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Demolitions: Upmarket schools under scanner
Integrated transport network in Delhi: Government invites bids
Kin of power official held for graft cry foul
NCERT withdraws four textbooks in wake of objections
Proposal to set up IIMs abroad flayed
12 inured in clash over eve-teasing at marriage party
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Workshop on creative
writing held
DU accounts frozen for defaulting
on tax
Conference on educating differently abled children
Property dealer kidnapped, relieved of Rs 3 lakh
College girl kidnapped
Woman’s body recovered in gunny bag
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Demolitions: Upmarket schools under scanner
New Delhi, February 4 Acting on complaints that several public schools in the posh Vasant Kunj Area of South Delhi had carried out unauthorised constructions, the MCD, based on a survey, found ten schools responsible for violating building bye-laws. Accordingly, the ten schools, which also include the Bloom public school, DAV public school, Ryan International, Tender Feet, Dimple Education society and Kangaroo Kids, are being sent show cause notices under sections 343 and 344 of the MCD. The school authorities will be given three days to reply to the notices. Thereafter, they will be given seven days to remove the said unauthorised constructions in their premises failing which appropriate action will be taken on the constructions, an MCD spokesperson said. The notices to the public schools come after it was alleged that the MCD was taking demolition action against the flat owners in the Vasant Kunj area while turning a blind eye on the big public schools in the area who had carried out several unauthorised constructions, violating several bye-laws. Meanwhile, a ‘mahapanchayat’ of village inhabitants of Delhi is to be organised tomorrow at Rajghat in protest against the ongoing demolition of malls on MG Road. The protest will be organised under the aegis of the Delhi Gram Vikas Panchayat. Sarpanches of all the villages will participate in the panchayat. The village leaders have opposed the MCD’s drive, saying that building bye-laws have never been applicable in the villages. While MCD’s bulldozers tore apart the remainder of 1, MG Road, the civic body also pressed into service cranes to remove heavy electrical gadgets such as gensets from 2, MG shopping complex. A senior MCD official said demolition work on 2, MG Road will resume on Monday and added that all the commercial outlets in the area would be targeted as part of the drive. MG Road has the outlets of some of the best known designers in the Indian fashion industry. The corporation also took action against 23 other properties, including eight commercial ones, the official said. As many as 1,081 properties have been targeted by the MCD during its
one-and-a-half month old demolition drive against illegal constructions in
the Capital.
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Integrated transport network in Delhi:
New Delhi, February 4 Firms and joint venture companies of good standing with a combined minimum annual turnover of Rs 500 million for the last three successive years, who have carried out at least five urban Transport Demand Forecast Studies (TDFS) — two in metros with more than 5 million people — can bid for the project. The project involves development of a TDFS and identification of a road-cum-public transport network to meet the city’s demand by 2021 and beyond. It also involves preliminary engineering feasibility of the proposed integrated transport network, strategic energy-cum environmental impact analysis and preparation of its business plan. The effect of traffic coming from outside Delhi and travel demand analysis and phasing for implementation of the network for the years 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2025 would also be part of the project. Meanwhile, in a meeting held today, the Delhi Government decided to utilize concrete technology for construction of roads for plying High Capacity buses on the 14 km route from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate. The other alternative technologies such as milling technology, which enables recycling of material to construct roads, would be considered for other phases later on. The decision to use concrete technology for the first phase has been taken because the government has limited time at its disposal for providing a suitable road for plying the buses. The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit and was attended by Finance and PWD Minister Dr
A.K. Walia, Transport Minister Mr Haroon Yusuf, Principal Secretary PWD, Transport commissioner, Secretary Environment, E-in-C PWD, Joint Commissioner Delhi Police, Director Planning DDA and representatives of DUAC and RITES. After a brief presentation, it was decided to construct the most suitable road for plying high capacity buses. It would not be advisable to cut the road for shifting of services on the route constructed with utilization of concrete technology. The first phase of the road is expected to cost around Rs 150 crore, of which Rs 50 Crore would be spent on upgradation of the road and the rest on providing bus stops, platforms, ticket counters, toilets and greenery. The route would turn out to be a model and convenient for the passengers. The representatives of Delhi Police, Transport Departments, PWD and DUAC would sit together to chalk out an alternative traffic arrangement on the first phase of the route so that people at large may not face difficulties during upgradation of the road. Ms Dikshit said that all measurers should be taken to ensure that traffic runs smoothly during the period of construction. She directed RITES to adopt construction culture and quality pattern of Metro. She added that the first upgraded route would describe the story of urban remodeling. She further directed to the speed up the process of tenders and chalk out a time bound detailed action plan for construction so that the road could be upgraded on war footing.
