New Delhi, August 17
With the detection of three suspected cases of Ebola, the Delhi BJP unit has asked all the civic bodies to take full precautionary measures to check the disease and allay any apprehension in the minds of citizens.

Extending his Janmashtami greetings to the devotees, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay asked the civic bodies to make all necessary arrangements in the hospitals managed by the municipal corporations and the Delhi government. In the municipal corporations, the BJP is in power while the Delhi government is governed by the Lieutenant Governor under the BJP-led NDA government at Centre.

Taking the issue of Ebola seriously, Upadhyay has written to the Lt. Governor and Mayors of the three municipal corporations, drawing their attention towards the international spread of the disease and stressed the need to make city hospitals well prepared.

He has urged the Lt. Governor to ensure proper health check-ups at international airports and also direct the health departments to take preventive measures in the post-monsoon period.

Sources said that patients are being checked up minutely in all the government hospitals and if anyone is found suspected, they are admitted. So far, three suspected patients, all Nigerians, were admitted to RML hospital, the sources said.

New Delhi, August 17
Shifting its focus back to city's electricity status, the Aam Aadmi Party today demanded that the central law governing the functioning of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) should be amended to make it accountable to the people, given the DERC's 'reluctance' to fix the accountability for power cuts.

Alleging a lack of transparency in the functioning of the power regulatory body, the party said it has been more than two months that the DERC had announced its decision to probe the reasons for long power cuts in May and June, but it is still silent over the issue.

"The DERC's kid glove approach in dealing with the private power distribution companies (discoms) gives rise to apprehension that the regulator has failed to act impartially. The time has come for reviewing the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, under which the DERC was set up, given the lack of transparency in its functioning," the party stated.

However, the AAP is in favour of maintaining the autonomy of the regulator while its decisions should be open to public scrutiny, and the best way of doing it is that the law be amended to make the DERC accountable to elected representatives - the MPs and MLAs.

"Its decisions on dealing with discoms and fixing of electricity tariffs should include the views of elected representatives, and it should be made mandatory for the DERC to make public the reasons for accepting or rejecting these views," the party noted.

The summer months, particularly June, had witnessed the worst power cuts in recent years, and as per the AAP, both the DERC and Delhi administration remained helpless spectators while the situation worsened with each passing day.

AAP asserted that the Central government must take immediate steps to ensure that the law is amended to make the DERC functioning transparent and accountable to the public. 

New Delhi, August 17
A 22-year-old married woman committed suicide yesterday by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her parental home here, the police said on Sunday.

The body of Ahana was spotted by her mother in the Narela area, Outer Delhi.

The police said no suicide note was recovered.

She was married in February. The SDM has been informed about the incident as the police suspected that it could be a case of harassment.

The police have not taken any action against anybody so far. The action will be taken after the SDM submits his inquiry report, a senior police official said.

If a woman commits suicide within seven years of her marriage, the SDM of the area makes inquiry to establish the truth.

"Ahana was the daughter of a Delhi Police constable and had been staying with her parents for the past one month. She was upset due to marital discord," the official said.

New Delhi, August 17
With the arrest of three suspects, Mohammad Alam, Nadim and Rizwan, the Delhi Police claimed to have worked out a murder of an unknown person in northeast Delhi.

The youth was found murdered in the Gokulpuri area on August 5.

Three other suspects Munter, Danish and Saadam are at large. During investigation of the case, the police recovered one motorcycle and two mobile phones, the police said.

The suspects disclosed that the slain youth was known as Ashraf who was the head of their gang, operating in the Seelampur area. On August 5, they all gathered near old Yamuna Bridge, planning to rob one of the passers-by, the police said.

The accused disclosed that while they were looking for their target, Alam had accidentally shot at Ashraf who died after a while. All of them threw his body near the Gokulpuri drain.

The gangsters also admitted to their involvement in the sandalwood theft case at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

The police have taken them on remand to recover the clothes they were wearing during the time of the incident, the police said.

New Delhi, August 17
Delhi Parks and Gardens Society as well as the Horticulture Unit under the Department of Environment is to plant one lakh medicinal saplings and 50,000 ornamental shrubs this year.

An official of the department said that ornamental shrubs would be distributed amongst the residents through RWAs, eco-clubs, schools, institutions for better homesteads.

He said that from April to July, about 13,000 trees and 21,000 saplings have been planted in parks and schools.

Around 10,000 medicinal herbs like tulsi, karipatta, aloe-vera, lemon grass, etc. and about 5,000 ornamental shrubs like gorchori, chandni, gurhal for plantation in and around homes, balconies, rooftops, stairs, parks, etc, have been distributed.

The plantation has been carried out at Tihar Jail Compound, Dwarka CRPF Camp, Aurobindo, Anuvart Marg, Gragi and Maitri colleges.