New Delhi, December 13
A major fire today engulfed nearly 50 electrical shops and godowns in a five-floored building at Bhagirath Place, a well-known electrical market in the Chandini Chowk area. No casualties were reported, said fire officials.

The officials said that a call was received regarding the incident at 5.15 pm. The fire started on the third floor of building No. 1808 in the market. Owners of the nearby shops said that the building has over 60 shops inside along with goddowns and a showroom on the ground floor.

One of the senior Delhi Fire Services officials on the spot said, "Twenty-two fire tenders were rushed to the spot. No major injuries or casualties have come to the fore. The fire started on the third floor and then spread to the fourth and the fifth floor.."

"There was a lot of inflammable plastic and PVC material in the godown. The PVC wires caught fire which then further spread to the other parts of the buildings. Since the structure is very old, we suspected cracks and the possibility of collapse. Hence, we initially tried to douse the fire from outside. However, later we were able to enter the building. The fire is under control now," he added.

"The fire brigade vehicles reached the spot within 45 minutes. The congested lanes made it harder for them to reach in time. By the time they arrived, most of the people inside the building have managed to escape the fire," said Sanjay Rajpal, an eyewitness who is also one of the shop owners in the nearby buildings.

Over 100 people are estimated to have been present inside the building when the fire broke out. Bharat Ahuja, vice-president of the Delhi Electrical Traders Association, said, "The people collaborated remarkably to get everyone out of the building safely. To restrain any more incidents, the power supply to the area has been cut as a precaution."

Ahuja said, "Chandini Chowk market is the biggest revenue source in the capital and since the traders here suffer the poorest arrangements. Many instances have happened in the past, and yet no lessons have been learnt. There are no multiple exists in these buildings. If someone gets trapped once, there is hardly any chance to escape. Unchecked massive encroachments further lead to congestion in the market."

BJP leader Vijay Goel also visited the spot accusing the Delhi government of the shabby conditions in the market.

New Delhi, December 13
The House was in an uproar today as the Opposition created ruckus over the issue of not paying homage to martyrs of Parliament attack on its anniversary day.

The members of the BJP trooped into the Well of the House repeatedly demanding to pay tribute to the martyrs who died in the shootout outside Parliament 11 years ago, just as the House started its proceedings in the afternoon. However, the Congress restrained from doing so, saying that the BJP is trying to gain political mileage by raising this issue today as first phase of polling is being done in Gujarat.

The unrelenting BJP MLAs forced three adjournments in the House and when they continued the ruckus after the House resumed proceedings following the third adjournment, Speaker Yoganand Shastri ordered their eviction for the day.

A proposal to evict the MLAs from the House was proposed by Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami which was supported by the Congress legislators following which the BJP lawmakers being marshalled out.

The Leader of the Opposition V.K. Malhotra demanded Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to announce in the House that she will send a request to the Center for execution of Afzal Guru, the key accused in Parliament attack. Malhotra was soon joined by his party members and they started raising slogans against the Delhi government and for the execution of Afzal Guru.

In order to pacify the leaders, the Speaker commented Malhotra, asking him whether "he has visited any of the martyrs in the past 11 years".

The Congress leaders called the agitation as a "shameful" way of gaining publicity at the time of election. "For the past 11 years we have been holding the assembly session. Why is the BJP sympathizing with the martyrs this year only…This is because they want to influence the elections in Gujarat through media," said Mukesh Sharma, Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister.

Critising the BJP members, Sharma moved "censure motion" against the BJP MLAs condemning the language used by them in the House against the Speaker during yesterday's session.

A resolution was moved by Leader of the Opposition V.K. Malhotra in the assembly today for the removal of the Speaker alleging the violation of rules by him and being partial towards his party members. The resolution was moved under Section 7(2) (c) of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991. The party alleged that the Speaker behaved like a Congress member while deciding on a motion moved by Mukesh Sharma, Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister.

New Delhi, December 13
Wait for the nursery admission guidelines by anxious parents finally came to an end today with the Directorate of Education, Delhi government, releasing the admission schedule and guidelines with minimal changes from the last year.

The admission season will kick off on January 1 along with the sale of admission forms. All the schools are mandated to provide forms till the last date i.e. January 15.

This time as well it has been left to schools if they wish to pick the point based or the lottery system for the admissions. As per the point system, admissions are based on the number of points the child earns under criteria chosen by the school such as residence of the child within 5 km from the school, having a sibling studying in the same school, being a girl child and so on. But for parents who fail to fit in these categories, at least 15 per cent of the seats will be filled in through the lottery system.

According to the guidelines, all schools will have to come with their first list for general and economically weaker section (EWS) category students by February 16. The second list will have to come out by February 28. The admission process will finally wrap up by March 30. Strict instructions have been given out that no deviation from the schedule will be allowed.

Also, no school will be allowed to enquire about the income or educational qualifications of any parents. No schools will be allowed to screen or interview children or parents. Only in the case of EWS students, an income proof will be required.

This year orphans have been included in the disadvantaged category following a court order. Earlier, the definition comprised anyone who belongs to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes or child with special needs. The department of Women and Child Development will issue certificates for orphaned children.

New Delhi, December 13
Four personnel of the Delhi police and a home guard were injured when a drunk bar manager rammed his car into a police picket near Commonwealth Games Village in east Delhi during the wee hours today.

The errant driver has been arrested.

According to the police, 27-year-old Sunil Sharma was returning home from work when he lost control of his Chevrolet Aveo car on Hazrat Nizamuddin-Akshardham Temple road around 1.40 am.

Sunil lives with his family at Sector 1, Vaishali, in Ghaziabad and works as a manger with 7 Degrees Brauhaus in Gurgaon Sector- 53.

"A team, including staff of the Pandav Nagar police station and Delhi home guard, was manning a picket near Commonwealth Games Village when the speeding car rammed into them," the police said.

The impact injured five of the team and damaged three motorcycles, while the car came to an abrupt stop over footpath. Sunil was immediately overpowered by other staff at the picket.

The injured were identified as head constables Surender Lal (48) and Manoj Kumar (38), constables Sheesh Pal (28), and Avnish (27) and home guard Sahab Singh (45).

They were rushed to Lal Bahadur Shashtri Hospital.

"All of them except Avnish were discharged after first-aid treatment. Avnish's condition is stated to be critical and was later shifted to Deepak Memorial Hospital in Preet Vihar," the police added.

Sunil's breath analysing test at Lal Bahadur Shashtri Hospital revealed that he was driving under the influence of alcohol. "Alcohol level must not exceed 30 mg per 100 ml of blood detected by a breath analyser, but Sunil's test recorded 98.3 mg per 100 ml. He was subsequently arrested," the police added.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act has been lodged.