New Delhi, June 20
An 82-year-old woman was found murdered in her house at Vikaspuri, west Delhi, this morning. A robbery has been reportedly committed in the house.

The victim, Joginder Kaur, stayed alone on the first floor of a three-storey building at H-block in Vikaspuri.

Her nephew Gurbaksh Singh (71), who lives with his family on the ground floor, wakes up at 4 am every day. Today, after he arose, he tried opening the main door of the house, but noticed that it was bolted from the outside. He tried opening the rear door, but it was also shut. He telephoned his aunt, Joginder, who also woke up at about the same time to go to a gurdwara. But, she didn't receive his calls.

Gurbaksh then telephoned a neighbour, Gagandeep Singh, who stays on the second floor of the building. But, he said that even the main door of his house was bolted from the outside.

Gurbaksh managed to get outside his house from the third exit point. He saw the wooden door, which opened to a staircase leading to the upper floors, was open. "I had closed the door last night. And it is usually closed every day," he added.

When he went up the stairs to the first floor, he saw that the door of Joginder's house was ajar. He peeped inside and saw that her house was ransacked.

He said that most of the household items were scattered on the floor. He saw his aunt's body lying on the floor.

He discovered the body at 4.30 am and called the PCR van at 5.20 am. The police reached her residence and took her body to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in Hari Nagar.

Additional Commissioner of Police (west) V Renganathan said, "The exact cause of her death can only be ascertained after the postmortem report. But, she had probably been smothered with a pillow. There are no head injuries and no blunt object was used to kill her. There are injuries on her ears and neck, besides bloodstains." Or she may have been strangled, he added.

A case of robbery and murder has been registered at the Vikaspuri police station.

"We have found her purse containing 25 pounds and Rs 13,000, besides two gold bangles. We are trying to ascertain the items that were stolen," added Renganathan.

Her neighbour Ajay Pal, who stays a few buildings away, said that about four days ago, some thieves had also entered his house. He said that he grabbed one of the thieves and started beating him, while the others fled. But, he also managed to escape. Renganathan has confirmed the incident.

Joginder was reportedly working as a nursing assistant at a government hospital in Delhi. Her daughter Japnaam Sareen (60) and son Charanpal Singh (55) live in London. Her other son Preetpal Singh stays at Uttam Nagar. They have been informed about the incident.

New Delhi, June 20
The Delhi Cabinet today gave its nod for providing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to the families using kerosene in the city. At present, more than three lakh families use the fuel for cooking.

Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said as per the announcement in the Budget speech, the government would provide a one-time relief to the below poverty line (BPL) kerosene users and the holders of Antodaya (AAY) and jhuggi relocation colonies (JRC) cards for getting LPG connections.

As per the public distribution system data base, 3,56, 395 families in Delhi use kerosene for cooking. Out of this, 2, 32, 019 are BPL families, 93, 075 are AAY card holders and the rest 31,301 have JRC cards. These families get 12.5 litres of kerosene every month at the rate of Rs 14.83 per litre. The department of food and supplies provides around 4,400 kilo litres of kerosene every month.

The Cabinet has also approved the methodology for the shift from kerosene to LPG.

The programme will be formally launched on August 15, 2012. The complete process is expected to cost around Rs 85.54 crore.

The government will provide the security money on behalf of the families for the LPG cylinder, which will come with a regulator, two-burner gas stove and tube.

The department of food and supplies has been asked to set up a cell to oversee the process. The department has also been authorised to negotiate with oil companies the prices of ISI gas stoves.

The shift is expected to check the black market of kerosene and ensure its availability for other purposes.

Besides, the women will no longer have to bear the smoke or pump kerosene stoves while cooking.

New Delhi, June 20
The monsoon this year may cause severe waterlogging and sanitation problems in the city as the three newly formed municipal corporations seem to be clueless about the action plan to be adopted for desilting the drains.

The work of desilting 1,166 drains, which the undivided Municipal Corporation of Delhi used to do every year at a cost of Rs 20 crore, has been divided among the three new corporations. And the corporations have already started passing the buck on the public works department (PWD) that has taken over the maintenance of the drains with a width of 60 feet and above.

"Most of the drains flowing across the main roads are being looked after by the PWD. We don't have any role to play," said Subhash Arya, Leader of the Opposition in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The corporation has cleaned only 40 to 60 per cent of the drains, which means that several low-lying areas will get flooded when the monsoon sets in. Also, most of the desilting work is being done manually as there is no adequate arrangement of machines.

Desilting of drains is an annual activity that ensures that the silt accumulated in the drains is removed before the onset of the monsoon to avoid waterlogging. However, every year, while the civic agencies claim to remove the silt and dump it at sanitary landfill sites , the muck is generally left in the open and it makes its way back to the drains and causes waterlogging.

The condition of unauthorised colonies, where more than 40 lakh people live, is expected to be the worst as no action plan has been made to clear the drains in these areas because of shortage of finances.

"We cannot desilt the drains in these areas as we do not have funds," said a BJP councillor of an unauthorised colony.

New Delhi, June 20
The Delhi Development Authority has demurred at the step taken by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) to transfer the proposed Guru Harkishan hospital land and its under-construction structure to a third party. The land is located adjacent to Bala Sahib Gurdwara near Sarai Kale Khan on Ring Road.

The DDA said that as per the terms and conditions of the allotment as well as lease deed, the title of the land cannot be transferred.

The DDA made this observation after receiving a response letter from the DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna against a notice served on the gurdwara committee.

The DDA had issued a notice to the DSGMC on April 25, calling upon its president to offer the site for inspection in view of the allegation of K.S. Bhogal, national organizing secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), regarding the alleged sale of hospital land to a private company.

Giving reference of DSGMC's agreement with the private company, the DDA said that creation of the third party agreement in the land is prohibited under the terms and conditions of lease deed.

Thereafter, the DSGMC in an affidavit prayed for restoration of allotment, saying that there was no agreement between the committee and another company.

The DSGMC assured the DDA in its response letter that "construction shall be completed by the end of December 2012 and the committee shall run and manage the affairs of Harkishan hospital. The committee will not create any third party".

The DDA said that the allotment of land was restored after an assurance had been given by the DSGMC.

The DDA asked the DSGMC to submit documents of the Guru Harkishan Medical Trust, copy of agreement with all the private companies and other relevant papers.

On the other hand, Sarna said, "I have also received the notice. I have submitted all the documents asked by the DDA. I have done nothing illegal."

Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Jangpura, Tarvinder Singh Marwah, demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. The land belongs to a trust owned by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and it cannot be given to a third party, he said.