New Delhi, March 30
The body of a deputy director at the Directorate General of Medical Services at the Defence Ministry was found charred beyond recognition, while his wife was lying dead at their residence at Transit Flats in Hudco Place, this afternoon.

The bodies of Kumar Yashkar (41), deputy director at Directorate General of Medical Services in the Ministry of Defence and his wife, Archana Sharma (35) were found under mysterious circumstances. Yashkar is a civilian officer in the armed forces cadre.

A case of murder has been registered at the Defence Colony police station. A police officer said, "Yashkar probably murdered his wife by strangulating her with a cloth. There were marks on her neck. He then committed suicide by setting himself ablaze. It appears that he was the person who committed the crimes as we found no sign of others entering the house at the time of the incident."

Their bodies have been preserved at the AIIMS mortuary where a post-mortem will be conducted.

Yashkar's elder brother, Pushkar Sinha said, "Yashkar's neighbours saw smoke emitting from behind the main door of his house. They tried telephoning him, but he did not receive their calls. They made a call to my wife, who informed me about the matter. At 1.44 pm, a neighbour called the police and the fire brigade."

According to the police, the main door was bolted from inside. They entered after breaking open the rear door of the house. Yashkar's body was found in the living room, while his wife was lying motionless on the floor of their bedroom.

A close friend of Yashkar, who had entered the house for a few minutes, said on the condition of anonymity, "I saw his body in a kneeling position at the living room, as if he had been praying. He was badly charred. His wife, Archana, was lying calmly on the floor of their bedroom which is situated towards the right side of the entrance." 

New Delhi, March 30
Speaking about Thursday's technical snag on line 3/4 of the Delhi Metro that left thousands of commuters stranded for over six hours, the director (operations), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Raj Kumar, today said that following the incident, the entire operations strategy of the corporation was being reviewed by senior officials.

"The review will aim at minimising the effects of such technical problems in the future. The voice logs of Thursday's operations will be thoroughly reviewed and recommendations are expected to come up in a fortnight," said Kumar.

On Thursday, a problem was detected on a track circuit between Pragati Maidan and Mandi House, which caused the running of trains on a restricted speed of 25 km per hour between these two stations. While the track circuit was showing the presence of the trains on the network, it was not communicating to the trains their distance or gap from the next train, due to which the trains on this stretch could not gain full speed. The normal speed of Metro trains is 35 to 40 km per hour.

As a result of the snag, the trains had to be shifted to the manual mode from the automatic train protection mode (ATP) on which they normally run. While generally trains take about two minutes to commute between these two stations, yesterday, they took about six minutes, leading to the slowing down of the operations on the corridor.

Elaborating on the restricted speed of the trains, Kumar said, "The trains were run on a restricted speed to ensure the safety of the passengers. As the trains were not getting communication regarding their distance from the train ahead between Pragati Maidan and Mandi House, it would not have been safe enough to run them on the normal speed. Apart from running on a restricted speed, the operators of the trains on this stretch were also communicating among themselves to ascertain ac safe distance between them."

"The impact of the problem was felt in a major way because the location of this track circuit, between the Pragati Maidan and Mandi House stations, was just before a junction point at Yamuna Bank, from where two separate Metro corridors towards Vaishali and Noida start. As a result, services on both these corridors were partially impacted," he added.

Citing attempts to curtail such errors in the upcoming Phase III, Kumar said, "On the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar and Janakpuri West - Botanical Garden corridors of the upcoming Phase III, the DMRC is planning to introduce the communication based train control (CBTC) technology, which will not only facilitate better frequency of trains, but also minimise the possibility of such snags from taking place."

New Delhi, March 30
Giving indication for some changes in the New Delhi Master Plan 2020, Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath said that the plan that was finalized by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) a few years ago is complicated. It needs to be made user-friendly and futuristic.

In a function held here yesterday, the Union minister said that the master plan was very complicated. "I have three persons to explain it to me. It should be easy so that a common man should understand it. The plan is for the common man," he said.

If the plan is not easy, it will perpetuate "inspector raj". Residents have to go to the inspectors for a minor change in the building or construction.

The minister also said that the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) laws should be examined again to meet the growing needs of the city.

Keeping in view the changes in the Master Plan, Nath said that he had spoken to civic officials of New York about how they managed to build multi-storey buildings. "They said FAR is not just a question of economy, it is linked to development," he said referring to his talks with the US officials.

