas and Bimal. They are also employed as skilled workers. We saw smoke emitting from the floor below. Since the electrical door was closed, we climbed on the roof with a ladder. We went to the window at the fourth floor. We placed the ladder between the window and the roof of an adjacent building. Some people came out and crossed over," added Ranjit.

Atul, one of the owners of Vishal Jewellers, said he left the store at 7.30 pm yesterday. He was informed about the incident at 12.15 last night. The fire had also gutted Atul's store.

"I had spent a handsome sum of money in renovating my store, which had wooden furnishings. All that is left now are charcoaled walls and burnt remains of what used to be my store," he said.

New Delhi, November 11
A 70-year-old woman, Jogesh, was murdered at her residence in Greater Kailash-I (GK-I) this evening. She was alone at home.

The incident came to light about 6.45 pm, when her nephew, Yuraj, came to meet her.

As soon as he entered the house, he noticed that all the things inside the house were scattered. He found her lying unconscious in her bedroom and informed the police as well as other family members.

She was taken to AIIMS where she was declared brought dead.

The police said that cash, jewellery and other valuables in the house were intact, but some property documents were found scattered, giving an indication that the suspects were looking for some documents.

The police said that having seen the spot, it seemed that the entry of the culprit was friendly. The case is being investigated from various angles.

The police is trying to find out whether the woman and her husband Ajit have any enmity regarding the property. Ajit is working with a consultancy firm. At the time of incident, he was not at home though the police received the call of murder at 6.45 pm.

Investigating officer said that woman was strangulated. Her mouth was muffled. There were injury marks on the neck. It seemed that she had made some effort to resist the assailants.

Though it is too early to say something, the police is questioning a few suspects. It is trying to find out as to how many people were seen entering the house between the afternoon and 6 pm.

The police is also probing if the maid was inside the house at the time of the murder.

New Delhi, November 11
Suman, who along with her two sisters-in-law fought barehanded a chain snatcher on November 8, will be rewarded by the Delhi police for her act of bravery.

Suman's husband S. Kumar said, "My wife has made me proud. Everybody is talking about her. She did a courageous deed."

Suman is a resident of Mayur Vihar, Phase-3. On November 8, she was going to meet a neighbour who was admitted to a hospital in Noida. Suman was accompanied by her two sisters-in-law, Sunita and Brijesh. A motorcycle-borne assailant, Sanjay snatched two gold chains that Suman was wearing.

Suman caught her assailant by the neck and pulled him off his motorcycle. She kicked him in the groin. Sanjay pointed a US automatic gun at her and even pulled the trigger.

However, the weapon jammed. Her two sisters-in-law then joined Suman in thrashing the assailant.

New Delhi, November 11
The crime branch has arrested three youths for allegedly withdrawing money from other people's accounts through ATMs.

The accused have been identified as Lalit Kumar (27), Sahil (25) and Ranjeet (22). The police said they were apprehended with the help of the CCTV footage of an ATM booth. They had used the ATMs of Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank.

The police said the arrests were made on the complaint of Prizm Payment Services Limited. The company runs ATMs for banks. The firm had been receiving complaints about illegal withdrawal of money from their ATMs.

Ashok Chand, deputy commissioner of police (crime and railways) said the accused used to target ATMs which were unmanned.

"The accused used to press the hash key of the ATM and apply quick fix on it. They would then wait for an ATM user to swipe the card. Because of the hash key being pressed, the card would get stuck in the machine.

“The accused would then enter the ATM booth on the pretext of helping the user and learn the pin code in the process. After the person left, they used to withdraw money from his account as the details of the card would get recorded in the machine," said the DCP.

Lalit had been running a fake English-speaking institute, American Institute of English Language, for the past two years. Sahil and Ranjit also worked for the institute.

There have been numerous cases of people fraudulently using ATMs of banks. Private companies managing the machines are planning to introduce methods to curb the crime.

A senior official of Prizm Payment Services Private Limited, said, "We are trying to apply advanced devices in ATM machines. This should prevent theft. ATM users should be cautious of their surrounding while using the machine."

New Delhi, November 11
In a best example of machines taking away human jobs and adding to increasing unemployment, the life of people manning the parking lots in Sarojni Nagar Market has changed drastically.

The parking boys at the market have been left dismayed with the launch of South Square, a multi-level automated parking facility which has zero human intervention, as it has eaten away their only source of income.

Around 15 to 20 boys who were handling the parking lots around the market do not know how to restore their earnings. "We have no idea what we would do now. We will see what the contract says," said Ram Kishan, a parking boy.

They are also wondering if the government would provide them with any alternative job.

"It would be better if the government gives us some other parking lot to handle as there are so many people who have been affected by the opening of this new facility," said Jai Ram, another parking boy.

The boys who used to earn between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 on week days and over Rs 3,000 on weekends, now worry about getting their income reduced to half.

