New Delhi, December 5
Two incidents of major fire were reported in the national Capital this morning. The fires gutted an almond and a garment godown in north-east and south-east Delhi, respectively, causing a loss of Rs 2 crore at the almond godown.

The first case of fire was reported around 6 am from an almond godown in SBS Colony at Karawal Nagar, according to the police. No one was injured, the police said.

“A security guard at the godown saw smoke emitting from the building and reported the matter to the police. He then informed the owner of the godown, Karamjeet,” said the police.

The police said the cause of the fire was probably short-circuit. The fire department, however, has not ascertained it.

The department said 20 firefighting engines were sent to douse the fire, but narrow lanes in the locality posed hindrances to the operation. The fire was doused around 9.15 am.

Karamjeet is a resident of Punjabi Bagh. He has revealed that the fire destroyed almonds worth Rs 2 crore.

The second incident of fire was reported around 11.30 am from the basement of a residential building at Prakash Mohalla in East of Kailash. Here also, no one was injured.

The police said the fire department was yet to ascertain the cause of the fire.

“Clothes kept in a corner of the basement of a residential building had caught fire. The basement is owned by AK Sharma. We are still investigating the case,” said the police.

The police said smoke emitting from the basement was a hindrance to the firefighting operation. The fire department said four vehicles were rushed to douse the fire. 

New Delhi, December 5
Delhi is celebrating the 100 years of its being with full fervour and a hue of festivities, poised to capture the imagination of the mind.

Delhi completes 100 years as the Capital of India in December. To celebrate the feat, the Delhi tourism is organising various festivals all across the city which includes "Dilli ke Pakwaan" at Baba Kharak Singh Marg that began yesterday. The festival celebrates the palate called Delhi.

"Street food is the very soul of the culture of Delhi and no celebration can be complete without the quintessential chaat, kulfi, biryani and kebabs sold in the labyrinth of old Delhi. To venerate this inseparable aspect of the capital, the tourism department has brought the culinary delights of the age-old shops of Purani Dilli out into the open for everyone to enjoy," said Manish Chatrath, chairman of the Delhi tourism.

The festival is enclosed within the 1,100-ft long wall made up of paintings painted by several artists who have come to Delhi from various parts of the world and made city their home. Each inch of the wall celebrates the moods and moments of Delhi and its culture. Each painting has a story to tell. Be it that of Yamuna, which reads "There is a river. A river in you, in me, let it flow or eternal couplet of Mirza Ghalib "Hazaron Khwahishen aisi, ki har khwahish pe dam nikle".

"There has been overwhelming response. Around 15,000 to 20,000 people are visiting the site everyday. We are doing our best to make it more entertaining," said Chatrath.

The entire map of Delhi has been compressed and streets and places such as Paranthey Waali Gali, Sarojini Nagar and Lotus Temple have been transported to Baba Kharak Singh Marg to celebrate the different avatars of Delhi in the coming nine days.

The exquisite food can be accessed through any one of the seven gates that have been constructed to symbolise the seven gates of Delhi. All major festivals, seasons, religions find a representation in this small area just like they do in Delhi. About 100 chairs of different sizes, shapes, and colours are lined up near India Gate, one of the entrances of the festival, an obeisance to the sovereignty of the city as the seat of power for the past hundred years and many centuries prior.

The festival will continue for the next nine days and the entry is free.

Another spectacle, Punjabi mehfil, has also been thrown open at Dilli Haat, Pitampura, as part of the programmes to celebrate 100 years of Delhi with energetic performances by various Punjabi artists amidst colourful decorations that brought out the ambience of rural Punjab to life in the urban Delhi.

Traditional Punjabi furniture such as the charpoys, muddhas and chairs made of cane, along with the artistically mould and painted wells with the water-buckets, added to the Punjabi ambience.

New Delhi, December 5
A. K. Walia, given charge of urban development department, Delhi government, directed the officials concerned at a meeting today to expedite the process of regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

The unauthorized colonies that meet the norms of regularization would be approved before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections to be held in April next year.

Walia said that the government was sincere in regularising colonies that had been given clearance from the MCD, DDA, forest department, etc. The government will do its job soon, he said.

The government is also examining the cause of irregularities in issuing the provisional certificates. Today was the first meeting of the department concerned. It will take some time to bring all the things in a proper manner, he said. The government had issued provisional regularisation certificates to 1,400 unauthorised colonies ahead of the Assembly polls in 2008, which have been home to around 40 lakh people. The Dikshit government had in 2008 promised to regularise the colonies if the Congress came to power for the third term. However, not a single colony has been regularised so far.

Though the government plans to regularize these colonies before the MCD elections, a complaint was submitted before the Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin, alleging that four unauthorized colonies had been issued certificates though they did not follow the norms for regularisation. The complaint was filed by a former MLA Ramvir Singh Biduri. Thereafter, irregularities came to light in 125 colonies.

The Lokayukta had issued notices to the Delhi government last month seeking a detailed report on the issue. Lt-Governor Tejendra Khanna and Dikshit had issued separate directives to the urban development department to conduct an investigation into the allegation that non-existent colonies were issued provisional regularisation certificates. In its probe, the department has found irregularities in several cases.

New Delhi, December 5
The Delhi High Court today directed Ramjas School in the Anand Parbat area, west Delhi, to rollback Rs 400 hike in its monthly tuition fee announced this year.

Taking note of the submission of the Delhi director of education (DOE) that the financial position of the school is sound enough to do without such steep hike, Justice Hima Kohli said: "The Ramjas School, Anand Parbat, shall withdraw the arbitrary fee hike (Rs 400 per month per child) as the same is uncalled for in view of the financial strength of the school."

