Soon vegetable prices to be easy on pocket
New Delhi, July 14
There are many factors--costly labour, manure, delay in monsoon, heavy margin by retailers--for the rising prices of vegetables in Delhi, said Umesh Aggarwal, a wholesale dealer of potatoes, adding that the prices will come down soon as the supply of green vegetables is sufficient in the wholesale market after the rains.

COSTLY GREENS: The vegetable prices have disbalanced household budgets. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

2 minor girls raped by neighbours
Delhi, July 14
Cases of rape of minor girls allegedly by their neighbours have been reported in the Capital. In the first case, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a juvenile neighbour in north Delhi, yesterday afternoon.

Cops to open files of old cases
New Delhi, July 14
As one of its strategies to improve policing in the national Capital, the Delhi police plans to launch a new department in each of its 11 districts to investigate and solve cases that have been pending for more than a year.

Housing projects for poor reviewed
New Delhi, July 14
Housing Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), Union government, secretary AK Mishra and additional secretary PK Mohanty, along with a team of officials from the ministry, today visited Pooth Khurd near Bawana to review and inspect the ongoing housing projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM).

11 kids rescued from eateries
New Delhi, July 14
Eleven child labourers were today rescued from eight restaurants and eateries in Rajouri Garden.

Book on schemes for minorities
New Delhi, July 14
The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) at a meeting of the Sikh advisory committee released a book that has all details of government schemes in connection with the minorities.

Robbers kill boy
New Delhi, July 14
A 19-year-old factory worker was killed after two assailants allegedly stabbed him at Alipur in yesterday. Amit Kumar was reportedly stabbed in a thigh by robbers who wanted his money.

Burglary
New Delhi, July 14
Burglary of cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees occurred on Friday afternoon in a 50-year-old schoolteacher's house in West Kidwai Nagar, South Delhi.

Soon vegetable prices to be easy on pocket
Syed Ali Ahmed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14
There are many factors--costly labour, manure, delay in monsoon, heavy margin by retailers--for the rising prices of vegetables in Delhi, said Umesh Aggarwal, a wholesale dealer of potatoes, adding that the prices will come down soon as the supply of green vegetables is sufficient in the wholesale market after the rains.

He said that till last year, a bag of manure was available in the open market at the cost of Rs 600, but now its price has gone up to Rs 1,200. Now the farmers have no choice than to raise the price of their produce. The rate of labour has also gone up more than double. Besides, late monsoon damaged the crop of green vegetables affecting the supply in the market. Now the monsoon has arrived, so the production of the vegetables may increase within a week and the prices will come down, he added.

However, the main reason for rising prices of green vegetables is reportedly the heavy margin taken by the retailers who sell in colonies.

In the wholesale market, the rates of vegetables are quite cheap: potato Rs 10 - Rs 22 per kg, bitter gourd Rs 8 - Rs 18 per kg, onion Rs 4 -- Rs 8 per kg, spinach Rs 10 per kg, ladyfinger Rs 20 per kg and tomato Rs 25 per kg.

But in the retail market, potato is Rs 20 - Rs 35 per kg, bitter gourd Rs 60 per kg, onion Rs 20 per kg, spinach Rs 40 per kg, and so on. The prices are quite high in the retail trade.

Secretary of Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Market, Rajinder Sharma also said that the supply of the vegetables is improving with the onset of monsoon. Within a few days, the rates will come down, he added.

2 minor girls raped by neighbours
Tribune News Service

Delhi, July 14
Cases of rape of minor girls allegedly by their neighbours have been reported in the Capital. In the first case, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a juvenile neighbour in north Delhi, yesterday afternoon.

A police official said the girl and the accused, also 15 years old, knew each other.

The incident occurred at the girl's house in Jahangirpuri while she was alone. She told her mother about the incident and the matter was reported to the police. A case under the Indian Penal Code Section 376 (punishment for rape) has been registered against the juvenile at the Mahendra Park police station.

The victim and the accused were presented before the Juvenile Justice Board today. The boy has been sent to a juvenile home for criminals. n another incident, a 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour at her house in Mundka, west Delhi, on Friday. The accused neighbour has been arrested.

According to the police, the girl lives with her family at Bazaar Park.

On Friday evening, she was alone in house when her 21-year-old neighbour barged in and allegedly raped her.

