Battlelines drawn for DSA elections
M.S.Unnikrishnan

New Delhi, July 10
Battle lines have been drawn for the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) elections to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the Capital on Sunday.

With outgoing president Umesh Sood threatening to go to court if Mr Nasir Ali, the present DSA secretary, seeks to contest for the post of the president in violation of the DSA constitution, the Ali camp has backtracked and brought out former City Club president Nawabuddin Zaheer from the cold, to be fielded for the post of president against Sharafatullah, who is the reigning City Club president.

Some people in the DSA think it as a “master stroke” to field Nawabuddin against Sharafatullah, though the general belief is that the age factor will go against Nawabuddin.

The Ali camp hopes to split the votes of the City Club supporters by pitting two City Club aficionados against each other. Both the camps claim majority support in their favour, though sources revealed that only 70 of the 73 voters would be eligible to vote. The nominees of Customs, Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and Punjab National Bank may not be allowed to vote, as they have not fully complied with the rulebook.

Customs had originally nominated Mr D. K. Bose of Hindustan Club to attend the DSA elections, but then wanted to change their nominee. But the new nominee’s form was attested by a different officer, which has not been accepted by the DSA.

In the case of DVB, it wanted to replace its original nominee Jagdish Malhotra with Deen Dayal but the latter’s nomination was received after the last date, i.e June 28.

In the case of PNB, the original nominee Govind Kanojia was replaced with Rajesh Gautam, but the nomination form was a xerox copy of the original, which has not been accepted by the Association.

The present indication is that one panel will comprise of Nawabuddin Zaheer (for president), N. K. Bhatia (for secretary) and Hem Chand (for treasurer) while the other panel may include Sharafatullah (president), Dev Raj Katyal (secretary) and Mohd Zaheen (treasurer). Nawabuddin is supposed to be enjoying the support of a section of the City Club supporters, Ajmal Club, Collegians and Golden Stars besides the group that has propelled him into the presidential contest. Nawabuddin will represent Ajmal, Bhatia his employers State Bank of India and Hem Chand Delhi Veterans while Sharafatuallah will represent City, Dev Raj N D Heroes and Shaheen Zakir Hussain College.

The Ali group claims the support of 45 members while the Sood group is equally vehement that a majority of the voting members are with them. If no comprise is struck, and both the groups insist on a battle of the ballot, then a keen contest can be expected on Sunday.

Puneet bowls R R Gym to victory
Our Sports Reporter

The Rohtak Road Gymkhana cricket team, which won the Manav Chopra Cricket Tournament title, with chief guest Mange Ram Garg.

Young Friends enter semis
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 10
A fine all-round performance by Jayant Yadav (3 for 21 and 21) helped Young Friends beat National Stadium by four wickets and enter the semi-final of the first Gyan Bharti South Delhi (Under-13) Cricket Tournament at the National Stadium ground. National Stadium also entered the last four, after winning two league matches.

Scores: National Stadium: 135 all out in 34.3 overs (Anshul Gupta 58, Savinay Choudhary 30, Jayant Yadav 3 for 21).

Young Friends: 136 for 6 in 30.2 overs (Ankit Kumar 43, Jaspreet Singh 24, Jayant Yadav 21, Ritesh Joshi 2 for 21, Ankit Singh 2 for 28).

Prabhu Dayal tourney from July 15
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 10
The first Master Prabhu Dayal Under-15 Cricket Tournament, to be organised by the Arya Vrat Sports Club, will be held from July 15 at the Picknic Hut Ground, Ashok Vihar.

President of the tournament committee Sunil Kumar said eight teams will participate in the tournament. All matches will be of 40 overs each side. Those who are born on September 1, 1987 will be eligible to participate. Interested teams may contact Mr Sunil Kumar, D-15, 253, Sector-3, Rohini. Ph: 7163961. Entries close on July 13.

MCD proposal to privatise streetlight upkeep
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 10
The Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today passed a proposal to privatise the maintenance of streetlights and toll tax collection. The privatisation of streetlight maintenance is being proposed close on the heels of the privatisation of the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) on July 1.

The MCD has also constituted two committees for finalising the modalities with the private companies. The committee to discuss the modalities of streetlight maintenance consists of five members — Additional Commissioner (Electrical), Financial Advisor, Chief Executive Engineer (Electrical), Chief Executive Engineer (Civil) and Additional Commissioner (Land and Estate). The Municipal Commissioner, Mr Rakesh Mehta, has constituted this committee at the instance of the Standing Committee Chairman, Mr Ram Babu Sharma..

During the discussion, Mr Sharma said that streetlights and the land where electricity poles were installed belonged to the MCD. The money collected from the cable operators, who used the electricity poles for giving cable connections in the Capital, would be handed over to the MCD. The money would now be collected by the private company looking after power supply in the Capital, as it was done earlier by the DVB. The revenue generated form advertisements on electricity poles would also be given to the MCD.

The power connections to MCD schools and parks were disconnected just after the distribution of power from the DVB was handed over to Tata Power and BSES. It was restored only after the Municipal Commissioner assured the companies that the electricity bills would be paid regularly.

The committee, which will discuss the modalities of toll tax collection with the private company, consists of Vijender Gupta, opposition member, Atma Ram, Surender Singh Bittoo and Ramesh Pandit.

The committee will be headed by Mr Atma Ram. Once the committee submits its report, tenders will be called from private agencies for toll tax collection. The entire toll tax responsibility will be given to one company to avoid the misuse of the power.