New Delhi, August 6
The sexual abuse of three child inmates in Umeed Aman Home for Boys at South Delhi's Mehrauli in February now stands confirmed, the inquiry report submitted by the Delhi police to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Lajpat Nagar recently points out.

In response to the probe findings, the CWC concerned has outrightly rejected the explanation given by the child institution as "eyewash" and directed the police to book the institution in-charge Harish under section 23 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2006, for not informing the police despite it being in his knowledge.

Also, the committee has told the police to book the two adult inmates of the childcare home, who too resided in the home but later expelled under Section 377 IPC (for committing unnatural offence against the children) based on the statements of children recorded in the police inquiry report that at least three children were sexually abused.

In addition, the committee is of the view that the institution has failed to put a system in place to prevent abuse and ensure care and protection of children in the child care home and hence has recommended the department of women and child of Delhi government to revoke the licence of the institution.

The CWC chairperson Raaj Mangal Prasad said that the report submitted to the CWC clearly states the occurrence of unnatural offence within the institution some five/six months ago and sporadic incidents of attempts too have occurred which were in the knowledge of the manager Harish who chose not to report to the police.

The committee has also asked to probe the involvement of another staff member and the allegations of abuse of another five-year-old.

Earlier, the CWC had directed the police to probe the complaints of sexual abuse of three boys aged between 11 and 12 while allegations of the abuse of another five-year-old by some older inmates and a staff member also surfaced early last month.

The matter came to light after an e-mail exchanged between a former employee (Niharika Popli) and a current employee, project head (Anwar Haque) of the home was landed up with the CWC Lajpat Nagar.

New Delhi, August 6
The power distribution companies in the city have initiated crackdown on industrial units to check unauthorised connections.

To curb such connections, the discoms have sought copies of licences from all such industries and in case they are not able to produce them, their electricity will be disconnected.

"Most of the industries in the GT Road and Mandoli areas in East Delhi have not furnished the papers," said a discom spokesperson.

According to the directions of the High Court, all the industries located in various non-conforming areas like GT Road, Mandoli and Vishwas Nagar, etc were to relocate to the industrial pockets such as Bawana. However, investigations have revealed that a number of industries continue to operate illegally in Mandoli and GT Road and other such pockets in Delhi.

"These illegal industries are resorting to theft of electricity to avoid payment of various taxes and duties to the government as well as escape the ire of State Pollution Control Boards," said the spokesperson.

The discoms have so far taken action against five industrial units in East Delhi. "In East Delhi's G T Road, electricity connections of five large industrial units have been disconnected for the second time," he said.

The investigations revealed that there is large-scale power theft taking place in G T Road and Mandoli areas. "It has been found that these industries have illegally concealed the electricity meters so that the discoms may not access them," said the spokesperson.

The discoms have asked all the industries to shift the location of the meters outside their premises.

New Delhi, August 6
Trees help enhance life by providing oxygen. So, it becomes the duty of people to reciprocate by planting saplings and then protecting them in order to allow them to survive.

This was stated by the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at a tree plantation function at Yamuna river bank near DTC Million Bus depot today.

The Chief Minister said that the trees are in fact contributing substantially in keeping people fit and healthy by absorbing dangerous carbon-dioxide and in turn providing oxygen to one and all.

Sheila, along with 400 schoolchildren, planted saplings. Member of Parliament Sandeep Dikshit also joined them.

The Chief Minister said that they are planting saplings on the river 

bank to protect it from erosion. It will help in expansion of green cover and add to the esthetic value of the river. The expansion in green cover has also helped in putting a full stop on invasion of desert in the capital city, she said.

Students of School of Eco Clubs have not only contributed substantially in expansion of greenery, but have also contributed in overcoming pollution. The greenery developed during the Commonwealth Games has added to the beauty and image of the city. It is necessary to plant saplings wherever empty space is available. It is proposed to plant 10,000 saplings on Yamuna bank this year.

"The more we will have green area in our city the more we will have healthy environment and healthy society.

As per our religious conviction, it is an obligatory to water plants like Tulsi everyday, hence, people are exhorted to water plants in their house and locality everyday. They must develop this as a habit,'' said the Chief Minister.

The ornamental and valuable fruit-bearing trees such as amaltas, gulmohar, jakranda, milletia, jamun, amla, mango, bahera, besides shisham, neem, Arjun, pilkhan, peepal, bargad are being planted and the process would be completed by the forest department by August 15 and maintained till their establishment.

Speaking on the occasion Sandeep Dikshit exhorted schoolchildren to involve themselves in planting aplings and further taking care of them so that their survival rate could be enhanced substantially.

