New Delhi, July 6
Two robbers barged into a businessman's house at Farsh Bazaar in East Delhi this afternoon, held his family hostage and shot at a 14-year-old boy when he shouted for help. The armed men also injured a 16-year-old boy before escaping.

The incident occurred in the house of Manoj Tayal, which is located on the first floor of a building at Farsh Bazaar. Tayal runs a factory in East Delhi.

According to a relative, Tayal's wife was sleeping with her three children when someone knocked on the main door of the residence at 1.30 pm today. Her elder son, Shaan, opened the door and two robbers then barged inside and held the family hostage. Tayal's family members said that the robbers stayed inside the house for nearly an hour.

The relative said that the robbers first asked Shaan if Tayal was present at home. When he said that his father was not there, they pushed him inside and held the family at gunpoint. One of the two robbers started ransacking the house. Shaan's younger brother, Priyanshu Tayal (14), shouted for help and the robbers shot at him. He sustained a bullet injury on his head.

The robbers also beat Shaan. They fled from the house and Tayal's wife thereafter placed a call to the police control room (PCR). Priyanshu was taken to a private hospital, where his condition is said to be critical.

The police has registered a case of robbery and is investigating the matter. Fingerprints and other evidence were collected by a forensic team from the site of the incident. The police took the statements of the neighbours and will prepare a sketch of the robbers.

According to the police, nobody saw the robbers arriving at Tayal's residence. Investigators claim that the robbery may have been committed by the people who knew Tayal as they had asked for him when his son opened the door.

The police has asked Tayal to provide the details of the workers at his factory.

New Delhi, July 6
Teachers of Delhi University (DU) today sought the intervention of Union Minister for Human Resource and Development Kapil Sibal for taking measures against the alleged irregularities in admission process in OBC category. They asked him to ensure the non-conversion of reserved seats into general category.

A seven-member team of representatives met Sibal and apprised him of their concerns and asked him to help in the matter. The teachers said that on their request the minister instructed DU officials to ensure that there is no violation in the procedure of admission.

"Our meeting was very positive," said Prof Hany Babu, who was part of the delegation.

A group of students had earlier this week protested on DU campus, as well as outside the HRD Ministry against the alleged discrepancies in admissions against the reserved category students.

"The DU has already announced July 18 as the last date of admission in all reserved seats and said that they will be converted to general category thereafter, even as the colleges had not reduced OBC cutoffs significantly enough to fill all reserved seats," said Babu.

"Sibal assured us that it was the ministry's responsibility to ensure the procedure was followed correctly and he will see to it," he added.

He said that reservation has to be provided to SC/ST and OBC students on total intake and not on sanctioned seats, he said.

The students from the reserved category have alleged that Ramjas College was admitting all students who meet a particular cutoff requirement in the general category but was not applying the same policy for the OBC students.

New Delhi, July 6
Equitable distribution of water in Delhi is need of the hour. This was stated by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikhit. Towards this end, pilot projects in certain areas under the public private participation (PPP) model are proposed to be undertaken to improve Delhi Jal Board's (DJB's) existing water supply and transmission and distribution networks, said the Chief Minister.

Reacting against the news items appeared in a section of the media about privatisation of water, Dikshit said that the DJB would take steps to provide 24x7 water supply in the project area as has happened in other cities like Nagpur, Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga and in a number of other Asian and African cities.

The PPP projects are for better management of water distribution and not to privatise the DJB. The PPP in the project is not for privatisation because the DJB will continue to be the owner of all the assets and the responsibility for providing water services will continue with it.

The payment to private operators would be independent of consumer tariff. Consumers would not be required to pay anything to the operators. It would be made by the DJB. The pilot project will also involve representatives of the Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) in reporting about service delivery and consumer concerns.

The DJB is planning to carry out a pilot project for equitable and 24x7 distribution of water in Vasant Vihar, Mehrauli, Malviya Nagar and Nangloi. After the successful implementation of the pilot projects, the learnings will be extended to the other parts of Delhi. This will improve continuity of supply, reduce risks of contamination and water losses, and will enable the DJB to provide better services to its consumers.