The court said, however, that the excess amount already realised from the parents should be adjusted in the payment of fees over period of next one year so that there are no immediate financial pressures on the school.

Earlier, the court had directed the education department to pass the order against the school to rollback the hiked fee in four weeks and inform the court by the next date of hearing.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a group of parents, through counsel Ashok Aggarwal, alleging that the school arbitrarily hiked the tuition fee for 2011-2012 academic session, which is volatile of the high court's earlier order as well as the notification of the government.

The court issued the direction after taking note of government counsel's submission that the committee set up by the education department has found in an inquiry that the school violated the government's April 2010 notification.

Justice Kohli also directed the school authorities to take Rs 1,900 as tuition fee from each student, which they charge at the beginning of the academic year.

The Delhi government in its report said the school would, however, be at liberty to re-assess its requirement of fee hike, if any, after pressing into use the financial resources at its disposal. — IANS

Gurgaon, December 5
On the recommendations of a committee headed by divisional commissioner TK Sharma, the district administration today fixed the fares for the metered autorickshaws on a trial basis. The owners of the unmetered autorickshaws have been given a week's time to get meters installed on their vehicles.

Deputy commissioner PC Meena today conveyed the decision to the representatives of autorickshaw operators and directed them to charge as per the fixed rates.

The committee has also recommended stopping registration of diesel autorickshaws as these pollute the environment more. The autos using clean fuels like petrol and CNG will be registered in Gurgaon.

As per the recommendations, the fare for the first 2 km will be Rs 20 and Rs 6.50 per km thereafter. During the night hours, from 11 pm to 5 am, the charges will be 25 per cent extra of the fare. The waiting charges will be Rs 30 per hour, subject to a minimum of 15 minutes. Luggage charges of Rs 7.50 will be charged for extra luggage but the driver will not charge any money for a shopping bag or a small suitcase. The district administration has made these fare rates effective with immediate effect.

The traffic police has been told to ensure that the autorickshaws charge the fares fixed by the administration. Meena directed the Secretary of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Dharmender Singh, to get the fare-lists displayed at Metro stations, bus stand and at important road intersections and ensure compliance thereof.

In case any auto-rickshaw operator charges more than the prescribed rates, one can complain to the police control room on phone number 100. Complaints about excessive charging can also be made to ACP (Traffic) Ravinder Tomer on mobile phone number 9999980810 or DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora on 9999981808.

Noida, December 5
The number of Aids patients is constantly increasing in G.B. Nagar district. In the past five years the number of patients has reached 50 now.

Neeta Bhardwaj, a counselor at a multi- specialty hospital, Noida, said within one month, 250 persons had become afflicted with Aids who are coming for tests and counseling.

So far, 50 persons had been confirmed as Aids patients. The number of men was higher than women. In 2007, there were only two Aids patients in the districts, which shot up to 10 in 2008, 17 in 2009 and the number had become 35 in 2010. This year, their number had reached 50, she added.

An NGO has counseled 45 sex workers in four months and brought them for tests to the hospital. Out of these, one sex worker was found suffering with Aids while eunuchs are also found to be having Aids virus, she added.

Neeta said a foetus had 30 per cent chances of having Aids from its mother. The parents should, without fail, get their children tested for HIV.

New Delhi, December 5
Two persons were killed after they were run over by trains in two separate incidents.

An unidentified man, in his fifties, who had donned a godman’s attire, was killed when a train ran over him a few yards from the New Delhi railway station platforms. He was wearing a sweater and loincloth.

The incident occurred around 12 pm.

The police is probing whether the man committed suicide. However, it asserted that from the nature of the injuries on the victim’s body, it appeared that he wanted to cross the tracks. The hands and throat of the victim were cut.

The body has been sent to the Sabzi Mandi mortuary, where it would be kept for the next three days. The police has sent a wireless message across India for the identification of the body.

In the second incident, a man, D Tomar (44), was killed when a train ran over him at the Tilak Bridge railway tracks, near the Pragati Maidan Metro station. Sources said Tomar was crossing the tracks when the train ran over him.

His body was shifted to the Sabzi Mandi mortuary and then handed over to his family.

Tomar lived with his wife and brother in Karkardooma. He operated a readymade garment business.

The incidents come as a grim reminder of the many such incidents that happen in Delhi. Sources said on an average, 1,300 people die on railway tracks in Delhi every year.

The Delhi Railway police has identified 12 places, including the railway tracks at Tilak Bridge, Pragati Maidan, Nehru Nagar and Ashram, which are notorious for train-related mishaps.

The railway police has requested the divisional railway manager (DRM) to erect permanent fences around the railway tracks at the 12 identified places. Other areas identified for erecting the fences are Sultanpuri, Ganesh Nagar, Mangolpuri, Seelampur, Mandavali Phatak, Rana Pratap Bagh, Bhor Garh, Ana Bazar and Hartosh Nagar. 

Ghaziabad, December 5
A 26-year-old woman doctor jumped in front of a train here today over a failed relationship, the police said.

Ankita Shukla, posted at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Shahdara, Delhi, lived in the Karol Bagh area of the Capital.

Her body, severed in two pieces, was found on the railway tracks between the Mohan Nagar and Sahibabad railway stations.

The police said she was in a relationship with a man named Ratan. This was revealed from her mobile phone found near the track.

A recent SMS sent to Ratan read: "You are a weak man, so I have no option but to commit suicide for which you are solely responsible. Still, I love you a lot."

The police also found a Delhi-Ghaziabad railway ticket at the spot.

"Prima facie, it seems to be a case of suicide, but investigation is still on. Medical details and other information would be put on record only after the autopsy report," said Ghaziabad superintendent of police (city) JK Shahi said. — IANS