The matter was reported to the police. A medical examination of the girl has confirmed that she has been sexually assaulted.

Cops to open files of old cases
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14
As one of its strategies to improve policing in the national Capital, the Delhi police plans to launch a new department in each of its 11 districts to investigate and solve cases that have been pending for more than a year.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said today that the new department called the "Old Cases Cell" would be constituted under the crime branch at the districts.

"I have noticed that we tend to ignore cases which are over a year old. As these cases may involve notorious criminals, we must continue monitoring them and become active to nab the accused. I believe that constituting this new cell would keep teams on constant alert and help improve policing. We have to continue our vigil," added Kumar.

He was addressing the media after the passing out parade of the 10th batch of the Assistant Commissioners of Police at Jharoda Kalan. Kumar said that there would be improvement in the interface between the police and the public. A mechanism would be launched to provide information to complainants about the progress of their cases.

The Commissioner urged to the graduating officials to adopt policing practices to serve the public. The public views the police as a "social doctor", he added.

He also mentioned an initiative of the Delhi police called 'YUVA', which will harness and channelise the energy of school dropouts and unemployed youth into socially productive behaviour, in order to prevent them from committing crime.

Housing projects for poor reviewed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14
Housing Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), Union government, secretary AK Mishra and additional secretary PK Mohanty, along with a team of officials from the ministry, today visited Pooth Khurd near Bawana to review and inspect the ongoing housing projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM).

They also visited some of the projects under JNNURM which are complete and ready for allotment. The houses under this scheme are being constructed for the poor near industrial areas.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will allot about 500 flats to slum dwellers in a formal function soon.

CMD, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Shakti Sinha, briefed the team about the progress of the projects.

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee, Union government, had approved 44,600 and 18,204 houses to be constructed by the DSIIDC and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

The DSIIDC and DUSIB had constructed 13,820 and 1024 houses, respectively, till date. Besides, 18,760 and 17,180 dwelling units, respectively, are under construction at various locations in Delhi.

Tender for 8,420 houses at Tikri Kalan have already been invited and likely to be finalised by August 2012.

11 kids rescued from eateries
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14
Eleven child labourers were today rescued from eight restaurants and eateries in Rajouri Garden.

Of the rescued children, five are below the age of 14 and six are aged between 14 and 18.

The raids were carried out by a task force comprising officials from the labour department. It was assisted by the Delhi police and representatives of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

The force managed to recover all the money due to the children from their employers on the spot itself. The money recovered included Rs 20,000 as for each of the children aged below 14 and other dues like wages and overtime payments. The total money recovered from the employers amounted to Rs 2,13,836. It is first time ever that a task force has recovered all money due to the children from their employers on the spot itself.

The children were produced before the child welfare committee that sent them to Mukti Ashram in Burari.

Book on schemes for minorities

New Delhi, July 14
The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) at a meeting of the Sikh advisory committee released a book that has all details of government schemes in connection with the minorities.

This initiative was taken by DMC member Pushpinder Singh and Kalgidhar Trust that is running educational institutions. The book is titled as "A Step Forward".

The book also has information about welfare schemes for minorities, SC, ST and OBC by corporates like Indian Oil Corporation, Kishore Vaigyanik Yojana (Indian Institutes of Science), National Thermal Power Corporation etc. — TNS

Robbers kill boy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14
A 19-year-old factory worker was killed after two assailants allegedly stabbed him at Alipur in yesterday. Amit Kumar was reportedly stabbed in a thigh by robbers who wanted his money.

Besides the robbery motive, the police is probing the angle of personal enmity.

The incident occurred at 11 pm when Kumar was returning to his house at Tigri village. He hailed from Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

The assailants reportedly waylaid him at an isolated area and attacked him. They fled with his money. A passerby spotted Kumar and informed the police.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died. Doctors said that he had bled to death.

Burglary

New Delhi, July 14
Burglary of cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees occurred on Friday afternoon in a 50-year-old schoolteacher's house in West Kidwai Nagar, South Delhi.

Pramada Lele teaches at Springdales School. She lives with her husband Ajay and son Nipun. The incident took place between 8.30 am and 2 pm when none of them was present at home.

According to Pramada, Rs 50,000, gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh, and an Apple i-pod are missing. TNS