New Delhi, February 15
Mock drills conducted by the National Disaster Management Authority and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) today surprised people in the capital as they could not guess the reason for the moving PCR vans and ambulances in narrow lanes and in busy areas in a large number.

Some people asked police personnel deployed at crossings about the reasons for the movement of PCR vans and ambulances.

Officials from all the important emergency support functionary departments like police, MCD, DMRC, health department, DJB and food and civil supplies have been coordinating with senior officials of all nine districts to make the drill a success.

The drill was conducted to check the alertness and preparedness of various other agencies in the event of an earthquake of 7.2 Richter scale rocking the capital, said a senior official of the revenue department that is heading the DDMA.

Delhi is the first state in the country that conducted the mock drills on earthquake on state level. This is done keeping in view the Delhi's location on fourth seismic zone. The trans-Yamuna area is the sensitive area as it is the most densely populated area in the capital.

The mock drills were conducted across 218 government-run and 24 private schools, 31 colleges, 11 government-run and 11 private hospitals, four cinema halls, 19 resident welfare associations, 13 government office buildings, eight market trade associations and two petrol pumps, CNG filling stations, airport, parking lots, etc.

Six Metro stations were closed for over half an hour and road traffic in many areas in central, south and north Delhi were diverted as part of the exercise, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

Commuters of Metros, buses as well as motorists also faced inconvenience because of the mega mock drills. Even patients in Malviya Nagar government hospital faced difficulty during the drill, said sources.

Those who involved in the drills created situations like buildings collapse, flyovers collapse, shown injured people and how they were taken to hospitals, people were evacuated from damaged buildings. How they are given first aid at the hours of such crisis.

The drills are the part of earthquake preparedness exercise that was begun in December last year and culminated today.

The exercise comprised workshops, awareness programmes, mock drills, public lectures and media campaigns on various platforms.

Mock drills were conducted simultaneously at six Metro stations like AIIMS, Inderlok, Karkardooma, Tilak Nagar, Khan Market and Dwarka Sector 10 this morning.

The drill conducted between 11:30 am and 11:51 am. Metro train operations remained suspended during this period and entry into these six stations was closed as a part of the standard emergency procedure.

Announcements were made in the trains and stations during this period urging commuters to remain calm. The exercise took 21 to 25 minutes.

Thereafter, services resumed to normalcy.

"The aim of the drill was to check the preparedness of the DMRC and coordination among the Metro's staff, the police, medical staff and the fire brigade in such a scenario," said a spokesperson for the Delhi Metro.

New Delhi, February 15
It was an emotional moment as a dazed Munni was today reunited with her two-year-old battered daughter Falak, admitted in the AIIMS ICU with life-threatening injuries.

With tears in her eyes, the 22-year-old woman, who claimed she was separated from her three kids just before her second marriage, entered the ICU where the comatose child is battling for her life for the past 29 days.

"She spent nearly 15 minutes in the ICU. She was directed by a nurse to go all alone inside. She kept staring at her daughter and was speechless to see so many medical equipment around her daughter," neurosurgeon Deepak Agarwal, who has been treating her, said.

"She wept a lot after coming out of the ICU," a nurse who was present there during Munni's visit, said.

Meanwhile, Agarwal said that the infection level in the brain of Falak has not subsided and she continued to be in a critical but stable state.

Falak was brought to the hospital on January 18 with severe head injury, both her arms broken, bite marks all over her body and her cheeks branded with hot iron.

Agarwal said, "With the damage she has suffered in the brain, if she survives, there are high chances that she will be mentally retarded or have a low conscious level. At present, we are trying to do our level best to get her out of the ICU." - PTI

New Delhi, February 15
A Delhi sessions court has upheld the brief jail term awarded to a city resident for driving a car in an inebriated condition, rejecting his fervent plea that even a single night in jail would blot his entire life.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pawan Kumar Jain ordered three-day jail term for Arun Verma, dismissing his plea that he should instead be allowed to do community service in a gurudwara.

