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Centre gives go-ahead to MCD trifurcation
DTC bus runs over woman
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Eunuchs happy with care
given by GTB hospital doctors
Pact to make CNG from waste signed
Trifurcation
Mumbai blast accused held in Noida
Online campaign helps child with rare disorder
Residents say no to possible tax on Noida eway
Rape Case: BPO worker’s mobile seized
A sunny day
Lawyer’s son feared kidnapped
IGNOU launches e-services
Noida to host 4th Global Film Festival
Premature triplets doing well
Lokayukta issues notice to DDA, Delhi
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Centre gives go-ahead to MCD trifurcation
New Delhi, November 23 The Chief Minister along with all the ministers of Delhi government visited the Union home minister to convey her thanks. The proposal to trifurcate the MCD was submitted to the MHA by the Delhi government five months ago though it was opposed by the opposition in Delhi Assembly, MCD counsellors across the party lines and some leaders within the Congress party. The BJP had said that trifurcation was against the spirit of the Constitution and would cripple the functioning of the civic body. The Chief Minister met the Union home minister and AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi many times to convince them that the trifurcation would improve the functioning of the
civic body. Speaking to reporters after meeting Chidambaram, she said, "Home minister P Chidambaram has signed the file giving approval for trifurcation of MCD. We came here to thank him." She said the Delhi cabinet would meet tomorrow to decide as to when to convene a session of the Delhi Assembly where a Bill for trifurcating the MCD would be placed. The Delhi government had sent the proposal to the home ministry in early June, seeking the go-ahead for trifurcation ahead of municipal polls. The home ministry, after giving the in-principle approval last week, had sent the proposal to the law ministry for vetting. Before getting clearance from the law ministry, the home ministry wanted certain amendments to the proposal, specifically on appointment of commissioners for the three proposed municipal councils. The Delhi government had been pressing for a go-ahead to the proposal so that the entire process of trifurcation could be completed ahead of coming into force the election code of conduct for the municipal polls. They are scheduled to be held in April next year. The home ministry had in September returned the proposal to the city government wanting to know specifically what would be the administrative structure, distribution of funds and how the city government plans to ensure proper coordination of three proposed bodies. The government had sent a fresh proposal last month. With the trifurcation, 50 per cent seats of corporators would be reserved
for women instead of 33 per cent. However, after much deliberation within the party and discussions with senior AICC leaders, it was decided that the MCD would be split into three parts and the number of wards kept at 272. As per the bill, the new civic bodies in North and South Delhi will have 104 wards each, while the civic body in East Delhi will have 64 wards. Both the North and South Delhi municipalities will have 26 assembly constituencies each while the 18 assembly segments will fall under the East Delhi municipality. |
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DTC bus runs over woman
New Delhi, November 23 The woman is identified as Priya Jain. The police said the accident occurred about 11.30 am. The accident took place between pillar No. 82 and 83 of the Metro railway at Vikas Marg. The bus indulged in the accident was arriving from Shahdara and heading towards Shivaji Stadium. The bus driver, Govind Lal (42), has been arrested and a case registered against him under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC. A police official said, "Priya was crossing the road when a DTC bus ran over her. She had put on earphones and maybe had not seen the bus coming towards her. Two-three minutes after the accident, we nabbed Govind. An emergency response vehicle of the Preet Vihar police station escorted Priya to the Metro hospital where doctors declared her brought dead." The body was taken to the Sabzi Mandi mortuary for post mortem. A witness said, "The DTC bus ran halfway over her head. The driver had run over her and he reversed the bus, while assuming that she would be saved. But, she probably died on the spot." Priya was staying with her father Deepak Jain, mother Mamta Jain and brother Ashish Jain at Radhey Puri near Krishna Nagar. Priya's cousin Goldie said she had completed her graduation in BCom from Delhi University. "She had filled a form for the MBA course at IGNOU, which she was going to submit tomorrow," he said. One of Priya's relatives said she had also completed a diploma course in French and Spanish from Indraprashtha University. She was working at E-Future, an electronic store, located in Vikas Marg. Priya was going to her office when the accident occurred. |
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Eunuchs happy with care given by GTB hospital doctors
