New Delhi, June 8
The city's homeless have given the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) June 15 as the deadline for modifying the temporary shelters in the Capital and ensuring that the basic amenities are put in place in line with the court's directive passed on May 31.

In its order, the court directed the government to provide basic facilities urgently in all the shelters in response to the affidavit filed on May 15 by CityMakers Collective.

However, as learnt the DUSIB has not abided by the directive as of date, maintained the section whose representatives gathered today under the banner of Shahri Adhikar Manch - Begharon Ke Saath (SAM-BKS) in protest.

In the city, there are roughly 84 temporary shelters offering services to the homeless, comprising construction workers, vendors, street hawkers, rickshaw pullers with a small number of beggars.

According to the section, as many as 100 of them came today from Lodhi Road, Jama Masjid, Yamuna Pusta, Mori Gate, Karol Bagh and near Akshardham temple.

They complain that their basic needs such as those of drinking water, fans and sanitation have remained unmet.

At a few places, such as Yamuna Pusta, Majnu Ka Tilla, the tents have collapsed and in many shelters electricity wires are lying open.

The DUSIB has failed to provide basic facilities in the shelters. In such circumstances, they are left with no choice but to sleep on streets, said a representative of CityMakers.

They do not want lip service this time but concrete action in about a week's time.

"This is truly outrageous, violating the human rights of the homeless. The Delhi High Court has issued orders to immediately provide fans, safe drinking water, mosquito coils, etc to them," said Indu Prakash Singh of Indo-Global Social Service Society.

New Delhi, June 8
Rebutting the report of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) stating that around 70 per cent of water samples taken from taps in Delhi are contaminated and unfit for drinking, officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) today said that only 1 to 2 per cent water supplied by them was contaminated.

They said that according to the DJB's testing of portable water, below 5 per cent water was contaminated. Supporting the arguments of the DJB, the Delhi government also said that no contamination had been found in the drinking water being supplied by the board.

The report said that out of 116 samples collected from different areas of Delhi by the municipal staff, 81 samples were declared to be unfit for drinking. While areas like Narela in North-West Delhi witnessed largest contamination in the water, the situation was worse in South Delhi's posh colonies which saw 61 per cent of samples failing the test.

"The DJB has not yet received the copy of the report, therefore, cannot respond specifically to the issue," said a senior DJB official. "On an average, 300 to 400 water samples are collected per day from various locations from all parts of the city, including consumer end, which indicates that the water supplied by the DJB is potable and meets the BIS standards. The percentage of unsatisfactory water samples ranges between 1 to 2 per cent only," he said.

"The DJB regularly lifts the samples of water for thoroughly checking it in well-equipped scientific laboratories. As per results, the contamination has been found only in 1 to 2 per cent samples," said a statement of the Delhi government. It said that an immediate action had been initiated to take corrective measures and to verify the unilateral reports obtained by the corporation.

The MCD had pointed out to the leakages in water pipelines at around 1,000 spots which were a major source of contamination. But water from the drainage system continues to seep into the water pipelines which run together.

New Delhi, June 8
A person has been arrested for allegedly cheating several youths out of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of providing them employment in the merchant navy.

The man is identified as Gurusharan Singh (37). "He earned lakhs of rupees from youths by charging them Rs 7 to Rs 8 lakh for each job offer in the merchant navy. The job was offered after a youth graduated from the accused's institute. This racket had been going on for the last 10 years," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Central District) Devesh Chandra Srivastva.

The police started probing Himanshu Gaba's complaint against Singh. Gaba, a resident of Gurgaon, alleged that Singh had cheated him out of several lakhs of rupees by promising him a job in the merchant navy after completing a training course from his institute. Singh didn't provide him the promised job and refused to return the amount paid to him.

The police learnt that Singh gave advertisements in newspapers on the courses offered by his institute. On the basis of one such advertisement, Gaba enrolled himself with the institute. On completion of the course, Gaba reportedly asked Singh for a job. However, Singh started avoiding him and also shifted his office. Gaba found out the new office and again requested Singh for a job. Singh reportedly offered him a job in Iraq, but he was not willing to go there.

Later, Singh offered him a job in Cyprus, Europe. He arranged tickets, invitation letter and currency of the country and sent Gaba to Cyprus.

When he reached there, customs officials stopped him for checking and found that his documents were fake. They kept him in custody along with some other students of Singh's institute. They were later deported to India.

The police arrested him from Mathura. During the interrogation, Singh said that he had worked in the merchant navy as a deck cadet. He earned a lot of money from his institute in Delhi and then set up a large education hub in Mathura.

According to the police, Singh is involved in two cases of cheating registered in Delhi and Varanasi.

New Delhi, June 8
Thousands of passengers were left stranded this morning for several hours on the Dwarka Metro line after a technical snag slowed down the movement of trains.

