New Delhi, April 5
An eight-year-old boy drowned in a septic tank located behind a toilet of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) at Trilokpuri in east Delhi.

The victim is identified Arun, a resident of Trilokpuri. Last evening, he had left his residence to play outside. His father, Ajay Kumar, who is a labourer, could not find him yesterday.

Ajay approached the police for help and a case was registered at the Kalyanpuri police station. The search for the missing boy began thereafter.

This morning, the police found Arun's slippers outside the septic tank at Block 9 of Trilokpuri. They noticed him inside the tank. He was rushed to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

According to the police, the tank is 10-ft deep and contains running water. Arun had drowned in the tank before he could be rescued. The tank was open because construction was taking place nearby.

The police has registered a case under Section 304A (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Arun is survived by his father Ajay, mother Sohna and a brother and a sister.

This is the second incident of a child drowning in a water tank which was also 10-ft deep. On March 27, a seven-year-old girl died after she fell inside a water tank of the fire department at Mandawali in east Delhi. The girl, Sheeba, was playing near her house, situated near Mother Dairy in Patparganj, when the incident took place around 3 pm.

Eyewitnesses said that she was running and did not notice the open hole of the water tank.

She fell into it and drowned because of the running water inside.

New Delhi, April 5
For traffickers across the border as well in the country Delhi has become the most preferred route for carrying out their unorganised business of trading children, for the purposes not difficult to fathom.

While many among them remain trapped in the false promises of human traffickers, during a major crackdown at old Delhi railway station today 16 such minors, including four from Nepal, on their way to Ludhiana by Brahamaputra Mail via Delhi were rescued, said the Delhi police and Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO.

Aged between 9 and 16 years, the children, all boys, were earlier trafficked from Bihar, West Bengal and Nepal and supposed to be sent to some unknown location in Ludhiana, still under investigation, they said.

From platform 10 and 11 five local agents were arrested and booked under several sections, including the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Bonded Labour System (Abolishing) Act, 1976, etc.

While the boys were being trafficked on the pretext of better employment opportunities and high regular wages to Ludhiana's garment factories, shops and farms, it was learnt that parents of some children were not aware about their whereabouts.

"I have eight siblings and my parents recently passed away. I had no other option but to explore better employment opportunities outside my village," said a 14-year-old boy trafficked from Nepal. The police has registered a case under Section 23 (punishment for cruelty to juvenile or child) and Section 26 (exploitation of juvenile or child employee) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 and appropriate sections of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act against the arrested persons.

The police said it was a joint effort of the police as well as the NGO working to prevent human trafficking.

"When we reached platform 10 of the station we started identifying and rescuing the children. Each of them had a ticket in his pocket and the traffickers, who were sitting away from them, had told them to board the train when it reaches the platform," said the police.

New Delhi, April 5
The decomposed body of a foreigner woman was found at a guesthouse in Paharganj, this afternoon.

According to additional deputy commissioner of police (central district) Aslam Khan the woman probably died three to four days ago.

"We are yet to establish her identity. She is probably in the age bracket of 25-30. Her body has been preserved at Lady Hardinge Medical College for postmortem," said the additional DCP.

The body was found at Room Number 203 of Hindustan Guesthouse.

The hotel staff had complained to the police about a foul smell emitting from a room. When the police opened the room, it found the body lying under the bed.

"The room was booked in the name of Manzoor Ahmed, a Kashmiri. He is on the run," added Aslam Khan.

A case of murder has been registered at the local police station. 

New Delhi, April 5
Two persons were killed when a truck rammed into the motorcycle they were travelling on near Britannia Chowk, last night.

The deceased have been identified as Javed (30) and Nathu Ram (29). They worked as waiters at weddings and were residents of Sultanpuri. Javed's family told the police that he was returning to his residence from work when the accident occurred.

According to the police, the incident happened at 10.40 pm. When policemen reached the site of the accident, they found one of the victims crushed under the wheels of the truck.

The other person was severely wounded and was lying nearby.

The police rushed them to Mahavir Hospital, where they were declared 'brought dead'. Their bodies have been preserved at the Ambedkar Hospital for postmortem.

A case of negligent driving has been registered at the Subhash Place police station.

The police is searching for the truck driver. 

New Delhi, April 5
For the people who have not seen even basic facilities in their areas or any other development in the past many years, the April 15 municipal election is nothing more than a routine event.

