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One dies in mishap as dense fog hits life
Fog trips lines, disrupts power supply for hours
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Post-Bhatta, 65% farmers preferring Cong: Survey
Dowry: 2 get life for burning woman
Shoddy murder probe: Court directs action against woman IO
Woman repulses teaser, gets police reward
DU student jumps to his death at LNJP
Auto expo tickets available at Metro stations
UP poll: Prohibitory orders imposed on Gzb
GMC accused of illegal land sale
2 held in MCA student murder case
Doc stabbed, robbed of car
2 held with fake currency
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One dies in mishap as dense fog hits life
New Delhi, January 5 The incident took place in Chirag Dilli around 1 am. The deceased has been identified as Sujay Vats, a resident of Ghaziabad who worked in a BPO in Sainik Farm. He was returning home when the accident took place. He died on the spot. The driver of the car, Umang Aggrawal, was apparently blinded by fog. Aggarwal was arrested and a case of rash and negligent driving has been registered. Delhi saw a chilly and foggy morning today. Clouds covered the sky throughout the day with almost no sunlight. As fog descended on the city in the morning, the visibility fell to near zero levels and the air and railway services were disrupted. Several trains moving in and out of the Capital were delayed and operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport were also affected. Due to the poor visibility, both in the Capital and the destinations, over 200 flights were affected, as per the latest update from the airport authorities. Earlier during the day, low-visibility procedure CAT-III was implemented for 146 flights, CAT-II for 47 flights and CAT I for 49 flights. Passengers were left harried as bad weather at destinations resulted in the cancellation of nine flights and delay of six others. Another 24 flights were delayed owing to the foggy conditions in the city. The scenario was no different at the railway stations, with over 150 trains running hours late from their scheduled departure timing. Office goers were also seen struggling to be in time for work due to slowing down of traffic on the roads. "From tomorrow, I will start one hour before the usual time to reach office on time," said Shyama Kapoor on her way to her office in Faridabad. The scenario is going to worsen in the coming days, with an increase in the cold conditions once the clouds are blown away by the northwesterly winds, said officials of the Indian Meteorological Department. According to the prediction of the department, the Capital will witness extreme cold over the weekend. Today, the minimum temperature was recorded at 8.6 degree Celsius, two notches above normal. For tomorrow, the weather department has predicted thunderstorms with showers. The high and low temperatures are expected to oscillate between 11 and 20 degrees. |
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Fog trips lines, disrupts power supply for hours
New Delhi, January 5 "The problem started around 1 am. Dust and other pollutants in the air get deposited on the insulators and occasionally lead to tripping of lines," said the official. The total load affected due to tripping was 600 MW. The areas affected the most include east Delhi, north-west Delhi and south Delhi like Geeta Colony,
Rohini, Mehrauli, Mahipalpur, Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar and Sabzi Mandi. Some areas witnessed power failure for more than six hours as the efforts to restore power supply took more than the usual time. The peak load during the past 24 hours was 3,265 MW. Power department officials said the problem started around 2 am as thick fog descended on the Capital. "Due to the dense fog, moisture developed and it led to short circuit and subsequent tripping of electric lines," the official said. He said the restoration of power supply took time as many lines which were rectified tripped again. "Pollution in the city is one reason. Dust particles get accumulated on the electric line. Moisture is developed when there is fog. This leads to short circuit on the line," the officials said. |
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Prime lands sold to DLF for a song
New Delhi, January 5 The real estate developer DLF, which has acquired land from the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for building multilevel parking lot at Sarojini Nagar and Baba Kharak Singh Marg, has been alleged to have bought it at a meagre cost of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively. "The NDMC has awarded the land worth crores of rupees to the builder for just Rs 15 lakh and Rs 22 lakh at two prime locations. These pieces of land are situated in posh South and Central Delhi. Why the Council has done such a favour to a private developer?" asked Karan Singh Tanwar, BJP MLA and member of NDMC. The DLF was given 3,783 sq mt in Sarojini Nagar and 6,085 sq mt at Baba Kharak Singh Marg. In both the parking lots, two floors have been developed as commercial complexes. The developer will rent out the space to companies and shopkeepers. The projects have been allotted under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and leased out to the builder for 30 years. The parking lot at Sarojini Nagar has already been inaugurated on November 10 last year by Union urban development minister Kamal Nath, while the one at Baba Kharak Singh Marg is being constructed. However, the Sarojini Nagar parking, which is also the first automatic multilevel parking in the city, had been shut for free days from December 31 to January 2 as it had developed a technical snag. "With this decision of the NDMC, while the developer has got richer by millions of rupees, the exchequer has been robed of its profit three times," said Tanwar. He demanded an investigation into the matter by the CBI and urged the Union government to cancel the contracts with the developer besides taking action against the NDMC officials. |
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Nursery Admission Woes
