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Delhi gets Rs 260 crore for power subsidy in Budget
A betrayal of Delhiites: AAP
Govt formation: Ball is in LG's court, says BJP
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DU yet to finalise UG structure
New Delhi, July 18 It is just two days to go for the Delhi University's new academic session to begin, but uncertainly prevails for both the fresh varsity aspirants as well as the 2013 undergraduate batch.
Mandela's legacy celebrated with cleaning drive
DRUG RACKET
Set up research institutes to check NCDs: Kalam
Doctor from Kanpur goes missing from Paharganj hotel
Cong terms it 'directionless'
7th cut-off: Aspirants still hopful
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Delhi gets Rs 260 crore for power subsidy in Budget
New Delhi, July 18 Transport, health and education have been kept on priority with an allocation of Rs 3,702, Rs 2,724 and Rs 2,482 crore, respectively. Urban development has been given a provision of Rs 2,154 crore, water supply and sanitation Rs 2,000 crore, social security and welfare Rs 1,862 crore, others Rs 1,101 crore, and for energy Rs 675 crore has been allocated. A subsidy of Rs 1.20 per unit up to 200 units and 80 paisa per unit for the slab 201-400 units will be extended to domestic consumers to provide relief to the targeted consumers on account of increase in tariff, The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission yesterday approved a tariff hike of 8.32 per cent for the city's three electricity distribution utilities. The Budget has proposed the construction of four new sub-stations of 220 KW each at Peera Garhi, Papankalan, Tughlakabad, and Rajghat Power House and one of 440 KW sub-station at Harsh Vihar. Keeping social inclusion as a main concern, the Budget announced the construction of 20 new schools for which Rs 350 crore has been allocated, promised senior secondary schools exclusively for girls in all legislative assembly constituencies and a new school of planning, architecture and design gets Rs 285 crore allocation in East Delhi. "Necessary measure will be taken to ensure fully functional and clean toilets in all the schools within the next few months. Project-based financial support will be extended to language academics," the Budget said. For the health sector, the budget has proposed an outlay of Rs 2,724 crore during 2014-15. The plan includes a multi-speciality hospital in South Delhi and a new medical college with 100 seats in Rohini. For the transport sector, the Budget has proposed a Rs 3,702-crore plan. A total of 110 new ambulances fitted with the state-of-the-art life support equipment will be induced in the CATS fleet and a one-stop centre for crisis management and rehabilitation of victims of sexual assault will be set up in each district. While announcing the Budget, the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, also made a provision for the induction of 1,380 semi-low floor buses in the present fleet to be procured by the DTC. Redevelopment of ISBT Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar will be done and the elevated corridor over Barapullah Nullah extended to Mayur Vihar-II. A plan outlay for housing and urban development has been increased from Rs 17 crore in the last financial year to Rs 35 crore in the current fiscal. |
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A betrayal of Delhiites: AAP
New Delhi, July 18 "The BJP promised 30 per cent reduction in power tariff. It did not do it. Why this U-turn? The BJP has made a U-turn on almost all poll promises," Kejriwal tweeted earlier during the day. The AAP called the budget a "betrayal" of the residents of the national Capital, stating that the BJP-led government has "cheated" people once again and the promises made during the assembly and Lok Sabha elections regarding slashing electricity rates were merely to "hoodwink" them. Hitting out at the BJP, the party asked if the Kejriwal-led AAP government could implement its promise of reducing the electricity tariff by 50 per cent and providing free water up to nearly 700 litres per household every day within 48 hours of assuming office, then why has the BJP miserably failed to deliver on its electricity tariff promise. The party said that even as Jaitley had mocked the AAP government then for providing electricity and water subsidy in a public statement on January 1 what he has done is exactly what the Sheila Dikshit government used to give and nothing more. What happened to the claims by Delhi BJP leaders that a provision of Rs 700 crore would be made in the budget to bring down the electricity tariffs in Delhi, said a party spokesperson. This is not all, the AAP attacked the BJP stating that the BJP has neither proposed any measures to check rising prices nor on how to crackdown on tanker mafia in various parts of the capital. In this regard Kejriwal said, "(There is) No mention in the budget on how people will get relief from the rising prices of vegetables...how electricity supply in Delhi would be improved...how water-starved areas would get water." Before making the announcement about renovating and modernising water treatment plants to merely show an increased number of such plants, the BJP government should have given adequate attention to the existing plants, which are non-functional due to water scarcity such as the Dwarka plant, said the spokesperson. A majority of other proposals mentioned in the budget are old and the same what the previous governments had already stated on record and many of which had been initiated by the AAP government earlier this year, the party said. The BJP is trying to mislead the people portraying wrongly that the Central government has not levied any new tax. The fact is that in any state which is under the President's Rule, no fresh tax is levied when the budget is presented in Parliament, in keeping with the spirit of Article 265 of the Constitution. Therefore, the BJP cannot claim credit for what it has not done.
