New Delhi, July 29
In view of the spurt in crime against women in the Capital, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has launched today five mobile helpline vans fully equipped with the staff and necessary facilities.

The vans will be available round the clock, particularly during odd hours at night. Each van has been allotted two districts in the city and would be operationalized through non-government organizations (NGOs).

The vans can be requisitioned from a toll free 24x7 helpline number of DCW which would also be integrated with the city government's helpline no. 181 for women in distress, said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, while flagging off the vehicles.

"Five experienced NGOs have been given the responsibility to operate them and each van will cater to the needs of minimum two revenue districts of Delhi. Delhi has 11 revenue districts," said Barkha Singh, chairperson, DCW.

Women can contact on helpline numbers at any odd hours. The call would then be transferred to the mobile van of the related district and the van would thereafter reach the victim, she said.

Appreciating the initiative taken by the DCW, Dikshit expressed hope that these would help serve the purpose. "We are ready to provide funds for more such vans, if required," she said.

Minister of Social Welfare Kiran Walia said that the NGOs have been provided adequate training in operationalizing these vans. "One woman member of the NGO concerned would accompany the distressed woman up to hospital, police station or government homes," said Prof Walia.

New Delhi, July 29
Following the findings of an audit of Guru Harkrishan Public (GHP) Schools in the national Capital, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has terminated 26 (teaching and non-teaching) staff from its school located at India Gate and the similar action against 27 others in several schools is quite likely.

The DSGMC, an elected body of Sikhs, manages 12 GHP Schools. It had ordered an audit to investigate allegations of irregularities in matters of appointments, granting of promotions and increments in advance to the school staff. The audit was ordered after Manjit Singh GK was elected the new president of the DSGMC.

Besides the audit, the DSGMC ordered a survey to look into the schools. A copy of the survey, which is available with The Tribune, shows that the schools have been functioning with unqualified and surplus staff-both in teaching and non-teaching. The total annual expenditure incurred on staff is Rs 7.75 crore, including Rs 5.17 crore on salaries and Rs 2.58 crore on overheads.

The survey, conducted in the past four months and the ongoing audit, are part of the current DSGMC's 'cleansing drive'.

DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa says, "It is a step towards weeding out corruption and is not inspired by any vendetta politics."

Lashing out at the former president of the DSGMC Paramjit Singh Sarna of SAD (Delhi), Sirsa, alleged, "In the past 10-12 years, staff were recruited on fake degrees and experience certificates in many schools such as those at India Gate, Vasant Vihar, Nanak Piao, Loni, Hargobind Enclave, Kalkaji, Punjabi Bagh and Hemkund Colony."

According to Sirsa, Sarna, who was also the chairman of the India Gate GHP School, made "illegal appointments without advertising the posts and also effected out-of-turn promotions. We had promised in our manifesto that we would clean this mess."

Speaking on the appointments to schools, DSGMC education official SB Singh said, "There was a similar case of improper appointments in the Kalkaji school where 26 staff members were suspended and later reinstated in 2012. An inquiry is still on. In all such instances, where deficiency in qualifications was noticed, legal action has been initiated."

Rubbishing all the charges against him, Sarna said, "We started when these schools had mere Rs 10-20 lakh and left with fixed deposits being Rs 76 crore this year. We did not make any recruitment of staff without advertisements and it was after the elections, I got to know about recruitments being made illegally for vote bank. Since 2002, there has been a sea change in these schools and in the last two years, the results of boards improved significantly. Rather, ask the current DSGMC why the interviews are being held for the non-teaching staff now."

New Delhi, July 29
The BJP today criticized Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for claiming that Delhi has one of the cheapest electricity tariffs in the country and the party also released comparative data to expose her claim.

Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel stated that the Delhi Government has always been working in connivance with the distribution companies (discoms), helping them fill their coffers.

Reacting to Dikshit's claim that Delhi has one of the cheapest power tariffs in comparison to other metros and states, Goel said that nothing can be far from truth. A comparative analysis of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Chattisgarh shows that the tariffs in those states are quite less as compared to Delhi.

"While in Delhi, the lowest available slab is 0-200 units, states like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Chattisgarh give their people the option of cheaper electricity at lower slabs like 0-30, 0-100, etc," said Goel, adding that more than 22 lakh families have been hit by the recent tariff hike. In fact, the economically weaker sections should be given cheaper electricity under more slabs like 0-100 and 100-150 units.

Regarding the recent statement of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), suggesting an audit of discoms by the CAG, Goel said the BJP had been demanding auditing of the discoms accounts for quite sometime and the DERC's statement just endorsed the BJP's stand.