New Delhi, January 5 Parents are complaining that even as the government felt the need to aid the families from the economically weaker section (EWS), it failed to cap the other criteria laid down by schools that are eating up a big chunk of general category seats. Mishka Tripathi, a resident of CR Park, said, "There is reservation for EWS, management, staff, alumni or a sibling, first born and proximity from school, where does an average general category candidate fit in. The competition is fierce and it is judged by factors which one cannot control. Everyone seems to have an added advantage other than a normal general category candidate," said Suresh Rawat, a resident of Rohini. Last year, at schools like Ahlcon International in Mayur Vihar-I and Bluebells International in Kailash Colony every third student in the general category was under the alumni parent and siblings criteria. A few schools admitted students through draw of lots, like Apeejay, Pitampura, but even there one third of the total seats were reserved under this background. At some of the top schools like DPS, Mathura Road, such preferences left not more than a handful of seats for the general category, revealed one of the staff members at the school, requesting anonymity. Moreover, this year a few schools have introduced extra points for the first-born child, but the weightage to it is not more than 10 points, whereas siblings and alumni parent applicants can corner as many as 40 points in some schools. "The EWS category families now have to just purchase a common form. But what about the rest of the families? We parents are juggling jobs and frantically queuing up at schools for the forms. Every parent is aiming for at least 10 schools. To top it all, all sorts of prioritisations by schools reduces our chances further. Some schools give extra preference to alumni or sibling connection; others give preference to those who live within the 3-km radius. It's almost futile to aim for a dream school for our children," said Tanya Bhambri, a parent at Vasant Valley School today. Prashant Sharma, a west Delhi resident, added, "The government is helping out families from the EWS, but it would not focus on elevating education standards at the government schools." |
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Post-Bhatta, 65% farmers preferring Cong: Survey
Noida, January 5 The farmers say that the Congress government in the state will benefit Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway and the airport project will also become a reality. On the other hand, the bureaucrats' reasoning is that the Congress has been out of power for more than two decades. Their state leaders and workers are using their own funds. On getting power in the state, their 'demands' would be quite high. The survey was conducted by a group of MBA students from various institutes. It is based on unofficial talks which the surveyors had during the last two months with around 600 bureaucrats and government employees and around 1,000 farmers in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Meerut districts. "Around 60 per cent government employees were against the Congress government, 30 per cent favoured it and 10 per cent did not express their opinions," said M Kumar, one of the MBAs who did the survey. "Around 65 per cent farmers claimed that after Rahul Gandhi's Bhatta visit, their liking for the Congress has increased," he said. "The majority of the persons surveyed felt
that the BSP will come to power though with less number of seats. They attribute it to the lack of choice. However, they
all say that the Congress's tally was bound to be more than doubled," Kumar
added. |
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Dowry: 2 get life for burning woman
New Delhi, January 5 The court awarded life imprisonment to Laxmi and her 19-year-old daughter Jyoti but refused to impose death penalty on them, saying the case does not fall in the "rarest of rare" category. "Keeping in view all the facts and circumstances of the case, I found that for awarding capital punishment, the case must fall in the category of rarest of the cases. But facts and circumstances of the present case do not make this case fall under that category," said Additional Sessions Judge VK Bansal. "Keeping in view the gravity of the offence, I sentence both the convicts Laxmi and Jyoti to life imprisonment," he added. The judge said the prosecution had proved beyond doubt that the mother-daughter duo had put Asha, a resident of Adarsh Nagar in east Delhi, on fire by pouring kerosene oil on her as per their common intention to kill her. The court also took into account the dying declaration of the victim in which she had said her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had put her on fire by pouring kerosene oil. "The dying declaration is relevant, trustworthy, unblemished and is not the result of any tutoring or ill motive. In my opinion, reliance can be placed upon the same, particularly when, it found corroboration from the medical evidence," the judge said.
— PTI |
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Shoddy murder probe: Court directs action against woman IO
New Delhi, January 5 The court order came in a case of murder of two constables of the railway protection special force in which the two accused, Rashid and Chaman, were let off as the police had failed to prove their guilt beyond doubt. "With the trust and faith that the commissioner of police shall take appropriate action against the erring investigating officer (IO) for conducting sub-standard investigation , a copy of judgement be sent to him for taking necessary action," Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Jain said. The Jain also said the commissioner might issue "directions as he deems fit to all concerned that in future IOs shall make sincere efforts to collect scientific evidence such as DNA test, especially in such heinous crimes." Two constables JC Solanki and C Punraj were stabbed to death at GB Road, Kamla Market, here on May 15, 2009. The court found grave lapses in the probe by investigating officer inspector Bala Sharma. "I deem it appropriate to bring anguish of the court on record keeping in view serious lapses in the investigation as well as the manner in which the IO made deposition in the court," the court said.
