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SC nod to meal scheme for poor kids, women
Faridabad to get CNG-run buses soon
DSP, 7 other cops booked for assault
Petrol pumps pose a major hazard in populated areas
Drive against power theft in walled city
DU revises course syllabus
Encroachers removed from land worth |
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‘Register ground water abstraction structures’
Farmhouses, banquet halls back in business
No first-aid facilities at power grid stations
Irrigation staff clamour for transfer, resent delay
Mercury continues to rise
Two gangs of burglars busted
Contractor shot dead in Dadri
University official dismissed
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SC nod to meal scheme for poor kids, women
New Delhi, June 9 The apex court vacated its stay on the implementation of the scheme, ordered on May 12, following allegations by three NGOs that they were arbitrarily kept out of the selection process for implementing ‘anganwadi’ food scheme despite their considerable experience in the field. The interim stay was vacated by a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice C K Thakker after Delhi Government counsel Colin Gonsalves gave details about NGOs selection process, for which the apex court had laid down clear guidelines in 2004. But the Court reserved its detailed judgement on the question whether the three organisations — which had challenged the selection process — were eligible or
not. Gonsalves said the Government followed the apex court guidelines strictly in selecting 8 out of 117 NGOs which applied for the work. The case of one NGO was been kept in abeyance for the time being. He said the NGOs would be engaged only for 27 months as per the guidelines to train Self-Health Groups (SHGs) and then they would be automatically phased out. Though the rules stipulate that an NGO should be registered for at least three years and had considerable experience in development work relating to children and women, the Government had taken care that only those organisations were engaged which had at least 10 years or more experience, the counsel told the Court. The purpose of engaging the NGOs was not only to train the SHGs but to build up the network to supply the food to the numerous ‘anganwadis’ spread across the city, specially in slums and rural areas. Once the SHGs became self sufficient in tackling the situation, they along with ‘Mahila Mandals’ would be allowed to take over independently, he said, adding that the progress of NGOs’ work on building the “capacity” of SHGs would be evaluated by the experts after every nine months. The counsel justified keeping away the three organisations which had challenged the selection process, alleging that they did not fulfil the criteria of being included in the list of NGOs and were rather “commercial” organisations”. The efforts of the Government was to eliminate any chance of “corruption” in the scheme as only Rs 2 per meal was provided. The contractors and any organisation with commercial interests were debarred by the apex court in its guidelines of 2004 after it had come across instances of siphoning of the money by them. |
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Faridabad to get CNG-run buses soon
Faridabad, June 9 According to a communication from the state Transport Commissioner a total of 30 CNG buses were soon to be received as an order had been placed with the manufacturer concerned. While Faridabad and Gurgaon depots of Haryana Roadways will be receiving 12 buses each, six may be given to the Jhajjar depot. It is reported that the number of such buses will be doubled in the next one year. It may be recalled that the state government has already sanctioned a site for setting up a CNG fuel station in the district and other parts of the NCR. The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad had adopted a resolution to this effect at its last meeting held recently. There was a dire need to introduce CNG-run buses following a ban on diesel-operated commercial vehicles in Delhi, which led to suspension of Haryana Roadways services unless they terminated at the border or the Inter-State Bus terminus (ISBT). As a result, thousands of commuters had to depend on the services of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses to commute. Since Faridabad figures among the top 10 most polluted cities of the country, residents and commuters here had been seeking introduction of CNG operated buses and three-wheeler autorickshaws on the pattern of Delhi. The General Manager, Haryana Roadways here, Mr Pradeep Godara, claimed that this move would bring a major relief to both commuters and the roadways department. He added that the direct bus service of Haryana Roadways could be started or resumed to various spots in Delhi for the benefit of students, employees and patients who earlier had to depend on private vehicles or other modes of transport. He said the CNG buses from here would cover a maximum number of points in the city and the commuters would not be required to go to the main bus stand to get on the bus. According to the authorities, the depot here would soon have two air-conditioned buses which would ply on selected routes. It may be worth mentioning that Faridabad/Ballabgarh is the largest roadways depot in the state with as many as 208 buses but there had been no local bus service made available by the department so far. “While permits had been issued to private transporters to ply minibuses on local routes some years ago, the service had been highly unsatisfactory,” said a local resident. |
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DSP, 7 other cops booked for assault
Ghaziabad, June 9 It was registered against them for allegedly beating constable Prem Chand Dixit and robbing him of Rs 7,000 after he lodged a complaint against former Superintendent of Police (Traffic) V K Garg for misuse of power and resources last year, the local SSP told reporters. He said Deputy Superintendent of Police Dinesh Kumar Yadav, ordered by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the charges against Garg, tried to persuade Dixit to drop the case and when that failed, Dixit was allegedly assaulted at the police station by the DSP and seven others. Dixit recently moved the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate alleging assault and robbery. The court on Tuesday directed the police administration to register a case against the eight persons named in his complaint — the DSP, inspector Santosh Kumar Yadav, PO at SSP office Alok Singh, sub-inspectors Ram Milan Yadav and D S Chandel and three constables. The case was registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 392 (robbery), 504 (breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. |
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Petrol pumps pose a major hazard in populated areas
Noida, June 9 An indifferent fire-fighting department and precautions for these petrol stations being observed more in the manner of breach than compliance can bring about a horrifying situation any day. Oil tankers that keep coming to replenish the stock of petrol and diesel at these pumps add to the risks and nuisance for the residents. A small spark can be enough to let loose a virtual hell in petrol stations located in Sectors 12, 15, 14, 35 and 41 which are surrounded by houses, commercial markets, restaurants etc. This scenario was demonstrated by a blaze at a petrol station in Gurgaon on Thursday. There was a loss of lakhs of rupees though luckily there was no loss in terms of human life. All Noida petrol stations in Sectors 12, 14, 15, 35 and 41 are just separated by a few metres from the residential population. In Sectors 35 and 41, apart from residential sectors, the villages are also within striking range.
