New Delhi, February 2
The power supply in the national capital is once again set to burn a hole in the pockets of the residents. Power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has levied a fuel price surcharge, which will result in 5 per cent increase in the power bills. The surcharge, which has been levied to adjust the power purchase cost of the distribution companies, will be levied on the bills generated from February 1.

The hike comes within less than six months of the last tariff hike of 22 per cent.

"Basically, it is not a hike in power tariff. The fuel price surcharge, which will be levied from February 1, will result in a 5 per cent hike in power tariff," said sources in the power department.

The DERC said it had to balance the power purchase cost of the power distribution companies.

"We have effected a 5 per cent fuel price adjustment surcharge per unit of power," said Jayashree Raghuraman, DERC secretary.

The hike comes five months after the DERC hiked the tariff by 22 per cent for all categories of consumers.

According to sources in the power department, power generation companies usually pass on the hike in fuel cost to its buyers, which results in an increase in the power purchase cost. The hike will be applicable on energy consumption, not on fixed charges.

"These charges are flexible. They can be increased or decreased as per the price of coal," said sources.

New Delhi, February 2
In a breather to commercial banks facing imminent closure in residential areas of Noida, the Supreme Court today stayed for six weeks sealing of their premises by the NOIDA authority.

A Bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai granted six weeks to the Noida authority CEO to provide alternative sites to the banks which, in compliance with the apex court's earlier directive, had stopped operating from the residential areas in NCR.

The Bench passed the order in response to an intervention application filed by 19 banks aggrieved by the court's December 5, 2011, judgement. The apex court had earlier ruled that banking, hospitals and other commercial activities cannot be carried out from plots in Noida developed for residential purpose and ordered 21 banks and nursing homes in Sector 19 to immediately close their operations.

"The banking or nursing homes or any other commercial activity is not permitted in Sector 19 and for that matter, in any sector, in the development area earmarked for 'residential use'," the Bench had said.

The apex court had asked the CEO to identify alternative sites near residential areas in two weeks and complete the allotment process in the next four weeks. It has also sought a status report from the CEO on the compliance of its December 2011 directive.

The banks have stated that there are more than 6,000 locker-owners and around 1.5 lakh account-holders in the region and relocating the branches would cause considerable inconvenience to the customers and the managements.

The apex court had earlier directed that "misuse" of the residential plot be "stopped" forthwith and its order should be complied within two months. Noida is located on the outskirts of Delhi.

"That the 21 banks and the nursing homes, which are operating in Sector 19 or any other residential sector, shall close their activity forthwith, stop misuse and put the premises to residential use alone, within two months from the date of pronouncement of this judgement," the Bench said.

Further, it said "the lessees of the plots shall ensure that the occupant banks, nursing homes, companies or persons carrying on any commercial activity in the residential sector should stop such activity and shift the same to the appropriate sectors i.e. commercial, commercial pockets in the industrial institutional area and specified pockets for commercial use within the residential sector, strictly earmarked for that activity in the development plan, regulations and provisions of the act."

The verdict upheld the decision of the Allahabad High Court which had dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the order of the Noida authority not permitting the use of residential plots for commercials purpose or mixed use of the land. -- PTI

New Delhi, February 2
In the run-up to the elections which are due in April, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is busy planning the inaugural ceremonies of various developmental projects sanctioned in 2011. From renaming roads, parks and community centres to unveiling the statues of leaders, the political parties in MCD are doing their best to utilize their time left in the ongoing term.

The civic agency today launched the beautification project of Batra commercial complex at a cost of Rs 4.36 crore at Mukherjee Nagar in Civil Lines Zone.

The project was inaugurated by L.K. Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister, who also unveiled the statue of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Speaking on the occasion, Advani said that the three leaders Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee played a crucial role in building the party. "Democracy and pure politics are basis of the party. It is their sacrifice, hard work and foresightedness that have helped us reach this position," he said.

In a message to party workers, the chairman of the National Democratic Alliance said that Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee established the Bharatiya Jan Sangh for building the nation on the basis of Indian culture.

Delhi Mayor Rajni Abbi said that the beautification work of Batra commercial complex had been a long-pending demand of the students living in the area.

New Delhi, February 2
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) today agreed to conduct the JNU students' union (JNUSU) elections within this semester as a one-time arrangement.

Student bodies today said that the administration conveyed this to the chairperson of the JNUSU Election Committee.

Overjoyed at the development, students' parties called upon the students to join a victory "mashal juloos" at Ganga Dhaba tonight. The students are finally relived that the election process has kicked-off after the last united general body meeting on January 10.

Students' parties are now certain that the elections will be conducted within this month itself.

They have now appealed to the JNUSU Election Committee to call for an all-organisation meeting as early as possible so that the schedule for the elections can be finalised without any further delay.

"With the green light by the administration, we assume the election dates will be finalised in another two to three days," said general secretary of the SFI Roshan Kishore.

"The final go ahead for the elections indicates the culmination of the students' struggle since 2008 for the restoration of an elected JNUSU," he added.

Students' parties have also now pledged their full support to the JNUSU Election Committee for the peaceful elections.

The much-anticipated elections will be held after a gap of four years. The Supreme Court had put a stay on the JNU elections in 2008 for not adhering to the election code of conduct recommended by the Lyngdoh Committee. The court in December 2011 lifted the stay and relaxed some of the committee's recommendations.

Last month some students' parties held a six-day long hunger strike and called for the protest in the university after they failed to receive any concrete assurance from the varsity as to when the elections will be held.

While much celebration was held after the apex court's December verdict, the process remained stuck in some legal doubts. The deadlock continued till the last week of January as the students demanded the immediate constitution of a grievance redressal committee.