Verma had come to the sessions court seeking leniency after a magisterial court in January sentenced him to five days in jail and a fine of Rs 3,000 for driving in an inebriated state without valid car insurance.

Verma and his counsel pleaded to ASJ Jain that "he would go and do social work or community service in gurdwara as even a single night spent in jail ruins entire life."

"I know court is trying to teach me lesson of a lifetime but I have already learnt it," Verma said, repeatedly assuring the court that he would not repeat his mistake.

He and his counsel even folded their hands while pleading against the jail term.

They also cited various instances when the court adopted a reformative approach by sending convicts to hospitals or similar places for community service in cases of drunken driving.

ASJ Jain, however, was not convinced with their pleadings and modified the sentence to three days in jail and the fine as imposed by the magisterial court.

The court also rejected his plea for leniency for the sake of his family and young children and said Verma had shown total disregard for the families of others by indulging in drunken driving.

Verma was caught driving under the influence of alcohol on January 20 in the Old Delhi area.

He had no valid insurance papers and the alcohol in his blood was found to be 14 times the permissible limit. — PTI

New Delhi, February 15
The stage is set for the face-off between student political parties at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's upcoming elections. With the varsity setting up the Grievance Redressal Committee and finalizing the election schedule, student parties are preparing a full-blown strategy for campaigning during the coming days.

The university will witness the ultimate showdown on February 28 at the presidential debate, which is the most awaited event during the campaigning.

Covered in promotional posters by separate groups, JNU already screams loud that it is a campus that has been awaiting elections for four years now.

Public meetings are being called by the parties with political leaders and favourite department teachers to disseminate their political ideologies amongst the student community.

Speaking to The Tribune, AISA's JNU unit vice-president Shivani said, "JNU elections are not money and muscle power like DU's. It is serious politics at work here. Parties get votes on the basis of their agenda, ideologies and ability to stand firm on both the university-level issues and national policy matters. Socializing tactics like freebies and coercion do not work here. They may make you popular, but cannot make you a leader at JNU."

As the university will witness elections after a long gap, parties are no short of agenda for their manifestos.

Longtime political heavyweights SFI and AISA at the university have locked horns with one party blaming the other for the problems.

"The last elected union on campus four years ago was AISA. Ever since the dialogue was picked up with the solicitor general of India Gopal Subramaniyam, AISA workers were nowhere to be seen. They instead pushed for Academic Council and Board of Studies elections at the time when students wanted them to fight for JNUSU elections," said SFI state president Roshan Kishore.

Reacting strongly to the allegation, Shivani said, "AISA never pushed for other body elections in place of JNUSU.

“We stood for student representation in all the three bodies. Our words have been twisted. Even so, students saw which party stood by them during the last four years. We do not need to explain ourselves to the students. Their faith will speak on the polling day."

Other political parties, including the ABVP and NSUI, are also trying their best to maximize their visibility on campus. Most political parties have almost the same concerns and agenda this time around. However, their stance on the national political issues during the general body meetings will give them an edge.

New Delhi, February 15
The Walled City today inaugurated its first multi-level parking lot with a capacity to hold around 1,020 cars.

Five more parking projects are scheduled to be completed by March-end, said Delhi Mayor Prof Rajni Abbi.

The parking has been built at Parade Grounds, Subhash Marg near the historical Red Fort and Jama Masjid, at a cost of Rs 52.83 crore. The project was started in March 2010 and the construction has been completed in two years.

The three-level underground parking will accommodate about 720 cars, while the surface will be utilized for parking 300 cars.

"This will boost the civic agency's efforts to ease the parking problem of the city," said Abbi.

Speaking on the occasion, she said that the parking in the walled city had been the long-pending demand of the area.

She said that the old city is famous among the tourists and the area is one of the biggest commercial hubs, drawing a large number of vehicles.

Giving the details of the project, engineer-in-chief Ravi Dass said that the parking has been designed for optimum space utilization.

