New Delhi, June 19
There were demonstrations in many areas of the Capital today in protest against the short supply of water. People have not been getting enough water for their daily needs for many days now.

Vijendra Gupta, Delhi unit chief of the of the Bharatiya Janata Party , said that a delegation of the party today met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, appealing to her to make potable water available to the citizens.

However, she disappointed the delegation members, expressing her helplessness in finding a magical solution to the water shortage, Gupta said.

He said that if a solution to the water crisis is not found by the government, the BJP would launch a "jail bharo" movement on July 22.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Jal Board curtailed 50 per cent of water to the New Delhi Municipal Council, forcing it to reduce the supply to its consumers in Lutyens' zone of the Capital.

This has been done just after the announcement made by the Chief Minister yesterday, said a senior official of the NDMC.

The Chief Minister yesterday ordered the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board, Debo Shree Mukherjee, and chairperson of the NDMC, Archna Arora, to reduce the supply of water to Lutyens' zone, including her residence, to ensure better supply in other areas.

Executive engineer, Water Supply Wing of the NDMC, Ajay Gupta said that 50 per cent of the supply of the NDMC has been curtailed by the Delhi Jal Board. The NDMC has a total of 130 MLD water to supply in its areas.

Of this, the Delhi Jal Board gives 120 MLD, but today it gave only 60 MLD.

New Delhi, June 19
Around two lakh former employees of the undivided Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have not received their pension for the past over one year.

Over 1.90 lakh pensioners, comprising senior citizens, physically handicapped persons and widows, are supposed to get a monthly pension of Rs 1,000. But due to financial crisis faced by the erstwhile MCD and now the three new civic bodies, the pensions have not been disbursed for the past 12 to 13 months.

In fact, the financial situation of the undivided MCD was so bad that it was unable to pay even to its officials, sanitation workers and contractors.

The three new civic agencies owe Rs 19.04 crore to the pensioners and Rs 600 crore to the contractors.

"We are in the process of disbursing pensions due till September 2011. They will be released in a week or two," said Mayank Sharma, chief accountant of the civic bodies.

However, contrary to Sharma's claim, senior leaders of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) said there were no funds for the payment of the pensions.

"People come to us with complaints, but we cannot promise them anything as there are no funds," said Mahender Nagpal, Leader of the NDMC House during a meeting.

"We had promised to pay to the contractors after the trifurcation, but no funds have been released by the state government so far," said Nagpal.

The corporation has around 73,000 pensioners under its jurisdiction . The South Delhi Municipal Corporation also has 75,000 pensioners under its jurisdiction while the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 45,000 pensioners.

According to Sharma, of the total Rs 600 crore due to the contractors, the government has earmarked 10 per cent, Rs 60 crore, for the NDMC, which it would provide soon. The corporation is also to receive Rs 30 crore under the non-plan head, according to Sharma.

"We will receive Rs 90 crore by the end of this month, which will improve the situation significantly," added Sharma.

New Delhi, June 19
Two persons, including an associate manager of IBM, were arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and Domestic Airport here during the past 24 hours for allegedly using fake tickets to enter the airport.

"In the first incident on Monday, Sachin Asri's 62-year-old mother was to board a flight to Toronto. Sachin had scanned his mother's e-ticket and created it into a PDF format. He deleted his mother's name and put his name instead," said a police official. The printer and scanner used to create the forged ticket have been seized.

The official said that Sachin and his mother had arrived at IGIA with two tickets. He used his forged ticket to creep inside the terminal with his mother. Sachin saw his mother off and walked towards the exit gate number five of the terminal.

"A Central Industrial Security Force official saw the ticket in his hand and noticed that he didn't have a boarding pass. The official got suspicious and confronted Sachin. He called the KLM airline staff. They verified that there was no booking in their flight under his name," added the police official. The CISF official then handed over Sachin to the police and a case has been registered against him.

One Nilesh Shroff was also arrested yesterday for allegedly using a fake ticket of an Indigo flight to enter the premises of Domestic Airport from Terminal 1-D.

New Delhi, June 19
Two unidentified bodies were found at East of Kailash and Mandir Marg here during the past 24 hours, police said today.

In the first incident, a man's body was found near the community centre in East of Kailash, which is under the jurisdiction of the Amar Colony police station.

According to the police, the person's identity has not been established. He is around 50 years of age. The police said that man could have died a natural death.

The body has been preserved at AIIMS for a postmortem.

In another case, the body of an alleged vagabond was found in front of Asharam Bapu Ashram in Mandir Marg on Monday afternoon.

The police suspects that the man died from a head injury which may have been caused by a vehicle. The man's whose identity could not be established is believed to be aged 40 years.

His body has been kept at the mortuary of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.