New Delhi, July 2
Unaided recognised private schools, which are required to admit 25 per cent of their students from the economically weaker sections, are allegedly trying every trick in the book to escape the clause, says Social Jurists, an NGO.

The group has contended that the recent excuse being given by schools is that the court’s ruling covers only “fresh admissions” and not students already enrolled.

Yogesh Dikshit, a student of Govardhan Lal Trehan Saraswati Bal Mandir Senior Secondary School in Nehru Nagar, is being denied the benefit of freeship on the ground that he has been enrolled in the school before the High Court pronounced its verdict, directing schools to admit students on the basis of freeship from the economically weaker sections.

“The SDM has verified that the boy’s father has an annual income of less than Rs 45,000 a year. Yet, the school has refused to include him in the freeship category on the ground that the rule applies to those students who seek admission in the new academic session”, said Mr S.S. Upadhyay, president of the Ashoka Hotel Worker’s Union, who has taken up the issue with the Social Jurists.

Upadhyay added, “We have even been asked to withdraw the child from the school and get him admitted in another school, where he will be included in the 25 percent quota. This is clearly harassment of the poor.”

It was pointed out that the High Court has made no such provisions, whereby schools can extend the scheme to only fresh admissions and not to already enrolled students who qualify for freeship.

“The schools have been interpreting the judgement to suit their needs. They have turned down students on the ground that the scheme is applicable to only those who are seeking admission to class XI and that the August 31 is the last date for such admissions. The ruling makes it clear the children can be admitted to any class and that the last date can be extended beyond the stipulated date in case of a special case, following the Director of Education’s directive”, said Mr Ashok Aggarwal, convenor, Social Jurists.

He went on to add, “The clause that these school will have to admit students from poorer sections against land on concessional rates should have been adhered to 10 years ago. And now, if it is restricted to class XI students only, then it will take more than 10 years to be implemented”.

Social Jurists, a group of lawyers, led the way for the underprivileged to assert their right to seek admission to private schools in the Capital.

Meanwhile, Upadhyay also alleged that the principal of the school, Ram Gopal Aggarwal, who remained unavailable for comment, was “humiliating the student and his family for not being able to pay the fees.”

New Delhi, July 2
With the arrest of six persons, the Central district police claims to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers who used to rob medicine godowns posing as medical representatives.

The police has recovered four country made weapons, 14 live cartridges, four knives and four mobile phones from their possession.

The six robbers, who were arrested, have been identified as Krishan Gopal alias Pahelwan, Naresh, Suresh alias Resho alias Pahari, Vinod, Amit alias Kannu and Suresh alias Sonu.

The gang members had been involved in various cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and robbery in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

On June 18 the accused entered a medicine shop in Old Rajender Nagar, that belonged to one Gautam Kapoor, and introduced themselves as medical representatives from Ghaziabad. After a while, they beat up Gautam and tied his hands and legs. When the victim’s three friends came over for lunch the gang members beat them too up and snatched their mobile phones.

After assaulting the men, they took away six bags of medicines from the shop in a TSR which was waiting for them.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M M Oberoi said that the accused were tipped off by a courier boy who used to deliver letters. The police had received information on the night of July 1 that the gang members would be heading towards UP for disposing of the medicines and, accordingly, nabbed them.

New Delhi, July 2
A city court has directed Aggarwal Sweets, Sant Nagar, to pay Rs 1,000 as token damages to Tis Hazari lawyer Jitendra Mohan Gupta, who alleged that he had suffered “irritation and humiliation” following purchase of two samosas and two cheese pakoras on the evening of August 26, 2002.

Additional District Judge V K Jain said, “Supply of stale pakoras and samosas, which one is not able to consume despite hunger, is bound to cause some anger and frustration. Therefore, he is entitled to compensation from the person responsible for causing irritation and frustration to him.”

Earlier, Civil Judge Ajay Gupta did not appreciate Jitendra’s grievance and dismissed his suit in January this year.

Determined to pursue the case, the lawyer filed an appeal before the Additional District Judge to teach some business lessons to the proprietor of the Sant Nagar (East of Kailash) outlet.

Considering the appeal, Mr Jain brushed aside the fact that the petitioner did not have any receipt for the money (Rs 12) he paid for the eatables, saying “Everyone knows by practical experience in life that receipts are neither sought nor issued for purchase of a few pieces of snacks.”

Regarding the charge that the customer did not come back to the shop with the complaint, the judge noted that he had given a plausible reason, submitting that he was very tired.

New Delhi, July 2
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is getting ready to harvest as much rainwater as possible this monsoon. It is cleaning the rainwater harvesting pits, and there are some 150 of them, because the cleaner they are the higher will be the rate at which the water percolates.

