New Delhi, January 24
The Delhi government today said that it has formed a 13-member committee headed by Chief Secretary Sanjoy Kumar Srivastava to look into the process of bringing contractual employees under permanent status.

Two retired IAS officers, Prakash Chandra and Prafful Karketa, besides secretaries of finance, law and urban development departments are among other members of the committee.

The committee will frame the policy and guidelines for making contractual staff permanent, said the Education Minister, Manish Sisodia.

"The committee will decide the time frame as to when a decision can be taken place," he said.

According to an official, over one lakh contractual employees are working in different departments of the Delhi government.

"Till the time recruitment process based on the new policy is not completed, those employees working on contract basis at present would not be removed," said Education and Urban Development Minister Manish Sisodia.

As far as recruitment process is concerned, focus will be on age relaxation and work experience in addition to skills of the employees. The data regarding contract workers is being collected at present, Sisodia added.

Meanwhile, more trouble seems to be in store for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as the employees of the Secretariat have now threatened to hold protest against the state government, if their demands are not met.

These employees want urgent implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, regularisation of their job contracts and all pending dues to be cleared at the earliest.

The Secretariat employees, who have sought time to meet Kejriwal thrice in the recent past but failed to meet him, have warned that they will go on an indefinite protest against the government, if Kejriwal pays no heed to their concerns.

Earlier on January 16, hundreds of contractual workers had protested outside the Secretariat.

New Delhi, January 24
Seeking action against Law Minister Somnath Bharti over his night raid controversy, Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel alleged that the Lieutenant Governor, Najeeb Jung, is treating the former as "khaas aadmi" (VIP).

"There have been complaints filed against Somnath Bharti for violating dignity of women, revealing name of Danish gangrape victim. He has been indicted by a court in the past for professional misconduct. The BJP asked the LG why no action is being taken against him and why he has not been arrested so far?" said Goel.

Goel, along with other BJP leaders, met the LG today to hand over a memorandum, demanding immediate action against the minister.

He targeted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said the one who once claimed to have a 370-page chargesheet against Sheila Dikshit has taken a U-turn, in lieu of the Congress' support.

Bharti had conducted a raid in the Khirki area on January 16. Four African women were allegedly mobbed by Bharti's men over their alleged involvement in prostitution and drugs racket.

The minister had a spat with Malviya Nagar SHO after the latter refused to raid a house without a warrant. Despite several calls for his resignation for taking law in his hand, Kejriwal has defended his minister.

"The AAP government is leading the state to the situation of a constitutional breakdown where corrupt are protected and hapless people are being at the receiving end of the arrogance, misbehaviour and irresponsible behaviour of AAP leaders," Goel added.

New Delhi, January 24
Delhi'ites witnessed a relatively warm night but a colder day in the past 24 hours.

According to the Meteorological Department, minimum temperature settled at 11° C, three notches above normal and 1.5 degree down from yesterday's 13.5 degrees.

The day temperature was recorded at 18.2° C, three notches below normal which was slightly lower than previous day's 20° C.

Humidity level oscillated between 74 and 100 per cent.

The weatherman has predicted a partly cloudy sky with moderate but dense fog in the national Capital for tomorrow while the maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to remain at 18° and 9° C, respectively.

New Delhi, January 24
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has claimed that its membership has touched the 50 lakh mark, with the figures showing that the party is receiving less support from the southern states.

According to a data released by the AAP early this week, its membership in north and west India has seen a surge with new volunteers joining it, but the same trend was not observed in the southern states.

Two lakh members have joined the AAP in Tamil Nadu whereas in Karnataka, only 59,000 members, of which 49,000 registered online, have joined the party. In Kerala, a mere 40,000 people became the AAP members.

According to sources in the party, in Karnataka, a chunk of its support has come from tech-city Bangalore, where it has high expectations.

They said the party has not been able to get much success in Andhra Pradesh because of the highly polarised situation in the Seemandhra and Telangana regions.

The maximum members have joined the party in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. In Uttar Pradesh, over 7.35 lakh members joined the party, followed by 3.6 lakh in Delhi, 3.43 lakh in Maharashtra and 3.25 lakh in Haryana.

It has over 2.8 lakh members in Gujarat, 1.36 lakh in Uttarakhand and 1.21 lakh members in Bihar, the party claimed.

The party had launched its membership drive "Mein Bhi Aam Aadmi" with an aim of increasing its membership to one crore. The campaign ends on January 26.

Senior party leader and member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Gopal Rai, who is also heading the membership drive, had said on Wednesday, "Over 33,55,425 members joined by filling forms.

"Around 10,80,000 members joined the party via SMS or giving a missed call on the number given by the party while remaining 6,45,000 members have registered through party website," he said.

New Delhi, January 24
About 20,000 police personnel will be deployed to secure the route of the Republic Day Parade which will also be protected under a slew of security measures.

The security measures include barricading and setting up of police pickets in the areas of New Delhi District. Aerial surveillance by choppers, air defence, counter-assault and sniper teams will be located around the route of the parade. Metro stations located near parade route will be closed from 6 am until noon on January 26. All buildings, including North and South Blocks which are located within this route, will be sealed by the afternoon of January 25.

The route starts from Vijay Chowk leads towards Rajpath, India Gate, Tilak Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg and ends at Red Fort.

The New Delhi area has been divided into different layers. Security arrangements have been placed in the outer regions. People can only enter an enclosure near the parade route with a particular pass for that enclosure.

"Sometimes people arrive at the venue and they reach the wrong place. The Delhi police and the Ministry of Defence have installed sign boards. We request the public to not to bring prohibited items that will cause them inconvenience," said Mukesh Kumar Meena, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range).

All buildings located near the route of the parade will be sealed on January 25. There are about 125 buildings in the New Delhi area that will be sealed on Saturday. Since the route of the parade falls under Central and North police districts, buildings will also be sealed there.