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Govt formation: Ball is in LG's court, says BJP
New Delhi, July 18 "The ball is in Lt Governor's court. He is under statutory duty to explore all the circumstances, to explore all the possibilities and try his level best to install a popular government. He is to take the initiative. Once he consults various political parties, take some initiative, we will immediately inform you (the media)," he said. The BJP had on Wednesday indicated that it might take a shot at government formation in Delhi, which is under the President's Rule after the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government resigned in mid-February. BJP sources have said that Mukhi, Delhi's former Finance Minister, was the front-runner for the Chief Minister's post as he is known to have good equations with all quarters in the party. Newly appointed Delhi BJP unit chief Satish Upadhyay has said that his party does not have the numbers to form a government as he denied reports that his party is trying to poach MLAs from other parties and challenged AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to furnish proof for his allegations on this issue. "It is a very good budget and the highlight is that there is no new tax," he said reacting to the Delhi Budget. He said with the reduction of service charge in the power sector, the budget has fulfiled one of the promises the BJP made to the power consumers. He said the step will not only offset the hike that was announced yesterday, but will also provide relief to those who consume within 400 units. With the removal of pension cap for senior citizens, he said, over 40,000 in this category will be benefited. He also lauded the proposals to set up a medical college and a super-speciality hospital, the substantial allocation to the education sector and establishment of a new school of planning, architecture and design in the capital. |
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DU yet to finalise UG structure
New Delhi, July 18 While the university is still to finalise the new undergraduate structure of its courses and the DU Vice-Chancellor has called a meeting of the Academic Council and Executive Council tomorrow in this regard to consider recommendations of the committee of courses (CoCs), several colleges have brought out notices for walk-in interviews for appointment of ad hoc teachers to be held on July 19 and 20. The notices from colleges came after the varsity administration in a letter this afternoon directed all colleges of DU to hold interviews for all ad hoc positions over the weekend. Several colleges, such as Department of Geology, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, Miranda House, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, Rajdhani College, Indraprastha College for Women, Gargi College, Aryabhatt College, have posted notices on their websites inviting the candidates for interviews on Saturday and Sunday. The move however has been condemned by the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) which has demanded the removal of the VC who also drew flak from it for the delay in activities towards transition from four-year to three-year undergraduate courses. Generally, the process of appointment of ad hoc teachers is complete at least three weeks before the session but this time due to the delay in restructuring of courses, the process has been delayed. |
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Mandela's legacy celebrated with cleaning drive
New Delhi, July 18 High Commissioner FK Marule said that Mandela's legacy is a challenge for us to rise above adversity and inspires us to fight for freedom and justice and make the world a better place to live in. The campaign was held with a message, 'Take action, inspire change, make every day a Mandela Day'. The Consulate General, Vikramjit S. Sahney, diplomats and officials of the mission took on the task of cleaning the Priya Market Complex at Vasant Vihar in Delhi. Sahney, said, "Injustice and crime are threatening the future of humankind. It is everyone's responsibility to create a just and humane environment and the stabilisation of global population. We need to drive inspiration from Mandela and Gandhi to lead a life of courage, wisdom and inclusive society striving towards the betterment of human race and not towards destruction." There was a cultural programme and prize distribution for budding talents in different fields in Spring Dales School. |
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Amarinder for end to witch-hunt
Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 18 "There should be no finger-pointing in this case. People should not indulge in political witch-hunt. Everyone should wait for the Punjab police to submit its report," Capt Amarinder Singh told The Tribune. Amarinder's statement comes at a time when voices within the Congress for a transparent inquiry into the alleged role of Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the racket have been growing. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and was accused by drug racket kingpin Jagdish Singh Bhola. Capt Amarinder, Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, however said it was unfair to point fingers at the minister merely on the basis of Bhola's statements. Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, Amarinder has meanwhile received a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a letter he had written to him earlier seeking a national drug policy to combat Punjab's drug menace. The Prime Minister's response dated July 9 is non-committal on the policy and merely acknowledges Amarinder's missive where the former Chief Minister said that there were three sources of drugs in Punjab-- from across the border, Madhya Pradesh and bordering Rajasthan and from locally produced synthetic drugs.
