New Delhi, November 26
Taking its Delhi Dialogue initiative further, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today assured safety, security and empowered life to women voters in Delhi by installation of CCTVs in public places and crime hotspots, setting up fast track courts for women related cases, providing social security to women in unorganised sector among others.

Step by step, the party is reaching out to specific sections ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections and focussing its efforts on concrete lines.

Announcing the party's 10-point agenda for women voters resulting from nearly 280 public meetings all over city, former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said, “AAP promises to usher in new era of politics and until women feel secured it is not possible."

The AAP chief also took on media and Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that he (Kejriwal) is accused of theatrics when he sits on protests while referring to the PM's three-day protest to support the Narmada Dam.

Commemorating AAP's Foundation Day, he promised that if his party comes to power marshals will be deployed in the DTC buses to deal with harassment cases. For safety the party would deploy 12,000 Home Guards and 55,000 civil defence personnel while CCTVs will be installed across parks, metro, buses and public spaces, he said while pointing that street lighting is another major concern.

"We will connect Delhi by Wifi and CCTVs will function with it. This will not only ensure women safety but the crimes will be also low. Street lighting is too worrying and comes under the BJP. But our party will ensure that every corner of the city is well lit and there is no electricity cut. A mobile application for safety of women commuters with emergency connectivity with Delhi Police via Wifi will also be brought," said Kejriwal.

Another highlight of the AAP's plans is that the party has promised to build 1.5 lakh toilets in slums and 50,000 public toilets all over Delhi. Women are known to be victims of exploitation and harassment in places like JJ clusters and slums as they lacked toilet facilities, he underlined.

Further, if women will enjoy a say on existence and location of liquor vends in slums and residential colonies. "If they pass a resolution against shutting such alcohol vends than it would be closed," said Kejriwal.

AAP will also push for 47 new fast track courts for dispensing cases of crimes within six months. In this context, Kejriwal said, when his government was in power he had asked the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to set up more courts for dealing with women cases within six months.

"AAP originated from Anna's anti-corruption movement. For the first time a new political party won won 28 seats....we have kept our promises," Kejriwal asserted. 

New Delhi, November 26
Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has approved enhancement of ground coverage and FAR (Floor Area Ratio) in Delhi.

The FAR in respect of plots of 750-1000 sq mt size has been enhanced from 150 to 200 per cent while it has been increased from 120 to 200 per cent for the plots of 1000 sq mt and above. While the ground coverage for plots of 750-1000 sq mt will remain at 50 per cent, it has been increased from 40 to 50 per cent for plots of 1000 sq mt and above.

Naidu approved the proposal of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in this regard. The DDA has proposed an amendment to this effect to Master Plan Delhi - 2021 and firmed up the same after inviting objections and suggestions from the public.

A DDA spokesperson said for approval of the proposal, the Union government would first notify it following which it would become a law and the agencies concerned would then implement it. All the building plans will be passed on the basis of this law.

The DDA had proposed amendment to enhancing the ground coverage and FAR keeping in view the less availability of land. If ground coverage and FAR is enhanced, more people can be accommodated in each building, a senior DDA official said.

However, this decision of the government would benefit only the group housing societies, mall owners and some individuals who have big plots. A majority of people would have been benefitted if the ground coverage had been increased of small plots, sources said. 

New Delhi, November 26
Former AAP leader, Shazia Ilmi, who had contested assembly election from the R. K. Puram constituency as well as Lok Sabha poll from Ghaziabad against BJP candidate V. K. Singh, is likely to join the BJP soon.

According to the sources, the BJP is taking the firebrand AAP leader in its fold with an idea to field her against Arvind Kejriwal who has not yet chosen his constituency. In the last election, he had contested from New Delhi and defeated three-time Delhi Chief Minister and Congress candidate Sheila Dikshit with a heavy margin.

Shazia will be the third senior AAP leader after Maninder Singh Dhir, Ashwini Upadhyay to join the BJP giving a jolt to the party that had run the government in Delhi for 49 days. The BJP today appointed Upadhyay as its spokesperson.