— PTI |
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Woman repulses teaser, gets police reward
New Delhi, January 5 It was a usual day for Akansha as she was returning from a Metro station to her home in Patel Nagar. It was about 8.30 pm yesterday, when she was talking to her mother over the phone. A man suddenly pounced on her from behind, snatched her phone and ran. She chased him and finally caught up when a security guard nabbed the culprit. Akansha accosted him on the street and slapped him across the face. The police reached within 10 minutes of being informed of the matter. The man was later identified as Ranjit, a labourer who was residing at Katputali Colony in Patel Nagar. “I got a good response from the police that has been helpful. In Delhi, eve-teasing is a common issue that every girl has to endure,” she narrated. She recalled that her parents had warned her against retaliating to men. “My parents told me not to be aggressive with men as they fear that I might get kidnapped one day,” she said. And while the Additional Commissioner of Police (Central), Devesh Srivastava and other senior officers closely watched her, they decided to award her for bravery. “We will give her a reward of Rs 1,000 and a letter of recognition. This girl has done an exemplary deed. Such citizens must help the police,” said the Additional CP. |
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DU student jumps to his death at LNJP
New Delhi, January 5 Additional Commissioner of Police (Central District) Devesh Srivastava said that the deceased, Rocky Rai was a third-year student of B.Sc. at Zakir Husain College, Delhi University. He was staying with his aunts at Nangloi Village. "Rocky had failed in a paper. Around 10.30 am yesterday, we received a call that he had consumed sleeping pills and slit his wrists. He was thereafter admitted to the medicine ward on the third floor of the LNJP hospital. His relatives arrived there after sometime. Last night, only his cousin was with him. Rocky told him that he was going somewhere and would return after a while. He instead went on to the fourth floor (ICU ward) and jumped down from there," added the Additional CP. Rocky died instantly. He had sustained head and leg fractures, according to the police. The police officer added that his body has been kept at the mortuary of the hospital. A post-mortem will be conducted after his parents arrive. The police has registered a case of "unnatural
death". |
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Auto expo tickets available at Metro stations
New Delhi, January 5 On January 7 and 8, the tickets will be available from 9 am to 4 pm whereas on January 9, 10 and 11, it will be from 12 noon to 5 pm. The cost of the tickets for general public on weekend will be Rs 200. On weekdays, the tickets will cost Rs 500 for business hours (10 am to 1 pm) and Rs 150 for general hours (1 pm to 8 pm). The business hour tickets will be available from the Pragati Maidan Metro station only. Current day tickets can be bought from the following stations: Dilshad Gadren, Shahdara, Kashmere Gate, Inderlok, Rohini West and Rithala.; Jahangirpuri, Vishwavidyalaya, Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat and HUDA City Centre; Vaishali, Anand Vihar, Noida City Centre, Pragati Maidan, Barakhamba, Karol Bagh, Rajori Garden, Janakpuri West, Moti Nagar, Uttam Nagar East and Dwarka Sector 9; Mundka; Badarpur, Govindpuri and Lajpat Nagar. |
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UP poll: Prohibitory orders imposed on Gzb
Ghaziabad, January 5 As part of the order, district magistrate Shashi Bhushan has directed owners to not carry firearms and deposit them at their nearest police station, violation of which will lead to criminal prosecution. Among other provisions, assembly of four or more persons at public places and the use of loudspeakers without the prior permission of the administration has been banned. Contesting candidates will also have to get the approval of the administration before holding rallies or meetings. The seven-phased elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will start on February 4 and end on February 28.
— PTI |
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GMC accused of illegal land sale
Ghaziabad, January 5 The land, valued around Rs 30 crore, was sold to the builder for Rs 4.4 crore, he said, adding that the illegal deal was exposed through a right to information plea. Tyagi, a board member of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), said civic officials sold the land on the basis of a government order which had been quashed by the Allahabad High Court long ago. Denying any wrongdoing, GMC property officer TP Verma said: "We have been acting as per the government order on sale of land." Tyagi said the chief town planner of the GDA had asked the builder and the municipal corporation to furnish documents showing their rightful ownership so that the necessary approvals could be accorded. But neither the builder nor the municipal corporation could do so hence the plan could not be approved, he said.
— IANS |
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2 held in MCA student murder case
New Delhi, January 5 Manoj Kumar and Kapoor Singh, alleged pickpockets, were apprehended in connection with the murder of Rajnish on January 1 in Kalyanpuri. Rajnish had gone to India Gate along with his six friends to celebrate the New Year. When they were returning home in a DTC bus the incident took place. "Three pickpockets had also boarded the bus. Rajnish saw one of them picking the mobile from Manish's pocket and the trio getting down. While Rajnish and his friends were getting down challenging them, he was stabbed," the police said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. During investigations, police zeroed in on a gang of pickpockets of which Kapoor and Manoj were members. "They were absconding...We could finally apprehend Manoj, a resident of Aligarh, following which Kapoor was arrested," a police official said.
— PTI |
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Doc stabbed, robbed of car
Noida, January 5 Dr Pradeep Singh, along with another doctor Pradeep Shalat, was travelling in his car this morning when someone forced them to halt the vehicle to ask about some direction. As the car stopped robbers at a knife-point robbed the car and threw the doctors out of the car at around half a kilometer away. He was stabbed on hands, legs and abdomen. The other doctor has left the city out of fear. |
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2 held with fake currency
New Delhi, January 5 The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Rahim (28) and Nadim (20), the police said today. Nadim was the first to be arrested on the New Year day from Paharganj allegedly with fake notes with face value of Rs 80,000. His interrogation led to Rahim, who was picked up from the same area later allegedly with counterfeit notes with face value of Rs 11,000.
— PTI |
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