New Delhi, July 29
A 23-year-old girl was shot at outside her house in the Vivek Vihar area, east Delhi, in broad daylight today, when she tried to save another woman from the armed motorcycle-borne chain snatchers.

The girl, Komal Malhotra, was admitted to Deepak Memorial Hospital in east Delhi, a few minutes after the incident. The woman, Anshu Basin, whose life was saved, claims that Komal is out of danger.

"I spoke to Komal's sister over the phone and she told me that the doctors performed a surgery on her little finger. We learnt that the single shot fired by one of assailants had hit her finger and grazed past her chest. The bone was clearly visible, as the finger dangled. Her sister also told me that the doctors are claiming that parts of the bullet are in her body and if her condition worsens, they may have to perform another surgery," said Anshu.

The police, however, said that the bullet hit Komal's finger and pierced into her chest.

Anshu further narrated the sequence of events that led to Komal's present condition. Anshu said that it was about 8.17 am when she took her daughter to the school bus, which was parked right outside the entry gate to Jhilmil Colony, where she lives. She took the same route to return to her residence. She noticed two men on a motorcycle. The driver and the pillion rider were dressed in jeans and white shirts. Only the driver was wearing a helmet.

"They were moving towards the entry gate on their motorcycle. I thought the colour of the bike was black, but later I was told by the locals it was dark blue. I found the motorcyclists suspicious, as they came towards me. I thought they were going to molest me, so I moved to a corner of the lane. They suddenly brought their motorcycle near me and the pillion rider tried to snatch my chain. I grabbed my chain with my right hand and with the other hand, I tried pulling that boy off the motorcycle," she said.

Komal, who was sweeping the area outside her ground floor house located near the entry gate of Jhilmil Colony, was witnessing the incident.

"I was attacked right outside her house. As I started shouting for help, she threw the broom at the pillion rider who then fired his gun at her. Suddenly, the girl's mother started screaming and as I looked back, the two motorcyclists had vanished," said Anshu.

She said that a man from the neighbourhood was driving on the lane, where the firing took place. He saw Komal, took her into his car and rushed her to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the neighbours gathered outside Komal's residence. The police were informed about the incident at 9.20 am.

They have registered a case at the Vivek Vihar police station. No person has been arrested so far.

"Komal was the only one who helped me. No one else came to my rescue," said Anshu.

New Delhi, July 29
Delhi Police may arrest the stunt biker, Puneet Sharma, who was admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, after the police fired at his motorcycle at Windsor Place on Sunday night.

A medical board formed on Monday conducted a postmortem of the biker, Karan Pandey, who was killed in the police firing. The police have detained some bikers, who were allegedly part of the stunt-performing gang, but they have not made any arrests. They claimed that Sharma may be arrested after he is discharged from the hospital.

A case has been registered against the biker gang. Sharma and Pandey were allegedly part of the gang. The government-ordered magisterial enquiry into the incident has begun. Magistrate Sanjeev Gupta will be recording the statement of Inspector Sanjiv Parmar, who fired the shot with his 9 mm pistol, his two colleagues and eyewitnesses.

New Delhi, July 29
Three people have been arrested from northwest Delhi's Netaji Subhash Place for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of providing them with jobs in government departments.

The accused have been identified as Naresh Kumar, Shailesh Kumar Dubey and Vikas Mittal. They were arrested after a jobless man complained to the police, according to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav.

Yadav said that the police had received a complaint on June 26, stating that some people had cheated many youths by taking large sums of money from them on the pretext of offering them jobs in the railways.

He said that a copy of fake written test results of Food Corporation of India (FCI) for the post of supervisor, clerk and peon, fake appointment letters of the SBI and FCI and driving licences made on fake ID cards were allegedly seized from the accused. — TNS

New Delhi, July 29
Metro Rail services were affected on Blue Line today due to a problem in an insulator on the overhead electrification (OHE) between Shadipur and Patel Nagar on the down line towards Noida City Centre.

"The problem started at 1.11 pm and was rectified by 3.12 pm. The services had to be run on the single line between Kirti Nagar and Patel Nagar during the affected period, resulting in delayed running of trains on the entire corridor by about ten minutes," said a Metro official.

In the urban mass rapid Metro operations, overhead electric supply poles are located at a distance of 40 metres with two insulators on each OHE mast. Thus, the Metro electrical engineers had to locate the faulty insulator in 200 such insulators, he said.

"Once it was located, the insulator was replaced within 12 minutes. Three repair teams were rushed to the spot from the Yamuna Bank, Mundka and Najafgarh depots," the official said.

During the entire period, centralized and local announcements were also made at all the stations and trains of Blue Line.