New Delhi, July 28
A young stunt motorcyclist, Karan Pandey, a resident of Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, was killed in police firing near the Le Meridien Hotel while another boy, Punit Sharma, who was riding pillion, sustained injuries early this morning and undergoing treatment at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.

Pandey and Sharma were on a motorcycle near the hotel along with their 35-40 friends. They were all on motorcycles doing stunts. The police asked them to stop, but instead of stopping, they started throwing stones at the personnel. The policemen then fired at the tyres of the bikes to puncture them, but a bullet hit Pandey and he lost control of the vehicle.

Both Pandey and Sharma were rushed to RML Hospital where the former was declared dead. Punit was still in hospital. Doctors attending upon him said that he was out of danger.

Sharma was found to be drunk when tests were carried out at the hospital.

Cases of rioting, prevention of public servants from conducting their duties and damage to the government vehicles have been registered. But no arrest has been made so far, said Rajan Bhagat, spokesperson of the Delhi Police.

According to the NHRC guidelines, an SDM inquiry has been ordered into the case, he said.

He said only Pandey was hit by the bullet. The pillion rider sustained injuries when the motorcycle fell down.

The incident occurred between 2 am and 2.15 am at Windsor Place in New Delhi when a group of motorcyclists was involved in a confrontation with the police officials who were trying to stop them from performing dangerous stunts on the roads.

The police received information that about 35-40 motorcyclists were performing stunts near Gol Dak Khana. A police patrolling team reached there to disperse the boys. They ran towards the Le Meridien Hotel.

When the police asked them to stop, the motorcyclists started pelting stones which damaged the police vehicles.

Some warning shots were fired in the air by the police to disperse them. But when the group still continued their stunts, a police official tried to puncture the tyre of one of the motorcycles, which accidentally hit Pandey on his back.

Some policemen were also injured in the incident.

New Delhi, July 28
The New Delhi Municipal Council has decided not to effect the hike in parking rates from August 1 as announced earlier, sources said.

The sources said that NDMC has decided to defer enhancing the hike as no private entity participated in the tender process for operating the parking lots with revised rates.

The last date for submission of bids was July 23. High reserved rates for the parking lots may be one of the reasons for no response to the tender process by the private operators.

According to the sources, the NDMC decided to hike parking rates significantly with an aim to discourage the use of private vehicles and decongest various roads in Connaught Place.

According to the revised rates, parking in NDMC areas would cost Rs 20 for the first hour and go up by Rs 20 for each subsequent hour with the maximum being Rs 100 for four-wheeler owners.

The current rate is Rs 10 for the first two hours and Rs 10 per hour thereafter.

New Delhi, July 28
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have jointly completed the project on "Capacity Building in Disaster Management and Elected Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies at District Level".

The project was undertaken in 54 districts from the selected 11 states, identified by the NDMA on the basis of their vulnerability to various natural and man-made, and was very well received by the participants as well as other stakeholders.

Against the target of 16,200 participants to be covered by the end of the collaborative project, a total of 16,479, including 4,623 women attended the orientation workshops.

The workshops which assumed significance in the wake of the massive destruction during flashfloods in Uttarakhand, discussed inter-linkages among disaster management and development, gender mainstreaming in various scenarios as well as participation of multiple stakeholders.

Its aim was to build and strengthen the capacity of the target groups in the areas of disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery at the grassroots level; in consonance with the paradigm shift in disaster management in India from "reactive to proactive".

In all, 432 face-to-face training programmes, of two-day duration each, were conducted mainly at IGNOU study centres under the supervision of the study centre coordinators.

New Delhi, July 28
On World Hepatitis Day-July 28-in line with the World Health Organisation, medical experts have called for greater focus on hepatitis education and screening among the high-risk communities and population in the country.

Owing to low awareness, more than 80 per cent Hepatitis C (HCV) patients and over 60 per cent patients with Hepatitis B (HBV) are diagnosed at a stage when the disease is irreversible, they said.

This even as Hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E are estimated to be among the top ten causes of death in India and according to the apex health body, 240 million people globally are chronically infected with HBV and around 150 million chronically infected with Hepatitis C.

"Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infections are 'silent' diseases that remain asymptomatic for decades. If anyone has symptoms such as jaundice, continued fatigue, itching all over the body, fever and abdominal pain, they must be tested for hepatitis for timely diagnosis and treatment," stressed Dr Anil Arora, chairperson, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Only one in ten patients diagnosed with hepatitis in Delhi actually seek treatment even as hepatitis is more prevalent than even HIV or asthma, said chairman and managing director of RG Stone Urology and Laparoscopy Hospital, Dr Bhim Sen Bansal.

Adding, he said, while fatigue is the only basic symptom at times there are no symptoms of hepatitis in the first week after infection--the acute phase.

"The symptoms of Hepatitis A, B, and C may include nausea, poor appetite, belly pain, a mild fever, or yellow skin or eyes (jaundice). When Hepatitis B and C become chronic, they may cause no symptoms for years.