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Set up research institutes to check NCDs: Kalam
New Delhi, July 18 "There is an immense need for research institutions in the country and abroad to work for new initiatives such as vaccines and similar other initiatives to control non-communicable diseases," he said while speaking at 2nd National Non-Communicable Diseases summit where the national white paper on combating NCDs within the pubic sector employees was released. Dr Kalam stressed that India needs to focus on the thrust areas--technological, biological and pharmacological aspects of the NCDs to eliminate these from society while noting that initiatives are being taken by various health groups and the government to fight NCDs by bringing lifestyle changes of the citizens. "If dreaded diseases like polio and leprosy can be eliminated then why not diabetes and other non-communicable diseases which are highly prevalent among the working age group of the country, specifically among the people working in the public sector enterprises," he asked. The World Health Organization states that India has over 70 million diabetic patients, the highest in the world. The union health and family welfare ministry figures projects that the figure would cross 100 million by 2030 if diabetes is not brought under control. The white paper, released at the summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was the result of the roundtable discussions held in cities.
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Doctor from Kanpur goes missing from Paharganj hotel
New Delhi, July 18 The man has been identified as Dr Shakti Bhargava. Bhargava is the owner of the Bhargava Nursing Home in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. On July 15, he had arrived at Delhi from Kanpur for a court case. On Thursday at about 8 pm, his wife came to Delhi from Kanpur and told the police that she had not been able to contact her husband. The police said that they have started a search for Bhargava. "He had checked into the Hotel White Empire at Paharganj on July 15 and spent most of his time at the hotel. In the morning on July 16, Bhargava left the hotel after having breakfast and since then his wife has not been able to contact him," said a police officer, privy to the details of the case. Bhargava's wife, who is also a doctor, arrived in Delhi with some family members to file a missing report with the police. According to the police, Bhargava's two mobile phones had been switched off since July 16, which made his family worried. The police registered a case of abduction at the Nabi Karim police station. The officer said that Bhargava was a party to litigation at a court in Kanpur. "It is too early to say whether his disappearance has anything to do with the court case. We are however investigating all angles," explained the officer. |
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Cong terms it 'directionless'
New Delhi, July 18 The Congress leaders asked the BJP leadership to tender an unconditional apology to the people on the matter of power subsidy as the BJP had consistently opposed giving subsidy during the Congress rule in Delhi. "The BJP had voted against power subsidy during the Delhi Assembly session in February, and the party has now exposed its real face by implementing the same sort of subsidy given during the Congress rule," said DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely. He said that the budget has not made any provision for any new scheme, but has instead decided to overturn the Congress government's decision to sanction 100 new schools, and restrict the number to just 20, which shows that the BJP has no desire to improve the educational standards. "The decision to introduce new buses was taken by the Congress government and even tender for that had been invited,” he said. |
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7th cut-off: Aspirants still hopful
New Delhi, July 18 Among the favourite courses in arts discipline, English (H) is available at Hansraj with a cut off 94.25-96 per cent, Hindu 93.5-94.75 per cent, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College 87 per cent and Satyavati 91-92.5 per cent while economics (H) is available only at ARSD College with a cut off at 94-95.75 per cent. Seats remain on offer even in political science at Ramanujan College with a cut off of 82.5-83 per cent and Lakshmi Bai College at 81 per cent and in BA history (H) at Hansraj 92.5-94.5 per cent, IP College 84.5-89 per cent and Kamla Nehru 92.5-94.5 per cent. |
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The Delhi Budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 with a total outlay of Rs 36,766 crore proposed in Parliament today has announced Rs 260 crore as power subsidy giving the much-wanted relief to the people of the city.