The overhead electrification system developed a snag in the Janakpuri area on the Dwarka-Noida-Vaishali Line at 9:15 am, leading to the slowing down of trains. The problem was rectified at 10:45 am. Until then, the trains were running slow and the frequency was decreased.

"The services were not disrupted, but the trains were bunched with each one coming after every 10 minutes. Normally, a train plies every three minutes between Dwarka and Yamuna Bank. Regular announcements were made at all the stations about the technical problem and the delayed running of trains," said a Delhi Metro spokesperson.

There was a heavy crowd and chaos all around. Being office hours, everyone was worried about reaching their destination on time. A large number of people tried to get on to the trains," said Prashant Gupta, a commuter.

By the time the snag was rectified after almost two hours, there was chaos everywhere with pressure building up at Rajiv Chowk, the main interchange station on the network. The line that covers 43 stations and connects the Capital to Noida and Anand Vihar, left passengers angry and frustrated.

New Delhi, June 8
A 20-year-old youth was reported missing after he allegedly sent an SMS to his father that read that he would commit suicide by jumping in the Yamuna.

The youth has been identified as Arun Kumar. The police with the assistance of the Delhi Fire Service and the Disaster Management could not find his body after searching for it in the Yamuna at 1.30 am today.

A police official said, ''We found a pair of slippers near the Yamuna Bank, which possibly belong to the youth. Last night at 11.50 pm Arun had sent an SMS to his father, Sunil Kumar Tyagi, who is presently employed with the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The SMS read that I have failed in the police examination for constables and will not come back. I am committing suicide.

Sunil thereafter informed the police about the matter. But, after the search was conducted at the Yamuna, Arun is yet to be found. The police suspects that he might have run away after leaving his slippers near the river bank. Investigators are also trying to confirm if he committed suicide, as his body is yet to be found.

Arun was depressed because he did not pass the examination, which was held in April, added the official.

Sources said that Arun was pursuing BA through correspondence from Delhi University.

New Delhi, June 8
Juvenile undertrials are allegedly procuring matchboxes from the people who visit them at their shelter home in Kingsway Camp. The matter came to light when some 12 minors who were being transported in a police van allegedly started a fire in it yesterday.

The incident occurred despite the frisking of the juveniles done by the personnel from a Delhi police armed battalion. The fire, which reportedly started by some of the juveniles, happened in the presence of two head constables and three constables who were sitting with them inside the jail van.

The minors had gone to the children's court at Delhi Gate and were returning to Sewa Kutir, a shelter home for juveniles at Kingsway camp.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sindhu Pillai said, "The fire started at 3.30 pm. A PCR vehicle that was going to attend a distress call had been closely following the van. The van driver stopped the vehicle near the Vidhan Sabha. The juveniles tried breaking free, but were overpowered."

A police official admitted that proper checking of juveniles is not done before they are transported in the jail vans.

"The juveniles procure the matchsticks from their visitors. They then hide it in their body cavities. They even hide blades in their mouth," added the official.

In another incident that occurred this afternoon, 24 minors allegedly started fighting while being transported in a Delhi police jail van, causing the driver to halt the vehicle at the Civil Lines police station. "There were no breakout attempts this time," said Sindhu Pillai. 

New Delhi, June 8
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, today announced the launch of the first-ever India Food Banking Network (IFBN) in Delhi.

The food bank was launched after a comprehensive three-year feasibility and site analysis, under the leadership of Pitroda. They also launched websites of India Food Banking Network and Delhi Food Banking Network. The toll-free SMS helpline number is 58888 which will integrate the donors and the seekers of food.

Announcing the launch, Dikshit said, "It has been our endeavour to reach out to every citizen of Delhi with safe and wholesome food. The Delhi government has already such programmes as 'Aap ki Rasoi and 'Janahaar'.

Besides, the city government is all set to implement Delhi Annshri Yojana to provide cash transfer subsidy at the rate of Rs 600 per month to the poor households.

"I'm very pleased to announce the launch of IFBN and the Delhi Food Banking Network (DFBN) and would like to extend a note of congratulations to the individuals and organizations that are making a real difference in the lives of many with their generous support," the Chief Minister said.

Dikshit also stated that her government will sign an MoU with India Food Banking Network to facilitate functioning of DFBN.

She appreciated the efforts of Pitroda who is striving hard to eliminate hunger from India by 2020.

The city government would like to have the details from India Food Banking Network so that hungry people could be approached properly with the help of volunteers.

Sam Pitroda said, "The launch of the India Food Banking Network is an occasion to collectively communicate to the nation that we will indeed eliminate hunger in India by 2020 and begin this journey together. The idea for IFBN emerged from the discussions with the Global Food Banking Network in Chicago. Food banks are operational in more than 30 countries across the world," he said.

Pitroda said, "I have always believed that technology can greatly help solve the issues related to hunger and through this launch we will bring technology, logistics IT, and involvement of the local community to feed their own community. IFBN is an effort to bring the government, private sector and NGOs together to fight hunger and malnutrition in the country."