New Delhi, May 17
Prohibited from the India Gate area, nearly 1,500 vendors are a disgruntled lot as the blanket ban imposed by the Delhi Police on the sprawling area surrounding India Gate, Amar Jawan Jyoti and Children's Park has affected their livelihood for more than three months now.

They today approached the Central government under the banner of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), demanding an immediate resolution of the problems being faced both by the visitors and the vendors in the city.

In a letter sent to the Union Ministers-Home Ministers Sushilkumar Shinde and RPN Singh, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken, Minister of Tourism K. Chiranjeevi and Delhi Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar-NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh said, "We have time and again taken up the matter with the police, but to no avail."

According to those affected, the ban on visitors and vendors has taken a toll on the livelihood of the working poor. The closure of the Children's Park where visitors could park their vehicles has further compounded their woes, they said.

They issued an ultimatum of seven days, and said if their demand is not met, they would march to the Delhi Police Headquarters on May 22.

New Delhi, May 17
The cost of construction of phase-III of the Delhi Metro is set to increase manifold as the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has refused to provide land at concessional rates to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The DUSIB will now charge revised circle rates for giving away their land to the DMRC for laying the tracks, which will be minimum 12 per cent higher than the previous rates. The earlier rate was Rs 188.19 lakh per acre, which was inter-departmental rate approved by the Group of Ministers in the Urban Development Ministry.

"We have suffered losses of crores of rupees with the previous rate. So, the board has now decided to approve land only at circle rates," said Kamal Malhotra, Director, DUSIB.

The decision was taken in the meeting of the board recently. The new rates to be based on circle rates will increase the cost of land exorbitantly. "We are not a government department and we have to generate our own resources to provide various services to the poor sections of society. Hence, we have taken the decision," said Malhotra.

With the Delhi Metro line crossing through important areas, the land being demanded by the DMRC mostly comes under commercial and residential category, said the official. He said that land to other department of the Delhi government is also allotted on the basis of circle rates.

The phase-III of the Delhi Metro hopes to cover 125 km by connecting Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate via Mandi House, ITO and Red Fort. Janakpuri to Botanical Garden, Mukund Pur to Yamuna Vihar, Jehangirpuri to Badli, Dwarka Mor to Najafgarh and Badarpur to Faridabad.

New Delhi, May 17
Once again girls have outshone boys in the results of ICSE Class X and ISC Class XII announced on Friday. The exams were conducted by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination.

"In all, 28 schools in NCR opted for the ICSE exam and 2,401 students appeared for it. Among them, 1,315 were boys and 1,295 passed. As many as 1,086 girls appeared for the exam and 1,082 passed. In all, the pass percentage was 99.00 per cent," said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of ICSE and ISC.