New Delhi, January 7
Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg today made an online public apology for the traffic jams caused at India Gate and the surrounding areas yesterday due to the Auto Expo-2012.

On the Facebook page of the Delhi traffic police, Garg had posted that after learning from yesterday's setback there was a smooth flow of traffic today.

"After what we went through yesterday, we made proper arrangements today. We also did not tolerate violations of people, who were unnecessarily stopping and crowding Mathura Road and Bhairon Marg. The traffic flow today was absolutely fine. We will continue with the smooth arrangements and strictness for the remaining period of the expo," said the police official.

Earlier, he had also apologised to the public on the same page. "There are no excuses for traffic congestion in New Delhi and its surrounding areas. It was a bad show on our part. We could have managed the difficult situation much better. I am aware of the extreme difficulties people underwent during the evening, particularly around India Gate and the interconnecting roads. We promise to do better in similar circumstances," he added.

There were major gridlocks at India Gate, Connaught Place, ITO, Ashoka Road and Lodhi Colony due to the sudden rush to the expo yesterday.

Sources added that the traffic jams were also caused by the arrangements made at India Gate.

These arrangements were meant to facilitate the movement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Most of the followers of the traffic police Facebook page acknowledged the frankness of the joint commissioner of police.

"We all appreciate the fact that you are taking the responsibility for the mess yesterday. And we hope that the situation will be better from today," said Akash Dogra, a commuter.

Other people also pitched in their suggestions.

"There is sufficient space at Pragati Maidan to construct a large multi-level parking lot, if they do this, a lot of the chaos can be avoided," said a follower, Awini Ambuj Shanker.

New Delhi, January 7
A day after massive crowds caused chaos at the Auto Expo-2012 in Pragati Maidan and traffic jams outside, one of the organisers today said they were ready to shift the venue in the future as suggested by the Delhi police.

Reacting to Delhi police's suggestion to shift the expo, the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) steering committee for the 11th Auto Expo, Rajive Kaul told IANS: "The Delhi police is responsible for traffic management in the capital and we respect their decision. If they tell us to move out of Pragati Maidan, we will. We have other options as well, so it's not an issue."

The show is being co-hosted by the CII, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association.

Arguing that the Auto Expo alone could not be blamed for the jams as VIP movement at India Gate contributed to the chaos as well, Kaul said they were working closely with the police.

"We always work closely with the Delhi police during such important events and will continue to do so," said Kaul, citing "fruitful coordination" during the 2010 show despite several constructions going on in Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi traffic police today said that in future no-objection certificates (NOC) might not be given to hold events like the Auto Expo in the heart of the city. — IANS

New Delhi, January 7
Delhi will have the distinction of becoming the county's first public transport fleet that runs on two types of clean fuel.

After compressed natural gas (CNG), the city is all set to run its public transport fleet on biogas. The project of the Union government in collaboration with the Swedish government is setting up a biogas plant inside the Keshopur Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) complex in west Delhi. The plant will receive raw gas emitted by the STP and upgrade it so that it can be used to propel vehicles.

Giving information on the project, which is slated to be completed by next year, a senior official from Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said that the Keshopur STP was selected for the project because it was located close to a CNG-filling station and a CNG-fuelled power grid. With 10 per cent stake holding in the project, the city water authority would provide raw gas and land for setting up the biogas plant.

At full capacity, the STP will emit enough raw gas for the biogas plant to generate around 25,000 cubic metres of compressed biogas per day. This is enough to fuel 120 buses.

"The biogas formed can be directly injected into CNG cylinders for vehicular use or fed into CNG-fuelled power grid. It can be mixed with CNG and used. The STP is expected to generate enough biogas to fuel 120 buses a day," said the official.

According to Indraprastha Gas Ltd, a Delhi government undertaking and also the sole supplier of CNG in the capital, the city already boasts running the world's largest fleet of vehicles on CNG. Among the total of 4,50,000 vehicles that ply on the city roads, some 16,000 buses running on natural CNG.

Though, the pricing mechanism is yet to be worked out by the government. However, the biogas has long been largely confined to rural areas, where people produce biogas in their backyard and use it for cooking or electrification.

The STP, functioning partially, can treat 72 million litres of wastewater per day. The DJB is renovating it to make it fully functional as part of the Yamuna Action Plan.

