New Delhi, September 7
Delhi Congress today organised an 'Aakrosh' rally in the Ghonda Assembly constituency of north-east Delhi against the move to install the BJP government in the city as the party does not have a majority in the assembly.

In a unanimous resolution passed at the rally, the Congress workers condemned the attempt to form an 'unconstitutional' government in Delhi by BJP, which it termed a 'communal party' and warned the Union Home Ministry and the Raj Niwas that the party should not be allowed to form a government as it would be in violation of the constitutional and democratic norms.

Agitated workers and the locals who participated in the rally shouted slogans against the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Addressing the rally, Congress leaders Arvinder Singh and Haroon Yusuf said before forming a government in Delhi, the BJP should announce the number of MLAs and their names who are supporting them. After the passage of the Anti-Defection Law in the country, it is essential to declare the number of MLAs who support the party, otherwise it would violate the core principles of the Constitution, they said.

"The BJP is scared of facing the fresh elections in Delhi as it knows that the people are now longing for the Congress rule. The Congress will not allow the confidence motion to be held even if the BJP forms a government. If it has any sense of fair play, it should recommend the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly," said Singh.

Criticizing the BJP, Mukesh Sharma, DPCC spokesperson said the BJP should not misuse its powers to form a government in Delhi, With the party running away from elections, it has been established that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of bringing in good days was mere rhetoric.

New Delhi, September 7
Delhiites can now recharge their mobile phones, DTH cards, book tickets and buy many other things at the Fair Price Shop (FPS) in the city with the Delhi government liberalising the policy for sale of goods and services through these outlets for subsidised rations.

In a bid to improve the viability of the FPS as well as providing convenience to the ration card holders who visit these shops to get their monthly quota, the Department of Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Government of NCT of Delhi has completely liberalised the policy of sale of various goods and services through the fair price shops.

"The new policy is the most liberal in the country," said Commissioner cum Secretary, Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs Sajjan Singh Yadav, adding the step has provided a major relief to the 2500 FPS licensee in the city who were constantly complaining about lack of viability of their shops.

So far, the FPS licensee was allowed to sell only the Specified Food Articles (SFAs) provided under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and a few other items. But according to the new policy, which has come into operation from Friday, September 5, a Fair Price Shop can sell any goods or service except eight prohibited items.

The new policy has provided a huge business opportunity to the FPS licensees who can now sell unlimited number of goods and provided vast number of services through the FPS depending on the locality and consumers' demand as well as the interest, capability and skill sets of the FPS licensee and his employees.

Now there will be incentive to the FPS licensee to keep his shop open throughout the business hours as he can now expect a large number of other customers apart from ration card holders.

"From now the FPS licensee can also provide services from their premises. One will be able to get services including financial services through the micro-ATM, recharge of mobile phone and DTH cards, tours and travel services and so on. The FPS licensee may become Business Correspondents of various banks to provide the financial services," he said.

Yadav said that the licensee in the city were constantly complaining about lack of viability of their shops due to low profit margin on the sale of SFAs and restricted policy regarding sale of other goods by the FPS.

In view of high shop rentals and manpower cost in Delhi, they were not able to break even under the existing policy, the licensees had complained. — PTI

New Delhi, September 7
Delhi auto drivers will now have to display 'returning home' plates on their vehicles to avoid prosecution for refusing to ferry passengers from September 17.

As per the rules, the Delhi Traffic Police prosecute the drivers who refuse to ferry commuters by issuing challans of Rs 2,000.

"Auto drivers will start displaying 'returning home' plates on their vehicles after completing working hours from September 17, the occasion of Vishwakarma Day," said Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.

"For instance, if an auto driver who lives in Janakpuri and wants to go home after completing his duty in Connaught Place, he has to place a plate of 'Janakpuri' on his vehicle so that passengers going towards this area and nearby can hire it," Soni said.

He said on the occasion of Vishwakarma Day, the sangh will distribute hundreds of such iron plates to auto drivers.

"We were fed up of being continuously prosecuted by the traffic police for refusal even when an auto driver returns home after completing his duty. In this situation, we have decided to implement it (the decision) on our own," Soni said.

There are 80,000 autos plying in the national Capital and the union claims to have a control over most of them.

"Everybody has the right to work for eight hours, but why this rule is not enforced for auto drivers who leave their house early morning and return late night," he questioned.

Reacting to the decision, the traffic police said if auto drivers "really" go home after their duty, they do not have any objection to the "returning home" plate.

"If auto drivers display such plate on their vehicles while really returning home from their work, the traffic police will not have any objection to them," said Anil Shukla, Joint Commissioner (Traffic).

In February, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during an "autorickshaw mahasabha" at Burari, had also appealed to the auto drivers not to refuse 
passengers.

"With passengers' travelling, you (auto drivers) earn money and your families survive. If an auto driver is going to his house after work at night, then I request him to place a plate of 'No Service' in front of his vehicle. Such autos do not deserve fine for refusal," Kejriwal had said.

New Delhi, September 7
A 13-year-old boy drowned today after falling into a ditch at a Metro rail construction site in Karkardooma where he had gone to play with his friends, said a senior police official.

The incident took place here this evening when the deceased, identified as Kartik, was playing with around five others at a ground close to the site where the Karkardooma station of Metro Phase-III is being constructed.

"The children drifted toward the ditch which was a few feet deep and was full of water. Two kids had fallen into it. One of them was saved by locals while Kartik could not be saved," said a police officer.

The body has been sent for a post-mortem and police said investigations are on.

New Delhi, September 7
To ensure a balanced and equitable development of all villages in the city, the Delhi Rural Development Board (RDB) has granted Rs 1.25 crore per village for carrying out construction of roads, drainage facility, cremation ground, parks, playgrounds, etc.