Rainwater harvesting is a simple, economical and eco-friendly technique for preserving rainwater by guiding it underground through tanks made of brick. The water goes through a series of filters before it reaches the groundwater to replenish the water table.

Rainwater is good in quality and comes free of cost. There is no additional treatment (of water) required. Rains are the best source of water and rainwater harvested from a region recording high rainfall can bail out an area having deficient rainfall.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) supplies 650 million gallons of water a day (mgd) of which 190 mgd is lost from leaking pipes. Even if one were to take into account the groundwater that is drawn, there is just not enough water available for the 1.3 odd crore population.

This is where rainwater harvesting can make a difference. Even if the rainwater harvesting pits run at 50 per cent efficiency, 450 billion litres of rainwater can still be harvested. The Capital receives on an average 611 mm of rainfall every year.

A pit is cleaned by scrubbing the catchment area, tidying the stormwater drains and washing the filters. (A Central Ground Water Board study pegs the potential catchment area in NCT of Delhi at 1,486 square kilometres.) The pits are set up in buildings and schools.

A Union Government notification issued two years ago made it mandatory for all municipal buildings, schools, community centres and new buildings constructed on more than 100 square metres of land to have rainwater harvesting pits of their own.

New Delhi, July 2
The Government of NCT of Delhi has asked the private distributors of electricity to improve their services. The Chief Minister is understood to have conveyed her dissatisfaction to them and sought a concerted action to come up to the people’s expectation.

Low and fluctuating voltage, frequent shedding of load and fast running meters, inflated power bills and delay in repairing faults have been some of the major complaints of the consumers ever since the Delhi Vidyut Board was unbundled.

With monsoon getting delayed and the mercury soaring, the power demand in the Capital has gone up during the last one week. This has led to a major breakdown in the supply in a number of residential areas in West, East and South Delhi during the past two days.

New Delhi, July 2
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has signed an agreement with the Center for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC) to develop an employment information system.

A computer software, the system will facilitate automation in pay roll, personnel and administrative functions for efficient human resource planning for the MCD, informed the Municipal Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Mehta.

The MCD so far, has been maintaining its data including details regarding its officials manually which take extra labour and time. Besides, the manual system is also open to the risk of discrepancies. This affects the working of the civic body which in turn adversely affects the delivery of the civic services.

Mr Mehta said that the MCD data had been digitilised over the last six months and is ready to be used through appropriate software. It would make personnel resource management responsive to the changing requirements. The system would develop an information data bank that would enable MCD to manage its human resources in the best possible manner.

It would facilitate interface between personnel and other departments for exchange of relevant electronic data. It will also provide payroll management for salary distribution to all the employees through Electronic Clearing System (ECS).

New Delhi, July 2
The Government of Delhi will allow shops to operate seven days a week and for longer hours in the evening.

Stating this at a meeting with the PHDCCI delegation led by its president, Mr Ravi Wig, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that a notification in this regard would be issued shortly.

However, the shops would have to adhere to the conditions of labour law regarding the total working hours of the employees, working in shifts and weekly off day by rotation, Mrs Dikshit said.

She assured that any changes required in the labour laws to facilitate this step would be recommended to the Central Government so as to promote the trade and commerce in Delhi.

The state government has been granting exemption to the individual shops so far on a case to case basis regarding the opening and closing hours and seven days’ operation.

Mr Wig pointed out that trade assumes special importance for Delhi as there is limited scope for growth of industry here. The general permission would result in more employment opportunities in the trade sector. The sector has tremendous potential for generation of additional income, creation of extra jobs, particularly for the unemployed youth, higher tax collection for the state and overall prosperity.

In response to the suggestion made by Mr Wig that the maintenance of 28 approved industrial areas be handed over to the autonomous bodies, Mrs Dikshit proposed to bring these industrial areas under the supervision of DSIDC.

She informed that the State Government was also working out schemes for low-cost housing complexes for industrial workers to prevent the growth of slums in industrial areas.

She agreed to personally visit Okhla Industrial Area and Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate to look into the problems faced by the industrial owners in these areas.

Faridabad, July 2
The District authorities propose to spend about Rs 5.12 crore on a five year scheme to develop barren land and conserve water resources. The scheme, launched in 2001-02, is to be completed in 2005-06.

According to the Deputy Commissioner, this scheme would cover about 24 villages and be able to provide employment to the local residents during this period.

Ghaziabad, July 2
Two cousins shot dead a neighbouring shopkeeper to settle an old score under Sahibabad police station area.

