New Delhi, June 3
Protests against the Delhi University’s Four Year Undergraduate Programme continued till evening on campuses and around India Gate from where representatives of the Joint Action Front for Democratic Education SC/ST, OBC and Left were lifted in three buses and detained at Parliament Street police station for nearly two hours.

There were joint student groups/organisations of Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia who demonstrated on the university’s north campus until 2 in the afternoon while later on faculty and students under the Joint Action Front for Democratic Education SC/ST, OBC and Left under the stewardship of Udit Raj carried out a candlelight march to India Gate.

During the evening, teachers and students from various fronts, including Delhi University Teachers’ Association moved towards Rajpath carrying placards and candles when apparently they were first restrained by the Delhi Police on guard around the area and then scores of them were bundled in three buses.

“Those arrested include students, teachers, disabled persons and this clearly shows to what level the government is ready to go to implement the programme,” said Abha Dev Habib, a DU Executive Council member who participated in the protest today.

In the morning, the demonstration by the Campus Front of India (CFI) and the Democratic Students’ Union (DSU) began at the Arts Faculty.

New Delhi, June 3
More than 200 farmhouses, most of them belonging to rich influential people in posh South Delhi, will have to give away their land for building of a link road between Mehrauli-Barder (MB) Road and

Gurgaon-Faridabad (GF) Road. The land will be taken up by the Public Welfare Department (PWD) of the Delhi Government.

Even after facing severe resistance from the owners of the farmhouses, the proposal for land acquisition has been given the go-ahead by the Urban Development Ministry. The matter is presently lying with the Unified Traffic and Transport Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre for consideration.

“As soon as we get the approval of the UTTIPEC, the road widening work will be started. It is a project for infrastructure development and hence will not be compromised with,” said Raj Kumar Chauhan, PWD Minister.

Meanwhile, the farmhouses owners are said to have approached the UD Minister on the matter, but have failed to get any assurance.

About 45 hectares of land will be acquired from the 200 farmhouses to build the four-lane link road. The road will be made through the existing Mandi Road crossing, which will be widened to 60 feet from the present 10 feet.

The link was proposed in the Master Plan in order to provide an alternative way to connect South Delhi to Faridabad, through the 10-ft-wide Mandi Road. It will come as a substitute for the traffic going towards Faridabad and Gurgaon from South Delhi.

The PWD has prepared the whole plan of the link road. But what seems to have become a challenging task for the authorities concerned is to acquire the land on both sides of the link road.

New Delhi, June 3
After the body of Preeti Rathi, a 23-year-old acid attack victim, was brought to Delhi from Mumbai on Monday, her family and friends staged demonstrations and blocked traffic at the Delhi-Haryana border to demand a CBI probe into her death.

The girl’s father, Amar Singh Rathi, was leading the protest that consisted of some members of the Aam Aadmi Party. They marched from her house in Narela, carrying her coffin to G T Karnal Road. They were intercepted by the police at the Singhu border, located near Haryana. Besides wanting a CBI probe into Preeti’s death, her family also demanded compensation, a job for one of the family members and a cremation with full state honours. 

New Delhi, June 3
The new Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) of Delhi University (DU) is not only about an overhaul of curricula in terms of content and structure but also about offers especially targeting the reserved categories, including the SC/ST and candidates with disabilities.

This time, unlike other years for the above two categories the university administration has decided to make the online registration for admissions starting from June 5 onwards till June 19 free of charge while the hard copy applications ( OMR forms), prospectus and metro map – will be available at payment of Rs 50.

Another reason for such students to cheer is that the admission process for the above two categories stands decentralised which gives them a level-playing field in choice of courses. This means that in addition to the fees leverage students applying under them could switch courses/ colleges even after the seats are allotted to them as compared to previous years when the university administration used to finalise the seats for such students. 

New Delhi, June 3
The deployment of heavy police personnel inside and outside the PHD Chambers during the public hearing by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) was seen as a coercive tactic of the electricity body and the Delhi Government. The hearing was attended by representatives of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel.

According to several RWAs, all those who were invited for the hearing to sort out issues and determine power tariff for domestic consumers were intentionally made to go through what they called “unnecessary security procedure” while heavy police and private bouncers were put on guard on the premises both outside and inside the hall.

RWA Federation president (Delhi East) Anil Bajpai not only objected to the police presence but also warned the DERC that henceforth if the police are allowed inside, the RWAs would boycott the public hearings.

“The identification card and invitation of all the RWA representatives were checked by the security persons and still police personal were made to sit inside the public hearing hall,” he said.

Representatives accused the DERC of benefiting the private power discoms through these hearings and said, “The comments, suggestions and objections raised by the RWAs members have never been incorporated and are ignored by DERC.

This is the only regulatory authority in the world working for the benefit of power companies instead of consumers.”

They said all their demands for auditing of discom balance sheets and accounts by the CAG have fallen on deaf ears.