Though there are more than 1,500 unauthorised colonies in Delhi with around 40 lakh voters, Sangam Vihar is the biggest such area where residents have become indifferent to big promises made by politicians around election time.

The area has no drainage and dirty water flows in front of houses. Also, there are no concrete lanes, water or power connections. Moreover, people here live in an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear because they don't know if their houses will ever be regularised as promised by the Delhi government during the last Assembly elections in the city.

"The last time we saw politicians in our area was during the last election," said Geeta Rani, a resident of the area.

If there is one thing residents of the area are sure about the municipal elections is that no matter who wins, nothing is going to change in their area.

The Delhi government had issued provisional regularisation certificates to 1,639 unauthorised colonies ahead of the Assembly polls in 2008. The move was later marred in controversy, with the Lokayukta claiming that certificates were issued in the name of some non-existent colonies.

The development in unauthorised colonies or its regularisation is an issue which has always kept the BJP-ruled MCD and the Congress-led Delhi government at loggerheads. The matter has always pitted the two sides against each other.

"The civic body has been collecting property tax from 9 lakh dwellings in the city, but has is not interested in providing civic services, as there is no maintenance of roads, parks and colonies in unauthorised colonies," said Kalpana Jha, who is contesting as an Independent candidate from Sangam Vihar West.

While the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has blamed the state government of not framing proper policies for the unauthorised colonies, the later has accused the civic body for not having prepared the layout plans for the areas.

"The onus to finalise the layout plans of the illegal colonies lies on the MCD so that the Delhi government can approach the high court for the regularisation of the colonies," said a Congress leader.

"With this pace, the regularisation process will never be completed. It is time to stop believing these politicians and fight on our own," said Nazukar Khan, an Independent contender from Sangam Vihar East. 

New Delhi, March 5
For the first time the Delhi municipal election has become tough for both the major parties, the Congress and the BJP, as other parties like the SP, BSP and RJD have strong hold in about 80 wards.

In a few wards in outer Delhi, the card of Poorvanchal is being played that may damage the BJP as the saffron party has not given the number of tickets demanded by the leaders representing the people of east UP and Bihar here.

A few leaders had indicated before distribution of tickets that they would work against the party if they were not given ticket.

According to senior party leaders of the Congress and the BJP, on some seats both the parties may loose election. Candidates of the SP and the BSP are in strong position in the Muslim dominated areas in east and north-east Delhi and wards dominated by the Poorvanchalis in outer and north Delhi.

RJD candidates are making dent in the strong hold of both the Congress and the BJP areas. Its vote bank is not only Muslims and Dalits, but people of any community or caste can be its voters.

The leaders said that Congress and BJP candidates are being given tough fight in east Delhi like Trilokopuri, Kalyanpuri, Khichripur, Ghondly, Dilshad Garden, Sundar Nagari, Durgapuri, Ashok Nagar, Ram Nagar, Welcome, Jafrabad, Harsh Nagar, Gokulpuri, Mustafabad, Kardampuri, Subhash Mohalla, Maujpur, New Usmanpur, Rohtas Nagar, Karawal Nagar and Seelampur.

New Delhi, April 5
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, who has been appointed the in-charge of the Delhi affairs of the party, has appealed to the Sikh community and groups to support the Akali candidates in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections.

Ramoowalia today met all Akali candidates and took stock of the election scenario.

SAD Badal has an alliance with the BJP and eight seats have been given to the party.

When asked that in the last municipal election, the Akali Dal had contested from 10 municipal wards, but now, it had been given only eight, he said, "The party is satisfied with the seats given to it by the BJP."

"Now the party's only agenda is to appear victorious on all the seats," he added.

Ramoowalia said, "Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal and national president of SAD (Badal) Sukhbir Singh had done a lot for the community in Punjab as well as other states. The party is concentrating in many districts in Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Rajasthan and even Mumbai for the betterment of the Sikh community. There presence should not be ignored in states other than Punjab."

"In Delhi, the Akali candidates are already going strong under the leadership of Manjit Singh (GK). With minor efforts, the party will win all the seats it is fighting," he added.

Ramoowalia further said, "In Punjab, we have won the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee election. Because of the development work done by the Akali government in Punjab, the party has also won consecutive Assembly elections."