One of the assailants has been arrested on the basis of the report.

Arun, alias Pinku, 22, son of Raginder Singh Chohan, resident of Karohda Colony, was a shopkeeper. His neighbour Sanjay Saini was a building contractor.

Sanjay Saini along with his cousin Parveen from Rookee, had come to open his shop.

Sanjay and Arun argued over some minor issue. It soon became serious. Both Sanjay and Parveen then allegedly fired a shot at Arun which hit him on the shoulder. He fell on the ground. All the shopkeepers and others then came running hearing the gunfire. Lying in a pool of blood, Arun was rushed to SGTB Hospital, Shahadara, where he succumbed to his injuries after four hours of treatment.

Rajinder Singh Chohan, father of Arun, has filed a murder report in Sahibabad police station, naming Sanjay and Parveen. Sanjay has been arrested and the efforts are on to nab the second accused.

Ghaziabad, July 2
Western UP had been reeling from extreme heat and humid conditions and prolonged power cuts for the last couple of days.

Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut and Muzzafarnagar have been facing power cuts due to loadshedding in the grid. Less generation of power has also led to loadshedding.

Delhi-based Northern grid had reportedly tripped suddenly snapping power of Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzzafarnagar.

Besides, the power supply had also been cut frequently on the instructions from Lucknow and due to certain local causes. The Northern power grid control officers had ordered power supply from the grid lines. Accordingly, Mandola Power House, Delhi, stopped the power which is supplied to Daurala-based Motore grid near Meerut.

Motore Power grid in turn supplies power to Ghaziabad-based Sambhawali powerhouse, Muzzafarnagar-based Nara and Modipuram power house near Meerut.

All these powerhouses have a capacity of 220 KV each. Due to excessive increase in load and fall in generation, Delhi grid was about to collapse. The Northern grid officials reportedly had ordered immediate cut in power supply from the grid, it is learnt.

Consequently, the power supply to Motore Power grid was stopped. As a result, the supply to Sambhawali, Nara and Modipuram power houses was stopped, plunging Western UP into a crisis as power to the entire Western UP region is supplied from this 220 KV grid.

New Delhi, July 2
The World Dental Federation (FDI) has selected India as the venue for this year’s world dental congress for the first time since its inception 91 years ago.

This conference will be organised from September 10 to 13 at Pragati Maidan. Dr R. K. Bali, patron of the FDI and 2004 Dental Congress and president of the Dental Council of India announced it in a press conference here today.

He said that all dental colleges would remain closed during the conference period to facilitate everyone—dental surgeon, student, technician, hygienist—to attend the congress.

Dr L. K. Gandhi, chairman of the organising committee of this year’s conference, said on the occasion that the purpose of organising this congress is to bring awareness among the Indians to review and innovate the existing infrastructure and promote awareness about the newer advances which will bring down the oral health as part of the general health and part of promotional team at large.

He stressed the need for implementing strict norms, including prohibition of smoking at public places as already implemented by the Centre and various states, Delhi including, enactment of statutory warning on the traditional Indian sweets, chocolates, aerated drinks, ban on masalas and sale of gutkas (Maharashtra state has already initiated the move) and related products involved in causation of dental diseases.

According to Dr Subhash C. Shetty, president, Indian Dental Association (IDA), the delegates from India and abroad attending the congress will focus on newer technologies in various fields of dentistry to restore teeth, bone-grafting, implants, pediatric endodontics, orthodontics and application of computers in dentistry.

The major issue to be discussed during the conference will be early detection of oral cancer, which is on the increase in our country. More than 70,000 cases of oral cancer come up every year due to bad chewing habits.

New Delhi, July 2
For those who nurse the dreams of shedding copious tears and display histrionics on screen or resurface from death to die again, a trip to the Rai University Campus this Sunday, might just be a stepping stone to the world of light, action and camera. MTV in association with Balaji Television (known for the K soaps) plans to come talent-hunting for their first-ever fiction serial, ‘Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi’.

Screen tests for the aspiring actors will take place on July 4 and 5 at the Rai University, Mathura Road between 10 am and 6 pm.

New Delhi, July 2
Haryana-born Jadugar Samrat Shankar has entertained the British citizens with his magical prowess during the one-and-a-half month tour in the UK.

Shankar who had performed over 40 shows in different parts of Britain like London, Birmingham, Leister, Conventary, claimed that this was the first time in the last three decades that an Indian magician had toured these cities to perform shows.

The audience was on cloud nine, as it were, when Shankar lifted girls six feet above the ground. Even England’s famous magician Paul Daniel was stunned to see Shankar’s tour de force.