Ghaziabad, January 7
Four members of a family were killed last night in Loni town of Ghaziabad district. The police said personal enmity was suspected as the motive.

Some half a dozen men barged into the house of Nawab last night.

They stabbed Nawab's three children - elder daughter Shama (18), younger daughter Alia (9) and son Amreen (8) to death. After killing the three children, the assailants broke into Nawab's bedroom where they stabbed his wife Rukhsana (37) to death.

Meanwhile, Nawab slipped away from the house and rushed to the police station but the assailants fled before the police reached.

The police suspects personal enmity as the reason behind the carnage as Nawab had been arrested earlier for killing Asif in Sahibabad town over a dispute of Rs 200. After coming out on bail, Nawab had shifted his residence to Ram Park Extension, Loni.

"The police has taken two persons belonging to Asif's family in custody. The bodies have been sent for autopsy," said JK Shahi, superintendent of police (Ghaziabad city). — IANS

Faridabad, January 7
The police has rescued a kidnapped boy and arrested two alleged kidnappers. The victim, Nitin (20), was abducted from a market in the Surajkund area last Wednesday. The kidnappers had demanded Rs 5.5 crore for Nitin's release.

The police commissioner of Faridabad, SS Kapur, today said that Nitin was yesterday rescued from Sector 21C of the Faridabad city.

"One of the accused was arrested in Noida and his accomplice was nabbed here. They are relatives. While one is a local resident, the other is a resident of Delhi," said Kapur.

Nitin, a resident of the posh EROS Colony in Surajkund, about 15 kms from here, was on Wednesday evening kidnapped from the market near his colony. The matter was reported to the police the same night.

According to the police, the kidnappers had used Nitin's cell phone to make the ransom call to his father Dharamveer Singh. They had also called up Nitin's other relatives. Dharamveer Singh is a native of Lakarpur village close to EROS Colony. The police zeroed in on the location of one of the accused on the basis of the calls made by him from Nitin's cell phone.

New Delhi, January 7
On a dull, overcast Saturday, more than 300 kite fliers from 13 countries gathered at the India Gate lawns, brightening up the sky with kites of all shapes, sizes and colours.

With kites shaped as dragons, butterflies, birds and even a parachute, the fliers participated in the curtain raiser to the International Kite Festival to be held in Ahmedabad from January 10-14.

An awestruck 15-year-old Tushar Baizal, though passionate about kites, was not sure if he could fly one, until the team from Indonesia handed him its kite.

"This feels so amazing. It is for the first time that I am flying such a huge kite," said the resident of the Old City, his eyes gleaming and his arms trying bravely to control the huge, red kite -- by far the biggest among the lot.

To ensure that the kite was not blown away by the wind, it was tied to a tree with a thick rope.

Indonesian flier Lily flew the parachute-shaped kite. With a slight tug, it billowed, turning into a kaleidoscope of colours.

First-time visitor to India Belgian Bert Maetens said he was excited about his upcoming Ahmedabad trip.

"I would love to see the traditional kite flying in the Indian villages, where the young and old alike engage in very competitive kite-fights and try to outdo each other," he said.

Among his repertoire was a huge black Rokkaku, a traditional Japanese fighting kite and a pair of Delta-wings which he claimed could "fly in no-air conditions".

His friend Bob Cruikshanks of Britain said kite-making had become an art in itself, with new materials being developed specially for the purpose.

"Our kites are crafted from Icarex, a special type of nylon, created in ripstop fashion which prevents tearing due to fast winds," he said.

A retired aeronautics engineer and a long-time kite enthusiast, he has been coming to India for six years now. — IANS

New Delhi, January 7
Daily commuters of Airport Metro express have a reason to cheer. The Reliance Metro Airport Express has launched a pre-paid and shared cab service reducing the hassles of the commuters taking the high-speed corridor on daily basis and struggle for a taxi from outside the station.

The minimum fare for the shared cab service has been fixed for Rs 10. It will be operational at the Shivaji Stadium station. The service will be launched at the Delhi Aerocity station from Tuesday.

Fliers who have to reach the Terminal-1 D of Indira Gandhi International Airport can now get down at the Aerocity station and reach the terminal by the shared cabs.

