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Teen molested, beaten
New Delhi, April 16
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly beaten by her 24-year-old neighbour when she resisted his attempt to molest her in northeast Delhi’s Nand Nagri locality last night. The accused is yet to be arrested. The victim’s 57-year-old father works for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He claimed that at about 8 last night, her daughter was in the kitchen after serving food to her family in the courtyard of the house.

Delhi Govt wants free land for public projects
New Delhi, April 16
The Delhi Government in a Cabinet meeting today decided to approach the Union Government for getting land free of charge for public projects. “The Cabinet took note of the difficulties being faced by the city government in securing land from the DDA for discharging its legitimate duties and setting up infrastructure for public purposes,” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Students seek stringent law to check alcoholism
New Delhi, April 16
Nearly 1,200 students from 27 schools in Delhi assembled for a mock parliament here today, calling for a strong central alcohol control bill. While the issue has always been seen from the revenue standpoint, the perceptive of health has been missing in the excise policies, pointed out health experts gathered on the occasion.

EARLIER STORIES

	Govt increases minimum wages April 16, 2013
	Hindu College student ends life April 15, 2013
	Class 12 student beaten to death April 14, 2013
	Two children die, several huts gutted in JJ colony fire April 13, 2013
	Woman gangraped in moving car April 12, 2013
	DU rolls back move on Hindi April 11, 2013
	Two power cos merge into single unit April 10, 2013
	Police, NGOs brainstorm steps to rein in crime April 9, 2013
	Business partner, five aides held for extortion April 8, 2013
	Man in debt, 3 family members found dead April 7, 2013
	Hike in DSGMC staff's salaries April 6, 2013

FUN UNDER THE SUN: Girls hold umbrellas to save themselves from the scorching heat even as they enjoy boating at India Gate in New Delhi on Tuesday. The maximum temperature in the city was recorded 40 degree Celsius. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Widows to get benefits under Annshree Yojana
New Delhi, April 16
The Delhi Cabinet today approved the inclusion of widows under Dilli Annshree Yojana and allowed the vigilance committees headed by the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to recommend up to 500 cases for enrolment.

Sarita elected SDMC Mayor, Sahi Ram Deputy Mayor
New Delhi, April 16
Sarita Chaudhary of the BJP was elected Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation today after she defeated Abhishek Dutt of the Congress by a margin of 16 votes. Chaudhary secured 64 votes out of total of 112 votes polled. Independent candidate Parmila Tokas had withdrawn her nomination for the post. The election to the post was held at SPM Civic Centre.

Factory worker killed as boiler explodes
New Delhi, April 16
A 25-year-old man was killed and another critically injured when a boiler exploded in a factory at Samaypur Badli locality on the outskirts of Delhi this morning. The deceased has been identified as Surajpal who worked in the factory. According to the police, four fire tenders reached the site of the incident.

Teen molested, beaten
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly beaten by her 24-year-old neighbour when she resisted his attempt to molest her in northeast Delhi’s Nand Nagri locality last night. The accused is yet to be arrested. The victim’s 57-year-old father works for the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He claimed that at about 8 last night, her daughter was in the kitchen after serving food to her family in the courtyard of the house. The accused identified as Vinod barged into the kitchen from the rear gate and started molesting her.

“When my daughter resisted his attempt, Vinod allegedly dragged her into his house located nearby, where he molested her. He even beat her up when she tried raising the alarm. She sustained scratches and injury marks all over her body,” said the victim’s father.

Her family heard her shrieks for help and rushed to Vinod’s house. They found her crying in pain. Her father said she was complaining of immense pain in the body. Vinod who was allegedly drunk fled from his house.

The police took the victim to the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital, located near her residence. Upon the victim’s complaint, a case under Indian Penal Code sections 354 A (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and under section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, 2012 has been registered against Vinod.

The police are presently searching for him. The victim’s mother claimed that Vinod’s family has been threatening them.

Delhi Govt wants free land for public projects
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
The Delhi Government in a Cabinet meeting today decided to approach the Union Government for getting land free of charge for public projects. “The Cabinet took note of the difficulties being faced by the city government in securing land from the DDA for discharging its legitimate duties and setting up infrastructure for public purposes,” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

“Thus, we decided to approach the Union Government for allotting land to the city government free of cost for public purposes within its geographical limits. As land is not under the purview of the city government and the Union Government has the final say in the matter, the city government has to spare a huge amount on getting land from the DDA,” she said.

She said that this is in sharp contrast to all the other states and UTs where land falls in the administrative control of the governments.

