New Delhi, June 23
In the ongoing row of Delhi University's Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), the admissions to the undergraduate courses were today deferred by the DU Principals' Association till "clear guidelines" were communicated from the competent authority.

Even as the varsity is finding it hard to blink, it today sent out a communication to its colleges, with a copy to the United Grants Commission (UGC), stating that it was "directed to despatch UGC's letters dated June 22 and June 21 that are "self-explanatory". This is with reference to the latest reminder from UGC.

The latest communication to colleges may be seen as a "step towards compliance" though in a subtle manner from DU which had forwarded the instructions of the UGC to colleges. During the day after the BJP-led Centre refused to intervene amid face-off between the DU and the UGC, it turned out to be an open tussle between both.

During the day after the BJP-led Centre refused to intervene amid face-off between the DU and the UGC, it turned out to be an open tussle.

However, it is understood that the varsity administration hardly has any option other than following the directives from the higher education watchdog, especially after the Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani stating that "UGC is supreme".

Until evening, teachers and college principals appeared jittery with principals holding a meet at SGTB Khalsa College to discuss the ongoing crisis between DU and UGC wherein they unanimously decided to defer the admissions for tomorrow.

"In view of the recent developments and seriousness of the situation regarding the conflicting guidelines from the DU and the UGC, the admission process will not start tomorrow. We have resolved that till unambiguous guidelines are sent by the authorities, admissions will be deferred," said DU Principals' Association president Prof S K Garg.

"There will be a complete rollback of the four-year programme though B Tech degree for science courses will be retained. The UGC has asked colleges in DU to begin the admission process under the three-year course. The next meeting will be within a week. There was no representation from the side of the VC," said DUSU president Aman Awana. 

New Delhi, June 23
Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today travelled in the Metro train of Airport Express link from Terminal 3 of International Airport to Shivaji Park station and asked the DMRC to make Metro viable by reducing its travel cost.

The minister boarded the Metro Rail after his arrival from Hyderbad in the morning.

He said, "These are symbols of modern India. If properly used and popularized, it will make life happy for the general public. Aam aadmi must be the target. The Metro is very prestigious and I felt very happy about DMRC," Naidu said after his journey.

With a view to promoting the use of Metro train service in the national Capital and lending an ear to commuters, the Union Minister took a ride on it and said efforts will be made to popularise the service, making it more viable by reducing travel cost.

Naidu interacted with commuters en route and took their suggestions about travel fare, transport facilities on stations and also increasing the frequency of trains.

"I had the occasion to interact with commuters and their suggestions were to reduce travel charges, it is very high comparatively. I have asked officers to think about it and take the decision at the earliest about providing the connectivity.

"Whenever the commuters get down at the station to reach their homes, they should have connectivity through bus service that also can be organised by some extent by the DMRC and also we can have proper coordination with the DTC also. People want little more frequency that will come in the course of time," the minister said.

Naidu said efforts have to be made to find out ways to make Metro more viable and self-sufficient.

"First of all we have to now think about ways and means of making Metro Rail viable. You cannot rely on subsidy for long. It has to be on its own," he added.

The minister said giving space for ATMs, food courts and advertisements can help the DMRC generate revenue and other by popularising the facilities people will start using it more frequently.

"It is a two-way process if you want to increase the popularity, you will have to give people the facilities and only then they would want to travel," Naidu added.

The minister said the government is planning to expand the Delhi Metro further to aid travellers thronging the national Capital from the border regions of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The minister noted that due to increased vehicular traffic, travelling by roads has become difficult and that Metro travel helped him save 40 minutes of travel time.

When asked about the Airport Metro, which Reliance Infrastructure's subsidiary Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd (DAMEPL) terminated the concessionaire with the DMRC, the minister said, "I do not want to make any comment about the controversy on the dispute between the two but it will be sorted out at the earliest." Currently, the DMRC is operating the 22.7-km-long Airport Metro Express line.

New Delhi, June 23
Welcoming the University Grants Commission directive to Delhi University (DU), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today said that the decision to restore the three-year undergraduate courses should be implemented without any confusion.

In the whole chaos on the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), former HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Vice-Chancellor Prof Dinesh Singh owe an apology to the academic and student communities for having imposed such a measure, without unanimity, it asserted.

"The FYUP should have never been implemented. The promise to scrap it was part of the AAP's manifestoes for the Delhi assembly and the Lok Sabha elections and we welcome the step," the party stated while noting that the FYUP rollback order is a victory of the DU academic and student communities.

Calling the FYUP "unjustified and highly questionable", the party demanded that the Vice-Chancellor should publicly explain the said violations in view of the old National Policy of Education. "Under whose pressure was the FYUP implemented?" it asked.

According to it, as DU attracts students from all parts of the country, the imposition of the FYUP was only an attempt to force them to spend an extra year before getting a graduation degree.

Ahead of a fresh academic session, it said the DU authorities should immediately take the teachers and student representatives into confidence to ensure that there is no unnecessary panic at the beginning of the upcoming academic session.

Though the rollback of the FYUP marks the culmination of a strong movement against this programme among the academicians and the students, the AAP demands that the UGC and DU authorities must take all possible steps to remove all misgivings which are likely to arise from the new situation.

First of all, apprehensions among the students who were enrolled for the FYUP last year and are currently pursuing their studies according to this programme must be allayed and they need to be assured that none of their rights will be affected.

