New Delhi, February 5
In a relief to Anil Ambani Group discoms, the apex electricity tribunal today directed Delhi's power regulator DERC not to take a final decision on revoking their licences without its permission despite a recommendation by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this regard.

The order by Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, on an interim petition by BSES discoms which sought its intervention on the issue, came a day ahead of the hearing of the companies before Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) tomorrow.

On Monday, Delhi government had recommended to DERC to revoke the licence of BSES discoms if they fail to pay dues to state-run power generator NTPC, which has given February 10 deadline to the companies to do so, and resort to long outages in large parts of the city.

After Delhi government's recommendation, DERC had served notices on BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd asking them to present their case tomorrow at a hearing in the Commission on the contentious issue.

The Tribunal, headed by former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court M Karpaga Vinayagam, said the two discoms can appear before DERC and make their submissions with regard to the letter of Delhi government and the Commission may continue to proceed with the matter by hearing the parties concerned.

"But the Commission is directed not to pass the final order in the above proceedings without leave of the Tribunal during the pendency of these interim applications," the order by Justice Vinayagam and technical expert in ATE Rakesh Nath said. ATE has jurisdiction to take up power-related disputes across the country as per provisions of Electricity Act, 2003.

The order was made after the discoms filed an interim petition with ATE which is hearing a plea by the BSES discoms seeking liquidation of their regulatory assets to recover past losses. The plea was filed last year.

ATE order also comes a day after Delhi government expressed its readiness to take over power distribution in the city to control the "ugly situation".

Amid the confrontation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had attacked Anil Ambani, chairman of ADAG which operates BSES Yamuna Power Lts and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. These two discoms supply power in 70 per cent areas in Delhi.—PTI

New Delhi, February 5
A West Bengal woman in her early twenties was brought to Delhi on the promise of getting employment. She was allegedly sold to three people, including a woman, in central Delhi about 10 days ago and was forced into prostitution.

Last night, the victim escaped from the house of the accused, where she was allegedly confined. She boarded an autorickshaw and found a police control room vehicle. She narrated her ordeal to the policemen, who rushed her to a hospital for a medical examination.

A case based on the woman's complaint was registered at the DBG Road Police Station in central Delhi. The police are mulling to slap the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act against the accused.

"After the woman's statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc) is recorded, further sections would be added to the case," said a police officer. Under section 164 of the CrPc, a statement is recorded by a magistrate and used as evidence during trial.

The police have arrested three persons, who have been identified as Naresh (40), his wife, Archana (35) and Raju (26), who stay near Liberty cinema complex in central Delhi. The police are searching for a distant relative of the victim, who allegedly sold her to the arrested individuals.

According to the police, the victim stayed with her family at Guwahati in Assam. On January 25, her distant relative took her to Delhi on the promise of providing her employment.

Her relative allegedly sold her to Naresh, Archana and Raju. They then allegedly confined and starved her at their residence. They also forced her into prostitution and when she resisted they beat her. Naresh and Raju also allegedly attempted to rape her on several occasions.

New Delhi, February 5
A day after a nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped in Bara Hindu Rao area of North Delhi, Education Minister Manish Sisodia today demanded suspension of the local SHO to send a "strong message" to erring officers.

"In all the rape cases, we have said a system to suspend the area SHO where such heinous crimes occur should be put in place. We even sat on dharna for this," Sisodia told reporters here today, He said the Centre and Delhi police are not ready to take action against erring police officers.

The minor girl was allegedly raped and sodomised by a 25-year-old man in North Delhi's Bara Hindu Rao area on Sunday.

According to the police, the accused identified as Gopi Nisha Malha had been arrested while the victim, whose condition is said to be critical, is battling for her life at a government hospital.

The incident had taken place on Sunday at around 6.30 pm, when the girl, who studies in class III at a nearby government school, was playing in front of her house along with two of her friends.

Meanwhile, reacting to Delhi Commission for Women chief Barkha Singh's questioning AAP's inability to stop rapes, Sisodia said, "Singh should request her party (Congress) to consider the government's demand (to suspend area SHO)."

"Barkha Singh's party is in power in the Centre. She should request to Centre that SHOs of those areas should be suspended when incidents like rape happen. Neither the Home Minister nor the Centre-governed Delhi police is willing to take this action," Sisodia added.

