Delhiites to pay more for power from today
New Delhi, January 31
Delhiites will have to shell out more for their monthly power bills as power distribution companies today announced that they would hike the surcharge, resulting in an increase in tariff from February 1.

Lobbying on for BJP chief's post
New Delhi, January 31
As Vijay Goel has been elected Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, lobbying has begun for the presidentship of Delhi unit of the BJP in which leaders who are close to the central leadership have become active.

Make record of officials taking bribe, vendors told
New Delhi, January 31
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked street vendors to record videos of officials of the Municipal Corporations and policemen asking them for bribe and contact the anti-graft helpline.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal interacts with street vendors in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune Photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Nursery admission: No SC relief to private schools
New Delhi, January 31
The private schools in the city today failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court (SC) against the Lieutenant Governor's (LG's) order, quashing the 20 per cent management quota in nursery admissions and providing weight to neighbourhood children.

CM warns 'blackmailing' discoms
New Delhi, January 31
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused BSES two discoms companies of 'blackmailing' the government and warned them of strict action, including the possible cancellation of licences. Reliance Infra-backed BSES had warned the government of eight to ten hours of power cuts a day beginning tomorrow citing fund crunch.

DDA announces new projects
New Delhi, January 31
Newly appointed Vice-Chairman of the DDA, Balvinder Kumar, today announced a number of projects to be continued along with the old ones. The DDA has decided to begin an integrated complex of 273 multi-storeyed one-room tenements at Mangolpuri for which there is a budget provision for Rs 15 crore.

Arunachal Cong MLA's son beaten, succumbs
New Delhi, January 31
An 18-year-old son of Nido Pavitra, a Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday which he sustained during a beating allegedly by a group of seven to eight men, including some shopkeepers, in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area on Wednesday afternoon.

AAP functions as pvt company, says Lovely
New Delhi, January 31
The Delhi government's decision to call the Delhi Assembly session outside the Assembly premises was condemned by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), and warned that it was against the rules and traditions of the Delhi Assembly.

Delhiites to pay more for power from today
DERC should have waited for the audit report of the CAG: Kejriwal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
Delhiites will have to shell out more for their monthly power bills as power distribution companies today announced that they would hike the surcharge, resulting in an increase in tariff from February 1.

The hike will come through as Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) announced an increase in surcharge by eight, six and seven per cent for BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) respectively.

The move came even as BSES said that the company hoped to avoid a major power cut in Delhi and requested the government to step in to defuse the crisis.

The Delhi government condemned the DERC decision and said it is 'uncalled for', since an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into the accounts of private distribution companies is already under progress.

"The government is taken aback by this sudden decision, which is beyond any reasonable understanding. DERC should have waited for the audit report of the CAG and there was no need for such a tearing hurry to impose this burden on the people," said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

He said there are a namber of questions about the functioning of private power distribution companies and the government will get to the root of the problem.

Earlier, BYPL had informed the government that areas under its jurisdiction may face eight hours of power cuts from Saturday as the company was facing serious fund crunch to buy electricity.

In a letter to Delhi Power Secretary, BYPL sought immediate financial assistance from the government to deal with the 'difficult' situation as it was not being able to make payments to various state-run power generators, including NTPC and NHPC.

The government had requested NTPC to extend the time limit for making the payments but the power generating company, which supplies over 50 per cent of power to the national Capital, rejected the plea.

Lobbying on for BJP chief's post
Syed Ali Ahmed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
As Vijay Goel has been elected Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, lobbying has begun for the presidentship of Delhi unit of the BJP in which leaders who are close to the central leadership have become active. The supporters of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and former national party president Nitin Gadkari, who was also Delhi election in charge, have been seen meeting these leaders for getting the seniormost post in the Delhi state party.

Prominent among those are vice-president of the city unit Ashish Sood, Uttam Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma, former MLA from Rohtas Nagar Alok Kumar and chairman of the planning committee of the Delhi party unit Satish Upadhyay, said sources in the party.

According to the sources, Ashish Sood is being backed by Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari. He has been active in politics since his college days. He was elected as president of the Delhi University Student Union in 1988-89, has been All India secretary of the ABVP, vice-president of Delhi Yuva Morcha, convenor of intellectual cell of the Delhi BJP, All-India vice-president of the BJP Youth wing, secretary and general secretary in the Delhi unit.

Sood is also a councillor from one of the municipal wards in Janakpuri.

Pawan Kumar has been pracharak of RSS and was active in the party when Prof O.P. Kohli was president of the Delhi unit. Later, the RSS had removed Pawan from its activities due to certain reasons, the sources added.

Alok Kumar, who was MLA in 1993, was close to RSS president Mohan Bhagwat and he was given the charge of All-India Coordination Cell of the RSS. He also has good connection with the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

The sources also said that while deciding the name for the Delhi BJP unit, the high command would consider the name of the person who had good connection with Vardhan as coordination between party and legislatures was considered significant.

