New Delhi, February 10
The Delhi government today directed the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to file FIRs in three cases related to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which have allegedly resulted in a total loss of Rs 341 crore to the state exchequer.

There are allegations of fraud purportedly committed by DJB members, engineers, contractors and consultants. Some other individuals are also involved in it.

"The government had been receiving complaints from various quarters about these alleged frauds and it has directed the ACB to proceed in a thorough manner to get to the root of these scams," said a senior government official.

The cases include allotment of DJB's water treatment plant to a private company and financial irregularities in the purchase of four lakh AMR and non-AMR water meters.

"Various works at DJB's Bhagirathi Water Treatment Plant in Northeast Delhi were wrongly allotted to a private company at a highly inflated cost, which alone resulted in an approximate loss of Rs 158 crore to the government," said the official. The probe has been ordered following complaints that there was a gross violation of the CPWD manual.

In another case, there are alleged financial irregularities in the purchase of four lakh AMR and non-AMR water meters with a purported intent to favour one particular company, which resulted in a loss of around Rs 150 crore to the government.

The third case is also about the alleged financial irregularities to benefit a particular private company in the purchase of 3.5 lakh non-AMR water meters on the basis of a single tender, which led to an approximate loss of Rs 33 crore to the state exchequer.

"The government has found that prima facie cases are made out in all the three matters. In the case of Bhagirathi plant, a petition had already been filed in the Delhi High Court with a prayer to register an FIR in the alleged scam," he said.

New Delhi, February 10
Disability rights activists today called on BJP's Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to seek his party's support for the new Disability Bill. Jaitley in turn has extended his support to their cause and said that if the government places the Bill, the BJP will have no objection in passing it.

In his meeting with the members of the Disabled Rights Group (DRG) led by Syamala G, executive director of Ability Development and Inclusion and Shanti Auluck, Director of MUSKAAN, the senior BJP leader is said to have stated that "there was no need for the Bill to be sent to the Standing Committee", echoing the sentiments of the group.

Over the last few weeks, DRG has been consistently seeking the support of the government to table the bill with necessary amendments and for the Opposition to help pass it.

"This is a very positive and welcome development," said Javed Abidi, convenor of DRG. "We are grateful to the BJP for their empathy and support. We now appeal once again to all the other political parties, especially the Left Front and CPI (M) to come forward and help support in the smooth passage of the Disability Bill," Abidi added.

Sitting on a protest to pressurise all the political parties, activists said, "This is a very crucial time for the disability movement in India as the fate and lives of 70 million disabled citizens of this country could change with the passage of the amended Disability Rights Bill 2014."

The new Bill, if passed will ensure absolutely basic but necessary provisions like the universalization of the Disability Certificate and the inclusion of many other neglected disabilities such as deafness, blindness, dyslexia, hemophilia and thalassemia.

"The focus of our advocacy and lobbying over the last several days has been to ask the Opposition to support the Disability Bill and help us in getting it passed," they said.

"We want to meet different political parties and receive an assurance from them that they will not make disability a political matter and support the cause," said the activists.

New Delhi, February 10
The Independent MLA from Mundka, Rambir Shokeen, today withdrew his support to the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, with the total number of seats now being reduced to 35 in the 70-member House.

"We had not sought time beforehand and directly came to officially inform LG Najeeb Jung that I am withdrawing my support to the Delhi government. But we could not meet him as he was busy in a meeting. We have sought time and may be tomorrow, he will give us an appointment," said Shokeen.

Shokeen said he decided to withdraw support as the government has "failed" to fulfil the promises made before the polls. He said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made several promises on power and water problems, but even after several days in office, he failed to address the issues.

"We had given support to the AAP based on the issues of removing unnecessary restrictions on villages, extension of 'Lal Dora' boundaries, making the services of contractual teachers permanent and to sort out water issue, but they have failed on all these fronts.

"Last time when I, Binny and JD (U) MLA Shoaib Iqbal met Kejriwal on February 4, he assured us of starting work on these issues within a week, but nothing has been done so far. I had also called up Kejriwal but he did not respond or call me back. So, I have decided to withdraw my support," Shokeen said.

He blamed Kejriwal and his ministers for not visiting the villages of Delhi at least once after coming to power.

New Delhi, February 10
Dismayed by the repeated stalling of Parliament sessions, families of whistleblowers today wrote an open letter to leaders of various political parties demanding the passage of the Whistleblowers Protection Bill and Grievance Redress Bill.

Accompanied by social activists, they also demonstrated outside the offices of political parties during the day calling for their attention towards their concerns about the delay in passing the bills at a time when the Houses have not been able to transact any business due to disruption by leaders. They pledged to continue their struggle till the bills are passed.

In the letter, endorsed by Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, they regretted the fact that both the bills have been pending in Parliament for more than three years.

According to them, without the passage of these legislations, the Lokpal law will remain an unfinished measure and to have an anti-corruption legislation without supporting the complementary legislation will only make those fighting corruption even more vulnerable.

What is disturbing that during the logjam of Parliament in which these bills have been stuck, more than 34 whistleblowers have been killed between 2010 and 2014, they pointed out.