Safety measures in regard to earthquake and other natural calamities have been duly considered. All the fire safety measures have been provided. Besides, a staircase at six different locations has been given for users other than ramp.

The parking will prove beneficial to the tourists, traders and others visiting historical Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid and Red Fort. Pointing out that nearly 1,000 new vehicles are added daily to the city roads, Abbi said that the problem of parking is a major cause of concern for a city like Delhi.

The project had been in abeyance as there were many objections to it such as organizing annual events at the grounds, including 'Ramlila'.

Manesar, February 15
The National Security Guard (NSG) personnel will have collaborative training programmes with police forces of different states so that they are acquainted with the local/regional lingo and socio-cultural environment.

NSG Director-General (DG) R.K.Medhekar said this would also help in having coordination between the NSG and state police personnel, which becomes crucial in the event of a joint operation there.

Addressing a news conference at the local campus of the special force here today, Medhekar maintained that having joint training programmes with state police forces was as important as collaborative exercises with the special forces of other countries.

The DG observed that the support of the local residents was also crucial to the success of various operations aimed at ensuring public safety and national security.

Medhekar asserted that several positive developments had been effected ever since the terror attack on Mumbai and thanks to the provision of greater authority and improved coordination with the Air Force, air transport for the NSG forces was now much smoother and swifter, shortening the reach and response time.

Four operational hubs of the NSG had also been set up at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad, he added.

The D-G affirmed that thanks to the upgraded training modules and state-of-the-art communication, surveillance and combat equipment, the NSG was on a par with any special force across the globe.

Meanwhile, the 12th international seminar of the NSG's National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) also commenced on the campus today. The theme of this year's seminar is "Emerging Trends of Terrorism in India with Special Emphasis on Defeating IED attacks".

A number of national as well as international delegates are attending the three-day seminar.

Delivering his keynote address, Medhekar pointed out that amidst an environment of constant change and terrorism threat, the improvised explosive device (IED) stood out as a unique and one-of-a-kind weapon, which has "turned the entire spectrum of conflict on its head".

"The emergence of IED as the preferred tool of attack, coupled with its reach and range of use, has changed the dynamics of war on terror rather dramatically. The objective has shifted from elimination of a few important personalities to inflicting indiscriminate violence on an entire population," he noted.

Greater Noida, February 15
As per District Magistrate (DM) Hirdesh Kumar's directions, officials of district irrigation department demolished the unauthorised construction in Hindon flood plains near Kulesra today.

"Ten-hectare land was cleared of encroachment. Land is worth few crores of rupees. Several rooms and boundary walls were demolished by six bulldozers," said a district official.

Drive continued for whole day and will continue tomorrow. Last week, in view of the rising complaints of illegal colonies along the Hindon and Yamuna under flood zone, the DM had directed the police to clamp National Security Act (NSA) against land mafias.

The DM had further directed the officials of the irrigation department to identify the illegal occupations and start demolition drive on February 14. The police was directed to provide adequate force.

The drive was delayed by one day as staff was busy with elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Yesterday, the Noida Authority had demolished the unauthorised constructions in Sector 101, Salarpur Khadar and cleared the prime land of 1,100 sq m from unauthorised occupation.

Noida, February 15
Congress leaders raised the farmers' concerns by making mention of the Bhatta Parsaul incident at a meeting and also promised the farmers that the Central Land Acquisition Act will give them more powers so that they get a proper price of their land.

Around 200 people assembled at a meeting held at Bhangel last evening to hear the Congress leader Sachin Pilot.

"The corrupt BSP government has cheated the innocent farmers. The Bhatta episode speaks of the atrocities committed on the farmers by the BSP government. Innocent farmers were booked and assaulted. Several farmers left the village and went to their relatives' houses in Delhi and other states out of fear of being assaulted and put behind bars by the BSP government. It is time the farmers gave a befitting reply to the BSP government by voting it out of power," said Pilot.