New Delhi, November 23 The hospital's 22-bedded burns ward, having 21 doctors and nursing staff, was pressed into service and the situation seemed to have been managed successfully by the whole unit. Doctors said motivating sessions on disaster management and a recent mock drill conducted by the Delhi police came out handy in managing the situation amidst an emotionally charged atmosphere. "Every staffer rose to the occasion and I'm happy with them. We are educating our doctors to deal with disasters through lectures. But in such a situation, it is not just the doctors but also others, including the nursing staff, security and orderly who have to be trained. Mock drills should be conducted from time to time," said Dr Varun Kulshreshtha, head of the department of GTB Hospital's burns and plastic surgery department. To mange a disaster, the factors crucial are manpower while beds should be vacant all the time to meet any exigency. Doctors said for a hospital like GTB, which caters to the trans-Yamuna area as well as adjoining states of UP and Haryana, the disaster ward should have at least 100 beds against nearly 40 beds. On the harrowing night last Sunday, the disaster team, comprising 30 doctors and nurses each from several departments, including burns surgery, anesthesia, medicine, ophthalmology and diagnostics, was pressed into service. "We are prepared for disaster with all types of surgical consumables and drugs and in mock drill we call the doctors as well as technical staff. On that night, all doctors turned up immediately and the patient management was done effectively while the security staff managed the companions who were anxious to meet the victims inside the disaster and burns sections," said GTB Hospital's medical superintendent Dr Raj Pal. Those who have still stationed themselves at the GTB Hospital seemed to be satisfied with the hospital authorities. "This is the first time that we are facing such a situation. Many of us are lying inside battling for life and now all our hope is on the doctors here," said Rekha Naik, a guru of the eunuch group from Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, three days after the massive fire, which claimed 16 lives and injured 37 from the eunuch community, the victims admitted to the two city hospitals today received the announced compensation through cheques. |
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Pass Lokpal Bill or face stir, Ramdev warns govt
New Delhi, November 23 Ramdev has set a one-week deadline and asked for the measures which the government would take to address his concerns. He has written to the Prime Minister on the issue, stating that he would launch an agitation beginning with the five poll-bound states if his concerns are not addressed. His demands include a strong Lokpal Bill to be passed in the current Parliament session, stronger steps to recover illicit funds stashed abroad besides tax reforms, including across-the-board elimination of domestic taxes. Releasing his seven-page open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Capital today, Ramdev told the reporters, "If the government does not take important and decisive steps on these three issues in the winter session, I will be forced to organise agitations in the five poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh, and later extend it to other parts of the country," he added while releasing copies of his letter to the Prime Minister. Back in June, Ramdev had drawn thousands of supporters to a huge protest camp at the Capital's Ram Lila Maidan that was eventually stopped by the police. |
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Pact to make CNG from waste signed
New Delhi, November 23 A 72 MLD sewage treatment plant at Keshopur has also been selected for implementation of the biogas up gradation technology as a pilot project. Through modern biogas technology, waste will be used to produce CNG grade fuel. The estimated gas production at Keshopur plant is 25,000 m/day and the gas produced from the plant will have the potential to fuel a fleet of 120 DTC buses. As per the MoU, a detailed project report is being developed upon which a special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be created with IGL (majority shareholder), KG Renewable Energy Private Ltd and DJB as shareholders and with the purpose of implementing the project. Delhi has been using CNG for its public transport for more than 10 years and has the world's largest fleet of vehicles running on clean fuel. The IGL is the sole supplier of CNG in the capital and a pioneer in providing clean energy solutions in the region. It is expected that the new technology, introduced by the parties in the SPV, will allow for biogas to be upgraded to the highest CNG quality. "The plant will be designed for a minimum of leakage of methane and contribute to modern environmental standards and also to the climate with a reduction of 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year," said a senior DJB official. "India and Sweden had started cooperation in the field of waste to energy in 2009 with a special focus on biogas and to explore the possibilities to combine Indian and Swedish experiences and competence in this field. The common ground for all participants has been a strong belief that technologies for a better use of the energy potential in waste and wastewater could be made commercially viable in Delhi," he said. |
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Trifurcation
New Delhi, November 23 The trifurcation will result in additional