The sources said that Shazia's entry into the saffron party was indicated last month when she had joined the BJP platform of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, organised in the NDMC convention centre. Though at that time, she had refused the possibility of joining the saffron party saying that the Abhiyan was for a good cause.

When asked, Shazia has refused to confirm that she is joining the BJP.

According to the sources, Vinod Kumar Binny, another former AAP leader and MLA from Laximi Nagar is also in touch with BJP and may join it.

Independent MLA from Mundka, Rambir Shaukin also wanted to join the BJP. He said, "I wanted to join the BJP, but it is not taking me in its fold." 

New Delhi, November 26
Lt. Governor and senior officers of the Raj Niwas today carried out surprise inspections of various government buildings to monitor the ground reality of the implementation of the "Swachh Bharat Mission" across the city of Delhi. Action has been initiated against a few officials.

Teams, including the Lt. Governor, visited eight hospitals, 20 schools and 6 Municipal Deputy Commissioner's offices across Delhi.

The LG visited the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Khichripur, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Kalyan Vas and Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Kalyanpuri where he inspected the conditions of toilets, including those under repair and gave directions to the officials to expedite work.

He also visited the office of the Deputy Commissioner (Shahdara South) under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation and inspected the office. Expressing dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, the Lt. Governor has directed the Chief Secretary, Delhi government to issue a written warning to the Deputy Commissioner (Shahdara South).

The senior officers of the Lt. Governor's Secretariat also inspected various hospitals, schools and Deputy Commissioner's offices across Delhi.

Action was taken against Municipal Deputy Commissioner (Civil Lines), Shahadra South and North, Assistant Engineers (PWD) in charge of maintenance of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalayas in Bharat Nagar and Rohini. 

New Delhi, November 26
Two-month-old conjoined twins-Saboora and Safoora-sharing a liver successfully underwent surgery at Medanta Hospital, Gurgaon and medical experts from the hospital were in the national Capital today to share the feat with the media.

Saboora and Safoora were born with "Omphalopagus", a disorder in which twins are born joined at the abdomen and share a liver. Falling in the rarest of the rare category they occur one in 100,000 births, with three out of four cases being girls.

"While the occurrence of Siamese twins was rare, the chances that two twin girls sharing a common liver would be successfully separated were one in about 50 million," remarked the hospital's Liver Institute Chairman and chief liver surgeon Dr AS Soin who led the team of 40 doctors.

Among the worries for the team ahead of the crucial surgery on November 16 was that there is no described anatomy of a liver that is shared between two humans, and no standard technique to split it.

"This was one the most challenging surgeries of my career as a liver surgeon for two reasons," said Dr Soin, while adding that the separation of the common organ between the twins was fraught with the risk of bleeding and the danger of landing up with an inadequately functioning liver in one or even both babies.

"We relied on our experience in bloodless liver surgery, and the sophisticated 3-dimensional scans to map the details before and during the operation. The bigger challenge was the facts that prior to the operation, the two were otherwise healthy, happy babies, and they and the parents had grown accustomed to their conjoined existence. A minute error would have left things much worse," elaborated Dr Soin.

According to Director of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Liver Transplant, Dr Neelam Mohan, whose team took care of the babies before and after the operation, preparing the twins for surgery was a big challenge too.

"They necessitated improvisation even for simple procedures like blood sampling, X rays and scans. To ascertain the vital structures they shared, they needed 4 different body scans - a triphasic CT scan, a nuclear isotope hepatobiliary scan, a high resolution chest CT scan and a separate dye study of their intestines. Apart from the liver, it was important to rule out possible communications of the two hearts and their coverings, the covering of the lung, and the intestines as that would have changed the surgeons plan completely," she explained.

After the separation was done, the ICU management was difficult as their bodies took time to adjust to the sudden cessation of the shared circulation and metabolism, added Dr Neelam Mohan.

Further, Chief of Anaesthesia Dr Vijay Vohra said the medicines administered to one would have an unpredictable effect on the other twin as their circulations were connected via the liver.