Jayant Choudhary of the RLD, the alliance partner of Congress, said, "Without the use of hand, hand pump cannot be opened. Now the hand (Congress) and the hand pump (RLD) have come together and will bring the alliance to power. We are committed to working jointly."

Others present on the occasion were Joginder Awana, member UPCC, and Dushyant Nagar who was instrumental in farmers' agitation at Noida Extension.

Congress candidate from Noida, Dr VS Chauhan said, "Corruption is at its peak during the BSP government. Industries are shifting to other states.

“Twin cities have not seen any industrial development under the present government. If the Congress comes to power, industry growth will rise spirally and create new job opportunities for the youth."

Pilot appealed to the Congress workers to sink their differences and work unitedly in order to make Rahul's mission 2012 a reality.

Ghaziabad, February 15
Two students were killed and another was injured in two road accidents in the district, the police said today.

Chhitish Tyagi and Prabhat Tyagi, both Class X students, were returning from a tuition class last evening when a truck rammed into their motor-cycle near Modi Cloth Mill.

Chittish died on the spot, while Prabhat is in a critical condition at a local hospital, it said.

In another incident, 25-year-old Manshi Sharma, an MBA student, died on the spot when a speeding truck hit her scooty in the Kavi Nagar area.

Man commits suicide after wife deserts him Depressed after his wife left him over an altercation, a man allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan here, the police said today.

Rakesh (26) allegedly committed suicide last night after his wife left for her parental house following an altercation and refused to answer his calls, they said.

In his suicide note, Rakesh has stated that his wife was not responsible for his death, said officials, adding the body has been sent for postmortem. — PTI

New Delhi, February 15
The Delhi High Court has asked a property dealer to pay Rs 50,000 in aid to poor lawyers while ordering the closure of a criminal case of harassment and breach of trust lodged against him by his estranged wife.

Justice Suresh Kait ordered closure of the case against West Delhi property dealer after his estranged wife deposed in the court that she had made an out-of-court settlement of her marital discord and has decided to part ways with him after a payment of Rs 9.5 lakh by him.

"I direct petitioner No. 1 (the man) to deposit Rs 50,000 in favour of Indigent and Disabled Lawyers Account, Bar Council of New Delhi," Justice Kait said.

The woman, who got married to the property dealer in 2010, had lodged a complaint against him and his family members, saying they used to beat her up for dowry.

In her complaint, she said she had been thrown out of her matrimonial house on May 17, 2011 by her in-laws, who said she would not be allowed to enter the house unless she brings more gold and money from her father as dowry.

She told the high court that after she lodged complaint against her husband and his family members, they agreed to pay Rs 9.5 lakh as final settlement between them.

The woman told the court that she has no objection if the FIR was quashed.

"The statement the woman and in the interest of justice, I quash the FIR registered at police station, Bindapur, Delhi," said Justice Kait. — PTI

New Delhi, February 15
In two cases of power thefts, BSES officials held two factory owners in east Delhi today.

One accused, a garment manufacturer, held in Old Seelampur for stealing power of 50.5 KW and another, owner of an "injection moulding" factory in Milan Garden for 20 KW.

The owner of an "injection moulding" factory had, however, installed an electricity meter issued to someone else and was stealing electricity by hooking from the nearby BSES LV Mains.

On the other hand, the garment manufacturer was stealing electricity for his three-story manufacturing unit by joining illegal wires to the BSES' service line. To give the impression of a legal user, he had taken a single phase electricity connection, said the officials.

"Enforcement teams of BYPL, along with Delhi police, kept a watch for several days and collected irrefutable evidence. Finally, in separate raids, the two factory owners caught cumulatively stealing 88 KW of electricity," said the officials.

According to the provisions of the Indian Electricity Act, 2003, they have been cumulatively penalised for Rs 30 lakh and complaints were registered at the respective police stations of Harsh Vihar and Krishna Nagar.

"A penalty of Rs 10 lakh has been imposed on the owner of "injection moulding" factory while the garment manufacturer has been penalised for Rs 20," added the officials.