"There used to be four people on this parking area earlier. Now, I am alone as there are not enough cars," said Jai Ram.

The South Square mall was inaugurated yesterday by Kamal Nath, minister of urban development, even though the mall is going through trial runs. It was not thrown open to the public as no vehicle was allowed to enter the multi-level parking.

"The engineers are testing the machines with their own vehicles. It will take at least three to four days before allowing cars from outside," said the guards at the gate.

Also, the parking will be free for 20 days and from December 1, vehicles will be charged on the basis of Rs 10 per hour. High on technology, the automated parking lots have car lifts, pallets and computerized control systems that would be operational round the clock. The automatic system saves time spent in searching for empty parking slots.

Noida, November 11
Representatives of the farmers of Noida met the new CEO of the authority, seeking clarity on its next step following the recent high court directions on land acquisition.

They also served an ultimatum to the authority, saying that if it does not "set up its act soon, they will be left with no other option but to stall construction and development work in the city".

So once again, farmers have threatened to stall construction and development work from the next week.

It may be recalled that in July the authority had first claimed to have arrived at a "settlement" with the farmers of 54 villages.

Four months on, after several protests by farmers and directions by the Allahabad High Court, the situation in Noida is back to square one.

"The authority has already missed several deadlines of resolving the issues, the latest being on October 30," said Naresh Yadav, the village head of Sorkha.

"In Greater Noida, the abadi issues of many farmers have already been resolved and the authority has already begun disbursing cheques of enhanced compensation. However, it has not yet done dealt similarly with a single farmer," Yadav said.

Meanwhile, authority officials said some issues were unresolved because of shortage of vacant land. "We are already short on vacant land and the recent court order entails that the farmers be given 10 per cent developed plots instead of the 7 per cent promised to them. We hope to arrive at a solution by next week," said ACEO Anil Raj Kumar.

New Delhi, November 11
Priests from other cities had to be called in and major traffic jams were reported in the city as over 20,000 couples tied the knot today, 11.11.11, a day termed extremely auspicious by astrologers.

"Over 20,000 wedding took place in the city. 11.11.11 is equated with numbers 3, 6 and 9, which are good numbers to start anything in the Indian numerology," said Ravindra Nagar, head priest of the Birla Temple in central Delhi.

With so many weddings taking place, the priests in the city were joined by several from neighbouring states.

"The demand for priests in the city is more than the supply. We have called pandits from Rishikesh, Kurukshetra, Haridwar and other cities," said Nagar.

Apart from the weddings, many deliveries were also planned on the day.

"More than 50 children were born in our hospital," said a doctor from a private hospital.

Major traffic snarls were reported at MG Road, GT Road in north Delhi and various parts of the Capital.

However, a certain section of astrologers rubbished the fuss associated with the day and called it a hype.

"The belief that this day is auspicious is ridiculous. The planetary movements are normal and there is nothing great about it. People want to get married and want their children to be born on this day as it would look attractive," said Delhi-based astrologer Vivek Chopra.

"I don't understand the fuss about the day. People have gone crazy on the piousness of this day, but actually there is nothing like this," said another astrologer. — IANS

New Delhi, November 11
The longstanding issue on regulation of farmhouses was today discussed at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Delhi government, P. K. Tripathi.

The meeting was attended by the officials concerned of the public works department (PWD), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

The meeting focused on issues like permissible built-up area and whether they should be allowed to host social functions such as weddings, sources said.

The government last month had set up a committee headed by Tripathi to finalise the policy.

There are around 2,500 farmhouses in the city which are guided by rules and regulations of the DDA and MCD.

The sources said that the DDA is framing a new policy for the farmhouses under which norms will be finalised for allowing them to hold social gatherings as well as other commercial activities.

At present, the farm owners have to seek permission from DDA or MCD for organizing any social function.

The Union urban development ministry has sought the opinion of the Delhi government before finalizing the policy on farmhouses as the DDA is under the Centre.

Officials said the Delhi government does not agree with certain proposals put forth by DDA such as allowing built-up area on 50 per cent of the total area and so will present a separate policy to deal with farmhouses.

The issue of social functions in farmhouses was raised a few years ago in the Standing Committee of the MCD where it was discussed that the farmhouses located on narrow roads should not be permitted for big functions as they cause traffic jams. Later, the issue was left pending.

New Delhi, November 11
The number of autos will increase in Delhi and the harassment of commuters who travel by them will also come down as the Supreme Court has permitted the Delhi Transport Authority to issue permit to new auto rickshaws. It can issue as many as one lakh permits for new autos.

The court issued these directions on an application moved by the Delhi Transport Authority in 2002 for lifting the ban on issuing fresh permits.

