New Delhi, August 21
Heaviest rainfall of the season drenched the national capital this morning, causing waterlogaging and traffic jams at various places. This has caused problems for thousands of people in the city.

The weather department recorded 54.5 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours ending 8.30 am, which is the highest for the city since the monsoon began in June-end. Another 28.2 mm of rainfall was recorded between 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. The Met department has forecast more rains tomorrow.

The city has received 244.4 mm of rainfall since the onset of monsoon, which is 47 per cent deficient, a spokesperson for the Indian Meteorological Department said. He said that heavy rains have also brought down temperature in the city. The maximum and minimum temperature remained below the normal levels. The maximum temperature was recorded at 29.4° C, which is four degrees below normal, while the minimum was 24.8° C, one degree below normal.

Rains that began last night continued through the day in several parts of the capital, resulting in waterlogging in many areas and traffic jams during the peak hours.

Waterlogging was reported at Hari Nagar Ashram Chowk, Jangpura, Julena, Millenium Park, Vikas Marg, Shahdra, Rohini, Pushpanjali Enclave, Kapashera, Najafgarh, Sangma Vihar, Badarpur, near Civil Lines, ITO Ring Road, etc. that has caused traffic Jams.

Traffic jams were reported from major intersections like ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Ring Road, Dwaraka and Mathura Road, Connaught Place giving a harrowing time to commuters.

Traffic was affected on Ring Road due to waterlogging at the end of Bhishma Pitamah Marg flyover and Pragati Vihar Hostel.

New Delhi, August 21
Resident welfare associations (RWAs) of south Delhi, the area where the pilot project to privatise the water supply has been implemented, said that they would oppose the project unless the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) consults them through resident ward committees and councillors.

United Residents Joint Action (URJA), a collective wing of the RWAs, held a meeting yesterday. A spokesperson for the URJA said that the associations needed to know more about the project before it was implemented and would try to discuss it with DJB engineers.

At the meeting, a resolution was passed regarding constituting a working committee of functionaries from the RWAs of the areas to be affected to take the matter to the chairman of the DJB.

Ashutosh Dikshit, a member of URJA, expressed surprise that senior DJB officials were falsely talking about having consulted all stakeholders.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the selection of Malviya Nagar for the pilot project, councillor Satish Upadhya said that it could not be done without taking its electorate into confidence.

"We will demand transparency and resist the privatisation without bringing on board all views in an open platform," he said.

Ashok Prabhakar, general-secretary of Sahyog, the confederation of Malviya Nagar RWAs, said that the residents simply want adequate water to fulfil their needs at reasonable prices.

New Delhi, August 21
In an effort to make Delhi a kerosene-free city, the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today distributed gas stoves free of cost and issued gas connections to 20 poor families in the capital.

The government has a list of 3.65 lakh such families to whom it has to give gas stoves and connections free of cost, Dikshit said.

This is a unique effort of the government that will go a long way in overcoming siphoning of kerosene under the public distribution system by certain dealers and others. Dikshit expressed these views while launching the kerosene-free programme which was also attended by Food and Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf, PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, Women and Child Development Minister Kiran Walia, Parliamentary Secretaries Surender Kumar and Mukesh Sharma, Chief Secretary P.K. Tripathi and state-level coordinators of oil companies.

She said that the city government will spend Rs 3,049 for each beneficiary to provide LPG connection, gas cylinder, regulator, burners, etc. The beneficiaries were advised to make rational use of cooking gas and get their cylinder filled by themselves afterwards.

The total financial implication of programme is Rs 108.66 crore out of which Rs 22.75 crore is to be borne by the Union government and Rs 85.91 crore by the city government. The city government is providing 50 per cent of LPG connection charges in respect of Annatodaya Yojna and BPL card holders and 100 per cent of the charges in respect of jhuggy dwellers ration card holders.

Dikshit said that all beneficiaries numbering over 3.56 lakh would get LPG connection and filled up gas cylinder by December 2012.

She conveys her thanks to the Union government and oil companies like HP, Indian Oil and Bharat Gas for making the programme functional.

New Delhi, August 21
The BJP today said that the Kerosene-Free Delhi programme of the city government is an election stunt.

President of the Delhi unit of the BJP Vijender Gupta said that the government has data of kerosene users just up to 2007 on the website. If one looks at the data up to 2000, the total number of BPL families in Delhi is 4.66 lakh. Similarly, the number of AAY and JRC card holders is also large. Besides, more than 10 lakh poor families live in capital who have no proof or card of identity with them.

The government has spent crores of rupees on advertisements to secure the votes of the poor by promising lollypop of LPG connections free of cost. The condition is that an applicant must attach details of his bank account with the application form for gas connections. How can the people who have no proof of their residence in Delhi give bank account number? He asked.

In the definition of the Planning Commission under the Central government, it has been stated that the person earning more than Rs 32 per day is above poverty line. This way, persons earning Rs 960 per month will be treated below poverty line. At present, one cylinder of gas costs Rs 396. If a poor family will spend Rs 396 for one gas cylinder, how it will fulfil its other needs by Rs 564 only.

New Delhi, August 21
There was a panic outside AIIMS this morning when an under-construction wall of the parking lot of the AIIMS Metro station collapsed in which three passersby sustained injuries. They were admitted to AIIMS Traum Centre.

The injured have been identified as Raeem, Sauran and Ehraaj, all in their early 20s.

The wall near the parking lot collapsed after heavy rains, a spokesperson for the Delhi fire service said. Three persons, including an attendant of the parking lot, sustained injuries and some vehicles parked in the lot were damaged. About a dozen labourers were working at the site when the wall collapsed, but they were reported safe, a police official said.

A case under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt) has been registered against unknown persons.

Rains created havoc in some places in the morning. Two other incidents of wall collapse one each at Anand Parvat and Mundka village were also reported. A 13-year-old girl, Rekha, sustained injuries in Anand Parvat incident while no one was injured in Mundka incident. The victim was admitted to a nearby hospital. She was discharged after first aid, said SHO of the Anand Parvat police station.

At Anand Parvat it was a DDA wall that collapsed. It was in a bad condition. Just after the heavy rains, there was strong wind that led to the incident, said an eyewitness.

New Delhi, August 21
With the arrest of two persons, the Delhi police (outer district) claimed to have worked out a kidnapping case.

The accused have been identified as Ajay Kumar, a resident of Sonepat and Vinod of Jhajjar in Haryana. A Bolero jeep which used in commission of crime, a motorcycle, Rs 57,000, three golden chains and two gold rings were seized from their possession.

According to the police, on August 19, Nand Lal (38), who runs a dry-cleaning shop in Samaipur Badli, went missing. He had left his home for his shop around 9 am. He did not return home. Later in the evening, Lal's nephew Inderjit received a ransom call of Rs 2 lakh. Earlier, he did not inform the police. He negotiated with the kidnappers and agreed to pay the money.

Inderjit arranged Rs 60,000 and gave it to the kidnappers. Since it was a less amount as demanded, the kidnappers further threatened to pay Rs 2 lakh for the release of Lal. Victim's family could not arrange the money. They requested the kidnappers to take jewellery. The kidnappers accepted the offer.

Thereafter, the family informed the police about the incident. Around 1.30 pm, Lal was set free by the kidnappers. He was held hostage in a room at Kharkhoda, Haryana. On his instance, the police began the combing operation in the area and held the kidnappers on Bawana-Kharkhoda Road near Auchandi border.

During interrogation, Ajay disclosed the names of his associates - Vinod, Jai Kumar, Tanuj and Vipul. The two of his associates are still absconding, the police said.