"Instructions have been issued to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and District Magistrates (DMs), who have villages in their districts to consult the local MLA or MP so that they can prioritize their needs in consultation with them for seeking the necessary approval from the development department and obtaining Rs.1.25 crore per village," said Puneet Goel, RDB Commissioner.

The monitoring of the rural work would be done by the DC to ensure their completion in a time-bound manner. This mechanism of planned development of rural villages of Delhi has been approved by the Lieutenant Governor.

The DCs have been informed that a list of pending schemes less than Rs. 1.25 crore and more than Rs 1.25 crore which are approved by the RDB along with the brief guidelines have been furnished to the officials for more understanding on the ongoing schemes.

"If the amount of any schemes of a particular village exceeds expenditure of Rs.1.25 crore then it would be adjusted against the amount of another village having schemes less than Rs.1.25 crore," Goel said.

All the DCs will call a meeting wherein the local MLA and MP of the area will be consulted while selecting the suitable schemes. He also clarified that the Irrigation and Flood Control Department will depute its area executive engineers to facilitate the DCs and DMs in selection of the schemes.

Goel further clarified that the monitoring of the progress of the development of the villages would be done by the DC and a monthly report will be sent to the Divisional Commissioner who would compile it and send it to the LG and Chief Secretary for information. The progress will be reviewed on a two monthly basis by the Divisional Commissioner.

The rural population as per 2011 census in Delhi was 4.19 lakhs. Delhi RDB was initially constituted in October-2004 for the integrated development of rural villages.

New Delhi, September 7
Back to party work after resigning as Kerala Governor a fortnight back, Sheila Dikshit was today named as Chairperson of Congress group to implement programmes related to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru's 125th birth anniversary celebrations.

As per the names finalised by Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the Implementation Group with regard to programmes relating to the event, former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik is convener of five-member group, which also has Anand Sharma, Mohan Gopal and Jairam Ramesh, the AICC release said.

Dikshit was appointed Governor of Kerala on March 4, just before the code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls came into force. She had resigned from the gubernatorial position on August 25 following indication to quit the post by the NDA government.

Dikshit had recently given indications of returning to active politics and said her future role in the party will be decided by the Congress leadership.

Dikshit, a three-time Chief Minister of Delhi, had said she will abide by any decision the Congress high-command takes about her future in the party as efforts are underway to revitalise it following the severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

There are indications from the AICC that the party will celebrate Nehru's birth 125th anniversary in a big way more so as it believes that there are "attempts to scuttle" the importance of Nehruvianism.—PTI

New Delhi, September 7
To revamp its waste management mechanism, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation today added 28 garbage disposal trucks to its fleet.

The trucks were flagged off today by East Delhi Mayor Meenakshi at CBD Grounds in the Shahdara area here.

Garbage and solid waste will now easily be collected and disposed of at sanitary landfill site at Ghazipur, she said. The EDMC had earlier procured 52 such trucks, officials said.

The Mayor also launched a sanitation-cum-cleanliness drive during the monsoon. The EDMC is committed to keeping East Delhi cleaner and it is a step in that direction.

The drive would focus on micro-level monitoring over day-to-day cleanliness of all areas, lifting of solid waste, cleanliness of public urinals, besides other issues such as taking preventive public health measures.

It would also focus on the maintenance of roads, removal of debris, encroachments from public land, upkeep of parks, pruning of trees, removal of horticulture waste from parks, roadsides and lanes.

Leader of the House Ram Narayan Dubey said fogging and spray of insecticide for preventing the outbreak of water-borne diseases, distribution of chlorine tablets in unauthorised colonies, slums would also be part of this drive. Students and teachers of municipal schools would be sensitised about cleanliness during the drive.

New Delhi, September 7
The Delhi Cooperative Housing Financial Corporation (DCHFC) has earned a profit of Rs 43.60 crore from the interest amount of loans given to the Group Housing Societies.

DCHFC chairman Sukhbir Singh Pawar said the corporation gives a special rebate of 0.5 per cent on interest to the employees of the Central government, state governments, employees of PSUs and corporations for seeking loans.

He said due to the liberalized policy of providing housing loans to the co-operative group housing, the DCHFC has earned popularity in the field of co-operative sector and become top-ranking corporation in the country.

He said the corporation has remarkably earned Rs 43.60 crore during the last financial year on housing loans in Delhi.

The DCHFC is a Delhi government premier co-operative finance body which gives loans to boost the co-operative group housing societies for developing the housing facilities to the people.

The corporation extends housing loans to the people on the low rate of interest enabling people to own their dwellings. Earlier, the DCHFC used to grant loans for group housing but now it has opened its doors for granting housing loans to the individuals.

"The Delhi government has its 96 per cent share in the DCHFC and the government issues instructions to the corporation to extend the housing loan facilities to the common man apart from boosting the cooperative group housing," Pawar said.

New Delhi, September 7
A section of the faculty of All India Institute of Medical Sciences has called for an enquiry into the removal of former Chief Vigilance Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi and demanded that he be reinstated as the institute's CVO.

Questioning the health ministry's move, AIIMS faculty members have noted that the decision was taken without informing the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) under whom the matter of appointment of new Chief Vigilance Officer of AIIMS remains pending.

"It appears behind-the-scenes manipulations have led to the 'shunting out' of this upright officer. The real danger is in the manner of the removal. By stating that the officer was not eligible for the post, the ministry has opened the door for all culprits likely to be indicted for various scams unearthed by Chaturvedi," said faculty members in a statement issued under the Forum for Rights and Equality.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and the health ministry also had marked in the annual confidential report of Chaturvedi that his "integrity was absolute and performance outstanding", according to the faculty.