New Delhi, July 15
The power demand in the national Capital today touched an all-time high of 5,925 MW even as areas across the city faced electricity cuts for up to four hours.

The previous highest power consumption in the city was recorded on July 11 when it had gone up to 5,810 MW.

"The maximum power demand in the city was recorded at 5,925 MW at 3.20 pm which is a new record of consumption in Delhi," a power department official said. The rise in electricity demand caused power cuts ranging from one to four hours.

Power department officials claimed there was no shortage of power and outages were taking place due to problems in the distribution network of BSES discoms. BSES refused to comment.

Explaining the reasons for the power cuts, they said when the electricity demand goes up, the distribution lines trip as they have not been strengthened to take increased loads.

The government has been asking BSES discoms to improve their distribution network. The power demand in the city has been increasing at a rate of around 8 per cent in the past few years and the government had projected it to touch 6,000 MW this summer.

According to official figures, the demand in 2002 was just 3,097 MW while in 2007, it touched 4,030 MW. While the demand went up to 4,408 MW in 2009, it reached 4,720 MW in 2010. In 2011, it increased to 5,028 MW and it went up to 5,642 MW in 2012.

On June 6 last year, the demand had peaked at 5,653 MW.

New Delhi, July 15
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) led by Paramjit Singh Sarna today demonstrated in front of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) office, demanding suspension of the committee's general manager Harjit Singh and its member Gurbax Singh Montu Shah. Put them behind bars on alleged charges of sexual harassment, demanded the party.

Activists of the SAD Delhi who were led by senior vice-president Bhajan Singh Walia, youth wing president Damandip Singh and DSGMC members shouted slogans against DSGMC general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa, demanding suspension of its general manager. They also demanded that the victim be given financial aid to fight her case in the court.

Women activists of the party also participated in the demonstration. They criticised DSGMC president Manjit Singh for not taking action against the culprits.

Addressing the activists, Walia said that the Badal group is not able to manage the committee properly. Funds of gurdwara are being used for foreign tours. Sexual harassment of a woman is a very sad incident, giving bad name to the gurdwara committee.

Instead of doing religious work, the DSGMC members are moving around the leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), he said.

New Delhi, July 15
Three persons, including two women, have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a six-month-old boy from Mandawali, east Delhi on Monday, a police officer said.

The accused have been identified as Rahul (19), Preeti (22) and Rajni (45). The police are searching for the fourth accused, Bunti Kumar Rajat. According to the police, Rajni wanted a male child who would be an heir to her family. Rahul and Bunti allegedly planned the kidnapping, because Rahul needed money. He was in debt.

About 4.45 am on Monday, the police were informed about the kidnapping of the boy from the roof of a building at Sewa Sadan Block, Mandawali.

The child's father, Pintu Kumar, said that he with his wife, Kajal and son, Amar, went to the roof of the building where they stayed, about 1.30 am on Monday. Other occupants of the building were also sleeping there.

"About 4 am, he woke up and saw that his son Amar was missing. He reported the matter to the police. A case was registered and investigation was taken up. Six teams were sent to search the area," said Ajay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East District).

The police learnt that the building had 45 rooms and five-six persons were staying in each room. The main door of the building was the only entry and exit point.

Rahul's mother, Urmila, had the responsibility to lock the main gate of the building at 1 am every day.

She kept the key. A few persons of the building, including Urmila's sons, were aware about the place where the key was kept.

"After the incident, the lock of the gate was found unlocked and it was evident that the lock was not opened forcefully, rather it was unlocked by using either the original or duplicate key. We grew suspicious over the persons who were aware of the place where the key was kept," said Kumar.

The police questioned the occupants of the building. The main accused, Rahul, allegedly tried to mislead the police, but after a while confessed to the kidnapping.

"He said he conspired with his friend Bunti to kidnap the child and sell him. Bunti introduced Rahul to Preeti and her mother Rajni, who wanted a male child," said the 
officer.

New Delhi, July 15
A 32-year-old Delhi Police constable was suspended after he allegedly beat the owner of a roadside eatery last night, the police said today. The victim had asked him to pay his bill.

The incident took place in the Jheel Chowk area near Geeta Colony about 11.30 pm. The constable, identified as Aakash Singh, was on his way to home when he stopped at the eatery named Jain Dhaba.

According to a police officer, the constable often used to stop at the eatery after work and was quite familiar with its owner.

Last night, the eatery owner, Sunil Jain, dialled 100 and informed the police that the constable had allegedly beaten him and threatened to shoot him with his service revolver. Sunil alleged that Aakash had been coming to his eatery for the past several months, but never paid for the food. Yesterday, Sunil decided that the constable had to pay for the meal. He sent a waiter with a bill to Aakash, which agitated him.

"There was a commotion over the issue. The constable is accused of not willing to pay the bill and also to have beaten the owner of the eatery," said the officer.

On being asked whether the constable was in an inebriated state during the incident, the officer said, "We conducted his medical examination immediately after the matter was reported to us. There was no sign of alcohol."

The officer, however, refused to comment on whether the accused constable had threatened the eatery owner with his service revolver.

"We have suspended the constable and an investigation is being conducted by the public grievance cell. We will take further action based upon the findings of the investigation," the officer said.

Aakash was called to the local police station about 8.30 am today and immediately suspended. He was posted at the Gandhi Nagar police station in east Delhi.

New Delhi, July 15
At least half a dozen robbers stole Rs 7.5 lakh in cash and cheques worth Rs 40,000 from the Delhi Transport Corporation's Millennium Bus Depot in central Delhi after injuring a cashier there in the early hours of today, police said.

The cashier has been identified as Vikram Singh (55). The robbery took place at about 3.30 am at cash section number three, when Vikram was outside his cabin on the premises of the bus depot.

About seven youths armed with guns and knives reached the depot. One of them trained a gun at Vikram and directed him to hand over the cabin's keys. When he resisted, they allegedly stabbed him in his shoulder and snatched the keys from him, according to the police.

Sources said that the robbers entered the cabin and stole Rs 7.5 lakh and cheques worth Rs 40,000. The money was deposited by the DTC bus conductors.

The robbers then fled leaving behind Vikram in a pool of blood. A few minutes later, a DTC official discovered Singh lying injured and he made a call to the police.

Vikram was taken to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital. His condition is out of danger, according to the police.

New Delhi, July 15
The peaceful environment of education institutes and universities in Taiwan is what encouraged Sawmiya Aggarwal from Pune to apply for the Taiwan scholarship programmes.

"The other parts of the world like Europe and America are too crowded with Indian students, whereas Taiwan is less explored and offers the best atmosphere for 
studies. It is also very safe for girl students," said Sawmiya who was awarded scholarship for pursuing PhD in Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

While for Amarnath, an Assistant Professor in Bangalore and research scholar in IIT Delhi, the state-of-the-art educational infrastructure in Taiwan is the driving force behind opting for the scholarship.

"Taiwan's college has a laboratory in building and infrastructure information modelling which is the only such facility in any of the education institutes in the world," Amarnath said.

Around 20 such aspiring students from all across the country were awarded the scholarship for MA and PhD programmes and learning Mandarin for six months.

The scholarships were awarded by Taiwan Ambassador Chung Kwang Tien.

Talking about mutual cooperation in strengthening economic ties, Tien said, "Indian can use Taiwan's hardware to produce its own products and brands. We look forward to forging such ties with the Indian government."