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Kin of power official held for graft cry foul
Faridabad, February 4 According to the family of Mr K.K. Mishra, posted as Executive Engineer in the Vigilance cell of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), the police has conspired with the hotel’s owner to ‘teach him a lesson’ and defame him. Demanding the immediate intervention of the Chief Minister in the matter, his wife Ms Pushpa Mishra said here today that she and her family were ‘shattered’ at the arrest of her husband by the police which acted in a dramatic manner. Claiming that her husband was an honest and dedicated officer of the Nigam and had never demanded any bribe from anyone in the case, she said leveling such charges at this stage, when a case had been registered against the accused and official action was in process, was a brazen attempt to dishonour a person who had done something praiseworthy in his official duty. She claimed that the entire case was fabricated to ‘punish’ her husband as he had led an operation to detect power theft worth over a crore. She said her husband had been threatened with dire
consequences and he had lodged a complaint with the police earlier in this connection. Recounting the incident of the police action against her husband, she said a large number of policemen led by a DSP barged into their house on Tuesday night. She said her niece was slapped when she met them at the door and the policemen ‘lifted off’ her husband after overpowering him. She said that no search or arrest warrants were produced and the manner in which the cops acted was illegal and an example of police high-handedness and a violation of human rights. It may be recalled that a team of Vigilance Cell of the DHBVN had conducted a raid and detected a major theft of power by a hotel in the NIT area here about a fortnight back. The police had registered at least two cases against the owner for power theft in two different cases with the penalty amounting to about Rs 1.90 crore. According to Mrs. Mishra, while power theft of a total amount of around 15 crore had been detected in the past about six months in the region, this theft had been the largest ever.
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NCERT withdraws four textbooks in wake of objections
New Delhi, February 4 The books were withdrawn on the recommendation of the National Commission for Minorities which had received complaints from scholars of a minority community. The textbooks withdrawn are ‘India and the World’ by Seem Yadav (class VII), ‘Contemporary India’ by Prof. Hari Om (class IX ), ‘Modern India’ by Satish Chandra Mittal (class XII) and ‘Medieval India’
by Prof. Satish Chandra (class XI). In a statement issued by the NCM, it was put forth that the objectionable portions in the textbooks were discussed in a meeting attended by NCERT academicians and members of the NCM. The NCERT, the statement said, has also agreed to make necessary changes in four other textbooks. These are ‘Social Sciences’ by Prof. Romilla Thapar, ‘Social Science Part I’ by Prof. Arjun Dev and Prof. Indira Arjun Dev (class VIII), ‘Contemporary World History Part II’ by Prof. Arjun Dev (class XII) and ‘Modern India’ by
Prof. Bipin Chandra (class XII).
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Proposal to set up IIMs abroad flayed
New Delhi, February 4 In a statement issued here, they have alleged that the clauses of GATS as applicable to education are intended to wipe out the public funded system from school to the university level, creating space for profit making private sector. Demanding a complete protection of public-funded education system through the allocation of at least six percent of the GDP for the education budget for the year 2006, it has called for an end to the operation of all foreign and local traders in education allegedly conducting their business in complete violation of UGC Acts and other statuary bodies. General Secretary of the AIFUCTO, Dr V K Tewari in a statement has mentioned that the organisation will launch massive public campaigns through a series of dharnas and other forms of agitation involving students’ organisations and trade unions to maintain constitutional obligations and to oppose GATS and traders in education. The AIFTUCO, which is also opposing the IIMs plans of going global, points out that owing to reciprocity, Indian efforts at making specific requests for removal of all barriers by other nations for export of education, will have to open fully all sectors including education. This, in turn would have a perilous impact on education and research in India, the organisation claims.