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Drive against power theft in walled city
New Delhi, June 9 Recently, BSES enforcement teams detected power theft of 245 KW, amounting to nearly Rs 58 lakh in penalties, in the walled city. After a fortnight’s vigil, the BSES enforcement team swooped down on an electroplating factory at 3955, Chandni Mahal, Darya Ganj and caught it stealing electricity of over 115 KW. A penalty of Rs 35 lakh is liable to be imposed on the customer. Recently, the BSES had caught a hotel with 30 rooms indulging in power theft of nearly 130 KW. A penalty of over Rs 23 lakh is liable to be imposed on it. From January 2006 till now, the BSES enforcement teams have unearthed 256 cases and 106 cases of power theft in Daryaganj and Chandni Chowk areas respectively. Cumulative penalties of nearly Rs 9 crore have been imposed for a load totaling 3,150 KW. According to a BSES spokesperson, its customers had started coming out against power theft and leaving tip-offs on its anti-power theft telephone numbers (39999888, 39999777). |
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DU revises course syllabus
New Delhi, June 9 Following the go-ahead by the Academic Council, students can look forwards to revised B.Com Pass course, which has been christened as B.Com and offers several job-oriented courses. The new course would have papers on e-commerce, computer applications, human resource management, banking and financial services, tax management, economics and banking laws. Papers on Computing, Finance and Cost Accounting and Business Laws have been upgraded to full papers and the total marks have been increased from 900 to 1350. Students opting for this revised course, which will be introduced from this academic session itself, will have to study 10 papers and will be allowed to choose a specialised subject in the third year. In the revised format students will have 10 papers in the core subjects over the three years of course duration, as against two courses per year in the past. With the increase in the number of papers, the total number of lectures too would go up from 48 to 54 per week and the total marks of the core commerce papers have been reduced to 75 each. The Modern Indian Languages paper will allow students to opt for Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Telugu in the first year and compulsory English and advanced papers of the first year papers in the second year. |
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Encroachers removed from land worth Rs 30 cr
Ghaziabad, June 9 In all, 250 properties were freed from encroachment in the ongoing drive by the GDA. GDA Secretary R.C. Mishra said the value of land freed was Rs 30 crore. He said the GDA had not been able to remove encroachments so far due to apathy of the police force. Encroachers were warned that if they tried to rebuild the properties, a case would be filed against them. The official said that a large number of shops built in the residential buildings of illegal colonies on Meerut Road, Vijay Nagar area and Hapur roads had been identified. Now, a campaign will be undertaken to raze the buildings constructed in illegal colonies and to free GDA land. |
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‘Register ground water abstraction structures’
New Delhi, June 9 CGWA today asked owners of ground water abstraction structures in East, North-East, North-West and West districts in the city to register their energised wells, bore-wells, tube-wells with DJB through nodal officers in their areas within 90 days. Owners of such units have been warned that not following the directions would invite sealing. However, non-energised dug wells or bore-wells fitted with hand pumps solely used for drinking and domestic purposes need not be registered, a CGWA spokesman said. Those who had already registered their units during 1998-99 have also been advised to re-register in view of changes in the registration form. CGWA also directed group housing societies/institutions/schools/hotels/industrial establishments/farm houses located in Faridabad, Ballabgarh, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, South and South-West districts of Delhi as well as group housing societies in areas where the ground water levels were lower than eight metres from the surface to adopt ‘roof top rain water harvesting’. The state government had earlier withdrawn a Bill aiming to impose a cess and regulate ground water extraction in the city after facing strong
opposition by MLAs in the Assembly. |
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Farmhouses, banquet halls back in business
New Delhi, June 9 The order
of the MCD came after the Additional Solicitor General of India A Sharan
opined that the farmhouses and banquet halls which had been
unauthorisedly developed before January 1, 2006 were entitled to
protection under Section 3 of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act,
2006, passed by Parliament last month. All Zonal deputy commissioners
of the MCD have been directed to take action accordingly. After the
Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006, came into force, the MCD had
sought the opinion of the Additional Solicitor General on action to be
taken with respect to farmhouses and banquet halls which had been sealed
on the directions issued by the Delhi High Court. While the Additional
Solicitor General opined that the farmhouses and banquet halls developed
before January 1 were entitled to protection under the Section 3 of the
Act, those which had been developed after January 1 were covered under
section 4 of the Act. |
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No first-aid facilities at power grid stations
New Delhi, June 9 The BSES
has recently put first-aid boxes at its 33 KV and 66 KV grids but those
boxes do not have basic requirements like Burnol, Dettol, cotton strips,
Paracetamol etc, while the Transco seems to think that it is not
necessary to put such first-aid boxes at its power grids in the area at
all. According to sources, this is a clear violation of the Indian
Electricity Act. “The 1956 – 43(2) clause of this Act says that
first-aid boxes must be put at every such high voltage grid. It also
requires that trained instructors will also be deployed at every such
grid to train linemen to cope with any challenging situation,” said a
lineman. He said that they had not received any such training so far.