burden of Rs 1,500 crore on the people annually. The BJP will highlight the shortcomings of
trifurcation before the people. Delhi unit chief of the BJP, Vijendra Gupta said just to serve her own interest, the Chief Minister passed the resolution in haste which has been approved by the Union government. According to the rules, objections and suggestions should have been invited from the people. The town planners and metropolitan experts should have widely
discussed it. He said by weakening the MCD, the Delhi government wanted to grab the powers of autonomous local bodies. The influence of
bureaucracy will increase due to the trifurcation and the role of public representatives will become weak. |
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Mumbai blast accused held in Noida
Noida, November 23 In a confidential joint operation, Tofique Ahmed was arrested when he was about to flee to Saudi Arabia via Nepal. He was believed to be closely connected to Lashkare Toyaiba, Simi and other terrorist outfits. For the past many years, Tofique had been wanted by the Tamil Nadu police for supplying detonators for the blast in Mumbai. The recent interrogation of terrorist Naem in Agra had provided crucial leads about Tofique. A mobile phone with three SIMs and five extra SIMs was recovered from him. The Tamil Nadu police has taken him to Chennai. Dy. S.P. Sampat Kumar of Tamil Nadu SIT had reached Noida with a warrant for Tofique. He handed over the details of Tofique to senior officer of UP ATS and Noida police. Investigations have been started. The Noida police had got wind of Tofique who was in Noida. He was to leave for the Delhi airport to catch a flight for Nepal. Cops of Tamil Nadu SIT, western UP ATS and Noida Sector-24 were deployed in plain clothes near Morna bus stand and City Centre of Metro station. As Tofique reached the bus stand, he was nabbed by the Tamil Nadu police. He told the police that for the last four months, he had taken shelter in Lucknow and Bairaich areas. Western UP ATS chief Rajiv Narain Mishra said for several years, the Tamil Nadu police had been trying to catch Tofique. He had also plotted a blast to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi during his visit to Tamil Nadu in 2008, Mishra added. |
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Mazdoor unions hold protest against exploitation of labourers
New Delhi, November 23 A parent organisation of the several labourers' unions, they put across various demands to stop exploitation of labourers employed in different fields. The traffic was also diverted for the rally, which saw participation of a few thousands of labourers, though the members of the organisation said many of their vehicles were not allowed to enter the city by the police and were stopped at the border. Various demands raised by mahasangh include vacancies in government jobs, hike in minimum wages, permanent status for women working in aanganbadi, etc. "Privatisation should be removed and vacancies should be increased in the government jobs as it used to be earlier. This will help in reducing unemployment," said Baijnath Rai, general secretary of the organisation. Various auto-rickshaw unions also participated in the rally raising demands like reforms in the 1996 policy for auto-rickshaws, one permit for one person, finance from nationalised banks, etc. "The Delhi government should ensure that genuine applicants get the permits. And only one auto should be given to a person with a valid license and a batch," said Rajender Soni, president of the Bharatiya Private Transport Mazdoor Sangh. According to the sangh, allowing one auto per person will avoid overcharging by the drivers and will inspire them to follow the meter. As registration of auto-rickshaws was allowed only on replacement basis, cartels were created by certain people who would buy permits along with old vehicles and sell them at exorbitant rates, he said. "At present, the driver has to pay a rent of Rs 300 per shift and thus it becomes Rs 600 for 24 hours, which too expensive for a person to manage," Soni said. |
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Online campaign helps child with rare disorder
New Delhi, November 23 "The key to her treatment was cord blood transplant. After going through all details, we found that the treatment would cost us around Rs 18 lakh. Even though I was determined to save my daughter, this expense was out of my reach," said Maanya's father K Ganesh. Dr Anupam Sachdev, a bone marrow transplant physician with the Sir Ganga Ram hospital, said, "When Maanya was brought to us in August, we saw that she had bone deformity, big and abnormal face, very thick skin, deposits in her eyes causing partial blindness and development delay. The disease is due to defective enzyme. She either had to undergo enzyme therapy on a weekly basis which would continue life long, or go for a stem cell transplant. However, both alternatives were expensive for Maanya's parents. "The enzyme therapy would cost Rs 50,000 every week. Stem cells would cost me Rs 18 lakh," said Ganesh. Hearing about Ganesh's helplessness, a friend in Singapore came to his rescue. "He developed this web portal in the name of my daughter- savemaanya.Com. This portal has all details of the disease she was suffering from and of bank account opened in the name of Maanya at Punjab National Bank where anybody could donate. The news spread and donations