New Delhi, May 29
The Delhi Assembly witnessed stormy scenes on the first day of the Budget discussion today. Senior BJP MLA Jagdish Mukhi leveled some serious allegations against the government while delivering his speech on the Budget proposals of the government, making Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to stand thrice to protest against some words used by him. Following Dikshit's protest, Speaker Yoganand Shastri directed the officials concerned to delete the objectionable words from the records.

Mukhi demanded the government to roll back the hikes in the prices of petrol and CNG.

"Last week, the price of petrol was hiked by Rs 7.50 per litre. On the pretext of giving relief to the citizens, the city government has reduced 20 per cent VAT (Rs 1.26) on the hiked price, which is nothing. But instead of giving relief to the citizens, the government has levied 5 per cent VAT on CNG, which will hike the price of the fuel by Rs 1.77 per kg. The government should withdraw VAT on CNG," said the BJP leader.

Mukhi said CNG was used by private as well as commercial vehicles to transport food and other items. The hiked CNG price would affect general people as it would lead to an increase in the rates of general goods, he added.

Slamming the Budget proposals, Mukhi said the Delhi government did not have an adequate way to finalise the Budget.

"The Union as well as state governments have a planning board comprising academicians, ministers and experts to finalise the Budget before tabling it in the Assembly. But the Delhi government has no such board," he said.

He demanded constitution of a planning board to discuss the Budget before tabling it in the Assembly.

Mukhi, who was the finance minister during the BJP government in Delhi from 1993 to 1998, said the government had allocated Rs 15, 168 crore for plan outlay and Rs 18, 268 for non-plan outlay. But, generally, more money is allocated for plan outlay than the non-plan ones as it is used for developmental works.

The minister then alleged that the Budget was anti- farmer and anti-village as there was no fund allocation for the agriculture sector. Also, for the development of villages, the government had allocated very less amount, he added.

Mukhi also said that due to wrong economic policies of the government, the central assistance fund for Delhi had been reduced this year.

"In 2009-2010, Delhi was given Rs 2,457 crore while this year, it has been given only Rs 1,928 crore by the Centre," he said.

Mukhi further demanded that like many other states, the government should consider people with transplanted kidneys as fully handicapped.

On this, the Delhi health minister said these kinds of patients were given financial assistance during their treatments. 

Don’t waste water, urges Speaker

Speaker Yoganand Shastri today reminded the members of the House about a movement launched in South Africa on scarcity of water. Many people were killed during the movement.

He said this when members of the Opposition raised the issue of the shortage of water in their constituencies, particularly South and Outer Delhi where level of groundwater has gone 600 ft deep under the earth.

In some areas, the groundwater is poisonous. Having heard this, the Speaker got emotional and asked the members spread a message among the people not to waste water.

He asked the government to complete the construction of a proposed drain of 32 km from Dhasa to Kakrola that will help in improving level and quality of groundwater.

New Delhi, May 29
In view of the upcoming monsoon season, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation today ordered de-silting of all small and big drains under its jurisdiction by June 15. East Delhi Mayor Annapurna Misra has asked the councillors to submit letters regarding the status of the work in their respective areas.

"We will inspect the status of the drains after the deadline and action will be taken against the defaulters," said Misra.

During a meeting held with senior officials of Shahdara North to discuss the issue of cleanliness in the area, Misra called for emphasis on the sanitary situation of the unauthorised colonies and expressed concern over insufficient sanitation staff available with the corporation.

Meanwhile, in South Delhi, Mayor Savita Gupta today inaugurated a workshop on dengue, malaria and chikungunya. The workshop was organised to sensitise the councillors of the area about the vector-borne diseases.

Gupta said the public health department of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation would organise workshops from June 1 on vector-borne diseases in all wards to create awareness among the masses.

NK Yadav, municipal health officer of the corporation said temephos, used to check mosquito breeding in clean stagnant water, was available free of cost at the circle office of each ward. 

New Delhi, May 29
Delhi Technological University (DTU) has hit an impressive record in campus placement this year, with Google offering Rs 55 lakh annually to Priyanshu Jain, a fourth year student of the department of computer engineering. Besides, three students of the department

-- Ajay Behari Gupta, Gaurav Kumar and Saikat K. Debnath-have been offered Rs 40 lakh per annum by American software firm EPIC. Another student Debnath has got Rs 20-lakh offer from Google.

The companies that have visited DTU recently include Microsoft, Indian Oil, Maruti, TCS, Mckinsey, Oracle, NTPC, Wipro, Google, and Adobe, according to Neeraj Nimwal, placement officer, DTU.

"A highlight of this year's placement is that besides making job offers to final year students, companies are also offering paid internship to third year students. This will prepare students for the challenges of the industry,"  he added.