“We have to work near high voltage electricity lines. At least
first-aid should be available in case of any untoward incidents. The
concerned authorities must ponder over our genuine concern,” he said.
According to president of National Development Forum, Mr J. N. Dogra,
the Chief Electrical Inspector’s office is responsible for
implementing the Act. “We have written many times in this regard to
them, but to no avail,” he said. |
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Irrigation staff clamour for transfer, resent delay
Faridabad, June 9 The
Irrigation Department seems to be one such department where a number of
employees have asked for transfer for years, but in vain. According to
sources in the department, the government is still to transfer certain
employees of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), a joint venture of
the four states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
While each of the states has a fixed quota of the staff to be posted
there, it is learnt there is considerable resentment among many
employees and officials of the Irrigation Department of the state over
the unusual delay in transfers. A member of the employees’ union of
the department claimed that many employees had applied for a transfer to
the BBMB, but there had been no response from the authorities despite
the lapse of more than four months. The head office of the department
had reportedly invited applications from its staff against about 50
posts in the board several months ago. Expressing concern over the
delay, a spokesperson of the union said there was disapproval about the
delay. He wondered why the government was not able to make such routine
decisions. On the other hand, sources in the department pointed to a
racket in such matter. Many employees were close to various political
leaders. Reportedly, certain employees hardly attended office and went
there only to get their pay packet. Some of them had been posted at a
single place for two decades, but hardly cared to discharge their
official duties. It was alleged that certain employees who had been
chargesheeted or suspended got reinstated due to their political
connections. A number of them had been running their own businesses and
devoted their energy to personal work only. |
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Mercury continues to rise
New Delhi, June 9 In fact, it was the first time since the
last ten days that the mercury has crossed the 42 degree mark. It was a
sharp rise from 41.4 degrees Celsius yesterday. A mainly clear sky and
bright sunlight led to searing hot conditions, forcing most people to
remain indoors. After three days of pleasant weather over the last
weekend, which saw cool South Easterly winds and a heavily overcast sky
plummet the mercury to eight to ten degrees below normal, the mercury
has witnessed a rising trend all through this week. |
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Two gangs of burglars busted
Faridabad, June 9 As many as nine cases of theft and housebreaking that took
place in the past few months have reportedly been solved by these
arrests. According to the SSP, one of the gangs was headed by a
21-year-old youth identified as Suraj who has already spent 10 years
behind bars in various cases. About three dozen cases had been pending
against this gang leader. However, the police was still looking for one
Chintoo, also of this gang, who is absconding. The police revealed this
group specialised in thefts at houses in broad daylight. The second
gang involved in such activities was headed by one Ashok, hailing from
Uttar Pradesh. As all his accomplices had been arrested, this had helped
the police in solving at least three incidents of theft in the city in
the recent past. The police has appealed to the RWAs and local
residents to report information about tenants and any suspicious
elements in their neighbourhood. |
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Contractor shot dead in Dadri
Noida, June 9 The contractor had gone out
for a stroll after dinner when he was shot thrice by an unidentified
person who fled away taking advantage of the panic in the area. The
police reportedly reached hours after the incident and registered a
case. It later said the murder was carried out of vengeance, which is
denied by the family. Vinod, son of Rattan of Gupta Colony was a
contractor in Dadri. He was called down from his residence by the
miscreants and did not return till midnight. The family members had gone
out to search for him, but could not find him. At 1.30 am, police
informed them that Vinod had been shot. A security guard had informed
the police that a man was lying in a pool of blood in the
street. Police took him to a hospital, but he was declared brought dead
by doctors. The body has been sent for an autopsy. |
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University official dismissed
Ghaziabad, June 9 The Registrar, Dr Narinder Sharma, has been
accused of not fulfilling the terms and conditions of appointment. The
Chancellor had received this complaint against four teachers, but gave a
clean chit to three of them. — OC |
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