New Delhi, August 6
The secretary of over 100-year-old Hardayal Singh Municipal Library resigned today in the House meeting of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) alleging that the three corporations have failed to sustain the library and it is on the verge of closure.

The outgoing secretary, Yashpal Arya, said that the employees of the library have not received salaries for the past more than four months.

Set up in 1862 as Lawrence Institute Library, it has around 103 employees and 31 branches all across Delhi.

Yashpal accused the corporations of ignoring the concerns of the library and its staff, which is one of the oldest assets of the civic agencies. "The library is 100 per cent funded by the corporations. But for the last four months, we have not received an amount of installment," said Arya.

"The situation is worst to the extent that the library cannot even afford to pay its bills of electricity and newspapers," he said. Before trifurcation, the library was looked after by the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). "We used to receive funds in the form of three installments of Rs 75 lakh each by the earlier MCD. But after trifurcation, no one is ready to listen to our grievances," he said.

Arya said that they have written to Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister, Directorate of local bodies and Mayor and Commissioner of the Corporations in this regard, but has not got any response. "They all say only one thing that they are trying to sort out things but no action has been taken place so far," added Arya.

Going by the jurisdiction, the library comes under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) but the corporation has refused to adopt it. "We can not do so without the direction from the state government or the Directorate of local bodies," said NDMC Mayor Meera Aggrawal.

The library was also known as Lord Hardinge Library before Independence. It houses around 1,70,000 books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit.

New Delhi, August 6
The Delhi government increased the court fee today even as lawyers observed a one-day strike in protest against this hike.

Supporting the government's decision, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that the fee schedules have been revised keeping in mind the current realities and practices in the various courts. The rates have been revised after 55 years. The revised fee is now at par with the prevailing court fee in other metro cities.

Dikshit stated that the revision in general is 10 times. But in real terms, it is quite less. The court fee of Re 1.25 was being levied for the copy of translation of judgement, which has been rationalized to make it Rs 10 per page.

For Vakalatnama, the fees of Rs 1.25 and Rs 5.25 have been rationalized to Rs 10 and Rs 20 respectively. For an undertaking under section 49 of the Indian Divorce Act, the fee of Rs 1.25 has been rationalized to Rs 125.

Dikshit further stated that the revision seeks to rationalize the rates when compared to the rise in the consumer price index in the last 54 years. The striking lawyers should have considered all the aspects leading to the rationalization of court fee.

The Chief Minister along with Delhi Law Minister Ramakant Goswami exhorted the lawyers to take a realistic view and start working.

The new rates are in accordance with the instructions of the Delhi High Court.

The rates would facilitate the implementation of e-Court Project in the Capital, Dikshit added.

New Delhi, August 6
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that with the launch of 70 new ambulances, the city has moved further in providing quality health services.

The ambulances were jointly flagged off by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sheila Dikshit at India Gate. The ambulances were acquired by the Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS). With the induction of this new fleet, the total number of ambulances available with the CATS is 101 and 50 more will be added soon.

Dikshit said that the CATS is a 100 per cent grant-in-aid society of the city government. It has been attending about 45,000 to 50,000 calls per year. Apart from accident and trauma victims, CATS also provides free transport to pregnant women to government hospitals and also back home after delivery as part of the Janani Shishoo Suraksha Karyakram.

Basic purpose of an ambulance service is to stabilise the condition of patient and safe transportation, which can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality. An alert and efficient ambulance system capable of responding to various types of medical emergencies like accidents, complicated deliveries and sickness of neonates, thereby will have a salutary effect on achieving the important goals of increasing institutional and safe delivery, reduction of Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.

New Delhi, August 6
The police has arrested four persons, who allegedly committed several thefts in Delhi.

The arrested are identified as Rahat (20), Naveen, alias Kale (21), Suraj Chaudhary (19) and Chintu, alias Danish. With their arrest, the police has recovered stolen jewellery and other articles worth Rs 4 lakh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Chhaya Sharma) said that on April 16, a burglary took place in the house of Dr Nivadita Ghosh at Ekta Apartment in Saket when she had gone to see her son in hospital in Gurgaon. The arrested persons had gained access to the house by scaling a rear sidewall and breaking through the windows.

"The criminals had escaped with Rs 2.20 lakh in cash, jewellery and other articles," said Sharma.

Another incident took place in the morning on July 9 when the arrested persons had allegedly entered a residence of a businessman at Saket and escaped with jewellery, cell phones and other articles.

"The investigation was carried out in both the cases and it appeared that two separate gangs might be involved in these cases. Similar incidents had also taken place in the areas under the jurisdiction of Malviya Nagar and Hauz Khas police stations," said the officer.