flowed in from all corners of the world," the child's father said. After undergoing the cord blood transplant in October, Maanya became the first person in north India to undergo a successful unrelated double cord blood transplant for Hurler's syndrome, said another transplant expert Dr SP Yadav. The transplant was expensive affair as we had to arrange for cord blood stem cells. Maanya's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) did not match with her parents. We had to look for outside donors and went for the Reliance cord blood bank. It cost around Rs 5 lakh to collect that," Dr Yadav said. Dr Sachdev said the government support was necessary to provide such treatment to those patients who are not from strong financial background. "This rare disease is insured by the government abroad. Sadly, its not here in India. There are 30,000 to 40,000 children who are suffering from this rare disease. If the government provides help, many deaths and mental retardation that follows with this disorder can be prevented," he said.
— PTI |
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Educationists discuss evaluation mode
Gurgaon, November 23 The three-day conference, which focuses on the topic "Operational Issues in Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation", is being jointly organised by the COBSE and Board of School Education, Haryana. Addressing the participants, Haryana education minister Geeta Bhukkal maintained that restructuring the traditional school evaluation system with focus on continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) was the must for all-round development of children. CCE lays stress on physical, intellectual, social and other aspects of children's growth and for this, the children, their parents, teachers, school administration and examination bodies have to play their roles. "We have established a laboratory school at Bhiwani, which is based on the principle that children can learn best in real-life activities. Various collaborative and cooperative learning projects are being undertaken at the school extensively, so that children develop a sense of social responsibility and take collective decisions," she said, adding that the evaluation of their education is done on the basis of their participation in projects, understanding and behaviour towards others. COBSE president and CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi asserted that under CCE, children from different backgrounds are placed on the same pedestal while carrying out evaluation and thus, CCE becomes a great social equaliser. Haryana financial commissioner-cum-principal secretary (education) Surina Rajan, who is also the Chairperson of the Board of School Education, Haryana, pointed out that the CCE regime was initiated in Haryana in 2006-07. "Under the new system, evaluation of students is not based merely on educational achievements, but on various aspects of the personality of the child, which is a comprehensive approach," she opined. An international expert in evaluation and chief advisor of COBSE, Prof R.H. Dave observed that the purpose of CCE was to develop a national culture, which should not only benefit the individual, but the whole society. |
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Residents say no to possible tax on Noida eway
Greater Noida, November 23 In March last year, the news of a possible toll on the expressway led to several protests. "Toll is levied to recover costs. But the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway has been operational for the past seven years without any toll. We will take the matter to the streets if a tax is levied," said Rupa Gupta, president of the Greater Noida Mahila Samajik Samiti. "We had shifted to Greater Noida because of expressway connectivity. Now, levying a toll will be like a betrayal for us," said Niranjan Singh, a resident of Sector Beta. Even former officials at the Noida Authority say that the proposal to levy toll on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is unjustified. "We had sold the residential, industrial, institutional and commercial property promising expressway connectivity," said a former senior official at the Noida Authority, requesting anonymity. |
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Rape Case: BPO worker’s mobile seized
New Delhi, November 23 A police official said that other video clips of women were also found in the mobile phone. The victim was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, after she attempted to commit suicide by consuming pesticide on the night of November 19. She had given her statement to an NGO Nav Shrishti. According to the police, the victim had first met Harish at a mobile store in Sultanpuri on October 16. On October 22, he had called her to a mall in Prashant Vihar, Rohini, where he gave her a drink laced with sedatives. After she was drugged, he took her to a rented room and raped her. Harish made an MMS of the rape. The accused raped her again on November 14, blackmailing her. The victim attempted to commit suicide on November 18. |
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A sunny day
New Delhi, November 23 The humidity levels wavered between a high of 98 and a low of 63 per cent. According to IMD, Thursday will witness a foggy morning followed by a partly cloudy sky and chilly evening. Though, the afternoon will be warm.
