Relatives mourn the death of five children who died in the wall collapse in East Delhi on Wednesday. Tribune photos: Manas Ranjan Bhui

New Delhi, December 12
Five children were killed and another was injured when a 17-ft-high under-construction wall collapsed on them this morning at Dallupura village in East Delhi.

Azad also known as Aditya (5), Kanchan (5), Amit (5), Ankit (5) and Baby (3), both siblings, were killed in the incident. A four-year-old girl, Saraswati, is critically wounded and was admitted to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in East Delhi.

The Delhi government will provide a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The announcement was made by the Urban Development Minister, Arvind Singh Lovely, at the Delhi Assembly today. The matter came up during a discussion on the issue of rampant unauthorised construction in the city.

The minister said, "The responsibility of the area lies with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), hence, a magisterial inquiry has been initiated to examine the cause of the incident. The government will take all efforts to book the guilty."

Chairman of the Standing Committee of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation Mehak Singh today said that Dallupura lies under the jurisdiction of the Revenue Department of the Delhi government. He said that the SDM has to probe such matters, as he is in-charge of the area.

A case under Sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 288 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down or repairing buildings), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC has been registered at the New Ashok Nagar police station. The case has been registered against the contractor of the plot, Bhavar Singh, sub-contractor Sunil and plot-owner Vijender Gujjar.

"We are investigating the case and will arrest the accused soon," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Prabhakar.

The boundary wall was being constructed at a 3,000 sq ft plot, where a godown was being made. According to the police, the wall was weak as it did not have a foundation. An excavator (machine) was being used to even the debris that was placed against the wall. This created pressure on the wall and caused it to fall on the children playing on its other side.

Eyewitnesses allegedly told the police that contractor Bhavar was present at the spot when the wall collapsed. He then immediately ran away, while the locals tried catching him.

The police received the information at 9.52 am. The police, along with officials of the fire service, reached the spot. They pulled out the bodies of the five children from under the debris. The injured girl was rushed to the hospital.

Sadhan, the father of one of the deceased, Amit, said, "It was a horrifying incident. I ran towards the debris and saw the hands and feet of the children that lay underneath it. I tried pulling them out, but there was only debris everywhere."

New Delhi, December 12
The Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today launched Saral Money, an innovative aadhar-enabled payment product initially being introduced in parts of the capital.

It has been launched in collaboration with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), five banks - Axis, HDFC, ICICI, Indian Overseas Bank and the State Bank of India and Visa Card. Saral Money ensures that a user of aadhar number automatically has an aadhar-linked instant account in a bank. The aadhar holder can also purchase a card for a nominal fee to operate the account.

Speaking on the occasion, Dikshit stated that the new product would bring banking at the door step of the Delhiites. It would also bring a positive change in financial scenario in the country.

The government has also decided to implement cash transfer mode with the help of aadhar numbers for its most ambitious food security programme - Delhi Annshri Yojna. The scheme is to be launched by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on December 15. With Saral Money, the government and other institutions can send money to any user of aadhar number, irrespective of whether they have a bank account or not. The beneficiary can withdraw their money from any ATMor micro ATM using biometric authentication provided by aadhar, through a bank branch, or access their money through the internet and mobile phones.

New Delhi, December 12
A 34-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly getting his sister and brother-in-law killed at their house in Netaji Subhash Place, for grabbing their.

One of three contract killers allegedly hired by the accused has also been arrested.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (north-west) P Karunakaran said that the arrested man is named as Pawan Jindal, a resident of Aman Vihar.

He allegedly hired the three contract killers - Sandeep Kumar, Vikram Dalal and Chandveer - who killed Jindal's sister, Ramkali and brother-in-law Satpal Garg on October 30.

The police has arrested Kumar. The police is searching for Dalal and Chandraveer and conducting raids in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

"Jindal resided at Garg's property at Aman Vihar. Garg made Jindal vacate the plot in July," said Karunakaran. Jindal conspired with his friend Chandveer to kill Garg and grab his property.

Jindal and Chandveer roped in Kumar and Dalal and paid them Rs 1 lakh for killing the victims.

The police began its investigations into the case when Garg and his wife Ramkali were found dead at their Sri Nagar house on October 30.The initial probe revealed that they were strangled and their house was ransacked. Their family members claimed that Rs 2.5 lakh, jewellery and some documents related to the property were missing.The police learnt that the entry into the house was friendly in nature. It indicated that the motive behind the murders were enmity.

The police questioned the relatives. Investigators learnt that Jindal had a tiff with Garg over property. Jindal was questioned and the police learnt of Chandraveer and Dalal.

"When they were asked to join the police probe, they did not turn up. We learnt that Vikram was in contact with Kumar a few days before the incident," Karunakaran said.

Kumar, who is a resident of Jhajjar district, Haryana, was apprehended. He allegedly said that he with Chandveer and Dalal had killed Garg and Ramkali. "Kumar said that Jindal planned the conspiracy and paid Rs 1 lakh for committing the crime," arunakaran added.