Besides, the students who have applied for admission to the DU colleges this year, need to be assured by the DU authorities that the scrapping of the FYUP will not affect their careers in any manner, the party added.

New Delhi, June 23
The Delhi Police plan to replicate the CCTV camera system in Surat under the public private partnership model.

In an official press statement released today, the Delhi Police said that Dariba Kalan in north Delhi and Greater Kailash-I in south Delhi have been identified as pilot areas, where the Surat model of the CCTV camera system will be implemented.

"A standard operating procedure has been made to ensure uniformity in implementation," read the statement.

The statement was released following the publishing of media reports which "wrongly claimed the unsuitability of the Surat CCTV model for Delhi".

The Delhi Police team which went to Surat has made a presentation before Delhi's Lieutenant Governor on the aspects of the Surat Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, which can be replicated and assimilated into the existing and planned CCTV network in Delhi, according to the statement.

"Consequently, an intensive exercise has already been started by the Delhi Police to identify suitable areas, where there is scope for expansion of the existing CCTV network under the PPP model of Surat - which is a new paradigm in community policing," says the statement.

Besides expansion of the existing network, improving maintenance, networking and bandwidth are also identified areas where the public can become active stakeholders, for ensuring enhanced security for themselves and their businesses, says the statement.

Currently, the CCTV network in Delhi is only funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are about 4,000-odd CCTV cameras installed in Delhi. 

New Delhi, June 23
Delhi tops the list among cities in the country in terms of fatal road accidents with five people--four of whom are pedestrians and two-wheeler riders--losing their lives every day, a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed today.

The report pointed out that road accidents in the national Capital had so far claimed 325 lives during the night and 332 lives in the day time from January 1 to May 31 this year.

Quoting the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' report - Road Accidents in India 2012, CSE said that about five road accident deaths occur every day, which includes two pedestrians and two two-wheeler riders. It also said every week, two cyclists and one car rider dies in the city.

As per the report released by CSE today, violation of rules is rampant in Delhi - with 329,000 cases of signal jumps, over 14,000 cases of drunken driving and 45,158 cases of over speeding being reported across different parts of the capital. Chennai, which follows Delhi in road accident deaths, reports 25 per cent less fatalities.

"Sixteen deaths and 58 road injures are reported in India in every hour with sharing of fatal accidents in the total being up from 18 per cent in 2003 to 25 in 2012," the report also pointed out.

The report noted that in Delhi, the share of pedestrians falling victims to road crashes is as high as 44 per cent - the highest among key metro cities. As much as 50 per cent of accidents occur at night, and 33 per cent between 6 pm and 12 am.

"If any other cause was responsible for so many deaths in Indian cities, it would have led to emergency measures. Neither the rich and powerful nor the poor can escape the fury of our killer roads," CSE's executive director Anumita Roychowdhury said.

She also said that report also suggested that most accidents occur near flyovers, crossing and signal-free and high speed corridors.

Of the total accident prone hotspots identified near flyovers, about 27 per cent are on the Ring Road, 17 per cent on GTK Road, 13 on Outer Ring Road and 6 per cent on Mathura Road, she said.

"It is important to note that the eight key arterial roads that record nearly 75 per cent of all deaths, have been designed as high speed corridors, which received the maximum attention and resources from the government - including widening for six-eight lanes, flyovers to allow seamless travel for vehicles, subway crossings and foot overbridges to prevent people from crossing on the surface and obstructing traffic flow, and closing of medians to allow vehicles to move uninterrupted. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 23
A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly murdering his brother-in-law (12), after a quarrel between them over the volume of the television set at the latter's house in west Delhi's Chander Vihar area on June 19.

The accused has been identified as Harish Chander. He was caught by the Delhi Police on June 21 from his native place in East Champaran, Bihar. He was brought on transit remand to Delhi.

During his interrogation, Harish allegedly admitted that he was suffering from an abdomen disease and was being treated in Delhi.

"He had a grudge against his in-laws as his father in-law, Krishan Nandan, had borrowed Rs 30,000 from him and did not return it," said Ranvir Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (West District).

"On June 19, Harish's brother in-law Jai Ram was watching television in his house in Chander Vihar. Harish was staying there as well. He asked the victim to lower the volume of the television, but he did not do so. A quarrel took place between them and Harish assaulted him with a stone and killed Jai," said Ranvir Singh.

The officer said that Harish took his father-in-law's mobile phone, locked the door of the house from the outside and left for his native place in East Champaran.

New Delhi, June 23
A 19-year-old Manipuri girl was allegedly molested by a teenager in Sunlight Colony, south-east Delhi, today.

The accused, a 16-year-old boy, was apprehended from the site of the incident. He lives in her neighbourhood.

"The accused is a Class 12 student of a local government school and hails from Uttarakhand," said a police officer.

The girl lives at rented accommodation in the area and is pursuing a beautician's course from VLCC. According to the police, the girl was going to attend her classes when the boy allegedly passed some lewd comments. She was at DTL Colony near the Delhi Jal Board office when the incident occurred at about 11 am. The boy allegedly molested her when she objected to his misbehaviour.

As the girl raised the alarm, locals apprehended the accused. He was also beaten up before being handed over to the police. "We suspect that the boy had been trailing her for a few days and had known that she would be going that way," said Angam, a friend of the girl. Angam said that the girl usually walks down the stretch to a bus stand from where she takes a bus to Lajpat Nagar.

A case of outraging the modesty of a woman under the IPC and SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was filed.