New Delhi, February 12
A 21-year-old woman was molested and slapped allegedly by eight men at Mayur Vihar Phase I, after they assaulted her brother when he objected to the lewd comments they passed at her last night.

A beat constable named as Mohit was allegedly beaten by the accused who also tore his uniform when he tried rescuing the victims. He is posted at the New Ashok Nagar police station located in east Delhi. A case under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the IPC has been registered.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused to be local residents. One of the accused, Neeraj Kumar (19), has been arrested. He is a resident of New Ashok Nagar. Investigators are questioning him and searching for the other seven accused.

The incident took place at 10.30 pm near Eastend Apartments in Mayur Vihar Phase I. The brother and sister were returning to their home in their Maruti Alto car. They stopped their car near a shop to buy household items. The woman stayed in the car, while her brother went to the shop. A group of eight men, who were allegedly consuming liquor, passed lewd comments at her. When her brother objected, an argument broke out between him and the miscreants, which led to a fight. "They badly bashed her brother and when the woman came to rescue him they molested and slapped her," said a police official.

The beat constable was informed about the incident by a passerby. He rushed there and came to their rescue. "The men beat him up and tore his uniform before fleeing in their car," added the official.

The victims were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for their injuries.

New Delhi, February 12
Finalising the first annual budget, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) today decided to be strict against property tax defaulters and warned government bodies that their bank accounts would be sealed if they fail to pay their dues.

The budget focused more on strengthening women's security and unveiling of health and education schemes. "Several government and semi-government bodies like Delhi Jal Board, DDA, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Yamuna Power among others are yet to pay up crores of rupees. We have decided to take strict action against them in the future by sealing their bank accounts," said Leader of the House B.B. Tyagi while presenting the budget.

Hoping that this measure would increase the revenue of the corporation, he admitted that the civic body had succeeded in collecting tax from just one-third of the properties under its ambit. "We will collect tax from all properties to increase our income," he added.

The East Corporation has set aside a sum of Rs 1.22 crore for providing Akaash tablets to students of Class IV and V in the schools run by it. Besides, Rs 1 crore will be spent on installation of the CCTV cameras in these schools.

"CCTV cameras are very important when it comes to ensuring security in schools," he said, adding that Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for providing modern furniture in the schools.

"In order to make girl students feel secure, we have decided to hire former women officers from the paramilitary forces to train them in self defence. Rs 1 crore has been set he said. "Under the smart kids project, one computer lab is being established in every school. We will also invite private players to adopt certain schools and improve their infrastructure," he added.

Tyagi also outlined plans in the health sector to bring about a public-private partnership (PPP) to improve health services in the area. "We will engage in PPP with prominent hospitals like Max, Fortis among others so that residents of the area can benefit from these," he said.

While talking about working women, Tyagi told the House that two working women's hostels will be constructed in east Delhi for which Rs 10 crore each had been provided.

"It is very difficult to find a convenient and safe place to stay for women coming from outside Delhi. This makes an acute need for such hostels," he said.

New Delhi, February 12
Issues of irregular salaries, delayed ad hoc-based promotions among others and high-handedness in return on the part of the administration of the three Municipal Corporations have made the doctors of the Municipal Corporation of Doctors' Association (MCDA) approach the Chief Minister, Shiela Dikshit, for her intervention.

While Dikshit has agreed last week to look into the matter directing Minister of Urban Developmen Arvinder Singh Lovely to hold a meeting this Friday, Health Administration Director of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation today issued a notice directing all medical superintendents to submit the names of the doctors who are participating in the strike during OPD hours from 9 am to 11 am since yesterday so that it could be forwarded to competent authority for necessary action.

However, the association representing nearly 1,200 doctors of corporations-run hospitals, apart from those in the dispensaries and polyclinics, is not ready to budge from its demands and continue with its symbolic protest.

It has been almost seven years now that the association has been demanding a streamlined recruitment process and revision of allowances at par with the Central government health scheme doctors along with time-bound promotion on regular pay scale and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission that came into being in 2008, they said.

They called for strict adherence to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Service Control and Appeal Regulations, 1959, in preparing the seniority list of the general duty medical officials sub-cadre while raising objections on some of the recent selective promotions, including that of the Additional Commissioner post which is second in hierarchy in the civic body. But all their requests have fallen on deaf ears, said president of the association Dr R.R. Gautam.

New Delhi, February 12
One patient died while 33 fresh cases of swine flu reported from all parts of Delhi today, taking the final toll to 154. Though, Heath Minister A.K. Walia, discarded the need for vaccination against H1N1 in the present scenario. This is the record number of patients registered in a single day so far this year. Four persons have already died in the past two months of the disease.

The department today held a meeting with senior officials of the Central government to review the situation of the disease which was attended by EMR Director Dr. P. Ravindran and other senior officials from the National Centre for Disease Control.

"There is no need for vaccination against H1N1 in the present scenario as no prophylactic treatment is required in most of the cases in the existing situation," said Dr. Ravindran.

The government has identified 17 government and five private hospitals for treatment as well as three government and five private diagnostic laboratories which are working round-the-clock to manage the cases. "He discussed about the stock of the medicine which is found to be adequate. We advised our doctors and health workers to ensure complete personal protection, particularly in intensive care areas," said Dr Walia.

He said that closely monitoring of the situation with regard to the status of swine flu is being done along with watching the preparedness of hospitals for treatment, availability of beds in isolation wards and in intensive care units, stock and regular availability of medicines and management of diagnostic facilities to exercise effective and timely control over the management and treatment of the disease.

Dr Ravindran said that no hospitalization is necessary in Category 'A' patients having symptoms such as mild fever with cough, sore throat with or without body ache, and headache as these are simple cases of influenza. However, such patients need to be closely watched and require regular follow-up in the domestic setting. He said that with the rise in temperature and lowering of humidity, the number of cases will start coming down.

"The patient with high grade fever and severe sore throat, breathlessness, acute lung infection falls in B-Category and need immediate medical consultation and treatment. The patients falling in Category 'A' require immediate diagnostic treatment and hospitalization," said Dr Ravindran. The patients with clinical and radiological signs of lower respiratory tract disease, shock, multi-organ failure, bloody sputum and bloody stool are most acute and are covered under this category, he added.

New Delhi, February 12
A Nigerian national was arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday for allegedly carrying 14 bundles of paper that had strips with US $ 50,000 written on them, besides printing ink and an expired visa.

Emmanuel Tochukwu, was headed to Hyderabad by an Indigo Airlines flight. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officers said, "The papers were cut in the size of a currency note. Since the strips on the bundles had "USA $ 50,000" written on them, this is the reason to believe that they were probably going to be used for printing fake dollars."

Strangely, the police didn't even register a case regarding the matter, even though Emmanuel was found with an expired visa that was valid until December 17, 2012. "They were just bundles of paper and nothing significant. We sent him to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) from where he will be deported. We didn't even receive a complaint. The best option is to deport him, rather than registering a case and sending him to jail. How will that be useful! He will be in prison for a year, while the government will be wasting money on him," said a senior police official.

On being asked if the accused ever planned on returning to India, the official said, "He won't be able to, he has been blacklisted."aOn Sunday, Emmanuel came to terminal 1 D of the airport. During the pre-embarkation security check, he placed his hand baggage in an X-ray machine, which showed suspicious items on the computer screen.