New Delhi, December 12
Having being suspended for almost 50 per cent of the time in the past four years from the Delhi Assembly sessions, the opposition BJP today decided to call for a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, Yoganand Shastri.

Leader of the Opposition in assembly V.K. Malhotra said that out of total 84 days of the sessions held by the present government since its inception in 2008, his party members were abstained from attending the proceedings as they remained suspended for 40 days. "We have been regularly telling them that your behaviour towards the members of our party is not fair. Nobody is suspended like this in Parliament. Whenever our members try to raise some issue they are suspended," said Malhotra.

It has been only once in the past that no-confidence motion was moved against the Speaker in Delhi Assembly. Though only two days of the session have left, the BJP leaders said that it can be taken up in the next session as well.

"The next session is even more important as the annual budget would be tabled. Though, we will forward the application in this session itself," said Malhotra. The party leader said that they had written to the Speaker in this regard on October 22. "We had apprised him of through the letter that our members are not allowed to speak whenever they try and marshaled out. This reflects a political strategy against our party," said Jagdish Mukhi, BJP MLA from Janakpuri.

The BJP members were marshaled out today in the beginning of the session after uproar was created by the party over the Lokayukta report which was tabled in the House yesterday during their absence as they had walked out of the House in protest of not being allowed to discuss the five deaths in Sushruta Trauma Centre.

"Today, we wanted a discussion on the report presented by the Lokayukta about the enquiry into the housing scam as the matter was closed by the government yesterday in our absence, saying that there is no need to further examine the issue. This is a serious matter as it promised lakhs of houses for the poor," said Mukhi. As per the report, the Lokayukta had recommended to forward the matter to the President for reconsideration.

The inquiry was initiated by the Lokayukta after the state government had advertised to allot 60,000 houses to the poor which it later claimed to be a printing mistake. According to the BJP leaders, 3.5 lakh people had applied for the scheme by submitting Rs 100 per application.

New Delhi, December 12
Importantly, it is not only planets and stars' positions which are believed to be a strong determinant of one's life, but also dates, especially the rare sequential ones just as 12-12-12 based on which the trend of planning baby deliveries has come in vogue these days.

This time, ahead of the triple date - 12-12-12 - the century's last sequential date - a rare combination to repeat only after another 100 years - several hospitals in Delhi received requests from couples for planning their caesarian babies for today as one that of triplets of Ravi and Asha Thukral born this morning at a private clinic here. For the day, surgical theatres of many private hospitals and clinics were booked for the same.

Dr Archana Dhawan Bajaj, fertility and IVF expert, who carried the caesarian on Asha, said, "The due date for the delivery was December 29, but the couple wished to have the babies in view of the auspiciousness associated to the date." They were particular about this specific date as their astrologer suggested them that 12-12-12, Wednesday, is an auspicious date for children's birth as per planetary position. Birth on this special date will give them name, fame and good luck.

A resident of Inderpuri, Ravi, the overjoyed father at the Nurture Clinic, said: "We are very glad and feeling overwhelmed with grace of god that we have been lucky that our babies are born on this special day of the century."

Like, Thukrals there were many expectant parents who did not wish to forgo the opportunity as according to numero and astro readers, the number 12 is lucky for initiating any venture and babies born on 12-12-12 shall go on to inherit the qualities of planet Jupiter, a symbol of prosperity, more so as the combination will repeat now only after another 100 years.

Contrarily there were many who believe that the combination 12/12/12 is an unlucky date as this falls just nine days prior to the Maya calendar's end of its 5,000-year cycle, which has drawn a lot of debate and discussion in view of an awaiting doomsday December 21, 2012.

New Delhi, December 12
In the wake of many recent road accidents owing to use of mobile phones or listening to music while driving, the International Road Federation (IRF) has called for behavioural strategies to address this issue including involving strong campaigns to promote safe driving practices, especially among the youth.

In fact it is not only the drivers, but also pedestrians who have been found very often listening to music using headphones while crossing roads. Expressing concern at the growing trend of distracted driving due to latest smart phones, in-vehicles communication technologies, including electronic data communication devices, road safety experts said that the problem of ignoring road safety measures is increasing across the world, including India, which accounts for 10 per cent of the global road fatalities.

The IRF is mooting to launch social media campaign to educate drivers and bring in behavioural changes to reduce use of mobile phones and get less distracted by other technological devices.

"Distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. With more and more people owning mobile phones, and the rapid introduction of new in-vehicle communication systems, this problem is likely to escalate in the country in the coming years," said K.K. Kapila, chairman of IRF.

According to him, apart from texting and surfing the internet while driving, proliferation of integrated in-vehicle ICT and nomadic devices, including navigational information and electronic data communication devices meant for driver safety, are contributing to distraction and are among the leading contributors to road traffic fatalities and injuries.

"Taking the help of behavioral strategies and focusing on the need for driving schools and licensing handbooks to provide learner drivers with information on how to manage distraction safely, including information on the relative risks associated with engaging in distracting activities and their effects on driving performance will come handy," he added.