The cabs will be available from 8 am to 8 pm everyday at these stations and the Reliance Metro has tied up with Iris Cab, which provides radio taxi facility, said a spokesperson for Reliance Infra. These cabs have radio connectivity and their movements are closely monitored by the control room, he said.

"We are continuously working towards enhancing the commuters' convenience. The radio cab service will further ensure a comfortable, safe and better travel experience for our commuters," the spokesperson said.

The facility would also be made available at the New Delhi station soon.

New Delhi, January 7
A man, who had been a private secretary with the ministry of communication and information technology, has been arrested for allegedly cheating people by posing as advocate, the police said today.

Twenty fake rubber stamps of high-ranking government officials and 20 forged official documents had been seized from his possession. One of documents was an identity card of the Bar Council of Delhi.

On January 4, a police team was patrolling the Neb Sarai area in south Delhi. An informer tipped the team about the accused, Jagbir Singh (58), who looked suspicious. Singh was standing near the office of the deputy commissioner (south) with illegal stamps of government officials. The informer had also told the police that Singh used to cheat people by giving them forged documents.

Upon frisking Singh, the police found 16 fake stamps of high-ranking government officials. When he could not give a satisfactory answer about the stamps, he was arrested.

Singh disclosed that he was helping a couple get its marriage certificate issued from the office of the DC. For this, he had allegedly used forged stamps in the names of the sub-divisional magistrate (south) and sub-divisional magistrate, Vivek Vihar.

At Singh's instance, the police seized two certificates for physically handicap persons from his house. The certificates were meant to be used to get concession in railway tickets. It also found four forged rubber stamps and a fake I-card of the Bar Council of Delhi. The identity card was issued in the name of an advocate practicing at the Dwarka court, according to the police. Singh accused used to introduce himself as advocate and always carried the forged ID card.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Chhaya Sharma said, "Jasbir Singh has done his masters in economics, English and LLB. He was a private secretary in the ministry of communication and information technology.

He is married and has three children. Singh had been previously arrested for his involvement in similar cases of cheating. He was thereafter given compulsory retirement from his job in 2009."

Singh also confessed to have forged the seals of the SDM (south) and SDM (east).

He had allegedly used the seals to procure birth certificates, election cards, passports and marriage certificates from government organisations.

The National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME) announced by the HRD ministry surprised those who were included as its members as they had no knowledge of being taken in the high-profile panel.

When a scribe congratulated the chairman of Delhi Urdu Academy Prof Akhtarul Wase and sought his comment, Wase said that he had not received any information from the ministry of HRD.

The same happened in the case of a senior Urdu journalist whose name was on the list of 50-member committee.

A few NGOs who work for the welfare of minorities approached the Delhi Minorities Commission to find out the purpose of this committee as they wanted funds.

Sardar Pushpinder Singh who is also a member of this high-profile committee informed them that the committee would enquire about the funds given to the NGOs.

Greater Noida, January 7
A sub-inspector was booked under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act last night. He had allegedly assaulted a Dalit man and robbed him a few days ago.

The victim Chander Shekar had an altercation with some persons on December 30 at some eating joint in Jewar. Sub-inspector Ram Kumar went there after getting information on the clash between two groups. He intervened and the matter was resolved. However, Chander Shekar got injured in the brawl and was hospitalized. Later, when the victim tried to lodge an FIR, he was sent back. He then approached the IG Meerut.

"On victim's complaint, a case has been registered against sub-inspector Rakesh Kumar under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. He alleged that Kumar had robbed cash, a gold chain and a ring also," Harish Bhadoria, SHO, Jewar, said today.

"Slackness in duty or misbehavior with the public will not be tolerated. In the past too, I have booked several policemen on bribery and misbehaviour charges," said Jyoti Narayan, Senior Superintendent of Police.

"Dalits are being physically and mentally tortured by land mafias in the district. When they go to the police, their complaint is not heard," said Sunil Gautam, a Dalit leader.

New Delhi, January 7
The body of a 38-year-old man, who was allegedly killed after a vehicle ran over him, was found at an isolated road in Saket, south Delhi, today.

The police initially believed that the man, Rohtas, was murdered because there were several injuries inflicted on his body. But later, it learnt that he was crushed by a vehicle, which has not been identified.