A tussle between Barkha Singh and Arvind Kejriwal-led government has been going on ever since the former had summoned Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his controversial raid to bust a sex and drug racket.

Bharti, instead of going himself had sent his lawyers, who had a public spat with Singh after she refused to entertain them. The Aam Aadmi Party, in a statement, had accused Singh of "politicisation" of the Commission by its chairperson.

Subsequently, the Delhi government had recommended to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung removal of Singh while proposing Hindi novelist Maitreyi Pushpa's name to head the women's commission.

The Lt Governor had returned the file on removal of DCW chief and sought reasons.--PTI

New Delhi, February 5
Calling the Aam Aadmi Party a political 'mercenary', Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel called upon its party cadres to expose the fact that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is a 'Maoist outfit'.

In its executive meeting held here today, the Delhi BJP passed a political resolution which says "Delhi is currently being ruled by a bunch of political mercenaries hired, supported and controlled by Congress party….The words and action of AAP leaders expose the fact that it is a Maoist outfit."

The Delhi BJP also asked for immediate dismissal of the 'corrupt' ministers--Somnath Bharti and Manish Sisodia. It condemned "the mudslinging, use of abusive language, intolerance and undemocratic behaviour of AAP government".

Addressing the state executive, Goel urged the party workers to go all-out to expose AAP and work at the grassroots level to ensure that BJP wins all the seven parliamentary seats. AAP and Congress are two sides of the same coin and Congress should withdraw support if it does not agree with the AAP policies, he said.

"Instead of delivering on the promises which AAP made to the people, it is trying to divert people's attention from its failures by enacting political dramas. During the last one month of its tenure, the day-to-day life of a common household has gone from bad to worse," said the political resolution.

The resolution has also listed some other issues like eight per cent hike in power tariff, 10 per cent hike in water tariff and regularization of contract employees. Besides, many transfers have been done in several departments creating an unworkable atmosphere. Many senior officers have been asked to report to the officials much junior to them, according to the resolution.

Addressing the state executive, the newly appointed Delhi BJP in-charge Prabhat Jha said, "I am confident that if we all work together with a clear focus, victory will be ours." He asked the party workers to work in close coordination and put up a united front. 

New Delhi, February 5
At a time when public places in the country, including Delhi, remain inaccessible to people with disabilities, NGOs working on the issues of the section are coming together to promote accessible technology during an event in the national Capital next week.

Underscoring the need for a greater focus on the area, disability rights activists and NGOs ahead of the fourth edition of Techshare India to be held on February 13-14 regret the fact that in India accessible and inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD) still remains a challenge.

Ashoka Fellow Shilpi Kapoor, organiser Techshare India 2014, said, "In India bus stands and railway stations are almost impossible to reach for the disabled. Not only that, access to technology is difficult for people with disabilities - like ticket kiosks at train stations or television menus for blind people. Visiting retail stores and other public places like markets are still a nightmare for people with disabilities. Even basic amenities like public toilets are unfriendly for them. And these are young people."

Fifty per cent of PWDs are below the age of 30, which means a loss of contribution to GDP in real terms, she added while noting that there is a clear need to link the issues of the differently abled with the mainstream of society and the government, and make their development a key component of policies.

While it was felt initially that disability was a medical problem, and that it had to be dealt only by doctors, today, the medical model has been replaced with the developmental and sociological model.

The event organised jointly by BarrierBreak in association with National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, UK-based Royal National Institute of Blind People and whose main sponsor is the Microsoft hopes to take the dialogue forward and give a push to this empowerment agenda.

According to activists, in India, 70 million PWDs are constantly struggling for respectable employment. They are young, and they want to make a living just like anybody else. However, the rest of the world seems to be far more sensitive to the PWD. Countries such as Norway and Iceland spend 3,000 times as much on the section in terms of percentage of GDP as India's 0.0009 per cent.

A 2012 OECD report put Britain's spend at 2.4 per cent of national GDP on benefit for PWD, with the US at 1 per cent of GDP and Japan at 0.4 per cent of GDP.

Needless to say, technology is a very big part of the developmental model. "In a country where 7 per cent of the population is disabled, it is imperative to innovate to create more opportunities for the under-served and improve the overall quality of their life," said Gauri Arora, lead-corporate citizenship, Microsoft India.