The varsity administration, meanwhile, said it was seeking legal counsel on the issue as the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations stated that elections had to be held within six to eight weeks of the new academic session.

New Delhi, February 2
With studies, including the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, suggesting that 5,500 youth start using tobacco everyday in the country, a new public awareness campaign in the form of a musical composition-- life se panga mat le yaar-was launched to target the youth.

The four-minute musical video, co-produced by the Salaam Bombay Foundation, was launched today in Delhi by playback singer Shaan, who was appointed by the union ministry of health and family welfare as India's anti-tobacco l ambassador in May last year.

Sending the message ahead of the World Cancer Day on February 4, the singer assured of commitment and support to the cause of apprising people of the harmful effects of tobacco, which is one of the six factors causing non-communicable diseases and death later.

Shaan said in the past, he had sung songs showing smoking scenes, but henceforth, he would distance himself from the projects that promote smoking as people get influenced by popular figures. 

New Delhi, February 2
Two former employees of Kotak Mahindra Bank have been arrested for allegedly stealing important data of the bank and duping some of its insurance policy holders whose accounts had become inactive due to non-payment of installments.

The two arrested persons are Ravi Kumar (21) and Vinish (27).

One Mahabir Singh had lodged a complaint at the Fatehpur Beri police station. He had reported that he had a Kotak Mahindra life insurance policy, which had been closed due to non-payment of installments. On December 6, 2011, a person claiming to be an executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank telephoned him. According to the police, he fixed an appointment with Singh regarding the revival of his policy.

The next day, the person reached Singh's residence and introduced himself as Ravi Kumar and said that he was an authorised executive of the bank. Ravi said that he could help Singh revive his policy by paying a lesser amount than what was due.

"Ravi convinced Singh and filled in the required documents and cheques from his pen. The pen that Ravi had used is a "magic pen" whose writing can be erased. Singh gave Ravi three signed cheques for Rs 45,000, Rs 3000 and a cancelled one for account verification. He also received a photocopy of the cancelled cheque. Ravi remained in Singh's contact for three to four days and then went missing. His mobile phone was also switched off. When Singh checked with his bank, he learnt that on the basis of the two cheques issued by him, money had been debited from his account and credited to the accounts of Ravi Kumar and one Vinish," said DCP (south ), Chhaya Sharma.

Singh also learnt that no person named Ravi Kumar worked for Kotak Mahindra.

Ravi was arrested with the help of a decoy customer.

Ravi confessed to have committed the crime with his accomplice Vinish, who was arrested from near IIPM College.

The DCP aid they had worked with Kotak Mahindra Bank and knew the loopholes in its system. "They stole data of the bank and called customers from mobile numbers obtained on fictitious IDs. They used to tell the customers that they could revive their policies closed due to non-payment of installments. After an appointment was fixed, they used to visit the customer. The accused used to fill in the cheques with magic pen. Bu they ensured that the victim signed on the cheques with an original pen. After leaving, they would delete the original amount from the cheque and fill in a new amount and get the cheque encashed," said the DCP.

Both the accused have confessed to have cheated more than 50 people of Rs 15 lakh, which they had spent on gambling. 

New Delhi, February 2
The police has arrested another woman for her alleged involvement in the sexual exploitation of the 14-year-old girl who had admitted a battered two-year-old baby to AIIMS.

This is the fourth arrest in the case.

The name of the woman is Arti.

The arrest follows the apprehension of three other persons yesterday. The three accused are the teenager's father Jitender Gupta and a married couple, Pooja and Sandeep Pandey.

While Pooja and Pandey were held for allegedly pushing the teenager into flesh trade, Gupta was arrested for allegedly physically abusing her.

Gupta had lodged a missing person complaint at the Sangam Vihar police station after his daughter had run away from her home.

A police officer said, "We have arrested one woman identified as Arti. She is charged with forcing the girl into prostitution. She was an accomplice of Pooja."

Arti had met the teenager at Etah in Uttar Pradesh, where she was sent by Pooja.

There, they both had forced the teenager into marrying an old man.

But, when the girl refused, she was allegedly raped by Pandey, according to the police.

The teenager was then brought back to Pooja's Tughlakabad residence in Delhi. Here, she was repeatedly raped by Pandey, according to the police.

Meanwhile, parallel investigations are being conducted to trace the parents of the baby girl, who is a victim of physical torture allegedly at the hands of the teenager. 

Falak’s condition critical, but docs hopeful

Baby Falak's condition continues to be critical yet stable, but doctors at the AIIMS Truama Centre are still hopeful as the baby hasn't shown any further signs of deterioration in the past 24 hours.

"She is critical but remains the same as the infection is still there. But there is one positive sign, as her condition hasn't slipped further. We have started targeted antibiotics culture for two days and watching how she responds to it," said Dr Sumit Sinha, associate professor neurosurgery, AIIMS.

New Delhi, February 2
A 26-year-old supervisor at the Mundka Metro station allegedly committed suicide today by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his accommodation there.

Sources said that he was depressed over his wife divorcing him to marry another man.

Sunil was working as a supervisor at the construction site in the Mundka Metro station for the past one and a half years, according to the police.

A police official said, "Sunil was allotted an accommodation at the staff quarters in the Mundka Metro station. After completing his duty, he returned to his home in Dwarka, Sector 1. He did not come back last night. This morning, Sunil's father reached his accommodation. There he saw his son hanging by a rope from a ceiling fan. We received a call regarding the incident about 10 am today."

A senior supervisor at the construction site told the police that Sunil's wife had divorced him six months ago. She reportedly left him to marry another man.