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12 inured in clash over eve-teasing at marriage party
Noida, February 4 The incident happened when a ‘baraat’ from Ghaziabad reached Jagdish Jatav’s residence in the village for the marriage. While the marriage party was passing through the streets, some unknown youths tried to
forcibly dance with the girls. When their relatives objected, the youths assaulted them. They were, however, soon confronted by some villagers who came to the party’s defence. In the process, 12 persons were injured. Sudesh, Sanjay and Ramkishan suffered critical injuries while others got minor injuries. Eventually, the police reached the site and brought the situation under control. The marriage ritual was performed in their presence. An FIR was registered against Puran, Pramod, Sonu and some others and efforts are on to nab them.
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Workshop on creative
writing held
New Delhi, February 4 The workshop commenced with an introductory note by the institute’s Director Prof. Ashok Ogra who extended a warm welcome to the writer. Michael Meehan introduced the students to the art of novel writing and explained that the writers can be creative yet realistic while writing fiction. He shared his experiences as a novel writer. Expressing his newfound interest in Rabindra Nath Tagore’s writings, he reiterated the fact that not every novel should have a happily-ever after ending. He said the best piece of work arises from a state of confusion. Advising students not to wait for a perfect storyline, rather weave plots and situations as they go along, he warned them of obstacles that are expected while writing and how to overcome them. The author told students, “Readers don’t want a slice of life, they want a slice of your imagination”. Dr Meehan teaches at Deakin University, Australia and was accompanied by Ms Joan Beaumont, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Deakin University who briefed the students on the learning environment and the opportunities at the university. Talking about the massive growth of mass communication in Asia and Australia, he emphasized the need for the students to be well acquainted with the global media scenario.
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DU accounts frozen for defaulting
on tax
New Delhi, February 4 The civic body attached DU’s two bank accounts in SBI and ICICI for not paying tax dues of Rs 38 crore till March 31, 2004 despite repeated reminders, MCD spokesman said. The corporation, which has already issued notices to JNU and other academic institutions for not paying their taxes, is all set to take action against them as well, he said. The MCD has already taken action against power companies BSES and TRANSCO by attaching their bank accounts after which BSES paid Rs 6.25 crore. TRANSCO is, however, yet to pay its arrears of around Rs 22 crore. As against its target of realising Rs 1,350 crore in house tax this year, the corporation has been able to realise only R 485 crore till now. According to the MCD, tax amounting to over Rs 900 crore is due on government properties, including those belonging to DMRC, DJB, DDA, CPWD, PWD as well as the new Delhi Secretariat building.
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Conference on educating differently abled children
New Delhi, February 4 He was speaking at the ‘International Conference on Learning to Learn with Different Abilities’ organised by the Civil Services Society. Mr Joshi said there is a need to meet the challenges and breakdown the barriers to learning to work towards fulfilling the true potential of children with special needs and develop them into confident, productive and independent adults. He said success could always be achieved if teachers use the correct tools and the children are taught using the methods that suit them. Among those who were present on the occasion were CBSE chairman Ashok Ganguly, NDMC Chairperson Ms Sindhushree Khullar and chairperson, Civil Services Society, Ms Vibha Chaturvedi.
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Property dealer kidnapped, relieved of Rs 3 lakh
Noida, February 4 In a letter sent to the SSP, the victim, Veerpal Singh, a resident of Ghori Bachhera Dadri, alleged that on the evening of January 27, one Omvir Singh along with 5 other persons took him to Swaran Nagri in Greater Noida to show him a plot. He was then take to sector 62 in Noida where he was manhandled and forced to call up a friend, Anil Bhatti, to bring him Rs 3 lakhs to pay for the plot. When Anil complied, the cash was forcibly taken away and the duo made to sign signatures blank vouchers before being let off.
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College girl kidnapped
Bulandshashr, February 4 According to the complaint, the girl, a student of a girls college here, was forcibly taken away in a car on Wednesday by one Gaurav Rajiv and three others, as witnessed by her sister. The accused were absconding till late evening today. In a similar case, a schoolgirl’s parents, residents of village Bejhat Sajanpur under Kotwali Dehat area, met the ASP, Khurja, Anil Kumar Singh to complain against some youths who attempted to rape her while she was going to school. It seems she was so traumatised by the incident that she now refuses to go to school at all. The police promised to arrest the youths and provide security to the girl.
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Woman’s body recovered in gunny bag
Noida, February 4 Some passerby had informed the police about foul smell emitting from the gunny bag found dumped in the area. When the gunny bag
was opened the mutilated body of a woman was recovered. It appears she might have been killed 3 to 4 days ago. She appears to have been strangulated to death.
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