Satish Upadhya, chairman of the planning committee of the BJP, has backing of Vijay Goel, the outgoing president of the Delhi unit, sources added.

Make record of officials taking bribe, vendors told
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked street vendors to record videos of officials of the Municipal Corporations and policemen asking them for bribe and contact the anti-graft helpline.

"I request you not to stop giving bribe to the MCD officials and police personnel. Our government has launched an anti-corruption helpline number for dealing with such issues. You can record the official taking bribe with the help of your phone. I assure you that after getting evidence, the corrupt persons would be sent to jail," the Chief Minister said.

He was addressing 'Rehari Patri Sansad (Street Vendors' Parliament)' organised by the National Association of Street Vendors of India in protest against the extortion tactics by the MCD and police officials.

Kejriwal said that officials of different departments had stopped taking bribe after the AAP government came to power, but it seemed the MCD officials and policemen had not done so.

He said he would write to the Commissioner of Police and three Mayors of the Corporations, informing them about the Supreme Court September 2013 order which said until vending zones are not created for street vendors, they cannot be prevented from running their business in the city.

Nursery admission: No SC relief to private schools
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, January 31
The private schools in the city today failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court (SC) against the Lieutenant Governor's (LG's) order, quashing the 20 per cent management quota in nursery admissions and providing weight to neighbourhood children.

The Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools and others had come to the SC challenging the Delhi High Court's interim order refusing to interfere with the LG's guidelines issued on December 18 and 27.

"We also do not intend to interfere with the guidelines," an apex court Bench comprising Justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde ruled while rejecting the plea of the petitioners, who also included Forum for Promotion of Quality Education for All and some parents.

The Bench, however, granted liberty to the petitioners to approach the High Court seeking advancement of the March 11 hearing.

"We request the single judge of the High Court to hear your plea as expeditiously as possible in the interest of the schools and welfare of the children," the Bench told the petitioners.

In the interim order, the High Court had rejected the petitioners' plea, observing that any interference at this stage would create confusion and prove detrimental to the interests of the children.

CM warns 'blackmailing' discoms
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused BSES two discoms companies of 'blackmailing' the government and warned them of strict action, including the possible cancellation of licences. Reliance Infra-backed BSES had warned the government of eight to ten hours of power cuts a day beginning tomorrow citing fund crunch.

He said 'Tatas' and 'Ambanis', who run three electricity distribution firms in Delhi, were not the only companies in the country and the government was willing to bring in new players.

"There are no reasons for power cuts. I want to give them a warning that if they try to create panic in future, the government will take strict action against them," Kejriwal said.

"They are not cooperating in CAG audit, which raises further suspicion. The government will not keep quiet and not hesitate in cancelling their licences," he said.

"Engaged in wrongdoings, the power companies are trying to blackmail us," he said.

Referring to a meeting called by the chief secretary with power companies, Kejriwal said, "We will bring other companies. There are not the only two companies in the country, there are other companies also.”

DDA announces new projects
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
Newly appointed Vice-Chairman of the DDA, Balvinder Kumar, today announced a number of projects to be continued along with the old ones. The DDA has decided to begin an integrated complex of 273 multi-storeyed one-room tenements at Mangolpuri for which there is a budget provision for Rs 15 crore.

It has also decided construction of 80-metre expressway from Bijwasan Road to the boundary of NCTD (Dwarka Expressway) with a budget provision of Rs 25 crore. Besides, it has decided construction of multi-level stack parking at different locations along Vikas Marg for which a budget provision of Rs 75 crore has been kept.

Community halls will be constructed in Vishwas Nagar, Dilshad Garden, Vivek Vihar, Geeta Colony, Sri Niwaspuri, Kalkaji and Rohini.

The Vice-Chairman said that the DDA has planned to construct more hotels.

Arunachal Cong MLA's son beaten, succumbs
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
An 18-year-old son of Nido Pavitra, a Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday which he sustained during a beating allegedly by a group of seven to eight men, including some shopkeepers, in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area on Wednesday afternoon.

The boy identified as Nido Taniam was a BA first year student of a private university. He was on a 10-day vacation in Delhi.

The Delhi government today recommended a magisterial inquiry into his death.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal condemned the incident. "The government will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards such unacceptable behaviour since people from all parts of the country are its pride. The loss of an innocent life raises serious questions about the functioning of law enforcement agencies and it needs to be probed how the alleged beating of this student reportedly took place in full public view," said Kejriwal in an official statement to the press.ss

AAP functions as pvt company, says Lovely
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 31
The Delhi government's decision to call the Delhi Assembly session outside the Assembly premises was condemned by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), and warned that it was against the rules and traditions of the Delhi Assembly.

The DPCC said that only the House has the power to decide whether such session can be held, adding Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's decision was to misguide and confuse the people.

Condemning the decision, DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely said Kejriwal-led government is functioning like a "private ltd. company".

Singh said the government is taking such decisions to divert the attention from public issues. He accused Kejriwal of misusing the government money for publicity.