Further, the DDA has enhanced the rates laid down for lands to be allotted to the city government for non-commercial uses. The rates of allotment of land for bus terminals have been enhanced from Rs 234.68 lakh to Rs 414.37 lakh per acre and for hospitals and old-age homes from Rs 188.19 lakh per acre to Rs 300.15 lakh per acre, the Chief Minister said.

“In case, the city government decides to set up bus depots to house 5,000 buses, the financial implications alone would be around Rs 900 crore,” said Dikshit.

She said that the government would also communicate to the Union Government that the DDA has a surplus fund of Rs 22,060 crore. Hence, it must facilitate infrastructural development for public purposes.

Sidelining the Public Welfare Department (PWD), the government has also appointed the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) as executing agency for construction of 200-bedded hospital at Ambedkar Nagar.

Students seek stringent law to check alcoholism
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
Nearly 1,200 students from 27 schools in Delhi assembled for a mock parliament here today, calling for a strong central alcohol control bill. While the issue has always been seen from the revenue standpoint, the perceptive of health has been missing in the excise policies, pointed out health experts gathered on the occasion.

Citing urgency for India to put in place a central legislation on controlling alcohol consumption in view of the movies now glorifying alcohol, the experts said this will not only address the problem in cities where an increasing number of youngsters are getting hooked to it but also check the consumption of countrymade liquor.

“Alcohol is surely one of the major risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) but there are no laws to address the problem. What is more, with restrictions on tobacco use due to the Enforcement of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco products Act, 2003, the current trend is such that movies are aggressively promoting alcohol,” said the senior director of NGO HRIDAY, Dr Monica Arora.

While health experts remain divided on the harm due to moderate use of alcohol, the younger lot gathered today unanimously pushed for a bill, having provisions such as comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorships, increasing taxation, uniform drinking age limit of 21 years and a minimum 30 days’ closure annually.

Currently, every state has an excise policy of its own for regulating the sale and consumption of liquor but what is missing is a uniform legislation keeping in mind the extent of risk it poses to health.

Referring to Article 47 of the Indian Constitution which allows the state to ban a product which promotes addiction hampering public health, Dr Arora underscored the need for a strong bill.

Widows to get benefits under Annshree Yojana
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
The Delhi Cabinet today approved the inclusion of widows under Dilli Annshree Yojana and allowed the vigilance committees headed by the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to recommend up to 500 cases for enrolment.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that the Cabinet gave its nod for inclusion of widows under Dilli Annshree Yojana. The widows would then be entitled to the benefits with retrospective effect.

“It will be easier to enrol widows under Annashree as they have accounts with us through which they are dispersed monthly pensions,” said Dikshit.

There are estimated to be two lakh widows in the city of which around one lakh are covered under the Delhi government’s pension scheme.

Though July 31 was the deadline for the government to bring as many as two lakh beneficiaries under the scheme, it has been able to bring only 59,000 people.

So the government has decided to continue the scheme even after July 31 and help more families not covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Dikshit said that the cases enrolled up to July 31, would be entitled to the benefits with effect from April 1, 2012.

Sarita elected SDMC Mayor, Sahi Ram Deputy Mayor
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
Sarita Chaudhary of the BJP was elected Mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation today after she defeated Abhishek Dutt of the Congress by a margin of 16 votes. Chaudhary secured 64 votes out of total of 112 votes polled. Independent candidate Parmila Tokas had withdrawn her nomination for the post. The election to the post was held at SPM Civic Centre.

Sahi Ram of the BSP was elected Deputy Mayor of South Delhi. He defeated Praveen Rana of the Congess by a margin of 11 votes. Sahi Ram secured 62 votes out of total of 113 votes polled.

Independent candidate Satender Singh Rana had withdrawn his nomination earlier.

Nutan Kochar of the Congress, Rajesh Gehlot and Subhash Arya of the BJP were elected Members of the Standing Committee after the Congress leader Satish Gupta and Satender Prakash of the BJP withdrew their nominations for the post.

Factory worker killed as boiler explodes
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16
A 25-year-old man was killed and another critically injured when a boiler exploded in a factory at Samaypur Badli locality on the outskirts of Delhi this morning. The deceased has been identified as Surajpal who worked in the factory. According to the police, four fire tenders reached the site of the incident.

Investigators claimed there were some workers at the factory when the incident took place. Several water tankers were placed on the roof of the building. Eyewitnesses said a loud explosion took place and the roof collapsed.

Firefighters and the police rushed to the site of the incident.

They dug out Surajpal and rushed him to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Delhi. Doctors there declared him dead. The injured person is being treated at the hospital.