At present, there are 50,000 autos in Delhi. About 45,000 of them are always on roads. On weekends 20,000-25,000 autos are operated. In comparison to the number of autos, passengers are more. Overcharging is a common phenomenon in the Capital, said Neeraj Chopra who always travel by auto.

Many times the auto operators refuse to go when a commuter asks them, but agree when they are paid more than the actual fare. "Now we will have more autos on roads. They cannot harass the commuters anymore," said Amita Chaudhary who works in PWD office at ITO.

Ratan, leader of an auto rickshaw union, also felt that the directives of the apex court would bring down the harassment of commuters. But it will take some time as the court has not issued any time limit for new autos.

New Delhi, November 11
At a time when many lives are lost in India owing to the gap between the availability of organs and donors at hand, a public awareness initiative 'Gift A Life' launched last evening endeavors to start a movement on organ donation.

Supported by a private healthcare provider, Apollo Hospital, the website wwwgiftalife.org aims to bring awareness on the issue of organ donation as lack of awareness on it is a major hurdle in the way of many who want to pledge their organs, said experts.

While flagging off the initiative, cricketer Gautam Gambhir took the pledge and said, "Thousands die every year for want of organs and I feel through the initiatives like 'Gift a Life', we can do something for society. I appeal to the media to create awareness about organ donation. I urge everyone to donate their organs."

With more than one lakh people requiring replacement, the shortage of organs is acute.

"We desperately need to create awareness about organ donation. It is now more than 15 years since the law declaring brain death came into effect in India, yet there is limited awareness that one individual can gift lives to at least eight patients with organ failure," said Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director and senior pediatric gastroenterologist, Apollo Hospitals.

New Delhi, November 11
The government has launched a campaign, 'Shiksha ka Haq' under the Right to Education Act on the occasion of Education Day today to provide free and compulsory education to the children between the age group of six and 14 years.

Inaugurating the campaign, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the government had approved the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011. It would be notified shortly.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 came into force on April 4, 2010. It confers the right to free and compulsory education on every child in the age group of six to 14 years. Children with special needs are also covered under it.

According to the Act, no child would be denied admission. All the government and government-aided schools would have a management committee to prepare the school development plan, including the estimation of the class-wise enrolment, requirement of teachers and physical requirement of additional infrastructure and equipment.

The minister said the government would create awareness amongst the citizens regarding the rights of the children as mentioned in the Act, ensure the enrolment and continued attendance of the children, monitor the maintenance of the norms and standards specified in the Act in respect of school infrastructure, etc.

More schools would be opened. In case of children in classes first to fifth, a school would be established within a radial distance of one kilometer and in case of students in classes VIth to VIIIth, a school will be established within a radius of three k, he said.

Record of all children would be maintained by the local authorities through a household survey since their birth till they attain the age of 14 years and it will be updated annually. About 13,000 new posts of teachers have been sanctioned by the Delhi government and would be provided as per the strength of the students in the school.

New Delhi, November 11
A 35-year-old woman, suspected to be a witchcraft practitioner, has been sentenced to three years in jail by a Delhi court for kidnapping an infant.

Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau, however, acquitted the woman of the charge of trying to murder the one-year-old boy.

"The prosecution has not been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the child was kidnapped for the purpose of murder as a 'bali' (sacrifice)," the court said.

According to the prosecution, Sheela was caught soon after she kidnapped the child from his maternal home.

The child's mother, Kamlesh, had gone to her maternal house to meet her parents and brothers on April 23 this year. There, Sheela, who was an acquaintance of the family, came to meet her. As Kamlesh went inside the house, leaving the child with Sheela, she picked up the boy and ran away from there. Finding Sheela missing along with her son, Kamlesh began looking for him. Later, a neighbour brought the child back, stating that he found him lying in a pool of muddy water by the roadside. Another witness told the court that she had seen Sheela throwing the child in the pool. — PTI

New Delhi, November 11
After dengue, now another mosquito-borne disease chikungunya is a cause of worry for Delhiites.

The number of cases of the disease rose to 71 after eight people tested positive in the past 24 hours, said VK Monga, chairman of the public health committee of the MCD.

"The increase in the number of chikungunya cases even after the arrival of the winter is a cause of worry," he said.

Meanwhile, hospitals in the city have diagnosed only 15 new cases of dengue in the past one day, indicating that the disease has started ebbing in the city, according to Monga.

"The number of people affected by dengue fever this year has reached the 945-mark. Fifteen cases were reported in the past one day. Dengue cases are gradually showing a downward trend. Unlike earlier when 20 and above dengue cases were being reported in just 24 hours, now it is lesser," Monga said.

Over 10,000 dengue cases have been detected in the country this year. According to the union health ministry figures, states like Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have had no dengue cases this year. In contrast, over 1,000 dengue cases were reported in Punjab, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

"Dengue can be fatal, but chikungunya is painful," Monga said. — PTI