"All these people, who died or have been attacked, could have been saved if there were mechanisms to respond to such complaints. We appeal to you to immediately build a political consensus and ensure their passage,” they said.

In 2004, the Supreme Court directed that a mechanism to protect whistleblowers be put in place, but this remains a far cry and all this even as UNCAC, to which India is a signatory, makes it mandatory upon such countries to ensure protection of whistleblowers.

Dhanajay, brother of slain engineer of National Highway Authority of India, Satyendra Dubey, said, "I lost my brother 10 years ago when he was brutally murdered after his identity was leaked for exposing corruption in NHAI."

Shimbu Ram Bishnoi (33), an agricultural labourer in his village Jesla in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district, was fatally attacked with iron rods and wooden sticks by the sarpanch, his two sons and three others on October 7, 2013 while he was on way back from the Gram Panchayat.

He had to pay for his life for exposing rampant corruption in 2011 through an RTI in the tubewell scheme, forged job cards and unqualified 'mates' in MGNREGA and discrepancies in the list of beneficiaries for PDS of village panchayat of Jesla. 

New Delhi, February 10
A large number of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) activists participated in a Walk for Justice for awakening the Congress to stop atrocities on Sikhs and give them justice in 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

The activists led by DSGMC president Manjit Singh (GK) gathered at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in the evening and marched towards Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's house, carrying torches in their hands raising slogans for justice. They also carried placards bearing various slogans for giving justice to the Sikhs who were victims of 1984 riots.

When they reached near Parliament Street, the police created barricades and stopped them.

Addressing the activists, GK said, "The Congress dealing with Sikhs has been atrocious and full of cruelty, as Operation Bluestar in 1984 in Golden Temple Amritsar was planned by the Congress government with the help of the Britain government. Later in the same year, thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred and their properties were burnt. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accepted that some Congressmen were involved in the anti-Sikh riots," he added.

He said, "The Prime Minister should clear the stand of his party as to how much and what kind of help was sought by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, while planning Operation Bluestar damaging the holiest seat of Darbar Sahib and killing uncountable innocents."

Referring to the promise made by the Congress-led UPA government in 2005 for tabling action taken report in Parliament, GK asked Rahul to speak out his party's commitment towards Sikhs during past nine years. In the report, it was promised that the government would speed up trails of the cases of accused involved in 1984 riots and rehabilitate the victims. But not a single person has been indicted so far and victims are still struggling to get the basic amenities.

New Delhi, February 10
Under the leadership of Harsh Vardhan, a delegation of theDelhi BJP today submitted a memorandum to the President, Pranab Mukherjee, against the Delhi government for spreading anarchy and forcibly entering the houses of some women students of African origin, and misbehaved with them.

The memorandum said since the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government, all the development works are at a standstill in Delhi.

The agenda of the party is only to mislead people.

The memorandum also mentioned the name of Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his disgraceful and demeaning action towards women, disrespect to the Constitution, judiciary, legislature and the press.

It also said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his government is creating a constitutional crisis in Delhi. The party members requested the intervention of the President in this matter.

The memorandum said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's activities need country's attention. His NGO Sampoorna Parivartan and PWD Minister Manish Sisodia's NGO Kabir receive foreign funds. But the details have not been submitted to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Union Ministry of Finance.

The BJP members requested the President to immediately dismiss the Law Minister from his post. Moreover, Kejriwal government's activities should be watched for their unconstitutional actions, they urged the President.

New Delhi, February 10
While the protests against Nido Tania's murder and demands for an end to racial discrimination are becoming louder, two Manipuri youths were allegedly attacked by motorcycle-borne men at Ambedkar Nagar in southeast Delhi on Sunday night.

The victims have been identified as Ginkhansuan Naulak (24), an insurance agent and his cousin, Vumsuanmung Naulak (25). Their friends claim that the attack on them was racial in nature. The incident took place at about 8.30 pm on Sunday, when the two youths were heading to a market at Madangir, Ambedkar Nagar, to buy chicken.

The police said that the attack was not racial, adding that they are corroborating the accounts of eyewitnesses, victims and their friends. Vumsuanmung who was discharged from the AIIMS Trauma Centre said that he and his cousin were unacquainted with the attackers, who did not rob them.

One of the victims' brother, Siam, said when the youths were buying chicken, they got into an argument with a local. The victims decided to leave immediately. On their way to their residence, they were allegedly attacked by motorcycle-borne men, who were carrying rods and sticks.

After a brief exchange of words, the attacker started beating the victims. They also allegedly passed racist remarks at them. The culprits fled after leaving the victims unconscious.

When the victims regained consciousness, they reached home and washed their wounds. They went to the AIIMS Trauma Centre for treatment. The police were informed about the incident and they also reached the hospital.

Vumsuanmung was discharged from the hospital today afternoon while his cousin is recuperating. According to the doctors, Ginkhansuan has sustained severe injuries all over the body. He has sustained six stitches behind his ear.

The police said they have registered a case under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The police are examining the CCTV footage of the attack site and searching for the accused.