— IANS |
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Lawyer’s son feared kidnapped
New Delhi, November 23 On November 21, Rohit had gone to his office, but did not return home. During late night, Rohit's father received a ransom call of Rs 50 lakh from the kidnappers. After negotiations, the demand was reduced to Rs 25 lakh, according to police sources. The next day, Rohit's father informed the police about the matter. The police formed three teams to find the alleged kidnappers. Investigations revealed that Rohit was kidnapped about 11.30 pm on November 21. He informed the police on the phone that some people were trying to kidnap him, according to the police. He had told the police that he was at BSZ Marg. Four people then tried to drag him into a car. The police said that it has put the mobile phone numbers of the alleged kidnappers and Rohit under surveillance. |
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IGNOU launches e-services
New Delhi, November 23 With the introduction of digital media and virtual information systems on the web, the library system has since been able to overcome the challenges of accessibility to library resources, reaching out to everyone, support curriculum needs of faculty and distance learners through its network of regional centres," said Sudhir K Arora, university librarian. Over the past five years, collection of e-resources has grown to over 22,000 full-text e-journals, databases, and e-books, all from leading publishers worldwide. On-campus users are able to access these e-resources from any computer connected to the campus
network. Off-campus users can use remote access to electronic resources (RATE) service for the purpose. |
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Noida to host 4th Global Film Festival
Noida, November 23 About 300 films, showcasing the best of cinema from Egypt, Canada, France and other countries, will be screened at the three-day event. The focus segment will be dedicated to films from Wales. Workshops, seminars and exhibitions will also be on show. The festival will present a retrospective of internationally acclaimed director, Jean Rouch's films. Noted film personalities from Bollywood, media writers and critics are expected to voice their views during the event, said festival president Sandeep Marwah. |
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Premature triplets doing well
Faridabad, November 23 A 52-year-old woman delivered three baby boys at AIMS on October 28 about 10 weeks before the expected date of delivery. They were kept on ventilator support. The three babies weighed 1.4 kg, 1.2 kg and 1.6 kg, respectively, and were fed milk via a tube. "The triplets born prematurely have coped well. They were discharged on Monday," said Dr Anil Batra, consultant at the hospital.
— IANS |
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Lokayukta issues notice to DDA, Delhi
New Delhi, November 23 The notice was issued after a complaint was filed in the Delhi Lokayukta, allegingmisuse of the benevolent scheme for regularisation of unauthorized colonies. It also alleged misuse of power for encroachment on public land. |
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A day after the chairman -cum -managing director (CMD) of the DTC, PK Gupta, at a meeting asked for training of
drivers as a "corrective measure" to avoid accidents, a DTC bus ran over a 21-year-old woman when she was
crossing the main road at Vikas Marg this morning.