Advocating vertical development, Nath said, "If New York can have high-rises, why can't we?"

While reviewing the Master Plan, the planning process will not only look into the past and present scenario but future planning will also be kept in view. The revision will be futuristic," he emphasised.

Nath said that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had received 1,900 suggestions from individuals, RWAs and other organisations for the review of Master Plan for Delhi-2021, and that these had been put up on the website of the civic agency.

The suggestions will be examined by the apex committee chaired by the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, chief secretary of Delhi government and the vice-chairperson of the DDA. Apart from the apex committee, 11 management groups had also been formed to look into the various aspects of the Master Plan review, Nath said.

New Delhi, March 30
With a blanket ban on posters and hoardings in municipal elections, the candidates specially the first-timers, have found a new platform in the form of social websites for their campaigning. This kind of campaigning is more effective and saves time, they feel.

Websites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, etc are buzzing with pages and other activities from contenders who are trying to woo voters through the online medium.

Sunil Kumar's profile on Facebook, who is a BJP candidate from Andrews Gunj, is customized with party pictures and slogans. He has announced his manifesto and plans as a municipal councillor. "Social websites are the best way to track people, specially the youngsters. I receive a good feedback on my posts daily," said Kumar.

Rajeev Khosla of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers' party and a municipal candidate from Safdarjung Enclave said that social networking is the best replacement for posters and hoardings. "We are strictly against erecting hoardings and banners. Online medium will be our first preference while campaigning for elections," said Khosla.

However, municipal contenders are not the only stars on the networking sites, a parallel campaign by Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) has also been launched to create awareness among public and ensure their maximum participation. Dr Sumit Dubey's page on Facebook which urged new leaders to contest the elections has proved to be big hit.

Similarly, a page on 'MCD elections 2012' calls for people to make a right choice. "We try to bring forward right and honest candidates from the 272 wards, who can work hard for development, listen to everybody's problems and be present when they are needed in their wards. Youth leaders are welcome," says the page.

However, the Congress, one of the main political parties, said that they would rely more on door-to-door campaigning, rallies and organizing events. "We will try involving some celebrity or film star for our campaigning. We have also formed local teams for campaigning who will go to the doorstep," said Jitender Kochhar, senior Congress leader. 

New Delhi, March 30
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate from the Turkman Gate municipal ward, Aaley Mohammad, who is just 22 years old, aims to bring 24-hour ambulance and better fire services to the area.

A college dropout, Mohammad feels that though the area is well developed, it has some unique problems. "Streets in the locality are too narrow for ambulances or Delhi Fire Services vehicles to enter. In cases of blaze, fire tenders are unable to enter the area and by the time officials arrange for long pipes, the fire engulfs lives and property. My priority will be to make arrangements for long ropes for the fire officials to deal with any emergency situation. There is also a need for a centre where ambulances can stand parked for 24 hours," said Mohammad.

Aaley further said, "Though my father Shoaib Iqbal has been representing the area in the Delhi Assembly for the past 20 years and my uncle is the sitting councillor, I have my own personality. I know nerves of the electorates and the basic requirements of the ward."

"I started my campaign after the State Election Commission scrutinised the nomination papers of the candidates on March 28. I have a team of young people who are energetic. After the Namaz-e-Fajr and Isha (morning and night prayers), I meet people at the mosques in the ward and appeal to them to vote for me. I also ask them about their problems that I can solve if I am elected to power," Aaley said.

"Though I am young and a first-timer in the election, I do not feel that I am a novice in the field as I have always been with my father, a former Deputy Speaker and still an MLA," he said.

New Delhi, March 30
To facilitate construction work on elevated Barapula Road, 220 KV transmission line at Maharani Bagh will be shut down between 5 am and 10 am and the supply of power will be affected in several areas of south and central Delhi on Sunday.

Power supply will be affected in Lodhi Road, South Extension, Defence Colony, Lajpat Nagar and adjoining areas.

A major power substation in the Okhla area will also be shut down on Monday for maintenance work due to which supply will be affected in a number of areas in south Delhi between 10 am and 2 pm.

The planned shutdown of the sub-station will affect power supply in Kalkaji, Chitranjan Park, Greater Kailash - I & II, Govind Puri, East of Kailash, Okhla Industrial Area, Nehru Place and the adjoining areas.